Tech glossary.
Short, plain-English definitions of the jargon you'll see on Specdex. Linked into our reviews wherever the term appears.
AMD's stacked L3 cache for gaming performance.
Advanced Audio Coding — Apple's preferred Bluetooth codec.
Why AI shouldn't be your only source.
Auto Low Latency Mode — TVs auto-switch into game mode.
Active-Matrix OLED — the flavor used on phones and watches.
Active Noise Cancellation.
Qualcomm's lossy-but-quality Bluetooth codec family.
Royalty-free next-gen video codec.
5th-gen DDR system memory — 4800-8400 MT/s.
Up to 80 Gbps over UHBR-20 — 8K@60Hz uncompressed.
NVIDIA Deep Learning Super Sampling — AI-driven upscaling.
Dynamic-metadata HDR standard.
Color E Ink panel technology.
GPU optimization that renders peripheral vision at lower quality.
AMD's open variable-refresh standard.
AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution — open-source upscaling.
NVIDIA's adaptive-sync standard for monitors.
6th-gen graphics memory — 14-21 Gbps per pin.
7th-gen graphics DDR memory.
48 Gbps HDMI — 4K@120Hz, 8K@60Hz, VRR, ALLM.
High Dynamic Range — wider luminance and color gamut.
Open HDR baseline with static metadata.
Samsung-led open alternative to Dolby Vision.
High Efficiency Video Coding — 4K streaming workhorse.
Dust-tight + sustained water immersion (IEC 60529).
In-Plane Switching LCD — wide viewing angles, true colors.
Sony's high-bitrate Bluetooth codec — up to 990 kbps.
Time-of-flight depth sensor using laser pulses.
Low-power DDR5 for mobile and ultrabooks.
Low-Temperature Polycrystalline Oxide backplane — variable refresh.
Apple magnetic charging + accessory standard.
LCD panel with thousands of local-dimming zones.
Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price — the launch sticker.
Neural Processing Unit — on-device AI accelerator.
Non-Volatile Memory Express — protocol for PCIe SSDs.
Self-emissive display where every pixel makes its own light.
Permanent uneven aging of OLED pixels under sustained static content.
Full ray-tracing — simulates light bounces end-to-end.
4th-gen PCI Express — 16 GT/s per lane.
5th-gen PCI Express — 32 GT/s per lane.
Apple's professional video codec for editing.
Quantum-dot-enhanced OLED panel technology.
Physically-based lighting simulation.
Sub-Band Codec — the Bluetooth audio fallback.
Head-tracked surround sound.
Thermal Design Power — not peak draw.
80 Gbps symmetric / 120 Gbps asymmetric over USB-C.
Trillions of Operations Per Second — AI inference metric.
Reversible 24-pin connector — the universal modern port.
40 Gbps per lane; Thunderbolt-compatible.
Variable Refresh Rate — adaptive sync over HDMI.
802.11ax — multi-user, denser networks.
Wi-Fi 6 + the new 6 GHz band.
802.11be — up to 46 Gbps across three bands.
Intel's ML upscaling — runs on any modern GPU.