Posts

Showing posts from November, 2018

Corsair Vengeance Gaming PC

Image
Not too long ago, we were surprised that Corsair got into the pre-built PC space with its Corsair One system. Now, the company is angling towards becoming a PC builder, like Origin and Digital Storm. Meet its newest battle-ready frag box, the Corsair Vengeance Gaming PC. Whereas the Corsair One featured a custom design and liquid-cooling solutions to be as compact as possible, the Vengeance Gaming PC is a larger Micro ATX system that sticks to using standard PC parts. There’s not a single no-name PC component here, but rather a collection of Corsair parts (unsurprisingly) and the latest computing hardware that amounts to one of the most powerful and most easily upgraded pre-built gaming PC s we’ve reviewed to date. Pricing and availability As specced to this configuration on the right, the Corsair Vengeance Gaming PC costs a cool $2,399 (about £1,840, AU$3,325). For your money, you get an almost completely modern rig featuring an Nvidia RTX 2080 as well as ample storage and memo

Scuf Vantage

Image
Between the Impact and the Infinity 4PS PRO, premium peripheral factory Scuf Gaming has been no stranger to highly customized PS4 controllers. Building one from the ground up, however, is decidedly new territory.  The end result is the Vantage ($199, about £156, AU$276), a high-end modular officially licensed gamepad with excellent feel and a slew of customization options, all of which firmly positions this quality accessory ahead of similarly priced pro-controller offerings.  That said, several bothersome drawbacks ultimately prevent Scuf’s latest innovation from attaining the perfection it’s striving for.  Design When you get your hands on Scuf’s Vantage, there’s no doubting the unmistakable ergonomics at play. Simply put, it just feels right. The overall build is slightly larger than Sony’s official DualShock 4, and much like the PS4 pack-in controller, Scuf’s peripheral rests comfortably in your hands, making use of some nicely textured, rubberized handle grips.  The Vantage’

Samsung Galaxy A7 (2018) review

Image
There's a lot about the Samsung Galaxy A7 2018 that makes us happy. It has a Super AMOLED, 18.5:9 screen, a triple camera setup, and runs the same interface as the flagship Galaxy S9 range, all at a lower price.  No phone is an island though, and the Samsung Galaxy A7 has plenty of other mid-range phones for company – and cheaper options like the Nokia 7.1 , Honor Play and Motorola One offer comparable specs for less. The question is whether, with such stiff competition, Samsung can still get away with charging more than its competitors for its A series smartphones? Samsung Galaxy A7 (2018) price and availability You can pick up the 64GB Samsung Galaxy A7 now for $459 or £309. No Australian release has been confirmed.  In addition to SIM-free options, the phone is available on contract for around £19 per month in the UK.  Key features Three rear cameras 6-inch FHD Super AMOLED display Looks like a flagship, performs like a mid ranger Sporting a glass front and back

Ashampoo Uninstaller 8

Uninstalling software can be a nuisance – if you rely on programs’ own uninstallers, or Windows’ add/remove programs dialog, you can only select one program at a time to remove and you're often left with temporary files, empty directories and old entries in the Windows Registry. These might not take up much space by themselves, but over time that clutter accumulates and it can cause errors if you later want to install a new version of the same software.  That's why a good software uninstaller is such a worthwhile investment, and Ashampoo has updated its premium offering, Ashampoo Uninstaller 8 , with several new features and enhancements for the year ahead. The software is usually priced at $39.99/£29.99/AU$49.99, but is currently discounted to $20/15/AU$25. Monitoring and removing Despite performance improvements under the hood, Ashampoo Uninstaller's interface has mostly remained the same since version 7, with simple menus and clear icons (plus a choice of dark and lig

Norton Secure VPN

Image
Many security vendors now offer a VPN service - Avast's SecureLine, Kaspersky's Secure Connection, Avira's PhantomVPN - and Norton Secure VPN (the product formerly known as Norton WiFi Privacy) is Symantec's entry into this field. We were interested to see how the service compared with the specialist competition, but Symantec's website didn't make any real effort to tell us. There's no mention of the network size, where its servers are, supported protocols, or anything beyond the fact that there are apps for Windows, Mac, iOS and Android. Want to try Norton Secure VPN? Check out the website here After installing the client, we found Secure VPN offers a fair choice of 29 countries covering North America and Europe, with other locations including Australia, Brazil, Israel, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Singapore and South Africa. The service uses the speedy and secure OpenVPN protocol, but it doesn't provide separate OpenVPN configuration files or set

ApowerREC

We’re great fans of Apowersoft’s free online screen recorder, so we were curious to see how the premium desktop software compares. ApowerREC (usual price $39.95 per year) is also available for Android and iOS, but here we’re looking at the PC version. Everything is clearly laid out, with large icons that display tooltips when hovered over, plus keyboard shortcuts. At its simplest, you can just hit the red ‘Start recording’ button to begin capturing the whole screen – but the software is capable of much more than that. You can record a section of screen with specific dimensions or a custom area (though unlike some other screen recorders, there’s no option to choose an active window to record) and capture footage from a webcam – either by itself, or picture-in-picture. It’s also possible to record sound – from your system, your microphone (for narration), both or neither. Recording options There are extensive tools for annotating your recordings while they're being captured, al

1&1 IONOS HiDrive

Image
Recently, 1&1 has merged with the German enterprise cloud specialist, ProfitBricks, to form 1&1 IONOS, and it is this company that has developed the version of HiDrive that we’re reviewing here. In a crowded SaaS market, what has HiDrive to offer that makes it a good alternative to Dropbox and the other big cloud players? You can sign up for 1&1 IONOS HiDrive here Features Most SaaS solutions offer either synchronization or ad hoc file storage, but HiDrive is one of the few that does both in a single package. Desktop clients (PC and Mac) can sync their folders to the cloud, and they can also place files that aren’t stored on the computer into that same space. Mobile devices are also supported, with automatic securing of photos on both iOS and Android. A nice extra twist is that you can also hook up this product to devices that support FTP, rSync, SCP and Git, like NAS boxes. What the service doesn’t offer is any means to secure an entire computer enabling it to b

DaVinci Resolve 15.2

Roku TV Wireless Speakers

Image
The Roku TV Wireless Speakers may be some of the best speakers to use in a bedroom because of the voice clarity and sound leveling features which will enable you to listen with full sound without annoying the neighbors or waking the children ... that is, as long as your bedroom television runs Roku TV. As great as these speakers are, they only only work with Roku TVs from TCL, Insignia, Hisense, Sharp and others. They won't work with Roku streaming devices like the Roku Ultra , which is why these speakers are sold exclusively at Roku.com so that Roku can make sure that you're setup for success. That said, it's not like there aren't any Roku TVs on the market. Roku-integrated televisions are some of the most popular low cost TVs available today and an ever-expanding catalog thanks to Roku's robust partnership deals. These speakers are the first of its kind to come from Roku and we expect more announcements and possible upgrades in Roku's audio category at CES

Google Wifi

Image
In 2018, traditional wireless routers and range extenders are pretty much things of the past, thanks to devices like the Eero Home Wifi and the Samsung Connect Home . The best wireless mesh routers are the way of the future. It shouldn’t be too surprising, then, that the smart-home obsessed Google would want a piece of the action, creating its own wireless mesh router with the Google Wifi. And, it paid off – the Google Wifi isn’t just the best wireless mesh router on the market, but it’s the best wireless router , period. With the Google Wifi, the search giant has created a mesh router that not only has more mesh units than its rivals like the Netgear Orbi, but at a lower cost, too.  This attention to value is then combined with simple setup and network management through a clean mobile app. Trust us – after using the Google Wifi, you won’t want to use any other wireless router.  Price and availability Google really doesn’t ask for much, especially when you consider what’s on o

iMac Pro

Image
As you might guess from the name, the Apple iMac Pro is a sleek, stylish and powerful all-in-one PC with the familiar iMac form factor. But, the power, features and, of course, price, completely outclass the iMac 2017 . When the iMac Pro was launched, Apple claimed that it was ‘the most powerful Mac ever made,’ and it wasn’t lying. Thanks in no small part to macOS Mojave , the iMac Pro is an incredibly powerful Mac, built first and foremost for professionals and creatives. The iMac Pro will be staying the most powerful Mac for a while, too, we’re still waiting on the new Mac Pro . However, you should consider that it’s not all about power for its own sake. The iMac Pro is a finely tuned machine with impressive components that can bring your workflow to another level. It’s expensive, yeah, but if you can save some time on all of your projects, the iMac Pro will pay for itself – time is money, after all. Price and availability  While it may look like the standard iMac , the iMac Pr