Computer Shopperの December 2017 の目次

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE technology is heralding a new revolution, one that will shake up the world in the same way that inventions such as the steam engine and telephone did before it. But many of us fear the rise of the robots, in the face of increasingly ominous statistics and reports warning that these machines are set to take over our jobs and eventually make humans obsolete. Fortunately, a group known as biohackers are working on technologies that could prevent robots from ever getting that far. By combining human biology with robotic features, inventors are coming up with new ways to enhance our minds and bodies. From eyeball cameras to injectable RFID chips, we cover the technology already out there to allow us to compete with the robots (page 106) –…

Meters at the crossroads @ I loved Mel Croucher’s article about smart meters (Mel’s World, Shopper 357). We had ours fitted about six months ago. I did warn the engineers that the signal from all our local mobile phone networks was very poor and that our 400-hundred-year-old house with 2ft thick stone walls wouldn’t help. However, progress couldn’t be delayed. As predicted, the smart meter didn’t work. I was told that signal was improving all the time and that ‘they’ would contact me as soon as contact between ‘the system’ and my smart meter was established. My great expectations remain thwarted, as progress cannot be made and no-one will be able to monitor my use of electricity in the foreseeable future. However, I remain an optimist; if Big Brother wants…

Madeline Bennett RAVES TWITTER HAS DONE something dreadful, enraging thousands of its users and inviting pure wrath from technology commentators. So what is this heinous act? No, it’s not promoting Trump tweets at the top of every Twitter user’s timeline; nor is it passing on your private account data to any government agency or corporation that requests it; it’s not even banning GIFs. No, this move was far worse. It’s only gone and increased the character limit for tweets from 140 to 280. #fail #getinthesea ‘What?’ I hear you scream. Well, that seems to be the general reaction, going by the rabid tweets posted in the aftermath of Twitter breaking this world-changing news. Here are a couple of examples picked at random from the thousands of negative tweets: “The 280-character tweets…

Spain Facebook brought to book Facebook has been fined €1.2m for allegedly taking users’ data without their knowledge and using it for advertising purposes. “Facebook’s privacy policy contains generic and unclear terms,” the Spanish data watchdog said. “The social network uses specifically protected data for advertising, among other purposes, without obtaining users’ express consent as data protection law demands, a serious infringement.” Manchester, UK Police stuck on XP One in five computers used by Greater Manchester Police were still running Windows XP as of July. Microsoft ended support for the operating system in 2014, but the police force still has over 1,500 PCs on the outdated OS. Jamie Moles, of security firm Lastline, said the news comes as no surprise, as austerityhit police forces are prioritising spending on law enforcement…

“Digital firms make vast profits from their millions of users, even if they do not have a physical presence in the EU.We now want to create a level playing field so that all companies active in the EU can compete fairly, irrespective of whether they are operating via the cloud or from brick and mortar premises.” EU commissioner Pierre Moscovici targets tax-shy tech giants such as Google and Amazon “Industry needs to go further and faster in automating the detection and removal of terrorist content online, and developing technological solutions that prevent it being uploaded in the first place.” Theresa May is deeply concerned about tech companies’ approach to fighting terrorism “There are wide implications. This move by the British, French and Italian governments could also be used to justify…

£999 • From www.wired2fire.com VERDICT The Pyro Reactor ignores fancy extras in favour of the best possible core specs, and is all the better for it JUST ONE ISSUE ago we crowned the CCL Reaper (Shopper 357) as the best gaming desktop you could buy for around £1,000. But a lot can change in a month – the Reaper, for instance, has jumped up to £1,127, and now Wired2Fire has shown up with a powerful AMD-based PC of its own, the Pyro Reactor. Despite these two systems sharing the same chassis, Cooler Master’s MasterBox Lite 5, they’re significantly different otherwise. Where the Reaper has a watercooled Ryzen 5 1600 CPU, the Pyro Reactor has an air-cooled Ryzen 5 1600X. Where the Reaper has a 4GB Radeon RX 580, the Pyro…

£1,554 • From www.pcworldbusiness.co.uk VERDICT The ThinkPad X1 Carbon is a superior business class ultraportable with a lofty asking price LENOVO IS AN old hand at business notebooks, and the fifth-generation ThinkPad X1 is its thinnest, most powerful laptop to date, which retains the unmistakable ThinkPad look. At 16mm thin when closed and weighing just 1.13kg, this 14in laptop has lost a lot of weight compared to its predecessors, but it doesn’t come cheap. Prices start at £1,380 for the model with an Intel Core i5-7200U processor, 8GB of RAM, 256GB SSD and Windows 10 Home, rising to £2,220 for a Core i7-7600U CPU, 16GB of RAM, a 1TB SSD and Windows 10 Pro. Oddly, we were sent a custom model for review, with a Core i7-7500U, 16GB of RAM,…

£240 • From www.scan.co.uk VERDICT The X299 SLI Plus proves you don’t need to spend a fortune to get a brilliant Skylake-X motherboard THERE’S CURRENTLY NO such thing as a ‘budget’ Intel X299 motherboard, but the MSI X299 SLI Plus is probably the closest thing yet. At £240 it’s £60 cheaper than the Asus ROG Strix X299-E Gaming (Shopper 356), which was already a relatively cheap way to get going with Intel’s latest enthusiast platform, which includes the Skylake-X and Kaby Lake-X CPU families. The hardware-monitoring tools provide an exhaustive overview of how your PC is running There are signs of the X299 SLI Plus’s cash-saving nature as soon as you open the box. Instead of the treasure trove of accessories we’re used to seeing included with X99 and X299…

£191 • From www.ebuyer.com VERDICT A hugely fast portable SSD, but it’s also one of the most expensive WE’VE BEEN HUGELY impressed with Samsung’s internal SSDs, as they’ve pushed the boundaries of what’s possible, both in terms of speed and capacity. Now the company is turning its attention to the portable market with the T5 SSD. Traditionally, the downside of having a USB-connected SSD has been that the interface isn’t fast enough to really make the most of it. Not so with the T5, as it uses the latest USB3.1 Gen2, which has a maximum throughput of 10Gbit/s. Samsung’s drive has a USB Type-C connector on it, but the company thoughtfully provides both a Type-C cable and a Type-C-to-Type-A cable, so that you can plug this drive into any computer.…

£225 • From www.amazon.co.uk VERDICT With better performance and a longer battery life, Samsung’s updated Galaxy J5 is a low-cost marvel LAST YEAR’S EXCELLENT Samsung Galaxy J5 (Shopper 341) proved to be one of the few worthy competitors to the Motorola Moto G series. It was a top-notch phone, hitting all the right buttons at a great price. Since then, a whole new generation of budget competitors has appeared, challenging not just each other but also more expensive flagship devices. Now the Korean firm has hit back with a new and improved J5. It can’t be faulted on aesthetics. At first glance, it looks a lot like Samsung phones of old, right down to the button placement and the home button in the centre, which now does double duties as…

£229 • From shop.somfy.co.uk VERDICT A quick and easy way to add home security, but a few annoyances stop us recommending it AT FIRST GLANCE, the Somfy One looks like a fairly standard indoor security camera. And, with a built-in camera, this is a fair assumption to make. However, it’s not just a camera, but a complete integrated security system with a siren. You can expand your options further by adding Somfy’s range of security accessories, including the IntelliTAG, which can detect someone trying to break in through a door or window, and the indoor motion sensor. If you’re looking to build a smart security system, then, this neat integrated package seems like a good way to get started. I SPY Setting up the Somfy One is simple using the…

£145 • From www.amazon.co.uk VERDICT Great sound quality and fit, but a few niggles and a high price mean they’re not our favourite sports headphones BOSE IS FAMED for its noise-cancelling headphones, but the firm also produces a range of standard headphones, such as these, the Bose SoundSport Wireless. So what do the Bose SoundSport Wireless offer that the competition doesn’t? On paper, it doesn’t look like much: battery life isn’t exceptional, with up to six hours’ charge, and although they’re sweat-proof, they’re not IP-rated for waterproofing. What’s more, there are only three pairs of ear tips supplied in the box, so it’s possible you won’t find a snug fit. If they do fit your ears, though, you’ll find them a comfortable, secure fit. They sit on the outside of…

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. 03 All…

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. 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…

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. 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 your equipment. Two HDMI…

01 Wearable tech can include anything from chest-strap heart-rate monitors to augmented reality glasses, but the two most common types are smartwatches and fitness trackers. Both are designed to sit unassumingly on your wrist, and are almost always meant to be used in tandem with a paired smartphone. 02 Smartwatches are typically more complex and expensive, though more closely resemble a traditional wristwatch. You can use them to receive and reply to text messages and emails, quickly check maps and even play games – like a smartphone, most smartwatches allow you to install your own choice of apps. 03 Fitness trackers are much more dedicated to healthy pursuits. Step counters, heart-rate monitors and even sleep tracking are all common, and the data collected is fed back to you so you…

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 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 can still access the NAS device, but only at…

£229 (twin pack) • From store.google.com VERDICT Staggeringly easy to configure and with some amazing configuration tools, this is wireless networking made easy GOOGLE WIFI IS designed to upgrade your existing router, bringing a smart mesh network into your home. For the best results, then, you need to disable your router’s existing wireless, so that Google Wifi becomes your default. Google Wifi is sold as either a single unit (£129) or as a two-unit pack (£229). Given that this is a mesh networking product, it makes the most sense to buy two access points. NET WORTH Google has done a good job with the Wifi’s access point design. Each one is a small hockey puck-style unit, which you can place conveniently out of the way without having to make too…

£230 • From www.currys.co.uk VERDICT Lots of smart features and great performance make this smart mesh system stick out THE TP-LINK DECO M5 wireless mesh system is designed to be one of the most flexible products you can get. It hooks up to an existing wireless router, but gives you a choice of operating modes to best suit your home environment, plus integrated parental controls and anti-virus protection. It ships as a three-pack of wireless satellites, which should suit even the largest of homes. DISC-OVERY Each satellite is a small disc, 120mm in diameter, which sits flat on a desk. Only the first disc needs to be connected to your existing router; subsequent access points connect to the first one wirelessly. If you want to boost range further, you can…

£169 • From www.f-secure.com VERDICT A clever way to protect your internet-connected devices, using a combination of hardware and software WE FIRST REVIEWED the F-Secure Sense in Shopper 356, and while we liked the product, we also felt it had a few minor shortcomings. However, F-Secure’s promised to update the Sense regularly, adding new features. As a result, we’ve decided to review the product again to see what has changed. First, a recap. The F-Secure Sense is a combination of two products. There’s the security-hardened router, which gives protection to all of your devices, and then there’s the Sense application, which uses F-Secure’s anti-virus engine and protects your Android and Windows devices (there’s an iOS app for setup only, as Macs currently aren’t supported). F-Secure’s software offers powerful protection, protecting…

£228 • From www.scan.co.uk VERDICT A very smart interface and decent performance make this one of the most flexible routers you can buy WE WERE QUITE taken with Synology’s first wireless router, the RT1900ac (Shopper 345). Using the same excellent interface as the company’s NAS devices, it was easy to configure, but slightly patchy performance let it down. Now, Synology is back with the RT2600ac. As you can probably tell from the name, this model has faster 802.11ac Wi-Fi: 1,733Mbit/s 5GHz and 800Mbit/s 2.4GHz combine to give (near enough) the 2,600Mbit/s speed in the name. Although the RT2600ac looks similar to its predecessor, it’s distinguished by two more antennas, one on either side of the router’s body. All the antennas have to be screwed into place; it can be hard…

Speed and range are two of the most important things with any wireless device. To see how good each router really is, we test in a real-world environment, using the TamoSoft Throughput Test. This test gives both the upload and download speeds of the connection, which we average to give us an idea of how fast a network would be in use. To test performance over range, we test in three locations, with the router placed ideally in the middle of the ground floor. We then move our test laptop so that we can test throughputs in different locations throughout our home. Our close-range test is performed in the next room, through one wall, replicating one of the challenges that Wi-Fi routers will face. We then test on the first…

£78 • From www.overclockers.co.uk VERDICT Arctic’s first foray into closed loop CPU cooling successfully beats the heat ARCTIC HAS A long and prosperous history of making conventional air coolers – its Freezer 7 Pro Rev 2, for instance, is widely considered one of the best budget coolers in the business, despite being several years old. So, while the firm’s entrance into all-in-one watercoolers last year was arguably overdue, it wasn’t much of a surprise. To date, Arctic still has only three AIO units in its line-up: the original launch duo of the Liquid Freezer 120 and Liquid Freezer 240, plus the Liquid Freezer 360, which followed a few months later. This is the real surprise, as the Liquid Freezer 240 is so good for the money that we’d have thought…

£140 • From www.overclockers.co.uk VERDICT It’s expensive, but the Kraken X62 is a compellingly luxurious watercooler THERE’S NO DISPUTING NZXT’S thoroughness when it comes to upgrading the Kraken series of closed-loop liquid coolers; among the improvements to this most recent generation are a new pump, designed to shift more water with less noise, fluid-bearing fans with chamfered intakes, and even slightly longer tubing that’s been decked out in protective nylon sleeves. There are certainly a lot of tweaks here, and to find out whether they add up to a system that’s truly worth the high £140 price, we tested out the premier Kraken X62 model. This comes with two 140mm fans, compared to the X42’s single 120mm fan and the X52’s dual 120mm fans. SCREWS IN BRIEF Happily, assembling and…

The current crop of students are assumed to be so-called digital natives, but they aren’t flocking to computing classes in great numbers. Blame was placed on ICT classes, accused of being dull and out of date, and too simple to prepare students for real-world work. To encourage more students into the subject, five years ago, then education secretary Michael Gove – he’s had a busy few years since, failing to nab the leadership of his party and whatnot – said that “technology in schools will no longer be micromanaged by Whitehall”. Instead, teachers would be given “freedom over what and how to teach”. In practice, that meant ditching the existing ICT programme, which focused on how to use computers – teaching students how to create Word documents and the like…

clive@computershopper.co.uk Use NFC to automate tasks With Apple now on the NFC bandwagon, Clive Webster shows you how to use this often neglected technology to make things happen with a tap of your phone. LOOK AROUND YOUR home and you’ll find plenty of smart, connected devices. But linking them together can be a pain: if you’re not shuffling between multiple apps on your phone, you’re having to pause what you’re doing while one bit of kit powers down and the next warms up. Technology was meant to make life easier, not more complicated. Thankfully, near-field communication (NFC) solves these problems. We’ll show you how just tapping your phone to a cheap NFC tag can automatically switch your music from your headphones to your wireless speaker. NFC IS A short-range wireless…

ben@computershopper.co.uk Lens upgrades Got an SLR or CSC and still using the kit lens? We reveal what a lens upgrade can do for your photography IF YOU HAVE more than a passing interest in photography, the chances are that you own an SLR or compact system camera (CSC). They offer lots of benefits over a smartphone: comfortable ergonomics, tactile controls, a large viewfinder, superior performance and a big hike in image quality. They also offer the ability to switch lenses. While it’s handy to have a lens that does everything, it’s even better to have a lens that excels at the specific photographic challenge you’re currently working on. A typical kit lens is pretty unadventurous, with a 3x zoom and a not particularly bright f/3.5-5.6 maximum aperture. Other lenses cover…

Madeline Bennett Wings. No more travelling on overcrowded trains or motorway tailbacks for me! David Ludlow Robot eyes and ears that automatically filter out the existence of James Corden Nathan Spendelow A brain implant that actually makes me give a damn about the iPhone 8, X or whatever it’s called James Archer Healing nanobots, not that they’ll ever exist. What a shame Dave Neal Go go gadget legs Roland Moore-Colyer Invisibility… and an artificial hangover-beating liver Simon Handby Bionic exoskeleton. Not because it’s cool, but because my endoskeleton is mostly knackered…

Tech pioneer and all-round good egg letters@computershopper.co.uk I WANT TO tell you why my dad’s nose is a beacon of freedom in this age of computerised mass surveillance. My dad looked a lot like the actor Sid James, the earthy, crumple-faced star of the Carry On movies. One Christmas Day, about 50 years ago, Dad carved the turkey and dished up the entire celebration meal wearing a big false nose attached to a pair of fake black specs. He thought this was dead funny, and I expect the rest of the family would have thought it was dead funny too, except for the fact that his real nose looked just like his fake nose and nobody noticed he was wearing it until it fell off into his beer glass. Dad…

Better than real life Microsoft is pushing its Windows 10-based Mixed Reality VR platform (out with the Fall Creators Update due to launch on 17th October) with a slew of compatible headsets. Dell’s Visor, on show at IFA 2017, could be one of the best. With its padded casing and balanced weight, we found the Visor comfortable to wear, even with glasses on – which is a first for a VR headset. As with other compatible headsets, the Visor has dual cameras built into the front to track movement, so you don’t need any external tracking sensors. Internally, there are two 1,440x1,440 screens creating the image. Image quality is excellent, and we were soon immersed in a 3D world. Control is best via Dell’s motion controllers. For £100 extra, you…

£2,300 • From www.chillblast.com VERDICT A ludicrously powerful media-editing system with some thoughtful gifts to photographers WE’VE SEEN GAMING PCs and we’ve seen general-purpose workstations, but it’s been a while since our labs have been graced with a PC designed specifically with photo editing in mind. That’s exactly what the Chillblast Fusion Photo OC VIII is, and it doesn’t look like many expenses have been spared in the pursuit. The brains of the operation is the Intel Core i7-7820X. This octa-core chip is one of the lower-specced models from Intel’s luxury Skylake-X range, but it’s still an enormously powerful processor, even more so as Chillblast has overclocked it from 3.6GHz to 4.6GHz. Professional-level media editing also demands plenty of memory, and the Fusion Photo OC VIII is on hand with…

£1,130 • From www.amazon.co.uk VERDICT This laptop can handle 1080p gaming with ease, but it’s let down by a poor-quality display NOT MANY LAPTOPS below £1,200 can offer a smooth, slick Full HD gaming experience, but Dell’s Inspiron 15 7000 does just that. For £1,130, this particular configuration offers up an Intel Core i7-7700HQ processor, a 4GB GTX 1050 Ti GPU, 16GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD, coupled with a 1TB hard disk. The Inspiron 15 7000 looks quite stylish, with a tasteful matt black and red design. However, it opens up via a single, small middle-section hinge – an arrangement that means the panel is prone to flex and wobble. The bezels around the screen are also quite large, making them a little distracting for gaming. The top…

IN ASSOCIATION WITH SEH TECHNOLOGY SEH-TECHNOLOGY.COM The past decade has seen a significant shift to the cloud and using software-as-aservice. However, dongles are still a popular method for software companies to protect intellectual property and high-value software. But can you use USB dongles with cloud software to protect your data, and if so,what’s the best way to go about it? One solution is to deploy a USB dongle server. These have been used in the past to provide a USB port for a network, allowing a computer to span beyond the local network to the internet. Protecting high-value software-as-a-service British Columbia startup ESP Estimating offers its clients, electrical contractors, a cloud-based custom estimating database for a monthly subscription. This solution also uses a third-party software platform called Accubid. This is…

£115 • From store.hp.com/uk VERDICT Fast, competent, and good value to buy and run, the OfficeJet Pro 7720 is a great A3-capable MFP HP’S OFFICEJET PRO 7720 is an inkjet multifunction peripheral (MFP) designed for moderate use in a small office. It’s a bit bigger than the norm because it can print – but not scan or copy – on A3 paper. Few authorities would agree with HP’s description of this as constituting wide format, but it’s still a useful trick, particularly if you ever need to print detailed plans, posters or spreadsheets at a more practical size. Aside from A3 printing, the OfficeJet Pro 7720 supports wired and wireless network connections, can print on both sides of a sheet of paper (duplex), and has a 35-page automatic document feeder…

£85 • From shop.vodafone.co.uk VERDICT The Smart N8 is good value, but its processor holds it back THE VODAFONE SMART N8 is the Smart Prime 7 (Shopper 343) successor we’ve been waiting for. It still costs well under £100, but comes with an improved camera, fingerprint reader and Android 7.0 out of the box. Despite being cheap, the Smart N8 is nicely made, from its textured rear cover to its beautifully crafted edges. However, at 8.6mm thick and weighing 151g, it is both chunkier and heavier than the Smart Prime 7. At the front, there’s a 5-megapixel camera, an unusual front-facing flash, and a single forward-firing speaker, which sounds surprisingly good. You’ll find a textured power button and volume rocker on the right, a 3.5mm headphone jack at the top…

£24 • From www.thetrackr-uk.co.uk VERDICT The Pixel is useful for finding items lost around the house, but a slow Bluetooth connection lets it down WE ALL HAVE those items that we’re always losing, such as a wallet or house keys. Bluetooth trackers are a great way to keep tabs on your kit, especially when you can enable crowd locate, which turns other smartphones in the network into sensors, all looking for your device. The problem with many cheap Bluetooth trackers is that they lack the user base, and thus the network size, to give your lost goods a reasonable chance of being found. TrackR, conversely, is well established and has the weight of a big crowd network behind it. Firing up the app on our smartphone, we were told that…

£200 • From www.amazon.co.uk VERDICT Impressive noise cancellation is let down by overpowering bass and an uncomfortably weighty build MOST MAKERS OF in-ear headphones haven’t had much luck with cramming in active noise cancellation (ANC), mainly due to the lack of passive isolation and the poor implementation of ANC. The BeoPlay E4, a set of elegant earphones with ANC tech built in, is an attempt by B&O to buck that trend. In the box, you’ll find the earphones with a set of XS, S, M and L silicone tips and a set of medium Comply T-200 foam tips. There’s also a soft carrying pouch, flight adaptor and a Micro USB charging cable. The inclusion of Comply foam tips is a huge plus, since they isolate better than regular silicone tips…

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. 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. 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 an 11in or…

01 A basic digital camera will suit someone who wants to take pictures to view on their computer and create 7x5in prints. It should cost around £80, but there may be hidden downsides such as slow performance and very basic user controls. 02 Spend a little more and you’ll get a higher resolution. A 16-megapixel sensor has the potential to produce sharp 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 check our reviews to find out how a particular model…

01 If you don’t have space in your home cinema setup for a set of surroundsound 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. 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 boxes to your TV and run all audio through a single cable. Also look for…

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 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. 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. 02 SSDs can make the most of SATA3’s extra bandwidth for fast file transfers. They use flash memory similar to that found in USB flash drives, and although they tend to provide less capacity than…

GETTING STARTED The download instructions on the card insert (opposite) 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 the first time you log on to the site. 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 your coupon code. WHY DOWNLOADS In order to provide us with free software, publishers now require us to offer the applications as a download and require online registration. You need to use the unique code printed in the box on the card insert to register and download the software in this issue. The…

EXTENDING RANGE TP-LINK Deco M5 An impressive and well-priced mesh system, the TP-Link Deco M5 comes with three high-power access points. In its default mode, it gives you advanced parental controls and device scheduling to rival that of the impressive Google Wifi. Impressively, it also has built-in anti-virus, powered by Trend Micro. The combination of powerful features and range makes this system a real winner, and a great upgrade for anyone that doesn’t want to replace their existing router. BUDGET BUYERS TP-LINK Archer C3200 For just £150 you can get an impressive tri-band wireless router in the TP-Link Archer C3200. This gives you three networks to use: two 5GHz and one 2.4GHz network. For example, you could use one 5GHz band for entertainment devices, use the other one for clients,…

£380 • From www.currys.co.uk VERDICT Neat and easy to configure, although performance at the edge isn’t quite as good as on rival systems THE LINKSYS VELOP is, in theory, one of the most flexible mesh systems: it can replace an existing router, like the Netgear Orbi, or it can be used to upgrade your existing wireless network while leaving your router alone, as with the BT Whole Home Wi-Fi. This flexibility would seem to give Linksys an edge in a very rapidly filling arena. It’s possible to buy the Velop in one of three configurations: a single device, a twin pack or a triple pack. The single device is a little pointless on its own and is intended as an upgrade for existing installations, giving you a quick way to…

£360 • From www.scan.co.uk VERDICT A smart-looking mesh system, but it’s expensive, and better-performing rivals cost less IF WE WERE giving out prizes for the coolest-looking wireless mesh system, Ubiquiti’s AmpliFi HD would win hands down. Rather than using identical-looking components for the entire system, AmpliFi HD consists of two main parts. First, there’s the cuboid router, which looks great and has a funky LCD touchscreen on the front. As well as giving you a quick way to install updates (just tap when there’s a new one to install), tapping the display cycles through the date and time, data usage, and router’s IP address. The router is configured using the AmpliFi smartphone app for Android and iOS. You can set up the system to connect to your existing router, or…

£270 • From www.currys.co.uk VERDICT It’s good to see lots of Ethernet ports, but performance at range could be better AS WITH MOST high-end routers, the Linksys EA9500 is rather a large model, featuring eight pre-connected antennas. It can’t be wall mounted, so you’ll need to find space to sit this router flat. Decked out in black plastic, the EA9500 isn’t too in-your-face, so stashing it behind a TV or on a shelf won’t ruin the look of a room. Linksys has put the size of the router to good use, with eight Gigabit Ethernet ports at the rear. That’s brilliant news for anyone that has a lot of wired devices, as you probably won’t have to buy an additional external switch. There’s also one USB2 and one USB3 port…

£150 • From www.currys.co.uk VERDICT With a great price for a tri-band router, the C3200 uses slightly old tech but holds its own against newer kit WE’VE FIRST REVIEWED the TP-Link Archer C3200 a while ago (Shopper 347), but we’ve come back to it for two reasons: it’s excellent value, and it’s fast. A tri-band router, such as the TP-Link Archer C3200, makes a lot of sense. This router has a single 2.4GHz network but can provide two 5GHz 802.11ac networks. It means you can use one 5GHz network for streaming devices and one for other devices, so you won’t suffer from Wi-Fi congestion. Traditionally, tri-band routers have been expensive, but the Archer C3200 is surprisingly well priced: something we’ve come to expect from TP-Link. Part of the reason for…

£145 • From www.novatech.co.uk VERDICT Bigger equals better for this whispery cooler, despite a trying setup process BE QUIET!’S CATALOGUE of coolers and cases share, unsurprisingly, a focus on keeping the noise down. Not that this means the results are low-key in general; take the Silent Loop 360mm, the biggest and most expensive instalment in the latest Silent Loop range. With three, ridged-blade 120mm fans and a price that eclipses even the NZXT Kraken X62, this is a closed-loop cooler to be reckoned with, but is it worth both the extra expense and the bother of squeezing such a sizable component into your rig? DODGY BUILDER The first order of business is assembly. It’s compatible with all worthwhile AMD and Intel sockets, including the LGA 1150 socket of our test…

Send your problems to businesshelp@computershopper.co.uk Name replacement service I’ve got a large number of documents in Word that contain specific client names. Due to the tightening up of our data privacy compliance records, I need to go through them all and replace the client name with the words ‘the client’. I’ve tried writing a macro that contains the list of client names to be checked, but Word seems to have a limit on the number of words and/or phrases you can compare against. How can I get around this? Nigel Wood One option would be to store the names in an Excel worksheet, and use that as the source of the terms for checking. So you might have the names stored in column A of an Excel sheet, and an…

letters@computershopper.co.uk Protection racket @ Having just moved into a house with a smart meter, I read with interest Mel Croucher’s article about this growing invasion into our personal data (Mel’s World, Shopper 357). However, when I turned the page and read Cyber Insider’s description of the new EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), my initial fear subsided. Surely to comply with the new legislation, the excesses of the use of data from smart meters will be curbed and the companies will have to provide detailed information on how the data is used after 28th May 2018, when the bill comes into force? Therefore, all that is needed is to hold out until June 2018 before allowing a smart meter to be installed. However, if you have one already, try this…

ONE OF THE bits of advice that I regularly dole out is: update your software. The latest patches don’t just give you new functionality, but fix security holes and keep your PC safe from attack. Unless, that is, you updated to the latest version of CCleaner, the popular PC cleaner that can remove junk and refresh your computer. According to reports, the attack took place at some point between 15th August, when Piriform (the software developer that created CCleaner, now owned by Avast) released version 5.33.6162, and 12th September, when the download servers were updated with a new version. Rather than stealing information from the CCleaner download servers, the hackers instead replaced the download version of the software for one that included a Trojan. This is known as a supply…

For the wallet At £225, the new Samsung Galaxy J5 is a lot pricier than the 2016 model was at launch. Still, it’s an excellent phone that easily goes toe-to-toe with other sub-£300 rivals, whether it’s surpassing the Lenovo P2 on performance or beating the Motorola Moto G5 Plus on its display quality. In general, it represents a commendable step by Samsung to bring its budget handsets closer in line to its excellent higher-end output. The Galaxy J5 looks and feels almost like a premium device, thanks to its updated, metal unibody design, and its battery life manages to exceed even the Galaxy S8. (Page 42) For the den It’s about time that Bose got some proper competition in the field of noise-cancelling headphones, and the Sony MDR-1000X is the…

£869 • From shop.samsung.com VERDICT A powerful, beautiful smartphone with dual cameras and a brilliant stylus, but the high price could be hard to justify for many AFTER AN INITIAL burst of excellent reviews, praising its quality hardware and screen, Samsung’s Galaxy Note 7 gathered attention for a different reason: bursting into flames. The issues were so bad that Samsung had to pull the Note 7 from sale and the handset was banned from being taken on flights, even if it was powered off and kept in the hold. Rather than give up, Samsung has taken the time to reflect and is back this year with the Note 8, a massive beast of a phone with the performance and huge price to match. Taking its design cues from the Galaxy…

£2,699 • From www.dell.co.uk VERDICT A great-looking, great-sounding all-in-one with a fast processor, but it is exceptionally expensive WE’VE SEEN PLENTY of PC manufacturers try to emulate the success of the iMac, but far fewer have attempted to make something completely different that plays to Windows’ strengths. That changes with the Dell XPS 27 All-in-One, a powerful and quite different PC. With its 27in display, the XPS 27 is a rather imposing system, grabbing attention for all the right reasons. It’s the six speakers at the front that really stand out. Housed in a glossy black frame, they hint at the audio prowess of this PC and demonstrate that this isn’t just another basic all-in-one. Then there’s the fancy stand. Trying to get an all-in-one to line up comfortably can…

£600 • From www.amazon.co.uk VERDICT A fantastic HDR gaming monitor, but it’s a shame Windows 10 and HDR don’t get along better IN MANY COMPETITIONS, the difference between winning and losing comes down to fractions of a second, and the PC gamer’s equivalent of a perfect pair of running shoes has been monitor response rates. Samsung’s C27HG70 has more than 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. The C27HG70’s specifications read like a gamer’s monitor-buying wishlist. It’s a 27in, 144Hz monitor with HDR, a Quad HD, 1800R curved panel and AMD FreeSync 2 (which is backwards compatible with GPUs running the original FreeSync), and the VA quantum-dot panel promises more than…

£150 • From www.box.co.uk VERDICT It’s yet another quality Ryzen chip, this time offering nippy eight-thread performance on the cheap THE RYZEN 5 1400 is the runt of AMD’s mid-range, desktop CPU litter: it’s a quad-core, eight-thread processor with a 3.2GHz base clock speed and a 3.4GHz boost clock, while its Extended Frequency Range (XFR) boost is a mere 50MHz. It also has the lowest L3 cache size of the lot, a mere 8MB. Next to the hexa-core Ryzen 5 1600 and 1600X (Shopper 357), or the Ryzen 5 1500X with its hefty 200MHz XFR boost (this kicks in automatically when the chip is sufficiently cooled, with no manual overclocking required), the humble 1400 is at risk of being overshadowed by its more powerful Zen architecture-based brethren. Put it side…

£799 • From www.carphonewarehouse.com VERDICT The latest plus-sized iPhone is faster, better, but ultimately more of the same BACK IN THE day, Apple used to revamp the design of its smartphones every two years and boost the specifications in between. Recently, however, it has stepped outside the tick-tock development cycle. The Apple iPhone 8 Plus might be the latest, greatest iPhone (at least until the £999 iPhone X launches in November), but the design template that both it and the smaller, standard iPhone 8 are based on is now four years old. So, while it has some new tricks, such as its glass back, A11 Bionic processor and wireless charging, it doesn’t look significantly different to 2014’s iPhone 6 Plus. It’s even closer to the iPhone 7 Plus, as all…

£800 • From uk.store.asus.com VERDICT Asus ushers in AR to smartphones, but this reality-bending handset isn’t worth the money THE ASUS ZENFONE AR is, on the surface, an impossible product to sell. It’s £800, which is as much as the launch price of the Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus, and it doesn’t even come with the latest-generation processor, instead opting for the old Qualcomm Snapdragon 821. And yet, it’s intriguing all the same. The ZenFone AR is the first phone to be certified for the Google Tango augmented reality (AR) and Google Daydream virtual reality (VR) platforms and, as such, represents an important step forwards for smartphones and VR/AR in general. So, to business: what exactly do those rather nebulous buzzwords Tango and Daydream bring to the party? It’s all about…

£295 • From www.amazon.co.uk VERDICT These headphones don’t have the best ANC tech, but their sound quality is peerless SONY’S OVER-EAR headphone range stretches from the £16 MDR-ZX310 right up to the ludicrously expensive Sony MDR-Z1R – yours for just £1,700. The MDR-1000X Bluetooth headphones, which have active noise cancellation (ANC), aren’t quite that expensive, but at £295 they’re still pricey. Can these beat the Bose QuietComfort 35 (Shopper 344), which cost about the same? The Bose headphones are not the MDR-1000X’s only competition, either. There’s also the £380 Sennheiser Momentum 2 Around-Ear headphones, while the £242 FIIL Diva provides a more portable alternative for less cash, although Sony’s headphones remain cheaper than the majority of its close rivals. Inside the MDR-1000X box, along with the headphones themselves, you’ll find…

£299 • From www.vegascreativesoftware.com VERDICT It’s a capable video editor, but Vegas Pro 15’s new features are disappointing IT’S LESS THAN a year since we reviewed Vegas Pro 14 (Shopper 348), so its new owner Magix has either been very busy, or it hasn’t but decided to launch a new version anyway. Frequent updates are welcome when they bring useful new features, and with upgrades costing up to £285, we expect nothing less. Top billing goes to hardware acceleration for graphics cards and Intel Quick Sync Video (QSV). These speed up encoding of projects, and sure enough, renders in AAC format using the new QSV encoder were over twice as fast in our tests compared to version 14. Preview performance is just as important as export performance. As before, there…

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. Apple iOS and Google Android have the most apps available but Windows Phone is slowly catching up. 02All 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 pages. 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 later. The image quality of smartphone cameras has…

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-todigital 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 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. 02Most 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. 03A media streamer…

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 singlefunction 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 It’s essential that you buy the right type of motherboard for your processor. Intel’s older Haswell processors require a motherboard with an LGA1150 socket, but newer, fourth-generation Skylake chips need an LGA1151 socket. A board for a Haswell processor must also have an H97 or a Z97 chipset, while Skylake processors use the new Z170 chipset. Skylake CPUs also use newer, faster DDR4 memory. 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 graphics card in the motherboard’s PCI Express x16 slot, although this may block one of…

Chat and Communication Evernote 6.6.4.5512 Store your notes, ideas and plans in the cloud, and synchronise them between computers. UPDATED Mailbird 2.4.14.0 A free desktop email client for Windows. UPDATED Miranda IM 0.10.74 Chat with friends across multiple messaging platforms, including AIM, Facebook, IRC and MSN, all from one simple interface. UPDATED Skype for Windows 7.40.0.103 Make internet voice and video calls for free, and buy credit to make calls to mobiles and landlines. NEW Telegram 1.1.23 This free IM app synchronises your conversations across multiple devices, and can spruce up chats with stickers and GIFs. UPDATED WhatsApp Desktop 0.2.5863 A free PC and Mac version of the popular messaging app, letting you chat from your desktop. Customisation iolo System Mechanic Free 17.0.1 Speed up your system with Iolo’s PC…

£200 • From www.currys.co.uk VERDICT A smart and easy way to upgrade your home’s Wi-Fi, but the price is a little high IF YOU DON’T want to replace your existing router, the BT Whole Home Wi-Fi mesh network is a reliable way to upgrade your Wi-Fi. Connecting to your existing router, BT’s kit provides wireless access for your entire house, while your existing router takes care of dishing out IP addresses and your internet connection. With the Whole Home Wi-Fi kit, you get three identical access points, which BT calls ‘discs’, because of their circular bodies. Each disc is just 165mm across and sits neatly on the integrated stand, making it easy to position them anywhere. RUNNING IN CIRCLES Each disc has a single Ethernet port, plus a power button…

£350 • From www.currys.co.uk VERDICT A smart system for boosting Wi-Fi range and speed, Orbi could be the answer for larger homes struggling with wireless performance IF YOU HAVE an old router and want to benefit from upgrading it and getting the kind of improved coverage that a mesh network can offer, the Netgear Orbi is the product for you. With the Orbi system, you get one router that you plug into your broadband connection (there’s an Ethernet WAN port), and one satellite router that you ideally place in the middle of your home to give you better coverage. SHOW SOME BACKBONE The router and satellite then communicate via a dedicated 1,733Mbit/s, 802.11ac 5GHz network (the network backbone, to use the more technical term). For clients, each Orbi component has…

£316 • From www.ebuyer.com VERDICT A staggeringly fast router with great range – only the high price may put some people off THE D-LINK DIR-895L is an absolute beast of a router, in a good way. It’s not just large, but with the eight (yes, eight) antennas attached to the red body, this router looks like some kind of deep-sea creature that’s hauled itself on to dry land. You may have trouble trying to position the router on a flat surface, but it is wall mountable, which could help you position the DIR-895L more conveniently. Around the back are all the ports you’d expect to find. There’s a single Gigabit Ethernet WAN port, four Gigabit Ethernet ports for wired devices, and one USB2 and one USB3 port for other external…

£399 • From www.scan.co.uk VERDICT Packed with the latest technology, this router is fast but expensive IF YOU NEED a router that can run fast today, but has more to give when future devices are released, the Netgear Nighthawk X10 could well be the model for you. This model is an 802.11ad router, which means you get all the benefits of 802.11ac today, but there’s a 60GHz channel, too, which can run at up to 4,600Mbit/ Also known as WiGig, 60GHz networking is exciting, giving faster-than-Gigabit speeds at short range; the technology will not penetrate walls, so it’s not a solution for the entire home. Nor is 60GHz networking really a technology for today, as there are few wireless products that support the new standard. Still, having the capability for…

VERDICT Wireless mesh systems are a great way to boost wireless performance without having to change your main router. BT’s Whole Home Wi-Fi is great value, and integrates simply with your existing network, making it a no-hassle upgrade. It wins a Recommended Award. If you want something a little more powerful with additional features, the TP-Link Deco M5 is worth the extra cash, and wins a Best Buy award. Finally, if you want to upgrade your router at the same time as boosting range, the high-quality but expensive Netgear Orbi is a good choice and wins a Recommended award. If you want to upgrade your existing router, the Synology Router RT2600ac is a great choice. It’s not the fastest model here, but it has a great interface, so wins a…

BUDGET BUILDS ARCTIC Liquid Freezer 240 Cooler Master’s MasterLiquid Pro 240 is slightly cheaper, but it involves a more annoying assembly process and can produce a noticeable vibrating sound in undampened cases. For the best combination of low price, effective cooling and quiet running, it’s hard to beat the Arctic Liquid Freezer 240. This was one of the first all-in-one watercoolers Arctic ever made, which is impressive, since it’s a fine component. There are no fancy features such as RGB lighting, but you do get a full four fans to completely cover both sides of the radiator – as long as your case is spacious enough to accommodate them. FULL TOWERS BE QUIET! Silent Loop 360mm 360mm units can feel like a needless extravagance, and no-one would argue that the…

£70 • From www.overclockers.co.uk VERDICT It will keep your CPU chilly, but the MasterLiquid Pro 240 has more than a couple of rough edges FITTINGLY FOR THE name, Cooler Master has an almost dauntingly wide range of AIO liquid coolers, ranging from 120mm to 280mm long and even including a tiny, tubeless design in the MasterLiquid Maker 92. The MasterLiquid Pro 240 is altogether closer to what we’d expect from a closed-loop unit, and although the Pro series sits at the top of Cooler Master’s product hierarchy, it’s still remarkably cheap for a 240mm model. First impressions are good. With the two 120mm fans attached to the radiator, it’s only 52mm thick, which meant we had no issues slipping the assembled unit into the top of our PC case, even…

Send your problems to help@computershopper.co.uk I’m not converted I have a tower PC built on a Gigabyte EP45-DS3R motherboard and running Windows 7, which I’ve recently upgraded with a 4TB hard disk. I already have 1.5TB and 2TB disks that work perfectly, but I can only access 2.2TB of my new 4TB disk. All three disks are NTFS formatted; and yes, I have checked the 4TB disk’s partition scheme and the Convert to GPT Disk option is greyed out. Can you help? Paul Finch From your description it sounds as though the 4TB disk is configured as a master boot record (MBR) disk. The MBR partition scheme addresses sectors of the drive using 32-bit numbers, which gives a maximum of 232 sectors. Each of these has a capacity of 512…