Table of contents for September 2021 in Tech Advisor

Microsoft has officially unveiled Windows 11, a new iteration of its OS that promises a host of visual upgrades, as well as new behaviours to the basic Windows experience. “This is the first version of a new era of Windows,” Microsoft chief executive Satya Nadella said during its unveiling. “We’re building for the next decade and beyond.” The new OS has already been made available as a build for Windows Insiders and will be released to the general public by Christmas 2021. An early, partial build of Windows 11 leaked before the official launch (see page 15), allowed users an early peek at Windows 11 and what Microsoft had planned. New features include a simplified Taskbar and Start menu, plus some visual upgrades, including rounded corners on icons and a…

As we’ve seen, Windows 11 is Microsoft’s next operating system. It’s here, it’s real and we’re using a leaked version of it right now. Our hands-on should provide an early first look at what you can expect in the shipping version: the addition of a mammoth widgets drawer, an updated Windows 10X-like user interface, and more. We obtained Windows Dev build 21996.1 via a leak from the web, downloaded it, and installed it on a Microsoft Surface Pro 7+. While we don’t have any performance metrics to compare performance before and after installing Windows 11, we can tell you that the experience felt decidedly snappy, though we ran into a few bugs. Based on our experiences so far, it makes sense to think about Windows 11 as something more than…

If Windows 10 was supposed to be the last version of Windows, why is there a Windows 11? Great question. Like the answer to many questions, the answer is, ‘it depends’. The authenticity of the concept of ‘Windows as a service’ began in 2015, when Microsoft launched Windows 10. Over time, Microsoft said then, the company would simply deliver ongoing updates, adding features and patching bugs on the ‘Windows 10’ platform. But, as we know now, whatever Microsoft adds to Windows, it’s still Windows. But Microsoft representatives never said that Windows 10 would be the last version of Windows – not really. That comment was actually made by Jerry Nixon, a Microsoft developer evangelist who spoke at the company’s ‘Tiles, Notifications, and Action Centre’ presentation about Windows 10 at Microsoft’s…

Although, as we’ve seen, the future is Windows 11, the now is still Windows 10. Over the following pages our top tips will help you get more from Microsoft’s current operating system. 1. ADJUST YOUR START-UP PROGRAMS Let’s start where it all begins: when your computer boots up. Seemingly every program you install worms its way into activating alongside your PC. Some software, such as your keyboard’s management app or your antivirus, deserves that lofty status. Others don’t. (I’m looking at you, game launchers.) And every program that leaps to life when Windows does delays your ability to use your system, especially if you haven’t upgraded to an SSD yet. Fortunately, it’s easy to seize control over which programs launch with Windows. Simply press Ctrl + Shift + Esc or…

Price: £1,499 (inc VAT) from fave.co/3A5Kzwm It’s no secret that Asus has an extensive range of gaming laptops – and that they’re usually pretty good. The firm’s latest 2021 release is the Asus ROG Strix G15 G513, and it combines Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 graphics with a top-tier AMD Ryzen processor. You’d think that such hardware would be pricey, but that’s not the case. In the UK, the G15 costs a surprising £1,499, and it also includes a 1080p display with a 300Hz refresh rate. DESIGN There are no surprises when it comes to the G15’s design. This machine combines grey plastic with some more extravagant touches: vast sections are covered with a pattern made from the ROG letters, and the per-key RGB LED lighting on the keyboard is paired…

Price: £399 from fave.co/2QZpItf Samsung has long dominated the Android flagship scene with its prestigious Galaxy S series. But it’s also been steadily stepping up its mid-range efforts, of which the Samsung Galaxy A52 5G is the latest entry. Rather than excelling in any one area, this £399 phone provides an all-round level of competence that should keep most casual users satisfied. With a fast and vibrant display, a decent main camera and solid build quality, the Samsung Galaxy A52 5G does most of the basics well. But the competition is strong in this part of the market, and rival efforts from Xiaomi and OnePlus risk making the Galaxy A52 5G look a tad overpriced. DESIGN The Galaxy A52 5G doesn’t exactly wow with its design language, but you can…

Windows 11 is nearly here. Microsoft has formally announced Windows 11, and we’ve already seen it as a leaked build – see page 15. Every new operating system brings many questions. We’re starting here with the answers we know. WHAT IS WINDOWS 11? Windows 11 will be the name of the next major revision to Windows 10, different enough that it justified a new name. RELEASE DATE Windows 11 is already available to Windows Insiders. It will be available to the public at large this autumn, or closer to Christmas 2021. If you’re wondering whether you’ll be able to opt out of Windows 11 – the answer is, surprisingly, yes. Microsoft appears to be placing some substantial hardware requirements on its new OS, and if your PC doesn’t meet them,…

Microsoft has published its hardware requirements for Windows 11, adding strict new security requirements for its next operating system. Here’s what you’ll need to run Windows 11 when it’s made available later this year. Fortunately, if your PC doesn’t meet the hardware requirements, you’ll have several years to replace it, as Windows 10 will be supported until 2025. WINDOWS 10 VERSUS 11 SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS For Windows 10, the PC hardware requirements necessary to run it are relatively tame: a 1GHz processor, 1GB of RAM (2GB for a 64-bit version of the OS), 16GB of storage, and a display capable of 800x600. On Windows 11, you’ll need a more sophisticated PC. According to Microsoft’s list of PC hardware requirements for Windows 11 (see fave.co/3wYl0eK). It will require an 8th-gen Core CPU…

Windows 11 – or a leaked build of Windows 11, anyway – does away with the old Windows 10 Start menu as part of a UI overhaul that simplifies the Start menu. But don’t despair. Here’s how to get Windows 10’s old Start menu back, complete with Live Tiles. Since it was unveiled there’s been some controversy over the Start menu and the centralized location of the apps on the new taskbar. Everything is to the centre of your PC’s screen, unlike the old days of Windows 10, when everything was oriented in the left-hand corner of your screen. The Windows 11 taskbar and Start menu heavily favour simple icons, too, while the Windows 10 Start menu exclusively used dynamic Live Tiles. However, there’s a way to restore the old…

HDR, or High Dynamic Range, delivers a dramatic upgrade in brightness, colour, and contrast compared to SDR, or Standard Dynamic Range. HDR content looks more brilliant, and more detailed, than SDR. You’ll notice an unmistakable difference when viewing a movie, TV show, or gaming that’s mastered for HDR. Windows 10 offers HDR support, but you must enable it in Windows’ settings to get the most out of an HDR‑compatible display. Here’s how to turn it on. HOW TO ENABLE HDR IN WINDOWS 10 Windows 10 supports HDR by default and has for several years. Microsoft plans to release an Auto HDR update that, once available, will automatically detect an HDR display and adjust Windows accordingly. For now, however, you must turn it on manually. 1. Open the Windows 10 Start…

Price: £949 (inc VAT) from fave.co/3xY888E Honor’s smartphone division has been hit hard by ex-parent company Huawei’s ongoing US trade ban, but there have been no such problems for its laptops. Unlike Google, Microsoft was able to obtain a special licence for Windows 10, allowing it to continue issuing software to Huawei. Around the same time, sub-brand Honor’s MagicBook line of laptop was beginning to make a name for itself, and it’s gone from strength to strength since. The MagicBook Pro made its debut in Europe at IFA 2020, but without a high-end display or discrete GPU, it struggled to live up to the ‘Pro’ name. Despite launching after Honor’s split from Huawei, the new Intel version retains all the hallmarks of previous MagicBook Pro devices. With an appealing price…

We’ve become used to thinking of Chromebooks as simple productivity machines: a web interface for classwork, online productivity apps, and not much else. But there are many ways to game on a Chromebook, too. You have three options to play games on most modern Chromebooks: as a web app, an Android app or remotely via one of the prior two ways. Gaming on a Chromebook can mean playing the same games you’d play on a PC, but given all the options you could argue that the diversity of games on a Chromebook is richer than that of a PC. As we’ll explain, though, many of the gaming opportunities a Chromebook offers depends on accessing a game on a remote server. The quality of such gaming experiences will depend on the…

We knew that the Windows 11 leaked build we tried recently was early and unfinished – see page 15. What we didn’t know was what more Microsoft had in store for Windows 11 – Android apps. Teams chat – when the company officially unveiled the new operating system. We look forward to exploring some of these features when we get our hands on the first Windows Insider builds of Windows 11. (Not all the new features will be available in the first build.) Until then, all we have to go on are the intriguing teases of new the Windows 11 features that we didn’t know about. 1. ANDROID APPS ON YOUR WINDOWS 11 PC Microsoft chief product officer Panos Panay said that he was “pumped” to bring Android apps to…

About half of Microsoft’s Surface line-up will be ineligible to upgrade to Windows 11, the company confirmed announcing the new operating system. When we asked which Surface devices would be eligible for Windows 11, a Microsoft representative responded via email with the names of just five legacy devices, as well as the most modern revisions of each of Microsoft’s Surface line-up. To date, Microsoft has shipped 25 different Surface models, excluding the Surface Duo. Microsoft didn’t comment on why it was excluding many of its Surface devices from Windows 11, but the reason most likely corresponds with the minimum Windows 11 hardware requirements listed earlier today, and possibly the need for a TPM 2.0 coprocessor. Of the 25 Surface device families that Microsoft has shipped to date, only 13 will…

Windows 11 adds several unexpected new features, including Android apps, a revised Start Menu and Taskbar, new Widgets, and more. Windows 11 also removes many Windows 10 features that PC users have become accustomed to. Here’s what Microsoft says it’s removing in Windows 11. Microsoft published this information on the same page where it listed the Windows 11 hardware requirements (see page 24), which include a controversial mandate for a TPM 2.0 chip. Microsoft calls some of these ‘deprecations’, which means they’re being de-emphasized if not removed. Microsoft giveth to Windows 11, and it taketh away. CORTANA IS DEMOTED AGAIN The most poignant feature that Windows 11 removes is Cortana, which will no longer shout “HI, I’M CORTANA” while setting up a new PC. But Cortana has also been kicked…

Price: £1,499 (inc VAT) from fave.co/3w2Av3W Alienware gaming laptops are huge and expensive, right? That may have been the case a few years ago, but that’s certainly not true anymore. Take the new Alienware m15 R5, the latest model for 2021, which costs just £1,499. That makes it one of the most affordable laptops that Alienware has ever produced, and it plants this machine firmly into the mid-range market rather than the more unattainable high-end arena. This alone makes this a tempting proposition but has Dell made sacrifices to achieve these prices? DESIGN The m15 R5 adheres to Alienware’s familiar design language, so it doesn’t introduce anything new. That’s not necessarily a problem: it still has the hexagonal grilles, rear-mounted RGB LEDs and futuristic logos. Build quality is good, if…

Price: £799 from fave.co/3bgkArs Following months of whispers, Asus has unveiled the fourth-generation ROG Phone 5, completely skipping the ‘4’ branding which is often seen as unlucky in China. Though it might appear similar to its predecessor on the outside, Asus has been hard at work improving not only the hardware capabilities of the gaming phone but the software too. Throw in a bunch of accessories, a new dot-matrix RGB system and Qualcomm’s latest and greatest Snapdragon 888, and you’ve got all the ingredients for a great gaming device. But, is it worth buying a phone dedicated to gaming when there are so many capable alternatives, including the Red Magic 6 and Samsung’s Galaxy S21 Ultra? I’ve been spending some time gaming on the ROG Phone 5, and here’s what…