Most exciting new games of 2018: everything you should play next year

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Most exciting new games of 2018: everything you should play next year

Your to-play list of 2017 may be towering over your head in a Damoclesian manner every time you sit on your sofa but still you can’t help but keep an anticipatory eye on what’s coming next. 

We know, no judgement – we also have that problem. There’s so much good stuff available right now, but there are also a lot of great games still to come and it just won’t do to let them pass you by. 

To help you know which titles you should be keeping a weather eye on over the next year, we’ve put together this useful guide. Whether you're playing on PC, PS4, Xbox One or Nintendo Switch, you'll find something in this list.

Not every one of these games has a pinned down release date just yet, but they’re the titles slotted to come at some point in the next year.

What can I play it on? PS4, Xbox One, PC

When can I play it? March 27 2018

Far Cry 5 has caused some controversy before it’s even been released thanks to its close-to-home setting of Montana, America. When the small town of Hope County is taken over by a violent doomsday cult known as Project at Eden’s Gate, it’ll be up to you the player to become the new Deputy Sheriff and take them out. Expect violence, chaos and a whole lot of fun from this one. 

Want more info? Here's everything we know about Far Cry 5

What can I play it on? Xbox One and PC

When can I play it? March 20 2018

The Xbox One doesn’t have a large number of exclusives lined up for 2018 but this is one of the big ones. It’s been a while since we’ve seen something big and new from development studio Rare and we really can’t wait to dive back into a charming world with a distinct sense of humor. 

This is an online co-op extravaganza that will see you create your very own pirate, form a crew with your friends and go on wild adventures across a wide open world.

Want more info? Here's everything we know about Sea of Thieves

What can I play it on? Xbox One and PC

When can I play it? Spring 2018

It was supposed to be one of the key launch titles for the Xbox One X in November 2017 but Crackdown 3 will now be a big 2018 exclusive for the console. The main selling point of the Crackdown franchise is destruction and in this game’s online multiplayer mode every part of the game’s city is open to destruction thanks to a cloud-based physics calculations system. 

Want more info? Here's everything we know about Crackdown 3

What can I play it on? PS4 and Xbox One

When can I play it? Spring 2018

Voted TechRadar’s most highly-anticipated game of 2018, Rockstar’s latest outing looks set to be one of the biggest releases of the year. Jumping back into the Wild West, this is the third Red Dead game but the first Rockstar game created from the ground up for the latest generation of consoles. 

We can’t wait to meet the brand new protagonist Arthur Morgan and rob and pillage our way across the wide open American heartland.

Want to know more? This is everything we know about Red Dead Redemption 2

What can I play it on? PS4

When can I play it? Sometime in 2018

Though we can’t help but feel that zombie games have been somewhat done to death, we do have some hope that a good PlayStation exclusive could revive the genre. Days Gone has now been confirmed to be coming this year and when it does players will have to flee hoards of infected enemies known as Freakers. 

What can I play it on? To be confirmed 

When can I play it? Autumn 2018

A pleasant surprise from this year’s E3, Anthem will be developer BioWare’s next big IP. Not a whole lot is known about Anthem at the moment, despite the fact that it’s coming relatively soon, but EA has described it as “a shared-world action RPG where Freelancers challenge the wilds past the wall, exploring a vast world filled with savage beasts and ruthless marauders, but also teeming with amazing technology and forgotten treasures”. 

If that makes you think of Destiny you’re not alone.

Want more information? Here's everything we know about Anthem

What can I play it on? PS4, Xbox One and PC 

When can I play it? 2018

Revealed at E3 2017, this game was basically pitched as Assassin’s Creed Black Flag with the assassin bits removed. That leaves the naval warfare and in Skull and Bones you’ll find yourself engaging in single-player and online multiplayer seafaring adventures. Think Sea of Thieves but a bit more geared towards gritty realism.

What can I play it on? PS4

When can I play it? Early 2018

The PlayStation exclusive God of War franchise is returning and this time it’s moving away from the Greek myths to the Norse and turning the legendary lone wolf Kratos into something of a father figure. When it’s released, this revamped God of War will have more of a focus on narrative than anything we’ve seen from the series but the hack and slash god fighting will still remain.

Read everything we know about God of War so far

What can I play it on? PS4 and Xbox One

When can I play it? 2018

Given it’s been 12 years since Kingdom Hearts 2 was released, it’s safe to say Kingdom Hearts 3 is one of the more highly anticipated titles for 2018. Once more players will take up the role of Sora as he travels with his closest friends Donald and Goofy across a variety of world themed around and populated by a host of famous Disney and Final Fantasy characters. 

There’s going to be plenty of familiar sights and faces but we’re really excited to see the brand new Toy Story world. 

Here's everything we know about Kingdom Hearts 3

What can I play it on? PS4

When can I play it? 2018

The latest PS4 exclusive game from writer David Cage, this is a game that looks set to court some controversy with its themes. The script took two years to write and hundreds of actors have lent their faces for motion capture so we’re interested to see how this multi-choice narrative adventure plays out. 

What can I play it on? PS4

When can I play it? 2018

Yet another enticing PS4 exclusive for 2018 is Spider-Man, created by the studio behind Spyro and Ratchet and Clank. Don’t worry if you’re not invested in the latest movie reboot yet – this game stands completely seperate to that with an older more experienced Peter Parker and its very own story. 

There are few things more enjoyable than getting to swing around New York City as Spider-Man and we really can’t wait to do it on the latest generation of consoles.

Want more info? This is everything we know about Spider-Man (PS4)

What can I play it on? PS4

When can I play it? Late 2018

Considering the first game has been continually hailed as a masterpiece thanks to its excellent, emotional story and engaging life-like characters, the decision to develop The Last of Us Part 2 isn’t actually all that surprising. This time around Ellie takes up the starring role and we’re being promised a much darker game with an even bigger story.

Want more information? Here's the latest on The Last of Us Part 2

There are some games to which no solid release date has been tied but we know we're going to hear more about them this year, whether that's at E3 2018 or Gamescom or just through another avenue. These are the titles we're can't wait to find out more about. Namely, a release date.

Final Fantasy 7 remakeCyberpunk 2077 Beyond Good and Evil 2 Death Stranding Ghost of Tsushima The next Tomb Raider Pokemon StarsAge of Empires 4Bayonetta 3Metroid Prime 4

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Apple to fast track discount battery packs for slowed, older iPhones

Following the reveal that Apple has been slowing down older iPhones as their batteries aged, Tim Cook's company has now announced that it will be immediately offering discount replacement battery packs for those affected. 

Originally, Apple had believed that the discounted batteries would not be available until late January. But as the severity of the situation has risen, Apple appears to have been able to speed up the process.

The batteries would normally cost $79 when not under warranty, but are to be offered for $29 instead. The company has stressed that the replacements may initially be in short supply, however.

Conspiracy theorists

“We expected to need more time to be ready, but we are happy to offer our customers the lower pricing right away,” said Apple spokeswoman Trudy Muller.

It's been a damaging week for Apple in the eyes of its customers. While its reasoning for slowing down older devices (extending their lifespan) may be sound, the delayed lack of transparency around the situation has fuelled existing conspiracy theories that Apple reduces the performance of older devices simply to encourage customers to buy new replacements.

In an effort to address these concerns going forward, Apple will be releasing an iOS update that will let users more easily monitor the health of their device's batteries, and whether or not performance is being affected as a result.

iPhone X review: a handset where performance is never doubted

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You're not crazy – in some ways your old PC was faster than your new one

Your brand new laptop blitzes the one you had five years ago in almost all of the important metrics, but computer engineer Dan Luu has spent some time confirming what many of us long suspected. There is one area where newer hardware lags behind older gear: latency.

That's the time it takes for a press on the keyboard to show up on the screen, and Luu found that the Apple IIe, first launched in 1983, beat out a collection of more modern computers with its latency response of 30 milliseconds. A 2014 MacBook Pro was lagging behind on 100ms, while a Windows machine running an Intel i7 processor took 200ms.

To gather his stats, Luu set up a camera in slow-motion mode fixed on the keyboard and computer screen, and ran each test several times to get an accurate average. He also tested several mobile devices, with the iPad Pro coming out on top with 30ms and iOS devices largely outperforming their Android counterparts.

All about the complexity

So why do older computers register key presses faster than newer ones, on the whole? It's all to do with the complexity of the systems – while older machines are nowhere near as powerful, they also have much less to handle in terms of inputs, outputs and all the various processes along the way.

"In practice, the solution to poor performance caused by 'excess' complexity is often to add more complexity," writes Luu. "In particular, the gains we've seen that get us back to the quickness of the quickest machines from 30 to 40 years ago have come not from listening to exhortations to reduce complexity, but from piling on more complexity."

In other words a full-scale code rewrite would be required to get the likes of Windows 10 and macOS High Sierra back to the latency speeds of 1983. However, Luu does say we're now emerging from the latency "dark ages", with modern-day computers and laptops starting to claw back some of the responsiveness they've lost.

Sluggish PC? These handy tools can help

Via Gizmodo

more info...

Apple in 2017: selling Macs and causing heart attacks with security lapse

How did things go for Apple in 2017? This is our report card for the company which will discuss the highpoints and the low ebbs which respectively buoyed and buffeted Tim Cook’s firm throughout the year. Although note that we’re just talking about the computing front here, and our report won’t go beyond the scope of Apple’s computers and notebooks, plus related software, (so there’ll be nothing on the mobile front, i.e. the iPhone and iPad).

Security shambles

We’ll begin our evaluation of Apple’s year in computing on the software front, considering the recent high profile security shenanigans which have clearly damaged the company’s reputation as 2017 draws to a close.

Traditionally, Apple likes to be known for its ironclad security and the safe havens of its walled ecosystems. Macs have always been viewed as a far safer proposition than Windows PCs, if only because as a relatively niche OS in comparison to Microsoft’s, it’s less often targeted by malware peddlers.

But the threat landscape is changing rapidly, and this year has witnessed even more attacks on Apple’s desktop computing platform. According to Malwarebytes, there was a massive 230% rise in Mac malware as of July 2017 (compared to the previous year). That includes the first macro-based Word document attack aimed at Macs, not to mention a load of other stuff.

Against that general backdrop, macOS 10.13 High Sierra was unleashed in September, and was largely well-received, save for some bugs and glitches. But then, at the end of November, the mother of all bugs descended on Apple’s desktop OS – perhaps the mothership of all bugs, from the planet Exploit on the far side of the Critical Vulnerability system.

Unbelievably, the security flaw in question allowed anyone to log into a Mac computer and gain full access (the ability to do anything) simply by using ‘root’ as the username, with no password needed. Embarrassing doesn’t really cover it. Catastrophic is probably closer to the mark.

As you’d expect, Apple fixed the problem sharpish, but the fact that this gaping black hole (yes, hold onto your helmets, the space metaphor returns) even existed in the first place is a cock-up of galactic proportions.

Macs-a-million

Things are more positive on the hardware front, at least on the face of it. Apple’s most recent financial figures (from November) painted a pretty rosy picture of Mac sales. The company flogged 5.4 million Macs, which was just over 10% up on the previous year’s tally. Profits were even stronger for Apple’s computers, coming close to touching $7.2 billion (around £5.4 billion, AU$9.6 billion), which represented a huge leap of 25% year-on-year.

Despite some blips in sales throughout the year (particularly in the US – at least according to analyst firm Gartner), CEO Tim Cook proudly declared that the Mac had achieved its highest revenue total ever in 2017, reaching $25.8 billion (around £19.3 billion, AU$34.4 billion) for the year.

You can’t really argue with those sort of numbers. Well, there’s no ‘really’ about it; you can’t argue with them full-stop. But before we get carried away with the idea that Apple’s Mac desktops and MacBook laptops were an unqualified success throughout the year, let’s look a bit more closely at a few aspects here. Principally: what was the reaction on the ground to Apple’s machines? What were the thoughts spilled amongst the chattering keyboards of the internet – and indeed our own expert reviewers?

Let’s start with desktops first. Apple ran a refresh on its iMac range this year, and while the all-in-one remains looking somewhat dated, the new offerings were generally well-received, and a rare bright spot for Apple in terms of value-for-money at the entry-level point.

Apple also revealed the iMac Pro, the new spin on Apple’s PC which is aimed firmly at professional users, and will be launched imminently. It’s a very powerful machine, and although it’s still unclear how the product will pan out, what we do know for sure is that it’s pitched at a rather jaw-dropping starting price of $4,999 (around £3,720, AU$6,650), making it a niche proposition at any rate.

Tremors of discontent

Moving onto notebooks, there’s much more to talk about, and some unhappier rumblings here. Apple refreshed both the 12-inch MacBook and MacBook Pro this year, and we certainly loved the former, which boasted a considerably improved keyboard (a much-needed move). The vanilla MacBook is a strong notebook now, no doubt, although it remains connectivity-challenged with only a single USB Type-C port. And it’s expensive – in fact, at $1,299 (£1,249, AU$1,899), it now starts at the same price as the MacBook Pro (non-Touch Bar).

Speaking of which, 2017’s refreshed MacBook Pro range was a wobblier affair. The keyboard has been much criticized over various issues and its overall feel, and even on this new model we found it a little noisy, and encumbered by something of a learning curve (concerns voiced in our review). Battery life also remains a thorn in the USB-C port, as it were.

And pricing is once again an issue. Particularly for the MacBook Pro variants with the fancy new Touch Bar, which start at a rather eye-watering $1,799 (£1,749, AU$2,699) for the base model. Take a moment to look at that price tag again. Now recall that we just mentioned Apple’s Mac profits leaping 25% this year. Is it any wonder with these sort of profit margins, particularly on these Touch Bar-toting MacBook Pro models?

So while the MacBook refreshes Apple pulled off in 2017 did some good work, many folks – including our reviewers – were unsurprisingly disappointed that the firm didn’t manage to curb the excesses of pricing on these laptops. They seem awfully expensive for the actual components you’re getting inside the notebooks.

Wait a minute – how did we get here? From booming Mac sales into an accumulating avalanche of negativity? That’s the interesting thing about Apple. Even though tendrils of negativity may snake out from all corners of the net trying to hold the firm’s products back, Apple’s machines will simply shrug these off and happily continue to set record quarterly revenues. It’s just what Apple does. Apple knows best, and the firm definitely knows how to make money.

But, interestingly, during 2017, something major did seem to change in terms of Apple’s attitude towards its customers with an axe of one kind or another to grind.

In short, Apple is now listening. Or at least that’s the image the company wants to project.

Speak now or forever scold your PCs

Apple wants your feedback. In April, a couple of months before the official unveiling of the iMac Pro, three big pips from Apple – Phil Schiller, Craig Federighi and John Ternus – gathered together to brief the press on how the firm was proceeding with the next Mac Pro, and how it had made mistakes with last incarnation of the machine.

This trio of Apple top brass were especially keen to make it clear that Apple has been listening to Mac Pro users and their complaints, in order to make the next-generation machine (which may well arrive in 2018) a better offering.

And earlier this month, Jony Ive, Apple’s design guru, made it clear that the company is listening to MacBook complaints as well. Ive commented: “Absolutely, all of your feelings and feedback around the MacBook you use, we couldn't want to listen to more. And we hear – boy, do we hear.”

The message is clear. Like Microsoft – which has gone to great pains to stress the importance of user feedback since Windows 10 launched – Apple is listening. Tim Cook even replies to customer emails like Steve Jobs used to do (and most recently the CEO assured one punter that the Mac mini isn’t dead).

Looking to next year

Overall, then, 2017 was something of a low on the software front, at least in terms of security, but Apple certainly did better with its hardware – and with its attitude, too. The apparent new willingness to listen generates a rather hopeful vibe as we head into 2018. And the hope is that we’ll get a company which doesn’t just listen, but also acts and makes good on its promises.

So with that in mind, with any luck, we’ll see a new, more configurable Mac Pro arrive next year, and a MacBook Pro which has been further honed based on user feedback. Perhaps the biggest question, though, is whether there’ll be any movement in terms of a cheaper MacBook Pro, or indeed a lowering of the price bar for the entry-level MacBook 12-inch.

But when Mac sales are riding high as 2017 comes to a close, even with prices stacked as they are, maybe that’s a dream too far. But we can still dream it…

What we absolutely don’t need is another nightmare of a gaping, abyssal flaw in macOS. Whatever comes to pass in 2018, Apple simply can’t afford to fall asleep at the wheel of the security bus in that fashion again.

We’ve rounded up the best cheap MacBook deals for Christmas

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The best Sky TV deals, packages and Sky Q offers in the January sales 2018

Every week we take a look at the latest Sky TV packages, deals and special offers to make sure that you're getting the very best prices when you decide to sign up! So if you're trying to decide which Sky TV offer is for you, what a Sky Q box is and if you can afford it or even if you should be getting one in the first place - you're in the right place!

As you scroll down the page, we'll discuss the latest Sky TV packages, offers and any special deals and walk you through the larger bundles with the optional extras like Sky Cinema and Sky Sports.

Sky Sports deal for existing customers What new Sky TV customers need to know

As things stand today, it's never been simpler to explore your options as Sky has standardised the default package with a flat £20 a month cost, which you can then add additional paid extra add-ons like sky Box Sets, Sky Sports and Sky Cinema. We've gone into detail about each of the available add-ons below and they'll all be offered to you as you go through the checkout process over on Sky's website too.

Are there any Sky Q deals for new customers?

Yes! Actually, all of these Sky TV packages include a Sky Q box by default if you're signing up as a new customer. When choosing your Sky TV package from the list of offers below, you'll be presented with two Sky Q deals to choose from.

The default Sky Q box is the 1TB option with a one-off £20 setup cost. Opt for the 2TB Sky Q box though and that setup cost rises to a rather steep £199. That's pretty harsh to be honest, although the monthly prices don't change, so it is just the one-off cost to consider. 

Alternatively, you can get the 2TB Sky Q box for £65 instead if you add Sky Q Multiscreen to your bundle for £12 a month. We'd get your channels sorted first, then maybe scroll back up to the Sky Q offers' section once you have a better idea of the overall cost, which is handily updated throughout at the top of the screen.

Do I need a 2TB Sky Q box?

In addition to double the storage (that's up to 1000 hours in standard definition) of the standard Sky Q box, the 2TB Sky Q deal comes with a few extra benefits. Such as being able to record six shows at once instead of three, while watching a seventh. You also get the fancier Sky Q Touch remote control, an extra tablet allowance, and the all-important party piece - you can enjoy select channels in Ultra HD. Which is great if you've recently taken advantage of a cheap 4K TV deal.

The starter Sky TV package Sky TV Add-ons

Sky TV deal add-ons are much easier to understand since the reshuffle. Better yet, prices seem to be lower across the board and simple to see for both new customers building a bundle, or existing customers wanting to beef up their current deal. Current Sky TV customers will apparently have to wait until mid-January to take advantage of these deals though.

Sky Fibre Broadband | 18 months | £19.95 one off set-up fee | £20-£44 per month
If you're also looking for a broadband bundle to compliment your Sky TV deal, then you can add one to your Sky package from as little as £20 a month. It all depends on what's available in your area, you'll need to enter your postcode to check. The £28.99 a month package only allows for 25GB of usage, so if you're planning on streaming video content or using it for gaming (we've seen PS4 game patches bigger than 25GB) we'd go for one of the Unlimited data deals instead.

View: Sky TV and Broadband packages

What Sky TV package is Game of Thrones on?

Game of Thrones season 7 has just finished, but Sky has started broadcasting the entire series from the start. So you'll be able to tell your Sky Q box to record the lot for you.

What HD Channels do I get on Sky TV?

With all packages you get at least the standard free to air HD channels. To be honest you also get a fair few of these with standard Freeview HD.

BBC One HDBBC Two HDBBC Four HDBBC News HDCBBC HDCBeebies HDITV HD4 HD5 HDNHK World HDRT HD

You'll need to splash out on the £38 a month 'Box Sets bundle' in order to get the flashier HD channels. Once you do though, you'll get access to the following channels as well:

Sky Atlantic HDSky 1 HDSky Living HDSky Arts HDSky News HDSky Sports News HDFox HDComedy Central HDSyfy HDDave HDFood HDMTV HDITV EncoreE HDW HDE4 HDFilm 4 HDMore 4 HDITV 2 HDITV 3 HDITV 4 HDTCM HDAnimal Planet HDHistory Channel HDNational Geographic HDNat Geo Wild HDDiscovery HDDisney Channel HDDisney Junior HDDisney XD HDCartoon Network HDNickelodeon HDNick Jr. HDBoomerang HDAlibi HDCrime and Investigation HDEden HDLifetime HDStar Plus HDTLC HDUniversal HDViceland HDSky Sports Mixc HDEurosport 1 HDEurosport 2 HD

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After Christmas sales 2017: the best deals for December 30

We have updated our official After Christmas deals for Friday, December 29, to reflect what's still on sale today in the US at Amazon, Walmart and Target.

Below, you'll find that just because the holiday are over doesn't mean American retailers aren't desperate to increase their profits in the remaining days of 2017.

You can find deeply discounted After Christmas bargains at stores aiming to either profit off of your returns and make you of your Christmas gift cards.

Here's how we can help: we've researched all of the deals and wound up with 30 individual rollback prices – and yes, we checked them twice. PSA: most deals will expire on Sunday, December 31, or sooner. Once January 1, 2018 rolls around, it's back to the original MSRP for many of them.

We've also applied our expertise to finding the best over US stores where you can find the top After Christmas sales. That's what we'll begin with below on this newly updated page.

But first, who are After Christmas sales online shoppers exactly? Three specific types of people come to mind. First, anyone who just got gift cards (that's a lot of people right now). Second, anyone who didn't get what they wanted on Christmas Day yesterday (hands up – that's a lot of you, too). And, third, anyone who is returning something today (again, that is a lot of people). 

Pro tip: gift cards often can't be returned to stores in most US states (Hawaii being an exception), and there's usually an expiration date stamped on the fine print. So better use them now with these After Christmas sales before it's too late or you forget about them completely.

Whether you're returning something you didn't want (and certainly didn't ask for) or spending your gift cards, here are the best year-end price drops, based on our research of stores in the US. It spans sales from Amazon and eBay to Target and Zappos.

Where are the best After Christmas sales?

The most frequent question we get is: where did I shop for After Christmas sales. The simple answer is online, but the more complex answer has forced us to research hundreds of retailers. We've boiled it down to the list below, naming the top ten of the most trusted stores in America, all with significant deals.

Here are links the best stores with After Christmas sales for 2017.

Amazon After Christmas saleWalmart After Christmas saleNewegg After Christmas saleMacy's After Christmas saleKohl's After Christmas saleAbt After Christmas saleGameStop After Christmas saleCDKeys After Christmas saleB&H Photo Video After Christmas saleJet After Christmas sale

These ten retailers were the best in the lead up to the holidays, so we've ranked them, based on our research, based on their price cuts and product inventory.

30 After Christmas sale highlights

There are more After Christmas sales coming through, now that Christmas Day is over and done with. We'll keep this page updated with more deals and our list fresh every chance we get.

Why After Christmas sales are so important

We like to highlight After Christmas sales in our news coverage because it's the last time you'll find savings in 2017. Many items will return to their original price in 2018. That's a problem if you procrastinate on buying that Amazon Echo, for example.

Yes, there may be price drops in 2018 here and there, but everything is on sale at once through these After Christmas Sales and Year-End Deals on Amazon, Walmart and so forth. There's a better shot you'll get what you want on December 30 than you will next month in January or February. Deals are rare in the New Year.

The other issues is, through our expertise, we know that CES 2018 is coming up and product refreshes will happen at the event (though many products won't launch until March at the earliest). You'll find many gadgets in stock today, but that same tech might be sold out after December. It's happened to us before.

Who should online shop for After Christmas sales

US stores with After Christmas sales are focusing on everyone returning gifts this week, as they're already online on their site or in stores. It's a great opportunity, and has continued into December 30.

You also have all of those consumers who just received gift cards and aren't quite sure what to spend them on (sadly, you usually can only spend them at one place). It's "money," often with an expiration date. That makes these After Christmas deals extra tempting today.

Finally, you can't always get what you want on Christmas, so it's nice to see a few price drops lingering around today, so you can pick up what you really want.

When do After Christmas sales begin and end?

After Christmas sales don't have a refined end date like other online shopping holidays. In fact the start date even had some wiggle room in 2017.

The deals started pouring in before Christmas Day, five days ago, precisely when stores closed down for the holiday. This was to ensure items were discounted as soon as they opened back up the day after Christmas.

These sales will transition into year-end deals, but really, they're one in the same. But some After Christmas sales won't last forever.

Why buy today during After Christmas sales

This is an easy one. Retailers are trying to make increase their profits before the end of 2017, so they're discounting as much inventory for you as possible.

Stores in the US also might not have sold as much of certain products as they would have liked, so offloading what didn't sell well enough is easier to do when it's dressed up as an After Christmas sale with a flashy price drop sign.

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Intel in 2017: still the leader, but for how long?

At the beginning of 2017, Intel was the undisputed king when it came to desktop and laptop processors, but now, at the end of the year, while it still retains its leadership of the market, its position isn’t quite as unassailable as it used to be.

In this article, we’ll evaluate how Intel performed in 2017, and this report card will cover all the highs and lows that this past year has brought for the CPU goliath.

We’ll also look at how the events of 2017 could determine Intel’s success in 2018 and beyond…

Intel's 8th-generation Core processors landed in 2017

Sitting pretty

The beginning of 2017 saw Intel in an incredibly strong position, posting a first quarter revenue of $14.8 billion – up from $13.7 billion it managed during the first financial quarter of 2016.

Intel’s market dominance was also extremely impressive, with Passmark releasing information about the split between Intel and AMD processors used by people running Passmark’s range of benchmarks that showed Intel having 79.3% of the market compared to AMD’s 20.6%.

While these results were confined to Windows machines that ran the benchmarks, it was still convincing evidence of Intel’s strength.

So, revenue was up and market share was still sky high – not many companies entered 2017 in such a strong position. Things could only get better for Intel, right? Well…

AMD vs Intel got hotter than ever in 2017

2017: when the processor wars got interesting

Many people would argue that Intel’s dominance of the desktop and laptop processor market brought with it a lack of ambition and innovation. AMD, Intel’s closest rival, was lagging so far behind in market share, that many people accused Intel of resting on its laurels. Why take risks when you’re doing so well?

This meant a good few years where new processors (from either camp) saw rather conservative improvements over the ones that came before. So, people with older processors didn’t feel like they needed to upgrade. People were getting board. Restless.

Then, in March AMD upped the ante by releasing its Ryzen 7 series of processors, which attracted critical acclaim by bringing high core counts (the flagship AMD Ryzen 7 1800X features 8-cores and 16-threads, as well as a 3.6GHz base speed and top speeds of up to 4GHz) at very affordable prices.

The release of Ryzen 7, along with the subsequent releases of Ryzen 5 and Ryzen 3 CPUs, thrust AMD back into the limelight. Customers responded to AMD’s new offerings, while Intel, with its high prices and mainstream processors that still maxed out at four cores, was beginning to look out-dated and out of touch.

AMD continued to gain positive headlines and reviews when it launched its enthusiast-class Threadripper processors that brought incredibly high core-counts and captured the imaginations of gamers who wanted the very best hardware.

AMD had brought the processor war back to Intel, so how would the dominant company respond?

With the Intel Core i9 X-series, that's how

Hardcore core counts

The pressure was on for Intel to respond, and in May at Computex 2017 it did just that by announcing its Intel Core X series of processors, which included the world’s first consumer desktop processor with 18 cores and 36 threads – the Intel Core i9-7980XE.

The rest of the Core X series were no slouches either, with the Intel Core i9-7960X matching the Threadripper’s 16-cores and 32 threads, along with the 14-core i9-7940X, 12-core i9-7920X and 10-core i9-7900X.

These high-core CPUs were accompanied by the i7-7820X and i7-7800X, which come with 8-cores and 6-cores respectively, the first time i7 CPUs had gone above quad core (which was left to the i7 7740X and i5 7640X). Intel went as far as to call this new series of CPUs its most "scalable, accessible and powerful desktop platform ever."

These new processors certainly showed that Intel was ready to match AMD when it came to high core counts, and they also brought a number of advantages over the previous generation, with a 30% performance improvement over Intel’s seventh generation CPUs, 10% faster for multi-thread performance, and up to 15% faster for single-thread performance.

So, Intel had no issue with fighting back against a resurgent AMD when it comes to cores and power, but would it also compete with AMD when it came to price, traditionally AMD’s strongest area?

Price versus performance

The short answer is no. Intel has long had a reputation for releasing CPUs that are a fair amount more expensive than AMD, and in 2017 Intel didn’t challenge this perception – it reinforced it.

The top-of-the-range Intel Core i9-7980XE, for example, comes in at an eye-watering $1,999 (about £1,480, AU$2,510), while the 16-core Intel Core i9-7960X costs $1,699 (£1,700, around AU$2,150).

Intel's processors remained as pricey as ever in 2017

Meanwhile, AMD’s Threadripper 1950X costs $999 (£999, AU$1,440), while going pretty much toe-to-toe with the i9-7960X in terms of performance. In terms of price versus performance, AMD continued to hold the upper hand in 2017.

AMD gets even more competitive in the price department with the Ryzen 3, 5 and 7 processors, and coupled with the positive critical reception of those CPUs, pressure began to mount on Intel.

Enter the age of Coffee Lake

Coffee Lake break

Throughout 2017, Intel continued to release processors, including the 8th generation Kaby Lake Refresh for laptops as well as the 8th-generation desktop chips, codenamed Coffee Lake, which came out in October.

While these new processors meant upgraders also had to invest in a new motherboard, Intel boasted they would bring a huge 45% performance boost over its Kaby Lake predecessors. 

As we observed in our review of the Intel Core i7-8700K, the six-core, 12 thread Coffee Lake-S processor outpaced AMD’s Ryzen chips, was a beast at overclocking, and at $359 (about £270, AU$460) it was priced to compete with AMD’s Ryzen 7 chips.

Intel certainly didn’t seem to take AMD’s challenge lying down, but throughout 2017’s war of the processors there was at least one clear winner: consumers. Lower prices, more cores and a renewed drive for innovation from both sides made 2017 a vintage year for processors.

Intel’s Management Engine courts controversy

Intel also suffered some rather damaging headlines during 2017. The biggest controversy came when it was revealed that, since 2010, millions of Intel chips have been sold with a security flaw in the hidden Management Engine, which could allow malicious users of gaining remote control of the AMT features, potentially providing a backdoor to millions of PCs around the world.

After the exploit was uncovered by Mark Ermolov and Maxim Goryachy, Moscow-based security experts who work for Positive Technologies Research, Intel admitted that some 10 vulnerabilities exist in the Intel Management Engine, Trusted Execution Engine and Server Platform Services.

This followed concerns that were raised when the Management Engine was found to run a version of Minix – a ‘mini-Unix’ OS originally created by Andrew Tanenbaum for educational purposes, but apparently adapted by Intel for its processors.

Much of the controversy was over the fact that the user has no access to this Minix OS, yet it has full access to the host PC, and with these security flaws it made uncomfortable reading for both Intel and anyone running on of the affected processors.

An Intel chip inside a pre-Z97 motherboard

A changing landscape

So, at the end of 2017, where does this leave Intel? Due to some excellent product releases, and a new range of Core X processors that takes consumer desktop CPUs to even greater heights, Intel remains the market leader.

However, even with a still impressive lead, the landscape has changed and, in 2017, AMD was able to chip away at Intel’s dominance. As we reported in September, German retailer Mindfactory.de, released its CPU sales data (which were then picked up on Reddit) for the period between March and August 2017, which showed that in March AMD CPUs accounted for just 27.6% of the retailer's CPU sales, compared to 72.4% for Intel. 

However, in April after the Ryzen 7 1800X, 1700X and 1700 had launched, and which saw the introduction of the mid-range Ryzen 5 chips, AMD’s share rose to 36.5% while Intel’s dropped to 63.5%.

Most worrying of all for Intel was that, in August 2017, AMD actually overtook Intel – 56.1% to 43.9%. Although this was only sales results from one (admittedly very large) retailer, there was similar evidence from various retailers that AMD was clawing back market share.

This year also saw Qualcomm, the processor manufacturer that’s usually associated with smartphone chips, make more strident moves into the laptop processor market, putting even more pressure on Intel’s position.

At Computex 2017, Qualcomm and Microsoft announced that a number of laptops from Asus, HP and Lenovo will run Windows 10 on the Snapdragon 835 platform, and the first of these ‘always connected’ PCs will feature seriously impressive 20-hour battery life.

With Qualcomm and Microsoft working together, and a reinvigorated AMD, Intel found that, despite its successes this year, 2017 marks the end of its near dominance of the CPU market.

What does 2018 have in store for Intel?

So, what can we expect from Intel in 2018? After such an eventful 2017 for processors, there is a fear that we could be in for a bit more of a boring year for the company, however there are some rumors swirling about what Intel has in store.

First of all, Intel’s upcoming Cascade Lake-X family should make an appearance, and rumors suggest it will use Intel’s 14mm++ architecture, which brings improved speeds and better temperatures.

Intel’s delayed 10nm architecture should also make an appearance with the Cannon Lake series finally releasing. Cannon Lake is expected to see considerable gains in performance (25%) and reductions in power consumption (45%), thanks to shrinking the transistor size from 14nm – where Intel’s processors are now and have been since its first Core M chips in 2014.

Intel’s low-power Atom CPUs should also move from Apollo Lake architecture to Gemini Lake, though it’s unlikely there will be a process shrink.

Meanwhile we expect AMD to continue putting pressure on Intel with its new range of Ryzen CPUs, while Qualcomm and Microsoft’s partnership will continue to bring new devices running Snapdragon 835, and possibly even 845, chips.

So, 2017 has been a big year for Intel specifically and the processor market in general, and we’ll continue to see the repercussions throughout 2018 and beyond.

These are the best processors we've seen this year

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Samsung's next 2-in-1 Chromebook is tipped to have a stylus

Word on the Samsung street is that the manufacturer is readying a 2-in-1 Chromebook with a detachable screen, as a follow-up to the Chromebook Pro and Chromebook Plus laptops that the company released this year – and now we've got another piece of the puzzle in terms of what to expect.

As Chrome Unboxed notes, recent changes in a section of the Chrome OS code dedicated to a mystery device (known by the codename of Nautilus) refer to storing and ejecting a stylus. Chances are, Nautilus is Samsung's upcoming Chromebook.

That means you'll be able to doodle on the touchscreen screen and give your fingers a rest, as on the Samsung Chromebook Pro, which also came with a stylus. The new model will up the ante by making the screen detachable, so you can turn it into a fully fledged Chrome OS tablet if you're so inclined.

Stop taking the tablets

Don't forget that most Chromebooks can now run Android apps too, making a stylus even more useful for tapping around the likes of Netflix and Facebook. Whatever the new Samsung Chromebook ends up being called, it'll almost certainly be able to run a selection of Android apps.

All of this means Android tablets aren't really needed any more – as Google itself has acknowledged by finally pulling the Pixel C tablet from its online store after two years. Touchscreen Chromebooks can now act as perfectly decent tablets, running both Android apps and a proper web browser too.

We wouldn't expect the stylus on Nautilus to be anywhere near the sophistication of the Pen that comes with the Google Pixelbook, but it should do a job for sketching and writing. As for when we'll see it officially unveiled, keep your eyes on news coming out of the CES show at the start of January.

Buying a Chromebook? These are our favorite models of the year

Via Phandroid

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