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Windows 10 Fall Creators Update

When HTC and Oculus debuted the get-go consumer VR products ii years agone, their sky-high prices ($600 and $800 at debut) kept them out of reach for all but a scattering of gamers. Today, Oculus is down to $400 while the Vive is $600 — significantly lower than before, particularly for Oculus, which now includes Bear upon controllers — but withal fairly expensive for most customers. Now, if y'all want to try out VR or mixed reality, Microsoft's Mixed Reality headsets are a strong alternative. Thanks to recent price cuts, they're now available at much lower prices.

The Acer Windows Mixed Reality Headset, Dell Visor, HP Mixed Reality Headset, and Lenovo Explorer Bundle are now effectually $250, ranging from $218 for the Acer model to $246 for the Dell. All of these prices are well down from the $400 to $450 that we saw when these models of headset debuted just a brusk while ago. The HP version is confirmed equally the latest model (VR1000-100) and each appear to apply a 1440×1440 lens per center (2880×1440 across both eyes). There is a difference in the field of view: The Acer and HP models have a 95-degree FOV, the Dell Visor is 110 degrees, and the Lenovo Explorer is 105 degrees. If yous care about a broad FOV, the Dell or Lenovo models should suit you ameliorate than the narrower HP and Acer versions. Apart from that, the platforms appear largely identical.

In short, if you've been waiting to dip a toe into the Windows Mixed Reality waters, it'south rarely going to be more than enticing than this. Equally for why we're seeing such deep price cuts subsequently a relatively recent launch, you wouldn't be crazy for thinking retailers are trying to spark fresh need either later the vacation season or to goose product sales towards something they adopt. When Steam opened to PUBG in China it skewed all our previous data sets, such that nosotros effectively have no idea what VR adoption rates actually are.

New Windows 10 Low-Cost Laptops Debut

Microsoft is also talking upwardly the launch of new laptops from Lenovo: the Lenovo 100e at $189, and the Lenovo 300e, which supposedly starts at $279. (We'll articulate up that "supposedly" in a moment.) There are also two laptops from JP, with Windows Hello support at $199 and a pen + touch device for $299. Microsoft has partnered with companies like Lego, as well as organizations like the BBC, NASA, PBS, and Pearson to bring new software to the platforms, also every bit a "Earth of Chemistry" mod for Minecraft to add craftable items like glowsticks, underwater torches, and rapid-grow fertilizer. Students will also be able to build compounds and stable isotopes in the gratuitous upgrade for Minecraft Education Edition coming later this spring.

lenovo-laptop-100e-windows-feature-01

The 100e is an 11.6-inch clamshell with the gorgeous design aesthetic and subtle hints you lot remember from your bottom-end Lenovo netbook circa 2008, simply updated, reimagined, enhanced… actually, let's just stick with that 2008 reference. This is the lesser-end netbook chassis y'all loved (or "loved") with a much faster CPU and GPU and pretty much no storage whatsoever (32GB or 64GB of eMMC is all you go). At $189, at least it's cheap.

The 300e is supposed to exist a two-in-1, just when you search for it on Google, yous get a laptop advertised equally a Chromebook and for sale in the United Arab Emirates, followed past a very, very different laptop besides advertised as the 300e and sold in the UAE, merely not equally a Chromebook.

Lenovo-300e

Despite existence clearly based on the same chassis and labeled nearly identically in the image above, don't confuse the 2. The kickoff Google link points to an xi.6-inch device with a 720p display based on the MediaTek MTK 8173C SoC. That'south a quad-core SoC with ii Cortex-A72 CPUs and ii Cortex-A53 CPUs in big.Petty with a PowerVR GX6250 GPU core in a ii-cluster configuration. The second link points to a CPU helpfully identified as an Intel Pentium (but cypher else) Pen support, up to 8GB of RAM, and upward to 128GB of storage via an actual SSD. The Chromebook is limited to a 32GB eMMC partition.

Despite Microsoft'southward large push backside Windows 10 South, and multiple claims that both the 100e and 300e systems volition run it, both laptops are both systems are listed as shipping with Windows 10 Pro. And so again, that's the UAE, so your guess is as skillful as mine for the US. Presumably if they practice get on sale every bit Windows x S systems hither, they'll nonetheless have the pick to upgrade to Windows 10 Pro for a nominal fee through the end of 2022.