Close to the Metal

We cover a few topics on this episode, including the impending release of Destiny 2 and which platform is receiving the most interest. We'll also give a Windows Mixed Reality roundup and which companies are producing headsets for the platform. IFA has had some pretty great releases for Quad-Core laptops, of which we'll highlight a few. Finally, we'll let you know about the advantages of the Windows Insider Skip Ahead build. 

Microsoft has announced their overall platform for AR and VR, called Windows Mixed Reality. It will come native to the Windows 10 Creators Update and a slew of manufacturers are already working on compatible hardware. Compared to Oculus Rift and the HTC Vive, it's a lower end platform, but could be a great gateway for new consumers of VR. This includes gaming and a partnership with Steam. 

AMD has been going all out recently, with the launch of both Threadripper and the AMD Radeon RX Vega video cards. We'll cover the benefits of Threadripper, how it compares to Intel and the competition and whether or not you should pick one up. For the Vega video cards, they have taken a swipe at Nvidia. Can they compete with the GTX 1080? We'll let you know our thoughts, all while taking live questions on YouTube and Facebook.

With school just around the corner, we discuss the best in laptops, PCs and tablets that are available at a fairly reasonable price. In addition we cover the benefits of the Macbook Pro and what kind of hardware will be essential for the year.

AMD has made a big push to take on all competitors, with the release of the new Threadripper CPUs and Vega RX GPUs. We'll go over the announcements that were made, the details of the chips themselves and how they compare to the competitors.

Playerunknown's Battlegrounds has taken the PC gaming world by storm. It's a ton of fun and today we'll go through some of the different ways to make sure it runs at an optimum level on your computer. Throughout the show, we'll also take listener/viewer questions.

So, you're in the market for a Gaming PC. The question is, do you buy one off of the shelf, have one built by a boutique company, or build it yourself? There are pros and cons of each and today we'll tackle all of them. We also take questions live on Facebook and YouTube. You can always send in your questions/comments to podcast@digitaltrends.com.

Cryptocurreny has been a big topic over the last few weeks and for good reason. In addition to Bitcoin and the numerous other currencies out there, Ethereum has been shaking up the market. This has been having a direct effect on actual products, such as the sky-rocketing prices of GPUs. What does it mean and what's going to happen on August 1st? We'll discuss all of that and more.

Microsoft finally has a true laptop and today we'll go over it's pros and cons. Windows 10 S is sure to be one of the biggest issues in making a decision to purchase it. Would you purchase a laptop that cannot use Chrome? We also detail the inside workings and the outside, with the surprisingly comfortable alcantra fabric feel.

Matt Smith and Brad Bourque just returned from E3 in LA and we discuss the PC announcements from the event. From favorite games, to what the big companies had to announce, we cover everything from that angle. Also, we had to touch on the Xbox One X and whether it's evolution is groundbreaking and what to expect going forward.

With Apple's Worldwide Developer Conference in full swing, we take a look at what they have specifically announced in their line of computers. MacOS seems to be largely neglected, minus some seemingly minor updates. However, the iMac Pro is a high-end machine, but at $5000 is out of most consumers price ranges? We'll take a look at this and prognosticate the future of MacOS and iOS on today's episode.

The annual Computex show is under way in Taiwan, featuring the latest in computing hardware. We'll cover some of the big announcements, including Intel's new answer to AMD with the Core-X Series to combat Ryzen. AMD also has made a jump and is the primary processor and GPU option for 3 new Dell computers. Intel debuts the ComputeCard, designed to work with a variety of devices. Also, Nvidia's GeForce GTX with Max-Q Design is an initiative to reduce the size of gaming notebooks. 

There are new 2-in-1's rolling out today, Microsoft's Surface Pro and Samsung's Galaxy Book. the new (revised) Surface Pro is the latest addition to the Surface line of products. 2-in-1's have proven difficult to master, but Microsoft has consistently shown improvement through various iterations. Samsung's Galaxy Book shows some promise, but seems to be lacking some key components. We'll cover the details of each of these and answer your questions.

With Microsoft Build officially over, we take a look at some of what was revealed. New motion controllers for Mixed Reality and perhaps new systems, may open up a bigger gateway for general users to start using VR. Also, the Windows 10 Fall Creator's Update will have some major updates. Timeline and Clipboard aim to make cross-device usage simpler. Windows Story Remix is a new program that will create videos for you. OneDrive File On-Demand will probably be beneficial to current users of the cloud storage, but will it be enough to persuade others to leave Google Docs? We'll discuss all of this and more.

Security has had a prime spot in the limelight lately. With the Google Docs hacking situation, Intel's massive issue with their vPro Processors and finally Project Zero's revelation regarding Windows Defender. We'll go through the details of each one and let you know what you can do to protect yourself now and in the future.

Microsoft made the big announcement of their new product, the Surface Laptop today. We'll cover what the features are, pricing, what to expect and much more, all while answering live viewer's questions. We'll also cover the new version of Windows, Windows 10 S, who their target market is and whether or not you will want to use this new system.

Intel has produced a consumer-level product for their new Optane Memory line, but is it something you'll actually use? We'll cover what uses this new memory has, who it's designed for and what options are available. Will it help in gaming, or actually speed up processing on an SSD, in addition to a HDD?

We got our hands on the AMD Radeon RX 570 GPU before today's announcement of the new 500 series and gave it a test. Covering why they are launching the new series, we'll detail the specs, the pricing and the competition, all while answering your questions. We'll let you know why you should, or should not purchase the card and factors to consider.

AMD is taking aim at Intel's domination of the GPU market with it's line of Ryzen processors. The 5 line is the latest out and we go in depth with what makes the Ryzen 5 1600X such a good deal. In the process, we go however how many cores does one need, whether the Core i7 and Ryzen 7700K are closer than you think and what you need to know to determine the correct GPU for you.

There were many features promised for the Windows 10 Creators Update and we recently received a look at the newest ones that will roll out soon for everyone. We cover the changes in store for Edge, Game Mode, Beam, Paint 3D, interface tweaks and much more. As far as those promises of a holographic computers? We'll speculate on that, as well.