WELCOME PAGE
Welcome!
THE YEAR BEGAN on a
sad note at Shopper HQ,
as our news editor Dave
Neal passed away on
3rd January, aged 43, after
a long and incredibly brave
battle with cancer.
Dave was diagnosed
with medullary thyroid carcinoma at the age
of just 31. Despite receiving this worst of
news at such a young age, he carried on
living life to the full, working full-time
from home, taking trips abroad, getting
married, and keeping us all entertained
with his wonderful wit.
Dave began working on Computer Shopper
back in 2012, writing his monthly Byte Back
column; he then took on the role of news
editor in March 2016, and was also a daily
news reporter on The Inquirer website.
Despite regular hospital visits, and various
(often gruelling) treatments and operations,
he carried on in both roles until November
2017, when he went into Hospice in the
Weald (www.hospiceintheweald.org.uk/
fundraise, for anyone who would like to
donate in Dave’s memory).
Dave was instrumental in planning the
updated Shopper news pages we launched in
2016, and articles such as Globe Trotting and
Retro were certainly popular with readers:
“Your latest Retro feature had me licking my
lips with delight and pouring out my love for
that five-letter word, Psion,” wrote one.
It’s not always the case that technology
features make you laugh out loud, but Dave
often managed it with his unique take on the
technology world: “Han Solo would have to
eat a swan or leave Chewbacca in a parked
Dave Neal 1974 – 2018
ISSUE 362 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | APRIL 2018
car on a hot day if he wanted to produce
the kind of hatred that the computer-
generated Jar Jar Binks induces and incites,”
is a favourite of mine.
But underneath the humour lay serious
and useful advice, as demonstrated in his
Rave about the Microsoft support scam
calls so many of us get hounded with.
“If I am not expecting a phone call, I
quickly check my list of made-up companies
with which to answer the phone, take a
deep breath and give them my best
response. A quick burst of ‘International goat
rescue: What is the nature of your goat
emergency?’, a blast of ‘Microsoft Support
Services: Criminal Investigation Division’, or
something like ‘David Neal’s Linux Emporium
and Microsoft Vacuum’ will usually cool off
the caller and send down the handset.
“It’s fun for me, and probably annoying
for them. The important thing to remember
is that it keeps me amused, and that
Microsoft would never, ever, ever, EVER
call you up about a problem with your PC.
It is far more likely to avoid wanting to talk
about it.”
Dave was truly one of a kind. He was an
inspiration to everyone who knew him, in his
career as a technology journalist, as a great
friend and in his brave battle with cancer.
Dave is missed by so many of us, and I’m
sure Shopper and our readers will miss his
monthly contributions.
Cheers Dave, rest easy, from all of us at
Computer Shopper.
Madeline Bennett, Editor
madeline@computershopper.co.uk
CONTACT US
Editor Madeline Bennett madeline@computershopper.co.uk
Reviews Editor James Archer james@computershopper.co.uk
Contributing Editor David Ludlow david@computershopper.co.uk
Contributing Editor Roland Moore-Colyer
roland@computershopper.co.uk
Senior Staff Writer Nathan Spendelow nathan@computershopper.co.uk
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Production Manager Daniel Stark
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3
 CONTENTS
Issue 362 April 2018

Contents
p131

p96

p76
Regulars
6 Letters
Your monthly missives of wit and wisdom,
tips and tricks, and moans and groans
8 Mel’s World
Thanks to bitcoin, taxes are no longer as
inevitable as death, says Mel Croucher,
which explains why governments the
world over are so keen to clamp down
on crypto currencies
10 Cyber Insider
They may speed up the time you spend
waiting at the checkout, but how secure are
contactless payments? We look at the
potential threats the technology poses, and
reveal what you can do to stay safe
12 Rants & Raves
The community spirit is alive and well in
the online gaming world. At least it’s a
damn sight friendlier than the British
government’s official website
138 Zygote
Sacré bleu! They’re banning mobile phones
in French schools. Zygote wonders how
long it will take for the UK to enact similar
much-needed legislation
p110
News
All the latest news and views from the
technology world, including:
14 Need to Know
The Meltdown and Spectre bugs hit millions
Features of computers, posing a huge security threat.
Is your PC at risk?
96 26 Ways to Stay
16 News Round-up
Anonymous Online
Autonomous vehicle safety called into
Worried about your personal data leaking on
question after California crashes, plus the
the net? Follow our 26 steps to reclaim your
Russian cyber threat to the UK
privacy and give yourself online peace of mind
18 CES 2018
Fancy an 8K TV or a
smart bathroom
mirror? The annual
Las Vegas trade
show had all this
and more on display
Learn
122 Business Help
110 Left-Field Tech Our expert answers your software queries
From DNA storage to superfast travel in
pressurised tunnels, technology is coming up 124 Helpfile
with some weird and wonderful innovations Your Windows and hardware problems solved
right now. Roland Moore-Colyer investigates
126 Advanced Projects
Artificial intelligence and bots may be about to
put us all out of work, but Clive Webster says
you can use them for your own benefit as well
131 Multimedia Expert
Get the most out of the new cloud-based
features in Adobe Lightroom CC with
Ben Pitt’s in-depth guide

4 APRIL 2018 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | ISSUE 362

 p131

p76 p126

Reviews Group Tests

76 Monitors
20 Hot Product From sumptuous 4K
The HTC U11 Life offers a cut-price alternative to the flagship U11, ultrawide displays to
but the downgrading process has been harsh, with performance, great-value Quad HD
display quality and battery life all taking big hits screens starting at
just £200, these nine
monitors are a real
22 PCs 36 Audio feast for your eyes
If you can live with an older CPU and no If you’ve got an Amazon Echo Dot, the
SSD storage, the Medion Erazer X5361 G is a Ninety7 Vaux dock is a good way to improve 88 Headphones
temptingly affordable GTX 1070 system portability and sound quality alike Chuck out the cheap earbuds
Chu
that came with your phone
26 Laptops 40 Photography and treat your ears to a
Lenovo’s Yoga 920 is another excellent Enhanced autofocus helps make the quality set of cans. We’ve
rotating convertible from one of the Canon EOS 800D a great choice for both tested eight of the best
masters of the form stills and video

28 Components
While the Arctic Freezer 33 eSports One
provides no competitive advantage, it’s a
good air cooler nonetheless
30 Printers
Photographers will love the new Epson
Expression Photo HD XP-15000 and its big,
high-quality prints
42 Video
The GoPro Hero 6 Black is an accomplished
action camera, if lacking in innovations
72 Your Software*
Create professional-quality 3D
44 Handhelds animations with the full version of the
Edge-to-edge smartphone displays have come powerful yet easy-to-use iClone 6
to the mid-range, via the excellent Honor 7X
50 Wearables

32 Networks
The Fritz!Box 7590 is a kitted-out but
The Garmin Vivoactive 3 blends smartwatch
and fitness tracker features without
compromising either
6 FULL
PACKAGES
expensive router that will suit businesses
better than homes 52 Best Buys
Looking for the best kit we’ve reviewed
34 Smart Home recently? It’s all in our Best Buys section
The Thinking Remote from Neeo is a neat
smart home controller, but it’s held back 68 How We Test * FREE SOFTWARE
EDITION ONLY
by its poor software Our tests, ratings and awards explained

ISSUE 362 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | APRIL 2018 5

 LETTERS

Letters
We’re dipping our toes into the teeming pool of Synology services this month,
but we won’t be taking our Kindles with us in case they get wet

letters@computershopper.co.uk

Mini super
When I saw talk of mini
computers on the front
cover (Shopper 360), I was taken
back to the likes of Digital
Equipment Corporation’s
machines, like the PDP range
and others of this vintage.
The name now seems to be
being reused to describe
machines like the Raspberry Pi.
My background was in
large-scale supercomputer mainframes with
mini computers from makers such as DEC
acting as secondary machines for doing
anything from graphics to wide-area
communications. This somewhat predated
the wide-scale arrival of PCs, which
eventually displaced those in-the-middle
mini computers. Any long-in-the-
tooth people could probably fill
you in with regard to the original
scope of this term.
For learning coding and
becoming aware of it, might I
suggest another route:
Donald Knuth’s The Art of
Computer Programming
volumes, along with the Mix
language. Even if you haven’t got
the time or inclination to read
them, it looks good to have them on your
bookshelf, if only to impress others.
John Greenaway
Sharing is caring
Great mag as always, and a nice
response to the query from Roger
Taylor (Helpfile 360). However, no mention
of Microsoft Office for Dropbox, which
allows a user to load files, pics and videos to
the cloud. You then select an item and
‘send’ it to a recipient,
and a link is produced
that is copied to your
clipboard; if you then
save the link in a
Notepad file (with
some identifying info as
an aide memoir) you can
then create a group in your
email and send the link to everyone in the
group, who can then view or download as
required. The only issue as a lay user I can
see is security in your email account.
Here’s to the next 30 years!
David Brown

Star letter
DS I love you
In your review of the Synology
DiskStation DS418 (Shopper 361),
you mention that you’ve harped on about
the brilliance of DiskStation Manager and
the strength of Package Manager, which
lets you add new features such as a
Google Docs rival and automated backup.
I agree. I’ve been a Synology user since
2011 when my first DiskStation – a
venerable DS411j – provided the music
library for my Sonos system. A few
upgrades later my DS916+ has taken over
those tasks and I am running Photo
Station, Drive, Office, WordPress, Mail
Plus and toying with Moments. The DS411j
now serves as a backup target.
Judging by the membership of a great
Facebook group I belong to, Synology
users fall into two groups: IT professionals
who install and support Synology’s
products in small to large businesses; and
home enthusiasts like me who want to
extract as much value as possible from
their shiny toy. For the pros, it’s as easy as
falling off a log. For the homies, despite
the excellent user interface, there’s still a
lot of dark magic to understand – as I
discovered when I installed And how about some
MailPlus Server. pro
product reviews of
NAS drives are now sufficiently
ntly com
competing packages from
powerful that running multiple apps to different NAS v
vendors? QNAP has its own
automate your home office is viable. So how Photo Station called, coincidentally, Photo
about some detailed guides to the more Station. Understanding the relative merits
home-user oriented packages, but of each photo manager might influence
particularly some of the more challenging which NAS vendor a user chooses.
ones such as MailPlus Server, Photo Station, Paul Barrett
Drive and DNS Server (which, despite
cautionary tales from experts, has been We’ve covered Synology’s Drive and
downloaded nearly two million times)? Office apps in this month’s privacy feature
And then there’s the challenge of running (page 96), showing how they can help you
more than one DiskStation in a home keep your information private. We’ll look into
environment. And what about SRM, the other features and compare services from
equivalent OS on the Synology routers? other manufacturers in a future issue.
❱❱ Write in and win
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applications? Thanks to Crucial, you can achieve your dream of a
faster PC or laptop with the BX300 SSD. The writer of our Star Letter
will be awarded one of these solid-state devices, which can be
installed in a desktop PC or a laptop.
This SSD is 300% faster and 45x more energy-efficient than your STAR
typical hard drive, and will make your computer boot incredibly quickly and PRIZE
your applications load faster. With 480GB of storage, there’s plenty of room for 480GB
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6 APRIL 2018 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | ISSUE 362


Watered down
Over the past 15 or so years, I have
relied on your review pages for
guidance and recommendations. There
have been hits and misses, but mostly hits.
But I feel I need to speak out regarding the
Kindle Oasis (2017) review
(Shopper 361).
I have been using Kindles
since they were launched in
the UK and I am now on my
sixth iteration, the Oasis
2017 9th Gen, so I know
Kindles very well.
I have to question the
source of the review you
published. I doubt it was
based on actual ‘hands-on’
testing. It read to me like an amalgamation
of all the marketing Amazon has issued
around this device and it contains two
visible areas of contention that do not
stand up to reality.
You state that the Kindle Oasis is
bath-proof and waterproof; this is
misleading. Amazon’s User’s Guide for the
Kindle Oasis, 2nd Edition, reads: “Your
Kindle has been tested to withstand
accidental immersion in water under
certain conditions. Do not intentionally
immerse your Kindle in water or immerse
in seawater, salt-water, chlorinated water
or other liquids (such as beverages).”
This does not equate to waterproof to me.
You also state the battery lasts for up to
six weeks between charges. This may have
been true of the Kindle Voyages and
Paperwhites, but my experience is
different. You only have to read the
comments on Amazon as well to see that
this is a common issue.
I typically use my Kindle for 30 minutes a
day. If I disable Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, page
refresh as default and set the light to 10 (ie,
switch off the adaptive light), I get 25 to 28
days; if I enable Wi-Fi and the adaptive light
but leave Bluetooth and page refresh as
default, I barely scrape 21 days.
In the next issue
❱❱Protect
your home
We look at howow
technology can
keep your homeme
and car safe,
plus put the
best security
cameras on test
est
COMPUTER SHOPPER ISSUE 363 ON SALE IN NEWSAGENTS FROM 15th MARCH
ISSUE 362 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | APRIL 2018
Given that your average tablet doesn’t
last a day, these figures aren’t bad. But for
you to simply take Amazon’s published
numbers and print them as an authoritative
review is misleading.
Robert S Watkins
Thanks for the feedback. During our
testing, we were impressed by the
battery but agree that ‘up to six weeks’
is only for certain use cases. As we
mentioned, downloading large
audiobooks also eats up battery life
and will lead to more frequent charging.
On the waterproof matter, we would
certainly advise following Amazon’s
guidance and not deliberately
throwing it in the nearest pool or lake.
However,
Howeve the Oasis Kindle is IPX8-rated, an
independently verified and widely accepted
standard for full-immersion waterproofing –
although this is specifically for fresh water, so
even IPX8 doesn’t mean protection against
seawater. We’ll include this rating for future
reviews of waterproof products.
Slow Moto replay
Your glowing review of the Motorola
Moto G3 (Shopper 334) prompted me
to buy one in 2016. I added a fast SD card to
supplement its 8GB internal storage. In less
than a year, it started becoming extremely
slow to a point, now, that I consider using it
as a meditation on the futility
utility of haste.
I upgraded the OS and
installed Avast Mobile foror
security, alongside a feww
apps (BBC Weather, iPlayer,
layer,
iPlayer Radio, Acrobat,
BSPlayer, Smart Recorder,
der,
a TV remote control, eBay
and WhatsApp), as well
as Docs, Sheet, Translate e
and Driving, all from
Google. No games.
I am constantly
reminded of low memory y be able to look into your
and unable to update
❱
❱❱Make your
ph
phone do
mo
more
How to root your
And
Android phone and
install
ins a custom OS
LETTERS
several standard apps for lack of ‘enough
space’, which concerns me, especially with
regards to security. I am constantly erasing
the cache partition, moved as many apps as
possible to the SD card (not all apps will do)
and optimised my photos.
I have also spent many fruitless hours
online trying to find ways of improving the
operating speed. If that wasn’t enough, I
have many contacts disappearing, including
my GP as well as friends and family. I dread
to think how many of my other less
frequented contacts are missing.
Two things: does Google (like Apple)
also deliberately slow down older phones?
Has there been a trend analysis done on
this? If so, by whom? Google Trends?
Second, may I suggest that your reviews
of phones should include the installation
and fair use of, say, a dozen or so popular
apps to see how the phone functions
thereafter, and not just bamboozle the
reader with what I now consider
meaningless benchmarks and game scores?
As it stands, I am very close to the edge
of sanity and my patience, and am
considering going off grid and becoming a
flint chipper or spoon whittler. I do not want
to have to buy a new phone every year.
Otherwise, always a pleasure to read
Shopper since day one. Happy 30th.
Aki Turan
Sorry to hear about
abou your bad experience
with the Moto G3. We haven’t come across
any evidence that Google
Goo deliberately slows
down older Android handsets.
ha When testing
smartphones, we load them up with all our
favourite and most-used
most-us apps, and then use
the handset as our own
ow device for anything
from a few days to a few
weeks,
wee so we do try to get a
real-world
rea experience into
our reviews. If you contact
Motorola
Mot or the original
retailer,
ret they will hopefully
problems.
pro
❱❱Don’t know your MFP
from your ADF?
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the perfect printer
7
 MEL’S WORLD
A bit of bother for the taxman
There’s a good reason governments don’t like bitcoin, says Mel Croucher – they can’t
make any money out of it. And if they do try to tax it, they might just burst the bubble
I HAVE SOME confessions to
make. I confess that I like to
complete my annual tax return
early. And I also confess that I
like to pay exactly £5 extra tax a
year in preparation for my next
encounter with Her Majesty’s
Revenue and Customs Inspector.
I still cherish the memory of
the Inspector’s crumpled face
the last time my tax return was
investigated. It was the moment
he realised he’d been snookered,
MEL CROUCHER and was forced to admit I was
Tech pioneer and all-round good egg not the international tax evader
letters@computershopper.co.uk he suspected but just some joker
who was due a tax rebate. The
reason I like paying tax is
because it affirms I am still alive,
still solvent and still contributing
to the wellbeing of the nation.
Without taxes from jokers like
me, the government would not
be able to fund essential royal
weddings. In fact, without taxes
from jokers like me, the
government would be out of a
job, because no government can
exist without taxes.
Throughout the ages,
governments have taxed
whatever they think they can get
Without taxes from jokers like me, the
government would not be able to fund
essential royal weddings
away with. Peter the Great taxed
beards. Margaret Thatcher taxed
votes. Emperor Vespasian taxed
pee. And if you don’t believe in
the Magic Money Tree, then I
invite you to consider VAT, which
is a 20% tax on an abstract
concept known as Anything.
As for exchange mechanisms,
all sorts of imaginative currencies
have been tried. The Lobi people
of Ghana used iron snakes. The
inhabitants of Yap island used
giant boulders. The Fijians used
whale teeth. The Chinese used
cowrie shells. The Romans used
salt. And before the mighty
8 APRIL 2018
American dollar existed, there
was the buck, which was the
currency used between new
American inhabitants and old
American inhabitants. That’s
right, folks, they used stinky old
buckskins for money. And all of
these currencies could be taxed,
because they could be observed,
witnessed, touched and tracked
in this physical world of ours. It’s
been like that down the ages.
PIZZA THE ACTION
That is to say, it has been like
that until 10pm, Saturday
evening, 22nd May 2010. At that
fateful moment, Laszlo Hanyecz
used an Internet Relay Chat to
order a delivery of two pizzas,
which eventually arrived from
Domino’s in Jacksonville, Florida.
He paid 10,000 bitcoin for the
deal. On that day, 10,000 bitcoin
was worth exactly £17.25p, but
five days later their exchange
value had increased by 1,000%.
As I write this, the value of those
same bitcoin is around £125m.
And by the time you read this,
they will be worth a whole lot
more. Or possibly a whole lot
less. And governments hate
bitcoin for the simple reason
that it is completely outside their
control because it has no
physical existence.
Bitcoin is a virtual exchange
mechanism that only exists in the
digital world, free from banking
authorities, government controls
and centralised records. That’s
why criminals and shysters love
it. But a whole load of other
people love it too, including
those who want to punish the
unaccountable banks and
financiers who caused the credit
crunch, and the panic-stricken
governments who duped the rest
of us to bail them out. And let us
not forget all the greedy buggers
who want to jump on the bitcoin
bandwagon and make a very large
profit very fast indeed. Will the
bitcoin bonanza keep growing?
Will the bitcoin bubble burst? Will
Paris Hilton and Harry Redknapp
keep recommending it? Will the
Chancellor keep on castigating
it? Quite frankly, my dear, I don’t
give a damn. It doesn’t matter to
me if the bubble bursts or not.
What matters is that bitcoin has
happened at all. Governments
may see computers as a
mechanism to monitor and
control us, but bitcoin proves
that computers are also a
mechanism for disregarding
governments in their entirety.
DOMINO’S EFFECT
Just suppose for a moment that I
was daft enough to emulate
Laszlo Hanyecz and get Domino’s
to deliver a Mighty Meaty Pizza
with Strippers Combo and
Twisted Dough Balls (spoiler
alert: may contain nuts and
added water). I would pay
Domino’s around £28 for the
privilege, and an additional £5.60
in VAT as a tax on my stupidity.
And that would make the
government very happy indeed.
The government would be very
happy indeed because my local
Domino’s doesn’t accept bitcoin,
yet. But did you know that
Subway accepts bitcoin, as do
Save the Children and Virgin?
And did you know that every day
more companies are embracing
the anarchy of virtual currencies?
And don’t tell the Chancellor, but
there’s another company that’s
been accepting bitcoin since late
2014. It’s called Microsoft.
After Brexit, I fully expect the
UK government to make yet
another hopeless unilateral
gesture by attempting to impose
VAT on bitcoin exchanges for
goods and services. They will use
the excuse that the tax is vital to
impose a tariff on bitcoin users
because they’re all a bunch of
money-laundering, tax-evading,
drug-dealing terrorists. And after
investing huge sums of money
trying to thwart the bitcoin
apocalypse, they will fail to raise
any additional revenues
whatsoever. But good luck to
them. As I say, I like paying tax.
| COMPUTER SHOPPER | ISSUE 362
 CYBER INSIDER
Contact killer
Contactless payments have added convenience, but they can also increase fraud.
Cyber Insider explains how you can prevent becoming a victim
CONTACTLESS CARDS HAVE
transformed the way that we pay
for goods or use some transport
systems, such as the London
Underground. By just tapping a
card on a compatible reader,
payments of up to £30 are
taken automatically without
needing a PIN. That kind of
convenience can make it far
quicker to pay for things,
but there’s also a security
risk associated with this kind
of payment.
SCANNER SCAMMERS
There has been a lot of
information about the threat
of contactless scammers,
using handheld scanners to read
your card details automatically
and charge small amounts of
money. In practice, there’s little
evidence that this kind of crime
is large scale. There are a few
barriers to this type of crime.
You should check your credit card statements carefully
each month for any unauthorised payments
First, in order to scan your
card, fraudsters need to get
close to your card; typically
within a couple of inches.
Sneaking up with a mobile card
reader and doing this is trickier
than you think.
More importantly, to process
card payments of any kind,
scammers would need to have
an account associated with
their reader. Businesses that
use mobile readers are vetted
carefully. If a fraudster opened
an account, it wouldn’t take
long for this to be discovered
and the assets frozen.
That’s not to say that this
type of activity doesn’t happen,
just that it’s rare. To prevent this
type of crime, an RFID-blocking
wallet can be used, which
prevents contactless cards
from being used until they’re
removed from the case.
10
It’s far more likely that a thief
will steal your card, then make
contactless payments from your
account instead. If your card is
stolen, the best thing you can do
is report it and have it blocked.
Unfortunately, a flaw in
contactless payments means
that this isn’t a guarantee that
future payments will be stopped.
Most contactless payments
are processed online, with the
shop requesting to check if funds
are available. However, some
shops and readers use offline
payments, where the details of
the card are stored and then
batch-processed later. For this
latter type of transaction,
cancelled cards are accepted and
the charges processed later.
You should therefore check
your statements carefully each
month for any unauthorised
payments. You have up to 13
months to report unauthorised
transactions. In the case of
stolen cards, you may be liable
for the first £50 of payments if
they occurred before you
reported it; that’s a good reason
to report any theft immediately.
SKIMMED MILK
A more likely case for scammers
is to use a contactless card
reader to pull the long number
and expiry date from a card.
By remembering the CVV code
and name on the card, they can
then make online payments or
clone your card.
To avoid this, never hand over
your card when you’re about to
make a contactless payment,
and always tap your card
yourself. Check that the reader
shows the price that you’re due
to pay before you tap.
There are ways to avoid
problems with contactless cards.
APRIL 2018
Many banks can issue you with a
regular non-contactless card, if
you prefer. If you really don’t
want to use this technology, then
that’s the best way to go to avoid
fraud. However, given everything
else that we’ve discussed and the
slim likelihood of fraud caused by
a contactless card, this is quite
an extreme solution.
SMART PAYMENTS
An alternative method is to use
Android Pay or Apple Pay on
your smartphone instead. With a
supported handset, your card
details are stored on your phone;
however, when you pay using
contactless via a supported
handset with NFC, only a one-off
transaction code is created, and
your card details aren’t shared.
This prevents cards being cloned
with the details being skimmed.
Apple devices require
fingerprint authentication
to make any payment.
Android devices are different.
For transactions under £30, you
have to turn on your phone’s
screen, but you can just tap your
handset to the reader and the
default card is used.
To pay larger amounts,
Android Pay requires that
you unlock the phone first
using your fingerprint reader.
This is more secure than using
a PIN, as nobody can snoop on
this transaction.
As well as mobile devices
being resistant to skimming, they
have the advantage of being able
to be remote wiped. If your
phone is stolen, you can securely
erase it over the internet,
preventing your handset from
paying for goods. You should,
however, still report the theft to
your card company for security
as soon as you realise the loss.
Despite some tabloid
coverage to the contrary,
contactless card payments
aren’t inherently insecure, and
taking a few simple precautions
or turning to a mobile phone
can boost security.
| COMPUTER SHOPPER | ISSUE 362
 RANTS & RAVES
While not everyone online is so welcoming, multiplayer PC gaming is a great way to
connect with friends – or find new ones
r
James Arche
THE ‘COMMUNITY’ ASPECT of online gaming has a reputation tio
– often deserved – for hostility, sometimes to the extent that using
‘community’ to describe a game’s player base is less accurate than
‘gaggle of screaming children and adults who should know better.’
One obvious solution is to play with friends, something I’ve
rediscovered this month after a period of running solo. Protected
from toxic elements by a barrier of pre-existing camaraderie, I’ve
been enjoying my time online with a vigour I hadn’t felt for ages.
Part of this is our current game of choice, PlayerUnknown’s
Battlegrounds, which rewards teamwork more than most. Yet the
best aspect isn’t the ability to minimise exposure to strangers – it’s
the pleasure of heading out on an adventure with some mates.
Like any good adventure, this can involve hardships. I’ve shouted
at Shopper cohorts Roland and Nathan for such infractions as
w
David Ludlo
BACK IN 2013, the UK government’s website, www.gov.uk, k won the
Design of the Year award. According to the judges, the website,
which offers services from getting a new passport to paying tax,
was “the Paul Smith of websites”.
I don’t agree. In fact, it has to be said that the government website
is perhaps the worst thing I have ever had to use. It’s bogged down
by odd decisions, an infuriating and out-of-date interface, and
complications that make the simplest of tasks harder.
Take trying to pay for the Dartford crossing, for example. For
starters, there’s not an easy URL to use, such as dartcharge.co.uk.
Instead, you have to Google how to pay the charge, which reveals that
there are two URLs: www.gov.uk/pay-dartford-crossing-charge and
www.dartford-crossing-charge.service.gov.uk. Using the former has a
12
gett
getting into a truck too slowly or driving us into a
riv (though come to think of it, both of those were
river
Ro
Roland). Still, it’s all in pursuit of a sweet victory or
hil
hilarious game-ending mishap, the accompanying
bac
back-slapping and laughter doing more to
str
strengthen a bond than any after-work pub trip.
The crucible of online games can also help forge
brand new friendships. There are folks I’ve never met in
person but
bu have been playing with on and off for close to a
decade
decade, withith some even opening up Steam’s text chat to wish me a
happy birthday or compliment (deservedly) the cuteness of my cat.
Moreover, I’m convinced that the positive social side of gaming
is better enabled by, if not strictly specific to, playing on a PC. The
Nintendo Switch is perfect for parties, sure, but it’s lacking in the
kind of tense, longer-form experiences (like PUBG and its 30-minute
matches) that can be enjoyed in groups on a nightly basis. Also, no
console can match Windows’ support for voice chat tools such as
Discord, TeamSpeak and Mumble. At their best, these can become
the focal point for micro-communities to meet up, converse and
share jokes, even if their denizens aren’t currently playing anything.
Really, though, I’m not that interested in pitting platforms
against each other. Now, another few rounds with my comrades?
That’s become very interesting indeed.
gia ‘Get Started’ button, but the link to log into an
giant
existing
exi account is a tiny text link that’s hard to see.
The way the system works is just ludicrous.
Despite
Des the fact that a crossing costs £1.67, I got an
email
ema telling me that my account balance of £8.29 is
below
bel the minimum threshold. That’s just stupid, and
there’s
the no reason why I should have to store more than
£10 in an account; why can’t the service just charge a
debit car
card when I cross instead?
The here’ th
Then there’s the tax website. Aside from the convoluted method of
having to log in using a bizarre string of numbers, the site continually
bombards me with requests to add additional layers of security.
On doing my monthly accounts, I had a charge to pay. I clicked
the Pay button to be taken to a page, which then asked me to fill in
manually how much I owed. Why, when the government knows what I
owe, isn’t this amount auto-filled? Likewise, I had to enter my Account
Office reference number manually, which the government already
knows. Why not just fill this out for me?
It’s like going to an online shop, then being asked to re-enter the
contents of your basket and the price to be paid when you check out.
The only thing the website manages to get ‘right’ is the pointless
bureaucracy you’d get if you were having to deal with a real person.
APRIL 2018 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | ISSUE 362
 The biggest stories from the tech world, and what they mean for you
Meltdown and Spectre bugs hit millions of CPUs
SAY WHAT?
SOFTWARE BUGS ARE ten a penny,
with devastating flaws found in
applications all the time. This is one of
the reasons that software is updated so
frequently, patching security flaws to
make things safer. Bugs in hardware
are much rarer and much harder to fix,
as we discovered recently when two
massive bugs were confirmed to affect
CPUs as old as from 1995.
Called Meltdown and Spectre, the two
bugs represent a huge security threat to all
computers. And because the problem is in
hardware, the bugs affect all operating systems.
ms.
Meltdown was the first bug to be reported ed on
2nd January. It affects Intel processors, as welll as newer
Apple A-series chips and ARM chips using the R7, R8, A8,
A15, A17, A72 and A75 cores. AMD processors are immune to
this attack. Spectre was revealed just a day later and is known
to affect all processors.
Both bugs use similar design flaws in chips, allowing rogue
processes to read protected memory in a system, pulling out sensitive
data such as passwords. One rather scary video that surfaced online
showed the power of Meltdown, with a password being stolen in real
time as it was typed into a dialog box.
So what went wrong? The simple answer is that while chip makers
managed to make their chips faster, they also made their chips less
SO WHAT?
AS THE EXPLOITS are hardware bugs with CPUs, there’s no way to fix
the issue on-chip. Instead, operating system software patches have been
released that mitigate the issues. Windows has been patched and your
computer is safe as of 3rd January.
Meltdown required operating systems to
change the way that the operating system’s
kernel code worked. The kernel is the lowest level Operating
of the operating system, which can directly
access hardware. By increasing the isolation
system software
between the kernel and user applications, it’s patches have been
been possible to prevent Meltdown attacks
from reading unauthorised memory.
released that mitigate
Spectre can involve many different attack the issues.Windows
vectors, so trying to fix the issue will require
many patches. Intel and AMD have both had has been patched and
to release microcode updates for their chips, in
order to give software the controls they need to
your computer is safe
mitigate attacks. As exploitation via a JavaScript
running in a browser is possible, Google has released an update to
Chrome that specifically blocks Spectre attacks. You can expect to see
further patches for other software in the future.
Google has created a new technique for dealing with the problem,
called Reptoline. Software developers can use Reptoline for branch
14
secure. It all comes down to the way in which modern processors work,
and how they try to be more efficient and maximise speed.
With modern operating systems, the idea is that, although there’s
one pot of memory in a computer, all processes can share it securely.
Operating systems and processes handle this through virtualisation,
creating
ng pockets
poc of data that only one application should
be able
abl to access.
The processor can read all
memory and handles security by
privilege, checking to see if a
process is allowed to access the
memory.
mem In this way, a virus or rogue
application
applic shouldn’t be able to access
data that
t belongs to another application.
The issue with Spectre and Meltdown
comes down
dow to a performance enhancement.
Processors all
a have an instruction pipeline, which
contains the list of jobs that have to be
performed.
performed Maximising pipeline efficiency and
ensuring that it is never empty makes sure that
the processor is never idle and that it operates in the most efficient way
possible. Two of the ways in which the processor does this is with
out-of-order execution and predictive execution.
With out-of-order execution, a processor re-orders instructions and
runs them in a different, more efficient order. Provided that the result
of the processing is the same, this makes no difference bar giving the
CPU a performance boost.
prediction, which creates a safe predictive branch where no data can
be stolen. This technique reduces the overhead, so should affect
performance less.
The good news is that no attacks that use Meltdown or Spectre have
been seen in the wild. The bad news is that
dealing with hardware problems in software isn’t
particularly efficient, and there’s a performance
hit involved in fixing the issues. Of the two, it’s
fixing Meltdown that has the biggest impact,
meaning that Intel processors will be more
affected than AMD ones.
Intel has revealed its internal benchmarks,
showing the impact of Meltdown and Spectre
patches. Tests were performed using 6th
(Skylake), 7th (Kaby Lake) and 8th (Kaby Lake
and Coffee Lake) generation processors, running
on systems with an SSD. Gaming hasn’t been hit
at all, with the GPU taking most of the strain, but
productivity tasks were hit, and in some cases quite significantly.
Running the SYSmark 2014 SE responsive test, for example, the
Skylake processor was 21% slower with the patch than without.
PCMark10 showed between a 3% and 4% drop across the entire
processor range for the Essentials and Productivity tests. The WebXPRT
APRIL 2018 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | ISSUE 362
 ▶ For the wallet
At £900, the Medion Erazer
X5361 G might not be what
most would consider a bargain
purchase, but it is in one very
specific way: this is the
cheapest way we know of to
Predictive execution lets the processor perform The rogue process can’t access the cached data, get your hands on
tasks ahead of time in the hope that they’re as it doesn’t have permission, but a clever a full Windows
needed. They work by predicting the likely outcome technique, known as a cache timing attack, lets PC with a genuine
of an instruction, then start work on the future Spectre and Meltdown tell if a memory location is 8GB GeForce
instructions based on this, using a technique known stored in cache. If that data is cached, the flaws GTX 1070
as branch prediction. know that it means that graphics card.
This means that the sensitive data is held, as This piece
CPU doesn’t have to it’s been recently of high-end
wait for the result of processed by the CPU. hardware is
one instruction before Another technique typically found
tackling the next one, is then used to rebuild only in systems
which can give a huge the memory location’s costing hundred
speed boost. If the content. So even of pounds more, and while
predictive instructions though a rogue certain sacrifices have
weren’t needed, the process can’t seemingly been made in
CPU resets back and physically access the maintaining this price – there’s
starts over again. protected memory, no SSD, for instance, and the
The problem with Spectre and Meltdown CPU is an older model – its
both out-of-order and predictive execution is that let the data be reconstructed and stolen. price-to-performance ratio in
instructions to access protected memory by a The main difference between Spectre and games is utterly superb.
rogue process are handled before the privilege Meltdown is how they work. Spectre manipulates a (Page 22)
check has the chance to run. So a rogue process process into revealing its own data; Meltdown can
can ask for the contents of a bit of memory, and access privileged data that the process would not
the CPU goes ahead and retrieves that information normally be able to access. ▶ For the den
storing it in the cache. Only when the privilege The implications of these flaws are huge, as What’s better than a smart
check is run later does the processor then deny no computer is safe from the bugs, and all speaker? A smart speaker
access to the data. operating systems are affected. that’s both wireless and
waterproof. Ultimate
Ears’ Megablast is a
proper Amazon
Echo-style smart
device, complete with
the Alexa assistant, but
2015 benchmark, which tests web application responsible for releasing software updates. While unlike similar speakers
performance, showed a drop of between 8% and Google has patched default Android, many older it can be taken outside
10% across the board for Windows 10. handsets won’t get the updates. Samsung, for for some high-quality
AMD processors are immune to Meltdown and example, has announced that the Galaxy S6 will music playback and stay there
some variants of Spectre. There aren’t, at the time get the update, but the Galaxy S5 will not. even if rain breaks out.
of writing, any benchmarks to show the impact of For mobile handsets, the issues aren’t quite as (Page 37)
Spectre patches, but the impact of these flaws bad as on desktop operating systems. With browser
should be far less than with Intel systems. and software updates, many Spectre exploits will
Worse for AMD owners was the way that be blocked automatically. As mobile operating ▶ For the shelf
patching was handled, with the initial rollout systems are more tightly locked down, it’s much We’re always looking for a
putting some computers into endless reboot harder for rogue code to get on your phone to run a pleasant respite from the
loops. Microsoft suspended the patches until a Meltdown attack. As always, be careful what you current batch of pricey
fix had been found. install, and make sure that you only use well-known smartphones, but the £150 EE
Apple has released patches for macOS High apps on the Google Play Store. Hawk isn’t it. Rather than
Sierra, and there are patches for Linux operating Unfortunately, the protections against Spectre attempt to transcend its
systems, too. Meltdown and Spectre can also affect and Meltdown are only workarounds. The only budget limitations,
mobile processors. Apple has patched all devices way to truly protect against both is with new this handset seems
running iOS 11 already, so you should update to the processors, explicitly designed to eliminate these content with a poor
latest version to protect yourself. In practice, this flaws. Intel has promised chips with built-in display, mediocre
means that all phones from the iPhone 5s upwards mitigations to these flaws later this year. battery life, and a
will get the required patches. All we can hope is that this shock will make CPU design that attracts
Android is more complicated, thanks to the companies take security more seriously and stop grease and grime
broad range of manufacturers, each of which is developing kit just for speed. like little else.
(Page 48)

ISSUE 262 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | APRIL 2018 15

 Crashes call into question autonomous
vehicle safety
SOUND
THE SAFETY OF self-driving cars has come
under the spotlight following two crashes in
BYTES
California involving cars that had been put Ballistic missile
into self-drive mode. threat inbound
The first accident involved a Chevrolet to Hawaii. Seek
Bolt, which collided with a motorbike on a immediate shelter.
San Francisco highway. This is not a drill”
According to the motorbike rider, Oscar The message Hawaiian residents
Nilsson, the car – which was in self-driving mode received after the Hawaii
but also had a human driver behind the wheel Emergency Management Agency
– started to change lanes to the left, but as he chose ‘Missile alert’ instead of
rode forward the Bolt swerved back into its ‘Test missile alert’ from a
original lane and knocked him to the ground. drop-down menu
Local paper Mercury News reported that According to Culver City firefighters, the Model S
the motorcyclist is now suing General Motors, ploughed straight into the back of one of their fire We know that
which owns and manufactures Chevrolets and engines, which was attending a separate incident, at some of you feel
other brands, but the car maker contends that 65mph on a freeway. Apple has let you down.
Nilsson was at fault. The car’s autopilot mode – which allows for
We apologise”
The other incident is slightly less complex. semi-autonomous driving, but also requires the
Apple responds to criticism that
Rather than involving two moving vehicles, the driver to be attentive (for example, holding the
it deliberately slows down the
crash in Culver City, Los Angeles, was between a wheel and being prepared to intervene if necessary)
performance of older iPhones
stationary fire engine and a Tesla car. – was apparently engaged at the time.

I think it is a
matter of when,
Russian cyber attack would cripple UK not if, and we will be
fortunate to come to
infrastructure, warns defence secretary the end of the decade
without having to
THE UK’S DEFENCE secretary has warned ned “The plan for the Russians won’t be for trigger a category
that a cyber attack by Russia could lan
landing craft to appear in the South Bay one attack”
cripple Britain’s infrastructure and cause in Scarborough, and off Brighton Ciaran Martin, head of the
“thousands and thousands and beach,” he said. UK National Cyber Security
thousands of deaths”. “They are going to be thinking, ‘how Centre, expects a major attack
Gavin Williamson told the Daily can we just cause so much pain to within the next two years
Telegraph that the Russian government Britain? Damage its economy, rip its
has been researching the UK’s energy infrastructure apart, actually cause As we seize these
supply and supporting infrastructure, and nd tho
thousands and thousands and thousands
opportunities of
ld
if it were to launch a cyber attack it would of dea
deaths, but actually have an element of
technology, so we also
cause “total chaos” for Britain. creating total chaos within the country.”
Williamson noted that an attack from Russia Security minister Lord West, who served as
have to shape this
is the “real threat” the UK is currently facing, and Britain’s First Sea Lord, said he was “absolutely change to ensure it
that an attack from Moscow would come from the certain” Russia has been looking at how it could works for everyone –
digital, not physical, world. access the UK’s critical infrastructure. be that in people’s jobs
or their daily lives”
Theresa May has ambitions to
make the UK a world leader in
Fitness app lights up staff at military bases artificial intelligence

A HEATMAP PUBLISHED by online fitness tracker
Strava appears to show the structure of foreign
military bases in countries including Syria and
Afghanistan as soldiers move around them.
San Francisco-based Strava provides an app that
uses a mobile phone’s GPS to track a subscriber’s
exercise activity. It uses the collected data, as well
as that from fitness devices such
as the Fitbit, so people can check
their performance and compare
it with others.
The heatmap is a data
visualisation showing the activity of
its 27 million global users. Strava
says the newest version has been
built from one billion activities.
Nathan Ruser, a 20-year-old Australian university The AI and robots
student studying international security who also are going to kill a
works with the Institute for United Conflict Analysts, lot of jobs, because in
came across the map while browsing a cartography the future, these will be
blog. He realised that a large number of military
done by machines”
personnel had been publicly sharing their location
Jack Ma, CEO of Chinese online
data and regular jogging routes.
giant Alibaba, has a less positive
“I just looked at it and thought, ‘oh hell, this
view of AI
should not be here – this is not
good’,” he told the BBC.
“I thought the best way to deal Privacy controls
with it is to make the vulnerabilities are only powerful
known so they can be fixed. Someone if you know how to find
would have noticed it at some point. I and use them”
just happened to be the person who Facebook promises it is now
made the connection.” easier to protect your data

16 APRIL 2018 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | ISSUE 362

Car theft rises as thieves circumvent modern security tech
UK MOTORISTS ARE increasingly at risk of
car theft, as unconventional security systems
on high-tech vehicles are vulnerable to new
avenues of compromise.
Police data has revealed a 30% increase
in car theft over the past three years, a
trend they attribute in part to canny
thieves’ capacity to bypass modern security
systems in cars.
Police footage emerged in November last
year showing how thieves were able to steal
cars without the need for keys, a feat that
becomes increasingly problematic as the
demand for keyless-entry vehicles continues
its onward march.
Over the past few years, many motor
manufacturers have eschewed traditional
metal keys for keyless entry systems,
meaning drivers simply need to be in the car and – assuming the key is somewhere
vicinity of the car with the key to open the nearby – wiping your key to then upload their thought to where to park your car; ideally a
door. Ostensibly a more convenient means own version and drive off with your car. well-lit location in an area not known for
of security, the new technology opens up To beat the hi-tech car thieves, the RAC criminal activity. Using a steering-wheel lock
different types of criminality. Thieves are able recommends a return to more traditional and putting your car key in a signal-blocking
to hijack the key’s signal by standing near the means of security, including giving some wallet will also help protect your vehicle.

30 7
£50,000
Games firm Capcom is offering a
reward to anyone who can prove
the Loch Ness monster exists
TalkTalk broadband
customers per 100,000
complaining to Ofcom
Sky customers per 100,000
complaining, the lowest number

40% 21% £400,000

People worried about
corporations misusing CARPHONE WAREHOUSE
WAS FINED AFTER A
their personal details PEOPLE WORRIED ABOUT CRIMINALS HACK OF THREE MILLION
(Source: Tripwire) MISUSING THEIR PERSONAL DETAILS CUSTOMERS’ DATA

190,000 $300M 95%

How many Swiss francs a Tag
Heuer Connected Full Diamond
THE AMOUNT SPENT ON
THE APPLE APP STORE
UK HOMES CAN NOW ACCESS
SUPERFAST BROADBAND OF
smartwatch will set you back ON 1 JANUARY 2018 24Mbit/s OR FASTER

ISSUE 362 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | APRIL 2018 17

 The tech industry’s biggest trade show always throws up plenty of products we
want now, as well as exciting tech trends for the future. Verity Burns trudged the
halls of the Las Vegas Convention Centre to pick out the e best
Samsung’s The Wall
Rather than talk about the TVs it will be
releasing in 2018, Samsung did things a
little differently at CES this year. Instead,
it teased some exciting future technology,
in the shape of a 146in modular display
called The Wall.
Super slim and completely bezel-free,
The Wall uses a relatively new technology
called MicroLED, which sounds like it could
be a real competitor for OLED. However,
while it promises the same rich colours,
deep blacks and excellent viewing angles,
thanks to its self-emitting pixels, it also
promises to be more durable and longer
lasting. Pretty pricey too, we’re guessing.
LG HU80KA projector
Most of us would like the big-screen
cinema experience in our home given the
chance, but for many, projectors require a
bit too much effort with all those fixings
and screens and packing away. LG’s 4K
HU80KA projector wants to do away with
all that by offering a whopping 150in
picture from a compact and portable
design. The box is freestanding – taller
than it is wide – and doesn’t require any
18
additional kit to get started,
beaming the image at a
bright 2,500 lumens, making
it LG’s brightest projector
yet. It looks like it will have
a relatively short throw, too,
so you can put it wherever
suits in your room.
Lenovo Smart
Display
Gadgets with built-in smart
assistants weren’t exactly
thin on the ground at CES
2018, but Lenovo’s Smart
Display caught our eye as a
real Echo Show competitor
– except it has Google Assistant at the helm.
Available in 8in and 10in versions, it might
look like any regular tablet, but it comes well
prepared for the job, running the official
Android Things OS and Assistant interface.
There’s a large speaker running down one
side that will allow you to communicate with
the Google Assistant just as you would a
Google Home speaker, plus the screen is
available for extra functionality. It looks to be
particularly useful for video calls, directions,
web browsing and recipes.
HTC Vive Pro
Virtual reality was, once again, a huge theme
for CES, and as one of the headsets really
leading the VR/AR revolution, it seemed
fitting the HTC Vive should have its latest
upgrade announced at the show. The HTC
Vive Pro is promising an improved
2,880x1,600 resolution from its OLED screens,
integrated headphones and a better fit, as well
as dual front-facing cameras that developers
can use to improve depth tracking or room
mapping. It still requires a wired connection to
a high-end PC to work, but the Vive Wireless
Adaptor for the Vive and Vive Pro was also
announced, to make that a thing of the past.
8K TVs
4K might only just be gathering momentum
in our homes, but the halls of CES were
already filled with the talk of what’s next.
The answer? 8K tellies, of course. LG showed
off an impressive 88in 8K TV OLED prototype,
while
whi Samsung teased that it would have an
8K-capable
8K set in its range by the end of 2018.
However, it was Sony’s tech that really
caught our eye, with a demo of its X1
cau
Ultimate TV chipset. Capable of pushing a
Ult
screen to a super-bright 10,000 lumens and
scr
upscaling any source to believable 8K, the
ups
extra detail, luminance and colour depth on
ext
display was outstanding.
dis
Philips SmartSleep
With all this connected living we’re doing,
switching off from it is equally big business.
It’s not surprising, then, that there was plenty
of sleep tech at the show, helping us to
squeeze in our required eight hours.
But amidst the breathing robotic pillows
and futuristic sleeping pods, the Philips
SmartSleep headband was one of the more
sensible options, aiming to improve your
quality of sleep in 14 days. It uses two small
sensors that detect when your brain is in deep
APRIL 2018 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | ISSUE 362

sleep, with the headset then emitting
customised audio tones to enhance the
depth and duration of it. The result?
Feeling much more rested the next day.
Sony Aibo
If there’s ever been a robot as lovable as
Sony’s robotic pooch Aibo, we’re yet to see it.
Thirteen years since the original was
discontinued, Aibo is back with a new look
and improved design to prove that old dogs
can indeed be taught new tricks. Capable of
more than 100 moves and learning more all
the time, Aibo’s behaviour changes through
his interaction with people, which he
recognises using a camera in his nose.
He can be just as defiant as a real puppy, but
you can help to reinforce good behaviour by
giving him a scratch on his head, back or chin.
At least he comes fully house trained.
Kohler Verdera Smart Mirror
If you thought the bathroom would be spared
from the influx of smart assistants, you’d be
ISSUE 362 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | APRIL 2018
very wrong indeed. Kohler
unveiled its Verdera
Smart Mirror with Alexa
at CES 2018, which acts
as the reflective central
hub for the ultimate
smart bathroom.
The basics are obvious
– ask it to control your
lights, play some music
or check the traffic on
your work route and it
will do just that. But if
you happen to own any
of Kohler’s other smart
bathroom products, you can also have it
switch on your shower to the perfect
temperature, drain the bath after you’ve
used it or even flush the toilet with just
your voice. The ultimate in lazy luxury.
its temperature to suit your virtual
Toyota E-Palette surroundings and could even give the
Car tech has taken over CES in recent years, sensation of being hit in a game. It’s also
and the show now even dedicates a whole hall fitted with motion capture, so there’s
to it. While we got a look at several new hope it could replace VR controllers
electric car models from the likes of Kia, entirely in the future.
L’Oréal UV Sense
Getting too much sun might not be a
huge problem for us in the UK, but
being aware of your UV exposure is
still an important step in the battle
against skin cancer. Beauty brand
L’Oréal was demoing its new UV
Sense smart device at the show – a
dinky wearable worn on your
thumbnail that monitors how
much sun you’re getting.
Battery-free and powered
by your smartphone, it can
last for up to two weeks
before it needs a new adhesive
patch. The companion app
details your exposure levels, along
with tips on when you most need to reapply
sunscreen or seek shade.
Hyundai and new brand Byton, it was the
self-driving tech that really took off this year,
and in particular, a concept by Toyota. The
E-Palette is a large, customisable autonomous
vehicle that can be made into whatever you
want it to be – a delivery truck, a ride-sharing
van or even a pop-up shop or hotel room.
Amazon, Uber and Pizza Hut are already
signed up for the futuristic concept, which
should debut at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Teslasuit
The virtual-reality experience may well be
improving all the time, but if the interaction
between you and what you’re seeing is only
one way, that feeling of realism can only go so
far. That is where Teslasuit comes in, a fully
washable bodysuit fitted with 46 different
haptic feedback points and a climate control
system. This allows it to simulate the
sensation of touch and weight, it can adjust
19
 REVIEWS
YOUR TRUSTED GUIDE TO WHAT’S NEW
ANDROID 8.0 SMARTPHONE
HTC U11 Life
★★★★★
£349 • From www.htc.com/uk
VERDICT
The U11 Life provides a cheaper alternative to HTC’s flagship
U11, but £349 is too expensive for what you get
HTC HAS BEEN extremely busy in the past
year, and not just because a chunk of its team
was bought by Google for a cool $1.1 billion.
It’s also launched a flurry of smartphones
based – frequently loosely – around its
flagship U11 (Shopper 355), including the
larger U11+, the dual-front-camera-equipped
U11 Eyes and this, the stripped-down, slightly
more budget-friendly U11 Life.
At a glance, the HTC U11 Life isn’t a radical
departure from the regular U11. Its display is
slightly smaller, at 5.2in to the U11’s 5.5in, but
they share the same general design. On the
back, for instance, the U11 Life is coated in the
same beautifully coloured ‘liquid glass’, which
glares different shades of blue or black
depending on the angle that light catches it.
CHANGE OF CLOTHES
The material used is slightly different: it’s
made from acrylic instead of proper glass, not
that acrylic is any less prone to picking up
plenty of fingerprints. The design does have
its benefits, though: its rounded edges make
the phone comfortable to hold and easy to
20
tuck away in jeans pockets. Better still,
it’s IP67 dust- and water-resistant, so will
survive a dunking in up to 1m of fresh
water for as long as 30 minutes.
Elsewhere, as with the original U11,
the volume rocker and ribbed power
button are sensibly placed on the right
edge, with the solitary USB Type-C
port on the bottom edge. There’s no
3.5mm headphone jack, although to
make up for this you do get a pair of
HTC USonic USB Type-C earphones
included in the box.
There’s a fingerprint reader (pulling
double duties with the central home
button) just below the phone’s display,
flanked by touch-based capacitive back
and recent apps buttons. The U11 Life
also has the same pressure sensors built
into its frame as its bigger brother: give
the phone a squeeze and you’ll be able
to carry out various shortcut actions,
from launching Google Assistant to
capturing selfies, without having to
locate an onscreen button.
For connectivity and expansion,
meanwhile, the HTC U11 Life has 32GB or Super LCD panel achieved an impressive
64GB of internal storage, which can be contrast ratio of 1,932:1, meaning images have
expanded by up to 256GB through a microSD a great impact, and the U11 Life also has a
card. Unlike some of its competitors, however, wide colour gamut, with a recorded 93.8%
the U11 Life features only a single-SIM slot sRGB and 80.4% DCI P3 coverage.
with no dual-SIM tray. Colour accuracy isn’t as good, with a high
average delta-E of 2.87 (ideally this should be
STICK TO THE EDGES closer to 1 or less) and a maximum of 9.31,
As for the screen, the U11 Life doesn’t follow which means it can’t match the likes of the
the U11 Plus, with its frame-filling display, Samsung Galaxy S8 (Shopper 353).
but instead has a Full HD (1,920x1,080) 16:9 Nonetheless, by and large it’s a good-quality
5.2in screen – bezels and all. screen, and one we struggled to find
It’s a pretty good display, too. At a significant fault with during everyday use.
measured 553cd/m2 peak brightness, the
U11 Life should be readable in even the ONE UP
harshest of ambient light. Software-wise, the U11 is one of the first
Technically it’s great, too. Tested with our Android One handsets we’ve come across.
X-Rite i1 Display Pro colour calibrator, its This isn’t a new version of Google’s operating
APRIL 2018 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | ISSUE 362
system – the phone runs Android 8.0
out of the box, which itself is a plus
point when many older flagships are
still yet to upgrade to it – but rather a
joint hardware and software standard
that limits manufacturer customisation
in exchange for greater security and
less-delayed software updates for a
certain time. In the U11 Life’s case,
that’s two years.
Part of meeting the standard involves
running stock Android, which means
there’s little out of the ordinary when it
comes to the U11 Life’s software, other
than support for the squeezable frame
and bundled USonic earphones.
The latter are particularly interesting
for two reasons: first, they can scan your
ears and will automatically tweak the EQ
depending on how sensitive you are to
various frequencies; and second, they
have active noise cancellation.
Generally, they’re good for what is
essentially a freebie, and the active noise
cancellation works reasonably well, but
we found the personalised sound profile a
little too heavy on the bass.
POWER STRUGGLE
Inside the U11 Life, there’s a 2.2GHz
octa-core Snapdragon 630 processor with
4GB of RAM. It’s easily fast enough for
daily browsing, but its performance doesn’t
offer anything special over its competitors in
the £350-ish space. In fact, its Geekbench 4
scores of 831 in the single-core test and 3,447
in the multicore test are lower, on both counts,
The 16-megapixel front-facing camera is absolutely fantastic,
and makes this the best mid-range phone for selfies
than the Motorola Moto Z2 Play (Shopper 357)
and the Honor 9 (Shopper 359).
The Adreno 508 GPU also disappoints. In
the GFXBench Manhattan 3 test, the U11 Life
returned an average of only 13fps in the
onscreen (native resolution) benchmark, a long
way behind the Honor 9 and its average of
35fps. That said, it does edge ahead of the
Moto Z2 Play, which managed only 10fps.
Battery life underwhelms as well. The U11 Life’s
2,600mAh battery (which isn’t removable) lasted
11h 10m in our video rundown benchmark, which
is a pretty mediocre result, albeit not far off
the sort of stamina delivered by key rivals; the
Honor 9, for instance, lasted 11h 36m in the same
test. However, the Moto Z2 Play kept going all
the way to 19h 33m, so long stamina is clearly
possible in this price bracket.
SELFIE-ABSORBED
One thing the U11 Life doesn’t inherit from the
U11, unfortunately, is its rear camera. Instead,
what you get here is a 16-megapixel f/2 camera
with phase-detect autofocus. Results are
mediocre for a £349 smartphone; by comparison,
ISSUE 362 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | APRIL 2018
the sub-£250 Moto G5S (Shopper 360)
and Vodafone Smart V8 provide
near-identical performance, while the
Honor 9 performs a lot better.
However, it’s a competent camera,
able to pick up plenty of detail and
doesn’t oversaturate the colours.
With HDR enabled, there’s better
contrast between light and dark
areas than with it switched off.
Under low light conditions, there’s
a lot of image noise, although the
camera again performs much better
with HDR enabled. With flash, image
noise is completely eliminated and
colours remain balanced. Unlike the
Vodafone Smart V8, with its yellowish
tint, the U11 Life doesn’t skew skin tones
of photographed subjects.
By contrast, the 16-megapixel
front-facing camera is absolutely
fantastic, and makes this the outright
best mid-range phone for selfies. The
sensor captures plenty of light thanks
to its f/2.0 aperture, and the sheer
number of pixels help the U11 Life
capture an incredible amount of detail.
SEMI-CHARMED LIFE
The U11 Life could have been a bit of a
damp squib – a cut-down version of the
HTC U11 without that phone’s great
camera, top performance, battery life and big
screen – and, truth be told, it comes close in a
few places. Luckily, it’s got a lot else going for it.
It’s one of the first mid-range smartphones
in the UK to ship with Android One, it has IP67
dust- and water-resistance, the same glossy
design as its bigger brother and a phenomenal
front-facing camera.
In the end, the U11 Life just misses out on
a recommendation, and that’s all down to the
strength of the competition at this price.
The Honor 9, for instance, will cost you only
£30 more and beats the U11 Life for all-round
performance, while the Motorola Z2 Play (around
£365) either beats or almost matches it for
performance while offering far better battery life.
Christopher Minasians
SPECIFICATIONS
PROCESSOR Octa-core 2.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 630•
• SCREEN RESOLUTION 1,920x1,080 •
SCREEN SIZE 5.2in
REAR CAMERA 16-megapixel • STORAGE 32GB • WIRELESS
DATA 4G • DIMENSIONS 149x73x8.1mm • WEIGHT 142g •
OPERATING SYSTEM Android 8.0 • WARRANTY One year RTB
• DETAILS www.htc.com/uk • PART CODE 99HAMV009-00
Battery life 11h 10m
0% -50 Reference +50 +100
See page 68 for performance details
 DESKTOP GAMING PC
MEDION Erazer X5361 G
★★★★★
£900 • From www.box.co.uk
VERDICT
Another value-minded Medion PC sacrifices its
CPU in return for huge gaming horsepower
LAST ISSUE WE looked at the Medion Erazer
P4408 D, a desktop PC that passed on certain
hardware features (such as a current-gen CPU
or SSD) in order to provide massive graphics
performance at a low price. This issue, we’re
looking at the Medion Erazer X5361 G, a
desktop PC that passes on certain hardware
features in order to provide massive graphics
performance at a low price.
The systems share a general approach to
part-picking, and have the same processor: a
quad-core, 3GHz Intel Core i5-7400. However,
the Erazer X5361 G aims higher, with a more
distinctive chassis, 16GB of DDR4 RAM and
an 8GB Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070.
Just as the P4408 D threw in a GTX 1060
for much less than you’d pay for a pre-built
PC with the same GPU, the X5361 G is by far
the cheapest GTX 1070 system we’ve seen.
HARD CASE
Once again, this has come at the cost of some
other things we’d have liked from a mid-range
desktop. Instead of the ideal SSD and hard
disk combination, you get only a single 2TB
mechanical drive, with not even a small SSD
cache. Capacity-wise, it’s great, but relying
solely on a hard disk for Windows is a practice
that’s best left behind at the budget level, and
the Erazer X5361 G shows why. It’s painfully
slow to boot, and even when it does, we
found it necessary to wait a couple of minutes
after reaching the desktop to actually try
opening any applications – otherwise, that
would take an age as well.
22
Using the AS SSD
storage benchmark, we
measured sequential
read speeds at 137MB/s
and write speeds at
139MB/s, so for data
transfers it’s not bad by
hard disk standards, but
for general Windows use
the difference between
this and an SSD is stark.
For £900, it’s also a
little harder to be content with a Core i5-7400
than it was with the cheaper Erazer P4408 D.
The higher 16GB of RAM helped in the
multitasking portion of our 4K benchmarks, in
which the Erazer X5361 G scored 100 (up from
91 on the P4408 D), but it scored 88 in the
image test and 95 in the video test, for 97
overall. That’s lower than the Core i3-powered
PC Specialist Enigma K6 (Shopper 360), and for
an extra £100-£150, you could get something
like the Enigma X 01 or CCL Reaper (Shopper
358), which scored 183 and 217 respectively.
TRUMP CARD
The good news is that this chip doesn’t hold
back the GTX 1070, which is, let’s not forget,
what this PC is really about. Its gaming
benchmark scores were on par with all other
GTX 1070-based systems we’ve tested, which
is to say that it’s a high-res powerhouse: in
Dirt Showdown with Ultra quality settings, it
produced a luxurious 161fps at 1,920x1,080,
132fps at 2,560x1,440 and 75fps at 3,840x2,160.
Metro: Last Light Redux, too,
was far from an insurmountable
challenge: here, the Erazer X5361
G scored 73fps at 1,980x1,080
and 43fps at 2,560x1,440, both of
which are more than smooth
enough. At 4K, it dropped to a
stuttery 19fps, though this was
easily remedied by disabling
SSAA, which is an essentially
redundant tool at this resolution.
Doing so produced an instant
boost to 40fps, still with Very
High quality, tessellations and
PhysX effects enabled.
It can easily handle VR as
well, judging by its run in the
SteamVR Performance Test: it
scored 10.8 out of a possible 11,
showing that you won’t need to
reduce any graphical quality
settings to get high frame rates.
It’s better equipped
than the P4408 D in
terms of both external
connectivity and internal
upgrade potential, too.
At the front, there are
four USB ports (two
USB2, two USB3), as well
as an SD card reader and
DVD-RW drive, while at
the back there are two USB2
ports, four USB3 ports and three
3.5mm audio jacks. A Gigabit Ethernet port
handles wired connectivity (there’s no
integrated Wi-Fi), and you get a healthy mix of
audio outputs, including four DisplayPorts,
two HDMI ports and one DVI-D socket.
LET IT SLIDE
On the inside, there are no spare PCI-E x16 or
RAM slots, which is a shame, but there is a
spare PCI-E x1 slot. Three dual 2.5in/3.5in drive
bays and an M.2 slot also mean you can add
an SSD yourself in the future, or simply pack
in extra hard disks. There’s also a pull-out,
push-in 3.5in tray accessible from the front
panel, which is useful if you want to quickly
slip in a drive to get at its contents without
wanting it to be a permanent fixture.
While elements of the Medion Erazer
X5361 G feel as though they belong in a much
cheaper (or older) rig, this flaw is balanced out
by how the graphics card feels as if it belongs
in a much more expensive one. In this sense,
it’s very much the next step up from the
Erazer P4408 D: a PC you shouldn’t buy if you
want a slick all-rounder, but is absolutely
worth it if you’re solely seeking maximum
gaming power for as little cash as possible.
James Archer
SPECIFICATIONS
PROCESSOR Quad-core 3GHz Intel Core i5-7400• RAM
16GB DDR4 • FRONT USB PORTS 2x USB2, 2x USB3 •
REAR USB PORTS 2x USB2, 4x USB3 • GRAPHICS CARD
8GB Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 • STORAGE 2TB hard disk •
DISPLAY None • OPERATING SYSTEM Windows 10 Home •
WARRANTY One year RTB • DETAILS www.medion.com •
PART CODE 10021504
Windows overall 97
Multitasking 100
Dirt Showdown 161fps
Metro: Last Light 73fps
0% -50 Reference +50 +100
See page 68 for performance details
APRIL 2018 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | ISSUE 362
DESKTOP GAMING PC

PC SPECIALIST Enigma X 02
★★★★★
£1,029 • From www.pcspecialist.co.uk

VERDICT
Six cores, 6GB of VRAM and two storage drives
add up to a quietly brilliant PC

AT A TOUCH over a grand, the Enigma X 02
goes head-to-head with the £1,053 Wired2Fire
Pyro Reactor (Shopper 358), one of our Best
Buys. They’ve clearly been pieced together
with similar thinking: forgo any big luxuries
and focus on delivering fast, if ultimately
mid-range, performance across the board.
So the Enigma X 02 doesn’t try to impress
with water-cooling, built-in Wi-Fi or a glass
side panel (there is a window, but it’s acrylic).
However, it has been built around a formidable
set of components, namely the latest Intel
Core i5-8600K, a Z370 motherboard, 16GB of
DDR4 RAM and a 6GB GeForce GTX 1060.
STOCK AND ROLL
As we’ve seen several times in recent issues,
the Core i5-8600K’s six cores (from the Core
i5-7600K’s four) hugely hikes its multitasking
capabilities. The Enigma X 02 scored 146 in
our image test, 189 in the video test and 212 in
multitasking, for an overall score of 193; not
what you’d get from a high-end workstation,
but more than enough for everyday use.
However, the Pyro Reactor comes out
slightly ahead, with its titanic multitasking and
overall scores of 246 and 217. To be fair, that’s
with an overclocked AMD Ryzen 5 1600X,
while the Core i5-8600K here is running at its
stock speeds of 3.6GHz base and 4.3GHz with
Turbo Boost. But for those without an interest
in tinkering with ratios and multipliers, the
Pyro Reactor might be the better choice.
That said, there is untapped potential here;
the Overclockers Gaming Oxygen (Shopper
361) scored 225 overall by overclocking its
own Core i5-8600K to
4.8GHz. Overclocking
will make the air cooler
run louder, but since it’s
very quiet to begin with,
that’s not much of a
worry. In a sustained
run of 100% CPU load
in our benchmarks,
we measured core
temperatures sticking
around 60-64°C, so there’s
some thermal headroom to work with as well.
Since the Enigma X 02 and Pyro Reactor
have the same GPU, they’re much more evenly
matched on gaming performance. In Dirt
Showdown, the Enigma X 02 put out 122fps at
1,920x1,080, 99fps at 2,560x1,440 and 55fps at
3,840x2,160, so older and less demanding
games will run fine even at 4K.
As for the less forgiving Metro: Last Light
Redux, the Enigma X 02 copes at 1,920x1,080,
averaging 50fps. 2,560x1,440 proved a bit too
much, dropping to 29fps, and 3,840x2,160 was
unplayable at 12fps. Fortunately, to get 1440p
going at a better pace, we just had to disable
SSAA to reach 55fps, and while 4K forced us
to drop from Very High to Medium settings,
this produced a still-acceptable 51fps.
PC Specialist’s system also matched the
Pyro Reactor in the SteamVR Performance
Test with a final score of 7.9, thus earning it
VR-ready status. For less money, the Medion
Erazer X5361 G (opposite) offers a more
powerful, more 4K-inclined GTX 1070, but this
is a far better-balanced rig on the whole.
SOLID STATE OF MIND
This balance can be seen not just
in the choice of CPU, but in the
storage. Here, the 1TB hard disk
has been relegated to backup
space, with a 250GB NVMe SSD
acting as the main drive. Unlike
the vast majority of M.2-mounted
SSDs we’ve used, this Western
Digital model uses the mSATA
interface rather than the much
faster PCI-E, so speeds aren’t really
huge disappointment,
though: the drive keeps
Windows feeling slick,
and matches the Pyro
Reactor’s SSD on both
capacity and (roughly)
transfer speeds.
Open up the case
– which is pleasantly
compact for a mid-tower
– and you have the chance to
add a few parts to the motherboard.
One PCI-E x16, four PCI-E x1 and four RAM
slots are all free for future upgrades, as is a
second M.2 slot. Physical storage capacity is
limited, however: there are only two 3.5in
bays and a single 2.5in bay hidden around the
back, and one of the former is already taken.
Both 5.25in trays are empty, though.
Connectivity is fine, if unexceptional. That
means the usual three 3.5mm audio jacks
rather than fancy stuff such as S/PDIF, along
with an Ethernet jack, four HDMI ports, two
DisplayPorts and two DVI-D sockets. The
front I/O panel has only one USB2 and USB3
port apiece, so you’ll be relying on the two
USB2 and four USB3 connectors at the back.
A PS/2 port is included as well.
ZERO TWO HERO
In the end, there isn’t much separating the
Enigma X 02 and the Pyro Reactor; even the
latter’s modest CPU advantage is arguably
balanced out by the PC Specialist system
being slightly cheaper. In terms of handing out
awards, that extra processing power is enough
for the Pyro Reactor to keep its Best Buy, but
this challenger is still a brilliant multi-purpose
PC that’s fully deserving of your cash.
James Archer
SPECIFICATIONS
PROCESSOR Hexa-core 3.6GHz Intel Core i5-8600K RAM •
•
16GB FRONT USB PORTS 1x USB2, 1x USB3 REAR USB •
•
PORTS 2x USB2, 4x USB3 GRAPHICS CARD 6GB Nvidia
•
GeForce GTX 1060 STORAGE 250GB SSD, 1TB hard disk •
•
DISPLAY None OPERATING SYSTEM Windows 10 Home •
WARRANTY Three years labour, including one year parts and
•
one month collect and return DETAILS www.pcspecialist.
•
co.uk PART CODE Enigma X 02

any different to how a standard

2.5in SATA drive would run. Windows overall 193
Indeed, according to the AS Multitasking 212
SSD test, it recorded a sequential Dirt Showdown 122fps
read speed of 520MB/s and a Metro: Last Light 50fps
sequential write speed of 476MB/s
0% -50 Reference +50 +100
– bog-standard SATA scores if See page 68 for performance details
we’ve ever seen them. It’s not a

ISSUE 362 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | APRIL 2018 23

 DESKTOP WORKSTATION
OVERCLOCKERS Renda G3-CS
★★★★★
£2,800 • From www.overclockers.co.uk
VERDICT
It’s expensive, and aims for graphic design capability via gaming
PC parts, but there’s no denying this system’s raw strength
THE RENDA G3-CS is branded as a ‘graphic
design workstation’, which might be a point of
contention – workstations are traditionally
designed to solve technical problems in an
enterprise environment, but with its GeForce
GTX 1080 Ti graphics card and consumer-
grade Intel Coffee Lake chip, this has strong
hints of home use and gaming pretensions.
This split focus doesn’t preclude the Renda
G3-CS from being a good PC. The GTX 1080 Ti
(a factory-overclocked Asus ROG Strix model)
brings all of its 11GB of video memory to bear,
and the hexa-core, 12-thread Core i7-8700K
CPU has also received a speed boost from
3.7GHz to 5.1GHz. Almost as important, from a
computer-aided design (CAD) perspective, is
the generous 32GB of DDR4 RAM.
HEY BIG RENDA
With a 360mm water-cooling unit taming that
huge CPU overclock, the Renda G3-CS put in
an impressive performance in our benchmarks.
It scored 186 in the image test, 275 in the video
test and 329 in the multitasking test. Its overall
score of 287 is certainly high enough to juggle
multiple process-intensive applications.
It’s not quite the most powerful PC we’ve
tested, however. The Chillblast Fusion Photo
OC VIII (Shopper 358) managed 313 in the
video test, 376 in multitasking and 322
overall; only its image score of 176 was lower.
This system comes with a lower-specced GTX
1060 graphics as standard, but includes an
octa-core Intel Core i7-7820X from the
premium Skylake-X line, allowing for higher
performance even at the lower price of £2,300.
24
At least that extra
£500 nets the Renda
G3-CS some superlative
gaming prowess. It
blasted through Dirt
Showdown, averaging
199fps at 1,920x1,080
and 193fps at 2,560x1,440.
Even at 4K, also known
as 3,840x2,160, it
remained silky at 130fps.
This is the only PC we’ve tested that can hit
an acceptable 30fps in Metro: Last Light
Redux on Very High settings at 4K. Disabling
SSAA bumps this up to 62fps. That’s not even
necessary at 1,920x1,080 and 2,560x1,440, at
which the PC scored 120fps and 70fps
respectively. These results beat those of other
GTX 1080 Ti systems, like the Chillblast Fusion
Portal (Shopper 353) and Yoyotech Redback
N6 (Shopper 359) significantly, suggesting
that Asus’s overclocking efforts have been
particularly successful on this specific card.
How this GPU will aid design work is less
clear; most relevant applications rely more on
the CPU, and those that do take advantage of
GPU acceleration can be inconsistent in the
extent to which they do so. That said, 3D
modelling will definitely benefit from a beefier
graphics card, and the GTX 1080 Ti’s gigantic
core count and RAM reserves are nice to have,
even if it’s just for future-proofing purposes.
BACK TO WORK
In any case, there are many more obvious
provisions to the professional crowd. Besides
the mountain of memory, on the
software side you get Windows
10 Pro, which offers both
additional security and remote
access tools for work use. It’s an
impressively quiet runner as
well, mainly thanks to the thick
slabs of insulating foam fixed
throughout the case’s interior;
you’re unlikely to be disturbed by
this PC under load.
It’s also equipped with the
range of physical connectors that
befits a serious work PC. At the
rear, it’s mainly audio outputs,
with S/PDIF, rear speaker and
C/SUB ports joining the standard
line in, line out and mic jacks, and
the mix of two USB2, two USB3
and single USB3.1 and USB Type-C
ports isn’t to be discounted.
Three HDMI outputs,
three DisplayPorts and
two DVI-D sockets will
also accommodate
large multi-monitor
arrangements.
All this is nothing on
the front panel, though.
An added multi-card
reader in one of the 5.25in
drive trays will take SD, microSD,
CFI, MS, M2 and xD cards, and adds to the
case’s built-in USB connectors (hidden under a
plastic flap near the top) for a tremendous
total of seven USB2 ports and three USB3
ports. There’s even an eSATA socket for
external hard disks and enclosures.
The included storage could be higher,
capacity-wise – the 512GB NVMe is great, and
incredibly fast, but it’s only accompanied by a
single 2TB hard disk. Fortunately, there’s lots
of room to add to this, with five spare 3.5in
drive bays, one 2.5in bay and a second M.2 slot
on the motherboard. There are two free PCI-E
x16 and PCI-E x1 slots apiece here, too.
HYBRID WARFARE
The only area in which the Renda G3-CS seems
weak is value: the Fusion Photo OC VIII is far
cheaper, and has an even faster CPU and dual
RAID 3TB hard disks – perfect for keeping all
those large project files safe. Windows 10 Pro
can also be added for just £72, and while it
only has a 6GB GTX 1060 graphics card, this is
fine for things such as 4K video editing. That
said, certain apps will get a boost from the
GTX 1080 Ti, and should you want a combined
work/play PC, this is priced a lot more sensibly.
James Archer
SPECIFICATIONS
•
PROCESSOR Hexa-core 5.1GHz Intel Core i7-8700K
RAM 32GB DDR4 • FRONT USB PORTS 7x USB2, 3x USB3 •
REAR USB PORTS 2x USB2, 2x USB3, 1x USB3.1, 1x USB Type-C
• GRAPHICS CARD 11GB Asus ROG Strix GeForce GTX 1080 Ti
OC • STORAGE 512GB SSD, 2TB hard disk • DISPLAY None •
OPERATING SYSTEM Windows 10 Pro • WARRANTY Three
years collect and return • DETAILS www.overclockers.co.uk •
PART CODE FS-1AH-EP
Windows overall 287
Multitasking 329
Dirt Showdown 199fps
Metro: Last Light 120fps
0% -50 Reference +50 +100
See page 68 for performance details
APRIL 2018 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | ISSUE 362
 CONVERTIBLE WINDOWS 10 LAPTOP
LENOVO Yoga 920
★★★★★
£1,349 • From www.lenovo.com
VERDICT
This ultra-thin convertible has an imperfect screen
but brilliant design, performance and battery life
CONVERTIBLE LAPTOPS AREN’T as popular
as the more common 2-in-1 form factor as
used by devices such as the Microsoft
Surface Pro. It’s a bit of a shame, as
convertibles typically have better
keyboards than their 2-in-1 counterparts,
making them better laptops; and for those
times you want a tablet, you can just slip the
keyboard around the back of the screen.
Lenovo certainly sees the benefit of
convertibles, updating its Yoga line with
genuinely great products, such as the Yoga
Book (Shopper 348). It’s now launched the
13.9in Yoga 920, a replacement for the Yoga
900. It’s a bit more expensive than that £999
laptop: the Yoga 920 starts at £1,199 for the
entry-level model, which includes an 8th-gen
Intel Core i5-8250U processor, 8GB of RAM
and 256GB of storage. Upgrade to a Core
i7-8550U CPU with 512GB of storage, like the
one we tested, and you’re looking at £1,349.
HEAD TURNER
Pick up the Yoga 920, and it certainly
feels like a four-figured-sum of a laptop.
Despite shaving 1mm from its design, the
all-aluminium unibody chassis feels rock solid.
Tastefully slim, the Yoga 920 measures just
14mm thin, and weighs a spine-friendly 1.37kg.
The 360° watchband hinge – a staple of
Lenovo’s convertibles – makes another
The Yoga 920 managed an exceptional image test score
of 122, which is on a par with a good desktop system
appearance with the Yoga 920. This holds the
screen securely in place, no matter the angle.
Wireless connectivity is handled by
802.11ac Wi-Fi, plus Bluetooth 4.1. There are
plenty of physical ports too, at least by
ultraportable standards: you get Thunderbolt-
powered USB Type-C ports for charging and
connecting to external monitors, along with a
3.5mm headphone jack, but the most useful
inclusion is a full-size USB3 port on the
right-hand edge. That’s impressive for such a
thin device, especially at a time when most
slimline laptop manufacturers are opting
solely for USB Type-C ports.
The keys are well spaced for accuracy, and
the amount of tactile mechanical feedback is
as good as you’ll get from any laptop
keyboard of this size, even if travel is on the
shallow side. The trackpad, too, is excellent
26
– smooth, adequately sized and responsive,
it handles decisive clicks and multitouch
gestures equally well.
Lenovo also has bundled in its Active Pen
2 stylus at no extra cost. Given that you’re
expected to fork out an additional £100 for
a Microsoft or Apple equivalent, it’s a
welcome little extra. It supports up to 4,096
levels of pressure sensitivity, and it’s simply a
joy to use. Likewise, palm rejection – which
kicks in when you’re leaning the side of your
writing hand on the display as you use the
stylus – works perfectly.
NICE BUT DIM
The Yoga 920’s 13.9in Full HD IPS screen is
outperformed by its rivals. For starters,
brightness is low, and was only capable of
reaching a dull 289cd/m2 in our display tests.
Likewise, the Yoga 920 suffers from poor
colour accuracy across the palette. Our X-Rite
display calibrator recorded an average delta-E
of 2.97 (a score lower than 1 is preferred), and
an sRGB colour gamut coverage of just 84%.
This isn’t an ideal display for colour-sensitive
work, which is particularly unfortunate for a
convertible; these can potentially excel at
design work by flipping between sensible
laptop and drawing canvas configurations.
Thankfully, under-the-hood performance is
a lot better. In our 4K application benchmarks,
the Intel Core i7-8550U-powered Yoga 920
managed an exceptional image test score of
122, which is on a par with a good desktop
system. It also performed well in the video-
encoding test, scoring 91, and came out with
80 in the multitasking benchmark and 91
overall. That’s not bad at all for a quad-core,
U-series mobile processor.
With Intel UHD Graphics 620, the Yoga 920
is also a fairly capable gaming machine. We
got a smooth 48fps out of Dirt Showdown
running at 720p with High settings, and
bumping the resolution up to 1080p still
produced a playable 30fps.
Battery life is also excellent. The Yoga 920
achieved a time of 12h 29m in our continuous
video playback test with the screen set to our
standard 170cd/m2 brightness. That’s four
hours longer than the Dell XPS 13 2-in-1
(Shopper 353), and almost seven hours longer
than Microsoft’s Surface Book 2 (Shopper
361). You shouldn’t have any problem getting
through a full work day and then some.
FLIPPING THE SCALES
Lenovo has confidently built on this hybrid’s
predecessor to create another premium
convertible, with useful features and fine
design choices. It’s expensive, to be sure, but
also not out of the ordinary on price: two of
our favourite flippy convertibles, the Dell XPS
13 2-in-1 and HP Spectre x360 (Shopper 356),
both cost around £1,300, and the Yoga 920
absolutely crushes them in CPU performance.
An arguably bigger issue is the Yoga 920’s
display quality, which significantly limits the
laptop’s usefulness as a creative tool, with its
dull, inaccurate colours. We’d much rather
have the Dell XPS 13 2-in-1 for this kind of
stylus-heavy work.
For most other purposes, however, it’s not
enough of a detriment to distract from the
Yoga 920’s obvious successes. It’s a stunning
machine, with excellent performance and
long-lasting battery life, and the included
stylus is a most welcome extra.
Nathan Spendelow
SPECIFICATIONS
PROCESSOR Quad-core 1.8GHz Intel Core i7-8550U RAM •
•
8GB DIMENSIONS 323x224x14mm WEIGHT 1.37kg • •
•
SCREEN SIZE 13.9in SCREEN RESOLUTION 1,920x1,080 •
GRAPHICS ADAPTOR Intel UHD Graphics 620 TOTAL •
•
STORAGE 512GB SSD OPERATING SYSTEM Windows 10
• •
Home WARRANTY One year RTB DETAILS www.lenovo.
•
com PART CODE 80Y7007JUK
Battery life 12h 29m
0% -50 Reference +50 +100
See page 68 for performance details
APRIL 2018 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | ISSUE 362
 CPU AIR COOLER
ARCTIC FREEZER 33 eSports One
★★★★★
£30 • From www.amazon.co.uk
VERDICT
This cooler performs OK, but its design and
quietness help it to really shine
LIKE MOST HARDWARE with eSports
branding, the Arctic Freezer 33 eSports
One won’t necessarily provide you with
much advantage in competitive gaming,
but let’s see if can at least prove itself a
desirable air cooler.
It’s essentially a single-fan (and thus
cheaper) version of the £45 Freezer 33
eSports Edition, which has two fans to create
a push/pull airflow effect across the radiator.
The Freezer 33 eSports One thus makes do
with pull alone, but otherwise it’s all the same.
That includes some seriously good looks:
with its matt black radiator and two-tone
BioniX F120 fan, it’s a lot more handsome than
most of Arctic’s dreary grey coolers. For those
who prefer a bit more colour, there are red/
black, green/black and yellow/black versions,
though this tasteful white/black model is our
favourite. The whole thing measures 150mm
top to bottom, so it’s compact enough to fit in
all but the most cramped cases.
OUT WITH THE OLD
In terms of compatibility, this cooler will fit
Intel’s LGA115X, 2011, 2011-3 and 2066 sockets,
as well as AM4 sockets on the AMD side.
Some older sockets are left out, then, but
frankly if you’re still using an AM3 or Intel
LGA775 chip, it’s long overdue for an upgrade
anyway. AMD’s TR4 (used for enthusiast
Threadripper CPUs) is the only modern
omission, though we’d recommend water-
cooling for these over a £30 air cooler.
The same goes for most of Intel’s LGA2066
chips, even if the socket is supported here.
Setting it up in our test PC, which includes
an LGA1150-based Intel Core i7-4770K, we
found installation to be easy enough in some
28
places yet fiddly in others.
Attaching and detaching
the fan with wire clips is
child’s play, but for any
Intel socket, you need to
insert a mounting plate
through the rear of the
motherboard, then on the other side, thread
four long screws through elevated mounting
clips down into the backplate’s holes below.
That’s all while the cooler is sliding around the
CPU, thanks to the thermal paste – this is
included, thankfully, but comes in a tiny
packet rather than a re-usable tube or
pre-applied to the heatpipes’ contact surface.
AM4 installation should be a little easier,
as you can ditch the backplate and simply
screw the cooler on to the motherboard’s
stock mounts.
AND STAY DOWN
Cooling performance hits the mark, even if
it’s never really awe-inspiring. With the Core
i7-4770K running its four cores at stock
3.5GHz speeds, the Freezer 33 eSports One
had it idling around 36-40°C, with a brief
peak during startup of 49°C. Running Metro:
Last Light Redux, our most demanding
benchmark game, temperatures only rose
slightly to 41-46°C, with a peak of 51°C.
We also tried running our 4K application
benchmarks, which pushes the CPU to a
sustained 100% load; in these tough
conditions, the chip generally stuck around
the 56-60°C region, with a peak of 61°C.
Following a quick overclock to 3.9GHz, the
Core i7-4770K once again kept (mostly) within
the 36-40°C range, on only peaking slightly higher
than at stock speeds with a high of 52°C –
again, recorded right after booting up. Metro
saw another little rise, up to
47-49°C generally with a
47
53°C peak, and our 4K
benchmark produced the
biggest increase, up to
65-68°C with a 72°C peak.
Other than some
mediocre idle
temperatures, the
Freezer 33 eSports One
impresses at stock
speeds. In most cases,
it’s only single-digit
degrees warmer than the
de
Be Quiet! Silent Loop
vast B
360mm (Sh(Shopper 358), a
that costs £110 more.
watercooler tha
Things heat up significantly after overclocking
– not enough to be a concern, as even the
highest peak we recorded was still 28°C off
the chip’s 100°C throttling point – but when it
comes to purely keeping temperatures down,
a little air cooler like this can’t compete with a
decent liquid system on a boosted CPU.
In fairness, the Freezer 33 eSports One
firmly beats Intel’s stock cooler at both clock
speeds (for instance, with the Intel cooler,
overclocked temperatures during the Metro
gaming test peaked at 79°C), and it’s as quiet
as we could ask for, too. We only began to
notice its hum after several minutes of the
CPU maxing out its load; until then, it was
no louder than the single 120mm exhaust
fan in our chassis, or the blower-style cooler
on our GTX 1060 graphics card.
LANDING BLOWS
Should you be willing to trade reduced noise
for bonus cooling power, it is possible to
add a second fan to the opposite side of
the radiator – something that’s been
commendably planned for, with the included
fan’s 4-pin cable incorporating a splitter, so
you can plug in another one without using
up an addition header on the motherboard.
Spare BioniX F120s cost between £11 and £14,
so it is in fact cheaper to go down this route
than to buy the full eSports Edition, which
has both fans in the box.
Don’t be afraid to stick to just one, though,
as this setup is more than fine for £30.
As long as you’re not planning to push your
CPU to outrageous extremes, this is a worthy
inclusion to most PC builds – even those that
have nothing to do with eSports.
James Archer
SPECIFICATIONS
• •
FANS 1x 120mm FAN SPEED 200-1,800rpm SOCKET
Intel LGA2066/2011/2011-3/1150/1151/1155/1156, AMD AM4 •
•
DIMENSIONS 153x123x88mm WEIGHT 676g •
•
WARRANTY Ten years RTB DETAILS www.arctic.ac •
PART CODE ACFRE00043A
APRIL 2018 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | ISSUE 362
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 WIDE-FORMAT INKJET PRINTER
EPSON Expression
Photo HD XP-15000
★★★★★
£279 • From www.morecomputers.com
VERDICT
Epson’s XP-15000 is superb for printing high-
quality photos all the way up to A3+
THESE DAYS, PLENTY of web services can
turn your digital photos into glossy prints,
but keen photographers will know that there’s
nothing like a high-quality printer for getting
an image just so. Epson’s awkwardly named
Expression Photo HD XP-15000 could be ideal
for amateur photographers or professionals
on a tight budget. Costing less than £300,
it can print without borders on paper sizes
up to A3+, and can even print labels directly
on to CDs and DVDs.
Epson says this is its smallest A3+ printer,
and it’s certainly pretty compact; only about
10 centimetres wider than the equivalent A4
device, the Expression Photo XP-760. Epson
has clearly tried hard to shrink this printer,
even rotating the ink carrier by 90 degrees so
that the six cartridges stack front to back,
rather than the typical left to right. The
XP-15000 uses a conventional black, cyan,
magenta and yellow setup, supplemented by
red and grey. The former gives an improved
gamut across plain and photo paper, while the
latter provides fine shade control on photos.
TRAY BIEN
Despite its photo focus, the XP-15000 has
most of the basics covered. In the base there’s
a 200-sheet tray for paper sizes up to A4,
while the rear feed can handle anything from
6x4in to A3+ media. There are no memory
card slots, but you can connect wirelessly
from a smartphone or other device. Direct
⬆ The XP-15000 covers most of the bases you’ll need
30
On photo paper, the results were sensational. Images were
beautifully detailed, without any signs of artificial sharpening
control is via a small 6.1cm colour screen
paired with direction and selection buttons.
Send a print job and the XP-15000 motors
out its paper output tray and gets quietly on
with it. On plain paper it’s not especially quick,
reaching only 9.3 pages per minute (ppm) on
our black letter test, but on our complex
colour graphics test its 4.9ppm was more
competitive. The XP-15000 is more impressive
on photo paper, delivering our six postcard-
sized photos at about 90 seconds each,
and our two 10x8in photos in five minutes.
We timed a borderless A4 photo at a
reasonable three minutes 37 seconds, and
an A3 photo at five minutes 46
seconds, which is fast at this price.
PLAIN SAILING
Still, we wouldn’t recommend this
printer if you’re planning to do
lots of plain paper work: while
text was legible and reasonably
crisp, it lacked the sharpness and
darkness you’d see from an
office-focused device. Colour
graphics were entirely free of
artefacts, but also lacked the
punch you get from a great
plain-paper printer.
On photo paper, however,
the results were sensational.
Images were crisp and beautifully
detailed, without showing any
signs of artificial sharpening or
enhancement. Thankfully, this
also applied to colour
reproduction, which was lively without looking
artificial or oversaturated. Skin tones looked
perfect, while precise shade control helped
deliver high levels of detail.
Our first black-and-white print threatened
to spoil the party with a subtle but
disappointing magenta cast, but trying again
with the driver’s black and white photo mode
resulted in a neutral monochrome print, with
impressive contrast throughout.
Running a photo printer isn’t cheap.
Calculated for Epson’s XL range of cartridges,
a single A4 page of text and graphics costs
nearly 13p – and that doesn’t include grey
ink, which is only used on photos. For most
of us, an online snaps service will do just fine,
but if you want more control over the end
result, the Expression Photo HD XP-15000
is an excellent, comparatively affordable
A3+ photo printer – it’s our Best Buy.
Simon Handby
SPECIFICATIONS
•
TECHNOLOGY Piezo inkjet MAXIMUM PRINT
•
RESOLUTION 5,760x1,440dpi DIMENSIONS
• •
159x479x370mm WEIGHT 8.5kg MAXIMUM PAPER
•
SIZE A3+ WARRANTY One year RTB DETAILS www. •
•
epson.co.uk PART CODE SKU: C11CG43401
Mono speed 9.3ppm
Mixed colour 4.9ppm
speed
Mono page cost 3.6p
Colour page cost 9.2p
0% -50 Reference +50 +100
See page 68 for performance details
APRIL 2018 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | ISSUE 362
 WIRELESS ROUTER
FRITZ!BOX 7590
★★★★★
£332 • From comwales.co.uk
VERDICT
A powerful router for a small office, but it’s a
little overkill for most home users
MOST MODERN ROUTERS don’t offer
much more than an internet connection.
It’s refreshing, then, to see the Fritz!Box
7590, which is designed to be a little
different. Built by Germany’s biggest router
manufacturer, the 7590 is anything but a
standard wireless router.
Look at the rear of the router, and
alongside the four Gigabit Ethernet ports
and Ethernet WAN port, you’ll see there’s an
array of different connections. The DSL/VDSL
port is an interesting addition for many in the
UK, as it means the router can connect
directly to traditional ADSL connections and
more modern fibre connections without
having to use an additional modem. That
could save one box in many homes.
On top of that there’s an ISDN port for
telephony, should you use such a thing,
and two ports that can take analogue
phones, for running a VoIP system. As a
router for an office, then, the Fritz!Box 7590
could make a lot of sense.
A DIFFERENT MINDSET
Setting up the Fritz!Box 7590 isn’t quite as
straightforward as with many other routers.
While the router comes preconfigured with a
secure wireless network and unique password,
the setup wizard is a little more complicated
than that of some other routers. At one point
the 7590 asked us to input our internet
connection’s download and upload speeds in
Kbit/s, to help it configure quality of service.
It would make more sense if the router could
test these speeds itself.
Our suggestion is to leave the default
settings alone, and then run Speedtest.net
after you’ve set up the router. Then you can
enter the tested speeds (or slightly below, to
be on the safe side) into the router.
The main router interface is rather
frightening, too, ditching modern graphics and
a slick user interface for a more text-based
approach. It makes setting up this router feel
like using a product from 10 years ago.
While the interface may not be particularly
friendly, there’s a lot in this router. Telephony
settings could well interest a small business,
32
with the 7590 able to connect to both SIP
services and traditional landlines.
To handle calls, you can either connect
analogue phones, or you can go cordless,
as the Fritz!Box 7590 acts as a DECT base
station. You can connect up to six handsets.
From the router, you can handle calls, set
up automatic call diversions and call blocks,
and even turn the router into an answering
machine. There’s no other product out there
that handles quite as much.
HOME STRAIGHT
There’s even a smart home section, where you
can add Fritz!’s range of smart devices and
control them. These include smart radiator
valves and smart plugs. We’ve not been able
to test either, but the smart heating controls,
in particular, would have to be incredibly
powerful to oust our favourite heating
system, the Honeywell Evohome.
With its two USB3 ports, the Fritz!Box
7590 can also act as a basic NAS device,
although a fully functional model will give
you more features.
That’s quite a lot on the extra features,
but the Fritz!Box 7590 is also a powerful
router. It’s neat that you can select any
connected device and choose how to filter
its internet connection, picking an access
schedule. You can also filter websites,
although you’ll need to enter your blocklist
manually, which isn’t that flexible.
Sadly, the router doesn’t support streamed
channels from BT YouView, such as BT Sport.
If you use these types of channels, you’ll need
a different router altogether.
When it comes to performance, the router
has 802.11ac wireless, with 1,733Mbit/s 5GHz
and 800Mbit/s 2.4GHz networks. By default,
the 2.4GHz and 5GHz networks have the
same name, with the router using band
steering to push connecting devices to the
right channel based on performance and
features. For testing, we split the networks
by renaming the 5GHz one, leaving both
networks in auto-channel mode.
Using the 5GHz channel, at close range
we saw download speeds of 568.89Mbit/s
and upload speeds of 335.77Mbit/s; moving
to the first floor, we saw download speeds
of 674.19Mbit/s and upload speeds of
284.87Mbit/s. On the second floor, speeds
remained good, with download speeds of
451.01Mbit/s and upload speeds of
248.28Mbit/s. That makes the Fritz!Box
7590 one of the fastest routers that we’ve
tested on this band.
SLOW DOWN
Switching to the 2.4GHz band, speeds weren’t
quite as good. At close range we saw
download speeds of 95.94Mbit/s and upload
speeds of 67.98Mbit/s. Moving to the first
floor, things improved a little and we saw
download speeds of 143.17Mbit/s and upload
speeds of 82.18Mbit/s. On the second floor,
performance dropped and we saw download
speeds of 64.3Mbit/s and upload speeds of
50.24Mbit/s. At range in the garden we got a
signal, but very slow throughputs.
For most home users, the Fritz!Box 7590
is probably overkill, and many of its features,
particularly telephony, are likely to go unused.
We suggest upgrading your existing router
with a mesh system to get better coverage
throughout your home and garden, with the
BT Whole Home Wi-Fi (Shopper 351) striking a
great balance between performance and
coverage. If you need a new router, TP-Link’s
Archer C3200 (Shopper 347) is getting on a
bit, but it’s only a little slower and far cheaper.
Conversely, for business owners looking
for a reliable and powerful router to run
their office, the Fritz!Box 7590 has a range
of features that can’t be beaten.
David Ludlow
SPECIFICATIONS
MODEM Ethernet\VDSL • WI-FI STANDARD 802.11ac •
STATED SPEED 800Mbit/s (2.4GHz), 1,733Mbit/s (5GHz) •
• WALL MOUNTABLE Yes •
USB PORTS 2x USB3
WARRANTY One year RTB • DETAILS en.avm.de •
PART CODE 7590
5GHz close 452.33Mbit/s
5GHz 1 floor 479.53Mbit/s
5GHz 2 floors 349.65Mbit/s
2.4GHz close 81.96Mbit/s
2.4GHz 1 floor 112.68Mbit/s
2.4GHz 2 floors 57.27Mbit/s
0 200 400 600
See page 68 for performance details
APRIL 2018 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | ISSUE 362
 SMART REMOTE CONTROL
NEEO The Thinking Remote
★★★★★
$369 (around £260) • From neeo.com
VERDICT
A smart way of controlling your home entertainment
devices, but the software lets it down somewhat
MANY HOMES ARE awash with remote
controls and apps, creating both clutter and
laborious ways of doing simple things. Neeo
aims to change that, with a remote control
and smart bridge that can control your IR
devices and smart home all at once.
Neeo comprises three components: the
Neeo Remote, the Neeo Brain and a
smartphone app. The Brain acts as the central
control for Neeo, broadcasting IR signals to
your home entertainment devices and
connecting to other smart home devices via
your home network. The Remote connects to
the Brain via a proprietary low-power protocol
with range similar to that of Bluetooth, while
the app connects using your home network.
LINE OF SIGHT
Setting up the Neeo is straightforward and
requires the app. At first, the Brain has to be
connected to your home network via its
integrated Ethernet port. Once configured,
it can connect to your wireless network,
making it easier to position.
The Brain acts as an IR transmitter, so
you’re best off placing it in front of your TV.
The Remote also ships with a secondary IR
transmitter that plugs into the port at the
rear. This transmitter can be placed in front of
additional devices, such as a DVD player,
where the Brain’s IR signal block might be
blocked by, say, shelving in a TV stand.
Once in the right place, you just need to
add the devices that you want to control.
This is done via the smartphone app and the
search box. It’s a little finicky to use, and the
search could be a lot better. For example, we
searched for Sky Q, but the app only returned
results for some Italian models of set-top
⬆ Neeo lets you know if a device is not supported
34
boxes. Searching the Neeo
website (neeo.com/works-with-
neeo) showed that Sky Q
was supported, but the device
was listed as Sky Q Silver.
Typing this into the app
returned the correct result.
In general, typing in the
exact model number of the
device that you want yields the
best results. Most devices, in
our tests, were supported with a
huge database of controls.
LET’S COOK
As well as adding a device, Neeo sets up
automatic recipes (or lists of commands) for
each one, based on the type of product that
it is. Add a TV, for example, and you’re asked
to customise the recipe, choosing which
station or input you’d prefer to use. Running
the recipe turns on the TV and selects your
default viewing option.
Add a set-top box or Blu-ray player and the
recipe asks you for the TV input and, if you
have a soundbar, which input it should use.
A recipe can then power on your TV,
soundbar and set-top box, and set them all to
the right inputs. Sensibly, Neeo adds delays
into the mix, giving devices enough time to
power on before a change of input is selected.
The only minor issue we had was that our
Yamaha soundbar was incompatible with all
of Neeo’s commands, and the system was
incapable of turning it on. However, Neeo
was smart enough to know that this was
happening, so any recipes that used the
soundbar displayed a message reading,
“Your soundbar is a stupid device and needs
a little help. Power on your device manually.”
Helpfully, Neeo then displayed a shortcut
button to change the soundbar to the
correct input for the recipe.
This kind of intelligence is great to see.
And while it’s frustrating that not all devices
support all commands, Neeo at least has a
pain-free way around the issue.
As well as controlling traditional devices,
Neeo has support for some smart home
devices, including Philips Hue lights. You can
bundle light control into recipes: for example,
turning on your TV, soundbar and Blu-ray
player, and then dimming the lights down
ready to watch a film. It’s a neat trick,
although full control isn’t quite there yet. For
example, with Hue lights, you can set the dim
level, but you can’t change the bulb colour.
Z-Wave devices can be added
directly, but only if the device is
listed as having full support.
Alternatively, the Neeo Brain
can be added as a secondary
Z-Wave controller to an existing
network, learning all your
attached devices.
Control of Sonos players isn’t
there yet, either. The Neeo asks
you to add your Spotify account
again, and doesn’t support
grouping. For basic control, it’s
fine, but we expected a bit more.
CONTROL CENTRE
Control of devices is via the Remote or the
app. Both offer the same level of control, but
the Remote is the easiest device to use, as it’s
ready to go and has dedicated hardware
buttons for common tasks, such as volume
and navigating menus. When not in use it sits
on a USB charger, with the battery lasting far
longer than any entertainment session.
All other controls are displayed on the
Remote’s gorgeous 3.2in, 800x480
touchscreen, with most devices having
multiple pages of controls. Our Blu-ray player,
for instance, had a page for menu controls, a
page for playback and a number pad.
You can add a custom page with
shortcuts to any device’s controls, but you
can’t customise the existing pages. That’s a
shame, as for disc playback we’d have liked a
page with playback controls and sound
controls for the soundbar as the main page.
At the moment, shortcuts are placed on the
final control page, which means a lot of
swiping to get to them.
In the future, the Remote will have palm
detection, giving customised screens and
layouts depending on who picks up the
device; sadly, this isn’t yet enabled.
Gorgeous hardware and smart recipes
make the Neeo stand out from the
competition, but the level of control is not
there for all devices yet, and it only ships
from the US. Logitech’s Harmony Hub
system is currently better for UK users.
David Ludlow
SPECIFICATIONS
NETWORK Ethernet, 802.11n Wi-Fi • REMOTE CONTROL
•
IR (from Brain and IR Extender) COMPATIBILITY TV,
•
Sonos, Apple TV, Roku, Philips Hue, Sky and more
WARRANTY One year RTB • •
DETAILS neeo.com
PART CODE NEEO
APRIL 2018 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | ISSUE 362
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 PORTABLE SPEAKER DOCK

NINETY7 Vaux
★★★★★
£50 • From www.currys.co.uk

VERDICT
A nifty upgrade for the Echo Dot, boosting
sound and making the smart speaker portable

IF THERE’S ONE problem with the Amazon unplug the Vaux and its increased
Alexa range of products, it’s that there’s no so that it switches volume helps
battery-powered portable model that you can to battery power. you hear and
take everywhere with you. Ninety7 aims to It’s only worth understand regular
redress the balance with the Vaux, a portable powering the replies, too.
speaker dock for the Amazon Alexa Dot. system down if For music, the
A sleek column covered in a fine mesh, you’re moving the mid-range and
the Vaux is a rather natty-looking speaker. Vaux and don’t want trebles are nice
Certainly, compared to the main competition, to listen to music for and clean. Bass
the Vaux looks as good as some big-brand a while, as the Echo could be a little
Bluetooth speakers. You can buy the speaker Dot takes a while to heavier, however,
dock in both black and silver so that you can power up and connect and the Vaux lacks
match the model to your decor. Both the to the internet. Battery some of the impact of
black and white Echo Dots look great with life is a claimed eight its main competition.
the Vaux in either colour. hours, which is a little Whack the volume up, and
behind Bluetooth speakers, you start to get some distortion at
DROP IN but certainly long enough for a high volumes, so we tried not to push the
As the Vaux is a speaker dock, there’s a garden party or listening to music in a room Echo Dot past six or seven. At these levels,
minor amount of assembly required. You where you don’t currently have a speaker. the Vaux is more than loud enough to fill a
simply flip open the back cover to reveal two The main restriction with the Vaux is that room or to be heard clearly when used
cables: a Micro USB port and 3.5mm audio you have to keep the Echo Dot in range of a outside. As a comparison, the Vaux boosts
connector. Pull these cables out the way, wireless network, as it needs an internet the Echo Dot’s sound quality so that it’s
drop the Echo Dot into the top of the Vaux, connection. And if you move the Echo Dot to similar to the full-size Echo 2nd Generation.
and then plug in the connectors. The Vaux
is charged and powered by the Echo Dot’s
USB power adaptor.
As the Vaux is a battery-powered device, it
Clear and defined audio makes the Vaux perfect for radio
has a power button on the rear, so you can
turn both it and the Echo Dot on and off.
or for listening to audiobooks, and its increased volume
In regular use, you can just leave the Vaux
hooked up to the power and keep the power
helps you hear and understand regular replies, too
on so that the Echo Dot functions as normal.
Then, when you want to go portable, you just a new location with a different wireless If you want to use a more powerful
network, you have to use the Alexa app to audio system, the Vaux has a 3.5mm audio
reconfigure the smart speaker. Realistical
Realistically, jack, too. It’s potentially handy and means
then, the Vaux makes the Echo Dot porta
portable that you don’t need to undock the Echo Dot
inside your own home, and you may want to to use an external hi-fi.
invest in a wireless mesh system to give y you
the best wireless covera
coverage. HARD CHOICES
If you have an Echo Dot and wish that it had
TUNE IN better sound, the Vaux is a great upgrade,
The Echo Dot is not boosting audio fidelity and adding a battery to
a good music pl player, make your Alexa speaker portable. If you don’t
and its skills are have an Echo Dot and aren’t worried about
really limited to making Alexa portable, then this combination
delivering update
updates, is harder to justify. In fact, the Vaux and Echo
controlling smart Dot are more expensive as a pack than simply
home devices an and, buying the 2nd Generation Echo.
perhaps, a talking David Ludlow
book. Plugging the
Echo Dot into the Vaux SPECIFICATIONS
changes that, and you
get far richer sound. •
DRIVERS Dual 52mm drivers and passive radiator RMS
•
POWER OUTPUT Not disclosed DOCK CONNECTOR Micro
Clear and defined •
USB WIRELESS Bluetooth, 802.11a/b/g/n Wi-Fi (via Echo
audio makes the Vaux
aud • •
Dot) DIMENSIONS 162x106x106mm WEIGHT 700g •
perfec
per fe t for radio or fo
perfect for •
WARRANTY One year RTB DETAILS ninety7life.com •
PART CODE Vaux
listen
lis tening
listeninging to audioboo
audiobooks,

36 APRIL 2018 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | ISSUE 362

WIRELESS SMART SPEAKER
ULTIMATE EARS Megablast
★★★★★
£270 • From www.johnlewis.com
VERDICT
Attractive, waterproof and with great sound quality, this
is one of the most versatile smart speakers you can buy
MOST SMART SPEAKERS require a power
lead and cannot be taken around with you on
the go, but the Ultimate Ears Megablast is
different: it has a built-in battery and is
waterproof, like a conventional Bluetooth
speaker, so you can play your favourite songs
by the pool, check the weather with Alexa and
even order goods with your voice.
The Megablast is built like a tank, and looks
beautiful – especially its textured mesh cover.
It weighs 1.2kg, is 237mm tall and has an 88mm
diameter. It’s not something that will fit in a
jacket pocket but it can be carried from hotel
room to the pool in a bag without any trouble.
The cylindrical speaker has a hard rubber
coating wrapped around the top, bottom
and along one of the sides, too, and this
protects the speaker from drops. It also
provides a means of interacting with
Amazon’s Alexa smart assistant.
At the top, there’s a rectangular-shaped
illuminated power button, which blinks and
dims when Alexa is summoned. A smaller,
dot-shaped button is used to interact with
Alexa or to activate the Bluetooth connection,
and when you press the button at the same
time as the volume down button, it mutes the
mic. Oversized volume up and down buttons
are found along the side of the speaker, but
annoyingly, there’s no physical play/pause
button on the speaker.
ON THE UP
At the bottom there’s a metal D-ring, which
can be used to hang up the speaker.
Alternatively, you can remove it to reveal a
tripod insert and a set of charging prongs,
which allow the Megablast to be charged by
setting it down on the optional Power Up
charging dock (sold separately for £35). This is
a handy accessory if you don’t want any
trailing wires sticking out of the speaker.
You can also charge the Megablast through
the Micro USB port that’s concealed under a
rubber flap next to the 1/4 tripod thread.
ISSUE 362 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | APRIL 2018
The Megablast’s key
feature, of course, is its
waterproof and dustproof
design. It’s rated to IP67,
which means the speaker
can be fully submerged in
up to 1m of water for 30
minutes. A big part of why we
loved the UE Wonderboom
(Shopper 354) was its durable
design, and we’re very happy
to see a similar philosophy
– this time applied to a smart
speaker – in the Megablast.
As for connectivity,
the Megablast supports
dual-band 802.11n Wi-Fi and up to eight
different Bluetooth sources. If you want to
use the speaker over Wi-Fi, you can stream
The Megablast is rated to IP67, which means the speaker
can be fully submerged in up to 1m of water for 30 minutes
music from Amazon Music Unlimited,
iHeartRadio and Tune-In radio. Pandora and
Deezer are to follow soon. The one big
omission here is Spotify.
It doesn’t work over Wi-Fi (even through
the Amazon Alexa app), and though you can
use Bluetooth to fill the gap, you need to make
sure the connected device is within range for
music to continue playing. Disappointingly, too,
there’s no support for Bluetooth aptX, neither
is a 3.5mm headphone jack present. Thanks
to its integration with Amazon Alexa, the
Megablast can’t be daisy-chained with other
UE products through the PartyUp feature.
COMMAND PROMPTLY
The Alexa integration on the Megablast,
however, is brilliant. It works flawlessly and
thanks to far-field voice recognition, it has
no issue picking up voice commands from
across the room, even while music or radio
is playing. As with most smart speakers,
there is a limit to this, and you’ll either need
to raise your voice or lower the volume to
get the speaker to pick up voice commands
when the music is playing loudly.
Nevertheless, the Megablast will do almost
everything Amazon’s own Echo speakers will.
It can tell you the weather, play your music or
favourite radio stations, set timers and alarms,
control your smart home devices, and can be
extended with the same range
of third-party Skills. The only
notable missing feature is
Alexa Voice calling, so you
can’t use the speaker to call
others in your house.
In terms of battery life, the
Megablast lasts between 10
and 16 hours, depending on
how loud you play music.
The Megablast shares
the same sound signature
as other Ultimate Ears
speakers. It has a warm tone,
a punchy mid-bass and an
energetic treble response.
The bass doesn’t extend quite as low as the
Sonos One, but its strong mid-bass response
ensures there is a degree of low-end punch.
It could stand to be a little more forward
in the mids, but by and large, this is an
excellent-sounding speaker, and it reproduces
plenty of detail at the top end, too, without
ever sounding harsh or strident.
HAVE A BLAST
The Megablast also delivers impressive
instrument separation and a surprisingly wide
soundstage, maintaining a good tonality
throughout. Speaking of wideness, its
cylindrical design pumps out audio in a full
360°, so you can enjoy your music no matter
where you’re sitting in the room.
In terms of its sonic capabilities, we’d pick
the Megablast for its fun sound signature over
the more accurate, mid-centric Sonos One. It
sounds leagues above the Amazon Echo 2 and
the Echo Plus, which – combined with its
impressive smart capabilities, stylish and
robust waterproofed design and wireless utility
– makes the Megablast worth the high price
of £270 even without Spotify support.
Christopher Minasians
SPECIFICATIONS
•
DRIVERS 4 active, 2 passive RMS POWER OUTPUT Not
• •
stated DOCK CONNECTOR None WIRELESS 802.11n
•
Wi-Fi, Bluetooth DIMENSIONS 237x88x88mm •
•
WEIGHT 1.2kg WARRANTY Two years RTB •
•
DETAILS www.ultimateears.com PART CODE 984-000923
37
 GAMING HEADSET
ROCCAT Khan Pro
★★★★★
£70 • From www.amazon.co.uk
VERDICT
Build quality could be better, but high-quality audio means
that this headset delivers more than the price suggests
WITH SO MUCH competition for mid-range
gaming headsets, managing to make a model
that stands out from the crowd can be hard.
For Roccat, it’s decided to go the Hi-Res
audio route for its Khan Pro headset, proudly
displaying the logo on the box,
So, what exactly does Hi-Res audio
support mean? Our initial thought was that
this gaming headset was USB-powered with
high-definition audio built-in. However, that’s
not the case, and the Khan Pro uses standard
3.5mm audio jacks.
Instead, there’s just a claim that the Hi-Res
support will deliver the full range of audio from
your computer. Provided, then, that you have a
Hi-Res sound card in your PC, this headset
should deliver the full audio range.
That’s not quite as exciting a feature as the
logo on the box may make out, but at least it
grabs attention. Fortunately, beyond the Hi-Res
claim, the Roccat Khan Pro is actually a rather
good mid-range headset.
PLASTIC FANTASTIC
Roccat has used plastic for the Khan Pro’s
construction, which is what we expect at this
price; you’ll have to spend a bit more for
tougher metal construction. A quality
soft-touch plastic has been used, so that
the headphones don’t feel overly cheap.
This isn’t the most durable-feeling headset,
but neither does the Khan Pro feel as though
it will break easily. Given the price, it’s hard to
expect too much more.
More important for a headset is its
comfort, and the Khan Pro impressed us here.
The cans have 95° hinges on them, while the
headset band is easily extendable, clicking
securely into each position. We found that the
Khan Pro fitted us perfectly, with the padded
cans sitting neatly around our ears.
38
After playing
games for
extended periods,
the Khan Pro
headset remained
comfortable, and we
never felt the urge to
take it off. It helps that
the headset is quite light, so
you don’t get fatigued after
long gaming sessions.
The non-removable
microphone feels a little flimsy,
and we’d have preferred a slightly
tougher construction. Still, it moves
easily, with enough rotation to place the coming from or picking up the subtle
microphone comfortably in front of your footprints of another player nearby. Given
mouth. The microphone boom is bendable, the price, the Roccat Khan Pro manages to
too, so you can move it closer or further compete with far more expensive headsets.
away to get the best audio recording. It helps that the generous padding around
the cans passively blocks out a great deal of
CLEAR AUDIO external noise, helping you to focus on the
The Roccat Khan Pro connects to your onscreen action. We particularly like the
computer via its dual 3.5mm audio manual volume dial located on the bottom
connectors: one for the headphones and of the left can, as it gives you the option to
one for the microphone. There’s also an adjust volume on the fly, without having to
adaptor in the box to connect both the reach for a keyboard shortcut or volume
headphones and microphone through a single control on an external amp.
3.5mm headset jack, which is handy if you Although the microphone is a little fiddly,
have this connector on your PC or you want we’ve got no complaints about its quality.
to use the Khan Pro with your smartphone. It picked up our voice clearly, recording our
Listening to music, we were pleasantly speech with no distortion while managing to
surprised by the Roccat Khan Pro’s audio filter out ambient noise. If you need to keep
quality. All genres of music were richly in touch with other players while playing
reproduced, with the finer and more subtle a multiplayer game, the Roccat Khan Pro
details preserved. If anything, the Khan Pro does an excellent job.
is a little bass heavy. While the headset
delivered rich low-frequency audio without COMPETITIVE STREAK
distortion, you may want to adjust the bass It’s a very competitive market at this price,
manually to compensate. with plenty of other headsets to choose
Bass correction and any other audio from. For pure value, it’s hard to beat the
adjustments have to be managed
mana HyperX Cloud Stinger (Shopper 348), which
from inside Windows o or on an costs just £40. The Cloud Stinger feels slightly
external amplifier, as this more robustly made, and its microphone is
headset doesn’t have
ha any both tougher and easier to adjust. Sound
software owing to the lack quality falls just behind that of the Roccat
of a USB connector.
connec Khan Pro’s, though, so the extra £30 could
In-game, the Roccat be well spent if you want the best audio
Khan Pro headset
headse proved experience and don’t want to spend a fortune.
itself to be a David Ludlow
winner,
winner too.
Detailed
Detail and SPECIFICATIONS
positional
positi
HEADPHONES SUBTYPE Headset • PLUG TYPE Dual 3.5mm
audio let us
sneak around the • WEIGHT 230g • FREQUENCY RESPONSE 10-40,000Hz •
IMPEDANCE 25 ohms • WARRANTY One year RTB •
PlayerUnknown
playing field of PlayerUnknown’s DETAILS www.roccat.org • PART CODE ROC-14-622
Battlegrounds, detecting where gunfigunfire was
APRIL 2018 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | ISSUE 362
 DIGITAL SLR
CANON EOS 800D
★★★★★
£769 • From www.jessops.com
VERDICT
With big improvements to performance
and autofocus, the Canon EOS 800D is a
consummate all-rounder
THE CANON EOS 800D is the latest in a line
of SLRs that has scored consistently well in
our reviews in recent years. The EOS 750D
(Shopper 332) didn’t excel in any particular
area, but a generous set of features, a
sensible price and consistently high quality
added up to a camera that was perfect for
home users looking for a proper camera.
We’re used to seeing subtle improvements
with each update, but the 800D makes some
significant strides. The autofocus sensor is
up from 19 to 45 points, leapfrogging the
39-point Nikon D5600 (Shopper 356) in an
area that is usually Nikon’s stronghold.
More autofocus points make it easier to
focus exactly where you want to in the
frame. It also, in theory, improves the
camera’s ability to track moving subjects
around the frame. Burst speed is up from 5 to
6fps, and the faster processor means it can
save JPEGs as fast as it captures them.
EXPERT TRACKER
The sensor resolution remains at 24
megapixels but it now incorporates Canon’s
Dual Pixel technology, which delivers
significant improvements to autofocus
performance when shooting photos in
live view mode and for video capture.
Canon SLRs used to be dire for video
autofocus, but thanks to Dual Pixel they’re
now better than any other brand of SLR or
compact system camera (CSC).
The 800D looks and feels a lot like the
750D, with subtle cosmetic tweaks and one
new button (to launch its wireless functions)
separating their appearances. It’s small for an
SLR but a comfortable fit in the hand, and its
buttons fall under fingers. The single, vertical
command dial isn’t our favourite design,
though; CSCs at this price such as the
Panasonic G80 (Shopper 353) and Fujifilm
X-T20 offer dual command dials.
A new Guided interface encourages users
to leave Auto mode and discover the benefits
of shooting in program, priority and manual
exposure modes. It shows graphics and
simple text explanations to help users
understand how to use exposure modes
and settings. While it covers shutter speed
and aperture settings well, it doesn’t explain
ISO speed, white balance or autofocus
modes. It also restricts the number of
functions available via the Q menu button,
hiding JPEG quality, metering mode and
various other functions out of sight.
40
We were relieved to find that the Standard
shooting screen can be re-enabled, but Guided
mode should be handy for beginners.
Once you know what you’re looking for,
you’ll appreciate the generous number of
single-function buttons to access key settings,
including ISO speed, white balance, drive
mode and autofocus mode. Moving the
autofocus point involves pressing a button
and then moving the point using the four-way
pad or the touchscreen. The latter is quicker,
but there’s a risk of inadvertently switching
to a different autofocus mode. With a bit of
practice it’s not too hard to avoid this.
UNMOVED
White balance presets are easily available but,
as with all EOS cameras, calibrating the
custom white balance is unnecessarily
convoluted. We also got caught out by the
need to adjust menu settings and then hit OK
to confirm them; adjusting and then half-
pressing the shutter button to exit the menu
abandons the changes. The Q menu works
differently, and this inconsistency was the
main source of our confusion.
Another frustration is the limited ability to
customise the behaviour of the Auto ISO
mode. The upper ISO speed limit can be set,
but there’s no control over which shutter
speeds are used (except
by setting it manually in
shutter-priority or manual
exposure mode). Nikon
SLRs allow users to
adjust the Auto ISO
mode’s behaviour for
moving or static subjects,
and Panasonic cameras
detect subject motion
automatically. The 800D
is oblivious to subject
motion. It tried to manage
camera shake intelligently,
using slower shutter speeds for wide-angle
shots and faster speeds for telephoto, but
the specific choices made were rarely optimal.
It’s a good motivation to master shutter-
priority mode, but it would be even better if
users didn’t feel compelled to do so.
The new wireless button launches the
Wi-Fi configuration page, and with both
NFC and Bluetooth available to help manage
the Wi-Fi connection, establishing a new
connection to an Android phone and to an
iPad was trouble-free, and a notable
improvement on our previous experiences
with Canon cameras. It helps that the app
spells out what to do, but there’s still scope
to simplify the procedure. Wireless transfers
and remote shooting both worked well, with
elegant control over autofocus and exposure
settings. We were also able to use the app as
a remote video monitor, complete with
touchscreen-controlled spot autofocus.
WORKING NINE BY FIVE
The Nikon D5600’s 39-point autofocus was
one of its major selling points over the
Canon EOS 750D, so Canon’s jump to 45
points is a big deal. It’s arranged
in a grid nine across by five
tall, and the touchscreen
makes it quick to select
APRIL 2018 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | ISSUE 362
a single point, a group of nine or leave the
camera to pick a subject to focus on.
There’s also an option to define a starting
point and for the camera to then track the
subject around the frame for as long as the
shutter button is (half or fully) pressed. This
worked well but not brilliantly in our tests.
Tracking autofocus for fast-moving subjects is
a big challenge for any camera, and the 800D
is on the cusp of delivering reliable results.
Live view mode showed itself to be much
more reliable at tracking moving subjects,
and autofocus was quick to update, too.
It faltered in very low light, though, and
in some circumstances the camera was
unable to focus and capture a picture
despite repeated attempts.
Performance was excellent in
both modes. We timed 0.3
seconds between shots when
using the viewfinder, and 0.4
seconds in live view mode. The
latter is a big improvement over
the 750D, which took around
one second in live view mode,
and the Nikon D5600, which
took over three seconds.
LIVE AND CLICKING
Continuous performance hit the claimed
speed of 6fps, and with a fast SD card it
kept going until the card was full. The 800D
managed the same speed with continuous
autofocus enabled, and also with live view,
although with both selected it dropped to
4.3fps. This is a major breakthrough for
consumer SLRs, which up until now have
failed to deliver a responsive shooting
experience in live view mode. It’s particularly
significant here, as live view is likely to be
particularly popular with people upgrading
from a compact or smartphone camera.
The 800D is an excellent video camera,
thanks largely to Dual Pixel. Autofocus is
responsive and reliable enough to be used
with confidence in critical situations such
as wedding speeches where you can’t
go for a second take. Subject
tracking is reliable, too, and the
ISSUE 362 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | APRIL 2018
articulated touchscreen makes it easy to pick
a moving or static subject to focus on. There’s
a choice of automatic or manual exposure.
Priority modes would have been welcome, but
fixing the shutter speed and aperture and
leaving the ISO speed in Auto mode means
you can control motion blur but still benefit
from automatic exposure. The exposure lock
button for video makes it easy to lock and
release exposure levels on demand.
HI, DEFINITION
With so much going for it, it’s frustrating
that video capture is limited to 1080p.
Canon’s cheapest 4K camera is the EOS
5D Mark IV, but other manufacturers’
starting prices for 4K are much lower.
Keen videographers face a frustrating
choice between superior details from the
Panasonic G80 (for instance), superior
autofocus from the EOS 800D or spending a
lot more money for the best of both worlds.
However, for photographers who want
to shoot the occasional video, the 800D’s
reliability will probably be more valuable than
the G80’s extra detail. It’s certainly the perfect
choice for home videos, keeping kids in sharp
focus as they career around the frame.
We’ve learnt to have high expectations of
Canon SLRs’ image quality, and on the whole
the 800D didn’t disappoint. Colours were rich
and clean without looking overprocessed, and
details were precise and natural.
Metering was generally accurate, but the
camera had a tendency to base its exposure
settings on the darkest parts of the frame.
Sometimes this worked to its advantage, but
other shots were slightly overexposed. There
was also the issue with shutter speeds that
failed to take subject motion or significant
camera shake into account, which could
reduce the success rate in certain conditions.
Comparing our studio test shots with
archived shots, the 800D showed a small
improvement in noise levels compared to the
Canon EOS 750D, but couldn’t quite match
the clean output of the Nikon D5600. The
D5600’s advantage was slim, though, and
visible only at ISO 3200 and above. More
significant is the
D5600’s greater
dynamic range,
allowing us to
extract more
shadow detail
from its Raw
files with
radical
exposure
settings in
Lightroom.
Overall,
these criticisms
are minor.
Image quality is
generally up to
Canon’s usual
high standards.
OLD FAITHFUL
This is a strange time for SLRs. Compact
system cameras have overtaken them for
performance and video capture, and they’re
generally on a par for image quality, controls
and ergonomics. Meanwhile, SLRs such as
the EOS 800D are increasingly behaving like
CSCs with their significant improvements to
live view mode.
There’s still a place for SLRs, though.
Some people will prefer an optical viewfinder
to an electronic one – even if the view through
it is smaller – and Canon’s and Nikon’s SLR
lens ranges are way beyond any CSC.
Choosing between the Canon EOS 800D
and Nikon D5600 is a tough call. Both offer
excellent photo and video quality, with Nikon
taking the lead for photos and Canon
producing more accomplished videos.
Both have decent ergonomics, save for a
few operational niggles. The Canon is faster,
particularly in live view mode, while the
Nikon has a longer battery life. We’ll call it a
draw and leave you to take your pick.
Ben Pitt
SPECIFICATIONS
SENSOR RESOLUTION 24 megapixels • SENSOR SIZE
22.3x14.9mm • FOCAL LENGTH MULTIPLIER 1.6x •
VIEWFINDER Optical TTL • LCD SCREEN 3.2in (1,040,000
dots) • OPTICAL ZOOM (35mm-EQUIVALENT FOCAL
LENGTHS) 3x (29-88mm) • 35mm-EQUIVALENT APERTURE
f/5.6-9 • LENS MOUNT Canon EF-S • WEIGHT 532g •
DIMENSIONS 100x131x76mm • WARRANTY One year RTB
• DETAILS www.canon.co.uk
Battery life 600 shots
0% -50 Reference +50 +100
See page 68 for performance details
41
 4K ACTION CAMERA

GOPRO Hero 6 Black

★★★★★
£388 • From www.amazon.co.uk

VERDICT
A fantastic, if only mildly improved,
action camera with great film quality and
image stabilisation

GOPRO HAS RULED the action camera roost

for an age, and for good reason: the Hero 5
Black (Shopper 349) has been the all-round
best in its field since launching in 2016, while
the less advanced but still excellent Hero 5
Session (Shopper 350) provided a much
more affordable option for those who
wanted good film quality but could make do
with barebones features.
Now, we have the GoPro Hero 6 Black,
which unexpectedly looks exactly like its
predecessor. New features include the ability
to shoot 4K footage at 60 frames per second
(fps) – on previous GoPros, this was limited
to 30fps – and to shoot electronically
stabilised video at up to 4K at 30fps.
There’s improved stabilisation in general as
well, plus marginally better image quality.

SECOND SKIN
Not that you’d guess this just from looking
at it; if you’ve ever seen, held or shot video
with a GoPro Hero 5 Black, you’ll be right
at home with the Hero 6, because on the
outside it’s physically identical. It has the
same rectangular shape and the same square
protruding lens housing on the front.
The shutter and power buttons are in the
same locations on the top right and right-hand
side and, as before, there’s a 2in touchscreen
on the rear, which can be used to frame your
shots and change settings.
The flaps and connections are the same,
too: on the right-hand side, a small flap covers
the Mini HDMI and USB Type-C ports, and
underneath a larger flap hides the battery and
Micro USB slot. There’s still no tripod thread
on the body of the camera,
which remains something
of an irritation.
Still, it’s all natively
waterproof to 10m, which
means you don’t have to
pop it in a case before
getting it wet, and those
identical dimensions mean
all the accessories from
the Hero 5 Black will fit the
Hero 6 Black as well.
This might not be a big
deal for some, as those who
already own a Hero 5 Black
should still find it more than
adequate; while the new model is
sprinkled with improvements,
there’s no major changes that
demand an immediate upgrade. That said, for
professional and some amateur videographers
who do want to take advantage of the Hero 6
Black, it’s no doubt reassuring to know that
they won’t have to splurge on a set of new
cases, fittings and batteries to with it.
FRAMES AND FORTUNE
The closest thing to a big new feature on
the GoPro Hero 6 is its new processor.
It’s called the GP1 and delivers, according
to GoPro, twice the performance of the
Hero 5 Black’s CPU.
What can you do with it? The first benefit
is 4K recording at a super-smooth 60fps (or
50fps for those living in PAL land), where
the Hero 5 Black was limited to a maximum
30fps. You still can’t use electronic image
stabilisation (EIS) in this mode, but at least
you can with 4K at 30 or 25fps.
It records this footage in HEVC format
(H.265), the same more efficient format
used in 2017’s new iPhones, which is both
good and bad news: files take up less storage
space, but you may need to convert them to
make your footage work with your existing
editing and playback software.
You may also find that your
computer needs an upgrade to
play them back. The 2013 15in
MacBook Pro we used struggled
to play footage at anything
better than a choppy slideshow.
In other modes, the camera
records in regular H.264 format,
which is much easier to deal
with, including the new slow-
motion 240fps frame rate,
which can be applied to 1080p
footage and below. And there’s
plenty more to play around
with besides, with additional
resolutions of 1440p and
720p available, and frame rates
starting from 24fps.

42 APRIL 2018 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | ISSUE 362


FLUID DYNAMICS
The final improvement the Hero 6 Black
offers over its predecessor, though, needs
no special hardware to appreciate: better
image stabilisation. In the same vein as
many of 2017’s best smartphones, this
gives your videos a superbly smooth,
near-Steadicam stability.
As with all electronic stabilisation, you
sacrifice some of the frame, but the payoff is
more than worth it: handheld shots when
you’re standing still are incredibly stable, and
even walking shots are reasonably smooth,
Handheld shots when you’re standing still are incredibly
stable, and even walking shots are reasonably smooth
though there’s some evidence of shimmer as
your feet hit the ground.
In fact, we’d say that if you stick to 4K
at 30fps and below, there’s no need to
supplement the Hero 6 with a gimbal-based
stabiliser such as the Karma Grip at all. It
really is that good.
Alas, although the usability of the
an hour of head-scratching and trying
various different things, we switched
to a Pixel 2 XL, which – after some
further encouragement – eventually
allowed us to pair with the camera.
The app connects via 2.4GHz or
5GHz Wi-Fi and can be used for
changing settings, previewing and
recording video from a remote
location, taking pictures and
downloading footage afterwards. All
this works, and usually works well,
but even after connecting
successfully we ran into problems.
The preview works fine in portrait
mode, for instance, but spin the
phone round and the view disappears
off to the left. That’s hardly ideal.
We also found the camera itself would
freeze at random and, no matter what, it
would always lock up when we set the
resolution and frame rate to 2.7K 4:3 at 30fps.
The only way to get it going again was to
remove and re-insert the battery.
Fortunately, the desktop Quik software is
better. It has a simple interface, lets you do
basic editing and overlay data such as your
speed, elevation, GPS track and compass winter’s day, and don’t even think about
heading on top of your footage before taking it out on a dark night. The saving grace
exporting it. It also pulls out automatic is that you can at least control the ISO and
highlights based on the camera’s shutter speed to reduce the worst of it.
interpretation of movement and various other Battery life is pretty good. In two hours
parameters, and will put together a quick and of use, we were able to shoot nearly an
dirty edit for you with very little effort. hour of 30fps 4K footage with GPS and
EIS enabled before the battery gave out.
REC’ING CREW Topping up doesn’t take too long, either,
Surprisingly, there’s not much to say about going from empty to 100% in just over an
the image quality that hasn’t been said before. hour. If you’re going to be taking the camera
Aside from the camera’s new 4K 60fps mode, on location with you, though, you’ll need a
image quality is only slightly up on the Hero 5 handful of pre-charged spare batteries to get
Black. The colours are perhaps a tad richer you through a day.
here and there, but largely the GoPro’s
strengths and weaknesses remain the same. THE NEW BLACK
It’s great when you have ample light, and In all, the GoPro Hero 6 Black is a cracking
its reproduction of colour and auto-exposures camera, but whether you should actually
are brilliant. Sunsets look glorious, especially buy it is a tricky question. On the one hand,
in timelapse mode, and there’s enough bit rate it’s an excellent all-rounder. It has all the
to make sense of complicated textures such features you need, coupled with great
as tree foliage, foaming water and pisted snow image quality, superb image stabilisation,
without the camera becoming confused. waterproofing, ruggedness and admirable
on-camera ease of use.
On the other hand, it’s nearly £100 more
expensive than the Hero 5 Black and isn’t a
whole lot better. It’s particularly tempting
to save that money and put it towards a
handheld motorised gimbal or even a decent
drone – but then again, this is technically
For those who need to colour-match the best in a range that has practically
video footage between different cameras, defined the action camera, so it deserves a
the GoPro Hero 6 Black’s ProTune mode is Recommended award on those grounds.
perfect, providing fine-grained control over Jonathan Bray
ISO sensitivity levels, shutter speed, white
balance and colour balance, while Raw image SPECIFICATIONS
capture gives keen photographers a similar
level of control over stills. • SENSOR PIXELS 12 megapixels •
SENSOR 1/2.3in CMOS

touchscreen and camera is pretty good, the
mobile app isn’t the greatest piece of work.
We couldn’t get it to pair with the GoPro at all
with our Huawei Mate 10 Pro and, after nearly
Where the GoPro Hero 6 doesn’t impress
so much is in low light. Ugly grain is visible in
stills as well as video footage if you so much
as let it sniff the inside of a building on a grey
MAXIMUM RECORDING RESOLUTION 4K (60fps) • AV
CONNECTIONS Micro HDMI output • DIMENSIONS
45x62x32mm • WEIGHT 117g • WARRANTY One year RTB
• DETAILS www.gopro.com • PART CODE CHDHX-601

ISSUE 362 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | APRIL 2018 43

 ANDROID 7.0 SMARTPHONE

HONOR 7X
★★★★★
£260 • From www.amazon.co.uk

VERDICT
The Honor 7X is the cheapest 18:9 smartphone we’ve
tested, and the rest of it isn’t half bad either

THE HONOR 6X (Shopper 351) was one of
2017’s big surprises, offering a dual
12-megapixel camera, a rear-mounted
fingerprint sensor, a snappy Kirin 655
processor and a Full HD, 5.5in display – all for
the ludicrously cheap price of £225.
With such a tough act to follow, the Honor
7X was always going to have its work cut out,
but it looks to be even better: Honor has
squeezed in an edge-to-edge display, with the
price only rising to £260. That’s £190 cheaper
than the OnePlus 5T, one of the most
affordable handsets with an 18:9 screen.
Measuring 5.93in with a 2,160x1,080
resolution, the Honor 7X’s display is a sight to
behold. And despite its lower price, the whole
thing is beautifully built, clearly taking design
inspiration from the underrated Honor 8 Pro
(Shopper 354). There are a couple of strange
omissions, though: one is the lack of a USB
Type-C port, with the 7X going for the older,
fast-charge-incapable Micro USB, and the
other is NFC, so you can’t use the phone to
make contactless payments.
More positively, you get a 3.5mm
headphone jack and a centrally positioned,
rear-mounted fingerprint sensor, which
unlocks the phone in double-quick time.
COLOUR CHARTS
In our display benchmarks, the 7X achieved a
mediocre 85.3% sRGB gamut coverage, which
is lower than the Honor 6X’s 89.2%, so the
larger, higher-res display isn’t a total upgrade.
Colours could be a touch more accurate, as
the average delta-E of 2.46 demonstrates. Still,
colours appear nice and rich,
and to our eyes they don’t
look particularly wonky.
For an IPS display, the
Honor 7X has an
extraordinarily high
contrast ratio of 2,109:1,
which is partly why the
display looks so vibrant.
At its peak brightness of
499cd/m2, the 7X is
the Honor 6X, though the
difference is negligible, and
it shows in the Geekbench
4 benchmark. The 7X
scored 899 in the
single-core and 3,457 in the
multicore test; these are
only slight improvements
on the 6X’s respective
scores of 784 and 3,319.
It also fell a tiny
bit behind the 6X in
GFXBench’s Manhattan
gaming test, averaging only
7fps in both the onscreen
and offscreen tests; the 6X
reached 8fps in both. To be
fair, such low scores are
common in handsets below
£300, with even the Motorola Moto G5S Plus
only making it to 10fps; in any case, you
should be able to run basic games without any
issues, but tougher 3D games will struggle.
DEFRAGS TO RICHES
The Honor 7X packs a 3,340mAh battery, the
same size as the one in the Honor 6X. Owing
to its smaller screen, however, the 6X lasted
longer in our video playback benchmark:
11h 19m to the 7X’s 9h 47m. The latter is
enough to get you through a day of normal
use, to be sure, but that’s nothing special.
It’s also surprising that Honor has stuck
with Android 7.0 rather than the updated
Android 8.0. However, Honor’s EMUI 5.1 skin
adds the same RAM defragmentation and
memory compression tools that the Honor
8 Pro included, which might help
prevent the 7X from slowing
down over its lifetime.
The Honor 7X has a dual
rear-facing 16-megapixel
camera, with a second
2-megapixel sensor used
solely to add image depth for
portrait images. Its camera
uses Phase Detection Auto
capture excellent images,
with high colour
accuracy and plenty of
detail, especially in the
foreground. And that’s
with HDR turned off, too
– switch it on and
everything becomes a
touch sharper, with details
standing out even more.
Low light performance
is still a bump that Honor
needs to get over, however.
The sensor picks up a lot
of visual noise in darkened
conditions, and with flash,
colours take on an
unwelcome yellow tint.
FACE FACTS
The rear camera is still good enough for the
price, however, and the phone’s front-facing
8-megapixel camera is the same: it captures
plenty of detail, plus a surprising amount of
light, and with a selection of colour filters and
effects, portrait images look fantastic.
We’ve pointed out several issues with the
Honor 7X, but in its defence, none of them is
rare or even particularly unexpected below the
£300 mark; all of its close alternatives will
have a rough time with gaming, for instance,
and even cameras on true premium
smartphones can have difficulty in low light.
And even if it doesn’t improve on the 6X in
places, that’s no tragedy considering how
good the older phone was to begin with.
In fact, other than the Moto G5 Plus,
there’s not much else at this price we’d
recommend. The Honor 7X is powerful
enough, sufficiently well built and has
that edgeless display that’s so evocative
of much more expensive handsets.
Christopher Minasians
SPECIFICATIONS
•
PROCESSOR Octa-core 2.36GHz HiSilicon Kirin 659

readable in most Focus (PDAF) for a quick

• SCREEN RESOLUTION 2,160x1,080 •
SCREEN SIZE 5.93in
REAR CAMERA Dual 16 megapixels • STORAGE 64GB •
conditions, although you point-and-shoot, and the WIRELESS DATA 4G • DIMENSIONS 157x75x7.6mm •
may need to shade the front-facing 8-megapixel WEIGHT 165g • OPERATING SYSTEM Android 7.0 •
screen with your hand in camera also has a bokeh WARRANTY One year RTB • DETAILS www.hihonor.com •
PART CODE 51092ADQ
high ambient light. effect portrait setting, like
Inside is a 2.36GHz most modern flagships.
octa-core HiSilicon Kirin The camera is one area Battery life 9h 47m
659 processor and 4GB of where this newer phone 0% -50 Reference +50 +100
RAM. This gives it a slightly clearly beats the 6X: even in See page 68 for performance details

snappier experience over grey weather, the 7X can

44 APRIL 2018 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | ISSUE 362

 ANDROID 7.1 SMARTPHONE
BLACKBERRY Motion
★★★★★
£400 • From www.currys.co.uk
VERDICT
BlackBerry’s latest Android handset has some good
software additions but is vexingly underpowered
POOR BLACKBERRY. THE once-great
smartphone maker has never managed to
recapture its earlier success, with decent but
uninspiring handsets such as last year’s
KEYone (Shopper 355) failing to ignite the
same passion the world once had for the
firm’s products. We saw a fitting but
saddening sign of this lack of luck at the most
recent IFA tech conference, where BlackBerry
was operating from a tiny one-man booth.
Perhaps the new Motion will have better
luck. While it lacks the signature BlackBerry
keyboard, it does things a little differently to
most Android phones, especially in terms of
design. Take the soft-touch plastic rear,
complete with a textured carbon fibre-style
pattern surrounded by an asymmetrical frame
that has sharp corners at the top and curved
ones at the bottom. This makes for a phone
that not only looks unusual but is also grippier
than most and doesn’t have as much tendency
to pick up scratches or fingerprints on the back.
ALL IN ONE
We also appreciate the programmable
‘convenience key’ on the right, which can be
mapped to a handful of shortcuts, allowing
you to turn on silent mode or launch a specific
app at the touch of a button. You can program
it with different tasks based on your location
or what you’re doing, launching the navigation
app when you’re driving, for instance.
From a comfort point of view, things aren’t
quite so positive. The Motion is a lump of a
handset, measuring 8.1mm thick, and its harsh,
flat edges dig uncomfortably into the hand.
The 5.5in, 1,920x1,080 IPS display is
nothing special either. The screen is quite
oversaturated, particularly in the reds and
yellows, and a maximum brightness of
396cd/m2 is far from the best we’ve seen.
Still, according to our colour calibrator,
the Motion achieved a respectable 98.7%
sRGB coverage and a
contrast ratio of 1,243:1,
helping to produce a
picture that’s vibrant and
has plenty of impact.
Likewise, the extra inch
of screen real estate made
all the difference compared
with the KEYone’s cramped
4.5in display. BlackBerry has
also fitted out the Motion
with a ‘nano-diamond
anti-scratch coating’,
which means it’s less
46
prone to scratches if, say,
you put it in the same
pocket as your keys.
SWING LOW
When it comes to
performance, BlackBerry’s
new effort doesn’t do any
better than similarly
priced alternatives.
Inside is a low-powered
2GHz Qualcomm
Snapdragon 625, 3GB
of RAM and 32GB of
storage, expandable up
to 400GB via microSD.
Geekbench 4’s
single- and multicore test
results of 821 and 3,558
respectively prove its performance is
unequivocally below-par for the price. For
instance, the Nokia 8 (Shopper 359) ran 59%
faster, and you can pick that up for only an
extra £28. Gaming performance is a similar
story; the Motion’s GFXBench Manhattan
onscreen test score of 9 is a point lower than
the Motorola Moto G5 Plus (Shopper 354),
never mind the Nokia 8, which managed 35.
That said, a lower-powered processor does
accrue some benefits; namely, a longer-lasting
battery. Lasting an impressive 18h 20m in our
continuous video test with the screen set to
170cd/m2 and flight mode engaged, the
Motion isn’t to be trifled with in this regard.
Not only that, it also takes advantage of
BlackBerry’s Boost Mode when charging,
which disables certain features and reduces
performance for faster charging speeds.
Like the KEYone, the Motion has Android
7.1 onboard, though an update to Android 8.0
is scheduled for the near future. This isn’t
stock Android either, and BlackBerry’s own
launcher is very interesting indeed.
The usual suite of
BlackBerry-specific apps are
here. There’s the BlackBerry
Hub, which gathers together
your messages from Twitter,
Slack, WhatsApp and the
like all in one handy place.
There’s also the DTEK app,
which gives you an instant
view of your phone’s
security status. It tells you
if developer options are
turned on, or if encryption
is enabled, for instance.
There’s also the handy
new Productivity Tab,
which works in a similar
way to Samsung’s Edge
Screen function. Simply
drag the onscreen tab
from the right-hand edge
of the screen to the
centre and it will reveal
your calendar, unread
messages, tasks and
favourite contacts.
CAM AND BLAST
The camera is unchanged
from the KEYone, so you
get a 12-megapixel model
on the rear, with a bright
f/2.0 aperture, dual-LED
flash and phase-detect autofocus, and an
8-megapixel shooter on the front.
So long as you have plenty of light, the
results are good. In our outdoor tests, the
camera captured colours accurately, with crisp
details, especially in the looming cloud layers
in the background. Flicking on HDR boosts
detail a touch without lending photographs an
unnatural, overprocessed appearance.
As with the KEYone, however, the Motion’s
camera falters in low light. As the light dims,
the Motion’s camera has a tendency to
produce images filled with visible noise,
and scenes taken without the flash looked
terribly soft and lacking in detail.
Ultimately the Motion is, sadly, a me-too
device that doesn’t excel in any particular
area. Its design and unique software tools
are neat, but neither of these is enough to
justify the phone’s mind-numbingly middling
performance and camera – especially for
£400. If BlackBerry’s fortunes do ever turn
around, this won’t be the phone that does it.
Nathan Spendelow
SPECIFICATIONS
PROCESSOR Octa-core 2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 •
SCREEN SIZE 5.5in • SCREEN RESOLUTION 1,920x1,080 •
REAR CAMERA 12 megapixels • STORAGE 32GB •
WIRELESS DATA 4G • DIMENSIONS 156x76x8.1mm •
WEIGHT 167g • OPERATING SYSTEM Android 7.1 •
WARRANTY One year RTB • DETAILS www.
blackberrymobile.com • PART CODE PRD-63737-003
Battery life 18h 20m
0% -50 Reference +50 +100
See page 68 for performance details
APRIL 2018 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | ISSUE 362
 BUDGET ANDROID 7.0 SMARTPHONE

EE Hawk
★★★★★
£150 • From shop.ee.co.uk

VERDICT
The EE Hawk is a welcome change of pace from flagship
smartphones, but is far from budget perfection

NOW THAT IT’S been firmly established that (the closer to 1 the better) visual noise and an
smartphone manufacturers are not going to confirms the inexcusably overall softness to
have mercy and stop charging upwards of low colour accuracy. images that makes them
£700 for their best models, it’s more At least things are slightly unsharable in all but the
important than ever that the budget end of better in the performance smallest of sizes.
the market maintains a good assortment of department. Under the hood Switch to outdoor
handsets at accessibly low prices. is an octa-core, 1.5GHz scenery with plenty of
Following on from the modest success of MediaTek MT6750 processor light, and the Hawk
2015’s Harrier (Shopper 332), the British paired with 2GB of RAM does slightly better,
network provider EE is once again offering a and 16GB of storage, but the results aren’t
possible escape from smartphone-induced expandable by up to 256GB exactly going to get you
bankruptcy. Continuing its avian naming via microSD. This might noticed on Instagram.
tradition, the EE Hawk is the firm’s latest sound uninspiring, but given Intricate details such as
entry-level smartphone for 2018, and for a the price, the Hawk doesn’t brickwork and wisps of
scant £150 it’s an enticing proposition. run too badly. clouds are reproduced
The Hawk isn’t much to look at, but neither It scored decently in nicely, but images lack
is it outright ugly. The only big issue is that its Geekbench 4, scoring 564 in contrast and shots look
glossy rear is dreadful for picking up oily the single-core test and 2,444 whitewashed and dull.
fingerprints – it’s the worst offender for this in the multicore test; that’s sufficiently ahead
we’ve seen recently, which is saying something of sub-£100 alternatives such as the Alcatel ENDANGERED SPECIES
when fondness for glass backplates is at an Pixi 4 (Shopper 353), and the Hawk’s multicore To be sure, there’s a lot that can be forgiven
all-time high. We were constantly having to result manages to come out ahead of the about a working Android smartphone that
wipe away the mess, and ended up borrowing pricier Motorola Moto G5S (Shopper 360). costs about one-sixth of the price of an
a cloth just for this purpose. You’d have to spend over £200 to get iPhone X. We wouldn’t say that the Hawk is
Still, it’s a welcome change of pace to use a something significantly faster, such as the a bad handset, in this sense; as a matter of
relatively compact 5in phone, and we’ll always 2017 Samsung Galaxy J5 (Shopper 358). fact, it’s rather good in several places,
applaud the inclusion of a 3.5mm headphone In practice, the Hawk does the job: it can particularly performance.
jack, which can be found on the top edge. juggle multiple apps without too much hassle Unfortunately, the fact remains that even
and is capable of running the majority of the in the budget arena, there are several better
SCREEN SPURN Google Play Store’s library of mobile games. alternatives. There’s the Lenovo P2 (Shopper
Elsewhere, there’s a USB Type-C port on the You can’t ask much more for £150. 352), with its thus-far unbeatable battery life
bottom – a pleasant surprise, as many budget (provided you can nab one from its extremely
phones still employ the older Micro USB – DRAINING REGIMEN limited UK stocks), while the Galaxy J5 has a
flanked by dual downward-firing speaker With a low-powered processor usually comes far superior display and camera, not to
grilles, with the power button and volume greater power efficiency, although there’s little mention massively faster performance.
rocker keys on the right-hand side and the evidence of that here. The EE Hawk lasted a Even the Moto G5S, which has plenty of its
microSD and SIM card tray on the left. mere 10h 4m on a single charge in our own flaws, seems a smarter purchase, mainly
Another nice touch is the fingerprint sensor continuous video rundown test; translated to for its own excellent rear snapper.
on the rear, positioned just beneath the day-to-day usage, that should be just about The Hawk, by comparison, isn’t the budget
camera and dual-LED flash. enough to get you through a day, but only if predator we hoped it would be, failing to serve
The 1,280x720 display, you don’t have any up a killer reason to choose it over others.
however, isn’t great, to put lengthy calls or video- Perhaps it’s best just to let this one fly away.
things mildly. Besides the watching sessions on it. Nathan Spendelow
low resolution, which is The camera, too, is
only just acceptable on a poor. It doesn’t even SPECIFICATIONS
phone of this size, it match the old Motorola
simply doesn’t deliver Moto G4, and that’s
PROCESSOR Octa-core 1.5GHz MediaTek MT 6750 •
enough visual punch: one-and-a-half
SCREEN SIZE 5in• SCREEN RESOLUTION 1,280x720 •
REAR CAMERA 13 megapixels • STORAGE 16GB •
colours lack any kind of generations old by now. WIRELESS DATA 4G • DIMENSIONS 144x72x7.9mm •
vibrancy, making for a The issues predominantly WEIGHT 134g • OPERATING SYSTEM Android 7.0 •
particularly washed-out lie in low-light WARRANTY Two years RTB • DETAILS shop.ee.co.uk •
PART CODE Hawk
display with a nasty blue photography – once the
tint tingeing everything in lights dim, the Hawk’s
sight. The screen covers a 13-megapixel rear camera Battery life 10h 4m
mere 79.6% of the sRGB struggles to capture any 0% -50 Reference +50 +100
colour gamut and the discernible detail in shots, See page 68 for performance details

average delta-E of 6.66 with an abundance of

48 APRIL 2018 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | ISSUE 362

 From Apple to Zeiss,
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 FITNESS SMARTWATCH

GARMIN Vivoactive 3
★★★★★
£230 • From www.amazon.co.uk

VERDICT
This brilliantly versatile watch delivers
multisport tracking, GPS and all-day heart-
rate tracking in a slim, lightweight package

THE GARMIN VIVOACTIVE 3 is following a

bit of a trend this year in wearable tech,
especially in the realm of fitness watches.
Although it’s primarily a multisport watch
like the Garmin Fenix 5 or the TomTom
Adventurer, Garmin wants you to wear the
Vivoactive all day, every day – and that’s
why it’s added key features such as NFC
payments and notification responses to
the standard fitness wearable formula.
This is a fitness wearable that you won’t
want to take off when you leave the gym.
You can wear it while you’re exercising, but
also while you’re going about your daily
activity, walking around the house, to and
from the shops, and while you’re sleeping.
It can be used to track swims as well as
runs, bike rides and gym sessions, and it
delivers notifications like a proper
smartwatch – a job it’s surprisingly good at.
It’s not quite a smartwatch in the sense of
an Android Wear watch or the Apple Watch,
because the number of apps that can be
installed isn’t as broad; instead think of it as
a wearable that bridges the gap between
fitness devices and smartwatches.
DULL MOMENTS
One area in which the Garmin Vivoactive
absolutely doesn’t convince is in its
appearance. The brushed stainless steel
bezel looks nice enough, but the black
screen surround and plain black
polycarbonate body do nothing to catch the
eye. Neither does the stretchy black
rubber wristband, although you
can easily replace this with
something nicer given the
watch has a standard
20mm strap fitting.
Having said
that, the Garmin
Vivoactive 3 is
lightweight and
comfy to wear,
and it’s packed
with practical
features. The
strap, for starters,
has a phenomenal
range of adjustment
that means it will fit
those with thick and thin
wrists alike (from 107mm
to 204mm in circumference,
to be precise).
It’s laden with all the sensors you need for
pretty much any fitness-tracking task you can
think of. On the rear is an optical heart-rate
sensor, and inside are GPS and GLONASS
positional radios, a barometric altimeter,
compass, accelerometer and thermometer.
The watch is waterproof to 5ATM (50m) so
you can take it in the pool for a swim, and the
screen is topped with Gorilla Glass 3 so it
should be resistant to scratches and scuffs.
While the colours on the Vivoactive 3’s
1.2in, 240x240 resolution LCD are no match
for the ultra-vivid Fitbit Ionic
(Shopper 360) or Samsung
Gear Sport (Shopper 361), it
is a sensible choice. It uses
transflective LCD
tech, so it’s always
on, yet it’s power
efficient because it
doesn’t require a
backlight to read in
normal or bright
sunlight. In contrast
to regular OLED
smartwatch displays,
the brighter the
sunlight gets, the
clearer the display.
GIVE IT A REST
In the dark, the screen
lights up when you raise
your wrist, but it is rather
over-sensitive. We found it tended to activate
when we wore it in bed, waking us up in the
middle of the night. Fortunately, you can put
the device into ‘do not disturb’ mode easily,
although enabling an automated schedule for
this is a bit of a chore; in the Garmin Connect
app you have to adjust your ‘Sleep’ time in the
User settings, then dig into the Device
settings to enable Do not disturb during sleep.
Still, once you’ve set it up, the Vivoactive 3
works absolutely beautifully. A button on one
side performs a number of different duties,
depending on the screen you’re in and
whether you hold it down or tap it.
There’s a touchscreen up top, which
you tap and swipe to navigate through the
watch’s various screens (you can control
what’s shown here via the Garmin Connect
app), and on the right edge of the watch is a
touch-sensitive panel, which lets you scroll
through menus and screens without needing
to obscure the watch face with your finger.
Another nice touch is that it’s possible to
flip the screen in the Settings menu so that
the button faces either left or right.
QUICK TALKER
As far as smartphone features go, there’s also
a lot the Vivoactive 3 gets right. Long
messages are truncated, but most shorter
stuff is readable in its entirety with a single
tap, whatever the messaging platform. The
Vivoactive 3 adds the ability to respond using
canned responses, such as ‘Sorry, can’t talk

50 APRIL 2018 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | ISSUE 362

 Chillblast
sales@chillblast.com
right now’ or ‘In a There’s even more 01202 068 333
meeting, call you later?’ tweakability when it
This is limited to comes to running and
incoming phone calls other GPS-based
and SMS messages, activities, with the ability
which is a shame, but to download workouts
it’s at least better than from your training
what’s on offer on the calendar, set alerts,
Fitbit Ionic, which enter laps, and turn on
shortens messages auto-pause so that your
much more severely average pace or speed
and doesn’t allow you doesn’t tumble while you’re
to respond at all. waiting to cross the road or
The fact that there’s no stopped at traffic lights.
on-watch music playback is an
even bigger issue. You can view track CHEST INTENTIONS
names and control what’s playing on your As for accuracy, that seems to be pretty good as
phone via the Vivoactive’s screen, but if you far as optical wrist-based heart-rate sensors go. FUSION XENON
want to take the watch out running sans phone, It tracks at around the same level as the Fitbit
you’ll have to go without your music as well. Ionic and didn’t give any strange readings over PROCESSOR: INTEL CORE i7-7700 KABY LAKE
Garmin Pay – the Vivoactive 3’s other major the course of several running and cycling CASE: CHILLBLAST ONYX RGB
CPU COOLER: INTEL STOCK COOLER
new feature – is also a disappointment, at least sessions. It won’t track your heart rate while
MOTHERBOARD: Z170
for now. The theory is that you’ll be able to use you’re swimming, but you can add the capability MEMORY: 16GB DDR4 2400MHz
contactless terminals to pay for things in shops by pairing with either an ANT+ or Bluetooth GRAPHICS CARD: NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1080 8GB
and restaurants, but we were unable to test it smart chest strap, like the Garmin HRM+SWIM. OS DRIVE: 250GB SK HYNIX SL301 SSD
out because no UK banks or credit cards The GPS worked well, tracking our position HARD DRIVE: SEAGATE 1TB 7200RPM
currently support the feature. accurately during an hour-long bike ride. The POWER SUPPLY: AEROCOOL 600W 80 PLUS
However, even without this payments only small negative was that it took 30 seconds SYSTEM: WINDOWS 10 HOME 64-BIT

feature, the Garmin Vivoactive 3 is a credible
smartwatch stand-in, especially as it also
provides access to a decent selection of
third-party apps, widgets and watch faces via
the Garmin IQ Connect store.
WORKS OUT IN THE END
But you don’t buy a Garmin watch if all you
want are smartwatch functions. You buy one
primarily because it’s great for activity and
fitness tracking and, on this front, the
Vivoactive 3 is very good indeed.
First up, general activity tracking is excellent.
The watch keeps tabs on your steps, floors
climbed and calories burned during the day, and
it continually monitors your heart rate both
during the day and the night, recording your
heart rate at one-second intervals. There’s also
sleep tracking, which tracks your movement
to indicate when you’ve been in light or deep
sleep or awake during the night.
The Vivoactive 3 also supplies a stress score,
reports your average resting heart rate and
your estimated VO2 max – a measurement of
lung capacity and, therefore, your general
cardiovascular fitness levels. It can estimate
your lactate threshold, a measurement that
can be better for calculating exercise zones
than your maximum heart rate.
In addition, there’s a huge range of activities
it can track, from the most basic (running and
walking) to more specialist stuff such as
swimming, golf, indoor fitness machines, skiing,
snowboarding and even paddle boarding.
Most of these are tweakable on the watch
itself, too. For example, select a pool swim and
you’re prompted to select from a number of
presets, or set your own length. You can
choose what’s displayed during the exercise
and set alerts selected based on time,
distance and calories burned.
ISSUE 362 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | APRIL 2018
or so to get a signal, particularly in built-up areas. PRICE FROM £1499.99
That’s not a problem in nice weather, but during
the winter you’ll want to spend as little time as
possible out in the cold, waiting for a GPS lock.
www.chillblast.com
Battery life is superb, and this is where the
Garmin Vivoactive 3 outdoes many of its
smartwatch competitors. We found it lasted as
long as six days between charges when not
employing the GPS, which is particularly
impressive considering it’s continually tracking
heart rate. With Garmin rating GPS usage at 13
hours continuous, even if you do use it to track a
couple of runs a day or an hour or two of cycling,
it should last three to four days at least.
BRAINS AND BRAWN
In short, the Garmin Vivoactive 3 is one special
fitness watch. It’s user-friendly and accurate,
has GPS, altimeter and heart-rate sensors, it
tracks your swims on top of all the regular FUSION PHOTO OC VIII
fitness activities – plus a few extra – and it’s a
superb everyday activity tracker. PROCESSOR: INTEL CORE i7-7820X 8 CORE
CASE: FRACTAL DESIGN DEFINE R5
That it does all this while also packing in
CPU COOLER: CORSAIR H100i V2 CPU COOLER
some degree of smartwatch capability is truly MOTHERBOARD: GIGABYTE X299-UD4
remarkable and, while it isn’t a beautiful device, it MEMORY: 32GB DDR4 2133MHZ
achieves almost everything we’d want from a GRAPHICS CARD: NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1060 6GB
fitness-cum-smartwatch. The only misfire is the OS DRIVE: 250GB Samsung 960 EVO M.2
lack of phone-free music playback, and even that HARD DISK: 2 x Seagate 3TB HDD in RAID 1
OPTICAL DRIVE: Blu-Ray ReWriter Drive
might not bother some people – not everyone
CARD READER: Akasa 17 in 1 Card Reader
likes to listen to music or audiobooks while
POWER SUPPLY: CORSAIR CX750 80 PLUS BRONZE
exercising. If Garmin can sort out bank support SYSTEM: WINDOWS 10 HOME 64-BIT
for its NFC-based contactless payment system, it
will be pretty much the perfect all-rounder. PRICE FROM £2399.99
Jonathan Bray
SPECIFICATIONS
PEDOMETER Yes • HEART-RATE MONITOR Yes • DISPLAY
• RESOLUTION 240x240 • OS SUPPORT Android,
SIZE 1.2in
iOS • BATTERY LIFE Six days • WARRANTY One year RTB •
DETAILS www.garmin.com • PART CODE 010-01769-00
Terms and conditions are on the website.
All trademarks are acknowledged.
Pictures are for illustration only.
Prices are correct at time of going to press (26-01-18) E&OE
 Choosing a... PC system
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 that 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.
PCs
RASPBERRY Pi
Zero W
★★★★★
£9 • www.thepihut.com
The Pi Foundation’s latest
pocket-sized hobbyist PC is
a big improvement on the
original Pi Zero, thanks to integrated Wi-Fi
and better performance. It’s not as fast as
the more expensive Pi 3, nor as generous
with connections and ports, but the bargain
Zero W is perfect for low-power projects.
PROCESSOR 1GHz single-core Broadcom BCM2835 • RAM 512MB MB • USB PORTS 1x Micro USB
(power), 1x Micro USB OTG • TOTAL STORAGE MicroSD card slot • DISPLAY None •
OPERATING SYSTEM Raspbian • WARRANTY One year RTB • DETAILS www.raspberrypi.org •
PART CODE Pi Zero W • FULL REVIEW Jun 2017
WIRED2FIRE Pyro Reactor
★★★★★
£1,053 • www.wired2fire.com
The rise of Ryzen CPUs
has brought about a
rush of excellent
AMD-based PCs, perhaps the best of
which is Wired2Fire’s Pyro Reactor.
Its GeForce GTX 1060 will breeze through
most games at 1440p, and its hexa-core
Ryzen 5 1600X is capable of getting
serious work done. It’s a real all-rounder
at a very fair price.
PROCESSOR Hexa-core 3.8GHz AMD Ryzen 5 1600X • RAM 16GB • FRONT USB PORTS 2x
USB3 • REAR USB PORTS 2x USB2, 6x USB3.1 • TOTAL STORAGE 250GB SSD, 1TB hard disk •
GRAPHICS CARD 6GB Zotac GeForce GTX 1060 • OPERATING SYSTEM Windows 10 Home •
WARRANTY Three years labour including two years parts • DETAILS www.wired2fire.com •
PART CODE SYS_W2F_PYRE2 • FULL REVIEW Dec 2017
52
03 All modern PCs come with at
least a dual-core processor and
are capable of most tasks. Anyone who
peripherals attach to these ports. Most
new PCs come with the latest USB3 ports,
which provide faster data transfers when
regularly undertakes demanding tasks used with supported devices than the
such as video editing and encoding older USB2 standard.
should consider a quad-core or even a
hex-core processor.
06 Most new PCs now come with
Windows 10 pre-installed. Don’t
04 There are plenty of good reasons to
upgrade the PC’s memory or hard
disk. If you’ll use your PC for gaming, video
be too easily swayed by the inclusion of
other software, though, as it may be that
you’ll never use it.
editing or other demanding tasks, you’ll
need at least 8GB of RAM and a large hard
disk; 1TB should suffice. Many new PCs have 07 While most PCs come in cases
of a similar size, some have more
an SSD, which speeds up the time it takes for compact mini tower or mini PC cases.
your PC to boot and programs to load. These smaller PCs will fit under your TV
or on your desk more easily, but bear in
05 Having plenty of USB ports is
always useful, as most computer
mind that they’re significantly harder to
upgrade than full-size machines.
SCAN 3XS Gamer
★★★★★
£1,680 • www.scan.co.uk/3XS
For this much cash,
we’d usually expect an
overclockable processor,
but an exception can be made for the 3XS
Gamer. Its hexa-core Intel Core i7-8700
delivers enormous grunt in both single-
core and multithreaded tasks, and a
GeForce GTX 1080 graphics card ensures
good-quality 4K gaming.
PROCESSOR Hexa-core 3.2GHz Intel Core i7-8700 • RAM 16GB • FRONT USB PORTS 2x USB3 •
REAR USB PORTS 2x USB2, 4x USB3 • TOTAL STORAGE 250GB SSD, 2TB hard disk • GRAPHICS
CARD 8GB EVGA GeForce GTX 1080 SC Gaming • DISPLAY None • OPERATING SYSTEM Windows
10 Home • WARRANTY Three years RTB including one year onsite • DETAILS www.scan.co.uk/3XS
• PART CODE LN84933 • FULL REVIEW Jan 2018
PALICOMP
i5 Titanium
★★★★★
£500 • www.palicomp.co.uk
While there’s no
dedicated GPU, the i5
Titanium is a brilliantly
balanced home office PC, with a
capable quad-core processor, compact
case and speedy SSD/hard disk
combo. It’s not particularly upgradable
but, for the price, it offers very good
performance right out of the box.
PROCESSOR Quad-core 3GHz Intel Core i5-7400 • RAM 8GB • FRONT USB PORTS 2x USB3 •
REAR USB PORTS 2x USB2, 2x USB3x 1x USB Type-C • TOTAL STORAGE 250GB SSD, 1TB hard disk
• GRAPHICS CARD None • OPERATING SYSTEM Windows 10 Home • WARRANTY Three years
RTB • DETAILS palicomp.co.uk • PART CODE KAB3 • FULL REVIEW Aug 2017
APRIL 2018 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | ISSUE 362
Choosing a... Laptop
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 15.4in screen and weigh
around 2.4kg, so they’re best used around
the house and for occasional journeys.
that weighs less than 2kg. For the best
portability, buy one that has an 11in or 13in
screen. In general, the smaller and lighter the
will do the job, but if you want better
performance, you should look for an
Intel Core i5 or Core i7 model instead. We
laptop, the more expensive it is, especially if recommend a minimum of 4GB of RAM,
it has plenty of processing power. although 8GB is better for multitasking.
04 Battery life is extremely important
for a laptop, particularly if you’ll be
carrying it around. We’d expect all but the
06 Most budget and mid-range laptops
use a mechanical hard disk for
storage. You’ll want at least 500GB, but

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 17in screens and weigh
around 3kg, so they’re best suited to use
at home.
biggest and heaviest to last for at least five
hours on a single charge, but for an ultra-
portable that you carry everywhere, eight
1TB or more is better. Solid-state drives
(SSDs) have faster performance, making
your computer quicker to boot and more
hours and above is more desirable. responsive. They have lower capacities,
though. You’ll need at least 128GB.
05 Laptops use mobile versions of
processors to conserve power,
and these lag behind desktop chips when 07 Netbooks are a type of small,
low-cost ultra-portable laptop.

03 If you want a laptop that you can

take everywhere, look for a model
it comes to performance. For a budget
Windows laptop, an Intel Core i3 processor
They’re fine for light use, but avoid them if
you want to do complicated tasks.

LAPTOPS
HP Spectre x360 ASUS ZenBook UX310UA
★★★★★ ★★★★★
£1,400 • www.amzn.to/2G2cEc9
2G2cEc9 £660 • www.saveonlaptops.co.uk
Following in the Sadly we
footsteps of the can no
Spectre longer find
13, HP’s Spectre x360 is a the UX310UA for the same
convertible hybrid laptop bargain price at which we
with premium ultrabook reviewed it, but this is still a
sensibilities. That means high
igh lovely ultraportable that can
performance from its Core i7 processor, a lush 4K display and even last a full working day away fromrom
discrete Nvidia GeForce 940MX graphics. the mains. Best of all, this price gets you
a more powerful Intel Kaby Lake processor and a larger SSD.
PROCESSOR Dual-core 2.7GHz Intel Core i7-7500U • RAM 8GB • DIMENSIONS 356x251x17.9mm •
WEIGHT 2kg • SCREEN SIZE 15.6in • SCREEN RESOLUTION 3,840x2,160 • GRAPHICS ADAPTOR PROCESSOR Dual-core 2.4GHz Intel Core i3-7100U • RAM 4GB • DIMENSIONS 323x223x18.4mm
Nvidia GeForce GTX 940MX • TOTAL STORAGE 512GB SSD • OPERATING SYSTEM Windows 10 • WEIGHT 1.4kg • SCREEN SIZE 13.3in • SCREEN RESOLUTION 1,920x1,080 • TOTAL STORAGE
Home • WARRANTY One year RTB • DETAILS www.hp.com • PART CODE 15-bl000na • 256GB SSD • OPERATING SYSTEM Windows 10 Home • PARTS AND LABOUR WARRANTY One
FULL REVIEW Sep 2017 year RTB • DETAILS www.asus.com/uk • PART CODE UX310UA • FULL REVIEW Jul 2017

GIGABYTE DELL XPS 13 (2017)

Aero 15 ★★★★★
★★★★★ £1,150 • www.amzn.to/2uirlnL
£1,800 • www.scan.co.uk Powered by an
updated Intel Core
The Aero 15 i7-7500U,
7500U, the refreshed
is another Dell XPS 13 goes from
rom a tantalising
slimline purchase to an essential
ential one.
gaming laptop, this time withth The 3,200x1,800 display
splay still
the heft of a GeForce GTX 1060060 inside. looks excellent, too,
oo, both in itself
The result is excellent frame rates even in and surrounded
highly demanding games, with unusually by the razor-thin
long battery life to sweeten the deal. InfinityEdge bezels.

PROCESSOR Quad-core 2.8GHz Intel Core i7-7700HQ • RAM 16GB • DIMENSIONS 356x250x19.9mm
• WEIGHT 2.1kg • SCREEN SIZE 15.6in • SCREEN RESOLUTION 1,980x1,080 • GRAPHICS ADAPTOR
Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 • TOTAL STORAGE 512GB SSD • OPERATING SYSTEM Windows 10 Home •
WARRANTY Two years RTB • DETAILS www.gigabyte.com • PART CODE Aero 15W-CF2 •
FULL REVIEW Aug 2017
PROCESSOR Quad-core 2.7GHz Intel Core i7-7500U • RAM 8GB • DIMENSIONS 304x200x15mm
• WEIGHT 1.29kg • SCREEN SIZE 13.3in • SCREEN RESOLUTION 3,200x1,800 •
GRAPHICS ADAPTOR Intel HD Graphics 620 • TOTAL STORAGE 256GB SSD •
OPERATING SYSTEM Windows 10 Home • WARRANTY Three years RTB •
DETAILS www.dell.com/uk • PART CODE XPS 13 9360 • FULL REVIEW May 2017

ISSUE 362 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | APRIL 2018 53

 Choosing a... Smartphone
01 A smartphone’s operating system
(OS) dictates its basic features
and which third-party software you can
pages. Don’t worry too much about built-in
media players or Office document editors;
you can always install apps to replace these
variety of custom onscreen keyboards so
you can find one that suits you.

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. Apple iOS
and Google Android have the most apps
available but Windows Phone is slowly
catching up.
with better versions later.
The image quality of smartphone cameras
has improved tremendously in recent years,
and resolutions have increased to as high as
20 megapixels.
03 Very few modern smartphones have a
physical keyboard for entering text;
they almost exclusively use touchscreens
04 Be careful when choosing a contract.
Look for one that includes a large
data allowance if you want to use the
internet regularly or you’ve set your phone
to synchronise your contacts, calendar and
email through online services.
Built-in Wi-Fi can help you avoid high data
charges by connecting to the internet
through wireless hotspots when you’re out,

02 All smartphones have colour screens,

but their resolutions vary. Basic
models have 800x480 pixels, but text can be
indistinct. Look for a display that has at least
1,280x720 pixels so it’s easy to browse web
now. Physical keyboards can aid heavy
emailing, but today’s touchscreen keyboards
work just as well.
Android smartphones and iPhones
running iOS 9 or 10 allow you to install a
or your router when you’re at home. Android
and iPhone handsets can operate as wireless
hotspots, letting you connect your laptop to
the web over your mobile data connection.
There may be an extra charge for this.

SMARTPHONES
MOTOROLA Moto Z2 Play SAMSUNG Galaxy S8
★★★★★ ★★★★★
£379 SIM-free • www.amzn.to/2G2cEc9 £500 SIM-free; £80 on £32-per-month contract •
www.amzn.to/2qNy2fT (SIM-free);
The second-generation version of our www.carphonewarehouse.com (contract)
favourite modular smartphone takes
some small steps back on battery life The most powerful Android phone
and display quality, but is still a lot of smartphone for ever. The camera is superb, the
£379, with good performance and a sharpshooting display is dazzling, and even the base
camera. It’s compatible with older Moto Mods, too. model comes in a beautiful, almost completely bezel-free, design.

PROCESSOR Octa-core 2.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 626 • SCREEN SIZE 5.5in • SCREEN PROCESSOR Quad-core 2.3GHz Samsung Exynos 8895 • SCREEN SIZE 5.8in • SCREEN RESOLUTION
RESOLUTION 1,920x1,080 • REAR CAMERA 12 megapixels • STORAGE 64GB • WIRELESS DATA 4G 2,560x1,440 • REAR CAMERA 12 megapixels • STORAGE 64GB • WIRELESS DATA 4G • DIMENSIONS
• DIMENSIONS 156x76x6mm • WEIGHT 145g • OPERATING SYSTEM Android 7.1 • WARRANTY 149x68x8mm • WEIGHT 155g • OPERATING SYSTEM Android 7.0 • WARRANTY One-year RTB •
One year RTB • DETAILS www.motorola.co.uk • PART CODE XT1710 • FULL REVIEW Nov 2017 DETAILS wwww.samsung.com/uk • PART CODE SM-G950FZKABTU • FULL REVIEW Jul 2017

NOKIA 3310 GOOGLE Pixel 2

★★★★★ ★★★★★
£39 PAYG • www.vodafone.co.uk £629 SIM-free; £10 on £36-per-month contract •
www.carphonewarehouse.com
Possibly the most beloved feature
phone of all time is back with a 2017 The larger Pixel 2 XL has a higher-res
redesign. It’s not as flexible, app-wise, display and better battery life, but this
as a cheap Android handset, but it’s light, compact, is the better buy: it’s just as fast and
and can last for days on a single charge, so it makes has the same pure Android OS, but doesn’t suffer from
for a perfect backup device. the same vibrancy problems as the XL’s screen.
PROCESSOR Not stated • SCREEN SIZE 2.4in • SCREEN RESOLUTION 320x240 • REAR CAMERA PROCESSOR Quad-core 2.45GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 • SCREEN SIZE 5in • SCREEN
2 megapixels • STORAGE 16MB • WIRELESS DATA 2G • DIMENSIONS 116x51x12.8mm • WEIGHT RESOLUTION 1,920x1,080 • REAR CAMERA 12.2 megapixels • STORAGE 64/128GB • WIRELESS
80g • OPERATING SYSTEM Nokia Series 30+ • WARRANTY One year RTB • DETAILS www.nokia. DATA 4G • DIMENSIONS 146x70x7.8mm • WEIGHT 143g • OPERATING SYSTEM Android 8.1 •
com • PART CODE 3310 • FULL REVIEW Sep 2017 WARRANTY One year RTB • DETAILS store.google.com • PART CODE Pixel 2 • FULL REVIEW Jan 2018

SAMSUNG Galaxy J5 (2017) HONOR 8 Pro

★★★★★ ★★★★★
£193 SIM-free; free on £15-per-month contract • £449 • www.debenhamsplus.com
www.amzn.to/2B6fPjS (SIM-free);
www.carphonewarehouse.com If you can live with the EMUI skin, the
Honor 8 Pro is a fantastic phablet. It
The new Galaxy J5 performs well, takes competes with more expensive
great photos, has an incredibly vibrant flagships on performance, and has a vibrant 5.7in
screen and looks stylish, but it’s the display, plus a sharp rear camera with 4K video capture.
battery life – over 18h in our tests – that really impresses.
PROCESSOR Octa-core 2.4GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 960 • SCREEN SIZE
PROCESSOR Octa-core 1.6GHz Exynos 7870 • SCREEN SIZE 5in • SCREEN RESOLUTION 1,280x720 5.7in • SCREEN RESOLUTION 2,560x1,440 • REAR CAMERA 12 megapixels •
• REAR CAMERA 13 megapixels • STORAGE 16GB • WIRELESS DATA 4G • DIMENSIONS STORAGE 64GB • WIRELESS DATA 4G • DIMENSIONS 157x78x7mm •
146x71x8mm • WEIGHT 160g • OPERATING SYSTEM Android 7.0 • WARRANTY One-year RTB • WEIGHT 184g • OPERATING SYSTEM Android 7.0 • DETAILS www.hihonor.
DETAILS www.samsung.com/uk • PART CODE SM-J350FZKABTU • FULL REVIEW Dec 2017 com/uk • PART CODE DUK-L09 • FULL REVIEW Aug 2017

54 APRIL 2018 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | ISSUE 362

Choosing a... Tablet
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 is
slowly becoming more 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.
starting to see tablets that have even higher
screen resolutions. Some are as high as
2,560x1,600 or even 4K. Entry-level tablets
04 Tablets rarely include a SIM card slot.
This means you’ll have to rely on
Wi-Fi to get online, although some tablets
typically use TN panels, which don’t have let you access the internet through your
particularly good viewing angles. The viewing smartphone. If you want mobile access to
angles of IPS panels are much better. the internet, look for 3G- and 4G-ready
devices. These almost always cost more
03 If you want to listen to music, watch
films and play games, make sure your
tablet has plenty of storage. Many tablets
than Wi-Fi-only models but they’re great
if you use your tablet while commuting
or travelling.
come with 8GB or 16GB of internal storage,

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
although some budget models have less.
You’ll typically pay more for a higher storage
capacity. Many tablets also have microSD
05 Your choice of tablet determines the
apps you can use on it. You may find
that some of the apps you want are available
slots that let you add extra storage, although on iOS but not Android and vice versa.
you won’t find one on an iPad. This is a cheap Windows 10, meanwhile, runs traditional
way of boosting storage capacity. desktop applications.

TABLETS
SAMSUNG Galaxy Book 10.6in HUAWEI MediaPad M3
3
★★★★★ ★★★★★
★★
£479 • www.shop.bt.com £279
£27 • www.ebuyer.com
Good budget 2-in-1s are rare, but Android slates may have fallen n out
Samsung hits the mark with its of fashion in favour of 2-in-1s,
s, but
10.6in Galaxy Book. The Full HD the MediaPad M3 shows they ey can
touchscreen display looks great and, unlike still
st be worth your cash. The Kirin 950 chip delivers
livers
with the iPad Pro or Surface Pro ranges, the excellent keyboard and massive processing power, and the sleek designgn
stylus peripherals come included in the box. and vibrant screen deserve your attention as well.

PROCESSOR Dual-core Intel Core m3-7Y30 • SCREEN SIZE 10.6in • SCREEN RESOLUTION PROCESSOR Octa-core 2.3GHz Hisilicon Kiring 950 • SCREEN SIZE 8.4in • SCREEN RESOLUTION
1,920x1,280 • REAR CAMERA None • STORAGE 64GB • WIRELESS DATA No • DIMENSIONS 2,560x1,440 • REAR CAMERA 8 megapixels • STORAGE 32GB • WIRELESS DATA 4G •
261x179x8.9mm • WEIGHT 650g • OPERATING SYSTEM Windows 10 Home • WARRANTY Two years DIMENSIONS 124x215x7.3mm • WEIGHT 320g • OPERATING SYSTEM Android 6.0 • WARRANTY
RTB • DETAILS www.samsung.com/uk • PART CODE SM-W620NZKAXAR • FULL REVIEW Nov 2017 One year RTB • DETAILS www.huawei.com/uk • PART CODE BTV-DL09 • FULL REVIEW Feb 2017

APPLE iPad Pro 10.5in MICROSOFT Surface Pro (2017)

( )
★★★★★ ★★★★★
£619 • www.apple.com/uk £2,079 • www.microsoft.com
While it’s still stuck with a This pricey 2-in-1 earns every
ery penny,
mobile OS, rather than the with its colourful, pin-sharp
rp
productivity-friendly macOS, display, best-in-class app
there’s no arguing with the latest iPad Pro’s raw performance, lengthy battery life and quality
ity
power. An A10X Fusion chip makes it much faster than the 9.7in keyboard cover. It’s been given welcome design
model in both multitasking and single-threaded applications. tweaks too, like a more durable hinge and smoothed-off edges.

PROCESSOR Hexa-core 2.36GHz Apple A10X Fusion • SCREEN SIZE 10.5in • SCREEN RESOLUTION PROCESSOR Dual-core 2.4GHz Intel Core i7-7660U • SCREEN SIZE 12.3in • SCREEN RESOLUTION
2,224x1,668 • REAR CAMERA 12 megapixels • STORAGE 64/256/512GB • WIRELESS DATA 4G (cellular 2,736x1,824 • REAR CAMERA 8 megapixels • STORAGE 512GB • WIRELESS DATA No • DIMENSIONS
version) • DIMENSIONS 251x174x6.1mm • WEIGHT 469g • OPERATING SYSTEM iOS 11 • WARRANTY 292x201x8.5mm • WEIGHT 784g • OPERATING SYSTEM Windows 10 Pro • WARRANTY One year
One year RTB • DETAILS www.apple.com/uk • PART CODE 9.7in iPad Pro • FULL REVIEW Oct 2017 RTB • DETAILS www.microsoft.com • PART CODE FKH-00002 • FULL REVIEW Sep 2017

SAMSUNG Galaxy Tab S3 AMAZON Kindle Oasis (2017) NEW

ENTRY
★★★★★ ★★★★★
£500 • www.currys.co.uk £230 • www.amzn.to/2iz8Cge
Yes, it’s incredibly expensive for an The premium instalment of
Android slate, but the Galaxy Tab S3 Amazon’s eReader line is
is pure luxury: the AMOLED display back with a bigger screen,
looks exquisite, the stereo speakers sound great, and ambient light sensor and IPX8 waterproofing,
Samsung’s S Pen stylus is included as standard. though its most interesting improvement is
the ability to play Audible Audiobooks.
PROCESSOR Quad-core 2.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 • SCREEN SIZE 9.7n •
SCREEN RESOLUTION 2,048x1,536 • REAR CAMERA 13 megapixels • STORAGE 32GB • PROCESSOR Not stated • SCREEN SIZE 7in • SCREEN RESOLUTION 300dpi • REAR CAMERA None
WIRELESS DATA None (4G optional) • DIMENSIONS 2937x169x6mm • WEIGHT 429g • • STORAGE 8GB • WIRELESS DATA Optional 3G • DIMENSIONS 159x141x8.3mm • WEIGHT 194g •
OPERATING SYSTEM Android 7.0 • WARRANTY One year RTB • DETAILS www.samsung.com/uk OPERATING SYSTEM Kindle OS • WARRANTY One year RTB • DETAILS www.amazon.co.uk •
• PART CODE SM-T820 • FULL REVIEW Aug 2017 PART CODE Kindle Oasis (2017) • FULL REVIEW Mar 2018

ISSUE 362 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | APRIL 2018 55

 Choosing a... Digital camera
01 A basic digital camera will suit
someone who wants to take pictures
to view on their computer and create 7x5in
check our reviews to find out how a
particular model performs.
921,000-dot resolutions for a sharper picture.
A touchscreen is useful for moving the
autofocus point.
prints. It should cost around £80, but there
may be hidden downsides such as slow
performance and very basic user controls.
03 A 3x zoom lens provides you with
reasonable scope for framing your
shots, but a larger range can do wonders 05 Leave some room in your budget for a
memory card, as the bundled memory
for your photography. Most compact provided with a camera is never enough. A

02 Spend a little more and you’ll get a

higher resolution. A 16-megapixel
sensor has the potential to produce sharp
cameras can manage a 5x zoom, while
pocket-size ultra-zoom cameras can
provide 24x zoom ranges.
16GB card costs less than £10. You may also
need to buy batteries.

prints up to A3 size, but only if it and the lens

are of a suitably high quality. Very high
resolutions in compact cameras tend to
boost noise more than detail levels, so many
of the best models strike a sensible balance
by using a 12-megapixel sensor.
Back-illuminated CMOS sensors tend
to produce less noise than CCDs, but
Numbers such as 28-105mm tell you the
wide-angle and telephoto limits of the zoom
range. Big zooms require optical image
stabilisation to avoid blur due to camera
shake when zoomed right in.
04 Most cameras now have a 3in screen.
Look out for 460,000-dot or
06 Don’t forget that a camera’s
specification tells you very little
about its image quality. You’ll need to read
our reviews for that. With a compact
camera, we believe the user shouldn’t have
to grapple with complicated controls in
order to take great pictures in a range of
lighting conditions.

PHOTOGRAPHY
SONY RX100 V FUJIFILM X-T2
★★★★★ ★★★★★
£949 • www.amzn.to/2rtLjLf £1,384 • www.amzn.to/2qHCw7h
It may be small, but the RX100 The X-T2 is a mirrorless
V is seriously fast, and because CSC capable of shooting
it also captures a surprising high-quality images at incredibly high burst speeds,
amount of light, image and video quality are both top-notch. making it ideal for wildlife and sports photography.

SENSOR RESOLUTION 20 megapixels • SENSOR SIZE 13.2x8.8mm (1in) • FOCAL LENGTH
MULTIPLIER 2.7x • VIEWFINDER Electronic (2,400,000 dots) • LCD SCREEN 3in (1,228,800 dots) •
OPTICAL ZOOM (35mm-EQUIVALENT FOCAL LENGTHS) 2.9x (24-70mm) • 35mm-EQUIVALENT
APERTURE f/4.9-7.6 • WEIGHT 298g • DIMENSIONS 60x104x41mm • WARRANTY One year RTB
• DETAILS www.sony.co.uk • FULL REVIEW Apr 2017
SENSOR RESOLUTION 24 megapixels • SENSOR SIZE 23.6x15.6mm (APS-C) •
FOCAL LENGTH MULTIPLIER 1.5x • VIEWFINDER Electronic (2.36 million dots) • LCD SCREEN 3in
(1.04 million dots) • VIEWFINDER MAGNIFICATION (35mm-EQUIVALENT, COVERAGE) 0.77x,
100% • LENS MOUNT Fujifilm X Mount • WEIGHT 507g • DIMENSIONS 92x143x51mm •
WARRANTY One year RTB • DETAILS www.fujifilm.eu/uk • FULL REVIEW May 2017

NIKON D3400 POLAROID Originals OneStep 2

★★★★★ ★★★★★
£429 • www.johnlewis.com £109 • www.jessops.com
A collection of minor The OneStep 2 brings
improvements to battery life, back the simple joys of
shooting speed and stills quality
y instant photography.
add up to make the D3400 the best entry-level DSLR available. Although the stock can get quite pricey,
your shots will look just as they would on
SENSOR RESOLUTION 24 megapixels • SENSOR SIZE 23.5x15.6mm (APS-C) • VIEWFINDER a classic Polaroid – perfect for sharing or
Optical TTL • LCD SCREEN 3in (921,000 dots) • OPTICAL ZOOM (35mm-EQUIVALENT FOCAL
simply sticking to the fridge.
LENGTHS) 3x (27-82.5mm) • 35mm-EQUIVALENT APERTURE f/5.25-8.4 • LENS MOUNT Nikon F
Mount • WEIGHT 655g • DIMENSIONS 99x124x135mm • WARRANTY One year RTB • PHOTO SIZE 3.1x3.1in • BATTERY LIFE 15-20 packets of film • PORTS 1x Micro USB •
DETAILS www.europe-nikon.com • FULL REVIEW Jun 2017 WARRANTY One year RTB • DETAILS www.polaroidoriginals.com • FULL REVIEW Jan 2018

PANASONIC Lumix GH5

H5 PANASONIC Lumix DMC-G80
MC-G80
★★★★★ ★★★★★
£1,599 • www.wexphotographic.com £749 • www.jessops.com
This update to the brilliant The G80 is ahead of the pack
GH4 can take great photos, when it comes to video quality, y,
but it’s video capture where the GH5 truly excels. Its and its stills look great as well.. It’s
4K, 60fps footage is crisp enough for serious indie filmmaking, and it more expensive than the preceding G7, but includes
ludes a
supports 10-bit recording and an optional flat colour profile as well. superior 12-60mm kit lens, among other improvements.

SENSOR RESOLUTION 20 megapixels • SENSOR SIZE 17.3x13mm • FOCAL LENGTH SENSOR RESOLUTION 16 megapixels • SENSOR SIZE 17.3x13mm • FOCAL LENGTH MULTIPLIER
MULTIPLIER 2x • VIEWFINDER Electronic (3,680,000 dots) • LCD SCREEN 3.2in (1,620,000 dots) • 2x • VIEWFINDER Electronic (2,360,000 dots) • LCD SCREEN 3in (1,040,000 dots) •
LENS MOUNT Micro Four Thirds • WEIGHT 725g (with kit lens) • DIMENSIONS 98x146x88mm • LENS MOUNT Micro Four Thirds • WEIGHT 715g with kit lens • DIMENSIONS 79x137x130mm •
WARRANTY One year RTB • DETAILS www.panasonic.com/uk • FULL REVIEW Sep 2017 WARRANTY One year RTB • DETAILS www.panasonic.com/uk • FULL REVIEW Jul 2017

56 APRIL 2018 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | ISSUE 362

Choosing a... Display
01 A basic 24in LCD monitor costs
around £100. It will be fine for typical
Windows work but is likely to have poor
Many DVI and all HDMI connections
support HDCP, which lets you watch
protected video content, such as Blu-ray
cable or either HDMI or DisplayPort to use a
monitor at these resolutions.

viewing angles, so you’ll need to sit straight

on for the best picture quality. Its colour
accuracy may not be very good, either.
movies. DisplayPort is becoming more
popular, but you’ll need a graphics card with
a DisplayPort output (mini or full-size) to
04 If you want better picture quality,
look for a monitor with a high
contrast ratio. The higher the ratio, the
use this input on your monitor. whiter the whites and the blacker the blacks.

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.
03 A larger monitor will be easier on the
eye and may have a higher resolution.
Most monitors have a resolution of at least
1,920x1,080 (1080p), which provides lots of
room for working with multiple windows at
the same time. For even higher resolutions,
you’ll need a larger display. Some 27in and
30in screens have 2,560x1,600 or even 4K
resolutions. You’ll need a graphics card with
a dual-link DVI output and a dual-link DVI
You’ll also be able to see more fine detail in
images with high contrast levels. Viewing
angles are important, as wider angles mean
you don’t have to sit directly in front of the
monitor to get the best picture. Wider
viewing angles also allow more people to
view the screen at the same time.
Fast response times reduce ghosting,
but don’t be dazzled by the numbers. A
response time of 25ms or quicker is fine
for all applications.

DISPLAYS
ASUS VC239H BENQ SW2700PT
★★★★★ ★★★★★
£124 • www.pcworldbusiness.co.uk £615 • www.amzn.to/2fj53dh
It’s rare to see IPS After calibration, this
panels on monitors professional-grade
this cheap, and in monitor has near-perfectect
Standard mode, the VC239H nd
colour accuracy, so it’s ideal for photo and
delivers much better image quality video editing. The Quad HD resolution also ensures there’s plenty of
than we’ve come to expect from budget displays. room for Windows multitasking.
SCREEN SIZE 23in • RESOLUTION 1,920x1,080 • SCREEN TECHNOLOGY IPS • VIDEO INPUTS SCREEN SIZE 27in • RESOLUTION 2,560x1,440 • SCREEN TECHNOLOGY IPS (AHVA) •
VGA, DVI, HDMI • WARRANTY Three years RTB • DETAILS www.asus.com/uk • PART CODE VIDEO INPUTS DVI, HDMI, DisplayPort • WARRANTY Three years RTB •
VC239H • FULL REVIEW Mar 2017 DETAILS www.benq.com • PART CODE M352753 • FULL REVIEW Nov 2017

IIYAMA G-Master GB2888UHSU AOC Q3279VWF

Gold Phoenix ★★★★★
★★★★★
£200 • www.amzn.to/2BjxUGC
£360 • www.overclockers.co.uk We never thought
you could get so
It’s unusual to consider a £360 his
much monitor for this NEW
monitor a bargain, but that’s what A
little cash; £200 for a vast 31.5in MVA
ENTRY
this is: a 28in, Ultra HD display with a mere 1ms panel, with Quad HD resolution, good colour accuracy and high
response time and support for AMD’s anti-tearing FreeSync tech. contrast, plus a 75Hz refresh rate and AMD FreeSync support.
SCREEN SIZE 28in • RESOLUTION 3,840x2,160 • SCREEN TECHNOLOGY TN • SCREEN SIZE 31.5in • RESOLUTION 2,560x1,440 • SCREEN TECHNOLOGY MVA • REFRESH RATE
VIDEO INPUTS VGA, 3x HDMI, DisplayPort • WARRANTY Two years collect and return • 75Hz • VIDEO INPUTS HDMI, DisplayPort, VGA • WARRANTY Three years collect and return •
DETAILS www.iiyama.com • PART CODE ProLite GB2888UHSU-B1 • FULL REVIEW Aug 2016 DETAILS aoc-europe.com • FULL REVIEW Mar 2018

PHILIPS Brilliance 258B6QUEB SAMSUNG C34F791

1
★★★★★ ★★★★★
£364 • www.uk.insight.com £720 • www.amzn.to/2n1Nb9V
A USB Type-C port doesn’t With its Quantum Dot ot
sound like the most thrilling display, the C34F791
feature on a monitor, but it can achieve pristine colour
gives the Brilliance 258B6QUEB a wonderful coverage and superp accuracy. Its Ultra HD resolution and 34in
flexibility, allowing you to hook up any laptop, 2-in-1 or Type-C curved screen make it ideal for multitasking, but a 100Hz refresh rate
peripheral. Picture quality is very good, too. and AMD FreeSync support ensure it’s even better for 4K gaming.
SCREEN SIZE 25in • RESOLUTION 2,560x1,440 • SCREEN TECHNOLOGY IPS • REFRESH RATE SCREEN SIZE 34in • RESOLUTION 3,840x1,440 • SCREEN TECHNOLOGY VA •
60Hz • VIDEO INPUTS VGA, HDMI, DisplayPort, DVI, USB Type-C • WARRANTY Three years RTB REFRESH RATE 100Hz • VIDEO INPUTS DisplayPort, HDMI • WARRANTY Two years RTB •
• DETAILS www.philips.co.uk • FULL REVIEW Mar 2017 DETAILS www.samsung.com/uk • FULL REVIEW Oct 2017

ISSUE 362 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | APRIL 2018 57

 Choosing a... TV
01 A 32in Full HD TV costs around
£200 and will suit smaller living
rooms. 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.
03 Consider the number of inputs
you’ll need to connect the rest of
your equipment. Two HDMI ports should be
and the brightest shades that the screen
will be able to display. The higher the
number, the darker the blacks and the
the bare minimum, but many TV sets come brighter the whites. A screen with a high
with four HDMI connectors. You’ll need contrast ratio is more likely to show a
HDMI 2.0 if you want a future-proof 4K TV, wider range of detail.
as this is the only way to get 60fps video
playback from external sources at such
a high resolution.
If you want to plug a PC into your TV,
05 HD content is now becoming fairly
widespread, but if you want Ultra
HD content your options are more limited.

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.
you’ll need to use either HDMI or VGA
inputs. Be aware that some TVs only let you
use a PC on an analogue input, and others
won’t display the Windows desktop at the
TV’s highest resolution.
04 The contrast ratio tells you the
difference between the darkest
Most Ultra HD TVs have Netflix built into
their smart TV systems, but only BT is
currently providing live Ultra HD video,
with BT Sport Ultra HD.
Ultra HD Blu-ray players are due to arrive
in 2016, but in the meantime Amazon’s Fire
TV set-top box will stream its Instant Video
service at Ultra HD resolutions.

HOME CINEMA
PANASONIC Viera TX-50DX802B Q Acoustics M3
★★★★★ ★★★★★
£799 • www.johnlewis.com £229 • www.weybridge-audio.co.uk
The Viera While there’s
TX-50DX802B not no subwoofer
only looks great and or Wi-Fi here,
comes equipped with an expansive the M3 is an awesome soundbar that looks as good as it
suite of smart apps, but it also has its own soundbar, allowing for sounds. It also improves on the old Media 4 with HDMI
clearer, boomier movie nights. ARC support.
SCREEN SIZE 50in • NATIVE RESOLUTION 3,840x2,160 • VIDEO INPUTS 3x HDMI (1x ARC), SPEAKERS 4 • RMS POWER OUTPUT 80W • WEIGHT 4kg • NETWORKING Bluetooth •
component, composite • TUNER Freeview HD • DIMENSIONS 1,115x647x35mm • WARRANTY Five WARRANTY One year RTB • DETAILS www.qacoustics.co.uk • PART CODE QA7440 •
years RTB • DETAILS www.panasonic.com/uk • PART CODE TX-50DX802B • FULL REVIEW Apr 2017 FULL REVIEW Jun 2017

SAMSUNG UE49KS7000 PANASONIC DMP-UB900

★★★★★ ★★★★★
£1,099 • www.reliantdirect.co.uk £369 • www.johnlewis.com
A good-quality 4K TV Together with the
needn’t cost the earth, Samsung UBD-K8500,
as the UE49KS7000 this forms the vanguard of a new
proves. In fact, this Quantum Dot breed of Ultra HD Blu-ray players. Samsung’s model is cheaper,
display earned the UHD Alliance’s but the DMP-UB900 has superior features, particularly where
UHD Premium badge for its rich, detailed visuals. audio delivery is concerned.
SCREEN SIZE 49in • NATIVE RESOLUTION 3,840x2,160 • VIDEO INPUTS 4x HDMI • TUNER BLU-RAY PROFILE 6.0 • 3D CAPABLE Yes • DIMENSIONS 435x199x68mm •
Freeview HD, Freesat HD • DIMENSIONS 1,089x634x43mm • WARRANTY Five years RTB • NETWORKING Ethernet, 802.11ac Wi-Fi • WARRANTY One year RTB •
DETAILS www.samsung.com/uk • PART CODE UE49KS7000 • FULL REVIEW Apr 2017 DETAILS www.panasonic.co.uk • PART CODE DMP-UB900EB • FULL REVIEW Aug 2016

CAMBRIDGE AUDIO TV2 (v2) POLK Audio MagniFi Mini

★★★★★ ★★★★★
£200 • shop.cambridgeaudio.co.uk £334 • www.hifix.co.uk
The TV2 (v2) is a simple, A tiny soundbar with big sound, the
clean-looking soundbase. What it lacks in multiroom MagniFi Mini takes up hardly any
capability, due to its lack of Wi-Fi, it more than space under your TV but is capable of filling the living
makes up in exquisite sound quality, especially with an integrated room with crystal-clear music and dialogue. Best of all, it comes with
subwoofer producing strong but controlled bass. a standalone subwoofer, empowering bass booms with an extra kick.

SPEAKERS 3 • RMS POWER OUTPUT 150 • DIMENSIONS 100x500x333mm • WEIGHT Not SPEAKERS 7 • RMS POWER OUTPUT 150W • DIMENSIONS 813x340x101mm (soundbar),
stated • DOCK CONNECTOR None • NETWORKING Bluetooth (aptX) • WARRANTY Two years 366x118x366mm (subwoofer) • WEIGHT 1.76kg (soundbar), 3.68kg (subwoofer) • DOCK
repair and replace • DETAILS www.cambridgeaudio.co.uk • PART CODE TV2 (v2) • CONNECTOR None • NETWORKING 802.11ac Wi-Fi, Bluetooth • WARRANTY One year repair and
FULL REVIEW Jul 2017 replace • DETAILS www.polkaudio.com • PART CODE MagniFi Mini • FULL REVIEW Sep 2017

58 APRIL 2018 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | ISSUE 362

Choosing a... Soundbar
01 If you don’t have space in your home
cinema setup for a set of surround-
sound 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.
boxes to your TV and run all audio through a
single cable. Also look for phono inputs for
connecting older devices and 3.5mm audio
Most soundbars now include Bluetooth as
standard but, if your device supports it, it’s
worth looking for a mobile soundbar that
jacks for tablets or smartphones. includes aptX. This less-lossy codec is
capable of higher-quality streaming than
03 As with any speaker, the number of
speaker drivers inside a soundbar
should give a good indication of its audio
the standard A2DP profile.
AirPlay streaming is less common, but
iPhone owners should keep an eye out for it.
capabilities. Although this won’t tell you

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
everything about sound quality, you should
still look out for separate mid-range drivers
and tweeters, as these should be able to
deliver a wider frequency range than
full-range drivers alone.
04 Bluetooth support is a must if you
want to listen to music from a
smartphone or tablet without wires.
05 For a little extra bass, be sure to
look for a soundbar with a separate
subwoofer. Many soundbars include a
wired sub, but for extra convenience you
should look for a model with a wireless
subwoofer instead. These can be placed
anywhere in a room near a power socket,
without having to run a cable back to the
soundbar itself.

AUDIO
BOWERS & WILKINS P7 Wireless
Wir SONY MDR-1000X
★★★★★ ★★★★★
★★
£325 • www.freemans.com £220
£22 • www.amzn.to/2ygQBLk
Bowers & Wilkins’ second-ever Sony’s ANC tech isn’t quite
pair of Bluetooth headphones as effective as Bose’s, but it’s
are a triumph – they’re also not what makes the
exceedingly comfortable and sound superb, MDR-1000X such an outstanding pair of
even without any active noise cancelling. Bluetooth headphones – that would be the e
fantastic sound quality.
HEADPHONES SUBTYPE Over-ear headset • PLUG TYPE 3.5mm
jack plug (optional) • WEIGHT 323g • CABLE LENGTH 1.2m • HEADPHONES SUBTYPE Over-ear headset • PLUG TYPE 3.5mm
5mm jack plug (optional) •
WARRANTY One year RTB • DETAILS www.bowers-wilkins.co.uk • WEIGHT 275g • CABLE LENGTH 1.5m • WARRANTY One year
ar RTB •
PART CODE FP38954 • FULL REVIEW Feb 2017 DETAILS www.sony.co.uk • PART CODE MDR1000XB • FULL
LL REVIEW Dec 2017

PANASONIC SC-All7CD LG SH5

★★★★★ ★★★★★
£380 • www.johnlewis.com £15
£159 • www.cramptonandmoore.co.uk
uk

A focus on ounding
Proof that great-sounding
good old- soundbar and subwoofer ofer
fashioned CDs, combos don’t need to cost the he earth,
th,
in addition to the usual digital the LG SH5 is a sleek, stylish 2.1 set with plenty of modes
streaming services, makes the SC-All7CD one of the most versatile
versati
atile
le and features.
bu
multiroom speaker systems you can buy.
SPEAKERS 2.1 • RMS POWER OUTPUT 320W • DOCK CONNECTOR None • NETWORKING
SPEAKERS 2.1 • RMS POWER OUTPUT 40W • WEIGHT 3.4kg • NETWORKING Bluetooth • Bluetooth 4.0 • DIMENSIONS 945x53x85mm (soundbar), 171x320x252mm (subwoofer) • WEIGHT
WARRANTY One year RTB • DETAILS www.panasonic.com • PART CODE SC-All7CD • 2.26kg • WARRANTY One year RTB • DETAILS www.lg.com/uk • PART CODE SH5 • FULL
FULL REVIEW Dec 2016 REVIEW Jan 2017

UE Wonderboom LIBRATONE One Click

★★★★★ ★★★★★
£70 • www.amzn.to/2s4lpgH £159 • www.johnlewis.com
The Wonderboom may The One Click has one of the
look small, and it is, but cleverer wireless speaker designs
this portable, waterproof we’ve seen; it’s surrounded by a
speaker is capable of blasting out sound rubber frame with both protective bumpers and a
that’s both incredibly loud and carry handle/hook. Hang it up or just let it stand, and
d
satisfyingly rich. you’ll get rich, loud sound in 360 degrees.
SPEAKERS 2 • RMS POWER OUTPUT Not stated • DOCK CONNECTOR None • SPEAKERS 2 • RMS POWER OUTPUT Not disclosed • DOCK CONNECTOR None • WIRELESS
NETWORKING Bluetooth • DIMENSIONS 40x46x65mm • WEIGHT 425g • WARRANTY Two years Bluetooth (SBC) • DIMENSIONS 120x41x205mm • WEIGHT 0.9kg • WARRANTY One year RTB •
RTB • DETAILS www.ultimateears.com • PART CODE 82343342 • FULL REVIEW Aug 2017 DETAILS www.libratone.com • PART CODE One Click • FULL REVIEW Oct 2016

ISSUE 362 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | APRIL 2018 59

 Choosing a... Media streamer
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.
doesn’t have a smartphone, buy a
standalone streamer such as a Roku or
Amazon Fire TV device.
locally from a networked PC or NAS device.
Not all streamers are capable of playing all
media file formats, however. If you have a lot
of MKV or MOV files, check that your
03 A media streamer is only as good as
the services it supports, although a
device that offers more services won’t
chosen streamer supports them before you
buy. These are typically the file formats
devices struggle with the most.
necessarily offer more high-quality content
than a media streamer with fewer channels.
Instead, look out for major channels such
as Netflix, Amazon Instant Video, BBC
05 Media streamers aren’t just for video,
either. Many support online music
services including Spotify, Rdio and TuneIn

02 Most streamers use their own

operating system, which you can
navigate with a bundled remote control, but
iPlayer, Sky Go and YouTube. If any of
these are missing, the remaining channels
aren’t likely to be much cop.
Radio. Others essentially use the same
hardware as a smartphone and are capable of
running apps or playing games. Some of the
Google’s Chromecast dongle requires a most powerful are compatible with dedicated
paired smartphone, tablet or laptop to
stream content on the big screen. If you’re
looking to set up Netflix for someone who
04 Although nearly all streamers now
pull content from the web, they’re
still capable of playing content stored
game controllers, but these are typically sold
as optional accessories rather than bundled
with the streamer.

VIDEO
AMAZON Fire TV with AMAZON Fire TV Stick
★★★★★
4K Ultra HD (2017) £40 • www.amzn.to/2s4qrKp
★★★★★
£70 • www.amzn.to/2B72FTN Don’t have a 4K
TV? No worries – the
Despite shrinking from a set-top box to an HDMI standard Fire TV Stick is a wonderful little streamer
dongle, this is packed with new features, including a in its own right. The 2017 model has added Alexa, Amazon’s digital
remote that works with Alexa voice commands. assistant, so searching through the vast library is easier than ever.

VIDEO OUTPUTS HDMI 2.0 • NETWORKING 802.11ac Wi-Fi • DIMENSIONS 65x65x15mm • VIDEO OUTPUTS HDMI 2.0 • NETWORKING 802.11ac Wi-Fi • DIMENSIONS 86x30x13mm •
STREAMING FORMATS UPnP, AirPlay, DLNA, Plex • INTERNET STREAMING SERVICES Amazon STREAMING FORMATS UPnP (via apps) • INTERNET STREAMING SERVICES iPlayer, ITV Hub,
Video, Netflix, BBC iPlayer, ITV Hub, All 4, My5 • WARRANTY One year RTB • DETAILS www. All4, My 5, Amazon Prime Instant Video, Netflix • WARRANTY One year RTB •
amazon.co.uk • PART CODE Fire TV with 4K UHD (2017) • FULL REVIEW Feb 2018 DETAILS www.amazon.co.uk • PART CODE B01ETRIFOW • FULL REVIEW Aug 2017

NVIDIA Shield TV (2017) GOPRO Hero 5 Black

★★★★★ ★★★★★
£190 • www.johnlewis.com £295 • www.johnlewis.com
A good media streamer/ At last, GoPro’s flagship
Android games console hybrid made even better by a action camera finally has
more comfortable controller, a wider range of built-in waterproofing.
streaming sources and smart home integration. That’s the biggest in a sizable list of
improvements over the Hero 4 Black, making
ing this the superior
VIDEO OUTPUTS HDMI 1.4 • NETWORKING 802.11ac Wi-Fi, 10/100/1,000 Ethernet, Bluetooth 4.1 purchase in spite of its higher price.
• DIMENSIONS 159x98x26mm • STREAMING FORMATS Plex, Kodi • INTERNET STREAMING
SERVICES Netflix, Amazon Instant Video, Google Play Movies and TV, Google Play Music, YouTube, SENSOR 1/2.3in CMOS • SENSOR PIXELS 12,000,000 • MAX RECORDING RESOLUTION 4K (30fps)
BBC iPlayer • WARRANTY Two years repair and replace • DETAILS www.nvidia.co.uk • PART • AV CONNECTIONS Micro HDMI • DIMENSIONS 45x62x32mm • WEIGHT 117g • WARRANTY One
CODE 945-12897-2505-000 • FULL REVIEW May 2017 year RTB • DETAILS www.gopro.com • PART CODE Hero 5 Black • FULL REVIEW Mar 2017

APPLE TV 4K SAMSUNG Gear 360 (2017)

★★★★★ ★★★★★
£179 • www.apple.com/uk £209 • www.amzn.to/2wesOMX
This big update adds 4K content (including
(including, for the Samsung’s updated 360º camera
first time, Amazon Video support). The best part is improves on the original in every way: it’s
that if there’s a 4K version of content you’ve more portable, supports live video stream,
am,
previously purchased in HD, Apple will upgrade it free of charge. and is no longer limited to Samsung Galaxy phones. Bestt
of all, it’s cheaper than the previous model was at launch.h.
VIDEO OUTPUTS HDMI 2.0a • NETWORKING 802.11ac Wi-Fi, 10/100/1,000 Ethernet •
DIMENSIONS 35x98x98mm • STREAMING FORMATS AirPlay, others via apps • SENSOR RESOLUTION Dual 8.4 megapixels • SENSOR SIZE Not disclosed • VIEWFINDER None •
INTERNET STREAMING SERVICES iTunes, Apple Music, Netflix, Amazon Instant Video, LCD SCREEN 0.5in 72x32 PMOLED • DIMENSIONS 100x46x45mm • WEIGHT 130g •
Now TV, BBC iPlayer, ITV Hub, All 4 • WARRANTY One year RTB • DETAILS www.apple.com/uk • WARRANTY One year RTB • DETAILS www.samsung.com/uk • PART CODE SM-R210NZWABTU •
PART CODE Apple TV 4K • FULL REVIEW Jan 2018 FULL REVIEW Oct 2017

60 APRIL 2018 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | ISSUE 362

Choosing a... Wearable
01 Wearable tech can include anything
from chest-strap heart-rate
monitors to augmented reality glasses,
03 Fitness trackers are much more
dedicated to healthy pursuits.
Step counters, heart-rate monitors and
single charge, so you can wear it to bed and
benefit from sleep tracking.

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.
even sleep tracking are all common, and
the data collected is fed back to you so
you can see how your workout routine
05 Look out for waterproofing as well.
Wearables that don’t mind a few
lengths of the pool can be used for
or calorie intake is going. swimming or just timekeeping, and at the
Many smartwatches also contain very least we expect a fitness tracker to be
health-tracking features, but fitness- able to deal with rain or sweat.

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.
specific wearables tend to be cheaper,
smaller and lighter.
06
04 When it comes to battery life, it’s
important for any wearable to
last a full day, but if it’s a smartwatch
then you can get away with having to
charge it overnight. With fitness trackers,
it’s better if it lasts for several days off a
Different smartwatches use different
operating systems, which determine
which apps you can install on your device
as well as compatibility with smartphones.
Android Wear and Tizen smartwatches will
work with both Android and iOS phones,
but Apple’s watchOS will only pair with an
iOS handset.

WEARABLES
SAMSUNG Gear S3 APPLE Watch Series 2
★★★★★ ★★★★★
£307 • www.amzn.to/2ssXHv4 £289 • www.very.co.uk
The Gear S3 isn’t the cheapest It only plays nicely with
smartwatch, but it is one of iPhones, but the Watch Series
the best. It’s ripe with both 2 is a lovely bit of design, with
everyday and serious fitness features, and its a well-stocked app store, GPS tracking capabilitylity
rotating bezel is hands-down our favourite and added waterproofing making it a true
method for navigating menus on a wearable. do-anything smartwatch.
PEDOMETER Yes • HEART-RATE MONITOR Yes • DISPLAY SIZE 1.3in • RESOLUTION 360x360 • PEDOMETER Yes • HEART-RATE MONITOR Yes • DISPLAY SIZE 38/42mm • RESOLUTION
OS SUPPORT Android, iOS • BATTERY LIFE Five days • WARRANTY Two years RTB • 340x272 (38mm)/390x312 (42mm) • OS SUPPORT iOS • BATTERY LIFE 18 hours • WARRANTY
DETAILS www.samsung.com/uk • PART CODE M-R760NDAABTU • FULL REVIEW Apr 2017 One year RTB • DETAILS www.apple.com/uk • PART CODE Watch Series 2 • FULL REVIEW Jan 2017

MISFIT Phase HUAWEI Watch 2 Sport

★★★★★ ★★★★★
£70 • www.amzn.to/2swjMty £279 • www.currys.co.uk
An interesting combination It’s worth shelling out
of classic timepiece, fitness for the premium version of
tracker and connected this sporty Android Wear
smartwatch, the Phase doesn’t have a smartwatch: it includes built-in 4G connectivity,
touchscreen or apps but can still control music
ic which when combined with GPS tracking means you can
playback and smart home hardware. safely leave your smartphone at home.
PEDOMETER Yes • HEART-RATE MONITOR Yes • DISPLAY SIZE 1.6in • RESOLUTION N/A • PEDOMETER Yes • HEART-RATE MONITOR Yes • DISPLAY SIZE 1.2in • RESOLUTION 690x690 •
OS SUPPORT Android, iOS • BATTERY LIFE Six months • WARRANTY Two years RTB • OS SUPPORT Android, iOS • BATTERY LIFE Two days • WARRANTY Two years RTB •
DETAILS www.misfit.com • PART CODE MIS5000 • FULL REVIEW Jun 2017 DETAILS consumer.huawei.com • PART CODE Huawei Watch 2 Sport • FULL REVIEW Jul 2017

FITBIT Charge 2 SAMSUNG Gear Fit2

★★★★★ ★★★★★
£90 • www.amzn.to/2rkhfid £180 • www.argos.co.uk
Though it lacks high-end There’s much to like about
tools like GPS and full this Tizen-powered fitness
waterproofing, the Charge 2 tracker. GPS is a very
strikes a fanastic balance between value and welcome inclusion, and you can add
versatility, offering heart-rate tracking and a widgets to the touchscreen, just like
helpfully large screen. on a smartwatch.
PEDOMETER Yes • HEART-RATE MONITOR Yes • DISPLAY SIZE 1.3in • RESOLUTION Not stated PEDOMETER Yes • HEART-RATE MONITOR Yes • DISPLAY SIZE 1.3in • RESOLUTION 216x432 •
• OS SUPPORT Android, iOS • BATTERY LIFE Five days • WARRANTY One year RTB • OS SUPPORT Android, iOS • BATTERY LIFE Four days • WARRANTY Two days •
DETAILS www.fitbit.com • PART CODE FB407SBKL-EU • FULL REVIEW Apr 2017 DETAILS www.samsung.com/uk • PART CODE SM-R3600DAADBT • FULL REVIEW Sep 2017

ISSUE 362 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | APRIL 2018 61

 Choosing a... Smart thermostat
01 A smart thermostat can save you a lot
of money by intelligently controlling
your heating.
02 Want smart hot water control?
If you want to remotely set
schedules and disable hot water while
is more expensive to install but will provide
you with greater savings.

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.
you’re away, choose your smart system
carefully, as many don’t have this option.
Hot water control usually requires a second
04 Do you use a smart personal
assistant? Make sure that your smart
thermostat supports the one that you use.
relay to be wired into the boiler. Amazon Alexa, powered by the Echo and
Echo Dot, is the best-supported system;
03 What kind of heating system do
you want? There are two main
choices: a central system and one with
Apple’s HomeKit, powered by Siri, isn’t so
well supported; Google Assistant, built into
Google Home, is just gaining traction and
individual radiator controls. The former supports Nest only.
replaces your existing thermostat, and
lets you set one temperature for your
entire house. The latter requires each
radiator valve to be replaced with a smart
05 If you want your smart heating
system to do more, look for IFTTT
support. With this handy system, you can set
valve so that each room and radiator can automatic rules, such as turning the heating
have its own individual control. This option off if the outside temperature rises.

SMART HOME
AMAZON Echo 2nd Generation NEST Cam Outdoor
★★★★★ ★★★★★
£90 • www.amzn.to/2DxFEuQ NEW
ENTRY
£169 • www.johnlewis.com
The updated Echo is both The easiest external security
smaller and cheaper than camera that we’ve ever
the original, and while the installed also happens to be
souped-up £140 Echo Plus is better for listening one of the best. Excellent picture quality and a
to music, this model’s blend of value and great app make this an ideal device for
all-round quality makes it a better buy. monitoring outside of your home.
DRIVERS 2 • RMS POWER OUTPUT Not stated • WEIGHT 921kg • NETWORKING Bluetooth, VIDEO RESOLUTION 720p/1080p • CLOUD STORAGE Yes (subscription required) •
802.11n Wi-Fi • WARRANTY One year RTB • DETAILS www.amazon.co.uk • PART CODE Echo NETWORKING 802.11n (2.4GHz) • WARRANTY One year RTB • PART CODE Nest Cam Outdoor •
2nd Generation • FULL REVIEW Mar 2018 FULL REVIEW Apr 2017

TADO Smart Thermostat HONEYWELL

★★★★★
£199 • www.tado.com Evohome Security
★★★★★
A flexible and stylish-looking £300 • www.theevohomeshop.co.uk
smart heating system, the Tado
Smart Thermostat distinguishes This smart alarm system
em will notify you of a break-in,
itself with a clever geolocation feature that turns on your and its motion sensors can even take a picture of an
heating when you enter a room and switches it off, saving intruder so that you can quickly rule out false alarms.
money, when you leave. A great range of sensors and full app control make this a top choice.
REMOTE THERMOSTAT Yes • HOT WATER SUPPORT Yes • INDIVIDUAL RADIATOR CONTROL AVAILABLE SENSORS Motion sensor, door/window sensor, motion sensor with camera •
Yes • VOICE ASSISTANT SUPPORT Alexa, Google Assistant, Siri • APPS iOS, Android and web • DISARMING OPTIONS Remote keyfob, app, Tags • SIRENS AND CONTROLS External siren,
FULL REVIEW Jan 2018 contactless tag reader/internal siren • WARRANTY Two years RTB • FULL REVIEW Aug 2017

GOOGLE Home NETATMO Presence

★★★★★ ★★★★★
£129 • madeby.google.com £210 • www.wickes.co.uk
Amazon Echo may be compatible le This clever outdoor security
with the most smart home camera can recognise the
products, but Google Home has difference between people,
the smartest assistant. Able to understand contextxt animals and cars, and you can choose which ones es
and reply to questions in a more conversational to get alerts from. In other words, it’s the ideal
way, Google Home is a brilliant personal assistant.
nt. camera to monitor the busy front of your home.
DRIVERS 1x 2in driver, 2x 2in passive radiators • RMS POWER OUTPUT Not stated • DOCK VIDEO RESOLUTION 720p/1080p • CLOUD STORAGE Yes (can upload footage to Dropbox) •
CONNECTOR None • WIRELESS 802.11ac Wi-Fi • DIMENSIONS 143x96x96mm • WEIGHT 477g • NETWORKING 802.11n (2.4GHz) • WARRANTY One year RTB • PART CODE Presence •
WARRANTY One year RTB • PART CODE Home • FULL REVIEW Jul 2017 FULL REVIEW Feb 2017

62 APRIL 2018 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | ISSUE 362

Choosing a... Laser printer
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.
peripherals (MFPs) are now far more
common. These models can scan and
photocopy documents as well as print them,
subtle tones well. You can’t determine this
by looking at the specifications; only
hands-on testing will do, so remember to
and some of them also have fax capabilities. check our reviews before you buy.
Laser MFPs start from around £200. Borderless printing (up to the edge of the
paper) should also be possible.
04 Heavy-duty office lasers designed for
printing thousands of pages per
06 If you want to print from multiple

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.
month can cost thousands of pounds. They
use large individual toner drums, which can
cut running costs. Automatic duplex
devices, make sure you look for
extended connectivity. Decent laser printers
can be shared on your local network and
(double-sided) printing is also common here. have USB ports for direct printing, memory
card slots for printing images from a digital
05 Although laser printers are more
suited to printing text than graphics,
many are still able to produce high-quality
camera, and iOS, Android or Google Cloud
Print support for printing from mobile
devices such as smartphones or tablets.

03 Although you can still buy single-

function laser printers, multifunction
photographs. Speed isn’t a priority here
– instead choose a printer that reproduces
An LCD preview screen offers greater
control for this method of printing.

PRINTERS & SCANNERS

KYOCERA Ecosys P5026cdw XYZPRINTING da Vinci Minimaker
★★★★★ ★★★★★
£233 • www.ballicom.co.uk £184 • www.stuff-uk.net
Built with long-lasting It’s not as fully featured as the da
ceramic drums, the Ecosys Vinci Jr 1.0w, but the Minimaker
P5026cdw is particularly prints at identical speed and
well-suited to small offices – it rolls out quality, and costs much, much less. In fact, it’s the
he
good-quality prints both quickly and quietly.. most affordable 3D printer we’ve ever used.

TECHNOLOGY Colour laser • MAXIMUM PRINT RESOLUTION

ON 1,200x1,200dpi • TECHNOLOGY Fused Filament Fabrication • MAXIMUM PRINT RESOLUTION 100 microns •
DIMENSIONS 329x410x410mm • WEIGHT 21kg • MAXIMUM PAPER SIZE A4/legal • MAXIMUM BUILD SIZE 150x150x150mm • DIMENSIONS 390x360x335mm • WEIGHT 11.5kg •
WARRANTY Two years RTB • DETAILS www.kyoceradocumentsolutions.co.uk • FILAMENT 1.75mm PLA • WARRANTY One year RTB • DETAILS eu.xyzprinting.com •
PART CODE 1102RB3NL0 • FULL REVIEW Aug 2017 PART CODE 3FM1XXEU00D • FULL REVIEW Apr 2017

HP OfficeJet Pro 7720 CANON Pixma TS3150

★★★★★ ★★★★★
£105 • www.ebuyer.com £38 • www.ebuyer.com
The OfficeJet Pro 7720 If you only print or scan
strikes a fine balance infrequently, you probably
between price, performance and features, making it don’t need a load of fancy features. The Pixma TS3150
ideal for home offices and small businesses – especially those that does the job for hardly any money – it’s a bit slow, but the results are
could use A3 printing. of a higher quality than we’d expect from a budget MFP.

TECHNOLOGY Thermal inkjet • MAXIMUM PRINT RESOLUTION 4,800x1,200dpi • TECHNOLOGY Thermal inkjet • MAXIMUM PRINT RESOLUTION 4,800x1,200dpi •
SCANNER RESOLUTION 1,200x1,200dpi • DIMENSIONS (HXWXD) 307x445x585mm • SCANNER RESOLUTION 600x1,200dpi • DIMENSIONS 126x373x315mm • WEIGHT 3.9kg •
WEIGHT 15.5kg • MAXIMUM PAPER SIZE A3 (print only) • WARRANTY Three years RTB • MAXIMUM PAPER SIZE A4/legal • WARRANTY One year RTB • DETAILS www.canon.co.uk •
DETAILS www.hp.co.uk • PART CODE Y0S18A • FULL REVIEW Dec 2017 PART CODE 2226C008 • FULL REVIEW Jan 2018

CANON imageFormula RICOH SP 150SUw

★★★★★
DR-C230 £130 • www.very.co.uk
★★★★★
£326 • www.uk.insight.com Buying a mono laser
nner
This sheet-fed document scanner printer for your home may
is perfect for getting through stacks
ack off documents
d sound strange, but the SP
without having to manually scan each page. It’s 150SUw’s printing speed, quality and quietness
pleasantly fast and pairs with Canon’s powerful CaptureOnTouch Pro make a lot of sense at this price.
software, which does a fine job of processing your scans.
TECHNOLOGY Mono laser • MAXIMUM PRINT RESOLUTION 1,200x600 • SCANNER
TECHNOLOGY Dual CIS sheet-fed scanner • SCANNER RESOLUTION 600x600dpi • DIMENSIONS RESOLUTION 1,200x1,200dpi • DIMENSIONS 137x350x275mm • WEIGHT 7.5kg •
231x291x530mm • WEIGHT 2.8kg • MAXIMUM PAPER SIZE A4/legal • WARRANTY One year RTB MAXIMUM PAPER SIZE A4/legal • WARRANTY One year RTB • DETAILS www.ricoh.co.uk •
• DETAILS www.canon.co.uk • PART CODE 2646C003 • FULL REVIEW Feb 2018 PART CODE 408005 • FULL REVIEW Jun 2017

ISSUE 362 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | APRIL 2018 63

 Choosing a... NAS device
01 A network-attached storage (NAS)
device lets you store documents,
media, and other files on its hard disks so
can still access the NAS device, but only
at the much slower speed of 100Mbit/s.
Synology’s barebones NAS kits have spare
disk trays for cheaper and faster upgrades.

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
expand the number of 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
02 The amount of network storage you
need depends on the types of files
you use. If you want to store Word and Excel
04 If you want extra protection for your
data, look for a device that supports
RAID. RAID 1 and RAID 5 arrays reduce the
documents, for example, a 1TB device will be available capacity by duplicating data, but
fine. In fact, a 1TB device should be sufficient you won’t lose it if a disk fails.
for a family’s entire media collection,
regardless of how many music and video files
everyone owns. Small businesses should
consider higher storage capacities,
05 If you need access to your files while
you’re away, look for a NAS device
with an FTP server. Some can also share a
depending on the nature of the business. USB printer across your network.
A NAS device with a Universal Plug and
03 If you can see no end to your storage
needs, you should buy an upgradable
NAS device. Many have a USB port for
Play (UPnP) or DLNA media server can
stream your music, photos and videos to a
network media player, so you can enjoy your
adding an external disk. Devices such as media collection in another room.

NETWORKS
D-LINK DIR-842 NETGEAR Orbi
★★★★★ ★★★★★
£49 • www.amzn.to/2AyE8G6 £330 • www.maplin.co.uk
This budget The Orbi system employs
dual-band router both a base router and a
is fast enough to separate satellite router to
serve as an affordable upgrade effectively boost Wi-Fi speed and stability
to your ISP router, and it’s easy throughout your house – a great fit for
to set up, too. larger homes.
WI-FI STANDARD 802.11ac • STATED SPEED 867Mbit/s (5GHz), 300Mbit/s (2.4GHz) • USB PORTS MODEM Gigabit Ethernet • WI-FI STANDARD 802.11ac • STATED SPEED 866Mbit/s (5GHz),
None • WALL MOUNTABLE Yes • WARRANTY Two years RTB • PART CODE DIR-842 • FULL 400MBit/s (2.4GHz) • USB PORTS 1x USB2 • WALL MOUNTABLE No • WARRANTY Two years
REVIEW Jan 2018 RTB • PART CODE RBK50-100UKS • FULL REVIEW Feb 2017

YUBICO YubiKey 4 TP-LINK Deco M5

★★★★★ ★★★★★
£39 • www.amzn.to/2vfQhtC £180 • www.currys.co.uk
This isn’t your standard Provided you’re willing
networking device: it’s a to tinker with a few
USB key that stores the cryptographic data settings, the Deco M5 is the most
required to log into your devices and services via two-factor feature-rich mesh Wi-Fi system around, even if it’s
authentication. This adds a secure and convenient second layer of not strictly the fastest. Get the triple pack
ack for the
protection, wherever you are. best coverage throughout the house.
USB TYPE Type-A • SUPPORTED SERVICES Google, Facebook, Dropbox, Windows, MODEM Gigabit Ethernet • WI-FI STANDARD 802.11ac • STATED SPEED 867Mbit/s (5GHz),
macOS Sierra, LastPass, Dashlane • WARRANTY One year RTB • DETAILS www.yubico.com • 400Mbit/s (2.4GHz) • USB PORTS 0 • WALL MOUNTABLE No • WARRANTY Three years RTB •
PART CODE YubiKey 4 • FULL REVIEW Aug 2017 DETAILS www.tp-link.com • PART CODE 210380 • FULL REVIEW Dec 2017

D-LINK DIR-895L GOOGLE Wifi

★★★★★ ★★★★★
£349 • www.dlink-direct.co.uk £229 (twin pack) •
store.google.com
If you can stomach
the price, D-Link’s Arguably the most
DIR-895L will make user-friendly mesh
it worth your while with staggeringly fast speeds and exceptionally yst
networking system yet, G l
Google
long range. It also lets you connect to your home network remotely, Wifi trades long-range speed for supreme ease of
via an L2TP VPN. use and excellent configuration tools.
MODEM Gigabit Ethernet • WI-FI STANDARD 802.11ac • STATED SPEED 2x 2,166Mbit/s (5GHz), MODEM N/A • WI-FI STANDARD 802.11ac • STATED SPEED 1,200Mbit/s • USB PORTS 0 •
1,000Mbit/s (2.4GHz) • USB PORTS 1x USB2, 1x USB3 • WALL MOUNTABLE Yes • WALL MOUNTABLE No • WARRANTY One year RTB • DETAILS madeby.google.com •
WARRANTY Two years RTB • PART CODE DIR-895L • FULL REVIEW Dec 2017 PART CODE Google Wifi • FULL REVIEW Jul 2017

64 APRIL 2018 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | ISSUE 362

Choosing an... Internal hard disk
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.
in USB flash drives, and although they tend
to provide less capacity than mechanical hard
disks, they’re significantly faster.
duplicate your data for better protection.
RAID arrays require hard disks of the same
size. In theory, they can be from different
manufacturers, but it’s better to buy identical
03 Buy a hard disk that provides more
capacity than you think you need, as
disks if you can.

Some mechanical hard disks still come with

SATA2 interfaces, but newer models and
most solid-state drives (SSDs) have faster
SATA3 interfaces. You’ll need a motherboard
with a SATA3 port if you want to benefit
from SATA3’s faster speeds; SATA3 disks will
work with SATA2 ports but can only transfer
files at SATA2 speeds.
your storage requirements are likely to grow.
A 3TB disk strikes the best balance between
capacity and low cost per gigabyte, but in
general you should aim to buy the largest
disk you can afford.
04 If you want more disk space or you
want to protect your data against
disk failure, think about buying several hard
05 A hard disk’s spindle speed
determines how quickly it can
transfer data. A spindle speed of 7,200rpm
is common in desktop drives and is fast
enough for most purposes. Desktop hard
disks with 5,400rpm spindle speeds are
quite slow but use less power and generate
less heat and noise.
To strike the best balance between

02 SSDs can make the most of SATA3’s

extra bandwidth for fast file transfers.
They use flash memory similar to that found
disks to create a RAID array. These use
multiple hard disks to create one large
logical disk with better performance, or to
speed and storage capacity, use an SSD as
your system disk and store your files on a
larger mechanical disk.

STORAGE
SYNOLOGY DiskStation DS418j INTEL Optane Memory 32GB
★★★★★ ★★★★★
£287 • www.broadbandbuyer.com £71 • www.ebuyer.com
When a tiny two-bay NAS An interesting twist
won’t cut it, the fast, on M.2 SSDs,
high-capacity DiskStation DS418j Optane Memory isn’t
sn’t
is an excellent upgrade, especially as it can automatically convert old so much a dedicated storage drive as a
hard disks to be compatible with this NAS’s hardware and features. large cache for your existing hard disk,
isk
accelerating its read speeds to NVMe levels at a much lower price.
3.5in HARD DISK BAYS (FREE) 4 (4) • NETWORKING 1x 10/100/1,000 Ethernet • DLNA MEDIA
SERVER Yes • PRINT SERVER Yes • DIMENSIONS 184x168x230mm • WEIGHT 2.21kg •
WARRANTY Two years RTB • DETAILS www.synology.com • PART CODE DS418j • CAPACITY 32GB • PRICE PER GIGABYTE £2.22 • INTERFACE M.2/NVMe • WARRANTY Five years
FULL REVIEW Jan 2018 RTB • DETAILS www.intel.com • PART CODE MEMPEK1W032GAXT • FULL REVIEW Sep 2017

SYNOLOGY DiskStation DS216jj WD Red 6TB

★★★★★ ★★★★★
£147 • www.ebuyer.com £181 • www.ebuyer.com
This entry-level NAS device is loaded This is pricier than most 6TB
with features. We particularly like hard disks, even those created
Synology’s Package Center, which specifically for NAS drives, but the
makes it easy to automate large downloads, turn the WD Red’s performance makes it a worthwhile investment. Despite its
DS216J into a media server or set up a Surveillance 5,400rpm spin speed it manages to outperform 7,200rpm drives such
Station for security camera footage. as the Toshiba N300 in read/write tests.
FREE 3.5in HARD DISK BAYS 2 • NETWORKING 1x 10/100/1,000 Ethernet • DLNA MEDIA SERVER CAPACITY 6TB • COST PER GIGABYTE £0.03 • INTERFACE SATA3 • CLAIMED READ 175MB/s •
Yes • PRINT SERVER Yes • DIMENSIONS 165x100x226mm • WEIGHT 880g • WARRANTY Two CLAIMED WRITE 175MB/s • WARRANTY Three years RTB • DETAILS www.wdc.com •
years RTB • DETAILS www.synology.com • PART CODE DS216J • FULL REVIEW Sep 2017 PART CODE WD60EFRX • FULL REVIEW Nov 2017

SAMSUNG TS 500GB SAMSUNG 960 Evo

vo 250GB
★★★★★ ★★★★★
£190 • www.overclockers.co.uk £117 • www.ebuyer.com
Samsung’s easily While it’s not quite as
pocketable SSD can ro,
quick as the 960 Pro,
reach breakneck transfer the 960 Evo is still the
speeds; in fact, it’s the fastest portable second-fastest NVMe SSD we’ve ever
SSD we’ve tested. This makes it worth your attention even tested, and since it’s much more affordable,
ordabl
able,
abl e,
with its high cost per gigabyte. it’s the one most people should go for.
CAPACITY 250GB • COST PER GIGABYTE £0.47 • INTERFACE M.2/NVMe • CLAIMED READ
CAPACITY 500GB • COST PER GIGABYTE £0.38 • INTERFACE USB3.1 • WARRANTY Three years 3,200MB/s • CLAIMED WRITE 1,500MB/s • WARRANTY Five years RTB •
RTB • DETAILS www.samsung.com/uk • PART CODE MU-PA500B • FULL REVIEW Dec 2017 DETAILS www.samsung.com • PART CODE MZ-V6E250BW • FULL REVIEW Mar 2017

ISSUE 362 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | APRIL 2018 65

 Choosing an... Intel motherboard
01 It’s essential that you buy the right
type of motherboard for your
processor. Intel’s older Haswell processors
graphics card in the motherboard’s PCI
Express x16 slot, although this may block
one of your other slots.
x1 and x4 cards also work in PCI Express x16
slots. If you need a lot of storage, a
motherboard with plenty of SATA2 and
require a motherboard with an LGA1150 SATA3 ports is essential. SATA2 is fine for
socket, but newer, fourth-generation Skylake
chips need an LGA1151 socket. A board for a
Haswell processor must also have an H97 or
03 Normal tower cases can
accommodate ATX motherboards,
which provide the most expansion slots. A
optical drives and hard disks, but to make
the most of an SSD you need SATA3.

a Z97 chipset, while Skylake processors use

the new Z170 chipset. Skylake CPUs also use
newer, faster DDR4 memory.
microATX motherboard will let you build
your PC in a smaller case, but if you opt for a
microATX board, make sure it has all the
05 All motherboards have built-in audio
chipsets, but some support only 5.1
surround sound rather than 7.1. If you’re
features you need built in as there won’t be connecting to older surround-sound

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 you need, such as VGA, DVI, HDMI
and DisplayPort. If you want to play the
latest games, you’ll need to fit a dedicated
much room for expansion cards.
04 If you want to install lots of expansion
cards, look for a motherboard that
offers plenty of PCI and PCI-E x1 slots. Some
motherboards also have PCI Express x4 slots
and extra PCI Express x16 slots. PCI Express
amplifiers that don’t have HDMI, look for
an optical or coaxial S/PDIF output. All
motherboards have Ethernet ports and most
have the faster Gigabit version. You may also
find it useful to buy a board with built-in
Wi-Fi so you don’t have to use up a USB port
or PCI slot with an adaptor.

COMPONENTS
GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 1050 D5 2G NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060
★★★★★ ★★★★★
£114 • www.ebuyer.com £279 • www.geforce.co.uk
Nvidia’s GTX 1050 is Based on the same Pascal
the best-performing architecture as the fearsome
entry-level GPU, and GTX 1080 and GTX 1070, the
Gigabyte has made some nice tweakss mid-range GTX 1060 is unmatched when it
to its own version, including a near-silent
ilent fan comes to marrying price with 4K and VR-readiness.
cooler. It also sips power, with a tiny TDP rating of 75W. It’s surprisingly power-efficient, too.
GPU Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 • MEMORY 2GB GDDR5 • GRAPHICS CARD LENGTH 172mm • GPU Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 • MEMORY 6GB GDDR5 • GRAPHICS CARD LENGTH 250mm •
WARRANTY Three years repair and replace • DETAILS www.gigabyte.com • WARRANTY Three years repair and replace • DETAILS www.geforce.co.uk • PART CODE GTX 1060
PART CODE GV-N1050D5-2GD • FULL REVIEW Mar 2017 Founder’s Edition • FULL REVIEW Nov 2016

AMD Ryzen 7 1700 NZXT H700i NEW

ENTRY
★★★★★ ★★★★★
£254 • www.amzn.to/2rtN8bl £188 • www.scan.co.uk
The cheapest of AMD’s octa-core It’s not great value, and its headline
Ryzen 7 processors is also the ‘Smart box’ feels superfluous, but the
best mix of price and performance. H700i is saved by exceptional build
It’s highly overclockable, but even at stock speeds can quality, smart cable management and lots of features
come close to the £500 Ryzen 7 1800X in multithreaded tasks. that make building and upgrading your PC that bit easier.
It’s also incredibly efficient, with a TDP of just 65W.
CASE TYPE Mid-tower • MOTHERBOARD TYPE ATX, EATX, microATX, Mini-ITX • SUPPLIED
SOCKET AM4 • CORES 8 • FREQUENCY 3.0GHz • INTEGRATED GRAPHICS None • FANS 3x 120mm, 1x 140mm • MAXIMUM DRIVE BAYS 2x 3.5in, 5x 2.5in • DIMENSIONS
WARRANTY Three years RTB • DETAILS www.amd.com • PART CODE YD1700BBAEBOX • 516x230x494mm • WEIGHT 12.3kg • WARRANTY
TY Two years RTB • DETAILS www.nzxt.com •
FULL REVIEW Jul 2017 PART CODE CA-H700W-BR • FULL REVIEW Mar 2018

HYPERX Alloy Elite MSI B350M Mortarr

★★★★★ ★★★★★
£110 • www.currys.co.uk £66 • www.cclonline.com
This is a brilliant do-it-all gaming A near-perfect motherboard
therboard for
keyboard; the agile Cherry MX Red NEW AMD Ryzen-based,, microATX
key switches provide a strong foundation, ENTRY systems. It’s remarkably
rkably well equipped for
upon which HyperX has built a comfortable, detachable connectivity and upgradability, and comes close to much more
wrist rest, dedicated media keys and customisable red backlighting. expensive mobos in performance benchmarks.
The USB pass-through port is handy, too.
PROCESSOR SOCKET AM4 • DIMENSIONS 244x244mm • CHIPSET AMD B350M • MEMORY
KEYBOARD SHAPE Full size • NUMBER PAD Yes • CONNECTION 2x USB2 • MEDIA KEYS Pause/ SLOTS 4 • PCI-E x16 SLOTS 2 • PCI-E x1 SLOTS 2 • PCI SLOTS 0 • USB PORTS 2x USB2, 3x USB3.1,
play, mute, skip, volume • USB PORTS 1x USB2 • WARRANTY Two years repair and replace • 1x USB Type-C • VIDEO OUTPUTS 1x HDMI, 1x DisplayPort, 1x DVI-D • WARRANTY One year RTB •
DETAILS www.hyperxgaming.com • PART CODE HX-KB2RD1-UK/R1 • FULL REVIEW Mar 2018 DETAILS www.msi.com • PART CODE B350M Mortar • FULL REVIEW Aug 2017

66 APRIL 2018 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | ISSUE 362

 SOFTWARE

De soft
DIGITALVOLCANO SOFTWARE KASPERSKY Security Cloud

Sec ftwa
du wa
pli re

so
uri re
cat
Duplicate Cleaner 4.0 Pro ★★★★★

ing
★★★★★
£24 • www.digitalvolcano.co.uk
The free version of Duplicate Cleaner program is
good, and upgrading to the Pro version makes it
exceptional for ridding your PC of duplicate files.
OS SUPPORT Windows Vista/7/8/10 • HARD DISK SPACE 20MB •
DETAILS www.digitalvolcano.co.uk • FULL REVIEW Sep 2016
ty
£50 • www.kaspersky.co.uk
It’s just as effective as Kaspersky Total Security, but
Security Cloud goes a step further by learning your
bad security habits and warning you about them.
OS SUPPORT Windows 7/8/10, OS 10.11/macOS 10.12, Android 4.1 and later, iOS 10/11 •
MINIMUM CPU 1GHz • MINIMUM GPU None • MINIMUM RAM 1GB (32-bit), 2GB (64-bit) •
HARD DISK SPACE 1,020MB (Windows), 1,110MB (Mac) • DETAILS www.kaspsersky.co.uk •
PRODUCT CODE Security Cloud • FULL REVIEW Jan 2018

MICROSOFT Windows 10

pri
EXPRESSVPN

Vir e net
vat

OS ate
tua wo

up
Anniversary Update

d
★★★★★

l rk
£13 per month • www.expressvpn.com ★★★★★
ExpressVPN allows you to easily dodge region
Free • www.microsoft.com
restrictions on online content while encrypting This update adds UI improvments, new features and
your connection, and is fast enough to handle apps for stylus users, and a host of bug fixes, making
4K Netflix streaming. Its great software support and huge number of Microsoft’s OS even more worthwhile.
endpoints makes it the most flexible service, too.
OS SUPPORT Windows 10 • MINIMUM CPU 1GHz • MINIMUM GPU DirectX 9 or later with WDDM 1.0
OS SUPPORT Windows, macOS, iOS, Android • DETAILS www.expressvpn.com • driver • MINIMUM RAM 1GB (32-bit), 2GB (64-bit) • HARD DISK SPACE 16GB (32-bit), 2GB (64-bit) •
PRODUCT CODE ExpressVPN • FULL REVIEW Jan 2017 DETAILS www.microsoft.com • PRODUCT CODE Windows 10 version 1607 • FULL REVIEW Nov 2016

ABBYY FineReader 14 MAILBIRD Mailbird Pro 2.0

Em lient
OC ware
sof

ail
c
R
t

★★★★★
£249 • www.abbyy.com
The more feature-rich Corporate edition is expensive,
but FineReader 14 is perfect for turning paper notes
and documents into digital, editable files using
optical character recognition (OCR).
OS SUPPORT Windows 7/8/8.1/10 • MINIMUM CPU 1GHz • MINIMUM GPU DirectX 10 •
MINIMUM RAM 1.5GB plus 512MB per additional CPU core • HARD DISK SPACE 2.4GB •
DETAILS www.abbyy.com • PRODUCT CODE FineReader 14 • FULL REVIEW May 2017
★★★★★
£25 per year or £49 lifetime • www.getmailbird.com
While the free version of this email client is good,
upgrading to Pro is even better – you get a unified
view of all your mailboxes, loads of themes and
extensive integration with other apps and productivity software.
OS SUPPORT Windows XP/7/8/8.1/10 • MINIMUM CPU N/A • MINIMUM GPU N/A •
MINIMUM RAM N/A • HARD DISK SPACE 50MB • DETAILS www.getmailbird.com •
FULL REVIEW Nov 2016

GAMING
XBOX One S NINTENDO The Legend of Zelda:
4K conso

Act entu
ga le

ad
Breath of the Wild ion re
me

v
★★★★★
s

£230 • www.amzn.to/2nxBjQx ★★★★★

£48 • www.tesco.com
HDR support is great,
but it’s the 4K Blu-ray player Breath of the Wild’s vision of Hyrule is a beautifully
that makes this sleeker, intricate open world – one you have total freedom
smaller Xbox One really stand out against to explore right from the off. Charming and
the competing PS4 Slim. challenging, this is both a brilliant game and the single best reason
PROCESSOR Octa-core 1.75GHz Jaguar • RAM 8GB DDR3 • FRONT USB PORTS 1x USB2 •
to buy a Nintendo Switch.
REAR USB PORTS 2x USB2 • STORAGE 500GB/1TB/2TB • WARRANTY One year RTB • AVAILABLE FORMATS Ninetendo Switch • DISK SPACE 13.4GB (Switch), 13GB (Wii U) •
DETAILS www.xbox.com • PART CODE Xbox One S • FULL REVIEW Dec 2016 DETAILS www.zelda.com • FULL REVIEW Jun 2017
Fir sho

BETHESDA Doom SONY PS4 Slim

st- ote

Ga nsol
pe r

me e
co
rso

★★★★★ ★★★★★
n

£6 • www.cdkeys.com £229 • www.tesco.com

A bloody and breathless FPS, Doom is a worthy Sony has made the PlayStation
entry into one of gaming’s most hallowed series. 4 even better with a slimmer,
Open-ended levels, agile enemies and gory but neater chassis and superior
satisfying takedown moves make every demon battle rewarding. power efficiency. It’s as cheap as the PS4 has
ever been as well.
AVAILABLE FORMATS PC, Xbox One, PS4 • OS SUPPORT Windows 7/8/8.1/10 • MINIMUM CPU
Intel Core i3-550, AMD Phenom II X4 955 • MINIMUM GPU Nvidia GeForce GTX 670 2GB, AMD PROCESSOR Octa-core 1.6GHz AMD Jaguar • RAM 8GB GDDR5 • FRONT USB PORTS 2x USB2 •
Radeon HD 7870 2GB • MINIMUM RAM 4GB • HARD DISK SPACE 55GB • DETAILS doom.com • REAR USB PORTS None • STORAGE 500GB/1TB/2TB • WARRANTY One year RTB •
FULL REVIEW Sep 2016 DETAILS www.playstation.com • PART CODE B01GVQVQH2 • FULL REVIEW Jan 2017

ISSUE 362 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | APRIL 2018 67

 REVIEWS

How we test
Find out how well products perform with the help of
Computer Shopper’s comprehensive tests
COMPUTER SHOPPER’S REVIEWS use some The actual scores in each test are shown
of the most exhaustive testing procedures inside each bar
you’ll find in any PC magazine. Every product
is subjected to qualitative and quantitative
tests that show how it performs in practical Bigger is better for all
Normal speed 11ppm
use. Graphs for performance, battery-life bars except the red
scores and costs are used in the Reviews ones, which show
Mono costs 2.2p running costs
section, as shown on the right. Look in the
‘Summary of tests’ table (below) for details Colour costs 6.7p A product hitting the
of each test we run. +100 per cent mark
0% -50 Reference +50 +100
For PCs and laptops, we evaluate performed twice as well
performance using our own custom as our reference
benchmarking suite. See below for a brief
This line represents the performance of a reference product in each
description of our benchmarking software test. All graphs for components and systems are relative to our
and game tests. reference PC (see below for specifications)

SUMMARY OF TESTS
PC SYSTEMS & GAMING LAPTOPS
Windows overall Average speed across numerous demanding tasks BENCHMARKS RATINGS & AWARDS
Multitasking Speed when running simultaneous applications
Computer Shopper rates
Dirt Showdown Frames per second at 1,920x1,080, 4xAA, SHOPPER BENCHMARKS products out of five:
(1080p) Ultra detail
Metro: Last Light Frames per second at 1,920x1,080, SSAA,
Our benchmark suite uses
Redux Very High detail open-source software that Avoid ★★★★★
LAPTOPS
runs on Windows, Mac OS X
Windows overall Average speed across numerous demanding tasks
Below average ★★★★★
Multitasking Processor-intensive multitasking test and Linux systems. This lets
Dirt Showdown Frames per second at 1,280x720, 4xAA, us use objective results to Good ★★★★★
(720p) High detail
compare PCs and laptops,
Battery life Run time in minutes for continuous video playback
no matter which operating
Very good ★★★★★
SMARTPHONES/TABLETS
Battery life Run time in minutes for continuous video playback system they run. It’s designed Excellent ★★★★★
PRINTERS AND MFPs
Mono text speed Pages per minute for correspondence-quality text
to test each computer to its limit, using a combination of
Mixed colour speed Pages per minute for presentable text and graphics intensive image-editing, video-encoding and multitasking tests.
The best products can win the
Mono page cost Running costs expressed as pence per page We ran the tests on our reference PC, which has an Intel
Colour page cost Running costs expressed as pence per page following awards:
DIGITAL CAMERAS
Core i5-4670K processor, 8GB of DDR3 RAM and an AMD
Battery life Number of shots from full charge Radeon R7 260X graphics card. We normalised our results
CAMCORDERS so this PC had a score of 100. This makes it easy to draw
BEST BUY
Battery life Run time in minutes for recording Products with outstanding
comparisons between test systems. quality and performance for the
ROUTERS
Laptop 2.4GHz 5m Mbit/s at 5m with 802.11ac laptop on 2.4GHz band The resulting overall score is shown at the bottom of money win our Best Buy award.
Laptop 2.4GHz 1 floor Mbit/s 1 floor up with 802.11ac laptop on 2.4GHz band every PC and laptop review. As we use the same tests in our
Laptop 2.4GHz Mbit/s 2 floors up with 802.11ac laptop on
2 floors 2.4GHz band standalone and group test reviews, you can compare the
Laptop 5GHz 5m Mbit/s at 5m with 802.11ac laptop on 5GHz band performance of any computer, whether it’s a hybrid,
Laptop 5GHz 1 floor Mbit/s 1 floor up with 802.11ac laptop on 5GHz band
laptop or desktop, from both sections of the magazine.
Laptop 5GHz Mbit/s 2 floors up with 802.11ac laptop on
2 floors 5GHz band
NETWORK-ATTACHED STORAGE
Large files Average MB/s for read/write of 100MB large files
3D BENCHMARKS RECOMMENDED
Small files Average MB/s for read/write of 100MB small files Products that don’t quite qualify
HARD DISKS DIRT SHOWDOWN for a Best Buy award but are still
Extra large files Average MB/s for read/write of a single 2.5GB file Dirt Showdown is a cracking racing game highly rated by our reviewers.
Large files Average MB/s for read/write of 2.5GB of large files
that makes good use of DirectX 11’s
Small files Average MB/s for read/write of 2.5GB of small files
PROCESSORS
fancy graphical effects. You’ll want at
Windows overall Average speed across numerous demanding tasks least 30fps for smooth racing.
Multitasking Speed when running simultaneous applications
Dirt Showdown Frames per second at 1,280x720, 4xAA, TOMB RAIDER
(720p) High detail
MOTHERBOARDS With the ultra-demanding Super-
Windows overall Average speed across numerous demanding tasks Sampling Anti-Aliasing (SSAA) enabled,
Multitasking Speed when running simultaneous applications 2013’s Tomb Raider reboot is a great
BUSINESS BUY
Dirt Showdown Frames per second at 1,920x1,080, 4xAA, The very best products
indicator of mid-range performance.
(1080p) Ultra detail for work win our
Dirt Showdown Frames per second at 1,280x720, 4xAA, Business Buy award.
(720p) High detail METRO: LAST LIGHT REDUX
GRAPHICS CARDS
Our most demanding graphics test
Dirt Showdown Frames per second at 1,920x1,080, 4x MSAA,
(1080p) Ultra detail uses tessellation, SSAA and massive
Tomb Raider Frames per second at 1,920x1,080, SSAA, Ultra detail textures to give even high-end cards a
Metro: Last Light Frames per second at 1,920x1,080, SSAA, thorough workout.
Redux Very High detail

68 APRIL 2018 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | ISSUE 362

 PRODUCT INDEX

Product Reviews
Our guide to all the products reviewed

131
in this month’s Computer Shopper

Hot Product
HTC U11 Life 20
Networks
Fritz!Box 7590 32
revi ews
PCs Smart Home
Medion Erazer X5361 G 22 Neeo The Thinking
PC Specialist Enigma X 02 23 Remote 34 Handhelds
Overclockers Renda G3-CS 24 Honor 7X 44
Audio BlackBerry Motion 46
Laptops Ninety7 Vaux 36 EE Hawk 48
Lenovo Yoga 920 26 Ultimate Ears
Megablast 37 Wearables
Components Roccat Khan Pro 38 Garmin Vivoactive 3 50
Arctic Freezer 33
eSports One 28 Photography Monitors
Canon EOS 800D 40 Acer Predator X34A 78
Printers Acer Predator Z35P 79
Epson Expression Video AOC Q3279VWF 80
Photo HD XP-15000 30 GoPro Hero 6 Black 42 BenQ SW2700PT 81
LG 34UC79G 82
Samsung C27HG70 83
SUBSCRIBE AND SAVE Samsung C34F791 84
ViewSonic XG2530 85
ViewSonic XG2700-4K 86

Headphones
Beats Studio3 Wireless 90
Bose QuietComfort 35 II 90
Master & Dynamic MH40 91
Plantronics BackBeat Pro 2 91
B&O BeoPlay E4 92
Bose SoundSport Wireless 92
Brainwavz B200 93
CALL
CALL 0330 333 9493
9 OR SEE PAGE 120 Google Pixel Buds 93

ISSUE 362 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | APRIL 2018 69

Why wait?
Award-winning PCs and laptops
delivered next day

Next day Next day

delivery delivery

3XS LG15 Performance GTX - LN81612 3XS LG15 Vengeance - LN86498

• Intel® Core™ i7 7700HQ processor
• 8GB Corsair Vengeance DDR4
• 4GB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti
• 250GB WD SSD
• Microsoft Windows 10 64bit
• Intel® Core™ i7 7700HQ processor
• 16GB Corsair Vengeance DDR4
• 6GB GTX 1060
• 250GB WD SSD plus 1TB HDD
• Microsoft Windows 10 64bit

£999.99 INC
VAT £1199.99 INC
VAT

Choose your perfect PC today

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 Next day Next day
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Scan Gamer - LN86504 Scan Gamer - LN86510

• Intel® Core™ i3 8100 processor • Intel® Core™ i3 8100 processor
• 8GB Corsair Vengeance DDR4 • 8GB Corsair Vengeance DDR4
• 4GB EVGA GTX 1050 Ti • 6GB EVGA GTX 1060
• 250GB WD SSD plus 1TB HDD • 240GB WD SSD plus 1TB HDD
• Microsoft Windows 10 64bit • Microsoft Windows 10 64bit

£799.99 INC
VAT £899.99 INC
VAT

Next day Next day

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3XS Gamer - LN84936 3XS Gamer - LN85402

• Intel® Core™ i5 8400 processor • Intel® Core™ i7 8700 processor
• 16GB Corsair Vengeance DDR4 • 16GB Corsair Vengeance DDR4
• 6GB EVGA GTX 1070 • 8GB EVGA GTX 1070 Ti
• 250GB Samsung SSD plus 2TB HDD • 250GB Samsung SSD plus 2TB HDD
• Microsoft Windows 10 64bit • Microsoft Windows 10 64bit

£1,399.99 INC
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3XS Gamer - LN84933 3XS Gamer Ti - LN84932

• Intel® Core™ i7 8700 processor • Intel® Core™ i7 8700K processor
• 16GB Corsair Vengeance DDR4 • 16GB Corsair Vengeance DDR4
• 11GB EVGA GTX • 11GB EVGA GTX 1080 Ti
• 250GB Samsung SSD plus 2TB HDD • 500GB Samsung SSD plus 2TB HDD
• Microsoft Windows 10 64bit • Microsoft Windows 10 64bit

£1,679.99 INC
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Intel, the Intel Logo, Intel Inside, Intel Core, and Core Inside are trademarks of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries in the U.S. and/or other countries.
 Free software guide
It’s easy to access your free software. Just go to www.shopperdownload.co.uk/362 and
register with the code from the card insert. Please be aware that you need to have
bought the ‘Free Software Edition’ and not the ‘£4.50 Edition’ to access the downloads
GETTING STARTED
The download instructions on the card
insert (overleaf) show you how to
connect to the download site. Make
sure you type in the web address exactly
as shown. You’ll need your coupon code
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REGISTER YOUR SOFTWARE
BY 22nd MARCH 2018
REQUIREMENTS Windows Vista, 7, 8, 10
32/64-bit, 200MB hard disk space
WEBSITE www.oo-software.com
NOTES Get your registration code at
diskimage11.disc.computershopper.co.uk
72
iClone 6 Standard
ICLONE 6 IS a powerful import new templates and use
real-time 3D animation them right away, while expert
suite with a stack of users will find it relatively
professional features. easy to combine iClone with
The program allows you other 3D applications, such
to build and manipulate 3D as Sketchup, 3DS Max
actors from templates, or and Blender.
simply by moving your body If you need more, there’s a
in front of a Kinect Motion full community on hand with
Capture system. However you access to a host of valuable
get started, iClone’s Body Motion Puppeteering resources. At a minimum, you’re able to browse,
system helps to deliver realistic motion right away, download and use millions of objects from Google’s
with the minimum of hassle. Just select an actor and 3D warehouse, with no charges or royalties to pay.
use the cursor keys to control it. iClone’s capable real-time physics engine and
Everything is customisable: you can drag and realistic lighting and shader effects also ensure
drop new body templates, outfits and props, and that all aspects of your 3D world look and behave
even tweak facial expressions. Beginners can exactly as they should.
Every part of your project can be previewed at
REQUIREMENTS Windows 7, 8 or 10 32/64-bit, 10GB hard disk space
WEBSITE www.reallusion.com any time, and once you’re happy you can export it
NOTES Get your registration code at www.reallusion.com/event/ as a video, including in 3D with support for various
iC6Standard/default.html
3D standards.
O&O DiskImage 11
Professional
ANYONE WHO’S EVER experienced the shock of Start drive imaging and you can run a backup using
data loss, or had to spend hours recovering their the default settings.
system, will know the importance of backing up. You can also back up individual files and folders;
O&O DiskImage 11 Professional provides you with all simply browse a file explorer window for items to
the tools you need to back up individual data, such back up, ticking folders and files as you go. There are
as selected files and folders, as well as the ability to similar options to run full, incremental or differential
take drive images of entire partitions and drives. backups, and compress or encrypt your archives.
It provides plenty of tips to guide you towards DiskImage 11 also has all the options you need for
protecting your data, and the latest version makes managing your backups. You can restore entire images
things even easier with a revamped, Windows or select individual files and folders, and mount your
10-styled interface. image files in Windows. You
After installing, choose the can also convert drive images
function you need by clicking into virtual hard disks, allowing
on the appropriate tile: Start you to attach them to
drive imaging, Start file backup, programs such as VirtualBox
Create one-click image or or VMWare Workstation for
Create bootable disk. Pick the use as virtual PCs.
imaging option and you’re able Create a recovery disc when
to create images of all your you’re done and you can
drives with a click. restore backups on EFI/UEFI
Alternatively, select a and BIOS-based systems even
source drive or volume, click if Windows won’t start.
APRIL 2018 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | ISSUE 362

REQUIREMENTS Windows 7, 8, 10 32/64-bit,
100MB hard disk space
WEBSITE www.steganos.com
NOTES Get your registration code at
www.steganos.com/specials/
computershopper0218/sss18
Abelssoft Tagman 2018
IS YOUR DIGITAL music
collection looking a bit of a
mess, with tags missing and
filenames that are inconsistent
or just plain wrong? This makes
it much harder to organise your
MP3s and find what you need,
yet the problem is so time-
consuming to fix manually
that you might just decide to
live with it.
ISSUE 362 | COMPUTER SHOPPER
Steganos Privacy Suite 18
STEGANOS PRIVACY SUITE 18
is an extensive collection of
tools for keeping your personal
data safe from snooping eyes.
It’s a collection of various
specialised tools, such as
Steganos Safe. This stores
confidential files in a secure
password-protected vault, so
intruders won’t be able to see
what’s inside even if the rest of
your PC is compromised.
The program is able to
encrypt data on your hard drive,
USB keys, and even cloud files
– Dropbox, OneDrive and Google Drive are attachments, making sure your private
supported. You can even hide a Safe inside a communications stay that way.
multimedia file, so that no-one even knows it’s there. The TraceDestructor securely deletes your
Privacy Suite 18 also includes a password browsing and Windows traces to prevent others
manager, where you can save your logins, bank checking your activities, and that’s all on top of more
account details, credit card information, and your general online privacy options to block ads, social
own ‘Private Favourites’. It can save URLs you’d like tracking buttons and anonymise your browser type.
to keep handy but not make entirely public as well. Steganos Privacy Suite is rounded off with the
Next up is the Email Encryption module, Shredder, which wipes confidential files or free
which can encrypt your message text and file space to ensure they can’t be recovered later.
There is another way: Tags will be set, cover art
Tagman is a smart application downloaded, and the results
that can automatically bring displayed for you to check. If
order to the most tangled of you’re happy, all the new data
music collections. can be saved with a click.
Just point the program at There’s an option to
your MP3s, click Recognize and automatically rename your files,
it goes to work, creating a digital too. No more ‘track1.mp3’,
fingerprint of each file and ‘track2.mp3’ – just choose the
identifying it with the aid of a filename pattern you prefer, and
web database. Tagman will rename all your
selected MP3s to
have the same
naming structure.
Keep in mind
that the whole
fingerprinting
and recognition
process can take
a while, and if
you’re scanning
thousands of MP3s
then you might
have to wait a few
hours for the
process to finish.
Tagman tries to
predict how long
you’ll have to wait,
and if it’s longer
than expected,
REQUIREMENTS Windows 7, 8 or 10, 32/64-
you can simply bit, 30MB hard disk space
click Cancel and WEBSITE www.abelssoft.net
try again with NOTES Get your registration code from
within the application
fewer folders.
| APRIL 2018 73

REQUIREMENTS Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8, 10
32/64-bit, 40MB hard disk space
WEBSITE www.iobit.com
NOTES Get your registration code at db5.disc.
computershopper.co.uk
REQUIREMENTS Windows 7, 8 or 10
32/64-bit, 70MB hard disk space
WEBSITE www.ashampoo.com
NOTES Get your registration code within
the application
74
IObit Driver Booster 5 Pro
IOBIT’S DRIVER
BOOSTER 5 is a simple
and straightforward tool
that can scan your
system for outdated
drivers, then download
and install replacements
with a click. The Pro
version adds features
such as backup
capability, faster
download speeds and
wider hardware support.
The program is
unusually easy to use.
There’s no complex
interface, which means no
searching around trying
to decide what you need
to do: simply launch
Driver Booster 5 and it
immediately scans your
PC, taking just a few
seconds to produce a detailed Alternatively, if you’re in a update package, but do expect to
report for you to check over. hurry, just click Update Now reboot at the end of the process.
You can then click the and Driver Booster 5 will It’s incredibly simple to use,
Update button individually for download and launch each but more experienced users will
particular drivers, which is update. Thanks to a silent find plenty of tweakable options
handy if you want to keep update mechanism, you no available – for even finer control
precise control over exactly longer have to manually wade over driver updates – should they
what’s going on. through each and every driver want them.
Ashampoo Burning
Studio 2018
ASHAMP
ASHAMPOO BURNING STUDIO 2018 is a disc- wide file format support, which ranges from the
burnin
burning suite with some interesting extras. usual MP3 and WMA to file types including OGG,
The core of the program works much like APE, OPUS, FLAC, CDA and WAV.
the competition,
co such as BurnAware and There’s also a simple file backup tool, a cover
DeepBurner.
DeepBu Choose your project type – a data designer and a disc copier, and there are some
disc, maybe
ma an audio CD – then drag and drop advanced tweaks for experienced users, such as
your source
s files on to the interface, and you can setting file systems and boot options.
start burning your CD, DVD or Blu-ray disc The only weak spot is movies, because the
(provided
(provi your PC has the appropriate drive, of program can only burn video DVDs and Blu-rays
course)
course in a couple of clicks. from a VIDEO_TS (or similar) source folder.
That’s
Tha not all. Burning Studio
can also
al create Autostart discs,
which display interactive menus
that appear when the disc is
inserted. These can launch files or
documents, send an email, link to
a web page and more, and are a
great way to present information
to the recipient of your disc.
Image handling is another useful
feature, with tools to burn images
(ASHDISC, CUE/ BIN, ISO, IMG),
browse them, or create images
from files or other discs.
If you’re looking to burn audio
CDs, then you’ll appreciate the
APRIL 2018 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | ISSUE 362
 Resources
Chat and Communication
UPDATED Evernote 6.8.7.6387 Store your
notes, ideas and plans in the cloud, and
synchronise them between computers.
UPDATED Mailbird 2.4.29.0
A free desktop email client for Windows.
Miranda IM 0.10.76
Chat with friends across multiple
messaging platforms, including AIM,
Facebook, IRC and MSN, all from one
simple interface.
Customisation
iolo System Mechanic Free 17.0.1
Speed up your system with iolo’s PC
optimisation suite.
Rainmeter 4.1
Customise the desktop with your choice
of tools and shortcuts.
Windows 8 Transformation Pack 9.1
Emulate the look of Windows 8 on an
earlier version of the operating system.
General
Genie Timeline Free 2017 Protect your
most valuable files with this easy-to-use
backup tool.
Paragon Partition Manager 14 Free
Create, format, split, merge and reorganise
all your hard disk’s partitions.
PeaZip 6.5.0 A tremendously powerful
archive-management tool.
Internet and Network
CarotDAV 1.14.6
Manage all your online storage services
with one simple application.
UPDATED Cyberduck 6.3.2
A powerful but easy-to-use FTP client for
uploading and downloading your files.
NEW VERSION Glasswire 2.0.80
Keep tabs on your network usage with this
simple monitor.
Tweaking and Performance
UPDATED CCleaner 5.38 Remove unwanted
information, temporary files, browsing
history, huge log files and even the settings
that uninstalled software leaves behind.
Defraggler 2.21 Ensure that your system
is defragmented properly and improve
its performance.
Finestra Virtual Desktops 2.5.4501 Set up
four or more virtual desktops on your PC.
ISSUE 362 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | APRIL 2018
UPDATED Skype for Windows 8.12.0.2 Make
internet voice and video calls for free, and buy
credit to make calls to mobiles and landlines.
UPDATED Telegram 1.2.1 This free IM app
synchronises your conversations across
multiple devices, and can spruce up chats
with stickers and GIFs.
UPDATED WhatsApp Desktop 0.2.7305 A free
PC and Mac version of the popular messaging
app, letting you chat from your desktop.
Windows 8 UX Pack 9.1
Get a glimpse of the Windows 10 UI without
committing to a full OS upgrade.
Windows 10 Transformation Pack 7.0
Bring some of Windows 10’s new features
to your current operating system.
Winstep Xtreme 17.1
Freshen up your system with this suite of
desktop and UI replacement applications.
Screenshot Captor 4.21.1 Create and manage
screenshots the easy way.
UPDATED SUMo 5.4.3 Quickly scan your PC’s
installed applications and find any updates
that are available for them.
ZipGenius 6.3.2.3116 A flexible file-
compression tool with support for a huge
number of compressed file formats.
FileZilla 3.29 A fast and reliable FTP client with
lots of useful features.
UPDATED NetBalancer 9.11.2
Make the most of your internet connection
by assigning download and upload priorities
to web applications.
UPDATED TeamViewer 13.0.6447
Remote-control your computer from
anywhere in the world.
UPDATED IObit Advanced SystemCare Free
11.1.0.196 A complete computer security,
maintenance and optimisation suite.
Revo Uninstaller Free 2.0.4 Remove installed
applications completely, including all their
folders, system files and Registry entries.
Simple Performance Boost 1.0.5 Tweak the
Windows Registry to give your PC a
performance boost.
75
 PANEL SHOW
Monitors
CONTENT REVIEWS They’re rarely the most glamorous things in tech,
Page 78
ACER Predator X34A but PC monitors are getting better all the time, and
Page 79
ACER Predator Z35P
the rise of ultrawide models has shaken things up
Page 80 even more. Here, we’ve rounded up nine of the best
AOC Q3279VWF
Page 81
BENQ SW2700PT CHOOSING A NEW monitor can be tricky if This is where Computer Shopper comes in.
Page 82 you rely solely on specs lists: you’ll have All nine of the monitors in this group test
LG 34UC79G heaps of options at almost any resolution and – which include affordable flat screens, fast
Page 83 screen size, and while it might be possible to gaming displays and all-the-rage curved
SAMSUNG C27HG70 extrapolate a display’s general strengths and ultrawide models – have been put to everyday
Page 84 weaknesses from its panel technology, use, as well as being subjected to our usual
SAMSUNG C34F791 adjustability measurements or range of suite of benchmarks. All are, at the very
Page 85 connections, there’s no way of judging if a least, pretty good, but we’ve leant towards
VIEWSONIC XG2530 model is suitable until you know how it runs. the very best, based on a combination of
Page 86 How bright can it go? Is there any blurring? performance, design and value.
VIEWSONIC XG2700-4K Are the colours vibrant and saturated or has With any luck this should help you
accuracy been given precedent? navigate the minefield of specs sheets,

76 APRIL 2018 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | ISSUE 362


All nine of the monitors
in this group test are
pretty good, but
we’ve leant towards
the very best
but should you need a little extra direction,
read on for our monitors buying guide.
WORK LIFE BALANCE
Monitors are like PCs: they’re usually built for
specific purposes, even if they can do a
passable job at other tasks. Gaming is a
common focus; these kinds of monitors
don’t necessarily aim for perfect colours, and
often have design aesthetics that could be
charitably described as ostentatious, but will
almost always provide a smoother, slicker
experience with high refresh rates and low
response times (more on these later).
For a more professional setting, such as a
home office, priorities will naturally be
different. Larger sizes and higher resolutions
will suit those who like to multitask with
several applications open at once, and if you
regularly engage in image or video editing, a
monitor with high colour accuracy is a must:
you don’t want your creations to have slightly
off-looking hues when they’re printed or
shown on a different screen.
Happily, monitors are always up front
about their intended uses, so identifying
what’s broadly right or wrong for you
specifically is the easy part – although as
we’ll see, some of the best models can handle
both serious work and enthusiast-grade
gaming. In any case, the next job is
deciphering the specs.
ISSUE 362 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | APRIL 2018
NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTIONS
The ideal screen size (measured diagonally
from corner to corner) might vary slightly
depending on how big your desk is, and how
far away your eyes will be from it, but
generally anything smaller than 24in could
end up feeling rather cramped, especially
when you want to have two or more windows
open at once. 27in is a good compromise
between spaciousness, desk footprint and
price, but don’t feel beholden to this one
specification. Ultrawide monitors (so named
for their sprawling 21:9 aspect ratio) will
naturally be a lot bigger, with 34in being the
most common size.
Arguably a more important aspect to
consider is the resolution. The higher the
resolution, the sharper onscreen text,
images and video will be, yet that doesn’t
mean you should always head straight for
the 4K (3,840x2,160 pixels) stock. Full HD
(1,920x1,080) and Quad HD (2,560x1,440)
are likely to be cheaper, and if gaming is a
concern, then having a lower resolution will
put less stress on the games and allow them
to run better – though you can, of course, get
PC hardware that can cope with 4K gaming.
Quad HD is usually a fine middle ground, so
it’s a good resolution to aim for unless your
budget or intended use points towards a
higher or lower pixel count.
Ultrawide monitor resolutions can be
somewhat deceiving; 3,440x1,440, for
instance, looks quite close to 4K, but
because these pixels are spread over a
much wider area, the overall sharpness will
be more like Quad HD quality.
PALETTE CLEANSER
Image quality doesn’t just come down to
sharpness – there’s also brightness, contrast,
coverage and accuracy to think about.
We cover these with our display benchmarks,
via the DisplayCAL software.
As with all displays, a higher brightness will
help fend off glare in well-lit rooms, and a high
contrast (and low black level) will make sure
that whites are crisp and blacks are deep and
inky; nobody wants a dark scene in a film or
game to appear flat and grey. Wide coverage
of the sRGB colour gamut is a sign of high
vibrancy, while accuracy is, as mentioned,
important when performing editing work.
It’s often possible to improve a monitor’s
out-of-the-box performance by manually
calibrating the display; this requires some
fiddling, not to mention a probably expensive
calibrator (we use an X-Rite i1 Display Pro,
which costs £190), but done properly it can
boost gamut coverage and colour accuracy
to near-perfect levels.
FANNING THE FRAMES
Of particular note to gamers is refresh rate,
which signifies how quickly a monitor can
update the onscreen image, so a rate of
60Hz means it’s refreshing every 60 seconds.
That’s fine for office and casual use, but a
higher rate will make all movements appear
MONITORS
smoother, which can result in much better-
looking games. Even a small jump to 75Hz can
be noticeable, and going up to 100Hz or 144Hz
produces a night-and-day difference.
The only potential issue is that you’ll need
to be running your games at a sufficient high
frames-per-second rate to take advantage of
higher refresh rates, which means the feature
is partly dependent on the strength of your
PC hardware. Conversely, having a graphics
card that produces frames faster than the
monitor can show them can cause visual
artefacts such as screen tearing, where chunks
of two different frames are shown in the same
refresh, producing a misaligned image.
This can be partly remedied by using the
VSync option in most games, which locks the
GPU’s output to the refresh rate, though this
can cause input lag. A better solution is to
engage the GPU’s built-in syncing tech,
which tends to work much better: Nvidia
cards have G-Sync, and AMD has FreeSync.
The bad news is that monitors will only
support one or the other, and many support
neither, so it’s worth matching your card to a
compatible monitor and vice versa.
Another thing gamers should look for is
response time. This is much simpler: the lower,
the better, as the time taken for pixels to
change colour can affect how fast you react
to an enemy popping around a corner (to give
one example). A response time of 5ms is
decent, but some monitors go as low as 1ms.
YOU’RE WIRED
When it comes to connections, the bare
essentials are only a couple of display inputs
(typically HDMI and DisplayPort), but it’s
always good to have more. An extra HDMI
port, for instance, can allow you to hook up a
PC, games console and Blu-ray player all at
once, and USB hubs can save you the trouble
of having to bend round the back of your
desktop to plug in peripherals.
In each review, we’ll make a note of
both the ports available and if any of the
monitor’s features require certain use of
them; FreeSync, for instance, usually only
works over a DisplayPort connection.
LAST STAND
Obviously, there’s little sense in buying a
monitor that you don’t like aesthetically – you
are going to be constantly looking at it, after
all – but just as important as thin bezels is
build quality. A sturdy stand is essential,
even if it takes up slightly more space on
your desk, and ideally it should have a good
mix of adjustment controls.
Your posture will thank you for setting up
your new monitor in an ergonomically
agreeable way: facing straight towards you,
with the top of the screen at eye level. This
typically requires a mix of tilt, pivot and height
adjustment, which most but not all displays
have. If not, look out to see if it supports a
VESA mount; this will allow the screen to be
easily wall-mounted or attached to a more
adjustable stand or arm.
77
 MONITORS
ACER Predator X34A
★★★★★
£950 • From www.scan.co.uk
VERDICT
A good-quality monitor, but it’s expensive and
doesn’t cope with certain games very well
THE PREDATOR X34A is a 1440p ultrawide
monitor that offers all the right design
elements you’d want from such a display –
and just as well, considering how much it
costs. At £950 this is strictly for those with
serious amounts of cash to burn, and though
we’ve previously seen it drop to £889, current
prices are even less forgiving on the wallet.
It’s been designed with care and attention
befitting that of a premium monitor. It’s also a
bit familiar: with its tiny bezels on the top,
left- and right-hand edges, it resembles a
stretched version of Acer’s own XF270HUA
gaming monitor. The stand provides tilt
adjustments of -5° to 35°, as well as pivot and
height adjustments, and its impressive build
quality reverberates across the entire monitor,
from the arrow-shaped panel on the rear to
its metal stand and carry handle.
LIGHTING SPIRIT
Better still, there’s an adjustable LED strip
under the monitor that lets you switch
between pre-assigned colours to add a
colourful hue to your desk. We like the idea of
matching it to the colour of a backlit
keyboard, or if you keep a gaming PC on your
desk, the lighting of its components and fans.
As for connectivity, there’s a single
DisplayPort and HDMI video input and a
3.5mm headphone jack. A generous four
USB3 ports can be found at the rear, too.
The Predator X34A also has two DTS-
certified 7W speakers, which provide
excellent sound quality, a rarity in
monitors. It won’t quite replace a
good set of PC speakers if you already
own some, but for once, we felt
comfortable listening to music and
playing games with in-built speakers.
Acer employs IPS technology to
portray a vivid, colour-accurate image
on this 34in UWQHD (3,440x1,440)
curved monitor, and its image quality
is impressive. There’s no sRGB mode,
but the User and Warm colour
modes proved a pretty close match.
The monitor hits 99.1% of the sRGB
colour space, so colours are vibrant
and pop with life.
Contrast is decent rather than
excellent, at 1,113:1, though at
maximum brightness, we recorded
black levels at a nice and low
0.3cd/m2. As a result, dark scenes
in movies and games don’t
suffer from a greyish tone.
With an average delta-E of
1.63, colour accuracy is also
78
good enough for an occasional spot of
photo or video editing; in fact, that’s almost
as accurate out of the box as the
professionally minded BenQ SW2700PT,
which we measured at 1.49 pre-calibration.
SPOT THE DIFFERENCE
The panel reaches a peak brightness of
340cd/m2, which is high enough for most
circumstances save for a summer sun blazing
directly on to the screen. Brightness, on the
other hand, is rather disappointing. There’s
If you’re a casual gamer who doesn’t require fast response
times or a low input lag, the X34A is perfectly respectable
up to 22% variance from the top corners to
the monitor’s centre point, so the screen is
lit far more inconsistently than we’d expect
from a £950 display.
There’s more bad news, too: due to the
horizontal alignment of liquid crystals found
in curved IPS panels, the Predator X34A
suffers from backlight bleed, most notably
around the top corners of the display. This
results in an image roll-off at both sides of the
monitor, a problem we’ve seen in the past
with large, curved displays. This means if you
view it at an extreme angle, you’ll notice the
image fade to black around the extremities.
By default, the X34A’s refresh
rate is set to 60Hz, though you can
get it up to a noticeably slicker
100Hz over DisplayPort if you dive
into the OSD settings. Thankfully,
there’s no frame skipping or gamma
shift at its fastest settings.
Actually taking full advantage of
100Hz – by running games at a
reasonably consistent 100fps – is
no easy task at 3,440x1,440, so
make sure you have a powerful
enough graphics card to cope. We’d
suggest a GeForce GTX 1070 or
better, which probably won’t
be too out of reach if
you’ve got nearly a grand
to spend on a monitor.
We found the Predator X34A’s input lag
bearable but, in demanding first-person
shooters, such as Counter-Strike: Global
Offensive, it could be a little slow to respond
to mouse movements. The monitor’s
response time is rather sluggish, too.
Without Overdrive enabled, it struggles to
cope with intensive games.
Turning Overdrive on introduces a lot of
inverse ghosting, however, most notably in
its Extreme mode. Leaving Overdrive on
Normal seems to provides a reasonable
middle ground. This is quite similar to the
AOC AG352UCG, which incurs almost the
same problems but manages to respond a
touch faster than the X34A.
LAGGING BEHIND
If you’re a casual gamer who doesn’t require
a monitor with a fast response time or low
input lag, then the X34A is perfectly
respectable. For example, if you plan on
playing RTS games, you’ll enjoy the X34A’s
broad expanse and 1440p resolution.
If, however, you’ll be playing twitch shooters,
the panel’s slow response time and input lag
will probably put you off.
It’s also worth noting that the Acer X34A
comes with Nvidia G-Sync, an excellent
technology used to eliminate tearing.
You’ll need a compatible Nvidia graphics
card to benefit from this; AMD graphics
card owners should look elsewhere.
Gaming aside, the Acer X34A delivers decent
colour accuracy from an IPS panel, excellent
build quality and an attractive design.
At £950, however, it’s hugely expensive
and, despite this, is far from the best monitor
of its type. For over £200 less you can buy
the Samsung C34F791, which offers similar
specifications (including size, resolution and
refresh rate) and offers a better gaming
experience. With that around, there’s little
reason to go for the X34A instead.
APRIL 2018 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | ISSUE 362

ACER Predator Z35P
★★★★★
£963 • From www.amazon.co.uk
VERDICT
The Z35P offers fantastic visuals and
performance, but it’s simply too expensive
YES, IT’S ANOTHER ultrawide Acer Predator
monitor that costs more than most people’s
PCs, and yet the Z35P goes even bigger (and
even more expensive) than the Predator
X34A: this is a 35in display, again running at
3,440x1,440 but with a higher maximum
120Hz refresh rate, for a cool £963.
Also like the Predator Z35P, it needs to
fend off the Samsung C34F791, which costs
an awful lot less at £720 but has only slightly
lower specs, such as a 34in panel and 100Hz
refresh rate. Are, then, the Predator Z35P’s
extra tricks worth its higher expense?
Acer’s monitor gets off to a good start
on build quality and design. Finished in a
brushed grey aluminium shell with red
accents, it looks great. The bezels are a lot
thicker than on the Predator Z35P, but
have an eye-catchingly chunky design,
which admittedly may be a desired taste.
We prefer the slimmer look.
The metal stand provides plenty of
flexibility: it can be adjusted in height,
tilted from -4° to 35° and swivelled by 20°.
A handle at the back of the monitor also
makes it easier to pick up, should you ever
need to transport it somewhere. At the rear
right-hand side of the monitor there are
four USB3 ports, one of which provides
fast-charging capabilities to smartphones.
The only thing missing is a headphone stand.
SYNCING IN THE RAIN
The onscreen display is
accessed through a set of
buttons found at the bottom
right-hand side of the monitor.
The interface is easy to get
around and provides plenty
of options, including – crucially
– an overclock setting that
boosts the panel’s refresh
rate from its 100Hz default
up to 120Hz.
For connectivity, there’s only
one HDMI and DisplayPort input
apiece, with a 3.5mm headphone
jack output. Two 9W speakers
are located within the monitor;
these go impressively loud
without distorting, though
they’re not as surprisingly
capable as those within the
Predator X34A.
The Predator Z35P also supports
Nvidia’s G-Sync technology, which
is fantastic for those who own a
compatible Nvidia graphics card
(in other words, any recent one).
ISSUE 362 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | APRIL 2018
If you have an AMD card, you’ll have to rely
on the VSync option in individual games,
which can add unwanted input lag.
VIEWING PLEASURE
The 3,440x1,440 VA panel has, naturally for
its size, a 21:9 aspect ratio. Its image quality
is good, beating the Samsung C34F791’s
pre-calibration test scores: in sRGB mode, for
instance, it covers 99.3% of the sRGB colour
gamut, and colours look wonderfully rich and
vibrant. It might not look as good as some
top-of-the-range IPS displays out there, but
it’s certainly one of the better ultrawide
gaming panels we’ve seen.
Colour accuracy is good, too, with an
average delta-E score of 1.69, while a strong
2,043:1 contrast ratio and 0.14cd/m2 black
level reflect a panel that’s able to render
great tonal depth. However, after calibration,
the C34F791 ultimately comes out ahead,
with 99.6% sRGB coverage, a delta-E of
0.58, contrast ratio of 2,208:1 and a black
level of 0.054cd/m2.
Acer’s monitor isn’t the brightest panel
around in sRGB either: we measured a
maximum luminance of 285cd/m2. Switching
back to regular mode brightens things up
to 340cd/m2, which is fine for sunlit
rooms. Uniformity isn’t great,
either, with up to 17% variance
from its centre point thanks to
backlight bleed and IPS glow.
That’s to be expected from a
large ultrawide gaming monitor,
but it’s something to bear in
mind if you’ll be using the
monitor for image or video
editing as well.
In ‘overclocked’ 120Hz
mode, the Z35P passed all
the UFO Frame skipping
tests. We didn’t notice any
visible gamma shift either,
which means you don’t
have to worry about
losing colour
accuracy when
overclocking the panel.
MONITORS
To get the best results, you’ll need a
graphics card that’s capable of reaching
120fps at 3,440x1,440; for most recent games,
this means the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 and
upward, and even then, you’ll likely need to
reduce graphical quality as well. The good
news is that such GTX 10-series GPUs support
G-Sync technology, which eliminates tearing
by locking the refresh rate of your monitor to
your graphics card’s frame rate.
Despite the fast refresh rate, we initially
found the Z35P a little sluggish. However,
enabling Overdrive caused the panel to
respond a lot faster, making it much more
acceptable for more competitive games.
Activating the Extreme setting added a lot
of unwanted inverse ghosting (in the form
of purple trails), but dialling this down to
Normal minimised the effect, while still
keeping things responsive.
DOWN AND PRICED OUT
Input lag could be better, but for anything
other than the most intense games, we
found the panel responded reasonably well.
The large 35in curved design also provides
an element of immersion that adds to the
overall gaming experience, even if the
difference from a 34in panel is negligible.
The Z35P’s gaming performance is
impressive, especially if you’re into more
casual games. Colour accuracy and vibrancy
are more than acceptable, and the build
quality is stunning. There’s really not much
to dislike about the Acer Predator Z35P –
apart from its titanic price.
Unfortunately, this is an issue that’s
impossible to ignore. At close to £1,000,
you’re grossly overpaying for a monitor that
only really offers an extra 20Hz on the
Samsung C34F791, which with a bit of
tweaking can beat it on performance while
costing hundreds of pounds less. The C34F791
opts for FreeSync rather than G-Sync, so
might not be perfect for Nvidia GPU owners,
but that’s not nearly enough of a reason to go
for the Predator Z35P instead. Thus, it suffers
the same fate as the Predator X34A: a decent
screen, outmanoeuvred by the competition.
79
 MONITORS
AOC Q3279VWF
★★★★★
£200 • From www.amazon.co.uk
VERDICT
With a vast MVA panel, 75Hz refresh rate
and 1440p resolution for only £200, this
monitor is incredibly good value
EVERYONE LOVES A big, high-resolution
monitor, but they’re usually so expensive
that it makes more financial sense to go
with a simple Full HD display, or one
without so much screen space. The AOC
Q3279VWF turns that trend on its head: it’s
a huge monitor that costs a mere £200,
and despite that, doesn’t come with too
many compromises.
You’re certainly getting a lot of screen for
your money. The Q3279VWF has a resolution
of 2,560x1,440 and it stretches that across an
enormous 31.5in MVA panel. That’s a good
combination for ensuring that you can fit in
multiple windows while everything stays
sharp and legible – you might struggle to
keep everything readable on a packed
lower-resolution display, and depending on
how far away from the monitor you sit, the
same is true for smaller sizes, too.
HIT REFRESH
If that wasn’t enough, the panel runs natively
at 75Hz, rather than the more standard 60Hz,
so as long as your PC can handle it, games
running at high frame rates will look slightly
smoother. On that note, there’s also
support for AMD FreeSync, which
provides tear-free gaming for those
with compatible AMD graphics cards.
In other words, it’s got everything
you need on paper.
First, however, you’ll want to
make sure the Q3279VWF actually
fits on your desk, because this
monitor is big. Specifically, it’s
730mm wide, 425mm tall and
153mm deep. The stand footprint
isn’t unreasonably massive, though,
and its brushed aluminium design and
glossy low-profile bezels both look
pretty slick despite the bulk.
AOC has cut some corners to come
in at that budget. The stand is only
capable of tilting by -2° or +21.5° with
no height adjustment, and there are
no VESA mounts at the back of the
monitor, so you’re stuck with the
restrictive stand. Still, it doesn’t feel
too wobbly, which is a particular relief
considering the screen’s considerable
dimensions and weight.
Elsewhere, it’s pretty
standard stuff. For connectivity,
you get DisplayPort 1.2, HDMI
1.4, DVI and VGA inputs, plus
a 3.5mm headphone jack
output, but there’s no USB
80
hub or headphone stand as you might get on
a more premium monitor.
The onscreen display (OSD), which is
accessed through the buttons found on the
bottom right-hand corner, gives you access
to a host of different options. You can adjust
the Overdrive level (which can reduce
response times), colour settings and
brightness levels, among others.
AMD FreeSync is supported in the
48-75Hz range over HDMI and DisplayPort,
so if your game is running between 48fps and
75fps, it practically eliminates screen tearing,
provided you’re using a compatible AMD
graphics card. If you have an Nvidia graphics
card, you’ll have to settle with standard
VSync (or buy a different monitor), but that
might add unwanted input lag.
CONTRASTING PERSONALITY
Performance is mostly good – the AOC
Q3279VWF doesn’t suffer from any frame-
skipping, for instance – but when we first
switched it on, the whole screen had a blue
tint. Set the monitor to sRGB mode and
things improve. In this mode, the blue colour
adjustment drops to 43, while the red and
green stay at 50, an odd occurrence for a PC
monitor as it’s usually the other way around.
Nevertheless, this does have the effect of
subduing the blue tint, which makes for a
more colour-accurate display.
Tested with our X-Rite i1 Display Pro
calibrator, the AOC covers 90.2% of
the sRGB colour space. In sRGB mode
you’re also limited to a 202cd/m2
maximum brightness, although in
user mode this increases to 232cd/m2.
This could be a problem if your room
is bright, but it’s plenty enough for a
late night gaming session.
Colour accuracy isn’t absolutely
amazing but it is perfectly respectable
for such a low-cost screen. Its
average delta-E of 1.93 means it
just squeaks past the point
where it’s suitable for photo
editing (a delta-E of lower than 1 is preferable,
but anything lower than 2 can suffice).
Photographers and the like can therefore
use the Q3279VWF with the knowledge that
their edits and touch-ups will look as-
intended to everyone else.
MVA panels are renowned for their high
contrast ratio, and low price or not, we’ve
yet to come across one as good as the
Q3279VWF. We measured its contrast ratio
at an astonishing 4,276:1 – more than twice
that of luxury monitors such as the Samsung
C34F791 – and this leads to incredibly vibrant
onscreen images, although we suspect AOC
dynamically adjusts the contrast.
At 90% brightness (the maximum
achievable in sRGB mode), the panel also
achieves the lowest black luminance we’ve
ever seen in a consumer-grade monitor. At a
measured 0.047cd/m2, there’s barely a hint of
grey, which is exactly what you want when
watching movies with dark scenes.
As for gaming, the display’s 75Hz refresh
rate is a step above the 60Hz panels you see
in most monitors at this sort of price. True,
it’s not going to match a 120Hz or 144Hz
monitor, but coupled with an AMD FreeSync-
compatible graphics card, this monitor
manages to deliver velvety smooth, tear-free
gaming at all times.
QUICK REFLEXES
What’s more, input lag is surprisingly low
and response times are incredibly fast,
especially with Overdrive set to Medium.
There’s a slight amount of overshoot
(manifesting as a purple haze), but it’s not
hugely unpleasant. This responsiveness
makes the AOC ideal for multiplayer games,
including competitive shooters.
At £200, the AOC Q3279VWF is simply
spectacular value. It’s perfect for watching
movies on, ideal for games, and can take on
office and creative work alike. If you’re
looking for a competent all-purpose
monitor and you’re on a budget, the
Q3279VWF is a fantastic choice.
APRIL 2018 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | ISSUE 362

BENQ SW2700PT
★★★★★
£615 • From www.amazon.co.uk
VERDICT
A great professional-level monitor for jobs
that demand high colour accuracy
IF YOU’RE SERIOUSLY into photo or video
editing, a traditional monitor probably won’t
cut it, as it’s not capable of producing
accurate enough colours. Instead, you need a
more professional model, such as the 27in
BenQ SW2700PT that we have on test here.
The first clue that this monitor is a little
different is that it ships with a shading hood.
This three-sided box sits on the top and
sides of the display, reducing glare on the
screen so that you get a clearer and more
accurate picture. Assembling this hood is
straightforward, with the separate pieces
neatly clipping together, and then sliding over
the mounting brackets on the display’s sides.
BRIGHT AS A BUTTON
A second stand-out feature of this screen is
its USB-powered wired remote. This circular
device is used to navigate through the
monitor’s onscreen menus, making choosing
settings far easier than via the traditional
buttons on the bottom of the display.
Neatly, the remote drops into a cutout on
the stand’s base, so you can store it away
when it’s not in use.
As the SW2700PT is a professional
monitor, the stand is extremely flexible.
It gives you height adjustment between
45mm and 85mm from your desk’s surface;
it has a portrait mode; and there’s a high
degree of tilt and swivel. In other words,
getting this display configured d so that
you can see the screen clearlyrly is not
difficult. This is further helped
ped by the
IPS panel’s excellent viewing angles of
178° vertical and horizontal.
A standard VESA mount at the rear
means that you can also connect nect this
SW2700PT to a stand of your our choice,
if you’d rather mount it to a wall or if
you have a more flexible desktop
sktop arm.
Around the back of the monitor
onitor are
all the inputs, with DVI, HDMI
DMI and
DisplayPort on offer. The monitor
onitor has
no speakers, but a 3.5mm audio dio
output means you can plug in n a pair
of headphones, delivering sound
ound
from your PC using HDMI or
DisplayPort. BenQ has includedded a
two-port USB3 hub and an SD card
slot, which is a real boon for
photographers who don’t have ve an
integrated card reader on their
heir PC.
You’ll want to hook this
display up to your computer
via USB, as the BenQ
SW2700PT uses this to
help it calibrate. With most
ISSUE 362 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | APRIL 2018
consumer displays, colour calibration involves
creating a software profile that sits on your
PC. This software profile adjusts the output
to match what the display actually shows,
correcting for colour discrepancies.
With the SW2700PT, calibration updates
the display’s colour Look Up Tables (LUT) on
the display itself, saving the results in the
special Calibration 1 or Calibration 2 profiles.
Calibration requires a compatible
colourimeter (we used the X-Rite i1 Display
Pro) and the supplied BenQ Palette Master
Element software. This combination of
hardware and software has two main
advantages. First, hardware calibration
should be more accurate. Second, using
the USB connection, the software can
adjust the display’s settings on the fly to
create a more accurate image.
This is a bit less fiddly than traditional
colour calibration methods, which typically
demand that you start by manually
adjusting the display’s
disp brightness and
individual RGB controls.
con
PRECISION
ENGINEERING
Out of the box, we measured
the display as able to display
95.4%
95. of the sRGB colour
gamut
gam and 95.4% of the
Adobe
Ad RGB gamut. The
display
dis was set to maximum
brightness
bright at 335cd/m2, which
resulted
res in a low contrast ratio
of 394:1.
394 We measured delta-E,
which shows how accurately
colours
colour are produced, at a
decent 1.49. After calibrating
with BenQ’s software, we
boosted
boost sRGB and Adobe RGB
colour gamut coverage to 100%.
Calibrating
Calibr for a brightness of
120cd/m
120cd/ 2, we measured the
display
displa at a close 118.43cd/m2,
with a low black level of
MONITORS
0.093cd/m2, giving a much better contrast
ratio of 1272:1. Given that the display uses
an IPS panel, this contrast ratio is at the
high end of what can be achieved. After
calibration, delta-E dropped to a superb 0.81.
Subjectively, the SW2700PT produces
an excellent picture. Compared side by side
with more consumer-focused monitors,
which had also been given the calibration
treatment, the SW2700PT produced a far
more natural picture, with greater subtlety,
and finer colour gradation. Certainly, for
image or video editing, the SW2700PT’s
image quality is a real advantage.
Display uniformity is excellent as well,
with no backlight bleed. Measuring with
our colour calibrator, we found that the
‘worst’ parts of the image were just 6cd/m2
dimmer than the central part of the image.
That’s an impressive showing.
Even for standard Windows use, the
SW2700PT is a fine choice. With a resolution
of 2,560x1,440, there’s plenty of resolution for
the Windows desktop, and combined with
27in of screen space, it’s easy to have lots of
windows open at once while their content
remains legible. Text looks sharp and clear,
and window edges are clearly defined.
FIT FOR WORK
For a 2,560x1,440 display, the SW2700PT
seems expensive, but you’re paying for its
colour accuracy and hardware calibration. For
dedicated photo or video editors, these are
features well worth paying for. And comparing
the SW2700PT to the main competition, it’s
actually good value.
If you’re not such a serious editor, then
the Samsung C34F791 is a good alternative.
It has a higher resolution (3,440x1,440), a
larger, ultrawide 34 panel and excellent
colour accuracy, albeit a shade off what the
SW2700PT delivers. However, the price gap
between the two has widened recently, with
the BenQ dropping to become around £100
cheaper, making it a great deal.
81
 MONITORS
LG 34UC79G
★★★★★
£489 •
From www.overclockers.co.uk
VERDICT
LG’s gently curved 34UC79G is great for
gaming and is competitively priced
AS WE’VE SEEN in this group test, ultrawiderawide
gaming monitors usually come with a steep ep
price, making them inaccessible to those on a
tight budget. The LG 34UC79G is more
expensive than a standard office monitor,
but by gaming monitor standards, this 34in, 4in,
144Hz 1080p screen comes in at a pretty
reasonable price, especially considering the he
specifications. In fact, it’s one of the cheapest
pest
gaming ultrawide monitors on the market.
This affordability means that some corners
have been cut, specifically with regards to
manufacturing. The build quality is low for a
£400-plus display; when we extracted it from
the box, we immediately noticed how flimsy
and plasticky the stand was, which is less than
ideal considering how large the monitor is.
It isn’t that flexible, either. The stand
allows you to tilt the screen by -5° to +20°
and adjust its height by up to 120mm, but its
inability to pivot is frustrating. Fortunately,
you can replace the stand with one of your
own, since it’s 100x100mm VESA compatible,
but we’d still expect better than this
regardless of the price.
Around the back of the stand is a clip-on
cable holder, which is handy for cable routing,
but there’s no headphone arm for your PC
headset to sit on.
ROUND CONTROL
On a more positive note, the
34UC79G has nice slimline bezels
around the top and sides of the
screen, which lends the monitor a
pleasingly minimalist look. It also
has a subtle curvature, which
provides a slightly more cinematic,
immersive viewing experience than
a regular flat monitor would.
However, this isn’t the dramatic
1500R curvature you’ll find on the
Samsung C34F791.
To connect the monitor, there’s
one DisplayPort 1.2 and a pair of
HDMI 2.0 ports situated on the
left-hand side of the rear panel.
Two USB3 ports, a microphone jack
and a line-out jack can also be
found here, providing a touch of
extra usefulness and flexibility.
The onscreen display (OSD) is
accessed via a set of buttons found
on the bottom-right-hand side of
the screen. Here, you can adjust
the brightness and contrast,
enable Super Resolution+
(used for upscaling),
82
DFC (Digital Fine Contrast, for dynamic
contrast), change the response time, adjust
RGB colour values and gamma, and enable
1ms Motion Blur Reduction mode
mode.
The LG 34UC79G has support for AMD
FreeSync, which covers the 50-144Hz range
over DisplayPort. AMD graphics card owners
can therefore get tear-free gaming on games
running between 50fps and 144fps. FreeSync
can also be toggled on or off via the OSD, and
as usual, won’t work at all with Nvidia GPUs.
The 34UC79G’s 2,560x1,080 IPS panel runs
natively at 144Hz. Unfortunately, the monitor
doesn’t come with an sRGB mode, which
Running at 1080p and 144Hz, the LG 34UC79G is a fast
monitor, meaning you can enjoy ultra-smooth gameplay
means that its colour accuracy leaves much to
be desired. In our tests we found that it only
covers 85.2% of the sRGB colour gamut in
Custom mode and has a pretty poor delta-E
of 4.65, so it’s not much good for photo or
video editing as any colour changes you
make could end up looking strange, either in
print or on more accurate screens.
It also isn’t the brightest screen at
maximum settings, reaching a mere 251cd/m2,
and this is further reduced when you
switch on the 1ms Motion Blur
Reduction option via the OSD,
limiting maximum brightness
to around 130cd/m2. That’s too
bleak for gaming or
watching movies in
anything other than a
darkened room.
FAIR PLAY
On the plus side, its low
0.19cd/m2 black level
(measured at full brightness)
and 1,269:1 contrast ratio are
good, and we were impressed
by the LG 34UC79G’s ability
to display deep blacks and
vibrant colours. While colour
accuracy is measurably and
visibly far from perfect,
that’s not so important for playing games
– here, it’s fine for images to be vibrant and
sufficiently saturated.
The LG 34UC79G even keeps a lid on
backlight bleed, something we’ve seen cause
problems on other ultrawide monitors,
including Acer’s Predator X34A and Z35P.
Running at 1080p and 144Hz, the LG
34UC79G is a fast monitor, meaning you
can enjoy ultra-smooth gameplay, especially
if you have a compatible AMD graphics card
with FreeSync technology.
We found the monitor’s 5ms G2G
(grey-to-grey) response time to be positively
affected by enabling the Fast Response
Time setting through the OSD. There’s
minimal inverse ghosting, too, meaning no
distracting purple trails.
Perceived input lag is also low for a
monitor of its size. Playing fast-paced
competitive games won’t be a problem on the
34UC79G, which isn’t something we can say
for all curved gaming monitors.
When you switch on the aforementioned
1ms Motion Blur Reduction mode, the
monitor’s maximum brightness drops
significantly. It succeeds in its main objective
of completely eliminating blurring, but it’s not
really a sacrifice worth making.
HEY SMALL SPENDER
At £489, the LG 34UC79G is the most
affordable ultrawide gaming monitor we’ve
tested. It provides unparalleled gaming
performance for the money, while its colour
presentation is vibrant and pleasing.
Granted, build quality isn’t great, and it
doesn’t have the most accurate panel, nor the
highest brightness levels. Sill, that doesn’t
take away from the fact that there’s an awful
lot of gaming monitor here for a relatively
small amount of money. If you’re a frequent
gamer looking to spend less than £500 on an
ultrawide monitor, there aren’t many that
compete with the LG 34UC79G.
APRIL 2018 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | ISSUE 362

SAMSUNG C27HG70
70
★★★★★
£549 •
From www.overclockers.co.uk
VERDICT
Samsung unleashes a fantastic HDR gaming
monitor – it’s just a shame that Windows 10
0
and HDR don’t get along better
IN MANY COMPETITIONS, the difference
between winning and losing routinely comes
down to fractions of a second, and the PC
gamer’s equivalent of a perfect pair of
running shoes has typically been monitor
response rate. Even so, Samsung’s C27HG70
has more than just split-second reaction
times on its mind: in addition to a claimed
response time of just one millisecond, this is
also the world’s first HDR gaming monitor.
Tiny bezels surround the 1800R curved
panel, and the wide, almost claw-like stand –
which provides full height, tilt, pivot and
swivel adjustments – grasps the screen with
a distinctive double-jointed arm. You can
mount the C27HG70 to any compatible
VESA 100x100mm stand.
One of the more unusual features of
Samsung’s gaming monitors is the addition of
Arena Lighting. A strip of LED lights provides
a gentle blue glow behind the monitor, similar
to the bias lighting technique employed by
Philips’ Ambilight TVs. Bias lighting is great
for reducing eye strain when viewing the
monitor in darkened conditions, but there’s
an issue here in that Samsung has moved the
LED array from the underside of the monitor
to the rear: we had to unscrew the rear plastic
mould to get more than a barely noticeable
amount of light to come through.
DOT BLOODED
The 2,560x1,440 VA panel uses quantum dot
technology to reproduce a wider range of
colours. In our tests, the panel reproduced
99.5% of the sRGB colour gamut, and it
covers a respectable 88% of the DCI P3
gamut. Colour accuracy is a
high point too – its measured
average delta-E of 1.75 is a
fine result for a non-
professional monitor.
A maximum brightness of
400cd/m2 in the monitor’s
Standard response time
mode will prove bright
enough for pretty much any
lighting conditions, but this
figure drops substantially
when the other response
time settings are used. Set
the C27HG70 to either of the
Fast or Fastest modes and
the maximum brightness
dips to 250cd/m2. This is too
dull to be used in a brightly
lit room, so you’ll need to
ISSUE 362 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | APRIL 2018
dim the lights to take full advantage of the
monitor’s fastest modes. At least brightness
uniformity is spot on across the panel.
High contrast ratios are par for the course
with VA panel technology, but nevertheless
the C27HG70 acquits itself well with both SDR
and HDR sources. With an SDR source, the
combination of high brightness and a
0.16cd/m2 black level produced a high 2,524:1
contrast ratio. We used Samsung’s Klein K10-A
Colorimeter to conduct tests on an HDR test
pattern, and measured a peak brightness of
667cd/m2 with a 13,340:1 dynamic contrast
ratio and 0.05cd/m2 black level.
SMOOTH TALK
The C27HG70 also keeps up with the most
frantic of games, especially with the Fast or
Fastest response-time settings and Low Input
Lag mode enabled. Other than the tiniest hint
of purple fringing, this responsiveness doesn’t
come with any unwanted visual artefacts,
though beware that the faster response-time
settings limit brightness to 250cd/m2.
For even more smoothness, those with a
Radeon graphics card can take advantage of
FreeSync 2, the updated version of AMD’s
tear-eliminated tech. It covers the 48-144Hz
range, so as long as your frame rate is
between 48fps and 144fps, it will work.
High dynamic range (HDR) is the key
selling point here, and this is the first time the
technology has made its way from Samsung’s
TVs to its range of gaming monitors.
A display’s ability to produce a high
maximum brightness is the key to
great HDR performance,
but unlike TVs – which
routinely achieve a peak
brightness of above
1,000cd/m2 – the C27HG70
achieves a more modest
600cd/m2. However, this
isn’t as disappointing as it
sounds; given how close you
sit to a monitor compared to a
TV, that should be enough to
MONITORS
provide pleasingly intense highlight detail
without permanently searing your retinas.
Unfortunately, while being able to hook up
this monitor to HDR-capable games consoles
and media decks is nice, HDR and Windows 10
don’t play nicely together. First, you’ll need to
make sure you have a compatible graphics
card: only Nvidia’s GTX 10-series and Titan X
cards, as well as AMD’s 400- and 500-series
cards, are fully supported, so on anything
older, HDR support is hit-and-miss.
When we tried an MSI GeForce GTX 960,
for instance, HDR worked via an HDMI
connection, but not DisplayPort – and you’ll
encounter similar problems with any graphics
cards that don’t support the DisplayPort 1.4
standard required for HDR compatibility.
RANGE RAGE
What’s more, the first time you enable HDR
through the Windows display settings, you
might wonder if something’s gone wrong. As
the Windows desktop, and most apps for that
matter, don’t support HDR natively, you’ll be
presented with a dim, washed-out image. It’s
not until you fire up an HDR-enabled game
that you’ll notice the benefits.
Currently, only a handful of titles support
HDR, but we must say it looks great when it
works; in Shadow Warrior 2, colours become
more lifelike thanks to the more natural
transition from dark shadows to intensely
bright highlights, and reflections or sunlight
glinting off objects such as swords or guns
look far more realistic. Even this wasn’t a
plug-and-play experience, however, as we had
to reduce the in-game gamma level from 1 to
0.8 to stop images looking washed out.
Despite the HDR niggles, the C27HG70 is a
great gaming monitor. Class-leading colour
accuracy, response time and input lag would
be enough to win many gamers’ hearts, but
those traits combined with its other talents
– the gorgeous design, HDR and curved
panel – go a long way towards making the
price look more reasonable than it normally
would for a QHD monitor.
83
 MONITORS
SAMSUNG C34F791
★★★★★
£720 • From www.amazon.co.uk
VERDICT
A high-quality monitor that’s perfect for
photo editing and gaming alike
CURVED DISPLAYS MAY not have caught
on in the TV world, but they certainly seem
popular in displays. Following on from the
Acer Predator X34A, Predator Z35P and LG
34UC79G (not to mention all those that
couldn’t fit in this group test), we have the
34in Samsung C34F791.
As with the other ultrawide models, the
C34F791 has a gentle curve to it that pulls you
into the picture and subtly bends around your
peripheral vision. The result is a slightly more
immersive picture, without outright distortion
caused by a big bend, and we love the effect.
It helps that this monitor has a resolution
of 3,440x1,440, rather than a full-on Ultra HD
resolution. While higher is usually better on
screens with more modest aspect ratios, with
4K monitors at this size, they can feel a little
overbearing, as it’s like sitting inches away
from a TV. With the 21:9 aspect ratio, the
display is thin and wide, so it also doesn’t take
up as much desk space as you might think.
BUILT WITH JOY
As well as practical, the C34F791 is also rather
attractive. Its super-thin top and size bezels
make the physical screen the subject of your
focus. It’s nice that the front panel isn’t taken
up with unsightly buttons, thanks to Samsung
opting to use a joystick positioned at the rear
of the display for navigating menus.
Samsung’s stand doesn’t take up a lot of
space but gives you tilt and swivel, with a
100mm height range adjustment. In other
words, it’s easy enough to get this monitor
into a comfortable viewing position. If you’d
rather wall-mount it or use an alternative desk
stand, the C34F791 ships with a VESA-mount
plate, which you fit by unscrewing the
supplied desktop stand. It took us a few
minutes to get the
C34F791 attached to
our wall mount.
Around the back
are all the ports, with
the two HDMI 2.0,
DisplayPort and USB
inputs all hidden under
a removable panel. It’s
a neat design, as it
keeps the back of the
monitor looking tidy.
The only exposed
connections are the
two USB3 ports
and single 3.5mm
headphone output;
this makes sense, as you’re more likely to
want to access these on a regular basis.
84
The HDMI ports are preconfigured in HDMI
1.4 mode, so if you want to use the display at
its full resolution using these connectors, you
need to manually set them to HDMI 2.0. The
DisplayPort input comes set as 1.2, but you can
downgrade it to a 1.1 connection if required.
We used DisplayPort 1.2, as it’s the best
choice for a desktop PC. Running at the full
3,440x1,440 resolution, the Windows desktop
looked great, giving us plenty of room for two
applications side by side; while the immersive
Our test pictures looked sumptuous, with bright, blistering
colours popping out, and a huge amount of detail
screen shape might primarily bring gaming
and movie-watching to mind, this is a fine
monitor for multitasking too. We found text
was big enough to read, but you can use
Windows 10’s scaling options to make text
larger if you’re struggling to see it.
CALL IT EVEN
With this much resolution on offer, the
monitor’s picture-in-picture (PIP) and
picture-by-picture (PBP) modes come into
their own, letting you run two devices at the
same time. The display is also exceptionally
evenly lit. On average, the screen only varied
by around 5cd/m2, which is impressive,
especially next to both of Acer’s Predator
ultrawide monitors, which suffer from much
less consistent lighting.
The C34F791 is a
Quantum Dot display,
which Samsung claims
provides a wider colour
gamut. With a VA panel
providing better contrast
than IPS displays, this
should be a high-quality
display. Fortunately, our
testing showed this to be
correct. Testing out of
the box, we found the
display managed 98.2%
of the sRGB colour
gamut, and 83.5% of
the DCI P3 colour
gamut. It was set to a high brightness of
297cd/m2, with a contrast ratio of 2,259:1. The
delta-E, which shows how accurately colours
are displayed, was a little high at 1.48.
Calibrating the display to 120cd/m2, we
managed to improve the sRGB coverage to
99.6%, and DCI P3 to 88.4%. More
importantly, delta-E dropped to just 0.58,
and we still had a contrast ratio of 2,208:1
with a black level of 0.054. Colour
temperature wasn’t too far off either, at
6,381K, compared to the ideal of 6,700K. This
is certainly a display that you can carry out
high-quality photo or video editing on.
Our test pictures looked sumptuous, with
bright, blistering colours popping out, and
there was a huge amount of detail in the
darker and murkier parts of the images.
FREE AND CLEAR
Samsung has also built this display to be
gaming-ready, fitting it with AMD’s FreeSync
technology and a 100Hz refresh rate.
Blisteringly fast gaming performance without
tearing is great to see; Nvidia graphics card
owners can’t take advantage of the adaptive
sync technology, but will still benefit from the
high refresh rate. Even if you’re not playing
games, the C34F791’s high refresh rate is still a
huge benefit, as the Windows desktop
becomes that much smoother, particularly
when moving windows around.
The built-in 7W stereo speakers are good
enough for the occasional YouTube video, but
sound a little flat and lack bass. You’re best
off using dedicated speakers or a headset.
In terms of competition, the LG 34UC79G
is a lot cheaper, but isn’t as well specced and
can’t match the C34F791 on image quality.
Conversely, the Acer Predator X34A offers
similar hardware (besides using Nvidia G-Sync
rather than the Samsung’s AMD FreeSync)
but is prohibitively expensive. Given this,
the Samsung C34F791 is the ultrawide
high-resolution monitor to buy.
APRIL 2018 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | ISSUE 362

VIEWSONIC XG2530
0
★★★★★
£400 • From www.debenhamsplus.com
VERDICT
This 240Hz monitor is sumptuously smooth, but
you may not see the difference from 144Hz
GAMING MONITORS HAVE been progressing
rapidly. It wasn’t long ago that we considered
120Hz the pinnacle for gaming. Then came
144Hz, 165Hz, 180Hz, and now we’re at 240Hz.
ViewSonic is one of the latest manufacturers
to produce a monitor with this huge refresh
rate, but is it worth it? Will you notice the
difference versus a cheaper 144Hz monitor?
The XG2530 is a 25in, Full HD monitor with
a TN panel and claimed 1ms response rate,
which all sounds fine but not quite befitting
of £400 on its own. Hence, the centrepiece: a
native 240Hz refresh rate.
XG FACTOR
The design and build quality of the XG2530
are superb. The bezels aren’t the thinnest but
are still relatively discreet, so the screen feels
nice and big. Although the stand is made out
of plastic, it’s sturdy enough and allows you
to tilt, pivot and fully rotate the display. The
black and red colour scheme looks quite
classy, with an embroidered XG logo at the
sloping base; if you want to change the stand
or mount the ViewSonic XG2530 on a wall, it’s
VESA 100x100mm compatible.
Around the back, there’s a retractable
headphone stand (something that’s missing
on much more expensive monitors) and a
handle that allows you to carry the whole
thing around, or simply move it elsewhere on
the desk with ease. For connectivity, there are
DisplayPort 1.2, HDMI 2.0 and HDMI 1.4
display inputs, along with two USB3 ports and
a 3.5mm audio output jack.
The stereo 2W speakers aren’t powerful
enough to produce an immersive sonic
atmosphere, but they’re fine for
Windows notifications. Just make sure
you’re equipped with a headset or some
decent desktop speakers before you
start playing games or watching videos.
One disappointment is the onscreen
display. It’s accessed via a set of poorly
labelled buttons at the bottom of the
monitor, and the menu system itself is
a chore to navigate through, with
confusing sub-menus and contradicting
options. On the positive side, if you
persevere, there’s a vast degree of
customisation on offer.
As mentioned, the XG2530 supports
AMD FreeSync over DisplayPort 1.2.
This means that if you have a
compatible AMD graphics card,
the monitor’s refresh rate will
dynamically follow the frame
rate of your game. In practice,
you’ll see no more tears and
ISSUE 362 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | APRIL 2018
frame skips. If you’re using a Nvidia card
you won’t get that benefit with this display:
you’ll need a monitor using Nvidia’s
competing G-Sync technology instead, or
make do with each game’s own VSync
setting at the risk of inducing input lag.
SPEED FREAK
You’ll also need DisplayPort to get that native
240Hz refresh rate out of the 1,920x1,080 TN
panel. Our frame-skipping testing confirmed
that it was consistently able to display every
single frame at the full 240Hz rate, unlike
the competing AOC AGON AG251FZ, which
suffered from skipping.
The panel’s 844:1 contrast ratio (with a
0.4cd/m2 black level) isn’t great, but that’s to
be expected from a TN display, and it doesn’t
seriously detract from the visual experience.
With a 347.9cd/m2 maximum brightness in
custom mode and 300cd/m2 in sRGB mode,
the panel is more than bright enough to
satisfy. Uniformity is good, too, with a
variance of just +4.62% at the extremities.
Colour coverage and accuracy aren’t up to
photo-editing standards: we
measured 90.3% sRGB gamut
coverage and a higher than ideal
average delta-E of 2.74 in sRGB
mode. However, when it comes
to games and movies, we’ve no
complaints: colours look vivid
and rich, with none of the
drabness that’s sometimes
associated with TN monitors.
In order to experience that
super-high 240Hz refresh rate,
you’ll also need a graphics
card that can consistently
output 240fps. Unless you
have a top-end GPU, you’ll
probably need to dial down the
resolution or detail options to get
the smoothest experience.
As to whether this is
worth both the financial
MONITORS
expense and the graphical sacrifices, the
answer, unfortunately, is no. To our eyes,
the XG2530’s advantage over a comparable
144Hz TN display was minimal, bordering on
non-existent; playing Counter-Strike: Global
Offensive, a fast-faced FPS, the extra 96Hz
didn’t make much of a visible difference at
all. Only next to a 60Hz monitor is it clearly
the superior option.
If you were hoping that the higher refresh
rate would make you a better player, then,
you may be disappointed, as you’d need
super-human reaction times to actually
benefit from 240Hz compared to 144Hz.
Seeing the enemy a fraction of a second
earlier might help you, but only if you can
react quickly enough to shoot them.
Then again, there are other benefits to
240Hz, namely less tearing, a more accurate
mouse trail and even less blurring than on a
144Hz screen. These are much easier to spot
than a higher frame rate, so there is some
appeal to anyone wanting the smoothest
viewing experience possible.
REFRESHED TO EXCESS
A final issue worth mentioning is input lag.
While the panel is incredibly responsive – it’s
one of the best we’ve come across – its input
lag is surprisingly high. This, counter-
intuitively, can make it much less suited to
the kind of fast-paced games that might
otherwise benefit from a higher refresh rate.
If you’re completely set on having the
fastest refresh rate around, the ViewSonic
XG2530 is still a fairly good choice. It has one
of the best-looking, most responsive TN
panels we’ve used, and its excellent
smoothness and tear-free technology will
please enthusiastic gamers.
However, at £400, the XG2530 isn’t cheap,
especially not for a 1080p display. For this
kind of money, you could get something like
the 1440p Acer XF270HUA, which runs at a
still-slick 144Hz and benefits from a higher
resolution to boot.
85
 MONITORS
VIEWSONIC
XG2700-4K
★★★★★
£540 • From www.amazon.co.uk
VERDICT
If you have a sufficiently powerful AMD
graphics card, this is a fantastic monitor for
gaming at 4K
4K GAMING IS still in its infancy owing to
the constraints on graphics cards; to get
reasonable frame rates at such a demanding
resolution, you’re looking at GPUs costing at
least £400. If, however, you possess a system
that can handle high-resolution gaming at
60fps, the 27in ViewSonic XG2700-4K is one
you might want to consider.
This monitor certainly has a lot going for it,
besides the high resolution: AMD FreeSync
support, low input lag and a fast response
time, and as we’ll soon see, despite being
aimed at gamers it has the image quality
necessary for photo and video editing as well.
All this doesn’t come particularly cheap,
however. It costs £540 on Amazon, and
what’s more, for that money you’re not
exactly getting something that’s easy on the
eye. For instance, it has wide, deep bezels that
distract your eyes from the panel, and its
plastic stand is quite cheap-looking too.
ONLY SKIN DEEP
Fortunately, this lack of aesthetic quality is
made up for with practicality. The stand is
surprisingly sturdy and, vitally, gives you the
ability to rotate, tilt and adjust the height of
the monitor. At the back there’s a retractable
headphone arm and a carry handle, like that
of the XG2530, and if you want even more
flexibility there’s a 100x100mm VESA mount
on the rear so you can fit your own stand or
wall-mount the monitor.
As for connectivity, you get three
HDMI ports (two MHL and one
HDMI 2.0), a DisplayPort and a
Mini DisplayPort, plus four USB3.0
ports and a 3.5mm headphone jack.
All in all, it’s pretty well equipped
even if it’s not all wrapped up in a
particularly attractive package.
A selection of touch-sensitive
controls sits at the front of the
monitor, but sadly these are poorly
labelled, which makes the onscreen
display (OSD) a pain to use. On the
plus side, the monitor’s OSD does
have a comprehensive list of options
for you to play with.
Through the various menus, it’s
possible to adjust the contrast,
brightness and colour (RGB, hue,
saturation and offset). You can also
tweak sharpness and response
time and access options for
sRGB, dynamic contrast,
86
overscan, multi-picture, blue light filter, input
lag mode and black stabilisation, as well as for
enabling or disabling AMD FreeSync.
The ViewSonic monitor has a 4K UHD
(3,840x2,160) IPS panel that runs at 60Hz
through its DisplayPort and HDMI 2.0 inputs.
To test picture quality we used our usual
X-Rite i1 Display Pro calibrator and the free
DisplayCAL software. Out of the box, the
XG2700-4K delivers a maximum brightness
of 320cd/m2 and contrast ratio of 1,060:1,
which results in an eye-poppingly punchy
image. We often favour how VA panels look,
but this can be personal preference, and IPS
is definitely a step up from TN.
Switch over to sRGB mode for photo
editing, however, and things change quite
dramatically. With this setting enabled, the
monitor reduces brightness to 162cd/m2 and
contrast to 539:1, which leads to a
comparatively dull, dark display.
SOME WORK, SOME PLAY
Low brightness in sRGB mode is relatively
common, but the low contrast ratio figure
took us by surprise. This feature is only
available in a handful of pro-level monitors,
which reduce contrast ratio in favour of better
screen uniformity. This is important when
you’re looking to edit photos or video in
a professional capacity.
Indeed, the XG2700-4K’s screen
uniformity drastically improved once
we enabled sRGB mode, making the
monitor comparable with entry-level
professional monitors costing
considerably more.
The impressive display quality
doesn’t stop there. With a measured
97.4% sRGB colour gamut coverage
and an average delta-E of 0.44,
denoting high colour accuracy, the
XG2700-4K will be just as at home
running Photoshop as it is Call of Duty.
First and foremost, you’ll need a
graphics card that can consistently
output 60fps at 4K in AAA titles. At this high
resolution, a cheaper graphics card will
struggle to fulfill what the monitor has to
offer. Mid-range cards such as the Nvidia GTX
1060 and AMD Radeon RX 580 might do the
job in some games, but for newer titles
running at High quality and above, you’ll
need at least a GTX 1070 or an RX Vega 56.
Assuming your setup is capable, the
XG2700-4K is a decent gaming companion.
It has a 4ms panel, which isn’t the fastest
you can buy, but it is extremely responsive,
especially with the screen’s Ultra Fast mode
enabled in the OSD. Moreover, we saw barely
any ghosting when pushing the monitor’s
response time settings to the limit.
Input lag is also pretty good, with hardly
any delay between flicks of the mouse and
the monitor’s ability to pick up the resulting
motion at the end of the display chain. You
need to manually enable Low Input Lag mode
to get such impressive results, though.
SHARP ATTACK
In short, the ViewSonic XG2700-4K is
fantastic for gaming enthusiasts who want to
play in 4K. It has an excellent panel, which is
both colour accurate and responsive. Its
screen uniformity is unbelievably good in
sRGB mode. Even in non-sRGB mode, the
panel is one that competes with the very best.
It’s not without its flaws. The design isn’t
that attractive, and its touch-sensitive buttons
are a faff, but we’d be prepared to put up with
that for such good all-round performance.
And at £540 the price, while undeniably high,
is in the same ballpark as competing 4K
gaming monitors such as the AOC AGON
AG271UG, which uses Nvidia G-Sync.
If you’re considering either of these
monitors, you should base your decision
on which graphics card you have in your
system. If you’re currently on an AMD
graphics card and plan on staying on
Team Red, get the ViewSonic XG2700-4K.
You won’t be disappointed.
APRIL 2018 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | ISSUE 362
 MONITORS

Award BEST BUY RECOMMENDED RECOMMENDED RECOMMENDED BEST BUY RECOMMENDED

Manufacturer ACER ACER AOC BENQ LG SAMSUNG SAMSUNG VIEWSONIC VIEWSONIC

Model Predator Predator Q3279VWF SW2700PT 34UC79G C27HG70 C34F791 XG2530 XG2700-4K
X34A Z35P
Rating ★★★★★ ★★★★★ ★★★★★ ★★★★★ ★★★★★ ★★★★★ ★★★★★ ★★★★★ ★★★★★
HARDWARE

Screen size 34in 35in 31.5in 27in 34in 27in 34in 25in 27in

Resolution 3,440x1,440 3,440x1,440 2,560x1,440 2,560x1,440 2,560x1,080 2,560x1,440 3,440x1,440 1,980x1,080 3,840x2,160

Screen IPS VA MVA IPS IPS VA VA TN IPS

technology

Claimed contrast 1,000:1 2,500:1 3,000:1 1,000:1 1,000:1 3,000:1 3,000:1 1,000:1 1,000:1
ratio

Claimed 300cd/m2 300cd/m2 250cd/m2 350cd/m2 250cd/m2 350cd/m2 300cd/m2 400cd/m2 300cd/m2
brightness

Refresh rate 100Hz 120Hz 75Hz 60Hz 144Hz 144Hz 100Hz 240Hz 60Hz

Claimed response 4ms 4ms 5ms 5ms 5ms 1ms 4ms 1ms 5ms
time

Response time Grey-to-grey Grey-to-grey Grey-to-grey Grey-to-grey Grey-to-grey MPRT MPRT Grey-to-grey Grey-to-grey
type

Horizontal 178° 178° 178° 178° 178° 178° 178° 170° 178°
viewing angle

Vertical viewing 178° 178° 178° 178° 178° 178° 178° 160° 178°
angle

Screen elevation 130mm 134mm None 130mm 120mm 145mm 100mm 120mm 120mm

Portrait mode No No Yes Yes No Yes No Yes Yes

Internal speakers Yes (7W) Yes (9W) No No No No Yes (7W) Yes (3W) Yes (2W)
(power)

Detachable Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
cables

USB hub Four-port USB3 Four-port USB3 None Two-port USB3 Two-port USB3 Two-port USB3 Two-port USB3 Two-port USB3 Four-port USB3

Integrated power Yes No Yes Yes No No No Yes No

supply

Video inputs 1x HDMI, 1x HDMI, 1x HDMI, 1x HDMI, 2x HDMI, 2x HDMI, 2x HDMI, 2x HDMI, 3x HDMI,
1x DisplayPort 1x DisplayPort 1x DisplayPort, 1x DisplayPort, 1x DisplayPort 1x DisplayPort 1x DisplayPort 1x DisplayPort 1x DisplayPort, 1x
1x DVI, 1x VGA 1x DVI Mini DisplayPort

Audio inputs/ 1x 3.5mm 1x 3.5mm 1x 3.5mm 1x 3.5mm 1x 3.5mm mic 1x 3.5mm 1x 3.5mm 1x 3.5mm 1x 3.5mm
outputs headphone jack headphone jack headphone jack headphone jack jack, 1x 3.5mm headphone jack headphone jack headphone jack headphone jack
line out

Syncing Nvidia G-Sync Nvidia G-Sync AMD FreeSync None AMD FreeSync AMD FreeSync AMD FreeSync AMD FreeSync AMD FreeSync
technology

BUYING INFORMATION

Price £950 £963 £200 £615 £489 £549 £720 £400 £540

Warranty Two years RTB Two years RTB Three years Three years RTB One year parts Two years RTB Two years RTB Three years parts Three years parts
Prices correct at time of going to press

collect and return and labour and labour and labour

Supplier www.scan.co.uk www.amazon. www.amazon. www.amazon. www.overclockers. www.overclockers. www.amazon. www. www.amazon.com
co.uk co.uk co.uk co.uk co.uk co.uk debenhamsplus.
com

Details www.acer.com www.acer.com eu.aoc.com www.benq.com www.lg.com www.samsung. www.samsung. www.viewsonic. www.viewsonic.
com com com com

Part code UM.CX0EE.A01 UM.CZ1AA.P01 Q3279VWF M352753 34UC79G-B AEK LC27HG70Q LC34F791 XG2530 XG2700-4K
QNXZA WQNXZA

VERDICT
Ultrawide monitors have only entered the mainstream relatively
recently, but Samsung has already proved itself a master of the
concept with the excellent C34F791. It’s beautifully designed,
can (with a bit of calibrating) achieve professional-grade picture
quality, and is gaming-ready thanks to a high refresh rate and
AMD FreeSync support. Best of all, it all costs significantly less
than competing ultrawide models, such as Acer’s respectable but
overpriced Predator X34A.
Still, the C34F791 could easily be considered a luxury purchase,
and there are no shortage of excellent monitors for those on tighter
budgets. We remain amazed that the AOC Q3279VWF costs as little
as it does, what with its huge, surprisingly high-quality 31.5in panel.
The BenQ SW2700PT is a lot pricier, but its impeccable colour
accuracy makes it our pick for media editors.
Honourable mentions also go to the LG 34UC79G, an affordable
yet well-performing option for those wanting to try the ultrawide
form factor, and the ViewSonic XG2700-4K, a great all-round 4K
monitor. If you want a curved screen but not the considerable
girth of an ultrawide, the Samsung C27HG70 is also a good bet:
it’s 27in of tastefully curved, highly responsive VA panel.

ISSUE 362 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | APRIL 2018 87

 GOOD LISTENERS
Headphones
Ditch those tinny earbuds that came with your phone – invest in a better pair of
headphones and you’ll hear the difference immediately. Get the best with our
choice of eight powerful over-ear headphones and light, dynamic in-ear sets
UPGRADING YOUR HEADPHONES can be a
CONTENT REVIEWS
bit like changing from a 1080p, 60Hz monitor
Page 90 to a 1440p, 144Hz model: it might seem like an
BEATS Studio3 Wireless unnecessary expense if you’re used to what
BOSE QuietComfort 35 II you’ve already got, but try the better version
and you’ll never want to go back.
Page 91 As such, we’ll happily advocate spending
MASTER & DYNAMIC MH40 anything from a few tenners to in excess of
PLANTRONICS BackBeat Pro 2 £300 if it means getting the right sound
quality. Anyone with even a passing interest in
Page 92 music can appreciate the extra depth, clarity
B&O BeoPlay E4 and detail that a good pair can bring to their
favourite songs, and the ones that come
BOSE SoundSport Wireless
bundled with smartphones or cost £12 from
Page 93 Currys will seldom deliver to the same degree.
BRAINWAVZ B200 However, while there is no question as to
whether it’s worth upgrading, there are plenty
GOOGLE Pixel Buds
about what you should be upgrading to. Are
some better for specific genres of music?
88
Which are best for wearing while exercising?
Is active noise cancelling a worthwhile luxury?
And can a pair of headphones do anything
besides just playing tunes?
This group test will provide some answers:
we’ve tested four sets of over-ears headphones
and four pairs of in-ear headphones, all
clamouring for your auditory attention.
EAR AND NOW
In case it’s not obvious, over-ear headphones
deliver their sound through large cups that
surround either ear, connected by a headband,
while in-ear headphones (or earphones) are
smaller and can thus fit mostly or entirely
within your ear, often right in the canal.
We’re focusing on these two designs here;
you can also get on-ear headphones, but while
these are smaller and more portable than
APRIL 2018 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | ISSUE 362

over-ears, we find they become uncomfortable
much faster than the other types as they sit
right on top of either ear, flattening them.
As to which of the two you should be
looking at, it depends on when you’re going to
be wearing them. Earphones are better for
listening to music or podcasts while exercising,
because of their lightness and compact size,
while over-ear headphones – which typically
form a seal around your ears, to block out
nearby noise – are better for commuting or
simply wearing around the home and office.
TAKE COMFORT
You may think that discreet in-ear
headphones will always be more comfortable
– something that’s vitally important here
– than chunkier, heavier over-ear sets, but
this isn’t always the case. What we’re looking
for is a pair that we can almost forget we’re
wearing; for in-ears, that means a light yet
snug build that doesn’t feel like it’s pulling
down on the ears, while over-ear headphones
require a healthy amount of soft padding
around the earcups and headband, all while
keeping weight to a minimum.
Fitness enthusiasts in particular should
look for headphones that stay put when
jogging, cycling or performing any other type
of strenuous exercise – no-one wants to keep
interrupting their workout by having to
replace the earbuds that have just fallen out
for the 10th time. And comfort isn’t the only
desirable aspect: sweatproofing (a form of
water resistance) is ideal for those who really
push themselves, though not really necessary
for those with more sedentary lifestyles.
A more universal concern should be the
presence of cables. There are plenty of
benefits to wired headphones, such as never
having to worry about charging them, but
Bluetooth models increasingly look like the
future, especially now that many smartphone
manufacturers are abandoning the 3.5mm
jack. Going wireless (except for perhaps a
short cable connecting the two earbuds) is
especially handy for fitness users, but even
layabouts can benefit from not having a wire
dangling down the length of their torso.
One popular middle ground is for wireless
headphones to come with a detachable
3.5mm cable, so if you do run out of battery,
you can simply plug in and carry on listening.
There’s no real drawback to this system
besides having to carry the cable with you,
so it’s a great feature to have.
QUALITY CONTROL
Although different music genres benefit from
different sound profiles (electronic music is
best with thick, rich bass, for instance, while
classical and vocal-heavy songs make better
use of the higher frequencies), there are
common qualities every pair of headphones
should aim to deliver.
The low, mid and high frequencies should
be at least reasonably balanced, insofar as
none actively overpowers the others; the bass
should be deep and impactful, the mids should
ISSUE 362 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | APRIL 2018
HEADPHONES
We often talk about the soundstage, which refers to how the
headphones’ overall sound creates a tangible sense of place
be clear and distinct, and the trebles should it much easier to enjoy your listening
sparkle and shine though the compositions. unimpeded. It works best with consistent
It should also be easy to pick out individual droning sounds such as plane engines and
layers and instruments, rather than these rumbling train carriages, rather than
elements slurring together. inconsistent noises such as keyboard tapping
In our reviews, we’ll also often talk about and (unfortunately) crying children.
the soundstage, which refers to how the Still, this has the hidden benefit of allowing
headphones’ overall sound creates a tangible you to hear when someone is trying to talk to
sense of place. A wide, deep soundstage is you, or if you’re about to be run over by a
best, as it usually contributes to a much more honking car. You don’t want to be entirely
immersive feeling than a narrow, shallow one. shut off from the outside world, ideally.
The downside is that ANC headphones are
NO NOISE IS GOOD NEWS rarely cheap, but if you often find yourself
Active noise cancelling (ANC) is a clever struggling to hear your current headphones
technique whereby one or more hidden on a packed train or in a busy office, we’ll
microphones record ambient noise, allowing attest that the technology is almost always
the headphones to produce sound waves of worth paying for. Just be warned that some
the opposite frequency and amplitude, manufacturers’ specific ANC tech is more
cancelling out the original. In practice, this effective than others; we’ll note which are the
appears to silence the ambient noise, making best implementations in the reviews to follow.
THE BEST HEADPHONES FOR…
PEACE AND QUIET
BOSE QuietComfort 35 II
Any pair of half-decent noise-cancelling headphones will be able to cut out
the majority of ambient noise, but the QuietComfort 35 II are on another
level: putting these on and flicking the ANC switch is like stepping ng into a
vacuum. The silence would be deafening, were you not likely to be filling it
with great-sounding tunes.
adphones,
Indeed, while these are a very expensive pair of over-ear headphones,
it’s hard not to feel the price is justified. They’re also well-built and
extremely comfortable, no small feat for something weighing 310g and
designed to wrap tightly around your ears.
BARGAIN HUNTERS
BRAINWAVZ B200
These in-ear headphones were a fantastic buy even when they cost £150,
and now that they’ve plummeted to £91, less than a year after release,
they’re an absolute steal. That’s the price for the updated V2 spec as
well, which means they include the added flexibility of detachable,
swappable 3.5mm cables.
What’s more, they sound even better than many more expensive pairs
of earphones. The expansive, expressive soundstage is a particular delight,
ht,
and there are no significant weaknesses in how the bass, mids or trebles
are presented, making these a good fit for any style or genre of music.
FITNESS FANS
BOSE SoundSport Wireless
These are far from a perfect pair of earphones – at six hours, batteryery
life is on the short side, and positioning of the inline control box on
the neck cable means it can bob around unless you use the fiddly
shirt clip. That said, when it comes to fitness-friendly features, the
SoundSport Wireless are almost fully loaded.
There’s sweatproofing, for instance, so you don’t need to worry
about exercising so hard that you short out your earphones; and
despite the potentially uncooperative neck cable, the buds won’t
fall out when things get intense. Decent sound quality hasn’t been
forgotten about, either.
89
 HEADPHONES
BEATS Studio3 Wireless
★★★★★
£280 • From www.amazon.co.uk
VERDICT
Beats’ Studio3 Wireless are easy to pair with Apple devices,
but other headphones beat them on sound quality
BEATS HEADPHONES HAD a reputation for
favouring marketing spiel over sound quality,
but since its Apple takeover, it’s all changed.
2016’s Beats Solo3 Wireless (Shopper 348), for
example, were great on-ear cans that paired
seamlessly with iPhones and iPads thanks to
the Apple W1 Bluetooth chip. With the Beats
Studio3 Wireless, Apple is adding the same
benefits to its premier over-ear headphones.
We can’t understate how easy it is to pair
up with the Studio3 Wireless; hold it near your
phone, tap Connect on the pop-up and it’s
done. What’s more, if you own other Apple
devices, this is the only time you’ll need to set
them up. So long as your iCloud account is
active and your other devices are connected
using the same Apple ID, they’ll be set up for
you automatically – even your Apple Watch.
It works well with non-Apple devices, too.
The Studio3 Wireless paired to an Android
handset faster than other headphones, and
their range is excellent, allowing you to listen
in another room with no drop in audio quality.
BOSE QuietComfort 35 II
★★★★★
£289 • From www.weybridge-audio.co.uk
VERDICT
Supreme comfort and noise cancellation coupled with
Google Assistant – these are the best ANC cans around
WITH THE QUIETCOMFORT 35 II, successor
to our favourite ANC headphones, Bose hasn’t
messed with the formula much, other than the
intriguing addition of Google Assistant support.
The build hasn’t changed, with the light,
plastic-heavy design feeling surprising
comfortable; in fact, these tie with the original
QuietComfort 35 (Shopper 344) as the
comfiest over-ear headphones we’ve ever
worn. The cups create a seal without feeling
too tight, and angled drivers mean there’s less
chance of aggravating pressure on your ears.
All the controls are sensibly located on the
right cup, including the dedicated Google
Assistant button. Once you’re connected to a
compatible phone, tapping this will read out
your recent notifications, and holding it will
fully activate the Assistant, allowing you to
give it voice commands via the microphone.
It’s a great way to search for music, kick off
playlists, and set reminders, alarms and timers.
If you don’t find yourself using it much,
you can reassign the button to adjust the
90
However, they aren’t
without foibles.. There’s
no power-on or -off
tone, nor a quickck way of
using the Studio o 3’s
rophones to
external microphones
tside world (say, to
patch in the outside
listen to a train announcement). Still, they’re
otherwise great in terms of design, folding up
nicely and sitting comfortably around your
ears. There’s also a handy 3.5mm jack, so you
can continue listening if the battery dies.
The controls are intuitive and easy to
locate: the left ear cup hosts a central pause/
play button behind the Beats logo and there
are volume controls embedded into the plastic
ring surrounding it. The LED status lights,
such as they are, aren’t too bright or garish,
and build quality is excellent throughout.
The W1 chip lends a bit of extra power to
the Studio3 Wireless’s active noise cancelling
processing. Beats calls it ‘leak protection’,
whereby the internal microphones compensate
lation between
noise cancellation
High, Low and d Off settings.
All you have to do to
switch it over is load the
smartphone app and delve
ings menu.
into the settings
ery much what
This is very
Comfort 35 II are all
the QuietComfort
about: they do exactly what you
nimal fuss. We love the voice
want with minimal
prompts that inform you of the remaining
battery life whenever you turn them on, and
they fold up so well that they can be packed
completely flat in the provided hard case.
We’d have liked the ability to patch in the
outside world via microphone, as you can on
the Plantronics BackBeat Pro 2, but this, the
use of a 2.5mm jack (not the more universal
3.5mm jack) and a fairly short Bluetooth range
are our only issues worth noting.
Most importantly, sound quality is
top-notch, as is the ANC. No other
manufacturer has managed to match the
for when the earpads can’t
create an airtight seal
around yoyour ears.
The re
result isn’t quite
as effective as the Bose
QuietComfort 35 II’s ANC – you
can still hear the hiss of the noise
cancellation wave in quiet envenvironments – but
is very effective nonetheless, and the system
creates less of a pressurising sensation than
Bose’s tech does.
Sound quality is decent, too, with balanced
bass and mids, as well as crisp trebles. The
QuietComfort 35 II sound better, though,
producing a better sense of space, depth and
scale than you get with Beats’ headphones.
They’re still a worthwhile purchase,
especially if you’re an iPhone owner and can
take full advantage of the Bluetooth chip’s
fast and easy pairing. But for about the same
money, the Bose QuietComfort 35 II delivers
superb sound quality and isolation, not to
mention Google Assistant integration.
silencing effect of Bose’s tech,
and the QuietCo
QuietComfort 35 II are
just as good as their
predecessors in this regard.
In quiet env
environments, there
isn’t the same dis
distracting hiss
you get with other headphones
like the Beats Studio
Studio3 Wireless and,
when the ambient nois noise rises, nothing
else cuts through the hubbub like these.
This allows you to fully enjoy the audio
quality, which is packed with dynamism and
detail. Even with some occasionally boomy
bass, and no support for aptX or aptX HD
codecs, all our test tracks sounded superb.
What’s more, with 20 hours of battery life
with both noise cancellation and Bluetooth
enabled, you can keep listening for ages.
The Bose QuietComfort 35 II are brilliant
personal audio companions. They’re practical,
they sound great, the Google Assistant
integration is well executed, and nothing else
gets close to the effectiveness of their ANC.
APRIL 2018 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | ISSUE 362

MASTER & DYNAMIC MH40
★★★★★
£369 • From www.amazon.co.uk
VERDICT
These stylish headphones don’t sound as
good as they look
HEADPHONES THAT BOTH look and sound
good are somewhat hard to come by – a
situation that Master & Dynamic is attempting
to rectify with the MH40, a set of cans that
screams beauty, design and build quality.
They come with two sets of detachable
cables (a 1.25m cable with remote and mic and
a 2m standard cable), a leather cable box, a
soft carrying pouch and a 6.3mm adaptor. The
remote on the 1.25m cable allows you to
adjust the volume on iOS devices, but this
function doesn’t work on Android. That said,
you can still play/pause, answer and receive
calls, and skip through tracks on both OSes.
These accessories show an attention to
detail that’s replicated on the headphones
themselves. The MH40 has ‘heavy grain
premium cowhide’ on the top of the
headband, with soft lambskin on the ear
pads and the inner part of the headband.
Grilles adorn the exterior of each cup, but
it’s important to note that these aren’t
open-back headphones in the technical sense.
PLANTRONICS BackBeat Pro 2
★★★★★
£179 • From www.amazon.co.uk
VERDICT
The BackBeat Pro 2 aren’t a perfect pair of headphones,
but by ANC standards they’re superb value
PLANTRONICS IS BETTER known for its
conference-call headsets, call-centre hardware
and the like. Given this, it’s disappointing that
its consumer-focused BackBeat Pro 2 aren’t
particularly comfortable to wear for extended
periods of time. The earcups are nicely padded
and not too tight, but the whole thing is rather
heavy and the surface of the drivers came in
contact with our ears, leaving them sore.
They feel well made, with a rigid, stainless
steel headband offering plenty of adjustability,
and they’re replete with practical features. NFC
is built into the left earcup for quick pairing,
alongside skip, play/pause and volume controls.
This last control is a textured, grey plastic ring
set into the surface of the earcup. This is a
triumphant marriage of form and function: it’s
easy to find with your fingers without looking
and difficult to activate by accident.
Also on the left earcup is a switch to
enable and disable ANC, or select a mode
where audio from the built-in microphone is
patched through to the earcups so you can
ISSUE 362 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | APRIL 2018
The earcups are closed,
which is good news if
you’re planning on
listening to the MH40 in
the office or on your daily
commute, since you can do
so without fear of annoying
others. There’s no ANC, but the
passive noise isolating effect works well.
Sadly, these headphones are not terribly
comfortable. The headband is adjustable, but
there isn’t much range to the adjustment – if
you have a large head, the MH40 might not
fit. We also found the narrow ear pads a touch
small for our ears, and with the minimal
amount of padding on the headband, the total
weight of 360g was immediately noticeable.
Sound quality is also lower than we’d
expect from its bank-bothering price. The bass
lacks presence to the extent that the lowest
notes didn’t have much rumble to them. At
least the mid-bass slam has plenty of oomph,
if delivered in a slightly uncontrolled fashion.
hear what’s going on
around you – something
that even the Bose
QuietComfort 35 II lacks.
Other useful features
include ear detection, where
removing the headphones
pauses the music (and putting ng
them back on resumes it), and nd a button that
can active either Siri or the Google Assistant.
This smart capability isn’t as fleshed-out as on
the QuietComfort 35 II, but you can still query
your chosen digital assistant via an integrated
microphone. Battery life is brilliant, too,
reaching 24 hours with Bluetooth running.
Sound quality, however, is a mixed bag. The
headphones have a very powerful sub-bass
response that extends well into the lower
frequencies, making these headphones ideal
for techno and electronica, but the mid-bass is
outright overwhelming. On many songs it
overpowers the mids, resulting in a pushed-
back, recessed sound. If you listen to lots of
HEADPHONES
There are better
headphones for listening to
classical music as well, as
there’s an over-warm
presentation to the sound
that muddles fine details in the
mid-range of the sound spectrum.
To top things off, the highs aren’t that
impressive, either; everything just sounds
somewhat soft and indistinct, lacking the
sparkle of better headphones.
The soundstage isn’t so bad, comprising
a narrow but deep sound with acceptable
instrument separation. Again, this could
use some refining.
To be sure, the Master & Dynamic MH40
is one of the most attractive, beautifully
designed pair of headphones we’ve laid hands
– and eyes – on. Constructed entirely from
aluminium and leather, they feel like they’ve
been built to last. However, at £369, they
simply miss the mark in terms of comfort and,
most importantly, sound quality.
vocal or classical music,
these headphones
might not be for you.
High frequencies
extend well, adding
just the right amount
of sparkle to the sound
sig
signature. ANC also
impres
impresses; while these
headphones can’t isolate high frequencies as
well as Bose’s, they’re not too far behind on
effectiveness, and make train commutes and
plane journeys a lot more bearable.
They might not be as comfortable or offer
the same class of ANC as the QuietComfort 35
II, but since they’re also £110 cheaper, the
BackBeat Pro 2 presents a fantastically
good-value alternative to both Bose’s
headphones and the Beats Studio3 Wireless.
In fact, they’re a smart buy for anyone looking
for a pair of decent noise-cancelling
headphones on a budget, even with some
build quality issues and overenthusiastic bass.
91
 HEADPHONES
B&O BeoPlay E4
★★★★★
£199 • From www.amazon.co.uk
VERDICT
Impressive noise cancellation and decent sound
quality, but too uncomfortable for the price
MOST ATTEMPTS TO bring active noise
cancelling to in-ear headphones have never
found much success, usually owing to the lack
of passive isolation and – frankly – poor
implementation of that ANC tech.
The ANC-enabled BeoPlay E4 hasn’t been
deterred, though. They’re beautifully put
together, with a durable, stylish matt-black
steel finish and Comply foam tips instead of
more common, less comfortable silicone tips.
The electronics required for ANC are
housed in a box on the 1.3m cable, which uses
a standard 3.5mm plug. Your phone won’t be
enough to power it all – you’ll need to charge
these (otherwise fully wired) headphones up
to keep the ANC going, though a full charge
does provide a generous 20 hours of use. A
more annoying downside is the added weight
on the cable, which can cause the earphones
to pull down on your ears. There’s no battery
indicator on the unit or any audible indication
as to how much battery is remaining, which is
another source of irritation.
ess
BOSE SoundSport Wireless
★★★★★
£139 • From www.amazon.co.uk
VERDICT
These exercise-ready earphones juggle an iffy
cable design with great sound quality and fit
BOSE IS FAMED, quite deservedly, for its
noise-cancelling headphones, but the
SoundSport Wireless are geared a lot more
towards fitness enthusiasts than home
audiophiles and business travellers.
Not that these are particularly radical in
their approach: they’re sweatproof but not
IP-certified, so you shouldn’t take them for
a swim, and at a maximum of six hours,
battery life isn’t exceptional either.
There are also just three pairs of ear tips
supplied in the box, so it’s possible you
won’t find a snug fit, which is even more
important than usual when you’re jogging
or hitting the rowing machines.
That said, we didn’t have any trouble
with them staying put, and they’re
comfortable, too. They sit on the outside of
the ear canal rather than slipping in all the
way like most earphones, allowing you to
hear some of what’s going on around you
instead of being sealed off from the outside
world. Each ‘umbrella’ tip is kitted out with
92
Fortunately, the ANC works remarkably
well. The E4 cancelled out much of the
low-level rumble and clatter of bus and train
journeys alike, and most impressively of all,
it even performed well at minimising the
volume of nearby conversations.
You can hear a slight hiss when music is
turned off, but this is common with ANC-
enabled headphones. Weirdly, though, you
can still hear the hiss when you turn off ANC,
which can be distracting when listening to
podcasts or music at low volume.
The E4 has a clever Transparency Mode,
which instantly mutes the music and amplifies
external sound around you. It’s useful if you
want to quickly pay for something in a shop
and don’t want to remove your earphones,
and it makes it easy to quickly listen to
station or airport announcements.
The B&O BeoPlay E4 employs electro-
dynamic 10.8mm drivers, which deliver a
serious punch. We found the sound quality to
be very good compared with other Bluetooth
rubber wings that hook into the outer part of
your ear, locking them in place when you
rotate the earpiece.
The neck cable is just the right length:
not too short and not so long that it snags
on your shirt collar. Although the earpiece
housings protrude around a centimetre
out from the ear (a touch further than feels
ideal), they never felt like they’d fall out, and
they aren’t too heavy.
The one caveat is that the battery, remote
control and microphone box sit on the part of
the cable that leads out from the right-hand
earpiece. As you bounce down the road, it
tends to pull the cable around to that side,
necessitating the use of a shirt clip. Even this
is a bit fiddly to secure, though.
Sound quality is good, and typically
Bose-esque in profile. Bass is solid and
meaty, but it’s not too blousy and
indistinct. There’s also plenty of detail in
the upper registers and the mid-range is
pleasingly open.
headphones, but not as good as wired
non-ANC earphones of the same price.
The bass is bit too strong, and there’s a
heavy emphasis on the mid-bass frequencies
that produces a flabby, uncontrolled sound
and overwhelms the mids. On the plus side,
the sub-bass has good extension and adds
plenty of rumble to music.
Treble reproduction is accurate and crisp,
picking out an admirable amount of sonic
detail. Unfortunately, the highs are rolled off a
touch at the top end, which means you won’t
always hear that hi-hat. Instrument separation
is otherwise clear throughout.
The B&O BeoPlay E4 have great noise-
cancelling capabilities and look fantastic.
However, sound quality isn’t perfect, with a bit
too much uncontrolled bass for our tastes.
The ANC control unit design also makes them
awkward and irritating to wear on the move.
It sounds like a small complaint, but for
£199 we expect much better design than this,
no matter how good the ANC might be.
The SoundSport Wireless can come across
a tad polite with some rock music and metal,
but since most of the time you’ll be running
or cycling or performing some other activity
that induces heavy breathing, that shouldn’t
be too much of a problem. Those umbrella
tips mean microphonic cable rubbing noise
isn’t a problem, either. Overall, sound quality
is excellent, despite the lack of aptX support.
Battery life, on the other hand, is a little
disappointing. It’s enough to get you through
a couple of days’ worth of exercising and
commuting, but you’ll need to charge the
headphones at least twice a week, even if you
use them lightly. Fortunately, they’re easy and
quick to charge, with a Micro USB port
located on the left earpiece beneath a flap.
On the whole, the SoundSport Wireless’s
secure fit and high sound quality mean they
can go the distance as a pair of fitness
earphones. Sadly, their high price and
troublesomely weighted cable deny them a
full recommendation.
APRIL 2018 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | ISSUE 362

BRAINWAVZ B200
★★★★★
£91 • From www.brainwavzaudio.com
VERDICT
The Brainwavz B200 provide sensational sound quality,
comfort and value – and they’ve become even cheaper
RELEASED LATE LAST year, the B200s
quickly proved themselves an excellent pair of
in-ear headphones, but they felt like they were
missing one thing: a detachable cable, to
switch between 3.5mm and 2.5mm devices
without a clunky adaptor. Now, Brainwavz
has brought out an updated V2 design with
just that very feature. With this, as well as a
price drop to just over £90, there’s scant else
to prevent them being the best sub-£150
earphones you can buy.
In the box, you’ll find a hard carry case, a
3.5mm cable, a 2.5mm cable, six sets of
silicone ear tips (in small, medium and large
sizes), a set of Comply T-100 foam tips, a shirt
clip, and a Velcro cable tie. The inclusion of
the T-100 tips is welcome, as these offer a
level of comfort and isolation beyond
anything attainable with silicone tips.
The 1.3m Y-cord cables are durable, but get
tangled easily. Since they’re worn over the ear,
there’s no distracting noise from the cables
rubbing on clothing, so you can fully enjoy
GOOGLE Pixel Buds
★★★★★
£159 • From store.google.com
VERDICT
Google’s shot at the future of earphones is
admirable, but misses the mark
THE PIXEL BUDS sorely want to be the
Bluetooth headphones of the future. As well
as integrating the Google Assistant, they aim
to become the Babelfish that allows the world
to talk in one unified language, with Japanese,
French, Russian and more all translating into
your native language as they’re spoken aloud.
However, this much-trumpeted translation
feature is a bit more awkward than it sounds.
It works via a speech version of Google
Translate, and when you say something in
English, the phrase is translated into your
chosen language and projected through your
connected smartphone’s speaker. Continuing
the conversation is where it gets fiddly: you’ve
got to hand your phone over, or at least hold
it out like a dictaphone, then tap the
microphone button before the other person
speaks. You’ll then hear the translation
through the Pixel Buds in your ear.
If this was the only problem, it would still
be a cool feature, but we often struggled to
get it to work at all. Speaking with a person
ISSUE 362 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | APRIL 2018
music on your jog. The earphones weigh nextt
to nothing, and thanks to their soft ear hooks,
you’ll barely notice them in your ears.
The downside is that – despite the cable
having received a very welcome upgrade to
become removable – there are still no inline
controls or microphone. This is true of both
the standard cables and the more colourful
optional replacement cables you can add at
checkout, even though the latter cost a
considerable £34 a pop.
Sound quality took us by surprise. They
may not extend into the sub-bass regions very
deeply, but the B200 sound nice and clean.
The sub-bass is audibly present and provides
ample amounts of rumble. The mid-bass,
meanwhile, is tight, clean and precise:
nothing sounds muffled or uncontrolled.
Even more impressive are the mids and
highs. Here, the B200s are much more
forward-sounding than any of their close
competitors; they aren’t pushed back or
recessed, which makes them far superior for
– admittedly in broken French – led to almost
no response, and trying to use it to pick up
audio from a video got us nowhere
nowhere. Its only
reliable use is in translating English phrases,
though this is far from the promise of
seamless, two-way, conversational translation.
This is a huge shame, because the Pixel
Buds are otherwise pretty good earphones.
They’re a bit more stylish than the elongated
Apple AirPods, the six-hour battery life can
be extended to nearly 24 hours with the
included charging case, and they sound
excellent considering Google doesn’t have
an audio background. Bass is deep and
punchy, the highs are crisp and detailed,
and it doesn’t even sound like they drop off
much around the mids either.
Because they sit in the recess of your ear
rather than inside the ear canal, they don’t
create as tight a seal as they might have done
otherwise, but there’s hardly any sound
leakage, and we rarely felt the need to turn
the volume up to drown out ambient noises.
HEADPHONES
HEAD
songs with vocals. The highs are slightly rolled
off at the top end, but there’s still plenty of
energy and sparkle to keep your toes tapping.
By far the best aspect of the B200s is
their soundstage. It’s wonderfully wide and
deep, and instrument separation is
phenomenal – in complicated compositions,
with lots of moving parts, the positional
cues, instruments, depth and width all
manage to shine through. The overall
full-bodied sound of these earphones also
contributes to such pleasurable listening.
Ultimately, it’s a no-brainer: the Brainwavz
B200 are the finest headphones on the
market not just at this price, but heading well
up into the £150 area (indeed, this was the
original launch price prior to its recent drop).
We’d recommend them to anyone, for all
types of music. From rock to classical, the
dual BA drivers work flawlessly together to
create a stunning audio experience, and that’s
enough to earn them a Best Buy – even
before the inclusion of a detachable cable.
Google Assistant integration is also a
lot more successful than the translation
system. Tapping and holding on the right
earbud and asking Google to play a certain
artist, or something relaxing, fires up Spotify
– or your chosen music app – and plays
exactly what you asked for, just like Google
Home. Tap the earbud and ask for directions,
bus times or general questions and, boom,
you’ll get an answer. You can even check
texts and WhatsApp message without
getting your phone out, thanks to text-to-
speech, and surprisingly accurate dictation
allows you to reply to them, too.
Sadly, there are many more niggles to
counteract these qualities. The Pixel Buds are
not terribly comfortable, the touch-sensitive
controls are unreliable, connecting a phone
via Bluetooth is finicky, and even if you really
want to use the translation feature, it only
works with Google’s own Pixel smartphones.
As innovative and clever as these earphones
are, it’s just not worth spending £159 on them.
93
 HEADPHONES

Award BEST BUY RECOMMENDED BEST BUY

Manufacturer BEATS BOSE MASTER & PLANTRONICS B&O BOSE BRAINWAVZ GOOGLE
DYNAMIC

Model Studio3 QuietComfort MH40 BackBeat BeoPlay E4 SoundSport B200 Pixel Buds
Wireless 35 II Pro 2 Wireless
Rating ★★★★★ ★★★★★ ★★★★★ ★★★★★ ★★★★★ ★★★★★ ★★★★★ ★★★★★
HARDWARE

Headphones Over-ear Over-ear Over-ear Over-ear In-ear In-ear In-ear In-ear

subtype

Wireless Bluetooth Bluetooth No Bluetooth No Bluetooth No Bluetooth

Headphones Closed Closed Closed Closed Closed Closed Closed Closed

driver

Active noise Yes Yes No Yes Yes No No No

cancelling

Power source None None None None None None None None

Headphones 118+3dB Not stated 99dB 93dB 99dB Not stated 110dB Not stated
sensitivity

Frequency 20-20,000Hz Not stated 20-20,000Hz 20-20,000Hz 20-16,000Hz Not stated 12-22,000Hz Not stated
response

Headphones 32 ohms Not stated 32 ohms 32 ohms 16 ohms Not stated 30 ohms Not stated
impedance

Plug type 3.5mm 3.5mm 3.5mm 3.5mm 3.5mm None 3.5mm/2.5mm None

Inline controls Volume, calls, None (volume, Volume (iOS None (volume, Volume, calls, Volume, calls, None None (play/
play/pause, skip calls, play/pause, only), calls, play/ calls, play/pause, play/pause, skip play/pause, skip pause, skip on
skip on earcup) pause, skip skip on earcup) earbud)

Weight 260g 310g 360g 290g 50g 23g 8g 14g

Cable length 1.2m 1.2m 1.25m/2m 1.2m 1.3m N/A 1.3m N/A

Accessories 3.5mm cable, 3.5mm cable, 2x 3.5mm cable, 3.5mm cable, carry Replacement ear Replacement ear 2.5mm cable, Charging case
carry case, carry case, cable box, carry case, charging tips, carry pouch, tips, carry case, 3.5mm cable,
charging cable charging cable pouch, 6.5mm-to- cable flight adaptor, charging cable, replacement
3.5mm adaptor charging cable shirt clip ear tips, carry
case, shirt clip,
cable tie

BUYING INFORMATION

Price £280 £289 £369 £179 £199 £139 £91 £159

Warranty One year RTB Two years RTB Two years repair One year RTB Two years RTB Two years RTB Two years RTB Two years RTB
and replace
Prices correct at time of going to press

Supplier www.amazon. www.weybridge- www.amazon. www.amazon.co.uk www.amazon. www.amazon. www. store.google.com

co.uk audio.co.uk co.uk co.uk co.uk brainwavzaudio.
com

Details www.beatsbydre. www.bose.co.uk www. www.plantronics. www.beoplay. www.bose.co.uk www. store.google.com

com masterdynamic. com com brainwavzaudio.
co.uk com

Part code MQUF2ZM/A 789564-0010 MH40S2 207110-05 1644526 761529-0010 B200 V2 Pixel Buds

VERDICT
Just under two years ago, the original Bose QuietComfort 35 arrived
and instantly became our favourite over-ear headphones, combining
a lovely fit with the best active noise cancelling in the business.
It’s finally been supplanted, but only by its direct replacement, the
QuietComfort 35 II – a testament to the unmatched ambiance-
silencing prowess of Bose’s design. The headline addition is built-in
Google Assistant support. While this has been implemented
extremely well, it’s how these headphones sound (and how easy
they are to wear for extended periods) that deserves to make them
a permanent travelling companion.
If you can’t stretch to the QuietComfort 35 II’s relatively high
price, don’t worry: the Plantronics BackBeat Pro 2 are a much more
affordable set of quality ANC over-ears. Comfort and sound quality
aren’t on a par with Bose’s headphones, but they’re good enough for
the cash and come with some nice features, such as the microphone
that allows you to have conversations without removing the earcups.
As for the in-ear side of things, it’s hard to recommend anything
other than the Brainwavz B200 for general listening; they sound
great, they’re cheaper than most comparable sets of earphones,
they’re comfortably light and they include a generous range of
accessories, including two detachable cables.
It’s worth looking at something more specialised for fitness use,
though, and the Bose SoundSport Wireless fits that bill. Their
Bluetooth capability is hugely helpful for no-fuss exercising, and
unlike a lot of in-ear models, they’ll stay in your ears even when
you’re running and jumping around.

94 APRIL 2018 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | ISSUE 362

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WORRIEDABOUTWHAT
INFORMATIONYOUMAY
BELEAKINGONLINE?
DAVIDLUDLOWSHOWSYOUHOWTORECLAIMYOUR
PRIVACYANDKEEPYOURPRIVATELIFEPRIVATE
t seems that privacy is short on the ground.
Your private details are worth a lot of money
to companies, aiming to target you with ads.
Personal information is just as important to
hackers, as they can use these details to create
elaborate scams or hack into your accounts.
No wonder, then, that your personal information is
being gobbled up at an alarming rate. So what can you do
to keep yourself more hidden online? In this feature, we look
at the best ways to protect yourself, from building your own
VPN in order to hide your network traffic, to blocking ad
networks, locking down your social media accounts and more.

CONTENTS
Stop ads tracking you ................................. 98
Turn your NAS into a private cloud ........ 100
Stop Google tracking you .........................102
Lock down your Facebook settings ........ 104
Turn a Raspberry Pi into a VPN ................105

96 APRIL 2018 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | ISSUE 362

ISSUE 362 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | APRIL 2018 97
STOPADSTRACKINGYOU
ONLINEADVERTSAREAHUGETHREATTOONLINEPRIVACY,
BUTWESHOWYOUHOWTOTAKEBACKCONTROL
O
nline adverts are some of the biggest
threats to our online privacy. Ad
networks are keen to take as much
personal information from you as
possible, so that they can sell you ‘relevant’
advertising, making more money through
targeted adverts. Fortunately, the technology
is there to help stem the tide and keep your
personal information safe.
1. STOP TRACKING ADVERTS
Tracking is a feature used by ad networks to
examine the content and sites that you’ve
looked at, and then make related adverts
follow you all over the internet. You know
the kind of thing: you look at a kitchen
appliance on one site, and then you get
adverts for the same product on every
other site that you look at.
While most browsers have a built-in option
that sends a ‘Do Not Track’ request, ad
networks and websites don’t have to accept
the request. In practice, then, this honour
system doesn’t work very well.
Users of Safari on macOS High Sierra and
iOS 11 already have advanced tracking
protection built-in. These use a combination
of techniques to find and block any cookies or
data that would otherwise let ad networks spy
on you and follow you around the web.
Chrome and Firefox users can opt for
the Ghostery tracker instead, which is an
5.HOWTOUSE
GHOSTERYTO
BLOCKTRACKERS
If you want to control where, when and
how you’re tracked, the Ghostery add-on
is a great tool to have. It’s available for
most browsers. For this guide, we’re using
the Chrome version, but settings are
similar across the board.
BLOCK AD TRACKING
Go to ghostery.com/products and click the
Add to Chrome button (you can install the
add-on for other browsers from this page,
too). Click the Add Extension button to
install the add-on. You now need to choose
the installation option: One-Click Setup
chooses the most common settings, while
98
⬆ Apple includes built-in tracking protection with its latest version of Safari
add-on that helps you block trackers (see
the guide below).
2. MANAGE AD PREFERENCES
The ad networks generally let you opt out of
their targeting and tracking, with online
control panels letting you decide which
networks you don’t want to work with. These
settings are stored in your browser, so you’ll
need to choose each device and browser that
you use. You’ll also need to revisit the opt-out
sites regularly to manage new ad networks
and check that your settings are still working.
The NAI Consumer Opt Out (optout.
networkadvertising.org) lets you choose which
networks you want to work with. Click the
Manage My Browser’s Opt Outs link and you
can select which networks you don’t want to
work with (or just select all).
Custom Setup lets you pick the options you
want, and is the setting we recommend.
From the first option, choose to block ad
trackers only and click Next.
CHOOSE ENHANCED OPTIONS
Ghostery has some advanced features that
work automatically to enhance protection
and performance. We recommend leaving
the Enhanced Anti-Tracking option on,
which will help the add-on block unknown
trackers. Leave Smart Blocking on, too; this
3. BLOCK ADVERTS
The nuclear option is to block adverts
completely on the websites you visit, using
a plug-in such as Adblock Plus (adblockplus.
org). Available for most browsers, Adblock
Plus will stop adverts loading, which in
turn means that you’re not being tracked.
The downside of this tactic is that many
publishers have lost a lot of income by no
longer being able to serve adverts. Ethically
speaking, you should choose to whitelist the
sites that you trust and value, letting adverts
appear on your computer, so that the
publisher can continue to make money to
fund more content.
In some cases, your hand will be forced, as
many publishers are now choosing to stop
ad-block users from viewing content.
will automatically block and unblock
trackers to improve performance.
Ad blocking is a more contentious issue.
If you don’t want to see any adverts, then
turn this on; we recommend turning off this
option and only enable it if you’re swamped
with poor ads. Click Next when you’re done.
CREATE AN ACCOUNT
You can view the Simple or Detailed view.
Go with the Detailed view to see more
information, then click Next. Now you can
APRIL 2018 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | ISSUE 362

4. BEWARE OF AUTOFILL
Autofill is a handy browser and password
manager tool that populates forms
automatically for you. This is a great time
saver, but there’s a worry that advertisers are
exploiting the technology. According to
security researchers from Princeton’s Center
for Information Technology, some ad
networks have placed hidden forms on their
websites, which your browser then fills in with
personal data. Two scripts were discovered
that did this, and were present on 1,100 of the
one million most-visited websites, according
to the Alexa analytics site.
create a Ghostery account, which lets you
synchronise your settings across all of your
devices. Enter the information requested
and click Create Account. You can now
choose whether you want send anonymous
information to Ghostery. Click Next and
then click Exit to complete the installation.
MANAGE SITE SETTINGS
When you visit a website, the Ghostery icon
at the top-right of Chrome springs to life.
Click this to view the trackers on the site,
ISSUE 362 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | APRIL 2018
STAY ANONYMOUS ONLINE
By pulling in information such as your
email address, the ad trackers can see where
you’ve been. More importantly, by grabbing
your email address from multiple sites, the
ad network has a reliable way of tracking you
across the web without using cookies.
There’s no evidence that passwords are
being stolen in this way, and browser
manufacturers have been asked to implement
and which ones were blocked. Using the
default settings, all ad trackers should be
blocked, but everything else, such as
website analytics trackers, are fine to run.
You can tick any tracker to block or
unblock it across all sites, or you can hover
over a tracker and use the options to allow
or restrict a tracker on that site only.
⬅ You can opt out of many ad networks’
tracking technologies, but this won’t stop all
tracking adverts
⬇ If you want to stop everything, use an ad
blocker, but you should whitelist your favourite
sites to help them generate income
technology to prevent this type of data theft.
In the meantime, you can disable autofill.
In Chrome go to chrome://settings and
go to Advanced, Passwords and forms.
Click Auto-fill settings. Here you can see a
list of the addresses and credit cards that
Chrome has stored; you can edit or remove
individual entries. Click the toggle switch to
turn off autofill completely.
ALLOW A SITE
If you find Ghostery prevents a site from
working properly, or you’re visiting a site
you like, you have a couple of options.
First, click Trust Site, and all trackers will
be turned off for that site only. Second, you
can click the Pause button and temporarily
pause protection on all sites.
99
 TURNYOURNASINTOAPERSONALCLOUD
IFYOUWANTTOKEEPYOURFILESANDDATAPRIVATE,YOUCAN
TURNYOURNASINTOYOUROWNPERSONALCLOUDSERVER
C
loud services such as Dropbox are
great, letting you access and share
your files from anywhere. But, aside
from the monthly fees, your data is
ultimately installed on third-party services
out of your control. Instead of relying on
these services, you can instead make your
own NAS the heart of your personal cloud.
We’re using a Synology NAS for this, as
it has the widest range of options; other
NAS devices from rival manufacturers have
some similar features.
6. REMOTE ACCESS
If you want to access your NAS remotely, the
easiest way to do so is to use Synology’s
QuickConnect service. This makes your NAS
visible over the internet, and will automatically
configure your router, too.
Log into your NAS’s web management page,
then launch Control Panel, QuickConnect.
Tick the Enable QuickConnect box, then
enter your Synology Account username and
password. If you don’t have an account, click
the Register button to create one.
Next, enter a QuickConnect ID: this can be
anything and is used to identify your NAS.
The ID must be unique, so you may have to
change your entry if your first choice has
been taken. Click Apply when you’re done.
You can now connect to your NAS through
a browser from anywhere in the world by
using the URL quickconnect.to/<your ID>.
This gets you the standard Synology web
page, where you can manage files, change
settings and the like.
To force a secure connection go to Control
Panel, Network. Select DSM Settings and
select Automatically redirect HTTP
connections to HTTP. Click Apply. Now when
you connect to your NAS, you’ll be sent to a
secure connection. Chrome may flag up a
warning about the certificate, but it’s safe to
⬆ Synology’s QuickConnect lets you access your NAS from anywhere
100
⬆ Synology Drive lets you replace Google Drive with your own NAS
ignore this and proceed to the website.
The issue is that the certificate used doesn’t
match the URL that you’re using to connect,
but there’s no simple way to change this.
7. REPLACE GOOGLE DRIVE
A more useful way of using your NAS is as a
replacement for Google Drive, giving you a
dedicated website for managing files and
letting you synchronise them between your
devices with the free client. To do this, you
need to install Synology Drive. Launch
Package Center from your NAS, search for
Drive and then install the application.
Once installed, you need to do some
configuration. First, go to Control Panel, User
and, under User Home, tick the Enable user
home service option. This gives each user
account on your NAS their own home folder.
Next, you can have a Team folder, which is
one folder that every NAS user will be able to
see. This can be an existing folder, or you can
create a new one. To enable a Team folder,
launch the new Drive Admin Console and
select Team Folder. Select a folder from the
list and then click Enable.
⬆ With the User Home service, each NAS user gets their own home directory
To make accessing your Drive easier, you
need to create an alias for it. Go to Control
Panel, Application Portal and select Drive.
Click the Edit button and tick the Enable
customized alias option. You can set your
own alias, but the default (drive) is fine.
Click OK to save the settings.
You will now be able to access your NAS
remotely from a web browser by entering
the web address https://quickconnect.to/
<your id>/drive. From the web interface,
you can create folders, download files and
upload new ones. The interface is very similar
to that of Google Drive.
When you first log in, you’ll see a popup
message that says Get Drive apps now.
Click the link and you’ll see two options.
Select For PC and you’ll get the Mac or PC
client, depending on the PC you’re using.
Click For Mobile and you get QR codes for
the Android and iOS apps; to be honest, it’s
easier to go to the respective app stores and
search for the app.
The main difference between the clients is
that the mobile version gives you a simple app
to manage your files with, while the desktop
APRIL 2018 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | ISSUE 362

⬆ Setting a custom alias for Drive makes it easier
to access your files remotely
version also lets you synchronise files
between computers. We’ll focus on the latter.
Once you’ve installed the client and have
run it, you have to enter your connection
information. Enter your QuickConnect ID
(you don’t need the quickconnect.to bit), then
enter the username and password that you
use to connect to your NAS. Click Next and
you’ll get a warning about the SSL certificate,
but click Proceed anyway. You’ll now see
the remote and local folders that will be
synchronised. You can keep the defaults or
change either if you want to store your files in
a custom location. Click Next and then Done.
Just as with Google Drive or Dropbox, you
now have a folder on your computer. Any files
or folders that you create or edit here are
synchronised with your NAS and any other
computers logged into the same account.
8. REPLACE GOOGLE DOCS
Synology has a further trick with its optional
Office suite. This offers a Google Docs-style
experience, with document, spreadsheet and
presentation creation, all run from your NAS.
Go to your NAS and launch Package Center,
then search for and install Drive. It’s a fairly
hefty installation, which requires some other
packages, so give it time to install.
You can access Office through Synology
Drive, either using the web URL or the mobile
apps. Just as with Google Drive, Synology’s
option lets you create new documents
from the interface by clicking the Plus icon.
⬆ Synology Office gives you a Google Docs-style experience from your own NAS
ISSUE 362 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | APRIL 2018
STAY ANONYMOUS ONLINE
⬆ Your Synology Drive lets you synchronise folders
and files between different computers
⬆ You can choose who you share files with
You can select any existing document to
open it up and start working on it. Changes
are saved automatically as you type.
Files and folders can be shared using the
Share menu (either in the File menu when you
have a document open, or by right-clicking a
file in Drive and selecting Share). You can
share with other users on your NAS, or create
web links that you can send to anyone. Just
like Google Drive, files can be collaborated on
at the same time by multiple parties.
There are a few downsides to using
Synology Office compared to Google Drive.
First, there’s no offline mode, so you have
to have an internet connection. Second,
Synology Office is only as fast as your
home internet connection, so performance
may not be as good as you expect. Finally,
Google Drive is a little more advanced and a
bit easier to use. Still, for basic collaboration
and use, and for maintaining your privacy,
Synology Office is a good option.
TOPPRIVACYTIPS
9. USE YOUR BROWSER’S
INCOGNITO MODE
The Incognito mode on a browser
prevents the browser from storing any
cookies or site information from a
website you’re visiting. It’s useful if
you want to escape any tracking
information being stored on your
computer. In Chrome, press Ctrl-Shift-N
to open a new Incognito window.
10. OPT OUT OF EMAIL MARKETING
When you sign up for a new service,
there are typically two opt-in options.
The first allows the company you’ve
signed up with to email you. The second
allows that company to sell your details
to third parties so that they can email
you. Opt out of all communication that
you don’t want.
11. USE ONE EMAIL PER SERVICE
For safety, you can create a free email
for each main service that you need.
We recommend using Gmail for this,
as you can use the email forwarding
feature to send all mails to one main
account. The advantage of this
method is that you can see which
email address spam is coming to
and then delete the main culprits.
12. SET UP TEMPORARY
EMAIL ADDRESSES
Are you trying to download a bit of
software or want to use a service once,
but are being forced to enter an email
address? In that case, sign up for a
temporary email address at www.
mailinator.com. You can make up any
@mailinator.com email address to use.
All Mailinator messages can be read by
anyone (there’s no password) and are
automatically deleted after two hours.
As a result, Mailinator shouldn’t be used
by any service that will send personal
information, only to bypass an irritating
request to enter an email address.
13. FIND OUT WHAT COMPANIES
KNOW ABOUT YOU
As of 25th May 2018, companies will
have to provide you with a copy of the
data that they store on you for free as
part of the new General Data Protection
Regulation (GDPR). You’ll also have the
right to be forgotten, with companies
forced to delete any information that
they store about you, other than any
records that have to be kept for legal
or compliance reasons.
101
 STOPGOOGLETRACKINGYOU
WEALLUSEGOOGLE’SSERVICES,WHICHMEANSASTUNNINGAMOUNTOFPERSONAL
DATAISCOLLECTEDEVERYDAY.HERE’SHOWTORECLAIMYOURPRIVACY
T
here’s no real way to avoid using
Google, but it’s a little bit terrifying
how much data the company collects
on us, and how much information
you can give away yourself. Fortunately,
Google provides plenty of tools to help you
regain control. We’ll take you through them.
14. LOGGING IN WITH GOOGLE
Google’s services are without a doubt brilliant.
Most of us have a Google account, whether
that’s for email, for using the free Google
Drive and Google Apps, or just to personalise
our search results. Google accounts are also
extremely useful for signing into other
services. Rather than having to enter the
same information into website after website,
logging in with a Google account is quick
and efficient. The scary thing is that few of
us check what we’re sharing at the time,
and some services request access to a
frightening amount of personal data.
15. STAYING SAFE WITH GOOGLE
The most important thing to do when signing
up for a service with a Google account is to
check what it wants to access carefully. A
good website or service that’s just using your
Google account for authentication will only
⬆ Check that a service isn’t requesting too much
access to your private information
102
want access to basic account info, so that
they can see your email address and standard
profile information but nothing else. If you’re
signing up for a different type of service, you
might find that more access has to be given.
For example, sign up for IFTTT so that you
can automate sending emails and organise
your Gmail account, and you’ll have to give
full access to your email. The trick is to
know what you want the services to do
and only authorise those that need the
minimum amount of access. If you think that
something is trying to request too much
information, then look for an alternative
sign-up option, such as creating a separate
account just for that service.
16. DEALING WITH OLD SERVICES
That’s all well and good for new services, but
have you any idea what you’ve given old
services and websites access to? Fortunately,
Google provides an easy way to check this
with its security settings (myaccount.google.
com). Log in with your Google account and
click Sign in & security. In the panel on the
right-hand side, click Apps with account
access, then click Manage apps. Here you can
see a list of every app or website that has
access to your Google accounts. Click one to
⬅ You can remove access to any
app or service through Google’s
account dashboard
expand the view and see what
the app or service can access.
Unless you’re using a Google
service, such as Chrome
synchronisation, there’s very
little need for anything to have
full account access, so be very
wary of anything that does.
If you spot anything you
don’t remember giving access
to, or a service looks like it has
access to too much, click the
Remove button. This app or
service will no longer be able
to access your information or
change any of your data.
17. COLLECTING DATA
If you have a Google account,
Google will have collected an
enormous amount of data
about you, storing all your
internet searches, places that
you’ve visited and loads of
information that it can use
to serve you ‘relevant’ ads.
Fortunately, you can find out
and clear everything by going back to
myaccount.google.com. Click Personal info &
privacy, then Manage your Google activity.
First, let’s look at the scary stuff. If you
scroll down to Review activity, you can find
out what information Google holds about
you. This information is not shared, but it’s
still pretty alarming. Click Go to my activity
to view all of your recent searches, listed in
date order, any YouTube videos you’ve
watched and any apps you’ve downloaded
from the Play store. Back on the main privacy
screen, click Timeline in Google Maps and it
will show you everywhere you’ve been, with
your phone and the Google Maps app
providing the tracking information.
18. STOP GOOGLE TRACKING YOU
Google says that all of this information can
be used to help your search results and to
plan journeys better. We’re not so convinced
of this. If you’re not either, you can clear
everything out and stop it from collecting
more information.
On the Manage your Google activity page,
click Go to activity controls. On this page you
can toggle what information Google is allowed
to collect about you, including Web & App
Activity, Location History, Device Information,
APRIL 2018 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | ISSUE 362

⬆ Google knows where you’ve been and when, thanks to its location tracking
Voice & Audio Activity, YouTube Search
History and YouTube Watch History. Each one
has some explanatory text that describes why
it’s important to leave it turned on. For every
item you don’t want Google to store data
about, use the toggle switch to turn off the
option. This only actually pauses Google’s
collection, and it doesn’t delete history.
19. DELETE WHAT GOOGLE KNOWS
To remove what Google knows about you, you
need to go to myactivity.google.com, which
displays all Google activity sorted by date and
organised by service, such as YouTube. In this
⬆ You can stop Google from collecting
information about you
ISSUE 362 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | APRIL 2018
STAY ANONYMOUS ONLINE
list you can hit the three vertical dots next to
any entry and then select Delete to remove
that entry. If you want to clean out more
things, then click Delete activity by. You can
choose a period by using the drop-down
menu (All time selects everything) or pick a
custom start and end date. Hit Delete when
you’re done to wipe everything.
To delete data for just one product,
go back to myactivity.google.com and click
Filter by date & product. Use the tick boxes
to select services you’re interested in and
click Search (you can add custom dates,
too, if you only care about a certain period).
⬆ Prevent Google from using your profile information to serve you ads
⬆ You can delete your old activity from Google,
removing all your private information
Click the three vertical dots at the top of the
screen and then select Delete.
20. STOP GOOGLE ADS
TRACKING YOU
Google tracks you to send you ‘relevant’ ads,
based on the profile information it has
collected. You can turn this off. Go to
myaccount.google.com and click Ads Settings.
Click Manage ads settings to go to the ads
dashboard. At the top of the page, you’ll
see the topics that Google thinks you’re
interested in. You can add extra topics here if
you want, or untick a topic if you don’t think
it’s relevant. To stop Google serving ads based
on your profile, use the toggle switch to turn
off Ads based on your interests. You’ll get a
warning, but click Switch off to complete.
This only works for ads on the main
Google site, but you can turn off targeted ads
on other websites that are served by Google.
Click Control signed-out ads. You can then
turn off targeted ads for websites beyond
google.com and Google search ads. Again,
you’ll get some warnings, but go ahead and
turn off these options. You’ll still see ads, but
they’ll no longer be controlled by information
that Google has collected on you.
103
 LOCKDOWNYOURFACEBOOKSETTINGS
FACEBOOKISAGREATWAYOFKEEPINGINTOUCHWITHFRIENDS,BUTYOU
COULDBESHARINGTOOMUCHINFORMATIONUNLESSYOULOCKITDOWN

F
acebook has proved itself to be a
brilliant way to stay in touch with
friends and family members, but
it’s also a tool that makes it far too
easy to overshare personal information.
Fortunately, you can lock down most of the
settings, and we’ll show you how. Even better,
Facebook is introducing a new privacy centre
later in the year to make changes easier.
21. SEE WHAT’S AVAILABLE
First, it’s worth seeing just how much
information can be gathered from your
Facebook account. The free tool available at
supremo.tv/facebook-privacy does a good job.
Visit the site and select Continue with
Facebook. You’ll see a popup box that tells
you the information that your Facebook
account is giving away, before you (or anyone
else) has logged into the social network.
Click See Your Secrets to get a list of all
the information that can be seen about you.
This is the type of information that is either
public, or that services you’ve enabled can
see about you. You’ll need to verify access to
your Facebook account, but don’t worry as
this tool stores no information about you,
unlike other services.
⬆ Facebook lets you lock down your posts and
prevent people from seeing too much information
except…, then you can choose the friends
that can’t see your posts. Next, click Limit
Past Posts to change the settings on
everything that you’ve already posted.
Under How people can find and contact
you, you can change the option for who
can send you friend requests. Friends of
friends is a good option, as it means that
you can only be contacted by someone
that knows someone you know. Change
Who can see your friends list to Only me,
to stop people being able to see who your
contacts are. Select No at the bottom of
the page to stop your profile appearing
on other search engines.
23. STOP APPS FROM
USING YOUR DETAILS
Many sites and apps can connect to your
Facebook account, which can make it easier
⬆ Restrict what information people can see about
you to prevent leaking data
to sign into a site but can also give away your
details. Click Apps in Facebook Settings to
view which apps are connected to your
account. You can click an App and select
Edit to see what information it can see, such
as your friends list; remove the blue tick to
prevent a bit of information being shared.
You can also restrict who the app can post
to; most are set to Friends, but be wary of
anything that has public access.
Finally, you can remove an app’s
permissions entirely. Just click an app,
click the cross and it will no longer be able
to view your Facebook account.
24. HIDE YOUR
PERSONAL DETAILS
Go to your profile and click About. Here you
can see and edit all the information you’ve
entered. You can edit any bit of information,
such as the places you’ve worked and your
birth date. As well as changing information,
when editing you can change the view option,
restricting who can see the details. For some
basic information, Friends is OK; more
sensitive information, such as your date and
year of birth, should be set to Only me.

⬆ You can see just how much information can be

gathered from your Facebook account using the
free Supremo website

22. LOCK DOWN YOUR SETTINGS

Your first port of call is to lock down your
sharing settings. In particular, it’s important to
prevent too much information from being
publicly visible; this means that anyone on
Facebook can see what you’ve posted.
First, you can change who can see your
general information and posts. Go to
Facebook (the website is easier for this
than using the app) and select the
question icon, then select Settings.
Click Privacy to view settings.
First, select Who can see your future
posts. Make sure the option is set to Friends;
for a more restrictive option select Friends ⬆ Stop apps from viewing too many private details by restricting them

104 APRIL 2018 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | ISSUE 362

 25 TURNYOURRASPBERRYPI
INTOAVPNSERVER
CHRISFINNAMORESHOWSYOUHOWTOUSETHEMINIPCTOCREATEAN
ENCRYPTEDCONNECTIONTOYOURHOMENETWORKFROMANYWHERE

W
ith a VPN server plugged into You don’t need any point the PiVPN script should
your router, you can create a special hardware to make 26.EXPRESSVPN hopefully have been
secure, encrypted connection the VPN, either: a simple If you don ’t want to go to updated to support
from anywhere in the world to Raspberry Pi will do. the effort of building Raspbian Stretch.
your own
your home network. This guide will show VPN, we thoroughly rec As we’ll be using the
ommend
This has several advantages: you can you how to set up your ExpressVPN (www.expr Raspberry Pi in
essvpn.com).
access files on your NAS without any fiddly Raspberry Pi with the It’s well priced, has lot command-line mode,
s of servers all
configuration; you can let people connect to a OpenVPN server, using over the world and off it makes sense to
ers robust
games server, without having to leave several the clever PiVPN script protection. At the min use the Lite version
imum, a VPN
ports forwarding traffic from the internet to from www.pivpn.io. such as this should be of Raspbian, which
used when
your PC (a quick glance at your router logs you’re on a public net doesn’t come with a
work,
will show you how often open ports on a INSTALLATION such as a Wi-Fi graphical user interface
router come under attack); and finally, as the The PiVPN OpenVPN hotspot. but is a fifth of the size of
connection is encrypted, you can use your installer we’re going to use Raspbian proper. Download the
laptop on a public Wi-Fi hotspot without doesn’t currently support the 2017-07-05-raspbian-jessie-lite.zip
worrying about someone intercepting the latest Raspbian Stretch distro, so you’ll file from tinyurl.com/raspbianjessielite, and
data you transmit. Best of all, as you control need to use Raspbian Jessie, the previous extract the .img file inside.
everything, you can rest assured that your version. Jessie was the current version of Now download and install Win32 Disk
data is completely safe and that you’re not Raspbian until July 2017, and will be supported Imager from sourceforge.net/projects/
relying on any other service. for at least another six months, by which win32diskimager. Plug your microSD card

ISSUE 362 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | APRIL 2018 105


into a card reader, and make sure the card
doesn’t have anything on it you need. Run
Win32 Disk Imager. If you’re logged in with a
standard (rather than administrator)
Windows account, you’ll need to enter your
administrator password. Click the blue folder
icon on the right of the white box at the top,
then browse to the Raspbian Jessie Lite .img
file you extracted and double-click it. Bear in
mind that the file browser may default to the
administrator account’s Download folder
instead of the current user’s, so you’ll need to
browse to the correct location manually.
Double-check your microSD card is the
one listed under Device and click Write. When
the process is finished, eject the microSD
card, put it in the Raspberry Pi and boot up.
Your Raspberry Pi will just need a keyboard
and monitor connected, and won’t need to be
online for now. Log in with the normal login:
username pi, and password raspberry.
As the Raspberry Pi is just going to be a
server, it makes sense for it to be hidden in
a corner next to your router. You don’t
want to have to make room for a monitor,
keyboard and mouse, so it’s best to set up
the Raspberry Pi to be controlled remotely,
in so-called ‘crustless’ mode. To do this,
you need to enable Secure Shell (SSH).
Type sudo raspi-config.
The first job is to change the Raspberry
Pi’s password, so that only you will be able
106
⬆ Use Win32 Disk Imager to write the Raspbian Jessie Lite image
to a microSD card
to log in over SSH. Select option 1 and enter
your password twice to change it. Now go
to option 5, Interfacing options. Select P2
SSH, then answer Yes to the question,
Would you like the SSH server to be
enabled?. The Raspberry Pi will confirm SSH
is on. Go down to Finish.
Shut down your Raspberry Pi by typing
sudo shutdown now, unplug your monitor
and keyboard, and plug your Raspberry Pi
into your router with an Ethernet cable.
You don’t need the monitor and keyboard
any more, as you’ll be controlling your
Raspberry Pi remotely.
⬆ The free No-IP service will make
sure you can always connect to
your VPN, even if your home IP
address changes
FINDING PI
Turn on your Raspberry Pi
again, and give it 30 seconds
or so to boot up. It’s now time
to find your Raspberry Pi on
the network. The easiest way
to do this is to use the Fing
Android app, which will list
every device connected to
your network and show the
Raspberry Pi as Raspberry,
along with its IP address.
Under Windows, you can
use an IP scanner such as Angry IP Scanner
from angryip.org (requires Java). Angry IP
Scanner will list your Raspberry Pi as
raspberrypi.local in the Hostname column.
To connect to your Raspberry Pi you
need the PuTTY SSH client. Download and
install it from www.chiark.greenend.org.uk.
Put your Raspberry Pi’s IP address in the
Host Name box, make sure the SSH radio
button is selected, then click Open. You will
receive a security message, so double-check
it’s the Raspberry Pi’s IP address in the
top-left of the PuTTY window and click Yes
to trust the device. You can now log in with
APRIL 2018 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | ISSUE 362

your Raspberry Pi’s username and password,
and you’ll have a command line just as if
your Raspberry Pi was sitting in front of
you. The first thing to do is to download
and install any Linux updates, so use the
command sudo apt-get update, followed by
sudo apt-get upgrade.
It’s now time to start installing OpenVPN
(via the PiVPN installer). Type curl -L https://
install.pivpn.io | bash to start the installer.
You navigate the installer using your
keyboard’s arrow keys, and use tab and
shift-tab to switch to the Yes/No, OK/Cancel
options at the bottom of the various pages
and back again. You’ll also need the space bar
to select some options.
The first step is to set a static IP address;
this is needed so your router always knows
where your Raspberry Pi is on the network, so
it can send it incoming VPN traffic. You can
keep the IP address your Raspberry Pi
currently has, but it may be worth setting one
high in the IP range, so your router is unlikely
to assign the same IP address automatically to
a different device joining your network.
To do this, select No when asked if you
want to use your current network settings as
a static address, then change the last number
of the address to, for example, 100, to give
you an address such as 192.168.1.100. You can
check this address isn’t yet taken on your
network using Fing or Angry IP Scanner.
The IPv4 default gateway should already be
set to your router’s IP address, so you can
leave this as it is. Check the settings are
correct and select Yes to continue.
Follow the steps to select which user’s
directory will store OpenVPN’s configuration;
you’ll only have the default ‘pi’ installed, so
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STAY ANONYMOUS ONLINE
select that. The next screen advises you to
enable ‘unattended-upgrades’ so that your
Raspberry Pi will automatically update itself
with security patches; vital for a machine
that is always connected to the internet
and has a network port open all the time.
Select Yes to enable this feature.
You can now select whether to use the
TCP or UDP protocols. UDP is generally
preferred as it’s far quicker, but TCP has
advantages in certain situations. There’s a
good explanation at tinyurl.com/tcpandudp.
Select UDP and press OK. Leave the port as
the default (1194) and press OK. Write the
port number down somewhere and confirm
the port is correct in the next screen.
PARANOIA LEVEL
You’ll now be given three levels of encryption.
The PiVPN installer recommends 2,048-bit
encryption as a good compromise between
security and how long it takes to generate
the key, but you might want to select 4,096
for the utmost in security. If you select a
⬅ 2,048-bit encryption
will be enough for
most people, but
4,096-bit is available
for the tinfoil-behatted
⬇ Generating encryption
keys on a Raspberry Pi
can take a while
4,096-bit key you are given the option of
downloading key components from a public
key generation service, to cut down on
generation time. However, if you’re truly
serious about security (or ‘paranoid’, as the
PiVPN installer puts it), you can generate your
own keys from scratch. This took less than an
hour on our Raspberry Pi 3, so isn’t really a big
deal. A word of warning, though. The PiVPN
installer doesn’t support going back a stage to
change a setting you’ve already made: if you
get an IP address wrong, you’ll need to quit
the installer and start again, including
spending an hour on key generation.
Now you have the keys to encrypt your
VPN connection, it’s time to work out how
users are going to connect to your Raspberry
Pi. There are two ways to do this: using your
external IP address, or using a dynamic DNS
service. The external IP address is the easy
way, as this requires less tinkering with your
router. The disadvantage of this is that, on
most residential broadband packages, the IP
address changes periodically, which could
107
 leave you unable to connect to your VPN if
the IP changes when you’re out of the house.
To avoid this, you need to use a dynamic
DNS service. This will give you an address
such as pivpn.dynamicdns.com, which will
translate to your router’s current external
IP address. What’s more, when you’ve
entered the details into your router’s
settings, the router will update the DNS
service automatically when its external IP
address changes, so the address you’ve
chosen will always translate to your home
connection’s external address.
First, find out which dynamic DNS services,
if any, your router supports. You’ll most likely
need to hunt around in your router’s settings
menu. You’ll usually need to sign up on the
dynamic DNS service’s web page, but some
routers, such as our Netgear D7800, let you
sign up straight from the interface. If your
router doesn’t support dynamic DNS, you can
get around it by signing up for a No-IP
account and using the Windows application
from www.noip.com/download. This will send
108
⬆ Want to play overcomplicated LAN strategy
games securely over the internet? You can with
a Raspberry Pi VPN
your external IP address to No-IP automatically,
but you’ll have to leave your PC on (though
not necessarily logged in) for it to work.
No-IP is a popular free service, so we’ll
use it for our dynamic DNS example.
Once you’ve signed up at www.noip.com, the
No-IP dashboard will give you the option of
choosing a hostname and a selection of
different domains. It will fill in your IP address
automatically. If the hostname you want is
already taken, just keep trying hostname/
domain combinations until you find a free
one. You’ll now see your hostname listed in
the Hostnames section of the No-IP
dashboard, with No Dynamic Update
Detected underneath. Click this and the
wizard will walk you through setting up
DNS updating on your router.
Back in the PiVPN installer, choose Public
IP (external IP address) or, if you’re using
dynamic DNS, DNS Entry. If you choose DNS
Entry you’ll need to put in your dynamic DNS
hostname. Double-check it’s correct before
confirming. You’ll now be asked to choose the
DNS Provider for those connecting to your
VPN. This is because they’ll need a DNS
service to browse the web, via your Raspberry
Pi’s VPN server. The DNS servers will be able
to see which websites those connecting to the
VPN have visited, so if you’re very concerned
about privacy, you might want to build and
use your own DNS server. That is beyond the
scope of this article, though: for most people
Google’s DNS will be fine. The final step will
tell you to ‘run pivpn add to create the ovpn
profiles’, but will prompt you to reboot your
Raspberry Pi first. Press OK to reboot.
Now is a good time to forward the
necessary ports on your router. Whether you
decide to use an external IP address to
connect to your Raspberry Pi VPN or use
dynamic DNS, you’ll need to go into your
router’s settings and forward a port to
your Raspberry Pi, so your router knows
APRIL 2018 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | ISSUE 362

where to send incoming VPN connections.
No-IP has port-forwarding guides, and there
is a comprehensive router list at portforward.
com. Remember that we’re using the default
OpenVPN UDP port 1194, so forward that to
your Raspberry Pi’s IP address (making sure
you select UDP not TCP).
ACCESS GRANTED
Log back into your Raspberry Pi with PuTTY.
Type sudo-apt get update then sudo apt-get
upgrade to make sure your Raspberry Pi is up
to date with all the latest security patches.
The next step is to add OpenVPN profiles –
the users, or clients, who will be connecting to
your VPN. Each client will have a username
and password, which they will need to use in
conjunction with a special file you generate
using PiVPN, in order to connect. Type pivpn
add, and then enter the username and
password for the first client you want to have
access. You’ll see that a .ovpn file will be
generated and copied to /home/pi/ovpns.
Add any other profiles you need. If you need
ISSUE 362 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | APRIL 2018
STAY ANONYMOUS ONLINE
to remove a profile, type
pivpn revoke, followed by
the profile name.
To copy the .ovpn files
off the Raspberry Pi, it’s
easiest to use SFTP. You’ll
need an FTP client – our
favourite is WinSCP
(winscp.net). Download and
install WinSCP, then in the
screen that appears when
you run it, make sure SFTP
is selected under File
protocol. Enter your
Raspberry Pi’s IP address
under Host name, make
sure the Port number is 22,
then enter your username
and password and click Login. Click Yes to add
the Raspberry Pi’s host key to the cache, to
avoid seeing the warning again. By default
you’ll be in /home/pi, so browse to the ovpns
folder and copy the .ovpn files to your PC.
The combination of the .ovpn file and its
matching username and password are what
will let you connect to your VPN, but first
you’ll need some client software. Go to tinyurl.
com/installopenvpn and download the
OpenVPN Installer. Install it, then copy your
.ovpn files to C:\Program Files\OpenVPN\
config. If you’re going to need to send these
files to other people, such as those wanting to
connect to a games server, it’s a good idea to
encrypt the files with 7-Zip (www.7-zip.org)
beforehand, in case they are intercepted in
transit. Many email services won’t let you
send an encrypted file as an attachment, so
you’ll need to host it in a file-sharing service
such as Dropbox, then send a link to the
Dropbox folder containing the encrypted
file. It’s also a good idea to send the
username and password separately from
⬅ Angry IP Scanner will
show you where your Pi
is on your network
⬇ Use the free PuTTY
tool to connect to your
Raspberry Pi remotely
the 7-Zip-encrypted .ovpn file, preferably using
an encrypted platform such as WhatsApp.
Load the OpenVPN Gui. This sits in your
System Tray, and right-clicking it will give you
the list of OpenVPN profiles you have
installed. Just click Connect to enjoy your
secure connection to your Raspberry Pi.
If you want to check the VPN is working
from outside your home network, the easiest
way is to connect through a smartphone
running in wireless hotspot mode.
We found the VPN connection let us
browse the contents of our network’s NAS,
as well as connect to a game server running
Men of War: Assault Squad 2. One issue you
may have with gaming is that the OpenVPN
server gives out IP addresses in a different
range to the rest of your network, so you
won’t be able to see the game server in a
normal game server browser. However,
entering the IP address of the PC hosting
the game worked perfectly, letting us play
LAN games over the internet without leaving
our PC wide open to attack.
109
110 APRIL 2017 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | ISSUE 362
ISSUE 362 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | APRIL 2017 111
 T
here was once a time when computer
technology made regular leaps and bounds
in terms of processing power and graphical
grunt, even if the resulting machines were
clad in uninspiring beige boxes.
Nowadays, we have powerful PCs in a
range of forms, from hulking great gaming desktops with
clever cooling to nippy smartphones and smartwatches.
But despite faster slices of silicon from processor
manufacturers Intel and AMD, computing architecture
has not changed a great deal over the past decade.
Laptops are far more capable and portable than ever
before and smartphones are pretty much pocket-sized
PCs, but the level of innovation over the past few years
has arguably slowed. Apple’s best stab at something
new has been a largely redundant touchscreen on its
MacBook Pro laptop, and the feature sets of many
smartphones are all rather similar.
However, change could be afoot as people from
hobby tinkerers to future-gazing academics are working
on projects that could catapult the world of technology
into a place once reserved for the fevered dreams of
science-fiction fans.
ABOVE:
STRANGE STORAGE
Researchers have
Data storage is not a topic to set pulses racing, but
created synthetic there are several organisations working with unusual
DNA to store data methods to find new ways to store the vast amounts
112
of information being collected or breathe new life into
seemingly archaic storage technology.
Think of scientists messing around with DNA and
you’ll likely conjure up images of people in white coats
extracting blood from an amber-clad prehistoric insect,
bringing dinosaurs back to life with the inevitable
disastrous consequences. But researchers at the
University of Washington, Seattle, in collaboration
with software giant Microsoft, have been exploring
how DNA can be used to store data.
DNA basically carries the information that decides
everything from the colour of our eyes to whether
we’ll be a Nobel Prize or Darwin Award winner, but
the researchers have discovered that it’s an equally
good vehicle for digital data.
Through using advanced biotechnology techniques
such as manipulating, sequencing and synthesising
DNA, the researchers were able to cram 200MB of
data into synthetic DNA.
Now that isn’t a lot when even throwaway USB
sticks can hold 4GB. However, that DNA-stored data
was squeezed into an area much smaller than the tip
of a pencil, so in theory digital items such as films,
which in high-definition can take up several gigabytes,
could be fitted into near microscopic objects in the
not-so-distant future.
While it might seem like high-end experimentation,
the researchers note that exploring new ways of data
APRIL 2017 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | ISSUE 362
storage will help solve the problem of how to handle the
masses of data everyone is generating thanks to
connected gadgets and the myriad of online services.
“Think of the amount of data in a big data centre
compressed into a few sugar cubes. Or all the publicly
accessible data on the internet slipped into a shoebox.
That is the promise of DNA storage once scientists are
able to scale the technology and overcome a series of
technical hurdles,” the team at the University of
Washington enthuses.
However, these researchers are not alone in messing
around with DNA.
Harvard University boffins have been working on
such storage techniques for some time. Lead researcher
George Church notes that unlike traditional optical
storage drives, where huge amounts of the world’s digital
data is archived and lasts under a decade, DNA storage
can survive for thousands upon thousands of years.
“You can drop DNA wherever you want, in the
desert or your backyard, and it will be there 400,000
years later,” Church explains.
But encoding a mere 83KB on DNA can cost around
£1,000, which is extortionately expensive for such a tiny
amount of data.
So while we may have to wait for DNA storage to
develop by some margin, there are other interesting
storage techniques that have been used to pack more
into basic storage.
ISSUE 362 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | APRIL 2017
OPTICAL EVOLUTION
Traditional optical hard disks are normally filled with
air, but hard drive specialist Western Digital’s HGST
division found that by filling drives with helium, the
spinning disk encounters less resistance and therefore
takes less power to operate, generating less heat.
Less heat and power consumption meant that
Western Digital was able to create a 10TB hard disk
“YOU CAN DROP DNA WHEREVER
YOU WANT, IN THE DESERT OR
YOUR BACKYARD, AND IT WILL BE
THERE 400,000 YEARS LATER”
drive by stacking eight optical disk platters in a
hermetically sealed unit, which in 2014 was the
largest capacity drive of its type.
Scaling up such helium drives into large racks
would exponentially reduce the cost of data storage
thanks to the reduction in energy consumption and
heat generation.
Solid-state drives may offer larger capacities – up to
ABOVE: Seagate’s
60TB from Seagate at the time of writing – but they’re 60TB SSD is the
massively expensive and not something you’re likely to highest capacity
have on your desktop any time soon, meaning clever disk of its type
113
 ways to extract more performance out of venerable
mechanical disk drives are still relevant.
While helium-filled HDDs may be noteworthy, it’s
the work IBM and Sony have been doing to breath life
into old school magnetic tape storage that will really
whet the curiosity buds.
Magnetic tape is still used in many data centres to
store vast amounts of archived information, thanks to
how stable it is for long-term storage. But extracting
data from magnetic tape isn’t exactly fast now that we
live in a world where we expect information at our
fingertips in seconds.
A technique called sputtering is used to make
magnetic tape ready to store data. It involves firing
ions to erode particles on targeted materials to create
magnetic grains, which essentially form a thin film that
sits on top of the material to create an integrated circuit.
The technique is nothing new, but Sony has
developed a tape with a higher density of magnetic
recording sites, while IBM has been working on new
magnetic heads and signal processing technology to
read data on mere nanometre-long slithers of
magnesium magnetic tape.
The end result of this procedure was that a kilometre
ABOVE: IBM’s Mark of magnetic tape, thanks to the use of a new lubricant
Lantz believes
there’s plenty of
layer developed by Sony, could be fitted into a palm-sized
life left in magnetic cartridge with the capacity for a massive 330TB of
tape storage yet uncompressed data.
114
Again, this technology is not likely to filter down to
USB and internal PC drives, but it shows that with a little
innovation, seemingly outdated technology can gain a
whole new lease of life.
As IBM scientist Mark Lantz says, “This really
demonstrates the potential to continue scaling tape
technology, basically at historical rates of doubling
the cartridge capacity every two years for at least the
next 10 years.”
TUBULAR DREAMS
Silicon chips tend to get smaller every year or so, with
more transistors squeezed on to small squares of the
material, eking out more power and efficiency.
While the well-known Moore’s Law predicted that
the number of transistors per inch on a chip will
increase every 24 months, that trend has slowed down
somewhat, as seen with some of the recent generations
of Intel’s Core i processors.
The reason for this is that chip manufacturers are
potentially starting to hit the upper limits of how many
transistors they can squeeze on to a chip without
affecting performance.
Carbon nanotube-based transistors have been
heralded as the future, despite having been under
development for some time.
Made out of carbon rolled into microscopic tubes,
nanotubes have been used to construct lightweight yet
APRIL 2017 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | ISSUE 362
strong composite materials. But it’s their extraordinary
electrical and thermal conductivity that excites the
semiconductor world.
Carbon nanotube transistors resemble silicon
transistors in that they have a source, drain and gate
that essentially govern if a transistor is on or off in a
circuit when electricity is flowing across it, which is
translated into binary zeros and ones for the digital
side of computing.
CHIP MANUFACTURERS ARE
STARTING TO HIT THE UPPER
LIMITS OF HOW MANY
TRANSISTORS THEY CAN
SQUEEZE ON TO A CHIP
However, the channels that connect the transistor
components and carry currents between them are made
out of carbon nanotubes, which allows electrical charges
to flow faster across them than silicon channels, due to
their electrical properties.
The thermal properties of carbon nanotubes make
them good at dissipating heat and theoretically allow
them to run at blisteringly fast speeds, whereas heat
generation is a bottleneck for silicon transistors.
ISSUE 362 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | APRIL 2017
This could also lead to chips that can pack in more
transistors than silicon processors, providing techniques
are developed to allow them to be made smaller than
silicon transistors.
That’s one of the hurdles carbon nanotube transistors
need to overcome before they can replace silicon.
Producing carbon nanotubes involves using a
carbon-rich gas to effectively grow them out of
metal nanoparticles. This requires the metal and the
carbon to be separated, but it’s difficult
to get pure carbon nanotubes, which
are needed as residual metal can cause
electrical shorts in circuits.
Furthermore, synthesising uniform
carbon nanotubes with the same atomic
arrangements and electrical properties can
also be a demanding challenge; only
semiconducting nanotubes are desired, not
their metal brethren.
It’s also difficult to pack carbon nanotubes accurately
on to a silicon substrate of a chip at the consistency,
density and uniformity of silicon transistors, which leads
to a bottleneck in performance.
And while carbon nanotube transistors can be smaller
and more efficient than their silicon counterparts, they
ABOVE: Carbon
still require relatively large metal source and drain nanotubes could
components, referred to as contacts in the transistor replace silicon in
circuit, which makes packing them on to a small silicon our future chips
115
 substrate a challenge. All this means carbon nanotube
transistors couldn’t outperform silicon counterparts.
Or at least, that was the case until recently.
Towards the end of 2015, IBM made a breakthrough
and produced a carbon nanotube transistor that
“THERE HAS BEEN A LOT OF HYPE ABOUT
CARBON NANOTUBES THAT HASN’T BEEN
REALISED, AND THAT HAS KIND OF
SOURED MANY PEOPLE’S OUTLOOK”
outperformed a cutting-edge silicon transistor in
electrical tests for speed and efficiency.
RESISTANCE MOVEMENT
One problem with tiny transistors is the smaller they get,
the more electrical resistance a current on a chip
encounters, thereby reducing performance. What’s
more, the connections the carbon nanotubes make with
the contacts can be imperfect and encounter further
electrical resistance.
ABOVE: The IBM overcame this by constructing contacts out
Hyperloop is
designed to travel
of molybdenum metal, which can bond directly to
at speeds of up to the end of the nanotubes. The addition of cobalt
1,200km/h allowed for the bonding process to be done at lower
116
temperatures, meaning the gap between the source and
drain contacts could be made smaller.
Scaled up, this would mean the ability to pack more
carbon nanotube transistors on a chip than silicon
versions, which in turn would pave the way for more
processing power and energy efficiency.
Dario Gil, vice-president of science and
technology at IBM Research, says: “This
breakthrough shows that computer chips
made of carbon nanotubes will be able to
power systems of the future sooner than
the industry expected.”
IBM believes it will be able to produce
five-nanometre nanotube transistors in the
near future; for reference, Intel’s most advanced silicon
transistors for PC processors sit at 10 nanometres.
To keep up with Moore’s Law, IBM has the ambition
to have commercial chips using five-nanometer carbon
nanotube transistors by 2020. That’s an ambitious
target, given carbon nanotube research has been around
for decades. But IBM is not alone in its interest in the
technology, with various universities also looking at
pushing what can be done with carbon nanotubes.
Michael Arnold, a professor at the University of
Wisconsin, who has been working on carbon nanotube
transistors, explains, “There has been a lot of hype
about carbon nanotubes that hasn’t been realised, and
that has kind of soured many people’s outlook.
APRIL 2017 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | ISSUE 362
 FEASIBILITY STUDY
To counterbalance the intriguing and oddball projects out in
the technology world, there are several trends we predict
will carry us through 2018 without surprising anyone.

AMD vs Intel
After a number of years with little competition, the processor war
between Intel and AMD is back on again, thanks to the arrival of
the latter’s Ryzen chips last year.
Intel has been hitting back with the debut of its eighth-generation
Core i CPUs, while AMD has revealed it will be pushing its Ryzen
processors into laptops in order to challenge Intel’s rather strong
position in the arena.
2018 looks to be a showdown year for the chip makers, which
should hopefully bring in more CPU innovation for the benefit of
PC users.

Smarter gadgets
Putting smart virtual assistants into all manner of products was a big
thing in 2017, and it will continue to be so for this year.
Apple’s Siri-equipped HomePod speaker is expected to deliver smart
audio wizardry into homes, and it will be competing with the Google
Home Max speaker with its Google Assistant smart credentials.
Both will have to take on Amazon’s Alexa, which has already made
its presence felt in the homes of early adopters, and can connect to a
whole host of other smart home gadgets.

4K forte
Unlike 3D TV, 4K or ultra-high definition televisions will likely grow in
popularity as the price comes down, and more video and broadcast
content is made available at high native resolutions.
At the same time, 4K gaming will start to make its presence
felt thanks to the Xbox One X and more powerful PC hardware,
making smooth gaming at 4K more achievable and affordable than
it previously was.
OLED – or in Samsung’s case, QLED – panels are likely to keep
making their presence felt in the 4K TV world over LCD panels, since
they offer better contrast and colour.

“But we think the hype is deserved. It has just taken VR and AR

decades of work for the materials science to catch up Virtual reality and augmented reality may still be a niche area of the
and allow us to effectively harness these materials.” technology world – how many people do you actually see wearing
There’s likely to be some wait before we see desktop mobile VR headsets? – but it remains a growing trend, with more
chips sporting carbon nanotube transistors, with the companies creating headsets or exploring the potential of VR and AR.
technology probably starting off in riotously expensive Microsoft has combined the two to create ‘mixed reality’, which it
chips for use in data centres and supercomputers. offers via its HoloLens headset (pictured below), as well as creating
But the technology should eventually filter down to the Windows Mixed Reality platform within Windows 10 to support
home computers and lead to a new generation of headsets from other companies.
powerful chips that could keep Moore’s Law ticking Apple’s latest iPhones, meanwhile, come with the A11 Bionic chip.
along without silicon. This has been designed to support AR capabilities, so we can expect
to see more apps that use smart camera technology to superimpose
BOLD AMBITIONS all manner of digital objects over the real world.
Carbon nanotubes might be a left-field approach to
changing the face of chips, but to find really strange
projects and ideas, you need to take a look at the visions
of technology billionaires.
Take PayPal creator turned billionaire tech
entrepreneur Elon Musk, for example; he’s already
known for his electrical car prowess with Tesla and his
atmosphere-breaking ambitions with SpaceX.
But Musk has a lengthy list of projects and ideas that
he’s attempting to realise, from trying to create a
high-speed compressed air tube transportation system
with Hyperloop and setting up OpenAI to promote the
development of friendly artificial intelligence, to creating
a ‘neural lace’ to connect human brains to computers;
Musk is a man with a lot on his plate.

ISSUE 362 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | APRIL 2017 117

 His freshest oddball project is The Boring Company,
set up to dig tunnels – very long ones – so Musk can
escape the traffic on roads above ground. The plan is
that you’d turn up at the tunnel entrance, drive your car
on to an electric sled and this would whizz you through
the tunnel at 125mph.
The latest on this far-flung ambition is that Musk
has apparently had verbal approval to dig a tunnel
between New York and Washington, which would
make use of the vacuum tube Hyperloop technology,
currently being left to other companies to develop as an
open-source concept and design.
While Musk appears to be bringing some of his ideas
close to prototyping, it would be fair to approach them
with a degree of scepticism.
For a far-fetched idea that is taking shape, one has to
look at Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook and its ambitions to
connect areas out of the reach of traditional broadband
with a fleet of Wi-Fi dropping drones.
Dubbed Project Aquila, Zuckerberg and his crew have
created a solar-powered unmanned aircraft that can
beam down wireless internet connectivity from 50,000
to 90,000ft in the air to cover an area of 50 miles.
Constructed out of carbon fibre composite, the drone
ABOVE: Project is lightweight, despite its wingspan measuring more than
Aquila aims to
provide Wi-Fi
a Boeing 737, and has thus far completed two successful
connectivity from test flights. But Zuckerberg wants more than a single
unmanned drones Wi-Fi beaming drone.
118
“We still have a lot of work to do,” he says.
“Eventually, our goal is to have a fleet of Aquilas
flying together at 60,000 feet, communicating with each
other with lasers and staying aloft for months at a time
– something that’s never been done before.”
Having drones in the sky for months at a time and
accurately firing lasers between them at tiny moving
receivers more than 11 miles apart, is one demanding
technology and engineering goal.
But if Facebook succeeds it could open up the
internet to vast swathes of people who’ve previously
been unconnected or live in areas that have shoddy
connections. With the power the internet can have on
politics, business and society, Project Aquila could have a
huge impact for millions of people around the world.
WHAT THE ROBOT BUTLER SAW
Advancements in robot and artificial intelligence (AI)
technology have already led to picking bots in Ocado
warehouses and the Google Assistant in the latest
Android smartphones, but some more innovative
versions are on the horizon.
During a recent visit to Nvidia’s GTC 2017 conference
in Munich, we were pleasantly surprised to see several
robots on the show floor, including the smart humanoid
robot Pepper, which can read human emotions and work
as a receptionist. But the most intriguing aspect was how
Nvidia itself is fuelling the rise of the machines.
APRIL 2017 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | ISSUE 362
 The graphics card giant has produced the Jetson TX2,
a compact development kit with all the hardware and
software tools for setting up and running AI systems in a
plethora of autonomous creations, from search and
rescue drones to humanoid automatons.
Designed to be a lot more powerful than the
Raspberry Pi and to handle complex AI algorithms,
Jetson is a powerful hardware package, but it’s still
within the reach of fresh startups and enthusiastic
hobbyists looking to create new generations of
smart robots.
Nvidia hasn’t stopped there. It also has Isaac, a
virtual simulator for training AIs at speed before they’re
popped into Jetson units and put into robots.
It’s an intriguing concept, given how robots have
traditionally been programmed to do specific tasks
rather than trained to figure those tasks out.
But for various droids to get smart, they need to use
machine learning and that takes a lot of trial and error.
So the Isaac simulator offers a way to do that without
risking damage to the robot, property or people.
“We need to create an alternate universe,” says
Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang, noting how Isaac
uses the Unreal Engine 4 to create realistic environments
in which robot AIs can learn.
“We would simulate in this environment and run it on
top of any Nvidia GPUs, and inside that computer is a
virtual brain and when we’re done [with training] it, we
ISSUE 362 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | APRIL 2017
literally take that virtual brain and put it into a real robot.
And this robot wakes up almost as if it was born to know
this world, and the last bit of domain adaptation it does
is done in the physical world.”
Such trained robots are likely to crop up in all
manner of industries, but Nvidia’s tech could lead to
more robotic enthusiasts creating smart robots for a
wide range of uses. Suddenly, the futuristic idea of a
customised robot butler doesn’t seem so far-fetched.
“WE LITERALLY TAKE THAT VIRTUAL
BRAIN AND PUT IT INTO A REAL
ROBOT. AND THIS ROBOT WAKES UP
ALMOST AS IF IT WAS BORN TO
KNOW THIS WORLD”
Technology is now such an intrinsic part of everyday
life that it’s becoming hard to get excited about it;
smartphones with bigger displays and slimmer laptops
are great, but hardly inspiring.
However, this crop of technology research projects
and the sheer ambitions of the people behind them
ABOVE: Robots
show there’s still a good deal going on that can fire up such as Nvidia’s
the brain’s intrigue receptors, even if some of the Pepper (above left)
concepts push the limits of plausibility. are on the march
119
 Business Help
If you have database, office application or macro issues,
Kay Ewbank is here to help
Send your problems to businesshelp@computershopper.co.uk
Values judgment
I’ve got an Access database where I want
the values a user has entered in various
controls, including a combo box, to be
used to populate controls in a second
form when it is opened from the first.
I’ve been trying various ways to get
this working, so far without success.
What’s the best way to go about it?
I’m using Access 2010.
John Symonds
There are several ways to go about it. If
your first form stays open, then you can
reference any control on it, and pass data
back to the calling form, using code along
the following lines in the Load() event of the
second form to be opened. This example
assumes that you want to take the value in
the control named cbCourse in the calling
form, and put it into the control named
txtCourse in the second form:
Private Sub Form_Load()
Set frmPrev = Screen.ActiveForm
Me.txtCourse.value = frmPrev.
cbCourse.value
End Sub
If your main form is going to be closed
when the form to which the data is being
passed is opened, you need to use a slightly
different technique, that of the OpenArgs
argument of the OpenForm method of the
DoCmd object.
If you’re only wanting to pass one value
from form one to form two, you’d write
something like:
DoCmd.OpenForm "myFormTwo", acNormal,
, , , , Me.cbCourse.Value
This would need to go into the onclick event
of a command button on the main form.
As you’re using Access 2010, the way to do
this is to click the button icon with the four
crosses, and when you’re offered the choices
for what you want the button to do, click
Cancel. Then right-click on the button,
choose Build Event, then choose Code
Builder. This will get you into an empty
procedure in the VBA editor, where you can
enter the DoCmd code as shown above.
122
Then in the Form.Load method of form two,
you’d have code like this:
Sub Form_Load(Cancel As Integer)
Dim strOpenArgs() As String
If Not IsNull(Me.OpenArgs) Then
Me.txtCourse.value=strOpenArgs
End If
End Sub
You can view and enter code in the Form_
Load event by right-clicking the box at the top
left of the form, and choosing Form Properties.
In the dialog that appears, choose Events, and
in the Form_Load event, click the three arrows
at the right to enter the VBA editor.
Where things get trickier is if you want to
pass more than one value across. In the first
technique where you leave the first form open,
it’s easy; you just add more lines to the
subroutine, so you might have:
Private Sub Form_Load()
Set frmPrev = Screen.ActiveForm
Me.txtCourse = frmPrev.cbCourse.value
Me.txtCourseLocation = frmPrev.
txtCourseLocation.value
Me.dtCourseDate = frmPrev.
dtCourseDate.Value
End Sub
And so on, for as many items as you want
to pass across.
If the first form needs to be closed,
however, then you need to put all the values
to be passed into a single string to be passed
⬅ You can pass values between
forms in Access using OpenArgs
across, with delimiters between
the values, then make use of the
Split() function to split the data
items back into separate values.
So what you’d do is to put
together a string using code
such as:
strValstoPass= Me.
cbCourse.Value & ";" Me.
txtCourseLocation.Value &
";" & me.dtCourseDate.Value
DoCmd.OpenForm "myFormTwo",
acNormal, , , , , strValstoPass
This opens the form myFormTwo and
passes the text held in the string variable
strValstoPass. Then in the Open event of
myFormTwo, you’d have code like this:
Dim strOpenArgs() As String
If Not IsNull(Me.OpenArgs) Then
strOpenArgs = Split(Me.OpenArgs,
";")
Me.txtCourse = strOpenArgs(0)
Me.txtCourseLocation =
strOpenArgs(1)
Me.dtCourseDate= strOpenArgs(2)
Else
Me.txtOtherInfo = "Unknown"
End If
This code uses the Split function to split
the text back into separate parts. Split
returns a zero-based, one-dimensional array
containing a number of substrings. Each
element in the array holds the part of the
text that was assembled in strValstoPass in
the calling form, so StrOpenArgs(0) holds
the first piece of text that was placed in the
string, and so on. The code above also
checks whether OpenArgs has been passed
in with an empty string using IsNull. If it isn’t
null, then there are values to be split. If it is
null, then a separate control on the form
called txtOtherInfo is set to Unknown so
that the user knows there wasn’t anything
in the calling form for the fields that are
usually passed between the two.
APRIL 2018 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | ISSUE 362
 BUSINESS HELP

Autocomplete control Numbers

I’ve been using Outlook for quite
a while now, and over the years
I’ve entered a number of email
addresses incorrectly. My
problem is that when I start
typing some email addresses, it
autocompletes the entry with
the wrong address. This is very
frustrating as I don’t always
notice, and then the email
bounces. Is there a way to ⬆ You can prevent Outlook making suggestions for the
delete this incorrect information? email address you’re attempting to enter
It must be stored in a cache
somewhere, but I can’t find it.
Alan Anderson
It’s easy to delete a single item from the
autocomplete list; all you need to do is
highlight the item when it is suggested. In
older versions of Outlook you can get to
the incorrect entry using the arrow keys,
then remove it from the suggestions list
by pressing the Delete key. If you’re using
Outlook 2010 onwards, the way to delete
an entry is to keep entering characters to
narrow down the list of matches until you
get to the point where there’s only the
one you want to get rid of, then click the
‘x’ symbol on the right of the box.
If you don’t want autocorrect entries
to be created, you can stop it happening
from the File menu. Choose Options, Mail,
and in the Send Messages area, take the
tick mark out of the box labelled ‘Use
Auto-Complete List to suggest names
when typing in the To, Cc, and Bcc lines’.
You can also clear the whole of the
current list of autocomplete suggestions
by clicking on the button labelled ‘Empty
Auto-Complete List’.
If you’re using an older version of
Outlook, these choices aren’t available.
Instead, you need to do a file search using
Windows, and look for and delete files
that are called *.nk2. They’ll be stored in
C:\ Users\UserName\AppData\Roaming\
Microsoft\Outlook, where UserName is
replaced by your username.
You can either delete the .NK2 file that
has the name of the profile that you want
to reset, or right-click on it, select Rename,
and give it a name such as Yourname.bak,
where Yourname is your username.
in the red
I have a long Word 2010 document that has
numbers scattered throughout it. I’d like to
format the document so that all the numbers are
formatted to be red. Is there a way to do this?
Barbara Murphy
You can do a find and replace operation in Word to
find digits, though note that if your numbers are in
a particular layout with other characters such as
decimal points, thousand separators, slashes
between the parts of dates or anything else, then
the intermediate characters won’t have their colours
changed. However, so long as this isn’t a problem,
you should be able to get the effect you want using
a find and replace such as this:
Find = ^#
Replace = ^&
You’d need to set the colour (and any other
formatting) in the Replace area. To do this, click on
the More button in the Find and Replace dialog,
then click on the Format button. In the further
dialog that appears, set the font colour to red.
The rather cryptic-looking Find and Replace
entries simple mean find any digit. The Replace
entry is even more generally useful. It means
replace the value being searched for with the
contents of the Find What box. This might not
sound particularly useful, but when you then add
elements such as formatting, it gets the effect
you’re attempting.

Axis to grind You can get more sophisticated in what you’re

looking for if you need to replace digits in a
particular pattern. For example, if your numbers
I have a graph in Excel 2010 where the data goes above and below the horizontal axis are actually dates, then you could search for the
labels, meaning the axis labels are partially obscured by the data bars. I’ve tried to pattern two digits, slash, two digits, slash, two
move the labels to an area where there are no data bars, but I can’t make it work. If I digits (as in 15/02/18).
hover over the labels, I get a box with a four-way set of arrows that look like I should To do this, you’d enter ‘Find What’ text of:
be able to click and drag the labels, but when I try to move them, nothing happens.
Martin Sunter ^#^#/^#^#/^#^#

You need to select Chart Tools from the Excel ribbon, There are other ‘clever’ ways to specify what to
then click on Format to get the right menu showing. Next, look for. If you enclose values in square brackets,
click on the horizontal axis. This will activate the label that tells Word you’re looking for ranges of
area. You can then right-click on the border of the label characters, so:
area. A drop-down menu will be displayed. Click the
drop-down arrow next to Axis labels on the Axis options [hop]
tab, and set the position to Low. You should find the labels
are moved to the bottom of the chart. If you choose would look for any of the letters h, o or p;
High, they’ll be moved to the top. Hopefully, one of these
choices should result in your labels being more readable. [A-H]
⬆ You can alter the position axis You can also move your axis as well as the labels – it
labels appear in Excel charts doesn’t have to sit at zero. Click on the vertical axis rather would find any of the upper-case letters A to H;
than the horizontal one, choose Format Axis, then Axis
Options. Set the option for Horizontal axis crosses to a value lower than your lowest data [0-9]
value if you want it to cross below the chart, or maximum axis value to have it at the top.
If you’re having problems selecting one or other of the axes when clicking in the chart, can be used to find a single digit, while:
there is an alternative way to select the various parts of the chart from the menu. If you
look at the left-hand side of the Chart, Format ribbon, you’ll see an entry named Current [2579]
Selection, and at the top of this group in the ribbon is a drop-down selector. It shows the
currently selected option, but you can drop down the arrow to see the other things in the Would find any single digit that’s a 2, 5, 7 or 9.
chart that you can select and edit, including both the horizontal and vertical axes.

ISSUE 362 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | APRIL 2018 123

 Help
Helpfile
Whatever your general PC, hardware and software
woes, Simon Handby is here to help
Send your problems to help@computershopper.co.uk
Backup plan?
I’ve got a Windows 10 mini PC that is
mostly used for streaming Netflix and
iPlayer content to the TV in our lounge.
I was backing this up to our network-
attached storage (NAS) drive with
Acronis True Image 2014, but I found that
the backups weren’t particularly reliable,
and that Acronis kept preventing the PC
from shutting down properly. In the end I
got annoyed and uninstalled it, but I
should probably have worked out an
alternative backup strategy first. Is there
anything decent in Windows 10, or should
I shell out for some new backup software?
Jake Fuller
To some extent the answer depends on
what else you use the PC for. If it’s mainly
just a media centre, you could probably
make do with creating a Windows system
image, then use Windows File History to
keep any personal data backed up. If you’ve
installed lots of other software, particularly
applications that don’t save their data in
Windows’ Libraries, you may need to buy a
more complete solution.
Assuming the former, you first need
to create a system image if you haven’t
already. From the Start menu, search for and
open Control Panel, then open Back up and
Annoying Windows updates
Earlier today I was puzzling over why my
internet connection seemed so slow on my
Windows 10 PC, when I found it was
downloading huge Windows Updates in the
background. I know it needs to stay up to
date, but isn’t it meant to reserve
downloads for times when they won’t
interfere with what the user is trying to do?
I asked friends for help, and one sent me
a screenshot of bandwidth options that
would help. He says these are found
under Advanced options in the Windows
Update part of the Settings app. Apparently
I should choose Delivery optimisation, then
Advanced options, but instead I get Choose
how updates are delivered, and nothing that
looks like these options. What’s going on?
Andy Buchanan
124
⬆ Turning on system protection creates useful
restore points before major system events
Restore (Windows 7). In the left-hand pane
click Create a system image, then browse to
the share or folder you’ll use to save it on your
NAS, provide your login credentials and click
OK. Once the location is validated, click Next,
check that you’re including the necessary
drives in your backup, then click Next again,
review the information and start the backup.
Your friend’s suggestion is a good one, but
he’s describing options that have only been
introduced in the very latest version of
Windows 10. Click the Start button, type
winver then hit Enter: you won’t see the
bandwidth options unless you have version
1709 of Windows 10 or later.
Our experience is that although Windows
Update usually works well for the monthly
While this is under way, return to the
Control Panel and select File History. Click
Select a network location, then on the next
screen click Add network location and
navigate again to the correct share or folder
on your NAS. Once selected, click OK to
return to the File History applet and click
Turn on. You can use the Advanced Settings
link in the left-hand pane to tweak how
often Windows saves your files, and for
how long it should keep them.
You should now have what you need
to recover personal files and reinstall your
PC if a major problem stops it booting.
Doing so will prove easier if you also
choose when prompted to make a system
repair disc, but alternatively you can
download and create Windows 10
installation media when you need it.
Finally, we’d recommend turning on
system protection, which can offer
invaluable protection against potentially
serious problems such as a stuck Windows
upgrade. Search for system restore in the
Start menu, select Create a restore point,
then select the disk for which you want
to enable it and click Configure. Now
select the Turn on system protection
radio button, then adjust the disk space
slider if necessary and click OK.
⬅ Windows 10 isn’t great at keeping you on
the latest feature release; you can force the
issue by running the Update Assistant
patches, Windows 10 doesn’t handle
feature upgrades in a particularly
reliable way: it’s easy to find yourself
one or more versions behind. If this is
the case for you, visit www.microsoft.
com/en-gb/software-download/windows10
and either use the Update now button to
update, or – if you have multiple PCs to
upgrade – use the media creation tool to
create Windows 10 media. Either way,
update the relevant PC, electing if prompted
to keep all your files and apps. Once the
update is complete, you’ll find the bandwidth
options your friend described.
APRIL 2018 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | ISSUE 362

Is my smart home safe?
I’m increasingly interested in smart home
gadgets to control things such as lighting
and heating. I’ve read a lot about the
various risks that might be involved in
installing them, though, and I’m concerned
that by opening up our home to the Internet
of Things (IoT), I might also be making it
vulnerable to the internet of scumbags.
By installing smart controls, am I dependent
on the manufacturers to make sure they’re
secure? Could hackers use them as a
staging point to get into my home network?
Rich Markham
It’s impossible for any connected home to be
entirely safe. Even a very simple setup has
vulnerabilities, and to some extent you are
at the mercy of third parties such as your ISP
or the manufacturers of your computers,
routers and smart devices. When it comes
to network hardware, the two golden rules
are to change any default passwords and to
ensure that you apply the latest firmware.
It’s also a good idea to use unique passwords,
particularly for cloud services.
Depending on your network setup and
smart devices, you could do more. If you’re
adding wireless smart devices that access the
internet via your own wireless network,
consider connecting them to your router’s
guest network. Guest devices usually get
internet access but can’t talk to computers on
your regular network, so by segregating IoT
Sharing Fire content
You already helped me restrict the age
range for my young son’s profile on our
Amazon Fire 7 Kids Edition tablet
(Helpfile, Shopper 361), but we’ve run into
a couple of other issues. My wife has an
Amazon Prime subscription which comes
with several good kids’ films, and we’ve
used her account to buy a few extra films
for the kids to watch on the family PC.
Unfortunately, without thinking about it, I
registered the Fire 7 to my own Amazon
account, and now I can’t work out if we
can make my wife’s content available for
our children to view on the tablet.
The other thing we’d like to achieve is
basically the same in reverse: how do we
view videos that come with the Amazon
Fire For Kids Unlimited bundle on the PC?
Connor Fitton
Children can view content from their Fire
For Kids subscription on any registered Fire
device, but unfortunately there’s no Fire
software for the PC; to view the kids’ content
on your TV you’d need to buy a Fire TV.
It is possible to share your content with
your kids, however. The best way is to
ISSUE 362 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | APRIL 2018
devices in this way, you’ll limit the potential
damage should any of them be compromised.
This trick won’t work if you’re installing
devices that need a wired connection, such as
a heating control system with a proprietary
internet bridge (for example, a Tado) or an IP
camera using power over Ethernet (PoE). In
this case you can create more advanced
segregation, but you’ll need a managed switch
that supports virtual local area networks
(VLANs), such as TP-Link’s SG-108E, or the
SG-108PE if you also need PoE.
Using VLANs can quickly complicate your
home network, so it’s not something we’d
recommend unless you’re set on achieving the
best security. Managed switches vary, but in a
simple example you would connect all of your
wired equipment to the switch, preferably
create an Amazon Household,
which lets an adult with
Amazon Prime share some of
its benefits with another adult
and up to four children. In your
case this means you’ll benefit
from Prime features such as
Prime Video and free next-day
delivery, and your wife will
be able to share suitable
content with your children. One
potential downside is that both
adults must agree to share their
Amazon payment methods.
To set it up, log into Amazon
from a PC, go to Your Account,
and in the Shopping ⬆ Use care when adding
programmes section select videos manually
Amazon Household. Under
Manage your Household members on the left,
click Add an Adult, and when prompted hand
over the computer to your wife. After she
signs in, you’ll both be prompted to agree to
sharing various Amazon services and payment
methods. With this done, click Create Household,
select which content types you want to share,
then click Create Your Family Library.
HELPFILE
⬅ A managed switch lets you segregate
devices into two or more virtual networks
grouping your IoT devices into
neighbouring ports. The next step
would be to create a new 802.1Q
VLAN and add – as untagged ports
– the ports to which your IoT
devices and router are connected.
Finally, you’d need to assign the IoT
ports a port VLAN ID (PVID)
matching the new VLAN, which will
have the effect of confining their
local network traffic to the VLAN
only. It’s important not to do this step
for the port the router is plugged into as well,
otherwise you’ll also confine the router to the
new VLAN and prevent your other wired
devices accessing the internet.
Unfortunately, if your ISP router is also
your wireless access point, any compromised
IoT devices would still be able to access other
devices on the network. To segregate these off
you’d need to disable your ISP router’s Wi-Fi
and use a second wireless router, plugged into
one of the non-IoT ports on the managed
switch. In even more involved setups, you can
create multiple VLANs or extend VLANs over
more than one managed switch. However, by
complicating a network, particularly if you
don’t fully understand what you’re doing, you
may introduce more serious risks than the
ones you were originally trying to tackle.
If you haven’t already, set
up a profile on the Fire 7 for
your wife. After she registers
the Fire to her account, she’ll
be able to use her profile to
share content with the
children. Do this by swiping
down from the top of the
screen and tapping the
Settings icon, tapping Profiles
& Family Library, then
selecting one of the
children’s profiles. Tap Add
Content, select Add Books,
Videos and Apps, then either
use the Kid-Friendly tab to
add all age-appropriate kids’
titles, or tap Videos and
manually select everything
you want to share with that child. Use care
here: it’s easy to share unsuitable content
accidentally. Tap done when you’re finished
and repeat the process for your second
child. You can double-check that each child
is seeing only appropriate content by
logging into their profile and reviewing
what’s available on the Videos page.
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 Advanced
Projects
Clive Webster has been tinkering with computers ever since
Windows 98 forced him to manually install his drivers
clive@computershopper.co.uk

Use AI and bots

to make life easier
There are plenty of apps and services that use AI to automate
tasks or suggest new possibilities, and none of them threatens
our existence. Clive Webster takes you bot-hunting
WHILE HOLLYWOOD REMINDS us of the folly and risks of relying too much on AI, there’s no
doubting the usefulness of tools that automate tedious and monotonous tasks. From scheduling
jobs more efficiently to just choosing an interesting meal to cook in the evening, bots and AI can
help us achieve what we need to and leave us with more time for the human things in life.
We’ll take you through some of the more useful and practical AI apps and services currently
available, as well as some of the more silly and entertaining ones.

126 APRIL 2018 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | ISSUE 362


WHILE WE’RE WAITING for SkyNet to
launch (or is it Genisys now?) we may as well
use ‘bots’ and AI services to make life a bit
easier or more interesting. A bot is a piece of
software built to automate a specific task
(especially a conversation, hence ‘chatbot’),
while AI is a process that analyses inputs and
data to predict trends and future events.
However, there are bots that use AI to be
(hopefully) more useful. Alexa and Siri are
good examples of bots that use AI to enhance
their fairly simple ‘tell me what to do’
function. Perhaps the clearest distinction
is that bots typically require human
interaction, while AI can work independently,
but that’s a pretty loose concept.
Futurenda (free, iOS, Android and web, see
www.futurenda.com) is an app that aims to
automatically schedule all the tasks in your
life; there’s also a web app to keep track of
yourself when you’re at your desk or on a
laptop. Once you’ve installed the app and
signed up for an account, start adding all your
jobs and tasks by tapping the big orange Plus
button. You’ll need to name the tasks, assign
them to a category and estimate how long
each job will take you. We found it useful to
use the deadlines function to add certain
tasks that are time-sensitive. For example, you
might want to work on a big project for a
couple of days, but it would be nice to eat
during those days. We therefore set the task
‘Make dinner’ to last an hour and have a
deadline of 6.30pm on those work days.
It’s worth looking through the settings
menu (top-left) of Futurenda as it’s a little
US-centric. For example, the week starts on
Sundays by default, and your active day
stretches from 8am to 10pm, when 9am to
9pm would be far more civilised. You can
shuffle your tasks if you get bored, or pause
the current task if you’ve lost momentum
ISSUE 362 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | APRIL 2018
ADVANCED PROJECTS
➡ Use Futurenda to organise your
day and week automatically
altogether. After you’ve used
Futurenda for a while, you can
call up the Analysis report
through the settings menu to
see where all your time has gone.
WHAT A TO-DO
While Futurenda looks pretty
smart and claims to use AI, it’s
really just a bot (at least by our
ropey definition). Todoist (free,
all systems, see en.todoist.com)
aims to be a little smarter by
predicting recurring events and
automatically booking them into
your schedule. However, as the
name implies, Todoist is more of
a to-do list than an organiser.
Download the app, sign up for an
account and add some tasks.
Hopefully, with enough inputs of
recurring events, Todoist will
automatically put that reminder
in your Today and Next 7 Days
lists. By our definition, that’s AI
at work. Unfortunately, many of
Todoist’s more useful features,
such as reminders and filters, are
only available on the premium
service, which costs $29 a year.
If you’re struggling for
organisation, perhaps you’re also
struggling for focus. SoundR
(www.soundr.fr/en) aims to serve
music depending on your mood, but you first on the main screen; blue bubbles are
have to tell the app how you’re feeling. It’s activities, red genres and yellow emotions.
reassuring that our phones can’t detect The bubbles include some obvious
emotions yet; the mechanism for selecting categories such as rock, reggae and hip-hop,
your mood is to tap the corresponding bubble but also some confusing ones and others that
are downright odd. We saw blue
(activity) bubbles for ‘Smoke’
and ‘Escape’, while ‘Trap’ is
apparently a genre. Obviously
we tapped ‘Escape’, and after
confirming that ‘I feel Escape’ a
selection of new bubbles
appeared, each with its own
‘Escape’ playlist. You can tap
multiple bubbles to create
playlists for ‘Funk Run’ or
‘Smoke Twerk’ or even ‘Excited
Dream Rock’. Music is streamed
without ads, so even if many of
the playlists are only four or five
tracks long, you may find
something worth listening to.
SMART WORKING
Being able to concentrate on
your work is one thing, but how
about making that work itself
easier and quicker to complete?
⬅ Spext can automatically
transcribe an hour of audio
recording in a couple of minutes
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 ADVANCED PROJECTS
⬆ Todoist will automatically add recurring to-dos to your future lists
The Linkify Text plug-in for WordPress (free,
see tinyurl.com/linkify-text) automatically
hyperlinks certain phrases and words,
allowing you to type rather than fiddle with
HTML. The catch is that Linkify Text is a
fairly dumb bot: you have to set up the list of
words and phrases, and their attendant
hyperlinks. If your blog is fairly focused or
specialist, Linkify Text could save you loads
of time; if you’re more scatter-gun in your
topics and discussion, then give it a miss.
LET’S TALK ABOUT SPEXT
Anyone dealing with transcriptions of
interviews or meetings should give Spext a
look (see www.spext.co). This online service
automatically transcribes audio at blistering
speeds with a reported 80-85% accuracy, and
spans more than 50 languages and accents.
You can try it for free by signing up, but that
will only transcribe the first four minutes of
up to four files. After that, Spext costs $0.25
per minute of audio or a monthly fee of $14
for 120 minutes or $24 for 240 minutes.
128
Uploading a file is straightforward: click
the Upload a file button, find your file, name
the output and tell Spext which language to
use (UK English is supported, as well as US).
The files are added to your queue, and while
you’ll probably have to wait a while for them
Insomnobot3000 is an SMS-based bot that you can
chat with when you can’t sleep. It was created and is
maintained by Casper, the mattress company
to upload, we found the transcription rate was
roughly half an hour of audio per minute.
Once a transcription is completed, you’re
taken to a web-based text editor, where you
can play the recording while reading the
automatically transcribed text. The playback
can be slowed to give you extra time to type
or correct errors, and the corresponding text
is automatically highlighted too.
However, our test files had chunks of
conversation missing from the transcription
(potentially because the speaker’s accent
was too strong). Spext also doesn’t cope
well with two people talking at once. That
makes Spext more useful for fairly formal
interviews, but the ability to get a basic
transcription to work from in a matter of
minutes makes it worth trying at least.
SMARTER SOCIAL MEDIA
If you use social media for work (or are just
obsessive about getting the most likes,
shares and retweets possible), a social
media management tool will help space out
APRIL 2018 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | ISSUE 362

tweets, messages and posts so they have a
better chance of being seen and read.
Buffer (free for personal use, iOS, Android
and web, buffer.com) is perhaps the most
useful for small organisations or individuals,
as it’s free, simple and lets you gather up
to three social media accounts together.
You’re allowed to queue (or ‘buffer’) up to
10 messages. The free account supports
Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, GooglePlus and
Instagram; Pinterest support only comes
with the Awesome account ($10 a month)
and above. The Awesome account also
lets you link up to 10 social accounts
(allowing all employees to tweet certain
news at certain times, for example) and
buffer up to 100 messages.
You sign up to Buffer using your Twitter,
Facebook or LinkedIn account, or else by
email. Open the app, sign in and you’ll be told
that ‘your buffer is empty’ – tap the Compose
an Update button and you’ll be asked whether
to install the Buffer button on your device.
Tap Enable to add this handy shortcut to your
ISSUE 362 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | APRIL 2018
⬅ Select music playlists
based on your mood
or current activity
with SoundR
other apps. Once the Buffer Button has been
set up, Buffer will automatically create a
‘Whoop! You’ve installed Buffer…’ message
for you to share; we deleted that message,
and then tapped All Done.
To schedule a message, tap Compose an
Update, and type your message; you can add
other social media accounts by tapping the
plus button at the top-left. Once your
message is written, tap Done and you’ll see
two options in the lower-right corner: Share
Now and Buffer. The first option is obvious;
the latter adds the message to your Buffer.
To change the schedule of the messages
in your Buffer, tap the menu button (the
downward arrow) of the message and select
Switch to Custom Time from the lengthy list
of options. You can then schedule the date
and time manually. If you don’t set a time,
Buffer will automatically schedule your
message for you, according to when it
thinks you’re likely to get the best response
(Buffer is a bot that uses AI). However, Buffer
can’t tell whether the content of a message is
ADVANCED PROJECTS
⬅ ⬇ Use a social media
manager to schedule
your messages for
maximum visibility
time-sensitive (its AI isn’t that advanced), so
announcements and breaking news posts
need some human attention.
BOTS TO HELP YOU RELAX
There are some strange bots to help you
unwind: the US-centric Insomnobot3000
(see insomnobot3000.com) is an SMS-based
bot that you can chat with when you can’t
sleep. It uses a US phone number, so we’re
not sure what the charge is. It should also be
noted that the bot was created and is
maintained by Casper, the mattress company.
Equally, Cleverbot (see www.cleverbot.com)
aims to give you something to have a typical
chat with. But let’s just say our experience
was less than convincing.
Also categorised under ‘interesting, but
not quite right’ are most of the ‘procedurally
generated’ games that have been released
over the years. Normal games usually have a
large team of level designers who plan how
each game area is constructed and how it
looks to ensure the player has fun, is never
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 ADVANCED PROJECTS

We all have to eat and

drink. But in this world of
abdicated responsibility,
we want to be told what
that ought to be
trapped, has at least a possibility of
completing the level, and so on. Procedurally
generated games chuck that principle out of
the window and instead create their scenery,
characters, objects, quests and so on
according to an algorithm – an AI, if you like.
Maxis’ 2010 God-sim Spore (see www.spore.
com) not only created the game procedurally,
but Brian Eno coded the soundtrack to be
created procedurally.
Spore received a decent critical reception,
unlike the much-hyped No Man’s Sky (see
www.nomanssky.com) from UK developer Hello
Games. This 16-person team managed to
deliver a game that looks just as good as
the largest of game studios can manage by
using procedural generation extensively.
However, while No Man’s Sky could generate
a galaxy’s worth of different worlds to explore,
the reliance on procedural generation meant
the variety of tasks was lacking. As Jake
Swearington of New York Magazine said, “You
can procedurally generate 18.4 quintillion
unique planets, but you can’t procedurally
generate 18.4 quintillion unique things to do.”
You can think of No Man’s Sky as like a
modern housing estate: once you’ve seen
Floor Plan A mixed with Exterior Finish 4
and Window Style iii you don’t have to look
inside every house on the street to know
what you’re buying.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

Finally, we all have to eat and drink. But in
this world of abdicated responsibility, we
obviously want to be told what that ought to
be rather than tax our modern minds. Head
to makemeacocktail.com/mybar and enter
booze and mixers you currently have,
including that last bit of sherry Aunt Agatha
didn’t finish off over Christmas, and the bottle
of Unpronouncable at the back of the cabinet.
Once you’ve stocked the right-most column
with all your ingredients, click Make me a
cocktail and the site will produce some
recipes. You’ll have to build your own Mixobot
to actually make the drink, however.
With aperitif in hand, you can head to random cocktails based on recipes a bot ⬆ There are online bots to suggest recipes for
www.supercook.com/#/recipes to have another told you, you may wish to diagnose an ailment cocktails and meals, and even diagnose illnesses
bot give a selection of recipes based on what or illness. Possibly the morning after. While
food is left in your house. Again, you select many people use WebMD (see www.webmd. NEXT MONTH
your ingredients from the list on the left, and com) to ‘help’ their GP, you can now go one
you can then select the kind of meal you’re further and have the MedWhat bot replace MAKE A THERMAL CAMERA
looking for – or the main ingredient – from the GP altogether (see medwhat.com). Thermal cameras used to cost thousands;
the options in the main area of the screen. MedWhat is currently being developed as now you can make them in an evening
Completely unrelated to cooking random an API (a backend) that could be integrated for under £100. We show you how
meals from the internet while drinking into a GP’s booking system.

130 APRIL 2018 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | ISSUE 362

Multimedia
Expert
Photographer, musician, sound engineer, designer and video
producer Ben Pitt guides you through a multimedia project
ben@computershopper.co.uk

Lightroom CC
and the future of
Raw processing
Adobe Lightroom is moving to the cloud. Ben Pitt
explains what this means for your Raw workflow

ISSUE 362 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | APRIL 2018 131

 MULTIMEDIA EXPERT
LIGHTROOM HAS BEEN the market leader
for photo library management and Raw
processing since its launch in 2007. It took the
Raw engine from Photoshop and wrapped it
in an interface that was keenly focused on a
photographer’s workflow. Its image-processing
quality is outstanding, it has the most
comprehensive support for cameras’ Raw files,
and its fully non-destructive workflow avoids
unnecessary complications. Available as a
standalone purchase for £100 or bundled with
Photoshop CC as the Creative Cloud
Photography Plan for £119 per year, Adobe
had the market pretty much sewn up.
In October 2017, Adobe announced a
brand new application called Lightroom CC.
This includes virtually the same core Raw-
processing engine as previous versions but
removes or simplifies most other features,
moves image storage to the cloud and
introduces an AI-powered search facility.
The old app, which was also called
Lightroom CC, is still available and has
been renamed Lightroom Classic. Both are
available only as subscriptions.
This immediately rang alarm bells. Is the
cloud a suitable place to be uploading and
managing terabytes of photos and videos?
132
⬆ The new search facility is extremely impressive,
and does away with manually adding keywords
Why does the new software have fewer
features than its predecessor?
Then there’s the thorny issue of rented
software. We have some sympathy for
developers who want a reliable income, but
we don’t fancy paying indefinitely for software
we may one day grow out of but still need
occasional access to. Photo-management
software sits at the heart of a photographer’s
workflow, and so choosing one over its
competitors is likely to be a long-term
commitment. With a Lightroom subscription,
this is a commitment that will cost you every
month until you decide you don’t need to
access those images any more.
In summary, this new software had better
be good.
MEET THE NEW LIGHTROOM CC
OK, so it’s good. We regularly flit between
desktop, laptop, iPad and Android phone,
and being able to browse, manage and edit
all of our photos on any of these devices is a
revelation. You can start star-rating and
editing on a laptop during a trip, pick up
where you left off on a dual-monitor desktop
computer, check them on the sofa on a tablet,
show them to a friend on your phone. It makes
perfect sense.
The app is available for Windows 10 and
macOS X 10.11 or later, and can be installed on
two computers. Its core functions are also
available via a web browser. Various editing
features are omitted from the web version,
such as tone curve editing, noise reduction,
sharpening, brushes and gradient filters, but
it can still perform most colour-based edits
and cropping. The web interface includes
library-management tools, which are similar
but not identical to the Windows app’s.
The All Photos view is arranged by date, but
there’s no option to browse using a tree view
structure of years, months and days.
The web interface has one extra feature of
its own: the ability to share groups of photos
via a web link. The resulting web albums are
smartly presented and include options to
allow downloads at full resolution, and to
include shooting metadata and location data.
Presumably the same function will be added
to the Windows and Mac apps before long.
The other photo-management features are
simple but effective. Photos can be imported
APRIL 2018 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | ISSUE 362

via any supported device, including dropping
directly on to the web browser. They’re
organised into Albums, and Albums are
arranged in nested folders to avoid grappling
with one long list. Photos are awarded ratings
from 1 to 5, and the current view (be it an
Album, a particular import date or capture
date or All Photos) can be filtered to show
photos of a particular rating or above.
Other filter options include camera model,
keyword and location.
Keywords can be added manually, but the
new Adobe Sensei AI-powered search facility
means there’s no need. This server-based
technology analyses the content of photos
and successfully identified subject matter
including castles, chickens, waterfalls, apples
and dragonflies. There were some omissions
and false positives, but it’s good enough to
find a set of photos where you can’t
remember the date or other identifying
data. It’s not so good at action descriptions,
with no hits for laughing or singing. It gave
sensible results when we searched for
‘playing’, though, showing a mixture of
children and people with musical instruments.
Cloud-based storage is inevitably slower
than local storage, but overall the new desktop
ISSUE 362 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | APRIL 2018
⬆ As with previous versions, the star of the show is the quality of the Raw-processing tools
app is extremely responsive and a significant
improvement over previous versions. With a
fibre broadband connection and healthy Wi-Fi
signal there was rarely any significant delay to
browsing, viewing and editing images. A 10GB
upload (perhaps after a holiday) took about
four hours before it was available on all
devices, but we could start managing and
editing straight away on the computer we
were uploading from. There’s an option to
store all photos and videos locally as well as in
the cloud for offline access. The default is to
allocate 25% of disk space for cached data.
When the new Lightroom CC first arrived,
critics were upset to see that the previous
version’s Tone Curve and Split Toning controls
were absent, but as of December 2017 these
have been added to the desktop app. The
We regularly flit between desktop, laptop, iPad and
Android phone, and being able to browse, manage and
edit all of our photos on any of these devices is a revelation
editing tools look much more streamlined
than Lightroom Classic’s, but in truth there’s
very little missing. It’s more that they’re much
better organised. For example, sharpening,
noise reduction and colour noise reduction
are presented as three sliders, but you can
click to expand each one to see the more
advanced controls. The crop controls, brushes
and graduated filters all have dedicated
buttons that make them quicker to access.
As before, these are all non-destructive
and it’s reasonably easy to go back and
MULTIMEDIA EXPERT
tweak earlier edits. The lack of a visible edit
history is disappointing, though; hopefully
this feature will be reinstated soon.
MISSING IN ACTION
This isn’t the only omission, of course.
Lightroom CC is undoubtedly impressive in its
own right, but existing users will be anxious
about which features they’ll have to forgo if
they make the switch.
Library management and export are where
the biggest differences lie. There’s no option
to browse by Folder; the catalogue uses its
own folder structure, arranged by date.
Collections are replaced by the similar Albums,
but there are no Smart Collections that filter
the entire catalogue by user-defined criteria
such as date, rating and virtually any other
metadata. Colour labels are gone, and live
metadata filtering is reduced from 29 options
to just six: rating, flag status, keyword, camera
model, location and file type.
The file type options are just photo or
video; sadly there’s no option to filter by Raw
or JPEG. Neither is it possible to overlay
information across thumbnails and previews,
so the only way to distinguish between JPEG
and Raw files is by opening the Info panel,
which closes the editing panel. Using the text
option to search by file extension provides a
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 MULTIMEDIA EXPERT
workaround. Lightroom Classic treats Raw and
JPEG versions of the same image as a single
object (effectively by ignoring the JPEG) but
Lightroom CC treats them as discrete objects.
This seems like a backwards step.
There’s no mapping module for plotting
photos on a map, no photobook design,
no web album module and not even the
ability to print. JPEG Export has a custom size
option, but none of Lightroom Classic’s
renaming, watermarking, sharpening or
compression options.
Image editing is much more intact. It can’t
merge photos for HDR or panoramas and it
lacks camera calibration colour presets, but
these aren’t features many people will miss.
It also lacks the ability to limit gradient filters
and adjustment brush strokes to a limited set
of colours. This was only added to Lightroom
Classic in November 2017 (at the same time
as Lightroom CC was launched) so it seems
likely that the two apps will establish parity
for editing features.
Lightroom CC isn’t so good for managing
edits, though. As we mentioned above, there’s
no edit history list, which in Lightroom Classic
makes it easy and quick to jump to a particular
state for quick comparison. The undo history
in Lightroom CC is for the session, so it will
take you back through the images you’ve
been working on, but doesn’t reveal the edit
history for a particular image.
Copying edit settings from one image to
another is a simple matter of pressing Ctrl-C
and Ctrl-V. However, it works for only one
image at a time, and it’s not possible to
synchronise only certain settings. In Lightroom
Classic this can be really useful to apply noise
134
⬆ The cloud-based catalogue appears on any
device, but the options for navigating it are
simpler than before
reduction settings to a group of images
without interfering with their colour settings,
or to copy colour settings without disrupting
crop settings. This ability to process groups
of images quickly is the one feature we miss
the most in Lightroom CC.
PLANS AND PRICES
Lightroom Classic is no longer available to buy
outright but it’s still available as a subscription,
bundled with Photoshop CC as the Creative
Cloud Photography Plan for £119 per year.
Lightroom Classic is no longer available to buy outright
but it’s still available as a subscription, bundled with
Photoshop CC as the Creative Cloud Photography Plan
This now also includes the new Lightroom CC,
but with just 20GB of cloud storage it’s only
really a demo version.
Alternatively, you can choose Lightroom
CC only with 1TB of cloud storage; this also
costs £119 per year. If you want the best of
both worlds, it’s a simple matter of paying
for them. Photoshop CC, Lightroom Classic
and Lightroom CC with 1TB of storage costs
£238 per year.
This might seem a bit steep, but it deserves
a bit of context. Most creative professionals
have to fork out £596 per year for the full
Adobe Creative Suite, or £238 per year for a
single app such as InDesign or Illustrator.
Seeing as most of them are likely to need at
least two apps (perhaps Premiere Pro and
After Effects, or Illustrator and Photoshop),
the full suite is probably their only sensible
option. Photographers, on the other hand,
have a choice of two excellent bundles for
£119 a year, or £238 for the full set of
photography-related apps.
1TB equates to about 100,000 JPEGs or
30,000 Raw frames, which is probably enough
for most amateur photographers’ entire
catalogue, but might not be for those who
shoot hundreds of Raw images every week.
An additional terabyte of cloud storage costs
an extra £119 per year, up to 10TB for £1,190.
These prices are broadly in line with other
consumer cloud storage services such as
Dropbox and Google Drive, but much more
than business-oriented cloud storage.
It’s disappointing there aren’t discounts for
higher-volume users, but Adobe presumably
thinks they’ll be willing to pay a premium.
TIME TO SWITCH?
As we see it, existing Lightroom users have
five options. One is to continue with
Lightroom Classic (as it’s now called).
APRIL 2018 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | ISSUE 362

This seems relatively low-risk, except that
there are no guarantees that Adobe will
continue to develop this software. There’s no
harm in postponing any transition until it’s
absolutely necessary, particularly if you have
a perpetual Lightroom licence.
Another option is to keep your existing
catalogue in Lightroom Classic but start using
Lightroom CC going forwards. Again, this
ISSUE 362 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | APRIL 2018
⬆ The iOS and Android apps provide a very similar
experience to the Windows and Mac OS apps
makes more sense financially if you have a
perpetual Lightroom licence, as the old
catalogue won’t need any updates to support
new cameras. However, if you’re already on
the Creative Cloud Photography Plan, it may
be a tad excessive to pay double to run both
MULTIMEDIA EXPERT
T
versions of Lightroom side by side. It might be
easier to justify if you really want Lightroom CC
and Photoshop. Professional photographers
will probably choose this option.
A third option is to migrate your entire
Lightroom catalogue to Lightroom CC and pay
£119 per year for Lightroom CC only. This is
possible but it’s not exactly seamless. Various
features that are not supported by Lightroom
135
 MULTIMEDIA EXPERT

A worthy Classic
The new Lightroom CC has forced its predecessor to be
renamed Lightroom Classic. That sounds worryingly like
its days may be numbered, but I sincerely hope not as
this is still an outstanding application.
Adobe Camera Raw, the Raw-processing engine that’s
shared by various Adobe applications, is the gold
standard for image quality. Its colour controls are
superbly designed to apply dramatic changes without
images looking obviously processed. The Clarity and
Dehaze controls are particularly effective at bringing out
contrast and details. Noise reduction for Raw files is
outstanding, and we like the ability to straighten
horizontal or vertical lines with a couple of clicks.
Localised editing is extremely well catered for, with
highly effective blemish removal plus the ability to apply
various effects as brush strokes or graduated filters.
The fully non-destructive workflow avoids many of
the issues that some rival packages suffer. It means edits
are stored as a list of decisions, which are applied live to
the files without overwriting the original data. That
means settings can be applied, tweaked and removed at
any time with no risk of chipping away at the quality of
the image, as destructive editing is prone to do.
Lightroom’s comprehensive support for cameras is
important because this kind of software is used in a
different way to most others. If you use Microsoft Word
for writing, or Photoshop for image editing, and you
discover it’s missing a vital feature or a more attractive
alternative comes along, it isn’t too much of a wrench to
switch over. Photo-management software is different
because lots of time is spent managing the catalogue.
This may involve tagging and organising images,
although not everyone bothers with this. It also
involves applying all those non-destructive edits to
files. Rather than export everything as JPEGs, you can
use the editor as an image browser and only export
when an image needs to be shared.
This way of working breaks down if you buy a new
camera and discover that your editor doesn’t support it,
forcing you to switch software and run two catalogues
in tandem. As such, it’s reassuring that Lightroom
supports virtually every camera that generates Raw
files. Updates for new cameras are released promptly,
too. Best of all, it includes lens profiles to remove
geometric distortions for a huge number of lenses.
Most lenses produce images that are slightly
distorted, and so these lens profiles deliver straighter
lines when shooting Raw. This is particularly important
for a growing number of mirrorless and premium
compact cameras, which don’t attempt to produce
straight lines using lens optics. Instead they rely on
digital processing. This is done in-camera for JPEGs
but needs software support to tackle Raw files.
It’s something Adobe software does superbly, whereas
many rival applications omit this feature entirely.
Lightroom isn’t the sprightly editor it once was,
however. The latest update, Lightroom Classic,
claims to bring performance improvements, but it’s
noticeably slower to browse catalogues compared to
the new Lightroom CC.
➡ The previous version lives on as Lightroom Classic, and
includes various features that haven’t yet made their way to
the new app

CC will be discarded, such as colour labels,
smart collections and the edit history.
Migrating is done from a command in
Lightroom CC, but for some reason this can
only be done once for a given catalogue.
The practicality of this third option will
depend on how big your existing catalogue is.
We have 716GB of photos on our hard disk,
which would take about two weeks to upload
on our fibre broadband connection. That’s a
long time, but it’s not inconceivable. Most ISPs
have done away with fair use policies these
days so you shouldn’t be breaking any rules
by attempting such a huge upload. However,
we take about 75GB of new photos per year,
so after about four years we’ll pass the 1TB
threshold. Once that day comes, we don’t
really want to be paying double for Lightroom
CC with 2TB storage.
So a fourth option might be to migrate an
existing catalogue to Lightroom CC but to
archive older sets of photos offline to keep
under the 1TB limit. This could be done by
downloading all photos between certain dates,
or perhaps all photos below a particular star
rating within a date range. They could be
downloaded as JPEGs, complete with edits
applied, and also as Original + Settings,
whereupon the unedited files (Raw or JPEG)
are downloaded along with XMP files that
contain all the edits, keywords and so on. This
content could be imported into Lightroom
Classic, Photoshop CC or Lightroom CC at any
time in the future, if you wanted to regain
access to the original files. It’s quite a complex
procedure, though. It would be great if Adobe
produced some kind of offline storage and
retrieval tool, but it would probably prefer
customers pay for extra cloud storage.
The fifth option is to take this opportunity
to switch to a different brand of Raw-
processing software. There are lots of
candidates, including Corel AfterShot Pro
(£55), DxO Photolab (£99 to £159), ACDSee
Pro ($99 to $149) and CyberLink
PhotoDirector (£40). All of these prices are
for perpetual licences so they’re likely to work
out cheaper than a Lightroom subscription.
For us, DxO Photolab is the most credible
rival to Lightroom, as it’s the only one that
can match it for processing quality and
comprehensive support for cameras and
lenses. However, while it’s a good match for
Lightroom Classic, it doesn’t have anything to
rival Photoshop’s layer-based editing or
Lightroom CC’s cloud integration.
CRUNCH TIME
For photographers who are taking their first
steps shooting Raw, Lightroom CC is
extremely elegant, although so too is the
Photography Plan comprising Lightroom
➡ The catalogue can also be viewed, managed,
edited and shared via a web browser
Classic and Photoshop CC. Your choice will
probably depend on whether you value the
graphic design features of Photoshop or the
cloud-based flexibility of Lightroom CC. If both
appeal, £238 per year doesn’t feel excessive.
For existing users, it’s a much tougher
decision. Staying put with Lightroom Classic
might be a short-term solution, but there’s no
desperate rush to do anything. However, the
benefits of Lightroom CC’s quicker, cloud-
based interface are hard to resist. Those with
a relatively modest (say, under 300GB)
catalogue could make a wholesale switch to
Lightroom CC and never look back. Others will
probably have to pay double to keep both
versions running in parallel.
We still haven’t decided which route we’ll
take, but having had a taste of cloud-based
photo management, we know we’ll find it
hard to go back.
NEXT MONTH
LIGHTROOM ALTERNATIVES
We cover the pros and cons of rivals to
the Adobe photo manager, including Corel
AfterShot Pro and DxO Photolab

136 APRIL 2018 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | ISSUE 362

 MULTIMEDIA EXPERT

ISSUE 362 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | APRIL 2018 137

 PARTING SHOTS
Zygote
He may be threatening democracy with his attack on net neutrality, but at least if
Donald Trump builds his wall Zygote will have the power to see through it
STONED DRONE
Legislation is under way to
criminalise flying drones while
under the influence of booze or
cannabis in New Jersey. If found
guilty, the airborne offender
could be banged up for six
months and fined $1,000 on top.
What’s more, laws are also
proposed to ban private
camera-drones from accident
sites and crime scenes, and it
may soon be illegal to use a
drone to spot and track wildlife
for the purposes of hunting.
What with all these new
restrictions, it’s good to know
that it’s still OK in New Jersey to
use drones for buzzing aircraft,
spying on your neighbours and
delivering class A drugs.
’ALLO ’ALLO
Vive la France! The use of mobile
phones is to be banned in French
schools. According to education
minister Jean-Michel Blanquer,
it’s simply not effective enough
to ban Gallic youth from using
their mobiles in the classroom, so
later this year personal phones
will be banned on school
premises at all times. It’s become
evident that not only is the
education of children suffering
because of their slavery to the
phone, but they are losing out on
the simple pleasures of play and
the art of conversation.
Many parents have protested
against the phone ban, saying
they won’t be able to contact
their kids at school to ask what
type of fromage they’d like after
dinner. But Zygote agrees with
the minister, and thinks it does
no harm to delay such weighty
matters until school’s out. In fact,
it would be an excellent idea for
our own education secretary to
impose a similar edict, but they
wouldn’t want to upset all those
potential constituents when they
lower the age of voting to six.
X-RAY SPECS
Everybody knows that Superman
has X-Ray vision. His ability to
see through walls was revealed
138
as far back as 1949. But it wasn’t
until 2006 that combat troops
in Iraq were given the same
superpower to view what might be
happening behind solid objects.
This was made possible by a
hand-held device called
Radarscope, and it cost a small
fortune. But these days, the cost
of civilian units has dropped to
less than £5,000, because they
use cheap microwave radiation
to detect inanimate objects
hidden behind walls. Until
recently, such objects could only
be displayed as blurred shadows,
but all this is about to change
thanks to a trio of professors
funded by a private institution
originally founded by Methodists.
The boffins have concentrated
on the fact that walls have a very
high degree of symmetry and
consistency, and so they’ve put
some relatively simple computer
software to work. It uses
penetrating microwaves to map
distortions, and ignores
everything else. The resulting
data is translated into 3D images
of what’s hidden behind walls,
whereas the obscurity of the
pesky walls is completely filtered
out and they become invisible.
The professors’ mission is to
provide cheap, portable X-ray
vision for the benefit of
humanity, for example in the
construction industry, and on
search and rescue missions.
But Zygote is forced to adopt a
more cynical view, and suspects
that as these devices get cheaper
and better, they will become just
like drones and sold at Argos as
yet another annoying toy, and a
voyeur’s delight.
SOCKET TO ME
The government’s Justice website
is used for all sorts of things.
These include civil, criminal and
family procedures, probation
instructions, the guidance of UK
courts, and prison service orders.
So Zygote was a wee bit
surprised while trying to access
www.justice.gov.uk to be greeted
by a browser warning notice,
advising users that all such
sensitive information was at risk.
A quick check on the website
Secure Socket Layer revealed a
very basic error indeed. The
security certificate had expired.
This is a clear example of rubbish
practice on the part of the
Ministry of Justice web team,
and it is plain for all to see. But
what worries Zygote is the
possibility, or even probability,
of even more serious rubbish
practices behind the scenes.
KENTUCKY FRIED
Dan Johnson, the state legislator
of Kentucky and self-proclaimed
supremo of his local church,
tried to enact a law to charge
consumers $20 to lift adult filters
APRIL 2018
on all computers and mobile
phones. He maintained the filters
would “block out obscenity,
pornography and prostitution”,
and the payments would fund
righteousness. Within days, he
was accused of sexually
molesting an underage female, at
which point he drove to the
appropriately named Bullitt County
and shot himself in the head.
His legislation has now been
dropped, but a much more
sinister law is proposed by
Donald Trump and his henchmen,
a law that would scrap the
historic 2015 Open Internet
Order. This is the law that
guarantees net neutrality, equal
protection for all voices on the
internet and the equal treatment
of all online content by ISPs.
Zygote thinks Trump’s
proposal is the biggest threat
to democracy his regime
represents, and it will effectively
shoot the freedom of the
internet dead in the head. It will
mean that internet content
owned by big business and
government will be given priority
of access over everyone else
because they can pay for the
privilege, and it will legalise the
strangulation of independent
data by online blocking, by
deliberately slowing download
speeds and by the prioritisation
of approved thinking. Join the
Resistance now!
| COMPUTER SHOPPER | ISSUE 362
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