Innholdsfortegnelse for December 2020 i Computer Shopper

We’ve featured many guides over the years on how to improve and upgrade your desktop PC, whether that’s by adding new or better hardware or via software tweaks. The huge advantage with desktops is their longevity, thanks to the ability to upgrade pretty much every component. Laptops, on the other hand, have a reputation as being nigh-on impossible to upgrade. In some cases, this is true, and the only option for an ailing or ageing laptop is to pass it on to a friend or family member who’s more willing and able to put up with a slow or unreliable device, or consign it to the recycling bin, while you go and buy yourself a shiny new machine. However, many laptops can be tweaked and improved under the hood, as…

Software guru and Shopper legend letters@computershopper.co.uk A FEW WEEKS ago I managed to sprain my knee, and I’ve discovered knee sprains are both painful and long lasting. A sprained knee also makes you not want to move around, meaning I had a sudden insight into how old people feel. It’s been an interesting experience, because it’s made me reconsider various aspects of how technology can help when people lose their mobility, either because of an accident or because they’re older and less mobile. The true beneficiaries of smart home technologies aren’t the young and trendy, they’re the old and creaky. While I’ve been confined to my armchair and dependent on asking my family to run round after me, I’ve spent my time deciding what gadgets I’m going to install around…

£320 • From www.ebuyer.com BAREBONES PC SYSTEMS don’t come much smaller – or much better – than the PN50. Measuring 49x115x155m, it’s so tiny that even the included VESA mounting plate outsizes it by a couple of millimetres, and an assortment of fully up-to-date internals make it hard to beat on performance or value. As with any barebones system, you’ll need to provide and install your own RAM, storage and operating system – potentially bumping up the price by £200 or more – but for £320, what you get pre-installed isn’t half bad. This includes one of AMD’s new Ryzen 4000 chips, the hexa-core Ryzen 5 4500U, as well as built-in Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.0 connectivity. A FITTING START What’s more, adding your own parts is a cinch. The…

£90 • From www.overclockers.co.uk MSI MAKES MANY good PC cases, but none has quite had that comprehensive brilliance of the best chassis designs from NZXT, Cooler Master or Thermaltake. The Gungnir 100 (Shopper 380) was one such near-miss, being a very well-equipped case in some places, yet too simplistic in others. The Gungnir 110R, however, is a promising replacement. In addition to matching many of its predecessor’s finer qualities, it makes small but significant enhancements that could allow it to break through to the best. GLASS ROOTS Several of these changes focus on aesthetics. Instead of a plain plastic front panel, for instance, the entire left half has a tempered glass window, matching the full-size glass side panel. Through this you can view the three 120mm intake fans, which have…

£60 •From www.amazon.co.uk HP’S DESKJET PLUS 4120 is a compact inkjet multifunction peripheral (MFP). Although it’s aimed at home users, it has a distinct office flavour, skipping photo features in favour of a 35-page automatic document feeder (ADF). There’s also support for both 2.4GHz and 5GHz wireless networks, but no wired Ethernet connection. In truth, this is otherwise quite a basic device. On the top panel there’s a smattering of membrane buttons and LEDs, together with a basic mono LCD screen. At the back there’s a simple 60-page input tray, and a 25-page output tray in front. Neither the printer nor the ADF support duplexing. There’s no setup disc, so your first stop is a visit to the relevant app store or to HP’s website. You can install the HP…

£300 • From www.johnlewis.com EVEN IF YOU happen to live in one of the few 5G hotspots dotted around the UK, there’s a good chance you still won’t be able to afford the entry fee. Only a small handful of smartphones can access these faster mobile data speeds, and they tend to be flagship devices that cost the best part of £1,000. Still, a few phones have tried to bring down the 5G network’s high barrier for entry since it was first switched on last May. Samsung’s Galaxy A90 5G (Shopper 385) managed to push the SIM-free cost down to a more considerate £669, but thankfully, the Moto G 5G Plus is much cheaper than that. NEW LOOK Design-wise, the Moto G 5G Plus is a bit of a departure…

£419 • From www.samsung.com IN SPITE OF its name, the Galaxy Watch 3 is technically only the second Galaxy Watch Samsung has made. There have been two sporty Samsung smartwatches released in the two years since the original Galaxy Watch first launched – the Galaxy Watch Active (Shopper 380) and Galaxy Watch Active 2 (Shopper 390)– but this is the first proper upgrade to the company’s flagship smartwatch. The new model has a slimmer, more lightweight design than its admittedly rather chunky predecessor, along with a larger screen, but for all its design improvements it doesn’t offer a huge amount in the way of new features or performance boosts, making it rather tricky to recommend at its high launch price. ON THE UP AND UP Like the original Galaxy Watch,…

01 A network-attached storage (NAS) device lets you store documents, media, and other files on its hard disks so you can share them with other devices on your network. Some have disks already installed, while others are empty enclosures into which you install your own disks. Buying an empty NAS can often be the more cost-effective option, as they’re usually less expensive and give you the freedom to add disks at a later date. You should buy one with a Gigabit Ethernet interface, as these provide the highest transfer speeds. To use a NAS device at these speeds, you’ll need computers with Gigabit Ethernet network adaptors and a Gigabit Ethernet switch or router. Computers with Fast Ethernet adaptors can still access the NAS device, but only at the much slower…

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-to-digital 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 A 32in Full HD TV costs around £200, but premium larger 4K models can be closer to £2,000. TVs look much smaller in the shop than in your home, so measure the space available before you buy. Curved TVs are becoming increasingly more common, but bear in mind that these typically take up more floor space than a traditional flat set. 02 A 1,920x1,080-resolution TV can display a 1080p image. You can still buy TVs with a 720p (1,366x768) resolution, but they’re no cheaper and the image won’t be as sharp. 3,840x2,560 Ultra HD resolution, or 4K, TVs are finally available at reasonable prices, although you’ll still pay a premium for one over a 1080p model. 03 Consider the number of inputs you’ll need to connect the rest of…

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 6.25.1.9091 Store your notes, ideas and plans in the cloud, and synchronise them between computers. Mailbird 2.8.30.0 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 8.64.0.80 Make internet voice and video calls for free, and buy credit to make calls to mobiles and landlines. UPDATED Telegram 2.3.1 This free IM app syncs your conversations across multiple devices, and can spruce up chats with stickers and GIFs. WhatsApp Desktop 2.2033.7 A PC and Mac version of the messaging app, letting you chat from your desktop. Customisation UPDATED iolo System Mechanic Free 20.5.1.109 Speed up your system with iolo’s PC optimisation suite. Rainmeter 4.3.1…

£35 • From www.amazon.co.uk THE HISTORY OF Amazon’s own products – misguided attempt at a smartphone aside – is one of small iterations. Whether it’s Kindles, Fire Tablets or Echos, each new version brings small improvements that you probably weren’t aware you needed until they arrived. The Echo Dot with Clock is a great example of this. It’s not strictly an essential upgrade from the standard Echo Dot (Shopper 378), but it does completely fix one of its problems. You see, the Echo Dot can be a handy tool for your bedside table: it can play soothing music to help you drift off, or turn on smart light bulbs when you need to get up. To simply check the time, however, you must ask Alexa out loud, then have it…

£399 • From www.amazon.co.uk DENON’S HOME 250 is one of a trio of new multiroom wireless speakers, sitting alongside the smaller Denon Home 150 and larger Home 350. With support for Spotify, Amazon Music HD, TuneIn, Deezer and more via Wi-Fi, plus AirPlay 2 and Bluetooth connectivity, it’s a versatile and excellent-sounding speaker, albeit one that’s yet to fulfil its potential. Measuring 295x216x120mm, the Home 250 is a fairly sizable unit. Beneath the grille are four separate drivers – two 19mm tweeters and two 100mm woofers – which are accompanied by a 133mm passive radiator. Each driver has its own dedicated class D amplifier, and the speaker offers stereo playback, although this effect certainly won’t be as prominent as it might with a dedicated two-speaker hi-fi system. The speaker is…

£400 • From uk.jbl.com THE BOOMBOX 2 is JBL’s second take on the portable speakers that became cultural status symbols in urban areas during the 1980s and 1990s. Unlike the previous JBL Boombox (Shopper 369), it’s an update rather than a complete reimagining, though there are plenty of small tweaks to go around. HOT WATTS Power output, for instance, has been dialled up a notch, with the speaker’s two drivers outputting 40W RMS each when plugged into the mains and 30W RMS when used on battery power. That’s up from 30W and 20W respectively. The battery size has been cut from 20,000mAh to 10,000mAh, although JBL still promises the same 24 hours of playback as the original. That’s thanks to another upgrade: the more efficient Bluetooth 5.1 standard replaces the…

£54 • From www.alternate.co.uk AS USEFUL AS external SSDs can be, genuinely interesting examples are few and far between. There are a few standouts, such as the blisteringly fast Samsung Portable SSD X5 or the encrypted and PIN-protected Apricorn Aegis Padlock SSD, but both of these come with high prices to go with their high aspirations. In short, there’s room for something that’s a little different, while also costing less – and the Adata SD600Q might well be it. With an eye-catching design and overdraft-dodging pricing, it’s got charm to spare, and that’s not something anyone can say about most storage hardware. JARGON BUSTED It’s not exactly packing bleeding-edge tech, however. Adata rather sneakily claims – on its website, the packaging and the documentation – that the SD600Q uses a…

£163 • From www.amazon.co.uk THE HIGHER SPEED benefits of choosing an external SSD over an external hard disk are obvious, but don’t forget that solid-state drives can be a lot more compact as well. The PNY Pro Elite is a perfect example of how pocket-friendly solid-state storage can be: it’s barely thicker than the average smartphone, and is even less wide than a credit card. This drive is a faster, higher-capacity relative of the PNY Elite, and it proudly derives its speeds from the USB3.1 interface. USB2 and USB3 are both backwards-compatible, but throughput will be more limited. It’s not a full-on Thunderbolt 3 SSD, but that’s fine, as standard USB3.1 ports are more common on PCs and laptops. You have a choice of how to connect, too, as both…

HEATHROW This February saw over 100 flights cancelled at Heathrow as an IT issue affected departure boards and check-in systems, and limited the use of electronic tickets. And this wasn’t the only time that software failures have caused havoc at the airport. Perhaps most famously, at the opening of Terminal 5 in 2008, the baggage-handling system failed, resulting in a backlog of 15,000 items of luggage, the cancellation of dozens of flights, and hundreds of passengers travelling without their luggage. NASA 23rd September 1999 is a date that NASA would like to forget, especially since the software defect that caused the loss of its $327m Mars Climate Orbiter was nothing other than a schoolboy error. At the time, all that NASA engineers knew was that communication with the probe was…

Following on from our guides on selling online and taking payments, we talked to Computer Shopper reader and small business owner Kevin Bricknall. Bricknall has successfully established and expanded his PC services company during the pandemic to support local people with all their computing and smart home needs. What prompted the move to set up this new business? 2020 has been a challenging year so far for many reasons. Though we have been going since 2001, up until February this year we had been part of the family business, which was not related to computers (building contractors, in fact, who had been trading for 50 years), operating as a subsidiary. However my father, who owned the building business, decided to retire in February. It was very fortunate that this happened…

letters@computershopper.co.uk Off colour @ In Mel Croucher’s column discussing the lack of representation of minorities in video games (Shopper 393), it’s unfortunate he chose to do so by bashing developers who were early pioneers in doing just that. Of the three versions of Daley Thompson’s Decathlon released, only the Spectrum version used a white player sprite due to the limitations of the Spectrum’s colour palette; both the Commodore 64 and Amstrad CPC versions used more realistic likenesses because they were able to. When I met Daley Thompson some time ago, he said he was proud of his association with the game and was pleased that it introduced him and his sport to an entirely different audience. Criticising Michael Jackson’s Moonwalker is equally baffling, as this also featured as true a…

James Archer RANTS NVIDIA’S GEFORCE RTX 3080 GPU, Sony’s PlayStation 5 and the Xbox Series X have already sold out, but thousands won’t reach the hands of legitimate buyers. Instead, they’ll have been snapped up by scalpers and resold elsewhere on the web at vast markups. The RTX 3080 launch was a particular disaster. It was the full release, not the opening of limited pre-orders, yet the combined efforts of an army of scalpers still wiped out the available stock with the terrifying speed of Ed Sheeran fans on Ticketmaster. How did so many malicious orders win out? ISimple: they used bots, automated software applications written to trawl retailer sites and purchase items instantly. Bots are cheap and smart enough to bypass CAPTCHA protection – not that Nvidia bothered with…

GOOGLE HAS ANNOUNCED it aims to run on carbon-free energy by 2030. CEO Sundar Pichai called the carbon-free target a ‘stretch goal’. He explained it would force Google to move beyond offsetting its carbon emissions, and require technological and political breakthroughs. “The problem is so immense, many of us need to lead the way and show solutions,” Pichai said. “We’re one small player in this, but we can set an example.” Last year, wind, solar and other renewable energy sources accounted for 61% of Google’s electricity usage. Carbon-free sources fulfilled 96% of hourly power needs at Google’s Oklahoma data centre, while its gas-reliant Singapore location had only 3% carbon-free power. Pichai says he’s optimistic Google can bridge that gap by using emerging sources such as geothermal reservoirs, batteries to store…

£918 • From www.lenovo.com LENOVO IS A practised hand at incorporating E-Ink displays – the kind you’d get on e-readers such as the Amazon Kindle – into its laptops, resulting in forward-thinking dual-screen devices at lower cost and battery life impact than if there were a second IPS or OLED screen. The problem so far has been that, on both the original Yoga Book series and the more recent Yoga Book C930 (Shopper 378), the E-Ink screen always replaced the keyboard and trackpad, forcing the screen to replicate them (unconvincingly) as purely digital inputs. With the Yoga Book Plus, Lenovo has seemingly found a more sensible place to put the second screen. It sits on top of the lid, with a conventional 13.3in IPS display on the other side and,…

£95 • From www.ebuyer.com IF YOU’VE NEVER heard of Kioxia, you might be reassured to know that it’s essentially just a rebrand of Toshiba Memory – unless, that is, you’re also aware of the Shingled Magnetic Recording (SMR) episode earlier this year, where Toshiba, Seagate and WD admitted to covertly using slower SMR technology in their hard disk production. Perhaps the Exceria, a SATA-based 2.5in SSD, can win back some goodwill. At a time of PCI-E 4.0 drives using NVMe memory it’s on the basic side, and is only available in 240GB, 480GB and 960GB varieties; these aren’t especially durable either, being rated at 60TBW, 120TBW and 240TBW respectively. However, all three have the same quoted speeds of 555MB/s reads and 540MB/s writes, showing that Kioxia is being ambitious on…

£90 • From www.johnlewis.com IF THERE’S AN ideal time to release earbuds with a bacteria-killing case, in the midst of a global pandemic is probably it. The LG Tone Free FN6 deliver that particular function via a set of UV lights within the charging case, which after 10 minutes can apparently kill 99.9% of bacteria on the speaker mesh of each bud. Otherwise, however, this is an unremarkable pair of true wireless headphones. Audio quality is reasonable, as are the fit and earbud design, but unless aural hygiene is your top priority, there are better options in the Tone Free FN6’s price range. WIGGLE ROOM For £129, you get a pair of water- and sweat-resistant (to the IPX4 standard) earbuds that support the AAC and SBC Bluetooth codecs; those that…

£1,179 • From www.samsung.com THE TERM ‘PHABLET’ might not be as common in tech parlance as it once was, but Samsung’s work-friendly Galaxy Notes are still the first handsets that spring to mind when you think of big-screened smartphones. Despite outlasting the designation once used to define it, the Note is back once again, and this time around Samsung isn’t resting on its laurels when it comes to upgrades. Continuing the two-phone tradition it started last year, there are two models of Note 20 to mull over in 2020. The Galaxy Note 20 Ultra is primed to steal the limelight this year, since it’s where you’ll find all the extra bells and whistles – albeit for an outrageous £1,179. And that’s just the 256GB model; 512GB of storage will set…

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 Laser printers used to be much more expensive than inkjets and were typically restricted to offices. They are now much more affordable, however, and offer several benefits over inkjets, including lower per-page printing costs and faster print speeds. 02 A decent laser printer will typically cost around £80, and will happily print hundreds of black-and-white pages per hour. If documents are your priority, you’ll want a high minimum speed and low print costs. However, you’ll probably be limited to black-and-white printing at this price. 03 Although you can still buy single-function laser printers, multifunction peripherals (MFPs) are now far more common. These models can scan and photocopy documents as well as print them, and some of them also have fax capabilities. Laser MFPs start from around £200. 04 Heavy-duty…

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…

£199 • From www.amazon.co.uk THE BEOSOUND A1’S progenitor, the Beoplay A1, was an impressive combination of stylish design and top-quality sound. The 2nd-gen model might look nigh on identical to its predecessor, but B&O has made a number of tweaks under the hood to produce a speaker that’s even better than before. The disc-shaped A1 still resembles a UFO but it’s now an imperceptible 1mm shorter, and at 558g it’s 42g lighter. Those aren’t dramatic changes, but there’s no denying the A1 remains easy to carry around, especially with its adjustable leather carrying strap. The Beosound A1 is dust- and waterproof thanks to its IP67 certification, which means it can be immersed in up to 1m of water for 30 minutes. Although B&O says the original was dust- and water-resistant,…

£199 • From store.google.com IT’S POSSIBLE THAT the Google Home Max is not long for this world. Google recently chopped its price to £199, making it a full 50% cheaper than it was at launch, and this could be a sign of it being replaced by a new premium speaker, probably with Nest branding, much as the Google Nest Mini supplanted the Home Mini. However, this is also cause to be happy, as the main issue with the Home Max has always been its high price. Now, not only is it drastically more affordable in general, it’s also on level terms with the rival Apple HomePod, making comparisons between the two a little more favourable than they were when the Home Max cost more. BIG MOUTH The Home Max is…

£749 • From www.johnlewis.com NAIM’S BLUETOOTH SPEAKER is back for a second go, and at first you’d be hard-pressed to spot the difference between the original Qb and this new model. That’s no bad thing, however: it’s a lovely piece of brutalist design, with soft waves of the wraparound fabric cover serving to soften the Qb’s stark, cuboid lines. One of the most welcome additions isn’t even part of the speaker itself: a remote control, which saves you the bother of having to either keep your phone on hand to adjust the volume or change inputs, or to traipse over and make adjustments with the onboard controls. TRUSTED SOURCES The huge illuminated rotary volume control is still present and correct, but it now has a proximity sensor and a new…

£463 • From www.apricorn.com THE AEGIS PADLOCK is the solid-state cousin of Apricorn’s Aegis Fortress L3 (Shopper 390). It’s also an encrypted, PIN-protected external drive for your most sensitive files, but being an SSD rather than a mechanical hard disk, it’s smaller, faster and even more expensive. Much more expensive, in fact: a 1TB Aegis Fortress L3 is no bargain at £215, or 21.5p per gigabyte, but a 1TB Aegis Padlock – like the one we were sent for testing – is a bank-bothering £463, or 46.3p per gigabyte. There are a few other capacity options, but only the 2TB model – which, of course, has a greater outlay – works out with a lower per-gigabyte cost of 40p. The base 240GB model is an outrageous 70.5p per gigabyte, and…

£344 • From www.amazon.co.uk WE ORIGINALLY THOUGHT of the Portable SSD X5 as a loose successor to the T5, Samsung’s brilliant and super-compact USB3.1 SSD. But the X5 is very much its own beast. Equipped with an NVMe storage drive and demanding a Thunderbolt 3 connection to make full use of its speeds, the X5 was practically pioneering when it first launched, and in the absence of a follow-up replacement from Samsung, it’s still going strong. TOP GUN The combination of an M.2-style NVMe drive and a 40Gbit/s Thunderbolt 3 interface supposedly enables sequential read speeds of up to 2,800MB/s, as well as sequential write speeds up to 2,300MB/s, so even if the X5 falls short of these estimates in real-life use, it still has plenty of room to breeze…

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Tech pioneer and all-round good egg letters@computershopper.co.uk I RUN A platform called jeeni.com, which is where independent artists perform their music in front of new fans, then try to pimp, ponce and wheedle rewards. Last Saturday night we ran a live global music festival featuring 18 acts from both sides of the Atlantic. The oldest performer was over 70, the youngest was under 10. They were brilliant, each in their own way. We broadcast over social media and websites. There were no adverts, there were no fakes, there was no hype. It didn’t cost us a penny to run. Everyone had a ball. We are part of a revolutionary process that is killing a corrupt and rotting music industry, which has held both audience and performer to ransom since the…

Apple reveals new iPads and smartwatches SAY WHAT? APPLE’S AUTUMN LAUNCH event comes around every year like clockwork, but at 2020’s event, entitled ‘Time Flies’, unusually the firm didn’t launch a new generation of iPhones. Instead, it announced two new iPads and two new Apple Watches. The iPad Air 4adopts an iPad Pro-style look, a larger 10.9in 2,360x1,640 edge-to-edge Liquid Retina display and, perhaps most interestingly, a USB Type-C port for the first time in a non-iPad Pro. Touch ID is integrated into power button, there’s compatability with the Magic Keyboard and Apple Pencil, and it runs iPadOS 14. Other than the headline features, the iPad Air 4will come in five colours – green, blue, rose gold, black and silver – with Apple’s A14 Bionic processor boosting performance significantly. The…

“We’re still working on the same games we were yesterday, made by the same studios we’ve worked with for years, and those games will be published by us”Bethesda SVP Pete Hines reassures gamers on the news that Microsoft is buying the Doom creator for $7.5bn “We would like to thank our customers for giving M&S such a big welcome and sincere apologies to any customers having to wait a bit longer”Ocado was forced to apologise on the first day of its tie-up with Marks and Spencer after online customer orders were cancelled “ARM will remain headquartered in Cambridge”In the wake of its $40bn purchase of ARM, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang says it will build a world-class AI research facility in the UK “We are using Amazon’s deep expertise in AI…

£699 • From www.currys.co.uk ALL-IN-ONE PCs have quietly become one of the better options for those needing a complete desktop setup for minimal money; building your own PC will likely always be the cheapest route, but for those short on time or technical knowledge, getting a brand-new system with a Full HD display and even the key components thrown in for less than £500 can be a great deal. The recently redesigned Acer Aspire C 24 is a fitting example, starting at just £479, but the £699 model we were sent for testing sounds like a bargain as well, considering it includes a mid-range Intel Core i5-1035G1 processor from Intel’s latest CPU family, as well as a huge 1TB SSD. STAND STILL This is all stashed behind a 23.8in, 1,920x1,080…

£2,499 • From www.dell.com DESPITE BEING ONE of the best 15.6in laptops ever, the Dell XPS 15 hasn’t had a major design update for years. Suffice to say that we were very pleased when, earlier in 2020, Dell announced that a big overhaul was imminent. With a new slim, lightweight design to match its smaller sibling, the XPS 13 (Shopper 392), the new XPS 15 aims to establish itself as the laptop of choice for those who value performance as much as they do portability. ONLY THE BEST It’s also something of an answer to the 16in Apple MacBook Pro (Shopper 391). It’s primarily designed for professional users who want more power beneath their fingertips and in their laptop bag than a traditional ultraportable might offer. As such, 2020’s Dell…

£209 • From www.scan.co.uk ONE PROBLEM FACING SSD manufacturers is that, when it comes to pure speed, there are already numerous drives that hit the limits of what the SATA interface can allow. Samsung’s QVO range takes a different tack, focusing on ballooning capacities instead of speed. The 870 QVO takes this philosophy further than ever, introducing a gigantic 8TB option alongside 1TB, 2TB and 4TB capacities. We were only sent the 2TB version for review, but all four models in the line-up have the same quoted 560MB/s read and 530MB/s write speeds. Those are as high as we were hoping for, considering this SSD’s relation to the outstanding Samsung 860 Evo, though integral to the 870 QVO’s higher capacities is its use of QLC memory, as opposed to the…

£297 • From www.amazon.co.uk THERE ARE FEW things more important in life than sleep, something the Kokoon Relax understand very well. These aren’t just headphones, but headphones designed to help you get a good night’s rest. They do so by combining an ultra-comfortable design, active noise cancellation (ANC), a companion app featuring an extensive library of relaxing content, and electroencephalogram (EEG) technology to track your sleep. PILLOW TALK The first thing you’ll notice about the Kokoon Relax are their oversized earcups. They’re designed to sit as flat on your head as possible so as to minimise any discomfort for those who sleep with the side of their head against the pillow. Inside the earcups are flexible silicone linings that mould around your ears, while the outer casing of the cups…

£1,999 • From www.johnlewis.com SONY HAS LAUNCHED 10 families of TVs in the UK this year, ranging from affordable 4K LCDs to premium 4K OLED and 8K LCD models, but the XH90 range is arguably the most interesting of the bunch. Why? It’s the only group of Sony’s 2020 TVs that’s prepared for silky-smooth 120Hz 4K gaming and packed with niceties such as Variable Refresh Rate (VRR) and eARC support. Before you get too excited, these screens – including the 75in KD75XH9005 model on test – don’t have all these HDMI 2.1 features out of the box. They’ll be added as part of a firmware update due later this year. Thankfully, it’s not all about the gaming. The KD75XH9005 is simply a great all-around 4K TV with impressive HDR performance…

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 Media streamers have come a long way from the hard disk-based set-top boxes of a few years ago. They now come in two main forms: flash drive-sized dongles that plug directly into the HDMI port in the back of your TV, and larger microconsoles that sit under it. Whichever model you choose, it will stream content from the internet rather than storing media files locally. 02 Most streamers use their own operating system, which you can navigate with a bundled remote control, but Google’s Chromecast dongle requires a paired smartphone, tablet or laptop to stream content on the big screen. If you’re looking to set up Netflix for someone who doesn’t have a smartphone, buy a standalone streamer such as a Roku or Amazon Fire TV device. 03 A…

DOWNLOADING YOUR SOFTWARE YOUR UNIQUE COUPON CODE FOR £4.99 ISSUES: CHECK THE SPINE Enter www.shopperdownload.co.uk/394 into your browser’s address bar. In the New user section, enter your email address and the coupon code printed on the spine into the relevant boxes, then click the Register button. Browse through this month’s choices and follow the online instructions to download and register the software. You may need to register a user account for our software store and enter your coupon code more than once. The registration process varies from program to program, so read the instructions carefully – they explain exactly what you need to do for each program. ANY PROBLEMS? If you need help with any of the software this month, please send an email to support@creativemark.co.uk. We check this inbox…

Not all Bluetooth connections are made equal: the version supported by a speaker can meaningfully impact how it operates, especially if it’s a fully wireless, battery-powered model. Don’t assume everything uses the latest version, either. In fact, most speakers, as well as many laptops and smartphones, still use Bluetooth 4.2, a version that first launched all the way back in 2014. 4.2 was, in fairness, designed for devices much like wireless speakers: it made improvements to version 4.1’s networking protocols that allowed for individual devices to have their own IP address, and could transmit data about two and a half times faster than 4.1. The more recent Bluetooth 5, however, is even faster, while drastically improving range and power efficiency – resulting in, among other things, Bluetooth speakers that could be…

£299 • From www.amazon.co.uk THE PULSE FLEX 2i is the most compact entry in Bluesound’s latest generation of Pulse Bluetooth/Wi-Fi speakers. It’s also the most budget-friendly, even if the £299 price doesn’t look it, but it’s a good-looking speaker that packs a serious punch. Weighing 1.23kg, it’s not a lightweight option, but, given that it’s primarily a mains-powered speaker, that isn’t an issue – in order to make it fully wireless, you’d need to buy the £69 BP100 battery pack. The large grille on the front of the speaker is all you’ll see when looking at it head on, which gives the Pulse Flex 2i a no-nonsense, minimalist feel. That is reinforced by the choice of colours. The speaker is only available in white or matt black; you won’t find…

£180 • From www.harmankardon.co.uk THIS REVAMP OF last year’s Citation One – Harman Kardon’s first Google Assistant smart speaker – makes it even smarter. The MKII addition might offer some additional colour options, but the big change is that it now supports Apple AirPlay. Outwardly, the design hasn’t changed at all. The Citation One MKII still has the look and feel of a premium speaker, largely thanks to the woollen fabric that wraps around the majority of the exterior, and while its 188mm height makes it slightly taller than the Apple HomePod, it’s not too imposing a sight in your living room. It’s reasonably heavy, at 2kg, but since it’s a wired speaker with no battery, you won’t be moving it around much anyway. STAY HOME A clutch of touch-sensitive…

£399 • From www.currys.co.uk SONOS SPEAKERS HAVE long been the benchmark for ease of use and sound quality in multiroom audio. But for almost as long, the company has point-blank refused to follow the rest of the industry in producing a mobile, battery-powered speaker with Bluetooth. With the new Sonos Move, however, it’s finally relented, with both Alexa and Google Assistant on board. The Move has departed from the bulk-buy, baked-bean tin look of previous models. Available only in Shadow Black, the new speaker is taller, with an oval top plate and a profile that tapers at the bottom end for a more elegant look. It’s not a particularly radical design, but it is a good deal more attractive than the squat Sonos One (Shopper 378). JUST A TOUCH All…

We run a battery of different tests on the SSDs that pass through our labs. The first two come courtesy of CrsytalDiskMark, which you can download and try for yourself (crystalmark.info). The first test measures the sequential read and write speeds of the drive, meaning how quickly it can operate when dealing with bytes of data that are stored in sequence – when playing a video file, for example, or writing a newly downloaded file as the bytes come in. This is relatively easy work for the drive, so it’s very common for SSDs to meet and sometimes slightly exceed their officially stated speeds in this test. We also use CrystalDiskMark’s 4K random test, in which data is accessed non-sequentially in blocks of 4KB. This simulates the task of reading…

£90 • From www.amazon.co.uk THINK OF TWO accessories you’d want for a laptop and – admittedly after a case and a mouse – two that would probably pop into your head are a USB hub and an external storage drive. The former is becoming increasingly necessary, as ultraportables continue to ditch full-size USB connectivity in favour of smaller USB Type-C ports that can help keep chassis dimensions slim. External storage also remains a cost-effective tool for ensuring you have adequate space, as upgrading from a 256GB laptop to a 512GB model can add hundreds of pounds to the price. PLUG ADDICT Combining the two is therefore a rather brilliant idea, the kind that makes you wonder why nobody thought of it before the Minix Neo Storage showed up. This multiport…

£380 • From shop. westerndigital.com WITH ALL DUE respect to the WD Black P10 Game Drive (Shopper 385), it was always going to be overshadowed by the Black P50 Game Drive. Being an SSD instead of a hard disk, it’s much smaller, lighter and faster, all good qualities to have in an external drive. While it isn’t as truly tiny as the PNY Pro Elite, the Black P50 Game Drive is shorter, narrower and only slightly thicker than most smartphones, so it’s perfectly portable. It’s tough, too: there’s no bending or flexing at all, thanks to the shock-proof metal casing, and a set of four rubber feet help prevent it being accidentally knocked off a table or from causing vibration noises when sat atop a desktop PC. STRADDLING LANES The…

Send your problems to help@computershopper.co.uk Router finding I read your review of routers and mesh systems in Shopper 390. My wife and I have both been working from home due to the pandemic and I am trying to revamp our home internet connectivity with an Asus ZenWiFi AX dual-node system. I’ve not seen anything recently in the magazine to explain how you’re meant to set up this kind of equipment with an ISP-provided router. We have Vodafone’s Superfast 2 broadband with what the mobile operator calls the WiFi hub – it’s a combined modem and router. I thought it would simply be a case of connecting the ZenWiFi to a port on the Vodafone router with an Ethernet cable, but I’m encountering terms I don’t really understand, such as ‘double…