Tech Advisorの July 2021 の目次

Microsoft is reportedly in talks to buy gaming chat service Discord for a price tag that’s above $10bn, according to Bloomberg. Neither Microsoft nor Discord have confirmed the talks, Bloomberg reported. Venturebeat reported earlier that Discord was trying to put the service up for sale, and named the $10 billion figure as a target. Venturebeat had also reported that Discord was hoping to be acquired by a major game platform company, including the possibility of Microsoft. Microsoft, meanwhile, has both struggled and succeeded in creating its own chat service. It owns Yammer, bought Skype and created Microsoft Teams, each of which can communicate via text. Skype and Teams are similar, both including instant messaging, voice and video communications. Microsoft, however, has never really owned a true social network. It launched…

The SSD you’ve bought may not be exactly the SSD you think it is. That’s because of a common vendor practice of swapping out internal parts due to supply, pricing pressure or other reasons. Usually this practice has focused on the NAND flash storage modules on SSDs, and the vendor has met or exceeded the promised specification. If the change is significant, the vendors have usually changed the SKU. But as Sean Webster of Tom’s Hardware discovered in his investigation of the Adata XPG 8200 Pro, the company changed the SSD controller without changing the name – except the performance changed, for the worse. There was no way of knowing the difference from the outside. Such practices leave both SSD buyers and we who review SSDs in the dark, with…

Price: £249 (inc VAT) from fave.co/3sftR8S The Asus E410 is a budget laptop designed for the core basics: emails, light work, streaming and productivity tasks. Coming in sub-£250, it’s in the competitive space and is a good option if you’re looking for a laptop that will get you through the day-to-day without breaking the bank. Asus is a leading brand in the laptop space which creates a wide range of devices, from entry-level to high-end. If you’d like to know how this device performs, then keep on reading. DESIGN The Asus E410 is made from a plastic body which comes in three different colour options: blue, pink and white. I tested the blue variant. The shell design of this laptop is the most bizarre thing. It’s covered with letters and…

Price: £179 (inc VAT) from fave.co/39RrL9n Motorola launched the budget G9 Power in the tail-end of 2020, as the last of three phones in the G9 series, which includes the G9 Plus and the G9 Play. The G9 Play impressed me last year: it neatly packed all the essentials you could want in a handset and tied it with a pretty £159 bow. The G9 Power takes it one step further, offering even more value for money. DESIGN It’s hard to believe the G9 Power packs a massive 6,000mAh battery when it’s so light, relatively speaking. At 221g, it’s just a touch heavier than the 200g Moto G9 Play. On the back, you’ll find a matte surface textured with concentric ridges which help add grip. It looks hardy yet handsome,…

Price: $70 (around £50) from fave.co/2Q2TEDY VPN services are everywhere these days, and new ones pop up all the time. The one we’re looking at today is called VeePN. Based in Panama, VeePN debuted on mobile in 2017, and over the four years since has built up a service with connections in 52 countries and over 2,600 servers. There are apps for Windows, Mac, Android, iOS, Linux, and support for routers and other set-top boxes. When you first open VeePN for Windows you’re greeted with a very generic desktop application. When I first saw it I was immediately reminded of a number of other apps, especially SaferVPN, but also HideIPVPN and Private Internet Access. VeePN uses a single-panel application with a large connect button. Below that is a slider for…

Everybody wants to know how well their laptop performs, but usually for different reasons. Was that high-end processor you optioned worth the extra money? Can your inexpensive clamshell run the latest, hottest PC games? Is it time to give up on that old laptop for something with a little more capability? A good way to find out is to run a few benchmarks. Benchmarks put your machine through a set of fixed, predetermined tasks, and then provide scores that can be compared to the results of other PCs. Comparison is the key here, as a benchmark lacking context tells you very little. Indeed, no matter how high the score, if it can’t be contextualized against other PCs, then the benchmark won’t tell you much. WHICH BENCHMARKS SHOULD I RUN? There…

To protect your Windows 10 PC from hackers, try this: creating a local user account to be your Administrator account. Many Windows 10 users make the mistake of using the Administrator account as their everyday user account, which makes your PC more vulnerable if your user account is hacked. One of the advantages of Linux PCs is that by default users don’t have ‘alwayson’ administrator accounts. Instead, authorized users elevate their privileges to act as an administrator for brief periods of time. It’s a good system that can help thwart attackers and keep the PC more secure. Technically, we have the same situation on Windows 10, where we temporarily elevate our user privileges to install a program or carry out other privileged tasks. The difference is that in Linux you…

Even though Intel just announced its Rocket Lake-S desktop processor, eyes are already turning to what Intel has next up its sleeve: the next-generation CPU code-named Alder Lake, expected before the end of 2021. The latest Alder Lake leaks, provided by Videocardz, suggest that Alder Lake will represent a sharp break from existing Intel designs, for better or worse. Last year, Intel confirmed that Alder Lake existed, and that it would ship in 2021. Originally, however, Alder Lake didn’t seem like that big of a deal. It’s built upon the same mixed-core design as Lakefield, which shipped in 2020 as the 9-watt Intel Core processor with Intel Hybrid Technology, inside the Samsung Galaxy Book S. Reviews called the Galaxy Book S performance anaemic, and more of the same was expected…

Microsoft has announced the Surface Laptop 4, offering a potent combination of performance upgrades and battery life improvements in the familiar 13.5in and 15in clamshell sizes, for prices as low as £999. Unlike its predecessor, Microsoft’s Surface Laptop 4 now offers choices in both sizes between AMD’s Ryzen 4000 Mobile processors or Intel’s 11th-gen Tiger Lake Core chips. Microsoft promises up to 70 per cent more performance versus the Surface Laptop 3, and even up to twice the performance of its predecessor under certain testing scenarios. Another major upgrade users will see is battery life. Microsoft claims (according to its own metrics) that the Surface Laptop 4 will offer up to 19 hours of battery life, 7.5 hours more than the Surface Laptop 3. That would be the longest battery…

Price: £3,398 (inc VAT) from fave.co/3wQ4ttK Does RGB really make a laptop go faster? Indeed it does. At least, you’ll probably believe that after seeing the in-your-face RGB bar running across the front of the MSI GE76 Raider gaming laptop. Because it couldn’t be the 8-core Core i7-10870H CPU, nor the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 Laptop GPU set to a blistering 155 watts, that makes the laptop go fast. It’s all in the RGB light strip. Yes, we’re being facetious, but let’s be honest that looks typically matter more than specs to most people. In the case of the MSI GE76, however, there’s plenty of substance to back up all that flash, namely its high-wattage GPU. It’s an expensive machine, but it’s worth it. SPECS AND FEATURES Sure, we’ve reviewed…

Price: €749 (around £640) The Mi 11 is yet another compelling flagship from Xiaomi, with serious internal specs paired with product design that’s been polished to a tee, so long as you don’t mind that it’s a big phone even by modern standards. The main gripe remains a familiar one – Xiaomi’s MIUI Android skin remains middling at best, and the clunky software keeps tripping the hardware up, holding the Mi 11 back from being truly perfect. DESIGN I’ve already said that the Mi 11 is big, but it’s worth emphasizing. At 164.3x74.6mm across the front, it’s only a hair smaller than the Galaxy S21 Ultra – the largest phone in the new Samsung line-up. In Xiaomi’s defence, it’s kept the Mi 11 impressively slim at 8.1mm, which has no…

You can build a PC with just a screwdriver or two on hand, but you’ll have an easier time of it if you have all the essentials on hand. That includes tools to get you out of sticky spots, which always occur when you assume they won’t. Keep these 10 items on hand for builds and they’ll keep your assembly woes to a minimum. We’ve divided the list into the absolute essentials as well as our recommended additions for a well-rounded kit. But there’s no need to scrimp. All of these tools are very affordable. BARE ESSENTIAL TOOLS FOR PC BUILDING Screwdriver (Phillips #2) Nearly all screws in a computer case require this cross-head screwdriver. Any Phillips #2 screwdriver will do – be it the plain, trusty Craftsman in your…

Microsoft’s ‘Find My Device’ feature is so much more than a simple device locator that it’s like calling a ‘car’ nothing more than just four tyres and a steering wheel. The online service is a powerful PC manager in its own right, and arguably more effective in that regard than Windows itself. First, we’ll reveal how to turn on Windows 10’s Find My Device feature, then step through the many ways in which it can be used. It’s especially useful if you own more than one device, or manage a few laptops that your children use while they’re learning from home. HOW TO TURN ON FIND MY DEVICE Remember, Find My Device is a Microsoft service. If your PC is signed into your Microsoft account, you’ll first enable the management…

Did you know that you can give your PC a name? Windows 10 includes a small feature that can help identify your PC by giving it whatever name you’d like, which is especially helpful when you’re trying to manage a number of PCs and need to know which PC is which. Windows 10 has a lot of great things going for it, but one feature that deserves a thumbs down is the randomly generated name it gives your PC during a clean install. Instead of letting you name your computer something memorable, Windows 10 tags it with a name that begins ‘DESKTOP’ followed by a string of numbers and letters. And yes, it will even do this for a laptop, too. If you have more than one Windows 10 PC,…

Intel’s 11th-gen Rocket Lake chip was green-lit well before AMD’s Zen 2 and Zen 3 architectures rocked our worlds, company officials acknowledged. In an AMA posted recently on the Intel subreddit, Scott Rouse, Intel’s platform engineer for Rocket Lake, attending with other Intel officials, revealed that Rocket Lake was given the go-ahead in early 2019. Its two-year journey to the launchpad on 30 March is break-neck speed for a new CPU (which might take years longer normally). Still, the world that Rocket Lake woke up to in 2021 probably wasn’t what Intel anticipated in 2019, when the company created the chip by marrying its yet-to-be-released 10th-gen, 10nm Ice Lake x86 cores with its already-aging 14nm manufacturing process. The match wasn’t made in heaven. While our review of Intel’s flagship Core…

Microsoft is launching a host of productivity accessories geared for remote work. Its Modern Webcam ($70, £tbc) is just one of several peripherals introduced alongside the Surface Laptop 4, including the Microsoft Modern USB Headset ($50, £tbc), the Microsoft Modern Wireless Headset ($100, £tbc); the Microsoft Modern USB-C Speaker ($100, £tbc), and the Surface Headphones 2+ for Business (£289). In light of how the pandemic has made remote work the norm for many, Microsoft’s new peripherals make sense. Both of the new Modern headsets are Teams certified include a dedicated Microsoft Teams button. Webcams have become essential equipment for videoconferencing, while Microsoft’s noise-cancelling Surface Headphones were designed with noisy offices in mind. MICROSOFT MODERN WEBCAM Microsoft already has vibrant, 1080p webcams in Surface and Surface Book devices. The affordable Surface…

Price: £1,579 (inc VAT) from fave.co/3dVxFXO The Razer Book 13 is a classic example of why you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover. It’s a gorgeous laptop – a sharp-edged slab of aluminium with a 16:10 display, slim bezels, and a generously-sized trackpad. It has Intel’s latest 11th-generation Core processor, face recognition, and not a trace of pre-installed bloatware. At a glance, you might think it commands every penny of its asking price. And then you start writing on it, and the whole experience comes squishing down – on its mushy, imprecise, low-travel keyboard. The Razer Book 13 could be a pretty good high-end laptop, but it’s hard to recommend for anyone who spends a lot of time typing. DESIGN AND DISPLAY With the Razer Book 13’s silver aluminium…

Price: $52.12 (around £38) from fave.co/3schv1i As of our latest look, iDrive remains the most comprehensive online backup and sharing service we’ve tested. It’s not the cheapest, but it’s still affordable and comes with backup clients for nearly every PC and device, and is more than competent at local backup. The company also provides additional storage for syncing all your devices and PCs, allows sharing of files with anyone, and has the ability to back up to a local drive. PLANS AND PRICING Believe it or not, iDrive still offers a free 5GB of storage plan. As far as we’re aware, it’s the only free repository not associated with a mega corporation (Microsoft, Apple, Google, and so on) still in existence. For those that need more (most of us these…

Do you know which CPU you have, and how fast it runs? And is it fast enough to run Windows 10 at a capable clip? The latter question we can answer right away: As long as you have a PC-compatible CPU manufactured in the last five years, there’s little reason to think it can’t run Windows 10. The minimum Windows 10 processor spec is just 1GHz, after all. There are some restrictions for older processors, though, and in these cases you’ll want details on which CPU you’re running. Sandy Bridge processors from 2011, for example, can run earlier versions of Windows 10, but those chips have been phased out and aren’t supported by newer builds of the OS. If you have a modern processor and you’re worried about how well…

You can find plenty of Windows programs to help cut down boot times, but they’re not necessary. Everything you need to make Windows faster is already waiting for you in an old, built-in utility: the Task Manager. This storied program isn’t just the place to stop annoying processes that refuse to shut down. The Task Manager can also help manage startup times. Open the Task Manager by tapping Ctrl + Shift + Esc. Alternatively, hit the Windows Key, type Task Manager, and select the Task Manager from the search results that appear. In the expanded view select the Start-up tab. This section lists all the various third-party programs that are trying to launch at boot time. Almost all of them can be turned off, but there are likely a few…

One of the best features of Google Photos is the way it can bring your picture collection to lots of different screens. If you’ve got a Google Nest Hub, for instance, Google Photos essentially turns it into a smart picture frame. On Android TV and Chromecast devices, Google Photos can supply the pictures in ‘Ambient’ screen saver mode. You can even turn Pixel phones into a place for Google Photos when you use Google’s Pixel Stand wireless charger. But until recently, my desktop PC wasn’t getting the same treatment. Neither Windows nor Mac offer much in the way of dynamic wallpaper options, and they certainly don’t integrate with Google’s photo service. Thankfully, a program called John’s Background Switcher changes all that. The software, which is a free download on Windows…