This week, Cherlynn and Devindra dive into the toxic mess at Activision Blizzard with Senior Editor Jessica Conditt. California is suing the company over its frat boy culture, something we’ve seen at many gaming companies over the years. What’s actually going on, and what does it mean for the gaming industry as a whole? Tune in for our thoughts! Also, we chat about Facebook’s metaverse ambitions, some new chip plans for Intel and… Xbox Krispy Kreme donuts.
Listen below, or subscribe on your podcast app of choice. If you've got suggestions or topics you'd like covered on the show, be sure to email us or drop a note in the comments! And be sure to check out our other podcasts, the Morning After and Engadget News!
Credits Hosts: Cherlynn Low and Devindra Hardawar Guest: Jessica Conditt Producer: Ben Ellman Livestream producers: Julio Barrientos, Owen Davidoff, Luke Brooks Graphics artists: Luke Brooks, Kyle Maack Music: Dale North and Terrence O'Brien
Who is a powerful miniature desktop for? That was the question running through my mind when I reviewed Intel's NUC 9 Extreme last year. It was the company's most powerful compact PC kit (NUC stands for "next unit of computing") at the time. But it was so wildly expensive — especially since you need to add your own RAM, storage, GPU and OS — it didn't make sense for anyone but mini-PC obsessives. The new NUC 11 Extreme, AKA "Beast Canyon," is pretty much the same story. But it's at least a bit cheaper and more flexible, thanks to its faster 11th-gen Intel CPU and support for full-sized GPUs.
I'll get this out of the way up front: Yes, this NUC is dramatically larger than any previous units we've seen. The 5-liter NUC 9 Extreme already seemed to be pushing the limits of a compact PC, but at 8 liters, the NUC 11 Extreme is what you'd call a Big Boy. Sure, it beats making space for a mid-tower PC on your desk, but it's still pretty substantial. You can't blame Intel too much: Gamers wanted full-sized GPUs in a NUC, this is just the most efficient way to make that happen.
The NUC 11 Extreme screams "gamer" before you even turn it on. Its black metal case sports mesh air vents along the sides, giving you a peek at the GPU within and three large case fans up top. For a small box, it's clearly meant to push a lot of air. Hit the power button and it springs to life with an LED skull along the front panel, as well as underside LED lighting. I'm not one for too much gamer bling, but Intel's lighting comes is relatively subtle compared to many other PC makers.
Devindra Hardawar/Engadget
Our review unit featured Intel's 11th-gen i9 Compute Element, a modular card with an eight-core 11900KB CPU. It can also be purchased separately as an upgrade for NUC 9 Extreme customers. That was always the dream for Intel's NUC Extreme platform, which also includes Razer's Tomahawk mini-PC. Wouldn't it be nice if you could just yank a card out in a few years to get a new CPU? There are some compromises, though. According to Intel, there's no front panel audio support when using the new Compute Card on the NUC 9 Extreme, and there's no guaranteed PCIe 4.0 either. The company also says compatibility with other boxes depends on how the their NUC base board was designed. (We've reached out to Razer to see if the Tomahawk can be upgraded.)
To help speed up our review process, Intel sent along a unit pre-configured with Windows 10 Pro, 16GB of RAM, a speedy 512GB NVMe SSD, and an ASUS RTX 3060 GPU. Remember, you'll need to gather all of that gear too if you you a NUC kit for yourself (or just buy one pre-built from resellers like SimplyNUC).
While I've appreciated all of Intel's previous performance-oriented NUCs, including 2018's "Hades Canyon" model and 2016's "Skull Canyon," they've always been held back by their notebook processors. The NUC 11 Extreme, though, runs more powerful CPUs with a 65-watt TDP. That means it can tap into more power like a traditional desktop gaming chip. And based on our benchmarks, you can definitely see the benefits of that boost.
In PCMark 10, the NUC easily outpaced every Windows PC we've seen this year. It was slightly faster than ASUS's ROG Strix G15, which was running AMD's powerful Ryzen 9 5900HX. Admittedly, we haven't looked at any gaming notebooks with 11th-gen Intel chips, but based on that AMD comparison I'd still expect the NUC 11 to come out ahead of those. We also haven't tested comparable 11th-gen desktop CPUs yet, but I'd wager they'll perform better since they can draw more power.
Apple's M1 iMac was the only computer we've reviewed that beat the NUC when it came to single-core performance in Geekbench 5, but Intel's machine still came out ahead in multithreading. The NUC 11 Extreme also impressed me when it came to transcoding a 4K video clip into 1080p. It managed to do that in 41 seconds, beating the speedy ROG Strix G15 by 6 seconds.
Devindra Hardawar/Engadget
I'm mainly focusing on CPU-bound benchmarks, because the NUC 11's graphics scores will ultimately depend on the GPU you plug into it. But I couldn't review a gaming PC without actually playing some games, could I? I'm happy to report that it reached 150 fps to 160 fps in Overwatch with epic graphics settings at my ultrawide monitor's native resolution (3,440 by 1,440 pixels). I was even able to get Control running in 1440p between 60 and 70 fps with medium ray tracing settings and graphics set to high. (Thanks to a healthy DLSS assist, of course.)
Basically, the NUC 11 Extreme does everything I expect it an RTX 3060-equipped gaming desktop to do. And despite the tight quarters, temperatures didn't suffer much either. The GPU never went above 75 celsius while gaming, and the CPU stayed under 80 celsius as well. The fans were noticeable under load, but they were never as whiny as the ones you'd find on some gaming laptops. (Larger fans can push more air without making as much noise, naturally.)
This being the ultimate DIY PC kit, I also had to tear it open to see just how modular it actually was. The side panels came off easily enough, but I had to spend a few minutes prodding the NUC to make its top panel flip over. That revealed its innards, but I still had to lift up the rear panel to remove the screws securing the Compute Element, its plastic blower, and the GPU. It took around 10 more minutes to fully disassemble the system.
The entire process felt easier than on the NUC 9 Extreme, simply because there was more room to work with. But it's still not completely intuitive. I also accidentally tore apart the fan temperature sensors attached to the Compute Element, because a mere tug split them in half. If you've built PCs before, you should be able to intuit all of the cables and PCIe release levers you need to find. But I'd recommend taking some photos of all of the tiny wires connected to the Compute Element, because it's easy to mistake where they go and genuinely tough to plug them back in.
Devindra Hardawar/Engadget
The Compute Element card was similar to the one I held last year, except now there's a bigger fan and a beefier heatsink. Given the small workable space, I was also interested in seeing how more powerful GPUs would fit into the NUC 11. NVIDIA's massive RTX 3070 Ti and 3080 had no trouble fitting, and the Radeon RX 6800 dropped in just fine too. The bulkier RX 6800 XT was a no-go, unfortunately. Its heat sink was just a bit too large to fit in properly. Intel says the NUC 11 Extreme should fit GPUs up to 12 inches long, but be wary if you're planning to use anything with a bulky heatsink.
I'll admit, I was surprised that this NUC could actually fit some of the fastest graphics cards on the market. That makes it far more useful than the last model, which was limited to shorter 8-inch long GPUs. Now, you can have a NUC that could genuinely offer most of the speed you'd get with a full-sized desktop. Or maybe you just want a secondary computer to power your game streaming. Based on what I've seen, the NUC 11 Extreme can handle most anything.
But, it's still very expensive. Intel expects the Core i7 and i9 models to be priced between $1,150 and $1,350. (It's nixed plans for an i5 model.) You can also get the Compute Elements separately between $780 and $980 — a lot to pay for a card that's essential a cradle for CPUs that cost half the price. And, once again, you'll also have to shell out for all of the additional hardware and software you need for a Windows PC. All told, you can expect to pay at least another $1,000 if you want 16GB of RAM, 1TB of NVMe SSD storage and a decent GPU.
Devindra Hardawar/Engadget
That may sound ridiculous, but keep in mind the Core i9 NUC 9 Extreme kit started at $1,639 last year. I couldn't fathom why anyone would pay out the nose for a compromised desktop that couldn't fit a full-sized GPU. But the NUC 11 Extreme fixes those issues, and it includes a far faster CPU.
Intel's vision for a world where desktop computers can be both powerful and tiny is slowly coming into focus. Now, with the NUC 11 Extreme, Intel finally has a beefy miniature PC that I could actually recommend (assuming you've got deep pockets).
The days of seeing Tesla stores in fancy malls and retail centers may be over, according to a report from Electrek. Sources tell the site that Tesla will instead focus on finding cheaper spaces, like parking lots and warehouses, that will house a remote fleet of cars. The company also won't be firing its retail staff (it's actually in the middle of a hiring spree). Instead of being tied to individual stores, those workers will help to manage Tesla testing and purchases from those remote locations.
If this news sounds familiar, it's because Tesla previously said it was going to close most of its stores in 2019 before quickly reversing course. This new strategy, if it ends up being implemented, seems to be a smarter implementation of that plan. Most Tesla customers already buy their cars online, so there's less of a need to have pricey mall stores around. The cheaper locations will also be better for holding more vehicles, which should help to satisfy increased demand for purchases and test drives.
Microsoft's business continues to thrive thanks to its leadership in cloud computing and productivity apps. In its Q4 earnings report today, the company reported a 21 percent increase in revenues compared to last year, reaching $46.2 billion. But even more impressive, its profits jumped by 47 percent to reach $16.5 billion. Microsoft's success is practically a broken record by this point — last quarter it saw a 44 percent increase in profit, and before that it grew by 33 percent — but it's still managing to beat the expectations of Wall Street analysts.
The key to Microsoft's growth is the same as it has been for the past several years. Its Intelligent Cloud business is seemingly unstoppable, growing by 30 percent compared to last year. And it's still seeing plenty of growth with Office, Linkedin and its other business apps, which together have increased revenues by 25 percent. Even its More Personal Computing group, which includes Windows and Xbox, saw its business improve by 9 percent. (Thatcategory saw a few dips in the quarter though: Surface business fell by 20 percent, and Xbox content and services saw a 4 percent drop.)
Microsoft's Q4 earnings aren't really telling us anything new, as the company's entire 2021 fiscal year has been incredibly strong. The company reported an overall revenue increase of 18 percent for 2021 ($168.1 billion), as well as a 38 percent jump in profit for the year ($61.3 billion). The company's previous earnings report proved that it made out well during the pandemic, but now it seems like those gains aren't stopping anytime soon.
Forget about "SuperFin Enhanced," the previous name for the node powering Intel's upcoming 10nm Alder Lake processors. Now, that node is just called "Intel 7," according to the company's revised roadmap. But don't go thinking that means Intel is somehow delivering a 7nm processor early — its long-delayed "Rocket Lake" 7nm chip still won't ship until 2023, and its node has been renamed to "Intel 4." Confused yet? It's almost like Intel is trying to attach a new number to these upcoming products, so we'll forget it's losing the shrinking transistor war against AMD.
But Intel's prospects are more interesting as we look ahead to 2024, when the company expects to finalize the design for its first chips with transistors smaller than 1 nanometer. Instead, they'll be measured by angstroms. The "Intel 20A" node will be powered by new "RibbonFET" transistors, the company's first new architecture since the arrival FinFET in 2011. It'll be coupled with PowerVia, a technology that can move power delivery to the rear of a chip wafer, which should make signal transmission more efficient.
“Building on Intel’s unquestioned leadership in advanced packaging, we are accelerating our innovation roadmap to ensure we are on a clear path to process performance leadership by 2025,” Intel's new CEO Pat Gelsinger said during the "Intel Accelerated" livestream today. “We are leveraging our unparalleled pipeline of innovation to deliver technology advances from the transistor up to the system level. Until the periodic table is exhausted, we will be relentless in our pursuit of Moore’s Law and our path to innovate with the magic of silicon.”
Before it reaches the angstrom era of chips, though, the company also plans to release a processor with an "Intel 3" node in 2023. You can think of it as a super-powered version of its 7nm architecture, with around an 18 percent performance power watt improvement over Intel 4. It'll likely fill the timing gap between Rocket Lake chips in 2023 and the Intel 20A products in 2024.
This week on the show, Devindra and Engadget Buyer’s Guide Editor Kris Naudus chat about Valve’s new Steam Deck portable with Jordan Minor, Apps and Games Analyst at PCMag. Is the hardware powerful enough to truly make it a portable gaming PC? And should we trust Valve with hardware at all after the Steam Machine debacle? Also, we dive into Jeff Bezos’s jaunt to space, Facebook’s spat with the Biden administration and the issues surrounding NSO’s controversial spyware Pegasus.
Listen below, or subscribe on your podcast app of choice. If you've got suggestions or topics you'd like covered on the show, be sure to email us or drop a note in the comments! And be sure to check out our other podcasts, the Morning After and Engadget News!
Credits Hosts: Kris Naudus and Devindra Hardawar Guest: Jordan Minor Producer: Ben Ellman Livestream producers: Julio Barrientos, Owen Davidoff, Luke Brooks Graphics artists: Luke Brooks, Kyle Maack Music: Dale North and Terrence O'Brien
GM is issuing a second recall for 2017 to 2019 Bolt EVs over potential fire issues. The company says it plans to replace defective batteries, but until it can do so it's advising Bolt customers to limit their charging up to 90 percent, and not to go below 70 miles of range. It's also reiterating a recommendation from last week against parking indoors and leaving the car's to charge overnight unattended. This latest recall follows a similar one from last November, where GM recalled more than 68,000 Bolts.
The company also suggests that Bolt customers visit their nearest Chevy EV dealer to get the advanced diagnostics software, which should alert them ahead of any future battery issues. Hyundai, which also sources batteries from LG Chem like GM, ended up replacing more than 75,000 batteries for its Kona EV.
While it may sound alarming — GM's recalls were triggered by five Bolt fires between 2017 and 2019 — it's worth noting that gas cars typically cause around 150 fires a day, according to a FEMA report. Still, EV makers need to prove they can responsibly deal with potential issues before they can hurt more people (and before it leads to more negative sentiment towards electric vehicles).
The HTC Vive Pro 2 is a VR enthusiast's dream. Its 5K 120Hz display delivers the sharpest desktop VR experience I've ever seen. And while its design hasn't changed from the 2018 model, it's still very comfortable to wear for extended sessions. But its high price and reliance on old controllers make it a tough sell. And let's be honest, it'll take a lot to dethrone the $299 Oculus Quest 2 as the ideal VR headset for mainstream users.
That's not who HTC Vive is really targeted at, though. Like the standalone Vive Focus 3, this headset is clearly geared towards professionals. But unlike that device, it also has plenty to offer gamers. For them, spending $1,399 on the entire Vive Pro 2 package would be worth it to play Half Life: Alyx in the best quality possible. And if you've already invested in the previous Vive Pro or Valve Index, you can nab the new headset on its own for $749.
Just be sure to keep track of which Vive Pro is which, because they look practically identical. The Pro 2 features a black and purple color scheme, but its front facia, strap and headphones all look the same as before. The difference becomes clear once you put on the Vive Pro 2, though: Its 5K screen offers 2,448 by 2,448 pixels per eye, a huge leap ahead of the 1,440 by 1,600 pixels from the Pro. Plus the Pro 2's LCDs have RGB sub-pixels, which helps make everything look sharper still. The screen can also refresh at up to a 120Hz, which is noticeably smoother than the previous 90Hz panel, and I appreciated the wider 120-degree field of view, which makes virtual worlds feel all the more immersive.
These specs may sound familiar, because the Vive Focus 3 also has the same 5K screen, it just happens to have a slower 90Hz refresh rate. But I came away far more impressed with the Pro 2, because it can easily run any PC VR game or app. The Focus 3, meanwhile, has a limited selection of mobile titles, and I was never able to successfully stream higher-end VR from my gaming PC. And, honestly, even if I got that to work, streaming is still a clear step down from running natively.
Devindra Hardawar/Engadget
I revisited old and newer games on the Pro 2, and everything just looked fantastic. I kept getting distracted by the detailed environments in Half Life Alyx — a game that looked great on the Index, but has an extra level of polish with the Pro 2's resolution bump. It's sort of like the jump from 1080p video to 4K. You might not notice the difference at first glance, but once you start inspecting the finer details like grass and wood grain you can tell you're working with more pixels.
Hopping back into Superhot almost felt like I was playing Superhot 2. I could make out plenty more detail in the game's cyberpunk introductory room. And even though its aesthetic is relatively simple, the game's enemies, weapons and environments all looked more detailed than I remembered. I also spent more time than I expected gawking at just about everything in the VR version of Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice. That game already looked impressive on a normal monitor, but in 5K VR I could appreciate Senua's intricate character model even more.
Devindra Hardawar/Engadget
As impressive as everything looked, though, I really wish HTC had upgraded the Pro 2's controllers. Its full kit includes the same enormous wands that came with the original Vive in 2016. They work decently enough, but they're not nearly as ergonomic as Oculus's touch controllers, or even the Focus 3's gamepads. They're particularly archaic after experiencing Valve's hand-tracking Steam VR controllers, which are bundled with the Index. Since it's a SteamVR headset as well, you could always use the Index gamepads with the Pro 2, but that's another $280 on top of an already expensive headset.
It also would have been nice to see HTC Vive upgrade the Pro 2's design a bit. It's still very comfortable, thanks to its plush cushioning along the front and back, as well as its balanced weight distribution. But the company could have taken a few cues from the Valve Index. Near-field speakers would have been a solid upgrade from on-ear headphones, especially since the Pro 2's cans tended to make my head feel warm. The headset's displays also generate a decent amount of heat as well, which led to some sweaty play sessions.
Setting up the Vive Pro 2 also takes a bit of work, but that shouldn't be a surprise to VR heads. It requires having two SteamVR base stations set up in opposite corners of your room, as well as USB 3.0 and DisplayPort cables running to a breakout box. If you've already got base stations from the original Vive Pro or Valve Index, they'll still work. And if you don't, be sure to pick up the full Pro 2 kit, which includes the base stations and VR wands.
To get the most out of the Vive Pro 2, you'll also need to make sure you've got some serious graphics power. I tested it on a system running an NVIDIA RTX 3080 Ti, AMD Ryzen 7 5800X and 32GB of RAM. That was enough to get smooth performance at the headset's full resolution, though I couldn't tell if I was always reaching 120fps to fill its refresh rate. I didn't notice any stuttering or slowdown, though. True VR aficionados typically stuff even more absurdly powerful hardware in their systems, so I'd wager they'd have a similar experience. But you can probably forget about getting anything truly usable out of the Vive Pro 2 using its minimum system requirements (a GTX 1060 and 4th-gen Intel CPU).
If you're stuck with slower hardware, and you don't want to fight to the death for a new GPU, you'll be better off with a less demanding VR headset. The Oculus Quest 2 remains my main recommendation for most people, since it offers excellent standalone virtual reality, as well as a simple way to connect it to your PC to stream high-end experiences. HP's Reverb G2 is another solid option based on its resolution alone, though I'm not the biggest fan of its controllers.
Devindra Hardawar/Engadget
I’ll admit, the Vive Pro 2 doesn’t sound like a great deal if you compare it to practically any other VR headset on the market, especially at its full $1,399 price. It’s in many ways an example of the greatest issue facing VR today: To get the best experiences, you’ll have to shell out a ridiculous amount of money, not to mention deal with a clunky setup process and annoying cables. That’s not stopping true virtual enthusiasts though — for them, and for businesses who need the highest quality VR around, the Vive Pro 2 is the new benchmark.
Amazon's support for the Matter smart home platform is coming into focus. Previously known as Project Chip (Connected Home over IP), Matter comes from the Connectivity Standards Alliance, a group made up of device manufacturers like Amazon, Google, Apple and Samsung. It's meant to standardize voice assistant support across multiple devices, as well as to make it easier to connect smart home gadgets to your home network. During its Alexa Live developer presentation, Amazon said that practically every plug-in Echo speaker will support Matter, save for the first-generation Echo, Echo Dot and Echo Tap, The Verge reports.
It's unclear when the Echo support will actually arrive, but at this point we're expecting Matter devices to launch later this year. Google has already declared strong commitment for the platform — so much so that we've speculated it could help unite the fragmented smart home ecosystem. Google devices supporting the Thread standard, like the Nest Wi-Fi and Nest Hub Max, will also work as Matter connection points (AKA hubs). But as The Verge notes, it's unclear if any Echo devices will work as Matter hubs.
“The Matter mark will serve as a seal of approval, taking the guesswork out of the purchasing process and allowing businesses and consumers alike to choose from a wider array of brands to create secure and connected homes and buildings,” the CSA said in May after the Matter rebrand.
Where, oh where, are the great SNES games for Nintendo's Switch Online service? That's what I'm wondering after seeing the company's next batch of titles: Claymates, Jelly Boy and Bombuzal, which are scheduled to arrive on July 28th. No offense to Interplay's Clay series (which includes the far more memorable Clayfighter), but these aren't titles I'm exactly hankering to dive into. While Nintendo has done a solid job of bringing some of the biggest first-party titles over to Switch Online's SNES library, we're still waiting for classics like Mario RPG and EarthBound to arrive.
There's some value in letting younger generations see the sort of titles '90s kids had to suffer through, though. And while Jelly Boy isn't exactly a household name, this is the first time it's going to be available outside of Europe, which at least makes it an interesting curio for retro gamers.
