Hardware

iFixit, a group that sells electronics repair tools and rates devices for repairability, published a detailed teardown of Apple's new Mac Pro. Despite a couple of minor complaints, the folks at iFixit gave the device high marks. In an unusual tune for Apple products, they called the Mac Pro "beautiful, amazingly well put together, and a masterclass in repairability."

The devices in Time magazine's list of "the decade's most important and influential gadgets" include ones from all the major technology firms such as Apple, Google, and Microsoft. However, only Apple is listed more than once.

Time does not number its list, and it says the set isn't a ranked top ten, but instead is a collection of devices that all do one thing.

The last installment in our five-part holiday gift guide series this year is tailored for power users—those who know their way around technology and feel uneasy settling for gear that doesn’t provide high performance.

Apple has emailed its customers notifying them that its new Mac Pro desktop computer and accompanying Pro Display XDR will be available for order starting tomorrow, December 10. However, the company has not yet revealed when units would actually ship to buyers or any details about build-to-order configuration pricing. This news came around the same time that records of FCC approval of both tower and rack-mount configurations of the Mac Pro surfaced.

To reduce the size of the bottom bezel on 2017's Apple iPhone X, the Touch ID fingerprint scanner was removed and replaced by the Face ID secure facial recognition system. Using structured lighting, a pattern is overlayed on a subject using infrared projectors and cameras note where the pattern is distorted. This depth information allows the TrueDepth Camera to create a 3D map of the user's face in order to verify his or her identity.

OnLeaks showed off renders of the Galaxy S11 a few days ago, and now he has teamed up with CashKaro to show off renders of Samsung's bigger phone, the Galaxy S11+. As usual, these are unofficial renders, but they're based on CAD drawings, and in the past they've been very accurate.

HP released firmware updates for a number of its Serial-Attached SCSI solid-state drives to prevent their failure at exactly 32,768 hours of operation time.

The devices are used in multiple server and storage products for enterprise, such as HPE ProLiant, Synergy, Apollo, JBOD D3xxx, D6xxx, D8xxx, MSA, StoreVirtual 4335 and StoreVirtual 3200.

Intel's new i9-10980XE, debuting on the same day as AMD's new Threadripper line, occupies a strange market segment: the "budget high-end desktop." Its 18 cores and 36 threads sound pretty exciting compared to Intel's top-end gaming CPU, the i9-9900KS—but they pale in comparison to Threadripper 3970x's 32 cores and 64 threads. Making things worse, despite having more than double the cores, i9-10980XE has trouble differentiating itself even from the much less expensive i9-9900KS in many benchmarks.

The 16-inch MacBook Pro seems like the closest thing Apple might ever make to an apology tour. While it sticks to many of the principles established in the 2016 redesign for the product line, its major changes over the just-discontinued 15-inch model include an overhauled keyboard and improved thermal performance—the chief things its predecessor was criticized for.

Today, Apple begins taking orders on a new version of its largest MacBook Pro laptop. While its basic design is similar to that of the Touch Bar models the company has made since 2016, it is slightly larger and heavier, the screen is bigger thanks to reduced bezels, and it has new keyboard and speaker designs. The Pro has faster graphics and new upgrade options, such as a 64GB RAM configuration and larger default SSD sizes.