Innholdsfortegnelse for November 2024 i APC

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you may have noticed a trend in PC gaming in recent years – and that trend is upscaling. While AMD’s compute-based FSR has improved over its various iterations, as we recently found in our testing, it’s still not a patch on Nvidia’s AI-powered DLSS for image preservation. And according to Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, we’re now at a point where AI has become all-but-essential for next-generation graphics tech. Speaking at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia + Technology Conference in San Francisco in September, Huang spoke about a variety of topics, including the benefits of AI in a variety of industries. When asked which of these use cases he was most excited about, he said: “Well, in our company, we use it for computer graphics.…

HEAD TO HEAD NVIDIA DLSS Free, www.nvidia.com AMD FSR Free, www.amd.com 4K gaming is a problem. It’s always been a challenge to render at that high a resolution. If anything, the res arrived long before any graphics card or console could touch it. The problem is simple: compared to 1080p, 4K represents a 300 percent increase in the number of pixels on display at any given time. We effectively quadrupled the total workload overnight by shifting to a 4K resolution. Not only that, but even in 2024, eliminating jaggies is as important as it ever was. Antialiasing efforts similarly are incredibly graphically intensive. Jaggies occur because games render textures in pixels, and because pixels are square, you end up with artifacts creating a jagged texture, often along the edge of…

PRICE $628 WEB amazon.com.au Smart glasses are an idea that keeps coming around. However, no one’s yet managed to drag the idea into the mainstream: could TCL RayNeo’s new Air 2s AR glasses be the ones that hit the big time? They certainly make a style statement. The general shape resembles a pair of classic Ray-Ban Wayfarers, but RayNeo’s design eschews the Wayfarer’s thick rims in favour of a futuristic full-front visor. The silver temples offer three-point tilt adjustment and ultra-flexible hinges, and at just 79g in weight they’re comfortable to wear, even over long periods. Getting started with the Air 2s glasses is easy. Plug them into any laptop, smartphone, gaming handheld, or tablet and – as long as your device can output DisplayPort over USB Type-C – they’ll…

PRICE $1,099 WEB amd.com If you didn’t know anything about Zen 5, you’d think the new Ryzen 9 9950X is a step backwards from its predecessor, the Ryzen 9 7950X. They both have the same number of cores and threads (16 and 32, respectively) and the same total amount of L3 cache (64 MB). The 5.6GHz boost clock is the same for both and the new chip even has a lower base clock (4.3 vs 4.5GHz). And yet, the Ryzen 9 9950X is by far the better processor. To understand why, you need to delve into the guts of the two CCDs (Core Complex Dies) that nestle next to the IOD (Input/Output Die) underneath the heatspreader. The architectural changes are too many and too complicated to go through in detail…

PRICE $929 WEB remarkable.com Many tablets aim to dazzle with their shiny designs, but the ReMarkable Paper Pro has a different goal: it wants to replicate the feeling of writing and sketching on paper. This isn’t the company’s first tablet to attempt the feat, but the Paper Pro is its first device to do so with a colour screen. The screen in question is ReMarkable’s new Canvas Color display, based on E Ink’s Gallery 3 technology. It’s an 11.8in panel with a reasonably sharp density of 229ppi, and it supports a variety of digital brushes in nine main colours, which you can use to annotate documents, colour in diagrams or add bright highlights to reference works in PDF or EPUB format. It’s an idea that really appeals to me: I’ve…

PRICE $2,799 WEB benq.com/en-au This is a beautiful piece of kit. The X300G from BenQ sits somewhere in the middle of its latest projector product stack. It’s complete with 4K 3LED projection lens, exceptional keystone accuracy, auto-adjustment, and impressive brightness and response times, all packed into a nice, attractive little box. It’s advertised as portable, and to a certain extent it kind of is, but it also very much kind of isn’t. We actually looked up the word ‘portable’ to find a modern definition. Google sums it up as a smaller version of something that can be easily carried. By that logic, the X300G is absolutely that: portable. Don’t confuse that with being able to use this anywhere and everywhere, however, at least without an electric hookup. There’s a notion…

MAC PRICE Essential $63.99/year; Ultimate (as tested) NEEDS macOS 11 or later; iOS 11 or later WEB eset.com/au Instead of paying out for individual subscriptions for malware protection, a VPN service, password manager, and a software firewall, you might be looking for a different approach. Assembled around its thoroughly capable anti-malware engine that we reviewed a year ago, ESET Home Security’s aims to offer all-in-one protection. The ESET Password Manager comes at the added cost of a Premium subscription ($71.99), and is a browser extension rather than a full app, so looks unlikely to match Sequoia’s new bundled app unless you need to integrate with Windows or Android. ESET’s unlimited VPN has excellent geographical coverage, is easy to use, and works well. However, that only comes with the Ultimate subscription…

There’s a dismal tendency with every new technological development to regard it as a threat. Computers, the internet and now AI have all been heralded as a threat to our livelihoods, ignoring our unshakeable ability to adapt. Yes, AI will likely take many jobs. It already has. But it can also be a tremendous assistant in the workplace, a technology which – if mastered at this still early stage – could lead to you becoming indispensable, rather than ready for the scrapheap. We’ve interviewed people who are using AI across a wide cross-section of professions to find out how it’s transforming the way they work. From teachers saving hours on lesson planning, to a gardener despatching invoices from voice memos, to market researchers using AI to rapidly scale the quality…

EXCEL ONLINE Resize columns and rows quickly Microsoft has overhauled Excel for the Web (www.microsoft.com/en-au/microsoft-365/excel), redesigning the way it looks as well as adding new features. The toolbar ribbon menu is now grey instead of green, for example, and there are a handful of new tools that you can use. One of the most useful additions is handlebars that let you resize columns and rows by dragging them. These appear when you hover your cursor between rows. We left-clicked and dragged the handlebar between rows 4 and 5 ( 1 in our screenshot below). The two solid green lines 2 show the boundaries of the original column, and the dotted green line 3 where the new boundary will be. We released the mouse click and the size of the column…

The games we play PRICE $87.95 PLATFORM PC, PS4/5 WEB tinyurl.com/APC538force6 Earth Defense Force 6 is one of the most joyful shooters I’ve played in years, delivering mega-scale slapstick gunfights like nothing else while walking a tightrope-fine line between genius and idiocy in its design. It’s also a janky, rough-hewn piece of software with a mediocre PC port and egregious recycling of assets. The original PS2 EDF was a simple third-person retro B-movie shooter about a little soldier guy fighting oversized alien ants and wobbly UFOs using skyscraper-flattening guns that could send your own ragdoll body flying if you got caught in your own blast. That core remains unchanged, although EDF now has four classes of soldiers, online co-op and more enemy variety. The joy of being a little guy…

Download these APC exclusives free from: www.apcmag.com/exclusives ASHAMPOO WINDOWS PRODUCT KEY VIEWER EASILY RETRIEVE YOUR WINDOWS PRODUCT KEY. Sometimes you need to know your Windows product key, but where was it again? Ashampoo Windows Product Key Viewer solves this problem in an instant. This handy freeware allows you to easily retrieve your Windows key for various versions of Windows 10, and Windows 11. With just a few clicks, you can quickly and securely display your key without having to search for stickers or old emails. Ashampoo Windows Product Key Viewer saves you time and effort! ASHAMPOO WINDOWS 11 ADBLOCK REMOVE ADS IN WINDOWS 11. Ashampoo Windows 11 AdBlock helps you get rid of the ads that come with Windows 11. This free and handy software instantly disables ads without the…

Cambridge Audio Evo One Combining retro chic with high-tech features, the low-slung Cambridge Audio Evo One has everything you need to really make your music and movies sing. Chief of these is its 180-degree sound array, which uses 14 speakers to deliver sounds in all directions, and you can even use it as part of a multi-room setup, thanks to its support for AirPlay 2, Google Home and Roon. Made from 50% recycled materials with a FSC-certified real wood walnut veneer, it also includes a 6.8-inch colour display that can be used to show album artwork, a clock, or digital VU meters. Onboard you’ll find Bluetooth, HDMI and RCA (phono) stages for connecting to your other devices, a TV, and even to a turntable. Plus, it also includes support for…

PRICE $2,199 WEB acer.com The Acer Nitro V series of laptops has long been one of our favourite options for portable gaming on a budget. The Acer Nitro V 16 is the latest model, with a large 16in display, and equipped with a powerful AMD Ryzen 7 CPU and Nvidia RTX 4060 GPU. The Nitro V does have a few limitations compared to more expensive laptops, but considering the street price (at the time of writing) is just $1,500, we aren’t complaining. . The Nitro V 16 (as tested) ships with a grunty Ryzen 7 8845HS CPU, RTX 4060 GPU, 16GB of (upgradeable) RAM and a 1TB SSD. The big 16in display has a 1920 x 1200 resolution, 3ms GTG response time, and can handle up to a 165Hz refresh…

PRICE $499 WEB hyte.com Take a look at the Hyte Thicc Q60, and you might come to the conclusion that this is an all-in-one liquid cooler that pushes appearance over performance. That’s not strictly true, however. Yes, the Q60 is adorned with a 5-inch screen, a litany of RGB LEDs, and some tidy cabling, but there’s also a chunky CPU cooler beneath it all. The Q60 is a big beast. It comes with a radiator double as thick as some, coming in at 52mm. That’s reportedly to use space that’s not often utilised to its fullest in modern PC cases, according to Hyte – it’s opting for a thicker radiator in the place of a longer one. The Q60 is billed as a 240mm radiator on account of the two…

PRICE $215 (2TB, $119 (1TB) WEB kingston.com In early 2022 Kingston launched the XS2000, a tiny external USB SSD that supported the USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 protocol and could read at speeds of up to 2,000MB/s. What was missing then was a more affordable Gen 2 drive option with 1,000MB/s transfers, and logically the name for that would be the XS1000. What the delay has given us is what looks like exactly the same enclosure, but this time in black or red, and inside is a Gen 2 specification drive in either 1TB or 2TB capacities that comes with the same 5-year warranty. Being only 7cm long and 28.7g in weight makes the XS1000 remarkably easy to pocket, and the drive that will work with any computer or mobile device…

DEVELOPER Q4OS development team WEB https://q4os.org LICENCE Mainly GPL The Q4OS website describes this distro as a “fast and friendly, desktop-oriented operating system based on Debian Linux”. The current version (code name Aquarius) is based on Debian 12.6 Bookworm. Aquarius is a long-term support release, with security patches and updates until at least June 2028. The OS can be downloaded as a live DVD ISO as well as a basic install DVD. There’s a version with the KDE Plasma desktop but Q4OS is best known for its Trinity desktop environment (TDE). Originally a fork of KDE 3.5, TDE offers a traditional and lightweight user interface. After firing up the live DVD, we were keen to test this using the bundled KSysGuard. On first boot the system used only 180MB of RAM…

The journey from the scrappy Apple of the 1970s to the world-conquering trillion-dollar titan of today has been long, and Apple hasn’t always travelled that road in a straight line. Nestled among Apple’s many blockbuster products, you’ll also find many products that didn’t quite catch in the same way as the iPhone. Some were years ahead of their time, some were ideas that Apple simply decided not to explore further, and some really should have been left in the meeting room. As we’ll discover, Apple has also made some very beautiful versions of its best-known products in order to raise funds for the charity Product (RED) – products that have sold for more than most people spend on a house. Over the next few pages we’re going to look at…

Access web vault I read with interest your advice on how to use WireGuard VPN to make it possible to take sensitive services ‘offline’ by making them accessible only through your network. My only disappointment was that it prevents me from accessing my Vaultwarden web vault remotely due to the issue with https. Is there really no workaround for this? Sean F Maxfield APC Responds: We’ve done some extra digging and found one workaround you can use involving a domain name you own. APC assumes that you’ve configured subdomain redirection using Nginx Proxy Manager, and that in this instance you have a subdomain (such as bw.domain.com) set up with an SSL certificate already attached to it. In the short term, all you need to do is instruct your domain provider…

YOU’LL NEED • A stable internet connection Adaptive and evasive malware, phishing domains, harmful links, and packet sniffing can all target a common point of weakness: your web browser. In May, Google was forced to release an emergency security update for the Chrome browser, which exploited a bug in the V8 JavaScript engine to allow remote code execution attacks. In August, vulnerabilities were also discovered in Edge that targeted out-of-bounds memory access in the ANGLE graphics backend to divert users to malware domains. 2024 has also seen a spike in ‘malvertising’ whereby legitimate-looking web page ads lead to malware. Given that browser developers are constantly releasing patches, it’s obvious that regular updates are one of the best ways to surf safely. Still, by default, most browsers display online ads without…

PRICE $43.95 PLATFORM PC, PS4/5, XBS/X, Switch WEB steamworldgames.com The original SteamWorld Heist was the most impressive of the bunch – a turn-based tactical RPG, its clever twist was manual aiming and ricocheting bullets, allowing you to pull off wild trick shots. Heist 2 takes that great core combat and expands out everything around it, adding an overworld to explore, more progression and equipment for your crew, a more elaborate story and a lot more fights to blast your way through. You play as Leeway Krakenbane, a downtrodden pirate struggling to make a name for himself. Your journey across the world plays like a sort of very lightweight Metroidvania. Piloting a little submarine, you can search for loot and secrets, battle enemy ships, and earn abilities that allow you to…

PRICE $41.99 PLATFORM PC, Mac, Linux, Switch WEB worldofgoo2.com It’s been 16 years since World of Goo squidged its way into our hearts, the much loved physics-based puzzle game that became one of indie gaming’s earliest and biggest successes. Who needs more World of Goo, considering the original was very much done and dusted years ago? Me. I do. We all do, really. Playing this game is a lot like catching up with an old friend. Everything from the artistic stage-select design to more than a few goo types, environmental hazards, and puzzle pieces, look and behave just as they did before. Even the little time rewinding bugs have returned (thank goodness), making it easy to try again, even if it looked like I’d made a careless stage ruining mistake…

FUTURES We explore the trends and technologies that are set to shape the future You work from home, at least a few days a week, keeping up to date with colleagues via Zoom and Slack. Meetings are recorded or transcribed so offline workers can catch up. Line managers engage with employees to avoid quiet quitting, rust out and bare-minimum Mondays. AI helps you code more quickly, manages workflows and suggests email responses, and there’s a trial at your office for VR training. This isn’t the future of work. This is now. But how is it working out for all of us – and what’s next? Hybrid life Some workers prefer office life. Others would rather work from home. Some companies want all hands on deck all the time, others appreciate…

The best mouse pads offer slick movement and awesome aesthetics, no matter what surface you prefer. At the most basic level, you want something that offers a smooth and precise surface for your mouse, which thankfully can be bought for not much more than a couple of coffees. Beyond that, you might want features like USB passthrough, RGB lighting, and maybe even less of a mouse pad and more of a deskpad. Here are our favourites. 5 NOVELKEYS DESKPAD If you’re the sort of person who feels constrained by a traditionally sized mousepad, then why not try a deskpad? NovelKeys does a lot of custom designs based on themes like Ghostbusters or Star Wars, but they feel good to use and last a long time. Most mouse pads come in…

APC is Australia’s oldest consumer technology magazine – having been consistently in print for over forty years, since our first issue way back in May 1980 – and we take that heritage and responsibility very seriously. While our focus is obviously on the personal computer the very definition of the PC has changed and shifted markedly since the early 1980s. As such, we touch on many other areas of tech, too, from smartphones and apps to peripherals, accessories, and beyond. We have two goals: to find the best modern tech and to help you make the most of it. Independent reviews Championing technology doesn’t mean we’re unrelenting yes-men and -women, however, and APC aims to be as objective as possible in all our coverage. That means identifying the best products…

PRICE $550 WEB nzxt.com The C1500 Platinum, the latest addition to Nzxt’s power supply lineup, is priced at $550. That alone limits it to a niche audience, along with the few people who actually need that sort of power in 2024. 2025, with its rumoured even higher-powered GPUs, could be another matter. However, if you do find yourself in that camp, you’ll be pleased with its exceptional performance and reliability. With features like fully modular black nylon-sleeved cables, a Sunon MagLev 140mm fan, two PCI Express 5.1 12V-2x6, and world-class electrical performance, it’s also designed to meet ATX 3.1 standards. Considering the tier of this PSU, its bundle is surprisingly minimalistic. Nzxt provides only the necessary mounting screws, an IEC C19 AC power cable, and a purple bag for the…

NEEDS Windows 10 or 11, or macOS WEB arc.net Web browser This much-hyped new web browser was initially only available for macOS, before launching on Windows 11 earlier this year. It has now finally arrived on Windows 10, so everyone else can see what the fuss is all about. Arc is described by its developer, The Browser Company, as “a browser that doesn’t just meet your needs – it anticipates them”, and it certainly looks different to Chrome, Edge and Firefox. Its tab bar is on the left-hand side instead of across the top, and its minimalist interface has a bold, modern feel. When you install Arc, you need to create a free account so it can sync your data across devices. It then lets you import your bookmarks, passwords…

AMD and Intel have traditionally released new processors every year, often with the biggest updates arriving for the summer season. 2024 continues that trend, but there are new processors, and there are new processors. In what has become mostly a two-year cadence, both AMD and Intel have major architectural overhauls going on, promising bigger changes than the off-year refreshes. It’s not just about desktop CPUs, either. As another sign of the current state of affairs, where mobile solutions continue to outsell desktop parts, both companies have laptop-centric designs coming out. Intel even leads off with its mobile-focused Lunar Lake architecture, which has some important differences from the upcoming desktop-centric Arrow Lake designs that we’ll cover here. AMD likewise has its Granite Ridge line of CPUs that target desktops, with Strix…

1 Artificial intelligenceTo fix torn edges, we can use AI to extend existing features, such as our subject’s leg (and chair). 2 Wear and tearPhotoshop’s Neural Filters can replace scratches and creases with appropriate details, and smooth out grain. 3 Eye contactPhotoshop’s AI has a huge database to draw upon to help make soft-focused faces look crisp and clear. 4 Add colourThe Neural Filter menu’s Colorise tool can make a dull mono shot look vibrant and interesting in a click. IT WILL TAKE  15 mins YOU WILL LEARN  How to counteract keystone distortion, remove grain and scratches and add colour to a mono print YOU’LL NEED  Apple Photos (iOS 12 or later), Adobe Photoshop (macOS 11 or later) In part one of this feature last month (APC 537), we explored a variety of hardware…

PRICE $43.95 PLATFORM PC, PS5, XBS/X WEB tinyurl.com/APC538cygni The average level in Cygni: All Guns Blazing is about 15 minutes long, give or take, but it doesn’t feel that way. It feels like a two-and-a-half hour special effects showcase that ought to have ended with a fade to black and ‘Directed by Michael Bay’ in big, bold letters. Cygni’s audio-visual bombast is difficult to overstate, with its Unreal Engine 4-powered hordes of alien jet fighters screaming toward you from above and below. Its shoot-’em-up antics will be quite familiar to any fans of Ikaruga or Radiant Silvergun. All the bedlam of bullet hell is on offer, but its pace is more palatable for those who don’t infuse their tap water with Red Bull. The most dangerous enemy in Cygni is…

Inspirational stories from computing’s long-distant past Gamers are passionate people, and they often like to display their allegiance in the starkest of ways. “We’re still amazed by the one person who got a tattoo of the Evercade console, possibly before it was even released,” said Andrew Byatt. And, given he is the CEO of Blaze Entertainment, the company behind that machine, it’s a story he tells with a smile. Evercade is a relatively recent success story built upon a hunch that a good number of gamers aren’t purely interested in the games they play. They are, as Byatt pointed out to APC, just as fascinated by the paraphernalia that has traditionally accompanied games – or at least did before digital distribution became far more commonplace – which is why Evercade…

I was intrigued by the recent news story about US bank Wells Fargo sacking more than a dozen employees for ‘mouse jiggling’. This is the practice of using software or hardware to make your cursor move automatically, to imitate PC activity. Wells Fargo didn’t disclose how it exposed the mouse jigglers, so it’s unclear whether they were just jiggling to cover long lunches or to bludge off for the whole day, before they were fired for “unethical behaviour”. As an honest, hardworking type, I’ve never considered this sleight of hand, and I’m sure my eagle-eyed editor wouldn’t be fooled by a bit of bogus clicking. However, I could see some (ethical) benefits to jiggling, such as preventing impatient websites from signing you out, or keeping your PC awake while you…