Coming from an iPad Pro and the Apple Pencil, it was hard to get used to drawing on a tablet and watching your motions appear on the screen above it. For creatives used to a Wacom tablet, however, it will be second nature. The iPad approach seems much more natural to us though.Short Bytes: A security researcher has found a simple and unique way to hack login credentials from a Windows and OS X device. The attack is carried out using a USB Ethernet adapter that carries a software named Responder. When the device is plugged into a computer, it reads the login credentials and saves them into an SQLite database.Rob Fuller, a security researcher and blogger, has demonstrated how to exploit a USB SoC-based device to crack the password of a locked laptop. Once the device is plugged into a modified Ethernet adapter, it works like a network gateway, a WPAD server, and a DNS server for the target machine.
Fuller has described the hack in his blog post where he tells how he was able to capture credentials from a system (logged in, just locked).

Disclaimer: This article is just for educational purposes. Please test the attack on the systems you own and avoid indulging in any unethical practice.This hack is possible because most computers install plug-and-play USB devices even if the system is locked. Fuller tested the hack with two USB Ethernet dongles¨C the USB Armory and the Hak5 Turtle.¡°Now, I believe there are restrictions on what types of devices are allowed to install at a locked out state on newer operating systems (Win10/El Capitan), but Ethernet/LAN is definitely on the white list,¡± he writes.While installing a new (and malicious) USB plug-and-play Ethernet adapter, the computer lends the credentials needed to install the device. Fuller¡¯s modified hacking device contains code (a software named Responder) that reads these login credentials and saves them in a database.

These are used to read optical media like DVDs and Blu-Ray discs. To read the data written on a DVD or a Blu-ray disc, a pickup head is present inside. It comprises of a lens which a helps a laser beam to throw light on the written data in a current sequence. The reflected light is captured by photodiodes. Thus, the data is analyzed and processed to make it understandable to humans.Desktops generally feature a tray-load type optical disk drives while the laptops feature a slot-load type optical disk drives. These optical disk drives are capable of reading and writing data to a supported media. External optical disk drives are also available which can connect to the USB port present on the computer.

As the name indicates, a graphics card, or a GPU, or a visual processing unit (VPU) takes care of the graphics department of the computer. It processes the relevant data which is to be displayed on the monitor. GPUs can be integrated directly into the motherboard. They also come with separate graphics processors which can be connected to a computer using the PCI slot present on its motherboard.The integrated graphics processors use the RAM installed on the computer while the discrete graphics cards come with their own RAM (known GDDR or video memory), a separate power supply, and cooling system. This makes them faster and more reliable than the integrated graphics processor. Modern graphics cards like the Nvidia Titan X come with 12 GB of video memory and some mighty ones like AMD Radeon Pro SSD include solid state drives to have a video memory up to 1000 GB.

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The coordination between the operations of these different components makes a computer perform tasks for us. All these components have shrunk in size over the years and will continue to shrink further in the coming future. The world¡¯s first general-purpose computer was a US army pet project developed under the name ¡°Project PX¡± at the University of Pennsylvania. Released on February 15, 1946, it later became famous as the ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator And Computer). The 30 metric ton computer consumed 150 kW electricity. ENIAC went out of service in 1955.Modern day computers are more powerful, energy efficient, and compact than their ancestors. But the computers like ENIAC have been the inspiration for these machines. We¡¯ll continue to see more advancement the computer world.

In such situations, you might find this article helpful as I¡¯m going to list a variety of ways to get free internet. These are some free ways to stay in touch with friends and keep watching the latest cat videos.Not everyone is savvy about saving their Wi-Fi. In such situations, your Android smartphone will help you out by telling if a Wi-Fi connection is open. Simply open the Wi-Fi settings on your phone and look for connections that are labeled ¡®unsecured¡¯ or ¡®open¡¯.Sometimes your phone¡¯s Wi-Fi scanner fails to give you all the information about your area¡¯s Wi-Fi connections. In that case, you need to employ some Wi-Fi scanner apps or tools:Windows PC: If your Windows laptop¡¯s Wi-Fi detector isn¡¯t helping you, you can download free apps like WeFi and NetStumbler. WeFi lets you uses a community-generated list of free hotspots. NetStumbler provides you a detailed list of available networks with their channel, strength, and security.

Mac: Similarly, for Mac you can use iStumbler application to generate a list of the nearby hotspots. There¡¯s a paid option name AirRadar that works like a charm.

Smartphones: While your phone¡¯s Wi-Fi scanner lets you scan your surroundings, there are scanning apps that allow you to search around your and other locations too. You can use JiWire¡¯s Free Wi-Fi Finder on iPhone or paid alternatives like WifiTrack and WiFiFoFum (also available for Windows Mobile).

ne tools: If you wish to skip the app installation process for free Wi-Fi, you can take help from various online tools Hotspot Haven, and Wi-Fi FreeSpot Directory.

Visit the places that are likely to have free Wi-Fi:At places like McDonald¡¯s, airport, public libraries, Starbucks, you get free Wi-Fi. So, if you love free Wi-Fi hunting, learn about the places that provide free Wi-Fi and visit them. Just search the internet for hotels, businesses, restaurants, and cafes offering free Wi-Fi and you¡¯ll be surprised to see how many places are ready to offer their data for free.If you¡¯ve spotted a free Wi-Fi connection at some mall or restaurant, there are chances that it¡¯ll be a timed connection. To beat it, you need to spoof your MAC address. All you need is an app like MAC Makeup to spoof a new MAC address. This, of course, isn¡¯t recommended by us but could be used if there¡¯s some urgency.

If you are having an active data connection, you can easily tether your 3G or LTE connection to your personal computer. Using your phone¡¯s built-in features, you can turn your Android, iPhone, and Windows Phone into a portable Wi-Fi hotspot and use the internet on your computer.You might not know but in the US, many cable internet companies provide free Wi-Fi via their Wi-Fi hotspots around the town. Just visit your cable company¡¯s website, give then a call, or download their app to locate the free Wi-Fi hotspots.Do you know some more methods to spot free Wi-Fi hotspots around you? Do share them with other readers in the comments below.At this year¡¯s conference, more than 15,000 hackers and security professional gathered in Las Vegas. The Mandalay Bay hotel witnessed some scary and impressive sights. So, here are some of the best hacks that stood out from the rest:

Do you remember the hacker duo of Charlie Miller and Chris Valasek who hacked into a Jeep Cherokee by exploiting a zero-day in the system?This year, they were back at Black Hat with scarier hacking tricks, showing their ability to affect the safety of critical systems. They controlled a vehicle remotely, slamming the brakes suddenly and speeding ahead without any warning.FLYING-DANGER-DRONE-BLACK-HAT-2016At Black Hat 2016, we saw Danger Drone, a new laptop that¡¯s designed to fly and launch cyberattacks. This lets a security expert to remain far from the target and bypass the challenging aspects to test the defenses of a system.Just when you thought that your innocent light bulbs would be the last thing a hacker will target, Black Hat 2016 witnessed the details on Internet of Things security risks.CTO of NewAE Technology, Colin O¡¯Flynn, and Eyal Ronen, an Israeli student, shared a presentation and a video of hacking office building lights. Later, they even hacked the light at the conference.

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Very often what you see on social media might not be what it seems. Using deceptive phishing links, hackers easily target social media users to steal their personal information and money.The same concept was demonstrated by ZeroFOX data scientists Philip Tully and John Seymour. They build a bot that targetted social media users, collected information regarding their interests and penetrated the feed with a catered message. This Twitter bot was a success with a click rate as high as 60%.Fake airport boarding pass making app!What happens when an automated boarding pass reader rejects your gold status? Well, if you are Przemek Jaroszewski, you¡¯ll develop an app to hack your way into airport lounges.Jaroszewski, Poland¡¯s computer emergency response team head, says that it just takes 10 seconds to create a boarding pass that could be used to access the airport lounges. For the security purposes, he has no plans to make this app public.

These batteries, mostly lithium-ion type, decrease in capacity over time. It is quite possible that a new laptop that can run for 6 hours on the battery may reach only 2 hours after a couple of years of usage. Now, you can¡¯t stop the battery decay process because it¡¯s a natural phenomenon but you can keep an eye on the battery capacity from time to time. This would help you know when it is the right time to purchase a new one.

Windows keeps an account of battery related data like its original specifications, capacity, current capacity, etc. It also maintains updated information about battery usage sessions. A command line utility known as powercfg allows you to access this data in a well-presented manner.So, here is a method which involves the use of Windows CMD to check Energy Report and also the Battery Health Report which shows the charging cycles and performance of your battery over a course of time.

Fuller has tested his computer hack on a variety of operating systems, including the likes of Windows 98 SE, Windows 2000 SP4, Windows XP SP3, Windows 7 SP1, Windows 10 (Home and Enterprise Edition), and OS X El Capitan/Mavericks. He hasn¡¯t tested the hack on Linux (possibly it works).Interestingly, this hack takes about 13 seconds, depending on a system. For details, you can read Fuller¡¯s blog post.The latest release is built on the latest Ubuntu 16.04.1 LTS for stability and long term support. At the moment, the Microwatt Edition is not up to par and it¡¯ll be announced later. wattOS forum cites reasons like ¡°too dodgy installer¡± for the delay. Right now, the LXDE 32-bit and 64-bit versions are available for use.
As you¡¯ll move ahead with the installation process, you¡¯ll see options to start the default live environment, boot in failsafe mode, run a memory test, or boot another existing operating system. Here¡¯s how it looked on my virtual machine:wattos r10 lxde screenshot boot screen

In this article, I have tried to put the best of my knowledge about the components of a computer and this is my answer to the question,The basic building block of a computer, whether it¡¯s a laptop or a desktop, is a green colored printed circuit board called Motherboard. All the other components are connected to it and use various circuits and interfaces to communicate with each other. For a desktop computer, you only have to open one screw in order to gain access to what is inside the computer. But for a laptop computer, it¡¯s tedious and frightening job.Motherboard houses various components like memory slots, sockets, chipset, clock generator, expansion slots, storage connectors, etc. I have already covered the components of a motherboard in one of my previous writings. You can read it by clicking the link below.

You might have heard it an uncountable number of times that a processor or a CPU (Central Processing Unit) is the brain of a computer. Often, in the case of desktops, people confuse the CPU with the cabinet. But it¡¯s a small chip placed on the socket of the motherboard and is responsible for all the calculations and input/output operations to be done in order to process the data. Modern computers have small-sized CPU chips known as Microprocessors.A microprocessor houses the two components of a processor, processing unit and the control unit, on a single small IC. Modern microprocessors come as single core or multi-core. A multi-core microprocessor such as the Intel Core i7, have more than one processing units (cores) present on a single chip.

It gathers the necessary program data to be processed. For this, the data is first shifted from the hard drive to the RAM of the computer then to the CPU.

The CPU then processes the data on the basis of some rules and regulations, known as Instruction Set, it already knows.

Finally, the processed data is ready. It then follows the steps the programmer has included in the program. For example, the processed data can be displayed on the screen or saved to the hard drive.It is a memory supplement used by the CPU while it¡¯s busy with the processing jobs. Cache memory contains the data which is often required by a CPU like the program instructions. It is easier for the CPU access the cache memory first than going for the larger ones. Cache memory is way faster than RAMs and hence it¡¯s costlier. So, the size of the cache memory is kept very limited.

Cache memory comes in levels like L1 cache, L2 cache, and L3 cache. The CPU first searches for the required data in L1, then L2, then L3, and L4 if it exists. Finally, if none of the cache memories are able to provide the required data, it will access the RAM. Cache memory is very vital to a computer. A computer with a faster processor and less cache will perform worse than a slower processor with more cache. But this doesn¡¯t mean that a 20-year-old processor puffed with excess cache could outperform a present-day processor.Random Access Memory is one of the vital parts of a computer. If you take out the RAM chip out of your computer, it won¡¯t start. It is faster than the hard drives and is used to store program data which is currently used by the CPU. But RAM suffers from short -term memory loss. What does it mean? It holds data only when it receives power. Once you turn off your computer all the data will be lost. That¡¯s the reason it can¡¯t be used as a permanent storage solution in a computer.

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The RAM chips we use in our laptop and desktops differ in size. The reason is to make the memory chip compact for the laptops. But they have the same functionality and powers. Dynamic RAM integrated circuits, known as Dual-Inline Memory Module (DIMM), are mounted on green colored PCB and then called as DIMM chips. Memory variants like DDR, DDR2, DDR3, DDR4, etc. differ in the number of pin counts they have.Before DIMMs, SIMMs used to exist. The key difference between the two is the number of pin counts. SIMMs have half the number of pins than DIMMs. However, the number of pins will appear the same if you take a casual look on them. A keen observation would lead to a conclusion that the pins on either side of a SIMM are connected to each other which is not the case with DIMM.

Also, the SIMM supports a 32-bit data bus while DIMM supports 64-bit data bus. This allows the flow of more data in the case of DIMM. The modern 64-bit CPUs would require an installation of two SIMMs chips.A single DIMM would be sufficient for that. Hence, the SIMMs became obsolete with time.
The Basic Input/Output System (BIOS) is responsible for starting your computer. When you press the power button, the BIOS comes into action. It first checks that all the components are connected are working fine. It then loads the operating system. It also behaves as a middle man between and the operating system and the hardware components of the computer.

BIOS is actually a firmware (software) which can be stored either on a non-volatile memory chip present on the motherboard. The chip is a flash memory chip or EEPROM on which the data can be rewritten but it stays intact when we cut the power, unlike the normal RAM. This facilitates easy upgrade of the BIOS firmware.BIOS is specific for different computers. Like, a BIOS designed for a Dell computer won¡¯t be supported by an HP computer. If you install a non-supported BIOS on a machine, it may lead to hardware failure. It is so specific that even if you install the BIOS of a different model of the same manufacturer, you might end up burning your motherboard.

UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) can be called the future of the BIOS. It is more advanced and provides better security. However, most manufacturers still provide support for UEFI and BIOS with their machines as UEFI is not implemented across the world.It is a large and permanent storage space which is used to keep all the data required by a computer like the operating system files, songs, videos, and third-party software files, etc. When needed, the data is transferred from the hard drive to the random access memory for being used by the CPU.This memory can be a magnetic rotating hard disk drive (HDDs) or a Solid State Drive (SSD). Hard Drive is common than the newer SSDs as they are cheap but SSDs are way faster. These HDDs and HDDs connected to the computer through the SATA interface-based storage connectors present on the motherboard.

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It is an output device connected to a computer which displays the desired graphics output produced by the graphics processing unit of the computer. Generally known as a monitor, a computer display can be an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) based or LED (Light Emitting Diode) based. Earlier computer display monitors were based on Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) but these became obsolete as more compact and advanced LCD and LED panels gained popularity.For desktop computers, the display unit remains separate than the rest of the computer components. Desktop computers are useful for long usage schedules. Having a separate monitor also makes the replacement process easier if something goes wrong with the display.

The computer can connect to the display via different connection modes like VGA, HDMI, DVI, DisplayPort, etc. Intel¡¯s Thunderbolt offers video output as well as data transfer through the same connection interface for different devices.For laptops and netbooks, the display unit is separate but attached to the chassis housing the computer components for the reason of making it compact. This adds to the mobility and ease offered to the user. These displays use a different type of video cable to connect to the motherboard. AIOs provide best of both worlds by providing the display and the computer components in the same body.You might not know that the ¡®Refresh¡¯ option in Microsoft Windows actually concerns with the display not the CPU or memory of the computer. Read the following article to know more:

Fuller has tested his computer hack on a variety of operating systems, including the likes of Windows 98 SE, Windows 2000 SP4, Windows XP SP3, Windows 7 SP1, Windows 10 (Home and Enterprise Edition), and OS X El Capitan/Mavericks. He hasn¡¯t tested the hack on Linux (possibly it works).Interestingly, this hack takes about 13 seconds, depending on a system. For details, you can read Fuller¡¯s blog post.The latest release is built on the latest Ubuntu 16.04.1 LTS for stability and long term support. At the moment, the Microwatt Edition is not up to par and it¡¯ll be announced later. wattOS forum cites reasons like ¡°too dodgy installer¡± for the delay. Right now, the LXDE 32-bit and 64-bit versions are available for use.
As you¡¯ll move ahead with the installation process, you¡¯ll see options to start the default live environment, boot in failsafe mode, run a memory test, or boot another existing operating system. Here¡¯s how it looked on my virtual machine:wattos r10 lxde screenshot boot screen

In this article, I have tried to put the best of my knowledge about the components of a computer and this is my answer to the question,The basic building block of a computer, whether it¡¯s a laptop or a desktop, is a green colored printed circuit board called Motherboard. All the other components are connected to it and use various circuits and interfaces to communicate with each other. For a desktop computer, you only have to open one screw in order to gain access to what is inside the computer. But for a laptop computer, it¡¯s tedious and frightening job.Motherboard houses various components like memory slots, sockets, chipset, clock generator, expansion slots, storage connectors, etc. I have already covered the components of a motherboard in one of my previous writings. You can read it by clicking the link below.

You might have heard it an uncountable number of times that a processor or a CPU (Central Processing Unit) is the brain of a computer. Often, in the case of desktops, people confuse the CPU with the cabinet. But it¡¯s a small chip placed on the socket of the motherboard and is responsible for all the calculations and input/output operations to be done in order to process the data. Modern computers have small-sized CPU chips known as Microprocessors.A microprocessor houses the two components of a processor, processing unit and the control unit, on a single small IC. Modern microprocessors come as single core or multi-core. A multi-core microprocessor such as the Intel Core i7, have more than one processing units (cores) present on a single chip.

It gathers the necessary program data to be processed. For this, the data is first shifted from the hard drive to the RAM of the computer then to the CPU.

The CPU then processes the data on the basis of some rules and regulations, known as Instruction Set, it already knows.

Finally, the processed data is ready. It then follows the steps the programmer has included in the program. For example, the processed data can be displayed on the screen or saved to the hard drive.It is a memory supplement used by the CPU while it¡¯s busy with the processing jobs. Cache memory contains the data which is often required by a CPU like the program instructions. It is easier for the CPU access the cache memory first than going for the larger ones. Cache memory is way faster than RAMs and hence it¡¯s costlier. So, the size of the cache memory is kept very limited.

Cache memory comes in levels like L1 cache, L2 cache, and L3 cache. The CPU first searches for the required data in L1, then L2, then L3, and L4 if it exists. Finally, if none of the cache memories are able to provide the required data, it will access the RAM. Cache memory is very vital to a computer. A computer with a faster processor and less cache will perform worse than a slower processor with more cache. But this doesn¡¯t mean that a 20-year-old processor puffed with excess cache could outperform a present-day processor.Random Access Memory is one of the vital parts of a computer. If you take out the RAM chip out of your computer, it won¡¯t start. It is faster than the hard drives and is used to store program data which is currently used by the CPU. But RAM suffers from short -term memory loss. What does it mean? It holds data only when it receives power. Once you turn off your computer all the data will be lost. That¡¯s the reason it can¡¯t be used as a permanent storage solution in a computer.

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The RAM chips we use in our laptop and desktops differ in size. The reason is to make the memory chip compact for the laptops. But they have the same functionality and powers. Dynamic RAM integrated circuits, known as Dual-Inline Memory Module (DIMM), are mounted on green colored PCB and then called as DIMM chips. Memory variants like DDR, DDR2, DDR3, DDR4, etc. differ in the number of pin counts they have.Before DIMMs, SIMMs used to exist. The key difference between the two is the number of pin counts. SIMMs have half the number of pins than DIMMs. However, the number of pins will appear the same if you take a casual look on them. A keen observation would lead to a conclusion that the pins on either side of a SIMM are connected to each other which is not the case with DIMM.

Also, the SIMM supports a 32-bit data bus while DIMM supports 64-bit data bus. This allows the flow of more data in the case of DIMM. The modern 64-bit CPUs would require an installation of two SIMMs chips.A single DIMM would be sufficient for that. Hence, the SIMMs became obsolete with time.
The Basic Input/Output System (BIOS) is responsible for starting your computer. When you press the power button, the BIOS comes into action. It first checks that all the components are connected are working fine. It then loads the operating system. It also behaves as a middle man between and the operating system and the hardware components of the computer.

BIOS is actually a firmware (software) which can be stored either on a non-volatile memory chip present on the motherboard. The chip is a flash memory chip or EEPROM on which the data can be rewritten but it stays intact when we cut the power, unlike the normal RAM. This facilitates easy upgrade of the BIOS firmware.BIOS is specific for different computers. Like, a BIOS designed for a Dell computer won¡¯t be supported by an HP computer. If you install a non-supported BIOS on a machine, it may lead to hardware failure. It is so specific that even if you install the BIOS of a different model of the same manufacturer, you might end up burning your motherboard.

UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) can be called the future of the BIOS. It is more advanced and provides better security. However, most manufacturers still provide support for UEFI and BIOS with their machines as UEFI is not implemented across the world.It is a large and permanent storage space which is used to keep all the data required by a computer like the operating system files, songs, videos, and third-party software files, etc. When needed, the data is transferred from the hard drive to the random access memory for being used by the CPU.This memory can be a magnetic rotating hard disk drive (HDDs) or a Solid State Drive (SSD). Hard Drive is common than the newer SSDs as they are cheap but SSDs are way faster. These HDDs and HDDs connected to the computer through the SATA interface-based storage connectors present on the motherboard.

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It is an output device connected to a computer which displays the desired graphics output produced by the graphics processing unit of the computer. Generally known as a monitor, a computer display can be an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) based or LED (Light Emitting Diode) based. Earlier computer display monitors were based on Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) but these became obsolete as more compact and advanced LCD and LED panels gained popularity.For desktop computers, the display unit remains separate than the rest of the computer components. Desktop computers are useful for long usage schedules. Having a separate monitor also makes the replacement process easier if something goes wrong with the display.

The computer can connect to the display via different connection modes like VGA, HDMI, DVI, DisplayPort, etc. Intel¡¯s Thunderbolt offers video output as well as data transfer through the same connection interface for different devices.For laptops and netbooks, the display unit is separate but attached to the chassis housing the computer components for the reason of making it compact. This adds to the mobility and ease offered to the user. These displays use a different type of video cable to connect to the motherboard. AIOs provide best of both worlds by providing the display and the computer components in the same body.You might not know that the ¡®Refresh¡¯ option in Microsoft Windows actually concerns with the display not the CPU or memory of the computer. Read the following article to know more:

Remastered from the core of Ubuntu Linux build, this free operating system focuses on keeping its footprint small and delivering a clean desktop environment. The current wattOS R10 release is based on i3 window manager that fitted perfectly with my familiar LXDE desktop environment.All the options can be accessed from a single taskbar. By default, it hosts the menu, and icons for LXTerminal, PCManFM file manager, Firefox web browser, opened applications, etc.wattOS R10 ships with Linux kernel 4.4.0-36, Firefox 48.0, PCManFM 1.2.4, Filezilla 3.15.0.2, Transmission 2.84, Evince 3.10.3, and Gufw 16.04.1. This release replaces R9¡¯s Audacious music player with Lollypop 0.9.112, a modern GTK+3 music player written in Python.Apart from the music section, replacements have been made in graphics/picture editing department with the addition of gThumb 3.4.3, which does a decent job. I found it hard to digest but the applications for CD burning and native video playing have been removed.A big change comes in the form of wider support for various hardware and wireless devices. This has made it easier to run wattOS R10 on a variety of legacy systems. This release also includes tools for better power management and performance optimization on the laptop.

As said earlier, wattOS R10 is a fast and lightweight operating system. It works perfectly fine with old computers that have memory and power limitations. So, if there¡¯s an old PC rotting in your basement, wattOS could become its new best friend. It can perform all the basic functions like internet surfing, word processing, email, playing music, etc. However, expecting wattOS to play 4K videos or using it for heavy video editing will be unfair.The current release, wattOS R10 LXDE, needs about 192-256MB RAM for installation. After the installation completes, it needs 128MB RAM to run. However, I¡¯ll recommend you to use at least 256MB RAM for a satisfactory performance.

Note: In my tests, I found the web browser a little bit slow to launch at first. After installation of the operating system, it was normal. I looked for the issue on the official wattOS forum and found something similar listed over there. So, don¡¯t worry about that.If you are willing to know more about wattOS R10, here¡¯s the release announcement. For trying it out, visit the downloads page.The project has been put to temporary halts in the past. But according to a Reuters report, Google has finally prepared to put a stop signal in the development road of Project Ara. The major move reflects Google¡¯s intention of making its hardware development process smooth-running.

Google may not kick out Project Ara altogether. In May, Google announced that a Developer Edition would be released later this year. Google also had plans to release a consumer version in 2017 but that seems to be foggy now. The company, won¡¯t be working on the product itself, may license the modular smartphone development to other companies which would eventually lead to Project Ara smartphones hitting the market in the future.As Intel demonstrated earlier, this would allow you to stream 4K videos as well as edit and share them right out of the box. You can combine multiple 4K video streams and watch a UHD movie at the same time.

The 7th Gen Core processors include upgraded versions of Core i3, Core i5, Core i7, and Core m3. Intel has managed to improve the performance and reduce the power consumption at the same time. The Kaby Lake processors can improve the battery life up to 3-times when 4K videos are played on the computer.Intel has also partnered with Sony Pictures Home Entertainment to bring their ULTRA 4K movie streaming service (launched in January this for Sony¡¯s 4K TVs) to the users of the 7th Gen Intel Core processors. The movie rental service will commence sometime in the first quarter of 2017.Intel aims that its next-gen Core processors would power most of the laptops and 2-in-1s in the market. Let¡¯s see, how they perform in comparison to the recently announced Zen architecture-based processors by AMD.

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¡°We are incredibly excited about the strong partnership with our OEM customers and expect more than 100 different 2 in 1s and laptops powered by 7th Gen Intel Core to be available starting in September through this holiday season,¡± writes Navin Shenoy, corporate VP and GM for Intel¡¯s Client Computing Group.But this isn¡¯t the world¡¯s end. There are many file recovery software available that you can use to get the important data back. Deleted data doesn¡¯t mean that it¡¯s totally removed from a computer. This action only deletes the reference. When your computer¡¯s operating system, Windows, for instance, doesn¡¯t find it, it considers it deleted. Your file still exists on your hard drive and using a good data recovery software, you can recover all the data.

Today, I¡¯m going to tell you about Wondershare Data Recovery software for Mac, one of best data recovery software around. It¡¯s a widely popular non-destructive data recovery method that lets your retrieve deleted, lost, or formatted data from your PC or removable devices like USB drives.
Compared to other data recovery tools, Wondershare is more user-friendly. The installation process of the tool runs smooth without any unpleasant events. After that, all you need to do is open the application and you¡¯ll be presented with different options. Here are the options:
Lost File Recovery is the quickest way to get back you files. If you know exactly the disk or folder where you lost your files, you need to go for this option. It recovers the formatted and deleted files, files deleted by Command + Delete, or emptied from Trash/Recycle Bin with their original path and names. It usually takes a couple of minutes to scan the entire hard disk and list the files. The recovered files are listed in the form of a table and you also get the option to see a preview, which is one of the best features of this file recovery tool.

If Lost File Recovery fails to recover your data, you need to go for the Raw Recovery method. This method works with different types of partitions and takes more time to recover the files. You can also go for this method if the data loss has been caused by Logical Damages and Virus/trojan attack.
The third option, Partition Recovery, is useful when you are facing some problems with your partition. In all major file systems, NTFS, FAT 16, FAT 32, exFAT, you can efficiently restore deleted, damaged, formatted, or lost partitions.
Let¡¯s suppose that you¡¯ve spent lots of time to scan your multi-TB hard disk and Wondershare Data Recovery is showing gigabytes of recoverable data, but you don¡¯t want to restore all the files at once. For such situations, this useful data recovery tool gives you the option to import a saved scan result and resume a previous recovery session later.

Each scanning option in this popular data recovery tool is built as a wizard to guide you at every step and help you get the best results. The complete data recovery process consists of three steps.Wondershare Data Recovery The first step involves the selection of the right data recovery mode according to how you lost your data. Depending on which way you lost your file, choose Lost File Recovery, Partition Recovery, or Raw Recovery method. Now proceed to the next step.Before proceeding to the scanning window, you need to specify the partition, type of file, file system etc. You are also asked if you want a deep scan. After selecting the path/location where data loss occurred, you need to click on the Scan/Start button to start the scanning process.

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In the third and the last step, i.e. recovery, you have the option to preview, recover, and save your files. On the right pane, you¡¯ll be shown a list of the recovered files and their preview. You need to select the desired files and click on the Recover button. Please note that don¡¯t save the recovered files in the same partition where data loss occurred. In case that data loss occurred on your PC, I¡¯ll advise you to use a USB drive to save the recovered files and vice-versa.As said above, all the devices with NTFS, FAT16, FAT32, exFAT, HFS+, and HFSX file systems are supported. These devices include desktops, laptops, digital cameras, memory cards, flash drives, removable drives, solid state drives etc. Interestingly, storage devices like Floppy Disk, iPod, and cell phones are also supported.Wondershare Data Recovery software supports multiple types of files¨Cdocument, images, video, audio, email, and archive. Here¡¯s the complete list of supported file types:

Wondershare Data Recovery software lets one have a complete control over the lost file recovery process. There are are different modes for different needs. This tool also shows you the scanning stat, telling you how much time is left and how many files are recovered. We tested these readings and they proved to be quite accurate. Using the Resume Recovery method, one can pause the scan and continue it later according to your convenience. Another plus point of Wondershare Data Recovery Software is its wide range of supported devices and file formats.The trial version of this tool has a 100MB file size limit. For recovering files bigger than that, you need to buy the full version. Also, the preview feature of the tool has some scope of improvement as it doesn¡¯t work for some file types.

Wondershare Data Recovery for Mac is a worthy option if you¡¯ve lost some important files from your computer. This tool comes with many helpful options like different scanning modes, in-depth scan, and resume option that make it a good choice. So, you can grab the free version, scan for files, and if your files show up in the scan results, you can make the purchase and recover the data files larger than 100MB.It was one day when I borrowed a friend¡¯s screwdriver set to open my laptop, a Dell Inspiron N5010. Just like me, most of the people who actually build the nerves to open up their laptop don¡¯t think much about the consequences of the experiment they are going to perform.Chances are high that their innocent machine may never be able to power up after they somehow manage to tight the screws, satisfying their curiosity of knowing what¡¯s inside their computer. I also ended up leaving one of the important parts unscrewed during the closing process. Thankfully, I am writing this article on the same Inspiron N5010 which was once a subject of my tech experiment. I did strip down my laptop several times, thereafter.

There won't be any tech snobbery here, incidentally, against the idea of 'everyday computing', as though all tech journalists and specialists actually need and frequently use the power of the MacBook Pro they probably own. The 2016 MacBook, even in its lowest-spec model, is more than adequate for the needs of most - although video editors and gamers should look elsewhere.

It's the first Apple MacBook to ship with Intel's latest generation of processor, 'Skylake'. Along with Intel's HD Graphics 515 card, the MacBook has faster performance and storage speeds across the board. It's fair to say that these aren't extremely noticeable in use compared to the 2015 model, but the laptop is agile and responsive.

The standard 8GB of RAM helps, as does the flash storage - there are no moving parts in this laptop, and therefore no fan. It barely runs warm, even when put under a bit of pressure with multiple programmes running. A laptop that doesn't scald your lap is always a plus.
Bonus points: pleasingly for a laptop this small, the speakers are outstanding.

Our attractively grey (Space Grey, because space is grey) review model in particular has picked up many compliments on its short travels. (The Rose Gold model is more of an opinion divider.) There's no denying this is a beautiful product.

12-inch MacBook review (2016)
Instead, we are drawn to notice, and potentially criticise, the one sole port on this computer. (Bar the headphone port. First name on the team sheet.) It's USB-C, a relatively new standard of USB connection. The bundled charger connects to the port, which is also able to transfer data and act as a video output port. You'll need an adapter to do all three at once.

But so what? If you know you'll want to attach several USB sticks to your computer every day, then you just won't consider this laptop - much like those who will want to connect an external monitor. The MacBook doesn't support Thunderbolt 3, so the best option for second screening is with an HDMI adaptor to connect to a compatible monitor.

Let¡¯s get down to the details, though. The casing is made from magnesium alloy and is just 4mm thick at its thinnest point (the bottom of the touch keyboard). When folded shut, it¡¯s just 9.6mm thick and the 130-piece hinge can be folded either way, so you can flip the screen behind the keyboard to use it as a tablet.

The highlight is the fact that the keyboard isn¡¯t a physical one but a completely flat surface which lights up as a keyboard when required. Lenovo calls it the Instant Halo touch based keyboard. Apparently, two of the three years of development were spent getting the response and haptic feedback right.

The touch surface isn't a screen: you can see the outlines of the keys when it isn't lit up, and this means you can't change the layout. If you want a UK keyboard, make sure you buy a Yoga Book in the UK.

Lenovo Yoga Book hands on review

In lab tests, it turned out that it¡¯s possible to type 151 characters per minute on it ¨C essentially the same speed as using a physical 10-inch keyboard. To help speed up typing even more, there¡¯s predictive text which works just like an Android or iOS keyboard, popping up suggestions as you type. And to keep typos in check, the keyboard will learn where you hit keys and know that you meant to hit the spacebar or ¡®a¡¯ even if your thumb or finger didn¡¯t quite make it to the key.

In our brief tests, we struggled to adapt to such a large touch keyboard and even the auto-correct couldn't fix all of our typos. Strangely, despite being used to on-screen keyboards on phones and even tablets, it wasn't easy to quickly adapt to this version. The haptic feedback didn't trigger with each keypress and, while we felt it, it was difficult to know exactly what it was attempting to tell us.

Below the keyboard is a trackpad, which supports two-fingered gestures. On the Windows version there are two buttons ¨C one either side of the pad ¨C and just one for Android. They're not actual buttons of course, just distinct areas on the touch surface. You can tap the left one for the left-click, and the right for a right-click. And as you'd expect, tapping the pad itself is the same as a left-click.

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In the box you also get a stylus. Lenovo sensibly partnered with Wacom for the touch and pen technology, which means that any Windows apps which already support an Intuos tablet will support the Yoga Book. Using EMR also means you can hover the stylus above the surface to position the stylus before drawing anything. Plus, as this works up to 10mm away, you can also use the magnetic Book Pad which sits on top of the touch surface. As you might expect, there are 2048 levels of pressure, a sensor to detect at which angle you¡¯re holding the stylus and also palm rejection when you¡¯re leaning on the touch surface.
Cleverly, the stylus is also a real pen so you can make physical notes or drawings which are captured digitally on screen at the same time. On the Windows version, notes are saved straight to OneNote, but there¡¯s a dedicated app ¨C Note Saver ¨C on the Android one.

Lenovo also made the Yoga Book and stylus compatible with Windows 10¡¯s new Windows Ink feature, which was added in the Anniversary Update. The main screen is also a touchscreen, so you can use the stylus on that as well, although you won¡¯t get the pressure sensitivity of course.

This screen has a 16:10 aspect ratio and a resolution of 1920x1200. That¡¯s plenty for this size and, being IPS, colours were decent and viewing angles wide.

Power comes from a quad-core Intel Atom processor which can boost up to 2.4GHz. It¡¯s hard to gauge performance from our short time with the Yoga Book, so we¡¯ll wait until we can run our usual benchmarks to see how it shapes up against its 2-in-1 competitors around this price.
The on-board Intel HD Graphics 400 should be plenty for casual games, but forget about playing the latest 3D shooter on the Windows version at maximum resolution.

Battery life is claimed to be a ¡°not exaggerated¡± 15 hours, and that¡¯s a mix of productivity and entertainment, such as sending emails and watching Netflix. We can¡¯t test this yet, but we will.

The Yoga Book supports fast charging over its micro USB port. It comes with a fast charger that will charge the battery from empty to 80 percent in 50 mins. That¡¯s not bad at all considering the 8500mAh capacity.

The Windows model runs the latest 64-bit version of Windows 10. There¡¯s little point in going into more detail about this here. You can read more in our Windows 10 review.

The Android version is more interesting. It comes with Android 6.0 but Lenovo has promised an upgrade to Nougat at some point. It has customised Android a fair bit, although it¡¯s relatively familiar and the app tray has been retained.

Most of the customisation is for productivity which, as we noted in the Google Pixel C review, is lacking. Lenovo has made it possible to have up to four windows open at once, and ensured you can use standard keyboard shortcuts.

There's some work to be done, it appears. While the keyboard works whenever you tap on a text box, the stylus's use is very limited at the moment. You can't use it on the main screen, and you can only use it to draw in apps which support it. The only app on our demo machines was the Note Saver app.

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The IFA 2016 tradeshow is packed with so many hot new products and cool tech companies that it can be a real struggle to make our way around everyone and also find the time to get hands-on reviews and videos of the tech people are talking about.

This year the Tech Advisor team decided to do things a little differently. We¡¯ve still grabbed some hands-on time with the products you want to read about, including the brand-new Sony Xperia XZ, Samsung Gear S3 Frontier, Moto Z Play, Qualcomm VR and Acer Swift 7, but this year we set aside some time to talk to PRs and to really appreciate the show as a whole and the products on display.

Where to buy your iPhone 7? Find out how to get the best price on an iPhone 7 today.

For the first time we presented our Tech Advisor Top Picks awards to some of the companies showing off new products at IFA. Here are some of our IFA 2016 winners:

It¡¯s a beast, and it¡¯s Tech Advisor Top Pick. Acer is a deserving IFA 2016 winner for its Predator 21X gaming laptop, with the award presented by Staff Writer Lewis Painter.
Sony Tech Advisor Top Pick IFA 2016

The guys have still got some more awards to give out at the show, but we won¡¯t give up the surprise in the meantime. Come back later to find out which other brands and products won Tech Advisor Top Picks at IFA 2016.

During IFA 2016 in Berlin, Acer announced the Acer Predator 21X, arguably the most technically impressive gaming laptop coming to the market. Featuring not one but two Nvidia GTX 1080s and a gorgeous 21in curved display, the Predator 21X stole the show - but what is it actually like to use? We went hands-on with the beast of a gaming laptop during IFA 2016, and here¡¯s what we thought.

So, when are we likely to see Acer¡¯s tamed beast released in the UK? While the release date is yet to be set, an Asus rep told us at IFA 2016 that we should expect it to be available to purchase early 2017, possibly with more information announced at CES 2017.
But what about pricing? Of course, a laptop with a curved display, eye-tracking technology and two GTX 1080s isn¡¯t going to be cheap. Acer is, of course, staying tight-lipped on pricing at this time, but we expect this to be pretty damn expensive judging by other laptops in the Predator gaming laptop line - the smaller and less powerful Predator 17 can cost around £1,500 for example. We expect the Predator 21X to sell for upwards of £2,000, but we¡¯ll update this section when we know for sure.
Of course, the first thing we noticed about the Acer Predator 21X when we went hands-on at IFA 2016 was its size. Pictures simply don¡¯t do it justice - the laptop is huge. And with that girth comes weight, and the Predator 21X definitely isn¡¯t lightweight. The laptop weighs in at a whopping 8KG, which to us makes it more of a portable desktop rather than a laptop because unless you¡¯re military trained, you won¡¯t be carrying this around in your rucksack.

As noted above, the Predator 21X features a 21in curved display which is actually a world-first according to Acer. The display is gorgeous, and surprisingly sits flush when the laptop is closed.

Beyond that, you¡¯ll recognise the familiar fierce Predator-branded design which looks extremely impressive, complete with, rather weirdly we must admit, a dragon decal directly above the keyboard. While it looked cool with the matching desktop wallpaper on screen, it¡¯d look a bit out of place if/when the user customised their desktop with their own wallpaper. It also features a triangular window above the keyboard showing off one of the many fans within the laptop, reassuring gamers that this is indeed a gaming powerhouse.

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So, what does this beast of a gaming laptop feature? Well, let¡¯s start with the graphics card - or graphics cards, as the Predator 21X features not one but two Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080s with SLI. This means that you¡¯ll be able to run pretty much any game with the highest graphical quality without any lag or screen tearing, and can power the latest VR headsets like the HTC Vive and Oculus Rift without even breaking a sweat. This may be of interest to VR gamers especially, as it allows them to use VR in different areas of their own home without having to move a desktop PC complete with display, keyboard, mouse, etc.

Along with the impressive array of graphics cards, the Predator 21X features a seventh generation Intel Core processor, although which will depend on the specification you choose when purchasing the laptop. This should provide users with blisteringly fast response times, even with more graphically demanding games and processor hungry apps. We, of course, experienced no lag or stutter during our time with the Predator 21X, although we only played through a selection of demos provided to us.

We chatted about IFA after we got back on our podcast. Listen here from 32 minutes:

We briefly mentioned the display above, but let¡¯s talk about it a little more. The Predator 21X features a gorgeous 21in curved display with a resolution of 2560x1080, providing a crisp and bright picture that frankly we couldn¡¯t get enough of. The combination of a high-res display and the curvature it boasts provides users with a more impressive and immersive experience, key to a great gaming laptop such as this.

It doesn¡¯t stop there either, as directly below the display sits Tobii eye-tracking software that lets you use your eyes to complete various tasks in-game, as we found out. During our Tobii demo we were able to simply look at the edges of the display to turn the in-game camera and look around our virtual ship, then in another part of the demo we aimed at enemies simply by looking at them and fired by hitting the space bar. It¡¯s a great look at what the future of gaming might feature and it was impressively accurate, but unfortunately there isn¡¯t a large selection of games that boast support for Tobii¡¯s eye tracking software at the time of writing.

Speaking of space bar, the Predator 21X features a beautiful mechanical keyboard complete with Cherry MX switches and RGB illumination, a must-have for hardcore gamers. The keyboard was comfortable to use, and even featured five macro switches along the left-hand side of the keyboard which can be customised for use in various games.

With all that technology, overheating must be an issue, right? Apparently not with the Predator 21X, as the beast that features two graphics cards and a curved display of course also features not one, not two or even three but five fans to keep the laptop cool. This includes three AeroBlade metal fans which provide enhanced cooling.

Yes, the Acer Predator 21X is impressive and has some incredible technology under the hood, but Acer doesn¡¯t expect it to become a household name anytime soon. Talking with an Acer rep during IFA 2016, we were told that it was more of a ¡°Why not?¡± scenario when developing the 21X, as the company wanted to push the boundaries of what is possible with gaming laptops. Why not, eh? With that being said, we¡¯d still love to own one, although we might have to remortgage our houses first.
The Acer Predator 21X comes packing Windows 10, of course, allowing for SLI support. We didn¡¯t see much on the laptop in terms of bloatware, although this may change before launch.

Acer¡¯s Predator 21X is technically impressive, boasting two Nvidia GTX 1080 graphics cards, a 21in curved display (which are both world firsts) and Tobii eye-tracking software, but we imagine it¡¯ll be too expensive for the majority of gamers. Weighing in at 8KG it isn¡¯t lightweight in any shape or form, and will probably act for most as a desktop despite its laptop form factor. Despite it being expensive, bulky and overpowered, we are extremely impressed with it and we¡¯d love to get one back to the PC Advisor towers once it launches to put it through its paces - although it may need to be lifted in via crane first.

Lenovo hopes to reignite the 2-in-1 laptop / tablet market with the new Yoga Book. It certainly stands out, thanks to its unique touch surface which flips between being a keyboard and a writing and sketching pad. See also: Best convertible laptop reviews

We¡¯ve had a limited amount of time with the Yoga Book; here are our initial impressions of the device.

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LENOVO YOGA BOOK REVIEW: UK PRICE AND AVAILABILITY

There are two models of the Yoga Book, one with Android 6.0 that costs £449, and another which runs Windows 10 and costs £549.

They will both go on sale in a couple of weeks¡¯ time in September, and with both you have a choice of Gunmetal Grey and Champagne Gold. The latter is particularly good-looking, although it is probably a little too bright for most blokes.

LENOVO YOGA BOOK REVIEW: FEATURES AND DESIGN

Lenovo says the Yoga Book has been developed over the past three years in a bid to produce a device that will appeal to what it calls the ¡°touch generation¡±: students and young professionals.

While tablets in general haven¡¯t changed since Apple launched the first iPad back in 2010, usage habits have. The Yoga Book is aimed at being the ultimate productivity tool and entertainment device in one.

The size might be a bone of contention, though. It has a 10.1in screen, which means it¡¯s arguably too small for serious productivity. However, Apple has its 9.7in iPad Pro, and Lenovo has already hinted that larger Yoga Books are in the works.

Lenovo Yoga Book hands on review

But if you really think you'd want to connect this particular MacBook to an external monitor, why would you plump for a 12-inch screen laptop in the first place? A 15-inch MacBook Pro with a plethora of ports is surely your preferred machine, negating the need for an external display. The point here is that the design of this laptop should not be judged harshly by what it cannot do in relation to its price. This is to misunderstand its excellent combination of form and function.

Unfortunately, for the next couple of years, the one USB-C port thing is probably going to affect sales of this laptop. Given that Apple has gone with it again for the second generation, we think Apple is sticking with this strategy for the long haul - we'll have to wait and see what the next MacBook Pro brings. Some users will feel they might need to suddenly plug in two USB sticks and the SD card for that point-and-shoot camera that's lying about somewhere. The MacBook Air is now considered a design classic used by several generations of person, and indeed allows these plug-ins - but in 2008 it was actually laughed at by many for being overpriced and only having a single port. Sound familiar?

Here's one final point of potential interest: the USB-C ports on our test machines were both a very snug, very firm fit: we had to give them a good old yank to get the cable out. By which we don't mean that you'll ever be unable to get it out - just that, unless it loosens up significantly over time, it will never ever come out inadvertently. And while that sounds good, it does mean that tripping over the wire is going to bring the MacBook crashing down instead of pulling out the cable. We miss MagSafe.

(If you miss MagSafe too, there are options. Griffin makes an accessory called BreakSafe - available from Amazon or Griffin itself - a USB-C power cable that incorporates a battery segment and will separate and unattach itself when placed under moderate pressure.)

Apple has made the travel of the MacBook's keys particularly shallow in order to squeeze the size of the chassis down, but it's not as far removed from other more traditional typing surfaces as reports might have you believe. It's not so much a compromise as a conscious design choice, just as the decision to buy this laptop is a choice of whether its design tweaks complement your computing needs.

The company has made the keys larger than on its other keyboards yet amazingly has fit a full-size design on to a laptop that is a hair over 11 inches wide.

Typing on the 12-inch MacBook is okay, if a bit of an acquired taste. The reduced travel can make the keys less satisfying and, more importantly, less accurate to use. The sound of the keys, by the way, is very different to what we're used to with Apple laptops: not necessarily bad, just different. We quite like it, really - it's a cleaner tap than the slightly rattly, springy sound effect you get from the MacBook Pro's keys, for instance. But it's a shade louder than you might expect, and may become annoying for hypersensitive officemates.

The keys are a good size but squeezed together more closely than on the Pro. And the reduced travel (and consequently keys that sit less proudly above the level) mean it's harder for your fingers to find their way round.

12-inch MacBook review (2016)

We generally mishit or entirely missed keys more often than on larger or deeper-travelled keyboards, but the most common error concerned the lefthand Shift key. We continuously missed this key and hit the key to its right instead. Indeed, all the keys down the lefthand edge are a little hit and miss.

The issue appears related to the low-slung key profile. The keys sit very flat in their bay; whereas the keys on the MacBook Pro are about a millimetre proud of the baseline, these are half that. Having flat, low-travel keys is great for making a highly portable laptop, but it means the keys down the edge are at the same level as the bezel - a bezel so narrow, incidentally (roughly 1.5mm), that it's really just a ridge next to the keys. If your finger strikes one of the far-left keys on the left of the key, there's a good chance it'll strike the bezel ridge at the same time, muffling or entirely blocking the downward action of the key.

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The more we used the 12-inch MacBook's keyboard, the more we grew used to its ways: we'll admit it feels different, but after a couple of hours of adjustment and typos, the words flow. Nevertheless, touch typing never reached quite the same level of speed, accuracy and all-round confidence we have with other Apple laptop keyboards. It's a bit of a 'looking down' keyboard, unfortunately.
Not only has Apple impressively included a full-size keyboard in what is the ultimate portable form, but also has managed to fit a well-sized trackpad. Much like the 2015 model, it is a Force Touch trackpad that doesn't physically click, it just gives this impression: Apple created a space-saving mechanism that uses electrical pulses to trick your brain into feeling a click. Press a little harder and you get a deep click, similar to 3D Touch on the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus.

This is useful to pop up dictionary definitions within web browsers when words flummox you. Really, though, the absence of another traditional moving part has allowed Apple to shave a few millimetres off the MacBook's design. The standard feel of the trackpad Apple has pioneered is still there - namely, the most responsive and pleasing to use on the market.

The trackpad is big and a pleasure to use. It takes up a huge proportion of the area under the keyboard - by our measurements there's 84mm of non-trackpad, then the 112mm-wide trackpad, then another 84mm of chassis, so it's 40 percent of the horizontal space - and has a whisper-smooth top surface.
Where Apple has differentiated this MacBook line from its aging MacBook Air is in the screen. It's amazing. It has Apple's Retina display - but then again, so did the iPhone 4 in 2010. Why Apple has resisted adding such an impressive display to the Air is now slowly being answered by its inclusion here.

The MacBook, in all current models, only ships with a 12-inch screen option. It has a 2304x1440 resolution at 226 pixels per inch. In real-life terms, it is one of the best screens we have ever seen on a laptop, with an outstanding range of colours and backlight brightness levels, the auto-adjustment of which is second to none in its accuracy. You can also scale the resolutions, the most useful being the 'More Space' option that pushes the 12-inch display to its most spacious for multitasking.

In comparison to the cheaper MacBook Air, the screen has a better resolution but also a more pleasing screen-to-bezel look. Only since this laptop's design premiered in 2015 have people begun to consider the Air as looking a bit aged. The Air's thicker, plastic grey bezel now looks outdated and unnecessarily wide compared to the sleek, thin glass black bezel of the MacBook. It's a small touch, but adds to the premium look and feel of the device.

Straight up - the battery, despite the improvements, is not as good as the current crop of MacBook Airs and Pros. This comes down to simple physics: this computer is tiny, and Apple has done its best to cram as much battery as possible in there.

The new Skylake processor performance allows for slightly improved battery consumption compared to last year's model, and Apple quotes up to 10 hours of wireless web use. Using the 2016 MacBook day to day we found we could go through the working day without having to plug the mains charger in.

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We noticed a sharper drop in the battery levels once you fire up a fair few tabs in Chrome (a famous MacBook energy sapper), along with apps like Mail, Slack, Notes and Google Drive, as well as video playback all chipping in now and then.

What we describe here is many people's daily work needs, and the MacBook offers more than acceptable battery performance for a laptop for these needs. All laptops decrease with this kind of usage. If you really balk at the 10 hours quoted, it's possible that you've been spoilt by the MacBook Air! And fair enough, if you need to push 15 hours away from a plug, coffee shop hopping and working on the go. Your job sounds chilled.

There's no escaping the fact that this is a very similar laptop to its 2015 predecessor, which so divided the tech community. But we think the problems have been overblown. The engineering on show is superb, and the performance is completely acceptable for a modern-day computer of this size. The arguments that there should be more ports on the MacBook only exist because people want one, and are frustrated that their current set-up needs will not allow for it. Apple has undoubtedly improved the MacBook for 2016. It is a truly outstanding laptop that will be wrongly categorised as a luxury technological item. There's a difference between something costing a little too much and it being luxurious - just like the MacBook Air, this laptop deserves to fall in price and rise in specs to continue to be what we consider an excellent flagship computer. The world and its ports just need to catch up.

As standard 2015¡¯s MacBook Air series takes a 1.6 GHz Intel Core i5-5250U dual-core processor, able to automatically overclock to 2.7 GHz on demand through Intel Turbo Boost technology. Optionally you can configure any model with a 2.2 GHz Intel Core i7-5650U (3.2 GHz Turbo) dual-core processor, for an additional £130. More on the processor below.

Memory is the same as last season, with 4 GB DDR3 RAM clocked at 1600 MHz, configurable at time of purchase only to 8 GB, for an extra £80. Note that Apple has maintained the same low-power memory chips, even though Broadwell processors can take advantage of slightly faster 1867 MHz memory ¨C an opportunity that has already been taken with the Early 2015 refresh of the 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display. We would guess the 1600 MHz memory was preserved for the Air for reasons of budget, both financial and battery economy.

When it comes to storage, we find a remarkable breakthrough in storage technology. The MacBook Air was the first mainstream notebook computer to take advantage of a more direct PCI Express attachment for its solid-state flash drive with the Mid-2013 model; the MacBook Pro with Retina display didn¡¯t catch up until its refresh later that year in October 2013.

That first PCIe-attached flash drives broke records for their incredible sequential transfer speeds, no longer held back by the constriction of the ageing Serial ATA Revision 3.0 interface. PCIe-attached flash drives allowed speeds to jump from around 500 MB/s under SATA to greater than 750 MB/s. That 50 percent improvement was the biggest lift in storage performance since the hard disk became sidelined in favour of solid-state storage.

For the 13-inch MacBook Air, Apple has provided the same upgrade as the 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display, by doubling the number of PCIe data lanes from two to four. In our tests this allowed a two-fold increase in maximum sequential read speed over the last version, with a top speed now exceeding 1500 MB/s.
For small file transfers, we measured 4 kB random reads and writes at 36 and 87 MB/s; and using data sized from 4 kB to 1024 kB we saw incredibly high averaged figures of 450 and 503 MB/s.
Highest sequential write speeds approached 700 MB/s, averaging 685 MB/s for 2-10 MB data, while sequential read speeds averaged 1512 MB/s.

The speed of the processor in the MacBook Air range (all MacBook Airs share the same processor as standard) has been bumped from 1.4 to 1.6GHz: not a huge improvement, but potentially more significant than the MacBook Pro's increase from 2.4 to 2.6GHz because in lower-specced machines processing power is more likely to become the performance bottleneck. As in the new Pro, these are Intel's new fifth-gen Broadwell chips so they should be more power-efficient too - although it's hard to get too excited about Apple managing to keep battery life at the same (admittedly excellent) level rather than improving it.

We tested the standard issue MacBook Air with its 1.6 GHz Core i5 processor. As an indication of raw processor and memory speed, the Geekbench 3 benchmark test scored the 13-inch MacBook Air with 2912 points in single-core mode, and 5821 points multi-core. That puts it 4.9 and 7.8 percent faster than the outgoing Mid-2014 model with its 1.4 GHz Haswell-generation processor (2777 and 5400 points).

In Cinebench 11.5 the new Air scored 1.18 and 2.80 points for single- and multi-core mode operation, putting it 4.4 and 8.9 percent ahead of 2014¡¯s standard MacBook Air. But it was Cinebench 15 that showed a higher return on the Broadwell dividend, moving from 97 to 110 points single-core; and from 239 to 260 points for both cores. That¡¯s a 13.4 and 8.8 percent improvements respectively for the two modes of operation.

Any increase in performance is likely from the small uplift in processor clock frequency though, rather than optimisations to the processor pipeline, for instance, as we¡¯d experience in a ¡®tock¡¯ update in Intel¡¯s leapfrogging design cycle.

In fact, with the change from 1.4 to 1.6 GHz in baseline processor clock, we have a 14.3 percent increase in cycles per second ¨C but benchmark score increases ranged only from 4.4 to 13.4 percent. Remember, the process shrink of Broadwell is more about reducing wasted heat by increasing processor efficiency.

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This year¡¯s MacBook Air gains an Intel HD Graphics 6000 integrated GPU, replacing last year's HD Graphics 5000. The stronger graphics setup lead us to expect this year's Airs to be better gaming machines, indeed, according to iFixit's calculations, we expected 20 to 25 percent better gaming performance than the Intel HD Graphics 5000. Now we have spent some time with a review sample we are able to confirm our own findings - it wasn't as impressive as we had hoped.

The Intel HD Graphics 6000 in the 2015 MacBook Air is an integrated GPU, piggybacked on the Core i5 -5250U main processor. This has a 50 percent higher baseline clock speed (300 MHz versus the 200 MHz of HD Graphics 5000); and a fractionally lower peak clock of 950 MHz, when compared to the 1000 GHz of the last chip. Execution units have also been increased in the ¡®6000 graphics, up to 48 from last year¡¯s 40.

As it turns out, we didn¡¯t see much difference in graphics performance from the previous model, when running our usual Mac action game tests. Using the Batman: Arkham City benchmark test, both last year¡¯s and the new 2015 MacBook Air averaged 29 frames per second (1280 x 800, Medium detail); and 24 fps when set to High detail.

In the Tomb Raider 2013 game, at the same resolution and with Normal detail selected, the 2014 Air averaged 22 fps while the 2015 Air played at 21 fps. Moving up to the laptop¡¯s native resolution of 1440 x 900 pixels, at Normal detail the new MacBook Air averaged 18 fps against 19 fps for last year¡¯s model.

So not only is there no net improvement apparent here with the new graphics chipset, but we see a tiny loss in gaming performance. It¡¯s possible that the performance shortfall in the Early 2015 model may be a result of the different operating system ¨C 10.10 Yosemite now against last year¡¯s better optimised 10.9 Mavericks. Or Apple may be applying new GPU power-saving schemes to reduce heat and battery drain.

Turning to other graphics benchmarks, Unigine Heaven returned effectively the same results between machines (19.3 fps for 2014; 19.9 fps for 2015, at 1280 x 800, Medium), while the OpenGL tests in Cinebench did show a small benefit for the new MacBook Air. In Cinebench 11.5, framerate moved up from 23.5 to 25.8 fps, while Cinebench 15 returned the only appreciable change in framerate, a notable jump from 18.8 fps to 26.3 fps.

The Airs still aren't Retina-class: like the mid-2014 13-inch MacBook Air, the early-2015 Air has a 13.3-inch (diagonal) LED-backlit glossy widescreen display with a resolution of 1440 x 900 pixels and a pixel density of roughly 128ppi (pixels per inch).

That's pretty low on the sharpness scale by today's standards (for comparison, the 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro has a pixel density of 227ppi), and those who are used to Retina or better displays may find the Air a touch fuzzy, although it certainly isn't a bad screen. We do think Apple will add a Retina display option to the Air line-up at some point in the near future, but we don't get that upgrade here.
The 13.3-inch LCD screen of the MacBook Air has the same core specification listed as the last few models ¨C a 1440 x 900 pixel display with gloss surface, based on twisted-nematic (TN) technology.

This type of screen has poor off-axis viewability and restricted colour gamut, but is chosen for its low cost and reduced power requirement when compared to the higher-performance IPS technology used on iPhone, iPad and MacBook Pro with Retina display.

We didn¡¯t have the Mid-2014 model of MacBook Air to compare alongside to spot any subjective visual differences, but from memory the new Air screen did not look conspicuously any better or worse.

We ran some basic tests to see if its lab measurements had changed, and discovered a reduced contrast ratio of 400:1, compared to the decent 680:1 contrast ratio that we measured for the Mid-2014 version of the 13-inch MacBook Air.

Colour gamut was also reported with a lower figure, now 41 percent sRGB and 31 percent AdobeRGB, where last year¡¯s Air measured at 63 and 47 percent respectively. Colour accuracy was reported as better though, with an average Delta E figure of 5.88 that¡¯s below the 8.39 Delta E of last year¡¯s model.

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The differences could be explained by the use of a display from a different manufacturer, rather than a general decline in component quality ¨C like most manufacturers, Apple will source from different OEM suppliers, each of whose product may differ slightly in specification and performance. This particular model featured a LP133WP1-TJA7 display made by LG, although we don¡¯t have on file the type used in the Mid-2014 sample we last tested.

13-INCH MACBOOK AIR (EARLY 2015) REVIEW: BATTERY LIFE

Battery economy is where the new 14 nm-based processor should really pay its way, although our video rundown test did showed little difference here.

Our cross-platform laptop battery test uses a looped MPEG-4 film, played over Wi-Fi from a NAS drive, with screen set to 120 cd/m^2. The Mid-2014 MacBook Air survived for 12 hr 38 min in this test, but the Early 2015 counterpart played for 12 hr 49 min.
Exceeding 12 hours remains a laudable achievement, a battery runtime that comfortably exceeds almost every notebook computer on sale today, although we were anticipating even more ¨C especially after the nearly doubling of battery life we experienced with the Broadwell-powered MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Early 2015).

Here, we'll look at five ways you can speed up a Windows PC, but Apple Macs suffer from the same problem and the solutions are similar too.How to speed up Windows: Get rid of start-up programs

Part of the reason why well-used PCs take so long to start is because of all the applications and utilities you've installed. Many automatically run when Windows starts up, yet most of them don't need to and should only use up resources when you actually need to use them.
At the right side of the taskbar, click the upwards-facing arrow to display the notification icons. Each is a program that loads with Windows. Some are essential - antivirus software for example - but others may not be. Right-click each one and if there is a Settings menu, select it and turn off the option to start automatically with Windows. Some programs, such as Google Drive, can be manually started when they are needed instead of running all the time.

To disable all the other programs and 'helpers' apps which start with Windows, press Windows+R and type msconfig and click Ok. Select the Services tab, tick ¡®Hide all Microsoft services' and see what's left. There may be services you can live without and clearing the tick box prevents them from running. For example, Firefox works perfectly well without the Mozilla Maintenance Service.On the Startup tab (use Task Manager in Windows 8 and Windows 10), are lots of programs that start with Windows. Knowing what to disable isn't easy, but you can use Google to search for items and see if they are necessary, useful or neither of those.

Recent versions of Windows automatically defragment the disk, but Microsoft's tool is basic and there are better defragmenters that boost performance even more. Programs including OO Defrag are good, but IObit's Smart Defrag 5 is nearly as good and is free. Bear in mind that you should only use one of these if your PC has a traditional mechanical hard drive. If it has an SSD, don't use such utilities on them, but if you have both, only use a defragger on the hard disk.

The ultimate speed up technique is to reinstall Windows. This removes all unwanted software that slows down the PC, erases adware and other malware, clears out junk files and so on. For more details, see How to reinstall Windows.

A Windows disc is needed for old versions of Windows, but Windows 8 has a built in Refresh option that makes the job easy. Bring up the Charms bar on the right side of the screen and click Settings, Change PC settings. Click Update and recovery, then Recovery. Under Refresh your PC without affecting your files, click Get started.

In person this means colours don¡¯t pop quite much as some, with deep reds in particular lacking the impact they have on a laptop that hits just about the whole of sRGB, like the rival 15-inch MacBook Pro. Aside from lacking a tonal richness, the screen does look quite natural, though. And with good contrast of 1017:1 it does not lack impact.

Maximum brightness of 281cd/m is fair, but you really want to see 300-plus if you¡¯re after a laptop to use outdoors regularly, particularly with a glossy-finish display like this. Saying that, we tried using it in direct sunlight in a cafe, and it's still very usable at top brightness.
The HP Envy 15's screen can lean back a good way, but despite the chrome finish it's a fairly traditional hinge. This is no hybrid.

If you like the idea of the HP Envy 15¡¯s size and style but want a bit more of a ¡®current¡¯ flavour, the HP Envy x360 is very similar in most respects but has a hinge that flips all the way around. To suit this style the x360 also has a touchscreen.

Where the x360 is part of the newish convertible laptop crowd, the Envy 15 is clearly out to cater for the apparently dwindling audience of people simply after a "good laptop that doesn't cost £1000¡±.

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Alien: Isolation averages 163fps at high settings, and 186fps at 720p. Right now, the hardware is actually a little wasted on the Gigabyte P57x V6-CF2¡¯s display, but offers scope for several other important eventualities.

There¡¯s VR, of course, attaching a 4K monitor or TV and upping the resolution of your games, or just having the security of knowing the spare power means games are going to run well on the 1080p display for years to come.

Nvidia¡¯s new GPUs are the most important laptop gaming hardware advancement in years. Finally you don¡¯t need to feel like you¡¯re paying over the odds for graphics hardware that doesn¡¯t really compare with the desktop alternative.

There is a problem, though. The Gigabyte P57x V6-CF2 is not very good at managing its own heat output.

Look at the underside of the laptop and you can see the two main fans, one at either side. They are large enough to make a fairly low whooshing sound rather than a much more annoying whine, but the airflow is not all that effective.

After a few minutes of high-intensity gaming, the right side of the keyboard starts to get quite warm, and this starts to spread across the laptop as you play. After half an hour much of the keyboard ends up a little toasty. The crucial WSAD keys are some of the last affected, and don¡¯t get anywhere near as warm as the right part of the board, but it is not ideal.

The P57x V6-CF2 explains larger laptops¡¯ use of more involved airflow systems.



It does seem to cause some throttling of performance too, although not to an extent that will affect you in real terms at this point. We ran our Thief benchmark test over and over to see if performance would fall off a cliff, but the P57x V6-CF2 only dropped by around 5fps. One run dropped by almost 10fps. It appeared to be an aberration, though.

Poor handling of heat is the main reason to consider waiting to see the Alienware, Asus and Acer alternatives, which tend to use larger rear heat/air vents.

It otherwise has just about everything you could need. There¡¯s a 256GB SSD for performance-critical data, and a 7200rpm 1TB hard drive for all your general files.

GIGABYTE P57X V6-CF2 REVIEW: BATTERY LIFE

With truly muscular power on tap, the Gigabyte P57x V6-CF2 was always unlikely to last that long off a charge. However, it does have a large, non-removable 75.8Wh cell that lasts for a handful of hours if you only leave it to handle light work.

Playing back a 720p movie on loop, it lasts four hours 50 minutes. Don¡¯t expect anything like that if you start playing demanding games, though. This is fairly standard performance for a good gaming laptop.

GIGABYTE P57X V6-CF2 REVIEW: SPEAKERS

Gigabyte hasn¡¯t put any special effort into the speakers either. The Gigabyte P57x V6-CF2 has a pair of drivers that fire out from each side of the front¡¯s underside. Those parts above the keyboard that look a bit like speaker grilles are actually ¡®passive¡¯ heat outlets: just a bit more ventilation.

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As you¡¯d hope for a laptop this big, max volume and the general bulk of the sound are fair. However, it¡¯s not super-refined. The mids are a little boxy, a tiny bit crude and prone to occasional distortion with certain material.

Now that makers of smaller laptops are starting to put more effort into making their speakers sound better, the Gigabyte P57x V6-CF2 is shown up a little. But like the conventional trackpad, the assumption is likely that you¡¯re going to use speakers for any serious gaming.
The Gigabyte P57x V6-CF2 is an eye-opening demo of what Nvidia¡¯s new GPUs are capable of. If you have some money to spend, laptop gaming has never been so good. However, the Gigabyte P57x V6-CF2 has a few issues that make us hungry to see what other laptop-makers will come up with. The one serious issue is that it gets hot, and not just in areas you won¡¯t notice. That the keyboard gets hot after a relatively short stint under pressure is a sign of flawed laptop design.Although Apple said the new iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus are the same price as previous models, that appears to be the case for the US only. In the UK, the phones have has sizable price increases and although it's not officially due to Brexit, it's not hard to figure out. Even though they have double the storage, Apple buys those components very cheaply and the US price staying the same is a big hint.

The iPhone 7 is now £599 for the cheapest model which is an increase of £60. However, the iPhone 7 Plus is a whopping £100 more expensive at £719.It's not just the iPhone which has got a price rise, either, although the iPad range has been bumped to 32GB storage as standard.The iPad Pro 9.7 price has been increased by £50 to £549 and the 128GB is up £20. However, the largest model is cheaper by £10 ¨C go figure. It's a similar story with the larger iPad Pro which is also £50 more expensive for the cheapest model.It's interesting with the iPads because Apple has made them cheaper in the US even with the storage upgrade.Not a price increase but the new Apple AirPod earphones are the name figure in dollars and pounds - £159 and $159.

Our 13-inch MacBook Air (early 2015) review discusses the changes Apple has made to its portable laptop line-up (such as enhanced specs and performance) and the things Apple has decided to keep the same (such as physical design). We'll also cover UK pricing and availability, and briefly consider whether this strikes us a value-for-money upgrade. Now we have spent some time with review samples, we have expanded our original preview into a full review and verdict.

Update: Since we wrote this review, Apple updated the 13-inch MacBook Air so it now has 8GB of RAM as standard.

Where to buy your iPhone 7? Find out how to get the best price on an iPhone 7 today. Click here.

Here's the original review:
Apple's MacBook line of laptops has been updated. As well as introducing an entirely new model - the super-slimline 12-inch MacBook - Apple has added significant upgrades to its 13-inch MacBook Pro (but not the 15-inch Pro: that's unchanged) and to both the 11-inch and 13-inch MacBook Airs. In this review we're looking at the updated 13-inch MacBook Air; you can read our review of the 2015 11in MacBook Air here.

HP ENVY X360 15 REVIEW: DESIGN

You have to admire HP's resolve in continuing with many of its HP Envy lines. Not only was the HP Envy x360 quite poorly received critically back when it was first introduced in 2014, there are even still 17-inch HP Envy models available. Unlike some brands, HP still believes in the laptop.

The HP Envy x360 is a bit of a head-scratcher, though. It's a 15.6-inch laptop with a 360-degree hinge. Such hinges are common nowadays but you don't often see them on laptops this large.

In case you're new to these hybrids, the HP Envy x360 hinge feels a lot like that of a normal laptop, but instead of stopping at around 135 degrees, it carries on. The screen can be folded right back onto the keyboard.

Start off trying to position these convertibles an alternative to an iPad and you're on a bad road. They need to be appreciated for their particular talents, that you can prop up the screen at any angle you like, and in small space. See all laptop reviews.

Those benefits do start to sound muted in a 15.6-inch laptop, though. The HP Envy x360 is it a bit odd, isn't it?

It's a low-key sort of oddity, though. The HP Envy x360 is otherwise a fairly plain and tasteful full-size laptop. Its shell is aluminium, and while it's a mammoth compared with most convertibles, it is rather slim and portable for a computer with a 15.6-inch screen.
Our review model is 2.19kg. This is just a little heavier than a 15-inch MacBook Pro, and 200g or so heavier than the HP Envy 15, this laptop¡¯s non-convertible sibling.

We find this sort of weight a little too heavy to be perfectly suited to super-portable use. However, the only obvious choice among 15-inch laptops substantially more portable is the Dell XPS 15, which is also more expensive.

The HP Envy x360 comes across as a desktop-replacer with a lifestyle edge, a laptop for people who¡¯d value being able to able to perch the thing comfortably on the kitchen top over beating rivals in a CPU number-crunching drag race. We¡¯ll look at this more closely in the performance section.

The Dell Envy x360 is an unusual laptop, as a convertible that¡¯s slightly too large and heavy to be considered ultra-portable. Fairly lengthy battery life, an aluminium frame and populist core specs help bring it back to the mainstream, though. Regardless, there are a few too many little issues to consider the Envy x360 a true hit. A plastic-surface trackpad, slight lack of keyboard definition, limited display brightness and an ever-so-slightly distracting fan are not huge problems by themselves. But together they drag the machine down, highlighted by our recent experiences with the more solid, more affordable Envy 15.

The Gigabyte P57x V6-CF2 is the first laptop we¡¯ve reviewed to have one of Nvidia¡¯s new Pascal-generation graphics cards. It¡¯s therefore also the first laptop we've tested that's ready for both VR and 4K gaming. However, we¡¯re not simply going to be swayed by Nvidia¡¯s fantastic new hardware. The question is: what has Gigabyte done with it?

In arriving before Alienware, Asus and Acer, Gigabyte has an important head start. But as we¡¯ll see, it isn¡¯t entirely adept at handling its own power.

Gigabyte already sells a whole series of laptops using the new Nvidia Pascal cards. The model we¡¯re reviewing costs £1889, making it a high-end machine but far from the most expensive we¡¯ll see in the next 12 months. That's the list price, but you can buy the Gigabyte P57x V6-CF2 from Ebuyer.com for £1799.99.While all its specs are very high-end, it features a 1080p screen rather than a 4K one, and there¡¯s an even more powerful Nvidia GTX1080 laptop graphics card on the prowl if you have plenty to spend.Gigabyte doesn¡¯t tend to go in for the sort of design posturing you¡¯ll see in some Alienware laptops. The Gigabyte P57x V6-CF2 is a very large but mostly-plain laptop. It doesn¡¯t have multi-colour LEDs or giant heat vents.



The style is otherwise typical of a high-end gaming laptop, though. It¡¯s made of plastic rather than aluminium or magnesium, but it¡¯s tough plastic rather than the flimsy stuff often used in cheap machines.

A soft touch finish gives the lid and keyboard surround a better feel too. However, some parts of the build could be better. There¡¯s a bit of flex to the right hand-side of the Gigabyte P57x V6-CF2¡¯s keyboard. It¡¯s not jarring or obvious in general use, but it¡¯s worth noting given the price you pay.
We expect the ¡®flagship¡¯ 17-inch gaming laptops from Alienware and Asus to be at least a bit thicker and heavier than the Gigabyte P57x V6-CF2, though. This laptop is 27mm thick and weighs 3kg.

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Compered with the Asus G753 we reviewed a while ago, the most obvious difference is thickness. Top-end gaming laptops often use giant heat outlets at the back, but the Gigabyte P57x V6-CF2¡¯s don¡¯t add much bulk.

It does have room to fit in an optical drive, though. As in previous Gigabyte machines it¡¯s a hot-swappable bay, released using a slider on the underside. You get a DVD writer with the Gigabyte P57x V6-CF2 as standard.
Its positioning isn¡¯t the most convenient, though. It inside the front edge, under the trackpad. You may find you accidentally open it while playing a game, or even just using the trackpad. We¡¯ve done so at least a half-dozen times so far.

The Gigabyte P57x V6-CF2¡¯s sides are packed with connections. On the left are two USB 3.0 ports, an Ethernet socket, an SD card slot and the separate headphone/mic 3.5mm jacks.

On the right you get another USB 3.0 port, both VGA and HDMI video connections and the most recent addition, a USB-C. This side is also where we see the tip-off this shell isn¡¯t specific to this model. There¡¯s a bung over the space where it looks like, to our eyes, a Mini DisplayPort might go.Another benefit of a larger, thicker laptop is that the keyboard doesn¡¯t have to be compromised. The Gigabyte P57x V6-CF2 has a full-size keyboard with a NUM pad attached on the right.

While a more conventional design than some gaming laptops ¡ª there are no macro buttons and the feel is that of a standard laptop keyboard ¡ª there¡¯s a good meaty feel to the key action, and a decent amount of travel. It¡¯s fairly similar to a MacBook keyboard in feel, but with a darker, deeper character to each keypress.

Gigabyte says it has an anti-ghosting design, meaning you can press multiple keys at the same time and be sure that all the presses register.

As you¡¯d hope for a laptop this pricey, the Gigabyte P57x V6-CF2 has a keyboard backlight. Some gaming laptops have dazzling rainbow backlights ¡ª again it¡¯s more of the classic gamer gloss ¡ª but this is a simple two-stage white LED backlight. It¡¯s either moderately bright or bright.
Gaming laptops often have very good keyboards, but you tend not to see quite as much effort put into the trackpads. The assumption if you¡¯ll probably use a mouse a lot of the time.

The Gigabyte P57x V6-CF2 has a good-size rectangular pad with inbuilt buttons. Its surface is smooth and of high quality, but for any sort of fast-paced gaming use it¡¯d probably be better to have separate buttons, as in the Alienware 17 or Asus G753.

When similar models from those brands are released, they¡¯re likely to be significantly more expensive, though.

The Gigabyte P57x V6-CF2 has a 17.3-inch 1080p IPS LCD screen. Like just about every gaming laptop out there, it¡¯s not a touchscreen and the surface is matt rather than glossy, making sure reflections don¡¯t get in the way.

This is a very good screen in terms of colour, hitting 100.5 per cent of sRGB, which is what gets you potent but natural-looking colour rather than the overcooked style that has become popular among some mobile devices.

Contrast is good rather than stellar at 853:1, but the main way you¡¯ll notice this is that the screen¡¯s blacks look ever so slightly blue when the screen¡¯s backlight is maxed-out. That¡¯s a common character of matt laptop screens like this. Glossy ones tend to skew greyer, matt ones a bit bluer.
Viewing angles are very solid and the extra space you get over a 15-inch laptop is a big upgrade if gaming is your top priority. And if it isn¡¯t, why are you thinking of buying the Gigabyte P57x V6-CF2?

One side of the Gigabyte P57x V6-CF2¡¯s core hardware is very exciting, the other side very familiar. Forgetting the gaming side for a minute, the CPU and RAM use hardware we¡¯ve seen before.

You get 16GB DDR4-2133 RAM and a quad-core Intel Core i7-6700HQ, the same used in many of the laptops that use the older Nvidia GTX970M and GTX980M cards. The CPU has four cores, eight threads, a base clock speed of 2.6GHz and max turbo boost of 3.5GHz.

This is among the fastest of ¡®mainstream¡¯ Intel laptop CPUs, powerful enough to avoid becoming a bottleneck in this system. It scores 13249 points in Geekbench 3 (3702 single-core) and 3387 in PCMark 8. These are similar scores to what we saw in the Asus RoG G753.

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It¡¯s a do-anything grade of performance with easily enough power to replace many a desktop.

The more exciting side of th Gigabyte P57x V6-CF2 is the GPU, an Nvidia GTX1070 with 8GB of DDR5. With this Pascal generation of GPUs, Nvidia has managed to use very similar hardware to the desktop versions. Previously, the laptop versions were only roughly as powerful as the desktop equivalent a tier below.

GIGABYTE P57X V6-CF2 REVIEW: PERFORMANCE

It¡¯s no surprise that gaming performance is fantastic. With V-sync engaged, both Alien:Isolation and Thief manage a rock-solid 60fps at max settings, 1080p.

Switching v-sync off to let the Gigabyte P57x V6-CF2 rip, Thief averages 89fps. Again, this is with max settings and using 1080p resolution. It increases to an average 95.4fps at 720p, low settings. Not that you¡¯d ever choose to use such a setting with a laptop like this.

This is also one of the first laptops we¡¯ve reviewed to use Windows Hello, a combo of software and hardware that lets you bring the x360 out of sleep with your face rather than a pin or password. It uses IR cameras next to the webcam so that it works fine in dark rooms as well as well-lit ones.

Don¡¯t start thinking this is some sort of Retinal-scanning security. The cameras are quite low-res, relying on facial geometry rather than recognising fine detail. Performance is somewhat patchy, veering between working in a second or so failing altogether after 10 seconds of ¡®checking¡¯ a face. However, it does work whether the Envy x360 is used in laptop or ¡®tent¡¯ position, where the camera sits at the bottom of the screen. Also see: Best budget laptops 2016.

HP Envy x360 15

HP ENVY X360 15 REVIEW: CONNECTIVITY

The other up-to-date extra is the HP Envy x360¡¯s USB-C port. This small, reversible redesign of USB is set to one day replace the chunky cables we¡¯ve been using for 20 years. Right now USB-C ports are not essential for most people, but you may sorely need one in 2-3 years.
Other basic connections are covered too. There are two USB 3.0 ports, a full-size SD card slot and full-size HDMI. The non-folding HP Envy 15 gets you an extra USB, but you do get enough connections to make this the brains of a desktop PC.

We¡¯ve been using the Envy x360 alongside the Envy 15, and the two also have slightly different keyboard characteristics. While they have the same full-size layout, with a NUM pad bolted onto the side, the x360 has slightly greater key resistance, but softer feedback in general. Neither keyboard is perfect, but by losing the crisp feel of the Envy 15, it¡¯s harder to see what sort of feel HP was aiming for here.

It¡¯s a little indistinct, which may disappoint if you¡¯re coming from a laptop with a good keyboard. There is a backlight, though, adding a touch of flair to what is otherwise a so-so typing surface.

The HP Envy x360¡¯s trackpad is large and wide. There¡¯s lots of space, but once again it isn¡¯t quite up to what you get in the cheaper Envy 15.

For the best trackpad feel you want a frosted glass top, which gives a super-smooth feel and the right level of resistance but no tackiness. The Envy x360 uses something else, though. While the resistance is fine, there¡¯s the telltale tackiness of a plastic trackpad surface.

There¡¯s also far greater variance in the depth of the pad¡¯s movement from end to end and the button placement isn¡¯t quite as smart. In the HP Envy 15, the right button is kept to a very small corner in the bottom-right. Here it spreads out far enough to cause some accidental presses until you train your fingers to respect its layout.

The HP Envy x360 has a fair trackpad, but it¡¯s disappointing to see HP sneakily use a superior one in its cheaper machine. And all in service of that hinge. Also see: Best gaming laptops 2016.It¡¯s the hinge too that puts a particular focus on the screen, as viewing angles are more important, and a touch layer can have an impact on image quality. Once again, the HP Envy x360 puts in a fair, but not particularly enviable, performance.

The display is 15.6 inches across and has a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels, for density of 141ppi. This is low density for any tablet-style purpose, as you do notice pixellation rather clearly as soon as you get any closer than arm¡¯s reach.

Of course, the sheer space of those extra 2.3 inches of display is a key appeal.

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Display quality is middling. Colour coverage of sRGB is just 55.8 per cent, resulting is fairly clear undersaturation. The Envy 15 has similar (just slightly better) colour performance, but the undersaturation is a little less evident because display contrast is higher.
The Envy x360¡¯s native contrast of 762:1 is still reasonably good, though.

Despite having an IPS LCD screen, viewing angles are slightly disappointing. There¡¯s none of the contrast shift you¡¯d see in a cheap TN-based hybrid display, but brightness drops off severely at an angle.

This is made worse by poor max brightness of 234cd/m. Despite the lifestyle flourishes, the Envy x360 is not ready to be used outdoors. We tried using the x360 outside on a sunny day, and while you can make out text on the white background of a word processing app, anything lower-contrast is very difficult to make out.
It¡¯s less of a disappointment than the recently reviewed Asus UX360CA, though, whose touchscreen design makes the entire screen appear grey rather than black. The HP Envy x360 looks fine indoors, it just doesn¡¯t fare too well when challenged. Also see: Windows 10 review.

Typical of a larger convertible laptop, the HP Envy x360 uses a low-voltage Intel Core-series CPU rather than one of Intel¡¯s more powerful quad-core models. Our test unit has an Intel Core i7-6560U CPU, a dual-core, four-thread chipset with a standard clock speed of 2.2GHz and a Turbo of 3.2GHz.

This is a very solid all-purpose chipset for those with low-end and mid-level performance demands. While not a desktop-grade CPU, it¡¯ll handle any kind of productivity task with relative ease.

It¡¯s also one of the few areas where the Envy x360 trumps the simpler Envy 15, scoring 7280 in Geekbench 3 and 3053 in PC Mark 8. In each case that¡¯s around 200 points better than the Envy 15.

The most interesting part of the Intel Core i7-6560U for many of you will be that it uses Intel HD 540 Iris graphics rather than the bog-standard HD 520. While still not a match for a dedicated GPU, it does result in an extra handful of frames per second in our gaming tests, potentially enough to turn around a game from painful to playable.

Our 720p Low settings Alien Isolation test, for example, runs at 44.5fps on the Envy x360, and just 31fps on the Envy 15, which uses an Intel HD 520 GPU. Thief at Low settings runs at 27.3fps: not ideal but playable for the patient among you.

Neither game runs well when we increase the resolution to 1080p and max-out the visuals, Alien Isolation slowing to 18.7fps and Thief to a dismal 6.9fps, but if you like to play the occasional game, an Iris upgrade is well worth having.

The HP Envy x360 doesn¡¯t get too hot or loud under strain, but it doesn¡¯t have the cleanest fan noise either. You¡¯ll probably only notice it when the laptop comes out of sleep, when it briefly revs its CPU fan, but in a quiet room it can be a little distracting.

Rather different to most convertibles, the x360 has both a 128GB SSD and a 1TB hard drive. This gets you zippy Windows 10 responsiveness and loads of storage to play with.

The SSD is not particularly fast with read speeds of up to 512MB/s and writes at 185MB/s. Given the modest SSD performance, it¡¯s slightly surprising that HP has used a faster 7200rpm 1TB rather than a bog-standard 5400rpm one. It reads/writes at 146/135MB/s, but the performance increase is going to be fairly meaningless if you¡¯re largely going to be storing media on the HDD.

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One other element that seems to have some extra effort put in is the speaker, a stereo array that fires out of the funky-looking grille above the keyboard.

It¡¯s a Bang & Olufsen speaker array that has a satisfyingly chunky tone, and good top volume. However, it is slightly prone to mid-range distortion when maxed-out and, presumably thanks to the workings of the hinge, the drivers do not sound as though they are well-spaced along the x360¡¯s width.
Finally, let¡¯s tackle battery life. The Envy x360 has a 55.7Wh battery that HP says will last for up to 10 hours, although in our experience it is less long-lasting.

Playing a 720p video back at 120cd/m, which is low-strain in terms of display brightness and CPU demand, it lasts seven hours 20 minutes. You should also expect lower stamina with more mixed use that comes with general day-to-day work.

Its decent longevity, and better than you¡¯d see from a more powerful quad-core laptop, but still much worse than the HP Envy 15, which lasts for over nine hours of video playback.

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As with the design and connections, the keyboard and trackpad just add a little ¡®current¡¯ flavour to otherwise traditional hardware. All the space provided by a 15.6-inch frame lets the keyboard pack in a numerical pad and no keys are cut down to an irritating extent.
Press down hard on the centre of the keyboard surround and you can make it flex a tiny bit, but the keyboard feels solid and is comfortable to type on for hours at a time. Actual key feedback is on the light side, but is nevertheless crisp and reasonably well-defined.
One of the rather neat bonus features of the HP Envy is a keyboard backlight, something still often missed out at the price. It's a simple on/off blueish light, but is a godsend if you're going to have to do some typing in the dark. For whatever reason. Also see: Best gaming laptops 2016.

It's the HP Envy 15's trackpad that has the modern twist, with an ultra-elongated design intended simply to give your fingers more room to play with. It's a lovely, smooth surface with a satisfyingly deep clicky action to it. It requires a slightly harder press than some, but we were used to the feel within a few hours.

There are more smarts to the pad than you can initially tell too. One issue that can ruin trackpads of laptops with NUM pads is that due to the way the trackpad is shifted to the left of the frame it can be far too easy to accidentally press the right mouse button when you mean to use the left.
Not so here: only a tiny part of the pad is used to fire the right button, taking up around a fifth of the pad's width. Unlike most Windows laptop trackpads, you get the sense HP has actually played around with the design to find what works best out in the real work, under real fingers.

Its feel isn¡¯t quite a match for a MacBook Pro pad, but it's not that far off, and is also larger.

This kind of thoughtfulness and attention to detail is seen in all the HP Envy 15's best bits. It may not be that exciting, but it actually thinks about the real state of laptop use as much as the HP Spectre 13. Also see: Windows 10 review.

HP ENVY 15 REVIEW: SPECS AND PERFORMANCE

This is clear in the specs too. First, it has a very sensible combo of a 128GB SSD and a 1TB hard drive. This gets you real SSD snappiness as well as the capacity of slower HDD storage.

t of a pity the SSD isn't faster, though. At 185MB/s write and 510MB/s read, it is only a little over a third the speed of the fastest SSDs around. The hard drive is a slow 5400rpm model too.

The CPU choice is telling too. A lot of the larger laptops we review these days have high-power HQ-series processors, but the HP Envy 15 uses U-series chipsets like those of the more portable models. The U designates a lower-voltage processor, intended for slim laptops that need to offer decent battery life.

The HP Envy 15 we're reviewing uses an Intel Core i7-6500U, a dual-core CPU with standard clock speed of 2.5GHz and a 3.1GHz Turbo. That is paired with 8GB RAM.

This is a reasonably powerful system, but only among lighter, slimmer laptops. If you want as much power as you can get for the money, the HP Envy 15 is the wrong laptop for you. For those who can put up with a lot more chunkiness and weight, Asus offers a quad-core GPU and dedicated GPU for this sort of price in the GL552.

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Again, we come back to the idea that the Envy 15 is made from the ground up for the average buyer, not someone who spends evenings transcoding videos. For the basics, and even low-level image and video editing, this laptop will feel very fast.

It scores 7052 in Geekbench 3, and 2851 in PC Mark 8.

Its gaming abilities are fairly limited, though. There's no separate GPU, and just the basic Intel HD 520 integrated graphics rather than one of Intel's punchier Iris chipsets.

Alien Isolation is playable if you turn the resolution down to 720p and tone down the graphics, with an average 31.5fps, but Thief is a bit of a struggle at any graphics settings. It manages an average 25.6fps, below the 30fps average we¡¯re aiming for.

You will be able to play games from slightly older generations, though. Dead Space and Skyrim will run well at medium settings thanks to Intel's HD CPU improvements.

HP ENVY 15 REVIEW: BATTERY

Among some of its 15.6-inch laptop peers the HP Envy 15 is a bit of a weakling, but its battery life is an effective comeback.

Playing a video file on loop at 120cd/m brightness, the battery lasts 9 hours 25 minutes. This is an excellent result, matching HP¡¯s own claims.

We also tried using the Envy 15 outside at max brightness to see how it copes in a more natural context. An hour of work took 13 per cent off the battery, suggesting you can expect a solid seven and a half hours of use between charges. Again, it¡¯s a good result considering brightness was maxed-out.

One of the chunkier, more performance-oriented alternatives might nly last 3-5 hours under the same conditions, and the Envy 15 significantly outlasts the Envy x360 too. Another side-benefit of using a U-series CPU instead of an HQ one is that the Envy 15 seems to stay cool with fairly little effort. While a fan runs constantly during use, the laptop remains fairly quiet when performing gaming benchmarks.

Its speaker array is passable too. The sound comes from the criss-cross grille on the keyboard surround, and it both louder and fuller-sounding than most other Bang & Olufsen-branded laptop speakers. It¡¯s a shame, though, that HP puts more effort into making the Envy x360 speakers sound that bit better. They deliver better bass.

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The HP Envy 15 doesn't seem like a desperately interesting laptop at first glance. It's too big to be cool, not quite cheap enough to be a stone-cold bargain. However, the longer you use it, the more you realise quite what a sound fit it is for people who want a larger laptop, but one not ugly, chunky or liable to last 90 minutes between charges. Sound performance, a smart trackpad, a respectable display and sensible price make the HP Envy 15 one of the best laptops for those who don't really need a super-performance PC but still want the desktop-replacer feel you get with a 15.6-inch laptop.

The HP Envy 360 is one of the largest convertible laptops. It has a 15.6-inch screen, but also a 360-degree hinge like some of today's top lifestyle hybrids. Also see: Best laptops 2016

This is a solidly-made laptop whose somewhat-aggressive pricing makes sure it doesn't seem you're paying over the odds for the hinge. One question remains: what are you going to with a hybrid this big? If you don't have an answer, you should also consider the HP Envy 15, this laptop's non-convertible brother.

HP ENVY X360 15 REVIEW: UK PRICE

The Envy range sits in the middle of HP's laptops. It gets you some frills HP Pavilion laptops lack, but doesn't have the glitz, or the price, of a Spectre model.

The HP Envy x360 comes at a typically mid-range cost, of £779 for the version with an Intel Core i5-6200U. For £849 you get the Intel Core i7 version, which also has a more powerful GPU. More on that later.

Personal files - photos, music and documents - are kept, so it isn't a complete refresh, but it's may be enough for most people. A more powerful option is Remove everything and reinstall Windows. Copy files you want to keep to a USB drive before starting though.
Out of date drivers, programs and Windows itself can cause the computer to run slowly. Faulty drivers for example, stop Windows shutting down or cause it to start more slowly. Video card drivers are often updated to fix bugs and boost performance, and it is always a good idea to check that you have the latest version. Even if Windows updates are automatic, go to Windows Update in the Control Panel and manually check for updates. Only essential ones are installed automatically and there may be useful optional ones available.

Dell says the Dell Inspiron 13 5000 will last up to 10 hours of a charge. Right away we knew this was a bit optimistic for our review machine. That¡¯s the sort of charge you get from laptops less powerful than this one.

Playing a looped MP4 720p file the Dell Inspiron 13 5000 lasts 385 minutes, or six hours 25 minutes. That¡¯s not enough for a full day¡¯s work unless you¡¯re luckier then we are, but is respectable stamina.

Once again, we come back to the idea this is a portable laptop, but one that doesn¡¯t value extreme portability over everything else. But maybe that¡¯s OK.

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The Dell Inspiron 13 5000 tells you larger convertible laptops have truly entered the mainstream. It¡¯s reasonably affordable, still looks good and has the roughly the same power as some laptops costing way over £1000. Down sides include that the screen isn¡¯t as colourful as the best and that the casing is made of plastic rather than something fancy like aluminium or a magnesium alloy. Oddly enough, though, it actually fits in well among its more stylish peers.The Walking Dead Season 7 returns to our screens next month, and here's the new TWD trailer to whet your appetite. Plus, we show you how to watch The Walking Dead on any device. Also see: How to watch US Netflix in the UK.

Like all popular TV series and films there will almost certainly be people uploading The Walking Dead Season 7 torrents or hosting illegal streams of the programme. In this article we will show you the legal way to watch The Walking Dead Season 7 in the UK.

The video at the top of this page is the most recent promo video that has been released ahead of episode one. You can also see the longer season 7 trailer below, which was released at Comic Con.

In the UK The Walking Dead is shown on Fox UK. If you're a Sky or Virgin Media customer you will have this channel as part of your subscription, shown on channel 124 on Sky, and 157 and 199 on Virgin, and you'll be able to watch live or catch up with episodes using the associated mobile apps. If you don't subscribe to either of these services, we'll look at a few other ways you can watch The Walking Dead Season 7 online below.

If you are a BT Broadband customer with BT TV as part of your subscription you will have free access to AMC, which is the UK version of the US channel that will be used to broadcast The Walking Dead Season 7. The Walking Dead will not be shown on AMC UK, but AMC UK will broadcast Fear The Walking Dead. BT TV customers can buy The Walking Dead episodes from the BT store.

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If you are a TalkTalk Essentials TV or Plus TV customer you'll have a YouView box through which you can stream The Walking Dead Season 7. You'll need to buy an Entertainment Boost, which adds Fox, Watch, Comedy Central, Dsicovery, Sky 1, Sky Living and more to your account for an extra £5 a month (for three months; £10 thereafter).
Now TV is a subscription-based service much like Netflix and Amazon Prime, and our preferred method of watching The Walking Dead Season 7 online if you do not subscribe to Sky or Virgin.
In order to watch The Walking Dead Season 7 online through Now TV you will need to subscribe to the £6.99 Entertainment Pass, which gives you access to 13 paid-TV channels not available on Freeview, including Fox UK. You also get Sky1, Sky Living, Sky Atlantic, GOLD, Comedy Channel, Sky Arts, ITV Encore, MTV, Discovery, Nickelodeon, Nick Jr, Disney Channel and abc studios.

Now TV also offers more than 250 on-demand TV boxsets, plus catch-up facilities. As a bonus, previous seasons of The Walking Dead are available for those who are only just getting into the series.

You don't need a Sky subscription to watch Now TV; nor do you need a Now TV box - apps are available for Chromecast, PlayStation, Xbox, Roku, LG smart TVs, Windows and Mac, and iOS and Android.

How to watch The Walking Dead Season 7 online: Amazon Prime Instant Video customers

The Walking Dead Season 7 will be available through Amazon Prime Instant Video but, sadly, not as part of your subscription. Based on the prices it is currently charging for Season 6, you'll pay £1.89 per episode (or £2.49 in HD), or you can buy the entire season for £19.99 (SD; £24.99 HD).Look at the websites of big laptop-makers and you¡¯ll find bold images of laptops designed to look like the future of the form. They¡¯re impossibly slim, made of the same expensive materials as a top-end phone and cost a packet. Also see: Best laptops 2016

The HP Envy 15 is a laptop for those who don¡¯t want to buy into the new order of ever-slimmer, ever-lighter, fancier machines. It¡¯s a practical, reasonably powerful laptop that¡¯s just right for those looking to retire their desktop PC, but want to do so with a degree of style.

The HP Envy 15 shows laptops don¡¯t have to be either a) big and guileless or b) very slim and light. It¡¯s a now-unfashionable 15.6-inch screen laptop, but slimmer, lighter and more attractive than the dreaded style-free Dell work laptop many of you may have memories of using.
It doesn¡¯t try to be perilously light, but does have a sleek all-aluminium frame, making the HP Envy 15 simply much nicer to look at and touch than some.It¡¯s nothing like the aluminium HP Spectre 13, though. The Envy 15¡¯s look is more conventional, it just has that premium edge often missing from 15.6-inch machines. 13-inch models earmark much of the industry¡¯s design effort. Saying that, the chromed hinge does inject a touch of flashiness.

We have been using the HP Envy 15 out and about on occasion it¡¯ll fit in a rucksack and at 1.93kg won't kill your shoulders in 10 minutes ¡ª but this feels like a laptop that is only going to leave the home or office on special occasions. We'd recommend a 13-inch laptop if you want something to carry around all day.

That it is significantly thinner than a full-on performance or gaming laptop makes the HP Envy 15 much better-suited to being carted around the house, though. This year marks a bit of a modernisation for the Envy series too: this laptop has finally dropped its optical drive.
Sure, some might moan, but it has no place in a laptop that¡¯s trying to shed some dowdy bulk from the traditional 15-inch laptop frame. See all laptop reviews.
The other little modern tweak is the USB-C connector, on the right side. We¡¯re starting to see these added to most mid-range and higher laptops, as a standard slowly becoming common among mobile devices.

As you¡¯d hope of a slightly larger laptop, the HP Envy 15 has all the ¡®standard¡¯ connections too. You get three USB 3.0 ports, a full-size SD card reader and a full-size HDMI port. The one missing port is an Ethernet socket, but you could get hold of a USB-C or USB Ethernet adapter if you need one.

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Earlier I described the Envy 15 as quite a traditional laptop, but it is modern in some very important ways. Also see: Best budget laptops 2016.
The screen is another. It¡¯s a 1080p display, which does make the pixels much more apparent than a 13-inch screen if you look for them, but it¡¯s IPS LCD display rather than a TN one. TN screens look quite bad from an angle, and larger laptops have held onto that tech longer than smaller ones because affordable IPS LCD panels of this size just aren¡¯t quite as plentiful.
It¡¯s a glossy, non-touch screen, with a character closer to the display of a tablet than an older 15-inch laptop. This is a good thing, by the way.

The HP Envy 15¡¯s panel is decent rather than stellar, though. Its colours are a little undersaturated, covering just 57.5 per cent of the sRGB colour gamut. This may not seem great for a laptop costing £799, but it¡¯s worth remembering that for that price you also get a top-end CPU. One of the trendier-design models with this processor might cost as much as £1200.

Here¡¯s where it gets interesting. For years OSX and Windows have fought over the same ground, that of a standard desktop based environment. But since Windows 8 Microsoft has been taking its platform into new realms, incorporating touch and speech as significant factors. Cortana is now a resident feature on Windows 10, enabling users to create reminders, schedule appointments, conduct searches, and a range of other functions all through voice commands.

Apple isn¡¯t far behind though, and is set to introduce Siri integration on the desktop with the release of OSX Sierra at the end of September, which will offer similar features to that of Cortana.

Where the two environments diverge the most is when it comes to touch. Windows has fully embraced the idea of tapping the screen, while Mac users have a wide range of multi-touch trackpad gestures available. True, Windows also shares some of these, but the implementation on Macs - especially those with force-touch trackpads - remains the superior trackpad experience.

While Apple has staunchly avoided introducing a touch interface on OS X, it¡¯s introduction on Windows has led to the creation of several interesting hybrid devices (2-in-1s that can act as laptops or tablets) with the Surface Pro 4 being the best example. This opens up things such as the use of a stylus to highlight or annotate web-pages on Microsoft¡¯s Edge browser, writing and drawing freehand in OneNote, plus general navigation through websites, applications, and the operating system itself.

Both platforms are exploring new ways to create, interact and manipulate data, which means that there is no clear winner here, except for users who now have a fascinating amount of choice.
This is usually the biggest stick that Mac users wield against their Windows counterparts, and it¡¯s a fair point. Statistically there is far more chance of contracting a virus or malware when you use a PC. This is mainly due to the fact that Macs make up such a small percentage of computers worldwide, so it¡¯s not worth hackers targeting them. But this could be changing.

2016 saw the emergence of the Keyranger ransomware that attacked OS X and encrypted all files on a hard drive until users paid an extortion fee. Yes this pales in comparison to the likes of Cryptolocker, but it¡¯s an indication that Macs are beginning to appear on the hacking radar.

Then there's the fact that many attacks these days use social engineering or fear mongering to fool users into giving away their account details, rather than installing viruses to cause havoc. It¡¯s still hard to argue that Macs are not more secure than Windows machines, but complacency could mean that the users themselves might be equally vulnerable.

When it comes to any buying decision one of the most important factors is value for money. On the Windows side there are a wealth of devices that start, as mentioned above, with the likes of the HP Stream (£149) and move up through various price points until you reach the premium strata of Microsoft¡¯s SurfaceBook which starts at £1299. This means that there is a Windows machine for everybody, no matter the budget.

Macs on the other hand start at £399, but this is for the Mac Mini which doesn¡¯t have a keyboard, mouse, or display included. It¡¯s no powerhouse either, with disappointing specs and slow performance, plus it hasn¡¯t been updated since 2014.

On the laptop side of things the cheapest MacBook is the 11-inch MacBook Air which will set you back £749. At the moment this doesn¡¯t seem to offer great value for money either, mainly due to it featuring a small screen with a lacklustre 1366x768 screen resolution which feels far from premium these days

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Moving up to the 13-inch MacBook Pro (£999) beefs up the screen to a retina model and has internals more befitting of high-end device. If you¡¯re willing to buy at the Pro level then Apple¡¯s current products do offer excellent performance, build quality, and support, but dipping below that seems to offer less value and more compromises than those prices justify. As we said though, rumours suggest major updates across the Mac lineup before the end of 2016, so maybe it would be best to wait until then before making a purchase.

For example, the recently-reviewed Asus UX360CA scores a much better 89 per cent of sRGB, but light-reflecting air gaps in its display layers makes its screen look washed out, spoiling the impact of those colours. The Dell¡¯s display doesn¡¯t look like the screen of a £1000-plus laptop, but does not have any glaring problems either.

There are a few things to consider, though. This is a glossy laptop. That helps with colour and is what you get on every touchscreen convertible like this, as the screen has a layer of glass on top.

This makes the Dell Inspiron 13 5000 screen quite reflective, and max brightness of 243cd/m is not really high enough to compete with lots of ambient light. Use it out in the park on a sunny day and it¡¯ll look very dim. Also see: Best gaming laptops 2016.

Much like the shell of the laptop, the screen is design to be pretty portable but isn¡¯t 100 per cent ideal for a road warrior. It¡¯s a laptop best suited to mixed use: some at home, some on-the-go. The raw specs are primed for this sort of use too.

The Dell Inspiron 13 5000 we¡¯re testing has an Intel Core i7-6500U CPU with 16GB RAM. It¡¯s a dual-core CPU, but its cores are rather powerful. It scores 6992 in Geekbench 3, 3419 per core. The PC Mark 8 score is 2722.

This is a setup powerful enough to use as almost anyone¡¯s main computer, more so than a skinnier-lighter Core M alternative. The only way to get a lot more power in a laptop is to head to a machine with an HQ-series quad-core CPU. But that will be larger, most likely more expensive, and have much worse battery life.

Windows 10 feels very slick day-to-day, but this is down to the use of an SSD rather than a Core i7 CPU. The £100-less Core i5 version should feel fairly similar to use until you start abusing the RAM by opening 700 browser windows or using quite demanding applications.

The Dell Inspiron 13 5000¡¯s SSD isn¡¯t actually that fast by SSD standards, though. We¡¯ve tested laptops SSDs that can read at 1300MB/s, but this one reads at 533MB/s and writes at 284MB/s.

We see this sort of SSD performance a lot in mid-range laptops, because the extra performance of a higher-end SSD really isn¡¯t going to mean all that much for your average high street laptop buyer. If that¡¯s what it takes to get a laptop from £1200 to £700, we¡¯re happy.
The Dell Inspiron 13 5000 can¡¯t really handle games well either, but if you want a gaming laptop that¡¯s thin and light, you¡¯ll have to save up for the Microsoft Surface Book. That¡¯s almost twice the price.

A few recent games will be playable if you really drop the resolution and visual quality down, though. At 720p with some of the graphics effects turned off, Alien: Isolation runs at an average 31.5fps. You may have to put up with some occasional frame rate chugging, but it¡¯s playable.

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At 1080p with the visual effects turned back up and the frame rate drops to 13fps: not playable. We tried 2013¡¯s Thief with the same high and low settings applied and neither was fast enough to be fun. It¡¯ll average 21.8fps at 720p, and a truly poor 6.2fps at 1080p.
These are fairly recent games, though. If you have a Steam library of oldies from, say 2005 and before, they¡¯ll run just fine on the Dell Inspiron 13 5000.

As the Dell Inspiron 13 5000 has a Core i3/i5/i7 CPU rather than a Core M, the fans run most of the time, and we did notice a few moments where they seemed to rev up for no real reason. However, it¡¯s not a loud laptop. Its fan outlets are on the very back of the underside, so just be careful not to block them or the fans will start revving. Also see: Windows 10 review.

The speaker outlets are a little picky about how they¡¯re treated too. They sit on the Dell Inspiron 13 5000¡¯s underside at each end, seemingly firing down rather than being angled outwards.

This doesn¡¯t help the higher frequencies reach your ears, making the top-end seem rather soft, but Dell has clearly put some work into making the laptop sound beefier than those with traditional laptop speakers.

The speakers loud, seem to extend beyond the laptop¡¯s dimensions and have a nice and thick, if not hugely detailed, mid-range.

Some content causes a bit of mid-range resonance at higher volumes, and there¡¯s no separated bass either. The Dell Inspiron 13 5000 doesn¡¯t have the finer points of sound quality nailed down, but it does sound louder and warmer than we expected. We have criticisms, but the laptop is a lot louder than our reference MacBook Pro 13. Nice work, Dell.

Mac vs PC: Which one should you buy?

As you may have surmised from our look at these two platforms there is no clear winner, and that¡¯s good. After all, computers occupy such central parts of our lives these days, and our needs all differ wildly, so there will never be a one size fits all solution (no matter what Jony Ive says about Apple¡¯s EarPods).

What is clear is the amount of choice now available for consumers. Windows devices have so much variation in design and capability, while Apple continues to refine its lineup, and the rumoured refresh could see the company finally introduce new designs.

In the end it¡¯s down to how much money you want to spend, what you want to do, and your preferred software platform. The good thing is that the market has matured to a point where it¡¯s actually hard to buy a bad device now. A solid rule of thumb is to save up and spend the most you can afford, as the higher end devices really are on another level at the moment, but the budget market for Windows machines is also in fine fettle.

The Dell Inspiron 13 5000 is a sign convertible laptops are now truly mainstream. Models like this and the Asus ZenBook UX360C have hints of high-end style and powerful components, matched with a practical approach that means they cost £700 rather than £1200. Laptops like this mark a bit of a renaissance for Windows laptops, once again seriously undercutting comparable Apple MacBooks, particularly now the Air series looks truly past-it. Also see: Best laptops 2016

DELL INSPIRON 13 5000 REVIEW: UK PRICE

There are three main specs for the Dell Inspiron 13 5000. The most commonly-sold is the middle variant. It costs £649- to 699, and is probably the version we¡¯d recommend most people look into. It has an Intel Core i5, a 256GB SSD and 8GB RAM.

At first glance the low-end £499 model is alluring, cutting down to a Core i3 CPU and 500GB hard drive. However, it also has a non-IPS screen. We¡¯ve not seen it in person, but it likely uses a lower-quality panel whose viewing angles aren't well-suited to a hybrid like this.
The screen may look funny from the wrong angle, in other words.

The top-end Dell Inspiron 13 5000 we¡¯re looking at costs £799, and upgrades the RAM to 16GB, the CPU to a Core i7. That¡¯s several hundred pounds cheaper than you¡¯d pay for such a spec list in a laptop with a high-end metal frame.

DELL INSPIRON 13 5000 REVIEW: DESIGN

Dell has pulled off a clever trick with the Dell Inspiron 13 5000. It has managed to create a plastic, mostly sensible-looking laptop that still has panache and the sort of lifestyle sensibility that makes MacBooks so attractive.

It has a 360-degree hinge, an ultrabook-influenced layout and little hints like curved edges around the front of the laptop that tell you this isn¡¯t meant to just be a boring work machine. Even though among convertible laptops, it¡¯s definitely the one with a biro in its shirt pocket.

This isn¡¯t a case of Dell being unable to create a style laptop. Just look at the Dell XPS 13 for proof. It¡¯s deliberate.

Dell wants to offer modern laptop sensibilities in a package much more affordable. A MacBook Pro with very similar specs to the £799 Dell Inspiron 13 5000 would cost you £1609, for example. Ouch (granted, the Core i7 CPU Apple uses is slightly higher-end).
In terms of build there are two main sacrifices for this attractive price. First, the entire shell is plastic. Laptops like this will often use aluminium for the lid of the keyboard surround for a higher-end feel, but not so here.
However, it is rigid, which is really more important. Recently we reviewed the Asus UX360C, a fairly similar device but one whose keyboard flexes far too much under moderate pressure. Not only does this make the typing experience worse, flexing can ruing the trackpad click too. The Dell¡¯s keyboard is flex-free. See all laptop reviews.

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The Dell Inspiron 13 5000 isn¡¯t perfect, though. It has a pressure point to the bottom left of the keyboard surround that kills the trackpad click if, say, you rest your elbow on it too heavily. But it¡¯s mostly very solid.

Its second somewhat budget-related compromise is weight. The Dell Inspiron 13 5000 weighs 1.6kg, a bit heavier than something like the Lenovo Yoga 900, which weighs just 1.3kg. It¡¯s heavy enough that you won¡¯t marvel at its lightness when you first pick it up, but still light enough to carry around all day with you. This is nothing like the archetype chunky Dell you may have been lumbered with at work before.

The hinge is more proof of its modern edge. Like other convertibles, it flips around to meet the back of the keyboard, and can stick at any angle. The hinge is one of the few metal parts, giving it the requisite strength.

It¡¯s pragmatic, though. Truly design-led laptops make sure you can open the lid without holding the base in place. It¡¯s a classy finishing touch. You¡¯ll need to put a finger on the lower part here, because Dell¡¯s main priority is making sure the hinge is stiff enough.

You may be familiar with these convertibles by now. The idea isn¡¯t really to make the Dell Inspiron 13 5000 work as a tablet, at least not in the conventional sense. In its tent position or with the screen flipped so the laptop is resting on the keyboard, the touchscreen becomes the closest control method rather than the keyboard and trackpad.

It¡¯s less an iPad-a-like tablet experience, more a touch-controlled PC.

The hinge may not revolutionise the way you use a laptop, but as the Dell Inspiron 13 5000 shows, you¡¯re not paying an extra 50 per cent for the privilege. We¡¯re seeing convertibles this size become accessible, where previously you¡¯ve had to pay a lot for them.

If you need more proof of quite how wide and frankly ¡®normal¡¯ an audience Dell is aiming for, just look at the connections. The Dell Inspiron 13 5000 has two USB 3.0 ports, an extra USB 2.0 port and a full-size 1.4a HDMI.

Right now, this is a great low-maintenance array for a laptop like this. You can plug it into a monitor or your TV without a special cable, and the USBs are designed for today¡¯s gadgets.

It¡¯s just not as well-equipped for tomorrow ¡ª 2017/2018 and beyond. There¡¯s no USB-C port, which is slowly, slowly taking over from full-size USB.

The Dell Inspiron 13 5000 also has a full-size SD card slot. It¡¯s a very practical bunch of connectors, just make sure you¡¯re not going to miss having a USB-C in 12-18 months. Don¡¯t worry about your next phone, it¡¯s more about ultra-fast peripherals like SSDs whose transfer speeds are faster than USB 3.0¡¯s, and for attaching a hub that¡¯ll connect loads of accessories to a single port. Also see: Best budget laptops 2016.

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There¡¯s no major sense of compromise in the keyboard. It¡¯s a standard chiclet design with light but crisp keys.

Typing on the Dell Inspiron 13 5000 is comfortable, although the character of the key travel could be a little mellower. This is a case of personal preference, though.

One great extra feature here is a keyboard backlight. There are two intensity settings, and it makes typing in dark rooms much easier. Asus UX-series rivals at the price do not offer keyboard backlights, although HP¡¯s Envy models do.

The trackpad does feel a tiny bit cheap one respect, though. It¡¯s not about the surface, the size or the reliability of the pad. All are fine. What we¡¯re not totally convinced by is the high-pitch button click response.

This is a little like the laptop equivalent of describing how a wine tastes, but it did stick out on first using the Dell Inspiron 13 5000. Try it out in person if you can.

The Dell Inspiron 13 5000 has exactly the right kind of screen for a laptop of this type and price. It¡¯s 13.3 inches across, uses an IPS LCD panel, a touch layer and resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels.

It has the sharpness, the viewing angles and the general screen quality we¡¯ve become accustomed to in a convertible laptop, roughly bridging the gap between a trad laptop screen and a modern tablet one. The screen looks slightly mottled from an angle, most likely an effect of the touch layer, but it¡¯s only obvious when you look up-close.

We think it actually looks better to human eyes than our colorimeter, the device we used to benchmark screens. The colorimeter says the Dell Inspiron 13 5000¡¯s colour is not much cop, covering just 61.6 per cent of the sRGB standard. However, in person this is mitigated by very solid contrast of 1086:1, a glossy finish and that the display has a slim construction that makes the most of that contrast.

Drivers are programs that enable Windows to access hardware components like the video, sound, printer, scanner, webcam, and so on. Updating them is a pain and you have to identify the hardware, the drivers and version numbers, the hardware manufacturer's website and the download page. Take a shortcut by using a free tool such as SlimDrivers Free or Driver Booster Free. These do all the work for you and they are like Windows Update for drivers. They identify the current drivers, check if there are updates, and then download and install them for you. They solve a lot of problems. There are also paid-for options, such as the up-to-date Driver Talent utility.

How to speed up Windows: Free up disk space

Your PC's hard disk slows down as it fills up and uninstalling software helps to free up space giving more room for Windows to work faster. Disk space can be recovered by using Ccleaner, Advanced SystemCare 7 Free and others.

There's a right way and a wrong way to use these though. Select just a few items and clean them, making sure the app backs up the changes. If the PC is working OK, go ahead and clean a few more items, but if it isn't, restore the backup. Do not clean everything in one go because if something goes wrong you won't know where the problem is.

Many PCs have too much software, such as programs that are no longer used and they can be uninstalled to free up disk space. You could go to the Control Panel, open Programs and Features, and then uninstall software you haven't used in the last six months. Better still are free utilities such as IObit Uninstaller Free, Revo Uninstaller, and Wise Program Uninstaller. They do a better job of removing software because in addition to removing the program itself, they cleaning the disk and registry.



Some programs install lots of files into Windows and they can have a detrimental effect on performance. To keep Windows clean and fast you should avoid installing anything. Of course, you need software, but there are many portable apps that don't need installing. A good source of software is portableapps.com. Click Get Apps and you'll find office software, graphics and photo editors, utilities, internet, music and video and more. It's not the only place to find portable software, but it's a good place to start.

Smaller, lightweight programs are often faster than big, full featured applications. Do you really need Word or is WordPad sufficient for your writing tasks? For example Microsoft Office Home and Student 2013 requires 3GB of disk space, but LibreOffice uses just a few hundred megabytes and is nearly as good. You need 4GB of disk space to install Adobe Photoshop Elements, but only 40MB for Paint.NET and 150MB for GIMP (it sounds dodgy, but it's not). They could be all you need for photo editing. Use alternativeto.net to find alternatives to popular software.
The speed at which games run is highly dependent on the screen resolution and special effects used. Some games provide options to select the screen mode and to turn off some effects that tax the processor and video card. This can make a slow game more playable by increasing the frame rate. For more details see How to speed up games.

How to speed up Windows: Upgrade hardware

All of the techniques discussed so far for speeding up the PC take you only so far. They restore the original PC's performance, but this may not be sufficient. An old PC might not be capable of running the latest game or other software you want to use. A five year old model will struggle with the latest games, apps and operating system. For this reason, a hardware upgrade may be required and this will boost the PC's performance beyond its original specification and narrow the gap between your current PC and the latest ones.

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Many old PCs suffer from too little memory (consider 2GB the absolute minimum these days, but 4GB is the maximum usable by 32-bit versions of Windows) and this is the first component to consider upgrading. Memory suppliers including crucial.com/uk have tools on their website that identify what type of RAM you need. It shows the maximum the PC or laptop can take and this is the best upgrade you can perform. Before you purchase any memory though, examine your PC or laptop because some are easy to upgrade, but others are hard. Buying RAM online and installing it yourself is the cheapest option, but if you aren't confident in your DIY skills, local computer shops can do it.
A solid state disk drive (SSD) is another great way to boost performance. You need to clone the old disk drive onto the new SSD before installing it. This is achieved by plugging the SSD into the PC's USB port and running a program on the PC. A special cable and software might be supplied with the SSD, but if not, they are available to purchase for a few pounds.

Here's a step-by-step guide to installing an SSD, and here's a list of the best SSDs to buy

Upgrading the graphics card is a great way to speed up games, but the benefits to other software is limited. Top-of-the-range video cards are big, so before ordering the latest Nvidia or AMD model, check it will fit the case. Space, the size of the PC's power supply and other factors limit your options and full height/dual slot video cards are for big PCs with lots of space, and low profile single slot cards are for compact PCs.

It¡¯s a battle that has raged across time and space. Two sides with sworn armies of loyalists, locked eternally in a struggle for dominance. We¡¯ve seen it played out so many times: Android vs iOS, Xbox vs PlayStation, Canon vs Nikon, FIFA vs Pro Evo, ZX Spectrum vs Commodore 64, but today we look not upon those minor conflicts. Instead our eyes turn to the thunderous colossuses of Mac vs PC.

Where to buy your iPhone 7? Find out how to get the best price on an iPhone 7 today. Click here.

Which is the better platform? Is there even a true winner? Some of these questions cannot be answered, but in this feature we will put the two platforms to the test so you can see which one is the best for you.

You might also like Android vs iOS: Which is best?

Mac vs PCs: Hardware design

This category might seem like a sure-thing for Apple, as its hardware is highly regarded across the industry, but things aren¡¯t quite that simple. When Apple¡¯s design guru Jony Ive first designed the iMac back in 1998 it came as a colourful and stylish alternative to the beige boxes that PCs favoured at the time.

Since then there have been innovative designs such as the MacBook, MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, and the various iterations of the original iMac - including an utterly beautiful angle-poise lamp style that remains one of the most gorgeous computers ever built. The current lineup though, leaves a lot to be desired.

Yes, they are still powerful, fast machines, but the aluminum unibody designs that once looked so modern (and launched a thousand PC clones) haven¡¯t seen an update in a number of years and now look, well, rather dull. Of course the new ultra-slim MacBook does buck this trend somewhat - coming in a range of colours that include Gold and Rose Gold, or pink as most people would call it - but the lack of ports and a low profile keyboard that severely divides opinion among users means it¡¯s something of an acquired taste.
There are rumours of Apple updating the Mac range before the end of the year, so things could improve quickly if the California company introduces new models.

By contrast PCs are going through something of a renaissance at the moment. After the wild and wacky devices that accompanied the release of Windows 8, manufacturers have settled down and begun releasing some excellent machines. At the premium end of the market, where Apple also plies its trade, Microsoft has developed the Surface Pro 4 and Surface Book both of which are hugely desirable creations. HP, who almost left PC manufacturing entirely a few years ago, has stunned the market with its svelte, luxurious Spectre 13, while Lenovo, Sony, Dell, and others all have high-end models that give MacBooks a run for their money.

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One of the best things about Windows devices at the moment is that they offer such variety to users. You can have traditional laptops and desktops (with the option of a touchscreen if you want), dedicated gaming rigs, ultra-thin models, or a device that converts between a tablet and PC. There¡¯s even a Windows phone that can turn into a full blown Windows PC when you plug it into peripherals.

Of course the platform has always had devices available at a range of price points too and this is still the case. In fact HP¡¯s Stream laptop is currently available for £149 and offers a very respectable entry point for those who need a cheap and cheerful device.

While Apple¡¯s shield may still be ringing from the surprising blows it took in hardware, this round finds it unleashing a few attacks of its own. There¡¯s little argument really that when you take a Mac out of its box there is far more useful software onboard than on even the most premium Windows laptop.

No bloatware or trial software is to be found, instead Apple includes apps for basic photo editing, video production, audio production, plus the full office suite of Pages, Number, and Keynote. All are full versions that offer an impressive amount of capability for any new user.

On the Windows side of things it isn¡¯t quite so rosy. There is a photo app, but it¡¯s more for organisation than editing, and depending on where you bought your PC you might have a free year¡¯s subscription to Office 365, but beyond that it¡¯s a pretty barren landscape.

Of course when you move out to third party software Windows has an enormous amount of apps to buy, far exceeding that of Macs, but the truth is that Macs come equipped with nearly everything you need for normal, consumer-level computing.

Gaming has long been the province of PCs and with the arrival of Windows 10 the platform has only strengthened its dominance. Aside from an embarrassingly huge advantage over Macs in terms of available titles, PCs now have the ability to stream games from both the Xbox One and Playstation 4. This category isn¡¯t even close. If you like gaming then a Windows PC is hands-down the better choice over a Mac.

The other main consideration is how far you¡¯re willing to embrace the cloud. Chromebooks generally come with no more than 16GB of internal storage, as the premise of Chrome OS is that you use the internet rather than your machine to run programs and store data. So if you live in an area with patchy broadband, or don¡¯t want to store your information on Google, Microsoft or Dropbox servers, then a Windows machine might be a better solution.

Peripheral support is also hit and miss, so if you need printers or other external devices to get your work done, then it¡¯s worth investigating whether your printer and other gadgets will work with a Chromebook before you buy one.

To find out more about the practical implications of Chromebooks, read our feature: Living with a Chromebook: can you use a Chromebook as your only laptop?

The next version of OS X is no longer OS X but macOS, and it's codenamed Sierra. The final version will be released later today in the Mac App Store (usually by around 6pm UK time), but you can install macOS Sierra right now on your Macbook or iMac thanks to Apple's public beta, for which the final release candidate is available now. Here we'll explain how you can get macOS Sierra right now, plus how to downgrade macOS Sierra.

One of the biggest changes in Sierra is the introduction of Siri integration, but there are also exciting new features like Apple Pay (via Safari and authorised using your iPhone), Auto-Unlock using an Apple Watch, and Universal Clipboard. Read about all the new features in macOS Sierra here.

Where to buy your iPhone 7? Find out how to get the best price on an iPhone 7 today. Click here.

How to get macOS Sierra now: Things to consider

Running beta software isn¡¯t a choice you should make lightly, as by its very nature the code is still being worked on and bugs will appear - potentially big ones - which could cause you to lose data. If you are intending to put this on your main working machine as the only OS, then we¡¯d strongly advise against it. Yes it¡¯s cool to be on the cutting edge, but there are considerable risks involved when you use unfinished software.

A much better choice is to dual-boot your Mac, so that the preview OS is kept separate from your normal one. If you have virtual machine software such as Parallels, VirtualBox or VMware, then that would also be a great way to sample the delights of Sierra without endangering your system.

As always you should run a complete system backup before starting any kind of operating system upgrade, as things can easily go wrong.

How to get macOS Sierra now: How to download macOS Sierra public beta

As of 7 July a public beta of macOS Sierra become available, and on 9 September Apple announced the final release candidate, which is free. You can sign up to the macOS Sierra public beta programme here.

How to get macOS Sierra now: How to install macOS Sierra on a dual-boot system

Once you get a version of Sierra, we recommend installing it into a second partition on your machine, or if you have a spare machine then feel free to wipe the existing OS and go it alone with 10.12. Remember that these are advanced procedures, and you proceed at your own risk.
To set up a dual-boot system you¡¯ll need to do the following things. First of all open up Disk Utility (Applications > Utilities > Disk Utility) and select the main drive (usually the top of the list in the left hand panel). Then select the Partition option in the main panel.

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Now you¡¯ll see a large rectangle with the heading Partition Layout. Currently it will be a single drive, so click the Plus button beneath it and then click on the new partition that appears.

To resize the partition simply drag the partition corners. The Size box on the right shows you how much space the partition takes up.

It¡¯s a good idea to rename the partition so that things don¡¯t get confusing - maybe call it Sierra Beta Test. When you¡¯re happy with the name and space allocation click Apply.

Now find the downloaded version of macOS Sierra and click on it to begin the install.

When you see the option of which disk you want to install it on be sure to select Sierra Beta Test (or whatever name you gave the new partition). When this is done click install and the rest should proceed automatically, with your Mac rebooting into Sierra.

From now on when you want to return to the previous version of macOS (or OS X) on your system, reboot your machine while holding down the Alt key. This will present you with a menu of which drive you want to boot from.

How to downgrade macOS Sierra: Deleting the partition

Once you¡¯ve finished test driving macOS Sierra you can remove it by reversing the process above. Restart your machine and boot into the previous version of macOS (or OS X). Launch Disk Utility, choose your main drive, go to Partition, select the Sierra partition, then click the Minus button below, followed by Apply.

How to get macOS Sierra now: Using Virtual Machines

Probably the safest way to try out any new operating system is to use a virtual machine. There are several excellent software offerings around, some of which are free (VMware and VirtualBox). These create, as the name suggests, virtual environments on your Mac where the operating system can run as if it were installed on your drive. Performance isn¡¯t quite the same as it would be from an OS that is actually installed, but it gives you a good chance to explore without the hassle of altering your machine in any way. As each software package operates slightly differently it¡¯s worth investigating the options available and consulting the relevant instructions. Our colleagues over at Macworld have put together this helpful guide to running Windows on a Mac, which covers using virtual machines.

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How to get mac OS Sierra now: Should I install the macOS Sierra public beta?

If the idea of creating and deleting partitions, having applications crash suddenly, or working out how to set up virtual machines has you a little worried, then we¡¯d suggest waiting. While all of this can be a lot of fun, and actually quite fascinating, for most people it would just get annoying rather quickly. macOS Sierra is due to be released in a few months, and will be a much more stable and polished experience than the one you¡¯d find in the public beta. If you¡¯ve always held to the Apple mantra of ¡®it just works¡¯, then we think you¡¯d have a better time in the Autumn.

n revive its performance using these simple techniques. Here's how to speed up Windows 7 and other versions. Also see: How to speed up Windows 10 and How to speed up any laptop or PC

A new PC always impresses with the speed at which it starts and runs Windows and other software (or at least it should do), but Windows can slow down after being used for some time. If you're frustrated at the way your PC takes several minutes to start up, don't dispair: help is at hand. Here we explain how to speed up Windows. See all Windows tips and tutorials.

There are many things that can make Windows slow, but you should be able to restore most of your PC's original speed, which means you shouldn't need to spend any money on a new one. You might also like to read How to restore a laptop and keep Microsoft Office.

Thin laptops tend to have shallow key travel, so if you need a laptop to do a lot of typing then, again, read our reviews as they're the only way (short of hunting down the machine in a shop) to find out whether a keyboard is a joy or a pain to use.

Many ultrabooks use low-power processors which are better for battery life, but may not have much power for running Windows apps. Our benchmarks sort the speed demons from the sluggards.

The best laptops of 2016: Warranty and other considerations

We recommend all the laptops here: there isn't a duff one among them. However, we urge you again to read through the full review before spending your hard-earned cash. None of them are perfect and what will suit your needs might not simply be the device ranked at number one.

Battery life and warranty are two things which vary between laptops. The latter may well differ depending on where you buy the laptop from, too. John Lewis, for example, tends to offer longer warranty than rivals.

After-sales service is something you should consider, not only laptops but pretty much everything you buy. Check whether the company has a UK-based support line, and forums (including our own) are an ideal place to get an idea of whether a manufacturer is generally good or bad at carrying out work under warranty.

You might not even have to deal with the manufacturer directly if you have a fault in the first six months as it's the retailer's responsibility to deal with issues. This is when it pays to have purchased from Amazon, John Lewis and others which will often replace or refund without quibble.

After al that, it's also worth considering whether a laptop is what you really want. You can get some great bargains on desktop PCs these days, and if you don't want a large tower system taking up space there are plenty of all-in-one PCs to choose between. These integrate the computer behind the monitor, so they're much neater. Also, some tablets offer similar functionality to basic laptops. See our piece about choosing between laptop vs iPad, for instance.

Read on for our pick of the UK's best laptops and links to our best laptop reviews. If you're looking for more laptop buying advice head here.

The Dell XPS 13 9343 stands as a shining beacon of hope in the world of Windows laptops, a compact laptop that outdoes the obvious competition in some key respects like screen quality and near-borderless display. Here is a 13.3-inch laptop that takes up little more space than an 11.6-inch model. Poor thermal management needs to be improved, while a non-touchscreen version could answer other outstanding issues.
The Lenovo Yoga 11 710 is a great little device for those who travel a lot or who have no need for a big laptop. This is one of the best alternatives to the 12-inch MacBook, a truly tiddly machine that offers better value than Apple, not to mention a touchscreen and an ultra-flexible hinge. It's not powerful, but that's not the point. The trackpad, like several of Lenovo¡¯s recent models, is not perfect. But given the great value on offer here it¡¯s worth persevering with.

The Asus ZenBook UX305CA is a sensible, perhaps predictable upgrade to the UX305 we looked at last year. It has newer CPU, and a much higher-resolution screen. However, it remains a seriously portable, expensive-feeling laptop that really isn¡¯t that expensive. That you can get this grade of machine for £600 (at the time of writing) shows that while Apple¡¯s pricing has improved, companies like Asus still have the edge. A big, sharp, shiny edge. The Core M CPU limits the crowd of people this laptop will suit perfectly. But that it still feels fast for everyday tasks and the fact it will last all day with that kind of use makes it ideal for those who find themselves hopping between meetings or cafes as part of their daily grind. If you¡¯re looking for something to use mostly at home, you might want look for something with a little more power and a screen with slightly higher contrast, though.

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It¡¯s a business laptop, there¡¯s no escaping that. But our time with the Dell Latitude 13 7370 was great - it¡¯s probably the most accessible business laptop out there, with a form factor that everyone can get along with. If you are a small business owner and you need a laptop to hook up to a monitor in your home office but also take on a business trip and not need a plug all day, then this is one of the computers you should be considering. You might not even need or want another laptop for personal use either, which goes a long way to justifying the high price.

Chromebooks are inexpensive laptops with a difference: they run Google's Chrome OS instead of Windows. Here we review and rate the best Chromebooks you can buy in the UK in 2016. Visit Chrome Advisor for more about Chrome OS and Chromebooks.

Some of the models we recommend below are not new. However, we have kept them in the list because they are still available to buy at reduced prices, sometimes refurbished.

What is a Chromebook?

A Chromebook is a laptop that runs Google¡¯s Chrome operating system (ChromeOS). It offers pretty much the same experience as using the popular Chrome web browser, which you might well already use on a Windows PC or laptop, but with a few extra features added to the mix.

An internet connection is central to how a Chromebook functions. Nearly all its apps and services are online and don¡¯t run locally. There are a few exceptions to this, with Google¡¯s own Document and Spreadsheet apps capable of working offline and then seamlessly syncing any work you¡¯ve done to the cloud once you¡¯re back on Wi-Fi.

This simplicity allows Chromebooks to use less powerful hardware than many Windows laptops, without it affecting the overall performance. You won¡¯t find capacious hard drives, high-end processors or large 15.6in screens on Chromebooks. Instead, Google offers 100GB of online storage with every machine, mobile processors are the order of the day (negating the need for noisy fans), and the usual screen size is around the 11.6in. One of the most notable benefits of such modest accoutrements is that prices for Chromebooks tend to be below £300, with many selling for nearer £200.

There are many similarities across the available models, with a generally standard keyboard layout and screen resolution, and fast bootup times, but those with specific needs should still be able find a machine to suit them.

Best Chromebooks: what you can get

Compared to a couple of years ago, there¡¯s a much wider choice in 2016. The range of screen sizes spans 10-14in and not only are there certain models with touchscreens, but some have hinges that allow the screen to fold right back flat against the underside so you can use it like a tablet.

There¡¯s also a rugged option now: Dell¡¯s Chromebook 11 is designed for use in schools, but that doesn¡¯t mean it wouldn¡¯t also be great for home use, especially if you¡¯re buying one for the kids to share.

Another recent development is the Chromebook-on-a-stick. Asus¡¯ Chromebit, for example, take the crucial hardware, shrinks it down to dongle size and lets you turn any HDMI-equipped display or even TV into a Chromebook ¨C you just need to provide a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse to control it.

For most people who just want a laptop-style computer for browsing the internet, creating documents and spreadsheets, streaming videos or giving to the kids as an inexpensive, virus-free homework device, an inexpensive Chromebook is an excellent choice.

There are, of course, still very good reasons to buy a Windows machine - they offer a far bigger choice of software they can run and don¡¯t rely so heavily on the internet, for starters - but Windows laptops at the low end of the market, especially in the price range that Chromebooks occupy, tend to be underpowered or cumbersome. (See: Best budget laptops)

Really, though, Chromebooks are intended as a second device: you¡¯ll still have a laptop or PC in the house, but the Chromebook is a portable, lightweight alternative which is great for web browsing and email. You might think you¡¯d prefer a tablet for these and other tasks, but ChromeOS means you¡¯re getting a very compatible web browser, so you shouldn¡¯t hit the kinds of limitations that you often find with an iPad or Android tablet and have to resort to using a Windows laptop. Generally, that doesn¡¯t happen with a Chromebook.

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Should I buy a Chromebook?

We¡¯re not saying that Chromebooks are a perfect solution, as there are still limitations you need to consider. The most significant is that, unlike Windows machines, Chromebooks can¡¯t run most of the software you might be used to. So, no Photoshop, no iTunes (and therefore no iPhone compatibility) and next to no gaming.

Full versions of Microsoft Office are also missing, although you can use the web-based suite with reduced functionality. Google¡¯s own Docs suite is also a very good alternative if you don¡¯t need Office¡¯s advanced features, while its online collaboration is better than Microsoft¡¯s offering.

As we've said above, Nougat is only on certain Nexus devices and the LG V20 right now. Nexus phones and tablets are always the first to get new operating system updates, but even Google won't support them forever. Security updates are provided for three years following the device's release, or 18 months after it is removed from the Google Play Store (whichever is longer).

So, for example, the Nexus 5X and Nexus 6P will be supported by Google until September 2017, which means they will get both Android Nougat and next year's Android O. The Nexus 9 and Nexus 6 will both be supported until October 2016, which should mean they get an update to Android Nougat but not Android O. Older Nexus devices will not be upgraded.

Those with supported Nexus devices should find the update rolls out to their device following the launch of the new Nexus phones for 2016, or at least within a few weeks of launch. Also see: How to direct reply in Android Nougat.

If you have a recent flagship phone or tablet from a well-known maker such as Sony, Samsung, HTC, LG or Motorola, it's likely you'll see the update rolled out within the first few months of 2017. However, before you can get the update both the hardware manufacturer and mobile operator must be ready to roll it out, which can slow down things.

Sony has already confirmed that its most recent Xperia devices will get Nougat, including the Z3+, Z4 Tablet, Z5 series and X series. However, the Z2 and Z3 series will not receive Android Nougat.

HTC has also confirmed which devices will get Nougat, quoting the HTC One A9, HTC One M9 and HTC 10. It has a 90-day guarantee, which means those devices should get Android N in Q4.

Motorola says its Moto Z and Moto G4 families will get Nougat in Q4 2016.

It's telling that even a year and a half after its release, Android Lollipop has only recently become the most popular Android operating system. Often only the most recent flagships get an update to new Android operating systems (also see: How to update Android), and even then nothing is guaranteed. With thousands of people still using Android phones that are entry-level models, from less well-known manufacturers or simply old, there are still people out there running Froyo and Gingerbread - and they will never get an update to Android Nougat.

For performance Google is focusing on graphics and runtime in Android Nougat. It has introduced the new Vulkan 3D graphics API, which has a much lower CPU overhead than OpenGL and allows developers to squeeze much more graphical detail into frames. It's also introducing the JTI Compiler, which speeds up app installs by 75 percent and reduces the compiled code size by 50 percent.There are also new platform features aimed at optimising battery and memory consumption, such as Doze and the new background optimizations.For security Android Nougat introduces file-based encryption, media framework hardening and seamless updates. The latter means new updates to the operating system will be downloaded silently in the background, ready to use on the next restart. Unfortunately, seamless updates are likely to be available only on phones sold running Android Nougat out of the box - it works by each phone having two system images, and one is updated in the background while you use the other. Today's phones, of course, have only one system image.

Spending a bit more, around £500 and above, will potentially get you a nice laptop but it's likely to have an entry-level set of specs. We're talking a relatively basic processor, minimal SSD storage and a low resolution screen. It might also be a bit heavy and bulky.
Ramp up the amount you're happy to splash out - £800 and up - and you'll be looking at the best of the best with a blazing fast processor, plenty of RAM, hordes of storage and a gorgeous display. You should also expect excellent build quality and premium materials.

That's why it's crucial to read laptop reviews before you buy.

New MacBooks in 2016: Podcast discussion

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Best laptops 2016: What screen size do I need?

The size of your screen is an important decision when buying a laptop. After all they typically range from 11- all the way up to 17in.

A smaller screen might be harder to work on but it means that the laptop will be far more portable, handy if you need to take it around with you wherever you go. Bear in mind that a smaller device means less space for features like ports.

At 17in, you're buying a desktop replacement laptop which isn't deigned to be moved around often. You'll likely get a full-size keyboard, lots of connectivity and possibly even an optical drive, too.

Generally, unless you're looking at either end of the spectrum, a 13in laptop is the sweet spot for us combining portability with usability.

While many laptops have a resolution of 1366x768, you should look for something more if you want the best. Full HD (1920x1080) and higher should be a tick box and you can even get 4K laptops now, although arguably it's not necessary.

If you want a touchscreen, this normally adds to the cost. Most laptops come with a glossy screen but most people prefer a less reflective matt finish so that's something to look out for, too.

Best laptops 2016: How much storage do I need?

As usual, storage depends on what you want to use a laptop for. As a general rule of thumb get as much as possible without wasting money on the upgrade (manufactures can charge a premium on this area).

An SSD will mean your laptop runs faster but doesn't provide as much space as a traditional hard drive. Remember that there are also plenty of cloud storage options but this isn't so helpful when you don't have an internet connection.

If you're going to need to storing a large amount of data (perhaps you make home videos or you simply want all your TV box sets ready to go) then look for 1- or 2TB of space. Don't forget you can buy a portable USB drive to supplement a laptop which has only a small-capacity SSD.

Memory (RAM) is where programs and files are stored only while you're using them, and more is always better. Consider 4GB an absolute minimum, unless it's a Chromebook, with 8- to 16GB the ideal figure if you can afford the upgrade. You can't have too much.

Best laptops 2016: Which laptop processor is best?

Unless you're going to run complex and demanding software or gaming, you don't need the latest top-spec processor. It doesn't hurt, of course, but it's best to find a nice balance as there's nothing worse than waiting for a app to load etc.

If you're happy to splash out then you're probably looking at the latest generation (6th) Intel Core i7 chip. Entry-level spec models are likely to offer a Core i3 or even a Core M processor instead. A Core i5 sits nicely in-between so check how much extra it is to upgrade before making a final decision.

If you're not sure which generation the Intel processor is, look at the model number as the first digit represents this. For example, a Core i5-6500 is a sixth-generation CPU.

While most come with Intel processors, you can still find AMD powered devices around. See AMD vs Intel for more information.

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Best laptops 2016: Ultrabooks and ultraportable laptops

Buying an ultraportable laptop is really no different than any laptop, except that your priorities are likely to be different. You might want an ultraportable laptop that's light and will last a long time away from the mains.

However, other people want an ultrabook that's powerful and can handle demanding applications without breaking your back when you carry it around. Both types are available.

Some compromises are inevitable if you want a thin and light laptop, though. There's less space for a battery, so it's typical to find shorter runtimes. But some companies have overcome this with clever packaging, such as the MacBook Air.

Another factor is efficient hardware, so a newer processor is likely to sip rather than guzzle power. The same goes for other components. But you should always read our reviews to find out how long a particular laptop lasted in our tests as you can't rely on specifications and it's unwise to go only by manufacturers' claims.

Net has also reported how Android Nougat will stop password-reset ransomware, stating that: "The new operating system will no longer allow users or software to invoke a command that clears already-set passwords." However, in order to protect your device it notes that you will need to set a password in the first place.
The most exciting area for consumers is productivity. We've already heard about Android Nougat's new Direct Reply feature, which allows you to directly reply to messages, emails and more from the notification bar, and now apparently we'll be able to change a notification's visibility by long-tapping it and selecting an option.

When we do reply to a message we have loads of new emoji at our fingertips. The professional women emoji that leaked just recently are among 72 new Unicode 9 emoji glyphs, which are more realistic and support different skin tones.

Google is also said to be redesigning the navigation buttons, which in Android Nougat will be animated and change their colour when long-pressed.

But this laptop is a very different beast to those in Apple¡¯s stable, just a fraction of the price and running Windows 10 Home 64-bit rather than macOS Sierra. As a budget imitator there are some clear differences in its build, from the thicker screen bezels to the plastic parts used for heat dissipation found at the rear. (And as we¡¯ll come to later, it¡¯s nowhere near as fast.)
So build quality isn¡¯t quite up to Apple¡¯s standards, but the EZBook Air is a very long way from awful for a Windows 10 laptop at this price. This laptop is incredibly thin and light, weighing in at under a kilo and measuring just 4mm at its thinnest place. And while the aforementioned chunky bezels and grey rubber bumpers around the screen and on the laptop¡¯s underside spoil the effect somewhat, its primarily aluminium shell, fanless design and full-HD screen take it up a notch from some of the cheap and nasty-looking Windows 10 laptops we¡¯ve seen.

We¡¯re not massively keen on the sickly gold colouring, but neither were we fans of Apple¡¯s gold MacBook and recognise that others may appreciate it. And we have to say it does look good set against the black Scrabble-tile keyboard nestled under the screen. See all budget laptop reviews

Jumper EZBook Air review

With only an 11.6in screen fitted to the EZBook Air the keyboard was never going to be the roomiest of designs, but Jumper has done a good job with the space available to it. While there¡¯s no room for a separate numberpad the keys are all adequately sized (roughly 15mm in diameter) and spaced. These floating keys are comfortable to type with and reasonably quiet, while the one-piece touchpad below is large and easy to use without accidentally knocking it with a stray wrist. Our only real complaints concern the fact this is a US-layout keyboard, and that the touchpad doesn¡¯t support gestures.

The display is about as small as you¡¯ll find on a Windows 10 laptop, but this is no bad thing for portability, which is probably the EZBook Air¡¯s strongest suit. It¡¯s also a fairly decent screen, full-HD (1920x1080 pixels) in resolution and with good colour reproduction and contrast.

A 0.3Mp basic webcam sits above the display, which will suffice for video calls. There¡¯s little else of note around the EZBook Air¡¯s Spartan chassis, but that in itself is interesting. When Apple removed all the ports save for a USB-C input/output from its 12in MacBook Air we couldn¡¯t understand the logic: Apple¡¯s all about the design, but at the expense of usability? Why make it difficult for people to attach a USB hard drive or mouse, or an HDMI display?

Jumper has done exactly the same with its EZBook Air, and all you¡¯ll find here is a 3.5mm headphone jack (thankfully not a Lightning connector) and a single USB-C port. However, in the box it supplies a handy USB-C to full-size USB adaptor, which will allow you to hook up your hard drive, disc drive or mouse (one at a time, mind). We should point out that it¡¯s possible to buy reasonably cheap adaptors that let you add extra USB and HDMI ports, such as this ChoeTech USB-C Adaptor (£31.99 Amazon UK), although still frustrating that you need to.

With no ethernet port the Jumper has to connect to the web over Wi-Fi, but it¡¯s well covered here with support for dual-band 802.11a/b/g/n/ac. There¡¯s also support for Bluetooth 4.0.

Although they aren¡¯t visible from the outside, we¡¯ve been told there are stereo speakers inside. The volume is pretty decent, although some distortion is present at the top end.

JUMPER EZBOOK AIR CHEAP WINDOWS LAPTOP REVIEW: CORE HARDWARE AND PERFORMANCE

In common with some of the cheap Windows 10 tablet-laptop hybrids from Chuwi we¡¯ve reviewed of late, processing power is handled by the Intel Atom X5 (Cherry Trail) Z8300 quad-core processor, which is paired with 4GB of DDR3L RAM and integrates Intel HD graphics. It¡¯s not the most powerful combination, but for a cheap Windows 10 laptop that is required only for browsing the web, tapping out emails and writing the odd Microsoft Word doc, it¡¯s up to the job. It also means there¡¯s nothing inside pushing this fanless laptop to break into a sweat.

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In our benchmarks the Jumper EZBook Air performed in line with the Chuwi Hi12 and Chuwi HiBook, recording 1052 points in PCMark 8 Home against their 1010- and 1058 points respectively.

It fared better in the GFXBench graphics test, recording 26fps in T-Rex and 13fps in Manhattan where the HiBook was capable of 23- and 11fps respectively.

We ran the two Chuwi hybrids through Geekbench 3, but this has since been updated to version 4.0 and the results are not comparable. In Geekbench 4 the EZBook Air recorded 729 points single-core and 2050 points multi-core, with the latter roughly half the 4000-point baseline set by the more powerful Intel Core i7-6600U. This score would be closer in comparison to the dual-core Intel Core i3-4030U, which recorded 2060 points in Geekbench 4.

The EZBook Air has 128GB of flash storage, of which just over 100GB is available. There is no microSD slot for expansion, and if you want to plug in a portable drive you will need to either buy a USB-C-connected drive or use the supplied adaptor.

Something the Jumper does very well at is runtime, and with some not especially powerful hardware inside its 8000mAh lithium-polymer battery can last a full working day away from the mains. With the USB-C input able to accept 3A of power it¡¯s reasonably fast to charge, but it¡¯s a shame you can¡¯t attach any other peripherals while the laptop is charging.

What's the best laptop? We round up the best laptops you can buy in the UK in 2016, including best Windows laptops and best MacBooks.

The best laptop is the Dell XPS 13, followed by the Lenovo Yoga 710 and the Asus ZenBook UX305, but there are plenty of other options in our list below.

Despite the rise of tablets, there are still plenty of reasons to choose a laptop. Sometimes you just can't beat a bigger screen, a keyboard and Windows for getting stuff done. But, if you want a laptop that's also a tablet, there are plenty of convertible or 'hybrid' laptops which have a touchscreen which folds right back behind the keyboard and can be used as a tablet. The Yoga 710 is one of the best we've seen in this respect, although if its 11in screen is too small, Lenovo does offer larger versions.

Best laptops 2016: Buying guide

As with any product we review, the best laptops are rated on various factors - performance, build quality, features and value for money ¨C along with an overall score, potentially with an award, too. Note that star ratings don't always dictate where a product ranks in the list below, as the score applies to the date it was reviewed.

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If you're looking for a laptop that can handle the latest games, see our up-to-date list of the best gaming laptops.

As much as we can, we make sure all the laptops in the chart are available to but in the UK. However, it's not something we can check every day so there's a chance you might not find the model listed. There are also often many different SKUs (versions/models) of a laptop so the specs might vary to those on the model we've reviewed (we can't always choose the exact model to review).

Most laptops will come pre-installed with Windows 10 now. Of course, our best laptops group test also includes the best MacBooks, which run OS X (now macOS) out of the box. Macs are often more expensive than Windows laptops, but Apple's laptops are better value than ever before. You might feel that the premium build quality and features warrant spending extra, although many Windows laptop manufacturers have stepped up their game recently.

Best laptops 2016: How much should I spend on a laptop?

In this chart, there's no cap on how much the device can cost ¨C sometimes the best does come at a steep price. Equally you can get a lot of laptop for under £300 ¨C provided you only need to do basic tasks like browse the web, email and create the odd document. If so see the best budget laptops.