Microsoft could give Windows 11 PCs a new option for the Copilot key –but don't get too excited just yet - Related to might, option, enough, yet, apple’s

AMD’s RX 9070 XT might be cheap, but that may not be enough

Table of Contents Table of Contents A careful approach to pricing There’s more than just one rival AMD could have the best product, but….

Over a month after the initial announcement at CES 2025 (if you can even call it an announcement). We still don’t know much about the future of AMD’s RDNA 4 lineup. We know the cards are set to launch sometime in March, but their specs remain a mystery. However, there’s an even bigger secret that’s still yet to be revealed: The pricing.

After a bumpy lead-up to the launch of the RX 9000 series. Pricing is the one thing that AMD needs to get right. The latest leaks imply that AMD will price the cards “very aggressively,” which could be good news — but it might still not be enough for it to rival some of the best graphics cards.

As soon as it became clear that AMD wouldn’t be making a flagship GPU this time around. I knew that pricing would be more impactful than ever before. Intel has proven time and time again that performance per dollar is crucial if you’re not Nvidia, which benefits from massive brand recognition. AMD surely knows this, too, and the latest leak implies that it’s going to go all-in on the pricing.

As . AMD’s plan is to price the RX 9070 XT aggressively. Unfortunately, the research doesn’t divulge any pricing brackets, so we’re still left to guess — but at least we know that leakers believe AMD’s intent is to keep things competitive.

A week or so ago, one retailer claimed that the RX 9070 XT was meant to cost $900. Which would’ve been an instant nail in the coffin for RDNA 4. Fortunately, AMD itself has refuted these states, saying that a $900 price point was never part of the plan.

While we aren’t going to comment on all the price rumors. I can say that an $899 USD starting price point was never part of the plan. — Frank Azor (@AzorFrank) January 27, 2025.

Of course, this prompted many to ask when we’ll finally find out the pricing, to which AMD’s Frank Azor replied: “In the future.” These vague responses don’t inspire much confidence in the fate of RDNA 4, but Azor later went on to say that the cards would be arriving in early March. Which definitely helps.

Pricing-wise, AMD is kind of stuck between two vastly differing strategies adopted by its competitors. We’ve got Nvidia, which often sells really expensive GPUs, and we’ve got Intel’s highly affordable Arc GPUs on the other end of that spectrum. The latter approach is what makes GPUs like the B580 such good value, but Nvidia’s “performance first” angle works well most of the time — although. Gamers tend to push back if the mainstream cards are too pricey. However, that’s not exactly the case this time around.

Sure, we could argue that $750 for the RTX 5070 Ti and $550 for the RTX 5070 is still a high price. But it’s also a price cut compared to the previous generation. Going into the RTX 50-series, I expected the prices to go up, not down, but luckily, that’s only been the case with the RTX 5090. (Of course, finding a GPU at the recommended list price is another story entirely.).

While Nvidia spilled all of the beans at CES 2025. AMD kept suspiciously quiet. I’m making an assumption here, but it’s one that many leakers share: AMD may have wanted to see the pricing and the performance of the RTX 5070 and. The RTX 5070 Ti. Now that we at least know how much they’ll cost, AMD can tailor its “aggressive” approach to pricing.

Unfortunately, while “aggressive” sounds good in this context. It could really mean just about anything — which is why it’s too soon to celebrate. What might seem like competitive pricing to one person may not seem that way to another, so it’s essential to put that research into perspective and figure out just what AMD will be up against.

And trust me, there are plenty of cards that AMD will be competing against once the RX 9070 XT finally hits the market.

Without a full spec sheet. It’s hard to know what to expect from the RX 9070 XT — but we know enough to have a rough idea. Early performance leaks show it rivaling the RTX 4080, but that’s an optimistic guess. AMD itself doesn’t expect its new top GPU to beat the RX 7900 XTX, which leaves the RX 9070 XT with both the best and the worst pricing and performance bracket to be in: The mainstream segment.

AMD will have to rival the likes of Nvidia’s RTX 5070 Ti/non-Ti. But also the RTX 4070 Ti (and Super) or the RTX 4080 with its new flagship. There are some good news on that front, because Nvidia has already ceased production for most of its RTX 40-series GPUs. The few that are still in stock are currently overpriced in anticipation of the next-gen equivalents. Meanwhile, good luck finding the RTX 5080 at MSRP.

But the market won’t be empty for long. Once the RTX 5070 Ti is here (which, as MSI has now confirmed, should be on February 20), followed by the RTX 5070. The mainstream market will hopefully once again have some GPUs to pick up at list price. Unfortunately for AMD, the RX 9070 XT won’t be here before that happens, so all that it can hope for is that Nvidia and its partners fail to deliver enough stock of the xx70 GPUs.

As is often the case with AMD. Its own cards are its fiercest competitors. The RX 9070 XT will have a lot of older siblings that will offer similar performance; think the RX 7800 XT, the RX 7900 XT. The RX 7900 GRE, or even the RX 7900 XTX for those who want to splurge. Some of those cards cost more than what the RX 9070 XT might be priced at, but the RX 7800 XT is still highly competitive at just $520.

With so many GPUs to choose from. Pricing the RX 9070 XT is going to be a make-or-break type of situation for AMD. We might have a hit on our hands if Team Red undercuts the Nvidia equivalents by a decent margin, but. Without a marked difference, the RX 9070 XT might be facing an uphill climb.

I’ve been pretty open about the fact that I was genuinely excited about the RX 9070 XT. However, at this point, the excitement dulled down and transformed into something akin to worry.

Based on leaks, it seems like AMD might be cooking up (or has cooked up. As the cards are already sitting around at various retailers) a good product. It might turn out to be a solid mainstream card, and if AMD’s goal will be to make it good value and not just cheaper than Nvidia, it could even be a hit.

I still can’t help but worry, because now. AMD has more than one obstacle to overcome.

Building on these developments, in all likelihood, Nvidia will hit the market first — again — with the RTX 5070 Ti and the RTX 5070. In fact, the first of the two might launch in as little as ten days. Meanwhile, AMD enthusiasts are still largely kept in the dark; following various AMD execs on X (Twitter) is the only reliable way to get some information. Even then, it’s been scarce.

If AMD doesn’t talk about the RX 9070 XT soon. Then all of the attention will turn to Nvidia’s new releases. This means AMD is running out of time to reveal the specs and the pricing of the RX 9070 XT. People might wait to buy a GPU if they know what they’re waiting for, but with no updates from AMD, it’s hard to feel confident about the upcoming launch.

Now, there are so many elements at play that may affect the launch of the RX 9000 series: Competitive pricing, timing. Specs, performance, and communication. If the leaks are true, we can at least count on AMD keeping it affordable — hopefully under $600.

The next step is for AMD to actually talk about RDNA 4 at length and. Start driving up the hype. I just hope it’s not too late.

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Microsoft could give Windows 11 PCs a new option for the Copilot key –but don't get too excited just yet

Microsoft could let you turn the Copilot key back into the old ‘Menu’ key.

Additionally, this is useful in some scenarios, but many will want a fuller range of customization options for the key.

Microsoft could soon give people whose keyboard has a Copilot key the ability to redefine it so a press of the key opens a context menu instead.

In relation to this, this is -known source of Windows-related rumors and happenings. PhantomOfEarth on X (formerly Twitter).

Future builds will add the option to remap the Copilot key to open a context menu. February 9, 2025.

Remember, this is just a claim that Microsoft might do this in future test builds of Windows 11 – presumably based on clues found by the leaker digging around in current preview builds – and it still may not happen.

If none of the above makes much sense, and you’re scratching your head as to what’s potentially going on with the keyboard here, let us rewind a bit and explain.

What’s actually happening (or could be) is Microsoft is allowing the choice to revert the Copilot key back to what it was previously (on many laptop keyboards, anyway).

This old key that the Copilot button replaced was known as the ‘Menu’ key and it typically carries an icon with three horizontal lines (perhaps with a pointer, too). Indicating that it’s used to summon the aforementioned context menu.

Not if you change it back by remapping, though – and if you find the context menu shortcut more useful than the Copilot key, well, apparently you might have your wish granted later this year. Albeit with the above caveats about this not even being in testing just yet.

Microsoft introduced the ability to remap the Copilot key to launch an app in preview (late last year). This move has since arrived in Windows 11, and you can switch the key to invoke a search, too. But remapping to an app comes with a notable (and annoying) catch that stated software must be an MSIX-packaged application (not many apps are). This has been implemented that way for security reasons, in case you were wondering.

At any rate, a context menu option would at least be something, but I’m hoping that Microsoft will give us a lot more freedom eventually to redefine the Copilot key to do. Well, anything we want (and act as a shortcut for any app at all, not just a limited selection). At least these all appear to be steps in the right direction for more effective customization, if only small strides.

Microsoft certainly appears to be giving up the notion that the Copilot key represented the most significant introduction to the keyboard on Windows PCs since the Windows key itself.

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Apple’s secret Vision Pro controller suggests it’s finally taking VR gaming seriously

You would think that Apple’s Vision Pro headset would be the perfect platform for virtual reality (VR) gaming. After all, it has a top-notch processor, super-high-resolution displays, and both VR and augmented reality (AR) capabilities. In theory, that should make it a leading device for gamers.

The reality is, unfortunately. Very different, with few popular gaming titles making it onto visionOS. And really, Apple’s headset is held back by one key weakness: its lack of proper VR controller support.

Sure, it works with console controllers made for the Xbox and PlayStation. But these are ill-suited to games that are designed with VR in mind. And let’s not get started on the other way of operating visionOS — with your fingers — which is only really fit for a very limited set of games.

So what’s the solution? Well, we’ve heard before that Apple is working with Sony to bring PlayStation VR2 controllers to the headset. Now, though, it looks like Apple is pushing ahead with its own design. At least .

This depicts a Nintendo Wii-style stick controller for the Vision Pro. While the patent doesn’t specifically declare that it’s made for gaming — it barely discusses gaming at all, in fact — it’s hard to imagine it having many other uses.

And while it’s unlikely that this is the controller’s final design (as Apple likely wouldn’t spill the beans on that in a patent application). What it does tell us is that Apple is thinking about ways to make the Vision Pro a advanced gaming device. And that’s critical.

The patent doesn’t tell us too much about how the controller will actually work and what it will look like. But it does show us how seriously Apple is taking gaming these days.

Let’s not forget that we’ve all seen the impressive gaming advances on the Mac. Most modern Macs are equipped with powerful Apple silicon chips that are far more adept at gaming than many people are used to seeing from Apple. The enterprise has been working hard on bringing support for AAA games to macOS (see Cyberpunk 2077 being introduced late last year), while it’s also been adding dedicated gaming capabilities like Game Mode to the Mac.

Now. That thinking appears to be translating across to the Vision Pro. But it doesn’t just seem like a token effort from Apple — no. The patent actually tells us quite a bit about the business’s attitude towards gaming.

Think about it this way. Apple working with a corporation like Sony to expand support for existing controllers is one thing, but. Going it alone indicates that Apple is really investing in the idea of gaming on the Vision Pro. After all, it takes a lot more resources to design and build your own controller than to work with an established gaming corporation like Sony that can share the load with you.

To me, that hints at not only that Apple wants to have more, uhh, control over its controller. But that it’s willing to take risks and pour more resources into the idea. If you’ve been hoping gaming improvements will come to the Vision Pro, that’s an encouraging sign.

That expressed, we don’t know when or even if this controller will become a reality — it’s just a patent application for now, and. Apple might simply be exploring ideas without any intention to ever build a Vision Pro controller. But the fact that we know Apple is at least considering it is welcome news for gamers.

Now Apple just needs to chip away at the longstanding issue of getting more games onto the Vision Pro. And if it’s to stand any chance of doing that, a dedicated VR controller is a good place to start.

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