Computer Shopper -julkaisun October 2020 -irtonumeron sisällysluettelo

Summer is looking very different this year. Instead of the normal roster of festivals, outdoor theatre or holidays to exotic destinations, we’re faced with social distancing, masks, and limited numbers for beaches, swimming pools and outdoor cafes, with many of us opting for staycations instead. If you’re going to be at home with time on your hands, we’ve got a raft of Raspberry Pi projects to try out (p86). Whether you want to track some wildlife with the kids, stop the barrage of online adverts every time you open up a web page or learn how to use the new High Quality Camera (p114), these should prove a worthy way of spending some time at home. Better still, none of them will break the bank, with some just requiring a…

Smartphones We put the latest and best smartphones to the test to see which is worth an upgrade, and also outline how to integrate your mobile with your PC so you can move seamlessly between the two In search of reality From vision to sound and touch to smell, we explore the technologies that make our computing experience ever more like the real world Pay up In the second in our series of articles on how to sell online, we take a look at the payment options available and how to get them working for your business Master PowerPoint Digital presentation skills have never been more important, so we show you how to master PowerPoint COMPUTER SHOPPER ISSUE 393 ON SALE IN NEWSAGENTS FROM 10th SEPTEMBER…

An online sales tax may boost government coffers, but the tech giants will probably find a way around it, and small businesses and consumers will end up paying the price Madeline Bennett RANTS IT’S PRETTY GRIM out there on the high street at the moment. Many large and long-standing brands have already disappeared or soon will, thanks to a combination of Covid-19 and increasing competition from online stores. And those retailers remaining are making wide-ranging store closures and job cuts. From John Lewis, Debenhams and Oasis, to Warehouse, Eat and Frankie & Benny’s, the high street has been decimated over the past few months. One of the government’s latest schemes to try to turn around these misfortunes and breathe new life into the high street is a plan for a…

Green Apple Apple is to become carbon neutral across its entire business, manufacturing supply chain and product life cycle by 2030. This new commitment means that by 2030, every Apple device sold will have net-zero climate impact Super PC, man Man of Steel and selfconfessed gamer Henry Cavill has built a brand-new gaming PC. Thankfully, he filmed the entire process for a, er, wholesome and educational Instagram video Vodafone claims 5G first Vodafone has become the first UK network to showcase the next phase of 5G technology by building a new 5G network for Coventry University. ‘Standalone’ 5G means the network will be in no way reliant on 4G Thunderbolt and lightning Intel has detailed Thunderbolt 4, and it’s promising that the upcoming USB standard will double the video output…

UK-BASED AI computing startup Graphcore has unveiled its new 7nm intelligence-processing unit (IPU), which features 59.4 billion transistors, making it the ‘most complex’ processor ever made. The Colossus Mk2 GC200, which snatches the ‘most complex’ title from Nvidia’s A100 GPU – which itself boasts 54 billion transistors – is also capable of integrating 1,472 separate IPU-Cores and executing 8,832 separate parallel computing threads. Each IPU processor core gets a performance boost from a set of Graphcore’s novel floating-point technologies called AI-Float. “By tuning arithmetic implementations for energy and performance in Machine Intelligence computation, we are able to serve up one petaflops of AI compute in each IPU-Machine M2000 1U blade,” said Graphcore co-founder and CEO Nigel Toon. “Our Colossus IPUs are unique in having support for Stochastic Rounding on the…

£1,599 • From www.dell.com VERDICT The latest in a long line of plush Windows 10 laptops, the new XPS 13 exudes quality IT’S QUICKLY APPARENT that, yet again, Dell has created a wonderful laptop in the new XPS 13, as was the case with the 2019 model (Shopper 376) and several annual models before that. Highly portable, comfortable to use, fast enough for most tasks: the XPS 13 is all this and more, even if Dell has bumped up the pricing a tad. Prices start at £1,099, but we tested a higher £1,599 spec, containing an Intel Core i7-1065G7 CPU, 16GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD, along with the Full HD+ non-touch display option. You can go for a 4K touchscreen instead, but you can expect to pay up…

£66 • From www.viking-direct.co.uk VERDICT It’s far from the flashiest keyboard, but the UltraBoard 960 is nicely compact while maintaining usability THE ULTRABOARD 940 (Shopper 359) was a successful attempt to blur the line between desktop and portable keyboards; it was small and thin, sure, but it also avoided most of the problems with making a compact keyboard, such as undersized keys or a lack of features. The newer UltraBoard 960 is not a direct replacement, as it leans much further towards desktop usage with its nonremovable USB cable and tenkey number pad. Still, it clearly shares much of the UltraBoard 940’s DNA, and is actually much cheaper; possibly because it doesn’t include all the wireless hardware. BLAND AMBASSADOR Granted, the UltraBoard 960 doesn’t do much to catch the eye.…

£99 • From www.amazon.co.uk VERDICT A cheap and cheerful Android handset that’s remarkably close to the Moto E6 Plus NOT EVERYONE HAS the cash to spend on a flagship smartphone or even a well-appointed mid-ranger. That’s why handsets like the Motorola Moto E6S exist: it’s a full-blooded Android phone for less than £100. ‘No frills’ is very much the order of the day, especially when it comes to the all-plastic bodywork, but it looks decent and there are no worrying build quality issues. On the front, the selfie camera is housed in a small semi-circular notch at the top of the display and the screen is surrounded by a 2mm thick black border at the sides and top, and a thicker 7mm border at the bottom. On the rear you…

£5 per month • From www.hidemyass.com VERDICT Don’t be fooled by the deliberately asinine exterior: HMA VPN is fast, intuitive and now has a no-logs policy WITH ITS DONKEY mascot and jokey name – an acronym for ‘hide my ass’ – HMA has often risked looking like a less than serious VPN. In fact, its ownership by Avast puts it under the same umbrella as Avast SecureLine (Shopper 389) and AVG Secure, both VPNs with an emphasis on internet security. HMA takes a slightly different angle, focusing sing on privacy, a user-friendly interface and speed. For the most part, this works, with the service’s Windows and smartphone apps doing an impressive job of making it as easy as humanly possible to do what it is you’re trying to do, without…

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

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

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

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

Chat and Communication UPDATED Evernote 6.25.1.9091 Store your notes, ideas and plans in the cloud, and synchronise them between computers. UPDATED Mailbird 2.8.21.0 A free desktop email client for Windows. Miranda IM 0.10.80 Chat with friends across multiple messaging platforms, including AIM, Facebook, IRC and MSN, all from one simple interface. UPDATED Skype for Windows 8.62.0.83 Make internet voice and video calls for free, and buy credit to make calls to mobiles and landlines. Telegram 2.1.10 This free IM app syncs your conversations across multiple devices, and can spruce up chats with stickers and GIFs. UPDATED WhatsApp Desktop 2.2027.10 A PC and Mac version of the messaging app, letting you chat from your desktop. Customisation UPDATED iolo System Mechanic Free 20.5.0.1 Speed up your system with iolo’s PC optimisation suite.…

£103 • From www.uk.insight.com VERDICT Another superb low-cost screen, this time with an IPS panel as standard NEVER BELIEVE THAT meaningful advances can only be made at the most expensive and of the hardware spectrum. Only recently, the £150 BenQ GL2780 (Shopper 389) set new expectations for how colour-accurate a cheap monitor could be, as well as how much screen space you could get for so little money. The AOC 24B2XH achieves something similar: at £103, it’s the cheapest IPS monitor we’ve ever seen. While in some ways it’s as simple as monitors come – it only measures 24in diagonally, for instance – it delivers on the basics. It has a good quality panel that produces a calibre of image that’s more than acceptable for such a low price. If…

£449 • From www.currys.co.uk VERDICT Bold and beautifully fast, the 27GL850 is a sumptuous gaming monitor at a good price ONE OF THE few recent advances in desktop monitor technology is LG’s Nano IPS panel design. This adds a layer of nanoparticles on top of the LED backlight, which absorbs excessive light wavelengths, improving the screen’s ability to reach wider on colour gamuts. Nano IPS also, apparently, has a faster pixel response than standard IPS, resulting in gaming monitors such as the 27GL850: a 27in, 2,560x1,440 display that claims a TN-like grey-to-grey response time of just 1ms. It’s not unique in this regard; the ViewSonic Elite XG270QG (Shopper 388) uses the same LG tech, is the same size and resolution and has the same Nvidia G-Sync support. But at £449,…

£845 • From www.uk.insight.com VERDICT Great quality, features and size, but it’s not necessarily the biggest or the best option THE PHILIPS BRILLIANCE 439P9H is an ultrawide display that aims to improve productivity by offering a vast amount of space – handy if you work with loads of windows or with huge spreadsheets. Design-wise, it looks good, with a smart minimalist stand and slim bezels. It’s robust and versatile, too: you get 130mm of height adjustment, tilting and swivelling movement and 100mm VESA compatibility. The only concern is making sure you have room for it, as it’s a gigantic 1,058mm wide. That’s a diagonal 43in worth of screen space, presented in a 32:10 aspect ratio with a conventional 1800R curvature. Both this size and the resolution of 3,840x1,200 point to…

The Raspberry Pi camera is one of the most versatile add-ons for the small computer, and with the launch of the new higher-resolution model (see Advanced Projects, page 114), you can now capture images in even more detail. While it’s handy to have a camera that you can activate at will, you can also use the system with a PIR motion sensor to capture an image only when there’s movement. This lets you create your own security camera, or you can go further and use the system to capture what pets are up to in the home or move the system outside to see what wildlife is in your garden. In this guide, we’ll take you through the steps to create a motion-activated camera. CONFIGURE THE MOTION SENSOR You need…

Clive Webster has been tinkering with computers ever since Windows 98 forced him to manually install his drivers clive@computershopper.co.uk OVER THE PAST eight years, the Raspberry Pi Foundation has evolved its offerings to be at the heart of everything, from embedded smart systems to space-borne experiments to desktop PC alternatives. The range of accessories is vast, and the High Quality Camera module opens yet more uses for a Pi. We’ll show you how to get started with this camera module, how to use its interchangeable lenses, and give some inspiration on what you can do with it. THIS FEATURE IS entirely concerned with using the new High Quality Camera module (HQ Camera) and its lenses, so we’re going to assume you’ve got a Raspberry Pi and know how to set…

letters@computershopper.co.uk Parishcounsel @ I am an avid reader of Computer Shopper and have been a subscriber for many years. I wonder if you might give me some pointers. I am treasurer of my local parish church and we would like to install BT Business Broadband to provide Wi-Fi in certain areas of the church to support our new cashlessgiving initiatives and to provide broadband for users of our community area. My question is: how would you approach the provision of Wi-Fi in a large, internal open space, but where the router is situated in the vestry at one end of church and the community area, as the area of largest usage, is at the other end? We need to try to avoid any structural alterations, so would a mesh system…

Tech pioneer and all-round good egg letters@computershopper.co.uk I WAS A young man living in Stockholm. It was the summer of 1969 and I was broke. I had the clothes I stood up in, a diploma in architecture and a kazoo. I was too shy to be a busker, so I invented pay-on-demand, live-streamed entertainment. I became a human jukebox. I commandeered an abandoned cardboard box, which was just about big enough to hide inside, and I cut a slot near the top for my media input/output. Below the slot, I punched eight holes to act as the graphic user interface. There were eight holes because I only knew eight songs, and I scrawled the song title next to each hole. The idea was for passers-by to provide me with digital…

MICROSOFT HAS JOINED with farming giant Land O’Lakes to spur sustainable farming practices and help farmers become more efficient. Land O’Lakes, which has 150 million acres of cropland in its network, will use the partnership to build a connected AgTech platform on Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform and to let local rural communities connect to broadband internet. AgTech will harness Azure FarmBeats to enable Land O’Lakes to derive insights for intelligent agriculture solutions and help farmers be more productive. The two companies will also develop a Digital Dairy solution that will use edge computing to capture data from farms with poor internet coverage, and artificial intelligence (AI) to provide datadriven insights for dairy producers. The solution will use weather, feed management and animal health data streams to improve profit potential, reduce…

”If you close your Mac notebook with a camera cover installed, you might damage your display because the clearance between the display and keyboard is designed to very tight tolerances” Apple warns its users of the dangers of using webcam covers ”People thought we were a video game company. But we are an accelerated computing company where video games were our first killer app” Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang says the GPU maker is no longer all about gaming ”Correct” For the first time, US president Donald Trump confirms that the US conducted a covert cyber attack against Russia in 2018 ”The potential is incredible. But we’ll only see the full benefits – low prices, wide choice, innovative products and services – if the markets for these devices stay open and…

£283 • www.lambda-tek.com VERDICT This boxy PC is silent, cheap, compact and customisable, but performance often stutters BAREBONES PC SYSTEMS – which come with the motherboard, CPU and most other components already fitted but allow you to choose and install your own storage, memory and OS – can be a good halfway point between the two more common routes towards PC ownership. There’s most of the convenience of simply buying a complete, pre-built PC, with a dash of the flexibility that comes with building one from scratch. It can be particularly appealing if the design would make a complete DIY build job somewhat difficult or unusual, as is the case with the ZBOX CA621 Nano. In desktop terms, it’s tiny, measuring just 68mm tall, 204mm wide and 129mm deep –…

£1,000 • From www.amazon.co.uk VERDICT Like Google’s own Chrome OS laptops, the Flip C436FA showcases how good Chromebooks can be IT’S BEEN CLEAR for a while now that Chromebooks have grown up, and the Asus Chromebook Flip C436FA demonstrates precisely why this is a very good thing. Not only is this among the fastest Chromebooks we’ve ever seen, but it’s also an excellent laptop in its own right, with specifications and usability that rival many Windows models. It’s very slim and lightweight, measuring a mere 13.7mm thick when closed. The very slim bezels surrounding the display make it feel small for a laptop with a 14in screen. It tips the scales at just 1.2kg and it has a sturdy 360° hinge, which means the display can be pushed back all…

£25 • From www.amazon.co.uk VERDICT It’s one of the weirder Echo devices, but this smart speaker-meets-wall plug can be more useful than it looks BY ANY METRIC, it’s clear that Amazon’s Echo series of smart speakers is doing well – from simple sales numbers to Alexa’s entry into pop culture and the sheer number of spin-off Echo devices. There’s the displayequipped Echo Show, the tiny Echo Dot series, the alarm clock-like Echo Spot, and even a dedicated subwoofer in the Echo Sub. For all this variety, each new product in the Echo family has generally been a sensible addition that brings something new to the table, or at least introduces Alexa to a new form factor. The Echo Flex is the first that makes us wonder if Amazon has gone…

£180 • From www.amazon.co.uk VERDICT One of Samsung’s cheapest smartphones, the Galaxy A21s is a generally worthy pick PROBABLY THE ONLY smartphone maker to match Motorola in pumping out new models is Samsung, its latest Galaxy handset arriving in the form of the relatively low-priced A21s. Surprisingly, given it’s made with plastic rather than Samsung’s preferred glass, the Galaxy A21s is just as eye-catching as the luxury S20 range. It’s a sleek-looking phone with minimal screen bezels and an unobtrusive hole-punch notch in the top-left corner. The back of the phone is slightly curved, with the four cameras and LED flash arranged in a tidy rectangle in the top-left corner. A rear-mounted fingerprint sensor also sits in the centre, which can be used to unlock the phone and authorise contactless…

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

01 You don’t have to spend much to buy a decent graphics card that can drive multiple monitors. The AMD Radeon RX 550 costs about £100, for example, and while it isn’t suited to playing the latest games in Full HD, it is perfect for watching videos, browsing the web and playing basic games. 02 You’ll need to spend more money if you want to play the latest games. A good mid-range gaming graphics card is the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060, which is powerful enough to play all modern games at Full HD resolution. High-powered cards tend to be more expensive, so expect to pay over £400 if you want to play games in Ultra HD at the highest quality settings. 03 Check that your chosen card has the graphics…

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

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

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

£270 • www.overclockers.co.uk VERDICT A decent 240Hz gaming monitor for the money, albeit one that’s haunted by ghosting NOT ALL MONITORS are desk-dominating ultrawides. The C27G2ZE, one of several AOC recently launched in the competitive gaming market, has a slight curvature of 1500R but a very reasonable form factor of 27in across the diagonal. Like the other curved monitors on test here, the C27G2ZE has a VA panel. It runs at 1,920x1,080, which doesn’t sound great for nearly £300, but it’s the refresh rate that’s the star here: 240Hz, no overclocking required. HARD PRESSED A distinctive four-pronged stand holds the screen aloft, although it’s more susceptible to wobbling than the base’s wide span might suggest. It’s also not very adjustable: you can tilt it a tad, but there’s no swivelling…

£860 • From www.amazon.co.uk VERDICT This curved ultrawide is expensive, but has strong 144Hz gaming credentials and an extraordinary range of features THERE’S ONLY SO much performance that can be wrung out of existing display panel tech. The Optix MPG341CQR suggests MSI knows this: instead of trying to set new standards for image quality and gaming responsiveness, this hulking ultrawide monitor defines itself by a veritable wealth of hardware features and software tools, from mouse bungee and camera mount attachments to a facial-recognition camera that helps the software switch between different profiles for different users. NEW TOYS More on these shortly, but first the basics: the Optix MPG341CQR uses an ultrawide 34in, 3,440x1,440 VA panel, running at 144Hz and gently rounded with a 1800R curvature. It certainly looks like a…

The Raspberry Pi is a back-to-basics computer that helps young and old alike get excited about programming and electronics. An extremely versatile computer, the Pi can turn its hand to almost anything, whether it’s through software or relatively cheap add-on hardware. In this guide, we’re looking at some of the ways that the Pi can be used around your home. First, we’ve got a guide on Pi-Hole, which turns your mini computer into a network-wide ad-blocker that works on all devices. Next, we show you how a simple motion sensor can be used with the camera to work as a security camera, a pet monitor or, if you get a waterproof kit, a wildlife trap – this one is great for kids. Finally, we show you how a Sense HAT…

• CONVERT NES GAMES TO 3D Take a look at the original Super Mario Bros game on the Nintendo Entertainment System and you’ll quickly see that it sports some rather spiffy 2D graphics. That was the case for all NES games but, thanks to the 3dSen emulator that has been released on Steam, it’s now possible to play in 3D, too. Created by Geod Studio (www.geodstudio.net) over the course of five years and costing £7.19, the software is rapidly moving out of Early Access and heading towards a full release. Each game requires a custom-built profile for each title in order to add depth and shadows, but there’s support for some of the system’s biggest titles, including Bubble Bobble, Donkey Kong, Ghosts ‘N Goblins and Pac-Man. Some modern homebrew games…

APERTURE The opening through which light enters the lens unit; the larger the opening, the more light can enter (per given time period, see exposure) and the larger the ‘f number’ (f/1.4 rather than f/16, for example). BACK-FOCUS RING An adjustable ring that allows you to focus the HQ Camera when using fixed-focus lenses. BARREL DISTORTION The effect of straight line in an image seeming to curve. This is caused by the curvature of a lens. DEPTH OF FIELD (DOF) The amount of foreground and background in focus. Creative use of depth of field is usually achieved by adjusting the aperture – a larger aperture will result in a shallow depth of field, for example. EXPOSURE The amount of time over which the sensor records the light received. F NUMBER…

EasyasPi @ Thank you for Clive Webster’s Advanced Projects (‘Make a Media Server’, Shopper 391) I have a long history with computers, am a very enthusiastic user of Arduinos, but the Pi had until an hour ago repeatedly defeated me. I’m now happily listening to music from my server as I type this. Don’t imagine that the device is limited to serving music and videos. It is a general NAS box. And don’t underestimate USB 3.0/Wi-Fi. I only have a basic router, but I backed up 925 files in 77 folders (970MB) from my main PC to a folder on the Pi media NAS, using nothing more than File Explorer, just as if I were backing up to a USB hard drive plugged directly into the PC the files were…

Software guru and Shopper legend letters@computershopper.co.uk THIS MONTH’S COLUMN is dedicated to downright rudeness on the part of software companies (OK, mainly Microsoft) that seem to think they can decide what you ought to be doing and what software you ought to be running, along with a couple of hints on how to fight back. One thing that really irritates me is when the writers of software take liberties with your (or rather my) computer. You know the sort of thing: you install a new application or an update, and it automatically adds a shortcut icon to your desktop, and adds itself to the taskbar, even though you have no icons on your desktop because you prefer a clean screen, and will decide for yourself if you want to clutter…

MICROSOFT-OWNED GITHUB has managed to preserve all active open-source projects hosted on the service by burying them inside an Arctic vault GitHub first revealed its plan to store all of its open-source software in the Arctic last year, and now the code-hosting platform has finished, making sure future generations can access them even if civilisation collapses within the next 1,000 years. GitHub’s Director for Strategic Programs, Julia Metcalf, revealed that the service’s code collection was deposited into the vault on 8th July 2020 after delays caused by the coronavirus pandemic. The company’s archive partner Piql wrote 21TB of repository data on to 186 reels of piqlFilm, a digital photosensitive archival film that can be read by a computer, or a human with a magnifying glass. Piql says archive film is…

£1,560 • From www.chillblast.com VERDICT A top performer in media editing that’s nonetheless cheaper than other ‘prosumer’ systems BUYING A PC with a laser-like focus on a specific usage – be it gaming, media editing or simple office work – is usually less of a risky business than trying to find one that’s all things to all people. With the right specs, you can get a desktop that aligns neatly with your personal requirements, without needing to blow cash on hardware or features that would be surplus to requirements. The Chillblast Photo Zen is a perfect example. While the inclusion of a GeForce GTX 1660 Super graphics card might give the impression that this is a gaming rig, it’s almost top-to-bottom a dedicated photo-editing PC. There’s an octa-core Ryzen 7…

£370 • From www.ebuyer.com VERDICT This highly equipped Intel board effectively combines toughness and smarts YES, IT’S ANOTHER very high-end Intel Z490 motherboard. The compatible 10th-gen Comet Lake chips have been available for a few weeks now, but truly affordable Z490 boards are still few and far between. That means if you want to upgrade to Intel’s latest and greatest, while also being able to take advantage of overclocking on the K-series chips, you’re much more likely to end up looking at something like the Aorus Z490 Master: a metal-clad hulk of an ATX motherboard. PROTECTION DETAIL Of course, its layers of armour are no bad thing. On the front, they contribute to a cleaner, more premium look, with the three clean-looking M.2 slot covers and PCH heatsink combining to…

£170 •From www.printerbase.co.uk VERDICT The Pixma TS8350 is a great home MFP, if expensive for what you get WE CAN USUALLY depend on Canon’s range of Pixma inkjet multifunction peripherals (MFPs) to throw up at least one Best Buy-winning device, but the current crop has been something of a disappointment. In particular, we thought that the Pixma TS5350 (Shopper 388) and TS6350 (Shopper 384) both seemed less well specified than their predecessors. While mid-range Pixmas previously occupied a sweet spot, the TS8350 sits near the top of the range; perhaps the sweet spot moved upmarket? DIRECT APPROACH Upmarket certainly describes this MFP’s look. It’s made from typically glossy black plastics, livened up by a relatively tasteful chrome strip at the base. The front panel is dominated by a huge colour…

£799 • From www.sonos.com VERDICT The Arc has an immersive 3D effect, but its reliance on HDMI eARC means that those without a new TV won’t get the most out of it IT WAS IN 2012, with the launch of the Playbar, when Sonos was last at the forefront of home cinema technology. After a long wait, the company is back with the Arc: a soundbar built to use the latest technologies, including Dolby Atmos 3D surround sound and a funky new eARC input. This is truly a return to form for the company, although there are some rather hefty limitations that mean this soundbar isn’t going to be ideal for everyone. Available in white or black, the Sonos Arc is a slim and attractive soundbar, although its length means…

£1,619 • From www.apple.com/uk VERDICT This is the most expensive iPad Pro yet, but also the most ambitious – and best TICK ALL THE hardware option boxes on this, the newest and biggest iPad Pro, and you’re looking at nearly £2,000 in total: £1,619 for the top-spec, 1TB storage-plus-cellular tablet, plus a wallet-shredding £345 for the Magic Keyboard. The 128GB, Wi-Fi-only model is a lot cheaper at £969, but either way, this kind of cash brings a lot of expectations to live up to. There have been big changes to the internals, including the new A12X Bionic processor and support for 802.11ax Wi-Fi, also known as Wi-Fi 6. The keyboard has also been completely redone, finally adding a touchpad, which was missing from the folio keyboard for the previous iPad…

£379 • From g-shock.co.uk VERDICT A comfy watch with stellar battery life, but heart-rate and positional tracking accuracy hold it back NEARLY 40 YEARS since the first G-Shock watch, Casio is stepping up into serious sports tracking territory. The G-Shock GBD-H1000 is a watch that combines G-Shock’s renowned toughness with all the features you’d expect of a full-fat sports-tracking wearable. It’s waterproof to a depth of 200 metres, so you could theoretically wear it on a scuba dive as well as a swim at your local pool. Its rugged, shock-resistant casing is designed to protect the glass screen and the electronics inside from most kinds of hard impacts. As a result, however, it’s a pretty hefty thing. It stands 20mm proud of your wrist, and it’s heavy, too, at 101g.…

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

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

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

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

DOWNLOADING YOUR SOFTWARE Enter www.shopperdownload.co.uk/392 into your browser’s address bar. In the New user section, enter your email address and the coupon ode printed on the spine into the relevant boxes, then click the Register button. Browse through this month’s choices and follow the online instructions to download and register the software. You may need to register a user account for our software store and enter your coupon code more than once. The registration process varies from program to program, so read the instructions carefully – they explain exactly what you need to do for each program. ANY PROBLEMS? If you need help with any of the software this month, please send an email to support@creativemark.co.uk. We check this inbox regularly. Please include the issue number of the magazine and…

TN (TWISTED NEMATIC) TN panels are basic LCD panels, with nematic liquid crystals placed between two sheets of glass. These are cheap to produce and can offer very low response times, so are often found in both general entry-level and budget gaming monitors. However, they also suffer from narrow viewing angles and, often, duller colours. IPS (IN-PLANE SWITCHING) In IPS monitors, the liquid crystals can shift around to produce better viewing angles than TN or VA panels. IPS panels are expensive and don’t have the best contrast, but their typically high colour performance and wide viewing angles makes them worth paying extra for. Recent panels are also cutting down on response times, one aspect IPS has often struggled with. VA (VERTICAL ALIGNMENT) While VA panels are often thought of as…

£1,000 • From uk-store.acer.com VERDICT The stylish ConceptD CP3271KP is a good professional monitor that comes frustratingly close to being a great one THE CONCEPTD RANGE is Acer’s attempt to combine professional-quality content creation hardware with thoroughly modern, slightly quirky aesthetics: hence products such as the ConceptD 500 (Shopper 385), a workstation PC topped with faux-wooden panelling. Then there’s the ConceptD CP3271KP, one of the company’s most highly specced desktop screens outside of the gamingfocused Predator series. It’s a 27in, 4K (3,840x2,160) IPS panel, and while it’s extremely expensive for its size, Acer is at least promising DisplayHDR 400 compatibility and professional colour accuracy. Like the ConceptD 500, it also appears to have been designed for those who want to bring a touch of class to their workspaces: there’s a…

£259 • From www.currys.co.uk VERDICT A simple yet fundamentally effective QHD display, this monitor looks good in more ways than one A QUAD HD resolution on a 27in monitor is a sweet spot for gaming monitors, but it’s also a very fitting combination for more straightforward office monitors as well. The bountiful screen space leaves plenty of room for multitasking on different windows, and 1440p keeps everything looking much sharper and more legible than 1080p even when that content is spread over a greater area. The ProLite XUB2792QSU-W1 demonstrates this ably. It’s neither the cheapest of 1440p/27in displays, which run closer to £200, nor the most feature-rich, but for getting work done it shows the value of nailing the essentials. GO FOR A SPIN Other than some thin black bezels,…

£192 • From www.ebuyer.com VERDICT It’s small and only Full HD, but the 243B9 delivers on both image quality and features AS FAR AS office monitors go, this isn’t as dirt cheap as the AOC 24B2XH, and is nowhere near as high-specced as its ultrawide Philips stablemate, the Brilliance 439P9H. In fact its 24in size and Full HD resolution are very much middle-of-the road specs. At the same time, the 243B9 has a few tricks to ensure that, at the very least, it avoids the humdrum fate of being just another display. PLAYING TO TYPE First and foremost, there’s its USB Type-C connectivity. This isn’t simply another input slot: it’s powered and can carry data as well as video. This means as long as you’ve got a laptop with the…

FACETIME Free • apps.apple.com Maximum participants: 32 Apple’s FaceTime is primarily used as a one-to-one videocalling app, but not long into quarantine, Apple added the ability to chat with up to 31 other callers at once. It’s a very simple alternative to more complex services, although the fact that it’s only available on Apple’s operating systems – not Android or Windows – could be a big limiting factor. GOOGLE DUO Free • duo.google.com Maximum participants: 12 Google Duo also recently moved from two-person video calls to group chats, albeit with a smaller 12-person limit. It works on both Android and iOS, and there’s a Meet-style web app if you’d prefer to use a desktop or laptop. Its party piece is the Knock Knock feature, which shows the caller’s video feed…

Send your problems to help@computershopper.co.uk Save our libraries! Earlier this year, I built my own PC. It works great, but I’m having an issue with the way the folders are structured. The C drive is an SSD holding the Windows installation and other programs. The D drive is an external drive, which I use for backup. Drive F is a 2TB hard drive, which stores all my files, music, pictures and other data. Everything works OK, it just seems to be different to how it was on my previous computer. When I first started up the new PC, Windows created libraries on the C drive. I then spent ages transferring stuff to the F drive, but in the process I seem to have lost the libraries. I also now seem…