Innholdsfortegnelse for September 2019 i Computer Shopper

How quickly a year goes by! It’s already time for our annual laptops group test, which we time to coincide with the start of the school summer holidays. That’s when many of the manufacturers and retailers start to offer some attractive laptop deals, knowing that there’ll be a rush of students eager to get a shiny new machine for their start at school or university. Handily, it makes the school holidays a great time for all of us to nab a bargain. So if you’re at all interested in buying a new laptop for yourself or a fortunate loved one this year, I’d recommend getting yourself down to the shops or browsing those online deals before the summer ends. To make your job easier, we’ve rounded up 24 of the…

David Ludlow RAVES A LOT OF technological progress was driven by trying to make the best, aiming for the highest-ever specs. More recently, I’ve been shying away from having to have the most powerful devices, as it feels as though we’re in an age where convenience and usability are just as, if not more, important. I like to play the odd game, but until recently, my choices were to boot up the PC in my garden office or go for the PlayStation plugged into the main TV and take over the lounge. Both choices required dedicated time and space, which wasn’t always possible. That’s the main reason I bought a Nintendo Switch. It’s not the most powerful console, it doesn’t have the highest-resolution screen and you can even get phones…

“We want to support their vital work by giving them tools that can foster a culture of inclusivity and creativity, ease their workload and help inspire the next generation”Microsoft plans to train 30,000 UK teachers in using technology to improve teaching “Teaching machines to learn on their own in the physical world will help us develop more capable and flexible AI systems in other scenarios”Facebook wants robots to teach other robots “Although this is an apology for the delay, it is not a change in policy. Age verification needs to happen”Culture secretary Jeremy Wright reveals a further six-month delay to the UK’s controversial 18-plus internet porn system “It was on my lap, plugged in, and suddenly started to spew smoke out both sides. I quickly placed it on the floor…

£1,599 • From www.pcspecialist.co.uk VERDICT This PC offers immense graphics power for the money, and does so without making big cuts elsewhere IT’S BEEN THE best part of a year since Nvidia’s RTX 20-series GPUs went on sale, and there’s still little sign of the two most expensive ones – the RTX 2080 and RTX 2080 Ti – dropping down to less dumbfounding prices. Luckily, you can still find a good deal on a pre-built PC containing one of these cards, as the Vortex S2 ably demonstrates. In addition to its 8GB GeForce RTX 2080, PC Specialist has tricked out this desktop with 16GB of RAM, an AIO watercooler, Intel Z390 motherboard and a Core i7-9700F CPU. If you’re unfamiliar with Intel’s F-series, they’re similar to other Core chips (in…

£450 • From www.amazon.co.uk VERDICT The Arlo Ultra shoots the most detailed security camera footage we’ve ever seen, but 4K recording won’t work out of the box EVEN THOUGH THE Nest Cam IQ Outdoor (Shopper 378) was the first camera we reviewed to have a 4K resolution, it downsampled the footage to 1080p for uploading to the cloud. That makes the Arlo Ultra the first security camera we’ve seen that can actually record in Ultra HD resolutions, meaning it produces some of the best footage we’ve seen. Since the camera is completely wireless, this is even more impressive. LOW RES However, you can’t record in 4K straight away. Although you get a year-long subscription to the Arlo Smart service at the Premier tier, which gives you 30-day video history for…

£500 • From www.novatech.co.uk VERDICT The AD27QD has plenty to offer, but it’s a tough sell against strong rivals with lower prices THE AD27QD IS components manufacturer Gigabyte’s debut in the monitor market, and it’s a confident one: a fully fledged gaming monitor with all the bells and whistles. It even has some unique tricks of its very own. The best is OSD Sidekick, a Windows application that – once you’ve hooked up a simple USB cable from your PC to the monitor – lets you access the AD27QD’s settings from the comfort of your desktop. The result is a far smoother experience than the traditional, joystick-controlled OSD. There’s also the RGB Fusion app, which lets you customise the rear-mounted RGB lights. This is altogether less revolutionary, and the lights…

£799 • From www.johnlewis.com VERDICT The HW-Q70R takes the HW-N650, improves the subwoofer and adds support for Dolby Atmos and DTS:X SAMSUNG’S SOUNDBAR CATALOGUE is rammed with great models, and now the South Korean firm is back with an entire new range. The Q Series is aimed at simplifying the buying process for Samsung devotees, providing a mirrored naming scheme that makes it easier to match the right bar to your shiny new television. You can pair it with whatever TV you want, but the HW-Q70R we have here is designed as the perfect match for Samsung’s 49in Q70R QLED TV. At £799, it seems expensive even for a soundbar that comes with a dedicated subwoofer. However, the HW-Q70R supports Dolby Atmos and DTS:X, and is in fact Samsung’s cheapest…

£379 • From www.amazon.co.uk VERDICT The H50A6200UK is a decent, low-cost 50in TV, even if it’s terrible at HDR playback HISENSE HAS MADE no secret of its ambition to become a meaningful player in the high-end TV arena, but it’s also been pragmatic enough to realise it has far more visibility (and credibility) at the opposite end of the market. That’s why the Hisense A6200 range is four-strong and eye-catchingly priced, with the 50in H50A6200UK model costing £379, the 43in H43A6200UL model a mere £329, and the 55in (H55A6200UK) and 65in (H65A6200UK) models going for £479 and £699 respectively. TV design is a tricky discipline at the best of times and, when a TV is built down to a price, it becomes almost an afterthought. Therefore, the no-frills design of…

£799 • From www.samsung.com VERDICT Samsung’s top-end smartphone series finally makes some bold changes, all for the better IT MIGHT NOT bend and flex like the now-delayed Galaxy Fold, but the Galaxy S10 has had quite the revamp; unlike with the Galaxy S9 (Shopper 364), there’s no danger of confusing this flagship for the previous model. Besides being surround by a silver, iPhone XS-style trim, the Galaxy S10 sidesteps any kind of notch design in favour of an in-screen ‘pinhole’ camera. Rather than the resulting black dot being a distraction, it actually blends in rather nicely, and allows for an even greater screen-to-body ratio of 93.1%. BRIGHT EYED The power button, volume rocker and USB Type-C port are all in the places you’d expect, while the dedicated Bixby button –…

£3,269 • From www.jessops.com VERDICT Canon’s mirrorless full-frame camera is a promising first effort, especially with its excellent kit lens IN A FEW short months, the nascent mirrorless camera market has become a burgeoning one. No sooner had Nikon thrown its hat into the ring with its superb Z7 and Z6 (Shopper 377) than Canon joined the fray, announcing the EOS R: a mirrorless, full-frame camera that might just sound the death knell for its consumer-grade full-framer, the EOS 6D MKII. Apart from its luxuriously dimensioned sensor, the EOS R offers plenty for keen photographers. There’s a high-end autofocus system, a fast burst mode and a capable 4K video mode, including a few video features that might even make the pros sit up and listen. The EOS R costs £2,339,…

01 A basic laptop costing around £300 will run everyday office, multimedia and education software, but it won’t be suitable for 3D gaming or processor-intensive tasks such as video editing. Many laptops at this price have a 15.6in screen and weigh over 2kg, so they’re best used around the house and for occasional journeys. 02 If you want to play modern games, you’ll need a laptop with a dedicated graphics chip such as the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060M. Good gaming laptops tend to have large 15.6 or 17in screens and weigh around 3kg, so they’re best suited to use at home. 03 If you want a laptop that you can take everywhere, look for a model that weighs less than 2kg. For the best portability, buy one that has a…

01 Building your own PC is often cheaper than buying a pre-made system, and gives full control over the components. You don’t need any special computer knowledge: just a few spare hours, a screwdriver and your choice of parts. Even things such as liquid-cooling systems can be found in user-friendly, easy-to-install packages, and for the most part it’s as simple as inserting each component into a particular slot. 02 Arguably the most important component is the CPU. These days you can get a quad-core chip even on a tight budget, which should provide more than enough brainpower for simple tasks such as web browsing, but hexa-core and octa-core chips are better for tougher jobs such as media editing, gaming and content creation. The CPU will also determine which motherboards you…

01 Wireless routers each use a number of Wi-Fi standards, so you shouldn’t have any trouble connecting your computer or phone wirelessly if you get an 802.11n or 802.11ac router. Nearly all routers support 802.11n, so even a cheap model should provide decent performance. You can expect a transfer speed of around 40Mbit/s at a distance of 10m from any modern 802.11n router. The very latest routers use the 802.11ac standard, which provides tremendously fast transfer speeds. Some devices still don’t support the 802.11ac standard, so check the specifications before you buy. 02 If you subscribe to an ADSL broadband service, you should buy a wireless router that has a built-in ADSL modem. This will cost more than the equivalent cable router, but it allows you to connect your router…

01 All tablets rely on an operating system (OS) to run apps. You have three main choices: Apple’s iOS, which runs on the iPad; Android, which Google licenses to various manufacturers; and Windows 10, which has become common in hybrid tablets and convertibles. If you own an Apple or Google smartphone, you can download your apps, music and so on to a tablet that runs the same OS, so it makes sense to stick with a compatible device. 02 It’s important to pick a tablet that has a good-quality, high-resolution screen. Many budget tablets have 1,280x800-resolution displays, but better tablets have Full HD 1,920x1,080 panels, and we’re starting to see tablets that have even higher screen resolutions. Some are as high as 2,560x1,600 or even 4K. Entry-level tablets typically use…

01 Action cameras are typically much smaller than a regular camcorder, as they are designed to be mounted to a bike, board or car, or worn on your person. As the name suggests, they are designed primarily for shooting action footage, but because of their small size they are ideal for strapping on to your pet’s collar or your children’s toys for a different perspective. 02 Even basic action cameras will shoot Full HD video, and many will even shoot 4K, but frame rate is arguably more important than resolution when it comes to action video. Higher frame rates will mean smoother clips, and super-high frame rate videos can be played in slow motion to emphasise exciting shots. Keep an eye out for 4K/30, 4K/60, 1080p/60 and 720p/120 models for…

ULTRAPORTABLE DELL XPS 15 (2018) Despite being bigger and heavier than most ultraportables, the latest XPS 15 is everything you’d want from the medium: a slim, finely crafted chassis, a sharp, vivid display, and excellent performance. It’s even got a bit of gaming capability, thanks to its GTX 1050 Ti graphics chip. If your budget won’t stretch beyond triple digits, check out the HP Envy 13: a sleek and competitive performer, but with a relatively bargain price of £799. 2-IN-1/CONVERTIBLE MICROSOFT Surface Pro 6 This sixth-generation model shows why the Surface Pro line is still the king of 2-in-1s. Fast and flexible, with one of the best displays on any tablet, the Surface Pro 6 is a pleasure to use – and unlike the Google Pixel Slate or HP Envy…

£1,399 • From www.dell.com VERDICT There’s a new CPU and a new top-mounted webcam for this updated XPS 13, the latest in a line of great Windows 10 laptops THE EVER-PRESENT Dell XPS 13 series has long been setting the standard for ultraportable laptops, which is perhaps why there’s relatively little difference between each new iteration, including this latest 2019 version. As ever, there are a multitude of different specs to choose from, but the £1,399 model we tested sits in the middle, with a Full HD display, Intel Core i7-8565U processor, 8GB of RAM and 256GB of SSD storage. Everything sits inside a lovely-looking aluminium and carbon fibre body, making for a sturdy yet pleasantly lightweight build. More specifically, it weighs 1.2kg – the same as the Asus ZenBook…

£799 • From www.currys.co.uk VERDICT It’s not without its flaws, but the stylish and powerful Envy 13 is fantastic value IT’S BECOMING INCREASINGLY difficult to find a truly great laptop under £1,000; most manufacturers seem to focus their energy on their most luxurious ultraportable, business or gaming systems, leaving the mid-range market relatively starved for must-have notebooks. This is one of the reasons why the Envy 13 so surprised us. Simply looking at it, we’d have pegged it at costing four figures; £999 at the least. Instead, this stylish, slimline laptop is an intensely tempting £799 – only a few notes more than the Lenovo Yoga 530. MODERN WAY This isn’t a flipping convertible, merely a traditional clamshell, but much of what makes it so immediately interesting stems from the…

£1,409 • From www.box.co.uk VERDICT This luxury laptop has both impressive gaming credentials and a near-perfect design THE ORIGINAL RAZER Blade Stealth (Shopper 349) was a great ultraportable, but its use of integrated graphics was incongruous with Razer’s identity as a gaming-focused hardware firm. The 2019 edition fixes that: in addition to a myriad of improvements elsewhere, the new Blade Stealth has a modest yet still dedicated Nvidia GeForce MX150 chip. That’s without losing the original’s sleek design, too. The matt black aluminium chassis looks and feels impeccable, it weighs just 1.3kg, and at 305x210x15mm it’s beautifully compact. It’s narrower than the old model, thanks to the screen bezels slimming down, although it’s a little taller when opened. SLITHER LINING Razer’s entwined-serpents symbol is embossed on the back of the…

£1,000 • From www.currys.co.uk VERDICT One of the very first Qualcomm Snapdragon-powered laptops showcases both the CPU’s limitations and its potential OUTWARDLY, THE HP Envy x2 looks like just any other 2-in-1; inside, however, it’s quite different. That’s because instead of an Intel or AMD CPU, it’s powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835, the same smartphone SoC within such handsets as the OnePlus 5T and Sony Xperia XZ Premium. Perhaps Qualcomm has been disappointed that the Envy x2 didn’t kickstart an industry-wise shift from traditional chips to its own processors – that certainly seemed the intention when Snapdragon-for-laptops was first revealed – but the concept still bears a look. In hardware terms, it’s essentially a huge smartphone with an attachable keyboard, right down to how it has 4G capability built…

£1,034 • From www.microsoft.com VERDICT Microsoft’s hybrid is as sleek and powerful as ever – we just wish both it and the Type Cover were better value SURPRISINGLY, ONE OF the most significant changes to the Microsoft Surface Pro 6 is that it has a number; the 2017 Surface Pro having dropped the 5. Besides this and the expected internal updates, however, there aren’t many noteworthy differences. We tested a mid-tier spec, comprising an Intel Core i5-8250U processor, 8GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD. One thing your £1,034 won’t get you is the Type Cover keyboard; once again, Microsoft charges an additional £125 for this nigh-essential add-on, while the magnetically attachable Surface Pen stylus is a further £100. It’s expensive to get running as a proper 2-in-1, then, but…

£2,880 • From www.ebuyer.com VERDICT It’s a hefty investment, but the ROG Zephyrus S GX701 has better power and portability than most 17.3in laptops THE ROG ZEPHYRUS family can claim to contain some of the best gaming laptops in the world, if also some of the most expensive. Anyone unfamiliar with the range might also look upon the new ROG Zephyrus S GX701 and be confused as to why the keyboard has been shunted all the way to the front. Besides there being a fairly mundane answer to this (namely, improved heat dissipation), the up-close-and-personal keyboard is nothing new to Asus. That said, there have been some big changes to the GX701. It now has a 17.3in screen, up from the previous GX501’s 15.6in, but the bezels have shrunk down…

£249 • From www.currys.co.uk VERDICT A beautifully crafted Chromebook, albeit one with some display and storage issues CHROMEBOOKS ARE TYPICALLY small and basic laptops that sacrifice looks for affordability, but Acer’s Chromebook 14 looks to shake up that trend. In an effort to prove it’s possible to build a cheap laptop without the usual trade-offs, it’s treading an unusual path with its latest Chrome OS portable. In fact, you could be forgiven for mistaking the Chromebook 14 for a MacBook Air at first glance. The Chromebook 14’s wedged shape and gold or silver aluminium chassis, black plastic hinge at the rear and sunken keyboard are all reminiscent of Apple’s classic laptop; only the brushed finish on the lid and Acer logo give the game away. Still, the whole thing feels…

£509 • From www.microsoft.com VERDICT It’s not the most powerful or longest-lasting 2-in-1, but the Surface Go is still a charming mobile companion A SMALLER, CHEAPER version of the Microsoft Surface Pro has always sounded like a good idea, but don’t expect hardware and performance anywhere near that of the Surface Pro 6. This is the top spec we’re testing, and it only has a dual-core Intel Pentium 4415Y processor, along with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of SSD storage. In typical Surface fashion, you also need to buy the Type Cover keyboard separately, at £99 for the basic version or £125 for the hydrophobic Alcantara model. Still, a minimum total of £608 makes this a cheaper alternative to comparable 2-in-1s such as the Samsung Galaxy Tab S4 (Shopper 370)…

Send your problems to help@computershopper.co.uk Broadband at a glance? I have just swapped my Plusnet modem and router for a BT Smart Hub (Home Hub 6). I bought it from eBay, it’s working well, and we like the new 5GHz facility. But while the Plusnet devices both had LEDs to show internet activity, the Smart Hub keeps it to itself. Previously I found it reassuring to be able to glance across and see that an expected download had started, for example. I know there are dozens of programs that will display internet activity, but I don’t find them convenient, especially when gaming. I’ve spent hours searching for a piece of hardware that would fit between the Smart Hub and the wall socket to indicate broadband activity. As I envisage it,…

letters@computershopper.co.uk Hueandcry I read your piece on Alexa (Shopper 378) with interest as I had recently bought a Philips Hue hub and lights. I had been trying to get the Alexa app to turn on lights while I was out and turn them off again at specific times, without success. I had done everything you detailed in your article, and it only works if the Alexa app is open on my phone and not while the phone is in sleep mode or while I’m out. I tried the Philips Hue app, and that works as expected. I can set the lights to turn on and then off at specific times while I’m away. I can control the lights using the Alexa app and by voice while I’m at home, but…

Tech pioneer and all-round good egg letters@computershopper.co.uk TRADE WARS ARE dangerous. When tariffs are imposed, and when sanctions get slapped on, and one nation ceases to trade with another nation, then a trade war has a funny habit of turning into a real war. And here we all are, slap bang in the middle of a lulu of a trade war between the world’s two most powerful states. This is a trade war that’s not based on essentials like oil or wheat or toilet paper, but a trade war based on the pixies and fairy-dust of software algorithms. One day a peace treaty is waved, next day missiles are launched. Luckily, thanks to my lengthy lead-in schedule for submitting my words for publication, you can read this page in non-digital…

AMD reveals 3rd-generation Ryzen processors SAY WHAT? AMD IS ARGUABLY having a defining year in 2019, if its recent Computex and E3 showcases are anything to go by. At Computex in Taiwan, the chip maker revealed five upcoming next-generation Ryzen CPUs and the Radeon RX 5700, its first graphics card built on its new Navi architecture. The processors use AMD’s new Zen 2 7-nanometre fabrication process. Top of the pack is the Ryzen 9 3900X, a 12-core, 24-thread chip running from 3.8GHz to 4.6GHz, with a 70MB cache, built around a thermal design power (TDP) of 105W. Expect to pay in the region of $499 (around £390). Using the same TDP, the Ryzen 7 3800X has eight cores and 16 threads, starts at 3.9GHz and tops out at 4.5GHz, has…

£74 • From www.cclonline.com VERDICT A quiet cooler that’s easy to set up, but cooling performance could be more vigorous WHILE IT’S GENERALLY better to fit your PC with a 240mm or 280mm watercooler than a 120mm cooler – radiators with a greater surface area allow for more effective cooling – there are plenty of cases where a smaller all-in-one (AIO) will suit. Whether you’ve got a small, Mini-ITX chassis that won’t fit a larger radiator or you just want to save money, a single-fan unit can still prove superior to basic air cooling. The Thermaltake Water 3.0 120 ARGB Sync Edition is, no question, one of the more expensive 120mm AIOs to choose from – at £74, it’s nearly twice as much as a Coolermaster MasterLiquid Lite 120, and…

£26 • From www.ebuyer.com VERDICT It may be basic and slow, but if you’re after a cheap printer, the Pixma TS205 is a bargain YOU MIGHT NOT be expecting much from an inkjet printer that costs less than some inkjet cartridges, but don’t be too quick to write off Canon’s Pixma TS205. There’s no denying that it’s basic; it’s easier to mention that it has a USB port than to detail the lack of networking, scanner, display, duplex printing or other features. Still, it’s under £30, and if you’re realistic with your expectations, the TS205 is unlikely to disappoint. It’s very light, and there’s a flexible and approximate feel both to its trays and covers and the way the print cartridges slot into place. The paper input and output trays…

£160 • From uk.jbl.com VERDICT A loose fit and inconsistent sound clash against these earphones’ genuinely good features ON PAPER, JBL and Under Armour sounds like the perfect partnership for a set of fitness-orientated headphones. The former is among the biggest names in the audio industry, while Under Armour is synonymous with the world of fitness wear. We’ve seen the two join forces for a pair of wireless headphones before, back in 2016 with the flatly named JBL Under Armour Headphones Wireless (Shopper 345). A more recent collaborative effort has produced the JBL Under Armour True Wireless Flash, a pair of true wireless earbuds that, given the pedigree of the two companies, ought to give music-loving fitness fanatics something to get excited about. WET WET WET To stand out in…

£999 • From www.stoneaudio.co.uk VERDICT A unique speaker that’s loud enough to fill your street with sumptuous-sounding audio MOST OUTDOOR WIRELESS speakers focus on ruggedness and portability, and too often the trade-off is audio quality. The Escape P9, happily, makes no such compromises. As is obvious from a glance, the Escape P9 is not an ordinary Bluetooth speaker. Available in tan, white and black, it towers at 731mm tall, with a square footprint measuring 293mm on each side. Inside, a set of four full-range drivers and a separate subwoofer provide 360° sound, and an internal lithium iron phosphate battery runs for eight hours between charges. All of this makes it rather heavy, but a sturdy aluminium handle on top helps you lug its 12.3kg weight around. And while it’s not…

£649 • From www.oneplus.com VERDICT The biggest, most powerful and luxurious OnePlus handset to date, but it needs some polish ONE RELIABLE CONSTANT in the fastmoving world of smartphones has been that every time OnePlus launches a handset, it goes straight to the top of the charts for value. This time may be different, however: instead of going for flagship specs at a lower price, the OnePlus 7 Pro is making a play for the ultra-premium market. Don’t fret if you’re a long-time OnePlus fan, as the cheaper (£549) standard OnePlus 7 has also been released, but it’s an interesting step into new territory for the Chinese firm. ON THE RISE The phone itself looks stunning, and doesn’t feel as unwieldy as its huge 6.7in display might suggest, mainly due…

£569 • From www.amazon.co.uk VERDICT Minor display and camera downgrades don’t stop this being a tempting, far more affordable flagship alternative JUST BECAUSE THE standard Galaxy S10 (opposite) proves worthy of its high price doesn’t mean that everyone will be able to afford it. Luckily, another way Samsung is mixing up this year’s batch of new smartphones is to launch a cheaper version of its top handset: the Galaxy S10e. This is smaller than the Galaxy S10, having a 5.8in display, but it still looks very similar – which is to say, achingly stylish. The silver-tinted edges are there, as is the pinhole camera, and most of the more functional bits are copied over as well. That includes the Bixby button, USB Type-C port and headphone jack; the only major…

£270 • From www.newrunninggear.com VERDICT An easy-to-use sports watch with breadcrumb navigation, but tracking can be unreliable BREAKING INTO THE multisport watch market isn’t easy, with Garmin and Polar the dominant forces. However, Coros looks eager to have a crack with its promising new mid-range wearable, the Apex. Admittedly, the list of activities it supports is limited, with only running, cycling and swimming modes included. It also has no structured workouts beyond basic intervals, and although Coros intends to add these features with future updates, there’s no set timeline for them. Nevertheless, the Apex is a very well-designed wearable. It eschews the standard three- or five-button design common on multisport devices in favour of just two buttons, with one of those also being a twirling crown that you use to…

01 A basic 1TB internal hard disk should cost around £40. This will be fast enough for general use and will provide enough storage for most users. Make sure the hard disk you choose has the appropriate interface type for your PC. Most hard disks and solid-state drives (SSDs) use the SATA3 interface, which enables faster speeds than the older SATA2. Pretty much every motherboard released in recent years will have multiple SATA3 ports, allowing you to connect several storage drives at once. 02 SSDs can make the most of SATA3’s high bandwidth for fast file transfers. They use flash memory similar to that found in USB flash drives, and although they tend to provide less capacity than mechanical hard disks, they’re significantly faster. More expensive SSDs use the NVMe…

01 A basic 24in LCD monitor costs around £100. It will be fine for typical Windows work but is likely to have poor viewing angles, so you’ll need to sit straight on for the best picture quality. Its colour accuracy may not be very good, either. 02 A VGA input lets you use the monitor with any PC, but the quality may not be as good as it is over DVI or HDMI. Both are digital connections and require a compatible graphics card but they avoid the need for digital-to-analogue or analogue-todigital conversions, which can reduce image quality. A digital connection achieves the best picture automatically, so you won’t have to adjust clock or phase settings as you do with analogue connections. Many DVI and all HDMI connections support HDCP,…

01 A smart thermostat can save you a lot of money by intelligently controlling your heating. Most smart heating devices are designed to be used with hot water central heating systems, with the boiler directly controlled by the system. These typically require a relay to be wired into your boiler, with a wireless thermostat giving you direct control. Smartphone apps then tie into the system to give you remote control. While it’s possible to fit controls yourself, you may want to pay an experienced plumber to do the job: expect to pay around £150 for a typical installation. If you have electric heating, there are very few choices, and the big names (Nest, Honeywell and so on) do not directly support these systems. 02 Want smart hot water control? If…

01 If you don’t have space in your home cinema setup for a set of surroundsound speakers, a soundbar is the next best thing. Whether you opt for a soundbar (which typically sits in front of your TV stand) or a soundplate (which sits underneath your TV), you’ll be getting significantly better audio than the weedy speakers today’s flatscreen TVs provide. 02 If you want to cut down on cable clutter, look for a soundbar with multiple HDMI inputs and outputs as well as Audio Return Channel (ARC). Not all soundbars use HDMI, with many making do with digital optical audio connections instead. This means you’ll have to connect Blu-ray players, games consoles and set-top boxes to your TV and run all audio through a single cable. Also look for…

01 If you’re ready to step beyond the basic controls of a compact camera, or you want greater flexibility than an ultra-zoom can offer, a compact system camera (CSC) is the next logical upgrade. With interchangeable lenses, manual controls and stellar image quality, these cameras give proper digital SLRs a run for their money. 02 There are three competing types of CSC mount, and the one you buy determines the number of compatible lenses and accessories you have available. Samsung’s NX-mount is arguably the most limited in terms of lens selection, and the company has confirmed that it’s shutting down its European camera business, so it’s best to avoid these altogether if possible. Sony’s E-Mount has a slightly wider range, but Micro Four Thirds offers the widest variety. Both Panasonic…

Chat and Communication Evernote 6.17.6.8292 Store your notes, ideas and plans in the cloud, and synchronise them between computers. UPDATED Mailbird 2.5.48.0 A free desktop email client for Windows. Miranda IM 0.10.80 Chat with friends across multiple messaging platforms, including AIM, Facebook, IRC and MSN, all from one simple interface. UPDATED Skype for Windows 8.46.0.60 Make internet voice and video calls for free, and buy credit to make calls to mobiles and landlines. UPDATED Telegram 1.7.7 This free IM app synchronises your conversations across multiple devices, and can spruce up chats with stickers and GIFs. UPDATED WhatsApp Desktop 0.3.3328 A free PC and Mac version of the popular messaging app, letting you chat from your desktop. Customisation iolo System Mechanic Free 18.6 Speed up your system with iolo’s PC optimisation…

£1,399 • From www.apple.com/uk VERDICT Apple has revamped the MacBook Air, but it’s lost some of its appeal in the process THE MACBOOK AIR is still an iconic laptop, and for very good reason. It brought Apple laptops into the mainstream, and its combination of style, size, weight and decent battery life made it a classic. With Apple leaving the marque to gather dust in recent times, however, its appeal has slowly but surely waned. With the MacBook and MacBook Pro lines gaining Retina displays, new features and more powerful innards, the old 13in MacBook Air was looking progressively more and more underpowered, old-fashioned and out of touch. With this latest model, Apple is finally rectifying that. The headline addition is also the most requested among MacBook fans: a Retina-class…

£1,949 • From www.dell.com VERDICT It’s not all just style and sleekness – the Dell XPS 15 is one of the most powerful Windows laptops ever THERE ARE A fair few Windows laptops that could challenge the MacBook Pro for sheer power, although most of them won’t be slimline ultraportables. For this you can blame the need for a thin chassis, which favours smaller, lower-power CPUs. The XPS 15, however, crams in a hexa-core Intel Core i7-8750H, a monster of a processor that runs at a base clock speed of 2.2GHz and can Turbo Boost all the way up to 4.1GHz. Along with 16GB of RAM, a 512GB SSD and a GeForce GTX 1050 Ti Max-Q graphics chip, the XPS 13’s bigger bother is a true powerhouse in a slim…

£2,279 • From www.ultrabooks.com VERDICT A strikingly featherlight 15.6in laptop that makes no compromises on connectivity or battery life EVEN THE FINEST big-screened laptops can look and feel like bulky beasts, especially if they have a 13in stablemate to be placed next to. That the 2kg Dell XPS 15 is one of the lightest 15.6in options available should tell you all you need to know. The 1.1kg LG Gram, however, would appear to buck this trend. This conventional clamshell-style laptop is almost half the weight of the XPS 15 – and even lighter than the XPS 13, in fact – but still comes packed with a Full HD, touch-enabled 15.6in display, plus high-end internals such as a Intel Core i7-8550U processor. There’s also a generous 1TB SSD at your disposal,…

£2,249 • From www.scan.co.uk VERDICT A weak battery and stratospheric price prevent this from being a triumphant return for the Vaio name THE VAIO BRAND effectively vanished from the UK when Sony sold it five years ago. Now, it’s back as an independent company, and with a new high-end laptop in tow: the SX14. At £2,249, it’s almost as expensive as the larger-screened LG Gram, although this is the highest possible spec you can get. That includes the now-familiar Intel Core i7-8565U processor, 16GB of RAM, a spacious 512GB SSD and a 14in, 3,840x2,160 display. GET AIRY Even with lesser internals, it’s a fantastically crafted piece of technology. The sturdy, lightweight chassis is a fusion of carbon and aluminium, and the black finish on our review unit looks extremely stylish.…

£1,871 • From www.lenovo.com VERDICT This cross between Lenovo’s ThinkPad and Yoga series is almost a match made in heaven THIS THIRD-GENERATION ThinkPad X1 Yoga brings together two of Lenovo’s great laptop lines: the high-performance ThinkPad range and the versatile, 360°-rotatable Yoga series. Such a combination sounds appealing, but it’s a costly proposition. For the model we tested, with a 14in, 2,660x1,440 touchscreen, an Intel Core i7-8550U CPU, 16GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD, you can expect to pay £1,871. Upgrade to a faster Core i7-8650U chip and a 1TB SSD and this becomes £2,217, and even the most basic model – with a Core i5-8250U, Full HD screen, 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage – is £1,360. CLONE’S THROW ThinkPads tend to look similar, and the X1…

£2,197 • From www.lambda-tek.com VERDICT The big and brash Helios 500 is a gaming powerhouse with superlative processing speed, but there are better alternatives SOME LAPTOPS WERE never meant to sit on your lap, and the Acer Predator Helios 500 is certainly one of them. This the kind of gaming laptop that doesn’t hold anything back in pursuit of maximum performance – and that means both powerful components and equally powerful cooling. As a result, it’s both imposingly bulky and back-achingly heavy, totalling 3.7kg with a 1.3kg power brick to match. Being a 17.3in laptop, it’s also very wide, measuring 428x298x39mm. It’s therefore difficult to use anywhere other than a desk, especially since even with its two fans, five heat pipes and massive exhausts, the underside gets rather toasty when…

£1,499 • From store.hp.com VERDICT A well-balanced combination of power and portability at a reasonable price THE OMEN 15 sits somewhere in the middle ground of modern gaming laptops. It’s not as chunky as the likes of the Acer Predator Helios 500, but neither is it a slim-and-light stunner like the Razer Blade 15 or Asus ROG Zephyrus S GX701. Instead, it attempts to combine power and at least halfway decent portability with a price that’s lower than the skinniest gaming clamshells. At 2.5kg and 25mm thick, it adds some weight to your bag, but if you’re not constantly on the go, it’s a decent compromise. We were more put off by the power brick, which weighs 670g. BRING OUT THE COLOUR It’s a stylish laptop, with red highlights and…

£649 • From www.currys.co.uk VERDICT The Nitro 5 is far cheaper than most gaming laptops, but don’t expect those savings to pay off AS YOU CAN see from the Razer Blade 15 and Asus ROG Zephyrus S GX701, some gaming laptops are attempting to move away from chunky designs towards slimmer, lighter and more refined ones. Others are more proudly sticking with a more-is-more approach, with desktop-bothering components and elaborate cooling systems with gigantic exhaust vents. As a thoroughly entry-level gaming laptop, the Nitro 5 is neither beautifully slim nor dramatically oversized; it’s a straightforwardly chunky notebook that, unfortunately, doesn’t match its appealing price with likeable hardware. CHEAPEST SYMPATHIES This particular model, with a quad-core AMD Ryzen 5 2500U processor and a 4GB Radeon RX 560X GPU, weighs a back-breaking…

• BASIC LANGUAGE REVITALISED FOR SWITCH The programming language Basic helped coding to become a popular pursuit among computer users of the 1980s thanks, in part, to the operating system booting to a Ready prompt, allowing code to be typed immediately (10 PRINT "Computer Shopper is ace" 20 GOTO 10). Such accessibility declined following the move to graphical user interfaces and consoles, but a new coding platform for the Nintendo Switch hopes to rectify that. Fuze4 has echoes of Basic – the focus is on text-based coding – but it has been redesigned to align itself with modern programming languages such as Python. Attach a USB keyboard, and Fuze Technologies’ managing director Jon Silvera tells us you can switch on, code and run. “Sitting in front of a monitor with…

clive@computershopper.co.uk WORD IS OFTEN the first tool we reach for when we’re going to create anything involving words, almost regardless of what that task is. Whether that’s the odd poster or flyer, research papers or work reports, Word can do the job. So it’s worth spending a little time customising how Word works, as it won’t be long before you double-click the blue W and start silently grumbling about how annoying you find this or that default behaviour. We’ll start with taming those irritating aspects of Word, the nags, prompts and fussy formatting niggles. Word 2010 introduced possibly the most annoying nag: the Paste Options menu. Paste something into Word and a small box appears to prompt you to consider how the new item should be formatted. You can either…

Dividedwe shouldn’tstand I hope every reader took a moment to reflect on Mel Croucher’s touching article (‘The Great Digital Divide’, Shopper 377). It is harrowing to ponder the sense of exclusion and downright fear those on the wrong side of the divide must experience. All too easily, though, we can think it doesn’t concern us, that ‘it won’t happen to me’. Back in the 1970s, I helped a friend with his school project on the lives of buskers. We toured the London Underground in search of buskers, and came into contact with many homeless people. What stuck in my mind was that most of these people had come from ‘normal’ backgrounds, but a divorce, loss of employment, a mental health issue or the like had led to an uncontrollable downward spiral.…

Software guru and Shopper legend letters@computershopper.co.uk THE CONCEPT OF ‘fake news’ is one that crops up with increasing regularity; the term even made it as word of the year in 2017. Fake news is where someone makes something up, usually something scandalous, often just to get you to click on the headline or watch the ‘news’ item. More seriously, it’s increasingly used to damage someone or some organisation. Of course, you might well point out that fake news isn’t really that new – think back to headlines such as ‘Freddie Starr ate my hamster’ – but it seems to have become more widespread and harder to spot. I’ve always been a fan of Edgar Allan Poe’s comment: “Believe nothing you hear, and only one half that you see.” It’s a…

Malware-riddled laptop sells for $1.3m ART IS SUBJECTIVE, which is why we can just about swallow the idea of a laptop riddled with some of the greatest hits from the malware world being marked as art and selling for $1.3m. Created by artist Guo O Dong, with some help from cyber security firm Deep Instinct, the malware-packed machine has been dubbed the Persistence of Chaos. That’s a fancy name for a venerable Samsung NC10 10.2in netbook, which was popular nearly a decade ago. What makes this laptop valuable is it has strains of the WannaCry, ILOVEYOU, BlackEnergy, Mydoom, Sobig and DarkTequila malware, which combined have caused $95bn worth of damage worldwide. One might wonder why the laptop hasn’t been incinerated, but Dong reckons it stands as a physical testament to…

£200 • From www.overclockers.co.uk VERDICT This chassis often emanates quality, but it’s expensive and has potentially key features sold separately THE EVOLV X is a plush PC case in the extreme. There’s the hinged, tempered glass doors on each side, the reassuring sturdiness and heaviness of a chassis that hasn’t scrimped on materials, and the strips of addressable RGB lighting running down either edge of the front panel, as well as along the PSU shroud. There’s also the small matter of it costing £200 – about twice that of a decent ATX mid-tower. This is clearly a bigger and bolder option, in fairness. It can hold larger EATX motherboards in addition to the usual ATX, microATX and Mini-ITX form factors, and the build quality is a step up from most…

£454 • From www.dell.com VERDICT Sleek design, USB Type-C connectivity and superb colour accuracy help justify this monitor’s high price WHILE THERE ARE more expensive monitors than the UltraSharp U2719DC, £454 for a 27in, 2,560x1,440 display is the kind of premium that Dell will have to work hard to justify. One major benefit it offers over the cheaper competition is a USB Type-C connection. This hugely simplifies a desk setup, as you can power the monitor via the single power cable (there’s no external power brick) and then use USB Type-C to transmit data and charge laptops that need a maximum of 65W. You can even hook up a second 1440p monitor via the DisplayPort connector, which is neat. Dell appears to have put the effort into streamlining the UltraSharp…

£89 • From www.amazon.co.uk VERDICT Even if it’s a only a minor upgrade, the water- and dust-proof Wonderboom 2 is a fine go-anywhere speaker IT’S BEEN TWO years since the release of UE’s fully waterproof speaker, the Wonderboom (Shopper 354). It became a favourite among many, including us, for its fun sound signature, affordability and ability to float in water. Following on from its success, the American manufacturer is back with a refresh: the Wonderboom 2. The Wonderboom 2 is in many ways similar to its predecessor. It’s a baseball-sized Bluetooth speaker that is not only waterproof, but also floats if you drop it in water – handy for retrieval if it accidentally drops into a bath or swimming pool. It comes in a selection of similarly vibrant colours, too.…

£90 • From www.amazon.co.uk VERDICT An intriguing design, but these earbuds fail to deliver an engaging sound HUAWEI’S FREELACE HEADPHONES might look like any old set of neckband wireless headphones, but they’re not without their quirks. Whereas most wireless headphones are charged by plugging a cable into a hidden port, the FreeLace are topped up by pulling them apart to expose a USB Type-C plug, then connecting the plug to a Type-C port or adaptor. They can also be charged directly from a phone’s USB Type-C port, which is handy, and even if you’d rather charge via a standard USB port, Huawei includes an adaptor in the box. Battery life provides a superb 18 hours of continuous playback. When you do run out of juice, they charge rapidly, gaining four…

£469 • From www.currys.co.uk VERDICT Another cut-price success for Google, with all the camera quality and features of the Pixel 3 XL JUST AS THE Pixel 3a (Shopper 378) is the mid-range equivalent of the Pixel 3, the Pixel 3a XL takes its cues from the Pixel 3 XL (Shopper 372). However, there are more visible differences here than between the smaller phones. For instance, there’s no notch on the Pixel 3a XL: the camera simply sits inside a bezel, the old-fashioned way. As a result, the phone is slightly taller than the Pixel 3 XL, despite also having a smaller (6in to 6.3in) screen. Fortunately, this absolutely doesn’t feel like an overly bulky handset, nor a cheap one – even the plastic back panel is sufficiently evocative of the…

£50 • From www.amazon.co.uk VERDICT It’s hardly a big step forward, but the Fire 7 is unbeatably good value DESPITE BEING SO cheap that close competition is practically non-existent, Amazon’s Fire tablets have always offered a decent feature set. The new Fire 7 continues this approach: it starts at a mere £50 for the 16GB model, or £60 for the 32GB model, yet as a basic slate, it does the job well. Instead of luxurious finishes and materials, the Fire 7 avoids feeling too cheap by going for a more robust build, with a matt-finish plastic casing. It’s the kind of tablet that could be hurled across the room by a child (indeed, the low price and variety of light colour options point to a certain kidfriendliness) and still work…

01 A basic PC costing around £350 will be able to run everyday office, multimedia and education software and will easily cope with surfing the internet. It might even be able to run some modern games. Many PCs can be sold either with or without a monitor. If you don’t like the display the manufacturer is offering, you can always use your current one, or buy another one separately. 02 If you want to play games, you’ll have to upgrade the graphics card. Budget cards such as the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 will cope well with many 3D games, but to play the latest 3D games smoothly (and enjoy the best-quality graphics) it’s worth upgrading to a more powerful card such as the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070. 03 All modern…

01 It’s essential that you buy the right type of motherboard for your processor. For example, Intel’s Skylake, Kaby Lake and Coffee Lake processors all use the same LGA 1151 socket, but because each CPU generation introduced new chipsets, you’ll need to get a Z370 motherboard for a Coffee Lake chip, a Z270 board for a Kaby Lake chip and so on. 02 All current Intel processors have built-in graphics chipsets, so if you want to use your chip’s built-in graphics, make sure the motherboard has the video outputs, such as DVI, HDMI and DisplayPort. If you want to play the latest games, you’ll need to fit a dedicated graphics card in the motherboard’s PCI Express x16 slot, although this may block one of your other slots. 03 Normal tower…

01 You should be able to buy a decent inkjet printer for less than £40. High-quality printing is possible on such a printer, but it will be slow. The actual print speed of an inkjet can be half the quoted (maximum) speed for text documents, and even slower when printing graphics. Budget inkjet printers such as these are designed only for light use and can be expensive to run. 02 For £80 to £90 you can buy a more capable printer that’s either faster and better built or better at reproducing photos. If documents are your priority, you’ll want a high minimum speed and low print costs. Look for inkjets that can handle all your office media, such as envelopes and labels. 03 If photos are your priority, speed is…

01 A smartphone’s operating system (OS) dictates its basic features and which third-party software you can install. There are three main contenders: Apple’s iOS, which is found on the iPhone, Google’s Android, which is used by various handset manufacturers, and Windows Phone, which has few options, especially since Microsoft has discontinued support for its OS. Apple iOS and Google Android both have thousands of apps available. 02 All smartphones have colour screens, but their resolutions vary. Basic models have 1,280x720 pixels, but text can be indistinct. Look for a display that has at least 1,920x1,080 pixels so it’s easier to read text and watch Full HD videos. Don’t worry too much about built-in media players or Office document editors; you can always install apps to replace these with better versions…

01 Bluetooth speakers come in all shapes and sizes, so you’ll need to decide what you want to do with the speaker before you buy. If you don’t plan to take your music outdoors or around the house, look for a wired speaker. These are typically cheaper than speakers with built-in batteries. If you do want a portable speaker, however, pay particular attention to how much it weighs. Ruggedised models should be able to survive accidental drops, water spills and unexpected rain showers. 02 Many of the cheapest Bluetooth speakers use the lossy A2DP Bluetooth protocol, which is prone to compressing your music and discarding detail compared with the original recording. It’s hard to tell the difference when listening to pocket-sized speakers, but if you’re looking for a speaker to…

01 Wearable tech can include anything from chest-strap heart-rate monitors to augmented reality glasses, but the two most common types are smartwatches and fitness trackers. Both are designed to sit unassumingly on your wrist, and are almost always meant to be used in tandem with a paired smartphone. 02 Smartwatches are typically more complex and expensive, though more closely resemble a traditional wristwatch. You can use them to receive and reply to text messages and emails, quickly check maps and even play games – like a smartphone, most smartwatches allow you to install your own choice of apps. 03 Fitness trackers are much more dedicated to healthy pursuits. Step counters, heart-rate monitors and even sleep tracking are all common, and the data collected is fed back to you so you…

£979 • From www.amazon.co.uk VERDICT If you want 14 inches of display space in a tiny package, this is about your best bet – even with some missteps ASUS CLAIMS THAT its ZenBook 14 UX433FA is “the world’s smallest 14in laptop” – a bold statement, but judging by its dimensions of 319x199x15.9mm, it appears to be true. This is an almost unbelievably compact laptop, not entirely devoid of bezels but with an ultra-slim frame that makes it the size of a svelte 13in model. It’s light, too, weighing in at 1.2kg, and has another neat design trick besides its thinness. The bottom of the lid curls around the lip of the base’s rear edge, so when opened, the base tilts upwards slightly for both better airflow and a more comfortable,…

£1,108 • From www.ebuyer.com VERDICT This security-laden laptop trips over some quality issues, even when it excels elsewhere RYZEN-BASED BUSINESS laptops remain surprisingly rare, given that AMD’s chips tend to be better multitaskers than their Intel counterparts. Perhaps the HP EliteBook 745 G5, with its quad-core Ryzen 7 2700U, can make a convincing argument for the platform. This silvery notebook is a bit plain, but it’s well crafted nonetheless. The metal chassis has a pleasantly expensive-feeling matt finish, and the whole thing just seems more solid and rigid than the average laptop. At 326x234x17.9mm, it’s about middling in terms of thickness, and at 1.48kg it comes in pretty heavy for a 14-incher. Still, we were a lot happier carrying it about than we have been for any 15.6in laptop, save…

£1,079 • From www.microsoft.com VERDICT The Surface Laptop 2 is a worthwhile update to Microsoft’s original clamshell JUST LIKE THE Surface Pro 6, the most recent entry in Microsoft’s flagship 2-in-1 range, this ultraportable is visually indistinguishable from its 2017 predecessor. However, it also atones for the greatest sin of the original Surface Laptop (Shopper 356) by ditching Windows 10 S in favour of Windows 10 Home, so already it’s an improvement. Besides the lack of external changes, this is a beautiful, sleek and lightweight machine. The first Surface Laptop felt like a Microsoft cover of Apple’s MacBook Air, and the Surface Laptop 2 carries that legacy forward. At 1.25kg, this is the kind of ultraportable laptop that you can hold comfortably in the palm of your hand while you…

£969 • From store.google.com VERDICT Google’s 2-in-1 offers a lot of well-crafted hardware, but there are a few too many little flaws that make its high price hard to justify NOT LONG AGO, the notion of spending more than £1,000 on a Chrome OS laptop would have been laughable. Today, however, Chrome OS has developed into a surprisingly powerful operating system, meaning devices such as the Pixel Slate deserve to be taken much more seriously. Pricing varies drastically according to which processor you choose; options range from the relatively underpowered Intel Celeron 3965Y right up to an 8th gen Core i7-8500Y. We were sent the £969 model, which includes an Intel Core i5-8200Y processor, 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. Add the £189 Pixel Slate Keyboard and the price…

£750 • From www.currys.co.uk VERDICT Lenovo’s latest flippy hybrid is weighed down by poor battery life, despite successes elsewhere LENOVO PROVED TO be ahead of the game with its Yoga series of rotating convertibles, and even if not every laptop in the series has broken new ground, it’s still finding ways to switch things up. Case in point: there nothing too innovative about the Yoga 530’s design, but it’s what lies within this convertible that’s most interesting: a Ryzen 7 2700U processor. So far, we’ve only seen this in the business-focused – and far more expensive – HP EliteBook 745 G5, so the prospect of this high-end chip powering a more affordable consumer device is an enticing one. It’s a shame, then, that it’s so humdrum on the outside. At…

£2,060 • From www.littlewoods.com VERDICT Alienware puts out another heavy-hitter with a lighter chassis and powerful internals ALIENWARE LAPTOPS MAY often look odd, but they never skimp on the materials, and the m15 is more of the same. The chassis of this gaming notebook is crafted almost entirely from magnesium alloy, making it tough but light – 20% lighter, in fact, than 2017’s Alienware 13. That’s despite the m15 having a larger 15.6in display. It still weighs 2.16kg, so it’s hardly become an ultraportable, but it stuffs in high-end components such as an Intel Core i7-8750H processor, Nvidia GTX 1070 Max-Q graphics and a massive 32GB of RAM. The fact that it’s slimmer and more portable than previous Alienware laptops is also a considerable quality in itself. SOFT TOUCH There…

£1,850 • From www.amazon.co.uk VERDICT Razer successfully bolsters its slimline Blade with a 144Hz display and Nvidia Max-Q graphics THE ORIGINAL RAZER Blade was arguably the first must-have slim and light gaming laptop, but its Intel Skylake-era hardware meant it was doomed to be overshadowed by the Asus ROG Zephyrus (Shopper 368) and Gigabyte Aero 15X (Shopper 366). It was therefore in desperate need of a fresh lick of paint, and the Blade 15 is exactly that. This is the middle child of Razer’s updated Blade family, nestled between the 13in Blade Stealth and the 17in Blade Pro. All the internals are up to date: you get a hexa-core Intel Core i7-8750H CPU, 16GB of RAM and your choice of Nvidia Max-Q graphics cards. MIX AND MATCH This is where…

£180 • From www.laptopoutlet.co.uk VERDICT A bona fide 2-in-1 bargain, the 12X64 balances low speed with a Full HD touchscreen and bundled keyboard IT’S EASY TO look at the Microsoft Surface Go and be lured in by its affordability, but you may wish to go even cheaper. If so, the Linx 12X64 might be just the thing, combining a removable keyboard with a 12.5in, Full HD tablet for well under £200. Admittedly, it’s uninspiring in the design department. The 12X64’s hard plastic shell is bland and nowhere near as attractive as the Surface Go, nor any of the other 2-in-1s we’ve seen so far, such as the Google Pixel Slate and HP Envy x2. We do, however, like the kickstand, which is made out of aluminium. It’s fully adjustable, so…

We all use Unix every day. When you browse the web, you’re hopping from Unix to Linux to Microsoft servers. Pick up your mobile phone, and the kernel of its OS will have been influenced by Unix code. Windows NT was built to play nicely with Unix, and has morphed and adapted over the years to become Windows 10, which itself incorporates a Unix-inspired Linux subsystem for hacking at the command line. What makes this truly remarkable is that Unix turns 50 this year. What started as an underfunded attempt to build a simple, lightweight OS to run a telephone network has become one of the greatest influences on modern life – at least from a technical standpoint. Without it, we wouldn’t have Linux, Raspberry Pi, Chromebooks, cheap computing, powerful…

The emphasis in this article has been on delivering previously unattainable performance in demanding computing applications by mimicking the human brain electronically. However, this isn’t the only reason for research into ANNs. The other motivation is to better understand how the brain really works, with the aim of developing improved treatments for degenerative neurological conditions, such as Alzheimer’s, as well as methods of treating strokes and mental health issues. In addition to helping doctors understand the brain, the application of ANNs is also showing potential for the early diagnosis of some conditions. Joint research in the US, Australia and Malaysia has been developing the use of ANNs to address the difficulties in diagnosing mild cognitive impairment due to Alzheimer’s disease, using the currently available clinical diagnostic criteria and neuropsychological examinations.…

HAVING A ‘DO it all’ application is both a boon and a curse. Microsoft Word can do just about any task involving words on a page, from writing a letter to complicated reports and creating newsletters. However, because it can do all of those things, it’s crammed full of tools that most people never use. Add to that the often annoying prompts, incorrect auto-corrects and frustrating ‘I know best’ auto-formatting, and Word can often be laborious and tedious to use. Rather than just accept these irritations, you can customise Word and use some of its hidden abilities to make arduous tasks easier.…