Review

Cloud Gaming and Cloud Computing: How do They Differ? What are Their Respective Uses?

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While the title of this article might sound like the title of a boring conference, don’t fall asleep just yet. We will be speaking about the impact of the cloud on gaming and the interesting innovations it is likely to bring in the not-too-distant future.

Cloud gaming and cloud computingIn the comments posted on various social networks, we noticed a certain amount of confusion regarding the difference between cloud computing and cloud gaming. Let’s take a look at these two different approaches to gaming via the cloud.

Cloud gaming: emphasis on the game itself

Let’s begin by taking a look at what Microsoft’s xCloud project, NVIDIA’s Geforce Now, Stradia, and similar services have to offer.

Cloud gaming can be summed up as a subscription to an online game catalog. It allows you to take advantage of the power of a game provider’s datacenters. These data centers provide you with a video signal that is in turn decoded by a device in your home (game console, PC, etc). Essentially: “pay, run, and play!”

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Stadia, Cloud Gaming, and other considerations

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“Game consoles will disappear”, “influencers will reign supreme”, “gaming as we know it is a thing of the past”… Every evolution in gaming seems to be accompanied by apocalyptic and superlative statements. This applies to Google’s announcement of its Stadia service this week. As it stands, Google’s announcement could very well be a lot of fuss about nothing, even though the core concept underpinning Stadia seems promising enough…

StadiaGoogle presented its Cloud Gaming service to the GDC. The event took place in a meeting among developers. This was to be expected since Google was making its presentation to the Game Developers Conference, not the E3. Above all, what the American giant was interested in was presenting the technological aspects of its service. It will analyze the reactions it received and hone its marketing strategy accordingly (however, if this task befalls the same department that came up with the name Stevia… sorry, I mean Stadia… they certainly have their work cut out for them!)

Stadia, a sweet name

Google’s Stadia service does not come as a total surprise. In the past, we discussed Project Stream: a Google service that will run your games from its servers on any of your devices as long so long as you have a fast enough internet connection.

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USB: 3.2, simplicity, scalability

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Today, the USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF) standardization organization announced USB 3.2. Although it remains somewhat difficult to comprehend all of the various USB 3 standards, USB 3.2’s performance characteristics seem quite appealing (20 Gbit/s). That said, I can’t wait for USB 4, which will be a true universal connector!

USB

23 years old and still thriving. Introduced in January 1996 with version 1.0, USB (Universal Serial Bus) is a standard that continues to evolve to meet our ever-increasing throughput needs while, at the same time, remaining extremely easy to use.

USB 3.2 has arrived. While USB 3.1 operates with a single channel and can achieve data rates of up to 10 Gb/s, USB 3.2 will employ two channels.

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Best Gaming Laptop Buying Guide (Updated!!!)

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Gaming laptops

For many years, the term “gaming laptop” referred to a highly powerful, exceedingly expensive, very large, and extravagant looking computer that usually had very limited battery autonomy. It was more or less equivalent to a high-end desktop computer that had the advantage of being portable (and which was generally used to showcase its manufacturer’s most advanced hardware).

In the process of writing this buyer’s guide, we began by searching for manufacturers that offer one or more gaming laptop product lines. Next, we selected the computers that have the best price-performance ratio (based on tests conducted by a number of online websites such as Tom’s Hardware and LaptopMag). Finally, we organized these computers by brand: Acer, Asus, Dell, Gigabyte, HP, Lenovo, and MSI.

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Best Monitor for Photo Editing and Photography (September 2019)

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To capture images of the best possible quality, we need the best possible gear. Every part of the photographer’s equipment must be as good as possible, while still staying within the budget. The monitor, hence, is also one of the devices that we should examine very carefully before making our purchase decision.

In a computer that will be used to edit pictures, we should look for the best processor available within our budget. We must also allow for enough RAM overflow and all necessary kinds of ports. The monitor needs to also be of the highest possible quality and as large as possible without being too bulky.

Having the best camera won’t be very useful if the monitor you are using to see and edit the image is of poor quality and barely displays any pixels. The monitor is equally as important as the optical camera. I always say that it’s better to spend less on a camera while investing more on the best lens and monitor while staying in the budget.

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Best Gaming Laptops under $1000 2019 Buying Guide

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Choosing the right laptop might be one of the most important decision you will take. Especially, if you are going to use it as your primary computer. What you pick would affect your gaming performance and your experience dramatically, and can be the difference between “just winning” and being victorious.

A good gaming experience is defined by various factors. First and foremost is the hardware. How good a GPU and CPU you have? What kind of SSDs are you using? How large is your RAM and VRAM?

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Best Cheap Gaming Laptop under 500 Dollars 2019

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With the start of a New Year, Intel’s new Coffee Lake processors and winter sales on most of the game titles it is a great time for gaming laptops and other gears. For the price point of $500 the options a very large and diverse. To get the best bang for your buck is not an easy task since most of the options available will have a catch that will put you at a disadvantage.

The key question to be answered for most of them is what your use case for the laptop is going to be. In our list of reviews below, we consider gaming as the main use case, but even then the questions like “What kind of games?” and “Will you be using it for something else?” arise.

[toc]As a minimum requirement for hardware you can expect at least an i5-7200U for a CPU and a 940MX or better for a GPU is fine. It can play most popular titles at reasonable frame rates and visual quality. But obviously, these are entry-level devices and put AAA title at extreme settings would only lead to frustration.

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Best Gaming PC 2019 Buying Guide: our 8 picks among all brands

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Introduction: our selection of 8 gaming PCs

Gaming PCPCs have become incredibly diverse in recent years: there are now Intel NUC mini-PCs (for a living room), all-in-one PCs, powerful tablet computers, hybrid laptops with 360-degree tilting displays, incredibly thin and lightweight ultrabooks, and amazingly high-performance gaming laptops.

However, none of these computers can be called a “real PC” – a computer that can easily be repaired and adapted to ever-evolving hardware and software constraints.

Gaming PC

While the tendency in recent years has been to replace desktop PCs with laptops, PC manufacturers are still as active and innovative as ever in the development of desktop gaming PCs. Major manufacturers, such as Dell, Asus, Acer, MSI, Lenovo, and HP offer gaming PCs with a “warlike” appearance that are often stuffed full of LEDs. These gaming PCs are well-suited to receiving upgrades and optimizations (several graphics cards, liquid cooling, etc.).

The gaming PC market is also driven by specialized retailers (Amazon, for example) as well as computer assembly companies such as Newegg, BestBuy. In addition to distributing PCs produced by major manufacturers, these companies offer PCs assembled from the individual hardware components that can be purchased by anybody. These assembled PCs are usually less expensive than those offered by PC manufacturers, but they are also less original in terms of their design.

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Best Budget and Cheap Gaming Laptop 2019 Comparison

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We consider the price range of $500-$1000 and guide you in your quest of the perfect gaming laptop such that you get the best bang for your buck!

How to choose your perfect gaming laptop?

To cut a long story short, the perfect gaming laptop must have a powerful and modern GPU and a mediocre to high-end CPU and you are good to go. But these terms are vague and the necessities go beyond the raw computing hardware. The perfect companion for a gamer needs to be portable, ergonomic, equipped with a high resolution display and must have the best possible internal hardware for that budget.

If the price is nearer to a $1000, it is easy for you to get an Nvidia GTX 1050Ti or a GTX 1060 which are quite powerful for running games at 60 fps, at 1080p. For CPU you can start with an i5-7300HQ if you are on a budget or even an i5-7200U would be enough to prevent any CPU bottlenecks allowing you to make full use of your GPU and other accessories.

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