Intel's Kaby Lake Disappoints

For the average consumer building or buying a new performance-focused PC, a desktop chip based on 14nm Kaby Lake remains the chip of choice—a total lack of competition at this level makes sure of that.

But for the enthusiast—where the latest and greatest should perform better than what came before—Kaby Lake desktop chips are a disappointment, a stopgap solution that does little more than give OEMs something new to stick on a label in a 2017 product stack.

No wonder Apple wasn't in a rush to put out their new Touch Bar MacBook Pro with "Kaby Lake Inside."

And yes, I'm still waiting for that must have upgrade before pulling the trigger on a $3,500 laptop. Maybe I can settle for even the Lenovo or Dell, but still, Windows.....

I'm Actually Excited About Windows 10 →

Happy and engaged" is one of those talking points you hear a lot from Microsoft. Myerson used it nine times in our hour together. But behind the PR-approved phrasing is a simple truth: it’s been a long time since Windows users have been either, and Microsoft needs to fix that. It’s as good a North Star as any, especially when your product development cycle is founded on taking user feedback seriously. If Microsoft can make people love Windows again, then the rest — developers and apps — is easy.

Head on over to The Verge's awesome piece on the story behind Microsoft's Windows 10 and tell me it doesn't get you a little excited.

It's been over a decade since I've used a Windows PC in an everyday setting, but I'm admitting here and now, I'll be looking up some Lenovo notebook options loaded with Windows 10 this fall. Maybe even an Alienware or Razer laptop as long as SkyLake gets into the mix already. Or even Intel's latest storage technology. That would be awesome! Now, about those bug fixes.

Play This: "Mountain" -- a Mountain Simulator

I'm dead serious. If you watched Her, you'll be familiar with the creator of Mountain. In his first official game, David O'Reilly sets the bar for something different -- a Mountain Simulator! Not quite a game, but more like a screensaver that's somewhat interactive, it's quite awesome. Available on iOS, Mac, Windows and Linux, it's either $0.99 on iOS or $1.00 depending on how much you want to donate. And yes, it's running in the background as I type this post. Featuring: - no controls - automatic save - audio on/off switch - time movies forward - things grow and things die - nature expresses itself - ~50 hours of gameplay - once generated, you cannot be regenerated