HP Pavilion 14: Awesome All-Rounder That'S Perfect For Work & Play

INSIDE: GIVE AN OLD PC A SPEED BOOST
MARCH 2022
HP PAVILION 14
AWESOME
ALL-ROUNDER
THAT’S
PERFECT FOR
WORK & PLAY
CES 2022:
ALL THE BIG
NEWS FROM THE
WORLD’S LARGEST
ELECTRONICS FAIR
CONTENTS
NEWS REVIEWS
4 Roaring 2021 sales proved that 37 HP Pavilion 14 (2021)
the PC isn’t even close to dead 43 Acer Aspire Vero (2021)
7 Intel reveals new PC chief 50 Nubia Red Magic 6S Pro
63 Xiaomi 11T
CES 2022
9 CES 2022: Intriguing and 37
innovative PC hardware
21 CES 2022: 5 laptop trends
27 CES 2022: 5 monitor trends
33 CES 2022: All the chip news
2 TECH ADVISOR • MARCH 2022

71
Credit: Getty Images/Oleksandr Pupko

FEATURES
71 10 cheap or free ways to make
96
an old PC run faster
78 7 ways Microsoft’s PowerToys
enhance your PC experience
WINDOWS 11
83 Tested: Start11 solves Windows
11’s worst Start menu and
taskbar sins 93 How to switch out of Windows
87 VÀÃvÌwÝiÃÌiÛÕi 11 S Mode
slider in Windows 11
89 How to stop Microsoft Teams OPINION
from automatically loading 96 The Windows 11 taskbar is an
on your PC annoying step backward
MARCH 2022 • TECH ADVISOR 3

NEWS
Roaring 2021 sales

proved that the PC isn’t
even close to dead
People bought PCs as they worked from home. MARK HACHMAN reports
P

ÃyiÜvvÌiÃiÛiÃ`ÕÀ} the unexpected surge in demand for
2021 – and without the ongoing PCs and Chromebooks. According to
constraints in the supply chain, Gartner, PC shipments surged 9.9 per
people would have bought even more. cent in 2021 to 339.8 million units. IDC
According to reports released by reported even sharper growth: 14.8
Gartner and IDC, 2021 continued per cent, up to 348.8 million units. (IDC

1.
is a division of IDG, the company that to believe the overall PC market has
owns Tech Advisor, but has no editorial reset at a much higher level than
>vw>ÌÜÌÕÃ°®/iÌÜ>>ÞÃÌ before the pandemic.”
groups typically differ slightly in how IDC and Gartner reported that
they collect their data. Gartner tracks Lenovo, HP and Dell maintained their
desktops, notebooks, ultra-mobiles like position at the top of the PC market,
the Microsoft Surface and Chromebooks; both worldwide and in the United States.
IDC tracks desktops, notebooks and All three showed growth (1.).
workstations, but not tablets in its year- In the fourth quarter (2.), traditionally
i`Ài«ÀÌÃ° iÛiÀÌiiÃÃ]LÌwÀÃ the year’s strongest period, the two
had the same conclusion: sales were wÀÃvÕ`ÌiÃÕ««ÞV>VÃÌÀ>ÌÃ
fantastic, and could have been even held back sales that would otherwise
LiÌÌiÀvV«iÌÃ>`wÃi`*
Ã have gone to the PC industry. “A
VÕ`>ÛiLiiÛi`ÀiivwViÌÞ° challenging logistical environment,
“2021 has truly been a return to form coupled with ongoing supply-side
for the PC,” said Jitesh Ubrani, research shortages, meant the PC market could
manager for IDC’s Mobile and Consumer have been even larger than it was
Device Trackers (fave.co/3nFQUKt), in 2021,” Tom Mainelli, group vice
in a statement. “Consumer need for president of IDC’s Device and Consumer
PCs in emerging markets and global Research, said in a statement. “We
commercial demand remained strong closed the year with many buyers still
during the quarter with supply being waiting for their PC orders to ship.
a gating factor. While consumer and ƂÃÜiÛiÌÀÕ}ÌiwÀÃÌ>vv
educational demand has tapered in the year, we expect supply to remain
some developed markets, we continue constrained, especially with regards to

NEWS
2.
the commercial segment where demand

is the most robust.”
Gartner agreed, noting that the
fourth quarter showed a double-digit
decline in sales from the fourth quarter
of 2020, when PC sales really took
off. Chromebook shipments fell, too,
as buyers had already snapped them
up earlier in the year. Gartner said
that it expects PC demand to slow for
at least the next two years, though
annual shipment volumes are not
expected to decline to pre-pandemic
levels in that period.
º/i«>ìVÃ}wV>ÌÞV>}i`
business and consumer PC user
behaviour, as people had to adopt to
new ways of working and living,” said
Mikako Kitagawa, a research director at
Gartner. “Post-pandemic, some of the
newly established ways of using PCs will
remain regular practice, such as remote
or hybrid work styles, taking online
courses and communicating with friends
and family online.

Intel reveals new PC chief
Michelle Johnston Holthaus will lead Intel’s Client Computing Group as
Gregory Bryant departs. MARK HACHMAN reports
I
ntel has named Michelle Johnston Holthaus had been the head of
Holthaus, the current executive vice Intel’s sales and marketing group since
president of its Sales, Marketing and 2017 and previously led all of Intel’s
Communications Group, as the new head CCG sales. In her new role, she will be
of its Client Computing Group (CCG), responsible for all aspects of running and
which includes Intel’s Core processor growing the client business, including
line. Gregory ‘GB’ Bryant, who at the ºÃÌÀ>Ìi}Þ]w>V>«iÀvÀ>Vi
time of writing headed Intel’s CCG, was and product development for the
due to leave at the end of January for full portfolio of client technologies
another opportunity, Intel said. and platforms designed to enable

NEWS
exceptional personal computing under the Data Center Group.)

experiences,” Intel said in a statement. Holthaus will transition to her new
“Michelle’s track record of success role over the coming months as a
driving global sales and revenue for search for the new leader of Intel’s
Ìi>ÃÌwÛiÞi>ÀÃ]VLi`ÜÌ sales, marketing and communications
her profound understanding of the organization begins, Intel said. Intel
client computing business and trusted also said that David Zinsner has been
relationships across the entire industry, appointed as the company’s executive
make her a natural choice to lead our ÛVi«ÀiÃìÌ>`Vivw>V>vwViÀ
largest business,” said Pat Gelsinger, (CFO), effective 17 January.
Intel’s chief executive, in a statement.
“Michelle is a proven leader who
embodies Intel’s values, and I look
forward to partnering with her in this
new capacity as we drive innovation
and unquestioned product leadership
across the client business.”
Holthaus has worked at Intel for 26
years, joining in 1996. She previously
led the Microsoft global account team,
managed channel products, and ran
central marketing and operations for
the PC client group and management
of the reseller product group.
Bryant is a 30-year veteran at
Intel, who began his Intel tenure in
1992. Bryant hasn’t said what his next
venture will be. Gelsinger noted that,
under Bryant, Intel’s CCG group has
iÞi`wÛiÃÌÀ>}ÌÞi>ÀÃv}ÀÜÌ°
CCG includes the Core processor, the
related Arc graphics chip, memory, and
all commercial, desktop, and mobile
initiatives. (Intel’s Xeon processors fall

CES 2022: Intriguing and
innovative PC hardware
CES 2022 was half physical, half virtual, but the parade of PC hardware
(and more) went on. BRAD CHACOS reports
C
ES returned to Las Vegas in 2022, followed in their wake with new products,
but most of the major PC players many coming soon. Peripherals and
decided to stick to the safety displays proved just as exciting.
of remote events. The parade of PC No time to sift through all our
hardware went on regardless. Big names CES coverage? No problem. Read on
AMD, Intel and Nvidia all made splashy for our Best of CES picks – the most
announcements, and PC manufacturers intriguing and innovative products

CES 2022
we saw. (If you’re looking for higher- aesthetic, and mechanical wizardry, it
level impressions from the show, be looks like something straight out of a
sure to check out our round-ups of ÃVwÛi°/iV«>ÞìÕÀiÞ
5 laptops trends, see page 21, and refers to its design as “intelligent
5 monitor trends that PC enthusiasts >ÀyÜ»]LÕÌÌ½Ã>iv>Ü>ÞÌÃÌ>`
can’t ignore, see page 27.) ÕÌ>}Ìiwi`v`ÌÜiÀƂ/8
cases. Alaina Yee
1. CYBERPOWERPC
-+0'6+%|%#5' 2. DELL XPS 13 PLUS
We’ve seen a lot of PC cases in our Dell’s XPS 13 is arguably one of the most
time, but none that has the wild take }«Àwi>«Ì«Ã>ÀÕ`Ì>ÃÌÌÃ
on practicality of CyberPowerPC’s new history of setting the stage for what all
Kinetic series. This futuristic case features laptops strive for. For example, before
a set of small, angular panels on its front ÌiwÀÃÌ8*-£ÎÜÌwÌÞ `}iLiâiÃ
that automatically open and close to appeared, all laptops rolled with bezels
>>}i>ÀyÜ° iÌÜiiÌi}iiÌÀV about as ridiculous-looking as bell
design, sleek white and copper bottom corduroy pants.
Dell’s vaunted line
once again reaches
for the brass ring with
the new 14-core XPS
13 Plus, which gives
off a gorgeous and
minimalistic look with
its integrated haptic
trackpad. The trackpad
is still there in the
central part of the palm
rest, but rather than
using a conventional
piano-hinge design, it
‘clicks’ similarly to how
your phone shakes.
1.
Dell also isn’t shy to

physical F4 key,
but we’d guess
there are plenty
of people that
would call those
ÜÀÌÞÃ>VÀwViÃ
to get a 14-core
CPU in a laptop
weighing 1.24kg.
What we can
tell you is to win
big, you have to
take risks, and the
2.
XPS 13 Plus swings
for the fences like
take the Internet’s slings and arrows with Dell did years ago, when it basically
the integration of, well, not a touch bar, forced all other laptop makers to catch
but a bar you can touch for the function up. Gordon Mah Ung
keys striped across the top. Sure, the
tech press that previously lauded Apple’s 3. ALIENWARE 34 QD-LED
Touch Bar as “futuristic” and “smart” are We’ve seen a few OLED screens aimed
now out in force saying the XPS 13 Plus’s at PC gamers before, but they’ve
capacitive touch function key is a bad generally been repurposed TV panels
ì>]LÕÌÌ>Ì½ÃÌiwVi«ÀiÃÃvÀÞÕ° with a few extra bells and whistles (and of
The Dell XPS 13 Plus grabs onto course, that lucrative ‘gamer’ branding).
another controversial design decision ƂiÜ>ÀiÃiiÃÌLiÌiwÀÃÌÕÌvÌi
with both hands by ditching the beloved gate with a screen built from the ground
3.5mm analogue headset jack. Dell said up with PC gaming in mind. This massive
it dumped the jack to save space (also 34in monitor is still tiny by comparison to
the reason it ditched physical function «ÀiÛÕÃìÃ}Ã]wÌÌ}ÌÌi««Õ>À
keys), which lets it stuff way more 34in ultra-wide category.
hardware inside. But it’s not wanting for bells nor
Obviously, everyone will wonder if whistles. In addition to the usual RGB
it’s worth losing that headset jack and lighting, G-Sync support, and plethora

CES 2022
going to be extremely
tempted to spend (lots
and lots) of money on in
2022. Michael Crider
4. 12TH-GEN INTEL
‘ALDER LAKE’
LAPTOP CPUS
We wouldn’t be lying
if we said CES 2022’s
bushel of laptop CPUs
3.
was an embarrassment
vÀViÃ]ÜÌƂwÀÃÌ
of inputs expected from a premium announcing Ryzen 6000 mobile CPUs
PC gaming monitor, the Alienware using its impressive Zen 3+ cores, and
QD-OLED 34 combines quantum dot ÌiÌiwÀ}L>VÜÌÌÃ£ÓÌ}i
technology with the perfect blacks and Alder Lake mobile CPUs. What’s better?
vivid colours of OLED for a brighter Well, we don’t honestly know yet to
overall panel, overcoming
some of the technology’s
inherent weaknesses. It’s a
common theme among the
new televisions at CES, so it’s
}Ài>ÌÌÃiiÌ>Ìw>Þ®}}
right into a PC monitor. On
top of that you get a speedy
175Hz native refresh rate
(impressive for this size), a
USB hub, and a host of gamer
goodies as well.
In short, while there are
bigger and more impressive
OLED ‘monitors’ on the show
4.
yÀ]ÌÃÃÌii½

be honest. Both lines
offer pretty spectacular
feature sets, such as
the new RDNA 2-based
GPU cores in AMD’s
Ryzen 6000 processors,
which offer twice the
performance of the
older chips. Intel’s
CPUs, meanwhile,
bring core counts to
unheard-of levels with
1.5kg laptops wielding
14 cores on tap.
So you can see our
5.
predicament in trying
to pick the best laptop
CPU announcement at CES – everyone’s 5. SAMSUNG FREESTYLE
a winner! ‘Best of’ awards never get PORTABLE PROJECTOR
shared, however, so that means we have Projectors may seem out of fashion
to pick a winner and with phaser to our these days, given the ubiquity of fancy
head, we declare Intel’s 12th-gen Alder monitors and TVs. But given the world
Lake laptop line-up as the best laptop right now, the idea of setting up a
CPU of the show. big-screen viewing experience almost
Offering a hybrid architecture with anywhere hits just right. Whether you
up to six performance cores sitting aside want to have outdoor movie nights
>ÌiÀnivwViVÞVÀiÃ]>VL>Ì or make the most of ultra-tight living
expected to offer more than 40 per quarters, the Samsung Freestyle can
cent increased performance over Intel’s adapt to the situation. It takes the same
already awesome 11th-gen Tiger Lake amount of room as a thermos, can run
CPUs, Intel’s 12th-gen chips will be very off of a USB PD power bank, and even
`vwVÕÌ
*1ÃvÀiÛiƂ½ÃiÜ,Þâi screws into standard E26 light bulb
6000 series to unseat in terms of raw sockets. No one needs this projector,
performance. Gordon Mah Ung LÕÌìwÌiÞÜ>Ìi°Alaina Yee

CES 2022
machine for business

professionals looking to
get some serious work
done, that’s for sure.
Ashley Biancuzzo
7. AMD RADEON
RX 6500 XT
Over three long years
after Nvidia’s GeForce
RTX 20-series kicked
off the real-time ray
tracing revolution, the
6.
wÀÃÌÃÕLfÓää}À>«VÃ
card capable of handling
6. LENOVO THINKBOOK those beautifully strenuous lighting
2.75|)'0 ivviVÌÃÃw>ÞiÀiq>`ÌV>ivÀ
You know what’s better than one display? AMD, not Nvidia. The Radeon RX 6500
Two displays. The Lenovo ThinkBook XT is a humble desktop GPU pitched
Plus Gen 3 raised some eyebrows at more as a budget successor to the
CES due to this rather unusual feature. popular Radeon RX 570 than a true ray
That said, it’s a cool bit of hardware that ÌÀ>V}«ÜiÀÕÃi]LÕÌy««}
makes multitasking a lot easier. The AMD’s new Radeon Super Resolution
secondary display, which
lives on the right side of
the keyboard, is 8 inches
with a resolution of
1,280x800. The screen is
made of glass and touch-
enabled, and it allows
you to quickly access
apps like Microsoft
Outlook or Edge. It’s
7.
a great productivity

feature (which will speed
up performance in all
your games) should help
pick up the slack.
The sheer fact
Ì>Ì>f£ËÌLV®
graphics card exists in
the midst of a severe
GPU drought is worth
cheering, and since
ƂÕÌwÌÌi`ÌiÈxää
8.
XT with 4GB of RAM, it
can’t be used to mine
Ethereum – the primary cryptocurrency to everyone’s face. It’s also, frankly,
helping to drive up graphics card costs. the most gangster move ever, akin
Time will tell if you’ll actually be able to casually drinking from a diamond-
to get your hands on one of these for encrusted Evian bottle while surrounded
around its sticker price, but I’d wager by masses of people dying of thirst.
you’ll probably have a lot better odds If you were offended by it though,
w`}>,>ì,8Èxää8/ÃÌÀiÃ you’re missing the whole point of the
Ì> Û`>½ÃiÜÞ>ÕVi`fÓ{ GeForce RTX 3090 Ti’s existence in
ËÌLV®,/8Îäxä]ÜÃiÕVÞn ÌiwÀÃÌ«>Vi°
memory buffer puts it squarely in Coming as the replacement for a card
the sights of miners. The Radeon RX so luxurious that most reviewers said to
6500 XT could be just what desperate skip it (ourselves included), the GeForce
PC gamers need in 2022. Fingers RTX 3090 Ti does two things: it gives
crossed. Brad Chacos ÌÃiÌÀÞ}ÌÃVÀ«LÞfÓää
NBA Super Max contracts something
8. NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3090 TI to buy to replace their old GeForce
In a world where gamers are grateful ,/8ÎääÜÌ]>`ÌyiÝiÃÕÃViÃ
to buy four-year-old used GPUs at AMD’s and – more importantly to Nvidia
their original list price, Nvidia’s mic – Intel’s face in a year we’re likely to see
drop reveal of the GeForce RTX 3090 >*1V>Ìw}ÌÌiiÃvÜVÜi½Ûi
Ti (it’s pronounced ‘tie’) felt like a slap never seen before. So while the 3090 Ti

CES 2022
may not be the best GPU at CES (that also challenging engineers to make
honour goes to the Radeon 6500 XT), faster laptops with increasingly limited
Ì½ÃìwÌiÞÌiLiÃÌ *1>Ì
-° amounts of space.
Gordon Mah Ung Alienware’s x14 measures a mere
321.5x262.77mm at just 14.5mm thick.
9. ALIENWARE X14 How thin is that? Most gaming laptops
We never owned Alienware’s original chest pound for being 19.5mm, so the
netbook-sized gaming laptop, the M14x, x14 is 25 per cent thinner. In fact, the
and to this day we still pine about the Alienware x14 ‘out thins’ Apple’s new
‘one that got away’. But maybe – just MacBook Pro 14 by a millimetre.
maybe – we’ll have our chance again Despite its stature, the x14 packs in
to own an ultra-portable gaming plenty of hardware with up to a 14-core
notebook, as the new Alienware x14 12th-gen Core i7 cooled with Alienware’s
claims the title of being the “thinnest Element 31 thermal interface, and a
gaming laptop in the world”. GeForce RTX 3060 6GB GPU along with
Yeah, we know, you wrinkle your a 144Hz FHD panel and G-Sync plus
nose at ‘thin laptops’, but nothing Optimus Advanced.
motivates sales like a thin laptop, while While other thin gaming laptops
have tended
to tone down
the gamer
aesthetic to go
‘legit’ the x14
embraces its
heritage. Sure,
to get there
you have to use
soldered down
LPDDR5/5200
RAM, but that
also helps with
battery life on
a laptop that
9.
you likely won’t

10.
mind actually carrying in your really thin gamers, however, was AMD’s Ryzen 7
bag. Gordon Mah Ung 5800X3D, which packs 64MB of high-
performance L3 cache on top of an
10. AMD RYZEN 7 5800X3D 8-core Ryzen 7 5800 die (hence the
Like laptop CPUs, the desktop CPU ‘3D’ in the name).
news at CES was beefy AF, with Intel That cache, AMD says, is just what
w}ÕÌÌÃiÌÀiìÃÌ«iÕ« games love, and will boost the Ryzen
v£ÓÌ}iiÀ>Ì
*1Ã]vÀË{ä 7 5800X3D to gaming performance
budget chips to the non-K CPUs most at and above that of Intel’s top-end
people buy. Intel closed off with news Core i9-12900K chip. It’s so fast that
and a demo of a special edition ‘KS’ AMD laid claim to it being the “fastest
chip that can run all of its performance gaming CPU”. Sure, Ryzen 7000 is sexy
cores at 5GHz while gaming. AMD, and Alder Lake’s full roster is exciting,
likewise, talked up its next-gen Ryzen but the value of a ‘fastest gaming CPU’
7000 processors due in the second sticker on the box is going to make
half of the year – which can also run most consumers gooey inside and
games with all cores at 5GHz. The CPU i>ÃÞµÕ>wiÃ>ÃÌiLiÃÌìÃÌ«
*1
that might have the most impact for announcement at CES. Gordon Mah Ung

CES 2022
extra clutter – in the form

of a standalone dock or
switcher – to my already-
cluttered desk. Shoot, you
could possibly even daisy-
chain a second monitor.
At the same time, the
UltraSharp’s dock would be
keeping my laptop charged
without the need for its
own power cable. How
great is that? Ports include
11.
DisplayPort 1.4, USB-A
ports, 10Gb/s USB-C
11. DELL ULTRASHARP 32 4K connections, an RJ45 port for Ethernet,
This seems so obvious I’m surprised and audio. It even has a built-in webcam.
it hasn’t been done before: the Dell Katherine Stevenson
UltraSharp 32 4K is a desktop monitor
that doubles as a Thunderbolt I/O dock. 12. ACER PREDATOR
Maybe it just strikes me as particularly 64+610|5'
genius now that I’m working from Acer’s Predator Triton 500 SE strikes
iÀivÌiÌ>Ì>`w`} a balance between work and play,
myself regularly moving between
my personal desktop and my work
laptop, while having just one large
monitor and desk between them.
With the UltraSharp 32 4K, I
could connect both machines to
my 3,240x2,160 IPS display, as well
as my mouse and keyboard, and
use the KVM switching feature to
seamlessly move between the two
PCs as needed, using all the same
12.
peripherals, without adding any

something that will
hopefully become a trend
in the future. Why have
a gaming laptop and
a productivity laptop,
when one notebook can
do both? Sure, there’s
a powerful 12th-gen
Core and an Nvidia RTX
3080 Ti GPU inside, but
the real story is just the
workmanlike exterior and
13.
lack (yes, lack) of RGB
bling. Long battery life, a
high-res display, and gaming chops is a – but just as importantly, look great.
trend we like to see. Mark Hachman As Wes Davis put it in his coverage,
the whirling robo-arm set-up “delights
13. TP-LINK AXE11000 TRI- me – as someone who grew up with an
BAND ARCHER AXE200 OMNI ½näÃv>ÞvÀi`ÞÃVwvÕii`ÛÃ
Routers packing Wi-Fi 6E – the cutting- of the future wherein all houses are full
edge networking standard worth vÜÀÀ}}âÃÜÌÃÕ«iÀyÕÕÃÞ
investing in – showed up in force at CES rotating, undulating, oscillating whatsits
2022 after sticking mostly to rare, high- >```>`Ãq>«ÕÀiÞÃÕ«iÀwV>
end models in 2021. We saw Wi-Fi 6E level”. And as a simple man who likes
routers rolled out by Netgear, TP-Link, simple pleasures, all I can say is amen,
Asus ROG, and even Comcast at the brother. Brad Chacos
show, every one featuring blazing-fast
speeds and killer next-gen features. My 14. LG C2 42IN OLED TV
favourite though? The TP-Link AXE11000 Prior to LG’s announcement this week,
Tri-Band Archer AXE200 Omni, and for using an OLED television as a monitor
a very, very dumb reason. It features meant going big – displays started at
mechanically self-adjusting arms that 48 inches and only went up from there.
have a practical purpose – maximizing Having one sitting just a couple of feet
throughput from this ultra-fast router from your face was borderline unwieldy.

CES 2022
in all of your favourite

dark, moody games
and movies. The only
disappointment about
LG’s announcement
is that the 42in and
48in version of the C2
lack the brighter EVO
panels of their larger
siblings. Alaina Yee
15. LENOVO
14.
LEGION 5I PRO
With its glacial white
The upcoming 42in version of the LG chassis and barely-there bezels, the
C2 doesn’t sound all that much smaller, Lenovo Legion 5i Pro is sure to turn
but the 6in difference should make desk heads. The minimalistic, sophisticated
usage feel far more comfortable. And aesthetic is a most welcome departure
at that close distance, you’ll be able to from the traditional gamer look. But
properly enjoy OLED’s deep black levels it’s more than just a pretty face. The
2,960x1,600 resolution IPS
display features a lightning-
fast adaptive refresh rate of
240Hz. The sky-high refresh
rate is a major selling point,
as it means smoother
gameplay. The laptop is
also driven by a 12th-gen
Intel Core processor and
RTX graphics. If it’s power
you’re looking for, the
Legion 5i Pro should have
everything you need.
15.
Ashley Biancuzzo

CES 2022: 5 laptop trends
Setting the tone for the future. MATT SMITH reports
C
ES 2022 is typically the single performance to the moon – and that’s
most important media event just the start.
for the PC laptop industry. This iÀi½ÃwÛiÌ«>«Ì«ÌÀi`ÃvÀ
year proved no different despite the CES 2022 that simply can’t be ignored.
sudden and unexpected shift from to
a largely virtually show (The major chip 1. LAPTOPS GROW IN POWER
makers all stayed remote, as did most (AND POWER CONSUMPTION)
laptop manufacturers). The PC laptop world was focused on
In fact, 2022 is shaping up to be an large, heavy, and expensive laptops at
excellent year for Windows laptops. CES 2022. While AMD, Intel and Nvidia
New CPUs and GPUs from AMD, continue to make silicon focused on
Nvidia and Intel promise to send laptop thin-and-light systems, the most exciting

CES 2022
announcements remain in the realm of ÜÌy>}Ã«£ÓÌ}i

Ài«ÀViÃÃÀÃ
high-power, high-performance mobile packing up to a whopping 20 cores.
computing. Even the best thin-and-lights, The trend continues in discrete
like the Dell XPS 13 Plus and Lenovo graphics. AMD and Nvidia both
ThinkPad Z, are appealing because they announced faster discrete laptop options
attempt to stuff ever-faster hardware for graphics, such as the AMD Radeon
into modest footprints (whether they’re 6850M XT and Nvidia GeForce RTX
successful remains to be seen). 3080 Ti. These offer the best mobile
Intel’s 12th-gen Core processors performance yet from each company, but
list a base power as low as nine watts. also target a slightly higher maximum
The maximum potential thermal design design power than their predecessors.
power ranges from 29 watts on the More power consumption can hurt
U-Series to 115 watts for the quickest portability, but it has an upside. The
H-Series processors, however. For focus on powerful laptops means 2022
comparison, Intel’s popular 8th-gen is a great time to buy if you want a
Core Mobile processors, such as the reasonably priced machine with great
Core i5-8250U and Core i7-8550U, had multi-core CPU performance and
a maximum listed thermal design power respectable discrete graphics. The Acer
of 25 watts. This increase in wattage is Swift X, Lenovo ThinkBook Plus and
excused by big leaps in core counts, entry-level Razer Blade all look set to
strong results
Acer’s 16in Swift X is
at a mid-range
powerful for its size, but I
wouldn’t call it portable. price. For
most people,
these laptops
should be
quick enough to
replace a gaming
or workstation
desktop with
no noticeable
downside. Well,
aside from howling
system fans.

AMD’s Ryzen 6000 APU uses the RDNA 2 architecture found in the PlayStation 5 and Xbox
Series X|S.
2. FASTER INTEGRATED compared to Ryzen 5000 APUs, which

GRAPHICS IS A WIN already delivered great gaming results.
(14|$7&)'6.#26125 This gain will make a bulk of modern
Performance laptops took the spotlight games playable at 1080p resolution and
at CES 2022, but there was good news 30fps, with many playable at 60fps.
for those who want a budget laptop or The IGP also supports AMD’s
a speedy thing-and-light. AMD and Intel FidelityFX Super Resolution, which
announced new integrated graphics (IGP) can upscale games from a lower
options that provide the biggest year- render resolution to further improve
over-year performance gain since the performance. With this feature on, AMD
Àii>ÃivÌiwÀÃÌ,ÞâiƂ*1Ã° says the best Ryzen 6000 processors can
AMD’s Ryzen 6000 mobile APUs average 59fps in Far Cry 6 at medium
score a win by shifting the IGP to the detail and 1080p resolution. That’s very
RDNA 2 architecture found in recent impressive for integrated graphics.
AMD discrete graphics cards. It claims Intel’s integrated graphics for
a two-fold performance improvement 12th-gen Core i7 and i5 processors

CES 2022
appear similar to 11th-gen Core, but band. I’ve tested Wi-Fi 6E routers
Core i3 nets a healthy upgrade from and can vouch for their speed. They
48 execution units to 64 EUs. The effectively render Gigabit Ethernet
integrated graphics performance of obsolete for most homes, as Wi-Fi 6E
12th-gen Core i3 processors will still be can reliably offer speeds of 800Mb/s or
less than ideal, but this improvement higher in real-world conditions.
should make a wider range of games The speeds were a bit of a moot
playable on entry-level Windows point at the time, because laptops sold
>«Ì«Ã«ÀVi`>ÀÕ`Ëxää° in 2021 did not support Wi-Fi 6E. That
will change rapidly through 2022. It’s not
3. BOTH WIRED AND WIRELESS a must-have feature for most, but people
CONNECTIVITY GET AN with access to Gigabit should seriously
UPGRADE consider an upgrade to a Wi-Fi 6E.
There’s more to a laptop than CPU
and GPU performance. Connectivity 4. IT’S OKAY TO BE WEIRD
and Wi-Fi performance often just The lack of progress in thin-and-
as important to your day-to-day light laptop design has forced laptop
experience – and there’s big upgrades manufacturers to search for new ways
landing in 2022. to distinguish themselves. Trying to
Physical connectivity is improving beat the competition with a thinner,
with the arrival of USB 4 and Thunderbolt lighter system often isn’t practical and
4. These are not new announcements may even be harmful if it requires a
for CES 2022 and already available in cut to performance.
some laptops, but they’ll become more That means PC makers must get
widely available in 2022. Intel’s 12th-gen creative. Dell’s radical XPS 13 Plus has
Core mobile platform supports both an island-style keyboard and replaces
USB 4 and Thunderbolt 4, so these the function row with touch-sensitive
features will become common as new buttons. Numerous multi-screen laptops
models appears through 2022. AMD’s are available, including a new Lenovo
Ryzen 6000 mobile does not support ThinkBook Plus that replaces the
Thunderbolt 4 but does support USB 4. numberpad with an 8in touchscreen.
AMD and Intel’s mobile hardware Lenovo’s ThinkPad Z and Dell’s XPS 13
will support Wi-Fi 6E, the latest Wi-Fi Plus also have haptic touchpads, an
standard. It opens a new 6GHz wireless unusual feature for a Windows laptop.

Asus brought a
new high-end
folding laptop that
targets creators.
Mid-range
laptops are
beginning to
diverge as well.
Acer’s Swift X,
Lenovo’s Yoga 7i,
and Dell’s Inspiron
7000 series are
mid-range laptops
with distinct perks. The radical Asus Zenbook Fold 17.
Acer’s Swift X has
RTX graphics, Lenovo’s Yoga 7i is the AMD, Intel and Nvidia combat this
only 2-in-1, and Dell’s Inspiron 7000 with optimization. Intel’s 12th-gen Core
brings substantial connectivity with processors pair less performant, lower-
affordable high-end storage and RAM power E-cores with quicker P-cores and
Vw}ÕÀ>ÌÃ°/i>«Ì«Ã>ÛiÌiÀ aim to minimize use of the latter when
own style as each company moves to they’re not needed. Nvidia stresses a
unusual materials and bold colours. similar approach in its GPUs, which can
selectively maximize the clock of some
5. BATTERY LIFE STRUGGLES GPU cores while leaving others unused.
61|-''272#0&#/&/#-'5 And AMD made a vague boast about 50
AN UNREALISTIC CLAIM new power management features that
Most laptop trends at CES 2022 are can enable up to 24 hours of battery life.
positive, and doubly so if you care about Hold up. 24 hours of battery life? In
performance. If you want multi-day real laptops? Well…no.
battery life, however, I don’t think the Ƃ``ÌiÃÌ>ÕÃ«iVwi`
industry is heading in the right direction. reference laptop under conditions that
In part, this circles back around to the returned the result AMD claims. It’s a
wÀÃÌÌÀi`\L}]v>ÃÌ>«Ì«ÃÌ>ÌVÃÕi true statement. However, you can’t buy
a lot of power. an AMD reference laptop, and the use

CES 2022
Is it possible to hit 24 hours of battery life? Yes. Will you see it happen? No.
V>ÃiÃ>Ã«iVwVÛì«>ÞL>VÌiÃÌ VERDICT
that’s not representative of real use. On balance, CES 2022 was
The claim that laptops with Ryzen 6000 unquestionably positive for PC laptops
APUs can hit 24 hours of battery life despite the ongoing pressures of high
does not mean AMD laptop buyers will chip prices and Apple’s competitive
see 24 hours of battery life (or anything M1-powered MacBooks. The laptops
close to it) in daily use. shown at CES should deliver impressive
Intel, to its credit, did not participate performance, highly competitive pricing,
in this charade at CES 2022. The press and unmatched versatility. There’s no
deck for Intel 12th-gen Core processors question that PC laptops remain the top
ìÃÌ>iÃ«iVwVL>ÌÌiÀÞvi choice if you want one computer for
claims, and laptop manufacturers have work and play.
largely followed Intel’s lead. I suspect this
means the battery life of the 12th-gen
Core mobile is unimpressive, but at least
it won’t lead naive shoppers to expect
multi-day endurance.

CES 2022: 5 monitor trends
Displays are getting faster, brighter and bigger. MATT SMITH reports
C
ES is an important show for Here’s a rundown of the most
PC monitors. The presence important monitor trends from CES 2022.
of display giants like LG and
Samsung sets the tone for the coming 1. NVIDIA WANTS TO
year while smaller monitor makers tease /#-'|)#/+0)/10+6145
>ÕViiÌÃvÀÕ«V}y>}Ã«Ã° BIGGER AND FASTER
Many monitors shown at CES 2022 Nvidia came to CES 2022 touting the
won’t arrive until the latter half of LiiwÌÃvÓÇ]£{{ä«ÌÀÃÜÌ>
the year and pricing remains in short 360Hz refresh rate as an alternative to
supply. Still, the show can help you traditional 25in, 1080p esports monitors.
decide between upgrading a monitor 1440p at 360Hz is new, but 27in
now or waiting for the next holiday monitors are extremely common. In
shopping season. esports, however, 25in monitors remain

CES 2022
the standard. Professional players often monitors that handle all genres and play
have an almost superstitious attachment styles with little or no compromise.
to not only a particular monitor size, but That’s if esports players go for it, of
a particular brand and panel technology. course – and converting them could
Nvidia’s argument for the upgrade? be a challenge.
A 27in 1440p monitor provides a larger,
sharper view of the game. The company 2. MINI-LED GETS A
claims this can increase accuracy .+66.'|/14'#((14&#$.'
in shooters by up to three percent. I’m bullish on Mini-LED monitors. The
That’s not a lot, but any tangible edge lack of burn-in and the potential for
is important to professional players excellent HDR performance makes them
w}Ì}vÀ>V>«Ã«ÌÌi° >ÃÕ«iÀLVVivÀLÌvwViÃiÌÌ}Ã
I must mention Nvidia has skin in and hardcore gaming. I don’t own one,
this game. Pushing monitors to higher however. Why? Well, they’re expensive.
resolutions and refresh rates is good for That’s not going to change in a year,
Nvidia’s bottom line, as powering those but CES 2022 provides hope. First up
experiences demands more potent is the Acer Predator X32 and X32 FP,
graphics cards, so the company’s claims a pair of 32in monitors with 576 Mini-
deserve scepticism. LED zones (the X32 supports G-Sync
Still, I see the potential. Rallying Ultimate but not HDMI 2.1, while
professional and casual players around the X32 FP supports HDMI 2.1 and
the 27in 360Hz standard at 1440p could FreeSync). They pack 4K resolution and
lead to a class of mainstream gaming a refresh rate up to 165Hz.
The Predator X32
ÜÀiÌ>vÀf£]
ËÌLV®>`Ìi8ÎÓ*
Ü}vÀf£]ÇËÌLV®]
with both expected to
arrive in Q3 2022. That’s
not cheap, but it’s a lot
less than 2021 Mini-
LED monitors like the
ËÎ]ÓnƂÃÕÃ,"-ÌÀÝ
1.
PG32UQX).

Samsung is entering
the 32in Mini-LED
arena with the Odyssey
Neo G8. It will serve
4K at up to 240Hz
and boasts Quantum
Dot technology.
Samsung hasn’t
V>Àwi`Ìi
dimming zone count
or the price. However,
Samsung’s 49in Mini-
LED super-ultra-wide,
the Odyssey Neo G9,
2.
ÀiÌ>ÃvÀË£]Î°½`
expect Neo G8 to retail
for less than that. CES 2022 brings a new solution:
Mini-LED is headed in the right 42in OLED displays. You can choose
direction, and certainly remains vÀÌÜy>ÛÕÀÃ°/ÃiÜÜ>Ì>
competitive with OLED monitors. affordable, general-purpose option can
*iÀ>«ÃÜi½ÃiiÌÌÃÕLËÓ]äää«ÀVi opt for LG’s new 42in C2 OLED. If you
points at next year’s CES. prefer a straight-up monitor, however,
you might consider Asus’s ROG Swift
3. 42IN OLEDS OLED PG42UQ.
OFFER A NEW OPTION A 42in screen is still too large for
PC enthusiasts are mad with envy for the use on a typical desk, but it’s viable
excellent Sony and LG OLED televisions if you’re willing to rearrange your
console gamers can enjoy for less than set-up or wall-mount the OLED as a
Ë£]xää°-iiÛiÌÀÞÌÕÃiÌiiÛÃÃ secondary display for games and video.
as monitors. This often doesn’t work well, PC gamers who stick to cross-platform
as even 48in TVs are too big to use at a ÌÌiÃÜÌ}>i«>`ÃÕ««ÀÌÜw`Ì
desk. Sitting so close can cause eye and especially tempting.
neck strain and makes 4K resolution look Pricing has not been announced for
less impressive. either 42in OLED. LG’s 48in C1 OLED

CES 2022
panels which,
in the case of a
display, means a
higher percentage
of the light
from the OLED
panel reaches
the viewer.
That translates
to improved
brightness and
can even help
with burn-in.
3.
QD-OLED
improves colour
V>ÀÀiÃ>-,*vË{]ÃÌi{Ó gamut and accuracy, too.
model will likely be less expensive. However, the point most important
Don’t expect a big discount, though. for PC owners is extremely simple:
/i{n
£" ÃÞËäiÃÃÌ> QD-OLED monitors actually exist. And
the 55in model. they might come out this year.
Dell has announced the Alienware
4. QD-OLED MAKES ITS DEBUT AW3423DW, a 34in ultra-wide OLED
OLED is great, but it’s not perfect. The monitor with 3,440x1,440 resolution
technology has issues with sustained and a 175Hz refresh rate. It’s also VESA
LÀ}ÌiÃÃ]V>VÃÕiÃ}wV>Ì Ã«>Þ,£äääViÀÌwi`°->ÃÕ}>Ã
power on large displays and is haunted a nearly identical QD-OLED ultra-wide
by the spectre of burn-in. QD-OLED, called the Odyssey G8QNB.
short for OLED displays with Quantum Unfortunately, details about price
Dot technology, is the latest effort to and release date aren’t available.
dismantle these shortcomings. Televisions shown at CES typically arrive
The technical details are complex, in late spring or in summer of the same
LÕÌÕVvÌLÃ`ÜÌivwViVÞ° year, and I wouldn’t expect QD-OLED
QD-OLED can produce a wide range of monitors to appear before them. Pricing?
VÕÀÃÀiivwViÌÞÌ>«ÀÀ" It’s likely to be astronomical. Still, a 34in

ultra-wide OLED would be a dream iÀiÃ>wÀÃÌ>ÌÌi -Ƃ
display for many PC set-ups. "`ÞÃÃiÞƂÀvÀJ->ÃÕ}t/ÃÃ
>VÕÀÛi`xx»{ÌÀÜÌ>£È\
5. THINGS GET…UNIQUE >Ã«iVÌÀ>Ìo
>`ÃiÃiÀÕÃ
CES is an opportunity to get weird, }>}ÉÕÌÌ>Ã}ÌÃtViÃ
and 2022 was no exception. Samsung Ã>ÃÕ}«V°ÌÜÌÌiÀ°VÉ9nÓLi9}}
and LG came to the show with strange /-Vwi`JµL}ÇÇ®x
displays that offer a new take on how >Õ>ÀÞ]ÓäÓÓ
monitors should be used.
Samsung’s Odyssey Ark is a 55in Let’s be real. A 55in curved display
curved monitor on a massive stand in portrait mode is useful only for early
that can rotate the display between onset arthritis of the neck, and the
landscape and portrait orientation. The landscape orientation is too big for
company imagines PC users playing gaming at a desk. Despite this, Samsung
games in landscape mode and then plans to bring it to market.
switching to portrait orientation for a LG brought a more modest take on
massively vertical productivity. the vertical monitors with its DualUp
5.

CES 2022
28MQ780 (see image on page 31). The

DualUp is a 28in monitor with a 16:18
aspect ratio. That’s nearly square. LG
says it’s similar to stacking two 21in
monitors on top of each other. The focus
on vertical use remains odd, but its
reasonable size is less likely to turn your
neck into a pretzel.
These monitors, though silly, are a
response to the move towards remote
work. Samsung and LG seem to think
vertical monitors will be attractive. Dell
and Lenovo, meanwhile, think built-
in webcams are a good idea. I doubt
either idea will catch on, but it’s fun to
see monitor makers experiment with
out-of-box ideas.
VERDICT
CES 2022 was a good year for monitors,
though not everything PC enthusiasts
hoped. OLED and Mini-LED technology
displays remain out of reach for many.
The monitors shown at CES 2022 show
prices are starting to come down but, as
I’ve explained before, it’ll likely be years
before they’re truly affordable.
Still, monitors are moving in the right
direction. Given the lack of progress over
Ìi«>ÃÌwÛiÞi>ÀÃ]*
iÌÕÃ>ÃÌÃÜ
have to take what they can get.

Credit: Getty Images/matejmo
CES 2022: All the chip news
These announcements from CES will set the tone for the year to come.
MARK HACHMAN reports
A
MD, Intel, Nvidia, Qualcomm: AMD’S RX 6000S,

->Ü>ÞÃÕÃiÀÃ>y`v 4:/|)275
chip news that sets the stage In my mind, one of the most impressive
for the year to come, and CES 2022 has announcements of CES was the Acer
been no different. Predator Triton 500 SE, precisely
Two broad themes stand out: a because of what it hoped to accomplish:
concerted effort by AMD and Nvidia to a platform for both work and play. I
develop low-end GPUs that (hopefully) couldn’t help but view AMD’s new
will be widely available, and the mobile GPUs through the same lens:
introduction of next-gen CPU platforms GPUs designed for ultraportable laptops
by both AMD and Intel. Here’s all of that could be carried to work but used
our coverage. for gaming in the evening.

CES 2022
There’s a
whole slew of
mobile GPUs
that AMD
announced,
although the
real problem
AMD needs to
solve isn’t one
for a spec sheet:
we just need to
see more AMD
Radeon-powered
laptops, period. Ryzen 6000 will appear in more than 200 premium laptops this year.
MEET AMD’S RADEON hardware ray tracing to the mobile APU.

572'4|4'51.76+10 RDNA 2, Zen3+: What’s not to like? AMD
More and more, the gaming experience is bringing some impressive capabilities
is being improved not just by GPU to bear in the mobile CPU market, and
hardware, but the conjunction of we’re eager to see notebooks that take
hardware and software working advantage of them. Here’s all the details
together. Nvidia’s DLSS and AMD’s of AMD’s new Ryzen 6000 chips.
FidelityFX Super Resolution use image
upscaling to turn 1080p frame rates AMD’S RYZEN 7 5800X3D
into 4K visual quality, but they require 9+6*|8%#%*'#0&9*#6o5
developer support. Enter AMD’s Super NEXT FOR RYZEN
Resolution, which should work at a How AMD can push a Ryzen 7 to
more fundamental driver level and compete with Intel’s Core i9 is a
accomplish the same thing. little technical, involving a new chip
technology called V-Cache that AMD
AMD LAUNCHES RYZEN showed off during CES last year. What
|/1$+.'%275 it can accomplish, however, looks
This is what we were waiting for: AMD’s incredibly impressive, as demonstrated
next-gen mobile CPU, which brings by AMD’s benchmarks.

This story has a more serious angle, you’ll have that choice. What about a
however: What’s next for Ryzen? We’ll massively powerful 5.5GHZ processor?
spoil it for you, slightly: The beloved That option is there, too. Be prepared
AM4 socket that AMD has preserved that when you’re picking out a 12th-gen
for years is ending, and AM5 is nigh. Core tablet or notebook you’ll have a
AMD’s Ryzen 7000 is due by the end of bunch of options to choose from.
the year, and we explain what all of this
means for you. INTEL BEGINS
SHIPPING ARC GPUS
INTEL LAUNCHES ‘ALDER LAKE’ Unfortunately Intel didn’t offer much
12TH-GEN MOBILE CPUS in the way of performance estimates,
The rivalry between AMD and Intel is giving credence to those who think the
growing intense, and Intel’s long-awaited Arc won’t offer that much in terms of
mobile Alder Lake CPUs set the stage graphics power. But the time is ripe to
for some epic competition during 2022. ship a GPU – any GPU – to a market
Intel’s already promising a more than 28 starved for graphics of all kinds.
per cent performance boost over Tiger
>i]>`ÌiÀi½Ã>Ü>ÞÃ>y`vÌi NVIDIA LAUNCHES THE
powered notebooks to choose from. GEFORCE RTX 3050, RTX 3090
Here are the new Alder Lake mobile TI, AND NEW LAPTOP GPUS
chips that will help you make that buying Does Nvidia know we’re knee deep in
decision for new PCs released during the midst of The Great GPU Shortage?
2022 – including new ‘P’-class chips we Apparently not. During its CES 2022
haven’t seen before. keynote, Team Green came out swinging
with not one, not two, but four fresh
INTEL FILLS OUT DESKTOP CPU graphics cards for desktops and laptops.
LINE WITH NEW ‘KS’ ALDER ÕÌ>ÌfÓ{ËÌLV®]Ìi,/8ÎäxäÃ>
LAKE CHIP, AND MORE affordable, available (?) GPU, and that’s
If you look closely at Intel’s ‘Alder Lake’ what the market is clamouring for.
specs, you can see that Intel has a lot of
knobs to turn: clock speed, power, and INTEL IS TAKING ITS EVO
now the numbers of ‘performance’ and BRAND SERIOUSLY
¼ivwViVÞ½VÀiÃÜÌƂìÀ>i]Ì° Intel’s never been shy about self-
Ü>LÕÌivwViVÞVÀiÃ¶9Õ«] promotion, but the force with which

CES 2022
the company is pushing its Evo brand

is somewhat surprising. At CES, Intel
made two key announcements: First,
it’s expanding the Evo brand into
peripherals, and even some desktops
and commercial devices. Secondly, it’s
making cross-platform content sharing
an Evo perk. Wait, there are perks to
buying an Evo laptop? Like, freebies?
What’s Intel doing here?
QUALCOMM, MICROSOFT
TEAM UP ON AR
This is just vague enough to be
tantalizing: Qualcomm and Microsoft are
teaming up with chips for lightweight
AR glasses. Like Google Glass? A new
HoloLens? This bears watching.

HP Pavilion 14 (2021)
Price: ËxÓvÀv>Ûi°VÉÎµ{L
H
P’s Pavilion range has long been without the awful chunkiness you get
a popular option for consumers, on some business laptops, such as the
offering a combination of (otherwise excellent) Acer Aspire 3.
performance and style at affordable If you’re interested in a machine
prices, but how does the latest 14in that will double up for personal and
HP Pavilion fare amidst a sea of professional use, the Pavilion 14
V«iÌÌ¶,i>`Ìw`ÕÌ° ìwÌiÞÃÌi«>ÀÌ°
But more crucially: it’s portable.
DESIGN While there are lighter laptops out
The HP Pavilion 14 is a good-looking there, the Pavilion 14 is very light at
laptop. The aluminium chassis in frosted 1.46kg. Plus, it’s wonderfully compact.
silver gives it elegance, despite the mid- You can carry it with one hand if you
À>}i«ÀVi°Ì½Ã«Ãi`vÀvwViÕÃi] need to rush off to the kitchen or a

REVIEWS
conference room for a call. Equally, it delivery,10GB/s transfer rates, and

will comfortably balance on your lap if DisplayPort 1.4 connections. This allows
you’re commuting on a train. ÞÕÌiyiÝLÌÞÌ`>ÃÞV>ÕÌ«i
ƂÃ«>ViivwViÌiÞL>À`ìÃ monitors if needed. You also get an
away with the numeric pad – which HDMI 2.0 connection for a standard
ÞÕ½w`Ìi>À}iÀ*>Û£x display connection.
laptops – reducing the overall footprint The Pavilion 14 is versatile, whatever
ÞÕÀìÃÀ>«®]Üi>Ã«Àwi your work display set-up demands. Also
keeps the laptop at less than an inch included are a micro SD card reader,
when closed. a 3.5mm headphone and microphone
Slipping it into a bag should pose combo and Bluetooth 5 support.
no issues. See some of the best laptop The power supply is a separate
bags and rucksacks here. barrel style connector but you can
While the Pavilion 14 doesn’t charge over USB-C, too.
include a Kensington lock port for those
}Ã«iVwV>ÞvÀ>vwVi>«Ì«] DISPLAY
>vÌÞw}iÀ«ÀÌÀi>ìÀ>ÌiÀi The Pavilion 14 offers a 14in IPS anti-
cements the device as a solid option glare Full-HD (1,920x1,080) touchscreen
for work-from-home or hybrid home display. It looks unashamedly plastic,
>`vwViÀÕÌiÃ° especially with the dull black bezels.
ƂÃvÀÌiw}iÀ«ÀÌÀi>ìÀÌÃiv] Thankfully, these aren’t too chunky.
found it was reliable most
of the time. I occasionally
>`ÌÃvÌÞw}iÀ
for a more accurate
reading but never was I
locked out for multiple
failed attempts.
CONNECTIVITY
You get a variety of
ports, including two USB
3.0 ports and a USB-C The aluminium chassis in frosted silver gives the HP Pavilion 14
port that supports power (2021) an elegant look.

9Õ½>Ãw`>ÇÓä«
webcam at the top,
with integrated dual
array mics.
The image quality
isn’t stunning, but it’s
ÃÕvwViÌvÀ`>Þ
to-day video calls.
You wouldn’t want
to use this camera
if you were starting
a YouTube or Twitch You get a variety of ports on the Pavilion 14.
streaming channel
– you’d be better off with an external on what you’re watching), there isn’t
camera instead. ÕVìwÌ°Ã>««i>À`Õ]
The display also reaches a maximum which makes this laptop less ideal for
brightness of 238 nits (though HP entertainment streaming.
promises 250 nits on the box). This isn’t It’s also a touch-screen. Why? I’m not
bad, per se. Some cheap laptops only entirely sure. While the hinge lets you
go up to 200 nits as it’s a common area push the display back to a comfortable
to implement cost-cutting, which is when degree, it doesn’t fold backwards like
things really get hairy. other 2-in-1s on the market – including
The Pavilion 14 isn’t dull, but you’ll HP’s own x360 options – so you can’t
need more if you want to work outside. actually use it as a tablet. There’s also
Inside or working in the evening and you the inconvenience of accidentally clicking
won’t have any issues. on something while attempting to wipe
The Pavilion 14 packs B&O speakers dust off the screen.
on either side of the laptop. I’ve got to Despite the non-convertible design,
say the sound is refreshingly clear and ÌiLiiwÌÌ>ÌÕVÃVÀiiÃÌ>Ìv
crisp, even if you turn it up all the way, you suffer from repetitive strain you’re
which you won’t ever need to. no longer restricted to a trackpad or
As for the display picture quality? It’s external mouse. It’s also not common to
passable. While the contrast is strong w`>ÌÕVÃVÀii>ÌÌÃ«ÀVi°
and colours can be vivid (depending In a nutshell: if you’re on a budget

REVIEWS
and want a laptop for web or social without much travel, they are springy
media browsing that doubles as a work to the touch so you’ll need to apply a
machine, then Pavilion 14 leaves little to bit more effort when typing. It doesn’t
complain about, especially if you keep take too long to get used to and can
your streaming to the TV. Alternatively, if be satisfying feedback.
ÞÕ`½Ì`Ã«i`}ËÓää³Ài As for the trackpad, it’s generously
a laptop that does it all, you’re better off sized and comfortable to use with good
with one of these leading options. palm rejection. It accepts both physical
clicks, as well as gestures such as two-
KEYBOARD AND TRACKPAD w}iÀÃVÀ}>`À}ÌVV}°
I mentioned that there’s no numeric complaints here.
pad, which shouldn’t be a problem for
the most part. I prefer a numberpad PERFORMANCE
but didn’t miss it tremendously on the You can expect smooth day-to-day
Pavilion 14. Then again, I am a writer, performance on the HP Pavilion 14
so my reliance on a numeric pad isn’t making it, once again, a solid option
as essential as some other professions. for professionals working from home
Accountants may want to look elsewhere. or in need of an affordable laptop for
Overall, the keyboard is comfortable, hot-desking.
and despite a
compact layout,
ÌiÀiÃÃÕvwViÌ
breathing room
between the keys.
Like the display,
the keys are
quite obviously
plastic, a notable
contrast against the
aluminium chassis,
and the typing is
quite audible.
While the keys
>ÀiÜ«Àwi The trackpad is generously sized and comfortable to use.

The model I reviewed offers 8GB to Spotify in the background – and the
RAM and 256GB storage with an HP Pavilion had no qualms. I was also
Intel Core i3-1115G4 processor (the impressed with how it handled photo-
latest 11th-gen). Although this is the editing on GIMP, which I used for basic
lowest rung of Intel processors, the `wV>ÌÃi>ÞiÀ}>}iÃ]
laptop was quick to start up and wasn’t VÀ««}>`w}L>V}ÀÕ`Ã°
overwhelmed at any point over weeks Our benchmark scores demonstrate
of use. It’s a silent workhorse that didn’t the Pavilion 14’s power. Its Geekbench 5
overheat, no matter what I threw at it. score outpaced both the Lenovo IdeaPad
iÝxËxÓ®>`ƂÛÌ>LiÀ6Ë{x®]
Geekbench 5 (multi-core) two of the best budget laptops around.
HP Pavilion 14 (2021): 2,431 The Pavilion’s PCMark 10 score also beat
Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 2: 2,101 the mid-rage Microsoft Surface Go 2 that
Avita Liber X: 1,300 ÜiÀiÛiÜi`ËxÓ®]ÜVvi>ÌÕÀiÃÀi
Honor MagicBook 14: 4,802 powerful Core i5 processors.
Overall, the Pavilion 14 was only
PCMark 10 really behind the Honor MagicBook 14,
HP Pavilion 14 (2021): 3,987 which is our favourite budget laptop.
Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 2: 3,346
Avita Liber X: 2,954 BATTERY LIFE
Honor MagicBook 14: 4,463 You’ll get average battery life out of the
Pavilion 14. Our video loop battery test
Battery life squeezed 7 hours and 21 minutes out
HP Pavilion 14 (2021): 7 hours, 21 of the device. While that’s not the worst
minutes we’ve seen on a budget laptop, plenty
Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 2: 11 hours, 40 of laptops can go a lot longer if this is
minutes an important area. For example, you can
Avita Liber X: 6 hours, 39 minutes get roughly double that amount on the
Honor MagicBook 14: 13 hours, 31 Surface Go 2 and the Magic Book 14.
minutes In our tests, the Pavilion 14 gained
37 per cent battery life back within 30
I used the laptop for work, which minutes, which will get you a couple of
consists primarily of word processing, hours of use - and longer if you set it in
email and web browsing while listening a battery optimisation mode. You can

REVIEWS
get 87 per cent battery life back in an • 2x USB 3.1

hour and nearly a full recharge in an hour • 1x USB Type-C
and a half. • MicroSD Card Reader
• 3.5mm headphone jack
VERDICT • Wi-Fi 5
The HP Pavilion 14 is a solid, affordable • Bluetooth 5.0
>«Ì«vÀiÀvwViÕÃiÌ>Ì • Wide-angle HD webcam
can handle most things you throw at • Bang & Olufsen stereo speakers
it – whether that’s video calls, web • Dual microphone
browsing and social media, music • Multi-touch trackpad
streaming or light photo editing. Its • Membrane keyboard
only drawback is the display may • Fingerprint reader
be a bit too dim for some, and the • 3-cell Lithium-ion battery
touchscreen isn’t wholly necessary. • 325x216.6x17mm
Yet, the device is portable and • 1.46g
compact, making it ideal for those hot-
desking or partially working from home.
HDMI and DisplayPort 1.4 support mean
you can quickly connect the laptop up to
iÀÀiÌÀÃ]>`>w}iÀ«ÀÌ
reader offers added security.
The Pavilion 14 is on the pricier side
of budget laptops, but this all-rounder
will be money well spent. And there are
more powerful models if you need a
Core i5 or a larger SSD. Somrata Sarkar
SPECIFICATIONS
• 14in (1,366x768) touchscreen IPS LCD
display
• Windows 11 Home (64-bit)
• Intel Core i3-1115G4 processor
• 8GB LPDDR3
• 256GB (SSD)

Acer Aspire Vero (2021)
Price: ËÈ{vÀv>Ûi°VÉÎi-ii
T
he Acer Aspire Vero takes a Sustainability is a big subject that’ll
markedly different approach to inevitably become bigger, so we won’t
most other laptops on the market be surprised if more laptops make more
– because it focuses on its environmental noise in this area – but Acer is one of
credentials ahead of other factors, like ÌiwÀÃÌÌÌ>iÌiÌ>ÌÛi°/iì
price or performance. we’ve reviewed is the more affordable
Acer makes a big deal about the
ÀixÃ«iVwV>Ì]>`ÌVÃÌÃËÈ{]
Vero’s (the AV15-51) recycled materials, so it’s not particularly expensive. Is the
vÀÃÌ>Vi]>`ÌiwÀV>ÃÌ>ÌÌi Vero a good laptop and good for the
box works as a laptop stand after you’ve environment, though, or does this green
removed the machine. machine suffer in real-world use?

REVIEWS
DESIGN Acer’s machine is not shy about its

Much of the Acer Aspire Vero’s body eco-friendly credentials. A PCR logo is
uses PCR, or Post-Consumer Recycled stamped into the wrist-rest, so it’s not
material, and Acer is quick to boast even a sticker you can remove. The
about the amount of second-hand stuff lack of paint is another move made to
inside this notebook. The chassis and reduce reliance on potentially harmful
screen bezel use 30 per cent recycled substances. Instead, the Vero is grey,
hardware, and the screen and keycaps ÜÌ>yiVi`ÞiÜ«>ÌÌiÀÌ>Ì½Ã
use 99 per cent and 50 per cent reminiscent of cardboard or concrete.
recycled material respectively. It’s eye-catching, but won’t be to
Ultimately, Acer says that the Vero’s everyone’s taste.
chassis construction produces 21 per The Vero has two USB 3.2 Gen
cent less CO2 than a conventional 15.6in 1 ports and a USB 2.0 connection
laptop. It’s not just about the laptop, alongside HDMI and audio outputs.
either: the box uses 85 per cent recycled Internal connectivity comes from
paper, and the plastic in the packaging dual-band Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.0
is 100 per cent recycled. The box also and Gigabit Ethernet, and there’s a
converts into a laptop stand. w}iÀ«ÀÌÀi>ìÀ>`>ÜiLV>°
That’s impressive, and undoubtedly There’s a USB-C port, but it doesn’t
good for the environment. Still, the Vero work for charging the notebook, and
is not the front-runner when it comes the Vero doesn’t have a card reader
to many of these
statistics – even if
other companies don’t
necessarily boast about
it. Apple’s MacBook
Pro laptops have used
100 per cent recycled
aluminium since 2018,
and many HP Elite
À>}yÞÌiLÃ
use more recycled
materials than
the Vero. The Vero has impressive green credentials.

or Thunderbolt.
The underside
is secured with
conventional
screws, so it’s
easy to replace
and upgrade
components.
That’s helpful,
although that’s
not unusual for
a mainstream,
mid-range laptop. /iiÞL>À`ÃwivÀiÛiÀÞ`>ÞÕÃi°
There’s plenty to
like about this eco-friendly notebook, but KEYBOARD AND TRACKPAD
the Vero weighs 1.8kg and is 20mm thick /iƂViÀƂÃ«Ài6iÀ½ÃiÞL>À`Ãwi
q>`Ì>Ìw}ÕÀiÀÃiÃÌÓÎÜiÌi for everyday use – it’s fast, crisp, and not
rubber feet are included. particularly loud. It’s got a numberpad,
It’s larger and heavier than rivals. The a large space bar and a double-height
Samsung Galaxy Book is a 15.6in laptop return key. For web browsing, emails
that weighs 1.55kg and is 15.4mm thick, >``VÕiÌÃ]Ì½Ãwi°
and the 14in Huawei MateBook D 14 is More demanding users won’t be
even lighter. Both laptops look better Ã>ÌÃwi`]ÌÕ}°/iLÕÌÌÃvii>LÌ
than the Vero, and the Samsung has a too hollow and rattle a little too much,
microSD card slot to boot. and they could be larger – especially
The Vero’s build quality doesn’t on the numberpad and cursor keys.
really impress, either. There’s noticeable The backlight doesn’t have adjustable
movement on the wrist-rest and the brightness either.
ÕìÀÃìyiÝiÃ°/i«>ÃÌV>LÛiÌi The R and E keys could distract
iÞL>À`ÃyÃÞ]>`Ìi`Ã«>ÞÃi>ÃÞ slower typists, too: they’re installed
to twist. If you want a laptop to last for backwards and with their font in yellow
years – so you can avoid electronic waste to highlight recycling.
– the Acer doesn’t inspire huge amounts /iÌÀ>V«>`Ãwiv>ÌÌiÃvÌ]
vVwìVi° so I’ve got no complaints there and it’s

REVIEWS
}Ì>w}iÀ«ÀÌÃV>iÀ
built-in. But if you want a
snappier and more solid
keyboard, the Samsung is
a better choice.
DISPLAY
The 15.6in panel has a
1,920x1,080 resolution
>`>>ÌÌiwÃ°Ì½Ã>
non-touch IPS display,
>`Ì½ÃwivÀÜiL
browsing and working in
"vwVi>««Ã° /i£]ÓäÝ£]änä`Ã«>ÞÃwivÀÜiLLÀÜÃ}>`ÜÀ}
Delve into "vwVi>««Ã°
benchmarks, though,
and the Vero disappoints. The panel’s The Samsung has marginally better
brightness level of 270 nits is only good gamut ability alongside a 325-nit
enough for indoor use. The Delta E of brightness level, so it’s noticeably better.
5.16 is average, and the display only The speakers are good enough for
renders a paltry 58.1 per cent of the media use thanks to ample volume and
sRGB colour gamut. The contrast ratio of a crisp mid-range, but they don’t have
1,350:1 is better, but that doesn’t save ÕVL>ÃÃ°/iÞwÀi`ÜÜ>À`Ã]Ì]Ã
this screen. a sofa or some bedding could see the
In real-world terms, this panel is dim ÕÌ«ÕÌÕvyi`° iÛiÀÌiiÃÃ]ÌiÞ½Ài
and underwhelming. It looks washed «iÀviVÌÞwi°
out and can’t produce enough colours
to make content look its best. While PERFORMANCE
you can use this display for everyday The Acer Aspire Vero I’ve reviewed
workloads and watching media, nothing uses Intel’s Core i5-1155G7. It’s a Tiger
has much vibrancy, or nuance. Lake chip with four Hyper-Threaded
The Aspire Vero isn’t alone when cores, and it has a peak single-core
it comes to producing pallid images, Turbo speed of 4.5GHz. Most mid-range
though – the Huawei suffered similarly. laptops use the i5-1135G7, which is a

little slower. Acer’s machine uses Intel’s Geekbench 5 (multi-core)
integrated Iris Xe graphics, which means Acer Aspire Vero (2021): 4,821
you can only play casual games. There’s Samsung Galaxy Book (2021):
8GB of dual-channel memory. In the UK 5,320
you get a 512GB SSD. Microsoft Surface Laptop Go (2020):
The processor’s Geekbench single- 3,440
and multi-core scores of 1,446 and Honor MagicBook 14 (2021): 5,119
4,821 open a decent lead over the
more popular i5-1135G7. That’s ample PCMark 10
pace for any everyday task – whether Acer Aspire Vero (2021): 4,544
ÞÕÜ>ÌÌ«i>vÞÕÀ"vwVi Samsung Galaxy Book (2021): 5,045
apps, loads of browser tabs or a basic Huawei MateBook 4 14 (2020): 3,757
photo-editing tool. Microsoft Surface Laptop Go (2020):
The SSD’s read and write speeds 3,392
of 2,347MB/s and 1,173MB/s are only Honor MagicBook 14 (2021): 5,029
average, but they keep the laptop
responsive. It’s a decent thermal Battery life
performer, too. It’s never loud – the Acer Aspire Vero (2021): 12 hours, 5
most noise you’ll hear is a tiny whoosh minutes
of the fan if you really push the Samsung Galaxy Book (2021): 7 hours,
internals – and the exterior remained 24 minutes
cool, even in stress tests. Huawei MateBook 4 14 (2020): 10 hours,
/i6iÀ½Ã«iÀvÀ>Vi}ÌLiwi 3 minutes
for everyday tasks, but the Core i5 CPU Microsoft Surface Laptop Go (2020): 10
is not perfect. The Acer scored 4,544 in hours, 47 minutes
PC Mark 10 – about 1,000 points short of Honor MagicBook 14 (2021): 11 hours,
this chip’s potential best score. 35 minutes
In tough multi-threaded work
scenarios, the chip only managed a peak Charge in 30 minutes
speed of 3.5GHz. That’s 800MHz short Acer Aspire Vero (2021): 42%
of its multi-threaded boost peak, and it Samsung Galaxy Book (2021): 39%
explains the lower PC Mark 10 result. It Microsoft Surface Laptop Go (2020):
also means that this laptop isn’t suitable 37%
for tough creative workloads. Honor MagicBook 14 (2021): 39%

REVIEWS
The pricier model

uses the i7-1195G7,
which peaks at
5GHz, but it’s likely
to suffer from the
same throttling issue.
The Samsung and
Huawei machines
didn’t throttle as
drastically, so they’ll
be better with
creative workloads.
Other options
around this price
point are the The Acer Aspire Vero impresses with its environmental credentials.
Microsoft Surface
Laptop Go and the Honor MagicBook its environmental credentials, and
14. Happily, the Acer gained back some it has reasonable battery life, good
ground in battery tests. The Vero lasted everyday performance and solid
for an impressive twelve hours in a video connectivity. It’s good enough to
playback test with the display at 120 nits, handle mainstream computing.
and it ran for 7 hours and 18 minutes in a Negatively, though, the Vero is thicker
work benchmark. and heavier than rivals, its keyboard feels
Those results are better than the hollow, the display disappoints, and the
aforementioned rivals, and you’ll get this components aren’t good enough for
machine through a day of productivity tough workloads. Its looks will divide
unless you really push the hardware. opinion, and this certainly isn’t the only
environmentally conscious laptop on
VERDICT the shelves. The price makes it a viable
There’s hardly anything to choose laptop if you want an everyday machine
between the Acer and its rivals at the with an environmental focus. But if
checkout, but in other departments, you want great performance, a vibrant
it’s easier to pick the notebooks apart. display or a slim, light design, look
The Acer Aspire Vero impresses with elsewhere. Mike Jennings

SPECIFICATIONS
• 15.6in (1,920x1,080) touchscreen IPS
LCD display
• Windows 11 Home (64-bit)
• Intel Core i5-1155G7 processor
• Intel Iris Xe GPU
• 16GB LPDDR4 RAM
• 512GB (SSD)
• 1xHDMI
• 1x USB 2.0
• 2x USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A
• 1x USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-C
• 3.5mm headphone jack
• Wi-Fi 6 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax
• Bluetooth 5.0
• Gigabit Ethernet
• Webcam
• Microphone
• Fingerprint reader
• 3-cell Lithium-ion battery
• 363.4x238.5x17.9mmmm
• 1.8g

REVIEWS
Nubia Red Magic 6S Pro

Price: Ëx£vÀv>Ûi°VÉÎÝµ`nÃ
E
ven by Nubia’s standards, 2021 was still considerably more affordable than
a busy year for the Red Magic line. y>}Ã««iÃvÀ->ÃÕ}°
The Red Magic 6 series saw the As a gaming phone, though, can the
introduction of a new Pro model, even Red Magic 6S Pro challenge the Asus
if remains exclusive to China. It then ,"*ixìÃ«ÌiLi}Ã}wV>ÌÞ
launched a more affordable option – the Vi>«iÀ¶iÌ½Ãw`ÕÌ°
Red Magic 6R – combining premium
specs with a more muted design. DESIGN
Now, there’s the Red Magic 6S There are no real surprises here. If
series. However, this time only the Pro you’ve seen any recent Red Magic
model is getting a global launch. It’s phone, or other so-called gaming phones
the most expensive Red Magic phone in general, then the 6S Pro will seem
we’ve seen launch outside China, but it’s familiar. If you’re used to standard

smartphones,
it can be a
shock to the
system.
The angular
design,
chunky build
and unique
patterned
rear certainly
takes some
getting used
to, although From the rear, the Red Magic 6S Pro is almost identical to its predecessor.
the most
eye-catching change can be found on Both the front and back of the phone
the new Cyborg model. Its transparent are made from glass, although the latter
back allows you to see some of the has a coating that makes it impressively
internals, including RGB lighting ÀiÃÃÌ>ÌÌw}iÀ«ÀÌÃÕ`}iÃ°/i
around the built-in fan. clear case in the box leaves much of the
By comparison, the Ghost (grey) back exposed, and doesn’t hide it.
model I was sent for review is much more Flipping the phone over reveals
muted. It’s all relative, of course. With an unchanged display, which I’ll talk
this version you get no RGB lighting, >LÕÌÀiìÌ>>ÌiÀ°Ì½Ãy>i`
which is a rarity on dedicated gaming by a relatively sizeable bezel by 2021
phones. In fact, from the rear, the Red standards, although it gives the phone
Magic 6S Pro is almost identical to its an attractive symmetry. And I’m certainly
predecessor. An unchanged triple- not complaining about an 85.1 per cent
camera module is arranged vertically in screen-to-body ratio.
ÌiViÌÀi]LÕÌÌÜÃÌÃi>ÀÞyÕÃ A larger bezel means there’s plenty
with the back of the phone. The usual of room for two components above
Red Magic branding is still here, with Ìi`Ã«>Þ\>ÃiwiV>iÀ>]ÜVV>
everything arranged horizontally because also be used for face unlock, and a
gaming phones are designed primarily large speaker grille. The latter works
to be used in landscape mode. as an earpiece for phone calls and as a

REVIEWS
front-facing speaker, combining with a but the 2021 phones have nailed it. It’s
`ÜÜ>À`wÀ}Ã«i>iÀ>ÌÌiLÌÌ fast, responsive and seamless.
to deliver stereo audio. Elsewhere, Nubia has stuck with the
Sound is one of the 6S Pro’s key physical slider for enabling its ‘Game
strengths as a result, delivering a rich, -«>Vi½ì]Ã>Û}Ìiii`Ìw`
wide soundscape which makes for an and launch a dedicated app, or even
immersive gaming experience, as well enable it in a pop-up menu. Grilles
as enhancing videos. iÌiÀÃì>ÜivwViÌV}
There’s also the option to connect (there’s a fan – this isn’t passive cooling),
wired headphones via the 3.5mm and they’re joined by the now-customary
jack. This is extremely rare on modern pair of shoulder triggers.
smartphones, but something many
mobile gamers will appreciate. DISPLAY
The 6S Pro’s other biometric The design of a phone is important,
unlocking method is an optical in- but it’s usually a support act for the
`Ã«>Þw}iÀ«ÀÌÃV>iÀ]ÜV main event – the display. It remains
can of course be used to log in to the highlight of the experience on the
online banking and various other Red Magic 6S Pro, even though there’s
apps. I was disappointed by its initial nothing new here.
implementation on Red Magic phones, It’s a 6.8in, 2,400x1,080 OLED panel,
complete
with a feature
you won’t get
on non-Red
Magic phones
– a 165Hz
refresh rate.
The difference
between this
and the 144Hz
ÞÕ½w`
the competition
is barely
9ÕV>ÕVÌi«iÕÃ}ÌÃ«ÌV>`Ã«>Þw}iÀ«ÀÌÃV>iÀ° perceptible,

but the experience still
feels special.
It’s designed with
gaming in mind, but
everything from scrolling
social media feeds to
multitasking feels ultra-
smooth and responsive.
Nubia acknowledges
that battery life will
take a hit as a result of
choosing this setting, /i«i>Ã>vi>ÌÕÀiÞÕÜ½Ì}iÌ,i`>}V
but adaptive refresh rate phones – a 165Hz refresh rate.
helps mitigate this.
It means the 6S Pro can dynamically 450Hz rating, up from 400Hz on the
adjust between 30-, 60-, 90-, 120- and 6 and 6 Pro, makes it one of the most
165Hz according to what you’re doing responsive screens on any phone.
– no need to run at 165Hz when there’s
no reason to. Even if you don’t want to PERFORMANCE
run at 165Hz all the time, 120Hz or even Performance is an area where Red Magic
90Hz makes a big difference compared phones have always excelled, and it’s no
to a regular 60Hz screen. different here. The 6S Pro is powered
On a display this size, I’m happy that by the Snapdragon 888+, Qualcomm’s
resolution was the area where slight top-of-the-line smartphone chip. It
Ã>VÀwViÃÜiÀi>ì°/iÕ³ features an octa-core Kryo 680 CPU and
display still has plenty of detail and Adreno 660 integrated GPU, as well as
because it’s OLED not LCD, colours built-in 5G support.
really pop, contrast is better, and The model I tested pairs it with
brightness is higher. 12GB of RAM, although there’s the
An oft-overlooked feature on option for 16GB if you want even more
smartphone displays is touch sampling performance. It’s hard to imagine how
rate, a measure of how many times per it could get any better, though – the
second the screen can detect input from Red Magic 6S Pro handles everything
ÞÕÀw}iÀÃ°/i,i`>}VÈ-*À½Ã you can throw at it with ease.

REVIEWS
VÕ`½Ìw`>Ü>ÞÌ>iÌi />Ì½ÃÀiyiVÌi`ÌiLiÜ
phone even stutter or hesitate, despite benchmarks, although its performance is
extensive testing with two of the most roughly in line with the Red Magic 6:
demanding games on the Google Play
Store. The fast-paced racing in Asphalt Geekbench 5 (multi-core)
9 is challenging for any phone, but Red Magic 6S Pro: 3,693
the 6S Pro coped admirably. It was a Red Magic 6: 3,705
similar story with Call of Duty: Mobile, Red Magic 6R: 3,426
where the physical shoulder triggers ROG Phone 5: 3,725
offer a much more precise alternative to ZTE Axon 30 Ultra: 3,663
tapping on the screen. Vivo Iqoo 3 5G: 3,266
Both these games look great and Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra: 3,511
perform extremely well, although they’re
not optimized to run at 165Hz. Given GFX Manhattan 3.1
that no other phone companies output Red Magic 6S Pro: 93fps
at this refresh rate, it should come as Red Magic 6: 87fps
no surprise that the selection of games Red Magic 6R: 107fps
which can run at that speed is limited. ROG Phone 5: 94fps
Military strategy game Arma Mobile ZTE Axon 30 Ultra: 94fps
Ops is arguably the most relevant Vivo Iqoo 3 5G: 61fps
one, especially with online multiplayer Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra: 50fps
support. Many of the others are casual
titles, such as 8-Ball Pool or Angry Birds Battery life
spin-off, Bad Piggies where the high Red Magic 6S Pro: 12 hours, 10 minutes
refresh rate doesn’t make much of a Red Magic 6: 13 hours, 57 minutes
difference. If these are the main games Red Magic 6R: 9 hours, 20 minutes
you play on your phone, a budget ROG Phone 5: 13 hours, 54 minutes
>`ÃiÌÜ`ÕÃÌwi° Vivo Iqoo 3 5G: 11 hours, 16 minutes
It goes without saying, but the stellar Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra: 11 hours, 4
performance extends to everyday use as minutes
well. The 6S Pro is particularly adept at
scrolling social media, web pages and Charge in 30 minutes
multitasking, where the 165Hz screen Red Magic 6S Pro: 37%
makes everything feel more special. Red Magic 6: 71%

Red Magic 6R: 60%
ROG Phone 5: 74%
ZTE Axon 30 Ultra: 52%
Vivo Iqoo 3 5G: 85%
Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra:
56%
However, there’s one area

ÞÕÜLiÃ>VÀwV}Ìi
entry-level model – internal
storage. The 6S Pro has just
128GB and, with no way to The 6S Pro runs a custom skin over Android.
expand this, storage can
}iÌwi`Õ«µÕVÞ°-½`ÀiVi` You can’t change from the default
opting for the 256GB model instead. launcher either, so you’ll have to learn
to live with it. This feels unnecessarily
SOFTWARE restrictive, especially when Android is
Like all Red Magic phones before it, the renowned for its ability to be customized.
6S Pro runs a custom skin over Android. There is one extra software feature
It’s known simply as Red Magic OS, that’s genuinely useful – Game Space.
although version 4.5 looks and feels It works in much the same way as on
much the same as previous iterations. previous Red Magic phones, boosting
It’s a real departure from the vanilla performance and reducing distractions
Android 11 experience you’ll get on for a more immersive gaming
Pixel phones, with a boxier design, experience. There are also options here
redesigned quick settings and no app to play music, record your screen and
drawer. Nubia has also created its manage the fan.
own versions of various stock apps,
including Calendar, Clock, Camera and PHOTOGRAPHY
Phone. Their design can be confusing Cameras are important on all modern
and none of can be uninstalled. Even smartphones, although they take a back
on a dedicated gaming phone, I seat on the 6S Pro. The set-up is the
think most people would rather use same as its predecessor’s, with a 64Mp
Google’s apps instead. main sensor joined by 8Mp ultra-wide

REVIEWS
An example of a panorama photo.
and 2Mp macro. In good lighting, stills my experience, many points of interest
from the phone have a decent amount were out of focus. Poor edge detection
of detail and impressive dynamic range. means portrait-style photos are fairly
Colours and contrast are typically good, underwhelming too.
albeit oversaturated at times – the phone However, if you’re ever tempted
rarely captures shots are true to life. to take a panorama, you won’t be
It struggles a lot more in low light, disappointed. As you can see above,
despite a dedicated night mode. In some excellent images are possible.
It’s also great to have
Ìi>`ì`yiÝLÌÞv
an ultra-wide camera,
although there’s a
noticeable drop in
quality when switching
to this lens. The low-
quality macro sensor
usually adds very little to
the camera experience,
but extreme close-ups
are one of the highlights.
ÀÕÃÌÀ>Ì}Þ]ÃiwiÃ
still have beauty mode
The 6S Pro’s 64Mp main sensor is joined by 8Mp ultra wide and turned on by default –
2Mp macro lenses. I’m not saying all gamers

"ÕÀwÀÃÌ
two test
shots have
night mode
turned off
…and
night mode
switched
on.

REVIEWS
This series
of shots
were taken
using the
main lens…
…2x
zoom…

…the 5x
zoom…
…and
w>Þ]>
wide angle
photo.

REVIEWS
Next up,
we have
a macro
image.
"ÕÀw>
photo is an
example of
>Ãiwi°

are male but it’s an annoying habit that two days at 60Hz, but that defeats the
Chinese manufacturers have of assuming point of buying this phone, as would
everyone wants this. Details and trying to get better fuel economy
exposure are usually good. It does tend from a Ferrari.
to overexpose the background, though. The 6S Pro only supports 120-watt
The 6S Pro can also capture 8K video fast charging in China, so you’ll have
at 30fps, but the default 1080p at 30fps make do with 66 watts if you’re buying
is a better choice for most people. in another country. The 66-watt adapter
Footage is decent, but becomes shaky in the box managed to charge an empty
with movement due to a lack of optical battery to 37 per cent in 30 minutes
image stabilization. while the phone was switched off. That’s
consistent with Nubia’s claims that a
BATTERY LIFE full charge will take around 65 minutes,
This is another where Nubia has made although I often got a message saying
no changes compared to the Red the voltage was too high and that
Magic 6 and 6 Pro. That’s arguably charging had been stopped. Not ideal.
because it didn’t need to – the
5,050mAh cell is one of the largest VERDICT
ÞÕ½w`>ÞÃ>ÀÌ«i° The Red Magic 6S Pro is the cautious
It’s probably necessary though, update we’ve come to expect
especially if you regularly set the display Nubia’s mid-cycle refresh, but its
to 165Hz. In Geekbench 4’s legacy predecessor didn’t leave much
battery test, I recorded a respectable room for improvement. Performance
12 hours and 10 minutes at the highest remains the highlight, with a move
refresh rate. That sounds good, but to the Snapdragon 888+ making the
remember that’s with the screen set to phone even more powerful. It works in
just 120 nits of brightness. The PCMark tandem with the stunning 165Hz display
L>ÌÌiÀÞÌiÃÌÃÕÃÕ>ÞÀiÀiyiVÌÛiv – it’s still the highest refresh rate you’ll
real-world usage, but unfortunately it w`>Þ«i]iÛivÌ>Þ
wouldn’t run on the 6S Pro. games support it.
Nonetheless, after several weeks Battery life is respectable, even
vÌiÃÌ}Ü>ÃVwìÌv}iÌÌ}> with 165Hz enabled, although I wish
full day of moderate use from a single Nubia had upgraded the hit-and-miss
charge. This can be extended to nearer cameras. Even if you love playing games,

REVIEWS
you might still want decent photos. • Bluetooth 5.2, A2DP, aptX, LE
The software is well-optimized for • GPS with dual-band A-GPS, GLONASS,
gaming, but frustrating in everyday use, BDS, GALILEO
especially as the default launcher can’t • NFC
be swapped out. • USB Type-C 3.0, USB On-The-Go;
Whichever way you look at it, the accessory connector
design and bulk means this phone isn’t • Fingerprint scanner (under display,
for everyone. Keen mobile gamers optical)
should put it on their shortlist, so long as • Non-removable 5,050mAh lithium-
they don’t own the Red Magic 6 or 6 Pro polymer battery
already, but most other people will be • Fast charging 66 watts
better off with a different phone. Anyron • 169.9x77.2x9.5mm
Copeman • 215g
SPECIFICATIONS
• 6.8in (2,400x1,080; 387ppi) AMOLED,
165Hz display
• Android 11, Redmagic 4.5
• Qualcomm SM8350 Snapdragon 888+
5G (5nm) processor
• Octa-core (1x 3GHz Kryo 680, 3x
2.42GHz Kryo 680, 4x 1.8GHz Kryo
680) CPU
• Adreno 660 GPU
• 12GB/16GB/18GB RAM
• 128GB/256GB/512GB storage
• Three rear-facing cameras: 64Mp, f/1.8,
26mm (wide), 1/1.97in, 0.7μm, PDAF;
8Mp, f/2.0, 120-degree, 13mm (ultra-
wide), 1/4.0in, 1.12μm; 2Mp, (macro)
• -iwiV>iÀ>\n«]vÉÓ°ä]Üì®]
1/4.0in, 1.12μm
• Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/6e, dual-band,
Wi-Fi Direct, hotspot

Xiaomi 11T
Price: Ë{vÀv>Ûi°VÉÎÜÜÃ-À
T
i8>££/ÃivÌiwÀÃÌ DESIGN
phones to land in the west without The Xiaomi 11T comes in a choice of
the classic ‘Mi’ branding. It was three colours: Moonlight White, Celestial
released alongside its slightly pricier Blue and Meteorite Gray. Sadly, the
and fancier sister handset, the Xiaomi design is uninspiring and generic – it’s
11T Pro. The phone is remarkably hard to tell this phone apart from the
similar to the Xiaomi Mi 11, albeit with ever-growing market.
a few tweaks including faster-charging Make no mistake, this is a big
speeds, a refreshed design and a and chunky phone, measuring
slightly different camera set-up. I’ve 164.1x76.9x8.8mm, making it both
been testing out the Xiaomi 11T over bigger and heavier than the Mi 11. In
the last few weeks to see how it holds everyday use, the phone is not the most
up under day-to-day use. practical for slipping inside pockets –

REVIEWS
particularly if you wear women’s jeans. DISPLAY

The only good thing about the size /i8>££/L>ÃÌÃ>È°ÈÇ]y>Ì]
of this phone is that it means video FHD+, AMOLED, Corning Gorilla Glass
playback looks great on that large 6VÌÕÃÃVÀii°/i«ÕViÃiwi
display. The body itself is made up of camera on this phone sits at the top
a robust aluminium frame, along with a centre of the display.
polycarbonate back which houses a hefty This is further bolstered by a 120Hz
rectangular camera module. refresh rate, which delivers smooth
7iÌiÀi>ÀÃÃÀiyiVÌÛiÌ>ÌÌ visuals. Unfortunately, there is no VRR
can double as a hand mirror, it also picks (variable refresh rate), leaving you with
Õ«>Ìvw}iÀ«ÀÌÃvÌVÛiÀi`LÞ the choice of just 60Hz or 120Hz. The
the accompanying case. In addition, it phone also boasts a touch sampling
doesn’t feel as high-end to hold as more rate of up to 480Hz and supports over
premium rivals. 1 million colours.
The phone comes with an IP53 The specs on paper are just as
rating, making it both dustproof and good in everyday use. The phone
splashproof. You get a USB-C slot for is bright even under direct sunlight
charging, plus a dual-SIM slot, but and provides excellent colours and
no microSD card slot. There’s also a details for watching videos and playing
ÃìÕÌi`w}iÀ«ÀÌÃV>iÀvÀ games – it’s without a doubt one of the
LiÌÀVÃ]ÜVvÕ`ÜÀÃÕÃÌwi° standout features of the 11T.
Like many
other phones,
the Xiaomi
11T does not
include a 3.5mm
headphone jack.
However, the
dual speakers
produce punchy
sound, and there
is support for
Dolby Atmos. If
/i8>££/>Ã>ÃìÕÌi`w}iÀ«ÀÌÃV>iÀvÀLiÌÀVÃ° you’re desperate

for private listening, you
can always opt for wired
headphones via USB-C,
or connect a pair via
Bluetooth.
PERFORMANCE
You can get the Xiaomi
££/ÌÜVw}ÕÀ>ÌÃ°
Both come with 8GB
RAM, and then either
128GB of storage, or
256GB of storage. The display is bright even under direct sunlight.
This is paired with the
MediaTek Dimensity 1200-Ultra sensor. Honor 50: 48fps
7iÃÌ>y>}Ã«V«]Ì½ÃÌµÕÌi Realme GT Master Edition: 50fps
as powerful as the Snapdragon 888, Google Pixel 6: 50fps
which the 11T Pro houses. That said, the OnePlus Nord 2: 57fps
Xiaomi 11T still packs a punch when it
ViÃÌw}ÕÀiÃ° Battery life
"ÕÀvwV>LiV>À}ÌiÃÌÃÃÜ Xiaomi 11T: 11 hours, 10 minutes
it ranks up there with the likes of the Honor 50: 9 hours, 1 minute
Nord 2 and the Pixel 6. Realme GT Master Edition: 10 hours, 4
minutes
Geekbench 5 (multi-core) Google Pixel 6: 10 hours, 38 minutes
Xiaomi 11T: 2,882 OnePlus Nord 2: 11 hours, 17 minutes
Xiaomi 11T Pro: 3,495
Honor 50: 2,861 Charge in 30 minutes
Realme GT Master Edition: 2,882 Xiaomi 11T: 87%
Google Pixel 6: 2,897 Xiaomi 11T Pro: 100%
OnePlus Nord 2: 2,694 Honor 50: 83%
Realme GT Master Edition: 96%
GHX Manhattan 3.1 Google Pixel 6: 48%
Xiaomi 11T: 72fps OnePlus Nord 2: 100%

REVIEWS
Day-to-day performance is also I was pleased by the images

impressive. The phone is fast and produced by this camera. They were
capable of doing multiple tasks side by clear, crisp and colours appear true to
side without any lag. life rather than overblown – something
It does occasionally get a little hot cheaper phones often deliver. There is a
when performing something heavy-duty drop in quality with shots taken indoors
and during charging. However, thus far compared to those taken in bright
this hasn’t affected the performance of daylight, but that’s quite common on
the phone. mid-range phones.
Portrait mode on the rear camera
PHOTOGRAPHY did at times have trouble locating the
The Xiaomi 11T is packed with a rear subject from the background, making
triple-camera set-up. This is led by a it not as intuitive as other phones I’ve
monster 108Mp lens with an f/1.75 tested. However, when you did get a
aperture, which is complemented by a shot, it had just the right amount of
Samsung ISOCELL HM2 sensor which is background blur.
also seen on the Pro version of the 11T. Night mode automatically triggers
Here you can see automatic night mode (left) and dedicated night mode (right).

This series of shots were taken using the 108Mp lens with no zoom (left), 2x zoom (right)…
…5x zoom (left) and 10x zoom (right).

REVIEWS
Next up we have a couple portrait photos taken with the 108Mp (left) and 16Mp lenses (right).
Finally, we have a couple of examples of macro shots.

on this phone, which does lift the 5,000mAh battery, which as you’d
colours, but it isn’t anything remarkable. expect, delivers solid use. I could easily
There is a dedicated option for night use this phone, watching Twitch, using
photography, but this takes an age to social media, and more for around two
shoot and the results it delivers are days – providing I keep the refresh
barely noticeable from what you get on rate on 60Hz.
the automatic option. The 8Mp ultra- Toggling it up to that 120Hz refresh
ÜìÃiÃÀ>Ã>ìViÌwi`vÛiÜ] rate does drain the battery quicker, but
but there is a noticeable drop in quality not as much as what I’ve seen on rivals.
compared to the main camera. This In the box, you get a 67-watt fast
is best for travel shots, or large group V>À}iÀ°/ÃV>ÕViÌiVivÀy>Ì
photos. Otherwise, stick with the main to 87 per cent in just 30 minutes. While
camera where possible. ÌiÃiw}ÕÀiÃ>Ài½ÌµÕÌi>Ã«ÀiÃÃÛi
One unique feature of the 11T series as those seen from the 11T Pro (which
compared to other mid-range rivals is ships with a 120-watt charger), this is
the inclusion of a 5Mp ‘telemacro’ lens, still right at the upper end of charging
which can be used both for 2X telephoto speeds – especially considering the
images and for macro photography. The very decent battery life overall.
11T is decent at both – unusual for a Unfortunately, wireless charging isn’t
phone of this price. available on the Xiaomi 11T.
"ÌivÀÌ]ÌiÀi½Ã>£È«Ãiwi
camera. The portrait effect seems more SOFTWARE
reliable here than on the main camera, While on the surface the MIUI 12.5
ÌÕ}VV>Ã``w`Ì>ÌÌ Android skin looks similar to Android
ÃÌÀÕ}}i`ÞÛiÀÞLÀ}ÌvwViÌw` 11, there are some bugbears that other
the most optimal lighting conditions. Android skins don’t feature.
That said, I was impressed by the images 7iÌwV>ÌÃ>`ÃiÌÌ}ÃV>
taken here, with accurate colours and be accessed by swiping downwards from
good textures. You can record video the top of the screen, confusingly one is
up to 4K at 30fps, though there is no from swiping on the left-hand side, and
optical stabilization. the other is from the right.
I much prefer the standard Android
BATTERY LIFE ÛiÀÃ]ÜVÌwV>ÌÃ>`
The Xiaomi 11T is packed with a big settings are packed in together, with the

REVIEWS
latter being accessed via a drop-down • Mali-G77 MC9 GPU

arrow. Having the options on either side • 8GB RAM
of the screen means that swiping down • 128GB/256GB storage
quickly can bring up the wrong option • Three rear-facing cameras: 108Mp,
– annoying if you’re trying to open f/1.8, 26mm (wide), 1/1.52in, 0.7μm,
something quickly. PDAF; 8Mp, f/2.2, 120-degree (ultra-
There’s also some pre-installed app wide), 1/4in, 1.12μm; 5Mp, f/2.4, 50mm
clutter, some of which can’t be removed (telephoto macro), 1/5.0in, 1.12μm, AF
from the phone. In addition, just like the • -iwiV>iÀ>\£È«]vÉÓ°x]Üì®]
Mi 11, you can’t get Disney+ on the 11T 1/3.06in, 1.0μm
– though the reason for this is currently • Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/6, dual-band,
unknown. Wi-Fi Direct, hotspot
• Bluetooth 5.2, A2DP, LE, aptX HD, aptX
VERDICT Adaptive
The Xiaomi 11T is not without its faults, • GPS with dual-band A-GPS, GLONASS,
with its dull design and cluttered MIUI GALILEO, BDS
software which isn’t anywhere near the • NFC
same high standard as rivals. • USB Type-C 2.0, USB On-The-Go
That said, the crisp 120Hz display, • Fingerprint scanner (side-mounted)
decent performance, long battery life • Non-removable 5,000mAh lithium-
and compelling camera set-up make this polymer battery
a good mid-range offering, and more • Fast charging 67 watts
competitive than the Xiaomi 11T Pro. • 164.1x76.9x8.8mm
Hannah Cowton • 203g
SPECIFICATIONS
• 6.67in (2,400x1,080; 395ppi) AMOLED,
120Hz, HDR10+ display
• Android 11, MIUI 12.5
• MediaTek MT6893 Dimensity 1200 5G
(6nm) processor
• Octa-core (1x 3GHz Cortex-A78,
3x 2.6GHz Cortex-A78, 4x 2GHz
Cortex-A55) CPU

Credit: Getty Images/Oleksandr Pupko
10 cheap or free ways to
make an old PC run faster
If your PC is starting to slow down, these low (or no-) cost tricks can help
put some pep in its processing step. BRAD CHACOS reports
T
here’s a reason that unboxing new PC. And you might not even truly
videos and the phrase ‘new car need a new PC to accomplish what
Ãi½>ÀiwÀÞiÃVVi`Ìi you’re looking to do, because most
public group mind. New stuff is exciting. everyday tasks don’t require much
New stuff is (theoretically) better. New processing power, especially now that so
stuff is just plain cool. many services have moved onto the web.
But new stuff also costs an arm and Fortunately, there are a slew of ways
a leg – at least if you’re talking about a to breathe new life into an older PC that’s

FEATURE
starting to feel a little pokey. Even better: to your hardware, ruthlessly eliminate
Most are outright free, a couple of (still anything else that you can identify if
relatively low-cost) hardware upgrades at all possible. You wouldn’t want to
aside. Sure, these tweaks and tips aren’t prevent your antivirus from launching at
as thrilling as booting up a brand new start-up, but there’s no reason for Steam
*
vÀÌiwÀÃÌÌiqLÕÌÌiÞ½iÌÞÕ or Adobe Reader to hog your system
continue to get the job done with the resources except for when you explicitly
gear you already have. need them. Windows helpfully tells you
how much of an impact each program
1. STREAMLINE YOUR START-UP has on your start-up time. Take out any
iÌ½ÃÃÌ>ÀÌÜÌÌiÃ«iÀÌ}ÃwÀÃÌ°v High-impact, non-essential programs
your computer is chugging, too much wÀÃÌ]ÌiÛi`ÜÌiÃÌvÀÌiÀi°
software booting at system start may
just be to blame. Before you take more 2. SPRING CLEANING PT. 1
drastic measures, clean up your start-up If cutting back your boot programs
by opening the Start-up tab of Windows doesn’t do the trick, it’s time to try
10 or 11’s Task Manager, or typing some deeper cleaning. Eradicate any
PVFRQÀJ in Windows 7 and opening programs you don’t actually use – PC
its Start-up tab. makers stuff computers full of bloatware.
While you don’t want to disable Search for ‘Add or remove programs’
Windows processes, or processes related in the Windows search box and work
through the list of
installed programs.
Run a security
sweep while you’re
at it, in case malware
is slowing down your
system. Windows
Security tool built right
into Windows 10 and
11 does a surprisingly
good job at eradicating
threats. Don’t bother
1.
defragmenting your

No joke: once a
family member called
me over because his
PC was sluggish and
unresponsive. Merely
cleaning out the
inches of dust inside
his machine made
the system run like
new. (Why not clean
your keyboard while
you’re at it, too? It
can get gnarly under
3.
those buttons.)
storage. You shouldn’t even defrag SSDs, 4. REINSTALL WINDOWS

and if you have a traditional spinning Still running slow? We’re running out of
hard drive, most modern operating pure software optimization tricks now.
systems perform the task automatically. Windows is notorious for slowing down
over time. If you’ve never refreshed your
3. SPRING CLEANING PT 2 PC with a fresh Windows install, now’s
Scrub your hardware while you’re busy the time to do it.
scrubbing all that unwanted software, Back up all your critical system
too. Ideally, you want to clean out the data, either by cobbling together
interior of your PC once per year, but native Windows tools or investing in
let’s be honest – most people never a comprehensive Windows backup
pry open their case and blow out the program (our current favourite is the
dust bunny horde. Over time, the superb Acronis True Image 2021 [fave.
accumulated gunk can wreak havoc co/3I6yYR4]). Make sure you have your
with temperatures inside your PC, which Windows product key in hand – Belarc
in turn makes your PC components Advisor can help if need be (fave.
either throttle back performance co/3qzpWpH). Be warned: if you’re using
to compensate for the increased a manufacturer-supplied recovery disk,
temperatures, or just plain struggle. you’ll need to clean all the preinstalled

FEATURE
bloatware off your

machine after reinstalling
Windows.
5. OVERCLOCK!

14|70&'481.6
Don’t have money for
new gear? Overclocking
– using software to
manually speed up the
clock speeds of your
hardware – lets you get
5.
more out of what you
already have, though
most laptops lock down the capability. to be conservative). Alternatively, if
Assuming your desktop PC has proper your older graphics card is running hot
cooling and a CPU that’s capable of in your system, undervolting it could
overclocking (Intel limits it to chips with be the key to taming it, and keeping it
a ‘K’ designator at the end), boosting happy for months to come. Our guide
your processor and graphics card’s clock to undervolting pros and cons walks
speeds can have a noticeable effect on through why you should (or shouldn’t)
your PC’s performance. reduce the juice to your GPU.
Boosting your computer processor
is a manual endeavour. It’s easier on 6. INSTALL AN SSD
modern GeForce and Radeon graphics If your computer’s still feeling crippled
cards. You can choose to apply an after all the software tricks, you have
automatic overclock to your GPU in a couple of different options: Change
the Wattman section of AMD’s Radeon out some hardware, or completely alter
Settings tool, and Nvidia’s GeForce how you use your PC. Let’s dig into the
Experience software offers an auto- vÀiÀwÀÃÌ°
overclocking feature of its own. If your When it comes to pure performance,
software doesn’t, or if you want to upgrading from a traditional hard drive
push your overclocks to the furthest to a solid-state drive is like trading in
possible limits (as auto-OC tools tend your Volkswagon Beetle for a Ferrari.

Seriously: upgrading to an SSD will replace the memory in your system if
utterly blow you away, supercharging you’re upgrading to avoid potential
everything from boot times to VyVÌÃ]LÕÌ>n iÀÞ`Õi
>««V>Ì>ÕViÃÌwiÌÀ>ÃviÀÃ° (or an 8GB kit of two 4GB modules)
This is the single most noticeable PC V>vÌiLiivÕ`vÀÕìÀËxä>Ì
upgrade most people can make. An basic speeds.
SSD can make even a clunky old laptop Upgrading your desktop memory
feel comparatively snappy, and you can is easy: just pop out the sticks located
w`>ÃÀÌÃv`ÀÛiÃ}}vÀ>ÀÕ` in the slots next to the CPU in your
10 cents per gig these days, so you motherboard, then swap in the new
V>}iÌ>xää `ÀÛivÀÀÕ}ÞËxä ones. Be sure you’ve chosen the right
ÌËÈävÞÕÃ«>ÀÕ`° ,ƂÌÞ«iwÀÃÌ]ÌÕ}° ÌiLÃ
can be trickier.
7. ADD MORE RAM
Windows 10 has an impressively 8. SWITCH TO LINUX
small footprint, but if you’re running a Sometimes it’s just not worth putting new
computer with less than 8GB of RAM, it hardware into an old PC. But that doesn’t
can negatively affect your performance in make it useless! If you still need to use
other ways. Memory-constrained systems your aging laptop or desktop as an
are slower at gaming, slower at booting day-to-day actual computer, installing an
up, and can
start to choke
if you begin
to multitask
heavily
(including
having too
many browser
tabs open at
once). Adding
more RAM
can help.
You’ll want to
8.
completely

FEATURE
operating system with a lighter footprint computers purposeful once again.

than Windows can help you eke more life If you’re a gamer, the easiest option
out of an aging PC. for an old laptop is simply to use it
Linux tends to run better than to game while you’re away from your
Windows on less potent hardware. main gaming rig. “But Brad!” I hear you
In fact, several Linux variants are wailing. “You can’t game on an old PC!”
Ã«iVwV>ÞìÃ}i`ÜÌÕÌÀ>>ÃÌ Ah, but you can with a decent Internet
requirements so they’re able to run connection. After years of teasing, the
on old PCs – Puppy Linux, LXLE and «ÀÃivVÕ`}>}½Ãw>ÞV}
Lubuntu come to mind immediately. true, letting even the most humble
computers get in on the action by
9. EMBRACE CLOUD GAMING streaming your gameplay from far-away
Linux isn’t the only way you can ÃiÀÛiÀÃ] iÌyÝÃÌÞi° Û`>½ÃiÀVi
repurpose a computer. Rather than using Now is the best bet for PC gamers, as
a pokey PC as a traditional do-it-all you BYO games by linking your existing
machine, consider giving your system a accounts to various platforms. Better
singular role if you have another PC you yet, there’s a surprisingly full-featured
can use as your primary rig. Let’s look free tier, as well as a killer RTX 3080
at some ways you can make obsolete tier that unlocks top-shelf hardware,
longer session
times, and ultra-
fast refresh rates
on compatible
displays and
ìÛViÃ>ÌËn°
(fave.co/2HgKxaS)
for six months.
Microsoft’s
killer Xbox Game
Pass Ultimate also
unlocks game
streaming to a vast
library of games as
9.
«>ÀÌvÌÃË£ä°

per month fee (fave.
co/3fGSabH), though
you’ll be streaming
the Xbox versions
of those games on
your PC. Here’s how
to get Xbox Game
Pass Ultimate for
cheap if you want
it. Other options
(like Google Stadia
and Amazon Luna)
10.
exist but they’re less
attractive, especially
to PC gamers. or Kodi (fave.co/3qFLuko) (the new
And there’s always Steam in-home name for the uber-popular OS formerly
streaming if you want to use an older PC known as XBMC) for a would-be HTPC
as a secondary gaming computer. Steam or FreeNAS (fave.co/3Kmhd1T) to build
in-home streaming runs games on your a home server.
beefy gaming rig, but beams them over
your home’s Wi-Fi network so you can
play them on other devices. It’s like cloud
gaming, but right inside your home.
10. FLING SOME FILES

Speaking of repurposing your hardware,
two common uses are to transform an
old PC into a dedicated home theater
*
À>wiÃiÀÛiÀ°
It’s not even that hard to do, though
obviously it means your PC’s email and
"vwVi`>ÞÃ>ÀiÛiÀ°-i>ÜiÃi
free software available for each use:
Snag MediaPortal (fave.co/3qCe5XW)

FEATURE
7 ways Microsoft’s
PowerToys enhance
your PC experience
This collection of free utilities for Windows are a tool belt to accomplish
common tasks. MARK HACHMAN reports
Y
ou probably have a ‘tool drawer’ than two years ago, evolving from a
in your house or apartment with single utility to an even dozen Windows
a wrench, a few screwdrivers, tools that perform specialized tasks to
and other tools for home projects. That’s improve your life. Some can be extremely
what PowerToys is – just for Windows. powerful! I will show you a number of
Microsoft’s PowerToys debuted more ways I use Microsoft’s PowerToys within

Windows 10 and 11, as examples for you which goes into more detail on how
to accomplish more, too. they can be used.
For those who want to dive into the
code, you can visit PowerToys’ GitHub Always on Top (fave.co/3rrrfWY): While
page (fave.co/3KjsyzT). But if you simply you can use whatever app you want,
want to download and use PowerToys, Always on Top prevents Windows from
there are two simple ways: burying an app underneath another
window.
• Download PowerToys from the Awake (fave.co/3fBSpoI): Your PC
Windows Store (fave.co/3GI7d0N). will stay awake at full power, without
• Use WinGet: Open PowerShell needing to manage the Windows Power
from the Start menu and type in or & Sleep settings.
copy this code: ZLQJHWLQVWDOO Color Picker (fave.co/3GUOOy9): Want
0LFURVRIW3RZHU7R\VVZLQJHW to know the exact colour of an image
underneath your cursor? Color Picker will
Either way, you’ll end up with a small identify and even copy it.
utility that will live in your Taskbar. At FancyZones (fave.co/33ok4af): The
any time, you can click on it to open its original PowerToy. Arrange and
Settings menu and play around with the snap your windows to a variety of
various tools. Each PowerToy offers a arrangements on your screen.
ÌvVw}ÕÀ>LÌÞqÌ>Ì½ÃÌiÜi i Ý«ÀiÀ>``Ãv>Ûi°VÉÎčÇ*ÇÎ®\
point! – but the basic functions are This beefs up File Explorer, allowing
simple enough that you should be able ÞÕÌ«ÀiÛiÜwiÌÞ«iÃi*
to easily grok what each does. And each documents and SVG images without
PowerToy has a master on-off switch, so a separate editor.
you can disable each if you don’t need Image Resizer (fave.co/3536RnF): A
to run it. (This isn’t particularly necessary, simple way to resize images without
but it’s an option.) needing a separate photo editor to
do so.
WHAT ARE MICROSOFT’S Keyboard Manager (fave.co/3qDmmLd):
POWERTOYS? Remap your keyboard’s keys, including
Here’s a list of each PowerToy and keyboard shortcuts, simply and quickly.
what it does. We’ve linked each to Mouse Utilities (fave.co/3GRkLXK):
Microsoft’s per-tool support document, Though called ‘Mouse Utilities’, this is

FEATURE
essentially a shortcut to the

‘Find My Mouse’ utility we’ll
explain below.
PowerRename (fave.
co/3Kpxfbl): If you want
to search for/highlight and
batch rename a number of
wiÃ]ÌÃÃÌiÕÌÌÞÌÕÃi°
PowerToys Run (fave.
co/3IdHsWz): PowerToys
Run is a quick launcher
vÀ>««Ã>`wiÃ°Ì
1.
supplements the Start menu.
Shortcut Guide (fave.
co/3IhftVS): If you’ve forgotten all of the window. Always on Top prevents that
available Windows shortcuts that use the from happening, which is far more useful
Windows key, this utility lists them. than you might think.
Video Conference Mute (fave.
co/33QCjVG): A quick shortcut to turn 2. Quickly label vacation
off your mic and camera. RJQVQU|YKVJ2QYGT4GPCOG
You probably don’t want to micro-
HOW POWERTOYS CAN manage holiday/event photos, and I
IMPROVE YOUR LIFE don’t either. But cloud services aren’t
Here are several quick ways PowerToys great at grouping photos besides
improve my productivity: location and the time they were shot.
With PowerRename, you can go into
1. Keep a calculator or OneDrive, lasso a group of photos
other app Always on Top with your mouse, and PowerRename
Occasionally, I’ll have to run a few quick them something simple, such as
calculations on benchmark data, some ‘RupertSallyWedding’. The tool will
of which I may not have programmed assign each photo its own unique name,
Excel to accommodate. If I need to enter such as ‘RupertSallyWedding4’. In this
the data somewhere else, the Calculator way you can avoid having to create
app can get buried behind the other special folders for each event, and the

simply check the estimated
time to download the game,
y«ƂÜ>ivÀÌ>Ì>ÕÌ
of time via the tool’s settings,
along with the option to turn
off the screens. The game
downloads and then my PC
goes back to sleep.
4. +OCIG4GUK\G
RJQVQU|HQT|RWDNKECVKQP
Taking, editing and
2.
publishing photos is part of
my job, and the photos I take
process takes just a few seconds – once are large enough for publication. That’s
you know what you’re doing. not always the case for vendor photos,
PowerRename works more like a which might not meet the minimum
¼w`ÉÀi«>Vi½vÀwi>iÃÌ>>ÞÌ} size our content management system
else, though you can use a wildcard (*) ÀiµÕÀiÃ°w>ÞÃiÌÕ«>VÕÃÌ>}i
like I did below to accomplish my task. ,iÃâiÀVw}ÕÀ>ÌÃV>µÕVÞ
(I used Surface shots, rather than the resize photos, then upload what I need
actual wedding, to preserve the
attendees’ privacy.)
3. Keep my PC Awake
while downloading games
These days electricity costs an
arm and a leg. We also pay for a
mid-tier broadband connection.
There have been times that I
want to leave a computer on
to download a game or two,
without tweaking Windows’
4.
power and sleep settings. I

FEATURE
to meet a deadline. 6. Find My Mouse

The only annoying aspect of this I’m a big believer in multiple monitors to
is that ‘Image resize’ isn’t in the main maximize productivity, and sometimes
drop-down menu that appears when even doing something like wiggling the
ÞÕÀ}ÌVV>wi7`ÜÃ££° mouse won’t make the cursor’s location
You’ll need to go into the ‘Show more obvious. Plugging in a double-tap of the
options’ menu at the bottom, and from left Ctrl key into your muscle memory
there to the submenu. It’s much more (alongside Ctrl-V, say) triggers Find My
convenient on Windows 10. Mouse. It just takes a second and gets
you back on track.
5. Hide yourself in a
videoconference with 7. FancyZones is a power
8KFGQ|%QPHGTGPEG/WVG XGTUKQP|QH9KPFQYU5PCR
Being part of a global media Weirdly, I don’t use FancyZones – once
organization means that meetings aren’t the reason to use PowerToys – as much
always scheduled at the most convenient as I used to, if only because Windows
times for my time zone. Sometimes I’m ££L>ÃV>Þ>Ã>Ã«wi`ÛiÀÃ
forced to listen in on an early morning of FancyZones built right in. But if
Zoom or Teams call, where my presence you’re on Windows 10, FancyZones is
is required, but not necessarily my incredible. You can organize windows
participation. With the Video Conference however you’d like, tweak and resize
Mute shortcut, I can be sure that any them as you’d like, and the window
mics and cameras are off. ‘zones’ will remain in place. It’s an
absolutely fantastic way of
working, and arguably one of
the strongest selling points of
Windows 11.
The bottom line: PowerToys is
free, convenient, and available to
Windows users. It’s a must-have,
and it just keeps getting better.
6.

Tested: Start11 solves
Windows 11’s worst Start
menu and taskbar sins
If you want a Windows 10-style Start menu within Windows 11, Start11
may be for you. MARK HACHMAN reports
S
tardock Software’s Start11 utility -Ì>ÀÌ££]«ÀVi`>ÌËx°v>Ûi°
is available, and if you hate the co/3HiQamS) as a standalone utility,
reductionist design of the Windows doesn’t offer everything: it can’t create
11 Start menu and taskbar, you’ll want to any dynamic Windows 10 Live Tiles, for
check it out. Start11, among other tricks, example, and your ability to move and
lets you move the taskbar around your resize the Windows 11’s taskbar icons
ìÃÌ«>`Vw}ÕÀiÌi-Ì>ÀÌiÕÌ is still somewhat limited. But if you’d
emulate Windows 10’s look and feel. like a more gentle transition between

WINDOWS 11
Windows 10 and Windows 11, Start11 Windows 11 look as you please and then
certainly helps. simply gets out of the way.
Start11 is the latest iteration of the
‘StartX’ utilities from Stardock, which TWEAKING YOUR TASKBAR
shipped similar Start8 and Start10 utilities WITH START11
as throwback UIs to earlier versions of As our Windows 11 review highlighted,
the Windows operating system after Windows 11 doesn’t let you to resize the
Windows 8 and Windows 10 launched, taskbar or move it around your screen.
respectively. Start11 simply installs over Start11 does, though not with the full
the top of Windows 11, presenting a yiÝLÌÞv7`ÜÃ£ä°-Ì>ÀÌ££>ÜÃ
more familiar way to interact with the you to move the taskbar to the top or
operating system. The program itself bottom of the screen – not the sides –
consists of a straightforward settings and resize the icons. (Doing so within
menu, where you can tweak things as the Start11 Settings menu requires you
you’d like. After that, Start11 makes to click a button to manually restart the
Windows Explorer
process manually.)
You can tweak the
location of the taskbar
on each individual
display, and resizing
the icons certainly
helps to maximize
usable screen space
on both tablet-sized
and 4K displays. It’s a
big improvement over
the default Windows
11 experience. But
Stardock has yet to
wÝ>iÞ>Þ>Vi
of Windows 11 – the
Windows system clock
Start11’s menu. still only appears on

more controversial
aspects of Microsoft’s
new operating system,
but Start11 allows
a number of tweaks
to make it more
familiar. You can use
the Windows 11 Start
menu if you’d like –
but opt to let Start11
Start11 allows you to resize your Windows 11 taskbar icons and allow you to resize it
put it at the top and bottom of the screen. or open it in a full-
screen mode, which
a single display. Start11 also doesn’t Windows 11 doesn’t yet do.
yet allow you to resize the taskbar, nor However, Start11 also lets you open
`À>}>``À«wiÃ>Ì>ÃL>ÀVÌ Start as a Windows 7-like interface, or
launch the application,
though those
limitations no doubt
come from Microsoft
more than Stardock.
Nevertheless, it’s
a solid start, even if
it’s not all that you
might hope for quite
yet. If it was, Stardock
may have named
it Taskbar11 instead.
SUPERCHARGING
THE START MENU
WITH START11
Windows 11’s Start -Ì>ÀÌ££½Ã7`ÜÃ£äÃÌÞi-Ì>ÀÌiÕ]«ÕÃi`ÌÌiivÌ>`
menu is one of the corner. Note how icons can be grouped and resized.

WINDOWS 11
-Ì>ÀÌ££½Ã¼ìÀ½-Ì>ÀÌiÕ°/iÀ}Ì>`V>ÀiÌiÕi>V
app points to the most recent documents.
use the more tiled approach of Windows

10. In the latter environment, you can
move and group icons, resize them, and
generally make Start look like Windows
10, but without the animated ‘Live Tiles’
that Windows 10 supported. Stardock
also has its own ‘modern’ style, which
shrinks down the Start menu into an
ultra-compact layout, and points to your
ÃÌÀiViÌÞÕÃi`wiÃ>>««LÞ
app basis, rather than the OS at large.
Start11 also provides some additional
options for managing search, as well
as some additional tweaks to launch
Windows 11’s own Start menu versus
Start11’s own. Still, if the operating
system’s native look and feel caused you
to hold off on upgrading to Windows 11,
Start11 indeed eases the transition.

VÀÃvÌwÝiÃÌiÛÕi
slider in Windows 11
A new Windows 11 Insider Build promises to bring the hardware volume
slider in line with Windows 11. MARK HACHMAN reports
I
f you’re one of those Windows stable channel of existing Windows 11
iÌÕÃ>ÃÌÃÜw`Ã7`ÜÃ½ PCs. But given the level of distaste for
hardware volume controls absolutely the current structure, there’s a good
infuriating, there’s good news: the chance it will.
latest Windows 11 Insider Build What do we mean? If you use your
restores sanity to the universe. laptop’s hardware controls to adjust
Windows 11 Insider Preview Build the brightness or volume, the control
22533 is currently rolling out for the typically appears way up in the top left-
Dev Channel, which means the code hand corner of your screen, with some
isn’t guaranteed to roll out to the odd vertical slide bar controlling the

WINDOWS 11
experience. It doesn’t look anything like The new build also includes a new
Windows, really. Calls interface within the Your Phone
7ÌÌiÕ«`>Ìi`yÞÕÌiÝ«iÀiVi] app. Remember, you can actually place
you’ll see the new hardware indicators phone calls on your PC, using the PC’s
for brightness, volume, camera privacy, Bluetooth connection to route your
camera on/off and airplane mode ‘align computer’s microphone to your nearby
with Windows 11 design principles’, phone. The phone interface has been
according to the Windows blog post updated to bring it in line with the
announcing the changes. So you’ll see Windows 11 UI, too (1.).
>ÌÀ>ÃÌLiÌÜiiÌi`yÞÕÌ]>` Finally, the changes Microsoft is
the new, like so: making to Widgets – bringing the
Microsoft isn’t changing the way weather icon to the Windows 11 taskbar,
the volume controls are handled on the as it announced last year for Windows 10
taskbar, however. If you click the Action – is being pushed back. “[O]ur intention
Center down in the lower right-hand is to quickly expand the roll-out to the
corner of your screen, you’ll still see the majority of Insiders in the Dev Channel,”
familiar horizontal volume slider. Now, Microsoft said of Widgets.
however, you’ll also see the horizontal
controls when you use your keyboard’s
control keys, too.
1.

How to stop Microsoft
Teams from automatically
loading on your PC
Sometimes you just want to boot your PC without Microsoft Teams getting
in the way. MARK HACHMAN reports
M
icrosoft loves Microsoft Teams… pop up irritates you, you can remove
and thinks you should, too. Yes, Teams without actually uninstalling it.
it’s useful, especially if someone In fact, you’ll probably kick yourself
you know schedules you for a meeting that you didn’t think of this sooner.
over Teams. But if booting up your PC Teams typically opens itself during
and seeing a Teams window immediately the start-up or boot process of your

WINDOWS 11
Windows machine, and that’s the key Teams via Microsoft 365, and one for
to removing it. Within the Settings app Teams for my personal account. I’m
on both Windows 10 and Windows honestly not entirely sure if the second
11, scroll down to the Apps > Start-up Teams app is something I loaded
menu. You’ll see a list of applications that accidentally or if it refers to the Chat
launch during your PC’s start-up process. app that’s buried on the Windows 11
Simply switch the toggle switch Taskbar; either way, I’ve disabled both
assigned to ‘Microsoft Teams’ off, and apps on my PC. I’ve also disabled apps
Teams won’t show up during the boot for various game stores.
process any more. Remember, disabling these apps
Since you’re already in the menu, during start-up doesn’t mean that you
take a moment to look through the can’t load them later. I frequently use
other apps that may be loading during Microsoft Teams for meetings, but
the boot process, perhaps behind the interact with the majority of my contacts
scenes. In my list of apps, I see two via email, phone, or messaging apps
mentions of Teams: one for Microsoft like Signal, Telegram, or plain old SMS.
If need be, I can
simply launch
Teams via the Start
menu. Ditto for
gaming; if I’m in
the mood for PC
gaming, I tend to
launch a single
app – in my case,
GOG Galaxy 2.0
– and do so after
hours. I don’t want
it to launch after I
restart my PC.
Turning off apps that launch at boot is a simple process. Notice that
If you have a
Microsoft Edge is turned ‘on’, too. This won’t be the case for all PCs,
but there’s an option within Edge to ‘quick launch’ it, which leaves deep, burning
Edge open even when you’re not using the browser. It’s optional and hatred for Teams
doesn’t make that much of a difference, but it’s enabled here. that extends to the

In the Taskbar settings, you’ll see toggles for Search, Task View, Widgets and Chat.
Teams-based Chat app on your Windows mind, too. Simply go into the Windows
11 Taskbar, you can put that out of your Settings menu on Windows 11, and
then to Personalization
> Taskbar. (Chat isn’t
part of Windows 10.)
Again, you’ll see toggles
for Search, Task View,
Widgets, and Chat;
simply turn off whatever
you don’t want.
After you do so, you
won’t see Chat appear
on your Windows 11
Taskbar, as it does left.
If you really want to
get rid of Teams and
uninstall both apps, you
You can chat using Teams by clicking an icon on the taskbar, can do that, too. There
but for now, it’s for personal use, not business. are two easy ways.

WINDOWS 11
Click Uninstall to turn off Teams.
First, you can go to the Windows

Settings menu (Apps > Apps &
Features) and scroll down until you
see the Teams entry or entries. Click
the vertical ellipsis, or ‘three vertical
dots’, to the far right and select the
Uninstall option. Alternatively, you can
Ã«Þ«iÌi-Ì>ÀÌiÕ]w`Ìi
appropriate listing, and right-click it to
reveal the Uninstall option.
It’s up to you whether you want to
turn off Teams or not. Either way, you’ve
learned what’s loading automatically on
your PC and maybe done a bit of early
spring cleaning, to boot.

How to switch out of
Windows 11 S Mode
It’s quick, free and takes just a minute or two. MARK HACHMAN reports
S
ome low-cost Windows PCs and experience, however, which can be
tablets ship with Windows 11 completed in a matter of minutes.
Home in S Mode (also known as Like Windows 10 Home in S Mode
‘Windows 11 S’) as a way to secure the (or Windows 10 S), the chief advantage
PC and prevent the use of unauthorized of preserving Windows 11 S is to limit
applications by restricting access to the number of apps available to the
Windows Store software alone. There is user. Microsoft bans all apps that aren’t
a quick, easy, and free way to upgrade available from the Windows Store,
Ì>vÕyi`}i`7`ÜÃ££i preventing users from downloading and

WINDOWS 11
installing dodgy apps from any number within Windows 11 S (or Windows 10
of sources. Microsoft has also argued S, too, as it appears that Microsoft now
that Windows 10 S extends battery life, uses the same page for switching out
though we haven’t seen any evidence of of Windows 10 S.) Be aware, however,
this in the devices we’ve tested over the that Microsoft warns you that this is a
past few years. We doubt it’s a factor in one-way street, and that switching out of
Windows 11 S, either. Windows 10 S or Windows 11 S can’t be
If you try to run an unapproved or undone. The process is free, however.
ÕÛiÀwi`ÌÀ`«>ÀÌÞ>««7`ÜÃ We tested the process of switching
11 S, an error message will pop up out of Windows 11 Home in S Mode
to encourage you to seek out an app on the Surface Go 3, Microsoft’s
from the Windows Store. There’s also a inexpensive portable tablet. You may
Ã>Ì¼ÃiiÜ½ÌÀÕÕÛiÀwi` see Windows 11 S on other low-cost
>««Ã°,iiLiÀ]>¼ÕÛiÀwi`½>«« PCs and notebooks, many optimized
may be any app that’s not actually in for children or for education. Switching
the Windows Store, such as a popular out of Windows 10 Home in S Mode
game like Call of Duty that’s sold at (Windows 10 S) will load Windows 10
most digital storefronts.) Home, and switching out of Windows
Clicking that ‘see how’ link actually 11 Home in S Mode (Windows 11 S)
takes you a special section of the will load Windows 11 Home.
Windows Store app, where Microsoft will Clicking the ‘Get’ button will launch
try and explain why you should remain the transition between Windows 11 in
S Mode to Windows
11 Home.
Once you click the
‘Get’ button, don’t go
anywhere. The process
should complete within
just a few seconds – it
didn’t even require a
reboot on the Surface
Go 3. You’ll simply
/ÀÞ>`ÃÌ>>¼ÕÛiÀwi`½>««ÜÌ7`ÜÃ££-ì ÃiiÌiVwÀ>Ì
and you’ll see this screen. message below that

Pavilion laptop, for
example, that ships
with Windows 11
S.) Essentially, this
recovery image can
be used to reset your
PC, most likely to
Windows 11 S.
Doing so, however,
comes with some risks.
For one, Microsoft asks
for your device’s serial
VÀÃvÌ½Ã>ÃÌ`ÌV«ÌVÌÃÌ>ÞÜÌ7`ÜÃ££-ì° number, indicating
that you’re basically
you’ve transitioned from Windows 11 in letting Microsoft know that something’s
S Mode to Windows 11 Home. not right. Microsoft doesn’t explicitly
warn you of this fact, but it’s likely that
HOW TO SWITCH BACK TO the recovery image will wipe your entire
WINDOWS 11 IN S MODE PC, erasing any documents or apps that
Yes, Microsoft says that you shouldn’t you haven’t previously backed up. Be
be able to roll back to Windows 11 absolutely sure you’ve backed up critical
in S Mode once you’ve moved on to documents before you do this!
Windows 11 Home. But there’s a way With Windows 10 S, downloading
that’s worked in the past, and may do so and installing a recovery image was
>}>°7i>Ûi½ÌÃ«iVwV>ÞÌiÃÌi`ÌÃ essentially like downloading and
method, however, on Windows 11.) installing Windows 11 from the Create
For Microsoft Surface devices like Windows 11 Installation Media Tool
the Surface Go series, Microsoft has section: You’ll need a USB key with
posted a way to download a Surface 8GB or more (which aren’t particularly
recovery image in case something goes common) or a DVD. We expect that
wrong with your PC. (Note that these the process for Windows 11 S will be
recovery images can only be used with the same. Once you’ve completed the
their corresponding Surface devices, process, you should have Windows 11
so this method won’t work for an HP S on your device once again.

OPINION
The Windows 11
taskbar is an annoying
step backward
Why did Microsoft remove so much functionality for an OS designed for
work? MICHAEL CRIDER reports
T
here’s a ritual among dedicated its MacBook Pro laptops, apparently
PC users. We watch new Apple for no reason other than to slim down
events closely (whether we admit the bezels. The face-scanning tech
it or not), just to see what weird stuff present in iPhones didn’t make the
the other side of the computer aisle is journey, despite the fact that Windows
up to. We previously scoffed as Apple has had it for years. Oh how we scoffed.
moved its ‘iconic’ screen notch over to iÌÜiiÌÃL>vy}VVi]`À««}

the half-measures Touch Bar, and only a few pixels of indication that there
adding back ports that Apple laptops are multiple windows of some items like
abandoned years ago, the latest your browser or Windows Explorer.
MacBook Pros seem like a humbling mix Microsoft clearly likes this scrunched-
of grudging steps backwards and steps up interface; it’s been the default look
forward no one asked for. since Windows 7 in 2009. And it makes
But let’s save a slice of humble pie for a bit of sense: the design is combining
ourselves, PC purists. Microsoft has its the window management aspect of
ÜiÜy>}Ã««À`ÕVÌ]>`Ì>Ã> the taskbar and the Quick Launch
ìÃ}y>Ü>Ìi>ÃÌ>Ã}>À}vÀÌ>` ÌL>ÀwÀÃÌÌÀ`ÕVi`7`ÜÃ
centre: the Windows 11 taskbar. XP. With users more and more used
to a combined launcher and window
NO STEPS FORWARD, TWO manager, integrating these tools is a
STEPS BACK smart way forward. Moving them to the
The biggest change to the taskbar is centre of the screen is a pointless, but
that its tools and shortcuts are centred, harmless, bit of cosmetics.
as seen on the macOS
dock and the ChromeOS
taskbar. Microsoft is still
intent on adding extra
tools next to the Start
button that I personally
have never seen anyone
use. But the more
distressing change is that
it’s no longer possible to
actually see the title text
of window items.
This means that even
if you have a dozen items
open on your desktop
– as I often do – you’ll
be looking at a row of Use more than a few shortcuts and open apps, and the
relatively tiny icons, with Ì>ÃL>ÀµÕVÞLiViÃ>ÀÜv`vwVÕÌÌÃ«ÌÃ>«iÃ°

OPINION
What isn’t smart is taking away the using third-party tools to bring back a
ability to see which items are which via Windows 10-style taskbar.
text at a glance. In Windows 7, 8, and But I shouldn’t have to hunt for
10, Microsoft preserved the ability to glitchy alternatives to bring back
label launched programs, hidden in the functionality that’s been a part of
taskbar’s settings menu, but still easy Windows since before I was old enough
iÕ}Ìw`vÀÕÃÌ>LÕÌ>Þi° to hold a mouse. Maybe Microsoft
7`ÜÃ££]Ì½Ã}i\VÀÃvÌÃw>Þ would prefer everyone to use a less
forcing you to use those big, lonely icons effective means of window management,
sans text labels, just like the competition. maybe they want everyone to switch to
If I may be permitted a cliché: this is virtual desktops. But that’s not going to
a perfect example of form over function. happen, and cutting off this basic, simple
While I’m admittedly something of functionality for apparently aesthetic
a whiny power user, I don’t see any reasons is as anti-user a decision as any
reason why this option shouldn’t be I’ve seen from Apple.
preserved, especially since so very much On the plus side, Microsoft doesn’t
of Windows 11 is just a bit of interface seem to have a problem admitting its
polish over Windows 10. mistakes. After similar user backlash
from the full-screen interface in Windows
WHAT’S THE POINT 8, the company addressed the issue
OF THIS CHANGE? by bringing back a version of the Start
As I write these words, I have open Menu in 8.1, then transitioning to a
on my primary monitor: two Chrome ÀiÀiwi`>`ÀiÃÌÀ>i`®ÌiÀv>Vi
windows, two Explorer windows, two in 10. I predict a similar move here:
word processor documents, dedicated Within a year or two, Microsoft will
web app windows for Google Keep, offer a more conventional taskbar
Google Voice, and my company’s project experience, hopefully returning the
management system, Photoshop, Steam, option to place it at the top or side of
a Windows settings menu, and the the screen at the same time.
Hearthstone game I forgot to close last
night. On my 34in ultra-wide, there’s HOW TO GET THE
more than enough space for all that with n4'#.o|6#5-$#4$#%-
>LiÃÌ>VÌ]vÀµÕVÞw`}Ü>Ì In the meantime, you have options.
I need. I know that because I’ve been Having lived with Windows 11 for a week

Stardock’s Start11
(see page 83) offers
similar functionality
for the same
price; it’s another
excellent option.
StartAllBack is a quick and easy way to get a more familiar interface

for Windows 11.
or so now, I think the best one is just to

stay on Windows 10. At the moment
you’re not missing anything, though
that might change when Android app
functionality gets a wider roll-out.
But if you’ve bought a new PC pre-
loaded with Windows 11, or you just
can’t resist trying out the latest and
(arguably) greatest, you have a few
options. If you’d like to get the old non-
combined, labelled items, there’s a patch
for Windows Explorer, (fave.co/3tDHnHK)
but you might have to reinstall new
versions of it as Windows 11 is updated.
A more elegant solution is
StartAllBack (fave.co/3Kp3JTl), which
allows more old-fashioned Start menu
and taskbar functionality, StartAllBack will
give it to you. It’s free to try for a month,
>`ÕÃÌfxvÀ>Ã}i*
ViÃi°

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INSIDE: GIVE AN OLD PC A SPEED BOOST

2 TECH ADVISOR • MARCH 2022

Credit: Getty Images/Oleksandr Pupko

MARCH 2022 • TECH ADVISOR 3

Roaring 2021 sales

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MARCH 2022 • TECH ADVISOR 5

the commercial segment where demand

6 TECH ADVISOR • MARCH 2022

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exceptional personal computing under the Data Center Group.)

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machine for business

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extra clutter – in the form

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in all of your favourite

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announcements remain in the realm of ÜÌ y>}Ã «£ÓÌ }i

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2. FASTER INTEGRATED compared to Ryzen 5000 APUs, which

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28MQ780 (see image on page 31). The

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MEET AMD’S RADEON hardware ray tracing to the mobile APU.

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the company is pushing its Evo brand

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conference room for a call. Equally, it delivery,10GB/s transfer rates, and

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get 87 per cent battery life back in an • 2x USB 3.1

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DESIGN Acer’s machine is not shy about its

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The pricier model

announcements remain in the realm of ÜÌy>}Ã«£ÓÌ}i