Xiaomi 12 Pro Review — one step forward, two steps back

Xiaomi always made rather exciting flagships, especially if you consider their price tags. Over the years, they have been steadily whittling down on the list of shortcomings, getting ever closer to making a perfect flagship with the Xiaomi Mi 11. The Xiaomi 12 Pro is a “Pro” variant, so we do have more bells and whistles here than the base Xiaomi 12, but it is also one of the more expensive flagships from Xiaomi. Does more expensive equals more better? Well, I guess that’s what we are here to find out.
Unboxing

We have a black box here, which seems to be Xiaomi’s way of indicating the “Pro” status of the device within. Xiaomi is focusing on the series numbering, with a huge “12” front and center, while the Xiaomi 12 Pro is printed closer to the bottom edge of this front face. No complaints here, since most people will not be looking at the beauty of the packaging for much longer than a few seconds anyway.

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Inside you have the Xiaomi 12 Pro, the usual documentation, a soft TPU case, SIM ejector pin and also the USB cable and 120W charger. Yup, you get a 120W charger in the box. Oddly enough, the 120W charger has a USB-A connector though, instead of the more robust USB-C port.
Appearance

Xiaomi continues the trend of curved displays for their flagships, something which started back with the Xiaomi Mi 10 series. For a flagship, the Xiaomi 12 Pro has a slightly thicker lower bezel than I was expecting, and the selfie camera cutout is also not framed with a metal ring, which reminds me more of budget devices than a flagship. I mean, the Redmi Note 11 Pro 5G’s punch hole looks more premium.

Over on the back, you get a similarly curved class panel. The matte finish here on the back variant is quite unique, feeling coarser than what I have experienced on previous matte finishes. There’s a slight sparkle to it as well, which unfortunately is not visible on the camera. Definitely nice to see, nice to hold. A decision I am less of a fan of is the camera bump. Xiaomi went with a raised rectangular metal block, which looks a bit more generic. I personally prefer the Xiaomi Mi 11’s three tier square camera bump, but I guess Xiaomi needed the extra room for the trio of 50MP cameras here.

You can see the way the camera bump is quite substantially raised from the back, with the main camera protruding even more above the hump. The glass panels on the front and back blends into the sliver of an aluminum frame on the the side, with a really refined smoothness. It’s also sandblasted for a matte finish, which feels way better in hand than the the Xiaomi Mi 11’s glossy frame.

Xiaomi also decided against flattening the bottom and top edges, with the Xiaomi 12 Pro featuring rounded ends again this time around. The SIM tray is here, along with the USB-C port and one half of the stereo audio system baked into the Xiaomi 12 Pro. You actually get a quad-speaker setup in the Xiaomi 12 Pro, so there are actually two drivers behind that waveform-like speaker grille.

Overall, the Xiaomi 12 Pro is one nice looking device. I love the sparkling matte finish of the back, the smoothly curved glass that meets the frame seamlessly. While I don’t quite like the rectangular camera bump in the corner, the huge round protrusion of the main camera gives it just enough character to stand out from the sea of smartphones with rectangular camera humps. And it’s metal, which looks quite different than the usually all-glass humps of the other devices.
Xiaomi 12 Pro Specifications

CPU
Snapdragon 8 Gen 1
1 x Kryo (Cortex-X2) @ up to 3.0GHz (Prime core)
3 x Kryo (Cortex-A710) @ up to 2.5GHz (Performance cores)
4 x Kryo (Cortex-A510) @ up to 1.8GHz (Efficient cores)
4nm Samsung

GPU
Adreno graphics

Memory
12GB LPDDR5 RAM

Storage
256GB UFS 3.1 storage

Display
6.73″ WQHD+ (3200 x 1440) 120Hz LTPO AMOLED display
1~120Hz AdaptiveSync Pro variable refresh rate, 480Hz touch sampling
HDR10+, TrueColor, DCI-P3, 1000 nits max brightness, 1500 nits peak brightness, Dolby Vision

Audio
Quad-speaker stereo audio, harman/kardon
Dolby Atmos
Hi-Res Audio certification

Camera
50MP f/1.9 main camera, 1/1.28″ Sony IMX707 sensor, 2.44µm 4-in-1 Super Pixel, OIS
50MP f/2.2 ultra-wide, 1/2.76″ Samsung JN1 sensor, 1.28µm 4-in-1 Super Pixel, 115° FoV
50MP f/1.9 2X telephoto camera, 1/2.76″ Samsung JN1 sensor, 1.28µm 4-in-1 Super Pixel
Xiaomi ProFocus, Ultra Night mode, Portrait Night mode, Portrait HDR, RAW mode, Vlog Mode, Movie effects, HDR10+ video, 8K24, 4K60 video, up to 1920fps slow-mo

Selfie camera
32MP f/2.45 selfie camera, 1/3.14″ OmniVision OV32B40
Selfie Night mode, AI Beautify, AI protrait mode, HDR, HDR10+ video, AI portrait video, 1080p60 video and 720p120 slow-mo

Connectivity
WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax, WiFi 6
Bluetooth 5.2
NFC
Dual-band GPS
Dual-SIM
5G Band n1, n2, n3, n5, n7, n8, n20, n28, n38, n40, n41, n66, n77, n78, n79
LTE Band 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 12, 13, 17, 18, 19, 20, 25, 26, 28, 32, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 48, 66
USB-C (USB 2.0, 480Mbps)

Software
MIUI 13, Android 12

Battery
4600mAh
120W fast charging
50W fast wireless charging
10W reverse wireless charging

Dimensions
163.6 x 74.6 x 8.16 mm

Weight
205g

Ingress protection
N/A

Performance

Antutu places the Xiaomi 12 Pro well ahead of the closest Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 device we have tested, but this might be due to more generous power limits allowed by Xiaomi’s firmware. We will get into that in a bit. Versus the Xiaomi Mi 11, the Xiaomi 12 Pro is more than 20% faster, which is a healthy upgrade any way you look at it.

CPU performance charts a much smaller improvement, with single-core performance up by 10%, but multi-core performance has not improved at all. In fact, it seems to have regressed from the Xiaomi Mi 11, at least in Geekbench. The iPhone 13 Pro’s A15 Bionic pulls way ahead though, which is probably expected at this point in time.

GPU performance appears to really highlight the Xiaomi 12 Pro’s shortcomings. The Xiaomi 12 Pro comes up really short on the Sling Shot benchmarks, while pulling ahead in Wild Life Unlimited. Sling Shot is a much, much longer benchmark that puts the device through a five-part wringer. As such, in Sling Shot Unlimited and Sling Shot Extreme Unlimited, the Xiaomi 12 Pro lags behind even the POCO F2 Pro, which touts the two-year old Snapdragon 865 chipset.

In PCMark the Xiaomi 12 Pro lags behind most of the flagships we have tested, with it coming up behind the Xiaomi Mi 11 and other flagships. Why? I am not really sure, but it might partially due to the the fact that PCMark is yet another long benchmark that tortures the Xiaomi 12 Pro.

Why did I keep mentioning the length of the benchmarks in this review? Well, that’s because the Xiaomi 12 Pro is one toasty smartphone. It is one of the worst performing smartphone I have tested in the 3DMark Wild Life Unlimited Stress Test, with performance dropping to a mere 45.5% of its peak performance. I am not too surprised, as even in relatively “normal” usage like browsing Facebook or scrolling through Instagram, it’s not uncommon to see the screen warm up to 39°C, while the area beside the camera hump being a few degrees cooler. Thermals are a real issue on the Xiaomi 12 Pro, and hopefully Xiaomi will release software updates to improve the overall throttling behavior for more consistent performance.
Battery Life

Battery life of the Xiaomi 12 Pro isn’t exactly great, even as I let the smartphone decide on the resolution and refresh rate by itself. It ends up right in the middle of the stack of the 120Hz smartphones we tested previously, so I guess it’s par for the course.

In real world usage, the Xiaomi 12 Pro’s 4600mAh is perfectly enough for a single day of moderate use, but not much more. I do wish that we would have gotten more out of the Xiaomi 12 Pro, considering that Qualcomm has hyped up the efficiency of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 quite a bit. It isn’t terrible, but we are right about where we were with the Xiaomi Mi 11, which wasn’t that great in the first place.

What has been upgraded significantly is the charging speed, which brings the battery up from 15 to 75% in just 15 minutes. It’s not quite as fast as some 120W smartphones we have tested, but it’s still really, really fast. And the charger comes in the box, so it’s definitely a feature that you can use, err… right out of the box.
User Experience

The curvaceous design of the Xiaomi 12 Pro is very nice to hold in the hand, and the smooth matte finishes on the glass back and metal frame also helps with grip. However Xiaomi definitely has to work more on the palm rejection on the Xiaomi 12 Pro. While I never had an issue with the Xiaomi Mi 11, the Xiaomi 12 Pro suffers from accidental touches on the edges much more, which I believe can be addressed quite easily via a software update.
Display and Audio

Since we are on the topic of the display, let’s get right into it. The display here is a 120Hz LTPO OLED panel, which offers a very fluid scrolling experience. As you might have seen in the Performance section, battery life didn’t seem to benefit much though from the LTPO technology, which is somewhat disappointing. Colors are vibrant with support for the full DCI-P3 gamut, and there’s no worries about visibility under sunlight with it being a very bright panel. Xiaomi also minimized the bezel thickness in the corners, which irked me quite a bit on the Xiaomi Mi 11. Good job here.

Incredibly enough, we actually have even better audio this year on the Xiaomi 12 Pro. The madlads at Xiaomi managed to somehow cram in a total of four speakers, two on each end, and got harman/kardon to tune the output as well. The end result is an impressive sounding smartphone delivering stunning clarity. There is a surprising enough amount of punch in the lower frequencies, albeit it seems to be somewhat muddy with a bit of a bloated mid-bass section, but you can also go into the equalizer to tune that out for a cleaner sound. In short, a really good sounding smartphone, and that waveform-like grille is definitely something to behold.
Software – MIUI

The Xiaomi 12 Pro runs MIUI 13 based on Android 13 out of the box… And all I can say is that I can’t really notice any difference coming from MUI 12.5. There are probably a few changes under the hood, and I did notice that it now shows a popup recommending you to rotate the display if you are holding the Xiaomi 12 Pro in a landscape orientation, but aside from that, there really isn’t anything new here. Settings are still a confusing mess, and you will have to search for a number of the settings unless you are familiar with prior Xiaomi devices.
I have previously complained about the load of bloatware that was pre-loaded onto the Xiaomi Mi 11, and the situation has improved slightly. Thankfully, we have lost the crappy games, but we still have Amazon Shopping, 92, TikTok… Arguably more useful, but I do wish that Xiaomi can do away with all that. Also, stop trying to dupe me into enabling Wallpaper Carousel during the initial boot up. Not happening, Xiaomi. Overall, MIUI 13 and all the apps I use run as fluidly as you would expect on a flagship device, so no complaints here.
Camera

Similar to the general UI, the camera UI has not been vastly improved. That’s fine, as I still think that Xiaomi has one of the better camera apps in the industry. There’s still a mishmash of features here and there, and some features like focus peaking cannot be enabled persistently, but hey, it’s simple, and it helps you take great shots with some orientation notification helping you get your flat-lay shots lined up perfectly. And speaking of simplicity, the Pro mode does offer a lot of bells and whistles, including the ability to adjust the saturation, contrast and sharpness to further take control over your shots.

Hardware wise, Xiaomi went with the absolutely peculiar decision to stabilize the main 50MP camera but decided to not add OIS to the 2X telephoto shooter. Priorities, am I right? It might have been due to the space constraints of this design, but I wish Xiaomi decided on the internals before crafting the design around it. The main camera touts a massive 1/1.28″ Sony IMX707 sensor, while the two auxiliary cameras feature the smaller-but-no-less-impressive Samsung JN1 sensors. There’s also no dedicated macro here, or even autofocus on the ultra-wide, like what the iPhone 13 Pro does, so the closest you get is zooming in on the main camera, which actually still yields quite good results.
          2X telephoto          Main Camera          Selfie          Ultra wide          Ultra-wide          Selfie          2X telephoto          Ultra-wide          2X telephoto          2X telephoto            2X telephoto          2X telephoto          Main Camera          Main Camera          Ultra-wide          2X telephoto          Ultra-wide          Main Camera          Main Camera            Ultra-wide          Ultra-wide (Auto)          Main Camera          Main Camera          Ultra-wide (Night mode)          Ultra-wide          Main Camera
Xiaomi’s trio of cameras perform very well, with the weakest link being the 2X telephoto shooter. It isn’t exactly the best when it comes to discerning finer details, which is a slight bummer. Lack of OIS also means that it falters in low-light situations, despite the impressive sensor. But regardless, the colors, dynamic range and contrast are really on point. The Night mode, which I only very briefly tried because of the excellent performance of the Auto mode, is a lot more subtle. It just raises the shadows a little for a brighter image, but doesn’t overdo it. I really like the results taken with the Xiaomi 12 Pro, and it makes me believe that Xiaomi really worked hard on their image processing this time around. I absolutely adore a few of my shots, especially the ones taken in the LRT tunnel. You can view the full-sized images here.
Conclusion

For RM3899, should you get the Xiaomi 12 Pro? If what you want is a beautiful big display and a great camera setup, the Xiaomi 12 Pro comes strongly recommended by me. But if what you want is a true flagship that covers all the bases… I am not quite sure that the Xiaomi 12 Pro is there yet. At this price point, I feel like Xiaomi is still a little shaky, and the Xiaomi 12 Pro is not quite ready to go up against the sub-RM4000 flagships in the market as an overall package.
There’s no IP rating, unlike most of the top dogs at this price range out there. Performance is also at times worse than last-gen devices, with heating being a real issue here, although Xiaomi might not be entirely to blame here. Battery life is just par for the course, despite the LTPO AMOLED display intended to help lower power consumption. The upside is that charging is just ridiculously fast, with a full charge easily attainable in less than 30 minutes. Not quite as fast as the 18 minutes that Xiaomi claimed, but it is still super quick.

The Xiaomi Mi 11 was ever so close to being a perfect flagship to me, with a unique design, stunning display, great audio and an excellent camera. The Xiaomi 12 Pro builds upon these pluses, but also somehow doubles down on the main complaint I had with its predecessor, by featuring an even hotter chipset. Design wise, I also think Xiaomi took a step backwards here, going from a rather unique look to a more generic one.

In fact, Xiaomi also took another step backwards. While the Xiaomi Mi 11 and Xiaomi 12 Pro shares the same display specifications, the Xiaomi 12 which is the actual successor to the Xiaomi Mi 11 actually touts a lower-res display. But more on that in our Xiaomi 12 review. The Xiaomi 12 Pro is yet another great effort from Xiaomi to enter a higher price bracket, but unfortunately still falls short.
Our thanks to Xiaomi Malaysia for sending us the Xiaomi 12 Pro for review.
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Ulalive, Malaysia’s New Live-Streaming Platform Raises RM1.2 Million Pre-Seed Funding

Ulalive, Malaysia’s first live-streaming social media platform with built-in e-commerce solutions for local content creators, recently acquired the largest amount of pre-seed funding from angel investors, totalling USD300,000 (about RM1.2 million). Ulalive is a combination of the words Ulala and life. Ulala is an exclamation that expresses a strong emotion such as surprise or excitement, which is exactly what users are supposed to feel when they watch live streaming on the app.
Introducing Ulalive

The cash raised will go toward product development, acquiring content producers as early users of the platform, and pursuing a growth plan that will provide broader access to innovative e-commerce solutions, according to ReezBubble Technologies.

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Ulalive will also conduct internal User Acceptance Testing (UAT) as part of their product development by early August 2021, before releasing the Beta version of the platform to its users. As early adopters, a number of influencers from various areas, primarily fashion and beauty, health, travel, and food and beverage, will be involved.

“We are absolutely thrilled and grateful towards our angel investors for their trust and confidence in our vision. Their support showcases the strength behind the concept and idea that we have for this new product, which will revolutionise social media platforms and fuel the growth of the creators’ economy in Malaysia and beyond. Ulalive is built to push real-time information between influencers and their followers or small businesses with customers,” said Afham Fareez, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Ulalive.
“Ultimately, creating positive social impact between these two groups. We believe there is an intimate bond and trust formed if they are engaging using live video streaming which creates transparency, and ultimately will create business between two parties, following our tagline “Deeper Connection, Faster Transaction,” said Afham.

Ulalive is a technology startup founded in April 2021 with the purpose of providing a comprehensive platform for creators and their followers to engage with one another through its key feature, live video streaming. The brand also aims to give e-commerce options for people who want to be entrepreneurs while still being able to generate a consistent monthly income by giving content subscriptions. With that being said, the income each creator earns on the platform is determined by the number of subscribers they have.

Ulalive will also include advanced technological and proprietary features such as 4K video quality, an immersive shopping experience with private space subscription, multiple guest invitations to join live sessions with switchable camera source, an interactive personalised chatting gamification, and more. Creators and sellers can use a scheduled countdown to tell their followers about impending product debuts, and viewers can make pre-orders before the official launch day, resulting in focused and effective visibility and engagement for any campaign.
Ulalive’s virtual launch is scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2021, with early adopters getting a chance to interact with a number of well-known local celebrities who will be in attendance. Visit the official website here for more information.
Pokdepinion: The promised features make this app pretty interesting as well as promising. I hope it doesn’t get abused by those who put out lewd content.
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HONOR V40 specs leak out and they look impressive!

The HONOR V40 is set to be the first HONOR smartphone to be launched after their departure from HUAWEI. HONOR is expected to unveil the smartphone this 18th January, but as you would expect with recent devices, leaksters have already gotten their hand on the HONOR V40 specifications.

HONOR is expected to unveil a number of variants with different chipsets, and the HONOR V40 we are looking at here will reportedly come with the MediaTek Dimensity 1000+ chipset. This will be mated to 8GB LPDDR4x memory and up to 256GB of UFS 2.1 storage. LPDDR5 and UFS 3.1 storage is already present in 2019 flagships, and the Dimensity 1000+ isn’t even 2019’s top chipset, so I do think that this will rank as one of the lower-tier HONOR V40 models.

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The HONOR 30 Pro+ also came with a curved display
With that said, HONOR will be using a “waterfall” display, which should amp up the premium appeal of the device. According to the leaked specifications, the HONOR V40 will tout a 6.72″ FHD+ OLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate and a sharp 80° curvature along the edges. This might be HONOR’s most impressive display in a smartphone yet, if the leak is to be trusted.

Over on the back, the leak points towards a 50MP RYYB Sony IMX766 sensor or a 64MP sensor behind the primary lens, which will be partnered up with a rather underwhelming 8MP ultra-wide angle shooter, a 2MP macro camera and a 2MP depth sensor.
HONOR V40 Specs *leaked*

MediaTek Dimensity 1000+, octa-core up to 2.6GHz, 7nm
8GB LPDDR4x RAM
Up to 256GB UFS 2.1 storage, upgradeable with NM card
6.72″ FHD+ OLED curved display, 120Hz refresh rate
64MP / 50MP RYYB Sony IMX766 + 8MP ultra-wide + 2MP macro + 2MP depth sensor
32MP + 16MP ultra-wide selfie camera
4000mAh battery, 66W fast charging, 45W wireless fast charging

A strong successor to the HONOR V30?
If these specifications are real, HONOR might be coming back in a big way. HONOR CEO, George Zhao, has reportedly claimed that HONOR aims to be the top domestic smartphone vendor in China, and the HONOR V40 might just be the way to do it.
Source
Pokdepinion: The HONOR V40’s specs sure look promising, but the camera does leave me a bit wanting. Now looking forward to the HONOR V40 Pro!
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ARMAGGEDDON NRO-5 STARSHIP III 2017 Edition Gaming Mouse Review – Improved design and performance

ARMAGGEDDON has updated its NRO-5 STARSHIP III gaming mouse with a new IR sensor and design this year. I had some difficulty getting used to the mouse’s unique shape in my review of the previous iteration of the NRO-5 STARSHIP III, finding the position of macro keys and also the software to be clunky. It has been quite some time since, so did ARMAGGEDDON improve the design and performance on the new ARMAGGEDDON NRO-5 STARSHIP III 2017? Let’s check it out in our review.
Unboxing

The new ARMAGGEDDON NRO-5 STARSHIP III 2017’s packaging looks much better compared to the previous version’s. The yellow and black color scheme is still present but now looks much cleaner and way tidier. The 16.8 million colors illumination, 10,000 CPI sensor, OMRON switches, 9-key programmable keys and also the weight management are highlighted here on the front of the packaging as well.

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On the back, we have detailed specifications and also a list of features in various languages.  From the specifications, we can see that the mouse is using a new sensor, the PixArt PMW3225 IR sensor.

Checking on the right side of the box, we have more information about the mouse. The size guide did pique my interest, I wonder if the ARMAGGEDDON NRO-5 STARSHIP III 2017 is available in various sizes, or they just mean that this mouse is a medium in their range of gaming mice. We also have the system requirements, package contents and warranty information for the product here. ARMAGGEDDON NRO-5 STARSHIP III 2017 is backed by a 2-year manufacturer limited warranty.

The usual ARMAGGEDDON’s flip window allows you to look at the mouse in a blister pack. On the flip, we have ARMAGGEDDON’s story on what make ARMAGGEDDON products the “Ultimate Gaming Gear”. If you have owned any other ARMAGGEDDON products, this is the exact same story, so you can skip it. If this is your first, take your time and absorb the ideology.

Inside the packaging, we have the ARMAGGEDDON NRO-5 STARSHIP III 2017, a user manual and one extra set of Teflon feet for replacement. One thing I noticed here is that they have dropped the driver CD that was included with the previous iteration. You will have to download and install the companion driver for the NRO-5 STARSHIP III 2017, you can download the driver from this page.
Appearance

Looking at it from the top, the ARMAGGEDDON NRO-5 STARSHIP III 2017 looks identical to its predecessor. Its ergonomic design still features the matte black rubberized finishing or known as Sable Soviets by ARMAGGEDDON. The body size is also the same as the previous version. I was hoping that it will be a little larger so it would be perfect for my hands.

I find large Teflon feet on the bottom just like its predecessor, ensuring a smooth glide on almost any surface. If the pre-installed Teflon feet are exhausted, don’t worry as ARMAGGEDDON included a replacement set in the box. That’s really thoughtful of them actually.

The hidden weight management tray allows you to add or remove weights to fine tune the mouse’s heft to your liking. With up to six metal tabs, it weighs 4 grams each, giving you a total of 24 grams to play around with.

In my review of the previous iteration of the NRO-5 STARSHIP III, I did find the awkward placement of the side buttons to be difficult to reach. It seems that ARMAGGEDDON did pay attention to its users and fixed the issue here. Now it’s much easier to reach all the keys without having to stretch my thumb.
User Experience

I got used to the ARMAGGEDDON NRO-5 STARSHIP III 2017’s unique shape quite quickly, but the size still does not allow me to palm it comfortably. Referring to the size guide on the box, the ARMAGGEDDON NRO-5 STARSHIP 2017 is a medium sized mouse. If only ARMAGGEDDON can make a larger version of the ARMAGGEDDON NRO-5 STARSHIP III 2017, that would definitely be perfect for me. Scrolling with the scroll wheel on the ARMAGGEDDON NRO-5 STARSHIP III 2017 is satisfying enough with a mild clicky sensation to denote every notch.
Drawing on paint with ARMAGGEDDON NRO-5 STARSHIP III 2017
ARMAGGEDDON NRO-5 STARSHIP III 2017 packs a PixArt PMW3325 IR LED sensor, a relatively new sensor. This sensor is touted as the successor of the PixArt PMW 3320. Based on my testing, it works well without noticeable issues of jitter or prediction. It not necessary to really memorize all of these mouse sensors in the market, but by having some basic knowledge of the more common ones can save you from getting a mouse with a horrible sensor.

My requirements when picking a new mouse is a shape that feels comfortable, accurate sensor and also a short lift off distance. Although the ARMAGGEDDON NRO-5 STARSHIP III 2017 size is rather small for my grip, the sensor accuracy and lift off distance doesn’t disappoint. The lift off distance on ARMAGGEDDON NRO-5 STARSHIP III 2017 is excellent, without me having to worry about my cursor flying off on its own when I lift the mouse to reposition it.

Talking about the sensor accuracy, at first I had my doubts with its performance. After I downloaded the companion software and setup the mouse setting, I found that this mouse actually performs quite well.

There is some improvement on the software yet there is one thing that still bothers me since the last model. The only thing I dislike about the software is you need to minimize the window instead of closing it, as doing that will terminate the background app.  Another minor issue I had with the software is whenever I save new settings for the mouse, the software becomes unresponsive for a while.

On the right side, you can adjust the CPI setting, lighting, USB report rate, mouse speed, double-click speed and scroll speed. For the lighting customization, it has up to three lighting modes, and I like the multi-color mode best. Funnily enough, the side buttons can illuminate in every color as long as its orange. I guess ARMAGGEDDON’s budget didn’t allow for five more RGB LEDs to light up the side buttons?

The left side of the software allows you to assign functions to the five side buttons. As always, I assigned all the macro keys to improve my productivity, such as opening Explorer, back and forward, and also multimedia controls. The companion software allows you to save up to six profiles here.
Conclusion
The ARMAGGEDDON NRO-5 STARSHIP III 2017 has improved over the previous generation. One improvement really worth mentioning is that the side buttons are now easier to reach. The size is still too small for my hand and it would take me quite some time to get completely used to it.

In terms of performance, it did great for both gaming and general computing. The lift distance and accuracy are both excellent. It’s looks like ARMAGGEDDON decision to change from the AVAGO 9800 to the PixArt PMW 3225 sensor is worth it. For me the 10,000 CPI feature is not something anyone really needs, unless you are planning to use the mouse with multiple screens or a 4K monitor. More CPI doesn’t directly correlate to better accuracy, and I am glad ARMAGGEDDON didn’t sacrifice sensor accuracy for a higher number on the spec sheet here.

Overall, I think the NRO-5 STARSHIP III 2017 has really improved a lot upon its predecessor. The only thing ARMAGGEDDON needs to improve here is the companion software. They really need to work on offering a seamless user experience to their fans. The RM199 asking price is a little high, but the fact that ARMAGGEDDON didn’t raise the price despite the improvements is worthy of applause.

After taking everything into account, I award the ARMAGGEDDON NRO-5 STARSHIP III 2017 with the Bronze Pokdeward.

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MCMC Discussing with Facebook Regarding Hack on Malaysian Accounts

Recently, we reported about a security breach over at Facebook which resulted in almost 50 million accounts affected, which you can read about right here. The story of the hack is certainly some many are worried about, and us Malaysians are not exempted by this.
The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) said it is in touch with Facebook to determine how many Malaysian Facebook users have been affected by the hack.

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In the interim, it said users should check their security and login page to determine if their account had been improperly accessed. Users are also advised to be on alert if there are any suspicious activities on their accounts, and report the same to authorities.
Reports and complaints can be made to MCMC at +6016-2206262, or Personal Data Protection Department at [email protected].
Source: Bernama
Pokdepinion: We are currently working on a step-by-step guide as to what you should do to avoid any potential mishaps with your account. Be sure to stay tuned as it will be published very soon.
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Facing Connection Errors in Monster Hunter World (PC)? Here’s How to Fix It

Despite the massive response Monster Hunter World received upon its PC release, it has been plagued by connection errors. Capcom claims to have fixed it.
Facing Connection Errors in Monster Hunter World (PC)?

It is without a doubt that Monster Hunter World is a very popular game as it managed to garner a huge number of players upon its PC release. However, the game has been seeing some major connection errors that led to many people feeling bitter about the game, with some people even quitting it completely.

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Well, the folks over at Capcom claims to have fixed the issue with their latest update for Monster Hunter World, which updates the game’s revision number to 151910.
As for the specifics, Capcom noted that they have fixed the following issues:
Monster Hunter World Connection Error Fixes

Fixed an issue where error messages would display and kick players offline when searching for online sessions. Also readjusted the matchmaking function to make it easier to find an online session via “Search for an Online Session” > “Matchmake”.
Fixed an issue where error messages would display and kick players offline after having joined an online session.
Fixed an issue where error messages would display and kick players offline while playing multiplayer.This adjustment reduces the number of occurrences, though it does not completely resolve the issue. We will continue to investigate this matter.
Fixed an issue where the error message “E_FAIL : hr” would display and the game would crash when switching to full screen mode.

All you have to do is make sure you have the latest version of the game on your PC to have these fixed applied. If your game revision number is 151910, then you have the right one. The game revision number will be shown on the top-left corner of your screen upon launching the game in Windowed mode. You will have to close and reopen the game in order for it to take place, assuming it hasn’t already updated by itself.
If you are still facing some connection errors despite the  update, be sure to contact support for it as it could be something that they’ve overlooked or even a different case altogether. You can head straight to the game’s support portal by clicking right here.
Source: Steam Community Post
Pokdepinion: I am about pretty sure there will be some connection errors still but hopefully it’s not as prevalent as before. I personally got tired of playing the game just because of that.
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Steam Now Lets You Try Games For 90 Minutes Before Purchase

Dead Space remake is the first title to offer the new free trial scheme.

Price-conscious gamers, Valve has brought a good news for you (or really, everyone). Steam is now offering a new demo mode which allows players to play the supported titles however they like for 90 minutes before making a purchase decision. The existing refund policy still applies – as long as your total playtime is less than two hours after the purchase, made within last 14 days. (Do the maths and that’s up to 3.5 hours worth of gameplay for free.)

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Valve hasn’t said anything so far regarding the new free trial scheme, as this was only first spotted by Kotaku with only a single title – Dead Space remake – supporting the feature. It’s also unclear if this may end up featured in large number of titles, or only a select few publishers will go ahead with this plan. As far as demos go, Ubisoft provides a more complete roster of games with many of its recent titles having demo versions to try out, while most other publishers do away with it many years ago, or just never had one to begin with.
This should be good news for gamers – the first 90 minutes should be enough for most players to identify any technical issues (with how oddly prevalent PC port fiascos has become lately) or unsatisfactory aspects of the game before they go ahead with the purchase. This in turn should put pressure on publishers to take extra care with their game quality to earn gamers’ hard-earned money.
Source: PCMag
Pokdepinion: Now it’s really up to the publishers to go ahead with this plan – here’s hoping.
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ASUS ProArt StudioBook One W590 is a gaming-level workhorse laptop!

Do you remember this announcement we shared about 4 months ago? It’s already happening with ASUS letting us get personal with the ASUS ProArt StudioBook One W590. If you are not familiar with the ProArt series, then just keep in mind that it’s one of the series that aims at color-perfect creator tasks likes digital artists, animators and architects, just to name a few.

The W590 has a beast lurking under its hoods. The 15-inch machine is chugged by Intel Core i9 processor alongside Nvidia Quadro RTX 6000 GPU which is enough to scare any other computers that will be sitting in the same office as it. The display features an ultrasharp 4K UHD PANTONE validated with ΔE < 1.0 which is crazy amount of color accuracy.

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So far, at the point of writing, this is the only laptop that is powered by Core i9 CPU together with the RTX6000 GPU. You can beef up the machine with up to 24GB of VRAM allowing insane levels of performance for virtual production, real-time 8K video editing, data analytics, CAD design and simulation, among other data-intensive workloads.

What makes the W590 stand out also answers the main question you already have. How does it deal with all that heat that would be generated by such a powerful engine? The ProArt StudioBook One has a rather innovative cooling system featuring a lightweight, aerospace-grade titanium-alloy thermal module designed to optimize inlet and exhaust flow.

The heat intensive components are located in the lid instead of the bottom chassis. When this lid is lifted open, the outer cover converges by 4.57° that assists in cooling. Since the components are on the lid, the chassis doesn’t feel hot and you can place it on your laps without scalding them. Genius.
ASUS ProArt StudioBook One W590 Specifications

Processor
Intel® Core™ i9-9980HK processor
2.4 GHz octa-core with Turbo Boost (up to 5.0 GHz) and 16 MB SmartCache

Graphics
NVIDIA® Quadro RTX™ 6000
24 GB GDDR6 VRAM

Operating system
Windows 10 Pro (Recommended)

Display
15.6″ LED-backlit UHD (3840 x 2160) display
16:9 aspect ratio
84% screen-to-body ratio
Anti-glare panel
100% Adobe RGB
PANTONE® Validated
Corning® Gorilla® Glass 5

Memory
32 GB DDR4 2666 MHz

Storage
1 TB SSD (PCIe® 3.0 NVMe)

Connectivity
3 x Thunderbolt™ 3 USB-C™ with DisplayPort 1.4 (up to 40 Gbps)
1 x DC-in

Wireless
Dual-band WiFi 5 (802.11ac)
Bluetooth® 5.0

Keyboard and touchpad
Illuminated chiclet keyboard with fingerprint sensor & power button
Precision Touchpad (PTP) with Windows Gestures support

Audio
Array microphone with Cortana voice-recognition support

Camera
HD webcam

Software
MyASUS
McAfee Common Build for All

Battery and power supply
90 Wh 12-cell lithium-polymer battery
300 W power adapter
(Output: 48 V DC, 6.25 A, 300 W)
(Input: 100~240 V AC, 50/60 Hz, 4 A universal

Colors
Star Grey

Size
364.5 x 245.0 x 24.2 mm

Weight
2.9 kg

Gallery

Pokdepinion: If I were a graphic design student and a gamer at the same time, I kinda know what to ask my dad for my university.
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Genshin Impact Leak Reveals Yae and Shenhe Launch Date

After their first anniversary celebration with miHoYo giving out plenty of free Primogems and a $30 glider, we now have an idea when Yae and Shenhe will be arriving in Genshin Impact. Here’s what you need to know.
Genshin Impact Leak: Yae and Shenhe Launch Date

[Reliable Source] Update to a reliable Uncle’s previous info: Shenhe currently fixed for release in 2.4, Yae currently fixed for release in 2.5.
Though he claimed Itto was slated for 2.4, now says it’s “not impossible” for him to be pushed up for 2.3.
↓ Sources in thread ↓ pic.twitter.com/3uRsncfjeF
— SYP Team // Genshin Leaks (@SaveYourPrimos) October 9, 2021

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According to details shared by Twitter account @SaveYourPrimos, Shenhe is pretty much set to launch in Genshin Impact 2.4 whereas Yae will be coming later in update 2.5.
Interestingly, they also mentioned of Itto supposedly launching in update 2.4 but there’s a good chance he will be pushed earlier to update 2.3 instead. The account attributed the alleged leak to Uncle Dumb Dumb,, who is a reliable leaker in the community.
Previously, Yae was expected to launch in Genshin Impact as early as update 2.2 but has since been pushed back to an unknown time. Unfortunately, no word yet on why that needed to be done but whatever issue they had with the character, it seems like they still need more time to iron out if she’s being pushed back that far.
Genshin Impact is currently available for free on the PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Android, iOS, and PC. A Nintendo Switch port of the game coming in the near future.
Source
Pokdepinion: This is gonna be weird, especially since we’re not sure what sort of changes miHoYo has done to her, but I will do everything in my power to get Yae. I have a strange feeling I will find something broken with the character still.
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[MWC 2022] OPPO reveals upcoming 240W SUPERVOOC for a full charge in 9 minutes

OPPO is one of the pioneers of fast charging technologies, with OPPO SUPERVOOC debuting in 2014. At MWC 2022, they have revealed their cutting edge 150W SUPERVOOC and 240W SUPERVOOC technologies. The former promises a full charge in 15 minutes, while the latter goes from 0 to 100% in a mere 9 minutes, or less time than it takes you to make your coffee.
OPPO 240W SUPERVOOC and 150W SUPERVOOC revealed

The 150W SUPERVOOC was showcased with the Battery Health Engine technology which debuted in the OPPO Find X5 series. While 0 to 100% in 15 minutes is impressive enough, OPPO also boasted about the endurance of the battery, with it reportedly capable of ensuring that the battery still can deliver 80% of its original capacity after 1600 charge cycles, 2X the 800 cycles that is the industry standard.

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This is enabled by a slew of technologies in the Battery Health Engine, one of which is an optimized charging curve to deliver a higher charging rate below 50%, getting you to half charge in just 5 minutes, while tapering off the charging rate as you approach 100%. That’s why it takes a whole 10 minutes to get from 50% to 100%, because it is necessary so that your battery doesn’t become ewaste in mere months.

OPPO will be harnessing GaN for the OPPO 150W SUPERVOOC power adapter, allowing them to deliver immense power density, with the charger being about the same size as the last-gen 65W SUPERVOOC adapter. It weighs a good 172g though, so it’s not a very portable charger by any means, despite being very compact.

Meanwhile the 240W SUPERVOOC appears to be fresh out of the oven, with OPPO not making any claims about the battery lifespan just yet. The insanely fast charging gives you a full charge on a 4500mAh battery in a mere 9 minutes, and we will probably see OPPO develop on this further to make sure that all that speed doesn’t come at the expense of endurance.

Along with the fast charging tech, OPPO also revealed the new OPPO 5G CPE T2, featuring a Snapdragon X62 5G modem-RF system and OPPO’s O-Reserve 2.0 smart antenna technology. It is designed to bring fast internet to more people where fiber connectivity isn’t available, by harnessing the 5G cellular networks. OPPO is working with operators in the APAC, Middle East and Europe regions to bring the OPPO 5G CPE T2 to users in the second half of 2022.
Pokdepinion: I think OPPO should look towards working on faster and more efficient wireless charging now. They look like the ones who would be able to do it best.
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Microsoft Bing Chatbot Gets DALL-E, An AI Image Generator

Like the ChatGPT itself, the DALL-E model is also the upgraded one over standard versions.
Image: Microsoft
Bing doesn’t stop at just generating ideas and texts – Microsoft has introduced a new feature for its Bing chatbot to generate images courtesy of the popular image generation AI, DALL-E. Simply by writing what you want and the AI will generate images based on the prompts.
As for now, you’ll have to set the chatbot as Creative mode to use this feature, with the feature set to roll out to Balanced and Precise mode at some point. “We will initially only include Image Creator in the creative mode of Bing chat and our intention is to make it available in balanced and precise mode over time,” per Yusuf Medhi, Microsoft’s head of consumer marketing.

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Microsoft has clearly learnt its lessons from the broken chatbot debacle – and it’s already having safeguards in place to prevent any misuse. Should it detects the prompts as potentially harmful, the chatbot will block the generation and warn the user.
“We have ensured OpenAI’s safeguards, plus additional protections, have been incorporated into Image Creator,” says Mehdi. “For example, we have put controls in place that aim to limit the generation of harmful or unsafe images. When our system detects that a potentially harmful image could be generated by a prompt, it blocks the prompt and warns the user.”
Here’s what Bing made with “astronaut landing on Mars” prompt.
Interested? Bing Preview users can get immediate access to the feature through web or using Microsoft Edge’s Bing sidebar, but if you don’t have access – fret not, just head to bing.com/create so you can skip the chatbot part and get started.
Source: The Verge
Pokdepinion: I remember not so long ago generating an image took more than a minute, it’s very quick these days.
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There have been many theories on the possibility of The Last of Us series taking place in the same world as the Uncharted series. This newest The Last of Us 2 easter egg is further reinforcing that idea.
The Last of Us 2 Easter Egg Points At Sharing the Same World as Uncharted

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This newly easter egg was found by Reddit user u/kheinrichs547, referring to a bottle of pills which belong to an old woman. These pills are said to be found in Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End in Chapter 16: A Brothers Drake. The label on the bottle of pills show Weston’s Pharmacy, which can be seen throughout The Last of Us 2 as well as its predecessor.
In case you missed it, Weston’s Pharmacy can be found in the predecessor’s DLC when Ellie and Riley are exploring a store after escaping together. As for The Last of Us 2, it’s during the Seraphites chapter where the pharmacy is an optional location that can be found with a safe filled with goodies inside.
Previously, it was discovered that there’s a Cordyceps-infected ant easter egg in the first The Last of Us game, which seems to push the idea of the two franchises being set in the same world. The newest easter egg certainly reinforces the idea even further.
To be completely fair, there’s a chance they might not actually share the same world and it’s just the creators reusing the same assets. Unless the developer or the person in charge of storyline outright says no, it’s fun to think of the possibilities.
Source
Pokdepinion: Many of us already had an inkling of this possibility but this new The Last of Us 2 easter egg is one of few things that point towards that possibility being a reality.
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The NZXT H1 case is certainly a memorable one, especially given how it looks like the Xbox Series X. However, over 33,000 of them have been recalled recently due to a potential fire hazard that was discovered.
33,000 NZXT H1 Cases Recalled for Potential Fire Hazard

Previously in November 2020, we reported about this popular ITX case being recalled. Sales of the NZXT H1 were halted as a result of reports regarding two particular screws that were used to attach the PCIe riser assembly to the case as it caused an electrical short circuit, thus making it a potential fire hazard.
According to NZXT, there have been 11 reports of “circuit boards overheating or catching fire worldwide, six of which occurred in the US.” They have issued a temporary solution by offering owners nylon screws to replace the metal screws. However, this doesn’t fix the underlying issue.

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According to YouTube channel Gamers Nexus, the issue with the NZXT H1 stems from the PCB design rather than the use of screws itself. The company has since removed the case from their stores and sent out redesigned riser assemblies.
At the moment, they are looking for a permanent solution for the NZXT H1 but nothing solid has popped up yet. The 33,000 cases that were recalled consists of 32,000 units that were sold in the US, and another 1,024 cases in Canada. Anyone who owns the case right now is advised to “immediately stop using the recalled computer cases and contact NZXT for a free repair kit.”
Source
Pokdepinion: I do wonder if the Xbox Series X has the same issue or not. Jokes aside, it’s a real shame as I really like this PC case.
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Lenovo IdeaCentre 610s — Small package, big computing and a mini projector

It’s look like I miss another innovative product during the CES 2016, the Lenovo IdeaCentre 610s is a mini computer that have a detachable projector that can be mount with tripod too.

Specification on the Lenovo IdeaCentre 610s actually is amazing, a small beast with up to latest 6th generation Intel Core i7, 16GB DDR4 RAM, 2TB HDD or optional 128GB SSD and NVIDIA GTX 750Ti 2GB graphic card. Amazingly all the hardware is squeezed in a tiny 2.2L casing and weight 2KG.

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The Lenovo IdeaCentre 610s comes with an optional detachable projector head to bring excitement to even the smallest space. It’ a detachable 720p resolution micro projector that can project image of 100 inches at a distance of 2.4m.

The rest specification is 4 USB 3.0 ports, a HDMI and Gigabit LAN port, audio jack and 3-in-1 card reader (SD, SDHC, SDXC). It’s also equipped with wireless AC and optional Bluetooth Connectivity.

The Lenovo IdeaCentre 610s is price at USD 850 (approximately MYR 3800) including the micro projector (tripod is not included) with pre-installed Windows 10 operating system. Availability starting on June 2016.
Pokdepinion: It’s a cool idea and a cute tiny PC with huge CPU performances. The Lenovo IdeaCentre 610s might not fit for everybody but the it’s definitely better than some of small form factor gaming desktop in the market.
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The debate of Android and iOS has been seen and heard for many years now, and everyone has their own preference. However, it’s always interesting to hear about the preference of notable figures. In the case of Bill Gates, here’s why he prefers Android over iOS.
This is Why Bill Gates Prefers Android Over iOS

NY Times and CNBC journalist Andrew Ross Sorkin interviewed Bill Gates via Clubhouse recently. From there, we learned that his preference hasn’t changed and it remains to be Android over iOS, but he does use both.
Bill Gates said he prefers the Google ecosystem because “Some of the Android manufacturers pre-install Microsoft software in a way that makes it easy for me and they’re more flexible about how the software connects up with the operating system so that’s what I’ve ended up getting used to.” He still does use an iPhone to be up-to-date with everything other activities, like using Clubhouse as it is an iOS-exclusive.

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Previously, Bill Gates said that his greatest mistake was losing to Google in the mobile space as he believes its a natural area for Microsoft to win. He feels that there is a space for one non-Apple OS and that is now worth USD $400 billion. As for which companies he believes are doing the most exciting work, he named Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Apple, and Facebook as his top choices.
But, in terms of really pushing the boundaries of computer science and architecture and AI, I’d say Google and Microsoft have a strong R&D commitment — both stuff they share openly and things they focus on for their own products.
Source
Pokdepinion: It shouldn’t influence anyone else to change their smartphone, just a matter of piquing interest.
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Raya Bersama Shopee Brings Free Shipping, Cashback and More

Enliven Your Raya With Shopee

With Hari Raya Aidilfitri just around the corner, the Raya With Shopee campaign is here to bring low prices and the best deals in town straight to you. This will be happening from now until 5th May 2022.
For starters, you can enjoy free shipping with a minimum spend of just RM5. All you have to do is simply claim the free shipping vouchers and apply them before checking out your purchase. Apart from that, there are also 100% Coins Cashback vouchers (capped at RM5) up for grabs, and there is no minimum spend required to use it. In case you want more, there are also 25% off days, 25% Coins Cashback, 25% brand vouchers and more up for grabs as well under Shopee Mall from an assortment of brands like Levi’s, Logitech, and vivo.

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If you’re using ShopeePay, you stand to save and earn more as you can get an RM5 cashback with a minimum spend of RM25 at any Caltex stations. Moreover, you can get more with ShopeePay by using the 1 SEN ShopeePay vouchers, which are applicable with a variety of merchants. Speaking of 1 SEN, you can get the ShopeeFood Savings Pass for just 1 sen alongside free deliveries all day long.

Looking to ride in style this Hari Raya? You have a chance to win a brand new Vespa Sprint S 150 motorcycle via the Spin & Win challenge. All you have to do is collect golden tickets that are available on a daily basis to be in the running to win the prize. The more golden tickets you have, the higher your chances of winning. Consolation prizes include gold bars, so it’s definitely worth trying.
For the ladies who want to doll up and look nice, the SimplySiti Pearl Collection has launched together with this Raya With Shopee campaign. To celebrate the occasion, there will be up to 10% discount up for grabs for their cosmetic products, and up to 30% discount for their skin care products. This deal will be applicable from now until 30th April 2022.

Lastly, there will be a program to help the underprivileged with #ShopeeGivesBack and Shopee Supermarket, and they are inviting every single Malaysian to help out. You can purchase a Care Box of your choice, which will then be donated to selected NGOs in the country. Furthermore, Shopee Supermarket will be adding RM4 on top of every Care Box as a donation to make a bigger impact.
If you’re interested to learn more about the Raya With Shopee campaign, click right here.
Source
Pokdepinion: I was just about to buy a new bedframe and shoes but decided to hold off for a bit last month. Good thing I did because now, I can buy those and get something back in return while saving a bit of money. Guess procrastination ain’t so bad after all.
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Oppo Lines Up Hari Raya Promotions – One For Catalan Fans

With Hari Raya coming up soon, Oppo Malaysia is offering some awesome freebies worth up to RM 299 for O-fans to enjoy when they purchase Oppo camera phones. This is one for Barcelona fans!
Oppo’s Hari Raya Promotion

From now until 30th June 2017, consumers who purchase the ‘Now, It’s Clear’ series, Oppo R9s and Oppo R9s Plus from all Oppo official sales point and even the Oppo Official Online Store can enjoy a complimentary Barcelona Limited Edition backpack. Besides that, they will also be getting a free car charger that is worth RM 59 when they purchase Oppo A37, A57, A77, and F1s from both online and offline.

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For more information on the promotion, you can check their website.

Pokdepinion: Sure, who would not want these freebies? Unless you are a Real Madrid fan though..

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Discord To Arrive On PlayStation Network

Discord is one of the top communication service for gamers today and if you’re a PlayStation gamer, well there’s some great news. It seems that Sony has confirmed that the platform will be coming soon to the PlayStation Network.
Discord arriving on PlayStation Network
The news was revealed at Sony’s blogpost by Jim Ryan, the company’s President as well as CEO. With more than 140 million people using the platform around the globe, it’s not surprising to see that they’ve opted to implement it (Discord) to their network soon.
Here’s what he had to say about the matter:

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Together, our team are already hard at work connecting Discord with your social and gaming experiences on PlayStation Network. Our goal is to bring the Discord and PlayStation experiences closer together on console and mobile starting early next year, allowing friends, groups, and communities to hang out, have fun, and communicate more easily while playing games together.
They’ve mentioned that they will have more to share in the coming months. There’s no confirmation on whether the feature will arrive only for PS5 or for last gen consoles as well as of now. Until then, you can stay tuned to Pokde.net for the latest tech and gaming news plus reviews.
Pokdepinion: I’ve been telling my PlayStation friends on how nice it would be if Discord was available on PS. The most recent update to the party chat system doesn’t seem user-friendly enough. We’d have to wait a little longer however as it’ll be available starting early of next year in 2022.
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ASUS Vivo MiniPC UN65H review

The ASUS VivoMini PC UN65H was introduced by ASUS as a compact small form factor PC to become the ideal solution for HTPC and casual multimedia usage such as browsing, word processing and video streaming.
Elegantly crafted for the home user, does this PC actually perform well? The unit I review comes with the latest 6th generation Intel Core processor. Capable to power multi-display setups with the DisplayPort and HDMI port, ASUS also claims that it can play 4K video content. Without further ado, let’s take a closer look at the ASUS VivoMini PC UN65H.
Unboxing

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Unboxing experience of the ASUS VivoMini PC UN65H is something new for me. I’m really excited with its relative small box.

Inside the box we have the ASUS VivoMini PC UN65H itself, a 65 Watt power brick, DisplayPort to VGA converter, VESA mount and some documentation. Yeah, the arrangement is a bit messy as I have actually unboxed this review unit before I took photos, and I forgot the original arrangement.

These are all that came in the box. I like that ASUS has even bundled a DP to VGA adapter just in case you are using an old monitor, which is way overdue for an upgrade, by the way.

I’m very curious with the power consumption, as my first thought was whether this ASUS VivoMini PC UN65H is suitable for office applications. I used to offer consulting services to my previous company to help them choose the perfect computer unit to reduce operating costs in the long run. The 65 watt power brick should actually be more than enough for this system, as I figure it consumes less than 40 watts. Well, we will find out later.

Appearance

It’s small, very small. That’s my first impression when holding the PC. On top of the unit, the ASUS VivoMini PC UN65H comes with Zen-inspired concentric circle finishing with the ASUS logo smack dab in the middle.

There’s only the power button on the the front, with a white LED status indicator. The right side we have two USB 3.0 ports which support smartphone fast-charging and also a memory card reader.

At the back of the unit is where we have DC-IN power jack, a HDMI and Display port connector, two USB 2.0 port, a RJ-45 LAN port and mic-in audio jack. Despite the ASUS VivoMini PC UN65H having WiFi connectivity too, it is nice to see ASUS offering you the option of using LAN too. A small ventilation grille above the the ports help with some heat dissipation. There’s nothing but a Kensington lock at the other side of the unit.

Nothing much to see at the bottom, only the ventilation grilles for heat dissipation.

The ASUS VivoMini PC UN65H is quite ready for hardware upgrades. It’s very easy to open this PC, no manual needed. From this view we can easily see that you can swap the HDD to any 2.5″ SSD or SSHD. Two SO-DIMM RAM slots allowed you to put another 4GB of RAM as it only supports a maximum of 8GB RAM according to its specifications.

A M.2 slot is available for up to 10Gbit/s data transfer rates with a maximum capacity of 256GB.

Specification

Performance
An Intel Core i3-6100U is sufficient for office work and multimedia consumption. The system comes with a mere 4GB of RAM, I’m pretty sure it’s not enough, especially if you are browsing with Google Chrome. So upgrading the RAM is pretty much a must with the ASUS VivoMini PC.
Once you use an SSD, you will never go back to using a HDD. You simply just can’t. The ASUS VivoMini PC UN65H loading time literally took years. Not really, but it felt like eons before it was ready to be used. But I have used HDDs as my system drive before, and they were never this slow. As curiosity killed the cat, my curiosity led me to examine the drive.

First I ran CrystalDiskMark and it gave me a really poor result of 78MB/s read and 84MB/s write rate.

At first I suspect it was caused by the HDD ribbon being of poor quality, but after Googling the model number of the HDD, I found that the drive is actually really slow. On UserBenchmark, average speeds for this drive is quite similar with the results I got.

With an average of 40fps even with the lowest settings at 720p, I decided that this ASUS VivoMini PC UN65H not capable of eSports gaming. Firstly, the integrated Intel HD 520 is not even meant for gaming, and secondly, DOTA 2 has received a lot of updates, making it more and more graphics intensive. But if you plan to play CounterStrike 1.6 or any casual games, GLHF as the performance levels of this PC is more than sufficient for those titles.

Thermal and power consumption figures are my favourite parts in this review. With an idle wattage of 10 watts, the total system only consumes 31 watts when both CPU and GPU are stressed. I’m using Linx and Furmark for stressing out both the CPU and GPU. Browsing, streaming and watching movie, it only sipped around 20 watts. That is even lower than the average 32 watt fluorescent lamp!

User Experience
Other than the slow HDD performance, I actually enjoyed using the ASUS VivoMini PC over the whole weekend. By connect the PC to a 50-inch TV, controlling it with some Logitech Bluetooth peripherals, it served as a perfect HTPC setup for me. Watching a marathon of Mr.Robot on iflix was a very enjoyable experience, and it was totally worth my entire weekend.
Everything about this PC is almost perfect for a home user setup but the entire experience was marred by the the poor HDD performance. Even starting Microsoft Edge could take more than 10 second to launch. And when its up, simply browsing the Internet can fill the 4GB RAM quite fast.
Another issue I had with the PC is when I put it on sleep mode, it refuses to wake up when I clicked the mouse or press the keyboard buttons. Even when I tried connecting a wired mouse to the PC, it won’t wake-up unless I turn the TV off and on again. It’s a weird situation because it doesn’t happen when I using the ASUS VivoMini PC UN65H with a desktop monitor.

Conclusion
The ASUS VivoMini PC UN65H might be suitable for normal home usage and HTPC purposes. If compared with a custom built PC, it definitely wins in terms of its compactness and thrifty power consumption, but definitely not on performance. The main issue I would like to highlight is the slow HDD performance. ASUS should be considering using SSHDs which are better than the conventional HDD, while also being quite affordable so as not to raise the costs too much. A SSHD should greatly improve the user experience.

The power consumption is astonishing and the processor doles out enough performance for any office application.  But the price tag is quite a deterrent. Priced at around RM 1600, this mini PC needs faster storage and also a discrete graphics card to be relevant. It might be affordable for most end users, but not at all to those who are comfortable with DIY PC builds. I awarded the ASUS VivoMini PC UN65H a Bronze Pokdeward.
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HUAWEI To Talk About New Growth Opportunities With AppGallery At GDC 2021

During its forthcoming featured developer sessions at the annual Gaming Developer Conference 2021, Huawei is inviting worldwide developers to take their apps and games to the next level using AppGallery.
The Game Developers Conference is an annual video game conference focusing on developers, bringing together the global community to share ideas, make connections, and learn new skills to enhance their art. The conference will go all-digital for the 2021 edition, allowing even more individuals to participate via online registration.
HUAWEI talks AppGallery at GDC 2021

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At GDC 2021, HUAWEI will present two sessions that will take developers on an educational trip to learn how AppGallery plays a significant role in a developer’s growth plan, as well as discover new ways of monetising mobile games with Huawei Ads.
“AppGallery presents unique growth opportunities with its extensive distribution, market reach, and strength in the Chinese market; with Huawei’s combined hardware and software innovation with HarmonyOS and HMS, it delivers an elevated experience that can maximize the value for gaming partners and users,” said Alexandre Salem, Global Gaming Business Development Director.
“We are excited to meet global game developers and invite everybody to explore the next growth opportunity with AppGallery. We are also very grateful to have our partners Playrix and Gameloft join us to share their journey with AppGallery, and hope more partners will join us to explore more and expand together with AppGallery,” Salem added.

In the first session ‘Find your next big win with AppGallery’, Alexandre, as well as Gavin Kinghall Were, Global Head of BD Solutions, Consumer Business Group, Huawei, will be joined by Aurelien Lavaud, Global BD Director, Gameloft, and Maxim Kirilenko, Chief Business Development Officer, Playrix, to discuss their experience incorporating AppGallery as part of their global growth strategy in their game launch and expansion.
Aoife Brodigan, Marketing Director, Huawei Mobile Services, Europe, and Stephane Fournis, Director of Business Development, HUAWEI Ads, Europe, will introduce the HUAWEI Ads new monetisation opportunities, the platform’s unique value and support, as well as strategic tips to drive growth through building new revenue streams in the following session, titled ‘HUAWEI Ads: Drive Growth with a New Ad Platform‘.
During the GDC 2021 sessions, Huawei will also release an in-depth case study ebook of its recently finished inaugural global Game Fest campaign, which saw daily download figures double to over 1.2 million hits at its peak. The eBook details each of the 13 contributing creators’ journeys and accomplishments, as well as the support they got to enable their games to succeed on AppGallery. More information will be released during GDC 2021 week.
For the latest updates on GDC 2021, you can check out the link here.
Pokdepinion: To be honest, I don’t really enjoy using HUAWEI’s AppGallery simply because it’s not as refined and intuitive as other app stores. Hopefully, HUAWEI makes more and more changes and improvements to it in the future.
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MSI MEG Z490I Unify Review — small in size, big in features

The MSI MEG Unify series is relatively new, with the first one being the MSI MEG X570 Unify. It stands out by being the only premium board I know of that is totally devoid of any lighting whatsoever. This extends to the board we are looking at today as well. The MSI MEG Z490I Unify continues that design philosophy, albeit in a much smaller mITX form factor. Well, without further ado, let’s check out this tiny premium board!
Unboxing

MSI put a rather spartan assortment of accessories in the box. The rather peculiar addition is the ARGB cable, despite the MSI MEG Z490I Unify being a board devoid of illumination. There are two three-pin ARGB header baked into the board though, so perhaps MSI is expecting you to take advantage of that with the cable.

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Appearance

The MSI MEG Z490I Unify’s curvy lines are definitely a stark departure from the sharp angles that every recent motherboard sports. I do really like it, but unfortunately you most probably won’t be able to show off most of it in compact ITX cases.

You can see that the VRM heatsinks are interconnected with a heatpipe. The larger heatsink on the rear of the board also doubles as the I/O shroud. It might not offer too much surface area with the smooth curves all over, but under it lies a fan to help wick away heat faster.

As you might expect from an ITX board, the PCH heatsink is under the M.2 slot. This too is curved, with minimal surface area. But that’s not going to be too huge an issue with the Z490 chipset anyway. I do wonder if MSI intends to support PCIe 4.0 SSDs with the MSI MEG Z490I Unify though, as those SSDs can get hot, and the close proximity to the chipset may not be ideal.

I must say, the rear I/O here leaves me wanting. While I do commend MSI for throwing in WiFi 6 as well as two display output options, a mere total of six USB ports is a little on the low side. It is of course worth mentioning that the USB-C port here is a Thunderbolt 3 which will support up to 40Gbps and a whole host of dongles that will easily increase your USB port count beyond your wildest dreams. Much of the space is sacrificed for the intake vent for the VRM fan.

Usually the backside of motherboards are really plain, unless there’s a fancy backplate to it. But due to the physical constraints of the ITX form factor, MSI actually crammed a whole lot of components on the rear of the board, to make up for the lack of the real estate. There’s also a M.2 slot here on the back. One interesting thing to note is the RAM slots which are surface mounted, instead of being of the regular through hole variety.
Specifications
MSI MEG Z490I Unify

CPU support
Intel LGA 1200
10th Gen Intel Core desktop processors (Comet Lake-S)
Pentium Gold & Celeron processors

Power
1 x 24-pin ATX
1 x 8-pin EATX 12V
Intersil ISL69269 PWM controller (8+1 phase)
8 x ISL99390B (90A) powerstage for CPU
1 x ISL99390B (90A) powerstage for iGPU

Chipset
Intel Z490

Memory
2 x DDR4 DIMM, max. 64GB un-buffered memory
Up to 5000 MHz

Multi-GPU Support
No

Expansion slots
PCIe 3.0 x16 (x16 electrically)

Storage
4 x SATA 6 Gb/s, supports RAID 0,1,5,10
1 x M.2 PCIe 3.0 x4/SATA (disables SATA_2 when M.2 SATA SSD is used)
1 x M.2 PCIe 3.0 x4

Network
Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX201
Realtek RTL8125B 2.5G LAN

USB
Rear I/O:
1 x Thunderbolt 3 (40Gbps) / USB 3.1 (10Gbps)
1 x USB 3.1 (10Gbps)
2 x USB 3.0 (5Gbps)
2 x USB 2.0
On-board headers:
1 x USB Type-C (10 Gbps)
1 x USB 3.0 (5 Gbps) (2 ports each)
2 x USB 2.0 (2 ports each)

Audio
Realtek ALC1220 CODEC
5 x audio jacks (rear)
1 x Optical S/PDIF out
1 x front panel audio connector

Display output
1 x HDMI
1 x DisplayPort

Other onboard connectors
1 x CPU fan header
1 x Pump fan header
1 x Chassis fan headers
2 x ARGB headers
1 x TPM module connector
1 x chassis intrusion connector

Overclocking features
EZ Debug LED
BIOS reset switch

Included accessories
User’s manual
WiFi Antenna
LED JRAINBOW Cable
Quick installation guide
Driver DVD
2 x SATA 6Gb/s cable
3 x M.2 Screw
Case badge
Product registration card

Form factor
mITX (6.7″ x 6.7″)

System

CPU
Intel Core i9-10900K, 10C/20T @ up to 5.3 GHz, 14nm

RAM
2 x 8GB TEAMGROUP T-Force Xtreem ARGB DDR4-3600

Motherboard
MSI MEG Z490I Unify (BIOS ver. 7C80v11)

GPU
ASUS ROG Strix GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER Advanced Edition 8GB GDDR6

Storage
120GB Kingston A400 SSD
960GB Kingston UV500 SSD
1TB Seagate FireCuda SSHD

CPU Cooling
Cooler Master ML240R

Case
Vector Benchcase

PSU
Cooler Master V850 Gold

Monitor
BenQ EL2870U

Taking a Closer Look
VRMs

The top view of the VRM heatsink doesn’t reveal the fins that are cut into fins, which add quite a bit of surface area to the heatsinks. It’s no fin stack, but at least it is significantly better than some aluminium blocks we have seen.

The ISL69269 controller is capable of a total of 12 phases, but MSI decided to only use it in a 8+1+1 configuration, with eight phases for Vcore, one for the iGPU and one for the system agent. Each of the phases will be handled by a single ISL99390B powerstage, that’s capable of 90A each. Of course you won’t expect them to run that high, as we will check out in a bit. The capacitors might also get in the way of wider AIO coolers, so you might want to take note of that.

The fan is mounted at  the end of the heatpipe that connects the two VRM heatsinks. There are no fins to cool though, so it is literally just there to force airflow around the VRM heatsinks. Considering the design, it might be really necessary, as there isn’t enough space for a huge heatsink that can soak up all the heat, although I do think that a thin fin stack might have made more sense, especially if MSI was going to use a fan too.

Audio

The audio hardware is understandably limited, due to the very limited space on the MSI MEG Z490I Unify. It is powered by a relatively high-end Realtek ALC1220 codec, but you don’t get fancy amps or DACs. I do find the tiny capacitors rather cute though.
Storage

For storage, MSI has arranged the SATA ports in a rather weird layout. Two are right on the edge of the board, which is fine, but the other two are squeezed in between the RAM slot, PCIe slot and the M.2 heatsink. Add on the fact that there’s a USB 3.0 header parallel to it on the other end of the RAM slots, it is quite impossible to use the two slots without having the wires running over your RAM sticks.

Meanwhile if you want to use a M.2 SSD, you can easily throw one here. MSI pre-applied the thermal pad, and all you need to do is throw in a SSD into the slot and screw it down. Technically you don’t even have to use the M.2 screws, because the heatsink will hold it down just fine.
Networking

For LAN, you get a Realtek RTL8125B, which gives you 2.5GbE connectivity. On top of that you get the Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX201, which is a pretty much the best option, if not the only option to add AX WiFi.
User Experience
Build

MSI crammed the front panel connectors here, which is really peculiar. I do get putting the front panel audio header here, but even the case switches are here. It makes it nigh impossible to get a clean build with all the cables hidden away with the MSI MEG Z490I Unify. Also it is interesting to note that the TPM connector is located right at the edge of the board, where one would expect the case headers to be. A most peculiar arrangement here.

The rest of the headers are fine, and you even get a Type-C front panel header for up to 10Gbps transfer speeds from the front panel. I have already commented about the SATA ports, so we aren’t going to go into that again.

Another thing to note are the capacitors close to the socket. The capacitors here definitely got in the way of the MasterLiquid ML240R, although the cooler wasn’t exactly compatible with the MSI MEG Z490I Unify with its backplate that couldn’t lay flat on the board due to the components located near the cooler mounting points.

The old MasterLiquid backplates just won’t fit, as it won’t be able to lie flush against the motherboard. Luckily, the pump’s mounting hardware is still compatible with the newer ML120L V2’s backplate, which was what I used for testing.

If you are planning to build with the MSI MEG Z490I Unify, be very sure to check if the cooler’s backplate has sufficient clearance. The new MasterLiquid ML120L V2 RGB‘s backplate offers enough clearance with a raised area that only contacts the motherboard around the socket backplate and a small circumference around the mounting holes.
BIOS
          EZ Mode            Overclocking          DRAM Timing              Overclocking Voltage            DigitALL Power            Thunderbolt 3
As we have just checked out the MAG Z490 Tomahawk, MSI’s Click BIOS 5 is pretty familiar to us already. I still find it rather clunky, and the time it takes to save a screenshot is just atrocious. All the more due to the fact that this board is one of the more premium boards that MSI has on offer. It offers plenty of overclocking features, and I think anyone looking to take full advantage of the 10th Gen Intel Core processors should feel quite satisfied with the amount of options you can tweak here. It isn’t the smoothest in terms of use, but it works fine.
          Hardware Monitor            Board Explorer          Board Explorer
The Hardware Monitor is easily my favorite feature here, and you can actually control all the fan speeds and how quickly they ramp according to your fan profile too, as well as which temperature sensor to refer to when following a fan curve. Since this board has a VRM fan, you can also control that. Board Explorer is still a peculiar addition to me, but hey, if you want it, it is here.

BIOS updates still require a reboot to enter the M-Flash mode, which I do find quite weird as the competition doesn’t do that. Since there’s no support for BIOS Flashback or an equivalent feature, you will have to do it via this rather cumbersome process. I think that’s fine on Intel boards where BIOS updates aren’t nearly as frequent, but if the MSI MEG Z490I Unify was an AMD board it would get annoying quite fast.
Overclocking

For troubleshooting, you don’t get much more than the EZ Debug LEDs here which help you identify which part is failing the POST process. However they all glow white, and considering that there’s a high chance that you will route the USB 3.0 cables over them, you might not even be able to see them when your system actually fails to boot properly.

The only concession I see on the MSI MEG Z490I Unify for serious overclocking the Clear CMOS button on the rear I/O, which is actually quite a bit recessed. Generally resetting the BIOS isn’t the best way to get about a failed overclock, but at least you don’t have to worry about disconnecting the battery, which is unfortunately crammed under the VRM heatsink/I/O shroud.

When running our Intel Core i9-10900K at 5.1GHz and 1.35V core voltage, the CPU easily drew an average of 230W. The VRM fan remains off until the temperatures hit 66.5°C, upon which it began to spool up. Unfortunately the “Balanced” fan profile on the MSI MEG Z490I Unify is too conservative, with the fans only spinning at below 4300RPM even when the VRM temperatures hit 88°C. Fortunately, that’s enough to keep it from rising further, although a more aggressive fan profile might be necessary to push the temperatures even lower.
After setting the fan to run at 100%, which results in an insane 12000RPM fan speed, the VRM was kept under 75°C at all times. It’s well below the danger zone for these VRMs. The VRM are definitely more than capable of powering an Intel Core i9-10900K, and the fan does an excellent job of making sure that things don’t suck. On that note, the fan makes a fairly high-pitched whine at 12000RPM, but it isn’t particularly loud. I doubt you will hear the MSI MEG Z490I Unify’s VRM fan over the rest of your system fans unless you use really quiet fans in your build.
Software
          Dragon Center Profile            Dragon Center Gaming Mode            Dragon Center Mystic Light              Dragon Center LAN Manager            Dragon Center Monitor              Dragon Center True Color            Dragon Center Live Update            Realtek Audio Console            Realtek Audio Console
MSI Dragon Center is what MSI offers, and I really like that they managed to integrate everything into one software. It looks relatively refined too, with a nice way of categorizing all the functions that is offered as a part of MSI Dragon Center. I wonder why MSI didn’t think of offering such a categorization in the BIOS, instead giving us the absolutely mess which takes some digging to get to the good stuff.
Conclusion
The MSI MEG Z490I Unify is relatively affordable for such a feature-packed motherboard. You get a beefy VRM and nice connectivity options, which is more than what I can say for most ITX boards. The only downsides I can see is the rather peculiar positioning of some of the on-board connectors and headers. The low number of USB ports might also irk some users, but with Thunderbolt 3 baked into the board, you can easily pick up a Thunderbolt hub to expand your connectivity options. For RM1239, I do think that the MSI MEG Z490I Unify is a great option for enthusiasts who want a high-end board in the ITX form factor.
Our thanks to MSI Malaysia for providing the MSI MEG Z490I Unify for testing.

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Cooler Master MECH Aluminum Gaming Keyboard Review

It has been awhile since my last review , this is due to my super bad time management . Let’s continue on with the review .
The MECH keyboard comes housed in a premium aluminum shell while being equipped with a quick travel handle. Users can choose from four of the most popular Cherry MX switches. It is built to be fast and can even store up to 75 macros and 5 profiles. USB3.0 super speed ports and audio / microphone ports allow for convenient device expansion and charging. 64 key roll over makes every command you strike register. Equipped with the latest tech, MECH is the choice for gamers looking at the ultimate representation of performance, durability, and style.
As you can see clearly on the bottom right corner of the box my MECH keyboard is using Red Switch

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Specification

Switches: CHERRY MX Blue/ Brown/ Red
N Key Rollover: 64
Macro Keys: 15 in each profile
Profiles: 5
Polling Rate: 1000 Hz/1ms
Backlight: All keys, 5 settings, 3 modes
Output: Dual USB 3.0 port and mini USB port for charging
Windows Key Lock: Yes
On-board Memory: 128k bytes
Media Keys: Yes (via F keys)
USB Cable: Removable
Dimensions: 553(L)x267(W)x43(H) mm
Weight: 1686 g / 3.71 lbs

On the back of the box you get all the info and features of the keyboard, as usual.

UNBOXING
My first impression when I open the box was “ oh shit “ , because of the keyboard body is huge and for sure it’s not gonna fit my keyboard tray . and I had to place it on top of my computer table

This keyboard is really huge and heavy , and the oversized frame itself can be use as palm rest .

MECH come with 5 macro key

Another close up on the keyboard

MECH keyboard is using detachable USB3.0 cable , it is pretty much standard for all Cooler Master keyboard to have a detachable cable . The keyboard also provides 2 USB3.0 and audio/mic port, thus serving as a USB3.0 hub too.

Huge and heavy , you can see the MECH design have a some sort of handle/grip design on the left side for easier handling

Along the top a full set of F keys and combination lighting and multimedia key via Fn key functions.

F1 through F4 key controls the lighting functions .

~NYAN CAT~
Suddenly a wild cat appear during my photoshoot with the mech keyboard . sooo sneaky

ACCESSORY & CUSTOMIZATION
Okay no more cat , lets continue with the accessories of the MECH keyboard. You will get 1 keycap puller , 1 Allen key for detaching the aluminium cover and 1 USB3.0 cable , ignore the screws in the bag as I have already unscrewed the aluminium cover beforehand .

This what the Allen key is for , to unscrew the aluminum cover for easy cleaning and also for customization,e.g. air brush the cover with another color .

SWITCHES
Behold the legit Cherry MX red Switches!!!

Take a look closely at the keyboard , you can see the MECH key layout has a nice slope for ergonomic this will keep your natural hand position on the keyboard and also help reduce fatigue for long term use .

ILLUMINATION

There are 3 types of illumination mode you can choose , Full backlit , Breathing Effect , Important key and also there are 5 levels of brightness you can set

SOFTWARE & MACRO
The MECH keyboard software is a good one , very straightforward software in which you can customize every single key on the MECH using the software , 5 profiles which you can customise and store in the keyboard or you can use PC RAM to set as many profile you want . Another feature of the software is the Macro Studio. This macro studio provide tons of freedom when recording macro , you can even record a mouse click. Personally, I’m against mouse click macro because lots of people abusing it using in FPS game or click games .

Final Thought

I’m impressed of this keyboard , it’s available in 3 different Cherry MX switches ( RED , GREEN , BLUE ) . Even with its large body CMStorm MECH Aluminum Gaming Keyboard performed very well , and it’s very comfortable. But of course if you have space constraints , this keyboard can’t be in your list . I would like to give CMStorm MECH Aluminum Gaming Keyboard the Silver Pokdeward!

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Western Digital Announces New Consumer Storage Solutions – Includes a 400GB microSD card!

I need my space

There’s never enough storage space when you need it, especially when it comes to smartphones. 64GB or 128GB of a phone’s internal storage might sound like it’s more than enough for you but after a few months of taking pictures or videos for VSCO, Instagram or Tumblr and so on, it’ll get full really fast like your stomach during the first day of Hari Raya.
If that’s the case then Western Digital has just the thing for you. Well, a few things actually. Western Digital has just announced a slew of new consumer storage solutions today which should help cater to all your additional storage needs. These consumer storage solutions include their new My Cloud Home, the SanDisk iXpand Base as well as a 400GB SanDisk Ultra microSDHX UHS-I card. Yes you read that right. A 400GB memory card.
The new My Cloud Home is a new personal cloud storage solution that plugs directly into your home Wi-Fi router so that you can save all your digital content in one central place. With the My Cloud Home, you can easily back up and sync all of your photos, videos, files and even cloud and social media accounts from your smartphones, PC and Mac computers, USB storage wirelessly. Using either your smartphone, tablet or computer from anywhere with an internet connection, you are then free to experience and share that backed up content with either your family and friends.

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There is also a Duo version of the My Cloud Home which utilises two hard drives using WD’s RAID 1 configuration. Both the My Cloud Home and the My Cloud Home Duo will be available in different storage sizes. Check out the retail price and storage size list down below:
My Cloud Home

2TB: RM 739
3TB: RM 839
4TB: RM 1,059
6TB: RM 1,459
8TB: RM 1,799

My Cloud Home Duo

4TB: RM 1,599
6TB: RM 1,999
8TB: RM 2,499
12TB: RM 3,459
16TB: RM 3,999
20TB: RM 4,399

Next up is something that would definitely appeal to most Apple users out there. The SanDisk iXpand Base is a unique device where it will automatically back up your photos, videos and contacts for you while you charge your phone. Not only that but the iXpand Base supports fast charging using a built in 15W charger. The iXpand Base is also compatible with iPads. The SanDisk iXpand Base is available in three different storage sizes which you can see below:

64GB: RM 369
128GB: RM 529
256GB: RM 899

Last but not least, Western Digital also introduced the 400GB SanDisk Ultra microSDHX UHS-I card which WD claims is the world’s highest capacity microSD specifically for mobile devices. The 400GB SanDisk Ultra microSDHX UHS-I card is targeted mainly for Android devices due to the card’s A1 rating which loads apps faster. The microSD also has a 100MB/s transfer speed which can purportedly transfer 1,200 photos in just one minute. Got to go fast, people.

The 400GB SanDisk Ultra microSDHX UHS-I card retails for a whopping RM 1,499 (more expensive than my PS4!) and comes with a 10 year limited warranty.
The My Cloud Home, My Cloud Home Duo and the SanDisk iXpand Base is available now through online retailers and at all leading IT and consumer electronics stores across Malaysia. The iXpand Base is also available at Apple Premium Reseller stores. The 400GB SanDisk Ultra microSDHX UHS-I card will be available in Malaysia starting from December 2017 onwards.
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HP introduces new lineup designed for professionals; enjoy extra privacy when working on the HP ZBook!

HP has just unveiled a range of new products that are targeted at the professional and enterprise crowd. The best-selling HP EliteBook 800 series and HP ZBook series of mobile workstations receives upgrades with the latest features. The new HP Thunderbolt Dock G2 and four new 4K displays are also introduced to amp up productivity.
Mobile workstations for productivity anywhere
Working-on-the-go is more of a necessity nowadays rather than a luxury. Which is why HP’s latest notebooks pack great features that allow you to work anywhere. Among these features is the ultra-bright display that can automatically adapt to changing light conditions. Both the EliteBook 800 and ZBook series have passed MIL-STD-810G testing, so they will hold up to the rigors of a busy workday, everyday.

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The EliteBook 800 series pack the latest 8th Generation Intel Core vPro processors that deliver up to 15 hours of battery life. HP has also equipped these laptops with HP Fast Charge to add 50% charge to the tank in just 30 minutes. The new HP EliteBook 830 G5 replaces its predecessor, the EliteBook 820 G4, by cramming a 13″ in a 12″ notebook profile. Meanwhile the larger EliteBook 840 G5 is the world’s thinnest 14″ business notebook with 8th Gen Intel Core processors and discrete graphics. Bot hthe EliteBook 840 G5 and EliteBook 850 G5 include an AMD Radeon RX540 discrete graphics to handle more graphics-intensive workloads. All three models will start from RM4000.

The HP ZBook 14u/15u G5 distinguish themselves with the integrated privacy screens. Packed with Intel’s 8th Gen vPro CPUs and AMD Radeon Pro graphics, the ZBook laptops have more than 24 ISV certifications for CAD, design work and other professional applications. The ZBook 14u G5 measures just 17.9mm thin, making it the thinnest workstation in the world. It is 28% thinner than the previous generation, and weighs an equally impressive 1.5 kg. It can also be configured with a 4K touch display, ideal for technical professionals on the go. The new ZBook 15u G5 can also be configured with up to 2TB of high speed HP Z Turbo Drive storage. The HP ZBook 14u G5 and ZBook 15u G5 will both start from RM6000.
These laptops are equipped with HP Endpoint Security Controller. This is a hardware security solution enabling HP Sure Start Gen 4, HP Sure Run and HP Sure Recover to prevent disasters and allow for quick recovery to minimize downtime.
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Throwing more displays is a great way to amp up productivity. Which is why HP has announced the new HP Thunderbolt Dock G2. It will work with any device with Thunderbolt and USB-C functionality. It is capable of delivering power while handling up to two 4K displays. It is also the world’s first Thunderbolt dock to features an optional audio conferencing module. The HP Elite Thunderbolt Dock G2 will be priced starting from RM6000.

Now onto the displays. HP has announced four new displays. The first is the HP EliteDisplay S270n, which is HP’s first 4K EliteDisplay that can pull video and data and charge your device with up to 60W of power, with just a USB-C cable connection. The HP Z27, Z32 and Z43 are HP’s 4K displays that offer 10-bit color. These use a USB-C connection too, and use a single connector receive video and data, while charging your device with up to 65W of power. The HP EliteDisplay S270n will be available at a later date, while the HP Z27, Z32 and Z43 are currently available, priced at RM3146.08, RM4493.34 and RM4304.66, respectively.
Pokdepinion: The HP ZBook’s privacy screens seem pretty interesting for working at public places.
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