It’s no secret that the Windows budget-market segment has been stagnating for years. While premium machines kept getting thinner, lighter, and faster, the affordable segment was stuck with five to seven year old technology and minor updates. 

Intel, it seems, wants to change that. In a recent Talking Tech interview, the company detailed how Project Firefly plans to drastically overhaul the budget laptop segment by creating a whole new ecosystem of laptops. 

What exactly is Project Firefly?

At the heart of the project is Wildcat Lake, a chip Intel custom-built for everyday users. It packs two P-cores for snappy performance and four LP E-cores for longer battery life, along with a small NPU and right-sized graphics that can handle smooth video playback and light gaming at 720p. Intel also went with a single-tile design and a cheaper six-layer motherboard to keep costs in check.

But a chip alone doesn’t make a laptop, and that’s where Firefly is different. It’s a reference design program that hands laptop makers a ready-made recipe, complete with the right chassis, screen, and form factor. The prototype Intel showed off is just 12.9mm thin, features a sturdy metal body , and comes in a lovely lavender color that the company calls its Intel color.

Instead of using the usual PC components, Intel raided the phone world, borrowing memory and audio chips from an ecosystem that’s far bigger and cheaper than the PC one. It even bundled its chip and phone memory into one neat package that laptop makers can pop straight into their designs, saving them a ton of time and effort.

Can it take on the MacBook Neo?

Intel never names Apple’s budget MacBook directly, and in the interview, the company insisted Firefly isn’t a response to any particular competitor. That said, Intel openly admitted it admires what Apple has built and wants to bring similar experiences to the broadest user base possible.

While Intel won’t say it out loud, the message is hidden in the subtext. It took the launch of MacBook Neo to wake up Windows manufacturers and push them to start taking the mainstream market more seriously, and for this reason alone, MacBook Neo has served its purpose. 

And if Firefly delivers, you won’t have to spend premium money to get a laptop that feels premium, and that’s a win for all of us.

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Wondering when Skarner is receiving the next visual and gameplay update (VGU)? Here is what we know about the champion so far.

Image Credits | Riot Games

Skarner VGU 2024 –  Everything We Know So Far

Skarner was voted by the community as the champion that would receive a rework in 2023. Being one of the least-played junglers in the game, due to his dependency on the spires, Skarner will hopefully get a new exciting kit like the recent Aurelion Sol CGU.

At the start of the new 2023 season, Riot Games’ development team updated fans on the upcoming Skarner VGU: “The Skarner VGU team has started exploring ways to dial up his scorpion fantasy,” is what Lexi Gao, Riot’s champion product manager said in the new season announcement video. “At this phase, we’re leaving no arthropod-hiding stone unturned to find exciting themes, kits, and stories.”

The champion won the fan vote last February, beating out Shyvana, Kog’Maw, Tryndamere and Nocturne. This means that it’s been one year since the rework was decided. According to the dev post made by Rioter Lexi “Lexical” Gao, Skarner is one of the least popular champions in League in all areas that we survey, except for familiarity with backstory.

After nearly a year from the previous update, Riot is finally releasing the reworked Skarner. It’s been one hell of a ride, but here we are.

When is the VGU going to hit the live servers?

Riot will be releasing Skarner to the live servers with Patch 14.7, which is planned to be released on April 3, 2024.

Skarner’s new theme

In the dev update, Art Directo Larry “The BravoRay” Ray went on to break Skarner down based on his visual cues: scorpion, crystals, and the good hero archetype. While they did consider keeping the crystal theme, Riot ultimately decided to amplify his good/lawful character archetype and scorpion fantasy, completely omitting the other.

Image Credits | Riot Games

In the end, after considering different power fantasies, they went for elemental magic, thus the link to the Ixtal region.

This allowed us to explore different power fantasies in the Runeterran universe, from Voidspawn to Hextech-empowered. But we decided to hone in on the elemental magic, as we felt it left a lot of creative freedom for every aspect of his development.

“We brought in more of a crustacean’s heavily-weighted shell shape while leveling up his scorpion tail to a three-pronged stinger for grabbing his prey, making him appear like an intimidating indestructible beast to his enemies,” said Larry.

Riot also updated the champion’s description, which you can find below:

The ancient brackern Skarner is revered in Ixtal as one of the founding members of its ruling caste, the Yun Tal, and is devoted to keeping Ixtal safe from the rest of the world by maintaining the region’s isolation. As more members of the Yun Tal begin to question this decision, Skarner grows increasingly paranoid and will do anything to keep Ixtal and its people safe—no matter the cost. 2/2 “I am the first Yun Tal, and I will be the last.” “I am the vanguard of Ixtal’s protection.” “All crumble in the wake of my calamity!

The Skarner Gameplay Rework

In one of the latest dev blogs, we finally got a preview of how Skarner’s kit will look like in the game. To know all the numbers, check out our Skarner ability rundown.

Q ability

The Q will be his moment-to-moment combat ability: Skarner tears a piece of terrain from the Rift itself and carries it around with him. While it’s supposed to have a long cast time, Skarner’s boulder empowers his auto attacks, but he can also throw the boulder for a slow and a big chunk of damage. This should help him improve his clear and then give him the ability to finish off the escaping enemies.

W ability

Skarner smashes the ground, releasing waves from the earth and gaining a shield.

E ability

Skarner’s E is also completely revamped. The champion continually gains movement speed with limited controls and tries to collide with a target. If he finds a target to grab he has a short window to pin them to a wall for a stun and bonus damage. If he manages to smash the target into the wall, Skarner will be able to grab another rock that he can throw with his Q.

R ability

For the ultimate, Skarner can now Impale up to three enemy champions, all while damaging and suppressing them while he gains bonus movement speed for a short time before carrying that champion until the effect ends.

READ ALSO: Riot releases new Dev Update - Skarner, Quick play, and more

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