Table of contents for Nov-17 in PC & Tech Authority

EXYRA BLUE LIGHT GLASSES Did you know the colour blue is conspiring to make you sick? Of course you did, every premium smartphone of the last couple of generations has had “night light” or similar, where it makes the display more orange at night to help preserve your vital essence or something. But Exyra points out, quite correctly, that you don’t need a microprocessor and ambient light sensors to do this. You can just use a polymer filter. WANTED: Glasses come in several styles, and have optometrist-level build quality. You can get (and justify wearing) non-prescription lenses, or send them your script for a custom pair. The lenses simply cut certain wavelengths we associate with “blue” but don’t alter your perception of colour that much. NOT WANTED: The non-prescription glasses…

The X1 Carbon has been one of our favourite ultraportables since it was introduced back in 2012, and in many ways this _ fth generation changes little. It’s slim, unapologetically black, packs supremely quick components and has a price to match its high-end ambitions. We could have said the same _ ve years ago. But Lenovo has delivered improvements to its _ agship portable even compared to last year’s model, shaving a few grams from its weight and slimming it down yet further to 16mm thin. You now have a choice of 7th-generation Intel Core processors, along with two Thunderbolt 3 USB-C ports. Lenovo also _ nds room for two regular USB 3 ports, one full-sized HDMI output, a dual-purpose microSD/micro-SIM slot and a 3.5mm headphone socket. Ethernet is via…

Republic of Gamers. Aorus. Alienware. And now we have another major manufacturer launching its own dedicated gaming brand, with HP making a serious push with its Omen range. It actually launched last year, but it’s only this year that we’ve seen how serious the company is about developing a dedicated gaming series. Part of this range is the new Omen 15 gaming laptop, which we spent several days playing with. It’s the first laptop we’ve seen to use Nvidia’s new Max-Q technology, which is an overall approach to laptop design to keep fan noise down, while conserving energy. In the words of Nvidia, it looks for peak efficiency while maintaining high performance, and allows for quiet 18mm gaming laptops decked out with top-end hardware. The Omen we reviewed came with…

A s somebody who owns one of the cheapest TVs on the market from a dollar-per-inch perspective, I’m open to the idea of running a small media server or device to boost its feature set. Laser’s Android 4K Smart Media Player aims to deliver on such needs, and brings the key ingredients to the table, while some software quirks work against the user experience somewhat. The unit itself, a black, square-shaped box with about the footprint of a coaster, will fit neatly beside or underneath your TV no problem. It sports three USB ports on the side and HDMI out, a microSD card slot, gigabit ethernet port, optical audio out, a 3.5mm AV port and a power connection on the rear. The unit’s internal hardware is sufficient as well, including…

2017 is the year when 27-inches seems to be the new go-to size. Economies of scale have seen panel prices plummet, and it’s now possible to grab a quality 27-inch display for just over $200. There’s a huge range of variants within that size though, from super-high refresh rate gaming monitors, to curved screens using the latest in Quantum dot technology, to entry level screens that still deliver excellent image quality without breaking the bank. Basically, there’s a 27-inch model for any use you can think of. We’ve grabbed six random 27-inch displays from the market covering the entire gamut of prices and uses, though we’ve left out professional image and video displays as they’re just a little too niche. Instead we’ve focused on displays that are used by everyday…

“The Dell came out in the middle of the pack when it comes to colour accuracy” Dell is renowned amongst image professionals as being one of the leading players in the monitor market. However, as we ruled out these kinds of displays for this roundup, we now get to see what Dell offers in the middle of the market. The U2717D squarely fits that bill, at just over $600. As usual, Dell has designed a beautiful product, with its InfinityEdge bezel design. It’s an edgeless design with a bezel only 8.4 millimetres thick, while the depth of the whole unit is rather thin compared to the competition at just 20cm. This makes it perfect for multi-monitor setups, as placing monitors next to each other will show minimal bezel. The stand…

“You get the benefits of a high refresh rate, plus better colours and wide viewing angles” A nd now we come to our final display review, which tends towards the very high end of the spectrum. Designed first and foremost for gamers, it’s packed with every feature that will give pro-gamers a grin. Sure, they’re going to have to pay for it, but Viewsonic has included everything necessary to give serious gamers the edge they need. First and foremost, it’s got a seriously high refresh rate. It maxes out at 144Hz, but there’s also a special overclocking option if you’re feeling daring. Hit this button and the monitor reboots to a refresh rate of 165Hz. We tested it and actually hit 168Hz, without any issues at all. The grey to…

It might seem presumptuous to call your premium laptop line EliteBooks, but HP’s EliteBook x360 lives up to the name. All straight edges and bevelled corners, milled from CNC aluminium, it’s a seriously beautiful device: slim and light enough to take with you anywhere and everywhere, but built like the proverbial brick outhouse. It’s exactly the kind of laptop you’d want if you spend time travelling – but the price means only executives will get the chance. This is also very much a business laptop, in which case having a 2-in-1 convertible might seem a frippery. In fact it makes perfect sense. With the optional active pen you have a great surface for quick sketches and meeting notes, while putting the 13.3in touchscreen in a stand or tent mode works…

The Surface Pro was always a great concept for a hybrid tablet/laptop, but one that needed the 12in, 3:2 aspect ratio form factor of the Surface Pro 3 to really make sense. Since then, it’s gone from strength to strength, working as a tablet with the Type Cover removed and excelling as a thin-andlight laptop with it clipped into place. The 2017 model enhances the winning formula. As a tablet it’s a little on the big and heavy side – even the 12.9in iPad Pro is slimmer and lighter – but it’s great for small-scale presentations, making notes and watching video. Yet with the keyboard connected it functions perfectly well as a lightweight laptop, with the updated and improved stand – now with a smaller, less obtrusive mechanism – allowing…

I t might not be the _ ashiest 2-in-1 hybrid in town, but there’s still something quietly miraculous about the way the Dell XPS 13 2-in-1 crams a 13in screen into an 11.6in body. It’s a practical design, too, with the machined aluminium lid and base protecting the carbon- _ bre body, and the soft-touch palm rests making this one of the most comfortable small laptops around for long-term use. What’s more, the lightweight design makes this a hinged 2-in-1 that actually convinces as a tablet, helped no end by the 1.24kg weight. The screen on our test model had a modest 1080p resolution – not the QHD+ InfinityEdge display of the most expensive models – but it’s still a beauty. The 245cd/mfibrightness level is nothing to write home about,…

Rather than just being some fancy words thrown around to make the new drives from Western Digital sound cutting edge, the 3D NAND technology contained within the new WD Blue 3D NAND SATA SSDs and SanDisk Ultra 3D SSDs will impact the speed, reliability and power consumption of your PC. SANDISK ULTRA 3D SSDS Intended for gamers and other creative enthusiasts who want to improve the performance of their PC, the SanDisk Ultra 3D SSDs deliver enhanced endurance and reliability, no-wait bootup, shorter application load times, and quicker data transfer. Like the WD Blue, the SanDisk Ultra 3D SSD drives draw less power than previous generations of drive for greater laptop battery life as well as greater reliability. With up to 560MB/s sequential read speeds (550MB/s for 250GB) for faster…

PAUL OCKENDEN owns an agency that helps businesses exploit the web, from sales to marketing and everything in between I_f you’ve ever seen a picture from a thermal imaging camera, it’s very likely to have come from a Flir model. Although there are a few other players in the market, Flir seems to be spectacularly dominant. The company is nearly 40 years old, and originally set up to provide thermal imaging for aircraft – the kind of things you see whenever the military boasts about a precision missile hit during times of confiict. The Flir name comes from “forward-looking infrared” – the type of camera that’s mounted on a plane. Airborne cameras are just a small part of the thermal imaging market these days. There are also many handheld cameras,…

“it’s kind of glorious and silly and rage-inducing all at the same time” When I pitched this article to my Editor, it was because PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds had just passed a massive milestone – it had ranked up to have one million players online, concurrently. But that was a week ago. Now, as of writing, it’s passed yet another figure, eclipsing DOTA 2’s (that is, Dawn of the Ancients 2, one of the biggest games on the internet) record of 1.29 million concurrent players. And that was over the weekend. The game hit a peak of 1.34 million players as of writing. To give you a greater idea of what that means, on the 16th of September, gamers played an incredible 19,753,562 hours of PUBG. For more perspective, consider that there’s…

One fortuitous day a month ago I was chatting to the nextmedia (PCTA’s publisher) building manager Peter Jackson. Talking PCs, as one does because Peter is an avid PCTA reader, it was discovered that he has been collecting PCs since the 1980s and has examples of almost every CPU, dozens of old motherboards, _ oppys, hard drives and many full systems – most of them fully functional. With PCTA’s 20th birthday coming up it was clear we needed to get a whole pile of this goodness into the studio to do some beautiful photos! Even though many – if not most – of these pieces of history pre-date even PCTA, this was something that had to be done once I’d set eyes upon the gear and realised they were all…

WE TRY BEFORE YOU BUY In defining our round up of monitors this month, we decided that 27 inches is the new sweet spot, and would be the basis of our group test. Talking to a few retailer friends confirmed this. It fits the right spot for price and who doesn’t want a bigger monitor? I sure do, but just downgraded. Well, sort of. For years I’ve been running a glorious Dell 30-incher with a crisp 2560 x 1600 res. But after desiring a triple screen setup basically my entire life I took the plunge recently and bought three Asus PG 279Qs. So I went from 30 inch to 27 inch – but have three of them @ 7680 x 1440 res. Yeah. And they’re divine. I wrote a story…

If you want slick Full HD gaming in a laptop, you normally have to pay a considerable price. For example, the $2,899 15in Gigabyte Aero 15 comes with an Intel Core i7-7700HQ and a 6GB GTX 1060. Or there’s Dell’s gorgeous $2,599 XPS 15, which features an Intel Core i7-7700HQ and GTX 1050 graphics. The Inspiron 15 7000 Gaming is here to spoil the party, with prices starting at $1,499 – and that still includes a Core i5 and GTX 1050. I tested the $1,999 configuration that ships with a 2.8GHz Core i7-7700HQ, 4GB GTX 1050 Ti graphics, 16GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD, coupled with a 1TB 5,400rpm hard disk. That’s meaty power, as refiected in a score of 113 in our benchmarks. The Inspiron 15 7000 Gaming…

You might wonder why we’re testing two solid state drives in the one review? Well, it’s because WD is being a little tricky with its marketing for these two products. The WD Blue 3D range of drives is aimed at resellers and system builders, while the SanDisk Ultra 3D drives are being marketed to gamers and creative types. But, the fact remains that under the marketing and stickers, the hardware in these new 3D NAND-powered SSDs is identical. Pricing isn’t, however, so it’s worth shopping around to make sure you get the cheapest drive available at the capacity you’re looking for. And, it is worth the effort, because both drive ranges offer a compelling mix of capacity, performance, and value. 3D NAND has been on the market for about a…

Ok so let’s address the elephant in the room. This is one very expensive piece of kit at over $6,000 (body only) it’d have to be pretty damn good, so is it? Simple answer, yes, yes it is! Let’s start from the outside. The A9 is a beautiful piece of kit, the weatherproof body looks slick, feels lovely in the hands and best of all it’s a lot smaller and lighter than a DSLR. You’ll find on the rear a tilting 3in touchscreen LCD screen with a resolution of 1,440k dots which allows you to change the settings and set the focus point with a simple touch. Above this is the EVF with a resolution of 3.68-million-dots and 0.77x magnification, making it one of the highest spec EVFs on the…

W hat better way to start our roundup with the most expensive of the lot. AOC used to be known as entrylevel players, but the AOC AG271UG shows those days are long gone. At over a grand, it’s certainly aimed at the higher end of the market, but with 27in displays starting at $249, is a 400% price rise worth it? Let’s start with the exterior. The stand is easy enough to install, and is fully adjustable in terms of height, angle and swivel. The bezel is rather thick, unlike the slick edge to edge screens we’re used to at this price. There’s also a surprising lack of inputs, with a single HDMI 1.4 and DisplayPort 1.2. Instead AOC has focused on USB connectivity, with four USB 3.0 ports, one…

“It’s now possible to buy a 27in display for less than $250, even if it is only a dollar cheaper” Y es, that price is indeed correct. It’s now possible to buy a 27in display for less than $250, even if it is only a dollar cheaper. If you’re looking for the cheapest possible 27in display on the market, look no further. Now, obviously there are going to be serious compromises when you’re paying so little for so much screen real estate, but still, that’s a damn fine price for somebody who wants a basic 27-inch screen. The first trade-off is the stand. To be blunt, it’s horrible. There’s no height or swivel adjustment, with only tilt adjustment included, from -5 to 20 degrees. This means it’s impossible to position…

Gamers have their powerhouse rigs, designers their all-in-one workstations, but for most of us a premium laptop is our ideal PC. Thin, light and crafted from high-end materials, they’re both functional tools and objects of desire, built to work whenever and wherever, but also to look the part when we’re out in public. A premium laptop tells people that you’re not just a drone with a corporate laptop or an average Joe with a budget computer, but someone who demands the best. It’s the computing equivalent of travelling business class The standard has been set over the last decade by two devices. Apple’s MacBook Air defined the Ultrabook form factor and created the demand for thin-and-light metallic laptops. Microsoft’s Surface Pro, meanwhile, redefined the 2-in-1 convertible, creating the high-end tablet…

I f you’re looking for maximum screen space on a thin-and-light laptop, Acer’s Spin 7 is an interesting proposition. It’s compact, with the sort of footprint you’d associate with a 13.3in laptop, and just 11mm thin, while the 1.6kg weight is perfectly manageable for a convertible design. Open the lid, though – or push it back so that it sits _ at against the base for a tablet-style configuration – and you’ll see a narrow-bezel 14in screen. That’s a big plus when you’re working across multiple apps on your desktop, even if the 1,920 x 1,080 resolution seems a little lacking. It’s still a bit too big and heavy to double as a tablet, but _ ne for watching video or standing screen-outwards in a tent configuration. As a hard-working…

A rguably the most innovative laptop design since the original Surface, Microsoft’s Surface Book takes the 2-in- 1 concept from the opposite direction; not so much a tablet that converts into a laptop as a laptop that deconstructs. The clever magnetic locking hinge that holds the screen and keyboard modules together is a brilliant piece of engineering Disconnect the screen module and use it as a tablet and it’s a delight to use, helped by the 3,000 x 2,000 pixel resolution, the incredible 462cd/mfimaximum brightness level and superb colour accuracy, with an average Delta E of just 1.01 and 96% sRGB coverage. In addition, the audio benefits from a surprisingly rich tone and wide, spacey soundstage, and you’ll struggle to _ nd a better device for watching video. The new…

A fantastic night was had by all, and one particular reader went home even happier than most, after winning the $10,000 Beast PC. Congratulations, Douglas, it was quite clear on the night that you will love The Beast as it should be loved and it will bring you much happiness. A huge thank you from us to all the companies that happily included their most premium gear for this Beast build, and to Josh Collins and Alex Ciobanu for putting it together on the night. Congrats, too, to Alex who also won the big Mod Squad comp on the nigh, amazing work by all entrants. All who came were treated to up close and personal experiences with the latest tech goodness, and the people behind the gear. AMD put together…

THE LATEST TRENDS AND PRODUCTS IN THE WORLD OF TECHNOLOGY Microsoft has been hit by a damning verdict on the reliability of its Surface hardware – and faces questions over whether it blamed Intel for its own faults. Consumer Reports, a US consumer watchdog, stripped Microsoft’s portables from its recommended list after a survey of more than 40,000_users found “25% of Microsoft laptops and tablets will present their owners with problems by the end of the second year”. Microsoft dismissed the _ ndings with a curt statement, saying:_“While we respect Consumer Reports, we disagree with their _ ndings. Microsoft’s real-world return and support rates and customer satisfaction data show we are on par if not better than other devices in the category.” However, leaked documents suggest that Consumer Reports’ _…

CPU AMD PLAYS THE MANDOLIN The moment is almost upon us, Zen combined with Vega on the same chip, it is what AMD has been dreaming of for a long time. AMD is giving Intel a good fight once again on the CPU front, and Vega is in the same ballpark as Nvidia’s latest. And while AMD might not be outright winning with either of them, what AMD can lay claim to is having a superior GPU to Intel and an x86 CPU license that Nvidia could only dream of. Essentially AMD can create something, an APU, that neither Intel or Nvidia by themselves can touch. Theoretically. A Geekbench 4 benchmark has leaked of AMD’s upcoming mobile APU, dubbed Ryzen 5 2500U. Going by the codename Mandolin this system sports…

Everyone has an opinion on the NBN these days, and rightly so. With upwards of $60 billion of our hardearned tax-payer funded dollars going into building it, everyone wants a say or has an opinion. A PCTA reader, Ken Hungerford, has written in asking ‘What are your thoughts about the true value of the NBN?’, so I thought I’d have a shot at providing my opinion. EMPOWERING A NEW GENERATION For me, as a person heavily involved in networking as a career, with over 20 years across various networking companies under my belt, many people may think I have a vested interest. However, as a husband, and a father of five kids, what I see is opportunities for them to do things that were never possible for me in my…

Windows has made great strides when it comes to longevity. In the days of Windows 95 or Windows XP, the operating system gradually turned into a middle-aged man eating a fry-up for breakfast every day – the arteries became so clogged that the only option was major surgery: reinstall and start afresh. Things have improved but are still far from perfect. The drip-drip of downloads, data and driver installations will slowly hamper the performance of even the most highpowered PC. Maintenance is essential if you don’t want a trip to the operating theatre. In this feature, we’re going to reveal many ways to put the zing back into your PC. The advice is broken into three sections: light touch, advanced tinkering and, finally, the nuclear options – including wipe it…

“Under the aluminium, the Nokia 8 has the sort of internals you’d expect from a flagship phone – including the latest processor” The Nokia 8 aims to make a statement: the world’s once-dominant phone brand is back. Not that the 8 is the _ rst new Android smartphone from Nokia. There’s the cheaper Nokia 3, and it has also released mid-range Nokia 5 and 6 handsets. But the Nokia 8 is the most important – the premium handset that’s set to compete with the likes of the iPhone and the Galaxy S8. It’s wonderfully slim, measuring 7.3mm, and because it’s hewn from a single block of aluminium it has a solidity like few other phones. Its chamfered edges and curved sides ensure that it sits snugly in the hand, and…

Synology’s DS718+ is the latest update to the popular Plus Series of DiskStation NAS units. This 2-bay model is an upgrade from the DS716+II, featuring a new CPU - and that’s about it really. Not that this is a bad thing, the DS716+II is a great unit in the first place, there’s just not much new besides a slightly faster CPU. From the outside, the DS718+ looks identical to the DS716+II it’s replacing. Two gigabit LAN ports, a USB 3.0 port on the front and two more on the rear, together with an eSATA port. On the inside, there’s still 2GB of RAM but the CPU is now an Intel Celeron J3455 quad-core 1.5GHz chip that can burst up to 2.3GHz. Not a huge upgrade from the DS716+II’s N3160, but…

“Even if you can’t spot the difference between a 144Hz and 240Hz panel, the added frames mean less tearing and no blurring” Not long ago we considered 120Hz the pinnacle for gamers. Then came 144Hz, 165Hz, 180Hz... and now 240Hz. ViewSonic is one of the latest manufacturers to produce a monitor with this huge refresh rate, but will you notice the di? erence versus a 144Hz monitor? Even if the answer to that question was no, you’re bound to fall in love with the design and build quality of the XG2530. Thin bezels make the screen feel bigger than its 25in diagonal, and although the stand is made from plastic, it’s sturdy and allows you to tilt, pivot and fully rotate the display. The black and red colour scheme is…

“If there’s one thing that may turn off buyers, it’s the native resolution of 1920 x 1080” Now we go from one of the most expensive 27-inch panels on the market to one of the most affordable. The Benq 2706 is designed to be a basic workhorse, to get the job done with a minimum of fuss or cost. At just over $300 it shows how far prices have dropped with 27-inch panels in recent years – just a few years ago we’d be lucky to get anything this big for less than a grand. At this price we can’t expect the world, but does it do a good job for the price? Benq makes no bones about it, this monitor is designed for an office environment. You can forget…

“we were blown away by the richness of the colours and detail” W hen we first saw this display at CES 2017 in Vegas, we were absolutely blown away. Leveraging technology from Samsung’s TV range, it cranked out an image quality we’re simply not accustomed to when it comes to the PC. That technology is known as Quantum Dots, and it brings a whole other level of colour and contrast to PC displays. Without getting too complicated, this display uses a VA panel with an extra layer of Quantum Dots. This allows it to basically replicate any colour in the natural world, with contrast levels off the charts. It’s not quite as good as OLED when it comes to blacks, as it’s still backlit, but it’s a world apart from…

While there are premium gaming laptops and premium mobile workstations, for this Labs we’ve chosen to focus on thin-and-light designs with touchscreen capabilities. These come in a range of convertible formats, not to mention more traditional laptop styles, but they all offer strong design, high-end materials and the kind of screens and features you won’t find on the average laptop. Just factor in the following when you make your choice. STYLE, SIZE AND WEIGHT Unless you’re looking for a big screen or raw horsepower, premium laptops are all about getting maximum style and usability inside the minimum size and weight. After a few years where the 13.3in laptop was king, the preferred size seems to be drifting down to the 12 to 12.5in of the Surface Pro and MacBook, while…

It might be the least radical laptop or hybrid that Microsoft has yet produced, but that doesn’t mean the Surface Laptop is short of fresh and innovative thinking. The design, for example, drops the MacBook Air chrome look for matte-_ nish aluminium, a range of subtle colour tones and an angular, slimline style that looks amazing. And it’s as smart as it is stylish. Weighing only 1.25kg and a little bigger than a hardbound A4 notepad, you could comfortably carry Microsoft’s laptop around all day, yet it has the 13.5in screen and ergonomics to get just about anything done. That screen is one point of contention. There’s no disputing its incredible clarity and definition, with a 2,256 x 1,504 resolution giving a pixel density of 201ppi. It’s perfectly bright, hitting…

W hile it clearly owes a lot to the Surface Pro, Acer has tried to make the Switch 5 distinctive through a different hinge mechanism: here, a pictureframe stand pops out from the rear of the tablet. It can’t lie near-_ at like the Surface Pro and the support isn’t quite so sturdy, but for the purposes of holding the screen in a range of viewable positions, it works well. The keyboard doesn’t veer far from the Microsoft original, connecting quickly and intuitively to the tablet, either lying _ at or clipping magnetically to the front for a raised typing angle. While its rubberised feel isn’t quite as luxurious as the Surface, the actual feel is _ ne, with just enough travel and a little less bounce than on its…

Don’t settle for an ofithe shelf PC, get a PC customised to suit your needs Whether you know exactly what you want or need some assistance, PLE’s team of helpful expert technicians will make sure you receive the right PC to fit your exact requirements. The PLE website (www.ple.com.au) has a range of common configurations from entry level to high end, where you can tweak a recommended configuration or you can start from a blank canvas and choose the specific components you desire. With Australia’s most advanced online PC configuration tool, nothing is left to chance. You’re able to see the exact components being used to build your Custom PC. You won’t find any generic or noname brands with questionable performance or reliability. If you select to have a genuine…

Way back in 1999 Shogun: Total War seemed like a massive game. Seven factions to choose from, fighting for control of over 40 locations spread around Japan. The armies were huge, the battles epic. But 1999 was a long time ago, and Creative Assembly is thinking nothing but big for its latest in the series, Total War: Warhammer Including sub-factions, there are 14 factions alone just among the High Elves. Sure, from the outset you can only choose from two, under either of the brothers Tyrion or Teclis, but watching a turn go by in the game can feature a staggering amount of action. And the map you’re fighting over features four distinct land masses, three other major factions (Skaven, Dark Elves, and Lizardmen), as well as a couple of…

JON HONEYBALL is the MD of an IT consultancy that specialises in testing and deploying hardware Microsoft makes a number of products under the Surface brand name. Without question, these have been a huge success for the company, gaining considerable traction and kudos in the market. It hasn’t been plainsailing, mind: some of the devices have required ongoing firmware patching, and I swing between admiration and anger at my Surface Book that frustrates and delights in equal measure. Aspects of its engineering delight me every time I use it. But its ability to botch its Wi-Ficonnections when returning from power save – especially if I’ve moved location – drives me nuts, requiring yet another unnecessary reboot and restart. One member of the Surface family that gets little attention is the…