THE BEST FREE VPN OUR PICK, PLUS HOW

TO CHOOSE WISELY

MAY 2022

WINDOWS 11
REPORT CARD
PASS OR FAIL AFTER 6 MONTHS?
≥

5 REASONS
TO BUY A
DESKTOP PC
INSTEAD OF
A LAPTOP
WHICH
WI-FI
ROUTER
LOOKS
THE MOST
LIKE AN
EVIL ALIEN
SPACESHIP?
 I think it’s just vapor. It won’t
hurt my kid like cigarettes, right?

The vapor that’s inhaled from

e-cigarettes contains harmful
chemicals that can cause
irreversible lung damage.
And e-cigarettes have nicotine,
a toxin that’s addictive and can
change your kid’s brain.
Those are the facts.
Talk to your kid about vaping.
Get the facts at

TalkAboutVaping.org
 CONTENTS

MAY 2022

≥ DEPARTMENTS ≥ FEATURES

7 News

74 Windows 11 is still playing catch up to Windows 10

37 Reviews & Ratings

86 5 reasons to buy a desktop PC instead of a laptop

101 Here’s How

110 Tech Spotlight 92 Which Wi-Fi router looks the most like an evil alien spaceship?

COVER IMAGE COURTESY OF MICROSOFT MAY 2022 PCWorld 3

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MAY 2022 PCWorld 5

News TECH NEWS AND TRENDS THAT WILL
AFFECT YOU TODAY AND BEYOND.

Intel’s long-anticipated Arc GPUs

arrive in laptops, loaded with
enticing features
Let the battle begin. BY BRAD CHACOS

t’s finally happening. After years of teases, form, Arc’s grand reveal comes via laptops,

I promises, and hype, a third heavy-hitting

player is entering the graphics card game,
aiming to shake up the Nvidia and AMD
duopoly. Intel’s hotly anticipated Arc GPUs are
hitting the streets—though not in the way you
which can drive home some of the enticingly
delicious advantages Intel can provide in

VIDEO: INTEL TALKS ARC

MOBILE GPU LAUNCH
Watch now at fave.co/3M3qj3Q
might expect. Rather than debuting in desktop

IMAGE: INTEL MAY 2022 PCWorld 7

NEWS INTEL ARC
tuned systems revolving around its Core CPUs
and Arc GPUs.
Giddy up.
MEET INTEL ARC LAPTOPS
Intel recently took the wraps off its Arc
A-series mobile GPUs, launching only the
most humble variants—the affordable Arc 3
series. The A350M and A370M will appear
in laptops now available for preorder, with
prices starting at $899. More powerful Arc
5 and Arc 7 notebooks are scheduled to hit
the streets over the next few months. All
Arc GPUs will be powered by Intel’s new Xe
HPG graphics architecture. We’ve split the
nitty-gritty Xe HPG architecture details into
a separate article (fave.co/3uSJzLM), but
you can see a high-level look at the mobile
GPUs below (1).
1.
8 PCWorld MAY 2022
By focusing on affordable laptops rather
than leaping straight into a battle for high-end
desktop supremacy, Intel is playing to its
strengths. Yes, Arc was designed for gaming
first and foremost—Intel says the Arc 3
laptops surpass 60 frames per second in
triple-A games at 1080p resolution at high
and medium settings, and 90fps in esports
games, doubling the speeds available with its
integrated graphics—but the company
focused more heavily on the unique value
and features Arc can provide (2, 3).
It starts with the media and display
engines, which remain consistent across all
Arc GPUs. Every Arc GPU can support up to
four total HDMI 2.0b and DisplayPort 1.4a
outputs (though configuration will vary by
laptop). They’re capable of outputting up to
360Hz at 1080p and 1440p resolution or
powering a pair of 4K/120
or 8K/60 panels. That’s
impressive, especially in
lower-cost Arc 3 laptops,
but it’s the media engine
where the magic starts.
Arc GPUs sling all the
high-end video you’d
expect, from 8K 10-bit HDR
encodes and HEVC, AVC, 2.
and VP9. But Arc also offers
something no other GPU
maker provides: hardware-
based AV1 encoding
acceleration. The highly
efficient next-generation
video standard was created
by a consortium of industry
giants and is rapidly
moving toward becoming 3.
the norm. Modern desktop
GPUs support AV1 decoding that can help Being first to AV1 encoding is a major,
you watch 8K videos without your system major win for Intel. But it’s far from the only
catching fire, but until now you needed to one. Let’s dig into the content creator
use software alone to actually create AV1 enhancements Intel is highlighting with this
videos. release before circling back to gaming chores.
Intel says that the hardware-accelerated
AV1 creation unlocked by Arc is 50 times DEEP LINK: INTEL’S
faster than software encodes. In a short video SPECIAL SAUCE
showing off a stream of Elden Ring in X-Split, Arc presses its advantage in all-Intel systems
locked to 5Mbps, an AV1 stream provided with Deep Link, a series of features that can
much better visual clarity than the standard significantly improve performance when the
H.264 encoder, displaying much clearer GPU is paired with Intel’s popular Core
grass, bushes, walls, and other fine elements. processor. Deep Link existed before, while

MAY 2022 PCWorld 9

NEWS INTEL ARC

(There’s also a Low

Activity mode that
places less strain
on battery life.) If
things are running
optimally,
everything stays
put. But if the Arc
GPU is under
heavy load, the
4.
laptop will shift
more power its
the company used its Xe Max laptop GPUs way. And when the GPU isn’t being used
(fave.co/3KVetsf) to hone the technology, but much, Dynamic Power Share tosses more
it’s been supercharged with the Arc launch. It juice toward the Intel Core processor to
revolves around three key features. provide snappier desktop performance.
Dynamic Power Share (4) intelligently The remaining Deep Link features require
shifts energy back and forth between the Intel software that supports it, though work on that
CPU and GPU, giving more oomph to each is already underway. Hyper Encode (5) lets
when it’s needed, similar to AMD’s rival software tap into all of the available Intel
SmartShift technology (fave.co/3Epshc5) or media engines in your laptop, rather than
Nvidia’s Dynamic Boost (fave.co/3Eo5aPc). relying on just your CPU or GPU alone, as is
It polls the
system
every 100
microseconds
(or 10 times
every
second),
checking to
see how hard
the Arc GPU
is being
stressed. 5.

10 PCWorld MAY 2022

typical when you’re encoding video. Intel’s and AV1 encoding could be one hell of a
OneVPL API splits media transcodes into power trio that Nvidia and AMD could
batches of frames and dispatches them to the struggle to match—assuming broad software
Arc GPU and the Core processor and its support comes through. Intel says Hyper
integrated graphics to process, round-robin Encode can offer up to 60 percent better
style. That keeps all your available hardware performance than Alder Lake’s integrated Iris
churning at encoding as briskly as possible. Xe graphics alone.
If the results we saw while batch- Finally, there’s Hyper Compute (6), a new
processing videos in Hyper Encode’s early Deep Link feature. Hyper Compute leverages
days (fave.co/3KVetsf) are any indication, this all the XMX cores Intel crammed into Arc
could be a
game-
changing
feature for
content
creators,
especially
now that its
power can be
brought to
bear on single
video 6.
encodes. That
goes doubly
so in
encoding
software that
supports
Intel’s sublime
QuickSync
technology.
Hyper
Encode,
QuickSync, 7.

MAY 2022 PCWorld 11

NEWS INTEL ARC
GPUs to accelerate AI tasks, using a new
Machine Learning Service API for OpenVINO
(7). There is a wild world of possible uses for
this, but Intel showcased it with Topaz Labs’
Video Enhance AI, upscaling and visually
enhancing a 1080p video to 4K. Hyper
Compute let the software split the input
frames into several different tiles, dispatched
those to both the Intel CPU’s integrated
graphics as well as the Arc GPU, and then
reassembled them to create final enhanced
frames at a much faster clip.
Intel claims that Hyper Compute offers
up to 24 percent extra performance in the
task—and that’s a good thing, as Topaz Labs’
AI upscaling offers truly tangible visual
differences when you’re enhancing older
pictures and video. Boy, though, can it take
a while.
8.
12 PCWorld MAY 2022
INTEL XESS AND AI IN
GAMES
Content creators aren’t the only ones who
can put those AI-infused XMX cores to work.
At the initial reveal of its Arc GPUs (fave.
co/3JV17uK) last August, Intel also took the
wraps off XeSS, which behaves an awful lot
like Nvidia’s vaunted DLSS. It taps into the
XMX cores to use AI to upscale an internal
render running at a lower resolution, then
clean up the resulting image, giving you
drastically better performance with little to no
visual impact (presumably depending on the
settings used). Better yet, it uses a fallback
technology on graphics cards that lack XMX
cores, meaning XeSS will also work on Nvidia
and AMD GPUs.
Like DLSS and AMD’s upcoming
FidelityFX Super Resolution 2.0 (fave.
 you’d expect
from graphics
software in 2022.
You’ll be able to
monitor and tune
your GPU
performance,
automatically
update your
drivers, manage
global settings,
9. keep tabs on your
installed game
co/3KRRTkv), XeSS requires game makers to library, and more. Better yet, Intel Fellow Tom
integrate support into their games. For the Peterson told us that Intel will offer a new
Arc launch, Intel revealed a handful of games Control API that lets third-party software hook
that will support XeSS by early summer, into Arc Control’s capabilities, so programs
including Death Stranding, Ghostwire Tokyo, like RivaTuner and MSI’s Afterburner could
Hitman III, and Chivalry II (8). offer all the same features if they choose to
But XeSS isn’t the only way Arc GPUs will implement them.
tap into AI. Like Nvidia, Intel is rolling out The AI features are interesting. As AMD
AI-infused tools to supplement your gaming and Nvidia are doing with their graphics
experience,
via an all-new
Arc Control
interface (9)
that uses a
modern
overlay
design.
Arc
Control
includes all
the basics 10.

MAY 2022 PCWorld 13

NEWS INTEL ARC
panels, Intel will offer a Creator Studio (10) that
makes it easy to broadcast to Twitch, YouTube,
and other platforms (don’t forget that AV1
encoding!). Intel will tap into the XMX cores to
power AI camera features like background
blurring, replacement, and removal, as well as
automatically framing you. It sounds similar to
Nvidia’s popular Broadcast suite.
More intriguingly, Intel is also teasing
Auto Game Highlights that save clips of your
most dramatic gaming moments. Nvidia’s
ShadowPlay offers a similar tool but it’s only
available in a small handful of games. Intel
says Arc Control’s Auto Game Highlights
don’t require developer integration, and it’s
already working in 10 of the top esports
games. The proof will be in the pudding, but
it could be a rad feature for the blue team.
ONWARD AND UPWARD
Again, Intel’s Arc 3 laptop launch is
spearheaded by the thin and light Samsung
Galaxy Book2 Pro. And once again, launching
Arc in its most humble mobile iteration helps
Intel drive home strategic wins. Intel’s Devon
Nekechuk told press that select Arc 3 laptops
will be part of Intel’s Evo program (fave.
co/3GOsmX3). Evo dictates a wide array of
technical details to ensure that you have a
portable, responsive, fast-charging laptop
with all-day battery life, powered (of course)
by various Intel technologies. Arc-enabled
Evo laptops must abide by the same
guidelines, but they’ll offer twice the gaming
14 PCWorld MAY 2022
performance of integrated graphics, AV1
encode, and support for Intel’s compelling-
on-paper XeSS and Deep Link features, with
prices starting at $899.
It’s a very Intel way of launching the Xe
HPG architecture (fave.co/3uSJzLM) and its
debut discrete consumer graphics cards, and
it’s laser-focused on highlighting the features
and benefits possible with an all-Intel system
now that Arc GPUs are here. Rather than
getting into a frame rate war with Nvidia and
AMD in their desktop strongholds, Intel is
playing to its strengths: its overwhelming
ownership of the laptop space and deep
software support. We’ll have to see how Arc
GPUs hold up once reviewers have them in
hand, but the capabilities Intel revealed today
look very nifty indeed.
And make no mistake: That brawl is
coming. More powerful Arc 5 and Arc 7
laptops are due by early summer, and Intel
says Arc desktop graphics cards will make
their debut sometime in the second quarter.
Expect to see a fight from all sides (witness
the recent launch of Nvidia’s monster
GeForce RTX 3090 Ti [fave.co/3uSHUG1]).
None of these companies enjoys losing, and
when multibillion dollar megacorps are
duking it out for your attention, PC gamers
and content creators could wind up being the
big winners.
That’s, you know, if graphics card prices
chill the heck out. Launching in laptop form
helps Intel circumvent that headache, too.
New Windows 11 feature blitz:
File Explorer is finally getting tabs
Sets has reemerged, five years later. BY MARK HACHMAN
t’s only taken five years, but Microsoft’s
I tabbed File Explorer, called Sets, could
finally become a reality in Windows 11.
At Microsoft’s Future of Hybrid Work
event in April, Microsoft showed off several
features that the company plans to bring to
Windows 11. Microsoft didn’t provide a
timetable for when they’ll be arriving,
however. Some of them also are specific to
particular applications; a number of features
will be used for videoconferencing, for
IMAGE: PIXABAY/PIX1861
example, with automatic camera framing and
a feature called Eye Contact. Others, such as
Live Captions, have been previously revealed
(fave.co/3Oi3QC2) as part of Microsoft’s
Windows Insider program and should be
scheduled for a fall release.
Sets, though, makes sense just because
the concept is simple and straightforward.
Microsoft will provide a tabbed interface, like
you see in browsers, instead of multiple open
windows of File Explorer. Finally. When
MAY 2022 PCWorld 15
NEWS WINDOWS 11 FEATURE BLITZ

Microsoft sent a top

executive around to
demonstrate the Sets
technology (fave.
co/3vus8j9) in 2017,
the company planned
to make the tabbed
interface one that
would unify Edge, File
Explorer, Calendar,
and a few other apps
presenting a
consolidated, A look at the new Windows 11 File Explorer, complete with tabs.
streamlined interface.
That never happened, however.
Microsoft now seems like it wants to
resolve some of the shortcomings of File
Explorer—namely, that the concept of a
local file is becoming quickly outdated.
Instead, Microsoft is using a technology it’s
calling ContextIQ to try to pull the most
relevant files in response to a search query.
In November, it launched ContextIQ for
Microsoft Dynamics, to do two things: Find
relevant files and suggest contacts to share
them with. (Microsoft cited a Wakefield
Research report that said employees
mentioned finding a relevant document as
the number-one barrier to remote work.) It
applied this technology in Microsoft Editor
(fave.co/3Er9VaU), specifically for
Microsoft Outlook.
File Explorer will now try to surface more
relevant files, allow you to favorite them in a
new Favorites section, and show you where
they’re located—in the cloud or in your own
local hard drive. File Explorer will also show
you what the most recent action was—if a
co-worker left a comment, for example.
We’ve seen this cloud-first approach in the
Office app, but it’s now being extended to
your own desktop.
Microsoft also confirmed that a
“personalized” Start menu will be a feature of
an upcoming Windows 11 release, too. It’s not
clear whether Microsoft will use ContextIQ
here, or whether Windows may dynamically
reorganize Start in reaction to frequently used
apps and files. Start folders, however, will be
definitely coming to Windows 11, Microsoft
confirmed in a briefing in advanced of its
Tuesday event. Those folders can be named,
but not resized, clustering a group of four tiny
icons together.

16 PCWorld MAY 2022

 Better remote help is arriving, too. It will
be part of Microsoft Endpoint Manager, a
corporate tool. But it looks like that a
(properly authorized) tech-support
employee will be able to remotely take over
your PC and diagnose a problem without
having you send it over to them for
inspection and diagnosis.
Finally, Microsoft seems to be responding
to the plague of meetings that cropped up
during the pandemic, which has consumed
most of the workday instead of allowing
employees to complete “real work.”
Microsoft will be integrating a Focus Assist
timer into Windows 11 and adding a “Do not
disturb” feature, too.
Other new features that will come to
Windows 11 include the following. Most of
them are geared toward the office, but
chances are you’ll run into them at home, too.
Passwordless single sign-on:
Microsoft is encouraging users to use a
different combination of two-factor
authentication, such as a hardware token and
fingerprint, as a substitute for a
traditional password.
Pop-up messages from admins:
If you haven’t completed an important
training (ugh), you’ll receive a nagware
pop-up from your IT department. (Don’t
tell them about this.)
Phishing protections built into
Windows: If your account information is
sent over to somewhere it shouldn’t go,
Windows 11 should detect the breach and let
you know about it.
Snap View: Snap View is optimized for
touch, with more tablet-friendly layouts.
Secure drivers: Microsoft is enabling
Hypervisor-Protected Code Integrity on
more Windows 11 devices. HVCI helps
secure your drivers, preventing the loading
of malware.
Smart App Control: Similarly, Microsoft
is bringing Smart App Control to Windows,
which uses AI to detect what could be a
“bad” app. It’s like SmartScreen for apps.
“Smart App Control only allows processes to
run that are predicted to be safe based on
either code certificates or an AI model for
application trust within the Microsoft cloud,”
Microsoft says.
There’s one catch with Smart App
Control, Microsoft says. This is a new feature
that will be available with new Windows 11
PCs. Older devices will have to be reset to
take advantage of the new feature,
Microsoft said.
Microsoft’s anti-phishing protections in action.
MAY 2022 PCWorld 17
NEWS

Chrome’s latest feature gives your

browser a privacy checkup
The Privacy Guide will appear in a Chrome update soon. BY MICHAEL CIDER

hrome is the most popular web its favor. The new Privacy Guide interface, soon

C browser on the planet. Which

means that if you’re using it too,
you’re a prime target for identity
theft and other nasty detritus of the information
age. While Google isn’t known for being the
most privacy-forward company out there, its
latest addition to Chrome is a definite point in
to be available, is essentially an old-school user
wizard to help you tighten down your
browser’s privacy vulnerabilities.
Privacy Guide will be presented as a card
when users go into the “Privacy and security”
section of the Chrome settings menu. In just a
couple of minutes it will allow you to see what

18 PCWorld MAY 2022 IMAGE: GOOGLE

Privacy Guide will be accessible via the “Privacy and security” section of the Chrome settings menu.

the browser is saving locally and syncing to privacy, you might want to check out browser
your Google profile, with a somewhat alternatives like Brave.
sanitized explanation of the user
benefits for each feature you’re using
(or not). The Privacy Sandbox,
Google’s controversial proposal for
replacing tracking cookies for the
purpose of advertising, gets a
starring role.
Privacy Guide will roll out
worldwide “in the coming weeks” for
Chrome version 100 and later,
presumably on all supported platforms. If you’re seriously concerned about privacy, you might
But if you’re seriously concerned about want to check out browser alternatives like Brave.

MAY 2022 PCWorld 19

NEWS

When will Windows 11 stop

screwing up the little things?
Microsoft seems oblivious to the importance of efficiency. BY ALAINA YEE

know people who love Windows 11. I am If you have it, congrats. It means you keep

I not one of them.

Before anyone tells me why I’m
wrong—or that it’s ludicrous for a tech
journalist to be against new technology—let
me draw your attention to the exact problem
first. I want you to right-click on the desktop in
Windows 11 and tell me what you see.
Does the menu have the Refresh option?
Or are you forced to choose Show more
options to get to a secondary right-click menu
with the desired feature?
your system up to date. (If you don’t, I suggest
you finally run Windows Update.)
But now repeat these same steps within a
File Explorer window—arguably, the more
common place you’d want to refresh the
view. (For example, you’ve copied over or
deleted files and aren’t seeing the changes
reflected onscreen.) Can’t find a Refresh
option in the right-click menu? It’s not your
eyes playing tricks on you. You have to go
into “Show more options” to see it done.

20 PCWorld MAY 2022 IMAGE: CLIPGROUND

Oh, and pressing F5 on a keyboard doesn’t
work, either.
For decades, this task only required two
clicks. Now that goes up to three, and it’s
not even consistent within the OS. The
desktop got a fix that put things back to the
way they were, but not File Explorer? What?
(After online publication of this article, reader
@CarrieLeighC on Twitter pointed out that
I’ve ignored mention of the refresh button in
the address bar, which is only one click. That’s
a valid point, but it overlooks the core issue—
that Microsoft made a perfectly serviceable
feature worse.)
This “one gigantic step backward, tiny
half-step forward” approach isn’t efficient and
makes trusting this operating system difficult.
You know the reason why businesses still
cling to Windows XP and Windows 7?
Because to work efficiently, you develop a
process that relies on certain key functions
and features, so you can
optimize accordingly.
Change means that you
disrupt all that and slow
yourself down.
Now, change can be a
worthwhile thing when the
new system offers some
tangible benefits. Maybe it
improves your workflow’s
efficiency overall, or perhaps
it at least smooths over the Seriously, why no option for Refresh in this menu? It was present in
rough patches that make so many previous versions of Windows.
your soul wither whenever you have to deal
with them.
But switching to a less-reliable, less-
efficient system isn’t progress. And though @
CarrieLeighC is right that I could retrain myself
to use the refresh button, my counter to that
is: Why am I being forced to? I might not be a
corporation with shareholders and
multimillion-dollar profits, but my time is still
valuable. Why a user interface team would
overlook that and instead purposely bury
things in submenus is beyond me. The whole
point of a right-click menu is to have
immediate access to commands you’d want
to execute on the spot. The menu wasn’t
even cluttered to begin with—why remove
elements from it?
And this philosophy is littered throughout
Windows 11. Don’t believe me? Start by
taking a stroll through the Settings app. Or
have a look at your sound controls in the
MAY 2022 PCWorld 21
NEWS WINDOWS 11: STOP SCREWING UP THE SMALL THINGS
taskbar. With one click, tell me what your
active audio device is. Can’t do it, can you? In
Windows 10, you just have to click on the
volume icon to see that info. Not Windows 11.
You have to click twice: first on the volume
icon, then on the arrow to the right of the
volume slider. Who thought that would be
more efficient? Does the interface really
become that much more beautiful with the
omission of that useful information?
(And don’t tell me few people use
multiple audio devices with a PC. Even laptop
owners pair their system with headsets,
earbuds, and external speakers.)
A line exists between a lack of clutter in an
interface and design decisions that impede the
user’s ability to do things efficiently. It’s not
even a fine line. And yet Windows 11 crosses it
without any rhyme or reason. Don’t even get
me started on the taskbar (fave.co/3JIxpcU).
In Windows 10, you can easily see your active audio device. Not in Windows
11. (That mention of AirPods Pro is related to connected Bluetooth devices.)
22 PCWorld MAY 2022
At this point, using Windows 11 feels like
signing up for death by a thousand paper
cuts. I like to get through my to-do list without
added headache. I have no reason to leave
Windows 10, which works extremely well.
Our official Windows 11 six-month report card
(fave.co/3rARUlb) reached a similar
conclusion. In fact, I feel sorry for new PC
owners saddled with what feels like a half-
baked operating system. (Incidentally, if you
want an escape, we have a guide that
explains how to downgrade to Windows 10
[fave.co/37YDyUO].)
Microsoft is continually pushing updates
to Windows 11, but we can’t predict when
useful changes will arrive. And unlike with
Apple products, most of us have no real
loyalty to the idea of the brand or its vision,
where the sense of community outweighs the
downsides of being a glorified beta tester. I’m
a working adult with
responsibilities and
often a full schedule,
and I need my gear to
serve me, not the other
way around. I upgrade
to newer products
when they reduce
hassle and improve my
life. So I’m not against
change. I’m against
dumb stuff that
progresses backward
and wastes my time.
The future of PSUs is here: Intel’s
ATX 3.0 powers monster 600W
graphics cards
A new 12+4-pin power connection for PCIe 5 cards delivers up to 600 watts on one rail.
BY MICHAEL CRIDER

C power supplies haven’t seen a cards and other PCIe devices, delivering up to

P whole lot of change in the last

decade or two. We’ve gotten
modular cables for easier routing,
smaller standards for itty-bitty builds, and that’s
about it. But Intel recently finalized the ATX 3.0
600 watts on a single connector.
Currently graphics cards are in a bit of a
power pinch. The maximum throughput for an

VIDEO: INTEL TALKS NEW

standard, coming soon to a full-size PC case ATX 3.0 AND ATX12VO
near you. The biggest addition announced is a 2.0 POWER SPECS
Watch now at fave.co/3EqtJuE
new standardized connection for graphics

IMAGE: IDG MAY 2022 PCWorld 23

NEWS THE FUTURE OF PSUS IS HERE
8-pin ATX rail is 150 watts, so the biggest and
most power-hungry GPUs need to double or
even triple up, adding extra space
requirements and more-complex cable routing
inside the case. The new 12-pin 12VHPWR
connection (fave.co/36mNnLE) should be
able to deliver more energy than even the
most powerful graphics cards need for the next
generation or two. Each pin housing is also
physically smaller, with a 3.0mm pitch versus
4.2mm on current power supply rails.
Technically it’s 16 total pins (12+4), with
four additional data pins squeezed in beneath
the primary power pins. This is to manage DC
output voltage regulation and a series of new
tools designed to regulate high power output
efficiently and safely, all handled intelligently by
the power supply. According to Intel, the new
12VHPWR connection will be the standard for
It’s been reported that some versions of the forthcoming GeForce RTX 3090 Ti
graphics card could feature the 12+4-pin 12VHPWR connection.
24 PCWorld MAY 2022
“most, if not all” PCIe cards using the 5.0 spec.
Some of Nvidia’s 30-series Founders
Edition cards use a “dumb” version of this
connection (fave.co/38NTnOi), with 12
primary power pins but lacking the four
additional pins. Nvidia includes adapters in
the box for double-8-pin power supply rails to
more easily conform with current PSUs, but
that 12-pin connection should be forward-
compatible with the new 12VHPWR rails.
They’ll be limited to 450 watts without the
extra data pins for power regulation.
ATX 3.0-compliant power supplies and
pre-built systems are scheduled to hit the market
later in 2022. Based on everything we’ve seen
thus far, the next generation of power supplies
should be physically compatible with all ATX-
standard PC cases, though you may need
adapters for pre-ATX12VO motherboards and
SATA components.
There have been
rumors that at least
some vendor
versions of the
forthcoming
GeForce RTX 3090
Ti graphics card
(fave.co/3IqtAsg)
will feature the new
12+4-pin
12VHPWR
connection, but
there’s no official
word.
OnePlus 10 Pro: Three reasons to
get it (and one reason why most
people won’t)
With the 10 Pro, OnePlus continues down a tricky path. BY ADAM PATRICK MURRAY

ver since around the release of the for each new release has slowly crept up as

E 5T (fave.co/3jOggDO), all the way

back in 2017, OnePlus phones have
been my go-to pick for “best bang
for your buck” Android phone. A near-stock
OS, solid camera, and sleek designs at
mid-range prices helped build a loyal fan base
of OnePlus fans. But over the years the cost
OnePlus shifted to the flagship space to try
and offer a more “premium” experience, and
that’s exemplified by the newly announced
$899 OnePlus 10 Pro.
With Samsung locking down the majority
of flagship Android devices sold in the U.S.
it’s a tough market to get into, and one that

IMAGE: IDG MAY 2022 PCWorld 25

NEWS ONEPLUS PRO 10
doesn’t benefit from unique pricing like the
mid-range. So does the OnePlus 10 Pro
compete? How does it compare to the
Samsung’s Galaxy S22 offerings (fave.
co/3uNJMzI)? Here are three reasons why I
think you might want to look at the OnePlus
10 Pro as your next phone—and one really
large reason why you don’t.
PRO 1: OXYGENOS
While I can understand the appeal of stock
Android, like what’s featured on Google’s
Pixel devices, it’s never been for me. I’ve
always enjoyed seeing what other
manufacturers do to customize and
differentiate themselves from the rest—
sometimes successfully and sometimes
unsuccessfully. Traditionally OnePlus’s custom
The settings app is simple yet deep enough for
significant personalization.
26 PCWorld MAY 2022
OxygenOS, now on version 12, has always
felt like a beefed-up version of stock Android,
with thoughtful extras and simple design
tweaks. I’ve always pointed people who grew
frustrated with Google’s decisions for Pixel
phones (fave.co/3JRrKkg) over the years to
OnePlus phones as an obvious upgrade. On
the flip side, Samsung has had a history of
bloated operating systems. For people who
grew tired of that, OnePlus phones are a
breath of fresh air. OxygenOS has almost
always been my favorite variant of Android
and one of the major reasons why I enjoy
using OnePlus phones.
With OxygenOS 12, OnePlus has merged
its code base with ColorOS from its parent
company Oppo and given it an overhaul. It’s
funny because while OxygenOS has typically
been my favorite, ColorOS has been one
of my least favorite versions of Android,
so I was a bit taken aback by the changes
present. Luckily, the tweaks mostly
revolve around design rather than deep
changes to functionality and OS features.
Sure, the launcher, app icons, and
settings menu have a new look, but
aspects like personalization options,
navigation features, and notification
shade usability are still present, so for the
most part I’m happy.
While I do think I have fallen out of
the deep love I’ve borne for OxygenOS
in the past, it still is a fantastic version
of Android.

The updated Pro mode is candy for photo nerds like me.
PRO 2: CAMERA SYSTEM
In the early days of OnePlus it was the
camera systems that always lagged
considerably behind flagship and other
mid-range options. Over time OnePlus has
looked to rectify these shortcomings with
smart hardware and important software
updates that helped bring it up to
par with the prices it was charging.
No longer was the subpar camera
the biggest caveat for me when it
came to recommending a OnePlus
phone. More recently OnePlus has
partnered with boutique
professional camera maker
Hasselblad (which built the
cameras used on the moon
landing missions) to bring its
unique expertise to the 9- and now
10-series phones.
Last year’s camera didn’t
present a substantial
improvement from its
Hasselblad dealings, but did
at least raise awareness to the
commitments of OnePlus to
building a better camera
system. I’m not seeing a huge
leap in performance with the
OnePlus 10 Pro either, but
rather a continuation of the
same improvements. The
biggest upgrades are for
photo nerds like myself, with
the main one support for 10-bit color
processing (only available in HEIF format),
which considerably increases the amount of
color reproduction. Another improvement is
a second-gen Pro Mode that provides
enhanced RAW file capabilities and easier-to-
use control options. The last major photo
A 150-degree FOV can be useful and fun.
MAY 2022 PCWorld 27
NEWS ONEPLUS PRO 10

nerd feature is the ability to

switch to the full 150-degree
field of view on the ultra-wide
angle lens, which provides for
some fun shooting options.
So while it’s not one of the
best cameras you can get in a
smartphone, I believe the
OnePlus 10 Pro’s system
matches its entry-level price,
and it’s a weak spot in an
otherwise great phone.
OnePlus has said its partnership Flagship specs? Check. Flagship design? That’s for you to decide.
with Hasselblad is a multi-year
deal, so here’s to hopes for continued and
even more substantial improvements.
PRO 3: SPECS
One of OnePlus’s claims to fame was being
able to use the latest and greatest specs and
processing in a mid-range device. This trend
continues with the 10 Pro, which features top
specs like a second-gen LTPO display, a
Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 processor, a 5000mAh
battery capable of up to 65w charging over a
wired connection, and much more.
SoC: Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1
RAM: 8GB LPDDR5
Storage: 128GB UFS 3.1
Battery: 5,000 mAh
Display: 6.7-inch 3216×1440 120Hz
AMOLED
Main camera: 48MP f/1.8 Sony IMX780
w/ OIS
Ultra-wide camera: 50MP f/2.2
Samsung ISOCELL JN1
Telephoto camera: 8MP f/2.4 w/ OIS
In my review of the OnePlus 9 Pro last year
(fave.co/3uRjBrS), I noted how much I loved
that new screen, and the 10 Pro only improves
here, making it yet again one of the standout
features. OnePlus tells me that it implemented
a dual color calibration technique to better
maintain accurate colors and contrast across
the full range of brightness levels. I’ve
encountered this huge problem in past
flagships where at some of the darkest
settings colors would resolve differently and
blacks would be crushed, resulting in a
horrible experience. This hasn’t been a huge
concern lately but it’s good to know
companies are continuing to improve in this
area. OnePlus also mentioned this second-
gen panel being able to present 50 percent

28 PCWorld MAY 2022

more accurate colors than the previous
screen, but I couldn’t perceive a huge
difference. It still looks fantastic to me.
Most of these specs are right in line with
those of other flagship phones on the market,
and I can’t find a spot where I feel the phone
is lacking. It’s fast, it’s able to last all day and
charge quickly, and the screen is a treat for
the eyes.
CON: COMPETITION
While I believe the OnePlus 10 Pro is great
phone that is definitely worth considering, it
does have one downside: the competition.
OnePlus has decided to move up to the big
leagues and try to compete at the flagship
level it has stiff competition. And while the
OnePlus 10 Pro is a nice improvement over
the 9 Pro and the other OnePlus phones
before it, it still can’t be viewed in a vacuum,
especially in the U.S., where you can’t lose
sight of the 800-pound gorilla in
the Android room. Samsung has
made great strides to tighten up
its OS with OneUI, and it’s
always been at the pinnacle of
hardware design. That’s not to
mention the fact that Samsung
cameras consistently go toe-to-
toe with the best and offer some
of the best options for taking
photos and videos. And while I
personally would never consider
an iPhone, others are having to OnePlus is caught between a rock and a hard place.
make that decision, which isn’t an easy one.
Operating system aside, there are legitimate
reasons why someone could be swayed to
the Apple ecosystem, and a OnePlus phone
isn’t necessarily the device that will make you
stop in your tracks.
For now, OnePlus phones continue to
mainly operate inside the enthusiast bubble,
where Android die-hards like to compare
specs and OS differences. But for the casual
smartphone buyer, it’s most likely going to
take more carrier moves like the T-Mobile
partnership, or bringing back the ability to
undercut the top dogs with a cheaper price,
for the OnePlus to really break out and
compete at a flagship level. Even though I
enjoyed my time using the OnePlus 10 Pro
and can easily recommend it to potential
buyers, it might be hard getting too many
people to bite with such strong competition
out there.
MAY 2022 PCWorld 29
NEWS

Sony reveals its Game Pass

alternative… and Microsoft has
nothing to worry about
PlayStation Plus is still heavily invested in console hardware. BY MICHAEL CRIDER

t’s been three years since Microsoft But if you were hoping that the newly-

I started releasing first-run Xbox and PC

games on the all-in-one Xbox Game Pass
service, and started an innovative
platform-agnostic approach to publishing
games. While Game Pass hasn’t conquered
the game industry, it’s definitely making
waves. Perennial console rival Sony has taken
notice, and is now revamping its own
subscription and streaming services for the
PlayStation brand.
rechristened PlayStation Plus (fave.
co/3rzOIGd) would be a true rival to
Microsoft’s excellent Xbox Game Pass on the
PC (fave.co/3vohwCJ), well, keep hoping.
The upcoming reboot of PlayStation Plus
makes a lot of sense if you’re heavily invested
in the PlayStation brand. If you primarily game
on the PC, it just doesn’t offer anywhere near
the same kind of value.
Here’s a quick breakdown of the tiers that

30 PCWorld MAY 2022 IMAGE: SONY

will be available on the upcoming PlayStation
Plus service:
Essential — $10 a month
• Online multiplayer for PlayStation consoles
• Two free PlayStation games a month
• Cloud storage for game saves
• PlayStation digital store discounts
Extra — $15 a month
• Everything above, plus:
• “Up to 400” PS4 and PS5 games available
for console download only
Premium — $18 a month
• Everything above, plus:
• “Up to 340” additional games across
PlayStation generations
• PS3 games available only on streaming*
• PS1, PS2, PSP, and PS4 games available to
download or stream on console
• All Plus streaming games
available to stream on PC
*The PS3’s unique “Cell”
chip architecture makes it
extremely difficult to emulate,
which is probably why it’s the
only console generation
without downloadable game
options for current consoles.
So if you have a
PlayStation 4 or PlayStation 5,
the top tier of service can get The newest catalog game on PlayStation Plus, Returnal, won’t be
you approximately 750 available to stream on PC.
games spanning the original 1994 PlayStation
all the way to the PS5. But if you’re on PC only,
your streaming selection will be less than half
of those games, with zero PS5 titles. Sony’s
announcement also mentions some of the
high-profile games that will launch on the new
service: Spider-Man and Miles Morales, Death
Stranding, God of War, Mortal Kombat 11,
and Returnal.
Returnal is the newest of those games,
and it will still be more than a year old when
the new PlayStation Plus service launches in
June. And again, because it’s a PS5 game, it
won’t be playable on the PC streaming
portion of the service. So Sony has decided
not to compete with Microsoft on one of
Xbox Game Pass’s biggest draws: new AAA
releases hitting the subscription service on
launch day. New and alluring console
exclusives like Gran Turismo 7 and God of War
Ragnarok will still need a hefty $70 purchase
MAY 2022 PCWorld 31
NEWS SONY’S GAMEPLUS ALTERNATIVE
on day one, and won’t be offered for
streaming for at least some time. Instead
PlayStation Plus will lean on nearly three
decades of back catalog titles, and Sony’s
offering also notably omits any kind of mobile
streaming option.
That doesn’t mean that PlayStation Plus is
worthless. It just means that it’s only a real
value proposition if you’re already all-in on the
PlayStation gaming platform. If you spend $10
a month to get online multiplayer functionality
for your console (stop laughing, PC gamers),
an extra $8 for a huge library isn’t so bad.
Sony’s approach makes sense for a company
that’s still heavily invested in its console
hardware. Though Sony is expanding its PC
offerings (fave.co/3xxekHK), at the end of the
day, it wants to sell you a new PlayStation 5.
(Or maybe a PS4 if you still can’t find one
[fave.co/3836smJ].) PlayStation Plus is an
Console exclusives like God of War Ragnarok will still need a hefty $70
purchase on day one.
32 PCWorld MAY 2022
extension of that approach, but not a draw in
and of itself.
Contrast this with Microsoft’s approach.
While it’s still happy to sell individual Xbox
consoles and games, the old-fashioned
console platform appears to be secondary to
the Xbox Game Pass service itself. Microsoft
wants to sell you a Netflix-style subscription
and let you play games on console, PC,
mobile, tablet, smart TVs, and maybe a smart
thermostat by the end of the year. The
hardware bolsters the service, not the other
way around. That’s why the company has
been gobbling up game studios and
publishers (fave.co/37ZNVY9) as fast as it can.
It’s early days for both the latest console
generation and for Microsoft’s big bet on
gaming as a service. For the time being,
Sony’s betting on the conventional approach,
and who could blame it. The PS4 outsold the
Xbox One by more
than two to one (fave.
co/3jUPWHP), and
the PS5 has about a
30 percent lead on
the Xbox Series S/X
despite widespread
hardware shortages.
But if you’re coming
from the perspective
of a PC gamer, Game
Pass is still the far
better value as a
service.
The SSDs of the future will be so fast,
they might need active fans
An SSD manufacturer says we’re hitting a wall in terms of speed and heat management.
BY MICHAEL CRIDER

n just a few years, new computer users might need a little extra help to hit those

I won’t be able to remember the days

when data was stored on spinning
magnetic disks. The conventional hard
drive will be about as relevant as an 8-track
outside of mass storage. But the march of
progress does require some unexpected
adaptations, and newer and ever-faster
solid-state drives (fave.co/2Z26gQg)
speeds. According to a blog post from SSD
controller manufacturer Phison (fave.
co/3xxf4wB), that help will come in the
form of active cooling.
In layman’s terms, that means a dedicated
fan for your NVMe storage drive (or whatever
new standard comes after the PCIe gen 5
drives). “I would expect to see heatsinks for

IMAGE: INEO MAY 2022 PCWorld 33

NEWS SSDS OF THE FUTURE MIGHT NEED ACTIVE FANS
[PCIe] Gen5,” says Sebastien Jean, Phison’s
CTO. And indeed, performance M.2 drives
already come with some beefy heat spreaders
and heatsinks (fave.co/3k6yrEV), and you can
add even bigger ones via the aftermarket if
you’re concerned about heat dissipation.
There are even a few designs available with
heat pipes and tiny fans (fave.co/3xBkrdV),
which look like miniature CPU coolers. “But
eventually we’ll need to have a fan that’s
pushing air right over the heatsink, too,” he
continued, suggesting the go-to cooling
solution that’s been used for CPUs and GPUs
for decades.
The issue arising is that those lightning-fast
data read and write speeds require more
complex memory and controllers, which
require more electricity and thus more heat.
Temperature sensors attached to NAND
memory begin to throttle down performance
if they detect excess heat, eventually shutting
Performance M.2 drives, such as Samsung’s Electronics 980 PRO SSD, already come with some beefy
heat spreaders and heatsinks.
34 PCWorld MAY 2022
down completely to prevent data loss. And
the storage drive itself isn’t the only problem.
A lack of proper ventilation plus proximity to
high-heat components like the GPU could
exacerbate issues with a drive that doesn’t
have an adequate cooling solution. Laptops,
server blades, and other designs with space
constraints require extra engineering to work
around these issues.
How hot is too hot? According to Jean,
about 50 degrees Celsius (122 Fahrenheit).
After that performance will begin to degrade,
with the NAND storage hitting potential
failure and shutdown at 80° C (176° F). Future
advances in controller technology and
connection standards might alleviate the issue
without the need for a huge heatsink or
dedicated fan. But if you’re looking to hit the
best storage speed possible with PCIe Gen5,
you might want to leave a little room above
your M.2 slots.
>> How a silver lining forms

>> It starts at sea.

>> Tropical waters heat up.
>> Warm air soars skyward.
>> Cold air rushes to the void.
>> Cold air warms up.
>> Cycle repeats.
>> Faster and faster—a 50,000 foot engine of air.
>> At seventy four miles per hour it earns a name.
>> Harvey, Irma, Katrina.
>> Then landfall.
>> Roads rendered useless.
>> Buildings destroyed.
>> Families stranded.
>> But for a brief moment,
>> A silver lining appears.
>> People see neighbors instead of strangers.
>> And labels that divide are forgotten.

>> But when rains ease,

>> when clouds part,
>> silver linings need not fade.

>> Let’s embrace our shared humanity.

>> Let’s connect with one another.
>> Let’s Ơnd our love for each other.
>> Every single day.

>> Come together at lovehasnolabels.com

WHEN THE GAMES BEGIN.

NEVER GIVE UP
UNTIL THEY BUCKLE UP.

VISIT SAFERCAR.GOV/KIDSBUCKLEUP
 TESTED IN PCWORLD LABS
Reviews & Ratings WE PUT HARDWARE & SOFTWARE
THROUGH RIGOROUS TESTING

Alienware AW3423DW:
Quantum dot OLED renders
rival monitors obsolete
Gamers, don’t hesitate. Alienware’s AW3423DW is a dark, brooding beast you’ll want to
tame. BY MATT SMITH

It’s rare to review a monitor obsolete? When it comes to 34-inch

with the potential to
revolutionize the industry, but
the Alienware AW3423DW
could do exactly that. It packs a cutting-edge
OLED panel with Quantum Dot technology at
a price surprisingly competitive with high-end
IPS ultrawide monitors.
Does this new Alienware make its peers
ultrawide monitors, yes—though this
luxurious display isn’t quite perfect. Still,
gamers will want to snatch the AW3423DW
up without hesitation.
SPECS AND FEATURES
QD-OLED panel aside, the Alienware
AW3423DW’s specifications are typical for an

IMAGE: ALIENWARE MAY 2022 PCWorld 37

REVIEWS ALIENWARE AW3423DW

ultrawide gaming
monitor. It packs a
34-inch screen with a
21:9 aspect ratio and a
resolution of 3,440 x
1,440. The monitor also
claims 99.3% coverage
of the DCI-P3 gamut
which, though high, can
be matched by some
premium IPS panels.
Display size:
34-inch
Native resolution:
3,440 x 1,440
Panel type: A huge stand keeps the monitor planted and can be adjusted to change
QD-OLED the height, tilt, and swivel.
Refresh rate: 175Hz
Adaptive Sync: Nvidia G-Sync Ultimate DESIGN: STUNNING, WITH
Ports: 2x HDMI 2.0, 1x DisplayPort 1.4, ONE SMALL PROBLEM
4x USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A, 1x USB Type-B Alienware unified its product in 2019 with a
(upstream), 1x audio-out, 1x headphone out new design language, Legend, that felt
Stand adjustment: 110mm height, 40 straight out of a modern sci-fi film. It was a
degrees swivel, 25 degrees tilt success. Alienware’s products are among the
VESA mount: Yes, 100mm x 100mm most attractive and sturdy available.
Speakers: Included Samsung’s monitors are a close second but
Price: $1,299 MSRP lack the build quality to back up their look.
The key difference can be found in the The AW3423DW uses OLED to its
monitor’s VESA DisplayHDR 400 True Black advantage. A thick, bulky rear panel quickly
certification. This promises a deep, inky black tapers to thin edges that are only possible
level alongside a reasonable level of HDR because OLED doesn’t need a backlight. The
brightness. Alienware’s AW3423DW is the LED accent lighting has moved from the stand
first gaming monitor to achieve this to the monitor panel, as well, so you can still
certification. enjoy it if you use a third-party monitor arm.

38 PCWorld MAY 2022

The monitor is curved, but the 1800R radius is
not aggressive and easy to forget in day-to-
day use.
A massive stand keeps the monitor
planted and adjusts for height, tilt, and swivel.
It feels nice in-hand thanks to its heft and
smooth, high-quality plastic cladding, but it’s
less practical than it looks. The stand’s legs
sweep forward, eating into desk space, and
the stand’s neck is deep. This means the
screen will be closer to you when placed at
the edge of your desk.
If Alienware’s engineers happen to read
this, please, I’m begging you: Find another
design. The depth of the stand shipped with
most Alienware monitors is impractical for use
with the shallow desks commonly sold today.
Most people, myself included, are gaming on
a desk from Ikea or Wayfair. At least there’s a
100mm x 100mm VESA mount for attaching a
more sensible stand or monitor arm.
FEATURES: JUST THE BASICS
Connectivity is one place the Alienware
AW3423DW cuts corners. It provides two
HDMI 2.0 ports alongside one DisplayPort
1.4. This is disappointing, as the HDMI ports
can only achieve a 100Hz refresh rate at the
monitor’s native resolution of 3,440 x 1,440.
USB connectivity is also basic. The
monitor has four USB Type-A downstream
ports powered by one USB Type-B upstream
port. Two of the USB Type-A ports are on the
front lip and two are on the rear. All USB ports
support just 5Gbps of bandwidth. All of this is
typical for a gaming monitor, but this is 2022,
so I’d like to see USB-C (fave.co/3xzdM48).
Gaming brands should recognize top-tier
gaming displays are often used by content
creators.
Pros will find some perks in the menus.
Setting the mode to creator allows access to
sRGB and DCI-P3 modes and custom gamma
adjustment. These settings are not accessible
outside creator mode, which is slightly
annoying, and there’s no custom color
temperature available. Color adjustment is
limited to RGB.
PERFORMANCE:
SIMPLY EXCELLENT
The Alienware AW3423DW is the first gaming
monitor available with VESA DisplayHDR 400
True Black certification, but SDR is still key.
Most PC games do not support HDR, and
while Windows Auto-HDR can sometimes fix
that (fave.co/3MfSTPv), it doesn’t work well
Maximum brightness
Nits
Alienware AW3421DW
527
BenQ Mobiuz EX3415R
512
Asus ROG Swift PG32UQX
512
Samsung Odyssey Neo G9
648
Alienware AW3423DW
246
LO N G ER B A R S I N D I C AT E B E T T ER P E R F O R M A N C E
MAY 2022 PCWorld 39
REVIEWS ALIENWARE AW3423DW

only recorded from OLED televisions like LG’s

Contrast ratio C1 OLED.
Alienware AW3421DW This holds up in subjective reality. Dark
930:1
BenQ Mobiuz EX3415R areas of the screen look truly, perfectly dark,
840:1
Asus ROG Swift PG32UQX
with not a hint of luminance even when
4890:1
Samsung Odyssey Neo G9
viewed in a lightless room well after sunset.
8780:1
Alienware AW3423DW
This is great for gamers who like dark, moody
Off the scale
titles, such as Diablo 2: Resurrected or
LO N G ER B A R S I N D I C AT E B E T T ER P E R F O R M A N C E
Resident Evil: Village. It’s also good news if
you like to stream Netflix to your PC.
with some games. An excellent gaming Color gamut comes in at 100% of sRGB,
monitor must have excellent SDR. Fortunately, 99% of DCI-P3, and 95% of AdobeRGB.
the AW3423DW delivers. These figures fall a tad behind many other
First, the bad news. The Alienware OLED displays, which more typically achieve
AW3423DW achieved a lackluster maximum 100% of DCI-P3 and 96 to 100% of
SDR brightness of just 246 nits. This is not AdobeRGB, but they easily beat nearly all IPS
bright for a modern gaming monitor and, to and VA panel monitors sold today.
make matters worse, the monitor has a glossy
display coat.
Whether this becomes a problem Color Gamut
% DCI-P3 % sRGB
depends on where you use the monitor. A % Adobe RGB

Alienware
brightness of 246 nits is more than enough for AW3421DW 88
97
use in a room with light control. Gamers who 100
play in a dark room will actually need to turn BenQ Mobiuz 90
EX3415R
the brightness down. If your room lacks light 95
100
control, however, or you need to game with Asus ROG Swift
PG32UQX 96
all the lights on, the monitor’s brightness 100
won’t impress. 100
Samsung 88
Now we get to the good stuff. Odyssey Neo
G9 95
The Alienware AW3423DW’s contrast 100

ratio is so high that it exceeds the capabilities Alienware

AW3423DW 95
99
of my SpyderX Elite testing tool in SDR mode.
100
The monitor achieves this with a perfect black
LO N G ER B A R S I N D I C AT E B E T T ER P E R F O R M A N C E

level reading of zero nits. This is a result I’ve

40 PCWorld MAY 2022

 on HDR in Windows.
Average Color Error HDR 400 True Black is a good HDR mode.
Alienware AW3421DW It reached a peak sustained brightness of 325
2.37
BenQ Mobiuz EX3415R nits and a peak 10 percent window of 411 nits.
2.02
Asus ROG Swift PG32UQX
Strangely, enabling this mode slightly lifted the
1.71
Samsung Odyssey Neo G9
minimum black level to a .1 nits, the lowest
1.73
Alienware AW3423DW
level my SpyderX Elite calibration tool can
0.71
measure. It also narrowed the color gamut and
S H O R T E R B A R S I N D I C AT E B E T T E R P E R F O R M A N C E
reduced color accuracy compared to SDR.
All of this might sound dire, but my
Color accuracy is a dream, coming in with subjective impression was better than testing
an average delta error well below one. This is suggested. The HDR400 mode’s brightness is
typical of an OLED monitor but remarkable all not great but high enough to look impressive
the same. Most IPS monitors have an average in a dim or dark room. My gaming den is
color error between one and three, with only rather dim, with only one window on a far
the best dipping below. side of the room, so a sustained brightness of
The AW3423DW also hit the ideal gamma 325 nits is enough to deliver extra oomph in
curve of 2.2 and a default color temperature bright scenes.
of 6300K, just slightly off the preferred The HDR 1000 Peak mode seems
6500K. In short, content you view on this pointless. In my testing, this mode achieves a
monitor will look very close to what the maximum of 558 nits in a 10 percent window.
creator intended. I’ll note that I am not able to test a 1% window,

HDR DISPLAY
PERFORMANCE:
GENERALLY
GOOD, BUT A FEW
QUIRKS
The Alienware AW3423DW
offers a choice between two
HDR modes: HDR400 True
Black and HDR Peak 1000.
HDR400 is the default mode The AW3423DW outperforms an average backlit IPS ultrawide
and will be enabled if you turn gaming monitor.

MAY 2022 PCWorld 41

REVIEWS ALIENWARE AW3423DW

and reviewers who have

tested this found a peak
brightness above 1000
nits. With that said, I
remain unconvinced that
performance in a 1%
window is relevant. How
often do you play a
game where only one
percent of the display’s
pixels are brightly lit?
Not often, right?
HDR 1000 Peak You’ll see none of the ghosting or smearing visible on a gaming monitor
seems calibrated to with an IPS or VA panel.
aggressively manage the
panel’s brightness with a skew towards Ultimate certified, which means Nvidia’s
lighting small portions of the screen. It’s so G-Sync technology will work across the entire
aggressive that I could see it in action while range of refresh rate with no flickering,
moving a bright image across the screen and stuttering, or other issues, assuming you have
during transitions in game cutscenes. This a compatible GeForce graphics card.
soured me on the HDR 1000 Peak mode. OLED also has extremely quick pixel
Still, there’s no doubt the AW3423DW response times. Alienware quotes a response
outperforms an average backlit IPS ultrawide time of .1 milliseconds gray-to-gray. That’s
gaming monitor, and most gamers will notice zero-point-one, not one, the lowest figure
a big upgrade compared to what’s already on quoted by IPS or VA gaming monitors (and
their desk. most only achieve that in an overclock mode).
The result is excellent motion clarity. You’ll
MOTION PERFORMANCE: see none of the ghosting or smearing visible
OLED IS HARD TO BEAT on a gaming monitor with an IPS or VA panel.
Gamers will enjoy the Alienware Fast-moving objects are exceptionally crisp
AW3423DW’s maximum refresh rate of and text remains readable while you scroll
175Hz when connected over DisplayPort. through a document or webpage.
Most competitors have a maximum refresh To be clear, the AW3423DW is not a
rate of 144Hz. The monitor is also G-Sync competitive gaming monitor. Its size and

42 PCWorld MAY 2022

aspect ratio disqualifies it from serious
competitive use. Still, its refresh rate and
motion clarity are useful in a range of titles. I
enjoyed it even in Final Fantasy XIV, where I
could pan the camera across the game’s more
gorgeous vistas without losing detail.
TEXT CLARITY
The AW3423DW’s great SDR mode and color
accuracy should make it ideal for general use,
but it has a minor issue that does not show in
tests: mediocre text clarity. I noticed aliasing
around some fine text elements and,
depending on font and background, a slight
off-color or shadow to one side of text.
It’s fine in most situations, but text clarity is
not as good as you might expect from a
display with nearly 110 pixels per inch.
Anyone who works with documents or
images that include fine fonts will be let down
Text clarity is not as good as you might expect.
and even web pages don’t look as crisp as
they could.
OLED BURN-IN
The Alienware AW3423DW has an OLED
screen and, like all OLED screens, it may be
susceptible to burn-in. The monitor
specifically includes a panel refresh feature
that, according to the manual, will
automatically engage at 1,500 hours whether
you want it to or not. This would not be
included if burn-in could not occur.
Burn-in is more likely the more often you
have static images on the screen and, in any
case, will require at least many hundreds (and
likely thousands) of hours displaying a similar
image to cause burn-in. Alienware also
includes burn-in coverage in the monitor’s
generous three-year standard warranty.
Should you worry? That depends on how
long you plan to use this monitor. I
personally hold on to monitors for
many, many years, so burn-in is a
concern. However, many gamers
replace a monitor every few years.
If that’s you, you’ll have less reason
to worry, as odds are you’ll switch
out the screen well before burn-in
might occur.
VERDICT
The Alienware AW3423DW makes
every other 34-inch ultrawide
gaming monitor obsolete. It’s also
MAY 2022 PCWorld 43
REVIEWS ALIENWARE AW3423DW
The AW3423DW makes every other 34-inch ultrawide gaming
monitor obsolete.
a somewhat flawed display that won’t be
ideal for everyone.
PC gamers will love this monitor. SDR
image quality is great straight out of the box,
providing a sense of dimensionality and
realism that’s a cut above the competition.
HDR performance is not impressive
compared to a Mini-LED monitor (fave.
co/3rDPT6T), but no 34-inch ultrawide
gaming monitor currently offers a Mini-LED
backlight (MSI has announced a Mini-LED
model, the MSI MEG 341, but it is not
currently available).
If you want a gaming monitor to handle
content creation and general use, however,
there are a few drawbacks. The AW3423DW’s
connectivity is disappointing, with just one
DisplayPort no or USB-C. The stand is too
large, and too far forward, making the monitor
difficult to use on modest desks. Text clarity is
44 PCWorld MAY 2022
sub-par relative to the monitor’s
pixel density and can distract if you
often use small font sizes.
These downsides will be
disappointing for those who
hoped the Alienware
AW3423DW would be the one
display to rule them all. Still, this is
an impressive monitor and a great
start for QD-OLED technology in
the PC market.
Then there’s the price. $1,299
is not affordable, but it’s highly
competitive and an extra layer of
buttercream frosting on an already delicious
cake. Most flagship gaming ultrawides with
similar specs, like the LG Ultragear
34PG950G (fave.co/3jOAqgK), are just as
expensive despite inferior performance.
Gamers, don’t hesitate. You’ll want to buy
the AW3423DW before it goes out of stock.
Alienware AW3423DW
PROS
• Class-leading contrast and black levels.
• Excellent color accuracy and wide color gamut.
• High refresh rate with crisp motion.
CONS
• Stand is too large.
• Disappointing connectivity.
• HDR performance is mixed.
BOTTOM LINE
The Alienware AW3423DW’s isn’t perfect, but the
QD-OLED panel makes it the best 34-inch ultrawide
gaming monitor yet.
$1,300
The best free VPN: It’s important to
choose wisely
VPNs are best when they’re paid for, but if a premium account isn’t in the cards then here
are our top recommendations for a free service. BY IAN PAUL

ere’s the thing: We’re not fans of cap, or a limit to the countries you can access.

H free VPNs because you have to

be even more careful with these
than a regular, paid VPN. If it’s a
free ad-supported VPN, for example, then
your data is likely being used to earn money,
which may defeat the whole point of a VPN. If
privacy isn’t an issue, then you have to deal
with restrictions such as speeds, a bandwidth
The bottom line is that if you truly want to
use a VPN on a regular basis then it pays to
pay for the privilege. With some VPNs
charging the equivalent of just $5 a month or
less there are definitely affordable options out
there. But we know that not everyone shares
this point of view. Some people are just
looking for something to use quickly and

IMAGE: GETTYIMAGES MAY 2022 PCWorld 45

REVIEWS BEST FREE VPN

easily without paying for yet another service. recommend most highly, hop over to our
Here, then, are the top free VPNs we can comprehensive roundup of the best VPNs
recommend. If you’d like to see what you can (fave.co/3FtTTMs).
get with a paid service, and which ones we

BEST FREE VPN: Windscribe’s

country list.
WINDSCRIBE
The last time we looked at this service,
speeds were middling and outside the
top 20. Still, the speeds are good
enough for light use, which is
presumably what the focus would be
for a free VPN (we’re talking video
streaming, and web surfing over public
networks). What makes Windscribe’s
free service really stand out is all the
PRICE
perks. You get a maximum 10GB of Free from
fave.co/36tRB4i

bandwidth per month and no device FULL REVIEW

limits. You also have your choice of 10
regional connections including the
U.S., Canada, UK, France, Germany,
Hong Kong, Netherlands, Switzerland,
Norway, and Romania. To get all of this, all
you need is a confirmed email address.
Windscribe’s privacy policy says that it does
fave.co/36rnOct
track how much bandwidth you’re using each
month to enforce bandwidth limits. It also
logs the timestamp of your last connection on
the Windscribe network.

BEST FREE VPN FOR SPEED: limitations on speeds.

PROTONVPN
If you’re looking for speed and excellent
privacy in a free VPN then ProtonVPN is an
excellent choice. There are some big
limitations with this service, but thankfully no
Instead, ProtonVPN limits you to one
device connection at a time, and you only
get three countries to choose from including
the U.S., the Netherlands, and Japan. Still,
that’s a good deal, making this a very useful

46 PCWorld MAY 2022

 PRICE
Free from
fave.co/3JEekc8

FULL REVIEW
fave.co/3IwKVz5
Creating a new profile in ProtonVPN.

free VPN. our tests making this the one you want if
ProtonVPN is the second-fastest VPN in speed is important to you.

BEST FOR SPEED

RUNNER-UP: HIDE.ME
It’s two years since we last reviewed this
VPN, but even so, its speeds are within
the top 20. That makes it plenty speedy
for the typical use cases for a free VPN.
When you use Hide.me free you are
limited to 10GB per month and one
device at a time, as
well as five region
choices including
PRICE
Free from
Canada, Germany, fave.co/37otvbJ

the Netherlands, U.S. FULL REVIEW

fave.co/3MdnjSu
East and U.S. West. Hide.me’s VPN protocols.

MAY 2022 PCWorld 47

REVIEWS BEST FREE VPN
BEST FREE VPN FOR GET-IN,
GET-OUT CHORES:
TUNNELBEAR
We’ve always really liked TunnelBear. It’s
simple to use, affordable, and the speeds are
fine. In our speed tests, TunnelBear
was outside the top 20, but its
speeds were still good last we
looked, with an average global
speed of 30.6 megabytes per
second.
That’s more than enough for
what this free VPN would be suited
for, since you get a maximum of
500MB per month. The idea is to
provide a trial for testing out the
service before making a bigger
commitment.
Nevertheless, it’s enough for TunnelBear’s security settings.
WHAT TO LOOK FOR IN A
FREE VPN
Choosing a free VPN is a question of
weighing the trade-offs with each service.
Do you want unlimited bandwidth, but a
restriction on devices? Or is it preferable to
have more devices but deal with a
bandwidth limit?
One thing you definitely want to avoid is a
VPN that is ad supported. Ads expose you to
tracking by the company delivering ads,
which is probably something you don’t want.
You also want to stay away from any deal that
48 PCWorld MAY 2022
quick hits when you’re on the road for
checking email, or some basic web browsing.
Plus, TunnelBear keeps track of your
bandwidth usage so you can see when you’re
getting too close to the limit.
PRICE
Free from
fave.co/3Onb5sd
FULL REVIEW
fave.co/3rCJg5t
suggests you can get a VPN by “sharing” your
bandwidth like we saw with the Hola VPN
scandal back in 2015 (fave.co/3JUGxuK). You
also want to watch out for any VPNs you’ve
never heard of, or that haven’t been reviewed
much by third parties.
After that, you want to consider the usual
issues such as the privacy policy, Netflix
support, operating system support, and the
countries that you’re looking for.
HOW WE TEST VPNS
All VPNs are tested on a Windows machine
 countries three
times each. Once
all the testing is
done we create a
global average and
compare that to the
average base
speed, and then
express the drop in
bandwidth as a
percentage for the
reasons we
mentioned above.
Free VPNs
You’ll want to stay away from any deal that suggests you can get a VPN by aren’t a top
“sharing” your bandwidth like we saw with the Hola VPN scandal back in 2015. recommendation,
but if you’re going
with an Ethernet connection. Our approach is to go that way we’d strongly suggest the five
not to show you actual speeds, since those VPNs mentioned here.
can vary based on any
number of factors like your
ISP, time of day, device
quality, and so on. Instead,
we show the average
bandwidth loss as a
percentage since there’s
always going to be
bandwidth loss with VPNs.
Each VPN is tested over
three days. On each
testing day, we first take
the base speed with no
VPN active. Then we test
the speeds in five different We test each VPN’s speed in five different countries.

MAY 2022 PCWorld 49

REVIEWS

Acer Swift 3: A big screen on a

modest budget
The Swift 3 is the perfect laptop for writers and students. BY MATT SMITH

ig laptops are back in style. Once have sold it for as little as $849. That’s an

B all but abandoned, 16 and 17-inch

laptops are once again widely
available. Most models are
expensive, however, and that’s especially true
of 16-inch machines.
Enter the Acer Swift 3 SF316-51. This
mainstream 16-inch laptop has plenty of
display real estate and a slim profile yet carries
a mid-range MSRP of $999. Online retailers
alluring price for a large, capable laptop, but
there’s a catch. Battery life is less than stellar
and performance falls behind when it comes
to more demanding apps. If you can live with
those trade-offs, the Swift 3 has a big screen
and is priced reasonably.
SPECS AND FEATURES
The Swift 3 SF316-51 packs a lot of value,

50 PCWorld MAY 2022 IMAGE: ACER

episcally when sold below its $999 MSRP. It DESIGN AND BUILD
has an Intel Core i7-11370H with four cores, QUALITY
plus 16GB of RAM and a 512GB solid state The Acer Swift 3, like so many of Acer’s
drive. That’s a lot of RAM and storage for the laptops, has a generic look that seems
money. ordered by the pound. However, this laptop’s
CPU: Intel Core i7-11370H mid-range price point is obvious when
Memory: 16GB compared to Acer’s budget Aspire series
Graphics/GPU: Intel Iris Xe (fave.co/3xzRrn7). Upgrading to the Swift
Display: 16-inch 1080p LCD provides a more attractive metallic chassis
Storage: 512GB PCIe solid state drive with a luxurious gunmetal hue.
Webcam: 720p My only aesthetic complaint concerns are
Connectivity: 1x USB-C (with DisplayPort the key caps, which are darker and lack the
Alt Mode, 65 watts Power Delivery, sparkle of the surrounding material. This
Thunderbolt 4), 2x USB-A 3.2 Gen 1, 1x cheapens the look of the laptop. Keyboard
HDMI, 1x 3.5mm combo audio, 1x barrel- backlighting is standard but more functional
plug power jack than attractive, as significant light escapes
Networking: Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.0 around the edges of each key.
Biometrics: Fingerprint reader Build quality is good. A bit of flex is
Battery capacity: 55 watt-hour obvious when handling the laptop roughly
Dimensions: 0.63 x 9.3 x 14.5 inches and moving the display, but it’s minor and not
Weight: 3.86 pounds distracting in day-to-day use. The Swift 3 feels
Acer also has a variant with an Intel Core tightly constructed and has a notable edge
i5-11300H processor, 8GB
of RAM, and a 512GB solid
state drive, but it’s
currently sold only through
Acer’s online store and
Costco. The laptop I
reviewed will score better
in processor benchmarks
but aside from that and
reduced RAM in the
entry-level version, the two
models are very similar. The Swift has an attractive metallic chassis with a gunmetal hue.

MAY 2022 PCWorld 51

REVIEWS ACER SWIFT 3

over Asus’ Vivobook line and lower-end Dell rest of the keyboard to the left, which can add
Inspiron laptops. mistakes when touch-typing and feels
The Swift 3 weighs in at only 3.86 uncomfortable when frequently using the
pounds. That’s lighter than most 15 and touchpad. If you need the numpad, however,
16-inch laptops, including premium models you’ll appreciate its inclusion.
like the MacBook Pro 16 and Dell XPS 15. It’s Acer uses the large palmrest to provide a
just .63 inches thick, which is a tad thinner large touchpad with plenty of room for use of
than LG’s Gram 16. However, the Acer weighs WIndows’ more elaborate multi-touch
about a pound more than the lightweight LG. gestures. The touchpad’s surface does not
feel luxurious but ]much smoother than the
KEYBOARD AND TRACKPAD surrounding material, which makes it easy to
The Acer Swift 3 has a comfortable keyboard find while typing.
with good key travel and feel. The 16-inch
display provides room for a spacious and DISPLAY, AUDIO
conventional layout, and the chunky palmrest The 16-inch display might seem disappointing
means users with large hands are less likely to at first. It makes do with 1080p resolution and
find their palms dangling in the air. lacks the features you’ll find in more
There’s so much space, in fact, that Acer expensive competitors. It’s a simple, edge-lit
crams in a numpad. The numpad pushes the LCD with a 60Hz refresh rate. Don’t let that
fool you. The display
is great. It offers depth
and rich, lifelike color.
Loading the teaser
trailer for the latest
Star Wars show,
Obi-Wan, gave the
display a chance to
show off. The relatively
solid contrast ratio of
1440:1 provides
dimension and detail
in darker scenes,
while the display’s
The keyboard has good travel and is comfortable to type on. accurate color

52 PCWorld MAY 2022

properly displays the
dusty, choking beige
of Tatoonie’s endless
desert.
Does it beat a
MacBook Pro 16 or
XPS 15 with OLED?
Of course not. Still,
the Swift 3 is
impressive for its
price. The connectivity options on the Acer Swift 3’s left flank.
The Swift 3’s
maximum brightness is just 317 nits, which is feet away. Ambient noise is not well handled,
not high enough for comfortable viewing however, so any background noise you can
outdoors. The matte coating minimizes glare, easily notice is likely to come through.
however, so room lighting won’t easily drown A fingerprint reader is included and
out the display. supports biometric login through Windows
Audio is provided by speakers positioned Hello. It’s reliable in ideal conditions but can
above the keyboard and on the laptop’s front be tripped up by a slightly off-angle position
edge. They provide a full, rich sound with or a bit of grime.
some hint of bass, but lack the clarity to make
podcasts or dialogue-heavy shows pleasing. CONNECTIVITY
You’ll want headphones or external speakers A USB-C port with Thunderbolt 4, DisplayPort
for serious listening. Alternate Mode, and up to 65 watts of Power
Delivery (enough to charge the laptop) can be
WEBCAM, MICROPHONE, found on the Swift 3’s left flank. It’s a nice perk
BIOMETRICS for a laptop in this price range. You can use it
A basic 720p webcam hides in the Swift 3’s to connect a display, charge the laptop, or
slim upper display bezel and does nothing to quickly transfer data to solid state external
fix the usual issues that haunt entry-level storage.
laptop cameras. Video looks noisy in even USB-C is paired with two USB-A 3.2 Gen 1
moderate lighting. ports, one on each side of the laptop. A
Microphone quality is fine. It had no full-sized HDMI port and a combo audio jack
problem picking up my voice from up to six round out the wired connectivity. Yes, that

MAY 2022 PCWorld 53

REVIEWS ACER SWIFT 3

means Ethernet is missing, though you can

still use Ethernet through a USB-C hub. PCMark 10 Overall
While it can charge over USB-C, Acer CPU performance
ships the Swift 3 with a small 65-watt power Acer Swift 3
Core i7-11370H 5,032
brick with a barrel plug. I would prefer a Acer Aspire 5
Core i5-1135G7 3,902
USB-C charger, but the one provided is small HP Envy x360 15
5,337
Ryzen 7 5700U
and light. Lenovo Yoga 9i
5,471
Core i7-1195G7
Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.0 are provided by Asus Vivobook Pro 15 LED
5,877
Ryzen 7 5800H
an Intel AX201 wireless adapter, a common LO N G ER B A R S I N D I C AT E B E T T ER P E R F O R M A N C E

part found in many laptops. It provides

excellent performance here, reaching speeds
of over 600Mbps when in the same room as a The Intel processor is supported by 16GB
Wi-Fi 6 router. Speeds were generally of RAM and a 512GB solid state drive. These
between 200 and 100Mbps in other rooms. specifications are not uncommon for this
Bluetooth connectivity was also reliable and price but good value. Most 16-inch laptops
maintained a connection to Bluetooth with similar hardware are several hundred
headphones up to 30 feet away. dollars more expensive.
Let’s get into the benchmarks.
PERFORMANCE The Swift 3 starts off with a decent
Intel’s Core i7-11370H powered the Acer PCMark 10 score of 5,032, which is much
Swift 3 I received for review and it’s a rather better than the Acer Aspire 5’s Intel Core
odd duck. i5-1135G7 processor. That’s worth
The i7-11370H has four cores and eight remembering, as the Core i5-1135G7 is found
threads, just like the more common Core
i5-1135G7 and Core i7-1165G7 processors.
It can use more power, however, as its specs Cinebench R15
list a configurable thermal design power All threads
between 28 and 35 watts. A Core Acer Swift 3
Core i7-11370H 982
i7-1165G7, by comparison, operates within Acer Aspire 5
866
Core i5-1135G7
12 to 28 watts. Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon
930
Gen 9 Core i7-1185G7
Put simply, the i7-11370H is designed to HP Envy x360 15
1,401
Ryzen 7 5700U
use more power in demanding workloads Asus Vivobook Pro 15 LED
Ryzen 7 5800H 1,914
and this delivers an improvement in LO N G ER B A R S I N D I C AT E B E T T ER P E R F O R M A N C E

performance.

54 PCWorld MAY 2022

 Handbrake 1.5.1 4K Handbrake 1.5.1 4K
H.265 MKV 2160p CPU H.265 MKV 2160p QSV
Seconds Seconds
Acer Swift 3 Acer Swift 3
Core i7-11370H 5,446 Core i7-11370H 87
Acer Aspire 5 Acer Aspire 5
Core i5-1135G7 6,847 Core i5-1135G7 663
Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 Asus ROG Zephyrus G14
Ryzen 9 6900HS 2,876 Ryzen 9 6900HS 251
MSI Prestige 14 Evo MSI Prestige 14 Evo
Core i7-1195G7 5,704 Core i7-1195G7 244
S H O R T E R B A R S I N D I C AT E B E T T E R P E R F O R M A N C E S H O R T E R B A R S I N D I C AT E B E T T E R P E R F O R M A N C E

in many similarly priced laptops. encoding times in apps that support it. AMD’s
Unsurprisingly, the AMD Ryzen 7 5700U is answer to Intel is its own Video Encoding
a more serious contender. It has twice the Engine, which also greatly improves
core count and is able to squeak out a notable performance. Still, Intel’s QSV takes an easy
victory over the Swift 3’s i7-11370H. Intel is win here. Swift 3 owners will definitely want to
not far behind, but this is a win for AMD use QSV when video encoding performance
powered laptops. is a priority.
The Cinebench results are similar to The Core i7-11370H packs a powerful
PCMark 10. The i7-11370H in the Swift 3 version of Intel’s Xe integrated graphics with
performs better than the Core i5-1135G7 or 96 EUs and a clock speed of up to 1.35GHz.
i7-1185G7, but falls behind the AMD It delivers great results, posting a 3DMark
competition. This, once again, comes down score well above the Ryzen 7 5700U’s
to core counts. The eight-core AMD Ryzen 7
5700U is always going to beat the i7-11370H
in a heavily multithreaded CPU test. 3DMark Time Spy
A 4K MKV encoding run of the short film CPU performance
Tears of Steel delivers no surprises. Acer Swift 3
1,910
Core i7-11370H
Handbrake shows the Core i7-11370H Acer Aspire 5
1,226
Core i5-1135G7
improving on its less power-hungry siblings, HP Envy x360 15
Ryzen 7 5700U 1,473
but AMD is once again far in the lead thanks Lenovo Yoga 9i
Core i7-1195G7 1,983
to its higher core count. Asus Vivobook Pro 15 LED
Ryzen 7 5800H 4,396
However, Intel has an ace up its sleeve
LO N G ER B A R S I N D I C AT E B E T T ER P E R F O R M A N C E

– Quick Sync Video. This massively improves

MAY 2022 PCWorld 55

REVIEWS ACER SWIFT 3

integrated graphics and just behind the
Lenovo Yoga 9i.
This is about as quick as you can expect
from a mid-range laptop without a discrete
graphics chip (at least until AMD’s Ryzen
6000 arrives [fave.co/33XB32L]) and it’s
adequate for many less demanding 3D
games. Titles like Counter-Strike and League
of Legends will feel smooth. More taxing
games like Final Fantasy XIV or Lost Ark are
playable but require some cutbacks in image
quality settings to stay above 30 frames per
second.
Taken together, the benchmark results
show a laptop that delivers modest but
capable performance. The i7-11370H is
notably quicker than the Core i5-1135G7 and
i7-1165G7 that are common in mid-range
competitors. Integrated graphics
performance is also solid, offering usable
speeds for gamers who don’t mind avoiding
titles with cutting-edge graphics.
AMD’s Ryzen 7 5700U looms large,
Battery life
Minutes
Acer Swift 3
336
Core i7-11370H
Acer Aspire 5
395
Core i5-1135G7
HP Envy x360 15
605
Ryzen 7 5700U
Asus Vivobook Pro 15 LED
Ryzen 7 5800H
Lenovo Yoga 9i
Core i7-1195G7
LO N G ER B A R S I N D I C AT E B E T T ER P E R F O R M A N C E
however, as it’s available at the Swift 3’s price
point and can beat the i7-11370H in
multithreaded tests. Shoppers in need of a
mid-range laptop that can handle demanding
apps will be better served by AMD.
BATTERY LIFE
Acer ships the Swift 3 with a modest 55
watt-hour battery. This is not a large battery for
a 16-inch laptop with a processor slightly
more power hungry than most alternatives,
and it shows.
The Swift 3 managed just five and a half
hours in our standard video rundown test.
That’s a disappointing result that falls short of
many modern Windows laptops.
I found the Swift 3 can last about five
hours in light use. For me, this includes
browsing the web, editing documents in
Word, using Excel, and occasionally touching
up a photo in GIMP. More demanding
workloads can cut battery life under five
hours. I noticed that one hour-long Google
Hangouts call consumed over a quarter of a
charge.
This level of endurance is fine for trips to a
coffee shop or use around the house but
could be a problem if you travel frequently or
bounce between conference rooms at an
office all day.
716
944
SOFTWARE
This laptop is packed to the brim with

software and shortcuts. The taskbar includes

56 PCWorld MAY 2022

 demanding
apps, though
Intel’s Xe
integrated do
manage a
win. Battery
life is a
problem as
well and
makes the
Swift 3 of
limited use for
travel despite
Acer’s Swift 3 is great for anyone on a budget who wants a big screen. its slim, sleek
profile.
both Microsoft Edge and Mozilla Firefox, plus This laptop is great for students, writers,
Dropbox and an Amazon shortcut that accountants, researchers, and anyone else
launches the site in the default browser. who wants a big screen on a modest budget.
Norton Antivirus is installed as well and will If you need multi-threaded performance or
happily remind you of all the ways hackers can battery life, however, consider an AMD
steal your data if you don’t continue the alternative.
subscription.
Acer Swift 3
VERDICT
Acer’s Swift 3 is all about the screen. It’s PROS
• Solid chassis and build quality.
among the most affordable 16-inch laptops • Large, attractive 16-inch 1080p screen.
available, rivaled only by Lenovo’s 16-inch • Enjoyable keyboard and touchpad.

IdeaPad. Despite this, the Swift 3 delivers a CONS

• Webcam, microphone, and speakers don’t impress.
great 1080p screen with a high contrast ratio • Intel processor falls behind AMD alternatives.
and accurate color. It’s ideal for multi-tasking, • Disappointing battery life.

watching movies, and streaming shows. BOTTOM LINE

Look past the display, however, and the
laptop is less exciting. The Intel Core
i7-11370H is usually behind AMD’s Ryzen 7 in
The Acer Swift 3 isn’t perfect, but its affordable price
and big screen will appeal to anyone who needs to
multitask on a laptop.
$999

MAY 2022 PCWorld 57

REVIEWS
TP-Link GX90: A supremely
powerful gaming router
It skips the bells and whistles and is all the better for it. BY WES SMITH
If you’ve got a larger house
with challenging Wi-Fi dead
zones, typically your best bet
is going to be populating your
home with mesh routers. But that doesn’t
stop router manufacturers from trying to make
powerful single access-point systems, like the
58 PCWorld MAY 2022
gamer-focused TP-Link Archer GX90 (fave.
co/3JWvH7d), that accomplish the same
goal. In my time with this excellent router, I
was impressed by its high throughput and
low-latency performance everywhere in my
home. As a gaming router, it may not offer the
most features, but its base level of
IMAGE: TP-LINK
performance was so good
that if that’s all you want from
your router, I can confidently
say you won’t regret picking
up the GX90.
DESIGN
The GX90 draws its design
from 2018’s Archer C5400X—
it features the same boxy
appearance, encircled by the The GX90’s complement of buttons and ports is just above bare
the same sail-like eight- minimum, but at least it’s got a 2.5Gbps LAN/WAN ethernet option.
antenna array. Where other
router makers have antennas you can adjust
and that screw into the body of the unit,
TP-Link’s are rigid and snap into place, making
initial setup quick and easy. It’s notably smaller
than its forebear, and the detail of the top
panel has been updated with a slightly sleeker
appearance.
In making this router smaller, TP-Link
opted to reduce the number of ethernet ports
on the back, for a total of five—three gigabit
LAN ports, one gigabit LAN/WAN, and one
2.5GbE LAN/WAN. That 2.5GbE port is the
most extravagant part of the exterior. Two USB
ports adorn one side—one USB 3.0 and the
other USB 2.0. The front of the router has
three buttons for setup with WPS, as well as
toggling your Wi-Fi and the LED. Indeed, a
single LED light on the top panel provides all
status info. That might take getting used to for
some people. You will just need to learn what
each color of the status light means, which of
course is laid out in the included user guide.
TP-Link went with a wall wart for the power
supply, meaning it will likely take up two plugs
on most power strips. I much prefer power
supplies that sit in the middle of a power
cord, or better yet, internal power supplies.
FEATURES
Like the C5400X, the GX90 is a tri-band
router, with the third band—which, thanks to
its 160MHz channel bandwidth, is
significantly faster than its other 5GHz band—
reserved for gaming. That’s not to say you
can’t connect to and use it with other devices,
but SmartConnect will prefer to shunt your
gaming devices over to that band if you
choose not to separate the three. As for the
other two bands, they’re technically slower
than those of the C5400X, though in my
testing, both were still quite fast, as I’ll cover
later.
MAY 2022 PCWorld 59
REVIEWS TP-LINK GX90
The GX90 is also a 4×4 MU-MIMO
device, meaning it can simultaneously
transmit to and receive data from up to four
devices simultaneously. And for any
connected Wi-Fi 6 devices, the router also
uses a technique called orthogonal
frequency-division multiple access (OFDMA)
to subdivide channels and get data to many,
many more devices—a single access point
can potentially accommodate up to 74 Wi-Fi
6 devices simultaneously, as detailed by our
friends at Network World (fave.co/3xFezk1).
The USB ports can of course be used for
direct-attached storage, with support for
NTFS, exFAT, HFS+ and FAT32 formats, as
well as Time Machine for Apple users.
Security-wise, the HomeCare Antivirus is
administered by TrendMicro, same as Asus’
routers, and is similarly offered for free, which
is a nice bonus. Also under HomeCare are
settings for Quality of Service (QoS)—that is,
The web UI is easy to navigate and understand, particularly where basic
functionality is concerned.
60 PCWorld MAY 2022
the router feature that helps prioritize the
types of data that are important to you—and a
fairly granular set of parental control options
including control over access times for any
device that’s connected, and profiles based
on age.
If you’d like to set up your router to
operate as a VPN—either for remote access or
for increased privacy when you’re away from
home by routing traffic through there first—
TP-Link allows you to either set up OpenVPN
on your router or use a PPTP VPN for simple
remote access.
Much of the configurability of this router is
what you would expect: Settings are
advanced enough for users who like to go
deep, or you can keep it simple and stick to
the basics like activating game acceleration
and visualizing your network topology. Both
the phone app and the web UI make
interfacing with the basics easy.
Sadly, it’s lacking
any sort of link
aggregation, but
you’d have to give
up two of your four
LAN ports to make
that work, which
may be less than
ideal (then again,
only having four
ports is also less than
ideal). Having a
2.5GbE LAN/WAN
port takes some of the sting out, but it would The phone
app covers
still be nice to have link aggregation as an
the basics
option on the gigabit ports, in the event and a little
you’re among the fortunate few with access to more.

2Gbps internet from an ISP.

GENERAL PERFORMANCE
Just taken as a regular wireless router, the
TP-Link GX90 was one of those rare devices
that I was able to shift my entire network over
to with almost no hassle. Part of my testing,
after initially benchmarking a router and
running it through its paces with a limited
number of devices, involves simply giving it
my network’s SSID and password—after all,
were I to buy this router, I would hope it could
take on all of my network’s clients—and I
usually take this step wincingly. The transition
is often very bumpy, with certain repeat
offenders in my smart home device list simply
refusing to connect, and getting them to do
so can be as easy as a power cycle or as GAMING
involved as factory resetting them. Like most other routers, the GX90 offers
Additionally, smart home assistants can QoS to prioritize certain types of network
become unreliable or downright broken as traffic for resource allocation. Like other
components of my network seem simply gaming routers, the GX90 features a
unable to communicate. With the GX90, I gaming-specific QoS mode: Called Game
experienced very little of that; the only Accelerator, this feature prioritizes gaming
stubborn devices were a pair of particularly traffic first, which you can see in action
troublesome smart plugs that seem to lose within the UI—for those devices actively
their ability to connect if you look at them gaming, a little controller badge icon will
wrong. Put simply, my network, under the be appended to their icon, and I noted
stewardship of the GX90, was responsive, lower ping to those devices as well.
fast, and stable. TP-Link also says Game Accelerator

MAY 2022 PCWorld 61

REVIEWS TP-LINK GX90
There isn’t much to see in the Game Center section of the router’s Web UI.
supports tailored connections for many
specific popular games, listed here (fave.
co/3JZ53L1). The website doesn’t describe
the optimizing mechanism, so I inquired
further. I was given a description of the
feature that made it sound essentially like a
particularly aggressive QoS, where packet
prioritization is essentially tiered, with
game-related data getting absolute priority
over everything else. Apart from that feature,
the other options under the Game Center
tab are actually just normal router
configuration screens, letting you set up port
forwarding rules or enable the router’s VPN
functionality, as well as a diagnostic screen
that lets you ping addresses (ostensibly,
those of gaming servers) to determine if its
you or the server that’s gone screwy.
62 PCWorld MAY 2022
Basically, it’s mostly padding.
As actual testing goes, I should say I
haven’t had a gaming rig in some time. That
said, I can still get a good measure of online
gaming using either of my M1 Macs, both of
which are more than capable of running my
preferred game for testing—Counter Strike:
Global Offensive (CS:GO)—thanks to its
easy-to-use, real-time network statistics
overlay that shows, among other things, your
current ping, packet loss, and current frame
rate. Its relatively low graphical requirements
mean that even with a modest machine, the
primary bottleneck is going to be in the
computer’s network connection. Lastly, I use
only Valve’s servers for the sake of consistency,
as I’ve found my connection there to be
generally stable and predictable.
 Serious gamers tend to want to play
wired, for good reason: Cutting out the
wild card of wireless interference gives you
one less thing to worry about. However,
modern gaming routers make a strong case
for abandoning the old ways, or at least
being less stringent about adhering to
them. Wired I saw ping measured steadily
at 23ms, which we’ll take to be the baseline
from my home to CS:GO servers. For most
average routers, you can expect to add a
good 30 to 40 milliseconds to this
number—my home Eero network usually
ranges between 60 and 90ms, with lag
spikes over 100ms. For the Asus ROG
Rapture GT-AXE11000 gaming router, I’ll
see wireless ping measured in the high 30s
with some spikes into the 50s. The GX90,
however, almost matched wired numbers,
hovering between 23 and 27ms, reaching
up to 30 under a normal household load.
Even the slower non-gaming 5GHz band
showed solid performance, with ping
measuring in the 50s, but remaining rock-
solid there with very little variation. Really, it
was only when I tried to push the router to its
limits that I saw any degradation. I did this by
streaming HD-or-better video (mostly 4K HDR
and Dolby Vision) on six total devices, most of
which was served up by the high-bitrate
Apple TV Plus service, as well as a video call
between my iPhone and iPad via FaceTime,
streaming multi-room audio to five rooms,
and having my wife browse the web. Under
these conditions, though I couldn’t watch
them all at once, I didn’t notice any extra
compression or buffering in the video
streams, but latency in CS:GO increased… by
just 10ms. I also saw some brief lag spikes, but
nothing concerning, and only once over
60ms. You wouldn’t want to join a
tournament with all that activity on your
network, but gaming was nevertheless
surprisingly steady and smooth, all things
considered.
THROUGHPUT TESTING
I measure throughput by connecting my M1
MacBook Air directly to the router with a
Plugable USB-C 2.5 GbE network adapter
(fave.co/3Ez2L4q), then connecting the
Lenovo Yoga I mentioned above to each of
the router’s bands, and I run TCP data
transfer tests with the network testing tool
iPerf 3 (fave.co/3Ez2Nt4). These tests are
more precise than, say, simply transferring
and timing file transfers with a stopwatch,
and they test actual throughput on the
network, as opposed to running internet
speed tests, which rely on too many
variables out of my control.
I’ll say it now: Of the routers I have
personally tested in my current home, this one
has by far the best throughput and range, and
by quite a lot in most instances. I’ve seen
similar performance with the Netgear
Nighthawk RAXE500, but that was tested in a
different location. The most comparable
MAY 2022 PCWorld 63
REVIEWS TP-LINK GX90

router I’ve tested here was the Asus ROG ROG Rapture fared better, but the GX90 still
Rapture I mentioned above. Both of those had an average of 27 percent higher
Wi-Fi 6E routers, by the way, cost over $500. throughput across tested locations.
On average, comparing the GX90’s While on the 2.4GHz band over WiFi 6,
gaming band to the Rapture’s solitary (but still the Asus actually beat the GX90 by as much
quite fast) 5GHz band and using the Wi-Fi 6 as 61 percent at close ranges—although the
protocol, the GX90 was more than 45
percent faster, ranging from a 19 percent
disparity in my basement—about 15 feet in a WiFi 5 5GHz HIGH band
TCP Throughput (MBps)
diagonal straight line down from my dining
Linksys EA9500 Eero mesh Eero single AP
room—to 92 percent at a particularly Asus GTAXE11000 TP-Link GX90

troublesome spot in my backyard, roughly 45 Back Yard 2

(60 feet) 42.32
40.58
feet from the router with three walls, including 44.43
one exterior wall, and a stove in the 74.78
91.4
intervening space. In that spot, I was still
Back Yard 1
(45 feet) N/A
averaging 155Mbps down, giving it by far the 53.75
best 5GHz range of any router I’ve tested 10.44
84.48
here. 104.15
Switching to the Wi-Fi 5 protocol, the Upstairs Bedroom
(About 20 feet) 266
246
227.33
327.5

WiFi 6 5GHz HIGH band Basement

421.67

TCP Throughput (MBps) (~15 feet) 257

Asus GTAXE11000 TP-Link GX90 291.17
286.67
Back Yard 2 75.93 381.83
(60 feet)
111.53 469.17
Back Yard 1 80.88 Front Porch
(45 feet) (20 feet) 359
155.17
373.83
Upstairs Bedroom 291.83 382.5
(About 20 feet)
451 626
Basement 413.17 880.83
(~15 feet)
491.5 Dining Room
(3 feet) 379.83
Front Porch 681 419
(20 feet)
894.17 562.33
Dining Room 917 869.67
(3 feet)
1,180.17 1080.5

LO N G ER B A R S I N D I C AT E B E T T ER P E R F O R M A N C E LO N G ER B A R S I N D I C AT E B E T T ER P E R F O R M A N C E

64 PCWorld MAY 2022

ROG Rapture’s 2.4GHz throughput dropped with TP-Link’s router showing higher
precipitously starting around 20 feet through throughput than most or all of the other
a single floor, and its signal all but routers in the first two tested locations, as well
disappeared 45 to 60 feet out, in my as the first spot in my backyard, but losing by
backyard, while TP-Link’s GX90 still varying amounts everywhere else, but still
managed low double-digit throughput making a respectable showing. Using Wi-Fi 5
across most tests in the two hardest-to-reach
location—plenty for your average 2.4GHz-
only security camera. WiFi 5 2.4GHz HIGH band
TCP Throughput (MBps)
Versus other, more standard Wi-Fi 5
Linksys EA9500 Eero mesh Eero single AP
routers I’ve tested here, which includes an Asus GTAXE11000 TP-Link GX90

Eero Pro in both single access point and mesh Back Yard 2
(60 feet) 28.57
15.53
configurations and a Linksys EA9500, it’s fair 20.67
to say the GX90 smoked them almost across N/A
13.99
the board, unless you look at a more apples-
Back Yard 1
(45 feet) 14.3
to-apples comparison between the GX90’s 22.32
non-gaming 5GHz band. In that comparison 5.96
N/A
(not pictured), the GX90 and the other routers 5.08
performed mostly on par with one another, Upstairs Bedroom
(About 20 feet) 64.27
25.85
41.1
22.25

WiFi 6 2.4GHz HIGH band Basement

42.87

TCP Throughput (MBps) (~15 feet) 60.3

Asus GTAXE11000 TP-Link GX90 34.75
66.27
Back Yard 2 11.11 37.77
(60 feet)
17.07 54.65
Back Yard 1 N/A Front Porch
(45 feet) (20 feet) 58.58
10.07
56.4
Upstairs Bedroom 24.5 64.2
(About 20 feet)
48.87 56.4
Basement 75.9 43.45
(~15 feet)
63.77 Dining Room
(3 feet) 83.9
Front Porch 82.22 63.43
(20 feet)
51.2 76.3
Dining Room 151 83.8
(3 feet)
111.33 77.77

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MAY 2022 PCWorld 65

REVIEWS TP-LINK GX90

real-time
performance graph
or special gaming
VPN, it really doesn’t
feel like it needs it. At
this price—$250,
which has become in
recent years a mid-
tier router price—it
belies its
performance, if we’re
to believe such ability
is worth hundreds
more, and it’s an
TP-Link’s GX90 is ideal for anyone who wants to game but doesn’t want to absolute buy for
fiddle with a bunch of settings. anyone who wants to
game but doesn’t
on the 2.4GHz band (pictured above), the want to fiddle with a bunch of settings. As the
GX90 was again nothing special, and just space man once said, “She may not look like
looked like any other router. much, kid, but she’s got it where it counts.”

VERDICT TP-Link GX90

There’s not much wrong with the TP-Link
GX90, even as a regular router, but there is a PROS

ton right. It’s extremely fast, easy to set up, • Excellent throughput and latency on the gaming
band.
and it covered my entire home without even • Free antivirus software.
the need for a mesh configuration (though it • Great range.
CONS
does support mesh networking and • No link aggregation.
integrates with any TP-Link One Mesh • Bulky power supply.
device—unfortunately I was unable to test BOTTOM LINE
The TP-Link GX90 is a somewhat plain experience in
this). What’s more, its gaming performance all ways but one: When it comes to the business of
being not just a router, but especially a gaming router,
was as good as I’ve seen, and even if it it excels in ways few routers can match.
doesn’t have the bells and whistles that some $225
of the bigger names offer, like a cool,

66 PCWorld MAY 2022

TeamViewer: Easy, free remote
connectivity software
TeamViewer is reliable, fast, and free for occasional private use. It’s also friendly for
newbies. BY JON JACOBI
TeamViewer (fave.
co/3xHKxMI) is remote
connectivity software for PCs
that’s as powerful as they
come, yet free for personal use, and easy
enough for the uninitiated. I’ve used it
extensively with computer-challenged
relatives—to great praise and benefit.
FEATURES
Like all remote control software, TeamViewer
lets you log onto another computer and use it
IMAGE: TEAMVIEWER
as if it were your own. If your older relatives
are having a problem logging on to their bank
account, have them download and run/install
TeamViewer, call you with the ID and
password, and you can log on (1.) and explain
stuff. (Or, more likely, simply fix the problem.)
Once you’re logged on, you can also help
them set up the computer for unattended
access, so they don’t have to repeat the
download/install process or provide you with
the ID and password. As the name of the
function implies, they don’t have to actually
MAY 2022 PCWorld 67
REVIEWS TEAMVIEWER
Controlling a Windows PC from my Mac running macOS. I could do the you’re on your own as to
opposite if I wanted.
be at the computer either. So long as it’s still beginning of the you know what, TeamViewer
running, you’re good to go.
On the other hand, if you’re security
conscious, you can leave unattended access
disabled. If you’re really, really security
conscious, TeamViewer also offers the option
when you run the installer to simply run the
program for a single session.
Normally, you’ll view the remotely
controlled computer’s desktop in a window
on the machine you’re controlling it from.
Note the options at the top of the window
shown below. On the other end, TeamViewer
will open a tab in the lower right-hand portion easy—once you know it. The one recurring
of the helpee’s desktop.
This serves to notify them that there’s
someone remotely logged onto the machine
(the desktop background also turns black),
and also provides the mechanism to end the
68 PCWorld MAY 2022
session at any time. You can
see it in the screen capture
below in its retracted state.
TeamViewer also allows
file transfers, has a chat
function, supports multiple
displays, and will keep track
of all the computers you’ve
logged onto if you have an
account. Without one, it still
remembers IDs (which don’t
normally change) though
which is which.
As of March 2020, at the
also implemented a meetings function. Yes,
another player you probably didn’t know
about in the rush to Zoom. The company is
also offering remote video help along the
same lines.
There are TeamViewer clients available for
Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, and Android.
You can pretty much control any device from
any other device. Nice.
INTERFACE
TeamViewer’s interface is clean, simple, and
issue I’ve had with new, and even repeat
helpees is that they often don’t spot the ID
and password right away. Take a look
opposite (1.).
The problem is that eye is drawn to the

1.
far-right column because of the bold blue
elements—especially the one that says
“Connect.” Understandably, new users will
gravitate to this button. I’m so used to this, I
just clarify “middle column” when I sense
hesitation.
Anyone who’s savvy enough to control
another computer using TeamViewer should
This is my edit of a screen shot portraying what I wish end users
would see so I don’t have to spend 30 seconds every time telling
them where this info is located.
be capable of locating that
functionality. If the screen below
were presented to the
prospective control-ee, it would
cut down on a lot of explain
time.
Perhaps separate control
and access on the lefthand
navigation pane, and have the
program remember which
section you were on. That way,
both helper and helpees would
always see only the pertinent options.
PRICING AND PLANS
While TeamViewer is free for you and me, the
company is not Google with a gold mine of a
search engine–it makes its money in the
enterprise and large business sector. If you’re
a small to medium business, or IT with remote
control needs, a TeamViewer
account makes a lot of sense. For
the average user, not so much.
The image below shows why.
For said businesses with the
need, there’s nothing better for
remote control, or better
supported that I’m aware of. And
IT contractors can easily cover the
cost via customer billing. Also,
the pricing looks like a bargain
when you start adding PCs to a
service such as GoToMyPC.
TeamViewer is free for
MAY 2022 PCWorld 69
REVIEWS TEAMVIEWER
TeamViewer’s pay plans are pricy for the average user, but
more than worth it for business users and IT firms.
occasional, personal use. Don’t abuse it. If
you do use the program too often, you’ll get
dialogs offering you a pay version. I’m not
sure what happens if you ignore said
“warnings,” as I never have, but obviously
there’s some telemetry between the company
and the clients.
Indeed, at the very least, initial
communications require a trip to
TeamViewer’s portal to re-route
communications according to the IDs
involved.
PERFORMANCE
I’ve used TeamViewer hundreds of times over
the years, and it’s always functioned perfectly.
And in these days of ever-expanding
bandwidth, it can be surprisingly facile. I’ve
70 PCWorld MAY 2022
transferred files, helped out my
sister, mother, and friends with nary
an hiccup.
Used on a local network,
TeamViewer also seeks the shortest
route once IDs have been
exchanged, so most data never
travels outside the LAN, making
control very quick.
VERDICT
As TeamViewer is free for personal,
occasional use and far easier to set
up than VNC, Microsoft’s and
Apple’s Remote desktops, and
others, it’s what I use for ad hoc
support. That said, Chrome Remote Desktop,
though not as full featured is a competitor.
Kudos to TeamViewer for providing it. It
really is a lily among the thorns, so use it as
the company requests.
TeamViewer
PROS
• Free for personal use.
• Easy to use.
• Fast and reliable.
CONS
• Main screen can initially confuse new users.
• Occasional nags for free users.
BOTTOM LINE
TeamViewer is easy, free for personal use, and ticks all
the remote control software boxes such as chat and
file transfer. Meetings and remote video help are also
part of the deal if you pony up for a subscription.
Free
Cyber Acoustics CA-2890 speaker
bar: Surprisingly good for $25
If your needs match this speaker’s strengths, you won’t notice its weaknesses. BY ALAINA YEE
nexpensive speakers don’t have to be
I hopelessly basic. So many models are
though, including some very popular
ones like those in the Amazon Basics
line (fave.co/3K1ufjY).
The Cyber Acoustics CA-2890 (fave.
co/3jTTytZ) skirts that edge of mediocrity. If
this $25 speaker bar were instead a set of
stereo speakers, its shortcomings would allow
our current favorite, the similarly priced
Creative Pebble (fave.co/3L39Egv), to
steamroll over it. So what keeps it out of the
reject pile? Primarily one standout feature—
the ability to clip it to a monitor.
IMAGE: CYBER ACOUSTICS
Anyone with a slim flat panel monitor (no
more than about 0.75-in thick) can attach the
Cyber Acoustics CA-2890 to the bottom of
the panel. This model effectively reproduces
an speaker bar accessory that Dell has long-
produced for its series of monitors, but with a
universal mount. The benefit is that you don’t
have to give up any desk space, making this
Cyber Acoustics speaker ideal for tight spots
or minimalist setups.
Of course, form factor alone wouldn’t be
enough to save a truly dismal speaker. The
Cyber Acoustics CA-2890 also offers decent
sound, especially given its small size (2.75 x
MAY 2022 PCWorld 71
REVIEWS CYBER ACOUSTICS CA-2890
8.25 x 1.25 inches). Audio is clean and
neutral, with fairly wide projection. High-
frequency sounds (like the clash of cymbals)
come through crisply too, without any
harshness.
However, this speaker bar does largely
ditch the reproduction of low-end
frequencies, a possible deal killer for those
with audiophile tastes. You won’t find much
in the way of bass here, which makes for
audio that sounds a bit thin. That said, this
tuning decision is also responsible for the
CA-2890’s pleasing lack of distortion, even at
full volume.
Stereo output is also weak. You barely get
a feel for the directions that sounds should
come from. Take the opening clapping in
“Where Did Our Love Go” by The
The Cyber Acoustics CA-2890 clipped to a monitor.
72 PCWorld MAY 2022
Supremes—you can guess that it starts from
the right and moves a bit left, but everything
mostly sounds as if front and center.
On the whole, this speaker bar is fine for
listening to movies, TV shows, and podcasts.
But music can quickly become a little fatiguing
if you’re used to at least some tangible bass.
Not everyone will mind this, particularly if the
only expectation is to clearly hear what’s
being said or sung. In fact, for some people,
this speaker bar will sound better than most
other ultra-compact speakers. Cyber
Acoustics makes the most of the CA-2890’s
two drivers and 2 watts of total output. You
can encounter other speakers (like those built
into monitors) with similar RMS specs, but
these get loud and remain clear while doing
so.
Speaking of going full
blast—I ended up liking this
speaker partially because you
can push its volume. At max,
you can fill a room and then
some, without distortion or
harsh highs. On my test PC (a
Windows-based desktop
computer I built myself), I
generally kept it around 55 to
75 percent volume
depending on time of day. If I
didn’t have an air filter
running constantly in the
background, I could have
dropped that lower.
A view of the control buttons on the underside of the Cyber Acoustics CA-2890 speaker bar.
With all honesty, this bar can outdo a fair
number of laptop speakers—both in sound
quality and max volume. If you dock at home
often, the CA-2890 can serve laptop users
equally as well as desktop PC owners.
As for controls, Cyber Acoustics keeps
them simple and easy to navigate by touch.
You get physical buttons for Play/Pause,
Mute, Volume Up, and Volume Down. There
are also two indicator lights that show the
status for power (green) and mute (red). The
speaker bar connects to a PC via a single
USB-A cable that’s hard-wired into the unit,
with full plug-and-play support in Windows,
MacOS, and ChromeOS.
One last note—during testing, I noticed
that this speaker bar was distorting website
alert notification sounds, like those from
Facebook, Google Hangouts, and Outlook.
The tail end of the sound would finish in a
garbled manner. Repositioning the speaker
along the underside of the monitor fixed the
issue.
VERDICT
When it comes to pure performance, this
speaker bar is outclassed by its rivals—it’s
average for media consumption and audio
calls, and tolerable for music listening. But its
clever clip mounting system, clear audio
reproduction, and lack of distortion at high
volume still keep it in contention. It can be a
perfect option for anyone with a tight budget
and an aversion to desk clutter.
Cyber Acoustic CA-2890
PROS
• Clip mount keeps it off your desk.
• Clear, distortion-free audio.
CONS
• No bass.
• Weak stereo audio.
BOTTOM LINE
This speaker bar is outclassed by its rivals in pure
performance, but its clever clip mounting system,
clear audio reproduction, and lack of distortion at
high volume keep it in contention. Ideal for anyone
with a tight budget and an aversion to desk clutter.
$25
MAY 2022 PCWorld 73
FEATURE

AFTER 6 MONTH
WINDOWS 11 IS
PLAYING CATCH
WINDOWS 10
THERE JUST AREN’T ENOUGH
NEW, WORTHY FEATURES TO JUSTIFY
UPGRADING FROM WINDOWS 10
TO WINDOWS 11. TO BE FAIR,
THOUGH, MICROSOFT IS TRYING.
BY MARK HACHMAN
74 PCWorld MAY 2022
HS,
S STILL
H UP TO

MAY 2022 PCWorld 75

FEATURE WINDOWS 11 REPORT CARD
ast year, we wrote that Windows 11
L was, in a word, unnecessary (fave.
co/3cdEtj3). Have six months
changed our opinion? No, though
there are signs that Microsoft is fixing some of
Windows 11’s most obvious flaws.
Because virtually all of Microsoft’s
development work now takes place on
Windows 11, by necessity most of my work is
done on Microsoft’s latest operating system.
I’ve left most of my family’s PCs running
Windows 10, however, in part because
they’re simply used to the familiar Windows
10 environment. I still think that’s the right
decision for most people.
What follows isn’t a re-review of Windows
11 (fave.co/3cdEtj3). But it’s a good
opportunity to think about whether the
76 PCWorld MAY 2022
original review was influenced by first
impressions, and what, if anything, Microsoft
has accomplished in the intervening months.
START, TASKBAR, THEMES
AND MORE: STILL NO FUN
At release, Windows 11’s most significant flaw
was that it feels both less fun and less
functional. That’s still the case, months later.
Case in point: In Windows 10, navigating
to Personalization > Themes brings up large,
vibrant icons telling you what themes you
have installed, tacitly encouraging you to use
them. Technically, the same options are
available within Windows 11, but everything is
far more subdued. Your PC feels less like an
extension of your personality than a
condominium with a few paint schemes that
have been pre-approved by an HOA. folders by resizing them. Now, you can group
Personalization matters, which is why we Windows 11 apps together in a folder and
wrote a “how to personalize your PC (fave. make the icons smaller as a consequence.
co/3L5Qmr4)” story for Windows 10. But that Doesn’t this contravene the idea of making
story includes a section that’s hardly Windows more accessible?
applicable to Windows 11:
the Start menu.
To be fair, I use the Start
menu as a “Start” about half
the time. Windows has a
variety of ways to launch
apps within Windows. You
can also type Win+R to
“run” programs, or simply
“search” for them by hitting
the Windows key, typing the
name of the app, and hitting
Enter. I usually launch apps
using the latter method.
When I do need to use
the Start menu, though, I
really loathe doing so in
Windows 11. It feels horribly
institutional, a sea of icons
with no rhyme or reason.
Yes, I know that Start folders
appear to be scheduled for
release during the fall (fave.
co/3Oi3QC2), but let’s face
it: They’ve already botched
those too. One of the key
visual elements of Windows
Windows 11’s Settings menu is nicely organized, and a real strength
10 was the ability to visually of the OS. But there’s a price to be paid for its efficiency, and that’s its
weigh specific apps and sense of fun. Windows 10 on left, Windows 11 on right.

MAY 2022 PCWorld 77

FEATURE WINDOWS 11 REPORT CARD

alphabetical list of apps.

Windows 11 secrets the list of
alphabetical apps behind the
“All apps” button, and I… simply
forget about them.
Basically, I simply refuse to
engage with the Start menu if I
can avoid it. It’s frustrating and
futile, and I haven’t even
mentioned the wasted space
that is the “Recommended” files
at the bottom of it. At least you
Even in a blown-up screenshot, I struggle to make out the Disney can turn those off. (Go to
app in the third folder within this Windows 11 Start menu, which
shows the Start folders which have appeared in Microsoft’s Insider Settings, then
releases. This is not a step forward. Personalization>Start>Show
recently opened items in Start,
At this point, I simply can’t see why Jump Lists, and File Explorer and toggle the
Microsoft enforces such ridiculous limitations buttton “off.”)
on the ability of users to resize the
Start menu as a whole. Those of us
who prioritize aesthetics can leave
everything primly centered.
Otherwise, why not offer people the
freedom of choice to expand their
workspace?
Choice matters, too. I can
understand Microsoft placing the
most commonly used apps front and
center within Start. But they’re
clogged with Microsoft’s insistence
that I include, say, the Instagram app,
which I’ve literally never used. In
Arranging your tabs vertically along the left edge of the
Windows 10, you can see both the screen is a choice Microsoft affords Edge users, but not
preferred app tiles alongside the those who use Windows 11.

78 PCWorld MAY 2022

 The same argument holds for the
taskbar (fave.co/3JIxpcU). I honestly
have no issue if Microsoft wants to
move all the way away from the
Fisher-Price tiled layout of Windows 8
into an ultra-efficient, clean layout,
with an aesthetic that collects icons
into the center of screen with minimal
badging. But again, it’s about
flexibility. I wouldn’t dream of putting
my Favorites bar within Edge onto the
left-hand nav bar…but Edge does
allow you that choice. So why not
Windows?
Fortunately, third-party tools like
Start11 (fave.co/3Ooi0l4) and For whatever reason I don’t find myself using Widgets, or
the search box within it or the Windows 11 search icon. But
StartAllBack (fave.co/3ED7Use) fix I’m willing to believe most people find a way to find what
many (but not all) of the most they want, however that is, and settle on it.
annoying issues with Windows 11’s
Start menu and taskbar. It would be nice if hovering over the weather icon in the taskbar
Microsoft did the same officially. to trigger Widgets. It’s just not in my muscle
memory. On the other hand, I chronically read
WIDGETS, TEAMS CHAT, an article or two in Edge every time I open a
AND SEARCH: THE new tab in the “Informational” view.
FORGOTTEN FUNCTIONS Microsoft/Edge/Bing benefits either way, I
I can say only one thing about Teams Chat: I suppose.
went to the Settings menu (Personalization > That’s probably the same way I view
Taskbar) and toggled it off months ago. I have Windows’ built-in Search icon — it’s simply
Google Meet, I have the “real” Microsoft not programmed into my daily use. As I’ve
Teams, and I have Zoom. I simply don’t need noted above, I “search” to launch apps, but
anything else. most of my Internet searches are conducted
As a journalist, I’m technically in favor of via a browser or file searches within File
Widgets, Microsoft’s collection of news and Explorer, or I simply open the most recent
information. But I usually don’t bother document within a specific app. My gut tells

MAY 2022 PCWorld 79

FEATURE WINDOWS 11 REPORT CARD

me that I could probably be more efficient by the notifications less than I used to.
using the Search app, and it might be worth The real glaring issue with the Action
forcing myself into the habit to see if that’s a Center is the lack of a fully-functional calendar,
more effective method. Maybe I’ve become which just seems too weird. What’s the point
acclimated to using a search bar, which is of a calendar if I can’t add appointments to it,
what I tended to use in Windows 10. review holidays, or simply do anything with it?
I do miss Cortana, somewhat.
But I honestly don’t care what
service I use for general queries,
such as the exchange rate of the
euro or when Halo was first
released. Cortana doesn’t seem
like it’s worth installing just for
quickly setting up reminders, which
is one reason I used it fairly heavily
in Windows 10.

ACTION CENTER AND

NOTIFICATIONS: A
STEP FORWARD
My opinion has changed on the
Action Center, which occupies the
lower right-hand corner within
Windows 11. After a few months,
I’ve come to like how everything is
clustered together, rather than
being scattered across multiple
taskbar icons on Windows 10. But
it’s not perfect; in Windows 10, the
various icons present more
opportunities to communicate
information, such as which audio
Windows 11’s Action Centre is more neatly organized, but
device is being controlled by the excludes some information that Windows 10 provided up
volume slider. I also find I look at front. Windows 10 above; Windows 11 below.

80 PCWorld MAY 2022

With Cortana being pushed
aside, there’s no real simple
way to schedule a quick
reminder. (Microsoft To Do
volunteers, as the first thing it
does is ask to be pinned to the
Taskbar. Shouldn’t this be part
of the operating system,
though? You need to manually
install it via the Microsoft Store.)
Windows 11 also presents Presenting one Windows 11 context menu, then hiding others
this weird UI interface in that the inside a ‘legacy’ menu (‘show more options’ is just silly.
OneDrive cloud storage icon is
a functional yet hidden button; yet so are the menu requiring a second click, is unforgivable.
cluster of the networking icon, the volume Couldn’t this all live on a single menu? Why
icon, and the battery icon. Click anywhere in should “approved” Windows apps like
the latter group and the Action Center opens. PowerToys place their PowerResize
Where I often get confused is after I turn on capabilities on a secondary menu, especially
Focus Assist, the icon that indicates it’s on and ones that certain users (like me) use
working (the crescent moon icon, in the frequently? I’ve finally learned which of the
screenshot above) appears to the far right, shortcut icons (like “cut” and “rename”)
next to the time and date. Clicking on that represent which functions, but the right-click
opens the notifications, instead…with the menu options still feel sloppy. They’re a big
Focus Assist settings all the way at the top. It’s step backwards in efficiency.
like a treasure map! I still think Snap View is a success, though,
At least they finally restored the clock to and a marked improvement over Windows
multi-monitor setups (fave.co/37zU5i2). 10. Yes, you can still use PowerToys and its
fantastic Fancy Zones utility (fave.
THE WINDOWS SHELL: STILL co/3OoQQKX) in either Windows 10 or
SOME BASIC PROBLEMS Windows 11, but Snap View’s ability to
My colleague Alaina Yee detests the Windows partition part of your screen is really handy,
shell, and she’s absolutely right. The menu and the default alignments usually satisfy my
system that appears when you right-click a requirements.
file, and then cascades over to a secondary I’m still a fan of dictation, too. For

MAY 2022 PCWorld 81

FEATURE WINDOWS 11 REPORT CARD
whatever reason, I don’t have to be in the
mood to type a long phrase, and a quick tap
of WIN+H opens up the dictation widget
almost instantly. I say the phrase, tap Win+H
again, and move on. You don’t have to write
everything in dictation! It’s especially handy
for locked PDF files you want to copy a
paragraph or two from, but are prevented
from doing so.
It feels, though, like Microsoft’s designers
have never quite found the right way to
manage files. I don’t love File Explorer in
either Windows 10 or Windows 11, and no
matter what I do it feels like I expend far too
much effort looking for what I’m searching for.
Using the File Explorer’s search bar feels
unnecessarily slow. I don’t instinctively click
the Search button, though, nor do I search for
I admittedly don’t use Windows 11’s dictation that much. But I don’t use
touch that often either…but when I want to, it’s there.
82 PCWorld MAY 2022
documents by name. I tend to simply
“search” for files using the respective apps, or
folders such as Photos. I’ve always felt that
searching for files is where I, as well as
Windows, flail.
Bur there’s a bigger problem, and, frankly,
I’m not even sure that Windows is the answer.
As more and more collaboration moves
online, “files” are increasingly being stored or
shared or collaborated on within apps like
Google Workplace, Zoom, Teams, and more.
But it’s more than that. “Knowledge,” whether
it’s a to-do list or a shared insight with a
colleague, simply isn’t a “file.” Can I use
Windows’ built-in Search to search Teams?
Maybe eventually, but not now. Zoom?
Google Meet? Not at all. If Windows can’t
even understand what I’m looking for, as well
as where it’s found, what
good is a search function
or file explorer, anyway?
MICROSOFT
EDGE: FINALLY,
YOU CAN
EASILY SWITCH
Microsoft finally seems to
have resolved its serious
issue of a lack of browser
choice (fave.
co/3rFUKp8) in
Windows 11, via an
optional update that will
almost certainly pushed
to the general
Windows 11 user
base as part of an
upcoming Patch
Tuesday. It still
feels a bit sleazy
— the “one-click”
option to make a
browser like
Chrome your
default browser
still sets Edge as
your default
browser for The revamped Microsoft Store is both aesthetically and functionally improved.
opening PDF files,
for example — but it at least gives consumers not going to convince me that the app wholly
back the choice that should have never been improved, though, with the elimination of the
taken away in the first place. “spot fix” tool as well as separating the
profoundly useful Magic Select tool in Paint
MICROSOFT STORE AND 3D (fave.co/3K2vjUZ). Microsoft also
WINDOWS APPS: IT ALL unnecessarily reorganized Paint, the app that
LOOKS NICE Microsoft has tried to kill (fave.co/3rI8Gi7)
On balance, Microsoft’s changes to Windows before. Again, redesigning for the sake of a
apps have been positive, though not redesign simply messes with muscle memory
profound. Say what you want about the and makes people less productive.
Microsoft Store’s utility — you can hardly I enjoy using the Windows 11’s new
argue that it doesn’t look more professional Terminal and PowerShell apps, though I
and feels more useful, at least on the app hardly ever have a need to.
pages. The front page of the Store, though,
still feels sparse. UNDER THE HOOD: PC
Microsoft revamped the Photos app, MAKERS ARE PUSHING THE
making it far worse (fave.co/384jK2d) — then HARDEST
fixed it, somewhat (fave.co/3L5StLw), largely Really, the strongest argument for Windows 11
accomplishing its original goals. You’re still currently isn’t the operating system, but

MAY 2022 PCWorld 83

FEATURE WINDOWS 11 REPORT CARD
what’s inside the chassis. Virtually all new PCs
now ship with Windows 11, so the most
advanced laptops in my office now run
Microsoft’s latest operating system. In part,
that’s likely because of Intel and the Thread
Director technology (fave.co/3cbahF5) it
made synonymous with its 12th-gen Alder
Lake Core chips. But it’s also due to
Microsoft’s goal to push PCs into the modern
era of security, ruling out most older PCs with
strict hardware requirements (fave.
co/3C7aDbn) (that it later relented [fave.
co/3L6WM9a]). To be fair, we haven’t seen
Windows 11, and its Virtualization Based
Security (VBS) cause any drastic hits to
performance (fave.co/38W0swi) save for on
much older, unsupported hardware (fave.
co/3EAHhUB).
Microsoft also integrated three other
fundamental technologies as selling points for
Windows 11: DirectStorage, Dynamic Refresh
Rate, and AutoHDR. Of these, DirectStorage
appears like it could provide a profound
advantage to Windows 11 gaming. After
releasing DirectStorage in March (fave.
co/38dvJe1), Microsoft showed how it could
cut game loading times down (fave.
co/3EAEA5x) to about a second. We still
don’t know how many games the technology
will end up in, though, or when those games
will even be released.
Otherwise, I haven’t seen Dynamic
Refresh Rate (fave.co/3BUtOF9) or AutoHDR
present a significant upgrade. It’s nice to use
84 PCWorld MAY 2022
DRR to run a laptop display at 120Hz,
especially for inking, but how often do I do
that? On the other hand, 120Hz displays do
make a difference, even just moving an
interface around.
Matt Smith performed a direct evaluation
of AutoHDR (fave.co/3MfSTPv) on PCs, which
adds HDR detail to games that don’t natively
support it. It’s noticeable, yes, but not that
much of a selling point unless you have a
top-grade HDR monitor. You’ll want one with
a minimum of at least 1,000 nits of peak
brightness to fully bask in its abilities, and
those are rare indeed.
WHAT’S BEING FIXED
The recent release of a new build into
Microsoft’s Beta Channel of its Insider
program signals what Microsoft probably has
planned (fave.co/3Oi3QC2) for the fall: Start
folders, the ability to drag-and-drop files into
Taskbar shortcuts, and Live Captions, among
others.
Start folders, as I explained earlier, don’t
seem like they add that much to the Windows
11 experience. Being able to drag and drop a
file onto the appropriate Taskbar shortcut and
open that file is a nice feature that a small but
vocal group of users demanded, and that’s
fine — that shows, essentially, how the
process of adding new features should work.
And I really think that Live Captions are a
useful feature that shows off Microsoft’s AI
capabilities — but, more and more, content is
 Snap View
(again, which
can be
configured
using Fancy
Zones) and
flipping on
dictation from
time to time.
My general
sense is that
Microsoft is still
trying to
reconcile the
Windows 11’s Live Captions provides captioning that appears at the top of the screen. changes it
made with
being streamed via Netflix, YouTube, Amazon what users truly want, or at least complain
and others (even Teams!), which have closed- about. In the future, a feature like
captioning services already. DirectStorage could be what sells Windows
11 to gamers, and the more mainstream
VERDICT audience that leans on the enthusiast
I’m asked to review laptops (fave. community for advice. Dictation works, and
co/3qL4oHf) periodically, and there are features like the Xbox app and its cloud
aspects of a laptop review I’ll suffer through. gaming service certainly add value to
I’ll write the review using its keyboard, for Windows 11 and 10.
example, to discover if it’s truly a black mark I’m willing to believe that, over time, I’ll
or if I just haven’t become used to it. Aside warm to Windows 11. Maybe in six years or
from the Start menu, I don’t really detest so, when Microsoft launches Windows 12, I’ll
anything about Windows 11 — and with Start, feel a pull of nostalgia. But, six months in,
I simply avoid using it by “searching” for an there’s still a genuine sense that Microsoft is
app, just like I might avoid a likely traffic jam playing catch up to where Windows 10 is
by driving on surface streets instead. now, and without a critical mass of features it
But there’s little I still particularly needs to justify Windows 11 as a genuine
recommend about Windows 11. I truly do like improvement.

MAY 2022 PCWorld 85

FEATURE

86 PCWorld MAY 2022

5 REASONS
TO BUY A
DESKTOP PC
INSTEAD OF
A LAPTOP
BEFORE YOU BUY A NEW
LAPTOP, TAKE A MOMENT
TO CONSIDER THE
BENEFITS OF A DEDICATED
DESKTOP COMPUTER.
BY JARED NEWMAN
MAY 2022 PCWorld 87
FEATURE 5 REASONS TO BUY A DESK TOP PC
You can find decent desktops, such as Dell’s Inspiron Desktop, in the $500 range.
bout a year ago, I bought a Mac
A for the first time in my life.
It’s not that I’m anti-Apple—
I switch freely between iOS and
Android, and I’m currently wearing an Apple
Watch—but my preference for working in
Windows has started to feel like a blind spot
in my tech coverage. Even when I can borrow
my wife’s MacBook to try the occasional app
or MacOS trick, it’s not the same as living
inside MacOS full-time.
But unlike the average Mac buyer, I didn’t
end up with a MacBook. Instead, I went with
Apple’s diminutive Mac Mini (fave.
co/3k1kms0), which is now sitting on my
desk beneath my main monitor. Whether it’s
Windows or MacOS, one thing I know for
sure is that I’m an enthusiastic desktop PC
user.
88 PCWorld MAY 2022
While the laptop’s portability benefits are
obvious, here’s why I still appreciate the
desktop computer—whether it’s running
Windows or MacOS:
1. DESKTOPS CAN BE
CHEAPER
Apple’s Mac Mini starts at $700 (fave.
co/3xEwasp), which is $300 cheaper than a
MacBook Air with nearly identical tech specs
(fave.co/37sTUFm). Essentially, you’re not
paying for the display, trackpad, battery, and
webcam, which means you can put that
savings toward better desktop accessories or
use what you’ve already got.
The math gets a little trickier on the
Windows side, where pricing can be all over
the place. Still, you can generally find decent
desktops in the $500 range (one example
[fave.co/3k1q4Ku]), whereas the
quality of laptops in that price
range can be iffy in terms of
keyboard, trackpad, and build
quality.

2. THEY’RE BETTER
FOR CERTAIN
APPLICATIONS
The always-on nature of desktop
computers also opens up some
use cases that aren’t practical If you want to use a service like Plex to record over-the-air TV,
with a laptop. If you want to use you’ll need a computer that’s running around the clock.
Plex (fave.co/389kLpI) or
Channels DVR (fave.co/3K1J863) to record
over-the-air TV or stream your personal media
collection, you’ll need a computer that’s
plugged in and running around the clock.
Same goes if you’re rolling your own home
automation service (fave.co/3K2F8SE) or
sideloading apps on your iPhone (fave.
co/3jUSMNj). With a laptop, you’d lose
access to these services whenever you put it
to sleep.
3. THEY AFFORD MORE
POWER
Intel and AMD ship different sets of
processors for laptops and desktops, with the
latter being more powerful. After all, they
don’t have to worry about keeping your lap
cool or burning through too much battery life,
and they can use bigger fans to dissipate
heat. Apple, meanwhile, is clearly leaning into
the strength of desktop computing with its
Mac Studio (fave.co/3KfUT9f), whose
optional M1 Ultra chip outperforms any
MacBook.
Of course, desktops also leave room for
bigger, more powerful graphics cards for PC
gaming (fave.co/3DOEuWk)—at least when
you can find them (fave.co/3pkV3oL).
4. DESKTOPS ARE EASIER TO
EXPAND...
To add more storage to a desktop PC, you
merely need to throw in an extra internal hard
drive or plug in an externa one. That means
you can keep costs down on the initial
purchase and expand as you go.
Adding more storage to a laptop creates a
whole new set of complications. Only some
Windows laptops let you install more internal
storage, and Apple’s recent MacBooks aren’t

MAY 2022 PCWorld 89

FEATURE 5 REASONS TO BUY A DESK TOP PC

sometimes removing
tiny bits of friction can
make a big difference.
Even using a fancy
laptop docking
station (fave.
co/3vx55og) isn’t the
same as being able to
sit down at your desk
and immediately start
computing.
Whether those
upsides are worth
Adding more storage to a PC later helps keep initial costs down. sacrificing the
portability of a laptop
expandable at all. While you can always plug is something I can’t answer for you. But
an external drive into a laptop, you’ll need to they’re worth keeping in mind next time
avoid loading it with any important files or you’re in the market for a new computer.
programs unless you always plan to take the
extra drive with you.

5.… AND THEY’RE SIMPLER

TO SIT DOWN AND USE
The ease of adding storage to a desktop ties
into a broader point, which is that desktops
can feel less cumbersome than laptops,
especially when you’re bringing in external
monitors, webcams, speakers, mice, and
keyboards. You don’t have to deal with
finding your laptop and plugging in power
cords and peripherals before you can get
comfy at your desk. Using a fancy laptop docking station, such as
the WD_Black D50, isn’t the same as being
That might sound sort of silly—it’s not that able to sit down at your desk and immediately
hard to plug in a few cables, after all—but start computing.

90 PCWorld MAY 2022

FEATURE

DESIGNS FOR
GAMING ROUTERS
HAVE GOTTEN REALLY
FAMILIAR LATELY.
BY MICHAEL CRIDER

WHICH WI-FI ROUT

LOOKS THE MOST L
EVIL ALIEN SPACES
92 PCWorld MAY 2022
 TER
LIKE AN
SHIP?
MAY 2022 PCWorld 93
FEATURE ALIEN-LOOKING WI-FI ROUTERS
overage. Speed. Latency.
C Security. All of these are
important features of a Wi-Fi
router (fave.co/3DXf5d0), and
they’re all things we’ve disregarded for this
article. Because the question of the day is,
which modern router looks the least like a
consumer electronics appliance, and the
most like something that would menace the
Rebel Alliance in the third act?
Gaming hardware in general has some
weird aesthetics going on. Between the seas
of black plastic and galaxies of RGB lights, an
expensive gaming desktop setup looks like a
rave in a NASA control center. But Wi-Fi
routers in particular, with their multiple
antennas and no real restrictions on size or
shape, have proven an irresistible target for
the more excessive kind of product designer.
So we present a ranking of the most
spaceship-like Wi-Fi router designs. We’ve
10.
limited our selections to just one design from
each major manufacturer (or else we’d be
here all day), with absolutely no concern for
their technical capabilities or overall quality.
Nope, this is just a list of which routers look
the most like an evil spaceship, from least evil
spaceship-adjacent to most.
10. AMAZON EERO PRO 6
Price: $183 from fave.co/36F9ey8
The tail end of this list is full of routers that
aren’t specifically marketed for gaming
prowess, but as products from some of the
biggest tech companies on the planet, we’d
be reticent to skip them. Least spaceship-like
of all is Amazon’s Eero Pro 6. Mesh routers are
designed to be neutral in terms of decor, so
perhaps it’s not surprising that this one is just
a curvy lump of plastic. The eye would slide
right over it, on a bookshelf, end table, or
even in the inky depths of space.
 mistaken for a
spaceship from a
Kubrickian alien
species that’s gone
beyond the need for
design elements.

7.
MOTOROLA
MR2600
9. Price: $99 from
fave.co/3rIYNAM
9. GOOGLE WIFI Motorola is another
Price: $99 from fave.co/38dlM0b manufacturer that
This isn’t the latest model of mesh router prefers modems to
offered by Google — that’s the Nest WiFi. But routers, but this
its older cousin looks ever so slightly more like fairly basic modem
a spaceship, if only because its symmetrical, design (fave.
perpendicular lines are harsher than the co/36xpFfI) is at 8.
Nest’s curvy air freshener look. You might be least going in the
able to imagine a fleet of Google WiFis as right direction. Its smooth curves and four
off-brand Death Stars, but not very very simple antennae put it more in the
intimidating ones. mothership category than something truly

8. ARRIS SURFBOARD
DOCSIS 3.1 AC2350
Price: $249 from fave.co/3v4GPLj
This combination cable modem-Wi-Fi
router is, like most of Arris products,
essentially a box. But its slight taper and
cheese grater housing at least show a bit
more thought than the usual Surfboard
model, which looks like a tiny plastic
radiator. This modem-router might be 7.

MAY 2022 PCWorld 95

FEATURE ALIEN-LOOKING WI-FI ROUTERS

5. TP-LINK
ARCHER
AX11000
Price: $284 from
fave.co/3LjL4IJ
This gaming router
is full to bursting
with unnecessary
aesthetic choices,
most notably the
vibrant red paint on
6. each of its eight
oversized antennae. But
scary. While you could stretch your its lack of lighting and bilateral symmetry keep
imagination to make it a spaceship, it would it from being a truly intimidating design. It
only be a truly intimidating one if it was made might work as an evil fortress or space station,
giant by context, looming over a moon or but it just doesn’t quite look like
national landmark. something you’d need to jump to warp to
escape at the last  second.
6. LINKSYS WRT32X
Price: $159 from fave.co/3rIUkhz
Now we’re getting somewhere. The
unnecessary angles, all-black
housing, and front-facing blue
LEDs of the WRT32X definitely
make it seem like it could stand-
in for a spaceship in a low-
budget SyFy original. The
exaggerated “feet” make
this look more like some
kind of landing craft or troop
transport, more menacing for
its contents than its actual
shape, but I’ve seen worse. 5.

96 PCWorld MAY 2022

4. TENDA AC6
Price: $63 from fave.co/37CWoAN
Tenda is a budget brand of mostly
utilitarian equipment, but it’s coming in
strong with this dark horse
spaceship-router design. The
angular housing has two front
protuberances that look like
they could be claws or
mandibles, and the front-and-
4.
center blue LEDs look like
nothing so much as a cockpit. Even
the company’s own marketing (fave.
co/3EDi5Ns) compares it to a stealth fighter.
The back end is rather dull, but overall it’s an
excellent entry in this ludicrously specific be lacking in superfluous paint or lighting, but
competition. that main housing is just gorgeous. The two
polygonal sections at the end suggest
3. D-LINK EXO AX5400 back-mounted engines, and the subtle
Price: $284 from fave.co/3v77jff angularity of the antenna back it up by
This router design (fave.co/3ECmj84) might encouraging the user to tilt them away from
the tapered front. This would look like a
practical but still-frightening vehicle… if
it was a fictional spacecraft instead of a
piece of networking equipment.
Price: $229 from fave.co/3k2pc8s
This isn’t the most advanced or feature-
filled router in the Asus lineup. In fact it
doesn’t even get the “Republic of
Gamers” badge. But look at that thing
(fave.co/3k2pc8s)! The front slats are
clearly imitating the air intake of a sports car,
and they’re lit with RGB lighting to give them
3. customizable menace. The center and outer

MAY 2022 PCWorld 97

FEATURE ALIEN-LOOKING WI-FI ROUTERS
2.
feet combine to look like down-tapered
wings. If you told me that this was a new
design for a Cylon raider or Goa’uld death
glider, I’d find it very difficult to argue with
you. Asus clearly agrees, because it gave this
router a paint job and made it an official
Gundam-branded collectible ($26 from fave.
co/3EJO52j). But there’s just one element
that’s dragging it down: the antennae.
They’re simply stuck onto the back of
the housing, detracting from rather
than adding to an otherwise faultless
spaceship look.
1. NETGEAR
NIGHTHAWK RAX200
Price: $394 from 1.
fave.co/3MoDWuq
It was a close run between the Asus model
98 PCWorld MAY 2022
and this one. But in the end, there’s no
denying that the Nighthawk RAX200 (jeez,
even the name sounds like a spaceship!) is a
starfighter that just happens to broadcast
Wi-Fi. The single swooping line incorporates
the main housing and antenna arrays in a look
that immediately evokes an advanced TIE
fighter (fave.co/3K2iASa). Layers of black
“armor” with contrasting finishes
look like they’re designed for
atmospheric strafing runs. The
gentle slope to the rear indicates engines
(instead of, you know, a bunch of Ethernet
and USB ports). Even the open front indicates
some kind of intake or deflector dish. It’s
easily the least practical design on this list, its
rigid angles demanding about three times as
much volume as it actually occupies. But even
sitting on a kitchen counter or jammed
behind an entertainment system, the
Nighthawk RAX200 just screams “deactivate
your shields prepare to be boarded.”
SO CAN
YOU.
Here’s How HOW TO BUILD, MAINTAIN,
AND FIX YOUR TECH GEAR

How to find the recovery key for

your encrypted Windows 11 PC
This info applies to both Windows 11 Home and Windows 11 Pro users. BY ALAINA YEE

evice encryption is a security allows you to unlock the data stored on the

D feature that Microsoft often

quietly enables during Windows
11 setup. Sign in with a Microsoft
account on a PC with compatible hardware,
and the deed is (usually) done (fave.
co/3Ewt37e).
In fact, many Windows 11 users may not
even realize that their PC is encrypted—nor
that the recovery key is also automatically
saved to your Microsoft account. That key is
necessary if you ever forget your password, or
the data saved in your TPM gets wiped. It
drive, otherwise it’ll remain a scrambled
collection of 1s and 0s. (A useful situation
when someone else has your laptop, but far
less so when you need access.)
Fortunately, viewing that recovery key is
easy. Just head over to account.microsoft.
com/devices/recoverykey. For extra safety,
you can make a backup of your recovery
key—but treat it like the sensitive info it is. One
way of storing the info safely is to create an
entry in a password manager, for example.
(Don’t already have one? Check out our top

IMAGE: DIY13/SHUTTERSTOCK MAY 2022 PCWorld 101

HERE’S HOW FIND AN ENCRYPTED PC’S RECOVERY KEY

headache, and you’re tempted to

just turn off encryption—don’t do
it. You’re better off backing up
your data (fave.co/3EApUU6) to
multiple places (which you should
be doing already…) and leaving
encryption on. Share the recovery
key with trusted contacts too, as
If you have any recover keys tied to your account, you’ll see
them listed as shown above. Otherwise, you’ll see a message applicable.
telling you no keys are uploaded to your account. It may seem alarming that
Microsoft has enabled a feature
recommendations for password managers you didn’t explicitly greenlight, but it truly is
[fave.co/3nT9nDq].) to your benefit. Smartphones have made
If you don’t see a key, make sure you’re encrypted storage the default for ages, and
logged into the correct account. Only have with most people favoring laptops, you risk
one account? If someone else set up your PC having your sensitive information (financial
for you, the key could be tied to their account info, etc) falling into the wrong hands if you
instead. Or if you’re a Windows 11 Pro user, don’t encrypt your device. So leave it on.
BitLocker might not have been enabled via a Other Windows 11 features are definitely
Microsoft account. Whoever set up your PC annoying (fave.co/3rFxXtq) enough to nuke,
may have created a local account then but not this one.
activated BitLocker.
You’ll definitely want to
save your recovery key if this
the case—it means you don’t
have a copy of it saved
anywhere. Go to Control
Panel > BitLocker Drive
Encryption > Backup your
recovery key. Saving to your
Microsoft account is the most
straightforward option.
By the way, if keeping track Backing up your recovery key to your Microsoft account should be a
of a recovery key seems like a top priority for Windows 11 Pro users if it isn’t already saved there.

102 PCWorld MAY 2022

How to block (and unblock)
someone on Facebook
Is someone bugging the heck out of you on Facebook? Here’s how to block ‘em.
BY MARSHALL GUNNELL

f you’ve got an active Facebook profile, we’ve got you covered. Read on to learn

I you’re probably well aware of the

polarizing dichotomy of the metaverse. It
can be wondrous or it can be a cesspool
of negativity and despair. If someone’s
harassing you, for example, you can block
more.

ABOUT BLOCKING AND

them to limit almost all communications with
that person. Also, if you’ve made amends and
would like to reconnect, you can unblock
them. Not sure how to do it? Don’t worry,
UNBLOCKING ON
FACEBOOK
When you block someone on Facebook,
they’ll no longer be able to contact you, tag
you, see your profile, or add you as a friend.
However, you’ll still be able to see your

IMAGE: JEREMY BEZANGER/UNSPLASH MAY 2022 PCWorld 103

HERE’S HOW BLOCK AND UNBLOCK SOMEONE ON FACEBOOK

message history and, in certain cases, content

that the blocked individual shares (when a
mutual friend is tagged).
If you’ve decided you want to mend a
broken relationship and give someone a
second chance, you can always unblock
someone after blocking them. If you were
friends before blocking them, you’ll have to
add them as a friend again, as Facebook
automatically unfriends someone you
blocked.
You can’t block someone for 48 hours 1.
after you unblock them.

BLOCKING OR
UNBLOCKING ON THE
FACEBOOK APP
To block someone on the Facebook app for
Android or iOS, launch the app, log in to
your account, and then go to the profile of
the user you would like to block. Once
there, tap the button with the three dots
under their name (1.). 2.
The next thing you’ll see is the Manage
screen. Here, tap the “Block” option (2.).
A pop-up window will appear asking you
to confirm that you really want to block the
user. It will also let you know what you’ll no
longer be able to see. Read through
everything and then tap “Block (3.).”
The user is now blocked. To unblock
someone, go to your profile’s Settings (Menu
> Settings & Privacy > Settings) and scroll
down until you reach the Audience and 3.

104 PCWorld MAY 2022

 Visibility section. Here, tap “Blocking (4.).”
You’ll now see a list of users that you’ve
blocked. Tap “Unblock” next to the name of
the user you wish to unblock (5.).
A pop-up dialog will appear asking you to
confirm that you want to unblock that user.
Read the details and then tap “Unblock (6.).”
The user is now unblocked.

BLOCKING OR
UNBLOCKING ON
4. FACEBOOK FOR DESKTOP
To block someone on desktop, launch the
browser of your choice, go to Facebook’s
official website (fave.co/3v3LNbf), and then
log in. Once logged in, navigate to the profile
of the user you would like to block. When
you’re on their page, click the button with the
three dots, right under the “Friends” and
“Message” buttons (7.).

5.

6. 7.

MAY 2022 PCWorld 105

HERE’S HOW BLOCK AND UNBLOCK SOMEONE ON FACEBOOK

8. 9.

A drop-down menu will appear. Click

“Block (8.).”
You’ll now see a pop-up message that
asks you if you really want to block the user.
The message will also state what the user will
no longer be able to see. Read through
everything and then click “Confirm (9.).”
The user is now blocked. To unblock
someone, you’ll need to go to your profile’s
Settings page (fave.co/3K3VScq). In the
left-hand pane, click “Blocking (10.).”
You’ll now see a list of blocked users.
Next to the name of the person you want to
unblock, click “Unblock.” 10.
A pop-up message asking
you to confirm that you want
to unblock the user will
appear. Read through the
details and then click
“Confirm (11.).”
The user is now
unblocked. You’ll need to
send them a friend request
again to reconnect. 11.

106 PCWorld MAY 2022

Your phone sounds terrible. Use
this trick for clearer calls instead
You may already be using one of these apps, which makes the transition even simpler.
BY ALAINA YEE

ou don’t have to put up with bad audio-only call through those services will

Y smartphone calls. Audio hitches,

fuzzy speech, hollow sound—
they may still be a problem even
in 2022, but you can circumvent them.
The solution lies in your video calling
apps, like Discord, WhatsApp, Facebook
Messenger, and FaceTime. Making an
sound much crisper and clearer.
The reason? When you place a call
through your Phone app, the way it transmits
your voice compresses the data more heavily.
The quality has improved since the move to
VoLTE, or voice over LTE, but still falls short of
voice calling apps. Estimates peg traditional

IMAGE: FIZKES/SHUTTERSTOCK MAY 2022 PCWorld 107

HERE’S HOW GET CLEARER PHONE CALLS

Discord’s majority of smartphone users are on unlimited

where it’s
plans or constantly near Wi-Fi. (Incidentally, if
at. You don’t
even need you ever hop on public Wi-Fi, you should use
to join or a VPN [fave.co/3FtTTMs] to stay secure.)
create any
servers No, the sticky point is convincing your
for this friends and family to switch to a different app
purpose,
for calls. Getting loved ones to install and
just “friend”
the people adapt to yet another a new communications
you want to app can be hard. Fortunately, a lot of folks
talk to.)
already have WhatsApp or Facebook
Messenger, which makes the transition easier.
A secondary problem—and I use this term
loosely—is getting some friends and family to
understand you’re aiming for audio-only calls.
They’ll be used to making video calls through
these services, and you may have to figure out
how to tactfully explain to your aunt that
calls at a bitrate of 16kbps; in contrast, sometimes, you’re just not wearing enough
Discord defaults to 64kbps. You can definitely clothes, and audio-only is for her sake (and
hear the difference. yours).
Of course, the
catch is that you’ll
burn data instead of
cellphone minutes.
And if you’re on a
phone plan with
limited or expensive
data, expending even
28MB on an hour-
long Discord call
could be too much.
However, for most
people, that won’t be
the main issue. The You’ll need to convince friends and family to switch to a different app.

108 PCWorld MAY 2022

Tech Spotlight A video showcase
of the latest trends

Watch the
video at
youtu.be/
CPs5zT89osw

HP Spectre
x360 16 2-in-1 ≥ Gordon unboxes and
runs some quick tests on the
Hands-on HP Spectre x360 16 2-in-1 to
see how it shakes out performance-wise. Equipped
with an 11th-gen Intel Core i7-11390H and an
Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050, this laptop doesn’t burn
up too many charts, but that big convertible OLED
display sure is eye-catching - and unique.

110 PCWorld MAY 2022