Mac owners, do you run out of ports? Need to prop up your iMac to eye level? Satechi have got you sorted with their new monitor stand.

The super simple device in brushed aluminium the weighted stand is designed to hold your beloved iMac, raising it up a few inches and is designed to take the weight up to half a KG or 1 lb 3 oz which is enough for any sized iMac.

Monitor stands tend to leave ‘wasted space’ underneath – so Satechi have made use of this by way of adding additional ports.

Superb cable management on the underside of the stand sees a USB-C cable builtin to supply power to the x3 additional USB 3.0 ports, x1 HDMI, 3.5mm audio jack and SD card reader.

Satechi supply a USB-C to USB adaptor too.

You iMac will instantly recognise the expansion and boom, there you go, you can plug more stuff in.

Using power from the desktop the Satechi Monitor Stand and Hub does not need any mains power.

But if you’re not an iMac user and say, use a MacBook or PC laptop or notebook with little to no external offerings this unit is ideal to prop up your laptop and allow you to plug in all of your peripherals including a secondary monitor.

For the use of USB wired keyboard and mouse the Satechi Monitor Stand and Hub works well.

Adding an additional monitor  via the hub’s HDMI- well there’s a catch.

Your main device needs to be able to be able to run a secondary screen via USB-C. This is not going to work if you use this on a laptop without that functionality already builtin.

I also found that the hub was a bit under powered for larger external drives.

A 4TB SSD was hit and miss. At times it would run fine – but for the most part, wouldn’t show in the PC or Mac OS.

Lower power external drives such as 1TB and less tended to be okay.

Satechi have designed this for iMac – and while it does work on PC there does need to some forgiveness in the hubs low power aspect (which is not so much of an issue for iMac) and this is of course fully dependant on your device’s ability to be able to provide enough power to the hub in the first place.

Priced right when compared to similar stands of the same ilk (I’ve seen some out there in the wild that are a stand only, no hub, and they are more expensive than this one).

The Satechi Monitor Stand and Hub does exactly what it is designed to do and I’d recommend using for an iMac to make the most out of what the hub is capable of.

The post Satechi Monitor Stand & Hub Review appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

Apple has now revealed details on an all-new iMac featuring a much more compact and remarkably thin design, enabled by the M1 chip.

The new iMac offers powerful performance in a design that’s just 11.5 millimetres thin, with a striking side profile that practically disappears. Available in an array of vibrant colours to match a user’s personal style and brighten any space, iMac features a 24-inch 4.5K Retina display with 11.3 million pixels, 500 nits of brightness, and over a billion colours, delivering a brilliant and vivid viewing experience.

The new iMac also includes a 1080p FaceTime HD camera, studio-quality mics, and a six-speaker sound system, the best camera and audio ever in a Mac.

Also, Touch ID comes to iMac for the first time, making it easier than ever to securely log in, make purchases with Apple Pay, or switch user profiles with the touch of a finger. Combining the power and performance of M1 and macOS Big Sur, apps launch with blazing speed, everyday tasks feel incredibly fast and fluid, and demanding workloads like editing 4K video and working with huge images are faster than ever.

The new iMac joins the incredible family of Mac models powered by M1, including MacBook Air, 13-inch MacBook Pro, and Mac mini, marking another step forward in Apple’s transition to Apple silicon. iMac is the most personal, powerful, capable, and fun it has ever been, and customers can order it beginning Friday, 30th April 2021. iMac will be available in the second half of May 2021.

“M1 is a gigantic leap forward for the Mac, and today we’re excited to introduce the all-new iMac, the first Mac designed around the breakthrough M1 chip,” said Greg Joswiak, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. “With its striking design in seven stunning colours, its immersive 4.5K Retina display, the best camera, mics, and speakers ever in a Mac, and Touch ID, combined with the amazing performance of M1 and the power of macOS Big Sur, the new iMac takes everything people love about iMac to an entirely new level.”

Completely reinventing one of the world’s most iconic computers, the new iMac features a thinner and more compact design that is remarkable from every angle. Enabled by the system-on-chip architecture and amazing power efficiency of M1, the logic board and thermals are dramatically consolidated and reduced in size compared to the previous generation’s, allowing the side profile of iMac to practically disappear. The much more compact design reduces the volume of iMac by 50 per cent, allowing it to take up less space and fit easily in even more places.

With an array of colours, green, yellow, orange, pink, purple, blue, and silver, the new iMac design personalises and elevates any space unlike any other computer.

iMac features softer colours and thinner borders on the front to allow users to focus on their content, while the back pops in bold, saturated colour. To complete the simplified design, iMac comes with a new power connector that attaches magnetically and a beautifully woven 2-meter-long colour-matched cable.

iMac has always been about its best-in-class display. The new iMac features an expansive 24-inch 4.5K Retina display with narrower borders and 11.3 million pixels. With a P3 wide colour gamut and over a billion colours, plus 500 nits of brightness, images are vivid and more brilliant. This new display also features True Tone technology, which automatically adjusts the colour temperature as the environment changes for a more natural viewing experience. In addition, the 4.5K Retina display on the new iMac has an industry-leading anti-reflective coating for greater comfort and readability.

With the power and performance of M1 and macOS Big Sur, the new iMac instantly wakes from sleep, everyday tasks feel faster and more fluid, and apps launch with amazing speed. In Safari, users can browse even faster and run hundreds of tabs at once, and in Photos, users can fly through edits to their images.

With Apple Arcade, they can enjoy exclusive games while on the large iMac display, and users can also run a variety of iPhone and iPad apps right on their iMac without breaking their workflow. macOS also delivers powerful iCloud and Continuity features that enable users to work seamlessly across their iMac, iPhone, and other Apple devices.

The new iMac offers the ultimate macOS Big Sur experience. Its refined design brings a new level of power and beauty to the Mac, and allows users to experience the spacious 24-inch 4.5K Retina display to the fullest. macOS Big Sur puts more controls at users’ fingertips and is packed with enhancements to key apps including Safari, Messages, and Maps.

The powerful 8-core CPU in M1 features the fastest CPU core in low-power silicon. And the 8-core GPU features the fastest integrated graphics in a personal computer. When combined with its high efficiency, unified memory architecture, and the 16-core Apple Neural Engine, the new iMac delivers powerful performance when compared to standard models of the 21.5-inch iMac, including:

• Up to 85 per cent faster CPU performance, so users can export their favourite video project in iMovie faster than ever, easily work with massive 100-megapixel photos in Lightroom, and compile new apps in Xcode in a fraction of the time.
• Up to 2x faster GPU performance for certain apps like Affinity Photo and Photoshop, and up to 50 per cent faster than the most powerful discrete graphics in the fastest 21.5-inch iMac, allowing users to render edits in real time or add complex filters to their photos in a snap.
• The ability to edit up to five streams of 4K footage, or one stream of 8K footage, without dropping a frame in Final Cut Pro.
• Up to 3x faster machine learning in apps that leverage the 16-core Neural Engine in M1.

iMac features a 1080p FaceTime HD camera, the best ever in a Mac, which delivers high-quality video and great performance in low light. iMac also takes advantage of the image signal processor in the M1 chip and the Neural Engine, enhancing camera image quality with better noise reduction, greater dynamic range, and improved auto exposure and white balance.

So whether connecting with family or on a video call while working from home, users will always look their best.

To complement the camera, the new iMac features a studio-quality three-microphone array for clearer calls and voice recordings, the best ever in a Mac. The mics are positioned to reduce feedback from the rest of the system, while directional beamforming allows them to better ignore background noise and focus on a user’s voice. As a result, conversations are more natural and recordings are crystal clear.

The new iMac also features the best sound system ever in a Mac.

It has two pairs of force-cancelling woofers placed side by side for an impressive bass response, while reducing unintended vibrations. Each pair is balanced with a high-performance tweeter. The result is a six-speaker sound system that produces a massive sound stage with strong, articulate bass and crystal-clear mids and highs. All of these speaker innovations, coupled with advanced algorithms, enable iMac to support spatial audio when playing video with Dolby Atmos. Together with its beautiful 4.5K Retina display, iMac transforms any space into an incredible movie-watching experience.

There are now thousands of popular and powerful Universal apps available that take full advantage of M1 and macOS Big Sur, including Photoshop, Twitter, Microsoft Office, Quicken, Slack, Affinity Publisher, Zappos, 1Password, and DaVinci Resolve, with more arriving every week. With the power of M1 and macOS Big Sur, and thousands of Universal apps, iMac can turn an office into a movie theatre, a living room into a classroom, a kitchen into a conference room, or shine as the centrepiece of a retail space.

Customers can choose from three models of Magic Keyboard with gorgeous aluminium enclosures that are colour-matched to iMac. And for the first time, Touch ID comes to iMac.

Implemented wirelessly on Magic Keyboard, it uses a dedicated security component on the keyboard that communicates directly with Secure Enclave in M1, creating an encrypted channel to protect users’ fingerprint data from end to end. Whether unlocking their Mac or making a purchase with Apple Pay, users enjoy a fast, easy, and secure experience.

Additionally, Touch ID works with Fast User Switching, so customers can change to a different user profile with just the press of a finger. Customers can also choose Magic Keyboard with Touch ID and Numeric Keypad, as well as the colour-matched Magic Mouse and the industry-best Magic Trackpad.

Every iMac features two Thunderbolt ports for super-fast data transfers, giving customers high-performance options to connect to more devices, including support for up to a 6K display, like Apple Pro Display XDR, and Wi-Fi 6 delivers faster wireless performance.

The 8-core iMac configuration offers two additional USB-C ports and also features a 1Gbps Ethernet port in the power adapter, allowing for a less cluttered desktop.

The new iMac is minimising its impact on the environment, built using a low-carbon aluminium enclosure and 100 per cent recycled tin in the solder of its main logic board. One hundred per cent wood fibre in the packaging is recycled or comes from responsibly managed forests.

The magnets in the speakers, fan motor, and power connector are made with 100 per cent recycled rare earth elements. iMac remains free of harmful substances and meets Apple’s high standards for energy efficiency.

Every Mac with M1, the new iMac, MacBook Air, 13-inch MacBook Pro, and Mac mini, is transformed into an entirely different class of product and redefines what each of them can do. Combined with macOS Big Sur, M1 brings extraordinary battery life and breakthrough performance to the Mac. Whether customers prioritise portability, power, or capability, there’s a Mac for everyone.

The post iMac 2021 appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

The year was 1970, a Motorola employee by the name of Alvin B. Phillips set the course for the digital storage we all use today. He founded Western Digital (WD).

With 50 years experience behind them WD have been at the forefront of digital storage technology for both personal (consumer) and businesses world wide.

Recently WD celebrated ‘World Back Up Day’ so it’s fitting that we review the Western Digital My Passport Ultra with a generous 4 terabytes (TB) of storage.

Keeping up with the times WD know that most of us with late model notebooks only get a smidgen of internal storage and either not enough or none at all USB sockets. Apple MacBooks are known for both of these ‘features’.

Not to worry if you get yourself a My Passport Ultra, which has a USB-C connection and cable, with a supplied USB-C to USB 3.1 adaptor.

Built for use on either Windows or MacOS the drive comes ready to go from the box, formatted in NTFS (it doesn’t work on Android – I tried).

Both operating systems (Windows and Mac) will read NTFS, but if you need to write to the drive (as in save your digital goodies) you will need to likely format to EXFAT to be readable and writeable on both.

The 2.5 inch hard drive is slim enough to be placed in any notebook or laptop bag and if you do have a device with only a small amount of storage the WD My Passport Ultra 4TB is likely to be your bestest pal.

There is autorun software included called WD Discovery.

This enables easy backups even from your online life. If you have uploaded every important life-moment photo to your social media, Western Digital with its WD Discovery will back these up for you.

Whatsmore the WD My Passport Ultra has got you sorted for security too. With 256bit AES Hardware encryption you can password protect your drive.

I reviewed the unit that we received on Windows 10, with a PC having 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD and Quad i7 (2020). Transfer speeds to the WD My Passport Ultra ramped up to a rather impressive 1.7GBps when moving large video files outputted from Premier (25GB+).

The speeds of file transfer or writing data to the drive will of course depend on your current builtin hardware. Working with media and large files on the drive saw zero lag whatsoever.

Playing a large 4K video file on the drive was just as seamless as if I had been playing from the PC’s internal SSD.

I also transferred a couple of steam game installs to the WD My Passport Ultra 4TB; Borderlands 3 and Marvel’s Avengers.

Again saw and experienced no issue playing games directly from the external drive.

Overall the WD My Passport Ultra 4TB is excellent for gamers, content creators and those that live their digital life online and need that piece of mind.

A fantastic hard drive at a not too expensive price point (just a bit over $200 NZD for the 4TB model), it’s likely to see you right for sometime to come, both swiftly and securely.

The post WD My Passport Ultra 4TB Portable HD Review appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

With 14.7 million pixels, 1 billion colours, 500 nits of brightness, and support for P3 wide colour, the Retina display on iMac delivers an immersive front-of-screen viewing experience. All those pixels result in text that looks like a printed page, sharper photos with more detail, and the ability to edit 4K video at full resolution. And now the stunning Retina 5K display on the 27-inch iMac features True Tone technology, which automatically adjusts the colour temperature of the display to match a user’s ambient lighting.

The new iMac offers a nano-texture glass option — first introduced on Pro Display XDR — for even better viewing under various lighting conditions, such as a bright room or indirect sunlight. Unlike typical matte finishes that have a coating added to the surface to scatter light, this industry-leading option is produced through an innovative process that etches the glass itself at the nanometer level. The result is extremely low reflectivity and less glare while maintaining stellar image quality and contrast, and a Retina 5K display that is more gorgeous than ever.

For those using their iMac more than ever to connect with friends, family, and colleagues, the FaceTime HD camera now features 1080p resolution, while the Image Signal Processor in the T2 Security Chip brings tone mapping, exposure control, and face detection for a much higher quality camera experience. To complement the improved camera, the T2 Security Chip also works with the speakers to enable variable EQ for better balance, higher fidelity, and deeper bass. In addition, a new studio-quality microphone array enables users to capture high-quality audio for improved FaceTime calls, podcast recordings, Voice Memos, and more, right on their iMac.

The post iMac Gets a Major Update appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

Apple today previewed macOS Big Sur, the latest version of the world’s most advanced desktop operating system.

macOS Big Sur introduces a beautiful redesign that is entirely new yet instantly familiar. Safari is packed with new features, including a customisable start page, elegantly designed and more powerful tabs, quick and easy translation, and a new Privacy Report. The updated Messages app lets Mac users send and receive more personal and expressive messages, and easily keep track of and interact within group messages. Maps also offers an all-new experience with immersive features for exploring and navigating the world.

“macOS Big Sur is a major update that advances the legendary combination of the power of UNIX with the ease of use of the Mac, and delivers our biggest update to design in more than a decade,” said Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president of Software Engineering. “With its modern and clean look, huge improvements to key apps including Safari, Messages, and Maps, and new privacy features, we think everyone is going to love the breakthrough experience that macOS Big Sur offers.”

macOS Big Sur delivers a spacious new design that makes navigation easier, while putting more controls at users’ fingertips. Everything from the curvature of window corners to the palette of colours and materials has been refined, and new features provide even more information and power. Icons in the Dock have been thoughtfully designed to be more consistent with icons across the Apple ecosystem while retaining their Mac personality. Buttons and controls appear when needed, and recede when they’re not. The entire experience feels more focused, fresh, and familiar, reducing visual complexity and bringing users’ content front and centre.

The customisable menu bar features an all-new Control Centre, delivering quick access to controls from the desktop. An updated Notification Centre includes more interactive notifications and redesigned widgets that come in different sizes, providing users with more relevant information at a glance. And a new design for core apps brings more organisation to multiple open windows and makes interacting with apps even easier.

In the biggest update to Safari since its original launch in 2003, the world’s fastest browser is even faster, providing industry-leading speed1 and battery life. Safari’s fast JavaScript engine helps it outperform other browsers on Mac and PC, and Safari loads frequently visited sites an average of 50 percent faster than Chrome. Tabs have been entirely redesigned to make navigating with Safari faster and more powerful by showing more tabs onscreen, displaying favicons by default to easily identify open tabs, and giving users a quick preview of a page by simply hovering over the tab.

Safari brings new features for greater personalisation while browsing the web. Users can customise the new start page with a background image and sections like their Reading List and iCloud Tabs. With built-in translation, Safari can detect and translate entire webpages from seven languages with just a click. Users can further personalise their experience with improved support for extensions, and the Mac App Store makes it easy to discover and download great Safari extensions with a new category that includes editorial spotlights and top charts.

Privacy has always been built into Safari, and a new Privacy Report delivers added visibility into how Safari protects browsing activity across the web. Users can choose when and which websites a Safari extension can work with, and tools like data breach password monitoring never reveal your password information — not even to Apple.

Messages on the Mac includes new tools to better manage important conversations and share expressive messages. Users can now pin their favourite conversations to the top of their messages list for fast access, and search has been entirely redesigned — organising results into links, photos, and matching terms — to help users quickly find what they are looking for.

Message effects let users add personality to their messages with balloons, confetti, and more. Users can now create and customise their Memoji on the Mac, and express themselves with Memoji stickers to match their mood and personality. And with a new photo picker and #images, it’s easy to quickly share images, GIFs, and videos.

New group messaging features streamline interactions with family, friends, and colleagues. Inline replies enable users to respond directly to a message, and now they can direct a message to an individual in a group conversation by simply typing their name. And users can now set a photo or an emoji for their group conversation that’s shared with all members of the group.

Completely redesigned for macOS Big Sur, Maps brings new features for exploring the world. Discover places to visit and things to do with Guides from trusted resources, or create custom guides of favourite restaurants, parks, and vacation spots that can be shared with friends and family. Get a 360-degree view of a destination with Look Around, and browse detailed indoor maps of major airports and shopping centres. Cycling and electric vehicle trips can now be routed on a Mac, and sent directly to iPhone to have when on the go.

Privacy is at the core of the Mac experience, and macOS Big Sur offers users even more transparency and control over their data. Inspired by the convenience and readability of food nutrition labels, new privacy information detailed in the Mac App Store will help users understand the privacy practices of apps before downloading them, including the types of data the apps might collect — such as usage, contact information, or location — and whether that data is shared with third parties for tracking.

macOS Big Sur will be available this fall as a free software update.

Everyone that works on STG is a volunteer. If you like the site and it’s contents please think about donating. Even a small amount helps keep the servers running.

The post Apple introduces macOS Big Sur appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

Gameloft is thrilled to announce that Asphalt 9: Legends, winner of the 2019 Apple Design Award, is now available on macOS Catalina.

With the power of Mac Catalyst, Gameloft Barcelona was able to create a cross-platform experience of Asphalt 9: Legends for the Apple ecosystem, allowing players to start their racing career on their iOS devices and seamlessly resume it on their Mac, leveraging cross-saves. Players will experience all of the same content on macOS, iPadOS and iOS, including the boundary-pushing graphics of Asphalt 9: Legends on an even bigger screen and at higher resolutions while running at 60fps.

Additionally, players can transfer their progress between the two versions using Sign in with Apple, and explore new control options, such as keyboard and mouse. Finally, the macOS version will have content parity with the iOS version of Asphalt 9: Legends moving forward.

Announced on stage at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference last June (2019), the release of Asphalt 9: Legends on Mac was made more seamless thanks to the tools provided by Apple’s Mac Catalyst development platform. Gameloft is excited to leverage this new technology and bring Asphalt 9: Legends to macOS in a very streamlined way, and to bring even more players to the races.

The post Asphalt 9: Legends Races onto Mac appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

Apple today previewed macOS Catalina, the latest version of the world’s most advanced desktop operating system, packed with cool new features, fresh new apps and powerful new technology for developers. With macOS Catalina, Apple is replacing iTunes with its popular entertainment apps — Apple Music, Apple Podcasts and the Apple TV app. The all-new Sidecar feature enables users to extend their Mac desktop by using their iPad as a second display or as a high-precision input device across creative Mac apps. New security features keep users better protected and Voice Control lets users control their Mac entirely with their voice.

“With macOS Catalina, we’re bringing fresh new apps to the Mac, starting with new standalone versions of Apple Music, Apple Podcasts and the Apple TV app,” said Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president of Software Engineering. “Users will appreciate how they can expand their workspace with Sidecar, enabling new ways of interacting with Mac apps using iPad and Apple Pencil. And with new developer technologies, users will see more great third-party apps arrive on the Mac this spring.”

macOS Catalina replaces iTunes with three all-new apps that greatly simplify and improve the way Mac users discover and enjoy their favourite music, TV shows, movies and podcasts.

The new Music app for Mac is lightning fast, fun and easy to use. Apple Music will help users discover great new music with over 50 million songs, playlists and music videos. And users will have access to their entire music library, whether they downloaded the songs, purchased them or ripped them from a CD. For those who like to own their music, the iTunes Music Store is just a click away.

The all-new Apple TV app brings together different ways to find and watch movies and TV shows into one powerful app. The Apple TV app features Apple TV channels, personalised recommendations and over 100,000 iTunes movies and TV shows to browse, buy or rent — so users can enjoy 4K HDR and Dolby Atmos-supported movies. The Watch Now section features Up Next, where viewers can keep track of what they are currently watching and resume on any screen. This spring, Apple TV+, Apple’s original video subscription service, will be available in the Apple TV app.

The popular Apple Podcasts app offers more than 700,000 shows in its catalogue and the option to automatically be notified of new episodes as soon as they become available. The app also features new categories, curated collections by editors around the world and advanced search tools that can find episodes by host, guest or even discussion topic.

For users who sync their media to their devices using a cable, they can quickly and easily do so in the new entertainment apps. And when users connect a device to their Mac, it will immediately show up in the sidebar of Finder, enabling them to backup, update or restore their device.

With Sidecar, iPad can be used as an extended display for Mac and a high-precision drawing tablet across supported Mac apps. For users on the go, Sidecar makes it easy to bring an extended display with them so they can spread their work out over two displays wherever they happen to be. When paired with an Apple Pencil, they can use their iPad to draw, sketch or write in any Mac app that supports stylus input. Sidecar is a great tool for editing video with Final Cut Pro X, drawing with Adobe Illustrator or marking up iWork documents. And like all Continuity features, Sidecar can run on a wireless connection, so users can work with greater mobility.

Apple believes technology is most powerful when it empowers everyone. With macOS Catalina, Apple is introducing new assistive technologies to help every user get the most out of their Mac. Voice Control is a transformative technology that enables users who can’t operate traditional input devices to control their Mac entirely with their voice using on-device Siri speech recognition technology, which also ensures personal data is kept private. New labels and grids let users interact with virtually any app using comprehensive navigation tools, with audio processing happening on-device. Voice Control is now also available on iOS and iPadOS, so users can control their device entirely with their voice, even gestures like tapping, swiping and scrolling.

With macOS Catalina, Gatekeeper now checks all apps for known security issues, while new data protections require all apps to get permission before accessing user documents. Approve with Apple Watch lets users approve many security prompts by simply tapping the side button on their Apple Watch. Now all Macs with the T2 Security Chip support Activation Lock to make them less attractive to thieves. And with the new Find My app, the location of a lost or stolen Mac can be securely and anonymously relayed back to its owner by other Apple devices, even when it is offline.

Screen Time on the Mac gives users insight into how they spend time in apps and on websites, and the tools to help decide how to spend their time. Screen Time is designed for the way people use their Mac, including a new “One more minute” feature that gives users more time to save their work or log out of a game. Users can schedule time away from their Mac and determine how much time they want to spend within apps, websites or categories of apps. With iCloud, users can sync Screen Time settings and combine their usage across iPhone, iPad and Mac privately through end-to-end encryption. And Family Sharing gives parents new tools to better manage their children’s device usage, including the ability to choose who their children can communicate with and when.

Also available with macOS Catalina are new APIs and tools for developers that make it incredibly easy to bring iPad apps over to the Mac. With over a million iPad apps available across a broad range of categories, from creative to entertainment and productivity to development, users will be able to interact with more popular apps right on their Mac’s large and beautiful display. This spring, users can expect to see more of their favourite apps coming to the Mac, including Jira Cloud, Twitter and Asphalt 9.

The developer preview of macOS Catalina is available to Apple Developer Program members at developer.apple.com starting today, and a public beta program will be available to Mac users later this month at beta.apple.com. macOS Catalina will be available this spring as a free software update for Macs introduced in mid-2012 or later.

The post Apple Previews macOS Catalina appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

Apple today introduced the all-new Mac Pro, a completely redesigned, breakthrough workstation for pros who push the limits of what a Mac can do, and unveiled Apple Pro Display XDR, the world’s best pro display.

Designed for maximum performance, expansion and configurability, the all-new Mac Pro features workstation-class Xeon processors up to 28 cores, a high-performance memory system with a massive 1.5TB capacity, eight PCIe expansion slots and a graphics architecture featuring the world’s most powerful graphics card. It also introduces Apple Afterburner, a game-changing accelerator card that enables playback of three streams of 8K ProRes RAW video simultaneously.

Pro Display XDR features a massive 32-inch Retina 6K display with gorgeous P3 wide and 10-bit colour, an extreme 1,600 nits of peak brightness, an incredible 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio and a super-wide viewing angle, all at a breakthrough price point. Together, the new Mac Pro and Pro Display XDR are the most powerful tools Apple has ever put in the hands of pro customers and will change pro workflows forever.

“We designed Mac Pro for users who require a modular system with extreme performance, expansion and configurability. With its powerful Xeon processors, massive memory capacity, groundbreaking GPU architecture, PCIe expansion, Afterburner accelerator card and jaw-dropping design, the new Mac Pro is a monster that will enable pros to do their life’s best work,” said Phil Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. “Pro Display XDR is the world’s best pro display and the perfect companion to the all-new Mac Pro. With Retina 6K resolution, gorgeous colour, extreme brightness and contrast ratio, and a highly functional design, Pro Display XDR delivers the most comprehensive set of features ever offered on any display at this price point.”

Designed for customers who demand the ultimate in CPU performance — for workflows like production rendering, playing hundreds of virtual instruments or simulating an app on a dozen iOS devices at once — Mac Pro features powerful Xeon processors up to 28 cores, with 64 PCI Express lanes for tremendous performance and massive bandwidth. It also provides over 300W of power along with a state-of-the-art thermal architecture to allow the processor to run fully unconstrained all the time.

For pros working with the largest projects, analysing huge data sets or running multiple pro applications, Mac Pro provides enormous memory capacity to meet needs as they grow. Featuring a six-channel memory architecture and 12 physical DIMM slots, the new Mac Pro allows for a massive 1.5TB of memory, the most ever available in a Mac. And with eight PCI Express expansion slots, which is twice that of the previous-generation Mac Pro tower, pros can customise and expand their system in ways never before possible in a single workstation.

For pros animating 3D film assets, compositing 8K scenes and building complex 3D environments, graphics performance is more important than ever. That is why Mac Pro features the world’s most powerful graphics card and up to 56 teraflops of graphics performance in a single system. Its groundbreaking graphics expansion architecture, the Apple MPX Module, features Thunderbolt integration and over 500W of power, both firsts for any graphics card. And for super quiet operation, the MPX Module is cooled by the Mac Pro system thermals.

Mac Pro graphics options start with the Radeon Pro 580X. Mac Pro debuts the Radeon Pro Vega II, featuring up to 14 teraflops of compute performance and 32GB of memory with 1TB/s of memory bandwidth, the highest of any GPU. Mac Pro also introduces Radeon Pro Vega II Duo, which features two Vega II GPUs for an incredible 28 teraflops of graphics performance and 64GB of memory, making it the world’s most powerful graphics card. Mac Pro can accommodate two MPX Modules so customers can use two Vega II Duos for a staggering 56 teraflops of graphics performance and 128GB of video memory.

The new Mac Pro debuts Afterburner, featuring a programmable ASIC capable of decoding up to 6.3 billion pixels per second. With Afterburner, video editors using high-quality cameras that require the conversion of native file formats into proxies for easy editing can now use native formats right from the camera and decode up to three streams of 8K ProRes RAW video and 12 streams of 4K ProRes RAW video in real time,¹ virtually eliminating proxy workflows.

The design of the new Mac Pro starts with a stainless-steel space frame with an aluminium housing that lifts off for 360-degree access to the entire system. The frame provides a foundation for modularity and flexibility, and incorporates smooth handles for easily moving Mac Pro around the studio. The housing also features a stunning lattice pattern to maximise airflow and quiet operation. For customers who want to rack mount their Mac Pro in edit bays or machine rooms, an optimised version for rack deployment will be available this spring.

Featuring a 32-inch LCD panel with a 6016 x 3384 Retina 6K resolution with more than 20 million pixels, Pro Display XDR delivers a super-sharp, high-resolution viewing experience with nearly 40 percent more screen real estate than a Retina 5K display. With a P3 wide colour gamut and true 10-bit colour for over 1 billion colours, pros will have a more true-to-life viewing experience — critical for video and photo editing, 3D animation or colour grading. Pro Display XDR also features the industry’s best polariser technology, delivering a super-wide, colour-accurate, off-axis viewing angle, so now multiple people can view more accurate content simultaneously. To manage reflected light, Pro Display XDR has an industry-leading anti-reflective coating and offers an innovative new matte option called nano-texture, with glass etched at the nanometer level for low reflectivity and less glare.

To better reflect what the eye can see in the real world, Pro Display XDR takes high dynamic range to a whole new extreme. Pro Display XDR uses a direct backlighting system with a large array of LEDs that produce 1,000 nits of full-screen brightness and 1,600 nits of peak brightness, far surpassing that of a typical display. With an advanced thermal system that uses its aluminium lattice pattern as a heat sink, Pro Display XDR can sustain 1,000 nits of full-screen brightness indefinitely, something that has never been possible before on a display with this resolution. And with an amazing 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio, images will have the brightest specular highlights, super dark blacks and all the details in between.

With edge-to-edge glass and narrow, 9-millimetre borders in a stunning, aluminium enclosure, Pro Display XDR features a highly functional and flexible design. The Pro Stand has an intricately engineered arm that perfectly counterbalances the display so it feels virtually weightless, allowing users to easily place it into position. The Pro Stand provides both tilt and height adjustment, and also allows Pro Display XDR to rotate into portrait mode, perfect for tasks like retouching photos, designing a web page or writing code. Easily removable, the Pro Stand quickly attaches and detaches so it is easy to take on location. For pros with unique mounting requirements, a VESA mount adapter is interchangeable with the Pro Stand. With a single Thunderbolt 3 cable, Pro Display XDR connects seamlessly to the Mac product line, including the new Mac Pro, which supports up to six displays for a breathtaking 120 million pixels.

The all-new Mac Pro, Pro Display XDR, and Pro Stand will be available to order in the spring.

The post Apple Announce All-New Mac Pro & Pro Display XDR appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

Samsung Electronics Australia has announced to us here at STG the local launch of Space, a stylish and adjustable monitor designed to help Australians enjoy tidy and productive workstations.

Samsung Space leverages its sleek design to allow users to adjust the screen’s positioning for maximum comfort, allowing for greater focus and immersion. Its unique stand includes a minimalist, fully-integrated clamp that grips to the back of the desk, allowing the screen to tilt back and forth, while freeing up desk space for optimal user productivity. To further enhance its true minimalistic design, cable clutter is reduced with the power and HDMI cords running together through the arm for a clean look.

“Space introduces an elegant new form factor, starting a brand new category for monitors,” said Phil Gaut, Director of Display and Memory Solutions, Samsung Australia. “With its unique arm design freeing up desk real estate previously occupied by monitor stands, Space gives Australians the minimalist style and flexibility to get their work done.”

Available in two sizes – a 32-inch model that delivers content in stunning 4K UHD and a 27-inch model with QHD resolution for incredibly detailed, pin-sharp images – Space is a feature-rich, high-performance screen solution.

This innovative design is perfectly suited to the needs of Australian office workers, almost a quarter of whom admit to having a messy workspace according to Samsung’s research.[1] The research also reveals this can be a source of tension between colleagues as an even larger proportion (34%) confess to being bothered by their co-worker’s messy desks, while 60% believe that the state of someone’s work desk reflects who they are as person.

Further, those in the tidy desk camp can feel distracted, anxious, and nervous about the standard of work their messy co-workers produce and at times must resist the urge to clean their colleagues’ workspaces.

With the recent rise in Australian awareness of the KonMari method and the minimalist movement, 83% of research respondents believe that those with clean desks are more organised and pragmatic. The Samsung Space is designed to help address workspace issues and could assist with reducing anxiety by empowering Australians to maximise their productivity through optimised workspaces with reduced clutter.

“Many Australians are looking to adopt a tidier, more streamlined approach to work and their desk space, and the Samsung Space is a new option for workplaces to consider. It may even help Aussies to spark a little more joy at the office,” said Gaut.

The Samsung Space has an RRP of $999.00 AUD for the 32-inch model and RRP $799.00 AUD for the 27-inch model. Available now from the Samsung Australia website and select retail partners.

The post Reclaim Your Desk appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

Calling all action fans with an itchy trigger finger! 

Armor Games Studios is pumped to announce that Zombotron, the side-scrolling shooter from developer Ant Karlov.

Zombotron is a heart-pounding, run-n-gun shooter with a legacy dating back to the golden era of web games. You follow Blaze, a mercenary desperate for a job. In search of an easy payday, he follows a distress beacon to the surface of a dangerous planet and the remains of an ancient crash site. There he finds a mystery that will test his strength, his resolve, and every gun at his disposal. Zombotron features an arsenal of weapons and armor, vicious explosions, and enemies that hate each other as much as they hate you.

Examining Zombotron’s roots in the web game space unearths a legacy of excellence. As prime examples of the platform-shooter genre, the Zombotron franchise has always been synonymous with satisfying gunplay, feisty adversaries, and hilarious physics. Zombotron, Zombotron II, and Zombotron II: Time Machine have resulted in over 14 million plays worldwide, and are still climbing.

“This was my first project of this size and depth, such a huge amount of time and effort,” said Anton Karlov, the developer of Zombotron, “I hope that players will like it so I can take what I’ve learned and continue to apply it to future projects.”

“Classic Zombotron titles were played by over 14 million people worldwide. For many of us, they were the first platform shooter we’d ever played. Zombotron is a game that once you start playing, you just can’t put it down, you’ll be craving just one more headshot.” said Justin Ramos, VP of Operations & Strategy at Armor Games Studios. “We’re proud to support Anton’s vision for the franchise.”

Zombotron will be releasing on PC and Mac onApril 22, 2019.

The post Run n’ Gun in Zombotron appeared first on Shane the Gamer.