The Envy Curved AIO 34 PC has something of an HP first-- built-in Alexa support, allowing customers to speak to the Amazon virtual assistant to control music or check the weather.

The Envy Curved AiO 34 is technically a redesign of a 2018 Envy model. It features a 34-inch curved 3440 x 1440 resolution display on top of a large base complete with a fake wood texture, front-facing Bang & Olufsen speaker array, built-in wireless charging pad and a glowing blue light that glows whenever the smart assistant is activated.

Corsair announces the Carbide series Spec-Omega RGB-- a mid-tower PC case aimed at gamer customers featuring a Corsair Node PRO lighting controller and no less than 54 pre-installed RGB LEDs.

The Spec-Omega RGB has an angular asymmetric design, with the front split between opaque matte steel, a tempered glass half section incorporating the front I/O and a lower air intake vent area. A strip of RGB lighting splits the two main areas. The left panel of the chassis is in tempered glass.

Cooler Master presents the MasterBox K500L-- a mid-tower ATX chassis available in two variants, with either black steel panels on both sides or a Perspex panel on the left side.

With an angular design aimed primarily at gamer customers, the K500L is predominantly black with red illuminated accents on the semi-mesh front panel. The front panel features a pair of pre-installed fans complete with red LED lighting, adding to a "sleek and aggressive feeling."

MSI announces a mid-tower PC case-- the MAG Pylon, a 45 litre number featuring 4mm tempered glass on 3 sides (left, right and front) together with three 120mm RGB LED fans.

The tempered glass panels allow customers to follow show off the interiors of their machines, so much so one can even mount the graphics card vertically for even more prominent display of LED fans. Meanwhile the included fans integrate with MSI Mystic Light software for easy lighting synchronisation with other MSI products.

EMEA PC shipments total 17.5 million units in Q1 2018, IDC reports-- a slight 0.6% Y-o-Y increase as commercial shipments just about manage to offset declines in consumer space.

Commercial shipments are up by 6.2% Y-o-Y thanks to enterprise renewals, while the consumer market is down by -5.2% due to market saturation in W. Europe. EMEA notebook shipments are down by -0.5% Y-o-Y as demand for mobility and security drive commercial growth, offsetting weak consumer performance in W. Europe. However the "real drivers" of the quarter are desktops, with 2.9% Y-o-Y growth driven by a "strong" commercial outlook as well as ongoing traction in the gaming market.

AMD offers customers "all you need to game" in the Combat Crate-- a bundle consisting of an AMD Ryzen processor, Radeon RX graphics card and a "future-ready" MSI motherboard.

Combat Crates are described as something of an all-in-one upgrade solution for users wanting to boost an old PC, as well as the foundation for a new machine. AMD offers a choice of different hardware with either a 6-core Ryzen 5 1600 or 8-core Ryzen 7 1700 processor. Also included are an MSI Gaming Radeon RX 580 Armor graphics card with 8GB DDR5 RAM and an MSI B350 Tomahawk motherboard.

MSI announces an upgrade of its gaming desktop PC lineup-- now offering "unmatched game-enhancing features" through 8th generation Intel Core CPUs and what the company dubs the G.A.M.E. Unlimited concept.

G.A.M.E. stands for Gaming Power, Accessibility, Monitor and Experience, and promises the best possible gaming PC through high-end, easily upgradeable hardware, Optix MPG27 series curved gaming monitors a range of customisation options. The PC series making part of the initiative are the  Aegis Ti3, Aegis 3, Infinite A, Trident 3, Trident 3 Arctic and Nightblade MI3. Each PC is designed for specific customers, ranging from the full-size Aegis line to the compact but upgradeable Nightblade MI3 and "console-sized" Trident 3.

Asus is the next company prepare for the recently launched 2nd generation AMD Ryzen CPUs, as it offers motherboards based on the X470 chipset in all its product lines, namely ROG, Strix, TUF and Prime.

In total the company has 5 X470 motherboards-- 4 ATX models in the ROG (Crosshair VII Hero / Wi-Fi Edition), Strix (Strix X470-F Gaming), TUF (X470-PLUS Gaming), and Prime (X470-PRO) lines, and 1 Strux series ITX motherboard (X470-I Gaming). All promise "innovative tuning, cooling and personalisation options to extract the best performance," being designed for use with the AMD Ryzen 2000 series CPUs while retaining backwards compatibility with current Ryzen processors.