Table of contents for February 2020 in PCWorld

After snatching the performance crown from Intel on the desktop, AMD officially opened up a second front in the war at CES 2020, with a series of Ryzen 4000 laptop CPUs that look to outperform Intel’s best and brightest. “In 2020, we will be introducing the best laptop processor ever built,” said AMD CEO Dr. Lisa Su during the unveil. The company detailed no less than seven consumer Ryzen 4000 processors, based on its 7nm Zen 2 cores. The new CPUs will come in both 15 watt “U-class” ultra-low power versions in thin and light laptops and “H-class” 45-watt gaming and content creation laptops. The Ryzen 7 4800U is the top-end low power version, packing 8-cores and 16-threads. It will hit boost clock of 4.2GHz and have a base…

While we’re all waiting for the Galaxy S20 to arrive in San Francisco on February 11, Samsung isn’t resting on its laurels. After announcing the budget-friendly Galaxy S10 and Note 10 Lite models ahead of its recent CES appearance, Samsung has turned its sights to a new kind of Galaxy phone, and it’s getting a little help from Microsoft. The Galaxy XCover Pro is something of a return to the “Active” phones that Samsung made from the Galaxy S4 to the S8, but it’s more than just a rugged, IP68 water-resistant, MIL-STD 810G certified handset that doesn’t need a case. You’re also getting something that was long thought to be extinct. No, I’m not talking about a headphone jack (though it has one of those too). I’m talking about a removable battery.…

Dell’s XPS 13 2-in-1 7390 and HP’s 5th-gen Spectre x360 13t embody the intense rivalry of the two top American PC vendors. Locked in a constant fight for market share, the companies seem to pour every technological advance they have into these two premium convertible laptops. With each iteration, one seems to challenge the other, “can you top this?” Both companies recently released new models, so it’s time to pit Dell’s XPS 13 2-in-1 7390 against HP’s 5th-gen Spectre x360 13t in an epic battle, which we’ll recount blow by blow as we talk specs, features, performance, and more. SPECS On specs, both rivals are very similar. Both are based on Intel’s new 10nm, 10th-Core i7-1065G7 chip. The RAM is similar, too, with LPDDR4X/3733 in both. The Dell does, however,…

The battery lasts for 100 hours. That’s all Sennheiser needed to say to pique my interest in the GSP 370. Charging various wireless devices is the bane of my existence, and I’m constantly looking for ways to mitigate the problem. Some are creative, like Astro’s A50 headset and its unique charging stand. But I’m all for Sennheiser brute-forcing the problem and just cramming a whopping big battery inside. Whatever gets the job done, right? BOXCAR RACER And surprisingly, a whopping big battery doesn’t mean a whopping big headset. Listen, the GSP 370 is by no means small. Sennheiser’s gaming headsets tend to be boxy, with more than a hint of the dreaded “Air Traffic Control” silhouette, and the GSP 370 is no exception. But it also isn’t noticeably larger than…

It was a great ride, but it’s over. On January 14, 2020, Microsoft ended the life of one of its greatest operating systems ever. Windows 7 is dead. Your computer will still power on, but it won’t receive any more security updates, and any bugs found won’t get fixed. Bottom line: It’s dangerous to keep using Windows 7, especially if you shop online or store any personal information on your PC. We’ve got tips on how to stay as safe as possible on Windows 7 (see page 97) now that security updates are done, but your best bet is migrating to a more modern operating system. Good news! Remember Microsoft’s offer of a free Windows 10 upgrade, the one that ostensibly ended years ago? It’s quietly still available. Yes, if…

Dell’s Concept UFO, Concept Duet, and Concept Ori offer a rare peek at future products from the usually tight-lipped PC maker. PCWorld got an advance look at these concepts ahead of their announcement at CES in Las Vegas. Because they’re concepts, we don’t know whether they’ll ever make it to market. So, think of them as hints of what Dell’s working on for future PCs, and who knows—you may see something like it someday at your local electronics store. CONCEPT ORI: IT FOLDS! The Concept Ori is a folding PC that looks a lot like the ThinkPad X1 Fold (go.pcworld.com/thx1) that Lenovo revealed at CES 2020. It’s a single display that folds in the middle, offering options for using it as a display, a tablet, or a clamshell laptop.…

Intel used CES in Las Vegas to offer a further glimpse, though little detail, of its next-generation chips due in 2020. ‘Tiger Lake’ is its next CPU, and Intel proved that its next GPU, code-named DG1, is up and running. Before its press conference began, Intel had already made several announcements, some arguably more interesting: its new Core i9-based modular NUC, “Ghost Canyon,” plus new details concerning its 10th-gen Comet Lake chips, including the fact that they’ll run above 5GHz. Intel also revealed earlier that its upcoming Tiger Lake CPUs will have improved AI performance, though the company didn’t say how much. Intel is—or should be—worried about AMD’s barrage of CES announcements, including the Ryzen 4000 (see page 12) 7nm/Zen 2 mobile chips expected to take on Intel, and the ridiculously…

We’re just barely into 2020, and already we have our first critical security flaw. It comes from Mozilla’s popular Firefox browser, and it’s so dangerous, the Homeland Security Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency is warning users about it. The good news is that it’s already been patched. The bad news is that it’s already being exploited in the wild. And it’s about as bad as it can get. In technical terms, as Mozilla explains, “Incorrect alias information in IonMonkey JIT compiler for setting array elements could lead to a type confusion.” That means that an attacker could exploit the Javascript code to surreptitiously hack a user’s PC and install malicious code outside of Firefox. Mozilla says it is “aware of targeted attacks in the wild abusing this flaw,” but doesn’t…

The HP Pavilion x360 14 2-in-1 laptop comes in many flavors, and ours (14m-dh0003dx) should please productivity-minded professionals with its smooth quad-core performance and a keyboard that feels great. Given that it’s $700 from Best Buy before discounts (though we’ve recently spotted it for just $560), we would have liked a bit more battery life, though. CONFIGURATION HP offers a dizzying array of Pavilion x360 models in 11-, 14-, and 15-inch sizes, with the 14-inch configurations ranging from 8th-gen dual-core Intel Core i3 systems up to 10th-gen Core i7 quad-core Comet Lake CPUs. Here’s what’s under the hood of our middle-of-the-road 14-inch Pavilion x360 14m-dh0003dx): CPU: Quad-core Intel Core i5-8265U RAM: 8GB DDR4 GPU: Integrated Intel UHD Graphics 620 Display: 14-inch 1920 x 1080 IPS touchscreen Storage: 128GB SSD At first…

I’m usually skeptical about split keyboards. Because I don’t have any of the ergonomic-related aches and pains they purport to help, I find it hard to evaluate the efficacy of their science-backed designs. It doesn’t help that most of the ones I’ve used have introduced more typing discomfort than they’ve relieved. Logitech’s Ergo K860 has made me a believer. Announced recently and due to ship later in January, it showed me that just because my usual typing posture doesn’t cause pain doesn’t mean it can’t be improved. In the few weeks I used the K860 I noticed increased typing comfort, reduced muscle tension, and all without sacrificing productivity to a steep learning curve. DESIGN The K860 is big: almost 18 inches across and just over 9 inches from the top…

There’s a massive hole in 2020. A blind spot, if you will. Next fall, new consoles arrive. That doesn’t affect us much on the PC side, but it does mean everyone’s playing cards close to their chest at the moment. Holding onto surprises. Keeping quiet about quite possibly the biggest games of 2020. So as we look towards the coming year, keep in mind we’re only seeing half the picture—if that. And yet it’s still pretty damn impressive, with Cyberpunk 2077, Doom Eternal, and Dying Light II headlining one of the most packed spring lineups I’ve ever seen. Oh, and lest we forget, there’s a new Half-Life game releasing in March. These are exciting times, friends. 1. ORI AND THE WILL OF THE WISPS Release date: March 11 When Microsoft…

Many of us fell in love with Excel as we delved into its deep and sophisticated formula features. Because there are multiple ways to get results, you can decide which method works best for you. For example, there are several ways to enter formulas and calculate numbers in Excel. 5 WAYS TO ENTER FORMULAS 1. Manually enter Excel formulas: Long Lists: =SUM(B4:B13) Short Lists: =SUM(B4,B5,B6,B7) or =SUM(B4+B5+B6+B7). Or, place your cursor in the first empty cell at the bottom of your list (or any cell, really) and press the + sign, then click B4; press the plus sign again and click B5; and so on to the end; then press Enter. Excel adds up this list you just “pointed to” as =+B4+B5+B6+B7. 2. Click the Insert Function button Use the…

HP’s Envy 32 AiO claims the title of being the first with an HDR600 4K display, the first with GeForce RTX graphics, and for those who want the noise: the world’s loudest speakers on an AiO, too. Announced at CES in Las Vegas, it’s also arguably the first all-in-one PC that’s bad-ass instead of boring. You can configure the Envy 32 right now on HP.com. Calling it a “personal creative studio,” HP says the all-in-one PC is the first to feature a 32-inch 4K UHD screen that can hit HDR600 requirements. HP says the panel offers a 6000:1 contrast ratio, 600 nits of brightness, and 98 percent of the DCI-P3 color space. HP opted not to offer touch support on the screen. Officials said their research indicates touch is…

Another CES is in the books, and this time around, the annual techstravaganza served as a harbinger for the disruption aimed at PCs in 2020. Things are about to get funky, friends. AMD opened a new front in the war against Intel, Intel fired shots at AMD and Nvidia, and monitors were being pushed to blazing-fast new limits left and right. Laptops embraced newfound form factors. Desktops got weird. Heck, we even saw a détente in the battle between consoles and PC gamers in bold, badass fashion. We were there to capture it all. Here’s a recap of the CES 2020 reveals that PC enthusiasts need to know about. Hit those links for deeper details throughout. AMD VS. INTEL VS. NVIDIA Let’s start with the heavy hitters powering the chips…

As part of its year-end push to bring Android Messages up to speed, Google has rolled out two new features: Verified SMS and spam protection. Together, they help make sure your conversations aren’t taken over by people you don’t want to talk to. Like the phone app, Google won’t automatically filter out suspected spam messages, but it will warn you when it suspects one has arrived. You’ll be able to let Google know whether it got it right and also report spam texts, all of which will be used to improve the detection engine. In addition to flagging spam, Google will also verify whether you’re indeed chatting with the brand you think you’re chatting with. If so, Google will add a verification badge alongside the business name and logo in…

WD’s new Blue SN550 is a nice improvement on the older SN500, though it still isn’t going to worry the competition with its performance. However, other vendors sure won’t be happy that it’s 10 cents per gigabyte at the 1TB capacity. DESIGN AND FEATURES The WD Blue SN550 is a x4 PCIe 3.0, M.2 NVMe SSD in the 2280 form factor. That is, 22mm wide and 80mm long. The NAND is 96-layer TLC (Triple Layer Cell/3-bit) with an unspecified percentage utilized as SLC (Single Level Cell/1-bit) cache. More on that later. The 1TB SN550 we tested is $100 on Amazon (10 cents a gigabyte), while the 500GB is $70 on Amazon, and the 250GB flavor costs $50 on Amazon. While I didn’t find any better deals on a 1TB drive,…

If you’re a Kindle user, you’ve undoubtedly come across titles with that Kindle Unlimited logo and an enticing “$0.00” price tag attached. You’re curious, yes? With titles in genres from mysteries and romance to sci-fi and self-help, Kindle Unlimited is an easy and affordable way to sate your appetite for eBooks. Here’s everything you need to know. WHAT IS KINDLE UNLIMITED? Kindle Unlimited is a subscription service that’s been likened to Netflix for eBooks. For a monthly fee of $9.99 after a free 30-day trial, you get access to a whopping one-million-plus eBook, audio book, and magazine titles. You don’t own any of the books, but you can borrow as many as you want and enjoy them for as long as you want— hence, “unlimited.” Take that one million number…

Windows 7 is one of the best things Microsoft ever released. The much-adored operating system wooed back users who reviled the disappointing Windows Vista, and it remained a comfortable refuge during the even bleaker Windows 8 era. Even today, with Windows 10 fixing Windows 8’s worst mistakes and standing as a superb desktop operating system of its own, a legion of vocal PC enthusiasts swears by Windows 7. Why? Because it stays out of your way, and it just works. Until January 14, 2020, when Microsoft ends Windows 7’s extended support. Windows 7 is dead. Your PC will keep operating, of course. Microsoft isn’t literally pulling the plug on your devices. But Windows 7 won’t receive any more updates or security patches, meaning your PC will also be very vulnerable…

The free and open source photo-editing program called GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program) is a nice alternative to the subscription-based or boxed versions of its competition (including PhotoShop). Whether you’re a beginner with GIMP or a seasoned pro, there’s lots to love. Some of GIMP’s greatest assets are the plug-ins and scripts created by numerous independent programmers. At one time, there was a massive collection called the GIMP Plugin Registry, but that resource is no longer available. Consequently, you must search the Internet for GIMP plug-ins and scripts. To start you on the right track, we’ve selected our favorite plug-ins and scripts for you to try, with a brief description of each, and a link to the resource location. First; however, we should explain the complicated process of how to install…