Indice dei contenuti per March 2021 in Tech Advisor

Cortana may not be the personal assistant it once was, but a new update as part of the Windows Insider Dev Channel means that its capabilities to find files have improved. The new ‘File Skill’ in the Cortana app appears in the new Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 20270, part of the Dev Channel. (Dev Channel releases publish test code that may or may not end up in a future release.) In this experimental app, Cortana’s skills have been honed to the point where it can find files in the cloud, with a better understanding of what you’re looking for. If your PC is enrolled in the Windows 10 May 2020 Update or later, some of these capabilities will already be available. As long as you have speech recognition enabled…

Price: £1,899 (inc VAT) from fave.co/39UbqB7 The Razer Blade Stealth 13 is the smallest gaming laptop from one of the biggest brands, and it’s long been an intriguing option for portable gaming because high-end hardware and slimline laptops don’t often mix. As GPUs have become more efficient, though, lightweight gaming laptops have become more feasible – and Razer bolsters the latest Blade with an upgraded 11th-gen Intel Tiger Lake processor, too. The model I’ve reviewed costs a hefty £1,899, which is far more than the Blade’s main rival. The Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 (see page 71) arrived to huge acclaim, and that costs just £1,199 for an equivalent specification. Design The Razer Blade Stealth 13 looks fantastic – because it’s effectively a larger Razer laptop that’s been shrunk down. That…

Price: £1,399 (inc VAT) from fave.co/3lgZAUy Folding phones are still finding their way in the world and after a shaky start, Motorola is back with a new version of the Razr. It’s a retro classic reimagined as a modern smartphone with a flexible screen inside. Before we get any further, it’s worth noting that we never got the first edition of the Razr in for review, presumably due to the reliability issues Motorola experienced. I’ll point out some of the changes, of course, but can’t comment on how much difference they’ve made. DESIGN With the vast majority of phones on the market looking like they come out of the same cookie-cutter, with a different manufacturer logo, it’s refreshing to see folding phones bringing something new and exciting to the game.…

The gaming laptop landscape is experiencing an earthquake-like shift. With advances in laptop CPUs and graphics technologies, you can now get great gaming performance in sizes from slender to huge, and prices from budget to sky-high. That’s where this buyer’s guide come in. We’ll name the best gaming laptops currently available. But before we get started, we’ll highlight what to look for when buying a gaming laptop. HOW TO PICK THE PERFECT GAMING LAPTOP The ‘best’ screen for a laptop When you buy a gaming laptop, one of the most important decisions you’ll need to make regards the screen. After all, what you get on day one is what you’re stuck with until you replace the device. You could run an external monitor but then, what’s the point of a…

Windows beta testers now have a new way of evaluating new Windows features: a ‘Windows Feature Experience Pack’ that will apparently live outside of the standard testing channels. Windows fans already have access to three Windows Insider beta channels: the Dev Channel, where new code is released that may never see the light of day; the Beta Channel, often seen as a middle ground for new features that will debut in an upcoming Windows 10 feature release; and the Release Preview Channel, designed as a specific test bed for the next round of feature updates. The Windows Feature Experience Pack might best be explained as a curated and sandboxed collection of beta features, kept separate from the cadence of Windows 10 builds. This exchange via Twitter provides the best explanation:…

Price: £669 (inc VAT) from fave.co/3m0gAOpa Honor has updated its MagicBook 14 and 15 – only released in the UK a scant nine or so months ago – with faster Ryzen 4000-series processors for a welcome spec boost. Not much else has changed, but given the quality of the original MagicBook, that’s really no bad thing. The big question is really whether the late 2020 MagicBook 14 is worth the price hike that comes with the faster processor, or whether that tips it over the edge and away from being our top mid-range laptop recommendation. DESIGN The chassis of the MagicBook 14 remains unchanged from the previous model. What you’re essentially getting is a laptop that’s undeniably a mid-ranger, but is about as slick, polished and portable as you’re going…

Price: £87 (inc VAT) from fave.co/3lCDKu9 Acronis True Image 2021 Premium is indisputably the most comprehensive solution when it comes to backup and computer security for Windows PCs. In fact, we’re unaware of any other product that actually marries these two software disciplines into a single streamlined application. While anti-malware and backup might seem a slightly odd marriage at first, the ability to fire off a backup or shut off access to previous backups when malware is detected makes a whole lot of sense. An admitted sceptic when the company first started down this path, I’m now a big fan of the concept. DESIGN Acronis True Image sports a clean, attractive interface and is easy to use – once you get used to it. There are some quirks in both…

Add DirectX 12 Ultimate to the list of stickers and logos you’ll want to look for while buying PC hardware. In March 2020, Microsoft announced DirectX 12 Ultimate, which encapsulates many of the next-gen PC hardware and Xbox Series X technologies that Microsoft is now explicitly encouraging consumers to buy: DirectX Raytracing (DXR) tier 1.1, Variable Rate Shading tier 2, mesh shaders, and more. DirectX 12 Ultimate didn’t seem like a brand, just a collection of technologies governing the features of graphics cards like the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 Founder’s Edition, as well as AMD’s RX 6800 series, too. Apparently, Microsoft thinks differently. As part of a new Xbox Game Bar for PC update released in the autumn, Microsoft includes an explicit check to determine whether your gaming PC qualifies…

Price: £499 (inc VAT) from fave.co/3pam7V8 Google makes excellent cheap smartphones for the mid-range market, but the Pixel 4a doesn’t support 5G. Well, anyone disappointed by that can now be satisfied with the aptly named Pixel 4a 5G. However, there’s a lot more difference than just the mobile networks these phones support. This is far from the same device with a 5G modem inside. It’s understandable for Google to highlight the 5G element in the name, but it would perhaps have been a good idea to add ‘XL’ to this phone. It’s another solid effort from Google, especially if you want some of the Pixel 5 features at a cheaper price and with a bigger screen. DESIGN In a nutshell, this is a bigger version of the Pixel 4a when…

Cyberpunk 2077 has a lot to live up to. We called its grand E3 2018 reveal “the most mind-blowing demo we’ve ever seen”. Witcher 3, CD Projekt Red’s previous game, earned a prime spot as one of our favourite games of this generation. Witcher 3 actually usurped Deus Ex as my personal favourite game of all time, so CD Projekt Red working on a first-person cyberpunk role-playing game is as close to a ‘dream game’ as I could envision. Add in Keanu Reeves and a star-studded custom soundtrack that includes a banger from Run The Jewels – my favourite musicians of this millennium – and this hype train couldn’t possibly be more stoked. There’s almost no way a game could live up to this level of expectation. It does. I’m…