Supposed scores for the M4 Pro chipset have shown up on Geekbench, and it easily outperforms the Mac Pro with M2 Ultra in single- and multi-core scores.


The M4 Pro is an option for the new Mac mini and MacBook Pro. While these products don't launch for the public until November 8, early testers are running benchmarks.

According to a score for Mac16,7 on Geekbench, the M4 Pro is a powerful chipset capable of outperforming the M2 Ultra found in Mac Pro. It received a single-core score of 3,925 and a multi-core score of 22,669.


Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums

An early Black Friday deal on the Costco Gold Star or Executive membership offers new members a free $45 Shop Card just in time for holiday shopping.


Whether you're looking to pick up a new monitor for the 2024 M4 Mac mini or are eager to finally commit to an OLED TV to pair with your Apple TV 4K, this Costco membership deal has you covered.

Get the Costco deal


Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums

Apple CFO Luca Maestri has been with Apple since 2013, and his last, incredibly uneventful, earnings call was Thursday's.


We've been hearing Maestri's voice on quarterly earnings calls for over a decade, but he is stepping down from the role. Kevan Parekh is taking over as CFO and will be present at the next quarterly earnings call.

Maestri may not be a keynote presenter or a known personality like other Apple leadership members. In fact, he's effectively spent his entire career at Apple as a relatively unknown entity besides his voice and name — yep, we only have that one photo of him.


Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums

Being able to look up your past purchases on Apple's App Store can help you recover an app you accidentally deleted, or spot a problem with a subscription.


The list of all purchases across all your devices appears, along with what you paid for them — including any free apps. If you go back a long way with the App Store, you may have to scroll down quite a lot to see the entire list.

This will also include any music purchased from Apple Music/iTunes, and you may see repeated entries of the same apps that signify updates to those apps.


Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums

Tim Cook has revealed that the adoption rate of iOS 18.1 is far faster than it was for iOS 17.1 at the same time in 2023.


Just ahead of its latest earnings call, Tim Cook has announced that the first indications of Apple Intelligence's success have come from the increased rate of updates.

"A really early stat, which is only three days worth of data," he told CNBC, "but users are adopting iOS 18.1 at twice the rate that they adopted 17.1 in the year ago quarter."


Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums

Apple has reported its results for the fourth quarter of 2024, with revenue of $94.93 beating Wall Street expectations mostly on the strength of iPhone sales.


The final quarter of Apple's fiscal year, Thursday saw Apple release its results for the three-month period that concluded at the end of September. As the end-of-year results, it was also the opportunity for Apple to report its full-year results.

In the fourth quarter, Apple achieved $94.93 billion in revenue, up from the $89.5 billion it reported in Q4 2023. The earnings per share was also declared at $1.64.


Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums

AVerMedia’s Versati Go USB microphone, priced at $70, is designed for mobile usage and ease of use. It offers good noise rejection and proves to be very practical in everyday use, but there are some limitations to consider as well.

Cooler Master Cooling X PC: As Configured - $3,999 Cooler Master used its decades of case, cooler, and PSU design experience to create a custom, compact liquid-cooled powerhouse, with great build quality and a price tag to match. Attractive design Excellent build quality Strong performance Compact yet powerful Good thermals and acoustics Top...

CD Projekt Red has been working with Apple's new Macs for a while now, having ported over the classic Witcher titles to run on Apple M1 and newer Macs. Now, CD Projekt Red is going for something more ambitious – a Mac release of Cyberpunk 2077. 

Cyberpunk 2077: Ultimate Edition is heading to macOS soon, including advanced features like Path Tracing, Frame Generation and spatial audio. The game is said to take “full advantage of Apple Silicon” and makes good use of Apple's Metal graphics API to get things running.

Apple just announced a whole new range of M4-powered Mac devices, containing Apple's fastest GPU cores to date, and AI acceleration cores for the first time. This includes new iMacs, a new Mac Mini, and new MacBook Pro laptops.

Cyberpunk 2077: Ultimate Edition will be available for macOS starting in early 2025 via the App Store, as well as GOG, Steam and the Epic Games Store.

KitGuru Says: Cyberpunk 2077 will make for a great benchmarking game when it comes to assessing the power of Apple's integrated graphics. Ray Tracing support is a highlight in the press release, so it will be interesting to see how well it all runs, starting from M1-based Macs all the way up to the latest M4 systems. 

 

The post Cyberpunk 2077: Ultimate Edition is heading to Macs first appeared on KitGuru.

The Initiative's Perfect Dark reboot is undergoing another big change behind the scenes. Game Designer, Brian Horton, who had been working as Creative Director on Insomniac's unreleased Wolverine game, is now leading the Perfect Dark project. 

The Initiative has been around for a few years now and was set up to be a premiere studio for Xbox. After building up an initial team, The Initiative signed on Crystal Dynamics to take on the bulk of the development work, with The Initiative overseeing the project in a broader capacity.

According to Game File, Brian Horton left Insomniac Games earlier this summer after spending years as creative director on Marvel's Wolverine. Now, he is working at The Initiative with some of his former Crystal Dynamics colleagues. Horton had previously worked as creative director on Rise of the Tomb Raider and Spider-Man: Miles Morales.

There is still no release date announced for Perfect Dark, but Microsoft did release a cinematic trailer earlier this year, offering an early look at what to expect conceptually. We still need to see gameplay.

KitGuru Says: Level-based action-stealth games went out of style at some point, but I think many are eager to see games like Splinter Cell, Metal Gear Solid and Perfect Dark return. If Perfect Dark does well, perhaps it will convince another publisher or two to revive a classic stealth series. 

The post Wolverine Creative Director joins Xbox to lead Perfect Dark reboot first appeared on KitGuru.

Ubisoft recently held its most recent earnings call and as usual, it has brought about some news. For starters, we know that Rainbow Six Siege is Ubisoft's most successful standalone game to date. The company also shared some statements on its confidence in Assassin's Creed Shadows. 

Following on from a sudden delay from the 15th of November, Ubisoft says that it is confident that it will meet the new launch date of February 14th 2025. This is in part due to the fact that the game is already feature complete and considered ready for launch. The extra time is being used for bug fixes.

Even though it is a short three-month delay, it is costing Ubisoft a lot of money in additional production costs – €20 million to be exact. These kinds of costs make you quickly realise how a project like Concord could burn through $200 million over its years in development.

Ubisoft also stated that the performance of Star Wars Outlaws also contributed to the decision to delay Assassin's Creed Shadows. Ubisoft wants to be as confident as possible in the technical performance of the game before shipping it out to the masses.

It missed the mark on that with Star Wars Outlaws and it has led to an abundance of issues behind-the-scenes, including a board-ordered review of the company's development processes.

KitGuru Says: With Ubisoft's current financial position, it really needs Assassin's Creed Shadows to be a hit. 

The post Ubisoft has no plans to delay Assassin’s Creed Shadows again first appeared on KitGuru.

A number of game studios have begun releasing their most recent financial reports this week. We've already had some news out of that from Ubisoft. Now, EA is making some headlines with its most recent statements around Apex Legends, confirming no plans for a sequel.

Apex Legends will live on in its current form, with continued updates, rather than attempting an Apex Legends 2, or a ‘full rebuild' of the game from the ground up.

Speaking on the possibility of a full revamp for Apex Legends, EA CEO, Andrew Wilson said the following in an earnings call (via Insider Gaming):

“The objective right now is to ensure that we are continuing to support the global player base that we have and deliver the new innovative creative content on a season-by-season basis, as well as build these other things, but build them in a way that players do not have to give up the progress that they’ve made or the investment that they have put into the existing ecosystem.”

Wilson says that in the context of live service, “the Version 2 thing has almost never been as successful as the Version 1 thing”. Companies like Bungie seem to agree, as the studio has dropped all plans for Destiny 3 in favour of continuing Destiny 2, even with the ebbs and flows of the monthly active user count.

KitGuru Says: While we won't be getting Apex 2.0 any time soon, EA does still see a need for “meaningful systematic innovation” as well we “fundamental changes”, so we can still expect to see some game-changing announcements in the future.

The post EA is not keen on Apex Legends 2 first appeared on KitGuru.

Ubisoft has struggled to release consistent multiplayer hits but it is clear why the publisher keeps chasing them. Rainbow Six Siege has made more than almost any other Ubisoft game in its history.

Rainbow Six Siege quickly gained a reputation for being a very tactical FPS, and the addition of breakable walls and fun agent gadgets gave it a hook not found in something like Counter-Strike. It quickly became one of the most popular shooters on the market, although that popularity has been on the decline.

As part of its most recent financial report (via Insider Gaming), Ubisoft was keen to big up some of its strengths following back-to-back losses on Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora and Star Wars Outlaws. It noted that since 2016, Rainbow Six Siege has generated $3.8 billion for the company, sitting just behind the entire Assassin's Creed franchise, which has generated $4.3 billion to date.

One of Ubisoft's other major single-player franchises, Far Cry, has underperformed Rainbow Six Siege between all of its games combined. As a series, Far Cry has made $2.1 billion.

Other multiplayer-focused franchises, like Ghost Recon and The Division, have made over €1 billion, which is likely why Ubisoft had sunk so much time into its planned free-to-play Division spin-off.

Ubisoft will have a quiet end of year, before launching Assassin's Creed Shadows in early 2025. The publisher recently said it is ‘confident' that the game won't be delayed again.

KitGuru Says: Do you still regularly play Rainbow Six Siege?

The post Rainbow Six Siege has almost out-earned the entire Assassin’s Creed series first appeared on KitGuru.

Today sees another major game joining the GeForce Now library on day-one. Following on from last week's Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 launch, this week sees BioWare RPG, Dragon Age: The Veilguard joining the cloud. 

In Dragon Age: The Veilguard, players take on the role of Rook, your own custom-made hero destined to help save the world from calamity. Just in time for Halloween, Capcom opted to bring Resident Evil 4 Remake to GeForce Now as well.

Here are the five games joining GeForce Now this week:

• Life Is Strange: Double Exposure (New release on Steam and Xbox, available in the Microsoft store, Oct. 29)

• Dragon Age: The Veilguard (New release on Steam and EA App, Oct. 31)

• Resident Evil 4 (Steam)

• Resident Evil 4 Chainsaw Demo (Steam)

• VRChat (Steam)

Nvidia also offered a sneak peek at what's to come for GeForce Now users in November, with 17 more games planned. This list includes the day-one releases of TMNT: Splintered Fate, Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl, Farming Simulator 25, Planet Coaster 2, Metal Slug Tactics and more.

KitGuru Says: What do you think of this week's GeForce Now update? 

The post GeForce Now adds five more games first appeared on KitGuru.

SilverStone has launched a new PC case series for workstations. Based on its predecessor, the Seta A1, the Seta A2 series introduces a revamped aluminium front panel with complete perforation. This enhancement elevates the aesthetic appeal and significantly optimises cold air intake, improving cooling performance.

Adaptability is at the forefront of the Seta A2’s design. It accommodates a wide range of motherboard form factors, from ATX to SSI-CEB, making it a versatile choice for diverse setups. The cooling capabilities of the Seta A2 are pretty good, allowing the installation of up to eleven 140 mm fans alongside radiator mounts situated on the front, side, and top, capable of supporting up to three 420 radiators. Additionally, there's also space for two internal 120 mm fans. Included with the case are three 140 mm front fans and a 140 mm rear fan.

The SETA A2 has 8x PCI expansion slots, allowing for high-end graphics cards or multiple GPU configurations. Moreover, the chassis provides ample storage options, featuring ten drive cages, eight of which are at the front and two behind the motherboard tray. Individual drive cages can be removed to accommodate graphics cards up to 438mm in length, making it compatible with even the largest GPUs on the market. Moreover, the Seta A2 supports modern motherboards with concealed connections on the rear, up to 190-mm-tall CPU coolers, 220-mm-long PSUs, and up to 10x 3.5-inch drives or 16x 2.5-inch drives.

Available in black and white/gold, the Seta A2 will be available starting at $168.88 (taxes not included) for the former and $188.88 (taxes not included) for the latter.

KitGuru says: If you were planning to build a workstation, would you consider the new Seta A2? What colour option do you like the most?

The post Silverstone introduces new Seta A2 series of workstation-oriented PC cases first appeared on KitGuru.

Gigabyte Japan unveiled some details of the new X3D Turbo Mode the company presented a few days ago. Initially, the company claimed it would improve performance by up to 35%, but the latest performance numbers shared are not that optimistic, with the best results seeing improvements of 18%.

In a video, Gigabyte Japan (via VideoCardz) showed that the unreleased Ryzen 7 9800X3D with this mode enabled gets a performance increase ranging from 3.56% to 5.01% across three games. It's worth noting that this information is based on a limited selection of titles, and no specifications about the testing methods or hardware configurations were disclosed.

Gigabyte Japan also showed improvements in activating X3D Turbo Mode on Ryzen 9 9950X and Ryzen 9 7950X3D systems with EXPO enabled. The Ryzen 9 9950X system saw improvements ranging from 7% to 18%, while the Ryzen 9 7950X3D performance increased between 8.5% and 16%.

As you might already know, this feature isn't exclusive to Gigabyte, and AMD is rolling out on AGESA 1.2.0.2a for all motherboard manufacturers. However, it's still unclear what this gaming enhancement feature exactly does. We learned that it reportedly enhances core distribution, fine-tunes bandwidth, balances hardware power, and disables SMT, but nothing has been confirmed.

AMD is set to release the Ryzen 7 9800X3D on November 7th.

KitGuru says: These performance uplift claims are more realistic, but they still seem a bit too good in a few cases. Third parties will certainly be able to test and confirm whether these improvements are real. In the meantime, maybe we'll learn exactly what the new X3D Turbo mode does.

The post Gigabyte shares new performance figures for X3D Turbo mode first appeared on KitGuru.

There's no doubt about it — buying a new MacBook Pro in full every two years can get expensive. But with this subscription service, it's easy to get the latest technology (and enjoy the peace of mind of having AppleCare included) for a low monthly fee.


If you're like me and want to upgrade your Mac regularly, it's worth checking out GetUpgraded.com, a service operating similarly to Apple's iPhone Upgrade Program, but for MacBooks.

Check out the service


Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums

The iPhone 17 and other late 2025 Apple devices will feature the company's own Wi-Fi 7 chips as part of a longterm move away from third-party suppliers.


It's long been documented that Apple is working to replace Qualcomm's 5G modems with its own design, but now a new report says it's doing the same with Wi-Fi. Previously, it was rumored that Apple was aiming to drop Broadcom's Wi-Fi processors, but now analyst Ming-Chi Kuo says it will happen with the iPhone 17.



Rumor Score: 🤔 Possible


Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums

This Samsung deal not only discounts the popular M8 monitor by 43%, but it also includes a free 2TB T9 portable SSD valued at $219.99.


Update at 1:47pm ET: Samsung sold out of the 2TB T9 SSD in gray.

The special bundle deal from Samsung is a great way to upgrade your home office setup by expanding your screen real estate and storage.


Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums

It has been over five years since Apple launched the last Intel iMac. This is how much of an upgrade you would get with a thoroughly-modern M4 24-inch iMac.


Apple's self-designed chip initiative, Apple Silicon, has been around for quite a few years. Introduced in 2020, Apple Silicon has systematically replaced all of Apple's Intel-based Mac models with versions using its own design of processor.

The iMac saw its last Intel release in 2019, a time when Apple continued to use an older iMac design.Two years later, Apple changed the game by not only bringing out an Apple Silicon iMac, but one that was radically redesigned.


Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums

CEO Tim Cook says that Apple intends to donate to relief efforts in Valencia, Spain after the area experienced catastrophic flooding.


Following heavy rainfall that struck Valencia, Spain, the region experienced what may be the deadliest flooding in modern Spanish history. More than a year's worth of rain fell in just eight hours, destroying bridges and buildings and resulting in at least 95 deaths in the area.

In response, Cook said the company would help fund relief efforts on the ground.


Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums

AMD has kept much of its plans for next-generation GPUs under wraps. Aside from rumours and leaks, gamers looking into future enhancements get little information from official sources. However, during AMD's Q3 2024 earnings call, CEO Lisa Su said that RDNA 4 would be available in early 2025, the first time the company has offered a schedule for the new GPUs.

AMD had already stated that their next-gen gaming GPUs would not target the enthusiast audience, consistent with past speculations indicating there won't be a Navi 31 replacement in the RDNA 4 portfolio. Instead, gamers may expect mid-range to high-end alternatives like the RX 8800 or 8700 series. Adding to that, AMD's CEO recently confirmed during the company's Q3 2024 earnings call (via Yahoo) that these new RDNA 4 GPUs are coming in early 2025.

This is not a formal announcement, nor does it clarify whether the cards will be released in January or later. However, AMD is expected to introduce RDNA 4 at CES 2025, likely including a range of laptop and desktop products. Product launches typically occur 4 to 6 weeks following such announcements. However, there are also some odd cases where AMD has taken months to launch a product. Hopefully, this won't be the case.

Lisa Su also stated that RDNA 4 would improve ray tracing speed and introduce additional AI capabilities, but increased efficiency and better rasterization are also expected.

KitGuru says: Are you interested in AMD's upcoming RDNA 4 GPUs? How do you think they'll compare with AMD's current lineup?

The post AMD CEO Lisa Su confirms RDNA 4 for early 2025 first appeared on KitGuru.