PC Pro - Issue August 2022

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September 2022 Issue 335

HIGHLIGHTS THIS MONTH

Full contents overleaf p46

REVIEW OF THE MONTH HP Envy 34 All-in-One

Whisper it, but the all-in-one PC may be in the midst of a revival. Hot on the heels of the gorgeous Huawei MateStation X (see issue 334, p46) comes this significantly speedier 34in widescreen machine from HP. It most definitely doesn’t have the looks of Huawei’s all-in-one or the iMac, but it packs in the features: a magnetic webcam, a super-wide screen that makes it phenomenally easy to work on two apps side by side, and so many connectivity options you need never be offline again. It doesn’t win our hearts in the way the MateStation did, but it certainly wins our minds.

p26

SMART ADVICE OF THE MONTH

Alexa, Google and Siri can all add smartness to your home, but people who want real smarts – with advanced features and 100% compatibility – should follow our hard-won advice.

INTERACTIVE ADVENTURE OF THE MONTH

p42

p32

SURVIVAL ADVICE OF THE MONTH

If you want to work anywhere – and we don’t mean the local café – you need tech that will survive bumps and blizzards. Barry Collins enters the world of rugged computing to reveal all.

p123

Text adventure games were much-loved in the 1980s, but there’s a reason why they lost their appeal. Now some legendary games ate designers want to upd nes pho for ure the advent and voice. And their new platform means anyone r. can be a games creato

12

PROTECTION ADVICE OF THE MONTH

You don’t need to take a hammer to a drive to delete its data forever. Darien Graham-Smith explains what secure deletion is, when you need it, and points you to the right tools for the job.

THE LABS IN ONE NUMBER

p74

This month’s CPU megatest makes it abundantly clear that one of the biggest decisions you need to make before buying a processor is the number of cores. Is it a coincidence that two of our award winners include 12?

3

HOW TO TOTALLY ESCAPE SOCIAL MEDIA

EVERY MAJOR PROCESSOR RATED FROM £127 TO £557

We investigate the tech that’s helping

p126 to fight fires and save lives

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SMART HO E ● Go 100% automatic ● Beef up your security ● Dump Amazon & Google!

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FEATURES

BRIEFING

10 From 3D printer to the front line

COVER STORY

26 The best way to build a smart home

We talk to the volunteers who are helping to supply lifesaving tourniquets to Ukraine using 3D printers.

It’s time to break up with Alexa and draw a line in the sand with Siri. Instead, embrace an alternative smart home system that’s powerful, open source and compatible with almost everything. James O’Malley shows you how.

11 Twitter fined for turning security into marketing

Twitter has been playing fast and loose with the data it uses for two-factor authentication, and is on the hook for a $150 million fine.

12 Will the public see past AR’s flaws this time?

Augmented reality glasses were roundly rejected years ago. James O’Malley looks at the new developments that could change attitudes.

VIEWPOINTS

Worried about over-sharing – or just want to kick the social media habit? Nik Rawlinson explains how to delete your identity from the most popular sites and services.

BELOW Reclaim your life from social media

DICK POUNTAIN Think that the human brain is analogous to a computer? Wake up and read the research, as we are far more complex than DeepMind can imagine.

21

NICOLE KOBIE Despite spending nearly £60 a month on streaming services, I can’t watch what I want. It’s no wonder that law-abiding citizens are resorting to piracy.

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ISSUE 335

BARRY COLLINS Arguments against mandating USB-C charging are silly and futile – this is an EU decision we should all get behind.

HOW TO TAM

ISSUE 334

Want to ensure your deleted data can’t be recovered and abused?

Darien Graham-Smith explores how secure deletion works, and how you can best protect your information.

20

07

38 Remove yourself from social media

42 Delete your files forever

3 SUBSCRIBE: THREE ISSUES FOR £1 Subscribe to PC Pro today and you can benefit from our three issues for £1 offer – visit subscribe. pcpro.co.uk now.

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If you need robust, rugged, reliable kit for your work, your adventures or even a summer camping trip, then you need to know the difference between the marketing hype and the truly durable. Barry Collins reveals what you need to look for.

JULY 2022

32 SOS tech

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September 2022 Issue 335

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REVIEWS THIS MONTH

Does the gaming prowess of Chillblast’s latest PC justify

REGULARS 7 14 24

Subscriptions Next month One last thing…

3 THE PC PRO

92 UTM appliances

Every organisation needs protection from online threats. Dave Mitchell tests four of the best appliances that can keep you safe.

100 Why your business needs a CRM

LAPTOPS & CONVERTIBLES Samsung Galaxy Book2 360 Samsung Galaxy Book2 Pro 5G Lenovo Legion S7 15 (2022) MSI Summit E16 Flip Evo

52 54 56 57

DISPLAY Dell UltraSharp U3223QZ

59

SMARTPHONES OnePlus Nord 2T Samsung Galaxy A53

61 63

TABLET/E-READER Onyx Boox Note Air2 Plus

64

KEYBOARD Logitech MX Mechanical

65

PROCESSORS AMD Ryzen 5 5500 AMD Ryzen 5 5600 AMD Ryzen 5 5600X AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D AMD Ryzen 7 5700X AMD Ryzen 7 5800X AMD Ryzen 9 5900X AMD Ryzen 9 5950X Intel Core i3-12100 Intel Core i3-12300 Intel Core i5-12400 Intel Core i5-12600K Intel Core i5-12500 Intel Core i5-12600 Intel Core i7-12700 Intel Core i7-12700K Intel Core i9-12900 Intel Core i9-12900K

82 82 82 82 83 83 83 83 86 86 86 86 87 87 87 87 88 88

UTM APPLIANCES DrayTek Vigor 2866ax Sophos XGS 116 WatchGuard Firebox T20-W Zyxel ZyWALL ATP200

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SERVER Dell EMC PowerEdge T350

98

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VIDEO EDITORS Adobe Premiere Elements 2022 68 Adobe Premiere Pro 2022 69 CyberLink PowerDirector 20 Ultimate 70 Lightworks Free 2022 71 Microsoft Video Editor 71 Movie Maker Online 72 Pinnacle Studio 25 Ultimate 73

p48 the premium you pay for the esports branding?

Editor’s letter The A-List Readers’ comments

DESKTOP PCs HP Envy 34 All-in-One Chillblast Fnatic Victor Cyberpower Infinity X123 Pro

PODCAST Listen live to the PC Pro podcast every Thursday at 1pm.

Visit mixlr.com/ pcpro to join us

Still keeping customer details in a database?

Nik Rawlinson explains how a customer relationship management system could help.

104 Cheat sheet: DARQ

Cutting-edge thinking your business may need.

p74

GOING HARDCORE

REAL WORLD COMPUTING

108

JON HONEYBALL If you want to know exactly what’s happening on your network, Jon holds the answer: a small box that’s stuffed full of analytical magic.

111

PAUL OCKENDEN Paul helps a reader with a misbehaving Raspberry Pi, and then starts identifying the birds in his garden using technology.

Futures

114

123 Talk not text: a new adventure begins

126 Fighting wildfires the smart way

116

David Crookes talks to the legendary game designers Philip and Andrew Oliver about their plans to take interactive fiction to dizzying new heights.

Machine learning predictions, drones and sensor-based alerts are all helping to make fighting wildfires safer and more efficient, as Nicole Kobie reports.

LEE GRANT Lee diagnoses a PC that appears to work best when lying on its side, before cursing manufacturers (hello, Dell) for using non-standard components.

ROIS NI THUAMA Our guest columnist on how vulnerabilities in Boeing’s software led to two fatal crashes and a landmark decision that will affect anyone involved in software development.

118

DAVEY WINDER Passwords aren’t going anywhere, Davey is saddened to report, but that hasn’t stopped him dreaming of a passwordless future again.

120

STEVE CASSIDY When it comes to implementing fibre broadband in a town or city, the sky’s the limit – and digging up trenches every five years is the absolute pits.

5

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Editor’s letter

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Is technology the answer to life, the universe and everything?

A

question keeps creeping into my mind, one that has been haunting me for years.

Perhaps the only way to rid myself of it is to use this page as a confessional. So here goes: has technology made the world better?

Taking a macro view, the answer seems a simple yes. Here in the 21st century we are surely much better off than our hunter-gatherer predecessors. Technology, using the word in its broadest sense, has extended our lives, made those lives more comfortable, and freed up our time to spend it on knowledge, art, music, literature.

Even if we narrow our focus to the past hundred years, the answer seems a pretty firm yes. The quality of life of someone in 2022, certainly in the West but also in most of the rest of the world, has been improved. Right?

This is where a framework comes in handy, so let’s look at Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Physiological needs sit right at the bottom of the pyramid; air, water, food, shelter.

Technology isn’t a force for pure good here – think of the pollution it causes

round a piano. Or at least, that’s what all the period dramas I’ve ever watched make it look like.

Then we come to the peak of Maslow’s hierarchy: self-actualisation, the ability to reach our full potential.

Technology has undoubtedly given us tools to help us here. But even as I type these words, I’m being distracted

by Slack messages, by the knowledge that someone has messaged me on WhatsApp, by not having completed today’s quick crossword in the Guardian app.

In all honesty, I’m not sure using this page as a confessional has helped.

I still don’t know the answer. Perhaps it’s time to follow Darien’s advice on p42 and delete all my data, then sign off permanently from social media as Nik demonstrates on p38. Maybe even invest in the SOS technology discovered by Barry on p32 so I’m not chained to the grid. I’ll read your thoughts on whether technology has made the world better (email letters@pcpro.co.uk) from my yurt.

and the energy it uses – but overall I’m going to say, yes, this is a win for the big T. With the help of technological advances, we have the basics covered in most of the world.

Then we come to safety needs, only one level up from physiological, and things become much more debatable.

Are we safer now? Are our jobs more secure? Are we more healthy? That’s a tough argument, but medical technology has undoubtedly made it easier to treat many conditions and extend our predicted lifespans. Let’s give that a tentative thumbs up.

I’m going to clump the next two layers together for the sake of expediency: love and belonging, then esteem. Here is where my tentative thumbs up begins to waver and point downwards. For every dating app that has brought two people together, there’s another that eats away at people’s self-perception and confidence. Social networks let us cast our nets much wider, across the world, but whenever I go to karaoke at the pub it feels like a major downgrade on the social networks of yore – the ones that saw people gather

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September 2022 Issue 335 EDITORIAL

This month’s lead feature covers

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

how to make your home smart using

Tim Danton: editor@pcpro.co.uk

Home Assistant, so we wanted to

EDITORIAL FELLOW

know from our contributors – how

Dick Pountain

have you made your home smart, if

ASSOCIATE EDITOR

you’ve made it smart at all?

Darien Graham-Smith FEATURES EDITOR Barry Collins FUTURES EDITOR Nicole Kobie NEWS WRITER James O’Malley BONUS SOFTWARE EDITOR Nik Rawlinson ART & PRODUCTION ART DIRECTOR Paul Duggan FREELANCE DESIGN Bill Bagnall PRODUCTION EDITOR Steve Haines CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Steve Cassidy Lee Grant Dave Mitchell Jon Honeyball Paul Ockenden Davey Winder CONTRIBUTORS Tom Bedford David Crookes Christian Guyton David Ludlow Jon Mundy Rois Ni Thuama Michelle Rae Uy ADVERTISING GROUP ADVERTISING MANAGER Ben Topp: ben.topp@futurenet.com ADVERTISING MANAGER Alexandra Thomas: alexandra.thomas@futurenet.com PRODUCTION SENIOR PRODUCTION MANAGER Lawrence Brookes CIRCULATION & SUBSCRIPTIONS Tel: 0330 333 9493 CIRCULATION MANAGER Emma Read NEWSTRADE DIRECTOR David Barker DIRECT MARKETING EXECUTIVE Amy Govan LOGOS & REPRINTS ENDORSEMENT LICENSING MANAGER Ryan Chambers: ryan.chambers@futurenet.com

8

“I’ve played with Google Assistant and use my various Echos as speakers and timers, but my dalliances with smart plugs and the like have been frustrating rather than time-saving.”

“If I could be bothered to enable the feature, I could turn on my dishwasher by phone from Australia.

All my various audio sources go via a tiny class-D amp into 1970s-vintage Castle speakers. Actually the smartest thing I do is have a wireless mouse on the arm of the sofa, to scroll PDFs (set to 200% zoom) on the laptop on the table.”

“We have an Amazon Alexa unit in every room, along with Hue lights and numerous smart sockets.

The system doesn’t always feel very ‘smart’ though…”

“The only smart things left in our home are the video doorbell and the heating, which is controlled by Hive and smart plugs. The rest got binned a year or so ago, because we all got sick of shouting at lights.”

“This house was built in the 1950s from three basic ingredients: concrete, steel rebar and threebillion-year-old granite chips: a recipe resistant to RF signals of almost any type, and drills and sound too.”

“Despite loving tech, I’m not into gadgets and most smart devices seem to be labour-saving frippery.

However, I also don’t own a watch, lawnmower, dishwasher or passport, so it’s not just modern stuff I’m allergic to.”

“I hate badly designed IoT devices, which means most of them. The exception is Philips Hue lighting: all the ceiling lights in the kitchen at home are Hue bulbs, as are the upstairs and downstairs hallways, and we have a couple of Hue strips and bulbs in reading lights over the sofa. It’s nice to be able to say, ‘hey Siri, turn on reading light’ without having to scrabble for a floor power switch behind the sofa.”

“Anyone who’s read my RWC columns will know the answer to this one!”

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Briefıng Background and analysis on all the important news stories

From 3D printer to the front line Volunteer brigade help supply lifesaving tourniquets to Ukraine

W

hen a country is suddenly plunged into war and citizens have been mobilised to fight back against the invaders, it is no wonder that supplies of critical medical supplies such as tourniquets run low. This was, of course, the exact situation Ukraine found itself in when Russia invaded.

“All of a sudden you have 100,000 people who are mobilised to the Territorial Defence Force,” said Jakub Kaminski, a medical robotics engineer based in Massachusetts.

“They are getting a gun, a few magazines of ammunition, but they are not given tourniquets.”

Tourniquets are critical on the battlefield, as it can be a matter of minutes before someone who has been hit bleeds to death. This is 10

where Kaminski has stepped up to help. He and his colleagues have designed a 3D-printable tourniquet (3dprintingforukraine.com) that can be used to stem the bleeding after a soldier has been hit. The tourniquets are printed by volunteers all around the world and shipped to Ukraine.

More than 1,000 have already been deployed on Ukraine’s front lines, and another 4,000 are on the way.

“I had some experience with hobby printing for first responders during Covid,” said Kaminski. “I was printing adapters for snorkelling masks that first responders used to use in hospitals in Poland. When this war started my first thought was we have a 3D printing community, they can do something for Ukraine. We have technology, we have a hammer, we are looking for a nail.”

ABOVE 3D-printed tourniquets are helping to save lives in Ukraine

Even though the war created a pressing need for equipment, Kaminski and his colleagues took a careful approach to the rollout, knowing how sensitive it would be.

“Our approach was not to give [3D printed supplies] prematurely, because you want to have full control over this process, because in the end it’s a medical device. We are crazy enough to come up with a tourniquet, and we are confident to do that, because we are following very well-established design principles.”

Nato-approved design

Kaminski’s design is based on existing, Nato-approved tourniquets that are in short supply, but during the design process he left nothing to chance. “We tested it with laboratory pulling machines, with nondestructive tests, like computed tomography scanning to see the internal structure before and after applying stress. And we also do rigorous medical testing, with Doppler ultrasounds,” he said. As an added flourish, the now-famous slogan “Slava Ukraini!” has been embossed in each tourniquet’s handle.

After the parts have been printed, they are sent to factories in Lviv, in

Briefing News free Western Ukraine, where the tourniquets are sewn together with a particularly sturdy strip of Velcro.

“When you lock it, it holds very strong, there is no way that it will lose grip,” he said. “We actually purchased the last stock in Europe of this Velcro – a few thousand metres – before it was too late.”

Like all of the best 3D printing projects, the design has evolved since the project first began, thanks to the technology’s ability to rapidly prototype.

“The main design optimisation was to handle the stress distribution, and make it easily printable on a wide variety of printers,” said Kaminski, explaining how the design was also optimised to fit more parts on a single 3D printer bed, to speed up the production process.

“Zelensky-tough”

It was only once tourniquets started being used in battle that his team discovered they needed to optimise the design for another factor. “This is supposed to be a single-use device,” said Kaminski. “However, when they bring a wounded person to hospital and remove the tourniquet, they wash it and the tourniquet goes back to the front lines.”

So, he has tried his best to make the design reusable, or “Zelensky-tough”, as he quipped.

Another example of the care being taken is how Kaminski is managing his supply chain, when parts are being printed by volunteers all over the world.

“Every single producer of 3D printed parts in our project is given a special number, and this number is coded into every part with a special dot pattern,” he said, describing the unique 16-bit pattern printed as part of each design, which means each part can be traced back to where it was made.

“If we have quality control issues, which is of course resolved before the sewing, I can reach out to them and say, let’s improve that together.”

Ultimately, Kaminski recognises that 3D printed tourniquets have their limits. In fact, he’s currently working on a new version that uses more traditional injection moulding technology, but he’s happy to take advantage of 3D printing in the meantime if it means helping Ukraine.

“It’s not a licensed medical device,” said Kaminski. “But it’s medically tested in several different manners and it’s for emergency use only, during the war. If high-quality tourniquets arrive, I will ask people not to use ours.”

The main design optimisation was to make it easily printable on a wide variety of printers

Twitter fined for turning security into marketing Social media firm used 2FA to target ads Twitter has been playing too fast and loose with the phone numbers and email addresses it uses for two-factor authentication, according to the US Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission. As a result, the company is on the hook for a $150 million fine.

According to the two agencies, between May 2013 and September 2019, if you handed over your phone number to Twitter to add an extra layer of protection to your account, the company wasn’t just using it to keep you safe – without disclosing it, it was also using your number to target its advertising.

“The $150 million penalty reflects the seriousness of the allegations against Twitter, and the substantial new compliance measures to be imposed as a result of today’s proposed settlement will help prevent further misleading tactics that threaten users’ privacy,” said Vanita Gupta, the US associate attorney general.

The new “compliance measures” include instructions that Twitter should “develop and maintain a comprehensive privacy and information-security program” as well as conduct privacy reviews when it adds new features. It will also have to face regular scrutiny from an independent assessor.

Curiously, however, the fine does not appear to be a response to the principle of

ad-targeting with 2FA. What caught Twitter out was that this sort of data usage wasn’t property disclosed. This contrasts with Facebook, which was caught out in 2018 as similarly using 2FA to help aim targeted ads, but has not been similarly fined.

Security experts have claimed that Twitter’s actions will leave a bad taste.

“It’s really bad because what it does is it abuses the trust that people have given Twitter, by giving them their phone numbers and their email addresses for a very specific thing,” said Kate Bevan, a cybersecurity consultant.

“Everybody, whether they are required by law or not, should work to the principle of data minimisation, which is that you only process or use held data for as long as you need it and you only process it for the reasons you said you’re going to process it.”

Although other, more secure methods of two-factor authentication exist, such as authenticator apps or even specialised hardware keys, Bevan worries the incident could have downstream consequences for mainstream users.

“If I’m going to give a company my phone number for 2FA and it uses it to send me spam, I’m not going to use 2FA,” said Bevan, “I’d rather people use SMS than no 2FA.”

11

PC Probe Exclusive investigations into technology practices. Email probe@pcpro.co.uk if you have a story

Will public see past AR’s flaws this time?

AR glasses were roundly rejected years ago.

James O’Malley investigates if attitudes have changed

W

e already have computers in our pockets and on our wrists, and in the not-toodistant future we’ll be strapping them to our faces, too. All of the major players in Silicon Valley are hard at work developing augmented reality (AR) glasses that will blend the physical and digital worlds, literally in front of our eyes, which are expected to hit the market over the next few years.

We have, of course, been here before, with devices including the Google Glass (see “Out now and coming soon”, below). What makes the device manufacturers believe that consumers will find their AR kit any less weird and disturbing than the failed devices of before?

A warning from history

“The idea of being constantly watched is not something that everyone would appreciate,” said Thomas Ffiske, a metaverse and immersive tech analyst who writes the AR industry newsletter Immersive Wire.

He’s not speaking hypothetically. Back in 2013, when Google launched its Glass wearable, it generated countless

Out now and coming soon Last year, Meta, the company formerly known as Facebook, partnered with sunglasses brand Ray-Ban to release a pair of camera-equipped glasses that can post video clips directly to Instagram Stories.

The Ray-Ban Stories came hot on the heels of Snap, the company behind Snapchat, doing something similar with its camera-equipped “Spectacles”.

More importantly, we’re probably only a year or two away from at least one of the major tech players making a significant stab at making true AR work.

Meta is reportedly working towards a 2024 release date for its first AR glasses, with several devices currently in development scheduled for after.

What about the biggest player in mobile, Apple?

Perhaps the worst kept secret in tech is that Apple is working on its own AR glasses, as evidenced by the relentless drive to add AR features to the iPhone, and offer increasingly sophisticated movement tracking and other AR-adjacent APIs to its developer kits. Just don’t expect to hear about it officially until Apple is ready to launch.

12

headlines about the potential privacy worries, and there were even reports of restaurants and bars banning “Glassholes”, as early adopters were labelled.

Will the same happen again with AR? “I’m not sure much has changed in the past few years that would get people to accept it more,” said Professor Jason Hong, who works in the Human Computer Interaction Institute at Carnegie University. “It’s putting people at risk for no clear benefit to themselves or no clear benefit to society.

Those were the concerns then, and it’s not clear that anything has changed.”

What’s going to be pivotal for Meta, Apple and the others, then, is demonstrating the utility of the new technology – much as today we accept the benefits of Alexa and CCTV over the perceived cost. “When we look at the features of Google Glass there were not a lot of benefits, it was basically just a smartphone in front of your face,” said Professor Philipp Rauschnabel, who researches AR at Bundeswehr University, Munich. “There were not a lot of useful apps.”

Rauschnabel believes that, this time, it could be different – at least for Apple. “Apple has invested millions of dollars to have AR on their smartphones,” he said. “AR on a smartphone doesn’t really make sense to a user, because you have to hold it. However, Apple has learned about AR and it has learned about useful use cases. So I expect when Apple enters the market with glasses, it can build on a lot of knowledge about how AR works and how it can be used. It will enter the market with a strong ecosystem of useful apps that really provide benefits to users.”

Trust through design

However, making AR we can trust isn’t only about having sufficiently useful apps. The real path to consumer acceptance begins with the fundamental design of the hardware and software. “I think they need to be very clear on what data is being used and how,” said Ffiske, who foresees a particular sensitivity around data usage on live map layers that glasses will overlay on the real world.

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“What happens if you’re in a bathroom or a gym? If it’s on in these sensitive locations, that can be really embarrassing.”

Rauschnabel agrees that any sort of local processing will be hard if the technology is to work effectively. “The trend will not be local processing,” he said. ”You can make the glasses smaller, so that the glasses are basically just the training technology [eg, the camera] and the display. Everything else is sent to an external server over a 5G network... because the idea is that you can have the devices smaller and lighter and you can save energy.”

“Companies are making live maps of the world at the moment, where there’s more context and depth. I think Meta might need to be clear when people’s data is going to be used for that. There may well be targeted ads on this layer, but then they have to make clear it’s only used for that specific purpose.”

Another trust-building strategy could be for device makers to carefully consider what they actually let users do with their devices. “I would say that the main thing is, unless there’s a clear motivation for it, not to actually record things,” said Hong. “That would probably greatly assuage people’s concerns.”

And we already have a real-world example of another new technology becoming broadly accepted by being careful and judicious. “A lot of the things actually have always-on microphones, but they’re only looking for the keyword first,” said Hong. “And then it actually responds in a very loud way. So, everybody knows you’re talking to Siri and you know that some of the audio is being sent off.

I think that’s a pretty good example of everybody being on the same page with respect to what’s being recorded and what’s not.”

Perhaps the hardest privacy question for designers is where data is processed. In recent years, we’ve seen both iPhone and Android emphasise local processing, where images are analysed on-device using the phone’s own hardware, in response to heightened concerns over privacy in the cloud. This functionality will be critical to how AR glasses function, as they will need to have a camera or Lidar scanner constantly running to overlay data on to our world correctly.

That will require a lot of processing power and may be one of the reasons why we’re still waiting to see devices from the major manufacturers. “I’m not sure if it’s possible using today’s technology, because the microprocessors and the amount of battery you can have on these glasses would probably not be sufficient,” said Hong. “Even if you could, it would be so warm and so uncomfortable.”

Hong thinks some sort of remote processing is inevitable, even though there are risks. “That’s going to cause a lot of problems, because it’s unclear what data is being captured, and where it’s going,” he said.

ABOVE AR glasses are on the way, but will they achieve mass acceptance?

Privacy for whom?

There is something unique about AR glasses – and that is whose privacy is most affected.

“The difference here is you’re particularly threatening other people’s privacy,” said Rauschnabel. “Apple focuses on the user’s privacy, they’ve never talked about other people’s privacy because it never mattered.”

And this is arguably a lot harder when we have a camera or Lidar sensor constantly rolling, pointing at everything we so much as glance at. “It’s not so challenging to protect one’s own privacy, it just means you have to make sure that other people can’t access your sensors and cameras while you’re using it. But when it comes to AR, I don’t know how they will treat other people’s privacy.”

He speculates that when they do arrive, Apple’s AR glasses might have specific restrictions on facial recognition or only allow face tracking for specific individuals. There are also some real-world examples of how the privacy concerns of others could be mitigated. For example, way back in 2004, South Korea passed a law requiring a sound of at least 65 decibels to be made by a device every time a photo is taken.

And more recently, Meta has built similar functionality into the Ray-Ban Stories, with an LED lighting up whenever the camera is in use.

Professor Hong speculates that taking a photo with AR glasses could require some sort of physical gesture, such as the wave of a hand, so that the people around you know what is happening.

But ultimately, even if these sorts of protections are added, either in software or by law, the pessimistic view is that the battle for privacy is unwinnable. The devices are coming, and the unfortunate thing about technology is that it just keeps getting better. One day soon, it’s possible that almost all of us will be Glassholes.

“If a lot of people are using them, and the devices are so small that you can’t distinguish smart glasses from regular glasses – and this will happen – then there’s no way to control it,” said Rauschnabel.

Apple’s AR glasses might have restrictions on facial recognition or only allow face tracking for specific individuals

13

The A-List

The best products on the market, as picked by our editors

PREMIUM LAPTOPS

BUSINESS LAPTOPS

Apple MacBook Pro 14in

Dynabook Tecra A40-J-101 Business bargain, £720 exc VAT

Stunning creative power from £1,899

from misco.co.uk

from apple.com/uk

Alongside its 16in sibling, this is simply the world’s best laptop for demanding users.

The amount of power on tap via the M1 Pro or M1 Max processor is staggering, and it’s backed up by a terrific screen and stunning battery life. With all the ports you could ask for, the only negatives are its relative bulk (especially compared to the Air) and high price.

REVIEW Issue 328, p58

ALTERNATIVES

Apple MacBook Air

If you don’t need the power of an M1 Pro or M1 Max, “make do” with the M1 in the MacBook Air and enjoy its super-slim design and relatively light weight at a much lower price. From £999 from apple.com/uk REVIEW Issue 318, p40

ALTERNATIVES

NEW ENTRY

Samsung Galaxy Asus ProArt Book2 Pro 5G Studiobook 16 Astonishing quality, speed OLED and battery life, with a 15.6in AMOLED screen and built-in 5G all adding to its attractions. The only disappointment is the 256GB SSD. £1,249 from samsung.com/uk REVIEW Issue 335, p54

It may miss fineries such as a gorgeous screen, but the Tecra A40-J-101 is a business workhorse for a great price.

With fine build quality, a speedy processor and easily upgradable memory and storage, it should last for years.

REVIEW Issue 333, p83

A staggeringly powerful workstation with a gorgeous OLED screen and a highly effective dial for quickly changing settings. £2,500 from scan.co.uk REVIEW Issue 330, p56

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 9

A business laptop with heaps of luxury, especially if you choose the top-end model with a 3,840 x 2,400 screen. £1,808 exc VAT from lenovo.com/uk REVIEW Issue 327, p60

Dell Latitude 9420 2-in-1

A top-quality convertible that justifies its price with superb build quality, incredible battery life and a great screen. A three-year on-site warranty is a tasty extra, too. From £1,304 exc VAT from dell.co.uk REVIEW Issue 333, p81

Asus ROG Zephyrus M16 (2022)

HP Pavilion 14

from rog.asus.com/uk

from hp.com

2022 will see an update for all mainstream gaming laptops, and Asus is first to jump in with a 12th gen Core i9 CPU to give 16-core support to the RTX 3070 Ti graphics (a Core 7/RTX 3060 variant costs £1,900).

While battery life is only average at around six hours, this laptop’s final triumph is fitting a gorgeous 16in screen into such a compact chassis.

REVIEW Issue 331, p59

This slim 1.4kg laptop is a superb choice for anyone on a tighter budget, with the Core i3 version costing £549.

We tested the Core i5 edition (part code 2G2E2A#ABU), which costs £680, and found it struck an excellent balance between speed and battery life – around ten hours.

REVIEW Issue 330, p85

RTX 3070 Ti for £2,600

ALTERNATIVES

An RTX 3070 is the star, but it’s backed by a high-quality 15.6in 165Hz screen, Ryzen 7 CPU and a solid aluminium chassis. £1,199 from currys.co.uk REVIEW Issue 326, p60 14

Stylish laptop from £549

ALTERNATIVES

A no-holds barred 15.6in laptop that gets the most from its i9-12900H CPU, RTX 3070 Ti, 16GB of DDR5 RAM and 2TB SSD. G533ZW-LN148W, £2,399 from scan.co.uk REVIEW Issue 332, p54

HP’s premium range of laptops is worth the extra for its top-quality screen, and it’s backed up by HP’s Wolf Security and a slim, all-metal chassis. From £899 exc VAT from hp.com REVIEW Issue 333, p84

EVERYDAY LAPTOPS

GAMING LAPTOPS

Lenovo Legion 5 Asus ROG Strix (Gen 6) Scar 15 (2022)

HP EliteBook 840 Aero G8

Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 (2022)

The 17in Scar delivers almost identical power to its sibling, but it has 32GB of RAM. Games look phenomenal, too.

G733ZW-LL093W, £2,599 from scan.co.uk REVIEW Issue 332, p54

HP Envy 14

This well-built laptop is a great choice. The £1,400 unit we were sent for testing (code 30B00EA#ABU) was too pricey for an award, but check out cheaper versions.

From £1,100 from hp.com REVIEW Issue 330, p84

NEW ENTRY

Samsung Galaxy Honor MagicBook Book2 360 (13.3in) 16 (2022) This is the best-value 2-in-1 laptop we’ve seen, with good build quality, bags of speed, a 13.3in AMOLED screen and 12-hour battery life. £949 from samsung.com/uk REVIEW Issue 335, p52

Available from early April, this powerful Ryzen 5 machine offers a highquality, 16in Full HD panel that goes up to 144Hz. With a metal body, it’s a bargain. £850 from hihonor.com REVIEW Issue 331, p60

@ @P PC CP PR RO O

The A-List

FACEEB BO OO OK K..C CO OM M//P PC CP PR RO O FAC

CHROMEBOOKS

Acer Chromebook Spin 713 Convertible (2022) Flexible laptop for £650 from currys.co.uk Dressed for business in sober grey, this is a truly professional laptop. Consider its Core i5 chip, 13.5in touchscreen and 256GB SSD. It’s one of the fastest Chromebooks we’ve tested, and flips happily into tablet mode on demand.

REVIEW Issue 331, p61

Asus Chromebook CX9 Aimed squarely at business users, this exceptionally quick machine – with a Core i7 processor, 16GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD – drips quality throughout its aluminium alloy chassis. Add a glossy 4K 14in screen, plus a low weight of just 1.05kg, and it justifies its high price. £1,300 from argos.co.uk REVIEW Issue 329, p56

Lenovo IdeaPad Duet

The Chromebook answer to Microsoft’s Surface tablets, this is a seriously versatile device – albeit not the speediest (although we never found it to be painfully slow while carrying out everyday tasks). For this price, and with a 16hrs 14mins battery life, the Duet is a great choice. £280 from lenovo.com/gb REVIEW Issue 321, p86

EVERYDAY PCs

Apple Mac mini (M1)

Mini masterpiece from £699 from apple.com/uk Apple has applied its M1 formula to the diminutive Mac mini with predictably stellar results: superb performance in native apps to the point where the mini is challenging the much more expensive iMac for speed. If the software you want to run is compatible with the M1, it’s an obvious, quiet and bargain choice that will get you through your working day without fuss.

REVIEW Issue 318, p54

ENTHUSIAST PCs

Chillblast Fusion Vanguard Gaming PC

i7-12700K/RTX 3060 Ti for £1,800 from chillblast.com This well-balanced system won our PCs Labs thanks to its all-round speed and quality. It’s capable of 1440p gaming, runs quietly and has room for expansion.

REVIEW Issue 332, p83

ALL-IN-ONE PCs

Huawei MateStation X Stunning design for £1,800 from consumer.huawei.com Huawei shows all the other PC manufacturers how to create an all-in-one that runs Windows. If you want speed, gorgeous design and a stunning 28.2in 4K+ screen, the MateStation X is the machine to buy.

At this price, it simply has no rivals.

REVIEW Issue 334, p46

Chillblast Fusion Reaver Gaming PC

Chillblast squeezes the still powerful GeForce GTX 1650 graphics card into this system through some clever component choices, including the Core i3-12100F. Its four cores are more than a match for most tasks, especially with 16GB of RAM for company. £750 from chillblast.com REVIEW Issue 332, p82

Wired2Fire Ultima WS Home Office PC

The quietness of this system belies the huge amount of power provided

by AMD’s eight-core Ryzen 7 5700G processor, and we’re fans of the compact chassis too. It’s easy to add a graphics card if you decide you want more gaming ability later. £750 from pcpro.link/332ultima REVIEW Issue 332, p89

NEW ENTRY

Cyberpower Infinity X123 Pro

An obvious choice for enthusiasts – so long as you don’t mind fan noise – thanks to how easy it is to customise.

With a Core i3-12100F processor, RTX 3060 graphics and 16GB of RAM, it’s simply phenomenal value for money. £899 from cyberpowersystem.co.uk REVIEW Issue 335, p49

Box Cube Legendary Elite in Black

A superb choice for RGB lovers and gamers thanks to GeForce RTX 3070 Ti graphics, Ryzen 7 5700X CPU, 16GB of Corsair RAM and a 1TB SSD. The Lian Li case lets those components, and multitude of fans literally shine through. £1,810 from box.co.uk REVIEW Issue 333, p54

NEW ENTRY

HP Envy 34 All-in-One

Apple iMac 24in

Built around a high-quality 34in widescreen – which is perfect for viewing two windows side by side thanks to its 21:9 aspect ratio – this is a great alternative to the MateStation X and comes with Nvidia RTX 3060 graphics. We’re big fans of the magnetic 16-megapixel camera, too. £2,300 from hp.com REVIEW Issue 335, p46

Apple’s M1 processor is the star of this show, delivering all the power we would expect with minimal power draw. Apple wraps it up in a sharp new look, with a 4.5K Retina display and top-quality 1080p camera. Let’s hope a bigger version arrives soon. From £1,249 from apple.com/uk.

REVIEW Issue 322, p48

InterPro IPW-R9

Apple Mac Studio

Using AMD’s punchy Ryzen 9 5950X, which sports 16 cores, this affordable workstation still has room in the budget for Quadro RTX A4000 graphics. A well-chosen motherboard also offers plenty of room for memory and storage upgrades if and when you need them. £2,500 exc VAT from ipworkstations.com REVIEW Issue 325, p85

This is a “one last thing” to make Steve Jobs proud, with Apple showcasing the staggeringly powerful M1 Ultra processor in a new compact workstation. And the Studio delivered in our tests, destroying benchmarks and potentially transforming your workflow. From £1,666 exc VAT from apple.com/uk REVIEW Issue 332, p60

WORKSTATIONS

Scan 3XS GWP-ME A124C Intel hits back, £3,333 exc VAT from scan.co.uk

Intel’s Alder Lake architecture – in the form of the Core i9-12900K – returns the company to our A List after a long absence, helped along by Nvidia’s superb Quadro RTX A4500 graphics. With 128GB of memory and a Gen 4 PCI-E SSD, Scan produces a heavyweight all-rounder for a competitive price.

REVIEW Issue 333, p48

15

TABLETS

Apple iPad Pro 12.9in (2021)

M1 power in your palm from £999 from apple.com/uk Blurring the boundaries between laptop and tablet like never before, the M1-powered iPad Pro 12.9in is every bit as fast as we expected – and the “Liquid Retina XDR” display is simply phenomenal.

REVIEW Issue 323, p62

Apple iPad (2021)

Apple iPad Air

Realme 9 Pro+

Apple iPhone SE

Google Pixel 6 Pro

Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra

Apple performs its usual trick of upgrading just enough to keep the iPad affordable and up to date, without treading on the toes of its more luxurious stablemates. The big bezels remain, but a faster processor, more storage and improved camera all add to its appeal. From £319 from apple.com/uk REVIEW Issue 327, p50

Why spend extra on an iPad Pro 11in when the much cheaper iPad Air includes the same crazy-fast processor and supports all the same accessories? The 60Hz screen isn’t quite so special, sure, but if you’re happy with 64GB or 256GB of storage, then it’s a superb choice.

64GB, £569 from apple.com/uk REVIEW Issue 332, p63

EVERYDAY PHONES

OnePlus Nord 2 5G

Ultimate all-rounder from £399 from oneplus.com/uk

OnePlus packs a surprise with this MediaTek-powered phone, which stormed through our benchmarks – only the Poco F3 can beat it for the price. But with a superior camera, longer-lasting battery and striking design, this is worth the extra £100.

REVIEW Issue 325, p68

The colour-changing back (if you buy the Sunrise Blue edition) catches the eye, but what we truly love about this phone is the quality it packs in for the money – most notably a fine trio of cameras. Add 5G support and solid battery life and it’s a winner. 256GB, £349 from buy.realme.com/uk REVIEW Issue 331, p73

The iPhone SE’s design may have aged – those thick bezels at the top and bottom are so 2010 – but the cameras, 5G support and A15 Bionic processor are bang up to date. If you can cope with a 4.7in screen, this iPhone will keep going for years.

64GB, £419 from apple.com/uk REVIEW Issue 332, p70

PREMIUM PHONES

Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max

Big-screen monster, 128GB, £1,049 from apple.com/uk Get ready to stretch your fingers and your budget with this 6.7in phone, which sits at the cutting edge for every aspect of smartphone technology: speed, cameras, design, display… it even offers compelling battery life. Not for the small of hand, but if your pockets can cope then this is a brilliant investment.

REVIEW Issue 327, p49

The Pixel 6 Pro is a superb showhome for Android 12, with Google’s Tensor processor and the gorgeous 120Hz 6.7in panel ensuring everything looks slick. Add a quite brilliant camera setup, with software to match the hardware, and the Pixel 6 Pro sits apart from most Android rivals.

128GB, £849 from store.google.com REVIEW Issue 328, p68

EVERYDAY MONITORS

Philips Brilliance 346P1C 34in curved docking, £563 from shop.bt.com No-one can match Philips for its mix of quality, features and value, especially when it comes to curved MVA monitors such as this. It’s great for casual gamers and busy workers alike, with USB-C docking and superb colours.

REVIEW Issue 326, p93

A have-it-all phone, the S22 Ultra packs a stylus into its sleek chassis to take full advantage of the gorgeous 6.8in screen. Combine that with the finest set of zoom cameras you’ll find on a phone, and it can almost justify the extraordinary price Samsung is asking. £1,149 from samsung.com/uk REVIEW Issue 331, p46

NEW ENTRY

Dell UltraSharp U3223QZ Don’t be shocked by the price: this is a feature-packed monitor designed to be your working hub, complete with a 4K webcam. But your main investment is in the top-quality 31.5in 4K panel that’s tuned for sRGB and DCI-P3 as you need them. £1,202 inc VAT from dell.co.uk REVIEW Issue 335, p59

Iiyama ProLite XUB2792QSN-B1

If you’re on a tight budget but want a high-quality 27in 1440p screen, this is a brilliant choice. There’s even USB-C docking, an RJ-45 port and respectable speakers. It’s so good it begs the question of why you’d spend more on a 27in monitor. £300 from box.co.uk REVIEW Issue 326, p87

PROFESSIONAL MONITORS

Eizo ColorEdge CG319X

Creative masterclass, £3,960 from wexphotovideo.com As the price indicates, this monitor is for heavyweight creatives who demand the best in every discipline: HDR video editing, print layouts, professional photography and more besides. With superb coverage and accuracy across all spaces, plus a built-in calibrator, it justifies the investment.

REVIEW Issue 327, p81 16

BenQ PD2725U

By no means a cheap 4K 27in monitor – unless you compare it to the Eizos – but it marries all-round quality with ease of use thanks to a puck that allows you to quickly move between settings. You can even daisy chain a second Thunderbolt 3 monitor for a monster setup. £859 from photospecialist.co.uk REVIEW Issue 327, p80

Eizo ColorEdge CG279X

Designers who need to work across different disciplines will love how easy it is to switch between the Adobe RGB, DCI-P3 and sRGB colour spaces using the Eizo’s fantastic OSD. It’s certainly not cheap for a 27in 1440p monitor, but it’s packed with quality. £1,726 from wexphotovideo.com REVIEW Issue 327, p84

@PCPRO

The A-List

FAC E B O O K . C O M / P C P R O

WEBCAMS

Logitech C925e Business Webcam Top quality 1080p video, £100 from logitech.com Logitech remains the supreme ruler of the webcam world and the C925e shows why. None can match its image quality under challenging light conditions and Logitech backs this up with the best software (and compatibility with the likes of Teams) on the market.

REVIEW Issue 321, p73

Aukey PC-W3 1080p Webcam

Obsbot Tiny 4K

If the thought of spending £100 on a webcam has you spluttering into your microphone then you should consider this far cheaper but highquality alternative. Its colours are low-key in comparison to Logitech’s, but it still produces a sharp and detailed image. £30 from aukey.com REVIEW Issue 321, p72

We love this dinky and oh-so-clever webcam. With a pan, tilt and zoom camera, plus a dash of AI, it can keep you at the centre of the image if you wish, crop to your head and shoulders or slip into presenter mode. But most crucially it delivers a high-quality and crisp 4K image, with excellent colours. £247 from store.obsbot.com REVIEW Issue 332, p73

Canon Pixma Pro-200

Xerox C235dw

HP Color LaserJet Pro M255dw

Kyocera Ecosys M6235cidn

Netgear Nighthawk RAXE500

Honor Router 3

Linksys Atlas Pro 6

Netgear Orbi Quad-band Wi-Fi 6E RBKE963

HOME OFFICE PRINTERS

Epson EcoTank ET-1810 Back to basics, £190 from epson.co.uk There’s nothing flashy about this bottlefed inkjet: it’s there to churn out pages at a decent rate (8.8ppm for black text) for a low price. It comes with enough ink for 4,500 black pages and 7,500 in colour, but refills are cheap. Just don’t expect features like duplex printing.

REVIEW Issue 331, p80

Yes, it’s big and it’s expensive – and you don’t even get a scanner – but the Pixma Pro-200 means that you can print A3 photos with glorious colour accuracy and detail. If you’re after an office workhorse, look elsewhere, but it can’t be beaten on photo quality. £455 from store.canon.co.uk REVIEW Issue 320, p80

This multifunction laser printer has it all, including a 50-sheet automatic document feeder. Add high-quality output at a fast pace – 19.2ppm for black text, 13.1ppm for colour graphics – and only above-average print costs count against it. £335 from printerbase.co.uk REVIEW Issue 331, p83

WORKGROUP PRINTERS

Epson EcoTank ET-5880

Features galore, £1,077 exc VAT from epson.co.uk A great office all-in-one with plenty of features, good output quality and top-notch cloud support. Expensive, but phenomenally low running costs will mean SMBs recoup this in no time at all.

REVIEW Issue 323, p97

The Color LaserJet Pro M255dw is an excellent choice for smaller businesses thanks to its price, decent running costs (2.6p per mono page), duplex printing and respectable 17ppm speeds. The only fly in the ointment is the slow warm-up time. £217 exc VAT from store.hp.com REVIEW Issue 320, p89

A strong contender for small and medium businesses that want good print speeds and great access security. The M6235cidn’s large operator panel is very user-friendly, the print quality is excellent and its running costs are surprisingly low. £696 exc VAT from printerland.co.uk REVIEW Issue 323, p98

WIRELESS ROUTERS

Asus RT-AX82U

Punchy Wi-Fi 6 performance, £194 from box.co.uk The RT-AX82U punches well above its price when it comes to raw Wi-Fi 6 performance and includes a fistful of useful features, such as an ultrafast 20Gbits/sec USB connector, outbound VPN support and a host of parental controls.

REVIEW Issue 318, p80

If you want the fastest Wi-Fi then 6E is the obvious choice, and this router delivers. The Armor protection service costs £38 in the first year, but then rockets up to £85, so you’re buying top quality and performance, but you pay for it. £550 from netgear.co.uk REVIEW Issue 332, p64

This affordable Wi-Fi 6 router delivers consistently fast wireless speeds, broad coverage and a modest speed boost for newer hardware – and the Router 3 has a cute design too. If you need more range, you can pick up a second unit to use as an extender. £55 from amazon.co.uk REVIEW Issue 318, p51

MESH WI-FI

TP-Link Deco X90

Superb Wi-Fi 6 mesh, £449 from scan.co.uk Welcome to the new generation of Wi-Fi 6 meshes, with greater range and consistent speeds for both upload and downloads. TP-Link reckons these two units will cover a six-bedroom house, and they each include 2.5GbE ports too.

REVIEW Issue 333, p65

It may not be as slick or fast as the Deco X90, but the Atlas Pro 6 still offers terrific performance for the price and produces rock-solid connections in tough-to-reach places. To put it in perspective, it offers more range and faster speeds than the £450 Netgear Orbi RBK752.

2-nodes, £251 from amazon.co.uk REVIEW Issue 333, p64

The RBKE963 is a phenomenal piece of hardware that sets the gold standard for 6E meshes, but since few internet connections are fast enough to take advantage of the extra bandwidth, you should only buy it if you’re desperate for Wi-Fi 6E right now. £1,500 from netgear.co.uk REVIEW Issue 331, p68 17

BUSINESS WI-FI

Zyxel WAX610D Unified Pro Access Point Wi-Fi 6 access point, £358 exc VAT from broadbandbuyer.com The WAX610D leaves other Wi-Fi 6 access points in the dust. Support for 160MHz channels delivers a big speed boost to clients that support it, it’s easy to deploy and it offers classy cloud management features.

REVIEW Issue 333, p99

Netgear WAX630 A great choice of access point for dense Wi-Fi 6 deployments, as its triple radios deliver astounding performance. It’s easy to install, with an impressive range of remote management services, and the price is very reasonable, too. £229 exc VAT from broadbandbuyer.com REVIEW Issue 329, p97

Ubiquiti Networks UniFi U6-LR

It would have been nice to see a 2.5GbE port, but the U6-LR is a fast Wi-Fi 6 access point with good range. It offers a wealth of features for a fair price, and the UniFi cloud-management services are among the best in town. £159 exc VAT from broadbandbuyer.com REVIEW Issue 329, p99

NAS SERVERS

Synology DiskStation DS3622xs+

Qnap TS-873AU-RP

Qsan XCubeNAS XN5008T

Maxhub UC M40

Bose Videobar VB1

Fujitsu ScanSnap iX1300

Xerox D35 Scanner

Dell EMC PowerEdge R250

Broadberry CyberServe Xeon E-RS100-E10

The TS-873AU-RP offers a great storage package in a space-saving chassis. You’ll need to upgrade the memory to get the best from it, but it offers good all-round performance, and the choice of operating systems makes it very versatile.

Diskless, £1,753 exc VAT from broadbandbuyer.com REVIEW Issue 332, p94

12-bay NAS, diskless £2,349 exc VAT from broadbandbuyer.com Not cheap, but it delivers a lot for your money and includes a five-year hardware warranty. Designed to deliver big storage to small offices, it offers good 10GbE performance and expansion potential, and the DSM7 software is packed with backup utilities.

REVIEW Issue 332, p96

A reasonably priced nine-bay desktop appliance, though the basic CPU has some limitations and it can’t match Qnap and Synology for app choices. But it delivers good 10GbE performance and offers a fine range of business-quality data-protection features. Diskless, £1,168 exc VAT from lambda-tek.com REVIEW Issue 332, p95

VIDEOCONFERENCING

Logitech Rally Bar

4K meeting room solution, £2,527 exc VAT from meetingstore.co.uk This simple and tidy videoconferencing solution combines everything you need into a single unit that can be mounted on a desk or wall. It includes speaker tracking together with video and audio quality that are beyond reproach. A highly versatile system that also looks great.

REVIEW Issue 328, p97

Maxhub’s innovative UC M40 offers a refreshingly new perspective on video meetings. Easy to set up and use, this clever little panoramic camera has a view for every occasion, provides good video quality, and is an affordable choice for small businesses. £595 exc VAT from polar.uk.com REVIEW Issue 334, p99

You’re paying a premium for the Bose name, but the Videobar VB1 is a class act for huddle spaces and meeting rooms. It’s easy to set up, delivers smart auto-framing features and its audio quality is, as you would expect from Bose, a cut above the rest. £975 exc VAT from business.currys.co.uk REVIEW Issue 328, p96

SCANNERS

Epson WorkForce DS-790WN

A clever little wireless desktop scanner that’s an affordable choice for small businesses and home workers. The versatile ScanSnap Home software makes scanning easy and it deliversbbb good speeds and output quality. £213 exc VAT from printerbase.co.uk REVIEW Issue 334, p96

Hassle-free scanning, £499 exc VAT from thescannershop.com A great choice for businesses that want standalone digitisation. Its touchscreen makes walk-up scanning a breeze, and it delivers great speed and quality.

REVIEW Issue 334, p95

SERVERS

Dell EMC PowerEdge T350

Xeon E-2300 power, from £1,273 exc VAT from dell.co.uk Perfect for SMBs and branch offices looking for an affordable and powerful single-socket tower server.

Along with support for Xeon E-2300 CPUs and lots of memory, it has a high storage capacity, plenty of expansion space and is sturdily built.

REVIEW Issue 335, p98 18

The D35 delivers a lot of features for a very modest outlay and combines them with good speed and output quality. It’s a great choice for heavy scan workloads, has a great range of apps, and the network support makes it even more versatile. £210 exc VAT from ballicom.co.uk REVIEW Issue 334, p97

NEW ENTRY

With prices starting at around £800 exc VAT for a Pentium Gold CPU, and the option of Xeon E-2300 series chips from £1,741 exc VAT, this is a slim, rack-mounted alternative to the more high-powered T350 that’s ideal for SMBs. From £801 exc VAT from dell.co.uk REVIEW Issue 332, p98

This represents a powerful hardware package at a price that will please small businesses. We love its low-profile chassis and the fine selection of remote-management tools. It’s a great alternative to the Dell EMC servers also listed here. £983 exc VAT from broadberry.co.uk REVIEW Issue 318, p96

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The A-List

FAC E B O O K . C O M / P C P R O

SECURITY SOFTWARE F-Secure Safe

F-Secure concentrates on the basics: faultless protection with minimal impact on your system’s performance – for a low price.

1 PC, 1yr, £19 from pcpro.link/322safe REVIEW Issue 322, p83

Norton 360 Premium Norton consistently tops tests for protection, and sweetens the deal with 75GB of cloud storage, a VPN service and parental controls. At this price, it’s simply a bargain.

10 devices, 2yr, £20 from pcpro.link/norton-2 REVIEW Issue 322, p84

Avast Free Antivirus

For the second year running, Avast is our top pick for free antivirus software – it’s simply lighter on its feet than Microsoft Windows Security, whilst offering fewer false positives.

Free from avast.com REVIEW Issue 322, p82

CLOUD FILE SHARING

PASSWORD MANAGERS

VPNs NordVPN

NordVPN provides consistent and fast speeds, serious security, great support for video-streaming services and some cost-effective subscription rates. £44 per year from nordvpn.com REVIEW Issue 329, p84

ProtonVPN

ProtonVPN provided one of the best free offerings of all the VPNs in our recent group test (see issue 329, p78), including unlimited data, but upgrade to benefit from even faster speeds and many more options. Free from protonvpn.com REVIEW Issue 329, p85

Surfshark

A strong rival to NordVPN, especially if you’re willing to commit to its two-year contract. It’s fast, cheap and a fine choice for people who like to switch to US streaming services: they actually work! £44 for two years from surfshark.com REVIEW Issue 329, p86

REMOTE SUPPORT

Tresorit Business Plus

NetSupport Manager 12.8.6

VAT per user per month billed yearly from tresorit.com REVIEW Issue 331, p97

perpetual licence, £10 each exc VAT from netsupport manager.com REVIEW Issue 325, p99

Box Business Plus

ConnectWise Control 21.8

NETWORK MONITORING

SECURITY APPLIANCES

SMBs that demand the toughest cloud file-sharing security won’t go wrong with Tresorit. Along with its total end-to-end encryption, its ease of use and extensive access controls add even more appeal.

And the price compares well with rivals, too. £13 exc

Box is the place to go if you want more than simple filesharing services, standing above rivals with businessclass collaboration tools and app integrations. £20 exc VAT per user per month billed yearly from box.com REVIEW Issue 331, p94

The best on-premises support solution. It’s a cinch to deploy, delivers a huge range of technician tools and the price includes secure services for supporting remote workers. 1-500 systems,

Suited to SMBs and larger organisations that want stiff access security and portal-branding features.

It’s easy to use with great mobile support. Starts from £17 per month exc VAT from connectwise.com REVIEW Issue 325, p96

Bitwarden

Bitwarden has a huge advantage: it’s free. It isn’t as slick as some paid-for rivals, but it can sync passwords across all devices for no extra charge. Free from bitwarden.com REVIEW Issue 320, p61

Dashlane

A manager that’s ideal for beginners, and it even builds in an unlimited (if basic) VPN service. Note you may prefer to buy the Family plan ($60 per year) as this extends the service to six people. $40 per year (Premium) from dashlane.com REVIEW Issue 320, p62

1Password

1Password is targeted at technically minded users who are looking for the last word in security. It even offers a Travel Mode that may ease your mind if surrendering your phone to customs officials. $24 per year (individual) from 1password.com REVIEW Issue 320, p60

VOIP SERVICES 3CX Phone System Enterprise 18

Along with easy on-site and cloud deployments, this provides a remarkable range of call-handling features and can’t be beaten for value. 16SC Enterprise, £615 per year exc VAT from 3cx.com REVIEW Issue 333, p94

Voip Unlimited Voip Exchange

UK-based Voip Unlimited is ideal for home workers. Its call-handling features are superb, it’s simple to manage and flexible pricing plans make it affordable. From £8.50 per seat/month exc VAT from voip-unlimited.net REVIEW Issue 333, p97

STORAGE APPLIANCES NEW ENTRY

Paessler PRTG Network Monitor 21.4

PRTG provides a terrific range of sensor options for local devices and cloud services, along with plenty of monitoring facilities, yet it’s easy to manage, and comes with an affordable pricing scheme that’s perfect for SMBs. 2,500 sensors, 1yr maintenance, £4,950 exc VAT from paessler.com REVIEW Issue 330, p97

WatchGuard Firebox T40-W

Designed for small offices and remote sites, the WatchGuard Firebox T40-W is big on performance with the promise of 3.4Gbits/sec for raw firewall throughput and 300Mbits/sec with the AV, IPS and app control services enabled. Appliance with 1yr Total Security Suite, £1,363 exc VAT from guardsite. co.uk REVIEW Issue 331, p98

Progress Software WhatsUp Gold 2021.1 Ubiquiti Networks UniFi WhatsUpGold has flexible licensing plans, a smart web Dream Machine Pro console that will keep downtime to a minimum and powerful new log management features. 25 devices, Premium licence, $2,740 from whatsupgold.com REVIEW Issue 330, p98

An impressive piece of kit that delivers an incredible range of easily managed features at a low price. £298 exc VAT from broadbandbuyer.com REVIEW Issue 327, p101

Sophos XGS 116

The XGS 116 and Xstream flow processor partnership deliver strong gateway security at a great price. It has the power to handle high demands, provides great remote management features and will appeal to businesses that want to extend their protection to home workers. Appliance with 3yr Xstream Protection, £1,439 exc VAT from enterpriseav.co.uk REVIEW Issue 335, p95

DrayTek Vigor 2866ax

NEW ENTRY

DrayTek’s Vigor 2866ax teams up solid security measures with integrated Wi-Fi 6 services and a great set of WAN redundancy features. £286 exc VAT from ballicom.co.uk REVIEW Issue 335, p94 19

Brain food: the link between AI, protein and pasta

Dick Pountain is editorial fellow of PC Pro. He can confirm the spaghetti sort works well with linguine and bucatini, but not penne or fusilli.

Email dick@ dickpountain.co.uk

Think that the human brain is analogous to a computer? Wake up and read the research, as we are far more complex than DeepMind imagines

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he most enthusiastic proponents of AI claim we’re on the brink of achieving “artificial general intelligence” on a par with our own organic variety. I’m not against the attempt itself because I’m as fascinated by technology as any AI researcher. But I’m against an oversimplified view of the complexity of the human brain, and the belief that it’s comparable in any useful sense to a digital computer.

There’s no denying the remarkable results that deep neural networks based on layers of silicon “neurons” are achieving when trained on vast data sets: the most impressive is DeepMind’s cracking of the protein folding problem.

However, a group at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem recently performed an experiment in which they trained such a deep net to emulate the activity of a single (simulated) biological neuron, and their astonishing conclusion is that such a single neuron had the same computational complexity as a whole five-to-eight layer network.

Forget the idea that neurons are analagous to bits, bytes or words: each one performs like a whole network.

The complexity of the whole brain suddenly explodes exponentially. To add more weight to this argument, another research group has estimated that the information capacity of a single human brain could hold all the data generated in the world over a year.

On the biological front, recent research hints as to how this massive disparity arises. It’s been assumed so far that the structure of the neuron has been largely unchanged by evolution for millennia, but this now appears not entirely true. Human neurons are found to have an order of magnitude fewer

ion channels (the cell components that permit sodium and potassium ions to trigger nerve action) than other animals, including our closest primate relatives.

This, along with extra myelin sheathing, enables our brain architectures to be far more energy efficient, employing longer-range connectivity that localises and shares processing in ways that avoid excessive global levels of activation.

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nother remarkable discovery is that the ARC gene (which codes for a protein called activityregulated cytoskeleton-associated protein), present in all nerve synapses, plays a crucial role in learning and memory formation. So there’s another, previously unsuspected, chemically mediated regulatory and communication network between neurons in addition to the well-known hormonal one. It’s thought ARC is especially active during infancy when the brain is wiring itself up.

In other experiments, scanning rat brains shows that activity occurs throughout most of the brain during the laying down of a single memory, so memory formation is not confined to any one area such as the hippocampus.

Other work, on learned fear responses, demonstrates that repeated fearful experiences don’t merely lay down bad memories but permanently up-regulate the activity of the whole amygdala to make the creature temperamentally more fearful. In short, imagining the brain as a simple computer is hopelessly inadequate: it’s an internet-of-internets of sensors, signal processors, calculators and motors, capable not only of programming itself, but also of designing and modifying its own architecture on the fly.

And, just to rub it in, much of its activity is more like analog than digital computing.

The fatal weakness of digital/silicon deep-

Forget the idea that neurons are analagous to bits, bytes or words: each one performs like a whole network 20

The brain is capable not only of programming itself, but also of designing and modifying its own architecture on the fly learning networks is the huge amount of arithmetic, and hence energy, used during training. The physical properties of a circuit, like current and resistance, perform additions and multiplications on data in situ at great speed. However, the real energy hog in deep-learning networks is the “back-propagation” algorithm used to teach new examples, which imposes enormous repetitions of the calculatory load.

A

more radical line of research is looking outside of electronics altogether, toward other physical media whose properties bypass the need for back propagation.

The best known such medium is light: optically encoding weights as different frequencies of light and using special crystals to apply these to the video input stream. This could lead to the smarter, faster vision systems required for self-driving cars and robots.

Another, more unexpected medium is sound: researchers at Cornell are using vibrating titanium plates that automatically integrate learning examples supplied as sound waves by a process called equilibrium propagation.

Here, the complex vibration modes of the plate effectively compute the required transforms while avoiding the energy wastage of back propagation.

The ultimate weird analog medium has to be spaghetti, which appeals to the Italian cook in me. This involves sorting the spaghetti (analogous to sequences) by “height”, but see the Wikipedia entry for “Spaghetti sort” for a graphic illustration that will do in ten seconds what would take me a thousand more words. dick@dickpountain.co.uk

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I can’t believe I still have to pirate TV shows in 2022

Nicole Kobie is PC Pro’s futures editor. She can’t believe she pays so much for streaming services when she barely watches TV, but Is It Cake? is worth every penny. @njkobie

Rights industry nonsense drove me to pirate a show about pirates when I already spend £60 a month. Has common sense been thrown overboard?

I

t is 2022 and I’ve just pirated a television show. That statement shouldn’t be true for a middleaged woman who goes out of her way to pay for content, but here we are.

Back when I started writing for PC Pro more than a decade ago, digital piracy was a frequent topic on our newsdesk. Remember the Pirate Party?

The US SOPA legislation? Takedown notices? ISPs sending threatening letters to customers accusing them of piracy? This used to be my bread and butter, and I wasn’t going hungry.

I wasn’t keen on pirating, believing content creators should get paid, but I very much disliked the aggressive way rights holders and their lawyers pursued people for dodgy downloads.

If the industry made it cheap and easy to access digital music, movies and TV shows, I figured mainstream piracy would dribble to a halt.

Then came streaming. Now, each month my household pays Spotify £13.99, Disney+ £7.99 and Netflix £10.99. We give Channel 4 a princely £3.99 to ditch ads and my husband pays NowTV £20 each month to watch cars go round and round in a circle. Or F1, as it’s known.

Nor is it just monthly subscriptions.

When I wanted to introduce my husband to Buffy the Vampire Slayer, in no way retribution for Saturdays spent watching qualifying races, we discovered it was no longer on Netflix, so we paid for it. We coughed up for Apple TV for a couple of months to watch Ted Lasso, and will again when the next season arrives. We watch Die Hard every year at Christmas and Groundhog Day each February, so we bought digital copies.

In short, we spend a lot on digital content. Then, this spring, we both got Covid and hunkered down, grateful for on-demand grocery deliveries and streaming services to keep us fed and entertained. By that I mean we binged all of Netflix’s Is It Cake? – a show in which people make cake look like things that are not normally made from cake – fuelled by a delivery from our local patisserie.

A

nd then I realised a show I’ve been waiting for had just been released. I will watch anything that actor-writer-director Taika Waititi is in any way involved with.

Hunt for the Wilderpeople is a delight, What We Do in the Shadows is comic perfection, and Reservation Dogs should win every award. He even made Marvel films watchable, with Thor: Ragnarok. Anyway, Waititi and fellow-Shadows alum Rhys Darby had reunited in a new show called Our Flag Means Death, and the reviews were perfectly positive.

This seemed like ideal timing, coming just as we were forced to stay home. Unfortunately, Our Flag Means Death debuted on HBO Max, a US-only network. And, as of writing this column at the end of June, not only is it yet to arrive in the UK but there’s no release date.

I pay £57 monthly for TV, and I can’t watch the one show I’m desperate to see. I understand that life is full of frustrations and unfairness, and that paying for one streaming service doesn’t mean I can watch all the TV that’s ever been made. But as yet there is no way for me to pay for this show. I want to give rights holders my money but they’re keeping the shop locked. Let me give you my money, you fools.

This is exactly the sort of scenario that led many people to

We got Covid and hunkered down, grateful for on-demand grocery deliveries and streaming services to keep us fed and entertained

pirate in the first place. Some will always pirate because they’re cheap or don’t believe in copyright, but that’s not me; I want to pay for content, I believe appropriately applied copyright laws can encourage creators, and I am lazy, preferring to pay and click to watch than hunt

I want to give rights holders my money but they’re keeping the shop locked. Let me give you my money, you fools around for a dodgy download. But if it’s impossible to watch legitimately, with no release date announced, what do you think is going to happen?

As I don’t pirate, I had no idea how to do it. Thankfully, a friend of ours is a cheap and dodgy sort of person, and downloaded the show to his Plex server for us to access remotely. Ironically, Our Flag is about the central character learning to be a pirate. That’s right, I pirated a show about pirates.

I

t’s remarkable how quickly I slid back into piracy. It suggests that the streaming industry and rights holders need to keep on their toes and continue to give us the shows we want for a fair price or piracy will rise again.

It’s no surprise that one sector of the TV industry where piracy remains rampant is sport, given how expensive it can be to watch legitimately.

For what it’s worth, whenever Our Flag does arrive on UK streaming services or download markets, I will watch it again – this time legitimately, even if I have to pay. And hopefully, by the time the second season arrives, the industry will have finally sorted out international rights so I’ll be able to watch without resorting to piracy, thematically relevant though it is. work@nicolekobie.com 21

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The charge of the right brigade

Barry Collins is the co-editor of the BigTechQuestion. com. He runs in low-energy mode all the time. @bazzacollins

Arguments against mandating USB-C charging are silly and futile – this is an EU decision we should all get behind

I

may have mentioned this once or twice before, but I used to work at a non-League football club. And every Saturday, without fail, one of the players would knock on the office door and ask: “Have you got an iPhone charger?” To which I’d invariably reply: “Which one?”

This was a few years ago, when Apple was making the transition from its own proprietary charger to another proprietary charger – back in the days when an iPhone battery ran out of puff faster than a non-League footballer. Although, given that my kids’ iPhones are attached to the wall more often than our landline, I’m not sure those days have yet passed.

So as I sit here, gazing at the spaghetti of 86 defunct USB cables in my office drawer, I’m fully on board with the EU’s decision to enforce USB-C charging on mobile devices by 2024. My only gripe is that it didn’t do it sooner.

There has been an extraordinary amount of bellyaching about the decision, though, especially from our friends across The Pond, who seem to regard the imposition of USB-C as a breach of the second amendment. Maybe it has something to do with their right to bear ARMs? The EU, the critics argue, is stifling choice and innovation. If the Eurocrats had got their act together a decade ago, we’d be sat here still trying to put fiddly micro-USB cables into our smartphones instead of the far lovelier USB-C. I’ll concede they have a slither of a point here, but not a convincing one. The EU is mandating USB-C for

now but not forever. If a compelling new charging standard arrives, there’s nothing to stop the EU switching tracks in five years’ time – although I imagine the new standard would have to offer significant benefits over USB-C before it was rubber-stamped. This is in no way a bad thing.

As for the restricting choice argument... well, I’ve never seen anyone walk up to a three-pin plug socket and complain about the lack of choice. I have, on the other hand, sworn very loudly in foreign hotel rooms when I’ve gone to charge my phone at night and realised I’d forgotten to bring a plug adapter.

Standardisation is a good thing, especially when it comes to delivering power.

T

alking of three-pin plugs, I note that the British government was as quick as (ahem) Lightning to distance itself from this EU red tape, declaring (to the Daily Mail, of course) that “we are not currently considering replicating this requirement”. Well, at least there’s one port operating as normal after Brexit.

It’s not as if the EU is swimming against the tide here. Every Android phone I’ve seen in the past couple of years has offered USB-C charging.

And Apple has been migrating to USB-C itself, on everything from MacBooks to iPads. The last Lightning hold-out is the iPhone, but it has long felt like only a matter of time before Apple switches to USB-C here, too. Given Apple was the first company to stop supplying phone chargers with new handsets, supposedly for environmental reasons, it can hardly complain if it’s being forced to

As I sit here, gazing at the spaghetti of 86 defunct USB cables in my office drawer, I’m fully on board with the EU’s decision 22

As for the restricting choice argument... I’ve never seen anyone walk up to a three-pin plug socket and complain about lack of choice adopt the charger that literally everyone uses.

What about laptops? Computer manufacturers have been given a further 40 months to complete the USB-C switch, although the vast majority have done so already.

Having spent hundreds of quid replacing duff proprietary laptop chargers in the past, I’m not about to go the full Farage on this decision either. It is a good thing.

A

t this point, Apple fanboys will be furiously yanking the power cords out of their MacBook Pros, making the point that Apple recently reintroduced proprietary MagSafe chargers on its high-end laptops, ensuring that £3,000 worth of Space Grey loveliness isn’t destroyed when someone gets their foot wrapped in your power cable. It’s true, but there’s nothing stopping Apple continuing to offer MagSafe on MacBooks; it merely has to offer USB-C charging as an option, something that’s already supported on those MagSafe MacBook Pros (albeit at a lower wattage).

In short, I’ve yet to see a single convincing argument as to why mandating USB-C for charging is a bad thing. And whether the UK chooses to adopt the requirement or not is as irrelevant as the 2am slot on GB News. We will get what we’re given, which will be the standard used by the rest of Europe. Unless Priti Patel diverts all those USB-C charging iPhones to Rwanda. barry@mediabc.co.uk

Readers’ comments Your views and feedback from email and the web

Software regulator?

Reading about the latest zero-day security hole in Microsoft Word and that Microsoft is being slow to act to remedy the problem makes me think that it’s time to have a software regulator that sets rules on how major software products are produced and supported by their manufacturers.

They should also be able to issue significant fines for non-compliance.

Given the enormous potential impact of software failure on users, there is a need to make software manufacturers provide responsible and timely responses to issues with their software. As users, we are implicitly dependent on these companies responding to issues in a responsible way.

There are obviously problems with creating a world regulator, but maybe a start could be made with country-specific ones first. John Falk

was useful, but I probably learned more in my first week out on the job than I did doing the course. However, having no qualifications, I did suffer, and still do to some extent, from imposter syndrome. Reading the article helped me realise I’m not alone in being unqualified on paper, and that’s good to know. Gary Mander

Stormy thoughts

ABOVE A screwdriver is an increasingly rare sight in a PC repairer’s tool bag

Trust in Lee

Lee Grant’s article (“Tech repairs: Who can you trust?”, issue 334, p32) certainly struck a chord. As a self-employed, local computer technician, the transition from primarily hardware to mainly software-based repairs over the past 15 years has been noticeable and significant. I used to arrive at each customer’s door with my extensive tool bag in one hand and a range of spare parts in the boot, ready to spend the next hour crawling around under the desk, wiping dust from my face as I dismantled, repaired and reassembled a heavy desktop PC.

Over the years, the tool bag started to remain in the car and the only tools I would take in would be a handful of flash drives. That has now dwindled to three: one Linux boot drive, one Windows 10 boot drive and a third with a few tools and bits of general software. This change hasn’t just been driven by the improved reliability of hardware, but also by the reduced ability to repair. It’s not uncommon now to open up an ultra-thin laptop and find just a single board – no removable components whatsoever.

Another point raised in the article was both relatable and comforting.

I have been taking apart computers since the ZX81 and was entirely self-taught. I had always had a desire to start my own IT support business and, following redundancy about 20 years ago, everything came together to make it happen.

Having no formal qualifications, I decided that I should at least enrol for the Comp TIA A+ course to fill any gaps that may have passed me by. It

Star letter I greatly enjoyed Jon Honeyball’s column on disability aids (see issue 334, p130). If there are any of your “younger” readers who doubt that this is ever going to be relevant to them, I have some sad news: age and infirmity catch up with all of us, and we should encourage all the assistive tech that we can get!

In my case, I’ve had severe conductive deafness for decades, alleviated hugely by a marvellous device called a bone-anchored hearing aid (BAHA), which basically vibrates sound into my skull so that my inner ear can pick it up. I was thrilled when Apple introduced its system for connecting an iPhone directly to my MFi hearing aids so that when

someone calls me, I know I’m going to be able to hear them. This also works with my iPad. But weirdly, this system doesn’t work with my MacBook Pro, where assistive tech for hearing loss is far more limited.

Basically, iOS has it, but macOS doesn’t. Despite my pestering Apple, it doesn’t seem as if this technology is coming to macOS any time soon.

So if I want to listen to music or watch a film on my iPhone or iPad, I can with great ease, but on one of Apple’s premium devices, costing thousands, I can’t. Apple’s commitment to assistive technology is greatly to be applauded, but odd inconsistencies such as this are puzzling and surely unnecessary.

Steve McClue

Our star letter writer wins their very own PC Pro mug to help them get through even the sternest IT challenge. For your chance to win, email letters@pcpro.co.uk

24

Having survived Storm Arwen, I was surprised by Paul Ockenden’s comment regarding the effect of power cuts on communications: “I guess most people have mobiles these days, so that’s not so much of an issue” (see issue 334, p113).

My three-day experience was that the mobile signal (voice and data) went down at the same time as the lights and wired internet went off, presumably because the mobile masts and transmitters also went dark.

Indeed, the only communication that survived was the old-fashioned analogue telephone line where power is supplied down the same cable.

I suspect there’s a whole can of worms to be opened there if real communications resilience is to be built into this digital world.

Jamie Harvie Contributing editor Paul Ockenden replies: You make a good point, but there’s a world of difference between the typical power cut I was writing about and the havoc caused by a major storm. And we shouldn’t forget that when power cables come down in a storm then often the phone cables do too.

Digital nirvana

Has anyone bought a new phone recently? I have. My trusty Nokia Android One phone bit the dust along with a coffee table and a mug of coffee.

Not my PC Pro mug, I hasten to add!

So broken screen, can’t unlock it, can’t retrieve data or wipe it.

No problem, I think. All my emails and contacts are in Microsoft 365, all apps are listed in “my apps” in the store. Just buy a new handset, pop the SIM in and go. How wrong I was.

I needed a new phone and needed one now: click and collect from a local high street store and a new iPhone mini was mine for £57. First hurdle: my bank wouldn’t let me pay online.

Despite being at home, with the same static IP address I have had for years, my bank required that I approve the transaction online. Using the app. On my broken phone.

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HOW TO TAM

07

The brand isn’t important.

It comes down to price and performance.

£5.99

I think AMD provides the best overall platform at the moment, by a nose from Intel.

Also, Intel is a bit boring.

I chose Apple because the hardware is more than powerful enough and I don’t have to use the disaster that is Windows 11. John Wright

20/04/2022

JULY 2022

The OS is most important, but M1 is amazing. Now I can’t bring myself to ever buy anything else. Darren Davies

382030

The mobile phone industry has done itself no favours by needlessly changing its battery connections when it released new phones. And by failing to provide replacement old generation batteries at about the time your old phone batteries needed replacing. Little wonder that legislation to prevent them doing this is welcome among consumers.

However, the EU’s move to oblige Apple to support USB-C is counterproductive for so many reasons. Does Apple end up providing two ports, one of which may never be used? Must it create different phones with different connections for different markets? Or does it opt for one port (USB-C) and people then have to repurchase any Lightning port gadgets/connectors they may own?

Looking to the future, what happens when a successor to USB-C comes out? Must the legislation be changed for this? And do plans to do away with ports altogether get shelved? Chris Jack

ISSUE 333

Race to the bottom

Five years ago this poll would have looked very different, with Intel dominant, but as can be seen it’s now a truly competitive market. The end result, as you’ll see if you turn to our processors Labs on p74, is that consumers have a wide range of well-priced CPUs to choose from.

But it’s Apple’s rise from zero to hero (well, 25%) that is surely the big story.

Almost every commenter who chose Apple mentioned the M1’s low power consumption and high performance.

Sifting through the other results, two words kept coming up for Intel: trust and compatibility. Meanwhile, AMD earned praise for both its value for money and its speed.

But perhaps the strongest theme that rang through the responses was the diminished importance of a processor for so many of our readers. “It’s just one feature,” wrote Peter Chapman. “I’ll look at the whole package to choose.”

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Plan B: drive into the town centre, pay to park. Cashless parking here, on the app only. Plan C: Uber. Yep, okay.

Plan D: call a mate and ask for a lift.

They’re not answering because they don’t recognise my landline.

Push bike it is, then.

Eventually I get my new phone, charge it up and pop the SIM card in.

I add my primary Microsoft account.

“Please enter the code from your Authenticator app on your phone.”

Plan X. Put the new phone away and go to the pub. On foot. With cash.

My point is that all this technology is great. Everything is simple, everything works. Except it doesn’t. When will the smart young millennial minds realise they need to work out how to instantly swap a phone over, just like switching bank accounts? Once the appropriate security checks have been completed, of course. Neil Cole

This month, we asked our followers on Twitter: when you buy your next laptop or PC, which brand of processor is most likely to be inside?

11:07

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see p66

The best way to build a

SMART HOME Forget Alexa and Google – Home Assistant is what you need if you want full control of your smart home, writes James O’Malley

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or more than a decade now, we’ve been waiting for our homes to become truly smart. “Smart home” as a concept is not new, but the problem is that the major platforms vying to run our homes, such as Apple’s HomeKit, Amazon Alexa and Google Home, are just a bit, well, rubbish.

With limited functionality, unpredictable compatibility and the overwhelming stench of corporate control, it’s understandable why we might not want to entrust control of our homes to a single corporation.

This is why, with the zeal of a new convert, I bring good news: there is a better way.

It’s time to break up with Alexa and draw a line in the sand with Siri.

Instead, embrace an alternative smart home system that’s powerful, open source and compatible with almost everything. Welcome to Home Assistant. It’s going to change your life, just as it did mine.

The Home Assistant way In a nutshell, Home Assistant (HA) is an operating system for your home. It connects to your existing smart bulbs, smart blinds and smart-everythingelse, and acts as the brains of the operation, monitoring your gadgets and telling them what to do.

This might sound similar to what Apple, Google and Amazon do, but in my view none of them comes close to Home Assistant for three reasons: control, customisation and compatibility.

In terms of control, what I like about Home Assistant is the platform has a clear preference for local control. All of the clever stuff takes place on your local network instead of somewhere in the cloud. This is good for security and privacy, as it means your data is kept within your home, and it also means that control of the critical features of your house are not dependent on the whims of either your ISP or Big Tech. Even if your connection goes down, you’re still able to turn on your lights.

When it comes to customisation, Home Assistant is more scalable and more flexible than the big-name platforms. Once you connect a device to HA, it’s essentially broken down into its constituent parts, so that every property and attribute of that gadget is made available for you to poke around with. This means you can make the devices in your home behave exactly how you need them to, at any given time. More on this below.

And best of all, Home Assistant has great compatibility. Because the platform is open source, there’s an

enormous army of developers working on integrations for almost every conceivable smart home product. It means that you can break out of the walled gardens built by the likes of Apple and use your devices in harmony together. Even if there isn’t an official integration for your more obscure gadgets, it’s easy to find community-made add-ons, or even hook up your own code to the system.

Unsurprisingly, there’s one unavoidable downside to Home Assistant. That’s another C-word: complicated. All this power is trickier to master than barking orders at Alexa – but once you have climbed atop the admittedly fairly steep learning curve, you’ll never want to go back.

Getting started After installing Home Assistant on a suitable device (see “Picking the right Home Assistant hardware” on p29), all you have to do is point your web browser at the IP address on your network for the device it lives on, and it will walk you through

Automation ideas When all of your devices talk the same language, and they’re connected to a powerful automation engine such as Home Assistant, the possibilities are endless. Here are some ideas to get you thinking.

Holiday security trickery

If you’re going away for a few days, you could instruct Home Assistant to switch on your lights at certain times, creating the illusion you’re still home. So far, so HomeKit, but using HA you could inject a dose of randomness so that lights switch on and off over the course of the evening, to really create a sense of movement.

On-air light

We’re all spending a lot more time making video calls, and this means the ever-present risk of a partner or child barging in and causing chaos. But if you’re a Mac user, an app called Camera Usage can send a “webhook” request to Home Assistant whenever you activate your camera, enabling you to turn your lights red to send a signal that you’re busy, and everyone should leave you alone.

Did I leave the garage open?

Save yourself a trip outside by using a contact sensor, such as the Sonoff DW2, to detect whether or not your garage door is open or closed. Has it been open for longer than ten minutes? Then send a push notification to your phone and play an alert noise on a speaker as a reminder.

Watch your property

If you’ve got connected CCTV cameras, then you may be able to log on to check activity, but Home Assistant can help you keep watch in real-time. With the help of the Telegram plugin, you can have your cameras automatically grab a screenshot whenever someone is detected near your house and have it instantly send you the picture, wherever you are in the world.

Make dumb gadgets smart

All of the clever stuff takes place on your local network instead of somewhere in the cloud

Some brands of smart plug, such as those made by Samsung, have a special property. They don’t simply switch power on and off; they also monitor the energy usage of whatever is plugged in. This made it possible for me to turn my dumb microwave – which doesn’t even have a screen – into something a little smarter. When Home Assistant sees plug energy usage drops below 30W, it knows the microwave has finished cooking, so it will send a push notification to my phone saying “Ping!”, so I’ll know that my lunch is ready.

De-stink your cats

Finally, another favourite automation from my house. My cats’ litter tray is in the bathroom, and I have the bathroom fan connected to Home Assistant using a Shelly Wi-Fi relay installed behind the switch. I also have an Ikea Zigbee motion sensor on the roof of the litter tray. I’ve told Home Assistant that when the motion sensor detects a cat doing its business to wait two minutes, then activate the fan for ten minutes, which does wonders for creating a more fragrant house.

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ABOVE It may look complicated, but the end result is worth it

TOP Home Assistant lets you control every device in your home ABOVE An ageing Intel NUC with an i3 chip is sufficient to run Home Assistant

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To experience the real power of Home Assistant, you need to dive into its powerful automations

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creating a login and configuring basic settings such as your location, so that any weather automations you create are accurate, for instance.

It will then sniff around your local network for every conceivable smart device, from TVs and NAS servers to thermostats and lightbulbs, and in just a few clicks you can configure them to work with HA’s system.

Depending on the specific devices, this might involve entering your login credentials or pressing a button on the device itself, in order to hand HA the controls.

This might sound laborious, but helpfully, in most cases Home Assistant won’t need you to reinvent the wheel. If you’ve already got a smart device configured, it will import your settings, and will even still let you use whatever apps you were using before to continue to control your devices. For example, HA automatically detected my Philips Hue hub and the lights that were connected to it, and it took all of the custom names and room designations I had created from there.

Once you’ve done this for all of your gadgets, Home Assistant will present you with a slightly dizzying dashboard containing controls and toggles for everything in your house.

Every device, and every attribute of every device, will be at your fingertips, so that you can see at a glance, for example, the humidity sensor reading from your Tado thermostat, how many watts of energy your Samsung smart plug is chugging through, “now playing” dialog boxes from your Google Chromecast, and even snapshots from your connected CCTV cameras.

It’s easy to feel overwhelmed at this point. Who wants to feel like they’re tapping into The Matrix just to turn on the lights? But this is where Home Assistant becomes smarter than rivals such as Alexa or Google, as you can create your own dashboards from scratch, selecting whichever toggles, buttons and readings are most relevant for you. For example, I have one dashboard containing all of my light switches, and another containing all the battery readings for the various battery-powered devices in my smart home, so I can keep an eye on when they might need charging or changing.

The power of automations So far, this isn’t a million miles away from what Alexa or Google Home can do. Apple’s HomeKit works locally, just like Home Assistant, and all three will attempt to bridge together your smart devices into one cohesive environment, just like HA.

To experience the real power of Home Assistant, then, you need to dive into the system’s powerful automations, which can be much more sophisticated than anything the others will let you do.

For example, in Apple’s Home app, you can configure your lights to power on at certain times of day, perhaps having your living room lights switch on at sunset, for instance. But that’s pretty much all you can do.

With Home Assistant, by contrast, you can add many layers of conditionality to your automations.

This means you can make all of your devices behave exactly as you want them to all of the time.

It’s this conditional functionality that makes possible my all-time favourite automation: in my bathroom, I have a motion sensor to turn the lights on when I walk in.

But I’ve added to this a condition: if I take a trip to the bathroom in the middle of the night, Home Assistant will instruct the lights to power on to only 20% brightness – just enough light to see where I am aiming, not

enough light to disorient my bleary eyes and dazzle me. Perfect.

HA automations can also be as multifaceted or as complicated as you wish. I have a “goodnight” routine that not only turns off the lights and close the blinds, but also triggers the bedroom speaker to start playing white noise to help me sleep.

The secret to this level of sophistication is how Home Assistant treats all of your smart devices. By treating every attribute of every device as a virtual building block, you can construct automations that take advantage of every sensor you have at your disposal.

Smart home Picking the right Home Assistant hardware Home Assistant can be installed on an enormous range of devices, with varying degrees of difficulty. The easiest way to get up and running is with a Raspberry Pi, as it’s simply a case of burning a disc image to an SD card and powering up.

But there are other options, too: it can be installed on an existing Linux installation (and can work within a Docker container), or even be installed simply as a program on Mac or Windows. Though be warned that in order for Home Assistant to be actually useful, you need to leave the computer it’s on running 24/7. So best practice is to install it on a dedicated machine that you’re not planning to tinker with too much, and to connect it via Ethernet to your home router.

If you’d rather buy some dedicated hardware, Home Assistant’s developers have actually released a glorified Raspberry Pi-calibre computer called Home Assistant Blue, which the developers have pledged will be reliably supported by the Home Assistant software.

If you’re really serious about Home Assistant and plan to take advantage of lots of automations, scripts and other more intensive tasks, it’s worth using something beefier than a Raspberry Pi. With my own installation, I took the advice of the community and got hold of an ageing 2014 Intel NUC, a small-form-factor PC running on an i3 processor. Not only was this machine slightly more powerful while remaining relatively power-efficient, hidden in the BIOS was another major advantage: you can set it to automatically power on after a power cut.

This means that if I temporarily lose power, I won’t have to crawl around in the dark looking for a switch to turn my entire smart home back on.

The only slightly unwieldy thing was the installation. For some reason, I couldn’t just burn Home Assistant OS to an SD card or USB stick – instead, I had to use an Ubuntu Live CD to burn the Home Assistant image to the computer’s hard disk. Though annoying, it was only annoying once, and the whole system has worked absolutely flawlessly since.

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ABOVE The HA dashboard puts all your smart devices at your fingertips

TOP You can create a routine to pause your speakers when the doorbell rings ABOVE RIGHT The thermostat sensor can be linked to your smart blinds

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Home Assistant is great because you can tweak virtually every aspect of the system to suit your needs

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For example, in just a few clicks you can create an automation that uses the temperature sensor on your smart thermostat to lower your smart blinds to stop the sunshine warming up the room. Or an automation that will pause all of the speakers in your home if someone hits the bell on the smart doorbell outside.

Amazingly, this is only just scratching the surface. You can trigger automations using a wide range of other methods too, such as using NFC tags, Webhooks or even Crontab-style time patterns. If you’re really hardcore, it’s possible to edit the configuration files directly and write complex routines using a scripting language called YAML, or even write more complex scripts with Python.

Sorting out security There’s no such thing as a fully secured network, as all digital security is a product of its trade-offs: the more open a system is, the more useful it can be, but openness also creates risk.

This is particularly true for smart home devices. Although a lightbulb and a laptop may look very different, if they connect to Wi-Fi and have an IP address on your home network, they are a potential attack vector. If hackers can gain access to one device, they could potentially meddle with every other device on the network.

So, who would be mad enough to fill their home with smart devices?

The good news is that there are some sensible, best-practice steps you can take to secure your smart home.

If you have a suitably sophisticated router, it’s a good idea to separate your home network and your “IoT” network into two separate VLANs, or virtual networks, with separate Wi-Fi SSIDs. This means that you can have home computers, with all of your sensitive files, on one virtual network, and the dodgy Wi-Fi air conditioner you bought from a no-name Chinese company on another. Such an arrangement isn’t completely foolproof, as you’ll still have to configure Home Assistant to work across the firewall with both, but it’s much safer than letting all of the devices sit together.

Another option is to carefully consider the types of devices you connect to your smart home. Devices that connect using Zigbee, for example, are a better choice than Wi-Fi devices. Zigbee has a couple of advantages. First, it’s designed to only work locally: it’s literally impossible for a Zigbee bulb to connect to the internet. Because of this, Zigbee devices don’t sit directly on your network. Instead, they

connect to your home network via a hub device (such as a Philips Hue Hub or an Ikea Gateway). This does mean that your hub may still be vulnerable, but it’s better to have only one potential point of vulnerability, instead of dozens in the form of every lightbulb in your home.

There are also steps you can take within Home Assistant itself, if you choose to use it as the brains of your smart home. The developers regularly release software updates (often multiple times per month) to keep your system secure. And crucially, Home Assistant also supports two-factor authentication with an authenticator app, which you don’t need me to remind you is hugely important to enable.

Finally, if you want to go the extra mile, you can even use your Home Assistant device to remove other Zigbee hubs from your network by adding a USB Zigbee dongle such as the Conbee2 to your Home Assistant machine. This essentially enables you to create your own custom Zigbee mesh network, connecting devices directly to Home Assistant. Exactly how difficult this is to do depends on the devices that you’re trying to connect and how willing to cooperate they are.

To connect devices, you can either use ZHA, Home Assistant’s default Zigbee-handling software, or an alternative package called Phoscon, which in my experience has slightly better compatibility, but is absolutely nightmarishly counterintuitive to use.

Smart home What about Matter?

Though Home Assistant is brilliant if you’re a little bit techie and you’re willing to put the time into it, it clearly isn’t for everyone. The reality is that for most people, smart home tech is simply too complicated. With a myriad of technologies, standards and brands, it can be tricky to know if your Hue bulbs work with Alexa, for example,or if your LG ThinQ dishwasher can interface with Google.

That’s why in 2019, an enormous alliance of virtually every smart home company announced they had found a solution: yet another new standard.

Though this might sound like a recipe for more confusion, “Matter”, as it will be known, could finally be a mainstream breakthrough due to the sheer range of companies that have already signed up for it, from Philips Hue to Samsung SmartThings. And perhaps most importantly, the new standard has buy-in from the three biggest hub players: Apple, Google and Amazon.

Making it work for you Ultimately, Home Assistant is great because you can tweak virtually every aspect of the system to suit your needs. Don’t like the interface? You can install or design a better one. It doesn’t detect your automated pet feeder? Then you can find custom code to make it work.

There’s no sensor that does what you need? Then there’s nothing stopping you breaking out the soldering iron and using an ESP8266 chip to feed data into the Home Assistant brain.

Give Home Assistant a try today.

Maybe the time you save by automating every aspect of your own home will make up for all of the fun times spent tweaking your Home Assistant system so that everything is just right.

What it will mean is that once Matter-compatible devices enter the market (which is expected to be later this year), consumers won’t need to worry about compatibility as long as there’s a Matter logo on the box.

And don’t worry if your house is already kitted out in smart home gear.

On a technical level, Matter isn’t massively changing anything: devices will still use Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Zigbee or Thread, but there will be a common IP layer on top, to ensure devices can communicate. So once the standard launches, we can expect many existing smart home products to receive software updates to guarantee their support.

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SOS TECH Do you need tech that’s going to survive showers, drops and dust clouds?

And keep running all day without mains power? Barry Collins reveals

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SOS tech

M

ost technology isn’t built to last. Take your average laptop out in the rain and you’ll come back with a 1.5kg block of plastic, metal and glass. Expose your smartphone to searing heat and watch it shut down harder than a branch of Debenhams. And let’s not even talk about most kits’ inability to keep running all day without being leashed to the mains.

If you need robust, rugged, reliable kit for your work, your adventures or even a summer camping trip, then you need to spot the difference between the truly durable and the marketing hype.

We’ve spoken to industry experts so you know exactly what to look for when it comes to picking all-weather laptops, tablets and smartphones, as well as keeping all these devices powered for the long haul.

according to Panasonic, but there’s a handle built into the laptop’s casing to help prevent it slipping out of your hand, which is a serious risk at 3.35kg. Aside from the built-in shock and vibration protection, Panasonic also sells various vehicle docking solutions that provide extra protection if you’re lobbing it in the back of a 4x4 or an armoured vehicle that’s going over rougher terrain than Fulham High Road (mind the potholes).

The other key thing about this kind of laptop If you attempt to take a MacBook Pro out into is how modular it is. You might think all that the wilds, don’t expect much sympathy when water- and dust-proofing would necessitate it you turn up at the Genius Bar a week later being sealed more tightly than Apple’s finest, with rainwater seeping out of its USB-C ports. but the opposite is true. Remove a few screws The vast majority of laptops won’t cope with and you can replace the modules under the palm any kind of extremes – many have screens that rest; say to insert a fingerprint or smart card are barely visible in direct sunlight! So, what reader. Extra batteries can be slotted into should you be looking for if you’re planning modules on the side. Ports can be swapped out. to take a laptop into the great outdoors or When people in the field are using all kinds of extreme environments? bespoke hardware and security solutions, it’s Devices such as the recently important for a ruggedised laptop to BELOW Panasonic’s support whatever customers want to launched Panasonic Toughbook 40 Toughbook 40 is provide answers for people looking to use with it. The thing even has a serial built to withstand use a laptop in all conditions. port, for crying out loud.

Firstly, this laptop is IP66 resistant extreme conditions Panasonic isn’t the only company (see “What the IP ratings mean” on making rugged laptops, of course. p36). That means it’s dust-tight: Companies such as Getac and Dell there should be no way for dust, are also in the market. Dell’s grains of sand or other dirt Latitude range includes particles to get inside the several highly configurable laptop. Neither should it ruggedised models, including suffer any harm from the the Latitude 7330. Dell wet stuff. The second “6” in claims this 13in device is the IP66 means it’s been tested smallest 5G-compatible to withstand water ruggedised laptop on the projected in powerful jets (12.5mm) against the enclosure from any direction.

Then there’s the temperature this thing is guaranteed to work in: anywhere between -29°C and 63°C if it’s running on battery power, or -33°C if you’ve got it plugged into the mains of your igloo.

The 14in Full HD IPS screen has a maximum brightness of 1,200cd/m2, but can also drop down to a minimum of 2cd/m2. Why so low?

Because if you’re a police officer on a stakeout, you don’t want the glow of the screen potentially giving you away. That touchscreen also works with gloved hands, which is something of a necessity if you’re working in sub-zero conditions.

Independent third-party lab tests have shown it can withstand a drop from 1.8m,

LAPTOPS

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“WE DESIGN AND MANUFACTURE OUR OWN PRODUCT, SO WE KNOW THE QUALITY OF WHAT WE’RE BUILDING” LEFT Dell’s Latitude 7330 is a tiny 13in 5G-compatible ruggedised laptop

market (it supports both physical SIM cards and eSIMs as optional extras).

And while we’re talking about connectivity, GPS is a must-have for many users of ruggedised laptops who are out in the field. Dell again offers this as an optional extra, using a slot-in GPS card made by U-blox.

Beware of loose terminology (see “Tricky terminology to watch for”, opposite) if you’re in the market for a laptop that can withstand rough treatment. There are lots of laptops that are touted as “rugged” because they have rubber bumpers that claim to be “tested to military specifications” but don’t deliver precise details of what exactly they’ve been tested for. In 2019, our colleagues at Laptop Magazine dropped 11 models of Chromebook, many of which were sold as “rugged” devices. Hinges, screen bezels and plastic covers all went flying when the laptops were dropped from a relatively gentle 2.5 feet onto carpeted floors. Most of the laptops continued to operate, but the damage was definitely done.

The key differentiator is normally the price. If you want the true military-grade protection of devices such as the Panasonic Toughbook 40 or the Dell Latitude 7330, it comes at a premium. Both start at around £3,500, with extra modules adding to the price. You’re not going to find a laptop that will survive warzones, Arctic expeditions or even a flash shower in Didcot sitting on the shelves of Currys for £500.

The UK managing director of Getac, Paul Waddilove, also points out that true rugged equipment often 34

comes with far better warranties than the standard one-year return-to-base you’ll get with an ordinary laptop.

“We design and manufacture our own product, so we know the quality of what we’re building,” he said. “That enables us to understand the potential failure [rate] within the market where the device is being used.”

Most of Getac’s ruggedised laptops and tablets come with a three-year pack-and-collect warranty, and that can be extended to five years of cover.

Getac also includes accidental damage cover as standard. “If they break it accidentally, we’ll still repair that product,” said Waddilove.

BELOW Tablets are a vital tool for the emergency services

TABLETS When it comes to designing tablets to survive in extreme conditions – be that with a team of paramedics, with a fire crew or on a round-the-world yacht race – many of the same tests and precautions applied to rugged laptops apply here, too.

Drops are obviously more of a risk when it comes to tablets, though, as they tend to be used handheld rather than on a flat surface. Here, the MIL-STD-810 certification is something to look for. To pass that, a device must survive 26 drops at a variety of angles, from a height of around four feet.

Battery life is crucial too, especially in outdoor environments where you can’t just plug the thing in if you’re down to your last 10% (see “Backup power” on p37). Devices such as the

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BELOW Not all products described as “rugged” are as tough as you may think

Getac F110 have dual hot-swappable battery compartments in the rear of the tablet, for example. “What we have is a capability to exchange batteries,” said Paul Waddilove.

“You’ll have generally two batteries within the product that enables you to exchange a battery,” allowing engineers in the field to keep running all day without having to power down, for example.

On smaller devices, which might not have the physical space to accommodate two batteries, it’s possible the device might retain some residual power, which allows a single battery to be swapped without having to power down. This is critical for emergency workers who don’t want to spend a few minutes rebooting a device.

“If you’ve got very clunky VPNs or login systems to get into your secure environment, the last thing you want to do is have to take the battery out and then spend another four or five minutes logging back in and getting yourself set up again,” said Matt Wroughton, government and public safety lead at Zebra Technologies, which supplies equipment and services across a range of industries, including the emergency services.

“The benefit of hotswap is you can tell the device you’re taking the battery out and you’ve got up to a 40-second window to pop the new battery in and it just carries on operations.”

Again, the accompanying accessories also play a key role.

“If they’re working from vehicles, they’ll have car chargers or docking solutions in the vehicles, depending on the type of environment,” said Waddilove.

Gloved operation, extreme temperature ranges and the ability to slot in all kinds of security or connectivity modules are also key components of ruggedised tablets, as are some of the smaller touches.

Cameras are often required out in the field, for example, but so are privacy shutters to minimise the risk of security breaches.

And don’t expect much in the way of fancy new designs or millimetres being shaved off the chassis with every new iteration. Some of the products in Getac’s lineup, for

TRICKY TERMINOLOGY TO WATCH FOR The tech industry is (how can we put this without waking the libel lawyers?) a little loose with its terminology when it comes to hardware designed for the great outdoors. Here are the terms to watch for.

RUGGED/RUGGEDISED

A catch-all term used to describe anything from a smartphone with thin rubber bumpers to £4,000 laptops that could withstand a nuclear holocaust.

Pay careful attention to the precise specs.

WATER-RESISTANT

There is a big difference between “water-resistant” and “waterproof”. Look for the IP ratings to confirm how well a

device will repel liquids, or at the very least claims that a device will survive for so long at a certain depth. Don’t rely on generic labels.

MILITARY SPEC

third-party laboratory and exactly which of the tests it has passed (often, manufacturers cherry-pick tests). Beware of phrases such as “military-grade” or “military-spec compatible”.

Another phrase that’s bandied about, often without any justification. There are many military specs, most notably the MIL-STD or MIL-SPEC. What you want is confirmation that a device meets these specs from a

DURABLE

Another phrase found on laptops/phones that have minimal levels of protection.

Dear manufacturers: a rubber flap over the USB ports does not a durable device make.

LEFT The Getac F110 comes with dual hot-swappable battery compartments

“OUR CUSTOMERS WANT STABILITY OF SUPPLY”

example, don’t look any different externally than they did in the days of Windows 8, and that’s for good reason. “Most of the time, the external aesthetics of products are the same [from generation to generation],” said Waddilove.

“So, if you have got a large team of people out there and you’re buying products over a three- or four-year basis, the products will look the same, which means the operators will just see a slightly newer product, they won’t realise that it’s maybe got more memory or more processing power.”

Maintaining the same chassis design also means that add-on modules and security solutions don’t need to be refreshed with the tablet itself, helping to keep costs down. “That’s quite a value to a lot of organisations, that you don’t have this continuous change,” said Waddilove. “Our customers want stability of supply.”

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WHAT THE IP RATINGS MEAN You’ll often see devices described as IP65 or some such, but what does that actually mean? The Ingress Protection Code, or IP Code, defines how well protected a device is against ingress from solids and liquids. The first number deals with solid particles, the second deals with liquids. So, a device FIRST DIGIT

PROTECTION AGAINST SOLID PARTICLES

SECOND DIGIT

PROTECTION AGAINST LIQUID INGRESS

0

No protection

0

No protection

1

Solid objects larger than 50mm (eg, hands)

1

Vertically dripping water (eg, condensation)

2

Solid objects larger than 12mm (eg, fingers)

2

Dripping water when tilted at 15°

3

Solid objects larger than 2.5mm (eg, tools)

3

Spraying water at any angle up to 60° from the vertical

4

Solid objects larger than 1mm (eg, wires)

4

Splashes of water from any direction

5

Dust (not entirely dust-proof, but won’t interfere with safe operation)

5

Water jets projected by a nozzle (6.3mm) from any direction

6

Dust-tight (no ingress of dust at all)

6

Powerful water jets (12.5mm nozzle) from any direction

6K

PHONES AND CONNECTIVITY When it comes to smartphones, you have to apply the same caution as with laptops: there are lots of handsets out there that are described as “rugged” or military-grade-spec “compatible”, but there’s a big difference between devices designed to last in extreme environments and a standard Android phone encased in chunky rubber.

Zebra Technologies sells a range of Android devices that look an awful lot like a smartphone, although the company refers to them as “mobile computers” because they can be connected to a range of peripherals that make them more than a mobile phone. They’re also built to take some serious rough and tumble.

The recently launched Zebra TC58 Mobile Computer, for example, has been tested to survive multiple drops from a height of 5ft on to concrete, at temperatures ranging from -20°C to 50°C; it’s IP68 sealed; and it’s been “tumbled” a thousand times from a height of 1.6ft at room temperature.

You can add a protective “rubber boot” to the phone and increase the height of the drops further. All that protection doesn’t mean the rest of the spec suffers, though. The TC58 supports Wi-Fi 6E, for example, which is more than any iPhone does.

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rated at IP65 should be dust-tight and able to withstand jets of water.

Here’s a very brief description of what the codes mean. Look for devices that have had their IP ratings confirmed by third-party laboratories, rather than just the manufacturer.

Powerful water jets with increased pressure

7

Immersion up to 1m

8

Immersion at 1m or more

9

Powerful, high-temperature jets of water

Part of the reason these devices use cutting-edge components is that they’re designed to massively outlast a regular smartphone, which will be gathering dust in a kitchen drawer after two or three years. These devices, partly thanks to the removable batteries, will stay in active service for at least twice as long.

And that means Zebra must support the software as well as the hardware.

“It’s what we call a four plus four,” said Zebra’s Matt Wroughton of the TC58. “We’ll manufacture it for four years, we will also support it for four years. And that’s an Android operating system.”

He adds that, through its partnership with Google, Zebra can “carry on patching and supporting operating systems for up to three years” after Google stops.

That longevity of support is as critical for businesses as the longevity of the hardware, because they may have bespoke apps or hardware designed to work with a certain version of Android that they can’t easily migrate.

Wroughton says the company is still supporting some customers running Android 8 devices, because they’re running an app that “needs

BELOW The Zebra TC58 supports Wi-Fi 6E and 5G, but is as tough as old boots

ABOVE A satellite phone is the only way to guarantee a signal out in the wild further development to bring it up to spec because they built it in-house”.

Of course, one of the big problems with mobile devices is getting a connection in the first place. The mobile networks will boast of 90%, 95% or 99% coverage, but that’s based on population, not land mass. If you’re part of a mountain rescue team, or you’re sailing across the Pacific, or even in a small rural village in Lancashire, you probably won’t even get a whiff of 4G. Satellite phones remain the go-to piece of kit if you want to guarantee you can get a signal from anywhere on the planet – as long as you’re outdoors, of course, as they need line of sight.

Satellite handsets are a lot less bulky than they used to be. Twenty years ago, satellite phones were enormous satchel-like device that were the bane of war reporters’ lives – until they needed to file copy from a field in the middle of Afghanistan. Today’s satellite phones look more like the chunky mobile phones of yesteryear, sometimes with a big foldable antenna.

The handsets look robust and generally are. Take the Inmarsat Isatphone 2, for example. It can

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operate between -20°C and 55°C, can tolerate up to 95% humidity, and it’s dust-, splash- and shock-resistant (IP65 and IKO4). It has old-school battery life, too, with standby of up to 160 hours and eight hours of talk time.

It’s indicative of the kind of activities satellite phones are used for that most have emergency tracking and SOS features, where you can press a button on the handset and immediately alert someone you’re in trouble. The price of satellite phones is suitably robust, with handsets costing thousands of pounds when bought new.

Alternatively, you can pair a regular phone with a satellite hotspot, such as the Iridium Go. This compact little device with a flip-up antenna can be used with an accompanying iPhone/Android app to make satellite calls or send text messages if you’re outside the range of cellular networks. The Go is IP65 and MIL-STD 810F rated, lasts about 15 hours on standby and won’t weigh a backpack down at 305g. You’re not going to use it to stream Netflix to your tent halfway up Kilimanjaro, mind. Its data rate caps out at 2.8Kbits/sec.

That’s not a typo.

The device costs less than £1,000, but it needs to be paired with a punchy airtime plan (think around £100 per month).

BACKUP POWER We’ll deal with reserves of power when you’re out in the field in a moment, but in the current climate of spiralling energy prices and even questions over supply in the coming winter months, you can’t be 100% sure the lights aren’t going to go out.

In this context, it’s worth evaluating the practical options to let you carry on working or minimising disruption if the power does fail.

One of the oft-neglected benefits of using a laptop as your main computer is that it effectively comes with its own UPS. If the power were to dip, most laptops would give you a few hours of work time and there’s no danger of losing unsaved work... unless that work is being carried out in web services, of course.

A power cut will take out your router, which would have a crippling

IF YOU’RE WORKING FROM A DESKTOP COMPUTER, YOU MIGHT CONSIDER A UPS effect on most people’s ability to do meaningful work from a home office.

For such circumstances, it’s worth investing in a 5G, battery-powered router such as the Netgear Nighthawk M5. In 5G areas, it’s capable of delivering throughput in excess of 100Mbits/sec. It’s Wi-Fi 6 and can serve multiple devices at the same time, and its battery life of 13 hours should see you through the longest of power dips. It can also be used out in the field, of course, making it a versatile, if expensive (£780) device.

If you’re working from a desktop computer, you might consider a UPS. It’s worth bearing in mind that most UPS devices aren’t going to let you run a desktop computer for hours on end; they’re geared more towards letting you shut down smoothly in the event of a power cut, rather than carrying on work as normal. Take the APC

ABOVE Jackery’s Explorer 240 will provide juice away from the mains

BELOW A solar panel can fully charge the Jackery in just a few hours

Back-UPS Pro 1600VA, for example.

Let’s say it’s attached to a desktop PC running at an average of 150W and a 24in monitor that needs 25W; the backup power would last only 37 minutes, according to the calculator on APC’s website. And that’s from one of the more premium devices (£599).

Out in the field, it’s about choosing devices that give you the flexibility to swap out batteries in devices such as laptops, tablets and smartphones, as discussed above. Equally important is finding the right charging solutions, be that vehicle-based charging, charging docks that let you recharge multiple batteries/devices back at base, or maybe even solar chargers.

At the more consumer end of the market, you might consider something such as the Jackery Explorer 240, combined with a SolarSaga 100W Solar Panel (£493 for both at hampshiregenerators.co.uk) for things such as camping trips. The Jackery has a built-in 240Wh rechargeable battery, plus two USB ports and a three-pin plug socket for charging devices such as phones, tablets and laptops.

The website states the Jackery has an expected working time of 240Wh x 0.85 of the operating wattage of your device. For a laptop with a 30W power draw, that will get you almost seven hours of usage. And if the sun’s out, the solar panel will fully charge the Jackery within 5.5 hours. Just beware that, even though it does offer passthrough charging, it isn’t recommended that you charge the Jackery while using it, as that can shorten battery life.

Higher-capacity models of the Jackery are also available.

37

REMOVE YOURSELF FROM SOCIAL MEDIA Worried about over-sharing – or just want to kick the social media habit?

Nik Rawlinson shows how to delete your identity from the most popular sites and services

P

ersonal information has never been more accessible. Your social profile and posts can give away all sorts of details to people you know, and people you don’t – from potential dates to employers and identity thieves.

There are all sorts of steps you can take to reduce your exposure, but policies and privacy settings change over time, and breaches can’t be ruled out. The surest way to protect yourself is to shut down your social media accounts completely. It may also be good for your mental wellbeing to cut ties with any platforms that you feel are no longer enriching your life.

Unfortunately, there isn’t a single, straightforward way to close every account. The process is different for each service, it isn’t always instant, and it doesn’t necessarily mean your information will vanish from the internet. The site operator may keep some content for their own continued functioning (your old posts may be preserved in threaded conversations, for example), or data may be retained to comply with legal requirements.

Search engines may continue to show locations where your data was visible previously, even if the pages at the

38

ends of those links have expired.

Until they next crawl those URLs, snippets of your data may be exposed in previews and cached copies.

Here’s how to remove yourself from the biggest social networks – while keeping copies of the data you’ve previously shared – and minimise the chance of your data being found after the fact.

Remove yourself from LinkedIn If you’re happy in your career, you might decide you no longer have a use for LinkedIn. Be warned, though: deleting your account doesn’t just remove your profile from the site.

It also deletes your stored messages and connections, plus any

BELOW You can hibernate your LinkedIn account rather than close it

recommendations you’ve given or received. Contacts will lose the benefit of any endorsements you’ve given them, and if you decide to rejoin the site at a later date you’ll have to rebuild your own professional profile from scratch.

You might prefer to “hibernate” your account rather than deleting it.

If you’re sure you want to leave LinkedIn, first download any data you want to keep by logging in to LinkedIn through a browser (not the mobile app) and clicking your avatar at the top of the screen. Click “Settings & Privacy”, followed by “Data Privacy”. Now click “Get a copy of your data”, in the “How LinkedIn uses your data” section. Select the categories of data you want to download and click “Request archive”. LinkedIn will send you an email from which you can download your information; this may take a few minutes to arrive, depending on how much data you’ve requested, and remains active for 72 hours.

Once you’ve received your data, it’s time to actually close your account. Click “Settings & Privacy” again, then, under “Account management”, click the Change link beside “Close account”. You’ll be prompted to provide a reason for

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closing your account – be as honest as you like, or just select Other – then click Next, enter your password and click “Close account”.

It’s also possible to close your account from the LinkedIn mobile app. Tap your profile picture, followed by Settings, then select “Account preferences”. Scroll down to “Account management” and tap “Close account”, followed by Continue. Again, provide a reason for the closure and tap Next, then enter your password and tap Done.

Once you’ve told LinkedIn to close your account, it can take up to three days for your public profile to disappear from the site. If you have a change of heart you can restore your account within 14 days by simply logging in through the regular LinkedIn homepage, or by clicking the link in the email you’ll receive when you close the account. After logging in, click Reactivate, then check your email for a message containing a further link to reinstate the account. Reactivating won’t bring back your endorsements and recommendations, however, nor any invitations you haven’t yet acted upon or group memberships, so consider carefully before you close the account in the first place.

Remove yourself from Twitter If you want to get off Twitter, you’ll need to be patient: it takes a month to fully close your account, although your profile will stop being publicly visible as soon as you confirm that you want to leave the service.

Before you pull the trigger, you can download your data by logging in to your account (using a regular browser) and clicking More on the sidebar. Click “Settings and privacy”, then “Your account”, followed by “Download an archive of your data”.

Your data includes not only your public tweets but private information such as direct messages, so Twitter uses two-factor authentication to confirm your identity: first, enter your password when prompted and click Confirm; then keep an eye out for a confirmation code sent to either your email address or phone.

Once you’ve provided the code, click “Request data” and Twitter will start compiling your records. When the archive is ready, you’ll receive an email containing a link to the archive.

The next thing to do is disconnect any third-party apps connected to your Twitter account. This is because your account will be automatically

TOP Twitter will send you a code to verify your identity ABOVE You’ll need to revoke access for third-party apps

reactivated if you log back in within 30 days, so you need to be sure that no apps are signing in on your behalf.

To do this, go into your Twitter account through a browser and click More, followed by “Settings and privacy”. Click “Security and account 39

Facebook is the most controversial social site, and there are plenty of reasons why you might want to leave it

access”, then “Apps and sessions” and finally, “Connected apps”. Click on each of the apps shown in this section, followed by the red “Revoke app permissions” link.

Once you’ve revoked permission for every app registered to your account, click “Your account” in the Settings column, followed by “Deactivate your account”. Click Deactivate, then enter your password and click “Deactivate account”.

Assuming you don’t log back in, after 30 days all your information will be deleted. At this point your username will be released for reuse – so if you think you might want to return to the platform under your old name, you may wish to come back to open a new account and grab the name before someone else does.

Remove yourself from Facebook Facebook is the most controversial social site, and there are plenty of reasons why you might want to leave it. The catch is that if you close your account on the main social network service you also lose access to Facebook Messenger, which many of us use for talking to friends and family.

There is a way around this: rather than wiping your Facebook account, you can deactivate it. This hides your public Facebook profile but doesn’t delete the content, so you can continue to use Messenger, and keep the option of reactivating your account at a later date.

To deactivate your account, log in through a browser and click the downward arrow at the top right of any Facebook page. Click “Settings & privacy” followed by Settings; click “Your Facebook information” in the sidebar, then click “Deactivation and deletion” in the main part of the page.

Ensure the button beside “Deactivate account” is selected, then click “Continue to Account Deactivation”.

Enter your password and click Continue. Facebook requires you to give a reason for leaving, but as with LinkedIn you can click Other and enter anything you like.

The last step is to review whether you’re the sole administrator for any pages. If you are, you’ll need to nominate a new administrator to look after them once your own account is deactivated. Click the “Edit Admins” button below any applicable page, then opt out of emails and delete any apps for which you’re the only developer. Finally, click Deactivate.

If you do want to delete your account entirely, you’ll have to be a little more patient. We suggest you start by downloading a copy of all the information associated with your 40

Facebook account, so you’ll have it to refer to it in the future. To do this, log in through a browser and click the downward arrow at the top of the page, followed by “Settings & privacy”, then Settings. Click “Your Facebook information”, followed by “Download your information”.

Choose what format you want your data in – the default is HTML, which can be opened by a browser, but you can choose JSON if you prefer – and pick the High, Medium or Low quality setting for your media, depending on how bothered you are about quality versus storage size.

Then select a date range, or select “All time” to download everything, and untick any media types you don’t want to download. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click “Request a download”. You’ll shortly receive a link in your email from which you can download your data.

Once you’ve received your data, you can move on to deleting your account. Click through Settings to “Deactivation and deletion”, as above, but this time select the button beside “Delete account” and click “Continue to account deletion”.

Once again, any pages where you’re the sole administrator will need to be assigned to another user; click “Edit Admin” below the pages in question and hand them off to someone else. You may also want to assign a new owner for any apps where you’re the registered developer – click “Manage Apps” to do so. You don’t have to do this, but if you don’t then your apps will be deleted when your account is erased.

Finally, click “Delete account”, enter your password and click

TOP Deactivate rather than delete if you want to keep using Messenger ABOVE Facebook lets you download your data in HTML or JSON formats

Continue. Like Twitter, Facebook operates a 30-day grace period, within which you can log back in and click “Cancel Deletion” to rescue your account. After this, Facebook will start deleting your data, though it warns that “it may take up to 90 days from the beginning of the deletion process to delete all the things you’ve posted. While we’re deleting this information, it’s not accessible to other people using Facebook.” Copies of your data may still reside in Facebook’s backups, too.

Remove yourself from search engines It hardly needs spelling out that search engines are one of the easiest ways for people to stumble across information that you might not have intended to share. Anything publicly posted by you, or about you, is liable to be picked up by web-crawling bots; professional, personal and even supposedly private content is revealed to anyone who types your name into a search box.

That doesn’t necessarily mean that the information is out there for all eternity. Search engines periodically revisit indexed sites to check for changes, so once you’ve closed a

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social media account, your profile and posts should shortly disappear from Google and co. However, if there’s something in the search database you can’t delete, or that you want urgently removed, there are ways to directly request that content be removed from a search engine.

Google offers two tools that can help. If removed data is still showing up in the search results, you can report it as outdated and request an update – visit pcpro.link/335search to lodge a request. If your problem is with content that you can’t remove from the web (because it’s on someone else’s site, for example), you can ask Google to remove it to protect your privacy or for other legal reasons by submitting a legal request at pcpro.link/335legal.

There are limits to your right to have information removed from the web. Record holders may refuse a request if they need to retain the data for legal compliance, or if the data is still in use for the original purpose for which it was justifiably and legally collected. You can find about your legal “right to be forgotten” at pcpro. link/335ico. If you want to make a claim for removal under these terms, fill out Google’s EU Privacy Removal form at pcpro.link/335remove.

If you aren’t sure where you should head, a good starting point is Google’s guide to removing content, at pcpro.link/335content. This will point you in the right direction for each of its products from which you might want to see your data removed.

Microsoft’s Bing works in much the same way. When you remove your own information from the web, it will be automatically expunged from Bing’s database the next time the index is updated. If you want data hosted by someone else to be removed from Bing search results, you can fill in the form at pcpro.link/335bing.

Bing also offers a quick way to block specific pages from its results, although it isn’t necessarily a permanent solution. To use it you’ll

ABOVE You can ask to have your data deleted, but in some situations it can be retained

need to set up a Webmaster Tools account (bing.com/webmasters).

Once you’re logged in as a webmaster, expand the “SERP Configuration” section in the sidebar, and click the “Block URLs link”.

Click “Add URL to block”, then enter the address to be blocked in the “Enter URL” box and select either Page or Directory under “URL type”.

Selecting Directory will block every page in a domain or folder, while – as you would imagine – “Page only” blocks specific pages.

Under “Block type”, clicking “URL & Cache” will tell Bing not to direct visitors to the current page, nor to offer its own cached version of your page. If you only want to disable the Bing cache so that people are always directed to the live site (ensuring they don’t see outdated content), select “Cache only”.

Click Submit and within 24 hours the page or directory should disappear from the Bing search results. However, if the blocked content is still online after 90 days, Bing will start relisting it. To keep the block in place you’ll need to manually extend it. To do this, click the drop-down menu to the right of its name in the list and select Extend to block it for a further 90 days.

41

DELETE your files forever

Want to ensure your deleted data can’t be recovered and abused?

Darien Graham-Smith explores how secure deletion works, and how you can best protect your information

42

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O

nce upon a time, back in the earliest days of personal computing, deleting a file meant it was gone for good. That was the assumption, anyway; then, in 1982, Peter Norton released the UNERASE tool, which could be used to magically restore files that had been wiped using the ERASE command in MS-DOS. Subsequently, Microsoft added its own official UNDELETE command to MS-DOS 5.

For careless computer users these tools were a godsend, but for businesses that had made the early investment in storing sensitive information on computer disks, the idea of undeleting files was an alarming threat to data security.

Since then, the threat has only grown: almost all of us have our own personal information stored somewhere in digital form that we wouldn’t want to fall into the wrong hands, while digital storage is now ubiquitous across businesses and governments.

Indeed, various regulations (such as the Data Protection Act in the UK) make companies legally liable for ensuring certain types of data are kept secure and confidential, even after a computer is sold, donated or thrown into a skip – so secure deletion is more important than ever.

polarity on the disk’s surface, while writing a zero on top of a zero means magnetising it twice in the same direction. If a determined scientist were to pull the platter out of the drive and inspect it with a magnetic force microscope, they could measure the precise strength of the different fields to gain a clear hint of what their previous values might have been.

SSDs aren’t immune from this type of attack, either. Rather than

Security through disk encryption

How does secure deletion work?

Undeleting is possible because “deleting” a file doesn’t actually remove its contents from the disk – it merely marks the space it occupied as available for reuse. Until new data is written into that space, a low-level tool can read the original bits and reconstitute the deleted file.

Deleting something securely, therefore, means overwriting it with fresh data, so the old data can no longer be recovered. If you’re wondering why this isn’t done by default, one reason is that it increases the wear and tear on a disk, shortening its lifespan. Another is that space can be deallocated in a fraction of a second, whereas writing megabytes or gigabytes of data takes far longer, tying up the drive and slowing down performance.

What’s more, simply overwriting the bits once might not be good enough. It will stop OS-based undelete tools from working, but a forensic analysis could still recover the old data.

To understand how, remember that mechanical drives store data by inducing tiny magnetic fields on the disk platter, with binary values of zero and one represented by opposing polarities. Overwriting a one with a zero means reversing the magnetic

writing magnetic fields to a metal platter, solid-state disks store electric charges inside cells, but the upshot is exactly the same. Writing a zero on top of a zero is likely to leave a subtly different charge signature than writing a one on top of a zero, so with the right equipment it’s possible to work out the previous value of the cell.

The solution is to overwrite the deleted data not just once but several times, typically using varying bit patterns, so that the original magnetic polarities or charge levels are impossible to separate from the noise.

There’s just one question...

TOP Eraser is an open-source tool that securely deletes your files ABOVE You can use the command line to find deleted data and overwrite it

How many overwrites is enough?

Almost any secure deletion tool will give you a variety of overwriting

The solution is to overwrite deleted data several times

If you’re concerned about sensitive data on your computer, you should be using not only secure deletion, but also full-disk encryption. In the Home editions of Windows 10 and 11 you can enable this using the “Device encryption” feature, located in the Update & Security page of the Settings app. Those using Professional or Enterprise OS editions can use the BitLocker drive encryption tool instead: for our purposes the two systems do exactly the same job.

When drive encryption is enabled, a thief or spy won’t be able to access any files at all, or even get to the Windows desktop, without providing a valid password (or authenticating in some other way). If they remove the drive and attempt to read the raw data – either by hooking it up to a different computer or using high-end lab equipment – all they’ll see is an impenetrable string of encrypted bits.

Your files will be impossible to recover, regardless of whether they’ve been securely deleted or not.

This doesn’t mean you can entirely forget about secure deletion. If someone manages to hack your password or otherwise gain access to your desktop then they could still recover supposedly deleted data. Even so, full-disk encryption greatly reduces the risk of sensitive information leaking.

43

How do I undelete my own files?

The old UNERASE and UNDELETE commands are long gone – they were designed for disks using the old FAT file system and the obsolete 8.3 filename format.

However, if you’ve erased a file by mistake, there are tools out there that can bring it back. One of the most popular is Recuva, and you can download the free version from ccleaner.com/recuva.

Once installed, the Recuva wizard will ask a few questions about the sort of file you’re looking for, and give you the option of enabling the “Deep Scan” mode. If you leave this box unticked and hit Next, the program will cogitate for a few seconds; if it’s ticked then Recuva will scan your whole disk, which could easily take upwards of an hour, but may recover fragments of lost data that would otherwise be missed.

Once the scan is complete, you’ll see a list of all the deleted files Recuva has identified. Beside each one, a green, yellow or red circle will show whether the file is fully recoverable, partly recoverable or lost. Tick the box next to any files you wish to restore, then hit Recover to save fresh copies in a new location.

The trick with Recuva, or any other recovery tool you may choose to use, is to install it before you need it. If you wait until you’ve accidentally deleted a file, you run the risk of inadvertently overwriting the very data you want to restore when you download and install the software.

patterns to choose from, probably including standards chosen by various national security agencies.

It’s far from obvious which one to choose, as they use different numbers of write passes and different bit patterns.

There are also suggestions from tech security experts, including Bruce Schneier and Peter Gutmann.

Schneier suggests overwriting deleted data with all ones, then all zeros, then five passes of random bits.

Gutmann’s approach goes all the way up to a maximum of 35 passes, with a variety of bit patterns designed specifically for the ways different types of drive store data.

In truth, that’s overkill. As Gutmann himself has explained, “performing the full 35-pass 44

overwrite is pointless... If you’re using a drive which uses encoding technology X, you only need to perform the passes specific to X, and you never need to perform all 35 passes.”

Indeed, these standards are almost all excessive for everyday use. While bit-by-bit reconstruction of overwritten data is possible, it requires the sort of specialist

BELOW LEFT Make sure you install Recuva before you actually need it

ABOVE SafeErase scans your disk for files that have been insecurely deleted

these standards are almost all excessive for everyday use

equipment and expertise that’s only likely to be found in academic or government organisations. Even professional data recovery specialists won’t normally attempt it. So while it’s understandable that military secrets are protected with maximum paranoia, we’d refer you to the 2014 recommendation of the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (publication number 800-88, “Guidelines for Media Sanitisation”), which states that for wiping both hard disks and SSDs, you merely need to: “Overwrite media by using organisationally approved software and perform verification on the overwritten data. The pattern should be at least a single write pass with a fixed data value, such as all zeros. Multiple write passes or more complex values may optionally be used.”

In other words, feel free to write complex bit patterns over and over,

but a single pass is good enough to defeat undelete tools, and that’s really all you’re ever likely to need.

Is secure deletion guaranteed to work?

There’s a reason why the NIST secure deletion standard specifies that you need to “perform verification”.

While it’s not likely, a software bug, a hardware restriction or a misconfiguration could mean your data isn’t really wiped. If you’re worried that something might be recoverable even after you’ve attempted to securely delete it, the best test is to see if you can undelete it yourself (see “How do I securely delete my files?”, opposite).

Another issue could arise if there are bad sectors on your disk. In such

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Delete your files locations, regardless of the disk’s type and physical format.

If you want to wipe your Windows system disk, you won’t be able to do it while the OS is running. You’ll need to connect it to a different computer, or create a bootable medium such as a USB flash drive containing a secure deletion tool, and boot from that.

sensitive data can linger in other places, such as web caches or the registry cases, the drive controller may refuse to overwrite them, meaning that the last chunk of data stored in that area of the disk could still be recoverable. Since bad sectors are a warning sign of a bigger failure on the way, your safest bet is to check your disk health regularly, and if any errors are detected then copy your data onto a new drive and destroy the old one.

A similar challenge can arise with SSDs thanks to wear levelling, which dynamically updates and rotates the drive’s virtual geometry so that write operations are spread across all

erased long ago; most secure deletion tools have the capability to overwrite all space that’s marked as free.

Securely deleting entire disks

We’ve focused on purging deleted files, but sensitive information can linger in other places, such as web caches, the system Registry or the Windows virtual memory file (which can contain information that was never even saved to a file). If you’re passing on a computer to someone else, the safest approach is to destroy or securely wipe the entire drive.

How do I securely delete my files?

If you’ve purchased the bonus software edition of this magazine then you can use your unique code to download and register a complete copy of O&O SafeErase 15 (see p66). This tool can scan your hard disk for files that have been insecurely deleted, along with other items such as browser caches and temporary OS files, and overwrite them to ensure they can’t be recovered. It can also overwrite all the free space on a drive, to remove any remnants of long-deleted files, and wipe entire hard disks.

Six security levels are offered: the lowest levels overwrite the relevant disk areas with zeros or random bits, while higher settings enable three, six, seven or 35 passes. You’ll see an estimate of how long the process will take at each setting, so you can balance speed against thoroughness. A reminder, though, that large numbers of passes are unnecessary, and could shorten a drive’s working life.

The open-source solution

Another free, open-source option is a tool called Eraser, which you can download from eraser.heidi.ie. This adds two options to the right-click context menu in the Windows File Explorer: Erase immediately deletes and overwrites any file, while “Secure move” copies the file to a different location then wipes the original, so no trace of it remains on the original disk.

A total of 13 different security methods are supported, ranging from a single pass to, once again, a complete Gutmann process in 35 parts, and Eraser also has a scheduling engine that can periodically scan user-selected folders and overwrite any deleted data it finds. Another interesting feature is the ability to overwrite deleted data with copies of other files, so that if anyone examines your disk they’ll see ordinary data rather than the telltale bit patterns of a secure deletion algorithm.

The tool that’s built into Windows available cells. This means that no individual cell gets repeatedly flashed and re-flashed while others sit untouched, helping to maximise the lifespan of the drive. However, it also means that if you tell an SSD to overwrite a file, the new data will be written to a fresh set of cells, and those containing the original data won’t be touched at all.

If you want to be certain that the deleted files on an SSD have been purged, the surest way is to fill all available space with junk data. This ensures that every cell gets overwritten – after which you can delete the junk, freeing the space for use once more. The same technique can be used for drives of any type to ensure that nothing remains of forgotten files that might have been

ABOVE You can choose three, six, seven or 35 passes to securely overwrite your data using O&O SafeErase The former approach gives you some dramatic options: you could zap it with a strong electromagnet, melt it in a furnace or feed it into an industrial shredder. However, it’s probably more convenient to use a tool that can comprehensively wipe its contents and allow you to reformat and use the disk again.

There are several free options, and they should all work as well as one another, because they employ the native secure erase function that’s built into all modern hard disks.

This ensures that the right procedures are followed to erase all data, on all partitions and in all

If you’d prefer not to install extra software, you can use a command-line tool to ensure that deleted files can’t be recovered.

It’s called cipher, because its primary function is to encrypt and decrypt files, but it also has the ability to find deleted data and overwrite it three times, using first zeros, then ones, then random numbers.

To run the tool on your Windows system drive, open a Command Prompt as Administrator and enter the following: cipher /wc:\ The /w switch tells cipher to carry out an overwrite operation, and it’s immediately followed by the path you want to purge of deleted data. If you specify a folder – such as c:\users\darien\ documents – then only that folder (and any subfolders) will be scanned.

While it’s nice that this capability is built into Windows, it’s a small inconvenience that you have to delete files first, and then run cipher afterwards. For a one-stop solution, you can download a semi-official command-line tool called SDelete, which erases and overwrites files in one go; see pcpro.link/335sdelete for more details and a download link.

45

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he HP Envy 34 is a very different all-in-one to the Huawei MateStation X we reviewed last month (see issue 334, p46). The Huawei is a stylish machine built to elicit desire. The Envy 34 has those of a more stoic disposition in mind; put aside your emotions, HP’s designers seem to whisper, and instead let rationality take over. For this is an eminently practical device. It’s brilliant, perhaps even elegant, but also rather dull.

Dull to look at, at least. Inside is a beast of a system, based around an 11th generation Intel Core i7 and GeForce RTX 3060 graphics. That’s the mobile rather than desktop version of Nvidia’s chip, but as we shall see it still packs a gaming punch.

And you can push it right up to a BENCHMARKS PCMark 10 0

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Core i9 with 32GB of RAM, GeForce RTX 3080 graphics and 4TB of storage.

Looks can be deceiving.

Grey is the word

It’s curious why HP has played it so safe in terms of design, especially when the Envy range is targeted at home rather than business users.

Maybe it had an excess of grey metal that it needed to use up. The good news is that the slim bezels (around 9mm at the top and sides) mean that your view will be dominated by the screen day to day.

Its simple square stand and cylindrical shaft are equally utilitarian, putting function above form. For example, it’s easy to adjust the Envy 34’s height or tilt its screen vertically. The monitor, which contains all the computing components, smoothly glides along when you raise or lower it and stays in place once you’ve found an optimal

ABOVE It may look bland, but the HP Envy 34 packs one heck of a punch

BELOW The stand doubles up as a 15W wireless charger

height. There isn’t a huge amount of travel, 60mm in total, but that should be enough.

To add further to this PC’s list of useful features, the foot of its stand doubles as a 15W wireless charger.

It’s very convenient to charge smartphones and wireless earbuds right on the stand, even if it was sometimes tricky to figure out where to place devices in order to get them to charge.

We say “sometimes” as the charger worked better with some devices than it did with others. For example, an iPhone SE 2022 and Galaxy S22 Ultra instantly accepted a charge no matter where we placed them on the stand’s charger. Meanwhile, our (ancient) Galaxy S7 only took a charge if placed horizontally across the stand, while the iPhone 11 Pro would only charge when placed vertically.

Expansive vision

Then we come to the main reason to buy this machine: the screen. It’s simply huge, stretching 34in across with an unusual 21:9 aspect ratio to give you plenty of room for both work and play. We typically had three windows open at any given time, which made

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our workflow considerably easier since we didn’t have to keep flipping between windows.

This is one of the brightest panels we’ve seen on an all-in-one, hitting almost 500cd/m2 in the centre. In fact, it’s so bright that we kept the brightness to 50% during daily work.

Colours look phenomenal, too, and that was backed up by our testing: it stretches beyond the DCI-P3 colour space, covering 113%, and with a superb average Delta E of 0.26.

We were equally pleased with the sound quality of the Bang & Olufsen dual speakers. Highs, mids and lows are perfectly balanced, and it’s backed up by plenty of volume and punchy bass. Your ears will be delighted no matter if you’re watching Hollywood blockbusters, YouTube videos or playing your favourite games.

Gaming power

Since our review sample of the Envy 34 packed an Nvidia RTX 3060 laptop GPU, we were curious to see how capable it was as a gaming PC. The answer is “solid”, but exactly how solid depends on a number of factors.

In short, frame rates drastically differ depending on whether or not you’re playing games that are happy playing at the panel’s ultrawide (21:9) aspect ratio. For example, in Far Cry New Dawn the Envy 34 achieved 76fps in 1080p mode, but plummeted to 29fps in ultrawide. Sid Meier’s Civilization VI hit 80fps in 1080p and 47fps in 21:9.

We also fired up Doom Eternal and Dirt 5. As expected, the exceptionally optimised Doom Eternal ran like a dream at a steady 60fps with medium settings at 1080p. This dropped to around 45fps in the ultrawide resolution. Not amazing, but far more acceptable than Dirt 5, which chugged along at 24fps in ultrawide and refused to run at 1080p at all.

This means that if you want fluid frame rates you’ll need to pay for the top-end version of the Envy 34, which costs a scary £3,500. For that hefty sum you’ll enjoy a Core i9, 32GB of RAM, a 2TB SSD and an 8GB GeForce RTX 3080 mobile GPU. We mention the graphics card memory as you’ll discover that some games aren’t happy with the 6GB found with the RTX 3060 when stretched across 5,120 x 2,160 pixels.

Everyday power

Away from games, the combination of a desktop Core i7-11700 CPU and 16GB of RAM ensured our HP Envy performed wonderfully. We used it as our primary work machine for a week and it never let us down, even with innumerous open tabs. It scored 7,856 in Geekbench 5’s multicore test and 1,621 in the single-core test, which are

almost identical to the M1-powered 24in iMac’s scores of 7,684 and 1,739 (see issue 322, p48).

It can cope with tougher tasks, too.

In our Handbrake video-encoding test, the Envy 34 transcoded a 4K video to 1080p in 8mins 23secs, which is over five minutes quicker than the iMac. All this while barely making a murmur, with the fans only kicking in during the most intensive of tasks.

Arguably, this Core i7 version of the Envy 34 is overpowered; if your workload will rarely take advantage of eight cores , and you’re only looking for lightweight gaming, then we should point you to the cheapest version of the computer. For £1,800, you can enjoy an Intel Core i5-11400 CPU, GeForce GTX 1650 graphics, 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage.

And here we must stand and applaud HP for building a panel into the rear of the case, which you can access to add a second M.2 SSD (or replace the main one). This also provides access to the two DIMMs, but with no spare memory sockets it’s a case of replacing the 16GB of supplied RAM rather than supplementing it.

Vital accessories

The HP Envy AIO isn’t lacking when it comes to ports, either.

Round the back you’ll find a combo 3.5mm jack, two USB-C ports, four USB-A ports, an HDMI connector and an Ethernet port.

If those aren’t quite easy enough for you to reach, fear not: the right side of the stand offers up two USB-A ports, a USB-C port and a full-size SD card reader.

Filling these ports will sully the clean look of the HP Envy, but fortunately the bundled mouse and keyboard both use Bluetooth.

Don’t get overly excited by these: the keys travel a good distance and provide a satisfying amount of resistance, but will feel fragile if you’re

ABOVE A 16MP USB camera magnetically locks to the top or the side of the screen

used to mechanical keyboards.

I found the mouse responsive but, again, it’s nothing special.

Logitech’s MX series of keyboards and mice would undoubtedly make much more agreeable companions.

Then we come to the star inclusion: a detachable 16-megapixel USB camera, which magnetically locks to the top or sides of the screen. That’s so much better than the integrated devices found on rival all-in-ones, which always appear to be looking down on you. You can also point the webcam at your desk if you want to show something to anyone you’re videoconferencing with.

What’s more, this is a high-quality webcam with a large sensor. Webcams aren’t known for making us look good, but this webcam did a great job in all light conditions. Perhaps because we could pick the most flattering angle.

“This is one of the brightest panels we’ve seen on an all-in-one, hitting almost 500cd/m2. Colours look phenomenal, too”

BELOW The simple stand and cylindrical shaft put function above form

All for all-in-one

Some people dismiss all-in-one computers because they aren’t as powerful as traditional desktops. That isn’t the case with the HP Envy 34.

This, just like the Huawei MateStation X, is a legitimate iMac challenger. Though not as aesthetically pleasing as either machine, the Envy packs plenty of power into its unassuming visage.

The expansive 34in screen gives you plenty of room to work with, but it’s also great for movies, as well as for those games with ultrawide support. We recommend the top-end model if gaming is a priority, but if not then the Core i5 version for £1,800 is a fine choice.

If you sit in the middle, then why not splash out on this Core i7 version?

Considering the gorgeous 34in 5K display, powerful Intel processor and Nvidia RTX 3060 GPU, along with expandable RAM and storage, we’d argue that you’re getting your money’s worth. TIM DANTON & TONY POLANCO

SPECIFICATIONS 8-core 2.5GHz (4.9GHz burst) Intel Core i7-11700 processor 6GB Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 graphics 16GB DDR4-2666 RAM 1TB NVMe PCI-E Gen 3 SSD 34in non-touch, 5,120 x 2,160 60Hz IPS display 2 x Thunderbolt 4 with USB-C 4 USB-C 3.1 Gen 1 4 x USB-A 3.2 Gen 2 2 x USB-A 3.2 Gen 1 Gigabit Ethernet SD card reader 3.5mm combo jack HDMI 3 x DisplayPort 2 x 2W speakers Wi-Fi 6 Bluetooth 5.2 Windows 11 Home HP 915 wireless keyboard and mouse 817 x 223 x 369mm (WDH) 11kg 1yr limited warranty part code, 34-c0005na 47

Chillblast Fnatic Victor

A PC that delivers fast 1440p gaming, but better-value systems can be found if you don’t need Fnatic branding SCORE PRICE £1,417 (£1,700 inc VAT) from chillblast.com

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very esports fan will be familiar with the Fnatic brand, with its teams competing across CS:GO, FIFA and Rainbow Six: Siege.

It also sells its own-brand keyboards, mice and headsets, and in partnership with Chillblast its name now adorns gaming PCs, too. Head to chillblast.com and you’ll find anything from an £800 Core i3 system with a GeForce GTX 1650 to a £2,700 machine with a Core i7-12700K and RTX 3070 Ti inside.

We opted for the mid-range Fnatic Victor, which seemed a sensible compromise as it still includes a Core i5-12600K and GeForce 3060 Ti graphics. It also allows us to compare the Fnatic to a Labs-winning system that Chillblast is still selling, the Vanguard Gaming PC (see issue 332, p83), which cost £1,500 when we first reviewed it but has now jumped to £1,800. A rise, Chillblast tells me, that’s due to a sharp uptick in price of the core components.

I mention the Vanguard because it’s an obvious alternative to the Fnatic, with a Core i7-12700K rather than an i5-12600K and 32GB of DDR4 RAM compared to 16GB. Turn to our processors group test (see p74) to see the exact differences between those two chips, but what matters is that the i5-12600K is a superb mid-range chip.

Its ten cores, including six speedy P-cores, pushed the Fnatic to a stellar 464 in the PC Pro benchmarks (the Vanguard hit 531) and 17,402 in Cinebench R23 (versus 21,683).

The PCs’ single shared component – that all-important GeForce RTX 3060 Ti graphics card – once again proved its worth at 1440p. With High/ Strong settings, the Fnatic Victor returned 131fps in Hitman 2, 138fps in Shadow of the Tomb Raider and 81fps in Metro Exodus. The Vanguard BENCHMARKS PCMark 10 0

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scored 130fps, 143fps and 85fps, so a fraction higher overall. 4K gameplay is possible on both systems, but averages dropped to between 50fps to 90fps depending on the game.

Chillblast opts for a fast Samsung 970 Evo Plus SSD in the Fnatic Victor, which returned sequential reads of 2,942MB/sec and writes of 2,517MB/sec.

Those are phenomenal results for a Gen 3 SSD, but it’s worth noting that a Gen 4 drive – while adding a slight premium – would likely increase read rates to almost 4,000MB/sec. But you would have to push some serious data to notice the difference, and I’d choose a 1TB Gen 3 SSD over a 512GB Gen 4 SSD any day of the week.

One of the benefits of Gigabyte’s B660M DS3H AX motherboard is that it offers a second M.2 slot that supports Gen 4 drives. This sits under the bulk of the graphics card, which you’ll need to remove to add a second M.2 SSD, but if that sounds like too much hassle there’s room for more storage elsewhere: unscrew the right-hand side of the chassis and you’ll find one 2.5in

SATA mounting slot and two 3.5in hard disk bays.

The motherboard supports DDR4 RAM rather than DDR5, which means you lose out on bandwidth but win for value.

Nobody knows what the price of memory will be when it’s time to upgrade, but it’s safe to predict that DDR4 will be the cheaper option for a few years yet. Two sockets lie empty for when that time comes.

It’s perhaps surprising that the least expensive component of all is the case. Ignore the Fnatic branding for a moment and you’ll find a Game Max Commando chassis that can be bought for around £40; a fact reflected in the plastic fascia on the front. Still, most eyes will be caught by the splashes of Fnatic ABOVE The Fnatic Victor puts on a orange and the large logo stencilled spectacular light show onto its tempered glass side.

There are mounting slots for three fans at the front, but Chillblast plays it cool with one ARGB 120mm fan there, another at the rear, and two more that form part of the Fractal Lumen RGB liquid cooler. The end result is a spectacular light show, and while Chillblast supplies the Victor with a solid orange “The i5-12600K’s ten cores, glow to match the Fnatic logo, you can amend this including six speedy with Gigabyte’s RGB P-cores, pushed the Fusion software (select Fnatic to a stellar 464 in the Digital LED option). the PC Pro benchmarks” Counter-intuitively, this large collection of fans results in minimal background hum at idle. Here, the Victor consumes 56W, pushing up to 327W at full pelt, which gives a rough-andready annual running cost of £73.

That’s £12 less than our estimate for BELOW Chillblast uses the Chillblast Vanguard. the same branded Which to choose? Despite the extra case across the entire cost, I would opt for the faster system Fnatic range due to its superior Intel Core processor, 32GB of RAM and the high-class Corsair Obsidian 4000D chassis. But then I’m not a Fnatic fan.

If you are, you can buy safe in the knowledge that you’re buying a fast system and not just a piece of fancy branding. TIM DANTON SPECIFICATIONS 10-core (6 P-cores with 4.9GHz boost, 4 E-cores with 3.6GHz boost) Intel Core i5-12600K processor Gigabyte B660M DS3H AX D4 motherboard 16GB Chillblast DDR4-3200 RAM 8GB GeForce RTX 3060 Ti graphics Fractal Lumen RGB 240mm liquid cooler 1TB Samsung 970 Evo Plus PCI-E Gen 3 SSD Fnatic-branded Game Max Commando M-ATX chassis 650W Corsair RM650 PSU Windows 11 Home 210 x 373 x 403mm (WDH) 5yr warranty (2yr C&R parts and labour, 3yr RTB labour only) idle, 56W peak, 327W

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Cyberpower Infinity X123 Pro

A simply brilliant choice if you seek 1080p gaming for a low price, but it’s best suited to enthusiasts SCORE PRICE £749 (£899 inc VAT) from cyberpowersystem.co.uk

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ith component prices bouncing around more than Lewis Hamilton on a Sunday drive, there’s something extraordinary about finding an RTX 3060 system for less than £900. That’s almost £200 less than the Box Cube Mythic (see issue 334, p50), which paired its RTX 3060 with an AMD Ryzen 5 5500.

Cyberpower achieves this feat by basing the Infinity X123 Pro around Intel’s Core i3-12100F processor. As this month’s group test (see p74) indicates, this sits at the bottom of the Core family, with four performance P-cores alone. Don’t think for a moment that this is a slow PC, however, as it scored an excellent 7,159 in PCMark 10 and returned 234 in the PC Pro benchmarks. That compares to 6,760 and 289 for the Box. More to the point, four P-cores is a strong choice for most games. Sure, a Core i5 or i7 will have a higher boost speed than 4.3GHz, but the Infinity delivered around 100fps at 1080p in demanding games at High quality: 146fps in Shadow of the Tomb Raider, 111fps in Dirt 5 and 86fps in Metro Exodus. Even 1440p gaming is within its grasp, with those same three games averaging 114fps, 85fps and 64fps respectively. All those scores are near-identical to Box’s system.

There’s room for growth, too. The Lian Li O11 Air Mini chassis may sound small but is wider and squatter than a typical PC, like an old-style Shuttle on steroids. Cyberpower could have easily used a full ATX motherboard, but instead opted for the mid-range and microATX MSI B660M-A WiFi DDR4. The Wi-Fi in question is Wi-Fi 6, courtesy of Intel, and there’s 2.5Gb Ethernet for good measure.

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The 650W PSU offers bags of spare capacity: the PC draws 49W at idle with a peak of 300W. So, how to take advantage of those extra watts? The MSI board offers a couple of upgrade routes, with two PCI-E slots lying empty (one x16 and the other x1), along with one empty spare M.2 slot.

This supports Gen 4 drives, as does the main slot, but the supplied 500GB MSI drive is Gen 3, with fast sequential read and writes of around 2,800MB/sec.

You’ll need to remove the graphics card to access the vacant M.2 slot, but there are also four connectors for SATA drives, with physical space for six 2.5in SSDs, or a mix of four 3.5in hard drives and two 2.5in SSDs. These mounting areas are neatly tucked away behind the motherboard tray, but you’ll need to get handy with a screwdriver to secure drives in place.

As this hints towards, this is a case for enthusiasts rather than occasional tinkerers. Over the course of its lifetime, you may decide to replace the two front 140mm fans and the rear 120mm fan, because it’s ideally suited

Reviews to demanding setups. The chassis can easily accommodate watercooling radiators, with space at the top, side and even the bottom. It’s an upgrade that’s well worth considering when your budget allows, because there’s currently no RGB lighting to admire through the tempered glass side.

Plus there’s a constant hum of fan noise, as they always stay at full speed.

There’s little need to upgrade the RAM for now, with a pair of 3,200MHz 8GB Corsair Vengeance LPX DIMMs in place, but Cyberpower’s neat approach to ABOVE The GeForce RTX 3060 takes centre system building means you have easy stage and offers access to the two empty DIMM speedy 1080p gaming sockets. It also takes advantage of the USB-C port at the top of the chassis, which is kept company by two USB-A ports and a 3.5mm jack.

The final factor to note is five years of support, with the first six months including collect-and-return cover.

Two of those five years include parts, with the final three being labour-only.

RECOMMENDED However, this feels like a system for people who don’t need such hand-holding assistance.

“It’s best suited to those It’s best suited to those who consider fan noise a who consider fan noise a of honour, and who badge of honour, and who badge welcome the presence of a welcome the presence of a chunky beast on their chunky beast on their desk” desk or floor: if you aren’t going to build upon the foundation Cyberpower provides, you should look elsewhere. But if you’re an enthusiast on a budget BELOW The Lian Li O11 Air Mini case is wider who wants to play demanding and squatter than a games from day one, then it’s a great typical PC chassis choice. TIM DANTON SPECIFICATIONS 4-core (4.3GHz boost) Intel Core i3-12100F processor MSI B660M-A WiFi motherboard 16GB Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4-3200 RAM 12GB GeForce RTX 3060 graphics Intel air cooler 500GB MSI Spatium M390 M.2 PCI-E Gen 3 SSD Lian Li O11 Air Mini chassis 650W InWin A65 PSU Windows 11 Home 288 x 300 x 384mm (WDH) 5yr warranty (first 6 months C&R then RTB, 2yr parts and labour, 3yr labour only) idle, 49W peak, 300W 49

Samsung Galaxy Book2 360 (13in)

This is the best convertible we’ve seen that costs under a grand: Dell’s XPS range has competition at last SCORE PRICE Core i5, £791 (£949 inc VAT) from samsung.com/uk

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or almost a decade, Dell has been the clear leader when it comes to stylish, slim Windows laptops. Challengers to the Dell XPS series have come and gone, but none has dislodged a crown that appeared cemented to Dell’s head. With this second iteration of the Galaxy Book series, Samsung not only grabs the headwear but does so at a bargain price.

Samsung’s range needs careful explanation, though. Here, we have the 13.3in Galaxy Book2 360. That is, a convertible that directly targets the XPS 13 2-in-1 (see issue 330, p82). We tested the £949 version, but £200 upgrades that to a Core i7.

There is a plain, non-convertible version of the Book2, but this features a 15.6in screen (it starts at £599 with a Core i3 inside). I hope that Samsung releases a 13.3in version, but there’s no sign of that yet.

Over the page we review the Galaxy Book2 Pro, which comes in 13.3in and 15.6in forms (including “360” 2-in-1 variants). It’s a lighter, slimmer and more premium device, with a metal lid compared to the plastic construction of the plain Book2, and the 2-in-1 versions include an S-Pen in the box. Aside from a fingerprint reader, though, there isn’t much else to differentiate them.

Classy design

Every time I picked up the Book2 360 I had to remind myself that this laptop costs less than £1,000. If someone told me that the lid was made from BENCHMARKS PCMark 10 0

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aluminium rather than plastic then I would believe them, as it looks and feels resolutely solid. It was only once I unpeeled the bottom – a process of removing four screws and using iFixit tools to prise the back away – that I was convinced.

Doing so revealed a machine that isn’t designed for repair by end users, with the sole easy-to-replace component being the super-slim M.2 SSD. The 8GB of memory is embedded onto the motherboard, and the only other part I would be happy to replace myself (rather than going to a repair specialist) is the battery. But at least that is replaceable.

In return for this lack of upgradability, Samsung keeps the depth of the chassis to a slender 12.9mm, so I’m grateful that it finds room for an HDMI output, two USB-C ports (one of which supports Thunderbolt 4), a USB-A port, 3.5mm jack and a microSD card slot. The first three on that list are on the left-hand side, the other three on the right.

I should also mention the 720p webcam tucked above the screen. It lacks the AI auto-framing of the Book2 Pro’s camera, and there is noticeable noise, but it’s perfectly serviceable.

Extra lives

Samsung includes a USB-C power adapter that only adds 174g to the 1.2kg weight of the laptop. But what convinced me that the Book2 360 could be a travelling companion is that its battery lasted almost a full day – minutes shy of 12 hours – in both our video-rundown and light-use tests. If I hadn’t sat there watching the laptop churn away as I did other things, I wouldn’t believe that either.

One reason for my surprise is that the Book2 360 features an

ABOVE It may be made of plastic, but the Book2 360 feels incredibly solid

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AMOLED screen and an Intel 12th generation Core processor. Here, that’s a Core i5-1235U, which is admittedly geared towards efficiency rather than brute force: its two P-cores and eight E-cores reflect this.

But that still means you have ten cores and 12 threads at your mercy, and this laptop never showed any signs of jitter or hesitation during use.

Still, it wouldn’t be my top choice for challenging tasks.

Cinebench R23’s multicore test returned 5,835, Geekbench 5 6,930, and the i7-1260P inside the MSI Summit E16 Flip Evo (see p57) chomped through the PC Pro video-encoding test in almost half the time (5mins 59secs versus 11mins 30secs). Overall in the PC Pro benchmarks, the Book2 360 scored 170 to the MSI’s 323.

Intel’s Xe graphics remain capable of playing undemanding games, with 77fps in Dirt: Showdown at High settings and 49fps in Metro: Last Light. Those are both at the screen’s native resolution of 1080p, so casual gamers should be satisfied.

Entertainment system

Movie watchers, on the other hand, will surely be delighted by the presence of that “Every time I picked up AMOLED screen, with its the Book2 360 I had to inherently rich blacks and remind myself that vibrant colours. It covers this laptop costs less 99% of the DCI-P3 colour space and its accuracy is than £1,000” excellent, with an average Delta E of 0.54. Films look spectacular, and while the speakers can’t match this quality – they lack depth and bass – they’re solid inclusions bearing in mind this laptop’s price and size.

I was initially less taken by the BELOW The screen’s screen when typing in Word, as rich blacks and whites suffer from a blue tinge in the vibrant colours make default colour profile. If you’re films look spectacular sensitive to such things then switch to the sRGB profile, as this shifts the colour temperature closer to 6500K. It’s also worth pushing the brightness to its maximum of 387cd/m2, which compensates for the glossy screen’s reflectivity if there are overhead lights.

Naturally, it’s a touchscreen. It’s compatible with Samsung’s S-Pen but, unlike its 360 Pro brethren, there’s no stylus in the box.

Any passive stylus will work,

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Huawei MateStation X The world’s best all-in-one PC

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though, and as there’s nowhere to stow the pen here, only those who intend to draw or handwrite notes need buy one. Instead, touch becomes a handy navigation aid.

Primary navigation comes from the compact touchpad, which lacks the glass coating of the Pro series but is still perfectly responsive. I have no strong feelings about the keyboard.

Plus points: it’s quiet, includes backlighting and all the keys are large and easy to hit. Negatives: there is minimal travel or feel, so you feel like you’re floating around rather than making a positive impact. I prefer the excellent keyboard of the Dell XPS 13, on which I would be extremely happy to bash out thousands of words.

Twist or stick

Dell’s range holds one more advantage over the Book2: configurability. With Samsung, you’re stuck with a 256GB SSD unless you upgrade to the Core i7/16GB/512GB version, which costs £1,249, or you dare to access the innards and upgrade the SSD yourself.

Dell also offers more screen variations, up to 32GB of memory and the choice of Windows 11 Home or Pro (the Book2 ships with Home).

This all adds up to a convertible worth coveting

But I refer there to the XPS 13 as opposed to the XPS 13 2-in-1. This not only costs over £1,000 for a lesser specification (including 11th gen Core chips), but provides an hour’s less battery life and a more basic screen.

Still, you should only buy the Galaxy Book2 360 if you’re happy with the meal being served. Its small SSD is almost certainly the biggest question mark; if I was buying for myself I would opt for 512GB as a minimum.

That aside, it’s impossible to argue with what Samsung is offering for the money. A high-quality 13.3in ultraportable with superb battery life, all the speed most people need and the option to flip into other modes as you need them? What’s not to love?

TIM DANTON SPECIFICATIONS 10-core (2 P-core, 8 E-core) Intel Core i5-1235U processor Intel Iris Xe graphics 8GB LPDDR4X RAM 13.3in 1,920 x 1,080 60Hz AMOLED touchscreen 256GB NVMe Gen 3 SSD Wi-Fi 6E Bluetooth 5.1 Thunderbolt 4 USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 USB-A 3.2 Gen 1 HDMI microSD card slot 3.5mm combo jack 720p IR webcam 61Wh battery Windows 11 Home 304 x 202 x 12.9mm (WDH) 1.2kg 1yr C&R warranty

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Samsung Galaxy Book2 Pro 5G (15.6in)

A wafer-thin 15in laptop that’s packed with powerful cores, and its battery life is simply staggering SCORE PRICE £1,041 (£1,249 inc VAT) from samsung.com/uk

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hile I compared the Galaxy Book2 360 on the previous pages to the Dell XPS 13 2-in-1, the Galaxy Book2 Pro 5G elevates itself above Dell’s bulky XPS 15 (see issue 328, p62) due to its skinniness. Instead, the 15.6in Book2 Pro’s closest rival is the LG Gram 16 (see issue 320, p50), but while that laptop shares the Samsung’s featherlike 1.2kg weight, it’s made to look positively chubby at 16.8mm thick.

The Book2 Pro 5G is a simply ludicrous 11.7mm thin.

It’s worth pausing, then, to appreciate what we have here. A super-skinny laptop with a 15.6in AMOLED screen that can keep going on a single charge for more than 12 hours, and still feels well built thanks to an aluminium lid and chassis. It begs the question of what Samsung has left out in the process.

Wireless connectivity certainly isn’t on that list.

Alongside Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.1, it also has integrated 5G. That’s an extra that other manufacturers charge hundreds of pounds for, yet Samsung is including it in a laptop that costs £1,249. The SIM slot is sandwiched between a microSD card slot and USB-A port on the right-hand side of the chassis, with two USB-C ports (one of which supports Thunderbolt 4) on the left.

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There’s a full-size HDMI output too, but you may rarely use it as one of this laptop’s selling points is the 15.6in screen. It looks best at full brightness, which I measured at 397cd/m2, and sailed through our technical tests: 100% coverage of the DCI-P3 colour space coupled with excellent colour accuracy (average Delta E of 0.53) ensure that films look amazing. The speakers are strong, too, with greater depth than the Galaxy Book2 360.

Samsung provides four colour profiles, and it’s worth switching to the sRGB option when working in documents as whites look a fraction whiter. I also grew to enjoy typing for extended periods on the keyboard, which has a crisp feel that its smaller brother lacks. There’s a number pad, too, with a fingerprint reader integrated into the power button.

The touchpad is another highlight. Palm rejection works well, a glass coating adds an extra level of smoothness, and if you want to use Windows’ gestures then the touchpad’s sheer size makes the Book2 Pro a great choice. My sole criticism concerns the loud click of its “mouse buttons”, which is in contrast to the quietness of the keyboard.

Samsung includes a 1080p IR webcam, but don’t envisage crystalclear results. Fuzziness detracts from the high resolution, while the auto-framing feature is simply too enthusiastic: it jumps around far too much in calls.

There is currently only one model of the Book2 Pro that includes 5G, which means you’re tied to 8GB of LPDDR5 RAM and a 256GB SSD. It’s a crazy-fast Gen 4 drive, though, hitting almost 5,000MB/sec sequential reads and over 2,500MB/sec

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writes. As with the Book2 360, you can change the SSD yourself; only four crosshead screws and a plastic base stand in your way.

While 8GB of RAM lacks generosity, it’s more than enough to ensure the Book2 Pro is snappy. There wasn’t much between this laptop and the Book2 360 in PCMark 10, but its Core i5-1240 chip – no doubt helped by that Gen 4 SSD and DDR5 memory – proved substantially faster in the multicore section of both Geekbench 5 (7,908 vs 6,930) and Cinebench R23 (7,504 vs 5,835).

ABOVE The 15.6in display sailed through Perhaps more pertinently, those our technical tests scores slaughter the LG Gram 16 with its 11th gen silicon, which scored 4,557 in PCMark 10, 4,842 in Geekbench 5 and 4,930 in Cinebench R23.

One thing that keeps all three laptops in lock step is Intel’s Iris Xe graphics chip, which remains a solid choice for older games such as Dirt: Showdown and Metro: Last Light (where it returned 74fps and 49ps RECOMMENDED respectively at 1080p with High settings), but you can forget about anything more challenging.

If you don’t need 5G “It’s worth pausing to connectivity then you can appreciate what we have consider the Core i7 of the 15.6in here. It begs the question version Galaxy Book2 Pro, which of what Samsung has left includes 16GB of RAM and a far more sensible out in the process” 512GB SSD for £1,399.

And Samsung sells 360 variants, complete with an S Pen but without LEFT The Book2 Pro 5G, for £1,199 (i5/8GB/256GB), 5G is a ludicrous £1,499 (i7/16GB/512GB) and £1,699 11.7mm thin (i7/16GB/1TB). Not to mention all the 13.3in variations.

It’s a shame that Samsung doesn’t sell a 512GB version of the Galaxy Book2 Pro 5G, as it feels as though it has got the balance ever so slightly wrong by including a 256GB SSD. Still, if you can live with this then the quality on show everywhere else, along with support for 5G, makes this laptop more than worth the BELOW An aluminium asking price. TIM DANTON lid and chassis add to the laptop’s appeal

SPECIFICATIONS 12-core (4 P-core, 8 E-core) Intel Core i5-1240U processor Intel Iris Xe graphics 8GB LPDDR5 RAM 15.6in 1,920 x 1,080 60Hz AMOLED touchscreen 256GB NVMe Gen 4 SSD Wi-Fi 6E Bluetooth 5.1 5G Thunderbolt 4 USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 USB-A 3.2 Gen 1 HDMI microSD card slot 3.5mm combo jack 1080p IR webcam 68Wh battery Windows 11 Home 355 x 226 x 11.7mm (WDH) 1.2kg 1yr C&R warranty

Lenovo Legion Slim 7 (Gen 6, 15in AMD)

A polished and portable machine that offers fine 1080p gaming with a few minor drawbacks SCORE PRICE £1,250 (£1,500 inc VAT) from lenovo.com/gb

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enovo claims the Legion Slim 7, S7 for short, is “the world’s lightest RTX laptop”, undercutting the Razer Blade 15 (see issue 334, p61) by 100g at 1.9kg.

And just like its rival, the Legion S7 is dressed to kill, from the metal chassis to the gently pulsing LED embedded in the Legion logo on the lid.

Both laptops live up to their monikers, with the Blade 17mm thick and the Legion S7 ranging from 15.9mm at the front to 18.9mm at the rear. The Legion’s hinge is set forward about 1.5cm from this point, which allows Lenovo to include small LED indicators for the power port and two USB-A ports situated on the back edge.

You’ll find two USB-C ports on the right-hand side, plus an SD card reader and audio jack on the left. I would have liked a bigger selection of ports, particularly an Ethernet port, but Wi-Fi 6 (not Wi-Fi 6E) offers some compensation. Lenovo wisely places the dual speakers on the angled undersides at each front corner, preventing them from being muffled, and the result is surprisingly impressive.

Opening the lid treats you to an equally vibrant RGB keyboard and IPS screen. The latter covers a comprehensive 99% of the sRGB colour space, and at maximum brightness this display delivers fantastic contrast.

The 165Hz refresh rate is perfect for esports games, where frame rates matter above all else, but you can swap to a locked 60Hz mode to prolong battery life.

That rainbow-backlit keyboard is a pleasure to type and game on, with quiet actuation and a good amount of force required to register input.

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Key travel is a little less than many rival gaming laptops, but that’s unsurprising given the Lenovo Legion S7 ’s slender form factor. The layout is full-scale, with a complete number pad and function keys, and holding down Fn illuminates the keys with a corresponding function for intuitive use.

The trackpad is big, with a firm, responsive click. Palm rejection worked perfectly, with the only potential annoyance being the fact that the trackpad is shunted left, to align with the centre of the keyboard, which is the usual consequence of squeezing in a number pad.

Then we come to the inevitable compromises of such a slim chassis.

Here, that means a Max-Q variant of Nvidia’s RTX 3060 graphics card, which couldn’t quite manage a clean 60+ frames per second at Ultra settings in all the latest games. For example, while Dirt 5 averaged 65fps, it hovered at around 50fps in both Warhammer III and Cyberpunk 2077. Dropping to Low settings boosted those results to 139fps, 148fps and 98fps respectively.

This means that if you want to take advantage of the screen’s 165Hz refresh rate, especially at its native 1440p, you’ll either be switching to older games or esports mainstays such as Overwatch and Valorant. If you want more, then you’ll either need to massively increase your budget – the Razer Blade 15, replete with a 14-core

Intel Core i7-12800H processor and GeForce RTX 3070 Ti graphics, costs £3,100 – or compromise on looks and svelteness with a 2kg+ beast such as the Asus TUF Gaming F15 (see issue 334, p58).

The Lenovo’s Ryzen 7 5800H processor performs well in CPU-bound games such as the Total War series, so that won’t prove to be a performance bottleneck for fans of strategy games. And general CPU performance is excellent, with eight cores pushing it to 7,144 in Geekbench 5 and a respectable 6,395 in PCMark 10.

Although this slimmed-down Legion ran quietly through our testing process, with only a moderate hum from the fans at maximum load that wasn’t audible ABOVE The full-size keyboard is a joy to when wearing headphones, the type on and includes a thinner chassis clearly doesn’t allow number pad for thermal performance on the same level as its chunkier siblings. I’ve seen worse, but the S7 runs rather hot when gaming at higher settings.

Thankfully, that isn’t reflected in woeful battery life scores. It lasted for over five-and-a-half hours in our video-rundown test, while PCMark 10’s office test ran the cells dry in 3hrs RECOMMENDED 45mins. Compare those figures to the Razer Blade’s sub-three-hour totals.

Using the S7 for extended gaming sessions without plugging in isn’t an option, but it can comfortably handle a commute. And the 230W PSU charged the battery to full “The 165Hz refresh rate in less than two hours (while not using the is perfect for esports laptop), which is fast. games, but you can swap I can’t pretend the to a locked 60Hz mode Legion S7 15 is the world’s to prolong battery life” best gaming laptop, but if you’re after a stylish gaming system that can handle less demanding titles, then its weight and slenderness make it an attractive choice. You can get more power for LEFT The S7 is a ridiculously light your money, but the S7 is priced gaming laptop, despite aggressively considering its design the metal lid and quality. CHRISTIAN GUYTON SPECIFICATIONS 8-core 3.2GHz (4.4GHz boost) AMD Ryzen 7 5800H processor 6GB Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Max-Q graphics 16GB DDR4-3200 RAM 15.6in non-touch IPS display, 165Hz, 2,560 x 1,440 resolution 512GB M.2 PCI-E Gen 3 SSD Wi-Fi 6 Bluetooth 5.1 2 x USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 2 x USB-A 3.2 Gen 2 SD card reader 3.5mm combo jack 720p IR webcam 71Wh battery Windows 11 Home 356 x 252 x 15.9-18.9mm (WDH) 1.9kg 1yr RTB warranty part code: 82K800F1UK

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MSI Summit E16 Flip Evo Delivers for speed, quality and battery life, so the only question is whether you need a 16in convertible

RECOMMENDED

SCORE PRICE £1,058 (£1,270 inc VAT) from laptopoutlet.co.uk

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SI may not be the first name you think of when it comes to laptops, but the Taiwanese company was quick to back Nvidia’s Studio scheme with a range of creative machines. Search online for the MSI Summit E16 Flip and that’s exactly what you’ll find, but this Evo variant is an all-Intel affair based around the 12th generation Core i7-1260P. This means that Intel’s integrated Iris Xe graphics are in charge of 3D acceleration, so if you’re frequently pumping out 3D models in Blender then the Flip Evo is not for you. The Irix Xe is a solid chip that’s capable of 60fps in older games such as Dirt: Showdown and Metro: Last Light, at Full HD and High settings, but move to Dirt 5 and that drops to 15fps.

Intel’s CPU makes a bigger splash in mainstream applications, with 12 cores ready to attack. That showed itself in a fine 323 score in the PC Pro benchmarks and 11,972 in Cinebench R23’s multicore test. I will only add two caveats: if brute force is important to you then a chip with more than four P-cores will return even faster results, and our tests were in Performance mode. That involves fan noise, but you can prioritise silence using MSI’s Center Pro app.

This laptop limbos its way under the 2kg bar with a weight of 1.9kg. Add a svelte 17mm thickness plus excellent battery life – around ten hours in typical use and stretching to 12hrs 56mins in our idle test – and it makes for a fine travelling companion. Still, I can’t ignore the presence of lighter convertibles such as the 2-in-1 version of the Samsung Galaxy Book2 Pro (see BENCHMARKS PCMark 10 0

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p54): the 15.6in Book2 Pro 360 has a smaller screen but a weight saving of 500g is always welcome.

In return for the extra weight, MSI offers a robust build via a metal lid and super-solid body. It has also passed several of the MIL-STD tests and comes with a two-year warranty; while it’s supplied with Windows 11 Home rather than Pro, I would be more confident deploying this laptop into a business than the Samsung.

MSI makes much of its AI to reduce visual noise on the webcam, but don’t expect crystal-clear results to wow callers. It’s a solid 720p webcam, and supports Windows Hello, but its best features are its clear audio capture (via four microphones) and a button on the left-hand side of the chassis that deactivates the camera entirely.

The left-hand side of the chassis rewards with more riches: two Thunderbolt 4 ports (through which you charge the machine using the 313g power supply), plus an HDMI output. On the right you’ll find two fast USB-A 3.2 Gen 2 ports, a microSD card slot and a 3.5mm jack port.

There’s no Ethernet port, but with Wi-Fi 6E in place you may never miss it. It’s also easy enough to buy a USB-C docking station for office use.

But let’s focus on two key reasons why people will buy this laptop. First is its 16in IPS screen, which offers a 16:10 ratio and 1,920 x 1,200 resolution. It would have been even

nicer if MSI had upped this to 2,560 x 1,600 for extra sharpness, but the aspect ratio makes it pleasant to work on two windows at the same time, and it still looks sharp from typical viewing distances.

It’s a high-quality panel too, with whites to make Persil proud, 85% coverage of the DCI-P3 colour space and superb colour accuracy (average Delta E of 0.33, maximum 0.89). A peak brightness of 318cd/m2 is ABOVE The excellent plenty for indoor use, but this isn’t a IPS display provides laptop for use in bright sunshine. great colour accuracy The second reason is that you can flip it into a giant tablet form, and MSI includes an active stylus as part of the package. A hard nib on a glossy screen inevitably means this isn’t anything like a pen-on-paper experience, but the stylus is easy to hold, accurate and supports 4,096 pressure levels. I only wish MSI had provided somewhere to tuck it when not in use.

A giant trackpad, measuring 130 x 82mm, makes navigating Windows a breeze, and curiously MSI “There are two real places it in the centre rather than shifting it to reasons why people will left as is usual when buy this laptop: its 16in IPS the there’s a number pad. screen and the fact that you Perhaps it’s because this is can flip it into a giant tablet” such a tiny number pad, with 12mm2 buttons, and MSI chooses the same size for the cursor keys. Hitting such small targets requires concentration.

In truth, the keyboard is one of this laptop’s weaker points. Keys simply don’t have the spring-loaded feel of the best boards, and the small spacebar didn’t always respond to my (perhaps too light) touches.

While in critical mode, the speakers BELOW You can flip the lid to turn the are loud but tinny; I expected more Summit E16 Flip Evo from a chassis this large. into a 16in tablet But these are my only notable criticisms of a laptop that hits three of the most important targets for laptops: battery life, build quality and speed. If you’ll take advantage of the 16in touchscreen, then it’s superb value for money. TIM DANTON SPECIFICATIONS 12-core (4 P-cores with 4.7GHz boost, 8 E-cores with 3.4GHz boost) Core i7-1260P processor Intel Iris Xe graphics 16GB DDR5-4800 RAM 16in touchscreen IPS display, 165Hz, 1,920 x 1,200 resolution 512GB M.2 PCI-E 4 SSD Wi-Fi 6E Bluetooth 5.2 2 x Thunderbolt 4 2 x USB-A 3.2 Gen 2 HDMI microSD card slot 3.5mm combo jack 1080p IR webcam 82Wh battery Windows 11 Home 358 x 259 x 17mm (WDH) 1.9kg 2yr RTB warranty part code: A12MT-030UK 57

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No cash alternative will be offered. The prize(s) described are available at the date of publication. Events may occur that render the promotion or the rewarding of the prize impossible due to reasons beyond PC Pro’s control, which may at its discretion vary or amend the promotion, and the reader agrees that no liability shall be attached to PC Pro as a result thereof. Proof of emailing will not be accepted as proof of delivery and no responsibility can be accepted for entries lost, delayed or mislaid, or for any technical failure or for any event that may cause the survey to be disrupted or corrupted. Unless otherwise stated, entry to all prize draws is restricted to entrants of 18 years of age or over. Names of winners will be available on receipt of a request enclosing a stamped self-addressed envelope to: Competitions Manager, Future Publishing, Quay House, The Ambury, Bath, BA1 1UA. If the winner of a prize draw is unable to take up a prize for any reason, the editor reserves the right to award it to an alternative winner, in which case the first winner chosen will not be eligible for any share of the prize whatsoever. The editor’s decision is final and it is a condition of entry to any prize draw that the entrant agrees to be bound by these rules whether they be published or not, and that the decisions of the editor and judges on any matter whatsoever arising out of or connected with the prize draw are final. No purchase of the magazine is necessary.

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Dell UltraSharp U3223QZ Rich in features and a great performer, the 32in, 4K U3223QZ is a superstar work-from-home monitor SCORE PRICE £1,002 (£1,202 inc VAT) from dell.co.uk

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he U3223QZ is a thoroughly modern monitor. The first sign of this is its classy platinum finish, and that’s reinforced by a 4K resolution stretched across the panel’s 31.5in diagonal. Switch it on and you’ll be immediately impressed by a gorgeous colour palette, but the pièce de résistance is a webcam that comes with its own long list of features.

Top of that list is the Sony Starvis CMOS sensor, offering 4K at 30fps or 1080p at 60fps. AI auto-tracking keeps you centred when you’re moving around inside the frame, digital overlap HDR recovers details in shadowy parts of the frame, and presence detection allows you to log in automatically (well, in theory).

Then there’s its adjustable field of view, zoom and the ability to switch between manual and autofocus.

As good as it is, the webcam isn’t perfect: 4K video wasn’t as sharp as I expected, and setting up the Windows Hello login on my HDMI-connected computer required a software update.

More frustratingly, I couldn’t enable presence detection as it required going into a second app called My Dell to turn on settings that don’t currently exist.

Still, autofocus works smoothly and almost instantaneously, while HDR kept me well lit even in dim light. And the webcam’s noise reduction keeps video quality smooth without looking unnatural. The AI auto framing is a little slow to react but otherwise does a fine job of keeping you at the centre of the frame.

Dell also includes two mics, situated on the top corners of the monitor. Sound quality isn’t up to a dedicated USB mic, but it’s clear enough that you won’t have any issues being understood, and the echo cancelling is excellent at rejecting background noise. In fact, unless you’re in front of the monitor talking directly at it, the mics won’t pick up any

sound; the downside is that your voice will disappear when you’re off-camera or facing away from it.

Videoconferencing features extend to touch controls on the front of the monitor. There’s a Microsoft Teams icon that alerts you to notifications, an “answer call” button, volume controls and a mic mute and video disable button. My only gripe is that disabling the video doesn’t show a black screen as one would expect; the physical shutter closes, showing distracting purple static.

When it comes to multitasking features, the UltraSharp U3223QZ has just about all you can ask for. You can set up Auto KVM (keyboard, mouse, video) between two computers so that you can easily switch between them and use the same keyboard and mouse. Just make sure you plug your peripherals into the monitor’s USB hub. You can also see two sources at the same time using Picture-byPicture and Picture-in-Picture.

Then there’s Fast Wake, which allows you to sync your monitor with your computer. By doing so, you can use the monitor’s power button to wake both the monitor and that computer, even if it’s a laptop with its lid closed.

The limitation is that it only works with Dell computers connected via USB-C. While this monitor isn’t necessarily for creatives, Dell includes factorycalibrated presets for sRGB, DCI-P3 and Rec.709.

We measured 99% coverage of DCI-P3, 100% of sRGB and 90% of Adobe RGB, with excellent colour accuracy to match: less than one in DCI-P3 and Rec.709 modes, less than two in sRGB. Outside of those modes, though, you will need to calibrate the monitor yourself; I measured an

average Delta E of over five in its default setting.

A contrast ratio of 2,070:1 is another strength, as is a peak brightness of 434cd/m2 and support for DisplayHDR 400. Colours pop that little more with HDR on, but the monitor isn’t bright enough for it to make a huge difference. Also, since this monitor has a refresh rate of 60Hz, you may experience ghosting during games.

I was more disappointed by the UltraSharp U3223QZ’s mediocre speakers: the low end is barely there, the mids are recessed and the highs are dull. At least the speakers are powerful, ABOVE The 4K pumping out 14W of sound, and they webcam above the also have a low-mid bump that does a screen is well suited to good job of making dialogue figure videoconferencing more prominently, especially deeper male voices. This means they’re great for videoconferencing.

At 12kg, the Dell UltraSharp U3223QZ is a robust monitor. That heft is most noticeable when trying to attach the base, but it’s worth the hassle as it keeps the monitor stable, even when I accidentally bumped into my desk. While cleverly hidden, RECOMMENDED you also get several useful ports: one HDMI, two DisplayPorts and two USB-C ports, one of which provides 90W of power delivery to charge up a laptop. You can also use the USB-C port to daisy-chain a second 4K monitor to your setup.

The USB hub is “When it comes to equipped with five USB-A ports and one USB-C port, multitasking features, two of which have been the UltraSharp U3223QZ situated on the bottom has just about all you right near the front of the monitor for easy access. can ask for” Dell even throws in an Ethernet port and 3.5mm headphone input for good measure.

Outside of the speakers and default colour accuracy, this new entry from Dell is an outstanding monitor.

Whether you’re hoping to watch movies in between conference calls, streamline your workload or even tackle creative work, the Dell UltraSharp U3223QZ is up to the task.

MICHELLE RAE UY

LEFT The display has plenty of tilt, swivel and height adjustment options

SPECIFICATIONS 31.5in 3,840 x 2,160 IPS panel up to 60Hz 10-bit panel (1.07 billion colours) 4K webcam DisplayHDR 400 5ms response time 2 x USB-C upstream (up to 90W power) DisplayPort 1.4 (HDCP 2.2) HDMI 2 (HDCP 2.2) Ethernet port DisplayPort out 2 x 7W speakers 5 x USB-A 3.2 Gen 2 USB-C downstream (up to 15W power) 150mm height adjustment 60° swivel -5°/21° tilt 713 x 23 x 497-647mm (WDH) 11.9kg 3yr advanced exchange warranty 59

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OnePlus Nord 2T 5G

A minor update over the Nord 2, but its speed and camera leave us questioning the value of flagships SCORE PRICE 128GB, £308 (£369 inc VAT) from oneplus.com

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ast year’s OnePlus Nord 2 (see issue 325, p68) was a superb mid-range smartphone, providing strong performance and camera hardware for only £399. Now it’s followed by the Nord 2T, which brings hardware improvements while squeezing the price down to £369 for the entry-level model with 8GB of RAM 128GB of storage. There’s also a step-up model with 12GB of RAM and twice the storage for £469.

The 2T feels solid, with Gorilla Glass on the front and rear surfaces and a metal-effect plastic frame. It’s a comfortable size, with dimensions of 159 x 73 x 8.2mm and a weight of 190g, and the curved rear sits well in the hand – although the model we tested, in the sombre Jade Fog finish, quickly picked up finger smudges.

The 6.43in AMOLED display is the same as that on the Nord 2, meaning it’s nice and sharp at 1,080 x 2,400, with a smooth if unexceptional 90Hz refresh rate. Brightness, too, is fine rather than fantastic, although one upgrade over the old model is the addition of dual ambient light sensors, which allow the phone to adjust the brightness automatically according to your environment. While not as impressive as the 6.5in 120Hz screen found on the similarly priced Samsung Galaxy A53 5G (see p63), it’s a perfectly fine display for apps and films. There’s a speedy fingerprint sensor embedded into the display, too.

The 2T’s camera hardware is also unchanged from the Nord 2, comprising a 50MP Sony IMX766 sensor with OIS, an 8MP 120° ultrawide sensor, a 2MP mono sensor and a 32MP selfie camera. That Sony sensor is a step up from the sort of camera we normally see at this price: measuring a relatively huge 1/1.56in across the diagonal, it captures crisp detail, with

natural-looking depth of field and warm skin tones. Even night shots were sharp and evenly lit; they weren’t quite flagship standard, but they’re closer in quality to high-end phones than to cheaper handsets.

With plenty of pixels and strong light-gathering abilities, the main sensor can even turn out usable zoom shots, despite the lack of a telephoto lens. Sadly, the 8MP ultrawide camera doesn’t measure up: detail falls way off, especially when the light starts to drop, and the tone is generally paler.

Video capture, however, benefits from an AI Highlight mode, which helps to even out backlit scenes, plus support for 960fps slow-motion videos.

Inside, the 2T has a MediaTek Dimensity 1300 CPU, in place of the Nord 2’s Dimensity 1200.

There’s almost no difference between the two chips, except that the 1300 comes with MediaTek’s latest HyperEngine 5 gaming extensions, where the 1200 had version 3. A 3DMark Wild Life benchmark score of 4,623 (28fps) confirms that the Nord 2T has a performance advantage of roughly 10% over the Nord 2 when it comes to gaming, and it’s impressive that the punishing Genshin Impact is playable with high graphical settings.

OnePlus claims the upgraded chip can also cut download and installation

times by up to 14%, but don’t expect to notice much benefit in everyday use: a Geekbench 5 score of 576 single-core and 2,757 multicore works out about the same as the old Nord 2.

The phone’s front end is provided by Oxygen OS 12.1 UI, which sits on top of Android 12.

OnePlus’ customisations are generally tasteful, though the signature OnePlus Shelf will divide opinion: when you drag down from the top right corner, a shortcut menu appears, offering access to weather widgets, a step tracker, an instant note prompt, a Spotify widget and various apps. I found it clumsy and superfluous, but you might like it – if not, you can deactivate it in the Settings menu. The phone should have a decent lifespan, as OnePlus promises two major Android updates and three years of security updates.

I have no complaints about day-to-day longevity, either. The 4,500mAh battery routinely saw ABOVE The 6.43in me through a long day of moderate AMOLED display is usage with around 40% left in the nice and sharp at tank. Even after an intense outing, 1,080 x 2,400 with 4hrs 15mins of screen-on time and a couple of matches of the demanding Apex Legends Mobile game, I was left with just under 30%.

And if you do need to recharge during the day, it’s quite painless: the phone comes with an 80W charger, which can get you from 1% to 67% in only 15 minutes. Only the Redmi Note 11 Pro Plus with its 120W charger can really top this for the price. It’s just RECOMMENDED disappointing that this phone doesn’t have a wireless charging option.

The OnePlus Nord 2T isn’t exactly a ground-breaking smartphone. Frankly it isn’t that different from the original Nord 2, and it’s possible to “If you don’t want to shell get a 120Hz screen for the same price. What you buy, out for a premium phone, is a great camera, the Nord 2T approximates though, speedy performance and the flagship experience at tight build quality – not to a much lower price” mention excellent fast charging. If you don’t want to shell out for a premium smartphone, the OnePlus Nord 2T approximates the flagship experience at a much lower price. JON MUNDY

LEFT The lenses on the rear include a 50MP Sony sensor that captures sharp details

SPECIFICATIONS 8-core (3GHz/2.6GHz/2GHz) MediaTek Dimensity 1300 SoC 8GB/12GB RAM Mali-G77 graphics 6.4in 90Hz AMOLED screen, 1,080 x 2,400 resolution 5G 128GB/256GB storage triple 50MP/8MP/ 2MP rear cameras single 32MP front camera Wi-Fi 6 Bluetooth 5.2 NFC 4,500mAh battery USB-C connector Android 12 with OxygenOS 12.1 73 x 8.2 x 159mm (WDH) 190g 2yr warranty 61

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Norton 360 Premium for £20 Secure ten devices for a year (or two years for £25) with our exclusive deal, which not only saves you money but avoids signing up for automatic renewals

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s its name implies, Norton 360 is a comprehensive “do it all” suite.

Not just for PCs and Macs, its protection stretches across iOS and Android, too.

We’ve negotiated a one-year pre-paid licence (so you don’t need to enter credit card details) that covers ten devices, offering family-level protection for a mere £20.

Compare that to the £70 you would pay direct from Norton, which would then automatically renew at £95 per year.

So what do you get for £20? Top of the list is real-time threat protection. Norton has an enviable record in independent third-party tests here, so you can be assured that you’ll have excellent security against existing and emerging online threats.

Web safety components check the links you click to make sure they’re safe to visit, while downloaded files are screened and checked for both security and reliability.

In addition, the full version of Norton Utilities Ultimate keeps your PC maintained with file cleanup features, disk optimisation and a startup manager.

Secure VPN

Norton 360 also includes the company’s Secure VPN software, which costs £40 per year for one device. A VPN is rapidly becoming essential for web browsing on a mobile device, particularly on an insecure Wi-Fi network. You can use your VPN to locate yourself in another country, which is good for watching TV while abroad, or simply to create a secure tunnel to the

internet to stop hackers finding your real location and IP address.

There are more security features, too. Dark Web Monitoring is now included and supported by Norton LifeLock. The Monitoring tool will keep one eye on your information, such as your email address and/or password, then check to see if this has been compromised online. If it has, it will warn you and you can quickly change your passwords.

Then there’s the SafeCam for PC. If a third party attempts to access your webcam without your authorisation, this will alert you so you can block it.

Norton 360 also includes a multi-device Password Manager. This enables you to securely store your login data and passwords through Norton and access them from any device where you have Norton 360 installed. A plugin for Microsoft Edge, Chrome, Firefox and Opera gives you quick access direct from your browser.

Bonus features

Norton 360 includes a couple of extra features you might not expect. First, cloud backup.

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attack. You can quickly get your data back on to your devices from your cloud backup.

Parental Controls is the last module supplied by Norton 360. Simply set the age of your children, then decide their restriction level and install Norton 360 on their device. You will then be able to set restrictions and have access to their internet habits and browsing times. You can also monitor their behaviour online.

This version includes a ten-device, one-year licence with a 75GB cloud backup plan. If you’re interested in taking up this offer, head to pcpro.link/norton-1. And if you want a two-year licence for £25 (note this doesn’t include Norton Utilities Ultimate), visit pcpro.link/norton-2.

Buy from the PC Pro store at pcpro.link/norton-1 62 62

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Samsung Galaxy A53 5G Style and camera quality both punch well above the price, but the stuttery interface drags it down SCORE PRICE £325 (£390 inc VAT) from johnlewis.com

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amsung’s Galaxy A-series phones generally emulate the style and features of its high-end models at a lower price.

The A53 is a case in point: it might as well be called the S22 Light.

It’s certainly cheaper. You can pick it up for £399 with 6GB RAM and 128GB storage, versus £769 for the regular S22. It looks good, in a choice of tasteful white, black, blue and peach finishes (Samsung prefixes each colour name with the word “Awesome”, but we’d feel embarrassed to write that more than once).

The phone is large but not ungainly, measuring 160 x 75 x 8.1mm and weighing 189g. The rear camera bump isn’t too obtrusive, partly thanks to a curved surround that rises to meet it – an elegant design that’s marred only slightly by all the certifications and other details printed on the back.

There’s no 3.5mm headphone jack, but there is an in-display fingerprint scanner, and an IP67 rating means the phone is highly resistant to dust and water.

The screen is one of the best you’ll see on a phone at this price. At 6.5in it’s a little larger than the display on the Galaxy S22 Plus, and it uses Super AMOLED technology with an impeccably smooth 120Hz refresh rate. The maximum brightness of 800cd/m2 doesn’t quite match the extremely bright 1,100cd/m2 of the S22 Plus, but overall it’s an impactful, rich display. The punchhole cut-out for the front camera at the top doesn’t impinge much on your viewing space, and I quickly stopped noticing it.

The Galaxy A53’s main camera is a 64MP f/1.8 module with a wide-angle lens, backed up by a 12MP f/2.2 123° ultrawide lens, a 5MP f/2.4 macro and a 5MP f/2.4 depth sensor. Whether you’re shooting people, wildlife, landscapes or food these produce bright, sharp, colourful images, with plenty of dynamic depth. Night photography is pretty good, too: our test images weren’t iPhone-quality, but they were clearer and more detailed than we’ve come to expect at this price.

A selection of photography modes helps you make the most of the array of cameras. Two in particular stand out: Single Take, which allows you to pick the best still from a short video capture, and Food mode, which lets you select a particular area of focus to create dramatic shots that are perfect for Instagram.

As for video, you can shoot 4K video at 30fps or 1080p at 60fps on the rear cameras – and also, unusually, at the front. Slow-motion and “Super Slow-Mo” modes do just what you’d expect, while Pro Video mode gives you full control of ISO, white balance and other advanced settings. Only a handful of top-tier features are missing: the S22 Ultra lets you tweak various zoom settings and choose which area the microphone is recording, which you can’t do here.

The main area where the cost has been cut is the processor. Samsung’s mid-range Exynos 1280 chipset achieved a mediocre multicore score of 1,813 in Geekbench 5, which is worse than the Oppo Find X2 Lite,

OnePlus Nord and Honor 9X Pro, all of which are at least two years old.

This has a noticeable impact on real-world performance, especially when you first start using the phone.

Sometimes I found the A53 would briefly stutter and freeze when I unlocked it or loaded up apps; even swiping between menu screens felt sluggish. As usual with Android, these issues diminished over time, but even after weeks of use the A53 still feels slower than I would like.

As with all of Samsung’s phones, the Android OS is overlaid with the company’s One UI interface, which adds features including app hibernation (if you don’t use an app for a while, it gets hidden from the menu) and Material You, which lets you change the system colour scheme to match your wallpaper.

The interface isn’t unpleasant, but all the preinstalled Samsung apps can be confusing. Some of these overlap with the standard Google apps, such as Samsung Pay, Gallery and Store, while others clutter the menus and app drawer: I ended up deleting and disabling numerous features to enjoy ABOVE With a 6.5in a clean experience. screen, the A53 is The 5,000mAh battery is large but not ungainly reasonably sized on paper, but 5G and a bright screen eat up the juice, and I often found that the Galaxy A53 only just lasted a day between charges.

Once or twice I almost ran out of power while out and about, and recharging is frustratingly slow: the 25W charge rate means it takes more than two hours to fully power up the phone, while other budget phones support 80W and even 120W charging.

This makes it hard to give the Samsung Galaxy A53 a wholehearted recommendation, especially as it also lacks the chops to handle heavyweight gaming or multitasking. Still, this phone takes beautiful “The screen is one of the bright pictures, the screen best you’ll see on a phone at is fantastic for the price, and it’s undeniably this price. It uses Super good-looking – to the AMOLED technology with a point that, during my smooth 120Hz refresh rate” testing, people repeatedly commented on how nice it looked. So while choosing this phone means living with compromises, you shouldn’t ever have to feel ashamed of it. TOM BEDFORD

LEFT The curved surround means the rear camera bump isn’t too obtrusive

SPECIFICATIONS 8-core (2.4GHz/2GHz) Samsung Exynos 1280 SoC 6GB RAM Mali-G68 graphics 6.5in 120Hz AMOLED screen, 1,080 x 2,400 resolution 5G 128GB storage microSDXC card slot IP67 rating quad 64MP/12MP/ 5MP/5MP rear cameras single 32MP front camera Wi-Fi 5 Bluetooth 5.1 NFC 5,000mAh battery USB-C connector Android 12 with One UI 4.1 75 x 8.1 x 160mm (WDH) 189g 2yr warranty (via John Lewis) 63

Onyx Boox Note Air2 Plus

Falls short of perfection, but this versatile e-reader and tablet could fit seamlessly into your workflow SCORE PRICE £392 (£470 inc VAT) from amazon.co.uk

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ot quite a tablet, not quite an e-reader. The Onyx Boox Note Air2 Plus is the first time I’ve tested a member of this new breed of devices, which all promise a world of incredible battery life, paper-like note taking and seamless integration with cloud services.

At the heart of everything is an E Ink Carta screen. This stretches 10.3in across the diagonal with a density of 227 pixels per inch, which falls behind the 300ppi of the Kindle Oasis and recent Paperwhites.

I noticed a slight fuzziness to the edges of characters in ebooks, but this wasn’t an issue once I focused on what I was reading.

It’s the same screen as found in the Onyx Book Note Air2 (see issue 331, p63), with the Note Air2 Plus offering two key advantages over its sibling: support for a magnetic case and the inclusion of a larger battery. Rather than four weeks of life in standby mode, the Plus promises up to five weeks. A figure that I rapidly came to believe, as this device holds its charge perfectly overnight.

How much life the Air2 Plus actually gives you will depend on how bright you push up the backlight and how often you use it. To hit weeks rather than days, Onyx’s default power management puts the tablet to sleep after five minute of inactivity and switches it off entirely after 15 minutes. As it needs to perform a 20-second resume process from cold, I suggest you adjust those settings if you know you’ll be picking up the Air2 Plus frequently during the day.

No matter what options you choose, you’ll find battery life is a huge strength compared to tablets.

For instance, I paired the Air2 Plus with a Bluetooth keyboard to write this review. Using Google Docs as my word processor of choice, and with Wi-Fi active, it dropped 5% after an hour of typing. I would expect a tablet to drop by 10%, at minimum, under the same usage. There is also much to be said for the distraction-free 64

environment that a mono screen provides, although I had to disable Onyx’s over-eager onscreen keyboard (which was constantly making suggestions of what it thought I wanted to type) and switch to the less interfering Android version instead.

When scrawling on the screen rather than typing, I was instantly won over by the stylus. This comes as part of the package, and the drawing experience is as close to pen-on-paper as you can get. It works particularly well in Onyx’s own note-taking app, with strokes appearing instantly on the screen. Onyx also offers the promise of handwriting recognition, but I found this hit and miss: if I used my best writing it recognised almost all the words but, as Eric Morecambe famously put it, not necessarily in the right order.

But now we must talk about lag. I was hoping to use the Note Air2 Plus to annotate documents in Adobe Reader, but there was always a frustrating delay between writing and the result appearing. This proved an all-too-common experience in Android apps, indicating that the Snapdragon 662 processor doesn’t have quite enough power to keep up; scores of 311 (single-core) and 1,246 (multicore) in Geekbench 5 add weight to this theory.

Some lag is due to the slow refresh rate of E Ink screens, which can make using the interface clunky.

And it doesn’t help that Onyx’s user interface lacks charm. I understand why Onyx thought it necessary to build its own UI over Android 11, but it’s basic and gives the same weight to Onyx’s own ebook store as it does to the entire universe of Android apps.

The one bright spot is almost literally that: a large dot that sits near the edge of the screen.

Press this and you’ll find shortcuts to settings, so you can instantly switch between active apps, head to the home page and more. You can customise these shortcuts too, so mastering that one little navigation aid can save you heaps of time.

For example, you might want to add the Kindle app to the list of shortcuts; the Air2 Plus is an e-reader, after all. Its disadvantage compared to a “real” Kindle is its width, which makes it more cumbersome to hold in one hand. The thick bezel on the left-hand edge only adds to the girth, ABOVE The Air2 Plus is available with a although you see the sense to it when magnetic case that has holding the Air2 Plus in your left hand space for the stylus and writing with your right (lefthanders can flip it around).

I can’t criticise build quality, as the Air2 Plus’s all-metal chassis is supremely sturdy. It weighs 445g, but if ordering from Amazon I recommend you buy the £46 magnetic case. I only tested the non-magnetic version, which is great when using the tablet as a mini computer with a keyboard as it holds the tablet at an angle, but the magnetic “The stylus comes as part version is easier to slip the Air2 Plus in and out of. It of the package, and the also includes space for the drawing experience is as stylus. Otherwise you close to pen-on-paper as have to rely on a magnet you can get” to keep the stylus latched on to the side of the tablet, and I lost count of the number of times I misplaced it during transit.

The Note Air2 Plus is also available from shop.boox.com, complete with handy bundles. For instance, bundle C includes the magnetic case and five spare nibs for $530 plus VAT, but make sure you order from the UK rather than Hong Kong warehouse to avoid import duty. Despite my criticisms of the Air2 Plus, it’s a tempting deal. TIM DANTON

ABOVE The bundled stylus makes drawing and note-taking easy

SPECIFICATIONS 10.3in E Ink Carta screen 227ppi 1,404 x 1,872 resolution 8-core 2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 662 SoC 4GB RAM 64GB storage Wi-Fi 5 Bluetooth 5 USB-C 3,700mAh battery supports EPUB, MP3, DOCX, RTF, PDF and 18 more file formats stylus 195 x 5.8 x 229mm (WDH) 445g 2yr limited warranty

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Logitech MX Mechanical Great to see mechanical keys in the MX range, but it doesn’t deliver the quality the price demands SCORE PRICE £142 (£170 inc VAT) from logitech.com

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ogitech’s MX Keys (see issue 303, p75) and MX Keys Mini (see issue 327, p72) are terrific keyboards, so when Logitech announced it was making mechanical versions of both, I was intrigued. The most obvious change is the swapping of chiclet keys to mechanical ones, but these aren’t as big or clacky as you may expect.

In the UK, Logitech is selling the keyboard with Tactile Quiet (Brown) key switches. It claims these deliver the company’s “quietest mechanical keyboard ever”. The noise from the MX Mechanical is pretty muted, but at the expense of the deep travel and reassuring clack that many people want from a mechanical keyboard.

The switches or keycaps aren’t replaceable so, even if a switch fails, you’re looking at a new keyboard. As Logitech is aiming for green points by using recycled plastics and aluminium, it’s disappointing that one duff switch could ruin an entire keyboard.

The keycaps are a disappointment.

They have a lightweight, cheap feel to them, and a horrible habit of picking up smudges. I don’t eat in the office and wash my hands after tucking into greasy snacks, but after a few days’ use these keycaps looked like they’d spent a year in a kebab shop.

That’s a shame, because it’s an otherwise attractive design. The keys are well spaced with no compromises: no half-height Enter key or stubby Shift. Logitech plumps for a stylish white backlight, which kicks in when your hands hover over the keyboard.

Reviews But you may decide to switch it off, as doing so extends battery life from an estimated two weeks to a whole ten months.

The MX Mechanical is a good keyboard, make no mistake. However, it’s not the ideal marriage of mechanical keys with the much-loved MX design. The switches ABOVE The keys are are quiet, but lack a true mechanical well spaced but feel feel, while the keycaps’ biggest cheap and lightweight strength is collecting fingerprints.

None of this stopped me reaching full typing speed, but when you’re asking £170 for a keyboard, everything needs to be perfect. Even the trimmeddown MX Mechanical “I don’t eat in the office, Mini, which dispenses with the number pad and but after a few days’ use dedicated keys, is these keycaps looked like other £150. Different switches they’d spent a year in a may sway my opinion, but only a cheaper price could kebab shop” make the MX Mechanical award winning. BARRY COLLINS SPECIFICATIONS Bluetooth LE/RF wireless keyboard 10m range automatic backlighting USB-C supports Windows 10 or later, Linux, Chrome OS, Android, iOS, iPadOS and macOS 434 x 26 x 132mm (WDH) 828g 2yr warranty

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Your bonus software

Total value this month

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We scour the globe to negotiate the best software deals for our readers, from extended licences to full programs you don’t need to pay a penny for. Here’s this month’s lineup

Revo Uninstaller Pro 5 Removing unused programs One-PC, onefrom your hard drive frees up year licence space and can improve system worth £20 performance. Revo Uninstaller steganos.com Pro is a lightning-quick alternative to Windows’ built-in REQUIRES Windows uninstaller, providing several 7 or later; 100MB ways to track down programs hard drive space; you no longer need, and a online registration simple means of removing them. Standard Mode finds and lists programs that are ready for removal, while Hunter Mode lets you drag and drop program shortcuts onto a target area to remove them – or you can drag the Uninstaller Pro target onto an unwanted program’s icons or title bar.

Revo Uninstaller Pro also includes several clean-up tools to take control of programs that start automatically with Windows, and to remove unnecessary files. Its file shredder can irreversibly delete sensitive data, and the program provides easy access to handy Windows utilities. You can also force the removal of programs that have already been uninstalled but left remnants behind, and perform a complete system backup.

How to claim your bonus software

1

Visit pcprodownload.co.uk.

You’ll need to enter the coupon code printed on the spine of the cover (or directly on the cover if you’re a digital subscriber). If there’s no code on the spine, you have bought the £4.99 version of PC Pro, which doesn’t include a code. Also enter your email address. We’ll then send an email to confirm that your code has been registered.

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Once you’re in the download area, you can access this month’s bonus software by navigating to the relevant product page and clicking the red Install button. For trial software, freeware and other downloads, click the Install button below the product description, or follow the onscreen instructions (please make sure to read these carefully).

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If the software needs registering, click the purple Register button, or follow the instructions on the left of the product page (again, please read these carefully). In some cases, you may need to register for a PC Pro software store account – if you don’t already have one – and you might be prompted to reenter the coupon code on the spine or cover.

Remember to claim your software by 31 August 2022*

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4

Please be sure to install and register your bonus software before the date that’s specified below. After this date, we can’t guarantee that it will still be possible to download or register this issue’s bonus software.

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If you need assistance with the coupon code or have registration issues, please contact us at software@pcpro.co.uk

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O&O SafeErase 15 When you delete a file from your drive, it’s not Full product removed right away. The space on your hard disk worth £16 is marked as free, but the data could remain there oo-software.com for weeks, or even months, until it’s overwritten REQUIRES Windows 7 – during which time it could be recovered. or later; 200MB hard With O&O SafeErase, you can make sure the drive space; online data you want deleted really has gone. At its most registration basic level, this tool can wipe files with zeros, or employ one of five more thorough, more secure methods, as recognised by the US Department of Defense, to ensure deleted files can’t be recovered (by you or anyone else). You can also securely delete entire partitions and hard disks, which is essential if you’re planning to sell on, recycle or otherwise dispose of an old PC or drive.

SafeErase includes additional tools to securely wipe all traces of your internet browsing, from cookies and downloaded files to the pages you’ve visited, with support for Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Internet Explorer and Opera.

There’s also a component for wiping insecure Windows and program files, such as temporary files and Flash Player cookies.

TV Recorder 2022

Recordify 2022 Full product worth £50 audials.com REQUIRES Windows 7 or later; 200MB hard drive space; online registration

Record streaming TV shows and series to your hard drive, so you can catch up and rewatch at your leisure Search for shows based on keywords to more easily find programmes that match your interest Filter channels by country and type, plus access YouTube content and podcasts from the same interface

Backup Pro 15

Full product worth £8 abelssoft.net REQUIRES Windows 7 or later; 10MB hard drive space; online registration

Record the music you listen to on streaming services. Supports Spotify, Deezer, Apple Music and Amazon Music Also capture content from YouTube and other streaming services by directly recording the audio played through your sound card Downloaded tracks can be saved as MP3, FLAC and a variety of other industry-standard formats

Flash Drive Recovery 3.5 Full product worth £45 ashampoo.com

Full product worth £60 softorbits.com

REQUIRES Windows 7 or later; 200MB hard drive space; online registration

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Back up anything from a single file to an entire partition, with support for hard drives, SSDs, flash drives and network locations Compression reduces storage requirements by as much as 50% compared to other backup solutions Easily store your backups online using connected cloud services such as Dropbox and Google Drive

Undelete files on USB flash drives plus all types of memory cards, including SDXC, Compact Flash and Memory Stick media Automatically scans selected media for deleted files, then displays everything it has found Preview files prior to recovery – or, if you’re in a hurry, simply hit “Select all” to bring everything back 67

Labs

VIDEO EDITORS From freebies to professional tools, filmmaker Steve Paris delivers his verdict on the latest crop of video editors Adobe Premiere Elements 2022

Fun and useful new features designed for social media, at a good price – if you don’t buy direct from Adobe SCORE PRICE £46 (£55 inc VAT) from store.pcpro.co.uk

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dobe Premiere Elements is designed for less demanding video editors, with a particular focus on social media output. Start a project and you’re graced with options such as Landscape, Portrait, Square and Social. Each has a drop-down menu for you to select the exact aspect ratio and frame rate you’re after.

In the past, your timeline would take on the dimensions of the first clip you drag onto it. To make sure your project retains the dimension you manually set, tick the “Force selected project preset to this project” box.

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CONTENTS

Adobe Premiere Elements 2022.................68 Adobe Premiere Pro 2022............................69 CyberLink PowerDirector 20 Ultimate..... 70 Lightworks Free 2022.................................... 71 Microsoft Video Editor................................... 71 Movie Maker Online........................................72 Pinnacle Studio 25 Ultimate..........................73

RIGHT The new Animated Overlays feature is great fun

As you add clips with different formats, you’ll see that Elements will shrink them so you can see all of them within the specific frame, which will inevitably lead to black bars top and bottom, or left and right.

Fixing this manually could be a pain, especially if you’re using a lot of media. Thankfully, the developers have come up with a new Auto Framing option, powered by Adobe’s “Sensei AI”. This analyses the clip to determine which section is of most interest, framing it accordingly.

For the most part it works great, especially when an object is moving within the clip, as the framing dynamically moves to keep that object in shot throughout. You can tweak the results in the Applied Effects section.

Speaking of video effects, there’s a simple yet very effective new one called Shadow/Highlight. You’ll find it in the Advanced Adjustments section of the Fx menu. I dragged it onto a few clips and the default settings worked remarkably well, lighting up the scene and making dark shots much more vibrant and visible. This would

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Labs Video editors

ABOVE Framing moving subjects in Elements is now much easier thanks to Adobe’s Sensei AI

have been a great addition on its own, but Adobe goes further by allowing you to deselect the automatic changes, gaining control over the Shadow and Highlight sliders as a result. Beneath them you’ll find a slew of other sliders, enabling you to fine-tune the changes to your heart’s desire.

Perhaps the most fun addition to this venerable video editor is Animated Overlays.

The process isn’t as easy and automatic as the other new features, but the results are excellent – and there’s nothing wrong with a little user involvement. These new overlays are located in the Graphics section (puzzlingly represented by a smiley face icon). Just drag the one you’re interested in on to a video layer above the clip you wish to affect, then change that overlay’s settings to blend it with the media beneath.

If this sounds confusing, don’t worry: one of the new Guided Tutorials is dedicated to this new functionality and will help you get up to speed with it in no time.

The big question is whether Guided Tutorials (which really do help you get to grips with the software) and the tools on offer justify the price: a one-off payment of £87 from adobe.com, or £71 for an upgrade. But it’s silly to pay that when you can head to store.pcpro.co.uk and find a two-device licence for £55. I think it’s worth that price, and fortunately Adobe’s free 30-day trial is there to help acquaint you with the software before you make a commitment.

Adobe Premiere Pro 2022

Packed with pro-level tools, Adobe Premiere Pro’s updates create an effective movie-making workflow SCORE PRICE £17 (£20 inc VAT) per month from adobe.com

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he latest version of Adobe Premiere Pro features a redesigned import window that showcases your clips above all else. Locate them, select the ones you wish to work with, and click Import.

A new project will be created for you with

ABOVE Speech to Text lets you create automatic captions LEFT A redesigned import window puts your clips front and centre

those clips added to your sequence. No need to fiddle with settings.

Nothing stops you from altering your Sequence Settings after the fact, which is crucial if you need to create a project for a specific social media format. But more often than not, just getting down to working with the clips in their native format will be what people choose to do.

Aside from this streamlined approach, one stellar new feature is Speech to Text.

The simple name belies a range of fantastic speech-to-text tools, including automatic transcription. Go to the Captions and Graphics workspace, then click on “Transcribe Sequence”. You have a series of options, such as giving Premiere Pro the ability to recognise different voices, marking that in the transcript itself.

While not perfect, it’s pretty great. And it’s easy to make alterations and fixes to the transcript, even replacing all the errors at once – if it couldn’t quite get someone’s name right, for instance.

Coupled with that is a link to a spellcheck.

So, if you made a typo, you’ll be informed via a familiar red squiggly line under the problem word. What’s more, as you play your sequence, you can track the progress on the transcript itself. This means that Premiere Pro knows where the spoken

words are located on the sequence. Search for a word or a phrase, and you’ll be taken straight there in the recording.

With the click of a button, you can create automatic captions for your videos based on that transcript. That’s an important step up for creators, and I’m delighted at how well the feature actually works.

Speaking of text, Premiere Pro also has interesting new styling tools. For instance, you can now add multiple shadows to your text layers, creating unique and distinctive styles. The spellchecker and replace options mentioned above are present anywhere text is used in your project.

This applies to 14 languages, too. Prior to this current version, working in multiple languages was a serious pain, as you had to take a trip to the Settings each time you needed to switch languages. In the latest version, simply type in the other tongue, and the tool will understand and conform.

Sensei is the name of Adobe’s AI system, which is present throughout its software catalogue. Here, it’s used to help in cool and interesting ways, such as Remix. This tool retimes songs so your chosen tune fits the video perfectly. Usually this is a painstaking process, involving a lot of cuts, fades, and trial and error to make it work. I tested this with an original song, to remove any 69

possibility that the AI was basing its knowledge on a well-known track, and was mightily impressed: the process took a few seconds to perform and the end result was excellent.

Premiere Pro also offers native support for Apple’s proprietary silicon. According to Adobe’s internal tests, “thanks to new hardware acceleration, 4K and 8K ProRes are now up to 5x faster on M1 Pro and M1 Max MacBook Pros”. This includes impressive hardware acceleration when working with the hi-res HEVC file format.

It’s easy to see why Adobe Premiere Pro is one of the most popular editors on the market. It’s a stable video-editing powerhouse with a huge list of features designed to help you intuitively build professional-grade projects. There’s a natural learning curve to mastering the software, but the juice is worth the squeeze.

CyberLink PowerDirector 20 Ultimate

ABOVE Subtitles can be embedded in SRT files LEFT The AI Sky Replacement feature produces stunning results

A powerful video editor and RECOMMENDED compositor that’s stable, packed with features and regularly improved SCORE PRICE £92 (£110 inc VAT) from cyberlink.com

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yberLink’s PowerDirector is a multiplatform app that can grow with you as you become more proficient and want to take on more challenging projects. Its under-the-hood power makes it a genuine contender for best Adobe Premiere Pro alternative, and there’s even a subscription option, PowerDirector 365, mirroring Adobe’s Creative Cloud.

If you’re using PowerDirector 18 or earlier, there are two pieces of good news.

First is belated support for 4K video – even if rivals can cater for 8K – and second is compatibility with HEVC. This is the codec of choice for iPhones, for instance.

In addition to new templates, themes and effects packs, CyberLink has added a multitude of impressive new features to PowerDirector’s arsenal. I particularly appreciate flipping layers. Previously, PowerDirector ordered its layers in the opposite way to “normal”, with a clip on a bottom layer obstructing what was present on the upper one. Now, you can switch the order in preferences.

Then we have AI in Motion Tracking.

This lets you add text boxes or graphics that follow a chosen object over time with greater accuracy. The tool is coupled with Object Detection to help you apply a mask around a person or object. You can then, for example, remove it or its background.

AI has been applied to audio components too, such as Speech Enhancement to reduce

70

background noise and improve the quality of a spoken recording. And Wind Removal is a godsend should you be forced to record someone outdoors in blustery conditions.

But the one that surprised me most is AI Sky Replacement. At first glance, it seems to be a gimmicky background remover, but there’s complex motion tracking involved as well.

The results are nothing short of amazing, with clouds moving as you’d expect them to with the motion of the shot.

You can fine-tune the effect to make it look ever better, with a level of granular control that can be found throughout PowerDirector. Check out the Particle Designer, for instance, where you can create and modify existing templates, with numerous parameters at your disposal.

You can also customise motion graphic titles: shapes are there for you to use and alter, and come with useful options such as auto-fit text and keyframing.

Audio features haven’t been neglected.

You can now automatically lower the volume of background sounds when someone starts speaking (Audio Ducking), while your background score can be automatically altered to perfectly fit the length of your footage (Smart Background Music). And there’s a great timesaver if your recorded audio and video aren’t combined at source, as PowerDirector can automatically sync them for you.

You can create, upload and export SRT files – for embedded subtitles – including support for font, colour and style. Nesting projects is now possible, allowing you to add multiple projects into a single timeline when complex editing becomes a necessity. You now have controls to stabilise video footage and remove unwanted camera movement, or apply motion blur to moving objects.

Colour-matching parameters ensure your shots remain consistent across a scene, and can adjust hues and vibrancy while protecting skin tone from distortion.

There are two lifetime licence versions of CyberLink PowerDirector for Windows: Ultra (£80 inc VAT) and Ultimate (£110 inc VAT). The main advantage of the latter is that it includes those advanced AI tools, such as Wind Removal, Speech Enhancement, Sky Replacement and Audio Smart Fit. Mac owners are only offered PowerDirector 365, which costs £60 per year. This option may well appeal to Windows users too, however, as it includes access to premium plug-ins and effects, some of the best free stock photos from Shutterstock and iStock, and all future software updates.

I was impressed before. I’m even more impressed now. CyberLink PowerDirector is an affordable, feature-rich video editor that you can use to create anything from a simple cut to a really complex project filled with effects, titles, slick transitions and effects.

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Labs Video editors

ABOVE The colour correction tools in Lightworks have been much improved

Lightworks Free 2022

A great freebie that will satisfy most casual video editors, but you’ll need to pay for more advanced features SCORE PRICE Free from lwks.com

L

ightworks is a powerful, non-linear video editor available for Windows, Mac and Linux – and it’s free. Nor have the developers rested on their considerable laurels, for this 2022 update brings significant improvements.

The first time you launch Lightworks 2022 a new “Startup Wizard” appears. Here, you set up your preferred language and keyboard shortcuts, and choose from one of two layouts. Creating new projects has also been simplified. Previously, you were asked to set the number of frames per second for your timeline; not a problem for experienced editors, less so for more casual users.

Now you just give your project a name and you’re done, with the project taking on the dimensions and frame rate of the first clip you add to the timeline. I also appreciated the improved pop-up helpers that appear the first time you perform an action. These dark green windows provide hints and advice for what to do next, and anyone new to editing will surely appreciate this gentle guiding hand.

One of last year’s big changes was support for cloud storage of media. It’s not obvious at first, but click on the little plus sign next to Libraries and you can sign in to a host of services, including Box, Dropbox, Google Drive and OneDrive.

Cutting a film in Lightworks is trickier than it might be. For instance, if you add a video clip on a second layer it may seem that it has overwritten the audio laid out by clips on the first. It turns out that this can be done by dragging the mouse onto the desired audio layers. Other video editors automatically shift the audio to the right location, but Lightworks’ method offers extra flexibility for more advanced users.

ABOVE The project takes on the dimensions and frame rate of the first clip you add to the timeline

You’ll also find improved tools in the VFX section – that is, video effects – particularly focused on colour correction. This includes support for lookup tables, tools that let you save particular colour grades as templates.

The vectorscopes have improved, too, but most of the benefits aren’t accessible in the free version of Lightworks.

In fact, a lot of the latest improvements only apply to the Create and Pro versions, so it’s worth mentioning them. Yes, Lightworks is free, but if you want to take advantage of all the features this software has to offer then you’ll need to pay for the privilege.

The oddest is that “free” exports are limited to 720p; I can’t think of another video editor that charges extra for Full HD. Likewise, iPhone 13 Pro users must upgrade to Lightworks Create if they want support for Apple’s ProRes codecs, which leads to improved real-time editing not only on Macs, but also on Windows and Linux computers using such files.

Most of the other upgrades – such as end-to-end 10-bit support – are only of real benefit to professional users, including Automated Quality Control. According to Lightworks, this “allows you to meet all major international delivery requirements without requiring a video engineer or

complicated external workflows”, so is clearly a useful tool for broadcast editors.

But Lightworks charges heavily for the privilege. For instance, Create costs £8 per month, £80 per year or £120 for a lifetime licence (locked to this year’s version), while Pro costs £16 per month, £160 per year and £250 for a lifetime licence. For casual users, the free version should be more than enough, and the latest improvements and additions lift it far above Microsoft’s Video Editor.

Microsoft Video Editor

Fine if you’re simply after the basics, but Lightworks 2022 offers many more features SCORE PRICE Free with Windows 11

T

he last time I reviewed Microsoft Video Editor back in 2020, I praised it for offering “a good selection of tools for the budding video editor whose aim is to create a fun little movie quickly”. Built into the Photos app that comes bundled with Windows, it covered all the basics and received a four-star rating as a reward. But what new features, effects and tools has Microsoft added since then?

Except that’s the wrong question. Instead, you should ask what Microsoft has taken away. There’s no more “automatic video” option when you create a new project; you must first import clips to work with. You can get them from Photos’ own library or grab them from your cloud storage, so long as that cloud account is Microsoft OneDrive.

ABOVE You have to import clips into Microsoft Video Editor before you can start your project 71

ABOVE Ready-made colour filters mean Microsoft Video Editor isn’t always a slog

The concept of editing is the same as before. Each clip is represented by a thumbnail of exactly the same size, irrespective of the clip’s length. This makes them easy to see, but it can be confusing when a two-second clip has the same length as a 30-second one.

What’s frustrating is you can’t preview a clip prior to adding it in your project. Sure, you can see a thumbnail, but how do you know that’s the right clip of Harry, when you’re looking at three different clips of Harry taken on the same day? There’s also no way to set in- or out-points to insert only the section you want. A trim tool is at your disposal, but only when the clip has been added to the timeline.

The playhead is also an issue. Normally, you get a playhead over the timeline (called Storyboard here), so you know what you’re seeing in the main preview window and how it’s connected to your project. Here, you have a playhead on the preview window but not on the timeline, creating a disconnect that’s hard to reconcile and harder to work with.

Another problem that still remains is a lack of support for many “modern” file formats. I use quote marks because they’re not exactly modern: they’ve been in use for almost five years, which in computer terms is an eternity. You can go to the Microsoft Store and grab the necessary extensions, but while the photos extension HEIF is free, you must pay for the HEVC extension for videos.

It’s only 79p, but this is Microsoft at its nickel-and-dime worst.

Back to the editing. We no longer live in a world where projects are all produced in the same format: we must make sure we create a video in the aspect ratio best suited for the platform it’s destined to be seen on. TikTok? 9:16. Instagram? 1:1. Twitter? Ideally 1:1, but it’s flexible. YouTube? Ideally 16:9.

Microsoft Video Editor struggles with this.

You can scroll down a menu and choose between 16:9 or 4:3, or crop the image to fit a portrait orientation (essentially 9:16 or 3:4).

Couple that with the reframe button to remove black borders, and you can use this app to change the size of a project at will. The trouble is, you’ll have to do this cropping for each of your clips – there’s no “change all” option – and the reframing is automatic with no AI involved. It will frame to the centre irrespective of what’s going on in the clip.

It’s not all bad. You have access to a library of 3D effects and objects, which you can add to your video for extra visual fun.

You also get a bunch of ready-made colour 72

filters, and “Motion” is a way to pan and zoom in and out of your clip. There’s a list of background music samples to choose from too, with an interesting option to “sync your video to the music’s beat” that worked well.

Microsoft Video Editor is a very basic video-editing tool. Cutting a movie is more cumbersome than it should be, but worse is the feeling that this project has been left to stagnate. This is Windows Movie Maker without any of the charm. More to the point, there are competing free video editor apps, such as Lightworks, that do a far better job.

Movie Maker Online

An interesting free service marred by an inability to preview any changes made to clips or the entire project SCORE PRICE Free from moviemakeronline.com

W

ho needs apps or expensive software when you can quickly edit movies in your browser?

That’s the promise of Movie Maker Online, a bare-bones website featuring a handful of options. Upload your files, choose stock images, select some free music, change the background colour, insert some text. This is video editing at its most basic.

Using your own media is as simple as selecting the files you need from your drive, although you’ll have to wait a while as they are uploaded to the service’s servers. You also have a warning that your media will only remain there for around 24 hours (maybe less), so you’d better work fast.

The stock photos are from Pixabay. Search for specific keywords, then click on the thumbnails of the shots you’d like to use.

Those selected get an “added” overlay on them, making it clear which ones you’ve already chosen. Those are only photos. If you’d rather use pictures from an alternative service or upload stock videos, you’ll have to go to their respective websites, grab them from there, then upload them to Movie Maker Online as you would any other media.

ABOVE Movie Maker Online’s Effect button adds filters to your chosen clip

It’s a similar process for adding music.

Click the Free Music button for instructions on which URL to go to, how to download the music samples to your computer and how to upload it back to your project. All of this is convoluted and time-consuming.

Things get more confusing when you start editing. Rather than thinking of a project’s timeline as something to build from left to right, the whole interface has a top-down feel. You have a column for Music, one for Background, another for Main and one for Text. The final column on the right is labelled Preview, which gives you thumbnails of your project over its length.

Select a thumbnail and click on the cogwheel icon to manipulate that particular clip. This is where you gain access to cropping tools (you can also alter the opacity and rotation) and can change the volume and playback speed. An “effect” button adds as many filters to your chosen clip as you’d like. This is also the place where you get to choose a transition to come in or out of your clip. You get to select its duration, style and even motion.

It’s all simple enough, but there’s a problem: click on the play button to see the results of your changes and you might have to wait a long time. A very long time, in fact, as I could never get past 0%. This makes it pretty hard to see if the alterations you’re making will be beneficial to your final output.

Scroll below your media columns to find global controls for transitions and video effects. The process is exactly the same as for individual clips, except these changes will affect all the clips on a specific column. You can move clips from one column to another;

ABOVE Movie Maker Online provides a selection of stock photos from Pixabay

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think of them as multiple video layers. The Background column is the one at the bottom of the pile, so if a clip is present in the Main column in the same timeframe, you’ll see it in the final product as opposed to the one beneath it. As I said, confusing.

My issues continued with being unable to preview any changes, so I pressed the Make button to see what my movie looked like. The idea is that your movie is then rendered, and when finally done you get a little video preview that you can play. At least, that’s the theory. My video only previewed a series of still thumbnails.

Wait long enough (in my case, over half an hour for a video with a 1min 30secs runtime) and you can finally see a preview of the completed work. If you like what you see, and I found it glitchy on every browser I used, you have precisely one hour to download the video: right-click on the link and choose “Download linked file”. Thankfully, the downloaded movie worked as expected: full motion, with transitions and effects.

The idea of video editing straight from your web browser is an interesting one, but there are way too many hurdles and glitches to recommend this service. The concept of columns as opposed to layers is novel, and it’s always good to see people challenging the established format – that’s how things improve, after all.

There are a good number of effects and transitions to select, and I like being able to apply them to a single clip or an entire column. However, not being able to preview your media or your entire project is a deal-breaker. Even if the downloaded project looks fine, all the changes you make will essentially be guesswork until then, and that’s no way to edit a video – no matter how short.

Pinnacle Studio 25 Ultimate

An incredible video editor, with powerful tools and an extremely intuitive interface

RECOMMENDED

SCORE PRICE £67 (£80 inc VAT) from pinnaclesys.com

P

innacle Studio 25 Ultimate is well named, being the pinnacle of Corel’s extensive video-editing offerings. It’s a fine alternative to Adobe Premiere Pro, but with no subscriptions to lock you in: simply a one-time purchase. The downside is that it’s only available for Windows.

Pinnacle’s traditional strength is in complex projects, with impressive modern tools that do much of the grunt work for you, so that you can focus on the creative side.

One big addition is support for 8K video; it’s not mainstream yet, but the trend is moving in that direction.

Labs Video editors

ABOVE Pinnacle Studio’s intuitive interface is responsive and, for the most part, stable

Another addition will be familiar to photographers: blend mode. This allows you to manipulate the dark and light parts of images and blend them with another beneath it. You can now do this with moving images in Pinnacle’s video editor. These video effects work exactly as you’d expect, helping you play with light in ways that weren’t possible before.

Then there’s motion tracking. Pinnacle Studio comes with clever masking tools that allow you to choose an object and refine the selection with great precision. The tracking option is done automatically for you but can take time, and you also have tools to refine and repair said tracking afterwards should you need to.

The next phase is being able to control both the mask and the background separately, adding colour correction and other filters to create unique looks. More advanced options allow you to remove the background, add text layers and even duplicate the masked object. It’s a powerful tool. Speaking of masks, those tools have been refined, making it even easier to select objects, using raster and vector shapes to perfect your masks. I had a lot of fun experimenting with that feature!

Pinnacle Studio has long had strong audio-editing tools. You could already expand the audio section in the timeline and do much of your work there, such as manipulating the audio of each layer, or even toggling keyframing to control the levels over time. While earlier versions allowed you to control the 5.1 surround sound via the Panner tool, this now includes support for Angle, Spread and Centre. You also have keyframing options.

ABOVE The Noise Reduction tool allows you to remove background noise from a clip

The Noise Reduction section has gained the ability to “Generate a Noise Profile”.

This allows you to select a section of a clip illustrating the background noise you wish to remove. Pinnacle Studio will then analyse it, and give you Reduction, Sensitivity and Smoothing knobs to remove or attenuate that noise. A new tool, Pitch Scaling, lets you alter the audio’s pitch and frequency without affecting duration.

One new addition I was surprised wasn’t there before (because it’s been available on competing products for years now) is the ability to keyframe a title’s font size and colour. This is an important tool as it’s a quick way to effectively animate words on the screen. I’m pleased to report that it works flawlessly.

Another plus point is that the whole user interface is more responsive and more stable.

With one caveat: the software crashed on me twice, both times when trying to import footage. That’s no surprise, as the import section still feels clunky, with a lag between selecting a folder on your drive and being able to see and select the clips contained therein. The problem appears to be a subroutine analysing the files, but that does nothing but frustrate users.

Pinnacle Studio comes in three flavours: Studio, Studio Plus and Studio Ultimate.

These officially cost £60, £90 and £115 inc VAT respectively, but in reality these are usually discounted to £50, £70 and £80. All allow you to work in 8K, but you can only work across six tracks in Studio, for instance, and there are fewer colour-correction tools and basic two-camera editing. Studio Plus ups the ante with 24 tracks and the ability to work with four cameras, plus you can access basic motion-tracking tools, blend mode, the advanced audio editor and batch processing.

Ultimate has everything, including Video Masking, Smart Object Tracking, 360˚ Video Editing and alpha channel support.

Pinnacle Studio 25 is a solid improvement over its predecessor. The new editing tools are sure to please editors of all experience levels, and they’re easy to use, too. My only gripe is over the slow and unstable import section, which makes a poor first impression on an otherwise grand experience.

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CPUs MEGATEST

GOING HARDCORE Choose your perfect CPU from £127 to £557

L

ong-term readers will have seen Intel’s ups and downs over the years. Typically the company churns out iterative updates of its CPUs until the competition gets tough, then pulls out its R&D ace card and does something different. That’s what we saw in late 2021 with the introduction of the Alder Lake CPUs, featuring a new architecture comprising two different types of cores (see p84).

It’s a big change for the company and one that makes it more competitive against AMD. Not that AMD should be discounted. Opting for lots of cores and, generally, a high amount of cache, the current Ryzen lineup can power everything from entry-level computers to high-end behemoths (see p80).

The big challenge is choosing the right processor for your needs, which is where we come in. Benchmarking all of the mainstream chips across a range of tasks, from 3D rendering to gaming, we can help you fine-tune your choice so you get the power you need for your unique mix of tasks. And, crucially, at the price you want.

CONTRIBUTOR: David Ludlow 74

CONTENTS AMD Ryzen 5 5500......................82

Intel Core i7-12700K.................... 87

AMD Ryzen 5 5600......................82

Intel Core i9-12900.....................88

AMD Ryzen 5 5600X....................82

Intel Core i9-12900K...................88

AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D...............82 AMD Ryzen 7 5700X.....................83

Feature table................................ 76

AMD Ryzen 7 5800X....................83

How to choose the right

AMD Ryzen 9 5900X....................83

processor for your needs........ 78

AMD Ryzen 9 5950X....................83

How we test.................................. 79

Intel Core i3-12100......................86

AMD architecture explained.... 80

Intel Core i3-12300.....................86

AMD’s AM5 future....................... 81

Intel Core i5-12400.....................86

Intel architecture explained......84

Intel Core i5-12600K...................86

Mostly ARMless............................88

Intel Core i5-12500..................... 87

Real-world speed graphs...........89

Intel Core i5-12600..................... 87

Synthetic & gaming graphs...... 90

Intel Core i7-12700...................... 87

View from the Labs...................... 91

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Labs CPUs

75

RECOMMENDED

RECOMMENDED

AMD Ryzen 5 5500

AMD Ryzen 5 5600

AMD Ryzen 5 5600X

AMD Ryzen 7 5700X

AMD Ryzen 7 5800X

AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D

AMD Ryzen 9 5900X

AMD Ryzen 9 5950X

Price (inc VAT)

£106 (£127 inc VAT)

£149 (£179 inc VAT)

£171 (£205 inc VAT)

£225 (£270 inc VAT)

£246 (£295 inc VAT)

£358 (£430 inc VAT)

£305 (£366 inc VAT)

£442 (£530 inc VAT)

Supplier

box.co.uk

scan.co.uk

box.co.uk

scan.co.uk

box.co.uk

scan.co.uk

box.co.uk

scan.co.uk

Overall rating

CPU specification Cores

6

6

6

8

8

8

12

16

Threads

12

12

12

16

16

16

24

32

Base clock

3.6GHz

3.5GHz

3.7GHz

3.4GHz

3.8GHz

3.4GHz

3.7GHz

3.4GHz

Boost clock

4.2GHz

4.4GHz

4.6GHz

4.6GHz

4.7GHz

4.5GHz

4.8GHz

4.9GHz

L2 cache

3MB

3MB

3MB

4MB

4MB

4MB

6MB

8MB

L3 cache/smart cache

16MB

32MB

32MB

32MB

32MB

96MB

64MB

64MB

Integrated graphics

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

Integrated graphics cores

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

Integrated graphics clock

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

Manufacturing process

7nm

7nm

7nm

7nm

7nm

7nm

7nm

7nm

Architecture

Zen 3

Zen 3

Zen 3

Zen 3

Zen 3

Zen 3

Zen 3

Zen 3

Thermal design power (TDP)

65W

65W

65W

65W

105W

105W

105W

105W

Socket

AM4

AM4

AM4

AM4

AM4

AM4

AM4

AM4

PCI-E version supported

3

4

4

4

4

4

4

4

PCI-E lanes

24

24

24

24

24

24

24

24

Supported chipsets

X570, B550, A520, A320

X570, B550, A520, A320

X570, B550, A520, A320

X570, B550, A520, A320

X570, B550, A520, A320

X570, B550, A520, A320

X570, B550, A520, A320

X570, B550, A520, A320

Cooler included

Wraith Stealth Active Fan Air Cooler

Wraith Stealth Active Fan Air Cooler

Wraith Stealth Active Fan Air Cooler

Native memory speed supported

DDR4-3200

DDR4-3200

DDR4-3200

DDR4-3200

DDR4-3200

DDR4-3200

DDR4-3200

DDR4-3200

Native memory channels supported

Dual

Dual

Dual

Dual

Dual

Dual

Dual

Dual

Native memory capacity supported

128GB

128GB

128GB

128GB

128GB

128GB

128GB

128GB

Ecosystem

ECC memory supported

Temperature (measured) Idle

25°C

25°C

25°C

32°C

31°C

31°C

31.5°C

31.5°C

Benchmarking

63°C

63°C

64°C

68°C

75°C

75°C

76°C

78°C

76

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Labs CPUs

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RECOMMENDED

LABS WINNER

RECOMMENDED

Intel Core i3-12100

Intel Core i3-12300

Intel Core i5-12400

Intel Core i5-12500

Intel Core i5-12600

Intel Core i5-12600K

Intel Core i7-12700

Intel Core i7-12700K

Intel Core i9-12900

Intel Core i9-12900K

£106 (£127 inc VAT)

£125 (£150 inc VAT)

£158 (£190 inc VAT)

£167 (£200 inc VAT)

£179 (£215 inc VAT)

£232 (£278 inc VAT)

£279 (£335 inc VAT)

£321 (£385 inc VAT)

£417 (£500 inc VAT)

£464 (£557 inc VAT)

box.co.uk

scan.co.uk

scan.co.uk

scan.co.uk

box.co.uk

box.co.uk

box.co.uk

box.co.uk

scan.co.uk

box.co.uk

4 P-cores

4 P-cores

6 P-cores

6 P-cores

6 P-cores

6 P-cores, 4 E-cores

8 P-cores, 4 E-cores

8 P-cores, 4 E-cores

8 P-cores, 8 E-cores

8 P-cores, 8 E-cores

8

8

12

12

12

16

20

20

24

24

3.3GHz

3.5GHz

2.5GHz

3GHz

3.3GHz

3.7GHz (P-cores), 2.8GHz (E-cores)

2.1GHz (P-cores), 1.6GHz (E-cores)

3.6GHz (P-cores), 2.7GHz (E-cores)

3.2GHz (P-cores), 2.4GHz (E-cores)

3.4GHz (P-cores), 2.5GHz (E-cores)

4.3GHz

4.4GHz

4.4GHz

4.6GHz

4.8GHz

4.9GHz (P-cores), 3.6GHz (E-cores)

4.8GHz (P-cores), 3.6GHz (E-cores)

4.9GHz (P-cores), 3.8GHz (E-cores)

5.1GHz (P-cores), 3.9GHz (E-cores)

5.2GHz (P-cores), 4GHz (E-cores)

5MB

5MB

7.5MB

7.5MB

7.5MB

9.5MB

12MB

12MB

14MB

14MB

12MB

12MB

18MB

18MB

18MB

20MB

25MB

25MB

30MB

30MB

UHD 730

UHD 730

UHD 770

UHD 770

UHD 770

UHD 770

UHD 770

UHD 770

UHD 770

UHD 770

24

24

32

32

32

32

32

32

32

32

1.45GHz

1.45GHz

1.45GHz

1.45GHz

1.45GHz

1.45GHz

1.55GHz

1.55GHz

1.55GHz

1.55GHz

10nm

10nm

10nm

10nm

10nm

10nm

10nm

10nm

10nm

10nm

Alder Lake

Alder Lake

Alder Lake

Alder Lake

Alder Lake

Alder Lake

Alder Lake

Alder Lake

Alder Lake

Alder Lake

60W

60W

65W

65W

65W

125W

65W

125W

125W

150W

LGA1700

LGA1700

LGA1700

LGA1700

LGA1700

LGA1700

LGA1700

LGA1700

LGA1700

LGA1700

5

5

5

5

5

5

5

5

5

5

16 (v5), 4 (v4)

16 (v5), 4 (v4)

16 (v5), 4 (v4)

16 (v5), 4 (v4)

16 (v5), 4 (v4)

16 (v5), 4 (v4)

16 (v5), 4 (v4)

16 (v5), 4 (v4)

16 (v5), 4 (v4)

16 (v5), 4 (v4)

Z690, B660, H670, H610

Z690, B660, H670, H610

Z690, B660, H670, H610

Z690, B660, H670, H610

Z690, B660, H670, H610

Z690, B660, H670, H610

Z690, B660, H670, H610

Z690, B660, H670, H610

Z690, B660, H670, H610

Z690, B660, H670, H610

DDR4-3200, DDR5-4800

DDR4-3200, DDR5-4800

DDR4-3200, DDR5-4800

DDR4-3200, DDR5-4800

DDR4-3200, DDR5-4800

DDR4-3200, DDR5-4800

DDR4-3200, DDR5-4800

DDR4-3200, DDR5-4800

DDR4-3200, DDR5-4800

DDR4-3200, DDR5-4800

Dual

Dual

Dual

Dual

Dual

Dual

Dual

Dual

Dual

Dual

128GB

128GB

128GB

128GB

128GB

128GB

128GB

128GB

128GB

128GB

20°C

20°C

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77

How to choose the right processor for your needs Whether it’s for a budget PC, gaming superpower or anything in between, choosing a CPU for your needs isn’t straightforward. We help you narrow down your choices

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rocessors are far more complicated than they used to be. You can’t just pick a type and look at the clock speed to find the best one for you; instead, you need to closely examine each processor’s capabilities and features so you can find the right one for you.

Core drill

One of the most important things about a processor is the number of cores that it has, and that’s for two reasons. First, demanding applications can use multiple cores to speed up tasks; the more cores you have, the better.

Second, as each core is a CPU in its own right, having multiple cores means that there’s more processing power to share around. That’s very important, as you can have some cores dealing with background tasks while the spare processing power goes into a tougher job, all without you noticing your CPU slowing down.

Beyond core count, there’s the thread count. Both Intel and AMD employ technology that lets a core run two threads (or tasks) at the same time. You don’t quite get double the performance, but there’s a notable speed boost.

Slightly complicating things is Intel’s new architecture, which introduces CPUs that have highperformance P-cores (with HyperThreading, for double the thread count) and efficient E-cores (no Hyper-Threading). The big P-cores take care of the tough tasks, while the E-cores more efficiently deal with background tasks. The combination of the two is a potent one.

Before you rush out and buy the processor with the highest number of cores (or threads), be careful.

The highest-end processors are really only for people doing tough jobs, such as rendering 3D models, CAD and video editing. In general, we’d say that a quad-core processor is a bare minimum for a new PC, but six cores are better; eight cores are good for a mid-range machine, but go higher if you need something that will handle more demanding jobs.

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ABOVE Video editing is one task that can take advantage of every single thread

Clock watching

A processor’s clock is a measurement of its speed: the higher the clock speed, the more instructions can be performed in a given time period.

Looking at clock speeds isn’t quite as simple as that, however.

First, processors do not run at just one speed. Instead, they have a base speed and a Note that maximum boost speed. The base boost speeds are speed helps the processor available only when a run cool, quiet and processor has enough efficiently when it doesn’t thermal headroom need more power; the boost speed lets the processor work as fast as it can.

Note that maximum boost speeds are available only when a processor has enough thermal headroom; in BELOW As the new other words, when it’s as cool as it Ryzen 7 5800X3D needs to be. That means you may get shows, cache matters different results from the same CPU when gaming depending on the cooler used.

Higher clock speeds generally have more of an impact on single-threaded tasks: image editing, office software and (typically) gaming will all benefit from higher clock speeds.

Where there’s a more difficult multithreaded job, such as video encoding, a CPU with more cores but a lower clock speed can do a better job than a “faster” CPU with fewer cores.

Talkin’ ’bout generation

To further add complexity, you also need to look at a processor’s generation. With each new range of processors, Intel and AMD aim to make them more efficient.

Typically, that’s by increasing the number of instructions per clock: in short, a CPU can do more per clock than an older generation.

We’re currently on Intel’s 12th generation Core architecture, called Alder Lake, which was released in November 2021. All the AMD chips on test this month use the company’s Zen 3 architecture, which was announced in November 2020. Zen 4 is expected later this year. As it stands, the current Intel processors are more efficient per core than AMD’s.

Cache points

A few other things are important to look at. First, there’s the cache, which sits between the CPU and memory. It comes in three types: L1, L2 and L3.

The more cache you have, the fewer times your processor has to wait for requests to go to slower system memory. Higher cache amounts can make a big impact in games: that’s the reason why the Ryzen 7 5800X3D, with its 92MB of cache, excels in gaming benchmarks.

Also look at the Thermal Design Power (TDP) rating of a chip. Smaller chips with a 65W TDP can be cooled by a stock cooler or even used in a

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slimline mini-ITX case. Chips that have 100W TDP or higher will need even more powerful cooling (air or water) to dissipate heat when the CPU is running at full pelt.

Few chips ship with a stock cooler any more, but we recommend buying your own choice of cooler anyway, not least because third-party models are often quieter than the stock ones.

Although the Intel processors we’ve reviewed all have integrated graphics, you can buy versions that drop integrated graphics to save cash.

None of the AMD models on test has graphics, but you can expect similar performance if you look for the same model name but with a “G” at the end (for example, Ryzen 5 5500G). If you want to build a budget PC and don’t care about gaming, integrated graphics are the way to go, although you can buy a basic graphics card that’s no good for games for under £30 if you need this.

Look out for the flags at the end of a processor’s name. With Intel, “K” models have unlocked multipliers, which means you can tweak the boost speed to make them run faster.

This is ideal for those with excellent cooling in their PCs, as they can push a CPU faster than its default speeds.

AMD has a similar “X” tag for its unlocked processors.

Intel also has “F” chips, which ditch the integrated graphics (as mentioned above), usually bringing the price down by around £30. You can buy processors with both (“KF”): unlocked and without graphics.

chips, you have to buy a new motherboard that supports the new LGA-1700 socket. It’s larger than the older socket, so most old coolers won’t unless you also buy an adapter.

Don’t buy more CPU than AMD currently uses the AM4 socket, which is you need, as you’ll end up available on both newer with an underutilised PC and more feature-packed and you’ll have spent motherboards, plus older more than necessary ones. If you’ve got an older AM4 motherboard, you should be able to get a BIOS update to make it compatible with the Motherboards and sockets RIGHT Intel’s new chips that we’ve architecture means a You’re often not only buying a CPU reviewed. This can new chipset is also a but also a motherboard to fit your make AMD’s must-have processor. With the current Intel processors a better upgrade option, as you can swap out your old CPU for a new one We run a broad range of benchmarks on each processor and not change to see how they respond to different tasks, such as video anything else. editing and 3D rendering. Our core benchmarks are the However, note that PC Pro suite of application tests, which use real-world the current generation of image-editing and video-encoding applications to see how AMD chips will be the last to use well CPUs cope with general use. We use Cinebench to the AM4 form factor, so if you have it test how fast each processor is when it comes to video in mind to upgrade the CPU in a production and rendering. couple of years then you should either We use Geekbench 5 to evaluate each CPU for its go down the Intel route or wait for performance in encryption, HTML5, navigation, physics and AMD’s next generation of processors. machine-learning workloads. Y-Cruncher gives us pure With Intel’s chips, you have a computational tests; SiSoftware Sandra runs tests on choice of DDR4 and DDR5 RAM. cryptography and neural networks. Where possible, we The motherboard you pick will print the results for single-thread and multithreaded tasks. determine your choice. Currently, For games, we run 3DMark’s Time Spy, plus we’ve run there’s not a huge amount of Shadow of the Tomb Raider and have taken the CPU render difference in speed between the score for 1080p and 4K performance. current generation of DDR5 and the Our test rig consists of 16GB of 3,600MHz DDR4 RAM, top-end DDR4 RAM; in the future, an Nvidia GTX 1070 graphics card, a 1TB WD Black SN850 much faster DDR5 RAM will be SSD and a Noctua NH-U12S cooler (applied with fresh available. The main difference today is thermal paste for each chip). the price: DDR4 is much cheaper.

How we test

ABOVE Most CPUs don’t come with heatsinks, but there’s plenty of choice

Labs CPUs

AMD chips all use DDR4 for now.

It’s worth buying fast DDR4 RAM so that it’s not a bottleneck to your processor. A minimum of 16GB makes sense, but buy more if you’re a heavy user or like to have lots of applications open at the same time.

Intel CPUs also support PCI-E 5.0, which will mean even faster M.2 drives when they’re available. AMD chips only support PCI-E 4.0. That’s not a massive problem today, as the fastest SSDs are only PCI-E 4.0.

Final decision

Don’t buy more CPU than you need, as you’ll end up with an underutilised PC and you’ll have spent more than necessary. With that in mind, we’ve got some rule-of-thumb advice on getting the right chip for you.

If you want a basic PC for web browsing, office work and the odd bit of photo editing, then an entry-level, quadcore or six-core processor will do the job. If you’re into media editing and like to play the occasional game at a resolution of 1080p or 1440p, then a mid-range six-core processor should suit you.

Once you start getting into more heavy video editing and you’re more demanding about your gaming, then an eight- to 12-core processor is more likely to suit your needs.

For those that really push their PCs with 3D modelling, CAD and high-end video editing, you’re looking at one of the higher-end models on this list.

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AMD architecture explained Typically going for more cores per chip than Intel, the current range of AMD chips still performs strongly – even if new architecture is coming later this year

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hile Intel has opted for a complicated architecture, mixing performance cores with efficiency ones, AMD has stuck with a more traditional architecture for its CPUs. The current generation of chips on review uses the Zen 3 architecture, with the Ryzen 5 5800X3D the last chip of that generation before AMD introduces new processors that will use the brand-new AM5 socket.

With this range of processors, AMD largely decided to go for many cores per chip, boosting performance in multithreaded applications in particular. Thanks to its efficient 7nm manufacturing process (Intel is still on 10nm), a large number of cores can be used without the chips getting too hot.

As a result, while some of these processors are more than a year old, they still hold up well to Intel’s latest and greatest, particularly when you measure performance against price.

Here’s everything you need to know about AMD’s chips.

Core design

Zen 3 is the natural evolution of the older Zen 2 architecture. While both use the same 7nm process, Zen 3 has been built to be more efficient with a fine-tuned architecture. AMD says that at the same clock speed, Zen 3 chips perform 19% better than their predecessors by implementing more instructions per clock; strangely, the exact performance increase that Intel quotes for its new chips.

Zen architecture is built around core complexes, which hold a certain amount of cores. With Zen 2, the core complex was limited to four cores, each sharing 16MB of L3 cache. For higher-core processors, multiple core complexes had to be installed. Intercommunication between core complexes introduces latency, so multithreaded applications could suffer as a result.

With Zen 3, the core complex has been upgraded to support up to eight cores, supporting 32MB of L3 cache per complex, 80

as well as 512KB of L2 cache per core. This makes the architecture simpler in many regards and cuts the communication latency between complexes.

With Ryzen 7 and below, there’s only one core complex per chip; the Ryzen 9 chips add two complexes for either 12 or Zen 3 chips perform 19% 16 cores in total. better than their While Intel uses predecessors by Hyper-Threading to implementing more double the number of instructions per clock threads that can be run per core, AMD has a similar Simultaneous MultiThreading (SMT). This lets each core run two concurrent processes, BELOW Some Ryzens making the number of threads double ship with the colourful that of the core count. So, a 16-core Wraith Cooler Ryzen 9 processor runs 32 threads.

On a pure thread count, AMD still trumps Intel.

As with Intel’s architecture, AMD’s processors run at two different clock speeds. The base clock speed is the processor’s speed when idle and the minimum that it will run at. Then there’s the Boost clock speed, which is where the processor will boost if it’s cool enough. That’s a good reason to buy a more expensive ABOVE AMD still holds the lead over Intel for the number of cores for the price

cooler: so you can get the maximum clock speed for as long as possible.

When comparing processors, it makes sense to compare the boost clock speed, as this is where the chips will spend most of their time when they’re pushed.

As AMD’s architecture is more standard, there’s no fancy software support needed to get the most out of it, so these chips will run as fast on Windows 10 as on Windows 11.

Thanks to that 7nm manufacturing process, the Zen chips have a lower TDP than Intel ones, with processors either a modest 65W or more powerful 105W. Actual temperatures during testing do vary, though, as you can see from our results in the table on p76.

Chipsets

All Ryzen processors use the AM4 socket, which has been around for many years. AMD is generally good at providing updates that let newer processors run on older chipsets, while Intel typically requires new motherboards for new processors, even if the socket hasn’t changed.

The current chipsets that support the range of processors include the X570, B550, A520, although older 3XX chipsets such as the A320 are also supported. That’s everything from high-end gaming boards to

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entry-level budget motherboards for more basic computers. And, as the boards have been available for a good while, the prices are generally cheaper than the comparable Intel boards. Plus, if you have an older AMD system, you can upgrade to a new processor without having to change anything else.

If you’re going to use an older chipset that requires a BIOS update, you’ll need an older processor compatible with the board while updating it. Some resellers will offer a BIOS update service before shipping a board, but it’s good to check that your chosen processor will work with the board that you’ve chosen.

DDR4 memory

With older motherboards and processors, the crop of AMD processors that we have on review only support DDR4 memory, not the newer DDR5. That’s not so much of a problem today, as DDR5 memory is relatively expensive (not to mention in short supply), and the first batch is little faster than the highest-rated DDR4 RAM. Over the next year or two, however, we’d expect memory to transition to DDR5, but it’s not going to make a huge difference to most people; in fact, even with Intel, buying DDR4 today makes a lot of sense from a bang-per-buck standpoint.

AMD’s AM5 future

Is it worth waiting for the new generation of Ryzen processors, due later this year?

The answer isn’t straightforward at people that want basic graphics for With the current set of Ryzen chips now work tasks rather than gaming. over a year old, AMD is getting ready to AMD is moving with the times, launch its successors, based on the and all-new processors will use Zen 4 architecture. The company DDR5 only; that’s a little different has announced the first set of to Intel, which supports both Ryzen 7000 chips. Unlike Intel, DDR4 and DD5. There’s also a AMD hasn’t gone for P-cores and shift to PCI-E 5 with 24 lanes for E-cores, and its processors will storage and graphics. use all high-performance cores.

All of these changes mean that As with the previous generation, the old socket AM4 has come to an the maximum core count tops out at end, and the new processors will work 16. This core count will still be delivered with AM5 instead. For the first time, across two chiplets, although the ABOVE The next-gen Ryzens sadly need AMD is moving to a Land-Grid Array fabrication process has dropped to 5nm new motherboards (LGA) socket, as Intel uses, where the from 7nm. That should make the pins are in the socket, not on the CPU. processors even more power-efficient, as well as reducing package sizes.

A new socket means a new motherboard, with three new chipsets announced: X670 Extreme, There are some significant differences X670 and B670, each catering to different price between new and old. For starters, the new chips points and requirements. Products are due to ship in double the amount of L2 cache per core to 1MB. the autumn, with no dates or prices yet announced.

Next, the chips are designed to break the 5GHz Is it worth the wait? The trouble with barrier on boost. As a result of these changes and processors is that you could wait forever, and we additional efficiencies, AMD has said that each suspect the chips will be in short supply even if they core on Ryzen 7000 will be 15% faster than on the are officially put on sale before the end of the year. previous generation.

Still, if you’re a keen upgrader the switch to a new AMD has also promised that every chip will platform effectively makes that decision for you. have a GPU built in, although these will be targeted

although other workloads don’t see the same kind of performance increase. Think of this as a mid-priced, gamingorientated processor that’s built to deliver gaming performance on a par with the most expensive chips, and you get the idea of it.

PCI-E 4 support

AMD chips currently only support PCI-E 4 (bar the Ryzen 5 5500, which is PCI-E 3), rather than the newer PCI-E 5 standard. Is that a problem? Not really.

Intel processors support PCI-E 4 to the M.2 storage slots, using PCI-E 5 for graphics cards and storage.

However, there’s currently no PCI-E 5 storage available, and the first kit looks set to be for servers.

Practically, it’s going to take a while before we need the benefits of PCI-E 5, and you can buy some very fast M.2 drives already. Most AMD boards will take two M.2 drives.

3D V-Cache

At this point, we have to point out the AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D, which is a new processor in the lineup. This is the first consumer AMD CPU to use 3D V-Cache. It works by adding an additional 64MB of L3 cache per compute complex. In the case of the 5800X3D, that means 96MB of L3 cache, compared to just 32MB on the standard 5800X. The main benefit of 3D V-Cache is improved performance in games,

Variations

ABOVE A Ryzen with one chiplet rather than two, saving you money in the process

BELOW Every model number tells a story, but you need to decipher it yourself

AMD processors are split into three types: Ryzen 9, Ryzen 7 and Ryzen 5. All of them have the same basic core architecture.

Ryzen 9 is AMD’s top-of-the-range home CPU. These all have two core complexes, with a choice of either a 16-core or 12-core processor. Drop down to the Ryzen 7 lineup and you get a single core complex with eight cores. When you get down to the Ryzen 5 level, you get a single core complex with six cores in it.

Prices adjust in line with the number of cores and CPU speeds in the lineup. Our reviews will help you make the right decisions.

Performance level Brand

Generation

Suffix

AMD Ryzen 7 5600X Company

Family

Model number

Within the ranges, you’ll see some models have an “X” in the name, such as the Ryzen 9 5950X. This means that the processor is unlocked so that you can manually overclock it to get more performance. This is the AMD equivalent of Intel’s “K” processors.

OEM models

AMD has a lot of processors that are sold to OEMs only. For example, the Ryzen 9 5900 is a locked version of the Ryzen 9 5900X but is only available to manufacturers. It’s a shame in some cases, as the OEM models look like they brilliantly balance price and performance. We’ve only reviewed models that you can buy.

Graphics

None of the processors that we’ve tested has onboard graphics on them.

Instead, AMD has a line of so-called APUs that include graphics. These have similar model names to the regular processors but have a “G” at the end; CPUs with similar model numbers should have similar with or without the G. The APUs don’t include products in the Ryzen 9 or Ryzen 7 lineups, featuring Ryzen 5 processors only. It’s generally assumed that if you want the best performance, you’ll buy a graphics card, while those looking for entry-level computers will buy a Ryzen 5 with integrated graphics.

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AMD reviews AMD RYZEN 5 5600 A decent budget processor, but there’s little reason to choose it over the cheaper 5500

AMD RYZEN 5 5500 A fantastic budget processor, its higher core count pushes it above the similarly priced Intel Core i3-2100

SCORE PRICE £149 (£179 inc VAT) from scan.co.uk

SCORE PRICE £106 (£127 inc VAT) from box.co.uk

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ust like Intel, AMD feels like it’s packing the entry-level market with lots of options at different price points, just because it can. Take the Ryzen 5 5600 as a case in point.

Although it costs just over £40 more than the Ryzen 5 5500, you don’t get a lot more for your cash.

The six-core processor (12 threads) offers a base clock that’s 100MHz slower than on the 5500, while the all-important boost clock runs at just 200MHz more. This turns into a minor advantage in our benchmarks: the PC Pro, Cinebench and Geekbench results are all marginally better on the 5600 compared to the 5500, as are the single-core and gaming tests.

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he lowest processor in AMD’s lineup, the Ryzen 5 5500 costs exactly the same as the Core i3-2100. But there’s a big difference between the chips: where the Ryzen 5 5500 has six cores and 12 threads, the i3 has just four cores and eight threads. AMD has also included more cache on this model

The improvement doesn’t feel like it’s £40 better, though.

With its core count and efficiency, the Ryzen 5 5600 runs quite cool in our measurements: 25°C when idle and 63°C when benchmarking. Any

AMD RYZEN 7 5800X3D The obvious choice if you have an AM4 motherboard and want the fastest gaming chip SCORE PRICE £358 (£430 inc VAT) from scan.co.uk

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he Ryzen 7 5800X3D is a revamped 5800X. It still has eight cores (16 threads), but AMD has used its 3D memory technology to add a huge 96MB of cache to the chip – that’s 64MB more than the 5800X. This processor runs at a slightly lower voltage than its predecessor, which means lower clock speeds too: the base clock of 3.4GHz is 400MHz slower, while the boost clock of 4.5GHz is 200MHz slower.

There’s also no overclocking on this chip, and the multiplier has been

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than Intel: 32MB versus 12MB. In some applications, that makes a big difference.

Overall, AMD’s core and cache advantage turn in better benchmark results. In the PC Pro tests, the Ryzen 5 5500 sits higher up the performance tables than the i3-2100. It’s a feat repeated across all of the more demanding benchmarks, with the i3 only doing better in some of the single-core tests, such as Geekbench 5.

We measured this processor at RECOMMENDED 25°C when idle, only jumping to 63°C when under load. That’s a little higher than its Intel rivals, but a decent cooler will help keep any PC you build cool and quiet.

If you’re building a budget PC, the Ryzen 5 5500 processor is a great chip and, with six cores, it can handle today’s applications with headroom for the future.

locked. This doesn’t make much difference on thermals: an idle temp of 31°C and benchmarking temp of 75°C is the same as for the 5800X. How the two chips stack up in benchmarks varies between the nature of the tests. What the 5800X3D is really built for is games. By having so much cache, the CPU has faster access to game assets without having to make calls to slower system memory.

It’s a trick that works: in Shadow of the Tomb Raider, the average CPU render at a resolution of 4K was 299fps: that’s faster than the Core i9-12900K. The cache makes less difference in other tests: in the PC Pro benchmark, the 5800X3D is slower than the i5-2600K, as it is in Cinebench. Single-core performance doesn’t really see a huge amount of benefit, either.

Most people will find the cheaper Ryzen 9 5900X a better overall choice, leaving the 5800X3D as an interesting bit of technology – and for gamers only.

decent cooler will be able to keep this CPU cool and your computer quiet.

There’s nothing particularly wrong with this processor, other than its price. Given the marginal difference in benchmark results, the 5500 is a better choice.

AMD RYZEN 5 5600X A solid six-core processor, but both the i5-2600 and Ryzen 5 5500 beat it for value SCORE PRICE £171 (£205 inc VAT) from box.co.uk

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he first of the unlocked processors in AMD’s Ryzen lineup, the Ryzen 5 5600X is more of an entry-level chip. That said, there are still six cores (12 threads) on a single chiplet. That puts this chip head-to-head with the Core i5-12500, another six-core processor at a similar price. Both chips run at comparable clock speeds: the Ryzen 5 5600X has a base clock of 3.7GHz and boosts to 4.6GHz, which is the same boost speed as the i5.

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AMD RYZEN 9 5900X A huge number of cores for the price, this model is a superb choice for anyone who prioritises performance SCORE PRICE £305 (£366 inc VAT) from box.co.uk

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ne step down from AMD’s top-end Ryzen, the 5900X drops down to “just” 12 cores compared to the 5950X’s 16, providing 24 threads. The only Intel processor to offer as many threads is the i9 series, and they’re a lot more expensive.

Similar to the 5950X’s architecture, this CPU is actually two six-core chiplets located on a

In single-core tests, the 5600X holds its own against its rival. When it comes to the harder multithreaded tests, such as Cinebench and Geekbench, Intel’s new architecture proves itself and the i5-12600 slightly outperformed the 5600X. Admittedly, it’s a close-run thing; the reason that the Ryzen 7 models manage to push ahead overall is that they have two more cores than the budget i5 models.

And it does all this while keeping at almost identical temperatures to the Ryzen 5600, so it’s easy to keep cool.

The biggest issue for the 5600X is that it’s more expensive than the generally faster i5-12600. If you’re leaning towards one of AMD’s lower-cost chips, the Ryzen 5 5500 offers far superior value.

AMD RYZEN 7 5700X This feels like the processor the 5800X should have been: cheaper and more efficient SCORE PRICE £225 (£270 inc VAT) from scan.co.uk

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e spend a lot of our 5800X review explaining why it comes up short against the Ryzen 7 5700X, and for a good reason: this is the superior processor in every metric that counts.

This processor has a lower TDP (65W vs 105W), thanks in part to its lower base clock speed of 3.4GHz, which is a full 400MHz lower than that of the 5800X. However, when CPUs are pushed hard, they all clock upwards and jump to their boost speeds: here, that’s 4.6GHz. In the vast majority of cases, then, the 5700X will run at just 100MHz less than its more expensive relative.

single chip. There’s a chance that cross-communication can face some latency, but our benchmarks don’t suggest that this is an issue. Nor did we see any thermal challenges, with 31.5°C when idle jumping to 76°C when running our benchmarking tests.

There’s no doubt that the Ryzen 9 5900X is excellent value: it costs about the same as the Core i7-12700K, but offers double the number of threads. With a base clock of 3.7GHz and boost clock of 4.8GHz, this is one fast processor, and it’s unlocked, so you can push it further if you want.

In multithreaded applications, the 5900X outdoes the i5-12600K across the board, and is similar to the 12700K in the PC Pro benchmarks,

but does better in Cinebench. Having lots of cores still pays dividends for high-end tasks. Plus, in everday use of Windows, RECOMMENDED background tasks can use a few threads, leaving you lots of cores for launching demanding software such as Photoshop.

Single-core performance isn’t quite as stellar, but the 5900X is still fast.

For price and performance, this processor is hard to beat. With AMD motherboards costing less than Intel ones, this can chip can make the basis of a powerful but cost-effective build.

Alternatively, it will work on some older 300 series motherboards, making it a great upgrade.

In terms of benchmarks, the 5700X is similar to the 5800X across PC Pro (seven points slower) and Cinebench (less than 200 between them). It’s a story that’s repeated in the gaming tests and single-core tests.

We can’t ignore that the i5-12600K outclasses this processor, but the 5700X is cheaper than its rival. If you want a mid-range AMD processor,

AMD RYZEN 9 5950X Still hugely powerful in the right circumstances, but it’s outshone by the more expensive i9-12900K SCORE PRICE £442 (£530 inc VAT) from scan.co.uk

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MD’s top-end Ryzen, the 5950X has a staggering 16 cores delivering a total of 32 threads. That’s a higher thread count than even the Intel Core i9-12900K. The layout of the chip is two eight-core chips on a single package, so there’s potential for latency if cores have to communicate from one package to another, but you wouldn’t necessarily notice.

This processor runs at a base clock of 3.4GHz, boosting to 4.9GHz. Running at full pelt, in benchmarks that can use the full thread count, the 5950X is mighty impressive: its score of 530 in the PC Pro benchmarks is only just behind the Core i9 models, and it’s pretty much level with the i9 in Geekbench 5’s multicore test while pulling ahead in Cinebench R23.

Single-core performance isn’t quite as impressive, dropping below the i5-12600 in Geekbench, but even then this processor could never be called slow.

The 5950X runs warmer than its competition: 31.5° at idle, 78°C in our benchmarks. Nothing that a good cooler can’t cope with.

So, which to choose, the Ryzen 9 5950X or the i9-12900K? The i9 is generally faster and more forward looking, with support for DDR5 and PCI-E 5; the 5950X costs less and can be bought with cheaper motherboards, including older 300 series chipsets. That not only cuts the cost of your system but also makes it a great upgrade.

and especially if you’re upgrading from an older Ryzen chip, then this is the one you should buy.

AMD RYZEN 7 5800X It’s fast, but this processor is expensive for what it is, and the cheaper 5700X makes more sense SCORE PRICE £246 (£295 inc VAT) from box.co.uk

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he Ryzen 7 5800X feels like a slightly strange processor. This eight-core chip is similar to the newer 5800X3D, only without the fancy new 3D cache; it’s also incredibly similar to the far cheaper 5700X. All of the cores on this processor are on a single chiplet: effectively, what you’re getting here is half of a 5900X, which has two chiplets in order to double up the thread count.

This processor runs at 3.8GHz and boosts to 4.7GHz. It has similar thermals to the faster chips, and we measured it at 31°C when idle and 75°C when benchmarking.

Performance is strong, at least until you look at the price. Hitting 383 in the PC Pro benchmarks, the 5800X is about mid-table, as it is in the Cinebench test. It sits around the same level in the single-core benchmarks, too.

So this CPU is more expensive than the Core i5-12600K while falling behind it in benchmarks.

Yet it’s competition within the ranks that causes the real problems: the 5700X is cheaper, has similar performance and a lower TDP. That processor is clearly the better buy.

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Intel architecture explained With a brand-new architecture consisting of two different types of core, the 12th generation Intel chips are very different to what came before

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or its 12th-generation CPUs, based on the Alder Lake architecture, Intel has gone back to the drawing board and come up with something very different. Most CPUs in the range now have two types of core: performance (P-cores) and efficiency (E-cores).

The idea behind the design is similar to that of ARM’s Big.Little architecture, which combines low-power cores for smaller background tasks, and large performance cores when power is needed. That’s exactly what we have with Alder Lake, with P-cores taking care of high-end tasks and the E-cores there for efficient background processing.

All cores, both P and E, are built using the Intel 7 process, which was known as the 10nm Enhanced SuperFin. These processors finally see the end of the 14nm process, and we’re now onto the second generation of Intel 10nm fabrication (it’s the first time we’ve seen this on Intel’s desktop processors, whereas AMD has been at 7nm since 2019).

P-cores

The P-cores are your traditional processing cores. If this was any other year and Intel hadn’t introduced E-cores, then the 12th-generation would have consisted of these alone.

For this generation, we have the Golden Cove architecture, which Intel claims gives around 19% more instructions per cycle compared to the older 11th generation products.

Every P-core has HyperThreading, which doubles the number of threads available. As has been standard for a long time, the P-cores have two clock speeds quoted. The first is the base clock speed, which is the minimum that the processor will run at.

This differs massively across the range, with the unlocked CPUs generally having higher base speeds; locked processors will clock down further.

Then there’s the Turbo Clock speed, which is the maximum clock speed that the P-cores will jump to when 84

pushed. These speeds rely on the available thermal overhead: the better the cooling in your computer, the higher the clock speed and the faster your computer will run.

Just to confuse things, Intel has also introduced Turbo Boost Max Technology 3. This is for Intel claims the Golden Cove lightly threaded architecture gives around performance and is to make the 19% more instructions per designed best-performing cores cycle compared to older run faster. During 11th gen products manufacturing, it’s normal for some cores to be capable of running at higher clock rates. Turbo Boost Max 3 is there to identify these cores automatically, pushing them higher when there’s BELOW Intel’s 10nm enough thermal headroom (such as in process still lags lightly threaded tasks).

ABOVE Alder Lake includes two types of cores: one for power, one for efficiency

behind AMD’s 7nm

E-cores

E-cores are the efficient ones. On the CPU, several E-cores can fit into the same space as a P-core. These cores use the Gracemont architecture, and Intel says that each E-core offers 40% more performance over a Skylake core when running at the same power. Skylake launched back in 2015, so this doesn’t sound like a very impressive gain; however, the E-cores aren’t there to

deliver the best performance for high-end tasks; they’re there to take care of background work efficiently.

As Intel says, E-cores are optimised for multicore performance-per-watt tasks. In other words, when you’ve got less demanding background tasks, the E-cores can step in and run them efficiently, using less power and generating less heat than a CPU with P-cores only.

E-cores don’t support HyperThreading, so it’s strictly one thread per core. As a result, many 12th generation Intel processors have an odd-looking number of cores and threads. The Core i9-12900K, for example, has eight P-cores delivering 16 threads and eight E-cores. That’s a total of 24 threads spread between the hybrid architecture.

While the E-cores are an exciting development, be aware that they don’t appear in every processor in the range: cheaper models ditch E-cores and just have P-cores.

Thread Director

Having a new architecture is great, but it does add some complexity into the mix, as your operating system has to know which cores to send tasks to.

For this, Intel has its new Thread Director architecture.

It’s a hardware feature that assigns threads to E-core or P-cores based on the optimisation that is required.

Although it uses built-in hardware,

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LEFT If you can afford it, the i9-12900K is a truly spectacular processor

Product variations

Thread Director requires operating system support to work best, and it’s currently only directly supported in Windows 11.

Alder Lake CPUs will run in Windows 10, and there is some optimisation available, but not the full gamut. As a result, it’s possible that Windows 10 can assign threads to the wrong processing cores, which will mean that performance can vary significantly. There are some workarounds, such as using powercfg to force a task to run in the foreground or the Process Lasso add-on. It’s not ideal, so if you don’t want to upgrade to Windows 11 and prefer to stick with Windows 10, you may want to choose a 12th gen processor that doesn’t have E-cores or go with AMD instead.

New chipsets

All of the 12th generation chips are larger than the previous generation, which means a new socket: LGA-1700.

The new socket isn’t compatible with older coolers, either, although many manufacturers do offer adapters for them. Noctua, for example, will send out a free adapter for its older coolers, although it now sells products that are LGA-1700-compatible.

Of course, it wouldn’t be a new Intel processor without the need for a new chipset as well. Alder Lake chips launched with the high-end Z690 motherboards, but since then, cheaper B660, H670, and H610 motherboards have been launched.

All common sizes (ATX, micro-ATX and mini-ITX) are supported.

As well as the new processor architecture, the chipsets support some of the CPU’s new features.

DDR5 memory

One of the biggest changes with Alder Lake chips is that they

support DDR5 memory as well as DDR4 memory. The ultimate advantages of DDR5 are its higher capacities per stick and faster speeds.

However, DDR5 is relatively expensive and the current speeds aren’t that much faster than the best DDR4 memory. You do All of the 12th generation have to make the memory decision at the time you chips are larger than the buy, however, as a previous generation, motherboard supports which means a new either DDR4 or DDR5.

ABOVE The likes of Noctua have been quick to produce adapters for coolers

socket: LGA-1700

BELOW Pay careful attention to the suffix and generation of the chip you’re buying

PCI-E standards

PCI-E 5 (sometimes called Gen 5) is also supported, with up to 16 lanes for storage and graphics. That’s something that will come in the future. For now, there are four lanes of PCI-E 4 (Gen 4) for storage via M.2 slots, with some motherboards offering up to four slots.

Performance level Brand

Generation

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Intel Core i7-12700K Company

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Model number

The differences between the available models are both range (i9, i7, i5 and i3) and then the features, denoted by letters at the end of a model name, such as “K” or “F”. Given the new hybrid architecture, the processor range is slightly more complicated than you might expect, and what’s available differs through the range.

Our table on p76 helps you see the true differences between processors, but we’ll explain the range as best we can.

Core i9 has Intel’s high-end, performance-led processors.

Everything in the range has P-cores (eight) and E-cores (eight), offering the overall best performance of the range. These processors tend to run hotter than the lower-end chips.

The Core i7-range is the next step down, offering enthusiast-level performance. Again, all CPUs have eight P-cores, with the number matching those on i9 chips, but half the number of E-cores (four), which has an impact on some tasks; however, for any task that requires P-cores, such as gaming, performance between the two chips is very similar.

Things start to get more complicated when we get down to the Core i5 range. Here, we see a drop to six P-cores across the range.

However, only the Core i5-12600K has four E-cores, while the rest of the range ditches them entirely.

That has quite an impact on performance for some tasks.

Down at the entry-level Core i3, we have four P-cores only, and there are no E-cores. This makes the i3 more of a standard upgrade on the previous generation, with none of the main advantages of the new architecture.

The variations in the range come from the letters at the end of the name. Any processor with a “K” in it is an unlocked variation. These chips can have their multiplier adjusted manually to boost the overall speed limit; higher-frequency chips require better cooling.

Then there are “F” chips in the lineup. These ditch the integrated graphics and come at a slightly lower price, although they have the same CPU performance as the regular version. If you’re always going to use a graphics card, you might as well save a bit of cash. It’s possible to get chips that use both letters: the Core i7-12700KF is an unlocked CPU with no onboard graphics.

All chips have an L2 cache and smart cache (effectively L3), which are shared between all cores. The total number of each is dependent on the total number of cores.

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INTEL reviews INTEL CORE i3-12100 A fine budget choice, and note that the graphics-less 12100F costs under £100 SCORE PRICE £106 (£127 inc VAT) from box.co.uk

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he Core i3-12100 is the cheapest “i” CPU in the 12th generation range (there are stripped-down Celeron chips based on the Alder Lake architecture). It has the same four-core and eight-thread P-core layout as the more expensive i3-12300, with no E-cores.

The i3-12100 processor has a base speed of 3.3GHz, boosting to 4.3GHz, so 100MHz less than the i3-2300.

That made little difference in our benchmarks: single-threaded performance in the likes of the Geekbench and Cinebench tests punches above AMD rivals.

On tougher multithreaded benchmarks, the i3-12100 sits at the bottom of the league tables, but it’s only a fraction behind the i3-12300.

What it comes down to is price.

This is a cheap processor to start with, but opt for the GPU-less F version and you can buy it for under £100. That’s not bad if you want a

basic computer with an older graphics card for 1080p gaming.

And if you’re building a budget PC that can handle future technologies, including DDR5 and PCI-E 5, then this is a solid chip. Just be sure to take total system prices into account; for now, a faster AMD processor, such as the Ryzen 5 5500, may work out cheaper when you factor in motherboard prices.

INTEL CORE i3-12300 A decent budget processor, but you may want to wait for cheaper motherboards SCORE PRICE £125 (£150 inc VAT) from scan.co.uk

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he Intel Core i3-12300, like the i3-12100, is a budget processor, cheaper than even AMD’s entry-level Ryzen processors. That means limitations. There are no E-cores, although given that these drop out at the i5 level, that’s to be expected.

There are also only four cores; even AMD’s budget processors offer six.

What you do get is well-balanced performance for the price. The E-cores run at a base speed of 3.5GHz and have the same Turbo speed as

INTEL CORE i5-12600K A brilliant mid-range processor that can cope with anything you throw at it SCORE PRICE £232 (£278 inc VAT) from box.co.uk

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or years, the Core i5 has been the top mid-range choice for Intel chips. Arguably for the 12th generation chips, the i5-12600K is even better value, as you get all of the benefits of the new architecture.

That includes six P-cores and four E-cores, so the same as on the i7 range. Clock speeds are

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similar to the i7 range, too: the P-cores have a base speed of 3.7GHz and a 4.9GHz boost speed; the E-cores, RECOMMENDED meanwhile, have a base speed of 2.8GHz and a boost speed of 3.6GHz. As the “K” suffix indicates, you can overclock this chip as it’s unlocked. It runs cooler than its more powerful siblings too, hitting 69°C in benchmarks and 20°C when idle.

the i5-12400 at 4.4GHz. As you might expect, single-core performance is rather good, and the i3-12300 does as well in these benchmarks as its more expensive i5 stablemate.

Multicore performance isn’t as good. While the i3-12300 will cope with all tasks, its overall PC Pro score of 222 puts it towards the bottom of the pile and below AMD’s budget Ryzen 5 lineup, all of which have two additional cores.

Whether to buy this processor or not is a hard decision to make. On the one hand, this chip is cheap, and it supports PCI-E 5 and DDR5 memory; on the other hand, DDR5 memory is expensive, as are the motherboards.

But if you can find everything at the right price, then this has the makings of a good budget CPU.

INTEL CORE i5-12400 The price is good, but there are better processors for entry-level systems SCORE PRICE £158 (£190 inc VAT) from scan.co.uk

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he Core i5-12400, just as with the i5-12500, feels like a gap filler.

With six P-cores and no E-cores, the

In some cases, the i5 is a single-core powerhouse due to its unlocked nature, with the i5-12600K marginally faster in the Geekbench 5 single-core test than the i7-12700. It performs well in multithreaded tasks, too, scoring 458 in the PC Pro benchmarks. The only processors to score faster are a lot more expensive.

And price is the key to this processor’s success: it’s under £300 for the standard model and even cheaper if you shop around for the GPU-free F version. For most PCs, the Core i5-12600K is a true powerhouse and an efficient choice.

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INTEL CORE i7-12700K The best overall processor for price and performance, and the GPU-less KF version is even better value SCORE PRICE £321 (£385 inc VAT) from box.co.uk

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he i9-range may grab headlines for the most threads in an Intel CPU, but the i7-12700K isn’t far behind. This model has the same number of P-cores (eight, delivering 16 threads) but has half the number of E-cores at four.

Clock speeds are also a little behind the i9’s, with the P-cores running at 3.6GHz and boosting to 4.9GHz; the E-cores run at 2.7GHz and boost to 3.8GHz. The result is that the i7 was a little

only difference between this chip and the other non-K Core i5 models is clock speed.

Here, the P-cores run at 2.5GHz (500MHz down on the i5-12500) with a 4.4GHz boost clock (down 200MHz on the i5-12500). Given that CPUs will boost to their higher clock speed when busy, the slower base rate makes little difference.

It’s a similar story across the benchmarks. Single-core performance largely impresses thanks to the new architecture; without E-cores, tougher benchmarks such as Cinebench and the PC Pro tests are less impressive, and this chip struggles to keep up with the main competition.

In fact, price is the main benefit of this chip, particularly if you pick up the non-GPU F version, which costs just £169 inc VAT. The challenge is that an i3 model arguably makes more sense if budget is a focus, while you can buy a faster AMD model for a similar price and cheaper overall platform cost.

INTEL CORE i5-12500 A trifle faster than the Core i5-12600, but the lack of E-cores still hurts SCORE PRICE £167 (£200 inc VAT) from scan.co.uk

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he Intel Core i5-12500 is essentially the same processor as the i5-12600, with six P-cores but no E-cores. The difference comes down to clock speeds. Here, the P-cores run at 3GHz base (down 300MHz) with a boost speed of 4.7GHz (200MHz less).

The end result is marginal differences in the benchmarks.

cooler when idle at 19°C, although we measured it at 72°C running benchmarks, the same as the i9.

When it comes to benchmarks, the i7-12700K is still impressive. In the PC Pro benchmarks, a score of 526 is fourth overall, behind the i9 chips and the AMD Ryzen 5950X; even then, the 5950X is only a fraction ahead because it scored better in the video-encoding test.

Single-core performance is ahead of everything else, bar the i9 chips and, even then, the difference is tiny.

What’s particularly impressive about the i7-12700K is that it’s at least £100 cheaper than the nearest i9 processor, and the 5950X. Buy the F version and the price dips even further (to £375 at the time of going to press). In terms of price and performance, the i7 hits the sweet spot and is the best overall high-end processor.

Single-core tests continue to impress. In fact, the Geekbench 5 single-core speeds are very similar to those achieved by the higher-end processors, and faster than AMD’s offerings. As we get into multicore tests, such as PC Pro’s, the i5-12500 suffers due to the lack of E-cores, falling behind its more expensive siblings, but it still manages to outperform AMD’s similarly priced processors in most tests.

Even so, the i5-12500 feels like a tough sell. Given the cost of buying into Intel’s new generation of chips, we’d argue that it makes sense to do this with a processor that has E-cores so that you’re seeing the true benefits of the system.

INTEL CORE i5-12600 Don’t be fooled by the model name: this chip drops the 12600K’s E-cores. Even so, it’s a strong CPU for the price

But the difference became obvious in the PC Pro benchmarks, where the CPU plummeted down the league tables, far below the i5-12600K and just under the Ryzen 7 range, which all have two more processor cores.

In Cinebench and Geekbench, though, Intel’s new architecture comes to the rescue, with the i5-2600 just pulling ahead of its same-priced AMD competition.

What this model has going for it is price: it’s significantly cheaper than the 12600K. While the lack of E-cores means that multicore performance is far less impressive than the more expensive Intel chips, the new P-cores give the i5-12600 enough of a lift to outperform the similarly priced AMD Ryzen 5 5600X. Overall, the i5-12600 is a good processor, but if we were going to buy into Intel’s new chips, we’d rather do so with one of the models that has E-cores.

SCORE PRICE £179 (£215 inc VAT) from box.co.uk

INTEL CORE i7-12700 Great performance if you want to save a bit of cash and don’t want to overclock

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t first glance, the i5-12600 seems to be something of bargain, being £80 cheaper than the i5-12600K. Before you get too excited, though, know that the i5-12600 drops one of the main benefits of Intel’s 12th generation architecture: E-cores.

Instead, there are only six P-cores, running at a base speed of 3.3GHz and boosting to 4.8GHz. The lack of E-cores doesn’t make much difference in gaming and singlethreaded applications, compared to other Intel chips; indeed, a Geekbench 5 single-core result of 1,732 is faster than any AMD Ryzen chip here.

SCORE PRICE £279 (£335 inc VAT) from box.co.uk

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he Core i7-12700 is similar to its big brother, the 12700K, only without the option of overclocking.

Here, you get the same core count, with eight P-cores and four E-cores.

That’s a total of 20 threads.

Intel has reduced the base clock rate compared to the 12700K, with the P-cores running at 2.1GHz, but the boost clock is just 100MHz slower at 4.8GHz. It’s similar for the E-cores, running at 1.6GHz base 87

and boosting to 3.6GHz. Given that when a CPU is busy it will boost, the difference between the 12700 and 12700K is less pronounced than you might think.

A total score of 496 in the PC Pro benchmarks is still massively fast, although the AMD Ryzen 5900X just pushes in above this chip. Singlethreaded performance is much closer, and the i7-12700 is fifth overall in the Geekbench 5 (singlecore) benchmarks. It’s similar in the game tests.

Price is the main reason to consider this CPU over the i7-12700K: it’s available for a chunk under £400, and even cheaper if you buy the GPU-less F version. However, at its current prices, the Ryzen 9 5900X costs similar and the overall platform cost will be less.

If you’re going to make the upgrade to Intel’s 12th generation, then going full-in and getting the superior performance of the i7-12700K, as well as its unlocked abilities, makes more sense.

INTEL CORE i9-12900 Staggeringly quick, but this locked processor misses out on the overclocking options that its big brother offers SCORE PRICE £417 (£500 inc VAT) from scan.co.uk

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oming in at £70 less than its big brother, the Core i9-12900 has the same eight P-cores and eight E-cores, with a total of 24 threads.

INTEL CORE i9-12900K Stonkingly fast in multithreaded apps, this is the ultimate CPU for those that need the power SCORE PRICE £464 (£557 inc VAT) from box.co.uk

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n absolute beast of a RECOMMENDED processor, the Intel Core i9-12900K is the company’s top-of-the-line unlocked CPU. It has the most cores of any Intel processor, with eight P-cores and eight E-cores. With HyperThreading, that’s a total of 24 threads. Despite this, the processor ran relatively cool in our benchmarks, topping out at 72°C but dropping down to a cool 20°C when sitting idle; that’s those E-cores at work for you.

The P-cores run at 3.4GHz, boosting to 5.2GHz, while the E-cores run at 2.5GHz and boost to 4GHz.

It differs from the K version in two important ways. First, it can’t be overclocked, as its CPU ratio is locked. Second, it runs at a slightly slower clock speed. This makes practically no difference in recorded temperatures: we measured the i9-12900 at 19°C when idle and only 72°C when running benchmarks.

The base P-cores run 200MHz slower at 3.2GHz, but the more important boost clock is a mere 100MHz slower at 5.1GHz. It’s a similar story for the E-cores, with a 100MHz slower base clock at 2.4GHz, and 100MHz slower boost speeds at 3.9GHz.

In tasks that can use all the cores, the end result is that the i9-12900K is stunningly powerful. An overall score of 592 in the PC Pro benchmarks is among the fastest that we’ve seen a desktop PC deliver, partially because of the multitasking score delivering a stunning score of 731.

In single-core applications, the performance gains are less impressive. A score of 1,934 in Geekbench 5’s single-core test is indeed charttopping, but only marginally faster than the much cheaper Core i7-12700K. Ditto for games, where the i9-12900K and i7-12700K are almost identical in the Shadow of the Tomb Raider tests and a chunk behind the impressive AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D. For the absolute best application performance, assuming you have Windows 11, this processor is currently king.

But it is expensive, particularly when you factor in the motherboard cost and, potentially, DDR5. For most people that need the performance, the Core i7-12700K is a better value choice.

Does it make much difference?

Well, no. The overall score in the PC Pro benchmarks was 588, with multithreading performance helping deliver a score of 727 in that section.

Those scores are only just behind the i9-12900K at its stock speeds.

Switch to single-core performance and the i9-12900 is fast but not that far ahead of the competition. If it were cheaper the i9-12900 would be an attractive alternative to the K version, but if you’re going to go all-in, then why not fit a system out with the best cooling and overclock? And if you’re looking for power at a lower price, the i7-12700K makes more sense.

Mostly ARMless?

The ARM architecture has made huge strides on macOS and – to a lesser extent – Windows. Is there life in the old x86 dog yet?

Efficiency over pure raw power has driven processors forward. First, we saw it with laptops, when Intel developed its efficient Core architecture for notebooks, later transitioning the architecture into its desktop products. Now, the inspiration is coming from mobile chips designed by ARM, which until recently were predominantly used in mobile phones and embedded devices.

Apple has taken the lead, with its ARM-based M1 chips powering everything from its entry-level laptops to the high-end Mac Studio.

Key to the design is using power-efficient cores, but using a lot of them. The MacBook Air, for example, has eight cores as a starting point (four powerful cores for high-end tasks and four low-power ones for background tasks and efficiency), while the Mac Studio uses the M1 Ultra with up to 20 cores in total (16 highperformance and four low-power).

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Rather than being budget chips, Apple has shown the true advantages of ARM architecture: low-power chips that improve battery life and are easier to cool (the MacBook Air doesn’t have fans), and lots of highperformance cores in its desktop products.

While Intel’s latest chips may offer better performance on a single core, Apple competes by adding core after core after core.

Intel lost both face and money when Apple stopped using its chips, so it’s no wonder that the company has thought differently with its processor architecture. Nor is it a surprise that its latest 12th generation Alder Lake chips use a similar layout to ARM ones: big P-cores, little E-cores.

But will this be enough to stave off the threat from ARM? After all, the CEO of Qualcomm, Cristiano Amon, boldly announced on stage at CES 2022 in January that a shift to ARM on

Windows was “inevitable” due to the shift towards working anywhere.

Versions of Windows 10 and 11 already run on ARM architecture, and there are some laptops and mini PCs that use Snapdragon chips. These computers can’t compete performance-wise with Intel and AMD, but if Apple continues to surge ahead, how long will it be before PC manufacturers turn to ARM as the solution?

We aren’t as bullish as Cristiano Amon. After all, Apple’s advantage is that it makes the hardware and software, so it controls everything; PC manufacturers rely on components and software from lots of different sources, so it’s harder for the market to make the same co-ordinated shift that Apple has done. But one thing’s for certain: we’re at an interesting crossroads for processors, and more competition is never a bad thing.

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PC Pro overall

Core Core Core i9-12900K i9-12900K i9-12900KRecommended

557 557 557 557 557 557 551 551 551 Core Core Core i9-12900 i9-12900 i9-12900 551 551 551 Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 995950X 5950X 9 5950X 501 501 501 Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 995950X 95950X 5950X 501 501 501 Core Core Core i7-12700K i7-12700K i7-12700KLabs Winner 489 489 489 Core Core Core i7-12700K i7-12700K i7-12700K 489 489 489 Core Core Core i7-12700 i7-12700 i7-12700 476 476 476 Core Core Core i7-12700 i7-12700 i7-12700 476 476 476 Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 995900X 5900X 9 5900XRecommended 463 463 463 Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 995900X 95900X 5900X 463 463 463 Core Core Core i5-12600K i5-12600K i5-12600KRecommended 429 429 429 Core Core Core i5-12600K i5-12600K i5-12600K 429 429 429 Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 775800X3D 5800X3D 7 5800X3D 362 362 362 Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 775800X3D 5800X3D 7 5800X3D 362 362 362 Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 775800X 5800X 7 5800X 351 351 351 Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 775800X 5800X 7 5800X 351 351 351 Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 775700X 5700X 7 5700X 342 342 342 Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 775700X 5700X 7 5700X 342 342 342 Core Core Core i5-12600 i5-12600 i5-12600 307 307 307 Core Core Core i5-12600 i5-12600 i5-12600 307 307 307 Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 555600X 5600X 5 5600X 298 298 298 Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 555600X 55600X 5600X 298 298 298 Core Core Core i5-12500 i5-12500 i5-12500 292 292 292 Core Core Core i5-12500 i5-12500 i5-12500 292 292 292 Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 555600 5600 5 5600 281 281 281 Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 555600 55600 5600 281 281 281 Core Core Core i5-12400 i5-12400 i5-12400 281 281 281 Core Core Core i5-12400 i5-12400 i5-12400 281 281 281 Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 555500 5500 5 5500 270 270 270Recommended Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 555500 55500 5500 270 270 270 Core Core Core i3-12300 i3-12300 i3-12300 195 195 195 Core Core Core i3-12300 i3-12300 i3-12300 195 195 195 Core Core Core i3-12100 i3-12100 i3-12100 191 191 191 Core Core Core i3-12100 i3-12100 i3-12100 191 191 191 00 0 100 100 100 200 200 200 300 300 300 400 400 400 500 500 500 600 600 600 Core Core Core i9-12900K i9-12900K i9-12900K Core Core Core i9-12900 i9-12900 i9-12900

00 0

100 100 100

200 200 200

300 300 300

400 400 400

500 500 500

600 600 600

Cinebench R23 single core

592 592 592 Core Core Core i9-12900K i9-12900K i9-12900K Recommended 592 592 592 Core Core Core i9-12900 i9-12900 i9-12900 588 588 588 Core Core Core i9-12900 i9-12900 i9-12900 588 588 588 Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 995950X 5950X 9 5950X 530 530 530 Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 995950X 95950X 5950X 530 530 530 Core Core Core i7-12700K i7-12700K i7-12700K 526 526 526 Core Core Core i7-12700K i7-12700K i7-12700K Labs Winner 526 526 526 Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 995900X 5900X 9 5900X 504 504 504 Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 995900X 95900X 5900X Recommended 504 504 504 Core Core Core i7-12700 i7-12700 i7-12700 496 496 496 Core Core Core i7-12700 i7-12700 i7-12700 496 496 496 Core Core Core i5-12600K i5-12600K i5-12600K 458 458 458 Core Core Core i5-12600K i5-12600K i5-12600K Recommended 458 458 458 Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 775800X3D 5800X3D 7 5800X3D 397 397 397 Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 775800X3D 5800X3D 7 5800X3D 397 397 397 Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 775800X 5800X 7 5800X 383 383 383 Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 775800X 5800X 7 5800X 383 383 383 Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 775700X 5700X 7 5700X 376 376 376 Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 775700X 5700X 7 5700X 376 376 376 Core Core Core i5-12600 i5-12600 i5-12600 342 342 342 Core Core Core i5-12600 i5-12600 i5-12600 342 342 342 Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 555600X 5600X 5 5600X 332 332 332 Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 555600X 55600X 5600X 332 332 332 Core Core Core i5-12500 i5-12500 i5-12500 329 329 329 Core Core Core i5-12500 i5-12500 i5-12500 329 329 329 Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 555600 5600 5 5600 313 313 313 Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 555600 55600 5600 313 313 313 Core Core Core i5-12400 i5-12400 i5-12400 313 313 313 Core Core Core i5-12400 i5-12400 i5-12400 313 313 313 Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 555500 5500 5 5500 301 301 301 Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 555500 55500 5500 301 301 301 Recommended Core Core Core i3-12300 i3-12300 i3-12300 222 222 222 Core Core Core i3-12300 i3-12300 i3-12300 222 222 222 Core Core Core i3-12100 i3-12100 i3-12100 218 218 218 Core Core Core i3-12100 i3-12100 i3-12100 218 218 00 0 100 100 100218 200 200 200 300 300 300 400 400 400 500 500 500 600 600 600 Core Core Core i9-12900K i9-12900K i9-12900K

00 0

PC Pro multitasking

100 100 100

200 200 200

300 300 300

400 400 400

500 500 500

600 600 600

Core Core Core i9-12900K i9-12900K i9-12900K Recommended Core Core Core i7-12700K i7-12700K i7-12700K Core Core Core i7-12700K i7-12700K i7-12700K Labs Winner Core Core Core i5-12600K i5-12600K i5-12600K Core Core Core i5-12600K i5-12600K i5-12600K Recommended Core Core Core i7-12700 i7-12700 i7-12700 Core Core Core i7-12700 i7-12700 i7-12700 Core Core Core i9-12900 i9-12900 i9-12900 Core Core Core i9-12900 i9-12900 i9-12900 Core Core Core i5-12600 i5-12600 i5-12600 Core Core Core i5-12600 i5-12600 i5-12600 Core Core Core i5-12500 i5-12500 i5-12500 Core Core Core i5-12500 i5-12500 i5-12500 Core Core Core i5-12400 i5-12400 i5-12400 Core Core Core i5-12400 i5-12400 i5-12400 Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 995950X 5950X 9 5950X Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 995950X 95950X 5950X Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 995900X 5900X 9 5900X Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 995900X 95900X 5900X Recommended Core Core Core i3-12300 i3-12300 i3-12300 Core Core Core i3-12300 i3-12300 i3-12300 Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 775800X 5800X 7 5800X Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 775800X 5800X 7 5800X Core Core Core i3-12100 i3-12100 i3-12100 Core Core Core i3-12100 i3-12100 i3-12100 Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 775700X 5700X 7 5700X Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 775700X 5700X 7 5700X Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 555600X 5600X 5 5600X Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 555600X 55600X 5600X Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 775800X3D 5800X3D 7 5800X3D Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 775800X3D 5800X3D 7 5800X3D Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 555600 5600 5 5600 Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 555600 55600 5600 Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 555500 5500 5 5500 Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 555500 55500 5500 Recommended 00 0 400 400 400 800 800 800

400 400 400

Core Core Core i9-12900K i9-12900K i9-12900K Core Core Core i9-12900 i9-12900 i9-12900

00 0 100 100 100 200 200 200 300 300 300 400 400 400 500 500 500 600 600 600 700 700 700 800 800 800

Cinebench R23 multicore

Core Core Core i9-12900K i9-12900K i9-12900K

00 0

Recommended

731 731 731 731 731 731 727 727 727 Core Core Core i9-12900 i9-12900 i9-12900 727 727 727 Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 995950X 5950X 9 5950X 644 644 644 Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 995950X 95950X 5950X 644 644 644 Core Core Core i7-12700K i7-12700K i7-12700K Labs Winner 644 644 644 Core Core Core i7-12700K i7-12700K i7-12700K 644 644 644 Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 995900X 5900X 9 5900X Recommended 617 617 617 Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 995900X 95900X 5900X 617 617 617 Core Core Core i7-12700 i7-12700 i7-12700 592 592 592 Core Core Core i7-12700 i7-12700 i7-12700 592 592 592 Core Core Core i5-12600K i5-12600K i5-12600K Recommended 552 552 552 Core Core Core i5-12600K i5-12600K i5-12600K 552 552 552 Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 775800X3D 5800X3D 7 5800X3D 480 480 480 Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 775800X3D 5800X3D 7 5800X3D 480 480 480 Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 775800X 5800X 7 5800X 458 458 458 Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 775800X 5800X 7 5800X 458 458 458 Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 775700X 5700X 7 5700X 449 449 449 Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 775700X 5700X 7 5700X 449 449 449 Core Core Core i5-12600 i5-12600 i5-12600 408 408 408 Core Core Core i5-12600 i5-12600 i5-12600 408 408 408 Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 555600X 5600X 5 5600X 395 395 395 Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 555600X 55600X 5600X 395 395 395 Core Core Core i5-12500 i5-12500 i5-12500 392 392 392 Core Core Core i5-12500 i5-12500 i5-12500 392 392 392 Core Core Core i5-12400 i5-12400 i5-12400 374 374 374 Core Core Core i5-12400 i5-12400 i5-12400 374 374 374 Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 555600 5600 5 5600 370 370 370 Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 555600 55600 5600 370 370 370 Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 555500 5500 5 5500 357 357 357 Recommended Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 555500 55500 5500 357 357 357 Core Core Core i3-12300 i3-12300 i3-12300 254 254 254 Core Core Core i3-12300 i3-12300 i3-12300 254 254 254 Core Core Core i3-12100 i3-12100 i3-12100 251 251 251 Core Core Core i3-12100 i3-12100 i3-12100 251 251 251 00 0 100 100 100200 200 200300 300 300400 400 400500 500 500600 600 600700 700 700800 800 800 Core Core Core i9-12900K i9-12900K i9-12900K

800 800 800

1,911 1,911 1,911 1,911 1,911 1,911 1,880 1,880 1,880 1,880 1,880 1,880 1,862 1,862 1,862 1,862 1,862 1,862 1,849 1,849 1,849 1,849 1,849 1,849 1,848 1,848 1,848 1,848 1,848 1,848 1,811 1,811 1,811 1,811 1,811 1,811 1,784 1,784 1,784 1,784 1,784 1,784 1,707 1,707 1,707 1,707 1,707 1,707 1,633 1,633 1,633 1,633 1,633 1,633 1,625 1,625 1,625 1,625 1,625 1,625 1,619 1,619 1,619 1,619 1,619 1,619 1,582 1,582 1,582 1,582 1,582 1,582 1,582 1,582 1,582 1,582 1,582 1,582 1,548 1,548 1,548 1,548 1,548 1,548 1,523 1,523 1,523 1,523 1,523 1,523 1,476 1,476 1,476 1,476 1,476 1,476 1,433 1,433 1,433 1,433 1,433 1,433 1,362 1,362 1,362 1,362 1,362 1,362 1,200 1,200 1,200 1,600 1,600 1,600 2,000 2,000 2,000 1,200 1,200 1,200

1,600 1,600 1,600 2,000 2,000 2,000

24,777 24,777 24,777 24,777 24,777 24,777 23,451 23,451 23,451 Core Core Core i9-12900K i9-12900K i9-12900K Recommended 23,451 23,451 23,451 Core Core Core i9-12900 i9-12900 i9-12900 23,231 23,231 23,231 Core Core Core i9-12900 i9-12900 i9-12900 23,231 23,231 23,231 Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 995900X 5900X 9 5900X 20,805 20,805 20,805 Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 995900X 95900X 5900X Recommended 20,805 20,805 20,805 Core Core Core i7-12700K i7-12700K i7-12700K 19,215 19,215 19,215 Core Core Core i7-12700K i7-12700K i7-12700K Labs Winner 19,215 19,215 19,215 Core Core Core i7-12700 i7-12700 i7-12700 18,45 18,45 18,45 Core Core Core i7-12700 i7-12700 i7-12700 18,45 18,45 18,45 Core Core Core i5-12600K i5-12600K i5-12600K 16,798 16,798 16,798 Core Core Core i5-12600K i5-12600K i5-12600K Recommended 16,798 16,798 16,798 Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 775800X 5800X 7 5800X 13,489 13,489 13,489 Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 775800X 5800X 7 5800X 13,489 13,489 13,489 Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 775700X 5700X 7 5700X 13,202 13,202 13,202 Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 775700X 5700X 7 5700X 13,202 13,202 13,202 Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 775800X3D 5800X3D 7 5800X3D 13,197 13,197 13,197 Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 775800X3D 5800X3D 7 5800X3D 13,197 13,197 13,197 Core Core Core i5-12600 i5-12600 i5-12600 12,728 12,728 12,728 Core Core Core i5-12600 i5-12600 i5-12600 12,728 12,728 12,728 Core Core Core i5-12500 i5-12500 i5-12500 12,198 12,198 12,198 Core Core Core i5-12500 i5-12500 i5-12500 12,198 12,198 12,198 Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 555600X 5600X 5 5600X 11,805 11,805 11,805 Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 555600X 55600X 5600X 11,805 11,805 11,805 Core Core Core i5-12400 i5-12400 i5-12400 11,667 11,667 11,667 Core Core Core i5-12400 i5-12400 i5-12400 11,667 11,667 11,667 Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 555600 5600 5 5600 11,110 11,110 11,110 Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 555600 55600 5600 11,110 11,110 11,110 Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 555500 5500 5 5500 10,543 10,543 10,543 Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 555500 55500 5500 10,543 10,543 10,543 Recommended Core Core Core i3-12300 i3-12300 i3-12300 8,135 8,135 8,135 Core Core Core i3-12300 i3-12300 i3-12300 8,135 8,135 8,135 Core Core Core i3-12100 i3-12100 i3-12100 7,590 7,590 7,590 Core Core Core i3-12100 i3-12100 i3-12100 7,590 7,590 7,590 00 0 5,000 5,000 5,000 10,000 10,000 10,000 15,000 15,000 15,000 20,000 20,000 20,00025,000 25,000 25,000 Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 995950X 5950X 9 5950X

Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 995950X 95950X 5950X Core Core Core i9-12900K i9-12900K i9-12900K

00 0

5,000 5,000 5,000 10,000 10,000 10,000 15,000 15,000 15,000 20,000 20,000 20,00025,000 25,000 25,000

89

Synthetic benchmarks Geekbench 5 multicore

(single thread 100,000 digits)

Core Core Core i9-12900K i9-12900K i9-12900KRecommended

15,601 15,601 15,601

Core Core Core i9-12900K i9-12900K i9-12900K

Recommended 15.32 15.32 15.32

Core Core Core i9-12900K i9-12900K i9-12900K Core Core Core i9-12900 i9-12900 i9-12900

15,601 15,601 15,601 15,574 15,574 15,574

Core Core Core i9-12900K i9-12900K i9-12900K Core Core Core i7-12700K i7-12700K i7-12700K

Labs Winner

Core Core Core i9-12900 i9-12900 i9-12900 Core Core Core i7-12700K i7-12700K i7-12700KLabs Winner

15,574 15,574 15,574 13,926 13,926 13,926

Core Core Core i7-12700K i7-12700K i7-12700K Core Core Core i9-12900 i9-12900 i9-12900

15.39 15.39 15.39 15.9 15.9 15.9

1,887 1,887 1,887 1,876 1,876 1,876

Core Core Core i7-12700K i7-12700K i7-12700K Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 995950X 5950X 9 5950X

13,926 13,926 13,926 13,859 13,859 13,859

Core Core Core i9-12900 i9-12900 i9-12900 Core Core Core i5-12600 i5-12600 i5-12600

15.9 15.9 15.9 16.14 16.14 16.14

1,876 1,876 1,876 1,852 1,852 1,852

Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 995950X 5950X 9 5950X Core Core Core i7-12700 i7-12700 i7-12700

13,859 13,859 13,859 13,273 13,273 13,273

Core Core Core i5-12600 i5-12600 i5-12600 Core Core Core i7-12700 i7-12700 i7-12700

16.14 16.14 16.14 16.15 16.15 16.15

Core Core Core i7-12700 i7-12700 i7-12700 Core Core Core i5-12500 i5-12500 i5-12500

16.15 16.15 16.15 16.84 16.84 16.84

Core Core Core i5-12500 i5-12500 i5-12500 Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 995950X 5950X 9 5950X

16.84 16.84 16.84 17.13 17.13 17.13

Core Core Core i9-12900K i9-12900K i9-12900K Recommended

1,934 1,934 1,934

Core Core Core i9-12900K i9-12900K i9-12900K Core Core Core i7-12700K i7-12700K i7-12700K Labs Winner

1,934 1,934 1,934 1,908 1,908 1,908

Core Core Core i7-12700K i7-12700K i7-12700K Core Core Core i9-12900 i9-12900 i9-12900

1,908 1,908 1,908 1,887 1,887 1,887

Core Core Core i9-12900 i9-12900 i9-12900 Core Core Core i5-12600K i5-12600K i5-12600K Recommended Core Core Core i5-12600K i5-12600K i5-12600K Core Core Core i7-12700 i7-12700 i7-12700

Y-Cruncher

13,273 13,273 13,273 12,730 12,730 12,730

15.32 15.32 15.32 15.39 15.39 15.39

Core Core Core i7-12700 i7-12700 i7-12700 Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 995950X 5950X 9 5950X

1,852 1,852 1,852 1,706 1,706 1,706

Core Core Core i7-12700 i7-12700 i7-12700 Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 995900X 5900X 9 5900XRecommended

Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 995950X 5950X 9 5950X Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 995900X 5900X 9 5900X Recommended

1,706 1,706 1,706 1,689 1,689 1,689

Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 995900X 5900X 9 5900X Core Core Core i5-12600K i5-12600K i5-12600KRecommended

Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 995900X 5900X 9 5900X Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 775800X 5800X 7 5800X

1,689 1,689 1,689 1,671 1,671 1,671

Core Core Core i5-12600K i5-12600K i5-12600K Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 775800X3D 5800X3D 7 5800X3D

11,916 11,916 11,916 10,237 10,237 10,237

Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 995950X 5950X 9 5950X Core Core Core i5-12600K i5-12600K i5-12600K

Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 775800X 5800X 7 5800X Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 775700X 5700X 7 5700X

1,671 1,671 1,671 1,623 1,623 1,623

Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 775800X3D 5800X3D 7 5800X3D Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 775800X 5800X 7 5800X

10,237 10,237 10,237 9,521 9,521 9,521

Core Core Core i5-12600K i5-12600K i5-12600K Core Core Core i5-12400 i5-12400 i5-12400

17.48 17.48 17.48 17.61 17.61 17.61

12,730 12,730 12,730 11,916 11,916 11,916

17.13 17.13 17.13 17.48 17.48 17.48

Recommended

Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 775700X 5700X 7 5700X Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 775800X3D 5800X3D 7 5800X3D

1,623 1,623 1,623 1,622 1,622 1,622

Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 775800X 5800X 7 5800X Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 775700X 5700X 7 5700X

9,521 9,521 9,521 9,438 9,438 9,438

Core Core Core i5-12400 i5-12400 i5-12400 Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 775800X 5800X 7 5800X

17.61 17.61 17.61 17.65 17.65 17.65

Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 775800X3D 5800X3D 7 5800X3D Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 555600X 5600X 5 5600X

1,622 1,622 1,622 1,617 1,617 1,617

Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 775700X 5700X 7 5700X Core Core Core i5-12600 i5-12600 i5-12600

9,438 9,438 9,438 8,683 8,683 8,683

Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 775800X 5800X 7 5800X Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 775700X 5700X 7 5700X

17.65 17.65 17.65 17.7 17.7 17.7

Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 555600X 5600X 5 5600X Core Core Core i3-12300 i3-12300 i3-12300

1,617 1,617 1,617 1,590 1,590 1,590

Core Core Core i5-12600 i5-12600 i5-12600 Core Core Core i5-12500 i5-12500 i5-12500

Core Core Core i3-12300 i3-12300 i3-12300 Core Core Core i3-12100 i3-12100 i3-12100

1,590 1,590 1,590 1,553 1,553 1,553

Core Core Core i5-12500 i5-12500 i5-12500 Core Core Core i5-12400 i5-12400 i5-12400

8,321 8,321 8,321 7,960 7,960 7,960

Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 995900X 5900X 9 5900X Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 555600X 5600X 5 5600X

17.87 17.87 17.87 18.05 18.05 18.05

8,683 8,683 8,683 8,321 8,321 8,321

Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 775700X 5700X 7 5700X Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 995900X 5900X 9 5900X

17.7 17.7 17.7 17.87 17.87 17.87

Recommended

Core Core Core i3-12100 i3-12100 i3-12100 Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 555600 5600 5 5600

1,553 1,553 1,553 1,518 1,518 1,518

Core Core Core i5-12400 i5-12400 i5-12400 Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 555600X 5600X 5 5600X

7,960 7,960 7,960 7,939 7,939 7,939

Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 555600X 5600X 5 5600X Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 775800X3D 5800X3D 7 5800X3D

18.05 18.05 18.05 18.37 18.37 18.37

Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 555600 5600 5 5600 Core Core Core i5-12600 i5-12600 i5-12600

1,518 1,518 1,518 1,516 1,516 1,516

Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 555600X 5600X 5 5600X Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 555600 5600 5 5600

7,939 7,939 7,939 7,591 7,591 7,591

Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 775800X3D 5800X3D 7 5800X3D Core Core Core i3-12300 i3-12300 i3-12300

18.37 18.37 18.37 18.9 18.9 18.9

Core Core Core i5-12600 i5-12600 i5-12600 Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 555500 5500 5 5500 Recommended

1,516 1,516 1,516 1,470 1,470 1,470

Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 555600 5600 5 5600 Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 555500 5500 5 5500

Core Core Core i3-12300 i3-12300 i3-12300 Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 555600 5600 5 5600

18.9 18.9 18.9 18.95 18.95 18.95

Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 555500 5500 5 5500 Core Core Core i5-12500 i5-12500 i5-12500

1,470 1,470 1,470 1,453 1,453 1,453

Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 555500 5500 5 5500 Core Core Core i3-12300 i3-12300 i3-12300

Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 555600 5600 5 5600 Core Core Core i3-12100 i3-12100 i3-12100

18.95 18.95 18.95 19.28 19.28 19.28

Core Core Core i5-12500 i5-12500 i5-12500 Core Core Core i5-12400 i5-12400 i5-12400

1,453 1,453 1,453 1,390 1,390 1,390

Core Core Core i3-12300 i3-12300 i3-12300 Core Core Core i3-12100 i3-12100 i3-12100

1,390 1,390 1,390 1,200 1,200 1,200 1,600 1,600 1,600

7,591 7,591 7,591 7,323 7,323 7,323Recommended 7,323 7,323 7,323 5,667 5,667 5,667 5,667 5,667 5,667 5,541 5,541 5,541

Core Core Core i3-12100 i3-12100 i3-12100 Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 555500 5500 5 5500

19.28 19.28 19.28 20.02 20.02 20.02

Recommended

Core Core Core i5-12400 i5-12400 i5-12400 00 0

400 400 400

800 800 800

2,000 2,000 2,000

Core Core Core i3-12100 i3-12100 i3-12100 5,541 5,541 5,541 00 0 3,000 3,000 3,000 6,000 6,000 6,0009,000 9,000 9,00012,000 12,000 12,00015,000 15,000 15,000 18,000 18,000 18,000

Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 555500 5500 5 5500 00 0

44 4

88 8

12 12 12

20.02 20.02 20 2020 16 16 1620.02

00 0

400 400 400

800 800 800 1,200 1,200 1,200 1,600 1,600 1,600 2,000 2,000 2,000

00 0 3,000 3,000 3,0006,000 6,000 6,0009,000 9,000 9,00012,000 12,000 12,000 15,000 15,000 15,000 18,000 18,000 18,000

00 0

44 4

88 8

1212 12

16 16 16

Y-Cruncher

(multithreads 100,000 digits)

SiSoftware Sandra cryptography

Core Core Core i9-12900K i9-12900K i9-12900K

2.57 2.57 2.57

Core Core Core i9-12900K i9-12900K i9-12900K

Core Core Core i9-12900K i9-12900K i9-12900K Core Core Core i9-12900 i9-12900 i9-12900

2.57 2.57 2.57Recommended 2.76 2.76 2.76

Core Core Core i9-12900K i9-12900K i9-12900KRecommended Core Core Core i9-12900 i9-12900 i9-12900

Core Core Core i9-12900 i9-12900 i9-12900 Core Core Core i7-12700K i7-12700K i7-12700K Core Core Core i7-12700K i7-12700K i7-12700K Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 775800X3D 5800X3D 7 5800X3D

SiSoftware Sandra neural networks AI/ML Core Core Core i9-12900K i9-12900K i9-12900K

25.3 25.3 25.3 24.6 24.6 24.6

Core Core Core i9-12900K i9-12900K i9-12900K Core Core Core i9-12900 i9-12900 i9-12900

(samples/sec)

37.9 37.9 37.9 Recommended

37.9 37.9 37.9 37.5 37.5 37.5

Core Core Core i9-12900 i9-12900 i9-12900 Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 995950X 5950X 9 5950X

24.6 24.6 24.6 22.6 22.6 22.6

Core Core Core i9-12900 i9-12900 i9-12900 Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 995950X 5950X 9 5950X

2.78 2.78 2.78Labs Winner 3.05 3.05 3.05

Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 995950X 5950X 9 5950X Core Core Core i7-12700K i7-12700K i7-12700K

22.6 22.6 22.6 22.4 22.4 22.4

Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 995950X 5950X 9 5950X Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 995900X 5900X 9 5900X

Core Core Core i7-12700K i7-12700K i7-12700KLabs Winner Core Core Core i7-12700 i7-12700 i7-12700

22.4 22.4 22.4 22 2222

Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 995900X 5900X 9 5900X Core Core Core i7-12700K i7-12700K i7-12700K

Recommended

35.5 35.5 35.5 33.5 33.5 33.5

22 2222 21.1 21.1 21.1

Core Core Core i7-12700K i7-12700K i7-12700K Core Core Core i7-12700 i7-12700 i7-12700

Labs Winner

33.5 33.5 33.5 33 3333

3.05 3.05 3.05 3.24 3.24 3.24

Core Core Core i7-12700 i7-12700 i7-12700 Core Core Core i5-12600K i5-12600K i5-12600K

(GB/sec)

25.3 25.3 25.3

Core Core Core i7-12700 i7-12700 i7-12700 Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 775800X3D 5800X3D 7 5800X3D

3.24 3.24 3.24Recommended 3.74 3.74 3.74

Core Core Core i5-12600K i5-12600K i5-12600K Core Core Core i5-12600 i5-12600 i5-12600

3.91 3.91 3.91 4.09 4.09 4.09

Core Core Core i5-12500 i5-12500 i5-12500 Core Core Core i5-12400 i5-12400 i5-12400

4.09 4.09 4.09 4.71 4.71 4.71

Core Core Core i5-12400 i5-12400 i5-12400 Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 995950X 5950X 9 5950X Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 995950X 5950X 9 5950X Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 995900X 5900X 9 5900X

4.71 4.71 4.71 4.89 4.89 4.89

Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 995900X 5900X 9 5900XRecommended Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 775800X 5800X 7 5800X

4.89 4.89 4.89 4.93 4.93 4.93

Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 775800X 5800X 7 5800X Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 555600X 5600X 5 5600X

Lower is better

3.74 3.74 3.74 3.91 3.91 3.91

Core Core Core i5-12600 i5-12600 i5-12600 Core Core Core i5-12500 i5-12500 i5-12500

21.1 21.1 21.1 20.7 20.7 20.7

Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 775800X3D 5800X3D 7 5800X3D Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 995900X 5900X 9 5900X Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 995900X 5900X 9 5900XRecommended Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 775800X 5800X 7 5800X

20.7 20.7 20.7 17.3 17.3 17.3

Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 775800X 5800X 7 5800X Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 775700X 5700X 7 5700X Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 775700X 5700X 7 5700X Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 555600X 5600X 5 5600X

37.5 37.5 37.5 37 3737 37 3737 35.5 35.5 35.5

33 3333 31.1 31.1 31.1

Core Core Core i7-12700 i7-12700 i7-12700 Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 775800X 5800X 7 5800X Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 775800X 5800X 7 5800X Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 775700X 5700X 7 5700X

31.1 31.1 31.1 30.8 30.8 30.8

17.3 17.3 17.3 17 1717

Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 775700X 5700X 7 5700X Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 775800X3D 5800X3D 7 5800X3D

30.8 30.8 30.8 30.4 30.4 30.4

17 1717 16 1616

Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 775800X3D 5800X3D 7 5800X3D Core Core Core i5-12600K i5-12600K i5-12600K

30.4 30.4 30.4 29.3 29.3 29.3

16 1616 15.4 15.4 15.4

Core Core Core i5-12600K i5-12600K i5-12600K Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 555500 5500 5 5500

Recommended

29.3 29.3 29.3 28.4 28.4 28.4

15.4 15.4 15.4 15 1515

Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 555500 5500 5 5500 Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 555600X 5600X 5 5600X

Recommended

28.4 28.4 28.4 26.5 26.5 26.5

4.93 4.93 4.93 4.98 4.98 4.98

Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 555500 5500 5 5500Recommended 15 1515 Core Core Core i5-12600 i5-12600 i5-12600 14.2 14.2 14.2

Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 555600X 5600X 5 5600X Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 555600 5600 5 5600

Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 555600X 5600X 5 5600X Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 775700X 5700X 7 5700X

4.98 4.98 4.98 4.98 4.98 4.98

Core Core Core i5-12600 i5-12600 i5-12600 Core Core Core i5-12500 i5-12500 i5-12500

14.2 14.2 14.2 13.6 13.6 13.6

Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 555600 5600 5 5600 Core Core Core i5-12600 i5-12600 i5-12600

Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 775700X 5700X 7 5700X Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 555600 5600 5 5600

4.98 4.98 4.98 5.06 5.06 5.06

Core Core Core i5-12500 i5-12500 i5-12500 Core Core Core i5-12400 i5-12400 i5-12400

13.6 13.6 13.6 13 1313

Core Core Core i5-12600 i5-12600 i5-12600 Core Core Core i5-12500 i5-12500 i5-12500

20.4 20.4 20.4 19.5 19.5 19.5

Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 555600 5600 5 5600 Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 555500 5500 5 5500

5.06 5.06 5.06 5.17 5.17 5.17

Core Core Core i5-12400 i5-12400 i5-12400 Core Core Core i5-12600K i5-12600K i5-12600K

13 1313 13 1313

Core Core Core i5-12500 i5-12500 i5-12500 Core Core Core i5-12400 i5-12400 i5-12400

19.5 19.5 19.5 18.7 18.7 18.7

Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 555500 5500 5 5500Recommended Core Core Core i3-12300 i3-12300 i3-12300

5.17 5.17 5.17 5.19 5.19 5.19

Core Core Core i5-12600K i5-12600K i5-12600K Core Core Core i3-12300 i3-12300 i3-12300

Core Core Core i3-12300 i3-12300 i3-12300 Core Core Core i3-12100 i3-12100 i3-12100

5.19 5.19 5.19 5.39 5.39 5.39

Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 555600X 5600X 5 5600X Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 555600 5600 5 5600 Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 555600 5600 5 5600 Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 555500 5500 5 5500

Core Core Core i3-12300 i3-12300 i3-12300 Core Core Core i3-12100 i3-12100 i3-12100

Core Core Core i3-12100 i3-12100 i3-12100 00 0

11 1

22 2

33 3

44 4

5.39 5.39 5.39 55 5

66 6

Core Core Core i3-12100 i3-12100 i3-12100 00 0

00 0

11 1

22 2

33 3

44 4

55 5

66 6

00 0

24 2424

20 2020 24 24 24

2.76 2.76 2.76 2.78 2.78 2.78

3.05 3.05 3.05 3.05 3.05 3.05

Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen 775800X3D 5800X3D 7 5800X3D Core Core Core i7-12700 i7-12700 i7-12700

90

Lower is better

Geekbench 5 single core

26.5 26.5 26.5 25.5 25.5 25.5 25.5 25.5 25.5 20.4 20.4 20.4

13 1313Recommended 10.3 10.3 10.3

Core Core Core i5-12400 i5-12400 i5-12400 Core Core Core i3-12300 i3-12300 i3-12300

18.7 18.7 18.7 12.6 12.6 12.6

10.3 10.3 10.3 10 1010

Core Core Core i3-12300 i3-12300 i3-12300 Core Core Core i3-12100 i3-12100 i3-12100

12.6 12.6 12.6 12.3 12.3 12.3 12.3 12.3 12.3 10 10 10

20 2020

30 3030

40 4040

10 10 10

20 2020

30 3030

40 4040

1010 10 1010 55 5 10

15 15 15

20 2020

25 2525

30 3030

Core Core Core i3-12100 i3-12100 i3-12100 00 0

10 10 10

15 15 15

20 2020

25 2525

30 3030

00 0

55 5

Labs CPUs

View from the Labs @PCPRO

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Intel’s new architecture is doing something significantly different, but I suspect it won’t have AMD quivering nervously at the knees

A

fter years of churning out iterative updates to its architecture, the threat from both AMD and Apple has proven too much for Intel, and it has radically redesigned its new chips. Opting for a combination of big and little cores (Pand E-cores), Intel’s 12th generation processors are fast and efficient.

The disappointing news is that Intel doesn’t use E-cores on all models: drop down to the Core i5-12600 and below, and there aren’t any. Sure, there’s a performance increase over the last generation, but the difference is far less pronounced.

Where a 12th gen chip has E-cores and P-cores, the performance is hard to ignore. That can be seen in the main benchmark results, where the Core i9-12900K largely outdoes everything AMD has with fewer cores and threads; even the Core i7-12700K outperforms a lot of AMD’s chips for less money.

So, is it curtains for AMD? Not quite yet. For starters, it’s working on its

next-generation Zen 4 architecture, coming via the AM5 socket later this year. Its current range of processors is also still pretty good, particularly at the high end and entry-level.

AMD’s advantage has been that it’s simply thrown more cores at the problem. Take the Ryzen 9 5900X, a well-priced CPU with 12 cores and 24 David Ludlow is a lifelong lover of threads. To get the same on an Intel architecture – CPU processor, you must spend £100 more. architecture, that is At the entry level, the Ryzen 5 5500 has six cores and 12 threads; Intel’s @daveludlow Core i3 chips have just four cores.

While each Intel core may be more efficient than AMD’s, the simple fact is that more cores are generally better for modern applications.

What’s more, the current range of AMD chips can be installed in older AM4 “Is it curtains for AMD? Not quite yet. For starters, motherboards, making for a simple and cost-effective it’s working on its nextupgrade; with Intel, you generation Zen 4 have to buy a new board at a minimum. architecture”

AMD’s architecture generally has more L3 cache than its Intel counterparts. While the Core i9-12900K has 30MB of smart cache, even the budget Ryzen 5 5600 has 32MB of L3 cache. In many cases, AMD chips have even more: the 5800X3D squeezes 92MB of cache onto one chip.

While more cache doesn’t make a huge difference in most applications, it does help AMD consistently perform well in gaming benchmarks. Games benefit from fast access to objects, which is what lots of L3 cache does.

Look at the gaming benchmarks below and the results are far closer than with general applications, with one exception: the 5800X3D is miles ahead in Shadow of the Tomb Raider.

Intel is currently leading the way overall, but the fact that AMD’s significantly older chips hold their own mean that it can still walk with a swagger. Once its new generation comes along, I suspect that swagger will turn into a cocky strut.

Gaming benchmarks 3DMark Time Spy Core Core Corei9-12900K i9-12900K i9-12900K

Shadow of the Tomb Raider CPU render 16,608 16,608 16,608

Recommended

Core Core Corei9-12900 i9-12900 i9-12900 Core Corei7-12700K i7-12700K i7-12700K Core

Labs Winner

Core Corei7-12700 i7-12700 i7-12700 Core Core Corei5-12600K i5-12600K i5-12600K Core

Recommended

Ryzen Ryzen9995950X 5950X 5950X Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen9995900X 5900X 5900X Ryzen

Recommended

Core Core Corei9-12900K i9-12900K i9-12900K

15,873 15,873 15,873

Core Corei7-12700K i7-12700K i7-12700K Core

15,710 15,710 15,710

Ryzen Ryzen9995950X 5950X 5950X Ryzen

13,126 13,126 13,126

Core Corei9-12900 i9-12900 i9-12900 Core

11,536 11,536 11,536

Core Corei7-12700 i7-12700 i7-12700 Core

10,447 10,447 10,447

Core Corei5-12600 i5-12600 i5-12600 Core

Ryzen Ryzen7775700X 5700X 5700X Ryzen

10,338 10,338 10,338

Ryzen Ryzen7775800X 5800X 5800X Ryzen

Ryzen Ryzen5555600X 5600X 5600X Ryzen

8,012 8,012 8,012

Ryzen Ryzen5555600X 5600X 5600X Ryzen

Ryzen Ryzen5555600 5600 5600 Ryzen

7,666 7,666 7,666

Ryzen Ryzen5555600 5600 5600 Ryzen

Core Corei5-12600 i5-12600 i5-12600 Core

7,568 7,568 7,568

Ryzen Ryzen7775700X 5700X 5700X Ryzen

Core Corei5-12500 i5-12500 i5-12500 Core

7,253 7,253 7,253

Core Corei5-12500 i5-12500 i5-12500 Core

Ryzen Ryzen5555500 5500 5500 Ryzen

7,231 7,231 Recommended 7,231

Ryzen Ryzen5555500 5500 5500 Ryzen

6,938 6,938 6,938 5,868 5,868 5,868

Core Corei3-12300 i3-12300 i3-12300 Core

Core Corei3-12100 i3-12100 Core i3-12100

5,742 5,742 5,742

Core Corei3-12100 i3-12100 Core i3-12100

3,000 3,000 6,000 6,000 9,000 9,000 12,000 12,000 15,000 15,000 18,000 18,000 3,000 6,000 9,000 12,000 15,000 18,000

00 0

173 173 173

Recommended

171 171 171

Labs Winner

263 263 263 263 263 263

168 168 168 263 263 263

Recommended

161 161 161

262 262 262

168 168 168

259 259 259

168 168 168 159 159 159

249 249 249

Recommended 228 228 228

156 156 156

225 225 225

138 138 138

225 225 225

148 148 148

225 225 225

145 145 145

221 221 221

137 137 137

218 218 218

148 148 148 141 141 141

Core Corei5-12400 i5-12400 i5-12400 Core

Core Corei3-12300 i3-12300 i3-12300 Core

00 0

265 265 265

Core Corei5-12600K i5-12600K i5-12600K Core

Ryzen Ryzen7775800X 5800X 5800X Ryzen

Core Corei5-12400 i5-12400 i5-12400 Core

213 213 213

Ryzen Ryzen9995900X 5900X 5900X Ryzen

11,742 11,742 11,742

11,128 11,128 11,128

Ryzen7 Ryzen75800X3D 5800X3D 5800X3D Ryzen7

319 319 319

Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen7775800X3D 5800X3D 5800X3D

16,221 16,221 16,221

(1080p, fps)

89 89 89 87 87 87

50 50 50

217 217 217

209 209 209

282 282 282

Ryzen Ryzen Ryzen9995950X 5950X 5950X

169 169 169 248 248 248

Core Corei9-12900K i9-12900K i9-12900K Core

Average

Recommended

157 157 157

Labs Winner

161 161 161

Recommended

246 246 246 246 246 246

Ryzen Ryzen9995900X 5900X 5900X Ryzen

245 245 245

Core Corei9-12900 i9-12900 i9-12900 Core

155 155 155

Core Corei7-12700 i7-12700 i7-12700 Core

148 148 148

Ryzen Ryzen7775800X 5800X 5800X Ryzen

149 149 149

Ryzen Ryzen5555600X 5600X 5600X Ryzen

146 146 146

Ryzen Ryzen5555600 5600 5600 Ryzen

146 146 146

Ryzen Ryzen7775700X 5700X 5700X Ryzen

147 147 147

Core Corei5-12600 i5-12600 i5-12600 Core

138 138 138 138 138 138

Core Corei5-12500 i5-12500 i5-12500 Core

00 0

243 243 243

153 153 153

Core Corei5-12600K i5-12600K i5-12600K Core

Core Corei3-12100 i3-12100 Core i3-12100

100 100 150 150 200 200 250 250 300 300 350 350 100 150 200 250 300 350

158 158 158

Core Corei7-12700K i7-12700K i7-12700K Core

Core Corei3-12300 i3-12300 i3-12300 Core

149 149 149

Minimum

207 207 207

133 133 133

Core Corei5-12400 i5-12400 i5-12400 Core

152 152 152

(4K, fps) 299 299 299

Ryzen7 Ryzen7 Ryzen75800X3D 5800X3D 5800X3D

Ryzen Ryzen5555500 5500 5500 Ryzen

Recommended

142 142 142

Shadow of the Tomb Raider CPU render

127 127 127 88 88 88 87 87 87

50 50 50

232 232 232

Recommended 215 215 215 214 214 214 214 214 214 212 212 212 203 203 203 203 203 203

Recommended 194 194 194 186 186 186

144 144 144 142 142 142

100 100 150 150 200 200 250 250 300 300 350 350 100 150 200 250 300 350

Minimum

Average

91

The Network Practical buying and strategic advice for IT managers and decision makers

Buyer’s guide

Protect your business Every organisation needs protection from ransomware, phishing, hacker attacks and worse. Dave Mitchell tries out the appliances that can keep you safe with minimal management

S

mall and medium businesses may be taking a well-earned breather as the pandemic recedes, but you can’t let your guard down when it comes to data protection. The past few years have seen reduced investment in network security, along with big changes in working practices. That’s created plenty of new opportunities for cybercriminals: in its 2021 Cyber Threat Analysis report, ISP Beaming tracked a steady increase in attacks over the last quarter of 2021, with UK businesses subjected to 165,933 breach attempts over the threemonth period – an average of one every 47 seconds.

This isn’t a threat to take lightly. In March, the UK government estimated that the average cost to British businesses of a security breach is £4,200. But there are ways to ensure your systems aren’t compromised – and they’re a lot cheaper than dealing with a successful attack.

This month we review unified threat management (UTM) appliances from four established names in the world of network security: DrayTek, Sophos, WatchGuard and Zxyel. All offer enterprise-class protection at 92

SMB-friendly prices, and we put each one through its paces in our lab to help you choose the best protection.

All together now

UTM appliances are ideal for busy SMBs, as they provide a full spread of security functions in a single box.

Along with a business-grade firewall, most provide intrusion prevention systems (IPS), active threat detection and all-round protection against viruses and ransomware, including web, email and application scanning.

BELOW DrayTek’s Vigor 2866ax features a high-performance Wi-Fi 6 access point

Integrating everything into one device also keeps administration simple. All the appliances on review can be managed from a user-friendly web console, with centralised monitoring and easy access to all features. Malware signatures and IPS profiles can be automatically updated with no intervention, and since the UTM sits at the perimeter of your network, with all inbound and outbound traffic passing through it, it’s simple to apply company-wide security policies and be sure that nothing slips through the net.

Power and performance

While most UTMs offer a broad range of security functions, they vary in their throughput capacity.

This is something to consider up front: hopefully your UTM will last you for many years, and you don’t want an underpowered unit that will slow to a

@PCPRO

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The Network Business Focus

TOP LEFT DrayTek’s web console is highly informative yet easy to get around TOP RIGHT The WatchGuard T20-W shows you where web threats are located

locations, courtesy of its Ethernet SD-RED device. This routes all the remote site’s traffic through a secure VPN tunnel to your primary office; it then passes through the main UTM appliance and is subjected to the same security policies as local users. You thus get the same protections as if you’d installed a second appliance, at a fraction of the cost.

Satellite radio

crawl as your user base expands and gateway traffic increases. Don’t be swayed by vendors’ quoted firewall throughput rates – these are invariably tested using lightweight UDP packets, which don’t represent real-world usage. Services such as antivirus scanning and IPS have much higher demands on appliance hardware, and we recommend you use these figures as a baseline when sizing the appliance for current and future demand.

Pick the right subscription

Security services need to be kept current, so beside the purchase cost of your UTM you’ll need to budget for a regular subscription. Most vendors offer flexible licences, so you only pay for the features you need.

Licences typically start with a base subscription that only enables the firewall along with IPsec and SSL VPNs. The next tier adds key services such as malware protection, web content filtering and application controls, while the top tier activates advanced functions such as threat detection and response, zero-day protection and analysis of encrypted HTTPS traffic. Subscriptions usually

run for one- or three-year terms, and you can make substantial savings by committing for a longer period.

Cloud cover

If you need to extend protection to a remote branch or subsidiary office, consider a UTM with a cloud portal.

This lets you remotely monitor and configure your security provisions regardless of where the appliance is physically located.

A useful feature – supported by all four UTMs on test this month –is zerotouch provisioning, which lets you remotely configure security settings before the appliance is even plugged in. Support staff simply need to provide an internet connection, after which the UTM will pick up your settings and begin providing your chosen protections.

A cheaper alternative is to consider a security vendor whose endpoint protection software links up with the same cloud portal as the UTM. If you install this software on client devices at the remote site, one dashboard can provide status information and alerts across all your locations.

Sophos also offers a clever third option for protecting remote

Two of the UTM appliances on test this month don’t just handle wired traffic: they also offer integrated wireless services. This is very convenient for businesses in the LEFT The Sophos XGS service industry wanting to offer 116 web interface secure customer Wi-Fi in locations packs a wealth of such as restaurants and coffee shops. detail about threats Even the cheapest appliance we tested supports the high-performance Wi-Fi 6 standard.

This doesn’t mean that the two appliances without an internal access point can’t manage wireless traffic; they just need to be partnered with a compatible external access point from the same vendor. This will then be recognised and provisioned as a secure wireless network.

If you’re planning to provide Wi-Fi to office visitors or the general public, look for the ability to create guest wireless networks, with their own protection policies. For a “A cloud portal lets you touch of professionalism, remotely configure your most allow you to create captive guest portals, with security regardless of various authentication where the appliance is options supported, physically located” including vouchers and social network logins.

A UTM appliance is one of the smartest investments a small business can make – certainly compared to the potential cost and reputational damage of a breach. The models on review this month all offer an excellent range of data protection measures and are well suited to SMBs, remote offices and home workers.

Read on to see how to keep your business and your staff safe.

93

DrayTek Vigor 2866ax

A versatile and very affordable SMB security router with Wi-Fi 6 and top-notch WAN redundancy SCORE PRICE £286 exc VAT from ballicom.co.uk

D

rayTek’s Vigor 2866ax looks like an ordinary wireless router – and for a small office it can fulfil that role perfectly well. It offers a solid set of Wi-Fi 6 services, with speeds of up to 574Mbits/sec on its 2.4GHz radio and 2.4Gbits/sec on the 5GHz band. It’s also one of the very few SMB routers we’ve seen that supports wide 160MHz channels for maximum bandwidth. Round the back, six Gigabit Ethernet ports allow for the direct connection of wired clients, or the sixth can alternatively be configured as a WAN socket, as we’ll discuss below.

Installation is a cinch. The router’s web console provides quick-start wizards for configuring internet access, presenting secure wireless services and setting up VPNs. The price includes support for 32 IPsec tunnels plus 16 SSL VPNs, with optional hardware acceleration for increased performance. The firewall is also enabled out of the box, and preconfigured with a strict security policy; this can be customised with rules and filters, which are also used to enforce application controls and

web content filtering. Cloud management is available via the optional VigorACS 3 web portal.

DrayTek’s URL keyword filtering service is basic, but you can beef it up with the optional Cyren GlobalView service, which divides the web up into 81 site categories that can be blocked or allowed using up to eight profiles.

A free 30-day trial can be activated from your MyVigor account, after which it costs around £35 per year.

Application controls are also free on registration, and provide a list of 160 apps and protocols that can be controlled. Services including Facebook, WhatsApp and LinkedIn can be instantly blocked using profiles enabled within your firewall rules, although we did notice that Twitter is oddly not covered.

One area where the Vigor 2866ax really stands out is WAN redundancy.

Alongside the built-in G.Fast/VDSL2 modem, one of the Ethernet sockets can be set as an internet connection, and the two front-facing USB 2 ports will each take a 3G or 4G modem.

Each WAN connection can be configured as an active or backup

link, with the latter automatically brought online when the primary link fails or its traffic exceeds specific thresholds. Alternatively, you can set mutiple links as simultaneously active, and enable the load balancing service to distribute traffic across them all.

Wireless services are also good for the price. Up to four SSIDs can be defined on the 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands, each with its own security RECOMMENDED scheme, and you can present hotspot services for guest users with custom web portals and a range of “The firewall is enabled authentication methods.

Performance is out of the box, with a helped along by a clever strict security policy hardware acceleration that can be customised option that allows traffic with rules and filters” that’s already been through the firewall and content filters to bypass the CPU. This can yield huge performance benefits: with acceleration disabled, closerange file copies between a server BELOW Despite its (connected via Ethernet) and a small size, the Vigor Windows workstation connected over 2866ax provides lots Wi-Fi 6 averaged 65MB/sec, with of security options router CPU usage peaking at 80%.

Enabling acceleration saw speeds leap up to 105MB/sec, while CPU usage dropped to barely 5%. We were also able to gain a small performance increase by enabling the 160MHz channel width, which saw copy speed increase slightly to 107MB/sec.

The Vigor 2866ax offers a lot for a low price; it’s a great choice for small businesses that want reliable internet and security services in one unit. It lacks some advanced features such as gateway malware protection and anti-spam, but all the essential security measures are present, and thanks to DrayTek’s powerful hardware acceleration it’s faster than you might expect.

ABOVE Up to four WAN connections can be used for failover or load balancing

SPECIFICATIONS Fanless desktop unit G.Fast/VDSL2 RJ-11 modem 6 x GbE ports (5 x LAN, LAN/WAN) 2.4/5GHz 802.11ax wireless 2 x external wireless aerials 2 x USB 2 external PSU 241 x 165 x 44mm (WDH) 780g 2yr RTB warranty 94

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Sophos XGS 116

A small and mighty appliance with outstanding security and remote management features at a tempting price SCORE PRICE With 3yr Xstream Protection: £1,439 exc VAT (List) from enterpriseav.co.uk

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on’t be deceived by its modest dimensions: the Sophos XGS 116 is a security powerhouse.

Aimed at busy SMBs and branch offices, this desktop appliance boasts a raw firewall throughput of 7,700Mbits/sec, and even with full threat protection enabled it keeps up a creditable 685Mbits/sec.

That’s largely thanks to Sophos’ dual-processor architecture. The Xstream Flow Processor provides a hardware acceleration layer that’s optimised for specific network tasks, ensuring the main AMD CPU doesn’t get bogged down.

Connection options abound. The rear panel presents eight Gigabit Ethernet ports – with PoE+ on the last one – plus one fibre port. While there’s no built-in modem, an expansion bay lets you add VDSL2 or 3G/4G modules, although Sophos’ Flexi network cards only work with larger rackmount XGS models.

The flexible licensing model allows you to choose which features you want, and there are plenty on offer.

We’ve shown the price of a three-year Xstream subscription above, which enables the base firewall licence along with Xstream TLS 1.3 SSL inspection, deep packet inspection, network, web and zero-day protection modules, central orchestration and enhanced

24/7 support. The email and web server protection modules are optional extras, each costing around £142 for a three-year licence.

Deployment is easy thanks to the appliance’s web console wizard, which guides you through the steps required to get secure internet access up and running. We chose routed mode as we wanted the appliance to provide all security functions; protection starts immediately, with the wizard enabling a standard set of firewall security policies including web filtering and anti-malware.

Henceforth, the Control Center dashboard provides everything you need to know about network activity and security issues. Graphs provide a clear visual overview of web traffic and network attacks, plus blocked and allowed applications and web categories. The User and Device Insights section keeps track of activity in modules such as SSL inspection, advanced threat protection and zero-day protection, and clicking on an icon takes you directly to a more detailed report.

Remote management comes into play too, with the Sophos Central portal. After we’d registered the appliance with our account, we were able to bring up live reports in a web browser, and to access the

appliance’s Control Center console remotely for full configuration.

Businesses with home workers will love the Synchronised Security feature, which extends firewall protection to remote systems running the Sophos Intercept X endpoint agent. A heartbeat service monitors and automatically isolates any that are compromised, while the application control feature detects unknown applications running on endpoints and pushes out firewall policies to secure them.

All of this is controlled via policies that bring together firewall rules, service filters, schedules and specific settings for intrusion detection, email, applications and web filtering.

That last feature is “Application controls are particularly impressive: extensive, with more than the appliance comes with predefined settings to get 3,500 filters supplied, you started, but you can including 12 for Twitter choose to block or allow and 73 for Facebook” sites in over 90 categories.

Application controls are equally extensive, with more than 3,500 predefined filters supplied, including 12 for Twitter and 73 for Facebook, so you can finely control social networking in the workplace.

A new filtering feature in the latest firmware makes it easy to find specific rules within complex policies, and lets you reset traffic counters to zero with a click – a big BELOW The XGS 116 can be managed from improvement on the previous release, its own console or via which required a reboot. the cloud portal All told, the XGS 116 delivers strong gateway security measures at a great price. It has the power to cope with high demand, and the integration with Sophos’ endpoint security software will appeal to businesses that want to extend their protection to home workers.

ABOVE Both copper and fibre Ethernet are supported, along with PoE+ on the last port

SPECIFICATIONS 1U desktop chassis 2.1GHz quad-core AMD RX-421ND CPU 4GB DDR4 64GB SATA SSD 8 x GbE ports (PoE+ on port 8) SFP GbE RJ45/micro-USB COM ports USB 3 USB 2 expansion slot external PSU (max. 2) 320 x 213 x 44mm (WDH) 2.2kg 1yr standard hardware warranty 95

WatchGuard Firebox T20-W

This affordable desktop appliance is a great choice for protecting small offices and home workers SCORE PRICE With 3yr Total Security, £1,508 exc VAT from watchguardonline.co.uk

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he T20-W is the entry point of WatchGuard’s Firebox table-top security appliances, and is aimed primarily at small and home office deployments. It could also be a sound choice for larger businesses wanting to protect remote sites, as it offers cloud management and zero-touch deployment.

The latter is handled via WatchGuard’s RapidDeploy service: once you’ve register a new appliance with your support account, you can assign it a configuration file created from a local Firebox appliance.

When the appliance is plugged in at the remote site, it grabs the file from your account and instantly starts providing protection.

For management, you can either use the local web console or enable full cloud management, which disables the local interface and provides remote access to all configuration settings. Whichever you choose, WatchGuard keeps the workload low with proactive protection: the ThreatSync service can collect and collate event data from multiple Firebox units, while DNSWatch blocks access to known malicious domains. The T20-W doesn’t support the IntelligentAV

scanner found on other Firebox models, however – it’s too demanding for this appliance’s dual-core CPU. Even so, the T20-W offers a good range of security measures. The price above includes a three-year Total Security subscription, which enables gateway antivirus, anti-spam, web content filtering, application controls, intrusion prevention services, an advanced persistent threat blocker and WatchGuard’s RED (reputation enabled defence) service – plus the aforementioned ThreatSync and DNSWatch features.

All subscriptions include cloud management, and the Total Security licence includes log retention for up to 30 days.

Though compact, the T20-W offers a respectable range of connection options. Five Gigabit Ethernet ports handle WAN, LAN and DMZ duties, although there’s no PoE+ as found on the more powerful T40-W. Believe it or not, there’s built-in wireless too, although Wi-Fi 6 isn’t supported – you’re limited to Wave 1 802.11ac – and the 2.4GHz and 5GHz radios can’t be active simultaneously. Still, that will be fine for home workers, and if you need the extra performance of Wi-Fi 6 then the T20-W’s integrated

wireless gateway can provision and manage WatchGuard’s access points.

Performance, too, should be ample for the target market: WatchGuard claims top firewall and UTM throughput rates of 1.7Gbits/sec and 154Mbits/sec respectively.

For testing, we registered the T20-W with our cloud account and initially chose local management.

Even with this option active, the unit remains visible in the cloud portal, allowing you to monitor a wealth of RECOMMENDED detail about traffic, detected threats and responses.

The web console, meanwhile, provides wizards for configuring the various traffic proxies, which cover a whole range of protocols including HTTP, HTTPS, FTP, SIP, “The ThreatSync service POP3 and SMTP. Enabling can collect event data from gateway AV and APT multiple Firebox units, while blocking are one-click manoeuvres, while the DNSWatch blocks access to WebBlocker service malicious domains” presents 130 URL categories that can be blocked or allowed. Strict controls can also be applied to over 1,100 predefined apps, including all popular social networking services.

Moving to full cloud management is as easy as clicking a button in the device configuration page. We tried this and were happy to see the T20-W immediately reconfigured itself and BELOW You can monitor a heap of provided full access to the full set of information about security services. traffic and threats If wireless services are a priority then the Firebox T20-W might not be the ideal choice, but it’s bursting with security features, and WatchGuard’s swift deployment and cloud management make it ideal for extending enterprise protection to home workers.

ABOVE The Firebox T20-W packs in a wide range of services

SPECIFICATIONS Fanless desktop unit dual-core 1GHz NXP LS1023A CPU 2GB DDR4 ECC 4GB eMMC 5 x GbE ports (WAN, 4 x LAN) 2.4/5GHz 802.11ac Wave 1 wireless 2 x USB 2 RJ-45 serial port external PSU 217 x 206 x 44mm (WDH) 900g warranty inc in subscription 96

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Zyxel ZyWALL ATP200

A top-value appliance with great cloud management and clever protection against unknown threats SCORE PRICE With 1yr Gold Security licence, £875 exc VAT from broadbandbuyer.com

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yxel’s ZyWALL ATP appliances are designed to stay one step ahead of hackers. They have a sharp focus on zero-day threats, making use of advanced services such as cloud threat intelligence, machine learning and automated sandboxing of suspect files.

The ATP200 on test is affordable, too. The price shown includes a one-year Gold licence, after which yearly renewals cost £276. That gets you a heap of security features – not just the technologies menti0ned above, but also hybrid anti-malware, anti-spam, web content filtering, application controls, IPS and Zyxel’s cloud-hosted SecuReporter Premium reporting service.

This desktop unit isn’t overloaded with ports, but it presents two Gigabit WAN and four copper LAN ports, plus a handy SFP fibre socket for longer connections. Performance is good for the price, with Zyxel claiming a 2Gbits/sec raw firewall throughput dropping to 600Mbits/sec with all security services enabled.

You have two management choices as all of Zyxel’s ATP appliances can be either locally managed or brought under the control of the Nebula cloud platform, which provides a single portal for all the company’s

compliant wireless APs, switches and mobile routers. There’s just one small catch, which is that the Nebula portal doesn’t currently support Zyxel’s email security component, so if you want to use this you’ll need to run the ATP200 in standalone mode.

We opted for cloud management and found registration a very swift process thanks to the Nebula iPad app, which let us scan the appliance’s QR code and immediately add it to our site. The same process can be used for zero-touch provisioning: once you’ve registered the appliance, you can send it off to a remote office and, once connected, it will receive all the settings configured in the portal.

We like the way that Nebula’s dashboard can be customised to show whatever data is important to you. It came up showing the appliance’s hardware status, detected apps and clients, WAN throughput and security alerts, but there was plenty of room for us to add performance and status widgets for our Zyxel PoE switches and Wi-Fi 6 APs. Like most UTM appliances, the ATP200 is controlled via security policies, which combine firewall rules with application patrol settings – you can manage access to over 3,500 business apps – and web-content

filtering settings, which let you block or allow sites across 110 categories.

Enable the anti-malware hybrid mode and Zyxel’s cloud-based threat intelligence comes into play too, combining a local signature database with cloud queries to check whether downloaded files are safe to allow through. The sandbox service is accessed from the same page: this isolates files it hasn’t seen before and gives them a test run in the cloud to RECOMMENDED see if they are malicious. Friendly files are allowed through, while those deemed a threat are destroyed.

Another notable “All of Zyxel’s ATP feature is Zyxel’s collaborative detection appliances can be either locally managed or brought and response service, which blocks rogue under the control of the devices. You can specify Nebula cloud platform” how many times a device is allowed to trigger the malware, IDP or web threat services; once the threshold is reached, the appliance will automatically kick them into quarantine.

Finally, you can configure the SecuReporter cloud service, which receives logs from the ATP200, to decide whether personal information such as email addresses and usernames should be included or anonymised. The main dashboard BELOW The Nebula cloud portal provides provides an informative overview of plenty of information all security events along with deeper on all network activity insights into web, app and threat activity plus all security issues.

The ZyWALL ATP200 offers a persuasive defence against unknown threats, and the Nebula portal integration is especially useful for businesses looking to protect remote offices. It’s a real shame that email security is only supported in standalone mode – we hope that will be rectified soon – but even without that module, you still get a great set of security features for the price.

ABOVE The ATP200 uses cloud intelligence to help block even unknown threats

SPECIFICATIONS Fanless desktop unit quad-core CPU 2GB RAM 7 x GbE ports (2 x WAN, 4 x LAN, 1 x SFP) 2 x USB 3 DB9 serial port external PSU 272 x 187 x 86mm (WDH) 1.4kg 1yr Gold licence 5yr limited warranty 97

Dell EMC PowerEdge T350

A superbly built single-socket server for SMBs, with great expansion potential and remote management features SCORE PRICE As reviewed, £2,382 exc VAT from dell.co.uk

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hen designing the new PowerEdge T350 tower server, Dell EMC originally considered using the same chassis as the mighty T550. But SMBs said no – they wanted something much more space-efficient. And so it came to pass: the T350 introduces a brand-new mini-tower format that’s 37% smaller than its predecessor, the T340.

The size reduction doesn’t come at the cost of power. This single-socket server supports Intel’s Xeon E-2300 CPUs and up to 128GB of DDR4 memory, while eight internal LFF hot-swap drive bays offer plenty of storage potential. There isn’t an SFF drive cage option, but smaller SFF hard disks and SSDs can also be mounted in hybrid drive carriers.

While the PowerEdge T350 is a more lightweight server than the T550, it shares the exceptional build quality of its big brother. The chassis is constructed of sturdy pressed steel panels all round, with a weighty metal removable side, and sports Dell EMC’s trademark honeycomb front cover.

Pricing starts at a terrifically affordable £1,273: that gets you a quad-core 2.8GHz Xeon E-2314 CPU

and 16GB of memory. There are plenty of other options, though, as the T350 supports all ten Xeon E-2300 CPUs. For our review we chose a faster 3.1GHz Xeon E-2324G and a variety of upgrades which we’ll discuss below, bringing the price to a still very reasonable £2,382.

The smaller chassis means there’s less working space inside than on the old T340, but with the side panel removed you’ll find everything neatly arranged and easy to access. Cooling is handled by a quiet 9cm fan at the rear, and the motherboard is covered by a solid plastic shroud to assist air flow.

The CPU is fitted with a large passive heatsink, beneath which sit four DDR4 DIMM slots. We chose to install a single 32GB 3,200MHz module in one of these, leaving three available for future upgrades. Base systems are powered by a fixed 450W Bronze PSU, but beefier configurations such as ours can use dual hot-swap 600W Platinum PSUs.

Storage RAID options are plentiful. The motherboard comes with a basic S150 SATA controller, but you can choose from an extensive range of PERC adapter cards. Our system includes the entry-level PERC H345 SAS3/SATA card, which offers hardwaremanaged RAID0, 1 and 10 arrays; pricier 700-series adapters add RAID5 and 6, plus battery-protected cache memory. With the RAID card in place you’re still left with three spare PCI-E slots to play with, so you can also add a 10GbE card if the the T350’s dual Gigabit Ethernet ports don’t suffice for your needs.

One valuable feature passed down from the T550 is support for Dell ABOVE The new T350 EMC’s boot-optimised storage chassis is compact, solution (BOSS) S2 card. This runs the quiet and even stylish operating system from a mirrored pair of M.2 SATA SSDs, allowing for maximum speed and resilience while freeing up the main drives for data storage. The SSDs are presented at the front in hot-swap carriers, and our server setup included the card and dual 240GB drives.

You also get the same excellent remote management features as on much bigger servers. Dell EMC’s embedded iDRAC9 controller provides tons of valuable information on server operations and “The PowerEdge T350 hardware status through a slick web console. You can introduces a brand-new also monitor the server mini-tower format that’s from a mobile device; we 37% smaller than its used the OpenManage iOS predecessor, the T340” app on an iPad to view the server’s status, pull up a list of hardware and receive alerts on health issues. We went for an iDRAC9 Enterprise licence, which enables full OS remote control and virtual media services. We used the latter to attach a remote Windows Server 2022 ISO to the server and had the OS installed on the BOSS card in under 30 minutes.

BELOW Dell EMC’s OpenManage console The PowerEdge T350 is a fantastic is loaded with plenty little machine for SMBs and branch of useful information offices seeking a capable but affordable single-socket tower server.

With support for a whole spread of Xeon E-2300 CPUs and a big helping of memory it can be specified to meet a wide range of needs, while the high storage capacity and plenty of expansion space provide room to grow. DAVE MITCHELL SPECIFICATIONS Tower chassis 3.1GHz Intel Xeon E-2324G 32GB 3,200MHz DDR4 ECC (max 128GB) 8 x LFF/SFF hot-swap drive bays Dell PERC H345 SAS/SATA PCI-E card Supports RAID0, 1, 10 2 x 2TB SATA hard disks BOSS S2 with 2 x 240GB SATA M.2 SSDs 2 x PCI-E 4 2 x PCI-E 3 2 x GbE 2 x 600W hot-plug PSUs iDRAC9 Enterprise with GbE 175 x 595 x 382mm (WDH) 3yr basic on-site NBD warranty

98

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Qnap KoiBox-100W

A versatile and affordable videoconferencing solution with great wireless screen presentation features SCORE PRICE Diskless, £411 exc VAT from broadbandbuyer.com

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AS specialist Qnap has lately been expanding into new areas such as network switching; now it turns its attention to the SMB videoconferencing market. And the KoiBox-100W is a clever concept: a portable appliance that can operate as both an all-in-one conferencing solution and a wireless screen-sharing station for in-person presentations.

If you’re fed up with monthly subscriptions, there’s one feature you’ll like right away. Instead of charging a recurrent fee, the KoiBox is a one-off purchase with all licences included. That gets you support for the most popular conferencing platforms, including Skype, Microsoft Teams and Zoom. The KoiBox will appeal equally to businesses that want to go off-grid, as it can provide private conferencing services too, with Qnap taking care of all user authentication and meeting connections.

Inside, the KoiBox is powered by a 1.8GHz Intel Celeron 6305 CPU, and it pipes 4K video out of a single HDMI port at the rear. Next to it sit four USB-A 3.2 Gen 2 ports, to which you can connect cameras, speakers, microphones, a keyboard and mouse as required, plus a Gigabit Ethernet socket, although you may not need this as the KoiBox has built-in Wi-Fi 6.

Though you can’t see it, there’s one final connector: an internal SFF drive bay, into which you can install an SSD to record your meetings. We were able to slot in and use a 1.92TB Micron SATA SSD with no fuss.

Setting up the KoiBox is very easy.

You just connect it to a display and use the included remote-control handset to step through the onscreen setup wizard. This guided us through choosing a language, formatting the SSD and confirming our AV equipment as working (we tried both a Logitech ConferenceCam Connect and a Poly Studio P15 system, and had no problem with either).

Once setup is complete, the KoiBox presents a colourful homescreen from which you can access all functions using the remote. To share your screen from a PC you just need to enter the IP address of the appliance in Chrome or Firefox, select the wireless projection option and choose whether you want to cast the entire screen, a window or a browser tab.

Mobile screen sharing is supported, too: we tried the free KoiCast iOS app on an iPad. This immediately opened with a view of the KoiBox’s screen, allowing us to see what someone else

The Network Reviews was sharing, or begin a sharing session of our own.

Cloud meetings are easy to set up, especially if you’re using Microsoft Teams, as the KoiBox has native integration with this platform.

After we’d assigned one of our Team user accounts to the KoiBox we were right away presented with the standard interface we all know and love.

For private video ABOVE Four USB-A calls the appliance uses the KoiMeeter ports let you hook up app – the same one as found on Qnap’s cameras, mics, NAS appliances, but pre-registered so keyboards and more you don’t have to worry about time limits. Unhelpfully, the user manual neglects to explain how PC and Mac users can join private meetings, but it’s easily done – they just need to point a web browser at the KoiMeetr website and log in with their Qnap account. Remote participants get a RECOMMENDED picture-in-picture view in their browser, along with video and audio controls, a screen-sharing button and facilities to invite other users up to the maximum of four per meeting.

If remote users are logged into the KoiMeeter web service, they can also be invited to meetings directly from the KoiBox by entering their personal KoiCode. This is one reason you might want to connect a “Instead of charging a keyboard: the remote recurrent fee, the KoiBox control works, but it’s having to use it is a one-off purchase with tedious to flick through the all licences, including onscreen dial-pad.

Mobile users can use Skype, Teams and Zoom” the KoiMeeter app for iOS and Android to start meetings and accept requests from the KoiBox, or they can bypass the KoiBox entirely and use the app to conduct private meetings amongst themselves.

The KoiBox-100W is an intriguing alternative to the mainstream providers. Once you’ve added the cost of a 4K camera and audio equipment it isn’t much cheaper than a budget video bar, but it’s easy to set up and LEFT There’s no shortage of use, it will appeal to SMBs wanting conferencing private videoconferencing services, and screenand the screen-sharing capabilities sharing tools are a bonus. DAVE MITCHELL SPECIFICATIONS Desktop chassis dual-core 1.8GHz Intel Celeron 6305 CPU Intel UHD Graphics 4GB DDR4 RAM 30GB M.2 SSD 1 x SFF internal bay Gigabit Ethernet Intel AX201 Wi-Fi 6 4 x USB-A 3.2 Gen 2 ports HDMI 1.4b RM-IR004 handset (batteries not included) external PSU 232 x 152 x 45mm (WDH) 1.1kg 3yr hardware warranty 99

Why your business needs a CRM

Are you still keeping customer details in a simple database or spreadsheet? Nik Rawlinson explores the benefits of an integrated customer relationship management system

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ustomer relationships are at the heart of business, and there are several customer relationship management (CRM) platforms that can help you build and make the most of them, regardless of which sector you’re in.

If you’re not already using a CRM system then here’s why you should be – and if you are already using one, we’ll look at some applications and benefits that you might not yet have taken advantage of.

The first big benefit of a CRM is that it frees staff from administrative tasks, so they can focus on more productive things. “With a CRM, your team will never have to spend time logging emails, calls, meetings and interactions – all of this information

100

will be automatically collected and aggregated within the system,” explains CRM specialist HubSpot (pcpro.link/335hubspot). The productivity gains from this alone could easily cover the cost “The first big benefit of a of a subscription CRM CRM is that it frees staff service.

It’s not just about from administrative tasks, efficiencies, though. A so they can focus on more CRM system helps you productive things” serve customers better.

In very small businesses, customers might communicate with a single person, who can gain an understanding of their needs and plans – but as the company grows, that relationship is often lost.

Customers end up talking to representatives who don’t know

the ins and outs of their businesses, and who aren’t clued in on what interactions they’ve had before.

It’s hardly an encouragement for them to do business with you.

“Important conversations are hidden in emails, scattered around in spreadsheets, lost on Post-it notes, leading to patchy and inconsistent interactions with customers. All of this leads to – simply and plainly – you losing money,” warns CRM firm SuperOffice (pcpro.link/335superoffice).

A CRM lets you keep track of all of these things, so your organisation can speak with a single voice and provide a consistent service, whether you’re working with new leads and existing customers.

As well as providing a better experience for customers, this opens the door to cross-selling and upselling opportunities.

“Look at what your customers have bought before and offer them other relevant goods and services that might be useful,” recommends

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Marketing Donut (pcpro.link/ 335donut). As long as you’re offering things that they actually need, then “they will see this as good customer care, rather than an intrusive sales pitch”.

Improving your relations with individual customers is a good thing – and collecting together information about your whole clientele allows you to discover trends and better understand your entire market. As the Harvard Business Review notes, you can “identify the most valuable customers over time, and increase customer loyalty by providing customised products and services” (see pcpro.link/335hbr).

Building relationships through relevance

When we say that a CRM can help you understand your market, that doesn’t just mean defining a homogenous set of customers.

Differentiating between customer types allows you to devise tailored strategies for increasing sales in each segment.

“With a CRM system, marketing campaigns can target your potential customers with only relevant information for them,” said Christopher Sirk at CRM.org (pcpro.link/335crmorg). “This can be based on their previous search or purchase histories or demographics.

This is a great way to begin the customer journey.”

Tailored strategies mean you don’t waste money and effort promoting irrelevant products or services either to customers who won’t purchase them, or via channels their leads won’t encounter. More importantly, they ensure your offerings are relevant to the customer, which is crucial to retention in the modern marketplace.

“The ‘loyalty era’ of marketing, as we’ve known it, is waning,” noted John Zeally in the Harvard Business Review. “It was built in part on the notion that consumers will keep buying the same things from you if you have the right incentives [such as rewards, rebates or discounts]. Yet according to recent consumer research from Kantar Retail, 71% of consumers now claim that loyalty incentive programmes don’t make them loyal at all. In this new era of digital-based competition and customer control, people are increasingly buying because of a brand’s relevance to their needs in the moment.” (See pcpro.link/335hbr2.)

That doesn’t mean that loyalty is a lost cause, only that you need to

of the organisation can build upon the advances made and information acquired by any other. All this can be leveraged to keep your brand relevant to your customers, and ensure they’re not motivated to look elsewhere for a business that can satisfy their needs.

Making your data work for you

make meaningful connections to foster it. Josh Perlstein, CEO of data-led CRM agency Response Media, observes: “Brands have the unprecedented opportunity... to use what they uniquely know about their consumers to create emotional connections. As a brand, you want consumer attachment because it leads to brand advocacy.

Brand attachment stems from an experience (or experiences) consumers had with a brand, alignment of values or solid value exchange. Whatever the connection, it is your job to find it, nurture it and develop the relationship, which leads to brand attachment.

Your business depends on it” (pcpro.link/335forbes).

All of this is much easier when you’re using a CRM: it allows you to centralise customer intelligence, regardless of the point of collection.

Every team member has an overview of a customer’s likes and desires, the imperatives that drive the customer’s business, their past purchases, and more. Diverse parts

As well as segmenting customers by their various needs, a central CRM system lets you track the different states of all your ongoing relationships. As Sirk puts it, CRM “allows you to see where in the TOP A CRM system customer lifecycle or journey lets you set up a your customer is, and segment customised dashboard customers according to interactions for every customer with your company”.

Having brought together all this ABOVE You can gain the data, a CRM can also present it an valuable insights into accessible manner – a capability every customer whose value shouldn’t be interaction underestimated. “Using spreadsheets or disconnected systems to manage your customer relationships and data means inputting or “With a CRM system, importing data manually, marketing campaigns can figuring out what’s lacking target potential customers important, historical context or the with only relevant full picture of a customer information for them” relationship to derive proper insights, and then trying to create a graphical way to present this data,” warned Salesforce (pcpro.link/335salesforce). “CRM does most of this for you. Once you have invested in the platform, you can set up a customised dashboard for every individual to help translate insights into action.”

CRM data thus helps businesses to strategise next steps for different 101

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FOUR OF THE BEST CRM PLATFORMS HubSpot CRM Free

CRM Free is split into multiple “hubs” for managing marketing, sales, operations, customer service and content management – and, as the name suggests, there’s a free tier for anyone who wants to try before they buy. In fact, the free plan may be all that small companies need, as it allows you to store up to a million contacts and companies, integrate live chat and bots, schedule emails, manage advertising and more.

As you would expect of a fully featured CRM, HubSpot’s free offering supports tailored views and functions for different users with an organisation, so salespeople, marketers and business owners can all work with the same data for different purposes.

Add a contact to the database, and HubSpot can automatically fill out the record with data pulled in from 20 million businesses, and all leads are tracked within the system to give a live view of ongoing interactions with customers.

Should you decide to upgrade for more advanced features, packages are offered for starter, professional and enterprise users, allowing organisations to manage their bills as they grow.

collaborate with a single goal in mind. With custom dashboards to visualise data, Kanban boards to manage workflows and integrated document sharing, it’s conceivable that many organisations could happily work wholly within Monday.com.

To help you get started, Monday.com offers over 200 ready-made templates and workflows, covering everything from lead management and campaign planning to contact tracking and centralising supporting materials. It’s extensible, too, with over 100 add-ons enabling common business functions such as document signing, backup and hooking into third-party services such as Google Ads, Mailchimp and LinkedIn. If you want to try out the service, the free individual plan accommodates – despite the name – up to two seats, with unlimited boards and documents. Beyond this, the paid-for Basic service comes with 5GB of online storage and a single dashboard; Standard adds 250 automations and 250 integrations per month, plus five dashboards; and Pro increases each of these allowances, as well as mixing in time tracking and private boards. These plans cost £7, £9 and £14 per seat respectively, billed annually, with a three-seat minimum at each tier.

dashboards to give at-a-glance feedback on current performance, and to surface the insights businesses require to make real-time decisions.

Pricing starts with an Essentials plan for small businesses with up to ten users at £20 per user per month, billed annually. For more advanced features, including lead generation and collaborative forecasting, you’ll need to investigate an upgrade: Professional, Enterprise and Unlimited plans roll in progressively more tools at £60, £120 and £240 per user per month, respectively.

Salesforce

Rather than producing a single CRM product with different tiers of features and pricing, Zoho offers a range of products to suit different organisational profiles. The headline product is Zoho CRM: currently used by more than 250,000 companies, including Amazon India, Bose and Suzuki, this system includes social media monitoring, live web chat and integrations with more than 50 telephony providers, allowing users to make and log calls while simultaneously accessing customer data.

It also works with companion products such as Zoho Meeting, which means presentations can be planned through the same tool, eliminating the friction of working across disconnected products from multiple providers. Prices start at £12 per user per month, billed annually, but if you need integrated AI and BI you’ll need to upgrade to Enterprise or Ultimate respectively, at £35 and £42 per user per month, billed annually.

For smaller businesses, Zoho Bigin is a pipelinecentric CRM, in which your business is broken down by task – such as sales, services or marketing – so data relating to each can be kept separate when in use, to help maintain focus. It costs £5 or £10 per user per month for up to 50,000 or 100,000 records respectively, although businesses with fewer than 500 records can get started gratis on the Free plan, which includes lead and contact management, deal management and charting.

Monday.com

Monday.com bills itself as a “work OS that lets you shape workflows, your way”. It includes modules for project management, HR, operations and other functions, alongside managing sales and CRM. The various components can be linked so that, whichever best suits the needs of any stakeholder, they can all

customer groups, and to deduce which are likely to exhibit similar purchasing patterns. This in turn helps generate better data on which to project sales and income.

This last point is key. Such insights, as Lee Davis and Cassie Bottorff write at Forbes (pcpro. link/335forbes2), can “help businesses more accurately forecast, and take the guesswork out of planning for the future.

You can leverage insights about 102

Salesforce is one of the biggest and best-known CRM providers of all. It’s so closely associated with the sector that the company’s official stock symbol is CRM. But Salesforce isn’t just about collecting and managing customer data: in recent years the company has expanded its portfolio to encompass the Tableau data visualisation platform and Slack, among other assets.

As with other platform-based CRM tools, Salesforce’s products work together so that businesses can develop a tailor-made solution for their operation. Salesforce Sales Cloud will sit at the heart of many operations, allowing individual users to manage their own accounts, with oversight of contacts, lead management and tracking of internal conversations. Data can be organised using

Zoho

your customers, pipeline, sales performance and forecasts from data analytics tools to decide what product to make next, or how to improve customer service.”

The overall benefits

“If a CRM only helped you organise and track your customer data, or only saved you time, or only made it easier to build and nurture relationships, it would be a valuable solution for your

business,” Mailchimp explained.

“When you combine all of those things, a CRM begins to serve an even more important purpose – it helps you develop a better understanding of your audience and, in turn, your business.”

When a business understands itself at least as well as it understands its customers, it’s more likely to spot inefficiencies to be remedied, and opportunities to be exploited. It’s all a lot easier with the help of CRM.

The Network Cheat Sheet

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So we can think of DARQ as a problem-solving mnemonic?

It’s a nice thought, but that final letter complicates things. You might find a solution in blockchain technologies that you can start developing today, or discover a pre-rolled AI suite that’s close enough to your problem to be useful.

You might even discover some productive trick with QR codes or AR goggles. But quantum computing is more aspirational and forwardlooking: right now its applications are limited, and few businesses will see much return from rushing to invest in the emergent technology.

So ticking all the DARQ boxes could actually be a red flag?

You’re right – just because an IT project control thoughtscape uses scoring to concretise your own assessments, that doesn’t mean the scores have any special value, or translate in any way to business benefits. “Perfect” technology scores can easily go hand-in-hand with a “nul points” rating from the people who have to use a system, or the shareholders.

DARQ How can the latest technologies contribute to your business?

Steve Cassidy unpacks the acronym to find out I’ve been Googling for hours and I can’t find a single product that says it’s DARQ-compatible. Is this a real thing?

Part of the problem is that DARQ shares its name with a fairly recent and quite popular video game, which gets in the way of any attempt at research. Moreover, the DARQ that we’re interested in isn’t itself a product or a company: it’s shorthand for a collection of four technologies, namely distributed ledger, artificial intelligence, extended reality and quantum computing (see the boxout “Don’t be left in the dark” below for a more detailed explanation of these terms). It’s not a coherent toolkit, or a necessary foundation of your projects. But if you can’t at least say something about DARQ then this might be an indication that your line-of-business apps are somewhat behind the times.

So is this like the old Codd & Date stuff for relational databases?

I see you’re not quite as green as you are cabbage-looking. For those who aren’t aware, Codd and Date were pioneers of the database in the 1960s; they proposed simple tests and questions that could help determine how “relational” your database was. DARQ can be similarly used as a yardstick or sanity check for your project planning, but it’s really a much broader, more high-level approach.

With four immense concepts compressed into a single four-letter acronym, it’s not really amenable to simple box-ticking exercises.

Is DARQ of any practical use to us at all, then?

For sure: you simply need to compare your plans and systems to the broad spread of capabilities available across DARQ’s collected platforms. This should help you understand what you’re missing out on, and where your development and relationship time might be best spent. Your e-commerce system doubtless has a database in it of some type, but could it benefit from a blockchain-type model?

Can you scale up a thousand times to accommodate a sudden flood of traffic just after an advert goes live, and then scale down again?

What tools should you be using to achieve those desirable levels of stability and scalability? And so forth.

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“If you can’t at least say something about DARQ then this might be an indication that your apps are behind the times”

Perhaps the value of DARQ is to remind us to be wary of hype.

You might be onto something there.

Thinking about DARQ certainly encourages more actual, well, thinking than relying on narrow web-page service stats or session counts. If DARQ hasn’t been on your radar, your team might welcome the new perspective. A good starting point is Accenture’s report on DARQ, which you can read at pcpro.link/​ 335darq – in this case it’s much easier than relying on Google.

Don’t be left in the dark Distributed ledger technology basically means blockchain – probably not the specific one that underpins Bitcoin, but a custom chain that works in the same way.

The idea is that truly collaborative manufacturing or project control works best when you maintain a secure, public record of who did what, and when.

Artificial intelligence might be about trillions of simple little machines hunting for patterns in all that data you can’t throw away.

Or it could be an expert system lurking in the background, taking in the big picture and watching for new opportunities, emerging trends or anything else. Each approach has its place.

Extended reality is a bit of a cheat, acronym-wise (I guess DAEQ isn’t so snappy), but never mind. It’s all about 3D goggles and similar technologies. In order to work with the amounts of data you’re likely to generate, you’ll need some slick visualisation tools, plus red-hot warehousing so your cyberworkers can pick and pack faster.

Quantum computing is where the acronym shifts purpose. The other elements of DARQ can be deployed tomorrow, but with quantum we’re more at the stage of just keeping an eye on things, so you can determine when and whether specific workloads can be shunted onto a cloud-based service to gain that mythical million-fold speedup.

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Real world computing Expert advice from our panel of professionals

JON HONEYBALL

“The words I exclaimed next are not appropriate for polite company. My entire network segment had been laid bare” If you want to know exactly what’s happening on your network, Jon holds the answer: a small box that’s stuffed full of analytical magic

T

here are few people I will allow onto my network. And even fewer who can plug things into it. It’s not that I am a little paranoid: I am wholly paranoid.

In the lab, we have a core network that’s a mix of trunk-mounted Ethernet ports and Wi-Fi access points. The Ethernet ports go to a patch panel, and then onto a big high-speed switch. Staff know that plugging something randomly into the sockets will result in alarm bells ringing, and I might have to be Rather Polite in their general direction. The Wi-Fi password is not shared.

While this might seem draconian, I should point out there are three other air-gapped networks with their own access points. One is used solely for testing of products; you never know what device might come through the front door preloaded with malware.

And there’s a guest network, with its own ADSL line, for visitors and any wholly untrusted devices. And everyone needs a spare, just in case.

Nevertheless, I run the core network as one large LAN that spans five separate physical buildings and locations. I could segregate into separate sub-networks and bridge between them, but there are reasons for my madness.

There is, of course, a small group of people who have the necessary access in case I shuffle off this mortal coil. One is Geoff Campbell, who I’ve known for three decades.

He’s now a technology consultant at Networkology (networkology.com), which specialises in serious networking stuff. Geoff was visiting

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a few weeks ago, and rather slyly dropped a small box onto my desk. He muttered, “I think you might like to play with that,” and I could tell from the wry grin that this was not just a boring old £20 Ethernet switch.

Before I dive into what it is, let’s go back a decade or two. In the past, we didn’t care too much about network traffic (the “we” being those people who were, and possibly still are, in charge of such things). That’s because we didn’t have much bandwidth on the LAN anyway. External connectivity was desperately slow.

We made very sure that only those services that needed external connectivity had access to the outside world, because some of these WAN connection routes could come with excruciating monthly costs if services or users went rogue. But we could use the traffic LEDs on our switches to have a reasonable idea of which devices were chattering away. This was helped, of course, by the simplicity of networking back then.

It’s all very different now. We have so many services on our network, it’s largely impossible to do an eyeball guess of traffic rates. This is

Jon is the MD of an IT consultancy that specialises in testing and deploying kit @jonhoneyball

“The problem is you have to wade through a flood of traffic trying to look for patterns”

BELOW The tiny little box can unlock all your network secrets

especially true of the wide range of autodiscovery chatter that is flooding around the LAN. Of course, our toolbox hasn’t stayed locked in the realms of “LED flicker”, even though it’s all we tend to get on cheap home/SOHO switches and routers. Managed and semimanaged switches allow us some visibility on the traffic, even if it’s just a basic count of packets per second.

To get a good idea of what’s happening, you have to dig deep. The standard tool for this is to grab a wodge of the network traffic, usually using a mirrored port on a switch, and to suck the data into a tool like Wireshark. The problem with this approach is that you have to wade through a flood of traffic trying to look for the patterns, and this requires careful filtering.

More advanced switches, and network fabric, allow a better insight.

I can see a lot of useful information on the various Ubiquiti networks we have, but it’s providing a sketch rather than giving me the whole picture.

Which brings me to Geoff’s small box. Called Allegro 500, from Allegro Packets in Leipzig (allegro-packets. com), it’s in the lower mid-range of its group of network multimeters. At the bottom end of the range is the 200, which is good for 2Gbits/sec throughput. At the top end is the 5500, which can handle 150Gbits/sec.

The 500 has 4GB or 8GB of internal database memory, and 0.5TB or 1TB of ring buffer, and is good for 4Gbits/sec. The monster 5500 unit has up to 4TB of database memory and 576TB of ring buffer, which you

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Jon Honeyball Opinion on Windows, Apple and everything in between – p108

Paul Ockenden Unique insight into mobile and wireless tech – p111

can increase by another 704TB should you need. But this is the kicker: there is essentially no functional difference between the biggest and the smallest unit in the range.

It’s just throughput capacity and storage.

So, what is the Allegro 500? The easiest way to understand it is to think of it as a simple transparent switch. Insert it between your LAN and your boundary router. The two Ethernet ports used have no IP addresses, because they are simply passthrough devices. There’s a monitoring Ethernet port, which you connect to your network, and it comes up on an IP address so you can connect to the management interface.

Geoff and I connected it up to a big segment of my LAN, powered it up and decided to go to the pub. We could have set up some mirror ports on the big switch, but that would have delayed the beer, and thus was clearly suboptimal.

Room with a view

After a couple of pints of the finest, we were back in front of a laptop and I logged into the Allegro web interface.

The words I exclaimed next are not appropriate for polite company. But rest assured it was along the lines of “golly” and “blimey”.

My entire network segment had been laid bare. Not just by the usual source/destination IP address traffic analysis. No, that would have been too simplistic. The Allegro was providing real-time visibility of the entire ISO 7 layer stack. I could look at straightforward packet traffic, as you would expect. But then dig into Layer 2 at the Ethernet layer. Everything was there – by MAC address, QOS, packet size, ARP, VLAN, STP, MPLS, LLDP, PPPOE and so forth. All by device. All with data capture, analysis and real-time graphing.

Let’s move on to Layer 3, the IP layer. Want to see all the DHCP, DNS, NetBIOS, ICMP, multicast and IP traffic, sliced, diced and graphed in real-time? It’s a click of the mouse.

Or we can take a look at Layer 4, the transport layer. Connections, TCP statistics, retransmissions, flags, response times, TCP window size and so forth. How about looking at

Lee Grant Tales from the front line of computer repair – p114

Dr Rois Ni Thuama Our guest columnist on a landmark legal decision – p116

Layer 7, the application layer? Want to see all the SSL statistics, HTTP, SMB, SIP, NTP, PTP? Even better, every analysis at every layer and protocol has its own PCAP download button, allowing me to create a .PCAP file of just that data for feeding into a third-party tool such as Wireshark.

Here’s an example of just how far down this rabbit hole you can go. I went to the SIP analysis tools on the Layer 7 section. I initiated a VoIP call between two phone extensions, and hit the PCAP button for audio 1 and 2.

After a minute or so, I stopped the session and Allegro dumped an MP3 file of the VoIP call into my downloads folder. I hit Play and was listening to the recorded phone call. And I could have PCAPed a file of all the SIP and RPT/RTCP data for packet analysis.

To look at SMB traffic, I dropped into the SMB statistics page and found a number of devices on the network that were still trying to use SMB v1.

Further digging showed them to be the Axis security cameras, which were trying to push their video feed to

Davey Winder Keeping small businesses safe since 1997 – p118

ABOVE The Allegro is inserted between your LAN and your boundary router

“I’ve been using this tool for a week now, and I’m still finding a wealth of new things”

BELOW Allegro produces a wealth of accessible data

Steve Cassidy The wider vision on cloud and infrastructure – p122

an internal IP address share on a NAS. Which would be fine, except that this server hasn’t been there for some years, and I now use the excellent Synology Surveillance Station service. Evidently I had forgotten to dig into the cameras to turn this feature off. Of course, in doing this, I found that there was new firmware from Axis, so I spent a thrilling half hour updating that, too.

Think about it for a minute: how would I have found that this was happening if there wasn’t a tool that would sift through the flood of IP traffic and work out that there were a bunch of clients that were trying to make an SMB v1 connection to the IP address of a server that is no longer doing that task?

A tool like Allegro isn’t something you just drop into for five minutes, have a look around and then wander off. I’ve been rooting around this tool for a week now, and I’m still finding a wealth of new things I hadn’t spotted.

It really is like going down Alice’s rabbit hole. And I have never seen another tool that gives me this level of data analysis coupled with this accessibility and utility.

Now for the bad news. The larger of the Allegro 500 units costs €6,000 for the highercapacity unit, and €4,500 for the smaller unit. Which is not particularly pocket change.

The Allegro 200 costs less, but I understand the big units run to “oh my gosh” price tags.

But look at the context: the sort of tool that you want in a data centre, handling traffic 109

analysis at 150Gbits/sec, isn’t going to be trivial. This sort of workload isn’t going to run as an app on your Samsung smartphone.

There’s an ongoing support cost too, as you would expect from a fully supported device. It’s €900 per year for the larger-capacity Allegro 500, and €675 for the smaller Allegro 500, which is par for the course for a properly supported product. And this one certainly is: Geoff and I found a bug, triggered by a misconfiguration error on our part. Geoff reported the bug at 9.15am. We had an initial response at 10.02am. We then had a second response confirming that it had been found and fixed at 10.39am.

The fix is now in the test build of the firmware awaiting soak testing and then broader release. That is what professional support means.

Is the Allegro 500 for everyone?

Absolutely not. However, if you want to know what is going on within your network, or that of a client network if you’re a network consultant, then this gives you a depth of insight that is eye-opening. And it does so within minutes of plugging into the network, usually on a set of mirrored ports from a core switch so the Allegro is not inline. Viewed in that light, it could pay for itself very quickly.

Suffice to say, I am still learning what it can do, and am tempted to buy one, just to satisfy the OCD networking nerd in me. If you want to know more, then email geoff.campbell@networkology.com and tell him I sent you.

New games computer

I decided it was time to buy a new PC. Well, to be more accurate, to buy a games PC because I haven’t had

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anything that was games-oriented for many years. Any recent interest in gaming has been satisfied by my iPhone, and I already have the games consoles market covered: purely for research, you understand, I bought a PlayStation 5 and an Xbox S, which was then supplanted by an Xbox X. I had looked at buying a gamesoriented machine a couple of years ago, having been tempted by the latest 32-core and 64-core AMD processors, plus the then new Nvidia GeForce RTX 3090 graphics card. However, the lack of availability of the 3090 knocked that idea on the head, and my focus shifted to the consoles.

But it was time to look again, so I wandered over to the Chillblast website (chillblast.com). Chillblast has a good reputation with PC Pro readers, winning numerous awards over the years. You can build up a machine to your specification, but my attention span didn’t run to making all those choices. I decided to go for its top-of-the-range gaming computer that was available for next-day delivery.

The CPU is the Intel Core i912900K; I really wanted a modern CPU, and 11th generation Intel wasn’t going to cut it. The motherboard is the Asus TUF Gaming X690-Plus WiFi D4, which has a good range of capabilities, including decent wired and wireless networking. The PC ships with 32GB of DDR4 memory rather than the latest DDR5, but that’s fine for the time being. A 1TB

ABOVE The Allegro range covers most networks’ needs

“Performance is really quite mental. Flying around in Flight Simulator is huge fun”

BELOW Chillblast PCs use industry-standard components

boot drive and 2TB storage, both SSDs, would allow for rapid loading even of large games. And a 12GB Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 Ti graphics card is there to provide 3D acceleration. Water cooling for the CPU seems to be all the rage, and there are more fans inside the box than you would get at an Adele concert. A price tag of £3,580 including VAT was somewhat robust, but I hope to get years of service from it.

For monitors, I went with the 32in Samsung G7 monitor, which is a large curved desktop monitor with good credentials, including high refresh rate support. A rather silly colour backlit keyboard and mouse completed the package.

Setup was quite straightforward at first, but I then ran into some roadblocks. The 3080 Ti wouldn’t work at all, and I had to use the basic motherboard-mounted Intel graphics adapter to get any image at all. There were lights on the GPU, so it was definitely getting power. I phoned Chillblast and almost immediately got through to a knowledgeable support engineer.

He suggested pulling the card out and reseating it, just in case it had become dislodged in transit.

I tried this, but it didn’t help. So I phoned back to the support line and got a different, but equally helpful, support engineer.

He quickly decided that the GPU card might be faulty, and dispatched one by courier for overnight swap-out.

When the replacement card

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arrived the following day, I did the swap-out, with the courier taking away the suspect card. Booting up the machine gave me a working GPU, so I was a very happy chappie.

Performance is really quite mental. Flying around in Microsoft Flight Simulator is huge fun, and I can have all the settings set to maximum.

I ran some benchmarks in 3DMark and got 82,558 in Night Raid, 18,934 in Time Spy and 9,739 in Time Spy Extreme, all of which are pretty fine results. Of course, none of this helps when you have a 130GB update to Flight Simulator to download, and I was grateful for my gigabit fibre internet connection.

Well, until I decided to check for BIOS, firmware and other updates.

We must remember that Chillblast is using well-known industry-standard components to build your computer.

This should be compared to, for example, a Dell computer, where Dell itself builds an updater tool. This would normally allow me to update everything – drivers, firmware and so forth – from one place.

Of course, I needed to go to the Asus site to get its updater tools. At this point, I entered a whole world of pain. It would be hard to create a more miserable, confusing and opaque set of tools, but Asus gets the gold star. Battling with this took a lot of time, and hassle, and my confidence in Asus has taken a battering. This is somewhat disappointing: long-term readers will remember how, in the late 1990s, I imported an Asus motherboard from the USA and fitted it with two Pentium Pro 100 CPUs. If I remember rightly, that cost £800 for the board and £800 each for the CPUs. It was a Windows NT machine that absolutely screamed.

Maybe I was just looking in the wrong place, but I was in the support page for this new motherboard. The management tools are a mess, and Asus really needs to sort this out.

Keeping firmware up to date is very important when it covers not just the motherboard, but integrated services such as Wi-Fi, Ethernet, sound and most everything else. I’m not blaming Chillblast; its service has been excellent. But I expected more from Asus. jon@jonhoneyball.com

Real world computing

PAUL OCKENDEN

“If you try to upgrade in situ you’ll just end up with a shedload of things that won’t work properly” Paul helps a reader with a poorly Raspberry Pi, and then starts identifying the birds in his garden using technology

I

received a question this month from a reader (who wishes to remain anonymous) who is having lots of problems upgrading his Raspberry Pi 400 to the latest OS version. He’d tried to follow several websites advising on the steps needed, but had ended up with a Pi that kept giving configuration errors when trying to do stuff via the command line, and where the mouse had become very sluggish and kept overshooting when using the Raspberry Pi desktop. He wondered what the best course of action would be in this case.

First, there’s no need to feel bad about being in this situation. I’ve been there myself, including the sluggish mouse thing, which sometimes seems to happen when trying to upgrade from Buster (version 10) to Bullseye (version 11).

Unfortunately, there’s only one sure-fire way to recover from this and that’s to re-image the SD card in your Pi and start again from scratch. I know that’s a real pain, especially if you have lots of software installed on the machine, but it’s the only option when your Raspberry Pi goes haywire like this. Otherwise, if you try to upgrade in situ you’ll just end up with a shedload of things that won’t work properly and broken dependencies.

You’ll also have lots of pain when you try to do future updates.

For all that people complain about Windows Update, and to a lesser degree the update process on a Mac, in

Paul owns an agency that helps businesses exploit the web, from sales to marketing @PaulOckenden

“Windows is a lot better now, but the various flavours of Unix haven’t quite caught up”

BELOW A Pi update resulted in one reader’s Pi 400 acting very sluggishly

my experience Unixy-type systems just can’t compete. I always laugh when people say things like, “I wish Windows had apt-get available.” Yes, it’s fine for small regular incremental updates within one major operating system version, but if you leave too big a gap between updates, or try to upgrade to a newer base version, then you’re often lining yourself up for a world of pain. People will tell you to just edit this word in a config file and it will all work perfectly, but I’m here to tell you that so often it won’t.

If you find yourself in this position, I’d very strongly recommend starting over. It’s a bit like how Windows was a decade or two back – it was always best in those days to completely reinstall the operating system every year or two, to keep things running fast and smooth. Windows is a lot better now, and will usually avoid getting itself into a mess, but the various flavours of Unix haven’t quite caught up.

So my advice to our shy reader is to download the latest copy of the Raspberry Pi Imager from raspberrypi.com/software. Please don’t use NOOBS, or New Out Of the Box Software to give it its full name, which was the previous SD card-based installer – NOOBS is no longer supported and the Imager is so much better.

Another top tip is to make sure you’re using a decent microSD card for this. If the one you’re currently using is a no-name brand, or was labelled something good such as SanDisk but was suspiciously cheap when you bought it, or if the card has previously had lots of wear and tear (perhaps sitting inside something like a security camera), then chuck it in the bin and buy a new one. SD cards aren’t expensive, but make sure that you’re buying from a reliable source as there are so many fakes around these days. Even on websites such as Amazon you need to ensure that the 111

seller (which isn’t always Amazon) is reputable. Early Raspberry Pis had limitations on what size cards could be used, but the Pi 400 doesn’t. Still, unless you’ll be using the machine for massive documents, video editing or audio work, then a 16GB or 32GB card is probably fine.

From within the Raspberry Pi Imager you get a choice of operating systems that you can download. The default is a 32-bit copy of Debian with the Raspberry Pi Desktop software installed. It’s a good choice for many people, but perhaps not the best one for the reader’s Raspberry Pi 400. If you click on the “Raspberry Pi OS (other)” you’ll see several options. The main 32-bit OS is available in both “lite” and “full” options, and there are also things such as 64-bit versions and legacy versions (which are basically Buster rather than Bullseye).

The 64-bit versions are fairly new, having only came out of beta this year, and they have advantages for some applications (I’ll come on to one in a bit), but for most normal users, right now, I’d recommend sticking with the 32-bit OS versions. That advice will probably change in the future, but you’re less likely to run into problems for the moment.

The Raspberry Pi 400 is the “Pi 4 built into a keyboard” model, and it’s the one that people often use as a lightweight desktop replacement.

For this reason I’d recommend ignoring the default OS suggested by the Raspberry Pi Imager and instead select “Raspberry Pi OS Full (32 bit)”. The full version includes the various recommended applications, including the Libre Office suite and Claws Mail, as well as a bigger range of packages that will be useful when installing other software.

The full install is much better suited to a Pi that’s going to be used in a desktop environment.

There’s an option within the Raspberry Pi Imager to preset things such as your wireless network details (click on the small cog to access this), but I’ve found that it doesn’t always work so I normally ignore it; you still get the chance to set up the Wi-Fi and other stuff on the initial boot of the machine. At this point, it will also go off and grab the latest updates because the files that the Imager uses aren’t always bang up to date.

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Once you’re up and running, it will be like having a new machine.

You might also find that Bullseye seems a bit faster than Buster – that’s true with new machines such as the Raspberry Pi 400, which is built on the Pi 4 platform, but you might not notice any speed increase with some older Pis. My final piece of advice is to keep the OS updated regularly. If you only switch the machine on once every six months, you’ll find you might have missed several updates, and it’s in cases like that where things can start to go horribly wrong again. Regular updating is the key to a happy Pi.

Four and twenty blackbirds…

People are becoming ever more interested in attracting wildlife to their gardens, balconies or window boxes, and identifying those species that do pay a visit.

I’ve written before about using wireless security cameras as wildlife cameras when aimed at a nest box or bird feeder – some of them are ideal for this, and much more convenient than a conventional wildlife camera (often known as a trail camera). With the latter you’ll have to regularly open the camera, take the memory card out and download any photos or videos. With a wireless security camera, however, everything can be uploaded in near real-time to the cloud, and you can even get alerts or emails for interesting things happening on your feeders or in your nest boxes. Some wireless security cameras even come with solar panels, so can be mounted in hard-to-reach places, though I once had a squirrel chew through the cable

ABOVE The Pi Imager will write a new OS to a microSD card

“I once had a squirrel chew through a cable connecting the camera to its solar panel”

BELOW The BirdNET Android app isn’t particularly intuitive

connecting a camera to its solar panel!

Identifying bird visitors is great fun for kids, and both the RSPB and British Trust for Ornithology run separate schemes where people count the birds visiting their garden, one called Birdwatch and the other, somewhat confusingly, called BirdWatch. People’s Front of Judea, anyone?

Wildlife watchers usually try to identify species visually, and that’s great if you have a degree of expertise, but it isn’t always easy: a junior such-and-such might look much the same as an adult female this-and-that.

An alternative is to identify the birds from their calls, and this is a job that’s perfectly suited to a bit of automation.

There are quite a few things out there that do this, but one seems to stand head and shoulders above most of the others. The starting point is something called BirdNET, which you’ll find at birdnet.cornell.edu.

BirdNET was created and is run by the Ornithology lab at Cornell University, New York, and it uses neural networks and machine learning to identify bird species within sound clips. You can run the full version of BirdNET locally if you want to. The source is available at pcpro.link/​ 335birdnet, but an easier introduction is simply to download the BirdNET app, which is available for both Android and iOS within the appropriate app stores.

The app can seem clunky at first, but once you get the hang of the fact that you need to separately record and analyse the clips it all starts to make more sense.

There’s actually a much easier to use app called Merlin Bird ID, which is also available from Cornell Lab, but stick with the BirdNET app if you can because it leads on perfectly to something that’s really quite fun.

…baked in a Pi

That fun thing is BirdNET-Pi, and as you can probably tell from the name it’s BirdNET running on a Raspberry Pi. I’m using a Raspberry Pi 4B, but it will also run on a 3B+.

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I’d recommend a Pi 4, if you can.

Importantly, it needs the 64-bit version of Bullseye; this is the exception to the 32-bit rule that I wrote about earlier in the column.

Unlike the BirdNET app, BirdNETPi runs continuously, so you just leave it running 24/7 and it will tell you which birds have visited. Well, the noisy ones at least.

You’ll need some kind of sound input. This can either be a USB sound card with a microphone plugged in, or just a USB microphone. The quality of the microphone can make a big difference, and if you Google it you’ll find great threads from people arguing about the best microphone to use. I just went for a £14 conference room mic (pcpro.link/335mic), which I’ve fed through a window and left sitting on a windowsill outside. It works reasonably well but it’s by no means perfect: first, it’s very susceptible to wind noise (which, amusingly, BirdNET-PI identifies as a Whiskered Tern); and second, it’s not waterproof, so I’m sure it’s going to die horribly when we have the next storm.

In time I’ll buy a better microphone and fix it to the underside of something so that it won’t get rained on. I’ll also make sure that the better mic comes with a windsock.

You’ll find a website for BirdNET-Pi at birdnetpi.com. Although this gives you instructions on how to install it, there’s little other information – the website doesn’t even explain how to run the thing. So let’s cover that here.

After the install you’ll find that your Pi will reboot, but when it comes back up there won’t be any sign of BirdNET. If you use the Pi Desktop there will be no new applications

installed or anything like that. Instead, you need to fire up a web browser and point it to birdnetpi. local – this can be on your Raspberry Pi itself if you have a display attached, but also from any machine on your local network. Some parts of the system are protected by basic authentication, so if a login box appears you’ll need to enter the username “birdnet” and a blank password. You can set a password for better security in the website’s settings page.

The first thing you should do is plug in your USB microphone, switch to the spectrogram page, and sing or whistle some high pitch notes. The spectrogram doesn’t update in real-time: it records chunks of a few seconds and then displays it. But if you can see your notes appearing on the display when it updates, then you can be sure the Pi is seeing the microphone properly.

The next step is to click on Tools, Settings, and put in your latitude and longitude. This is because the AI in BirdNET has an idea of where particular birds can be found, so with the right location set you’re more likely to get accurate results. There’s a link from that page to a helper at latlong.net, which will help you find the values for your location. You just need to be aware that the latlong site shows six decimal places but BirdNET Pi accepts only four, and won’t allow you to save if you just copy and paste the full six. You’ll need to round off those last two digits.

Real world computing

ABOVE BirdNET-Pi shows a spectrogram for each detection

“It’s great fun for adults, and both entertaining and educational for kids”

BELOW BirdNET-Pi gives you lots of data about your garden visitors

You’ll see on the Settings page that you can also set the system to email or tweet you when it detects a new species, but that’s something to set up once you’ve had it running for a few days. For now, just scroll down to the bottom of the page and click Update Settings.

While you’re here, there’s one more thing I’d recommend: head into Advanced Settings and change the recording length from 15 to 30 seconds. When it’s running, BirdNETPi continually records chunks of audio and then analyses each one for bird calls, and some birds can have quite long sequences of calls, so with 30-second chunks rather than 15 I find you’re more likely to get an accurate identification.

That’s pretty much it. From there you just need to leave it running, doing its thing. What’s great is that for every species it detects it will show the spectrogram, and you can also play back the recording. If you click on the View Log page you can actually see what goes on under the hood. For every recorded sound clip, BirdNET will return a number of possible matches, each with a probability.

Many of them will be silly suggestions, but with very small probabilities. By default, BirdNET-Pi will only record matches with scores of 0.7 or better, but you can tweak that on the Advanced Settings page if you want.

It’s great fun for adults, and both entertaining and educational for kids, too. When you get more into it you can start uploading your data to websites such as app.birdweather.com, but for now just sit back and enjoy letting a Raspberry Pi help identify the birds visiting your garden. As I write this, for the past couple of days our garden has been home to a murmuration of starlings, and so they are dominating the various charts and graphs that BirdNET-Pi produces. @PaulOckenden 113

LEE GRANT

“I possess a passion for manuals and technical documentation that fuels my omniscient façade” Lee diagnoses a PC that appears to work best on its side, before cursing manufacturers (hello, Dell) for using non-standard components

I

suppose there is an expectation that a computer shop should know its onions. Certainly, many of my clients would testify that I have an encyclopaedic store of data that provides instant recall to a multitude of solutions for whatever smouldering pile of broken tech comes through our door. In reality, I can barely remember my own... er, I’m sorry, have we met?

What I possess is a passion for manuals and technical documentation that fuels my omniscient façade and fills the brain gaps where once-known knowledge has vanished. 2012 doesn’t seem that long ago, but the technology of that era was different, and that’s where Nathan’s machine starts.

He’s one of those kids who loves tech and will spend hours on YouTube watching influencers demonstrating their latest “purchases”. Nathan works hard at school and was rewarded with a GTX 1660 GPU and some RAM to perk up the gaming prowess of his PC, a Troughton i7 with MSI motherboard and a couple of SSDs for extra pep.

It was a reliable little unit until Nathan installed his new technology.

Dad also had a poke around, making extensive notes that I won’t repeat here as we’ll crash right through the guest column and into Davey Winder’s opening paragraph. In short, they’d pulled the CMOS battery and got one reboot before the battery needed pulling again. They’d worked out that a BIOS flash could help, but someone had installed the final BIOS back in 2013, closing that avenue of diagnosis. RAM sticks (and there were now four) were cycled, but still, nothing. Dad’s last comment was that the machine seemed to respond better when it was on its side, rather than upright, and let me assure you it’s a desperate technician who inverts a PC to see if that solves the problem.

Lee Grant and his wife have run a repair shop in West Yorkshire for over 15 years @userfriendlypc

“It’s a desperate technician who inverts a PC to see if that solves the problem”

RIGHT Here’s a clue to the source of Nathan’s woes (or at least, one of them) 114

For those that like to play along at home, I’ll step you through the troubleshooting process as I’m going to ignore technician’s rule #1: recreate the issue. Usually I’d fire up the machine and observe its behaviour, as it’s not uncommon for a PC to behave the moment they’re plonked on the workbench, but I’m concerned that the “machine works better on its side” issue may be an electrical short. A visual inspection doesn’t reveal any obvious signs of an electrical fault (blown caps or scorch marks), and the 850W PSU offers more than enough juice to power a GTX 1660 card.

I pull the panels, cut the cable ties and examine the plugs for loose connections. All seems well, so I attack it with a screwdriver until the motherboard is out and ensure nothing was trapped behind it. There wasn’t, and the motherboard spacers screwed into the baseplate were also correctly aligned. A visual inspection of the motherboard told me that the GPU, CPU and heatsink were okay, the clump of RAM sticks were firmly seated and no fragments dropped from the PSU when I gave it a rattle.

With no obvious short presenting, I put the case and SSDs to one side, connected the bare components on my workbench, and turned it on. It didn’t

go bang, but it didn’t go beep either. A few fans shrugged as we waited for the display image, which wouldn’t come.

A useful tool at this juncture is a Piezo speaker, which used to be included with PC cases and was attached to the motherboard to sound a beep at POST (Power On, Self Test). They’ve fallen out of fashion but can be picked up for a few pounds and, at the very least, will give an indication if the motherboard has died. I wired one into Nathan’s machine, pushed the power button and was deafened by silence. The next step was to shock the motherboard by doing something unexpected. On the proviso that it’s not dead, firing up the motherboard without RAM will outrage it into beeping loudly in protest. Nathan’s did, which was a positive sign the motherboard had some functionality and that my attention needed to focus on what was stopping the POST process.

Swap shop

I replaced Nathan’s new GPU and random RAM collection (is that RRAM?) with a test GPU (an Nvidia GT 710) and a basic stick of DDR3. The machine displayed a POST screen, and I performed the secret happy-dance known only to PC technicians. But you may wonder why I didn’t pull these components earlier.

There were a few routes to arrive at this point but, when trying to recreate a fault, it’s important not to change too many things at once, so I swapped out my test GPU for Nathan’s shiny GTX 1660 and watched in joy as the POST screen repeatedly appeared.

This left me with a pile of mismatched RAM sticks to work through: Nathan’s old RAM and his two new sticks of Patriot Viper Xtreme DDR. Oddly, they were marked as a quad-channel kit, which means they’re sold as a matched

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set of four DIMMS, but someone is obviously selling split sticks.

Installing this RAM back into the machine stopped the POST process and, to resurrect it, required a CMOS reset, just as Nathan’s dad had said.

So, the fault was leaning towards RAM compatibility, and a dig around in the product specs gave me a clue. The new memory was designed to be overclocked and, to facilitate this, the manufacturers designed the DIMMs to run at 1.65V. Nathan’s motherboard, having endured countless resets to default settings, only pumped 1.5V to the RAM, and that missing 0.15V made the difference. For the voltage curious, new-fangled DDR5 requires between 1.1V and 1.25V, so much more computational power for less energy.

Using my test RAM, I adjusted the RAM voltages in the BIOS, saved, shut down, swapped-in Nathan’s RAM and then pressed the on button. Voilà!

Due to speed differences, I decided not to use Nathan’s old RAM and left him on 8GB. Interestingly, upping the RAM speeds to their 1,866MHz levels via manual tuning or by invoking XMP brought the machine back to its knees, so 1,333MHz was as good as it was going to get.

I applaud Nathan and his dad for giving it a whirl, a fabulous effort, but matching new RAM to a motherboard that first fired up a decade earlier was always going to have compatibility risks. Remember, sometimes getting hardware working is the best achievable result; getting something working perfectly may be impossible.

Not a fan

It’s not unusual for the most obvious faults to be extremely well hidden.

Jane’s office machine kept shutting down at random points during the day. She works in media branding and although she spends a lot of time slicing and splicing video for TikTok, it’s nothing that would give an iPad much to sweat about. Using isolation techniques, I stabilised her PC using the Ryzen’s on-board graphics instead of the dedicated GPU, but as her graphics card wasn’t dead, I dug further.

There’s something hypnotic about watching a cooling fan spin, especially Jane’s GPU cooler as it rotated with cool aloofness and no real dedication to the task. I removed a few screws, and the fan fell to pieces: the rotational bearings had shattered.

Sometimes it’s possible to cobble a replacement together from spares and the remnants of the original, but the Zotac fan was a sealed unit, taking repair off the menu. I rummaged in

my tub full of GPU fans and none of them matched the Zotac in terms of fixings alignment, so I had to ship something from China to repair the graphics card.

This gave me plenty of time to wonder why GPU cooling fans can’t use standard mounting points like desktop case fans.

Although the fan’s design and layout could be unique to that card, the holes to thread the mounting screws through could easily be standardised, irrespective of rotational speed and rates of air displacement. I’ve been doing this job too long to be surprised by wonky screw holes, but as manufacturers (hopefully) begin to design products with repair in mind, we may see standardisations that don’t impact on functionality. One manufacturer that I hope learns this lesson well is Dell.

We don’t have enough space in this magazine for me to explain the contempt I have for proprietary components and fittings, so here’s a simple example. A few months ago, a Dell Optiplex 9020 arrived that seemed to suffer from a lack of power.

Once some basic visual checks had been made, the first fence to clear was testing the PSU, but this Dell had hidden a trap inside Becher’s Brook.

The motherboard had a modified 8-pin power socket, rather than the usual 20+4-pin ATX standard. The Optiplex 9020 has several form factors within its range, and this bizarre socket allows Dell to fit non-standard PSUs inside bespoke shaped cases. The Dell machine doing nothing on my bench actually used a standard-sized midi tower, but a technical decision had been made to

Real world computing

ABOVE A shattered fan can be hard to replace as mounting points aren’t standard

“I’ve been doing this job too long to be surprised by wonky screw holes”

BELOW A cheap power adapter can be a fire hazard

save as much cash as possible in the manufacturing process by utilising non-standard connectors.

The PSU was rated at 290W, and a quick glance at the spec showed that the +12V rail was only rated for 14A, which is about 50% of a standard PSU. It’s an energy-efficient design that delivers a gut punch for the customer as the bespoke socket removes the owner’s options to add a more power-hungry GPU or to throw in some additional storage drives. Even a fundamental PSU failure requires this exact Dell part, which runs to £75 for a new unit (compared to less than £25 for a 400W Kolink).

To frustrate the customer a little more, my suppliers had a 30-day wait on delivery. To allow me to move forward with this repair, I ordered a converter cable, the Acme 3000 Fire-Hazard Pro exclusive to eBay, which allowed me to turn the Dell’s eight pins into 24 and eliminate the PSU from my enquiries. We found the motherboard guilty of all charges.

This sort of voltage converter cable is fine for testing, but not ideal for the long term. In our industry, fire is rare, but when it happens, the source of the conflagration is usually the cheap-aschips Molex-to-SATA power adapter used to hook in drives when the PSU has too few SATA ports. Only a few weeks ago, a smouldering PC desktop arrived with a burnt optical drive caused by one of these adapters. The fire had melted the cables on the PSU, killing the machine, and if this tale of using cheap converters to get power into the components of your PC rings any bells, then please think about getting a PSU with the correct number of native ports. PC Pro readers are extremely valuable commodities, and we want to look after you. lee@inspirationcomputers.com 115

Guest columnist DR ROIS NI THUAMA

“The days of escaping legal liability as a result of poorly configured code are gone” Vulnerabilities in Boeing’s software led to two fatal crashes and a landmark decision that will affect anyone involved in software development

I

n case law there are a few times when a single landmark decision reshapes or reframes the legal landscape. At the tail end of last year, that’s exactly what happened – and anyone involved in software development should take note.

The event was a memorandum decision from the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware, which framed its response to a matter relating to software vulnerability. I believe this decision, which caused the defendant firm to settle for an eye-watering quarter of a billion dollars, will change the commercial landscape for good.

Up to this point, there have been numerous instances where vulnerabilities (vulns) in IT systems have been left unaddressed, yet directors have managed a lucky escape. But times are changing.

There are two key learnings for anyone involved with software development. First, shareholders, investors and their lawyers are now equipped with a better understanding of exploits and vulns and the steps that should be taken to address known significant threats. Second, they are no longer prepared to stomach losses when management failed to exercise reasonable care, skill and diligence.

This combination of a better understanding coupled with investors no longer prepared to weather poor decision-making means the days of escaping legal liability as a result of poorly configured code, failing to address reasonably foreseeable vulns or overlooking known threats are gone.

Shareholders are awake and class actions will follow. In other words, management’s luck has run out.

This decision will usher in a new sense of urgency for businesses to adopt global industry standards as a minimum, to address the reasonably

foreseeable vulns and exploits. From now on, you must avoid the avoidable or face the consequences.

Cases that changed the world

Rois Ni Thuama PhD is an expert in risk mitigation and head of cyber governance at Red Sift. @rois_cyberstuff

“Shareholders are awake and class actions will follow.

Management’s luck has run out”

RIGHT A design flaw in Boeing’s 737 Max caused the aircraft’s nose to rise upwards 116

In 1897, a boot and shoe manufacturer called Mr Salomon restructured his business to facilitate his four sons’ concerns that they be considered more than mere servants. The new structure would expand their interest in the business to give them part ownership.

To facilitate this new arrangement, the business was incorporated as a limited company. When the company ran into financial trouble, the debt, it was decided, belonged to the company alone. Whatever debt could not be satisfied by the firm remained unpaid.

In other words, the loss remained with the lender. The lenders could not recover their debt by pursuing the members of the business. The concept of the company as a legal person separate and distinct from its members was considered good law and would be followed not just in England and Wales but beyond into other common law countries where it was considered persuasive precedent (Salomon vs Salomon, 1897).

Thirty-five years later, a seminal case that originally began under Scots Law – Donoghue vs Stevenson – found

its way into the House of Lords. Mrs Donoghue joined her friend in a cafe in Paisley one Sunday, was treated to a drink, and discovered to her horror the remains of a slug in her ginger float. As the claimant was not party to the contract the Lords considered whether the woman who fell ill after drinking this cocktail was owed a duty of care by the manufacturer.

In their decision, the Lords reasoned that manufacturers owe a duty to the consumers who they intend to use their product, not merely those who purchase it. The case launched a thousand lawsuits. More accurately, it probably launched hundreds of thousands of lawsuits, if not millions.

And a whole new area of law, the tort of negligence, was born.

These are only two cases where legal decisions have had wide-ranging ramifications for the commercial world. It’s no exaggeration to say that the recent Boeing case, which we will come to shortly, will have a profound effect on directors, investors and insurance companies, and we will see the rapid acceleration of industrystandard practices around the world.

Lucky escape for Sony

In November 2014, Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) fell foul of a cyberattack launched by a nationstate actor. Shortly after the attack began, SPE ground to a standstill. Half of its personnel couldn’t access their computers, while half of its servers had been wiped of all data.

Sensitive information relating to contracts was released into the wild and unflattering comments contained in emails found their way into the media. Five films that were set to be released were made available on the internet. The business disruption, financial losses and reputational

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damage are difficult to assess but are likely to be astronomical. It would be difficult to calculate revenue lost because of the early release of five films and impossible to calculate losses arising from any work in development or pre-production that was destroyed or deleted.

The prevailing theory is that North Korea used a phishing email to gain entry, though it has been suggested that it would have been as easy to have someone enter the site and launch the attack in person. According to experts, the physical security brought in to assist post-attack was woefully inadequate. Once they had gained access, poor security and the absence of basic cyber hygiene allowed the bad actors to run amok in SPE’s systems.

It wasn’t all bad luck for SPE: its corporate structure meant investors were a degree of separation away from the targeted entity. SPE is part of Sony Group and it is Sony Group that is listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Whether investors would have been more active if they had felt losses directly is difficult to say.

SPE also benefited from the timing.

In 2014, investors were easier to hoodwink. Attributing the attack to a nation-state actor gave the whole debacle an air of inevitability. What can you do if attacked by a nation state?

Well, for one, you could start by taking reasonable care and doing the minimum, such as implementing a sound physical security policy and making sure that you address known significant cyber threats such as phishing emails, right?

Right. This is where the rubber meets the runway.

Shareholder class actions

The facts surrounding the Boeing case are desperately sad. For the purposes of corporate law and shareholder class action, that nearly 400 people were killed in two separate incidents does not form part of the submission or the reasoning. It is mentioned here because it seems callous to overlook the human cost of this corporate error.

The opinion itself runs to over 100 pages. This is intended as a snapshot of what happened, why the claimant shareholders succeeded in their claim and finally what directors should do to avoid liability.

A piece of software, the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS), was designed as a workaround to solve an engineering problem. This problem had been baked in when Boeing, in its haste to keep pace with a competitor, rushed the technical

drawing phase. Boeing’s new plane, the 737 Max, would have a larger engine. But that shifted the plane’s centre of gravity, causing the plane to send its nose skywards.

Rather than return to the drawing board, MCAS was born. This would lift the tail and push its nose down. The software was triggered by a single sensor. Boeing knew this sensor was vulnerable to false readings.

Astute readers will be very worried. You’ve just read that the sensor is a single point of failure and that it was known not to work properly. On both occasions, minutes after take-off, after experiencing difficulty the pilots searched the handbook, followed best practice but could not regain control of the plane. No-one had explained this problem to pilots or regulators.

As a result of these air disasters, Boeing suffered significant business disruption. The entire 737 Max fleet was grounded. This resulted in financial losses and reputational harm to the company. In reaching its decision, the court reasoned that the directors demonstrated a complete failure by failing to establish a reporting system or failing to address known significant problems.

Any corporation that fails to implement either or both of these elements listed above – and suffers business disruption which leads to financial losses or reputational harm that adversely affects the firm or its share value – is fast-tracking its way to shareholder class actions. With respect to bad coding, unaddressed software vulns or cyber threats, this is the matter that lawyers will look to.

Lessons for us all

Protecting your business from myriad threats may seem daunting, but there

Real world computing

ABOVE Sony Pictures avoided a class action lawsuit after its systems were hacked

“It’s what you do know but don’t act on that could be the most painful”

BELOW The entire 737 Max fleet was grounded following two fatal crashes

are good general rules to follow. To quote a report from the Marchioness Disaster in 1989, “the purpose of risk assessment is to try to assess relevant risks in advance so that appropriate steps can be taken to put measures in place to eliminate or minimise them”.

It is elementary risk management to address known vulns or threats, whether it’s in a widget, policy, protocols or code.

So what sources might IT directors, engineers or consultants rely on to assist them in avoiding liability?

Building in defensibility is about taking reasonable care.

That means any information that is revealed by a reasonable search ought to be addressed – or there must be extensive contemporaneous notes justifying the decision not to implement and providing details of the decision maker(s).

For example, IT directors would do well to implement a well-regarded framework, such as that provided by the National Institute of Standards in Technology. Moreover, they should ensure they read reports directed at their sector. For example, Interpol wrote a report for healthcare agencies across Europe warning about ransomware and advising of solutions and mitigation techniques 12 months before the Irish Health Service Executive was targeted in the Conti ransomware attack. Similarly, the National Cyber Security Centre published Cyber Threats to the UK Legal Sector. Whatever sector your business is in, directors can’t afford to ignore this accessible information.

The single takeaway is this. It’s not the unknown or unknowable events that could represent an existential threat to your business: it’s what you do know but don’t act on that could be the most painful for all. rois@redsift.io 117

A passwordless future…

DAVEY WINDER

“Why are the stupid rules there in the first place? Because someone had to tick a compliance box” Passwords aren’t going anywhere, Davey is saddened to report, but that hasn’t stopped him dreaming of a passwordless future again

I

hate passwords with a vengeance.

In the main because they are so badly abused, from a security perspective, by so many people. I’m not just talking about the person on the Clapham omnibus who keeps their passwords simple and shared between multiple accounts and services, but service providers as well.

In 2022, I would have liked to think that the days of stupidly short character limits, along with rules forbidding special characters, would be long gone, but that’s not the case. Yes, Virgin Media, I’m looking firmly in your “email passwords can be no longer than ten digits and contain no special characters” direction.

Of course, Virgin Media isn’t the only outfit that’s in strong password denial. It’s still possible to find those who see password creation as some kind of Krypton Factor challenge where you have to use at least one number, upper case and special character, except for certain banned special characters of course, oh and no repetition, all within a given maximum length password.

Not only is this daft, it’s also insecure: it makes it easier for those who would crack your password to do just that. If I know the maximum length of a string and the formatting rules of that string, well, it becomes a lot less time-consuming for my password-cracking tools to discover.

And why are these stupid rules there in the first place? Because someone, at some point before login security hygiene realised the error of its ways, had to tick a compliance box and that legacy has never gone away.

This gets even more bizarre when, in the case of Virgin Media email accounts, you look at its own recommendations for creating a

118

Davey is a journalist and consultant specialising in privacy and security issues @happygeek

BELOW It’s virtually impossible to create a strong password for a Virgin Media account

strong password, which includes things it won’t let its own customers do. Things such as using more than ten characters (“your password will be more secure and harder to crack, the longer it is”) or special characters (“strong passwords include... symbols (? / !) or special characters (@ + ~)”), for example.

That particular password advice page (pcpro.link/335virgin) gets it wrong when it says you should aim for “8 – 12 characters” for password length. The days of such a short password string being considered secure are long since gone; I use 25 as my secure baseline now, and certain high-value accounts will get ramped up to 50. Where the Virgin Media advice gets it right is that using a password manager makes this a lot easier to accomplish, not only in terms of creating a random, long and secure password in the first place but being able to use them without being some kind of memory savant. Well, not use them if you are one of Virgin Media’s customers, obviously. Another bit of correct advice – to use two-factor authentication as a double-lock – is blunted somewhat by the fact that it doesn’t support this either.

This is where Apple, Google and Microsoft step forward in an unlikely alliance against password insecurity.

The basis of the announcement, which can be found at pcpro.link/335alliance and was made by the three tech giants simultaneously, is to rid “password friction” by moving closer, more quickly, to a passwordless future.

As I’ve said time and time again, password managers are your friend; your very secure friend. Unfortunately, while password manager usage has taken off with tech-minded users, the general public considers these apps a step too far. Why so? Friction.

It’s much easier and takes less time simply to use that weak password everywhere. Until the inevitable day arrives when doing so leads to a data breach or worse, when things come tumbling down around them.

The conclusion: better security and stronger password hygiene will only become something approaching any kind of norm if it comes with as little friction as possible. Hence the move by these three software and services behemoths to commit to a joint effort that extends support for a common passwordless sign-in standard.

That standard is the Fast ID Online Alliance (or FIDO Alliance), which uses mobile devices to authenticate apps and websites instead of passwords. The most important part of this “passwordless pact” is that this will happen cross-platform rather than have a proprietary lock. The idea is that you will be able to, for example, log into an account on your laptop using your phone (assuming it’s in range) by tapping an automatic notification asking if that’s you trying to sign in. Or, at worst, scanning your fingerprint, using Face ID or entering a PIN. I’m all in favour of this move towards less friction – note the distinction between less friction and frictionless – crossplatform methodology to provide stronger authentication for people who don’t understand what good security is, let alone care. Using your phone as a passkey store makes perfect sense from the something you have, something you are, something you know perspective: smartphone | biometric

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| PIN. An iPhone user is already used to using Face ID, as are Android users with fingerprint scanning and laptop users with Windows Hello.

Sure, it’s not perfect. Nothing is ever perfect, and that is truer in security terms than most things.

However, if a threat actor needs to have physical access to your smartphone and your login username and your face (or fingerprints or PIN), then that’s a pretty secure scenario for the vast majority of users and use cases. If you’re an outlier in terms of risk then the chances are you’ll already be using strengthened authentication measures anyway.

As my friend, Jake Moore, a former digital forensics police officer and current global cyber security advisor at ESET, said: “It is encouraging that Microsoft, Google and Apple are attempting to pave the way to make account access secure as well as

ABOVE Microsoft is among the tech giants leading the way to a passwordless future

convenient. This isn’t something that can be achieved overnight, but it highlights that more needs to be done when it comes to password security.

Cybercriminals will inevitably attempt to circumnavigate by looking for ways to exploit this method as nothing remains hackproof, but like with any early adoption of new technology, this is a great start and we are likely to see a decent version of this in the near future.”

Threatscape evolution

Verizon’s Data Breach Index Report (pcpro.link/335DBIR) is a big thing in the security world, and for good reason: it brings perspective to cyber reporting. The 100-page 2022 report, marking the 15th year of the things, did not disappoint.

My main takeaway is that ransomware has continued on its upwards trajectory, with the 13% increase “as big as the last five years combined”. I recommend you read it yourself as there’s way too much data to be covered here unless I devote the

entire column this month and next to it, which I’m not.

One more key finding is that error remains a constant in the causing of breaches, and misconfigured cloud storage sits atop the pile there.

Another is that supply chain breaches are also big, with more than 60% of system intrusion incidents last year involving supply chains.

That’s my short take. Here are some other voices giving their responses in terms of what it all means to business.

Saryu Nayyar is the CEO at Gurucul and says that while most of the DBIR report talks about threatscape evolution, it also confirms that just shoring up defences isn’t enough to prevent a breach. “The research points to the fact that based on human behaviours and poor supply chain visibility, a compromise is all but inevitable, especially if the target of a persistent and organised threat actor,” she said.

“This shifts the investment by CISO/CSOs and security teams to be in products and resources focused on security operations centre (SOC) transformation for monitoring and threat detection of both insider and external threats that are already inside the castle walls.”

This isn’t too much of a stretch, seeing as many existing security information and event management and extended detection and response solutions don’t appear to have done much to stop determined threat actors, truth be told.

So what specifically needs to be done? “In order to achieve a successful SOC transformation, what is required is a more complete set of telemetry, advanced analytics, and trained, not rule-based, machine-learning models that adapt to both the organisation and variations in tools and techniques by threat actor groups,” said Nayyar.

While I don’t see AI as a silver bullet, machine learning does have a role to

Real world computing

ABOVE Ransomware has risen by 13% in the past year, according to Verizon

“Good cyber hygiene and robust security tools alone are simply not enough”

BELOW The Data Breach Index Report is essential reading

play, especially (or perhaps solely) where automation is concerned.

Automating manual tasks, prioritising and optimising resources as well as increasing detection and response speed, along with meaningful context and risk understanding, makes a lot of sense, does it not?

Mark Lamb, CEO of HighGround, isn’t at all surprised by the findings of the 2022 DBIR. “I think most people would agree we are seeing a huge rise in ransomware,” he said, “and that phishing, stolen credentials, misconfigurations and insiders remain the primary cause of breaches.”

As for the important lessons for businesses to learn from this, at the risk of stating the obvious, Lamb said prioritising defences against those attacks is essential. And he’s right, as none of them looks like vanishing over the horizon any time soon. But he also argues, rightly in my opinion, that practising good “cyber hygiene” and employing robust security tools alone are simply not enough.

“One of the biggest challenges that often leaves businesses weakest is they don’t fully understand their actual cybersecurity posture,” he said.

“They deploy security tools and carry out training, but they don’t have an easy and accessible way to understand how they are helping reduce their risk, or if weaknesses still exist within their infrastructure that could be exploited maliciously.”

Now we’re getting somewhere meaningful: a robust security posture requires an ability to truly understand how security programmes (both in terms of product and people) deal with an incident response but also discover weaknesses that could lead to those incidents in the first place.

These are weaknesses I’ve already touched on, by fortunate coincidence, 119

Continued from previous page when talking about the password problem earlier. The report provides “further evidence around the dangers credentials present to organisations,” said Mike Newman, CEO of My1Login.

“Not only are they the root cause of most data breaches, but they are also a top target for cybercriminals to steal when carrying out attacks.”

This is crystal clear in its simplicity: if attackers have access credentials, they also have access to monetise any number of threats against the business. Newman suggests better password practices, of course, but warns that these won’t remove the problem completely. “Eliminating potential attack vectors through passwordless security and removing passwords from the hands of users, where they are still required, is a great way to combat this risk,” he added.

I will leave the last word to Ben Jones, CEO of Searchlight Security, who says the report has rightly put emphasis on four key paths that threat actors use to get into networks: credentials, phishing, exploiting vulnerabilities and botnets.

“Defending against these has become especially important as cybercrime has professionalised,” he said, “with cybercriminals selling these access points online for others to exploit.” Indeed, I’ve written plenty about such initial access brokers (IABs), and you can search for my online content about this at my Authory article archive (authory.com/DaveyWinder).

“One way organisations can look to combat the cybercriminals that are selling access to their systems and facilitating attacks is to find them where they operate: on the deep and dark web,” Jones advised. “By monitoring marketplaces and forums for company credentials and vulnerabilities, or those of organisations in their supply chain, businesses can identify when and where they are at risk of attack.”

Certainly, it’s hard to argue with Jones when he says identifying early signs of risk to your business is “more effective at stopping attacks like a ransomware attack than waiting for when criminals have already gained or bought access to your systems”. davey@happygeek.com

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STEVE CASSIDY

“Quite a lot of work went into fibre fit to be buried, tortured, boiled, frozen and stretched” When it comes to implementing fibre broadband in a town or city, the sky’s the limit – and digging up trenches every five years is the absolute pits

A

t first, the range of topics on offer for this particular interview seemed downbeat.

A leading engineer in a Chinese telecoms firm, itself suffering through some challenging PR issues, would talk about life in the infrastructure sector since the 1950s, and about some possible futures in infrastructure.

I was only too pleased to set up this call, because Michael’s CV showed that he had started work in the telecoms sector, but not for a Chinese firm: Michael joined the Post Office, that being the main player in telephones in those far-off days. In this respect, Michael was similar to my late uncle, without whose early influence I would almost certainly not have had a chance of penetrating the technology business at all.

So I was in a well-behaved frame of mind for this chat, which almost immediately headed in a direction I wasn’t at all expecting. I was going to ask about the job market in fibre-optic based telecoms, assuming that his road from the Post Office to global telecoms names based in China was in the nature of a mobile and rewardsdriven job market: no, not a bit of it, he said. He’d stayed still, while the ownership of the company employing him had moved from the public sector to the private and to overseas domiciled environment.

The business he has just retired from is Huawei; the short version of

Arthur’s legends Interested in the history of ocean-crossing communication cables? Seek out Arthur C Clarke’s How the World Was One: Beyond the Global Village, an intimate memoir of great adventures by great technologists going back several centuries. I found my copy second-hand on Amazon many years ago, faintly stamped “Provo public library”. Sorry, Provo.

Steve is a consultant who specialises in networks, cloud, HR and upsetting the corporate apple cart @stardotpro

BELOW Huawei played a big part in revamping old Post Office technology

the history of owners is that this group came out of Post Office ownership, into a kind of stewardship scheme in which the owner was the East of England Development Agency. An exceptionally strange arrangement even for the late 20th century, because the product lifecycle and development of a new optical fibre standard isn’t something one can polish off in a single financial year.

Some method to this madness slowly emerged as we talked about those early years of the World Wide Wait and how the fibre developers envisaged their inventions would be put to use. Some very far-sighted fellow realised that the kind of fibre-to-the-house technology we see these days would need lots of work on the presentation of fibres common at the time – and it’s not all about speed.

Quite a lot of work went into fibre fit to be buried, tortured, strung between chimneypots (and that comes from one of my fibre deployment projects!), boiled, frozen, stretched and so on.

Work on more traditional nerdy concerns, such as maximum transmission distance, overall link speed and fault-tolerance was driven

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by the marine cable sector: the assumption was that such things would matter only to gargantuan telecoms companies, whose planning and expectations ran into multiple year plans and budgets. As such, why not have the fibre R&D group run by a quango, at least financially?

The answer to that question emerged when, some time in the late 1990s, Huawei turned up in East Anglia with a clear appetite for buying and revamping many rather forlorn and low-key parts of the former Post Office technological empire. Things such as a motive for profit and a sense of urgent need on the part of undeveloped regions of the globe re-emerged as vital parts of the business.

A steady process of Chinese researchers and staff coming to Ipswich in secondment positions became a regular feature of life. The handling of rebranding and being no longer part of the British government was handled softly-softly, slowlyslowly. Huawei’s interests, driven by a domestic market consisting of a quarter of all humanity, were practical and obvious rather than hidden and Machiavellian.

This gave me a confidence booster on a matter that’s been bugging me for some time: the whole noisy business of which countries “ban Huawei”, with the usual mainstream paranoid nonsense about how the firm could monitor lumps of traffic traversing its equipment or networks. I realise that this is a fixed and formalised piece of reporting, a temptingly easy and complete statement that any general purpose journalist could hand in without much chance of a negative reaction or poor readership stats, but it always seems to me to sit in isolation, with no understanding of the history or the times through which the internet’s spread and accessibility have evolved.

When the politicians and media are telling us about a remote and unfriendly Chinese business being excluded from a contract, we certainly don’t think that this incorporates decades of R&D done in the West, or indeed workers and inventors whose professional history dates back to before the introduction of colour television.

Michael’s final comment kept me busy for quite a while: he said that the development that most interested him right now is that of hollow optical fibres. He used phrases such as “thousands of times faster”, which always get my attention. Thousands of

times faster than where we are now?

We already have 10Gbit network fibre in pretty widespread use, with a few brands and cities making rash statements about 10Gbit from subscriber to internet backbone.

In a smoke-andmirrors predictive marketplace like this, it becomes vital to retain a sense of the wider system you’re connecting to. Your town might be like Aberdeen, with a good 30-mile gap to the next big city and a very rich and thriving local economy, which attracts a pure fibre access provider, its main slogan being how fast it is – at least, within the parts of the network it can control.

The 30-plus miles of fibre you can see dangling from the telegraph poles alongside the road to Aberdeen are, of course, entirely mark 1 hardware, its replacement cost being far too high (until a very much faster connection architecture is invented).

Fiddling about with speed test sites in pursuit of some customer service upgrade isn’t the best route to massive leaps in access performance. For that, you need a step change in the entire hardware kit list, the sort of thing that comes along only once in a couple of decades. I have a funny feeling that Michael’s prophecy about hollow optical fibre is one of those steps.

Real world computing

ABOVE Coming soon to a road near you.

Again

“While the cable contractor was happy enough with its work, the locals definitely were not”

Opinions differ

However, as the pace of industry announcements about fibre and customer premises increases with the end of quarantine, I have to say that there are other voices on the whole matter of ultimate fibre speeds, and what you have to go through to get them – some of them unexpectedly close to home.

May I introduce you to Mr Lee Grant? One of my irregular press contacts sent me the usual massively upbeat promotional guff about how amazed residents of a certain northern city were by their new all-fibre infrastructure.

A moment’s confusion and I realised: this northern city was home to PC Pro’s

BELOW Cable layers have no obligation to repair surfaces on a like-for-like basis

repair expert. What a great opportunity for a close-up look at how these rollouts look from the trench dug in the pavement, I thought, so I just threw the news release straight up to Lee for his comment and, maybe, a bit of street pictorial to go with the gritty tales of dropping fibre in the hole.

I’m afraid I can’t pass on his comments. Most of them are not reproducible in polite company.

While the cable contractor was happy enough with its work, the locals definitely were not. Rules for cable laying and access to housing and premises built during the Industrial Revolution involve making a surprisingly large hole in the ground, and then mostly putting the dirt back down and providing pretty much any old top cover they happen to have hanging around. Complete restitution of the built environment with like for like isn’t in the contract, even though quite a lot of the motivation behind the “dig it up” solution is to keep unsightly wires out of the line of sight of easily offended residents.

It seems to me that there are a lot of potential fixes for this level of disgruntlement, but first we must acknowledge something much more fundamental here: gigabit fibre is looking distinctly middle-of-therange at this point. It wasn’t that long ago that 10Mbits/sec or 100Mbits/sec was being stuck in the same unwelcome trenches all across the country, at least in those places both densely populated and rich enough to warrant direct fibre links.

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From Russia, with love It looks like 10Gbits/sec is an appealing upgrade, if only from a marketing perspective – but here’s the point from my conversation with the Post Office veteran. The next fibre speed jump is “thousands of times” faster, and is at least in sight. How many times will Lee’s driveway get dug up between now and the arrival of some real 2020s spec connections?

Couldn’t the regulators stop thinking about telephone wires and burglar alarm auto calls and match the rules on wayleaves and access to the reality of the tech? Then, think about a distribution system that has just one terabit feed to each row of terraced houses, breaking down anything up to a hundred 1Gbit/sec short feeds that run not down the public pavement, but instead along the roofline, requiring no burying or dodgy restorative work afterwards?

This, I admit, is blue-sky thinking.

For one thing, I realise that fibre out in the elements is a stretch for most companies and homeowners, and furthermore that having your fibre hung on the façade of your neighbour’s house might require the occasional replacement thanks to house fires, DIY misadventures and so on. But here’s the thing: it’s right there where you can see it, not buried down under the corpses of your finest rhubarb.

This makes replacement startlingly easy, even if it might be a long time coming: my fibres ringing Gray’s Inn are still visible today, some 15 years after the project that put them in.

Although, to be fair, I don’t know if they’re still carrying any data. The main thing is that they have outlasted their heyday. Nobody had to do a thing with them. We put those wires in the roof because the normal route through basements was ruled out, because one basement on the route had been the workplace of Charles Dickens and wasn’t going to be dug up or defaced by any uppity nerds.

Making Lee’s neighbours happier is a fraught undertaking, because there’s a double-whammy lurking here. Fibre is thought of as a long-term investment: people’s imaginations have been fed innumerable images of cable-laying ships and great groaning steel machines, none of them especially cheap. Yet

Everybody has their favourite collection of utilities. Not all jobs require much tweaking and fiddling with a well-configured PC these days, but it pays to recall that there are some Parallels is great, but are you violating sanctions if special cases: virtualisation you buy it? is one, even on a simple setup like a laptop, just for carrying the ghosts of all your previous versions. You want a spread of information that tells you everything about your machine and its storage of your VMs. Which is why I like Parallels Toolbox. This is a sizeable collection of little apps to do stuff, a few of which help with virtual machine management.

There’s only one small problem: I was first introduced to Parallels as a company over 15 years ago, when it was somewhat closer to Acronis than it is now.

It’s a funny relationship. The two firms have a revolving door for executives and even the occasional CEO, despite having diverged quite a lot over the past few years. I was told all about the skyscraper they have in Novosibirsk, with 400 developers in there doubtless grateful for the warmth. Novosibirsk, you see, is in Siberia.

What does that actually mean, though, in the context of a decent utility package being offered for a few quid? Clicking through as if I were a buyer, I’m presented with a UK-specific shopping cart/checkout page. Most people wouldn’t realise that this is a Russian business – it’s not a Russian name like Kaspersky, and all of the purchase transaction is denominated in pounds – but, in theory at least, buying from this site is currently breaking Russian sanctions.

That’s a nitpicker’s summation, I know.

Nobody has thought for a moment about the implementation of a shopping cart on behalf of a corporation that pays tax in a country you are either at war with, or about to be. There’s no international agreement on where money must “rest” in order to avoid seizure, nor yet is there a clear set of tests you can apply to reassure

the developing track record here is that a fibre standard gets superseded in about half a decade, and is obsolete about another decade or so later.

This timescale is enough to thoroughly confuse regulators and lawmakers. They want to see the

yourself that you (and they) are in the clear.

For me, the real trouble isn’t with whoever is at the far end of my web purchase.

The most bother comes from the grand conspiracy theorists looking over my shoulders back here at home. If you buy that, they say, you’re leaving an open door to your entire hard disk, ready for the Russian Security Service to come and look over everything you’ve got.

There’s a war on, they say, you have to be careful!

This whole outlook is a pastiche of the Churchillian era, when most government pronouncements on information security appeared on the sides of buses as posters. A bit like a more colourful Twitter, for all you millennials out there. These days we have thousands of pages of advice on keeping information from prying eyes, but most of that was written well before hostilities and the whole sanctions issue even arose.

The problem we have now in 2022, with the whole concept of intrusive behaviour by aggressor nation states, is nothing new and certainly nothing special to a state of wartime.

What you were doing before the tanks squeaked over the border – in terms of regular scans for newly infected files, or unexpected bursts of 100% CPU usage when you didn’t ask anything of the machines, or peculiar network traffic – hasn’t magically stopped working since the war turned hot.

Nor, to be even more sensible about it, has anything changed in the files downloaded from e-commerce websites or download libraries.

No sudden bloating of the Zip file, or change in checksums, has been found as an authoritative bit of evidence for a “cyberwar campaign” getting ready to roll. Quite a lot of the hype is just that – and that’s why I’m mentioning Parallels, whose employees, in all the years I’ve been talking to them, have been polite, delightful and intelligent.

BELOW Laying cables in the sea is an expensive business

fibre being provided using legal rules that quite literally have not been updated since the time of the horse and cart. Lots of the angst generated by the Huddersfield rollout was caused by sticking to rules that were written before man had invented the aeroplane.

Clearly this is a situation that needs an update from the regulators. But not the internet regulators – the building regulators. Running a 5mm-diameter jacketed fibre along the guttering doesn’t need the same heavy defensive penalty regulations as it does when the cable being regulated is carrying mains power. Getting mad at hard-working fibre installation blokes and their drills and augurs is missing the point: they’re just doing what the rules require them to do. cassidy@well.com

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Inspirational stories from computing’s long-distant past

Talk not text: a new adventure begins Legendary game designers Philip and Andrew Oliver want to take interactive fiction to dizzying new heights, as David Crookes explains

I

n 1976, some people found themselves standing at the end of a road before a small brick building, surrounded by a forest, pondering “What next?” They would enter the building, get a lamp and some keys before going down, down and south in order to unlock a grate.

Eventually, they would start to explore a series of colossal caves, performing various actions they’d unlikely get away with today such as throwing an axe at a dwarf (and having a second attempt if they missed). But such was the joy of Will Crowther’s highly influential game, Adventure – the first of its kind ever written.

Also known as Colossal Games Adventure, this classic for the PDP-10 mainframe computer was tackled by typing words such as “get keys”, “go down” and, perhaps a little less obviously, “say Plover”.

Hugely popular, it led to the development of similar titles such as Infocom’s Zork, Beam Software’s The Hobbit and Electronic Arts’ Amnesia, before text adventures largely became a niche pursuit, with point-and-click adventures becoming the natural progression.

Today, text adventures feel like a novelty, a throwback to more innocent times, even though they

once more by dragging the spirit of the genre into the 21st century.

Fast development

remain loved as interactive fiction. Among the developers inspired by them were Philip and Andrew Oliver. They created a budget game called Dizzy – The Ultimate Cartoon Adventure in 1987, which saw an anthropomorphic egg walking, tumbling and somersaulting through a fantasy world.

“Dizzy was inspired by blending text adventures with action platform games,” said Philip, recalling a character who would interact with the gaming environment, pick up objects and use them to solve puzzles.

The pair, who call themselves The Oliver Twins, ended up creating a long-running franchise based on this premise. But today the twins are evoking memories of text adventures

TOP Philip (left) and Andrew Oliver (right) with Neil Campbell ABOVE Games will be playable on phones as well as computers

If anyone can do it, it’s them. After all, the brothers know more than a thing or two about video games. To many, Dizzy remains The Oliver Twins’ crowning glory, but they’ve achieved so much more since the series ended in 1992 (not counting remakes and lost games discovered in their lofts).

First, in 2020, the pair founded Interactive Studios, later known as Blitz Games Studios, when they were just 22 years old, creating games such as SpongeBob SquarePants, Droplitz, Glover and Invincible Tiger: The Legend of Han Tao – the latter made for 3D televisions on 2009 when the ill-fated technology was taking off.

They founded Radiant Worlds in 2013, which developed the Minecraftlike SkySaga: Infinite Isles before selling the studio to Rebellion in 2018.

It was then that the journey towards their latest venture began. “After that, we had time to reflect on what we’d 123

Amazon done well in the past and what opportunities might exist in the future,” Philip told PC Pro. An idea began to form in both their minds.

While touring around 25 universities in 2019, the pair spoke to many creative people expressing a desire to make games. “It seemed everyone was dependent on programmers who, unwittingly, often became bottlenecks,” Philip said.

“Coding takes time and skill, and programmers simply can’t code everything a team wants quickly enough.”

They were aware that tools existed to take the sting out of much of this work. “People are taught to use middleware like Unity or Unreal, which makes some programming tasks easier than they used to be,” Philip said. “But we thought it would be great if people could make, share and publish an interactive title as easily as someone could make and distribute a podcast or video using YouTube.”

Let it flow

After forming a new company called Panivox alongside industry veteran Neil Campbell, who has worked on titles such as Guitar Hero and Crazy Taxi, the Olivers decided to create a new platform. “People have been able to create 3D worlds in games such as Dreams, Minecraft, Roblox, Crayta, Sandbox and so on, so we thought we’d provide a solution based more around narrative-based interactive entertainment,” Philip said.

What’s emerged is an integrated suite of tools called RichCast that lets non-programmers not only produce but publish their own interactive fiction (or nonfiction should the fancy take them). Devoid of any scripting language, developers can craft their stories by working with a flowchart.

They drag and drop tiles capable of performing different tasks that are then connected using arrows.

“We started with the broad view that it needed to be a visual flowchart, since interactive experiences are largely about progressing through different routes and that’s best visualised with a flow chart,” Philip explained.

“We’re not the first to take this approach [Unreal Engine’s Blueprints springs to mind] but we do believe our graphic design and self-imposed constraints make it the most approachable flowchart system ever developed. It’s gone through more than a year of iterations to get it to what you see now and, over the coming months, I’m sure it will improve further.”

This simple system has proven capable of not only reviving the spirit 124

of text adventures but taking them to a whole new level.

While developers can set up their RichCast titles so that players engage by clicking buttons, they can also get gamers to navigate them by speaking simple commands.

It brings the whole experience to life by injecting a greater sense of realism. “We use voice as a primary input,” Philip said. “If characters talk to us in a game, wouldn’t it be better to speak directly back to them rather than having to hit a button?”

Talk is cheap

The characters can talk thanks to 150 or so AI voices built into RichCast, each depicting different characters and styles. It ensures developers don’t need to hire voice actors (although they can if they wish). Rather, they drop a Speak tile into the RichCast workspace and have a synthesised voice verbally set the scene or speak dialogue. “It’s not as good as real voice actors but it’s so much better than text conversations,” Philip said.

Player interactions are handled by a connected Choice tile. If a character describes a stick in the corner of the room, for instance, the player could say “get stick” to bag the item. In this instance, a Logic tile would be needed to add the stick to an inventory. Later, if a player wanted to use the stick to

TOP You interact by turning on your microphone and issuing commands MIDDLE If you don’t fancy creating your own, there are lots of freebies to play ABOVE Stars and Lies has been praised for its visuals

poke around a hole, another Logic tile would ensure the player actually had the item before allowing a Speak tile to reveal the outcome.

“RichCast visually abstracts everything that lines of code can do,” Philip said. “It supports branching routes through conditions and logic and that can incorporate variables. In that sense, RichCast teaches the fundamentals of programming logic but in such a simple, visual way that people [won’t] realise what they are learning. It’s more like playing a game.”

Of course, players won’t see any of these tiles while enjoying the experiences created using RichCast.

You could download the RichCast app today for Windows and macOS and simply play the interactive content on offer without ever looking at what’s happening behind the scenes.

What you’d see are many beautifully presented high-end titles that make use of graphics and audio created by their developers. It’s also possible to engage in some complex experiences: the RichCast interface may feel simple but users are already taking great strides, with ambitious examples including Stars and Lies, which is still in development yet looking very promising.

“The design of RichCast ensures it is powerful in the functionality it offers creators but it presents it in an incredibly easy visual solution,” Philip said.

“Anyone can use the editor and start with something very simple and satisfying and then build as much complexity as they want on top.

We know if tools are easy, people can be creative and have more fun.

That makes better entertainment for the players.”

Logical steps

Award-winning British science fiction author Jaine Fenn is among those getting to grips with RichCast. The writer of the Hidden Empire and Shadowlands series of novels has been working on a title called Saving the Arkship, seeing RichCast as a modern way of recreating old Choose Your Own Adventure books – a “If characters talk to us series comparable to text adventures in paper form. in a game, wouldn’t it be “I loved those books better to speak directly back in the day so it was back to them rather than great to see the concept having to hit a button?” brought up to date,” she told PC Pro. “The ability to use straightforward tools to create story experiences appealed – I’m too lazy to learn a new language to bring my stories to life.”

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Her sci-fi mystery puts players in charge of humanity’s last desperate attempt to escape a dying Earth and colonise the stars. The player gets unexpectedly woken from stasis to find the mission has gone wrong, and the task is to find out why and fix it.

“I’ve been writing games since 2016, creating content for larger games such as the Total War franchise rather than coding small projects from scratch,” she said. “My first career was in IT, specialising in database design, so I instantly ‘got’ the RichCast method of using logic tools – specifically the tiles connected to each other to give a story flow.”

Fenn envisaged creating a small game, but got carried away. “The story experience is three times longer than I had originally planned because I was having fun.” Though she encountered some bugs along the way – the perils of beginning a project when an app is in beta – she has been largely impressed and the game will be released once the art and audio is complete. “I was lucky enough to commission an artist whose work I admire”, she added.

words such as “drawer” and working out how the tiles could connect. “It was a bit of a struggle to figure out how the grid worked at first and how easy it was to have all of the connecting lines tangled,” she said.

To help users, RichCast largely eschews written documentation in favour of videos, a decision that reflects a desire to make the suite of tools intuitive. “Problem is, the videos take a while to make and RichCast is developing so fast that they quickly look dated,” said Philip.

But there is an incentive for people to persevere. One of the biggest problems facing RichCast is attracting people to try the platform and then see the development of a game through to the end. It has achieved a reasonable catalogue of titles so far by producing some titles in-house and awarding cash to the best external creatives, starting with the competition that saw winners walking away with £2,000.

Now there’s a Creators Fund worth £250,000 up for grabs and it’s aimed at commissioning original interactive experiences from writers, visual

Retro Interactive fiction novelists, game developers and filmmakers. Panivox wants to release 25 new titles over the next 12 months, and there are also plans to allow people to profit from the “Now there’s a Creators games they make.

“We want people to be Fund worth £250,000 up able to play and create for for grabs and it’s aimed at free but we also want commissioning original creators to get well paid for interactive experiences” producing excellent titles,” Philip said. “We will introduce a monetisation system that hopefully accommodates and is fair to everyone. We want to see people get rich from royalties from making great RichCast titles.”

In some ways, this also harks back to the days of text adventures, a genre that benefitted from scores of games being released by homebrew coders BELOW The aim is using tools such as Graphic Adventure to get as many people as possible Creator. This time round, the scope for innovation is wider and RichCast is creating content more versatile than the old packages.

“It’s been great to see the creativity of BOTTOM The so many people, and we want to RichCast tiles encourage as many as possible to combine across make great content,” added Philip. different pages

Get rich trying

RichCast is not entirely focused on interactive fiction. Although Philip loves the genre (“it makes you and your decisions central to the story which is far more captivating and engaging than simply watching a pre-described story play out”), it could be used to create quizzes, health experiences and training courses – anything, in fact, that could benefit from voice-driven content.

Torie Jones, for example, created Robo Call Cafe – a fast-paced cooking game in which players help with orders.

The simplicity of RichCast afforded the developer time to focus on perfecting the graphics and animation rather than be bogged down with code. The efforts were worth it, winning the Best Use of Visuals category in a competition created by the RichCast team.

“Robo Call Cafe was possible because of RichCast’s timed-response feature and the ability to animate inside the app itself,” Jones said, of a game that impressed Philip. “What surprised us was the clever use of the current features to create a timebased game and we have plans to make this much easier in the future.”

Even so, interactive fiction appears to be at the heart of most endeavours so far. Freelance writer and artist Jessica Bown, who has a background in interactive games, created 911: What’s Your Emergency?, innovatively played out as a conversation between a call handler and a member of the public.

Bown’s main struggle was trying to get RichCast to understand certain 125

Futures We explore the trends and technologies that are set to shape the future

Fighting wildfires the smart way: with sensors, AI and drones Wildfires are dangerous to battle. Machine learning predictions and sensor-based alerts could make fighting fires safer and more successful, reports Nicole Kobie

T

he past few years have seen record wildfires in California, Europe and Australia, with conflagrations worsened by hot, dry conditions caused by climate change. That makes fighting such fires all the more costly – financially and in terms of firefighters’ lives.

Even the UK faces more frequent and more intense wildfires. The best solution is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to rein in temperatures, but technologies such as drones, AI and sensors are also lending a helping hand to predict, track and fight fires.

There’s a host of ways firefighters already use such technology. UK company FireAngel uses AI to predict incidents (pcpro.link/335angel) for at-risk people, such as dementia sufferers, while US government agency NIST developed AI to predict flashovers (pcpro.link/335NIST). This is the phenomenon when items in a room ignite all at once, only limited by the amount of available oxygen.

San Francisco startup Qwake Technologies (qwake.tech) has developed a heads-up display using 126

augmented reality in helmets to help firefighters see their way through a fire, while 3M’s Scott Sight embeds thermal imaging into helmets.

Then there’s Dubai. This is often cited as the centre of future tech, but the ideas that make headlines often aren’t used in real life. The UAE city has flaunted – but yet to use – jetpacks for fighting fires in tall towers, and also developed jet skis called “dolphins” for accessing coastal conflagrations.

But the best way to fight fires is to predict where they’re going – and spot them as soon as they light up. Machine learning systems to do that are under development in the UK, and could help firefighters around the world.

Where a fire plans to go

While the UK hasn’t been hit by fires at the scale of those seen in other parts of the world, we are home to leading wildfire research. In particular at the Leverhulme Centre for Wildfires, Environment and Society, where Dr Rossella Arcucci, a data scientist from Imperial College, leads efforts to bring machine learning to the wildfire fight.

That’s possible because the Leverhulme Centre has data to work with. Some AI systems are data led, requiring training on huge sets of data. But others apply general models to existing data sets to make sense of them. The latter is what Arcucci and her team of researchers are developing.

“The models we develop are to be applied to lots of different applications, because we start from the point that we have data,” she “We’re investigating how explained. “The meaning to use machine learning to behind the data comes from with experts speed up the prediction of collaboration in the field. As soon as you wildfires by learning from have good data and some physics-based simulations” physical meaning... you can work on the models.”

One project sparked by these ideas is led by Dr Sibo Cheng, using data assimilation and machine learning to improve wildfire forecasting. His aim is to build a system using a recurrent neural network that lets anyone fighting a fire enter a few key bits of information and receive a prediction on how the fire will behave, in particular where it will go next.

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While Cheng’s wildfire work is data-led, there isn’t enough data on wildfires, as they remain rare. To fuel his machine-learning project, Cheng uses a physics-based simulator that simulates how fires grow and move. The model is already widely used to study fires, but running it is time-consuming, meaning it’s not helpful for fighting active wildfires. “It will take several days or even a week to run a highfidelity simulation,” he said. “So we’re investigating how to use machine learning to speed up the prediction of wildfires by learning from these physics-based simulations.”

The system is fed with satellite photos of the fire, as well as key inputs such as time, location, wind direction, local vegetation, slope and elevation.

The model then looks at the area that’s burned already to understand how it’s propagated so far. It will then make a prediction based on that data, which can be handed to on-the-ground experts to aid their decision-making.

The aim, says Cheng, is to deliver a prediction about any wildfire almost in real-time, to help firefighters make

better decisions and ensure evacuations are effective. “We’ll be able to predict with some certainty and uncertainty where a fire is most likely to propagate, so we’ll have a smart way to distribute the resources for firefighters,” he explained.

Arcucci adds that such “nowcasting” is important as it helps save the lives of firefighters and local residents as well as reduce the impact of wildfires on forests. “You can simulate the different scenarios so decision makers can understand what is the best course of

Futures Fighting wildfires Futures Section head

TOP The US Forest Service deployed drones back in 2020 to assess fire conditions ABOVE US startup Qwake is using AR in helmets to help firefighters see in a fire

action to make in that situation,” she told PC Pro. Of course, no simulated system is perfectly accurate.

So Cheng is pairing the simulator-based model with another technology that will act as a real-time predictive autocorrect for the system.

“To make a real-time correction, we’re using a technology called data assimilation, which means when you make predictions, you observe what is actually happening, and take a sort of smart average between what you simulate and what you observe,” he said. “In that way, you can better adjust your predictive model for the current time, and future predictions can be more accurate. It’s an iterative process.”

So far, the system hasn’t been used on live fires but tested on wildfires after the fact, with photos fed into the model from early on during an incident and the predictions compared with the eventual real-life outcome. “It’s not yet perfect,” he 127

Futures Fighting wildfires

said, “but overall we have some quite good results, it’s quite encouraging.”

But Arcucci notes that what a mathematician deems imperfect is different from what’s useful in the field. If the predictions are out by a few metres here and there, that’s mathematically imperfect and will be tweaked in the algorithm – but it’s still useful data to firefighters on the ground. “For us mathematicians, we say ‘oh it’s not perfect’ – but for people working in the field, it may be perfect.”

The team hopes to set up a user interface to make it easier to input the data for anyone, so firefighting teams don’t need Cheng to use the system.

There’s also work to apply the idea more widely by using social media.

While the machine-learning model works in near real-time, it requires satellite photos – and those take hours to download and process. To remove that delay, another Leverhulme researcher is looking at pulling in social media photos to spot where fires are happening, supplying images as well as geolocation. That requires smart filtering – someone posting a hot new outfit and declaring “I’m on fire today” shouldn’t spark a call to emergency services – but if such a system can be made to work it could be an additional global fire alert system.

Fire sensors by drone

But what if we didn’t wait for a human to spot – and then tweet about – a fire?

That’s the idea behind a system designed by Izzet Kale of the University of Westminster. “Once you’ve spotted [a fire], it’s too late – you need to identify it very quickly and very early,” he said.

His solution is to drop hundreds of sensors across a fire-prone forest, pull in the data they collect in real-time and analyse it to spot if a fire has started by watching for rising temperatures or specific gases. To avoid unnecessary firefighter callouts, the system will automatically deploy a drone to fly over potential fires to snap photos to 128

confirm the sensor’s data indicates a new fire and isn’t just caused by an unseasonable sunny spot.

The research came out of a project into wildfires funded by the EU several years ago, that looked at detecting and better understanding fires; necessary as Mediterranean countries suffer worsening effects from climate change sparking dangerous fires in dry landscapes. “We’ve seen this every summer in Spain, in Portugal and Greece, with lives lost,” Kale said.

The sensor system’s aim is to spot fires as soon as they start, as well as to advise firefighters on where and how to battle it. The information gathered can shape evacuation efforts, says Kale, so people aren’t accidentally sent into zones that are about to become dangerous. “For example, I think it was the Spanish fire last summer, lots of people were killed not because of the fire but because of smoke poisoning, because they drove into an area trying to escape fire where there was poisonous smoke,” he said. “Had they had an advanced sensor network, they would have known what the wind direction was, what the wind speed was, what the gas concentrations were, and which direction the smoke was going to go or was going in real-time. So you could actually have crowd control in this.”

These low-power wireless ground sensor nodes are set and forget. They have a long battery life and harvest energy from their surroundings, Kale explains, waking up now and then to take readings of temperature, oxygen and carbon dioxide levels, humidity and other parameters, sending the data back to a server. The sensors also always collect their location, in case they’re moved by an animal.

Each sensor has a range of about 200 metres, though that depends on local landscape; a large flat area will have better coverage. Installing them by hand was onerous, as the aim is to

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cover as much of a forest as possible to spot fires not seen by humans. To help, the team miniaturised the sensors and equipment as much as possible, tucking them inside tiny balls – and then shot them out of drones. “The drones will drop them at any location on a map, and the sensor will activate and go live,” said Kale.

The data collected was augmented by intelligent systems: it was compared to a profile for the area built up over time, to help spot false alarms from sudden temperature changes. The sensor thus collects enough data to be able to spot when something goes wrong. “We can put some intelligence into it and distinguish between something that is a false alarm and something that is real,” Kale said.

Once a threshold is met by sensor data, a drone is automatically sent out with the coordinates to fly over and collect photos as well as take chemical ABOVE One idea is to analysis of the local terrain, to better drop hundreds of estimate how the local plants will sensors into a forest burn. That data would then be passed before fire breaks out to local emergency services. “Here is the biomass burning, here is the map of where the fire is now, and where it will be in five minutes,” he said.

Won’t the sensors burn up in a fire?

Some do – but you’ll know there’s a fire there, at least. “We make these out of high-temperature materials,” Kale told us. “As a fire went, some of them died, and some of them continued to give information. When the fire comes to it and it stops working, you know that the fire is on it.”

At this point, firefighters could be deployed to the scene, but wildfires are dangerous and difficult to fight, so researchers came up with a system to fight fires by dropping biodegradable pellets from a cargo plane “We can put intelligence to smother it. “It was precision bombing with into it and distinguish coordinates,” he said of between something that that aspect of the project. is a false alarm and Did it work? “It wasn’t flawless, but it was almost something that is real” foolproof in the sense that our sensors on the ground augmented information,” said Kale. “Once it decided it was a fire, we had a visual very quickly, and that was 100% accurate – you can’t really go wrong.”

So far, trials have taken place in Greece, Spain and Israel, and Kale is hoping to commercialise the system to roll it out more quickly – especially as fires worsen each year. “The world has to move in the direction of knowing exactly what they’re fighting, what they’re dealing with,” he said. “It will save lives.”

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One last thing...

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A doom-laden Jon Honeyball sees signs that we are entering the “end times”

W

e are living in strange times. The pandemic may appear to the general public to have finished, but a recent tech conference in the US was a super-spreader event, with many falling ill afterwards. And the cost-of-living crisis, accelerated

by Russia invading Ukraine, means all the accepted norms of household and business budgeting have been thrown up in the air; I didn’t expect a year ago to be paying over £100 to put diesel in my little Audi. Some sages claim that these price squeezes will propel us to a greener future, with houses warmed by heat pumps and electric cars filled by roof-top solar panels. Which is a fine prediction, but inappropriate for city dwellers or the vast majority that simply can’t afford to make that sort of capital investment.

It feels like an “end times” moment, a last roar of a crescendo of society abusing itself, where the haves distance themselves even further from the have-nots. And where the social tensions around conspicuous consumption will continue to rise.

There are tell-tale signs that we are entering the last years. The current implosion of cryptocurrency platforms certainly points in that direction. I’m not bothered by huge venture capital firms losing the shirts of their yacht-owning investors, but I am by the heartfelt pain expressed by those who have very little, and who have been persuaded, some might say tricked, into pouring their savings into this new wonder product. They had no idea of what they were buying into, or how it worked, or the risks involved. In the past, they would probably have gone to their bank, or talked to a financial investor, and then set themselves up with a reputable financial institution. Today, you can wire money around the world, into any jurisdiction, from the 130

convenience of your smartphone. The whole “I am in control” vibe can be liberating, if you believe that the evil institutions of the past were only there to repress you.

And when things go badly wrong, as they have done in recent months, those liberated people find themselves wondering why they are left stranded and penniless.

Now don’t start me on NFTs. A clearer example of “end times” technology would be hard to find. The right to prove ownership of a link to a JPEG of an image. That’s it. And now even reputable companies are jumping on board, including supercar manufacturers Lotus and McLaren, dangling the promise of joining an “exclusive club” with special benefits. Such as an invitation to the HQ; this might stroke your ego and tickle your fancy, but at the end of the day those companies want to sell you a car.

From the perspective of Lotus and McLaren, it may seem an easy marketing ploy. They offer a gallery of high-resolution images that fans can download for free, while others buy NFT versions. I can understand why companies want to push their media story into the wider world, and images are a good way of doing that. But these companies like to partner with other firms that provide NFT platforms, perhaps thinking they are distancing themselves from any risk. They are wrong. The reputational damage is potentially huge, and that will come back to haunt many who have been persuaded to play in this space.

It is this Fear Of Missing Out, coupled to the easy access to the global infrastructure of the internet, that has fuelled this nonsense.

We can’t expect politicians to do anything significant about all of this.

Getting involved in the machinations of the internet, and the global real-time data-scraping and usermodelling process, goes far beyond their capability to understand. It would actually be fairly easy to improve the current state of the internet, but the simple reality is that many online services would then break. Our reliance on websites and services to data-mine every aspect of our lives has become the drug that fuels that internet. Protecting the user by breaking this would lead to a significantly reduced experience for the voters. “Courageous, Minister,” as Sir Humphrey was so fond of saying.

There are tell-tale signs that we are entering the last years. The implosion around cryptocurrency platforms certainly points in that direction So it comes down to us. To you and me. We need to be pushing the view, long and hard, that this nonsense is exactly that – nonsense. Financial instruments built upon Ponzi schemes with no underlying value whatsoever are an unacceptable risk. No ifs, no buts. Those who want to lose their shirts will continue to do so. For me, my block button on Twitter has never been more active, removing those from my world space who want to pile in and tell me I’m wrong. That NFTs and cryptocurrencies are both magical money trees. That they offer a way out of this period of extraordinary worry and stress. All of this internet-based nonsense is not the answer to the problem. Maybe there is no answer.

Jon Honeyball is a contributing editor to PC Pro. He remains a resolutely physical entity. Email jon@jonhoneyball.com or find him on Twitter at @jonhoneyball.