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Murray Leinster’s short story Things Pass By, published in 1945, includes what may be the first description of 3D printers: But this constructor is both efficient and flexible. I feed magnetronic plastics – the stuff they make houses and ships of nowadays – into this moving arm. It makes drawings in the air following drawings it scans with photo-cells. But plastic comes out of the end of the drawing arm and hardens as it comes … following drawings only. Practical 3D printers, or additive manufacturing as it is also known, have been around since the 1980s. After some theoretical experiments, American Bill Masters developed and patented several techniques that laid the foundation for the first commercial 3D printers. 40 years later, 3D printers have become so cheap and easy to use that anyone who is interested can get one. 3D printer using liquid resin.Erik Mclean Rapid development For a long time, the technology was only used as a way to quickly create prototypes before a final design was produced in a more mature and cheaper process such as injection moulding. For a long time, it was also only possible to print 3D objects in various plastic materials, but in recent years both the applications and the materials have broadened. “What I have seen is that 3D printers have come a long way in recent years. Both the hardware and the software have improved, but more importantly the ecosystem has matured. Printers can now handle many different materials – from pla (a kind of polyester) and resin to steel, kevlar, and even organic materials. After over 25 years of development, I have seen a real boom in the last 2-3 years, especially with more accessible and user-friendly software. There is now an evolution where 3D printers are spreading from specialists to wider use in industry and among consumers,” says Chris Fotheringham, a game developer and entrepreneur who is just starting a new company combining 3D printers and AI. Brian LoudonBrian Loudon Brian Loudon, a design consultant based in Glasgow, says even old tried-and-tested techniques have evolved a lot in recent years. This is particularly true of filament printers, also known as FDM or FFF (as in Fused Filament Fabrication) – the type of 3D printer most people are familiar with, which is fed with long strands of, for example, ABS plastic. “After a key patent on FDM expired in 2009, there was an explosion of low-cost consumer printers that made it possible to use 3D printers in various hobbies. The big price cuts also helped small design and engineering studios like mine. In this market, China’s Bambu Labs has made a massive and rapid impact with new printers that take 3D technology to the max. They have achieved several times faster printing with techniques that utilize printer vibrations and more, with clean prints despite the high speeds.” Vexma Tech “What used to take a whole working day can now be done in an hour”, says Brian Loudon. Now he can have an idea in the morning, produce a cad model and have an early prototype by the afternoon. Resin-based printers, which use liquid polymer, have also become significantly faster. New materials open up new possibilities Like Chris Fotheringham, Brian Loudon points to the many new materials that can be used with modern 3D printers as an important part of the development, giving as an example the company Markforged, which makes a filament with carbon fiber. This makes it possible to print fittings and other components that need high strength and heat resistance. Metal has come on strong in recent years as a material used for additive manufacturing. Researchers at Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg, for example, have made great strides towards materials that can achieve similar properties to casting or forging. Concrete is another example. Several companies around the world today manufacture various buildings on site using huge 3D printers that build houses in layers. A Japanese manufacturer recently developed yet another technology that blends state-of-the-art with techniques thousands of years old. Lib Work uses soil, lime, and natural fibers and its buildings have achieved the highest level of earthquake safety. In 2024, the University of Maine unveiled the world’s largest 3D printer, which can print objects up to 29 meters long. Called Factory of the Future 1.0, it’s intended to be used mainly to make house parts for renovations of historic buildings. With up to 227 kilograms printed per hour or over five tons per day, it’s no mean feat. Cecilia PerssonMikael Wallerstedt Can create previously impossible structures Cecilia Persson, professor at Uppsala University, discusses another exciting consequence of developments in additive manufacturing: the possibility of creating shapes and structures that have not been possible before. Can 3D printers do something that has never been possible before? “Yes, they can! I usually give two examples, one in component manufacturing and one in materials. You can optimize structures, for example, to minimize material use but get the same strength, for durability for example, including saving fuel with lighter components. In other words, you have a completely different kind of design freedom. Then you can develop materials with other microstructures, for example gradients of different microstructures within the same material as well as amorphous materials like metallic glass. Metal glass has traditionally been made only as thin films or wires, but now you could make larger, more complex parts.” A typical filament printer.Osman Talha Dikyar Brian Loudon also talks about how 3D printers enable lighter components by optimizing the three-dimensional structure such as for extremely efficient heat exchangers that could not be made using traditional methods such as CNC machines or injection molding. Making a big difference in medical technology Cecilia Persson’s research focuses on how additive manufacturing can be used in medical technology. “3D printers are mainly used for three different things: anatomical models to practice and/or explain surgical procedures, surgical guides – that is, patient-specific aids to surgery – and patient-specific implants and/or implants with specific properties that cannot be achieved with other manufacturing methods, or are much easier with 3D printers. Examples of patient-specific implants so far come mainly from skull and jaw surgery. She points to an article in the 2023 issue of Tandläkartidningen that shows how 3D printers are already being used to rebuild damaged jawbones, allowing patients to receive dental implants that would otherwise not have been able to be attached anywhere. (*Beware of graphic images of surgical procedures.) One area Persson is currently researching is the development of degradable materials for temporary implants, such as replacement bones that break down as the body’s own bones grow back. Wrist support designed by Brian Loudon using 3D printers.Brian Loudon Brian Loudon also works with clients developing medical devices of various kinds. He often uses 3D printers in combination with 3D scanners to produce, for example, different types of supports that fit a patient’s body exactly. He explains, “I have also used 3D printers that handle more than one material at a time to develop new supports for patients with arthritis with the National Centre for Prosthetics and Orthotics in Glasgow. The finished product will be injection molded with a rigid core and soft exterior, and multi-material printers have allowed prototypes of the same design to be produced and tested.” Customized design and flexible manufacturing Brian Loudon has been working with 3D printers for prototyping and design development for over ten years. For him, the benefits of being able to go from an idea to a physical prototype more or less instantly are obvious, but he also sees the technology being used more and more to make the final products. “That’s one of the big changes we’re starting to see. Maybe not quite on the scale required for mass production yet, but both Adidas and Nike, for example, have started making midsoles with 3D printers and in Formula 1 McLaren uses 3D printed components in their cars. An interesting trend that has now been supported by a major consumer brand is the printing of spare parts. Philips has introduced Philips Fixables with Prusa Research to encourage users to repair instead of discarding gadgets when any part breaks. Efe Yagiz Soysal Chris Fotheringham believes that the ability to produce unique, customized designs will drive huge growth on the consumer side as consumers will be able to solve problems and realize their ideas themselves. He cites the example of how 3D printers are being used in the hobby of cosplay to produce costume parts with incredible detail. In various hobbies, 3D printers have long since changed what is possible for individuals to do themselves, and also what role manufacturers play. This is especially true for miniature games and model railways. 3D printers make it possible to print spare parts and components that manufacturers have never sold separately. Users can also design and print completely new components and accessories. Where in the past many people built landscapes by hand using materials such as cardboard, Styrofoam, and cellular panels, today the use of 3D printers has become commonplace. Chris FotheringhamPrivat “On the industrial side, the potential is even greater. I see 3D printers as a way to localize manufacturing again. Countries will be able to manufacture exactly what they need at home. Look, for example, at how Ukraine has used 3D printers in its own defense,” says Fotheringham. His new company is developing AI-based software that turns two-dimensional images into 3D models that users can then print without any prior knowledge. In the image opposite, you can see an example of a dog figure that Chris Fotheringham has made to test and showcase the software. Chris Fotheringham “One of our long-term goals is to create a catalog of printable household products, to help people return to a culture of repair.” Read...

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Welcome to The Full Nerd newsletter—your weekly dose of hardware talk from the enthusiasts at PCWorld. Missed the shocking topics on our YouTube show or freshest news from across the web? You’re in the right place. Want this newsletter to come directly to your inbox? Sign up on our website! Intel and Nvidia’s partnership is huge. Brad even called it the biggest tech news to drop this decade. This momentous alliance spans both consumer and enterprise, for starters. It marks several major firsts, too. Each company will integrate the other’s technology into their chips—Nvidia embedding Intel CPUs into its AI data center platforms, and Intel joining Nvidia RTX graphics with its consumer processors. Nvidia also is now an Intel shareholder, taking a roughly 4 percent stake in the company after an investment of $5 billion. And Nvidia makes its first foray into x86 as well. The announcement caused a flurry of surprise and interest. The Full Nerd crew speculated plenty on the implications of the partnership, as did our Discord members. More than one person wondered: Is AMD screwed? This question is a half-joke, a reference to what Gordon used to ask about Intel over the years (and even turned into a series of videos with Steve Burke of Gamers Nexus). It’s also a fair question, as joint Intel-Nvidia silicon could result in juggernaut chips. A joint Intel-Nvidia SoC could result in Nvidia graphics powering handhelds beyond the Switch.Foundry | Alex Walker-Todd But it can’t be answered yet—not when so many other questions sit on the table as well: Where can we expect to see these chips? Laptops seem most likely, but we don’t know yet in which segments. Brad wants to see them in $500 to $1,000 mainstream laptops. But they could appear in cheaper gaming laptops as well (or just instead). Mini-PCs also could end up spreading the love, too. Would mini-PCs benefit more than laptops? Interest in mini-PCs has steadily climbed in recent years, with more vendors producing them — and the vast majority run on AMD’s Radeon-infused Ryzen APUs. This space could become hot with addition of RTX-infused processors, as affordable gaming for the masses slips further out of reach. I’d love to see a return of gaming NUCs the size of VHS tapes. (Shout out to Hades Canyon and its Kaby Lake-G processor, the hybrid SoC that temporarily united Intel and AMD in similar fashion as this Intel-Nvidia venture.) What happens now for Qualcomm? Qualcomm is still chiseling at a foothold in laptops—will its ambitions be limited to reigning as the battery life champ? Though, that fate wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing, as it carves a clear spot for the company to rule. AMD would have the more awkward position, without a distinctive lane it yet owns for notebooks. Will budget discrete graphics get a boost…or a nerf? I’d love to see laptops in the $500 to $700 range get RTX integrated graphics, both thin-and-light or gaming models alike. But what if that results in the abandonment of RTX 50-class graphics (e.g., 5050)? Would an Intel CPU with RTX integrated graphics perform as well? Or would the 50-class discrete mobile GPUs disappear and result in a downgrade of performance at the same prices? Is Arc dead? I heard this question the most last week, more than any concerns about AMD’s future. We ended up debating this idea during this week’s show, with most signs pointing to “No”—if for no other reason than Intel avoiding too much dependence on Nvidia. The catchphrase “Wait for Arc” could take on a whole different meaning in the near future.Adam Patrick Murray / Foundry Ultimately, the fruits from this partnership won’t show for a few years. That gives AMD time to continue gaining ground and entrenching against Intel. It’s not in a weak position—Team Red is currently estimated to reach about 40 percent market share for data centers in 2025, and it has long-standing relationships with Microsoft and Sony. AMD’s modern Ryzen CPUs are simply better than Intel’s right now; because of that, Ryzen desktop adoption surged in recent years, and the company enjoys a virtual stranglehold in handhelds. Plus, AMD could use its competitors’ ramp-up period to make further inroads on the laptop front. That last point is a tall order, with Intel holding close to 80 percent of the laptop market. But AMD has shown a consistent ability to execute its roadmap, as evidenced by Intel’s decline—it used to hold over 90 percent for mobile CPUs. If AMD focuses even more attention there before Intel rights its ship, those numbers could change more dramatically. Because AMD also has one more key factor in its corner: Intel and Nvidia remain separate companies. They could stay aligned for just a handful of years. Any threat to AMD may not be permanent. Intel and Nvidia’s surprising partnership is a strategic response. Intel has struggled as of late, yes. But without the stress of current geopolitics, this historic agreement likely would have never come to pass. Such turbulence apparently makes strange bedfellows. In this episode of The Full Nerd In this episode of The Full Nerd, Adam Patrick Murray, Brad Chacos, Alaina Yee, and Will Smith dive into Nvidia’s $5 billion investment in (and partnership with) Intel, as well as security aggravations sparked by Microsoft’s beef with the WinRing0 driver. Apparently, Microsoft knows how to push Will’s buttons, because I’ve never seen him so indignant about anything.  (How indignant? I might have described him as looking like an angry, fluffy chicken to audio listeners of the show.) But despite the theatrics from me and Will, Adam stole the show with this quote: “Windows—it’s trying its best.” Someday, I’ll learn the art of damning others with kind words. Alex Esteves / Foundry Missed our live show? Subscribe now to The Full Nerd Network YouTube channel, and activate notifications. We also answer viewer questions in real-time! Don’t miss out on our NEW shows too—you can catch episodes of Dual Boot Diaries and The Full Nerd: Extra Edition now! And if you need more hardware talk during the rest of the week, come join our Discord community—it’s full of cool, laid-back nerds. This week’s uplifting nerd news What crossed my desk this week had a practically rosy tinge, with fun gems spanning both science and technology. (One exception was yet another security hazard, but such are the times we live in.) Plus, I found an excuse to have cake. Doesn’t have to be my birthday to celebrate, right? I genuinely can’t imagine having more than even a few hundred games in my backlog.Eugen Wegmann Why YTX? I can see the appeal of an expanded (wider) version of mini-ITX for some builders. I’m not one of them yet. Still thinking on it. Qualcomm is still scrapping: Qualcomm wants the focus to be on performance for its new Snapdragon X2 Elite chips, but “multi-day” battery life is still what stands out for me, due to software support. Dogs can sort their toys by function: I love cats. But dogs win my heart in far less destructive ways. (Yes, I know I should probably rethink my fondness for furry jerks who destroy glass tumblers, vases, and even Brad’s personal laptop.) I don’t feel as bad about my Steam backlog now: I can’t imagine owning 40,000 games. I can’t imagine spending $250,000 on games. I can’t imagine dropping $250K on games alone, not including DLC. Holy cow. Careful, malware in games wants your crypto: A Twitch streamer lost $30,000 of crypto to malware, pushed through what was a legitimate game. This kind of attack is on the rise—so be careful of not just what you download, but what you keep installed on your system. I love how science and technology intersect: Goop-powered encryption is just the latest incredible concept. Combined with earlier reports about storing data in DNA, I can’t wait to see what the future will look like in 20 years. I’m glad that Microsoft didn’t just keep Paint alive, but has invested in making it better.Foundry Microsoft Paint is going to support layered files?! I don’t know the last time I felt excitement about a Microsoft app update, but here we are. Maybe it’s a CD. Maybe it’s a PC? I almost mistook Qualcomm’s ultra-thin, presumably concept PC for an old-school media disc. I hope it becomes real. Earth’s had a hidden quasi-moon companion for 60 years: Space feels a little less (emotionally) cold to me now. You can now relive early 2000s case design: Silverstone’s retro FLP02 PC case is out. It’ll cost you a lot of money if you live in the U.S. I’m pretty sure if you’re buying this, you won’t care. ‘You can hold on to your butts thanks to DNA that evolved in fish’: This headline from Ars Technica’s John Timmer is just too good not to quote directly. Also, what? Happy birthday, Windows NT! I’m still grateful you paved the way for Windows 2000. (Hands-down my vote for the GOAT of all Windows versions — I still reminisce about my legendary uptimes.) Catch you all next week—hopefully by then, I’ll be able to show off a new PC case I’ve been excited about. This little aesthetic upgrade is just in time for the change of the seasons. ~Alaina This newsletter is dedicated to the memory of Gordon Mah Ung, founder and host of The Full Nerd, and executive editor of hardware at PCWorld. Read...

One of the most confusing moments of Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Summit was when I accidentally flipped over the Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme in the testing room. Was that actually embedded memory? Yes, it is. Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme Arm processor does support on-package memory as an option, though the standard X2 Elite chips do not. Kedar Kondap, Qualcomm’s senior vice president of compute and gaming, told PCWorld that the 48GB of embedded memory that the X2 Elite Extreme was simply a choice Qualcomm made for performance testing, not a number PC makers are locked into. That’s probably why Qualcomm barely mentioned the technology at all — it’s confusing, and probably not a feature consumers will ever see, let alone be aware of. Still, it’s worth knowing about. “There’s a 12-core version, actually, that does have the off-chip memory,” Kondap said, referring to the Snapdragon X2 Elite. “There’s an 18-core version that has an off-chip memory. There’s an 18-core version that can have the integrated memory [the Elite Extreme]. You have the option.” But why 48 gigabytes of memory, exactly? Regarding the memory size of the Elite Extreme, Kondap said that the 48GB inside the Elite Extreme was an arbitrary amount. “It’s not limited,” he said. “48 gigabytes is what was available in this particular device, but it’s not restricted to be 40. Somebody could say I just want to put 24 inside, and I’m good with it and that’s 100-percent perfectly okay.” That memory will be configurable, as it normally is, between ordinary system RAM and VRAM, Kondap added. Aside from the Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme, it looks like PC makers will have a more ordinary array of memory options than I first thought. And they’ll be able to run them on battery without losing performance, too. Disclosure: Qualcomm held its press briefings in Hawaii, and would not pre-brief reporters in other locations or over video meetings. They paid for my room, boarding, and travel expenses, but did not ask for or exert any editorial control over this story or other PCWorld content. Read...

At a glanceExpert`s Rating Pros Eye-catching exterior design Enjoyable keyboard, large touchpad Tons of leading-edge connectivity Strong GPU performance in games Cons Modest display quality with questionable 1200p/440Hz mode CPU performance doesn’t measure up Short battery life Our Verdict The Lenovo Legion 9i packs great game performance in a stylish design, but it comes with a few caveats. Price When Reviewed This value will show the geolocated pricing text for product undefined Best Pricing Today Best Prices Today: Lenovo Legion 9i Retailer Price Check Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket Best Prices Today: Check today’s prices Gamers who want a stylish laptop are likely to love Lenovo’s new Legion 9i. It has an eye-catching “forged carbon” look that’s unique yet not overdone. The laptop also packs great game performance and a wide range of physical connectivity. However, the laptop’s display and CPU performance don’t match up to peers, which narrows its appeal. Lenovo Legion 9i: Specs and features as-tested The Lenovo Legion 9i that I received for review was equipped with impressive hardware. It has not only an Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX and Nvidia RTX 5080, but also 64GB of RAM and a 2TB PCIe 5.0 solid-state drive, not to mention Thunderbolt 5 and USB-C 4. The only specification that isn’t impressive is the display, which, though it provides a sharp 3840×2400 resolution, relies on a mediocre IPS-LCD panel. Model number: 18IAX10 CPU: Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX Memory: 64GB SO-DIMM DDR5-5200 Graphics/GPU: Nvidia RTX 5080 16GB (175W TGP) NPU: Intel AI Boost up to 13 TOPS Display: 18-inch 3840×2400 glossy IPS with 240Hz refresh rate, G-Sync Storage: 2TB PCIe 5.0 M.2 SSD Webcam: 5MP with electronic privacy shutter Connectivity: 1x HDMI 2.1 (8K/60Hz), 2x USB-C with Thunderbolt 5 and USB-4 80Gbps, DisplayPort, 100-watt Power Delivery, 1x USB-C 10Gbps / USB 3.2 Gen 2, 3x USB-A 10Gbps / USB 3.2 Gen 2, 1x 3.5mm combo audio, 1x 2.5GbE Ethernet, 1x SD card reader, 1x power connector Networking: Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4 Biometrics: Facial recognition Battery capacity: 99 watt-hours Dimensions: 15.87 x 11.69 x 1.1 inches Weight: 7.72 pounds Operating System: Windows 11 Home Price: $3,695.49 MSRP The Lenovo Legion 9i starts at $3,476.99 with 32GB of RAM and 1TB of solid state storage. Lenovo’s upgrade pricing is incredibly affordable. Moving up to 64GB of RAM and a 2TB SSD adds only $220 to the MSRP. Lenovo provides a “Naked-Eye 3D” display option in some Legion 9i laptops. This is a glasses-free 3D technology similar to Acer’s SpatialLabs. My review unit didn’t have this display, however, and instead came with a dual-mode display that supports 240Hz at 3840×2400 resolution or 440Hz at 1920×1200 resolution. Lenovo Legion 9i: Design and build quality Foundry / Matthew Smith Look, I’m about to tell you what I think about the Lenovo Legion 9i’s design. But before I do, take a moment to look at the photos. I’ll wait. It looks glorious, right? There’s nothing unusual about how the Legion 9i’s design functions, as I’ll discuss shortly. But Lenovo’s unique lid design, which the company calls “forged carbon,” is a winner. It’s attractive and fashionable, but not in-your-face or garish. It’s a design statement, and I like what it says. Overall, the laptop both looks and feels premium, and most of Lenovo’s competitors are a full step behind. That aside, the Legion 9i delivers what I expect from a high-end performance gaming laptop. It’s a beefy machine that measures over 15 inches wide, over an inch thick, and tips the scales at nearly eight pounds. The recycled aluminum chassis is extremely rigid. Flex can be found in the display lid and keyboard deck, but you’ll have to pay attention to spot it. Overall, the laptop both looks and feels premium, and most of Lenovo’s competitors are a full step behind. Even attractive competitors like the Alienware Area-51 strike me as old-fashioned compared to the Legion 9i. Lenovo Legion 9i: Keyboard, trackpad, mouse Foundry / Matthew Smith Typing on the Lenovo Legion 9i is a great experience. The keyboard provides good key travel and each key activates with a light yet satisfying tactile snap. Lenovo provides a good layout, too. Most keys are large, with only the backspace key and the numpad key feeling a bit narrow—though they’re still large enough. The keyboard is RGB-LED backlit and provides per-key lighting customization, although you might not know that at first. The per-key customization is only visible when the “custom” mode is selected from a list of presets in Lenovo’s Legion Space software. The LED backlight is bright, uniform, and offers a wide range of brightness suitable for both dim and bright rooms. Lenovo also packs an RGB-LED light bar on the front underside of the chassis, and RGB-LED lights across the Legion logo for the lid, which can coordinate with the keyboard. I like the lightbar, which provides a subtle gradient between LED light zones that creates the illusion of a single uniform light rather than multiple, individual LEDs. The Legion 9i supports Windows Adaptive Lighting as well, though support must be turned on in the laptop’s BIOS. The included numpad means the keyboard is shifted towards the left, and the touchpad follows. The touchpad itself is sizable at about six inches wide and four inches deep. You can find larger touchpads on some competitive laptops, like the Razer Blade 18, but the Legion 9i has no shortage of room for executing Windows’ multi-touch gestures. I also found the touchpad responsive and didn’t have problems with unintended inputs. A physical mouse button action is available by pressing on the lower half of the touchpad. It does the job, but it’s rather subtle and activates with a dull thud instead of a snappy click. While the Legion 9i’s keyboard and touchpad aren’t perfect, they’re a strong point when compared to alternatives. The Razer Blade 18 has a good keyboard and bigger touchpad, but its RGB-LED lighting options are not as impressive. Alienware’s Area-51 also has a good keyboard, and some decent RGB-LED lighting, but the touchpad is modest. The Legion 9i delivers more than competitors overall and avoids downsides. Lenovo Legion 9i: Display, audio Foundry / Matthew Smith The display is the Lenovo Legion 9i’s only obvious weakness, but it’s a big one. It falls short in display quality and makes a half-hearted attempt to deliver ultra-high refresh rates. Let’s talk refresh rate first. The Legion 9i’s 18-inch display supports a refresh rate up to 240Hz at a resolution of 3840×2400. Alternatively, it can reach 440Hz at a resolution of 1920×1200. However, the details of Lenovo’s implementation aren’t great. Users must access BIOS to flip to 1200p/440Hz or back to 2400p/240Hz. That’s an annoying problem, and Lenovo doesn’t do anything to help users mitigate it. The boot screen doesn’t even state the button a user needs to press to access the BIOS. I suspect most people who buy this laptop will use it for years without realizing the 1200p/440Hz mode exists. Personally, I would never use the feature, anyway. I’d rather stick to 2400p/240Hz, which is already plenty quick, instead of rebooting my laptop to access 440Hz at a lower resolution. The real problem is not just that the 1200p/440Hz is of questionable use, but also that it means the Legion 9i can’t offer an OLED or Mini-LED display. The Legion 9i’s IPS-LCD display is a great example of the breed with superb color accuracy, a color gamut that spans 100 percent of sRGB and 99 percent of DCI-P3, and a maximum brightness of 520 nits (I measured up to 519, but what’s a nit between friends?) However, like most IPS-LCD displays, it has a limited contrast ratio (I measured a maximum of 1340:1). An OLED will deliver far better contrast which leads to a richer and more immersive look. I also noticed the Legion 9i’s display is cool in color tone, with a measured white point of 7,600K at 50 percent brightness. And while the display is bright, it’s also glossy, which means glare is an issue in bright rooms. Ultimately, the Legion 9i’s display is a miss, but the audio system provides some redemption. Lenovo packs the laptop with two speakers, two tweeters, and two woofers, which together deliver a clear, crisp sound stage and reasonable bass. Quality speakers or a good headset will of course be superior, but the Legion 9i’s sound is enjoyable for a wide range of content, from podcasts to music and games. Lenovo Legion 9i: Webcam, microphone, biometrics The Lenovo Legion 9i has a 5MP webcam with an electronic privacy shutter. It’s good, though not exceptional. It provides a sharp and colorful image and handles mixed lighting well, though it’s still obvious that the camera is a webcam. Its quality is comparable to most modern gaming laptops. The microphone is similarly competent, providing good voice capture without the need to raise your voice. An IR camera is included and provides support for Windows Hello facial recognition. This is a fast, easy way to log in to a Windows machine. But, once again, this is a common feature for a modern gaming laptop. A fingerprint reader is not included. Lenovo Legion 9i: Connectivity Foundry / Matthew Smith Lenovo swings for the fences with the Legion 9i’s connectivity, and there’s a lot to dig into. The star of the show is the laptop’s pair of USB-C ports. They deliver Thunderbolt 5, USB 4 with up to 80Gbps of data, up to 100 watts of Power Delivery, and DisplayPort 2.1. It’s the whole enchilada, or very close to it. Most modern gaming laptops support Thunderbolt and USB-C, but the Legion 9i offers great support for the latest versions of these standards. That translates to better data rates. If you need high-speed connectivity, or want to connect to a dock or a Thunderbolt / USB-C monitor with numerous downstream ports, these ports are up for the task. However, the Legion 9i isn’t focused exclusively on Thunderbolt and USB-C. It also provides HDMI 2.1, three USB-A ports, Ethernet, an SD card reader, and a 3.5mm combo audio jack. I have no notes: this is an excellent array of connectivity options. Wireless connectivity is strong, too, as the laptop supports Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4. These are the latest versions of each standard. It’s standard equipment for a modern gaming laptop, but still good to see. Lenovo Legion 9i: Performance The Lenovo Legion 9i has an Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX CPU paired with an Nvidia RTX 5080 GPU. The GPU has a maximum thermal graphics power of 175 watts, which is the most available to the RTX 5080 mobile—though, most other gaming laptops also hit that mark. The Legion 9i has healthy specifications in RAM and storage with 64GB and 2TB, the SSD connects over PCIe 5.0. Foundry / Matthew Smith Our first test is PCMark, a holistic system benchmark. It turned in a respectable score of 8,417. Though this is technically a bit behind some alternative laptops, the margins are thin. I’d say this is more or less a tie between the four top-scoring machines, which includes the Legion 9i. Foundry / Matthew Smith Next up is Cinebench 2024, a heavily multi-threaded rendering benchmark. Here the Lenovo Legion 9i came up short with a score of 1,511. That’s quick but, as the graph shows, it’s behind a range of laptops that are similar in size and have similar hardware. Foundry / Matthew Smith Handbrake, a heavily multi-threaded video transcoding and encoding tool, also puts the Legion 9i in an unfavorable light. Lenovo’s laptop completed the transcode of a 1080p feature-length film from a .mp4 to .mkv format in eight minutes and 12 seconds. That’s a speedy result, and closer to the competition than in Cinebench 2024. Still, the Legion 9i lags the field. Foundry / Matthew Smith While the Lenovo Legion 9i struggles a bit in heavily multi-threaded CPU tests, it delivers better results in GPU tests. 3DMark’s Fire Strike and Port Royale tests show the Legion 9i can deliver results that are towards the high end for an RTX 5080 mobile. It’s also not too far off the RTX 5090 mobile. Foundry / Matthew Smith The performance spread widens a bit in Shadow of the Tomb Raider, an older game that’s not too demanding on newer hardware. The Legion 9i achieved an average of 191 frames per second at 1080p resolution and the Highest detail setting, without use of DLSS or other frame reconstruction. Ray-tracing wasn’t used, either. As the graph shows, this hits the mark for an RTX 5080 laptop, and can leave some RTX 4090 laptops in the dust. However, the RTX 5090 laptops take a sizeable lead here, as the game’s average FPS is roughly 35 to 40 FPS higher on those machines. Foundry / Matthew Smith Metro: Exodus narrows the field again. While this is an older game, and we do not run this benchmark with ray-tracing enabled, it remains a formidable title when the Extreme preset is used. The Legion 9i does well here, scoring between the Maingear Ultima 18 with RTX 5080 and the pair of RTX 5090 laptops. Foundry / Matthew Smith Cyberpunk 2077 also speaks favorably of the Legion 9i. Here, Lenovo’s laptop can average 148 frames per second at 1080p and the Ultra preset, or 43 at the insanely demanding Overdrive ray-traced preset. Both figures, remember, are without any form of DLSS or frame reconstruction, so in practice better performance is possible. Still, these numbers stack up favorably. They’re good for an RTX 5080 mobile and not all that far off the RTX 5090 laptops. On the whole, the Lenovo Legion 9i’s performance seems to favor GPU performance over CPU performance. That leads to solid results in games and somewhat disappointing numbers in heavily multi-threaded CPU tests. On balance the Legion 9i is a fine performer, but it’s definitely tilted towards gaming rather than productivity. Lenovo Legion 9i: Battery life and portability The Lenovo Legion 9i has a 99 watt-hour battery. This is the maximum available in a consumer laptop due to limitations on the size of lithium-ion batteries allowed on a passenger airliner. It’s a very large battery. And the Legion 9i goes to the trouble of supporting Nvidia Optimus, a switchable graphics solution that can turn off the Nvidia GPU (and switch to the Intel IGP) when the GPU isn’t needed. Still, it’s not enough to deliver great battery life. You can expect anywhere between two and six hours of real-world battery life, depending on how much effort you put into avoiding demanding tasks. Foundry / Matthew Smith However, as the graph shows, this is not unusual for a high-end gaming laptop. The fastest laptops tend to land around two to three hours of battery life. Those that do manage to surge ahead, like the Razer Blade, do so with the use of less powerful CPUs and more miserly GPU power configurations. There’s a clear trade-off here. A modern gaming laptop can deliver maximum performance, or decent battery life, but it can’t provide both. The Legion 9i leans more towards performance. Lenovo Legion 9i: Conclusion The Lenovo Legion 9i is a design statement that looks great and proves enjoyable to use day-to-day. It also delivers strong game performance and an incredible array of leading-edge ports. These benefits are countered by a mediocre display with a 1200p/440Hz (or, alternatively, glasses-free 3D) mode that’s of questionable use. CPU performance also fell short of expectations. Still, the Legion 9i is a reasonable choice if you care mostly about GPU performance and will often connect the laptop to an external display. Read...

Canon Oceania awards four New Zealand charities NZD $5,000 each plus technology to boost social, environmental, educational, and cultural initiatives in 2025. Read...

The major TV manufacturers use their devices to collect data on viewers’ viewing behavior. The technology behind this is called Automatic Content Recognition (ACR). The televisions generate hash values at regular intervals from the visible and audible content that is currently running on the sets. These values are also known as fingerprints. A study by universities in England, Spain, and California has analyzed these data collections on Samsung and LG devices in particular. However, this does not mean that other manufacturers do not do the same. Samsung even uses its data collection to attract advertising customers and refers to it as Samsung Ads on its website. According to the information there, Samsung televisions take a screenshot of the current image every 500 milliseconds. LG models even save a new hash value every 10 milliseconds. Samsung televisions forward this data to the company’s servers in a bundle once a minute, while LG televisions do this every 15 seconds. Samsung advertises its data collection on its website under the title Samsung Ads. The company wants to attract companies to place adverts via the TV software. Sam Singleton On the company’s servers, this data is then compared with a database containing films, series, and games. If the server registers a match, the manufacturer knows what the viewer is currently watching. This allows companies to display suitable adverts themselves, but they can also sell the data on to advertising companies. As the aforementioned study showed, these televisions not only create fingerprints of the current television program, but also of all content that is fed in via HDMI, including console games or DVDs, even if they contain private recordings. However, you can refuse to consent to Automatic Content Recognition. On Samsung televisions, this is done in the settings via “Terms & Conditions & Privacy -> I agree to the display information services on this device”. Delete the tick in front of “I agree”. The display information services may also be called “Viewing Information Services” at this point. LG calls its data collection “Live Plus”. For other manufacturers, it is best to take a look at the manual. Read...