PCWorldの May 2019 の目次

ConceptD could be the gaming PC of your dreams, but it’s not for gamers. ConceptD is Acer’s new brand of PCs made for creative professionals who need gaming-class graphics power, but in quieter, cooler systems, better suited for corporate and studio environments. Acer introduced ConceptD at the company’s next@acer event in New York. The brand’s genesis came about after Acer discovered that 50 percent of its so-called “hardcore gamer” customers also used professional creative applications on their gaming PCs.   Acer further discovered that another 15 percent of its gaming PC customers were using their systems exclusively for professional creative applications—not gaming at all. This last group simply needed the horsepower. What they didn’t need were the heat, noise, and in-your-face aesthetic that come with gaming PCs. (My take: Gamers…

While Qualcomm has integrated several gaming-specific technologies into its Snapdragon mobile processors, the company recently announced something a little different: a version of its Snapdragon 730 optimized for gaming, dubbed the Snapdragon 730G. Though mobile gaming may be an idle pastime with American consumers, it’s a way of life overseas. Over 586 million mobile gamers are in China alone—twice the population of the United States, according to Qualcomm’s Hiren Bhinde at Qualcomm’s technology summit last December. It isn’t clear which phones and mobile devices Qualcomm has in mind for the Snapdragon 730G, but recent gaming phones from Asus ROG and Razer indicate that Qualcomm was designing for what they hope will be a trend. Though most premium smartphones use Qualcomm’s 8-series CPUs like the Snapdragon 855, the new 7-series chips are designed for…

Two long years after Intel debuted its radical—and awesome—Optane Memory caching SSDs, the company has finally decided to embrace the processors that could appreciate the technology’s benefits the most. A recent Optane Memory driver update added support for Intel’s budget-friendly 8th-gen Celeron and Pentium CPUs, as Anandtech noticed in early April. Optane Memory gives pokey mechanical hard drives a shot of SSD-like speed by intelligently caching your most-used programs and files to speed up access. You install an Optane Memory drive in an M.2 slot on your motherboard, and Windows sees it and your hard drive as a single combined storage pool. Intel’s software delegates which data should go on which drive. When you open a commonly used program that’s stored on the Optane Memory, speeds drastically increase. It makes a…

Alienware’s Area-51m flagship gaming laptop is big, thick, and fast, a return to form that should reassure people who got worried when the company unveiled the thin-and-light m15 last year. The new Area-51m very well might be the first gaming laptop to bring the Holy Grail of features to consumers: Upgradable graphics and an upgradable CPU. SPECS AND FEATURES The Area-51m’s spec list is all good stuff, and it’ll cost you. Our review unit is the highest-end SKU, which starts at $4,050 (available at Dell.com) but is $4,500 as configured below. For slightly more modest budgets, the lowest-end model starts at $1,950 and is nothing to sneeze at. Also note, the white “Lunar Light” color is a $50 upgrade over the dark-gray “Dark Side of the Moon” color. CPU: Intel 8-core…

It doesn’t seem that long ago that the scoop was, “NVMe is great, but it’s gonna cost you big time.” Now, thanks to drives like WD’s new Blue SN500 (available on Amazon), price isn’t that big of an issue. At least not when you consider the 4X boost in speed it delivers. For most users, not having to wait for their computer anymore is worth a little extra cash. The Blue SN500 itself is a good performer that holds firm on long writes, unlike much of the similarly-priced competition. It’s certainly a kick in the pants compared to SATA. DESIGN AND FEATURES As with all NVMe drives for mainstream machines, the Blue SN500 uses the M.2 connector and is 22 millimeters wide. Also like the majority, it’s 80 millimeters long.…

If it seems like every smartphone maker offers a choice between two models of its best phones, it’s because they do. Everyone from Samsung to Apple to Google sells a standard and Plus, Max, or XL version of their flagship phones, with larger screens and various upgrades. Obviously, the larger model costs more—usually $100 or so. In short, the more you spend, the more you get. The difference between the S10 and S10+? A larger screen and a second front camera. The same goes for the Pixel 3 and 3XL. The iPhone XS Max and XS? Three-quarters of an inch more screen. That’s how it should be. On the one hand, you shouldn’t feel like you’re being punished for wanting a phone with a smaller screen, but even if the…

Samsung’s Galaxy S10 and Note9 are sort of like the Las Vegas of smartphones. Compared to the simple and understated approach of, say, an iPhone or Google Pixel 3, Samsung bombards you with settings to tweak and features to try. Much like a walk down the strip at night, this approach can feel overwhelming. You can tone down the gaudiest features and tune others to suit your needs better. Here are 15 instant improvements you can make to a new Samsung phone: 1. REMAP THE BIXBY BUTTON The mandatory inclusion of the Bixby voice assistant is arguably the worst feature of modern Samsung phones. Fortunately, you can remap the button with a third-party app called bxActions. Before you install the app, make sure to launch Bixby once, then go through the standard…

Acer CEO Jason Chen thinks his company can get bigger if it thinks small. As the fourth- or fifth-largest PC vendor worldwide by shipments (per IDC and Gartner numbers, respectively), Acer already sells plenty of what it calls “value” PCs—commodity systems that offer good specs for the price. It’s thriving in the gaming and education markets, too, where performance and sturdiness matter.   Compared to PC juggernauts Dell, HP, and Lenovo, however, Acer still has a long way to go. So the company’s next move is to pursue what Chen calls “microtrends,” courting users whose numbers might be too small—or their needs a little too niche—to draw much attention from bigger players. Acer sees an opportunity to shine by providing a more curated PC experience—a completely different strategy from its…

One of the complaints surrounding AMD’s efforts to ship mobile Ryzen chips for notebook PCs was a fundamental one: Where were the notebooks? In early April, AMD answered. The company announced the second-gen Ryzen Pro mobile processor for commercial notebook PCs, which will appear first in notebooks from HP and Lenovo. There are three new Ryzen Pro chips: the 2.3GHz, 4-core/8-thread Ryzen 7 Pro 3700U; the 2.1GHz 4-core/8-thread Ryzen 5 Pro 3500U; and the 2.1GHz 4-core/4-thread Ryzen 3 Pro 3300U. All are 15W parts, meaning that they’re aimed at more mainstream and ultrathin notebooks. They all use the older 12-nm manufacturing process, but they boast the discrete-class integrated “Vega” GPU that other mobile Ryzen chips do as well. AMD claims the new processors will enable up to 10 hours of…

Microsoft has shuttered its ebook bookstore, yet another move by the company away from selling traditional consumer goods and services, with the exception of its Xbox console. Microsoft made its decision without fanfare, simply posting a notice in the corner of the Microsoft Store app and removing the “Books” tab. Microsoft’s notice now leads to a support page and FAQ where Microsoft posted the answers to the questions consumers want to know: namely, what will happen to my books? The answer, simply put, is that they’ll disappear entirely sometime around July 2019, and you’ll be given a full refund. If you ordered or rented an ebook before today, your order will be canceled and refunded. Free ebooks downloaded via the Microsoft Store app will also disappear, and they won’t be available…

First Lenovo learned to make cheap gaming laptops. Now it’s learned to make cheap gaming laptops that also look good. I spent a few weeks with the Lenovo Legion Y7000, a stopgap release that sticks with Nvidia’s GTX 10-series graphics cards as Lenovo’s flagship Y500 and Y700 models start to transition to higher-end (and higher-priced) RTX 20-series GPUs. Is it a performance monster? The type of laptop you buy to impress your friends? Absolutely not. But it’s a smart, sophisticated option that will perform admirably for at least a few years—and at a competitive price point. VARIANTS Lenovo’s never one to shy away from options, and the Legion line seems to get more and more convoluted every generation. Case in point: The Y7000 and the Y530 are essentially the same…

Oakmont, Massachusetts, is drowning. Fully half the city has been abandoned to the sea, bustling city streets now replaced by rivers, winding between the sagging wooden edifices of lost storefronts. Problem is, I need to get into one of those shops. A diving crew’s gone missing, the only known survivor’s gone mad, and I’ve been charged with finding out whether the rest are alive or not—and the workshop that made diving suits is on this block somewhere. Sighing, I clamber into a nearby rowboat and hope that the top levels have survived relatively unscathed. I’ll tell you what, Sherlock Holmes never had it this rough. STARING INTO THE ABYSS The Sinking City is more ambitious than I imagined. When the project was announced—back when it was still a Call of Cthulhu…

If you aren’t already protecting your most personal accounts with two-factor or two-step authentication, you should be. An extra line of defense that’s tougher than the strongest password, 2FA is extremely important to blocking hacks and attacks on your personal data. If you don’t quite understand what it is, we’ve broken it all down for you. WHAT IT IS Two-factor authentication is basically a combination of two of the following factors: 1. Something you know 2. Something you have 3. Something you are Something you know is your password, so 2FA always starts there. Rather than let you into your account once your password is entered, however, two-factor authentication requires a second set of credentials, like when the DMV wants your license and a utility bill. So that’s where factors…

What’s the difference between a table and a range of columns and rows on an Excel spreadsheet? How do I create and populate tables? And, once a table is created, how do I custom filter, format, and design those tables so they look professional in a report? We’ll show you how it’s done. WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A TABLE AND A RANGE IN AN EXCEL SPREADSHEET? There’s not much difference regarding the data. Both use columns (the database fields) and rows (the database records), and both can be sorted, filtered, calculated, custom formatted, and printed. Tables, however, have many additional benefits that regular spreadsheets lack. The biggest plus is the option to use data from multiple tables to create queries and reports. For example, say that TABLE ONE (Corp) has…

It was promised at GDC, and now it’s here. Nvidia recently released Game Ready drivers that unlock DirectX Raytracing support on the GeForce GTX 1660 and 1660 Ti, and on GTX 10-series graphics cards from the 6GB GTX 1060 on up. You read that correctly: You no longer need a pricey GeForce RTX 20-series graphics card to experience ray tracing in games that support it. Nvidia and its partners also released a trio of new tech demos that allow gamers to see the power of ray tracing for free. If you want to experience the best possible ray tracing, you’ll still want to upgrade to an RTX graphics card. (Our guide to the best graphics cards can help you choose one.) Those GPUs feature dedicated RT cores that accelerate ray tracing, paired with…

Aside from bringing its Xbox games over to the PC, Game Bar is arguably the best gesture Microsoft’s made to Windows 10 gamers. It adds a tiny bit of console-esque simplicity to the PC, letting you take screenshots, record video, or stream games with simple system-level shortcuts. But…I never use it. It’s my third-tier preference for screenshots and video, after the tools built into Steam and Nvidia’s Shadowplay. Microsoft’s looking to move up in the world though, and it’s doing so by adding a lot more functionality to Game Bar over the next few months—most of it unique to Game Bar, i.e., not duplicated by Steam or Shadowplay. In fact, Game Bar isn’t really a fitting name anymore. Game Overlay might be more appropriate, albeit less elegant. SWISS ARMY KNIFE…

Amazon’s All-new Kindle brings its entry-level e-reader out of the dark ages. With the addition of glare-free, adjustable front lighting, it allows users a more comfortable reading experience day or night without having to spring for the higher-priced Kindle Paperwhite or the luxe Kindle Oasis. The All-new Kindle replaces the 8th-generation Kindle e-reader and retains many of its slimmed-down specs. It does, however, introduce a few upgrades including improved E Ink technology and a capacitive touchscreen. With special offers—i.e., ads—enabled, it costs $89.99, a $10 increase over the prior generation. Without special offers it’s priced at $109.99. SPECS, FEATURES, PRICE Storage: 4GB Display: 6-inch (diagonal width) with E Ink Carta and four white LEDs, 167 ppi, 16-level grayscale Dimensions: 6.3 x 4.5 x 0.34 inches Weight: 6.1 ounces Connectivity: Bluetooth…

I can’t take my hands off the HP Spectre. Lightweight and fully sheathed in leather, it feels great in a way that a metal- or plastic-clad laptop never could. Thanks to its energy-sipping Intel Core Y processor, it generates scant heat, and its battery lasts a very long time. Of course, there are good reasons why we make computers out of hard materials that hold up well to use and abuse. That’s why I spent several months using the Spectre Folio on trains, buses, and planes, in and out of my bag, and on and off my lap. The miles and hours were enough to prove any laptop. The verdict? I’d gladly take the HP Spectre Folio anywhere. It’s a thin-and-light laptop made even better with its unique looks and…

Now that the upcoming USB4 spec promises to “adopt the Thunderbolt 3 protocol,” there’s some hope it means an end to our international nightmare of USB confusion. You know, the one where there are: • Two different connectors: USB-A or USB-C • Four different active specs: USB 2.0, USB 3.0, and USB 3.1 Gen 1 and Gen 2 • Scarce Thunderbolt 3 support, despite using the same form factor as USB-C • An upcoming USB 3.2 spec that precedes USB4 and introduces yet more confusion through clumsy rebranding Yeah. That nightmare. More likely, even when USB4 is fully implemented around 2021, confusion will linger. You can’t blame the USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF) and the USB Promoter Group (USB-PG) either, tempting though it is. They are organizing groups that ratify…

Designing an effective productivity suite is increasingly about connections: between services, between data sources, between employees, and between apps. At Google Next, Google debuted a number of upgrades to its G Suite of business apps, which have competed against Microsoft Office and its ecosystem for years. According to Google, more than 5 million businesses have signed up for G Suite. (Microsoft has said previously that it has more than 60 million commercial customers for Office 365.) But like Microsoft’s relationship with Slack, Microsoft isn’t necessarily averse to partnering with potential adversaries. And that means if you’re using Slack, or G Suite, that doesn’t mean you won’t be able to directly interact with a Word document. If you’re a Google G Suite user, here are five ways that G Suite will…