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Apple offering $100 rebates on cellular Apple Watch Series 7 purchases [U: Full details] - 9to5Mac
AMD vows to fix Ryzen processor slowdowns on Windows 11 - Engadget
Nintendo Switch OLED model has improved Joy-Cons, but drift ‘unavoidable’ - Polygon

Apple offering $100 rebates on cellular Apple Watch Series 7 purchases [U: Full details] - 9to5Mac

Posted: 08 Oct 2021 06:04 AM PDT

Apple today officially opened pre-orders for the new Apple Watch Series 7. The company is offering $100 rebates with cellular Apple Watch purchases with select carriers, head below for the full details.

Update October 8, 2021: Here are the full details for each carrier.

T-Mobile/Sprint:

Within 90 days of ordering your new Apple Watch, activate on a new* Paired DIGITS plan. You'll then have 30 days after activating cellular service on your new Apple Watch to complete the application using promo code 2021APPLEWATCHRETAIL1 at promotions.t-mobile.com. Within six to eight weeks of submitting your application, you'll receive a $100 virtual prepaid MasterCard®

And Verizon:

Within 30 days of receiving your new Apple Watch, activate on any new* consumer postpaid data plan. You'll then have 30 days after activating cellular service on your new Apple Watch to complete the application at vzw.com/myverizon or use the MyVerizon app. Within eight weeks of submitting your application, you'll receive a $100 Verizon e-gift card.

In line with similar promotions offered for iPhone and iPad purchases, Apple says that customers can buy a GPS + Cellular model of the Apple Watch Series 7 and get a $100 rebate when they activate it with T-Mobile/Sprint or Verizon. Apple says:

Customers can buy Apple Watch (GPS + Cellular) directly from apple.com/store or at an Apple Store and get $100 back when they activate it with T-Mobile/Sprint or Verizon.

More details about this promotion are unclear as of right now, but we expect Apple to share more information prior to pre-orders opening on Friday at 5 a.m. PT/8 a.m. ET. It's likely that the $100 rebate will be in the form of a prepaid Mastercard, similar to promotions offered for the cellular iPad lineup.

Apple also reminds users that through Apple Trade In, customers can get credit toward the purchase of a new Apple Watch. Apple has not updated its trade in website to list the latest values for the Apple Watch Series 6, but here are the current prices:

Apple Watch SE – Up to $155
Apple Watch Series 5 – Up to $145
Apple Watch Series 4 – Up to $100
Apple Watch Series 3 – Up to $70
Apple Watch Series 2 – Up to $25

Learn more about Apple Watch trade-ins in our full guide right here.

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AMD vows to fix Ryzen processor slowdowns on Windows 11 - Engadget

Posted: 08 Oct 2021 03:41 AM PDT

Installing Windows 11 might make the apps on your AMD-powered computer slower, the chipmaker has warned. AMD has published documentation on a couple of Windows 11 bugs affecting its Ryzen processors, one of which can slow down its CPUs by up to 15 percent. That particular bug can increase L3 cache latency by three times, which in turn can affect apps that need quick access to memory.

Most affected applications could slow down by three to five percent. If you play games "commonly used for eSports," though, you might be feeling the bug's impact a lot more, since it could slow down those games by around 10 to 15 percent. The second bug, as Ars Technica explains, is related to the "preferred core" feature that allows a system to use the fastest individual CPU cores in a processor.

AMD didn't mention any particular percentage for the second bug, but the company said its impact is more noticeable in chips with more than eight cores and with 65W Thermal Design Power (TDP) or higher. That includes many of the high-end desktop chips released over the past few years, but suggests popular lines like the 3600X and 5600X should be minimally affected, and AMD-powered laptops aren't likely to be particularly troubled either.

In its announcement, AMD assured that it's investigating the issues with Microsoft and that they're working on a fix for them. A patch for the first bug will be released as Windows update, while a fix for the second will roll out as a software update sometime this month. For the latter, it could mean having to check AMD's website for the update and having to install new drivers manually.

All products recommended by Engadget are selected by our editorial team, independent of our parent company. Some of our stories include affiliate links. If you buy something through one of these links, we may earn an affiliate commission.

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Nintendo Switch OLED model has improved Joy-Cons, but drift ‘unavoidable’ - Polygon

Posted: 08 Oct 2021 06:19 AM PDT

Since the Nintendo Switch's launch 2017, there's been one consistent problem: Joy-Con drift. It's persisted over the years and through different upgrades and models — and it seems that Nintendo's new OLED model will likely see the same fate.

Joy-Con drift is a problem of durability that occurs when joysticks "drift" or move without user input, causing a character to move unintentionally. Nintendo said in July that its new OLED model, released Friday, would use the same ol' Joy-Cons as other models, but Nintendo is now clarifying that some improvements have been made to the original design.

In a lengthy interview published on Nintendo's website, Nintendo developers Ko Shiota and Toru Yamashita spoke about the "invisible" improvements to the Joy-Con design over the years, noting that the company has continuously worked to improve Joy-Con durability.

"The parts of the Joy-Con analog sticks are not something that can be bought off the shelf but are specially designed, so we have undergone a lot of considerations to improve them," Yamashita said. "In addition, we improved the reliability test itself, and we have continued to make changes to improve durability and clear this new test."

Yamashita added that the improved parts are included with new consoles — including the Nintendo Switch Lite — and in both repaired and newly bought Joy-Cons (Nintendo offers repairs for drifting Joy-Cons), as well as similar adjustments in Nintendo Switch Pro controllers.

The problem, though, is that Nintendo said Joy-Con wear is "unavoidable."

"Yes, for example car tires wear out as the car moves, as they are in constant friction with the ground to rotate," Shiota said. "So with that same premise, we asked ourselves how we can improve durability, and not only that, but how can both operability and durability coexist? It's something we are continuously tackling."

Though Nintendo seems to be saying that wear on the Joy-Con controllers is inevitable, the improved Joy-Cons should, in theory, hold up to that stress for longer. Time will tell if that's truly the case in practice.

It's rare for Nintendo to talk about Joy-Con drift, though in this interview the developers seem to be referencing the problem without saying those specific words. This isn't surprising, however, as Nintendo is currently facing multiple class-action lawsuits over the controllers — the last of which, filed in 2020, includes a robust technical breakdown of the Joy-Con controller and its issues.

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