As we lean further into 2022, we're starting to hear details from all the big TV brands about their line-ups for this year, including Philips and Samsung. Naturally, Sony is no different, having just announced the A75K OLED TV, which will offer some pretty premium features at an "affordable", mid-range price point.
As reported by FlatPanelsHD , the A75K follows the announcement of the high-spec A95K , A90K and A80K OLED TVs at CES 2022 . With the A75K, though, Sony is taking aim at those who are looking for a TV with a good deal of premium specs but lack the budget for a high-end stunner like the LG C1 or Sony's own A90J OLED TV .
Despite being a mid-range model, though, the Sony A75K 4K OLED TV will sport an LG Display WOLED panel with a 120Hz refresh rate, accessible via two HDMI 2.1 ports that also allow for VRR (variable refresh rate) functionality. Sony's high-end Cognitive Processor XR also features in the A75K, meaning you're getting a lot of bang for your buck, assuming the price point is indeed accessible to mid-range buyers.
How much will the Sony A75K OLED TV cost?
Speaking of price point, Sony hasn't yet announced how much the A75K will cost; the company's intended launch dates and pricing will be revealed later in the year. However, Sony told FlatPanelsHD that "buyers should not expect it to compete with LG A1 " on price.
The A1 is LG's own mid-range OLED, which has up to a 60Hz refresh rate and lacks HDMI 2.1 support. The 55-inch LG A1 launched at $1,399 / £1,099 / AU$2,130, but you can often find it at a significantly reduced price today. It's likely that the A75K will launch at a more expensive price point then, considering its stable of vastly improved features over the A1.
With that in mind, Sony's A75K 4K OLED TV could turn out to be an excellent choice for gaming, particularly for consoles that support a 120Hz refresh rate like the PS5 and Xbox Series X . A higher refresh rate allows for much smoother gameplay, which is ideal for titles that require quick reflexes, like Apex Legends or Doom Eternal .
More and more TV manufacturers are now creating lower priced OLED TVs for 2022, and we're happy to see what was previously state-of-the-art tech find its way to mid-range price points. OLED displays are much brighter, and pack more color than LCD TVs . As such, features like HDR are able to deliver a much richer viewing experience on an OLED display.
Enter for a chance to win a Z690 AORUS Elite DDR4 motherboard from Gigabyte
Intel’s new 12th gen processors are finally here promising the next level of gaming performance for even the most hardcore gamers. But as any serious gamer knows, the CPU is only part of the story.
The true heart of any gaming rig is the motherboard so it’s vital to have one that can unleash the full power of the new CPUs. Gigabyte’s new Z690 AORUS Elite DDR4 motherboard is specifically designed to get the absolute most power from Intel’s new 12th gen processors.
One of the unique things about Intel’s newest chipsets is their new hybrid core architecture. Intel built both high performance P cores and power efficient E cores into the same SoC to help optimize processing speeds to pull more performance out of the chip when you need it and draw less energy when you don’t.
Gigabyte designed the Z690 to take full advantage of this new capability. It creates two distinct BIOS profiles tailored to how the PC is being used. When gaming, all the E-cores are deactivated so you get every ounce of speed out of the processor. When creating content or performing other demanding tasks, the motherboard shifts to maximize both the P and E cores to ensure ultimate performance.
But it’s not just the CPU that gamers rely on for performance. Having fast memory is important to ensure nothing slows you down. The Z690 supports DDR4 XMP memory up to 5333MHz so you never miss a beat. And with 4 32GB compatible memory slots, even the most memory-intensive tasks won’t slow you down.
Gamers like to live on the bleeding edge of performance so Gigabyte included support for new PCIe 5.0 so gamers can take full advantage of the latest graphics and storage cards to compliment the new 12th gen CPUs.
Powering the motherboard is a 16+1+2 VRM design with premium chokes and capacitors and a 70A power stage to ensure optimal power delivery to the CPU.
With all this power comes the great equalizer: heat. No matter how good of a gamer you are, if your rig starts to stutter due to too much heat, it’s game over. Thankfully the Z690 has an industry-leading thermal design to help keep everything cool even under the most demanding loads.
The MOSFET is entirely covered on top and bottom which gives it an up to 2x larger surface area over traditional heatsinks allowing for greater heat dissipation. Gigabyte also built a unique 2x copper PCB design that lowers the component’s temperature by up to 3% by turning the PCB into an incredibly thin copper heatsink to keep thermals lower under demand.
There are three different series in the Z690, each designed to help users optimize performance for what they do most. The AORUS lineup provides the optimal combination of power and efficiency to unleash the full potential of the new 12th gen chipsets.
The GIGABYTE lineup is all about the gamers. It’s built to keep gamers performing at their best for as long as possible. For content creators and creative professionals, the AERO series combines power and durability to handle the most demanding tasks.
The entire Z690 series is available for sale now and you can check them all out on Gigabyte’s website . You can also enter below for your chance to WIN a Z690 AORUS Elite AX DDR4! The giveaway is open to our readers in the US only, and all entries must be in before it closes forever May 5, 2022. Good luck!
Wordle Bot just showed me the near-perfect Wordle starting word
I used to think there was no best Wordle starting word. I was wrong and the new Wordle Bot just proved it to me.
While we've all been busy wasting a few minutes each day playing Wordle, the game that asks you to guess a five-letter word in six tries, The New York times quietly launched a Wordle Bot to help you in your quest to become a world-class Wordler.
In my first test run, I learned that, yes, there are some first Wordle guesses that are much better than others. I mean a lot better.
Before we continue, though, I'll warn you that there are spoilers ahead for today's Wordle answer No. 298.
As the New York Times explained, it built the bot with the express goal of finding the best starting words for Wordle , but that quest soon evolved into understanding "how closely our guesses matched those that would be chosen by a machine designed to solve Wordles."
As a long-time Wordle player and someone who was for a bit writing our daily Wordle Guides and Wordle how-to's (such as how to win Wordle every day ), I think I already know a thing or two about the right starting words. One of my go-to's is "FRAME."
However, for this Wordle quest, I put myself in the hands of the Wordle Bot. Sort of.
To use Worlde Bot, it turns out, your first have to solve Wordle on your own. The bot literally turns you away if you haven't solved Wordle on the system where you're accessing the bot.
If you solved it on a different system, but still want the bot to analyze your work, you can upload an image of the completed Wordle.
Chastened, I returned to today's Wordle and started to solve it. With or without a bot, I'm always determined to finish in three. Usually, I succeed. Today, not quite.
My progression is below in the gallery. Again, if you haven't played Wordle today, stop, go play, and then come back.
Even though I failed to solve this Wordle in three, I felt pretty good about my results. I was curious if Worlde Bot would agree.
The bot starts with an overall analysis, which rates you on Skill, Luck, and Steps. I'm glad they have "Luck" in there because that is a big part of the game, especially on that first word where, if you're lucky, you could pull in four letters or even a complete word. If your guess took you a great leap forward in solving the puzzle, that increases your "Luck" rating.
Skill is about how your guesses reduce the number of turns it might take to solve the Wordle.
Steps is just how many turns it took you to guess the day's Wordle. My ratings, which compare me to the average of all New York Times Wordle players, are below.
I'm not gonna lie, the 77 Skill rating is a little disappointing. I don't like being "below average."
The best part of the Worlde Bot is its step-by-step analysis, and this is where I learned what may be one of the best starting words of all time.
It turns out that "CRATE," a word I have rarely used in this game, is an exemplary starting word. It cuts the number of possible Wordle guesses from 2,309 to 73. That's some solid work there and I think I will use "CRATE" again in the future.
My second guess might appear to be a poor one because it doesn't use the single letter I got right in the first guess. However, this is my tried and true strategy of building a Wordle win in three by collecting as many additional letters as I can in guess two.
Wordle Bot doesn't speak to that strategy but notes that "POUND" is an excellent choice because it cuts the number of possible remaining answers roughly in half.
What I started to realize is that I've been thinking wrong about winning Wordle all along. It's not so much finding the word through letter elimination and addition but by, with each turn, radically altering the number of possible guesses remaining.
Wordle Bot is also there to let you know, as gently as possible, when you made a mistake, and in my next guess, I chose wrong.
"CLUNK" was a bad choice for so many reasons. It's not an obvious word and, as Wordle Bot notes, I eliminated one of two remaining choices - but the wrong one.
With one option left, Wordle Bot informs me, without sarcasm, I believe, that I should solve this on my next guess.
I had literally one choice and, yes, I got it.
Wordle Bot is a bit of a show-off. Its final act is to compare your solution to how it - a robot, mind you - would've solved it.
Wordle Bot would've gotten the answer in three tries. Good for you, Wordle Bot, good for you.