Tech Advisorの February 2018 の目次

13in: £1,499 inc VAT from fave.co/2A0rw84 15in: £2,499 inc VAT (available early 2018) The Surface Book 2 solves a big problem for Microsoft: how do you market the Surface Book as a performance notebook when it’s two years out of date? As our review shows, by making it bigger and faster, with longer battery life. Microsoft brings 8th-generation Intel Core processors and powerful, discrete Nvidia GPUs with enough horsepower to start thinking of the Surface Book 2 as a graphics workstation. But Microsoft’s big October surprise was the debut of not one, but two Surface Book 2 devices: a 13.5in and a new 15in model (we reviewed the latter). Neither is a simple clamshell notebook, though calling them convertible 2-in-1s instead seems like we’re selling them short. As our review…

64GB: £999 inc VAT from fave.co/2iyEGRo 256GB: £1,149 from fave.co/2iywdhe It’s 10 years since Steve Jobs unveiled the first iPhone and Apple has marked the occasion with a new handset that doesn’t just jump one generation, it jumps several. The firm has leaped from iPhone 7 (via the iPhone 8) all the way to iPhone X, bypassing the iPhone 7s and leapfrogging the iPhone 9 altogether. Despite rumours of limited stock, thousands of people queued around blocks the world over to pick up the new handset, in scenes we haven’t seen for a few years. All Apple had to do to get so much attention was redesign the iPhone. That sounds easy, but the redesign involved the removal of the Home button, and to make that possible Apple had to…

Windows may have the most robust library of games in the world, but many people enjoy playing games in the living room – yes, even PC gamers. Valve, the company behind Steam, helps its users cross the bridge between computers and couches with the Steam Link (£29.92 from fave.co/2zYlnth), a diminutive set-top box that streams games from your gaming PC straight to your TV. We’ll go over how to set it up, but first, let’s take note of a few key considerations. Input devices and controller support The Steam Link supports a number of input devices. They include USB-based or wireless-with-a-USB-dongle keyboards or mice, Xbox 360 or Xbox One controllers connected via USB (wireless dongles are technically possible but require a lot of workarounds and hassle), a PlayStation 4 controller…

£449 inc VAT from fave.co/2jclVDD Making a mark on the smartphone market is hard enough. Muscling in to compete in the same arena – if not at the top step – doesn’t happen often. OnePlus has bucked this trend over the last three years with its phones of high specs and low prices. Times change though. You may have needed an invitation to buy the OnePlus One in 2014, but the clamour was justified when the phone cost just £229 at a time when the then-flagship iPhone 5s sold for £549 and could compete on specs. The £449 OnePlus 5T is an upgrade on the five-month-old OnePlus 5 in the same way the 3T was to the 3 a year ago. In eighteen months, there have been four flagship devices…

£349 inc VAT from fave.co/2j8Kphb Motorola’s mid-range X series of smartphones is back with the new Moto X4, which follows 2015’s Moto X Play, X Style and X Force line-up. This time, Motorola has opted to go back to just the one model to keep things simpler, and it’s certainly a compelling offering with plenty of interesting and impressive features. But it has stiff competition from Honor and OnePlus. Design In a bit of a departure from the rest of its phones, Motorola has gone for glass on the front and back (like many of 2017’s phones) mated to an anodized aluminium frame. This results in a premium-look and feel that’s lovely at first glance but little too shiny and smudge-prone. It’s available in Sterling Blue or Super Black. The…

£699 inc VAT from fave.co/2jc1FSy Huawei is the biggest telecoms company on the planet, but the brand is still relatively unknown in the UK. Although other phone makers such as Samsung and Apple only very recently launched bezel-less phones, Huawei has quietly been doing this since 2014. Its Mate series has always had practically zero side bezels so although some will think that Huawei is just copying the big boys with the Mate 10, it’s actually the other way around. The past few Mates have all looked pretty much the same, but Huawei has shaken things up for 2017 and it’s no overstatement to say this is one of the best-looking phones around. It’s also one of the most powerful and longest-lasting, attributes which should ensure its place on your…

Antivirus software ranks nearly as crucial as a PC’s operating system. No matter how careful you are, some threats can’t be prevented without the additional help of an antivirus program – or a full antivirus suite. You could visit your favourite website when it’s unintentionally displaying malicious ads. You may accidentally click on a phishing email. You could also get caught by a zero-day threat, where an undisclosed bug in Windows, your browser, or an installed program allows hackers to install other malware on your machine. Sure, PC security software isn’t fool-proof. Antivirus software often can’t do much to stop zero-day exploits, for example, but it can detect when the undisclosed vulnerability is used to install other nasty bits on your machine like ransomware. In general, the average user actively…