Thinking of buying a new TV? It’s change over season, and that means you could find discounts as new gear is out. We’ll talk what’s new there, plus computers, wearables, headphones, and more.
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It’s the beginning of April and this is The Wrap, Australia’s fastest technology roundup, and while we’re all pretty much stuck inside and there are fewer airplanes in the sky, the world of technology goes on.
Most of us are sitting inside, and quite a few of us are working from home. We don’t go to the shops anymore unless we have to, and if we can, we’re buying from online. Freight and logistics still work, at least for now, so it’s still possible to buy bits and bobs as and when you need or want them.
Granted, office supplies and technology are beginning to thin out, and a quick glance across the online options still available if you need them is probably going to leave you on backorder for longer than you’d like.
Yet the technology keeps rolling on out, and there’s more on the way, with quite a few announcements this week. From Intel to Samsung, Fitbit, Asus, and others, we saw a surprisingly packed week for the technology world, even if it might get a little difficult to get to a store to find it for yourself.
Online is the place to be, and it will have a fair amount in the coming weeks, as more arrives.
Such as with TVs, because it’s April, which means old TVs are about to be replaced with new stock. Samsung heralded the arrival of its new 4K regular Crystal UHD TU8000 TVs, alongside its quantum dot QLED Q-series range, which starts at $1729 for the 55 inch Q60T and pushes all the way to an 85 inch Q80T for seven and a half grand, plus the even more exy Q90 range. Depending on the model you find, you’ll see more of the screen, with slimmer bezels that help the picture just appear without the edges, plus new technology that commands AI to upscale media more clearly.
There are also new 8K TVs coming, but they’re coming later. While Samsung didn’t say how it would help deal with the overall lack of 8K content, it does have phones that can capture in 8K in the Galaxy S20 range.
Of course you might not need 8K, and you might not even need the newest 4K screen. So now might be a good time to buy, because it’s change over season. That is to say it’s the time when old TVs are typically discounted to make way for the new stock, meaning sales are going to be happening. That’s normal for this time of the year, with the March to May period offering sales for people who look.
Computers typically have changeover periods, too, with May to July seeing discounts typically from when new chips come out at Computex. That event is normally in June, but it’s been moved to September, so we might see it a little earlier.
In fact, this week, Intel announced new chips were on the way, boasting more performance for content creators and gamers in the 10th gen Comet Lake H chips.
Alongside, Asus has new laptops on the way, with a dual screen gaming laptop offering both a 14 and 15 inch screen in the one computer, plus some huge 15 and 17 inch models that will come with super spec’d graphics, too.
Those PCs are coming in June, suggesting other computers now could be seeing some price cuts, though not everything has a changeover period.
Take wearables, which don’t have a specific time for release, yet see new ones randomly. This week, Fitbit announced the Charge 4, which takes the same wristband design as last year’s Charge 3, yet throws in Spotify support and a GPS, making it just that much more useful when you decide to venture outside.
Sony also has new headphones on the way, with a pair of wireless in-ears made for bass, and a pair of over ears made for noise cancelling. Sorry if you were expecting the next in the flagship 1000X range, as these aren’t that, but Sony’s new headphones will apparently be able to work out which noise cancelling mode to put you in simply by listening to the surrounding. No word on price or availability, though, so you might just be working it out for yourself for the moment.
And finally there’s a new Dyson on the way out, though no changeover season for vacuums. They typically come out when they do, with the old stock being replaced by the new one. For Dyson, that new stock is to give its V11 a little more power and a replaceable battery in the V11 Absolute Extra, while also release a bigger version in the V11 Outsize.
It’s built for people who need to suck up more dust and stuff, such as with bigger homes, though it also gets the replaceable battery as well, which can be charged independently from the vacuum.
It’s the sort of thing we can only imagine will appear on more vacuums as time goes by, but we’ll just have to wait and see.
But one thing you won’t want to wait and see with is backups for your phone and computer.This week saw World Backup Day on March 31, so here’s your reminder: back up your important data. Whether you’re using an external drive or a cloud solution — or ideally both — make a plan to back up this week and remind yourself to do it regularly.
Think of the documents and photos you need copies of, and make sure they’re part of a backup plan, and start today. No time like the present. Seriously. The last thing you’ll want is to lose what you have, because you might not be able to get it back.
Gone. Like that. Like this show, because you’ve been listening to The Wrap, Australia’s fastest technology roundup. A new episode goes online every Friday at Podcast One, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts, but until then, have a great week. We’ll see you next time on The Wrap. Take care.
