PC World February 2015

F E B RUA RY 2015

What’s Next for

Windows 10 We have one word for you: Holograms.

INSIDE: NVIDIA’S CHEAP, CHEAP GTX 960

FEBRUARY 2015 » DEPARTMENTS

TABLE OF CONTENTS

» FEATURES

7 News

109 Catalyst Omega reinvents AMD’s approach to drivers

31 Reviews & Ratings

133 Here’s How

120 The Best Netflix Tools

» COLUMNS 143 Hassle-Free PC 146 Answer Line 23 Consumer Watch

150 Tech Spotlight

Business ready

wireless mobile scanner Incredibly fast Lithium-powered Lightweight

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NEWS 8

Windows 10’s new features: Cortana and more

16

Nvidia releases GeForce GTX 960 at a surprisingly low price

Android update to reportedly fix Lollipop’s memory leak

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CONTENTS

Windows 10’s new features: Cortana and more BY BRAD CHACOS

I

T’S OFFICIAL, FOLKS: Windows 10 is coming to the people. After kicking off Windows 10 with a bevy of business-friendly features, Microsoft drew back the curtain on the operating system’s new consumer-focused features, while simultaneously driving home a vision of an operating system designed to deliver a singular, cohesive experience across a myriad of device types. And it’ll be a free upgrade for Windows 7 and 8 users (go.pcworld.com/winfree), who can snag the operating system for nada in the first year after Windows 10 hits the streets. After Microsoft operating system chief Terry Myerson announced that crucial tidbit, Microsoft’s Joe Belfiore took the stage to run through some features coming to Windows 10 Preview that are designed to make using the operating system a smoother experience. 8

Windows Holographic will build 3D imaging into Windows 10, which can be experienced using the HoloLens headset.

NEWS

First, Belfiore showed off some helpful tweaks to Windows 10 features that have already been announced: The Start menu will be able to expand to fill the full screen if you desire, for one thing. The Action Center (read: Windows 10’s notification center) is receiving improved functionality, such as Windows Phone 8.1-esque quick action buttons that let you activate features (such as Bluetooth and Wi-Fi) with a single click. Notifications in the Action Center will be able to be expanded. More helpfully for everyday workflow, Windows 10 will condense the Control Panel and the modern UI PC Settings into a single interface, eliminating Windows 8’s maddening insistence on dumping crucial system tools into two separate locations. Microsoft also announced that its Continuum feature (go.pcworld.com/continuum), which dynamically shifts the Windows 10 interface from the Modern UI to the desktop depending on whether you’re using a traditional PC or a touchscreen device, will soon appear in Windows 10 Preview builds.

Cortana comes to PCs

As anticipated, Microsoft’s Cortana digital assistant will make the jump from Windows Phone to Windows 10, assuming control of many of the operating system’s search features. Cortana, which will get her

Cortana Weather on a Windows 10 PC.

own place next to the Start button in the desktop taskbar, can perform many of the same basic tricks she does in Windows Phone. Cortana can be interacted with via text or natural voice queries, just like on mobile devices. Still based off Microsoft’s cloud-based Bing brains, Cortana can answer basic queries like “Will I need a coat tomorrow?” or how much it costs to attend the University of Washington, as Belfiore showed in live demonstrations. But Cortana’s also been tweaked for more useful PC-like interactions. She can scour your local machine, OneDrive account, and even your business network to find files based on natural language queries. Belfiore showed off the capabilities by asking Cortana to “Find PowerPoint slides about the charity auction” and “Show me photos from December.” The digital assistant surfaced the desired information nearly instantly. That sounds pretty darn handy, and there are more playful commands, too: Telling Cortana to “Play my music” launches the music app, while asking her to “Please be quiet” silences the music. Nice!

The digital assistant surfaced the desired information nearly instantly.

Windows 10 for phones and universal apps

Belfiore then veered off to show Windows 10 on phones and tablets, including a brief demo of mobile, touch-friendly Office apps. Windows 10 for phones will basically act like an extension of your PC, featuring universal Windows apps (go.pcworld.com/universapp) that share the same central heart and design as their PC counterparts, as well as newly universal notifications that synchronize across Windows 10 devices. Windows 10 phones and small-screen tablets will include a free copy of Office. For a quick look at the universal Office apps, be sure to check out our article on Windows 10 for phones and tablets (go.pcworld.com/10pt). After the mobile talk, Belfiore showcased a rebuilt version of Outlook designed for PCs, tablets, and phones alike as a universal Windows app. Strongly resembling the Mail app in Windows 8—at least aesthetically—the universal Outlook map will sport a unified look across device types, packing 10

NEWS

touch-friendly commands such as swiping left on a message to remove it, or swiping right to flag it for later follow up. Since many of Microsoft’s apps—including Outlook—have their heads in the cloud, changes you make to a universal app on one device will be immediately reflected on other devices, as Belfiore demoed by actively editing Calendar app entries simultaneously on a PC and a phone. Microsoft’s bringing the same cloud-centric, universal app experiences to its core Windows apps as well, all powered by OneDrive on the back end. The Photos app will create albums from all your devices, intelligently removing duplicates and burst photos. A revamped universal People app will collate your contacts, while the Music app is also receiving a universal overhaul. As rumored, Microsoft will add support for you to put your music collection in OneDrive within the next month or two, so you can listen to your tunes anywhere. Maps will also be receiving Cortana integration, and she’ll be able to remember where you parked your car.

This is Spartan

Also new to Windows 10 is Spartan: A new, clean-looking, lightweight browser built around a new rendering engine. It won’t be available in the first Windows Insider builds, and it will only come to phones 11

The Spartan browser's annotation capabilities.

eventually, Belfiore said. The Spartan browser includes a note-taking mode that lets you annotate a web page, then share your marked-up, commented-on version with others using Windows 10’s native Share feature. There’s also a clipping tool so you can save portions of websites directly to OneNote. Spartan also doubles down on the mere act of reading on the Internet. The browser integrates an updated version of the stellar Reading Mode found in Windows 8’s Metro Internet Explorer app. Reading Mode strips all the ads and sidebar crud out of web pages, formatting articles so that they appear similar to a book. It’s a wonderful thing. Spartan also taps into the Windows Reading List app, so you can save articles to read later, synchronizing the list across multiple devices. Unlike the Reading List app in Windows 8, the one in Windows 10 will let you save content to read offline. Cortana is also being integrated directly into Spartan. “Because she knows you, she can help in more nuanced ways,” Belfiore said, showing an example where searching for “Delta” in his address bar popped up information for the Delta flight Belfiore was scheduled to take later. Cortana will also pop up when you visit a restaurant’s website, surfacing directions as well as information about the restaurant’s menu, hours of operating, and Yelp reviews.

Unlike the Reading List app in Windows 8, the one in Windows 10 will let you save content to read offline.

Improving PC games with Xbox

Microsoft’s also bolstering Windows 10’s gaming chops (go.pcworld. com/chops) by deeply integrating Xbox capabilities into the operating system. A new Xbox app essentially looks like a more fully fleshed-out version of SmartGlass, letting you chat with your Xbox Live pals, view your achievement information, or access game DVR clips. The app also lets you like, share, and comment on game clips. But Windows 10’s new gaming chops is about more than merely expanding Xbox’s footprint. While you’re playing traditional PC games, 12

NEWS

be it in Steam or otherwise, a new Windows key + G keyboard shortcut brings up an interface for saving snapshots and 30 second video clips of your adventures, which then brings you into the Xbox app to share it. Games don’t directly have to support the functionality as it’s being overlaid directly by Microsoft in Windows 10. As previously announced, the performance-enhancing DirectX 12 gaming API (go.pcworld.com/dx12) is also coming to Windows 10. Xbox head Phil Spencer claims that the API can deliver up to a 50 percent performance improvement in games. Microsoft also wants to enable more gaming experiences regardless of the device you’re using. Fable Legends players on Windows 10 and Xbox One will be able to play with each other, and you’ll be able to stream your Xbox One games directly to any Windows 10 device, though it sounds like it will be limited to local networks only, similarly to Steam in-home streaming.

Surface hub and Windows Holographic

This has nothing to do with Windows, but it’s a major—and unexpected— The Windows hardware announcement from Microsoft: The company’s rolling out the 10 Xbox app.

13

NEWS

Surface Hub, an 84-inch, 4K, touch-enabled display for office collaboration. You can read the full details at go.pcworld.com/surfhub. And the Surface Hub isn’t even the craziest hardware announced by Microsoft today. That honor goes to Windows Holographic, a set of technologies—a headset, new Windows 10 technology, and a HoloStudio dev app—that brings some insanely intense augmented reality capabilities to Windows. You’ll definitely want to check this out (go.pcworld.com/holo).

When can you get it?

Myerson also revealed some stats from the Windows 10 Technical Preview. Thus far, more than 1.7 million people have registered for the Windows Insider program, and they’ve installed Windows 10 on more than 3 million different PCs. A fresh Windows 10 Preview build containing the newly announced features will hit PCs next week, with a Windows 10 build for phones becoming available after the Super Bowl.

14

Microsoft HoloLens

Joshua

You might know . He loves video games, and he owns enough to know they’re not all meant for kids. That’s why he reminds his friends (at least the ones that have kids) that they all have big black letters on the box to help parents find the ones that are best for their families. You can learn about those ratings at ESRB.org

Los Angeles, CA

Nvidia releases GeForce GTX 960 at a surprisingly low price BY GORDON MAH UNG

THE FORD GT may get your pulse racing, but ultimately when Joe Public walks into a dealership, he’s likely going to drive out with a Ford Taurus. That’s arguably what Nvidia introduced with its surprisingly cheap $200 GeForce GTX 960 (full review at go.pcworld.com/gtx) that appears designed as much to hit an ailing AMD while it’s down as it is to keep the core gamer happy. Rather than a high-end $1,000 or $500 GPU most gamers can only dream about, the new GeForce GTX 960 fills that allimportant performance segment of gamers who actually buy far more video cards. 16

NEWS

Based on the company’s newer GM206 core, the GeForce GTX 960 promises 1080p gaming at the gold standard of 60 fps.

Although Nvidia is likely loath to describe its new affordable GPU as a Taurus—perhaps that’s better left to Intel’s integrated graphics—the company does acknowledge the larger volumes at stake here. Jon Peddie, with Jon Peddie Research, said the enthusiast segment of $250 to $900 claims but 6 percent of the market—albeit with far greater margins. Still, given the 28.5 percent of sales that goes to cards priced between $100 and $249, Nvidia doesn’t want to leave this lower tier of gamers wanting. It’s this budget sector whose need Nvidia hopes to feed, and there’s good reason to believe the company can do it to with the GeForce GTX 960. The card uses the latest graphics core from Nvidia, with features not even the pricier GeForce GTX 970 and GeForce GTX 980 can boast. Based on the company’s newer GM206 core, the GeForce GTX 960 promises 1080p gaming at the gold standard of 60 fps. That won’t be in every game and with every detail slider turned up to maximum, of course, but for the price it’s a deal. And while 1080p gaming may sound pedestrian in a world of curved monitors and 4K displays, it’s

Reference cards won’t be sold, instead all GeForce GTX 960 cards will use coolers designed by board makers such as this Asus Strix card. 17

1080P with DSR

1080P no DSR

actually where the sweet spot is. Nvidia, in fact, says 95 percent of games are played at 1080p or lower, and this card is for them. For the most part, the GeForce GTX 960 is like a little version of the GeForce GTX 970 and 980 that launched late last summer. Its feature list has been pretty much lifted from the “Big Maxwell” with: Dynamic Super Resolution, Multi-Frame-Sampled Anti-aliasing (MFAA), Voxel Global Illumination, and VR Direct. In fact, so little has changed you can just read up on the features (go.pcworld.com/geforce) in our write-up from last year.

Not exactly the same, but better too

That doesn’t mean all is the same. Nvidia is now so confident that its MFAA feature offers enough of a “free” performance advantage in visual quality, that it will turn it on by default for those who use the company’s GeForce Experience (go.pcworld.com/experience). The GM206 core features you won’t get in the pricier GeForce GTX 970 and GeForce GTX 980 cards (which use the GM204 core) include H.265 decoding and full HDCP 2.2 compliance. That may sound like 18

Yes, you’ll be able to get nVidia’s DSR feature in the new budget card too.

NEWS

spec soup, but it’s actually fairly important if you intend for your PC to play 4K content going forward. Although the GeForce GTX 970 and GeForce GTX 980 have HDMI 2.0 ports, as does the GeForce GTX 960, the former cards may have issues with protected content such as 4K and 8K, which could very well require HDCP 2.2. It’s likely bits under the gate though. Few people will run the larger and pricier GeForce GTX 970 and 980 in a living room to run a 4K TV. The GeForce GTX 960, however, will probably find service there as it’s smaller and quieter, and in some configurations, completely silent.

Silent Gaming

In fact, under very light gaming loads, such as League of Legends, some cards will keep the fans completely off. The real head-turner with the GeForce GTX 960 is its price. Most expected the new card to slot in at $250, which is what the GeForce GTX 760 cost. At $200, it’s even cheaper than the GeForce GTX 660, which was introduced at $230. The aggressive pricing on the new card is sure to put even more pressure on AMD, which has been losing ground to its old foe. The latest figures from Jon Peddie Research, which closely tracks graphics in the industry, puts Nvidia with a commanding 71.5 percent of the add-in video card game. AMD is at 28.4 percent. Intel actually dwarfs both in overall graphics market share, but integrated graphics is hardly respected nor desired by gamers. AMD’s own quarterly reports put its graphics sales down 15 percent quarter to quarter. With Nvidia now releasing two rounds of cards without a significant response from AMD, fans may be getting nervous. All the company has done is slash prices. Gamers looking for deals may celebrate, but it isn’t good for AMD’s shareholders. Peddie, however, said the game isn’t over yet. While he acknowledged AMD was “a bit late with a new GPU,” he said the company was nearly finished with its next one. He also cited AMD’s long history with GPUs (at least, through its acquisition of ATI): “AMD has been doing it (via ATI) for 30 years,” he pointed out, compared to Nvidia’s 20. 19

Android update to reportedly fix Lollipop’s memory leak BY FLORENCE ION

ANDROID LOLLIPOP MAY bring with it tons of neat

new features (go.pcworld.com/lollipop) and aesthetically pleasing visual changes, but its rollout has been bumpy. Google’s been working out the kinks, however, as evidenced by a recent thread in the AOSP bug tracker. One particular fix, for rampant use of RAM, is reportedly slated to show up in the next Android update. The issue tracker mentions a memory leak that causes apps either to run slowly or to crash without any warning. Android 5.0.1 apparently takes up as much as 1.3GB of RAM, which is particularly detrimental to devices that top out at 2GB. There are 20

NEWS

even a few Reddit (go.pcworld.com/reddit) threads devoted to complaints about this particular issue. A ticket (go.pcworld.com/ticket) for the RAM issue opened up on Google’s AOSP issue tracker in late December. In January Google marked the issue as “FutureRelease,” which means the next version update will include a fix for this annoyance.

Why this matters

Years of dealing with Apple, Microsoft, and Google’s software updates have taught us there’s no such thing as a smooth rollout.

Years of dealing with Apple, Microsoft, and Google’s software updates have taught us there’s no such thing as a smooth rollout. Regardless, there’s a lot at stake when it comes to the Android operating system, especially considering that it already has a reputation of fragmentation and delayed software updates. With Google’s new slogan being “Be together, not the same,” it needs to be more quick about fixing minor issues and ensuring OS stability across the board. At least the company is being somewhat transparent on what it’s working on for the next update.

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CONSUMER WATCH

Make smart purchases, stay safe online.

Nifty new features change your passwords for you Nifty updates to Dashlane and LastPass makes swapping almost easier. BY IAN PAUL

P

ASSWORD MANAGER APPS Dashlane (go.pcworld.com/rvdash) and LastPass (go.pcworld.com/rvlast) are hoping to take the sting out of the next security snafu that affects your online accounts. This week, both services offer new automatic password-changing features that let you swap your login codes with just a few clicks, replacing them with randomly generated passwords made up of 23

Both LastPass’ Auto-Password Change and Dashlane’s Password Changer work only on PCs and are not available on mobile devices . letters, numbers, and symbols. The new features automatically save the new logins to your password manager of choice. Both Dashlane and LastPass can change your password for about 75 separate services, but they operate a little differently. LastPass’ AutoPassword Change works on an account-by-account basis, while Dashlane’s Password Changer can work on multiple accounts at once. Why this matters: After the public reveal of the Heartbleed (go.pcworld. com/hb) vulnerability in April, many users were forced to swap out at least some of their passwords for online services. But changing passwords is a pain and can be very time consuming. The new Dashlane and LastPass features will make it easier the next time a major vulnerability has you scrambling to change multiple accounts at once. It also makes it easier to change your passwords more regularly, which is standard practice for good password hygiene (go.pcworld.com/hygiene).

Hands-on with LastPass

The password changing features for both Dashlane and LastPass are currently in beta; however, Dashlane is only letting users sign-up for the chance to try its new feature. LastPass is already rolling out auto-password change to any user running LastPass version 3.1.70 for Chrome, Firefox, and Safari. Both LastPass’ Auto-Password Change and Dashlane’s Password Changer work only on PCs and are not available on mobile devices. To change your passwords automatically with Auto-Password Change you have to open your LastPass Vault by click on the extension’s icon in your browser. Then press the pencil (edit) icon for the account you want to change. In the tab that opens, click the Change Password Automatically button under the password field. Then you have to click Change Password Now in the new window that opens to authorize LastPass to open a new browser tab, log in to your account, and change your password. The whole process takes just a few 24

CONSUMER WATCH

seconds, and you can even watch it happening in the new browser tab. LastPass says all changed passwords are created on your device and do not go up to the LastPass servers before being encrypted.

A few problems

In my tests, Auto-Password Change worked with a wide range of accounts including Amazon, Dropbox, Facebook, GitHub, Google, Reddit, Spotify, and Yahoo. Notably, LastPass’ new feature does not appear to work with Microsoft accounts. Despite the system working well overall, there were a few times that LastPass choked on its password changing attempts. The first site LastPass had problems with was Facebook. Towards the end of the password change, Facebook asked if I wanted to logout of all

LastPass needs to login to a site for you to get the job done.

LastPass can automatically change your password on about 75 websites. 25

my devices where I was logged in to Facebook—such as my phone. When Facebook threw up that window, LastPass choked and cancelled the password change. But since I saw the dialog that Facebook put up, I answered it and elected to remain logged in to my other devices. When this happened, Facebook said my password was successfully changed, but LastPass hadn’t registered the switch. Uh-oh. Actually, it wasn’t that hard to fix. LastPass saved its attempt to change my Facebook password as a “Generated password for...” entry meaning I could swap out the old password manually and keep everything up-to-date. Another hiccup came when I was tried to change the password to one of my Google accounts in Chrome. I am usually signed in to multiple Google accounts at once. When I tried to change one of my Google accounts, LastPass failed since it couldn’t navigate through some of the screens multiple account users have to deal with, such as the page where you have to choose one of multiple accounts to log in to. This is admittedly an edge case, but I suspect many PCWorld readers will have multiple Google accounts and this is an issue to be aware of. LastPass would probably not do well with any accounts that are protected by two-factor authentication too since LastPass doesn’t have access to your passcode generator. I did not have a chance to test this issue thoroughly, however. Despite its few drawbacks, overall LastPass’ Auto-Password Change makes it much easier to change your passwords regularly or when disaster strikes. As for Dashlane’s new feature, we look forward to trying it out once we get our hands on it.

26

LastPass didn’t play well with this Facebook feature.

CONSUMER WATCH

Spot the telltale signs of malware on your computer BY LINCOLN SPECTOR

What is to be done when Windows wouldn’t update on your PC and system restore is down as well? A malware infection seems likely. Here are some symptoms that could suggest foul play. I’m received countless letters from readers who think they have a “virus.” The problems they describe—Blue Screens of Death, no audio, grinding sounds inside the PC—can be attributed to virtually anything but malware. 27

Real malware is generally designed not to be noticed. The people who write these programs don’t want you to clean them off of your computer. But if you know what to look for, you can recognize a symptom that might be caused by malware.

Sometimes malware is obvious.

Ransomware, such as CoinVault, announces itself clearly.

Ransomware, such as CoinVault (go.pcworld.com/cv), announces itself clearly. But then, ransomware is basically an extortion racket. It can’t make you pay the ransom if it doesn’t tell you that it has your data. But the symptoms for other types of malware are less obvious. Here are some common ones: Suddenly poor performance. If your PC is running slower

Be suspicious if Windows Update, fails to work. 28

CONSUMER WATCH than it used to, or it seems to be running an awful lot of stuff in the background, malware could be the cause. Standard maintenance programs don’t work. Malware will often protect itself by disabling programs that might help you identify and remove it. So if programs like Windows Update, Task Manager, your antivirus program, Regedit, System Restore, or Msconfig fail to work, you have reason to be suspicious. I should mention that some of these programs—especially Windows Update—can regularly fail without help from outside bad guys—although if it’s one of several programs that fail, malware is likely.

New, unwanted toolbars that won’t go away.

All sorts of programs might install a new toolbar into your browser, and usually, it’s no more than a temporary annoyance. But if you can’t turn off the toolbar, or you do turn it off and it soon reappears, there’s something more sinister at work. Your home and search pages change. This is very much like the toolbar problem. If these pages change to something you don’t want, and you change them back, but your change doesn’t last, something is running that you have to stop. So what do you do if these signs suggest you have an infection? First, assume that your antivirus program has been compromised. So scan with something else. Try either the ESET Online Scanner (eset.com/online-scanner) or Trend Micro’s HouseCall (housecall. trendmicro.com), neither of which requires installation. I also suggest you do the scanning in Safe Mode with Networking (See Here’s How for information on Windows Safe Modes). That way, the malware is less likely to interfere.

29

HELP KEEP THESE KIDS IN PLAY. 175,000 KIDS WILL BE DIAGNOSED WITH

CANCER THIS YEAR.

Children are our greatest hope for the future. Let’s be their greatest hope too. Cancer strikes infants and children. For teens and young adults, survival can depend on treatment by a pediatric oncologist, designed specifically for them. The St. Baldrick’s Foundation and Stand Up To Cancer are funding groundbreaking collaborative research to bring the most effective therapies to kids fighting cancer. To learn how you can help keep these kids in play, go to stbaldricks.org/inplay and standup2cancer.org/pediatrics.

Samuel L. Jackson Stand Up To Cancer and St. Baldrick’s Ambassador

St. Baldrick’s Foundation is a charitable 501(c)(3) organization funding childhood cancer research. Stand Up To Cancer is a program of the Entertainment Industry Foundation, a 501(c )(3) charitable organization.

Photo by Nigel Parry

Julia Hernandez Diagnosed at 16, in remission.

REVIEWS & RATINGS CONTENTS

32

Mechanical keyboards revisited

58

Netgear redeems the Nighthawk X4

66

AVADirect i7 X99 is fast with a classy chassis

71

HTC Desire Eye doesn’t quite live up to its price tag

77

The Last Tinker: City of Colors is a charming platformer

81

Budget headset roundup: We test five sub-$100 entry level model

31

REVIEWS & RATINGS

TESTED IN PCWORLD LABS In this section, hardware & software go through rigorous testing.

Mechanical keyboards revisited RGB lighting, software and keys can make a slab o’buttons something really special. HAYDEN DINGMAN

32

I L LU ST R AT I O N BY C A ST I N C R A M E R

W

E ALREADY REVIEWED one set of mechanical keyboards, (go.pcworld.com/mk) but believe it or not there have been enough new releases in the months since that we’re able to put together an entire second set of reviews. The craziest bit? Out of the five mechanical keyboards in this roundup, only one (the Corsair K70 RGB/K95 RGB) uses Cherry MX switches—long the de-facto standard for all brands. That means my typical spiel (go.pcworld.com/ spiel) about the four main kinds of Cherry switches (Red, Black, Brown, Blue) is basically worthless. If you are looking for that information because you’re planning to purchase a K70 RGB or K95 RGB, I recommend checking out our previous roundup (go.pcworld.com/ roundup). It really makes you wonder, though: Now that Cherry’s patent has run out, how many manufacturers will swap away? Will Cherry switches someday be as rare and coveted as the IBM Model M keyboard is nowadays? But I digress. Besides the K70 RGB/K95 RGB, we have four other keyboards. The Nixeus Moda uses “Brown” switches with the trademark “tactile bump”—but Brown switches manufactured by Kailh, not Cherry. The Rapoo KX also uses Kailh switches, but they’re Yellows—linear switches with a 50cN actuation force that falls between Cherry Reds and Blacks. 33

Cherry MX Blue switches give you a tactile bump as well as an audible click.

P H OTO G R A P H Y BY G O R D O N M A H U N G

More: Mechanical Keyboards

Razer’s Blackwidow Chroma sticks with the Green switches— although I’m pretty sure those Green switches were made in a partnership with Kailh also. And then there’s Logitech, which introduces the exclusive Romer-G switch with its new G910 Orion Spark. The other big push has been in RGB-enabled lighting. We kicked off last year with zero RGB-enabled mechanical keyboards and ended with three: The K70 RGB/K95 RGB, the G910 Orion Spark, and the Blackwidow Ultimate Chroma. All three take a different path toward RGB backlighting, but the results are the same. You can set one color across the entire board or tweak each individual key, allowing for complex profiles that (for instance) highlight useful keys in your favorite shooter or even change color to match the cooldown of your abilities in League of Legends or Dota 2. The possibilities are in theory endless, but it all comes down to your patience and the amount of community support each keyboard has, so we’ll be taking a look at the included software also—how intuitive and accessible it is to newcomers. Of course, that bit doesn’t apply to the Rapoo KX and the Nixeus Moda, which are both more standard keyboard models. Last but not least, we’ll take a look at any “luxury” features. For instance, media keys are pretty standard on mechanical keyboards nowadays, but which implementation did the manufacturer go with? Volume buttons versus a volume scroll wheel? Dedicated media keys, or keys stamped onto the function buttons? It’s a lot to cover, so let’s get to it. And if none of these keyboards is doing it for you, remember to check out our previous mechanical keyboard roundup. 34

Logitech’s G910 features heavily scalloped keys that weren’t comfortable to type on.

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Rapoo KX $120

Mechanical keyboards are typically such beastly devices, I’m always surprised when I pull one out of a box and it’s a dainty little thing. The Rapoo KX fits that bill, occupying a mere 13 x 6 inches of desk real estate thanks to a no-frills, tenkeyless (no number pad) design. For mechanical keyboard snobs needing something on the road, the KX would fit into a backpack easily. And thanks to its attractive brushedaluminum top and solid plastic casing, you could do so without worrying about its durability. It’s also a dual-mode wired/wireless keyboard. Embedded in the back are a MicroUSB jack, a power switch, and then a slot to hold the KX’s

Rapoo KX is designed with an attractive brushedaluminum top and solid plastic casing, 35

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More: Mechanical Keyboards small wireless USB dongle. As I type this I’m using the KX wired because the battery was low, but there’s a lithium battery inside that held about a week’s worth of charge for me. Flicking on the power switch triggers the keyboard to vibrate briefly, and all the backlighting activates. The backlighting is a soft Apple-like white with three levels of brightness (including “Off”). You can cycle the brightness by holding the Fn key and tapping Tab.

Soft Function keys

Instead of a standard row of mechanical Function keys across the top, the KX opts for a set of soft keys that vibrate when touched. In normal Function mode the keys are white. Hit the Fn key and the backlighting on that strip turns blue, indicating that you can trigger the media keys, volume controls, et cetera. It’s not a fully moddable touchpad like the Razer Blade Pro’s Switchblade interface, although you can use Rapoo’s application to change some of the alternate functions. It’s attractive, but I don’t really know why they did it this way otherwise. Soft keys are always finicky. Sometimes the KX doesn’t register multiple taps in a short period (say, if you’re rapidly hitting the volume keys) and they’re not particularly convenient to use by touch if you’re playing a game that maps the Function keys (or just trying to feel for F12 in Steam to take a screenshot). And unlike the rest of the keyboard, you can’t adjust the backlighting of this strip. To my eyes it seemed pretty dim, especially

Hit the Fn key and the backlighting turns blue, indicating that you can trigger the media keys and volume controls.

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when sitting back a bit from the keyboard. How much any of that bothers you probably depends on how much you use the Function keys, but I use them a fair amount for my job. Another quibble: The backlighting on the KX could be more even. Especially at the lower brightness setting the letters have an ugly variance in luminescence. The top bit of the “R” key for instance is brightly lit while the bottom isn’t lit at all. Then there are the keys themselves. I don’t mind the switches in the Rapoo KX. I’m not a huge fan of linear switches, preferring to use Cherry MX Blues for that clickety-clackety sound that drives some people to madness, but the resistance of the KX’s Kailh Yellow switches (somewhere between Cherry Reds and Blacks) feels smooth and high-end. The only switch I really don’t like is in the Backspace key, which feels about twice as resistant as the rest of the keyboard. The design of the keyboard leaves more to be desired though. The keys are broader than a standard keyboard by a few millimeters, and I

I also dislike that the Menu key is so close to the Arrow keys instead of replacing the right-hand Windows or Alt keys.

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More: Mechanical Keyboards found myself fat-fingering a bunch of mistakes even after a few days of use. Muscle memory is a huge part of touch-typing, and adding even a few millimeters onto the width of every key is enough to screw with my head apparently. I kept triggering wrong keys, triggering two keys at a time, double-tapping keys, and a whole host of other dumb errors. I also dislike that the Menu key is so close to the Arrow keys instead of replacing the right-hand Windows or Alt keys. It’s too easy to trigger the Menu by accident, which is even more of an annoyance when the Escape key is embedded in that soft-touch strip and thus not easy to immediately feel out blindly.

Bottom line

The Rapoo KX is an attractive, lightweight, and compact keyboard that would be perfect for use on the road, but I don’t know how much I’d use it at a normal desk. There are better tenkeyless boards out there (including the WASD V2), and I don’t really like fumbling for soft-keys no matter the reason behind it—especially when that includes something vital for normal usage, like the Escape key. And especially when I’m plunking down for the list price of $120. If you can find it cheaper, it’s a better bargain.

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Nixeus MODA $80

Like the Rapoo KX, the Nixeus MODA will score points with some consumers right out the gate because of its small size. It’s not quite as compact as the KX, thanks to a small palm rest and a dedicated Home block, but this is still a dainty model compared to your typical gaming monstrosity.

A bare-bones mechanical keyboard

The Nixeus Moda is a great little device, provided you’re looking for a bare-bones mechanical keyboard. You’re not going to get many frills here—not even media keys. If you can live without those perks, though, this is a solid (and cheap) device. The Nixeus Moda uses “Brown” switches, but not those made by Cherry. These knock-offs are otherwise the same though, with an actuation force of 45cN and a 2mm actuation point that features a 39

More: Mechanical Keyboards tactile bump instead of the click found in MX Blues. Despite being “the same,” I did notice that the Moda has more of a hollow, clacking sound to it than other Cherry Brown keyboards I had lying around, but whether that’s due to the switch or due to the Moda itself I can’t say. Will the average person ever reach a point where using Kailh switches instead of Cherry switches is a real detriment? Probably not. They’re knock-offs, but they seem to be pretty decent knockoffs. It seems like Kailh has sorted out most of the manufacturing issues it had in the past, and while they might cut corners and skimp on materials...well, I’m just not convinced the average mechanical keyboard user will care.

An entry-level candidate

What they will care about is price. At only $60 on the street, the Nixeus Moda is one of the cheapest available mechanical keyboards. If you’ve been eyeing the mechanical keyboard realm for a while now but didn’t want to plunk down an exorbitant amount of money, the Nixeus Moda is a damn good entry-level candidate. The downside is that it’s fairly stripped-down. You have dedicated Mute, Volume Up, and Volume Down keys in the upper right corner,

The Nixeus Moda is affordable, but fairly stripped-down.

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In all other ways, the Moda should suit budget-minded users.

but there are no media keys on the board, nor any macro keys. There’s also no backlighting, which for me is an annoyance. I tend to work and game a lot at night. Even as a touch-typer, backlighting is a lifesaver. In all other ways, the Moda should suit budget-minded users. It’s a durable little device, housed in some extremely thick black plastic with a faux-brushed metal look. The keys have a subtle texture to them that I really enjoyed typing on. The only two things I don’t like design-wise are the typeface and the fake screws in the palm rest. Both look tacky and undermine what’s otherwise a sleek-looking keyboard. The cable could also use an upgrade. It’s cheap rubber,and not very thick—especially where it connects to the keyboard itself. I’d be concerned the connection could break under heavy, active use.

Bottom line

It’s cheap (especially on sale), it’s stripped down, it’s simple. The Nixeus Moda does nothing to stand out, but it doesn’t need to— it’s all about the price. This is a budget mechanical keyboard with impressively few caveats.

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Razer Blackwidow Chroma $170

We already took a look at the Razer Blackwidow Ultimate (go. pcworld.com/bwultimate) earlier this year, and this new “Chroma” version is 95 percent the same—with the addition of fancy new RGB backlighting and another $40 tacked onto the price.

Sleek and durable

Like its predecessor, the Chroma is a sleek and durable black keyboard designed specifically for gaming. This is most obvious in its custom-designed Razer Green switches, which (as far as I’m aware) are branded Kailh switches. Razer Greens feature the same tactile click and actuation force (50cN) as Cherry MX Blues, but the actuation point is a bit higher. Cherry MX Blues are traditionally considered good for typing, because you can learn to press keys without bottoming out—striking the key so hard it slams into the bottom of the board, putting strain on your wrists and fingers. However, the low actuation point can be 42

REVIEWS & RATINGS problematic in games because it’s harder to double-tap keys. Because of this, Razer’s Green switches move the actuation point closer to the key’s resting point. This makes it easy to double-tap keys, which is good for games. The side effect, however, is that Razer Greens are not very pleasant to type on. With their heavy up-front resistance and high actuation point it’s easy to bottom out keys, and they’re just not as “fun” to type on as Blues.

Typing or Gaming?

It’s kind of up to you to decide what you think you’ll be using your keyboard for more—typing or gaming. If the latter, Razer’s Blackwidow line might not be a bad choice. These keys combine some of the benefits of MX Blues and Blacks, producing that nice mechanical clickiness while still being good for games. As someone who types a lot though, I still think Razer’s switches are a pain to use. I literally cannot type on this thing without bottoming out two-thirds of my strokes, even when I’m concentrating on it. That’s all the same as the previous model though, so let’s cut to the new stuff: The RGB backlighting. I actually liked the backlighting on the basic Blackwidow Ultimate model, despite the trademark Razer eye-searing green color scheme. The Chroma’s really the Razer product I’ve been looking for though—finally, a device of theirs that I can customize to look the way I want. The Chroma’s backlighting is gorgeous, no matter which color you choose. Keys are evenly lit,and there’s not a ton of light leakage around the edges of the keys—certainly less than Corsair’s K70.

Smart design

I’m actually fascinated by Razer’s design, because it’s something I was told couldn’t be done by both Logitech and Corsair. Prying off 43

The Chroma’s Keys are evenly lit, without a ton of light leakage around the edges.

More: Mechanical Keyboards one of the Chroma’s keycaps reveals that the standard Cherry MX stem design stayed intact here—unlike Logitech’s Romer-G switches—but Razer’s also managed to put in full 16.8-million-color RGB lighting without using all sorts of crazy clear-plastic refractive bits and utilizing tons of light leakage, like Corsair did. Instead, there’s just a single lens embedded in opaque black plastic. It’s honestly the RGB design I’d like to see all manufacturers adopt, except for the Razer Green switches. The only place where Razer screwed up is in the Caps Lock/Num Lock/Game Mode pane in the top right. In the last model, I complained that by embedding icons under plastic instead of using simple light indicators, Razer made it harder to tell what was active and what wasn’t—everything was blurry. That problem still exists, with the added fact that those lights aren’t RGB-enabled. Instead, they always stay an unattractive off-white. It’s an otherwise ugly misstep on a beautiful keyboard.

Other manufacturers could also learn a thing or two about software from Razer. Especially Corsair.

Synapse 2.0

Other manufacturers could also learn a thing or two about software from Razer. Especially Corsair. Razer’s Synapse 2.0 software is a somewhat weighty utility, which is its main flaw. However, the process of setting up the Chroma with all manner of pretty colors couldn’t be more intuitive. I plugged in the device, Synapse recognized it and immediately brought up the Chroma configuration screen. From here I could make a new profile or edit the default. Out of the box, the Chroma is programmed to cycle the entire color spectrum. New profiles are automatically programmed to Fn plus a number key. You can easily swap on the fly from your default profile to your FPS profile and back again without ever re-opening Synapse. Lighting is all handled on one panel, and changes occur 44

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automatically as you edit. You can adjust the brightness here (though you can also still do that from the keyboard itself). There are five lighting presets: Breathing, Spectrum Cycling, Wave, Static, and Reactive (keys light up as you touch them). There’s also “Custom,” which allows you to change keys individually. Alternatively, you can start with a template that highlights keys typically important in different game genres. The first-person shooter template, for example, lights the WASD keys red, the R key green, and the 1-5 keys in yellow. Everything else is dark. There are also templates for MMOs, MOBAs, RTS games, and even specific branded setups for League of Legends, Dota 2, Counter-Strike: GO and StarCraft II. It lacks the wealth of options available for both Logitech’s G910 Orion Spark and Corsair’s K70/K90, but on the other hand it’s dead simple. Seriously, you can get up and running with an attractive color scheme on this thing in less than two minutes, it’s entirely intuitive, 45

Razer gets you up and running with an attractive color scheme in less than two minutes,

More: Mechanical Keyboards and then you can swap between all your profiles on the fly without ever having to look at Razer’s software again. This is the type of approach other manufacturers really have to take a look at. Sure, I’d love if Razer implemented some of the more advanced options from other keyboards—timed color changes to indicate skill cooldowns, or custom wave patterns—but those come secondary to the average person’s being able to use the damn thing.

Bottom line

I still don’t like typing on the Blackwidow’s Razer Greens any more than I did the first time around, but if you’re primarily buying this for gaming that probably won’t matter to you anyway. And for the record, I do like Razer Greens more than I like Logitech’s Romer-G switches. A lot more. As far as the RGB front, the Chroma is a simplistic beauty. The Chroma’s lighting setups are neither as intensive nor as customizable as the Orion Spark’s or the K70/K90’s, but Razer understands one thing extremely well: It’s better to cater to the masses first, and then add more functionality later. I hope to see Razer do more with its lighting through later Synapse patches, but at the very least you’ll be able to plug in this thing and make it look good immediately. That deserves praise in itself.

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Logitech G910 Orion Spark $180

Logitech’s G910 Orion Spark is a completely new keyboard with completely new switches, built from the ground up for gaming and full RGB backlighting. As such, it’s probably the device where we have the most to talk about because, well, it’s entirely unique. Let’s start with the design of the keyboard itself, which is weird enough as it is. The G910 is a similar shape to previous keyboards in Logitech’s lineup—that is to say, a bit chunky. Even with the smaller of the two wrist rests attached, this thing will take up quite a bit of your desk—thanks to a row of macro keys on the side, another row on the top (above the function row), the dedicated media keys, and a phone dock (more on that later).

An uncomfortable key design

I’m not a huge fan of macro keys, but I do think it makes more sense to have five on the side and another four up top, since that’s way easier to trigger than trying to distinguish between three rows of macro keys on 47

More: Mechanical Keyboards the left side of the board. The media keys are standard Play/Stop/ Back/Forward/Mute and then a volume wheel. Logitech got weird though when it designed the keycaps on the G910. Most keys come in a pretty standard shape—a hollowed bowl, with the four corners slightly raised. The G910 uses a scalloped shape on all its keys. In other words the left, top, and right sides are angled upwards. It’s like a little hat for your fingers. Furthermore, the scalloping is different on every single key. The WASD keys have the most distinctly raised edges, to help you find them quickly and accurately. The effect recedes the farther right you move on the keyboard. As such, the G910 is a uniquely weird device to type on. Uncomfortable, even. No matter how much I tried—and believe me, I tried—I couldn’t get used to the feel of the keys. It’s not too bad for things like shooters, where your fingers tend to stick on the WASD keys the whole time. For typing or for games with lots of hotkeys, though, I found my fingers commonly “caught” the edges of keys on their way by, or landed awkwardly on the key at an angle that caused significantly more distress than normal keys.

Romer-G Switches

Key handling is not helped by the Romer-G switches. Romer-Gs are Logitech’s proprietary switches, designed (like Razer’s Green and Orange switches) with games in mind. Unlike most of the new crop of mechanical switches though, I can’t even think of a good Cherry comparison. If there were a gun to my head I guess I’d say MX Browns, but really the Romer-Gs are a class of their own. That’s not to say they’re good. I like that the Romer-Gs are quieter than your average mechanical keyboard, but they lack the satisfying oomph of a typical mechanical switch, feeling kind of mushy and dull instead. There is a distinct actuation point, but it’s really close to the 48

The Romer-G switch unmasked.

REVIEWS & RATINGS key’s resting point. Combine the mushy feel and the high actuation point, and the G910 might as well be a rubber dome keyboard. I’ve talked to Logitech about it. I’ve asked them if they have other switches planned. They gave me a “Not right now” sort of answer, which is only frustrating because the lighting on the Orion Spark is so good. The G910 Orion Spark is hands down the bestlooking of the three RGB-enabled keyboards here. And it’d better be, considering Logitech built the Romer-G switch specifically to cater to RGB lighting. Rather than the typical Cherry MX stem design, pry off one of the G910’s scalloped keycaps and you’ll find a hollow indentation, with the lighting element dead center. What does that mean for the end product? Incredibly smooth lighting and color from top to bottom across entire keys, plus almost zero light leakage around the outside of keys (something that both Corsair and Razer’s offerings suffer from). The only oddity: While the G910 logo at the bottom and the enormous “G” at the top of the keyboard are color-adjustable, for whatever reason the media keys and the macro profile keys (the four tiny ones in the very upper left) are not. The media keys stay blue, the macro profile keys stay orange.

There is a distinct actuation point, but it’s really close to the key’s resting point.

Software

Logitech’s software strikes a good middle ground between the ease and accessibility of Razer’s Synapse 2.0 and Corsair’s bag of nightmares. It’s not a particularly pretty program, with icons that look like Word Art from the late 90s. However, once you’ve clicked on the icon that looks like a lightbulb doing mushrooms, you’re presented with a fairly simple lighting interface that also has a surprising amount of depth to it. Logitech’s software is split into four key lighting modes: Freestyle, Zones, Commands, and Effects. 49

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Freestyle, as you might expect, lets you change every key individually. You can also drag color across multiple keys. Zones allows you to group keys you use together often and then switch the color of each group—for instance, the Arrow Keys or WASD or the Function Keys. You can stick with Logitech’s default zones or create your own. It’s basically a quicker, more orderly version of freestyle. Effects give you some goofy but beautiful options, most of which it shares with Razer’s presets: Breathing, Reactive (here called “Key Press”), Color Cycle, Wave, and the incredibly relaxing Star Effect (which simulates gold “constellations” on a navy blue background). And then there’s Commands, which Logitech is still fleshing out on a case-by-case basis. Commands will detect which game you’re playing and activate only the necessary keys. However, support is all down to Logitech’s (or maybe the developers?) implementing key bindings for 50

Effects give you some goofy but beautiful options.

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their games—for instance, Civilization: Beyond Earth still isn’t supported nearly two months after its release. Finally, we should get back to that dock I mentioned way back at the beginning of the article. It’s not a functional charging station or anything, but merely a place to stick your phone. Logitech has released its free Arx Control software for Android and iOS phones, which lets you pair your device with your computer, adjust profiles on the fly, use it as a secondary media control, and even monitor your PC stats while you’re playing. It’s pretty damn nifty, even allowing me (through the magic of technology) to launch games on my PC from my phone. That particular feature takes the prize for the absolute coolest and stupidest thing I’ve done with technology this month: I launched Diablo III. On my laptop. From my phone.

Various game-specific features mentioned prior to release still haven’t made it into the product as sold currently…

Bottom line

I still think Logitech has room to grow. Various game-specific features mentioned prior to release still haven’t made it into the product as sold currently, and wow I hope Logitech comes out with a switch I enjoy more than the Romer-G. But as far as lighting is concerned, the G910 is the winner. It’s easy to configure, and thanks to the Romer-G’s unique design it’s also the best-looking of all three contestants. I’ve had this thing running the Star Effect setting for many days now, in between testing various game settings. As an added bonus, Logitech’s Arx Control software adds a lot of weird functionality, provided you have a device that can take advantage of it.

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More: Mechanical Keyboards

Corsair K70 RGB $170

The Corsair K70 and K95 RGB are the only keyboard models in this roundup that use Cherry MX switches—a relief for my fingers, after traipsing through Kailh Yellows and Kailh Browns and Romer-Gs and Razer Greens, only to return home to my tried-and-true Cherry Blues. But surprisingly, the real moral of the K70 RGB (and by extension, the K95 RGB) is that switches aren’t everything. While I love Cherry Blues—they make my fingers sing when typing—Corsair makes some drastic missteps on both the hardware and software sides that undermine what should be a fantastic keyboard.

A Corsar classic

The K70 keyboard is a Corsair classic, with a sleek, brushed-aluminum industrial look that stands out from the competition. The K95 is basically the exact same keyboard, except there are three rows of macro keys attached to the left side. And I mean “attached” in the 52

REVIEWS & RATINGS most literal of ways: The K95 looks like someone took a K70 and pasted an extra piece onto it. It’s not very pretty compared to the stripped-down K70, but if you need the dedicated macro keys that’s your prerogative. On the other hand, you could just use Corsair’s software to assign macros to literally any key on the keyboard and save yourself some desk space in the process. The K70 RGB also features the new Corsair Gaming logo, though I trust—like my earlier headset reviews, including the Corsair H1500 (go.pcworld.com/h1500)—we can skip arguing over it. You either love it or hate it. I honestly love the K70 RGB in almost every aspect—Cherry Blue switches (or whatever you prefer), an attractive typeface, and one of the best volume rollers I’ve ever used. I love basically every aspect except for the damn RGB lighting. The reason we haven’t had any RGB-enabled mechanical keyboards before this year is that Cherry’s switch design didn’t play nice with the enlarged LEDs necessary for that sort of backlighting. One color? Fine. 16.8 million colors? Impossible.

A redesigned underlying switch

Or at least, it was “impossible” until Corsair and Cherry completely redesigned the underlying switch. The stem—in other words, the most important aspect of Cherry switches—remains untouched. Cherry Blues still feel like Cherry Blues. Cherry Reds feel like Cherry Reds. That’s a relief if the alternative is something like Logitech’s subpar Romer-G switch. There’s a give and take, though. In order to preserve the stem, Corsair and Cherry embedded the LEDs on the board itself and then wrapped the whole thing in clear plastic. If this were a normal keyboard even that might not be a problem. Like earlier incarnations of the K70, however, the keys on the K70 53

Corsair and Cherry embedded the LEDs on the board itself

More: Mechanical Keyboards RGB don’t actually embed into the frame itself. Instead, they sort of hover above the base, about a quarter of an inch or so. The K70 RGB has as much light pollution as the Las Vegas Strip. All those pretty colors you set up? They shine right out from underneath each key, through the clear plastic front, and straight into your eyes. It can look cool in a Tron sort of way, but mostly it’s just distracting.

Software

The real tragedy of the K70 is on the software side, though. First, credit where credit’s due: You can do some really cool things with Corsair’s software. There’s a lot of flexibility compared to both Logitech and Razer’s offerings.

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The K70 hides essential tasks behind multiple menus

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But it’s the kind of flexibility most people will never discover, because it’s an absolute mess of a program. There are no easy presets for someone who just wants to jump in and play around. Instead, you’ve got to immediately delve into a program that hides essential tasks behind multiple menus, doesn’t explain what it’s doing, and is all-around a pain to use. You can’t even change the keys all to one color easily, because the keyboard comes preset with a white-and-red default color scheme. Little do you know that you actually have to delete the groups that Corsair originally set up, or else the colors you’re trying to put on the keys will lay on top of the default colors instead of replacing them. It’s a nightmare, brought on by one of Corsair’s coolest features: The K70 supports layers of lighting. In the background you can set 55

Default color schemes need to be deleted or else you’ll add your own colors on top.

More: Mechanical Keyboards everything as one color, assign lighting to individual keys, or group certain keys together. Then there’s the foreground layer. Here you can assign one of four effects to occur every time you press a key: It either turns a solid color for a certain amount of time, creates a gradient between multiple colors, or spawns a wave or ripple of color. You could, for instance, set it up so the entire keyboard is red, then set it so every time you type, a wave of green goes across the board. Or you could make it so the Arrow keys are never lit until you press them, at which point they turn red for ten seconds. Or you could make the whole board into a psychotropic acid trip, with a million different colors and ripples and waves going off all at once. It’s not like the K70 replaces one color with a different one for these effects. Going back to our red keys, green wave example for instance—the keys don’t just switch from red to green and then back again. Instead, the keyboard melds the two colors as best it can. I say “as best it can ” because while the idea is great in theory—a real winner of a way to show off RGB capabilities—Corsair flubbed something along the way. Instead of a smooth, 16.8-million-color spectrum, the K70 has noticeable “stepping” in color. I don’t know what’s going on here, but I assume that something either hardware or software-related is throttling the color output. It’s ugly, though. Set up an effect that lasts anymore than 5-10 seconds and you’ll notice that it actually steps between three or four values instead of actually creating a smooth gradient. That’s a major issue when you’re trying to sell me on an RGB keyboard.

Instead of a smooth, 16.8-million-color spectrum, the K70 has noticeable “stepping” in color.

A labyrinth of menus

Corsair’s software is also an unintuitive labyrinth of menus. Creating 56

REVIEWS & RATINGS an effect requires you to go to a secondary lighting menu, creating a new effect, then figuring out how to use Corsair’s bizarre linegraph interface (Hint: Right-click) and then figuring out how to change the color of the nodes you made (Hint: Right click again) and then assigning it a name and then finally dragging it onto a group of keys. You can make some great effects. Gorgeous, even, despite the stepping issues. But damn does it take patience.

Bottom line

I had high hopes for the K70 thanks to its inclusion of real, honest Cherry MX switches. Those hopes were mostly dashed, however. The K70’s light leakage issues, its stepped-gradient LEDs, and its unfriendly configuration software were enough to offset the benefits of my familiar Blue switches. The stepping issue is something I hope can still be fixed in a future firmware or software update, though don’t take my word for it. If it does, I’d be happy to adjust the score since I think this is otherwise a solid keyboard and could even be great if the issues are fixed. Even so, I’m annoyed it shipped in this condition. If your key feature is 16.8 million colors, you’d better ship with 16.8 million colors.

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Netgear redeems the Nighthawk X4 P H OTO G R A P H Y BY M I C H E L H OM N I C K

BY MICHAEL BROWN I CALLED NETGEAR’S Nighthawk X4 “a disappointing ‘Wave 2’ effort” when I reviewed it in early September. This router performed so poorly during benchmarking that I promised I would revisit the device when Netgear came out with new firmware that would take better advantage of its underlying hardware. That time has finally come, and this story completely replaces the earlier one. My original benchmarks were based on Netgear’s firmware version 1.0.0.52. My new and much stronger benchmark numbers were 58

REVIEWS & RATINGS achieved with firmware version 1.0.0.76. If you purchased a Nighthawk X4 and haven’t updated its firmware, I strongly encourage you to make sure you have the latest version. Benchmarking routers is an extremely time-intensive task, so I didn’t go back and retest all three of the 802.11ac routers I originally compared the Nighthawk X4 to, even though their performance has also likely changed with firmware revisions. I did, however, retest the Asus RT-AC87U because it delivered the highest overall performance in September. I used Asus’s version 3.0.0.4.376.2061 for my original test, and I upgraded the RT-AC87U Netgear Nighthawk X4 to firmware version (model R7500) 3.0.0.4.376.2679 for my PROS: retest. • Dynamic Quality of Service (QoS) I don’t mean to imply • Supports four spatial streams (4x4) that it’s a two-way race • Dual USB 3.0 ports, plus eSATA between Netgear and Asus to build the best 802.11ac CONS: router. The Linksys • Asus RT-AC87U still much faster when paired with an 802.11ac bridge WRT1900AC is also a strong performer, and I have three • MU-MIMO support yet to be delivered more brand-new models in (same goes for Asus) my bench-marking queue BOTTOM LINE: that I hope to review New firmware significantly changes my But now, back to the opinion of Netgear’s Nighthawk X4. This Nighthawk X4. I suspect product was clearly rushed to market competitive pressures before everything was buttoned up. pushed Netgear into Fortunately, firmware can be rewritten. If shipping this product too you buy an R7500, be sure to upgrade its early, because the firmware firmware before you put it into service. significantly boosted its $280 performance. Where the Nighthawk with its old 59

Nighthawk X4’s rear panel harbors a five-port gigabit Ethernet switch, a power button, and a switch for its front-panel LEDs.

firmware finished well behind the RT-AC87U in nearly every category, Netgear’s router with its new firmware not only delivered a much better performance, it beat the Asus in some tests.

802.11ac bridge performance

But it didn’t beat the Asus on every count. If you want to see the highest performance an 802.11ac router can deliver, you need to pair it with a second 802.11ac router configured to operate as a wireless bridge. Hardwire your client to the bridge, and it will link back to the router and enable extremely fast data transfers. If you’re setting up a Roku box or a home-theater PC in your entertainment center, for instance, this is the way to ensure you get the absolute best performance (short of hard-wired ethernet, of course). When I paired the Nighthawk X4 with a second Nighthawk X4 configured as a wireless bridge, the new firmware boosted the router’s performance by an average of 20 percent compared to its performance with the firmware it shipped with. But when I updated the two Asus routers to their latest firmware and configured the second one as a bridge, the Asus combo was 24 percent faster than the Netgear combo. And not to bag on Netgear too much, but it’s annoying that the 60

REVIEWS & RATINGS Nighthawk X4 you’re configuring to operate as a bridge still can’t search the airwaves to locate the SSIDs of the routers you want to connect your client to (there’s one for its 2.4GHz network and one for its 5GHz network). You need to enter this information manually—and if you get it wrong, you’ll

Netgear Nighthawk X4 (R7500) 5GHz 802.11ac performance (paired with a second router configured as a wireless bridge) 700

Bedroom (Client 9 feet from router)

592 788 851 709

Kitchen (Client 20 feet from router)

559 816 834 240 218

Home Theater (Client 35 feet from router)

371 366 531

Home Office (Client 65 feet from router)

420 607 505 100

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NETGEAR R7500 (FIRMWARE 1.0.0.76) NETGEAR R7500 (FIRMWARE 1.0.0.52) ASUS RT-AC87U (FIRMWARE 3.0.0.4.376.2679) ASUS RT-AC87U (FIRMWARE 3.0.0.4.376.2061) MEGABITS PER SECOND. LONGER BARS INDICATE BETTER PERFORMANCE.

Nighthawk X4 got significantly faster with its new firmware, while the Asus RT-AC87U’s firmware slowed it down. 61

need to hard-reset the would-be bridge and start over. Tap a screen on the Asus RT-AC87U’s user interface, and it will locate the SSIDs so you can pick the one you want to connect to with a click of your mouse (after you type in the password, that is). That’s the way it should be.

802.11ac USB Wi-Fi adapter performance

Netgear’s new firmware delivered an even bigger performance increase when I tested it with an 802.11ac USB Wi-Fi adapter. I’ve been using the Asus USB-AC56 for these benchmarks, and using Netgear’s new router firmware delivered a dramatic performance boost in this scenario, but most of the increase came in my two shorter-range tests (with the client 9 and 20 feet away from the router). Interestingly, the Asus RT-AC87U’s new firmware significantly reduced that router’s performance in a couple of tests, cutting its long-range throughput by nearly half. Averaging all the tests in this scenario left the Nighthawk X4 slightly ahead—by 4 percent.

5GHz 802.11n performance

Netgear’s new firmware delivered an even bigger performance increase when I tested it with an 802.11ac USB Wi-Fi adapter.

If your laptop doesn’t have an 802.11ac adapter onboard, and you don’t plan to buy one, you’ll want to know how an 802.11ac router will perform with an 802.11n adapter. For this test, I rely on the dual-band Intel Centrino Ultimate-N adapter in the AVADirect gaming laptop I use for benchmarking routers. Netgear’s new firmware reduced the Nighthawk X4’s overall performance on the 5GHz band in the toughest testing location in my house: the home theater. While the client is closer to the router than it is when it’s in my home office, the signal must penetrate several more walls and layers of insulation to reach the client. Performance improved or stayed the same in the other test locations. 62

REVIEWS & RATINGS

Netgear Nighthawk X4 (R7500) 5GHz 802.11n performance (paired with a 3X3 Intel Centrino Ultimate-N 6300 Wi-Fi adapter) 204 192

Bedroom (Client 9 feet from router)

226 243 215

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58 59 59 63

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NETGEAR R7500 (FIRMWARE 1.0.0.76) NETGEAR R7500 (FIRMWARE 1.0.0.52) ASUS RT-AC87U (FIRMWARE 3.0.0.4.376.2061) ASUS RT-AC87U (FIRMWARE 3.0.0.4.376.2679) MEGABITS PER SECOND. LONGER BARS INDICATE BETTER PERFORMANCE.

Nighthawk X4's performance improved, but not enough to overcome the Asus RT-AC87U.

The new Asus firmware also proved to be slower than what I had tested previously. The gap was small in the kitchen, but quite large at longer range. Still, the RT-AC87U with its new firmware was faster overall than the Nighthawk X4 with its new code. 63

2.4GHz 802.11n performance

It could be argued that this is the least important benchmark, because people should be moving off this standard to 802.11ac for its higher performance. But then I look around my own house and see how many of my security cameras and other gadgets still rely on 2.4GHz 802.11n connections. This chart is perhaps the most interesting, because Netgear’s new firmware significantly boosted the Nighthawk X4’s performance (except at long range), while Asus’s update cut the RT-AC87U off at the knees.

Network-attached storage performance

Netgear’s new firmware delivered meaningful increases in read and write performance. The Nighthawk X4 is outfitted with two USB 3.0 ports and an eSATA port, and I’ve made an important change in my benchmarking procedure

Netgear Nighthawk X4 (R7500) NAS performance with a USB 3.0 SSD Write a single 10GB file

70 45

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84 67

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I ran out of time and did not retest the Asus RT-AC87U's network-attached-storage performance, but the Netgear R7500 got significantly better with its new firmware. 64

REVIEWS & RATINGS on this count. I’ve been using a mechanical hard drive with a USB 3.0 interface, transferring files across a hard-wired network from a mechanical hard drive in my client PC. I’ve now switched over to using an SSD with a USB 3.0 interface and transferring files from an SSD in the client PC. With the Nighthawk X4, I first measured how long it took to copy a 10GB collection of small files from the portable hard drive to my desktop PC with the firmware I used for my first review. Next, I performed the same operation with a single 10GB file. I consider these “read” tests, because the files are moving from the portable SSD to the desktop SSD. For a “write” test, I copied these same files from the desktop PC’s SSD back to the portable SSD connected to the router. As you can see from the chart, Netgear’s new firmware really delivers in this area, especially in terms of write performance. But my overall opinion of network-attached storage hasn’t changed. If this is superimportant to you, a dedicated NAS drive is a much better alternative.

Should you buy one?

One of the features that mark the Netgear Nighthawk X4 and the Asus RT-AC87U as “Wave 2” routers is their support for multi-user MIMO that enables the router to service multiple clients at the same time (all modern routers can service more than one client at a time, but they can give each client only a slice of their attention before moving on to the next client in round-robin fashion). But MU-MIMO remains dormant in both routers months after they first hit the market. And when the feature is finally turned on (via a future firmware update), MU-MIMO won’t deliver much of a benefit until there are MU-MIMO clients to pair it with. Considering how far behind the curve the laptop market is when it comes to integrating high-end 802.11ac Wi-Fi adapters, I don’t think that will happen any time soon. Having said that, the Nighthawk X4’s new firmware imbues it with enough of a performance kick to warrant my increasing its score from 2.5 to 3.5 stars. The Asus RT-AC87U’s new firmware helps it retain its top-dog status for now. We’ll see what happens when I test the next batch of routers. 65

AVADirect i7 X99: classy chassis and fast BY JON L. JACOBI THE CONFIGURATION OF the i7 X99 that AVADirect sent us comes as

P H OTO G R A P H Y BY RO B S C H U LT Z

close as any PC I’ve seen to perfectly melding class and gaming flash. I was not alone in my opinion. No fewer than three of the staff here at PCWorld commented on this gaming system’s good looks—a rare event for anything not Apple or thin-and-light. Of course, AVADirect has to share the credit with Corsair for the Graphite

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REVIEWS & RATINGS Series 760T case, as well as with EVGA for the GeForce GTX980 cards with their glowing neon-green call-outs. I did mention that the i7 X99 is fast, didn’t I? It is.

Our configuration

Our $5,150 configuration sported a socket LGA 2011-v3 Core i7-5960X CPU (currently the fastest non-Xeon CPU Intel makes), an Asus X99Deluxe motherboard, 16GB of Corsair DDR4/2133 memory, and a 1TB Samsung EVO 840 SSD as primary storage. The latter is augmented by a 2TB Western Digital WD2003FZEX WD Black hard drive for those with lots of games and digital stuff. Dual EVGA GeForce GTX 980 SuperClocked ACX 2.0 graphics cards in a SLI arrangement take care of the gaming chores. Cooling is courtesy of a Corsair H100i Hydro with a large AVADirect i7 X99 twin-fan radiator, while another Gaming PC Corsair product, the AX1200i, supplies power to it all. PROS: Part of the reason the i7 X99 • Great overall performance and gaming exudes class is bling restraint: • Classy case opaque black rather than neon • Expandable for days coolant lines allow the blue ambient lighting and the GeForce logos to CONS: have their proper impact. If I have • Naked DIMMs blemish the any negative comment, it’s the lack otherwise great looks of heat sinks (useless as they actually BOTTOM LINE: are) on the DIMMs. This makes for A nicely assembled, wisely “blemishes” of circuit-board green on chosen set of components an otherwise pristinely ominous that games well and looks interior. I got over it. great. $5,150

Case Envy

I rarely get case-envy, but the Corsair 760T invoked a twinge. Hinged see67

With such a beautiful interior, why use naked DDR4?

Braided cables and blue lighting classes up the interior of the AVA Direct i7 X99 PC.

through suicide access doors? That’s good stuff there. There’s plenty of room for more storage: six 3.5-inch side-facing drive bays, three externally accessible, front-facing 5.25-inch bays above that, and two 2.5inch SSD mount points (one filled) on the back side of the backplane. The backplane also has nicely located raceway tongues and entry grommets that facilitate neat cable runs, and props to AVADirect for taking the time to make them so. The cabling is blue, which marries well with the blue lighting.

Ports and slots

The number of ports on the i7 X99 is just this side of ridiculous. On the front upper lip of the unit are two USB 2.0 and two USB 3.0 ports, as well as a headset jack. On the back are an additional 10 USB 3.0 ports, dual gigabit Ethernet ports, three antenna jacks for the onboard 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, as well as analog audio ports for the 7.1 DTS sound. There’s also an optical audio output. Each GTX 980 provides three full-sized DisplayPort ports, one full-sized HDMI port, and a single DVI-I port, for a total of ten video outputs. For slots, you have the two PCIe 3.0 slots filled by twin GeForce GTX 980s, plus two more of the same type that are uninhabited, should you ever want to go quad. There’s also a x4 PCIe 2.0 slot if your needs are more mundane. There are eight 6Gbps SATA ports plus a SATA Express 68

REVIEWS & RATINGS port. On the front of the PC, occupying two of the externally accessible bays, are a Bitfenix Recon fan controller and a multi-card reader/IO bay. There’s also a Blu-Ray recorder for loading games from disc.

Performance to the max

You’d have to screw up royally to make a system with an i7-5960X and dual GTX 980s perform anything other than great. AVADirect didn’t. They also didn’t overclock the system much, but it doesn’t really need it either. The company manually locked in all eight cores to run at 4GHz full-time and also goosed the system's bclock to 102MHz. PCMark 8 rated the system at 6273 and 3751, respectively, in the un-accelerated Creative and Work tests. HandBrake transcoded a 30GB MP4 file to tablet format in about 21 minutes. That’s fast. If you want proof, compare that to the reference system, with its mere four cores and single GeForce GTX 980 card. Gaming frame rates at 2560x1600 resolution achieved far in excess of the “playable” level: 103 fps for Tomb Raider Survivors, and around

AVADirect i7 X99 gaming system Tomb Raider (Ultimate 25 x 16) AVADirect i7 X99 gaming system

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We run Tomb Raider at 2560 x 1600 with Ultimate preset and the single GTX 980 just can't keep up with the pair in the AVA Direct box. 69

AVADirect i7 X99 gaming system Handbrake Encode 0.9.9 seconds AVADirect i7 X99 (Core i7-590X)

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The 8-core Core i7-5960X destroys the 4-core Core i7-4770K in media transcoding tests.

130 fps in BioShock Infinite at the highest detail levels. 3DMark results were 10502 for Firestrike Extreme (2560x1440), and 20479 for plain old Firestrike. If you need faster gaming than this, you’re in the extreme upper echelon—and about to drop another couple of grand. Our i7 X99 carried a three-year parts (limited) and labor warranty and used Windows 8.1 Pro as its operating system. The limited in the warranty excludes acts of God and stupidity. If a component fails, AVADirect will replace it, assuming you didn’t try to game in the bathtub. Longer five- to six-year warranties, as well as on-site service, are also available.

Bottomline

If you like to overclock harder for the sake of overclocking—there are fancier setups than our version of the i7 X99. And in point of fact, the i7 X99 can be configured to be faster, flashier, or many things. Opting for the Asus X99 Rampage V Extreme or four GPUs comes to mind. But if what you really want is to dispense with the nonsense and play, the i7 X99 configuration we tested is one worth looking into.

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HTC Desire Eye doesn't quite live up to its price tag BY JARED NEWMAN

P H OTO G R A P H Y BY RO B S C H U LT Z

MAYBE IT’S THE name, but I expected

HTC’s Desire Eye (go.pcworld.com/ htceye) to be less expensive. “Desire,” after all, is the name HTC usually reserves for its mid-range phones, and the Desire Eye, with its plastic chassis and boxy frame, seems like it would fit right in. Yet AT&T is currently charging $150 on-contract for the Desire Eye—just $50 less than flagship phones like the HTC One (M8)—or $550 off contract. The Desire Eye isn’t a bad phone, even at that price, and its 13-megapixel front-facing camera is a unique feature. But overall, it’s a tough sell when better handsets can be yours for just a little more.

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I hope you like red

HTC makes liberal use of plastic on the Desire Eye, but in a way that seems playful rather than utilitarian. The front bezels and rear panels are white polycarbonate, as opposed to the glossy plastic found on cheaper phones, while red trim runs around the edges. That color accent carries over to the software, appearing in HTC’s BlinkFeed news ticker and in various buttons and icons. But while HTC offers the Desire Eye in dark blue with light blue trim in other markets, red is the only option on AT&T. The other downside is that the Desire Eye feels chunkier than other large Android phones, even if its 0.33-inch frame is in the same ballpark. That’s because there’s no tapering around the edges to help you cradle the phone in your hand.

HTC Desire Eye PROS: • Specs are on-par with HTC's flagship • Front camera captures fine details and fits plenty of faces • HTC's software is unobtrusive with some useful features CONS: • Front camera doesn't get colors right • Rear camera struggles in low light • Design feels boxy BOTTOM LINE: HTC's selfie phone is only slightly less expensive than the flagship One (M8), but the gulf in quality is greater. $549

Performance and software HTC didn’t cut many corners in the specs department. The Desire Eye uses the same 2.3 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 processor and 2 GB of RAM as the One (M8), making for smooth animations and no noticeable problems with 3D games like Asphalt 8. The phone also comes with 16 GB of storage and a microSD card slot. The 1080p display 72

The red-onwhite color scheme is your only option through AT&T.

REVIEWS & RATINGS doesn’t feel skimpy, either. Some other phones have pushed resolution higher, but it’s tough to make out any individual pixels on the Desire Eye’s 5.2-inch display. If I had to nitpick, I’d say that black levels don’t get as deep as they could. HTC did shave a bit off the Desire Eye’s battery compared to the One (M8), with a 2,400 mAh battery instead of 2,600 mAh. It showed in our video playback test, as the Desire Eye lasted 9 hours and 30 minutes— a half-hour less than the One (M8) and an hour and 15 minutes less than the Samsung Galaxy S5. To get you out of any low-battery jams, HTC provides a power saver mode that limits CPU usage and brightness while disabling vibrations and standby data use, and there’s also an extreme power saver mode that limits the phone to just a handful of vital functions. HTC didn’t skimp on the Desire Eye’s display.

Like most Android phones with custom interfaces on top, the Desire Eye ships with the slightly-outdated Android 4.4 KitKat. The good news is that HTC’s Sense overlay is among the better customizations you’ll find, with an understated look that doesn’t pester you with cartoonish beeps and bloops. You do have to ignore a few superfluous HTC apps, though, including a notepad that’s not as good as Google Keep , and the 73

Zoe photo remix sharing app that has zero chance of catching on. As for an update to Android 5.0 Lollipop, there’s no official word from HTC yet, though the company has a strong track record, and we’re looking at a January to March timeframe according to an unconfirmed report.

An off-color camera

The cameras—note the plural form—are supposed to be the Desire Eye’s headlining feature, with 13-megapixel shooters and flash on both the back and front. But the numbers don’t tell the whole story, and the Desire Eye’s cameras come up short in some areas where they should shine. In medium to well-lit situations, the Desire Eye’s rear-facing camera does a fine job. Colors can run on the warm side, but that’s not always a bad thing, as I found the Desire Eye’s more vibrant tones preferable to the iPhone 6 Plus’ camera in certain photos, even if they weren’t as true to reality. Low lighting is a different story. Despite an f/2.0 aperture that lets plenty of light in, I struggled to take photos that weren’t too blurry to discard.

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The rear camera shines in well-lit situations, but low-light shots can be hazy and blurry without flash.

REVIEWS & RATINGS

HTC Desire Eye front camera

HTC Desire Eye rear camera

iPhone 6 Plus front camera

Not ready for selfies

My feelings about the Desire Eye’s selfie cam are similarly mixed. You won’t find another front-facing camera that captures this much detail, as every pore and eyelash can be held up to close scrutiny, and the wide-angle lens can comfortably fit at least three people in the frame at arm’s length. But on the front camera, the color reproduction problems are even more pronounced. Sometimes the camera made my skin pale while accentuating redness on my cheeks and lips. Other times, it gave me an unnaturally green hue, and in low light it bathed me in too much shadow. Flash can help compensate in some of these situations, but the result rarely looks natural. At least HTC’s camera software is top-notch. For selfies, you can have the shutter activate by voice, automatically snap photos when everyone’s smiling or create a “photo booth” image of several sequential photos. Camera settings are easily available along the left side of the screen, and if you snap burst photos by holding down the 75

If the Desire Eye was more successful on the photography front, its $150 price tag might be easier to justify.

shutter button, you can then pick the best one and automatically discard the rest. My only complaint is the shortage of tools in the built-in editor—even basic lighting and contrast controls are missing—but this is easily solved with third-party apps like Aviary. If the Desire Eye was more successful on the photography front, its $150 price tag might be easier to justify. I might have even called it a bargain next to HTC’s flagship One (M8), with small compromises in design and battery life. Instead, the Desire Eye’s rear camera lacks the low-light chops of the One (M8), LG G3, and iPhone 6, and the selfie cam’s color issues cancel out the benefits of its high megapixel count. As such, the phone sits in an awkward limbo between mid-range and high-end handsets. If you’ve already budgeted $150 for a phone, another $50 opens you up to a much bigger range of options. The $50 to $100 landscape is much more barren, and the Desire Eye could be a champion in that territory. Banking on an eventual price drop might not be a bad idea.

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The Last Tinker: City of Colors is a charming platformer BY HAYDEN DINGMAN

THERE WAS A time in the late 90s or early 2000s when The Last Tinker: City of Colors (go.pcworld.com/lasttinker) would've been a blockbuster game. It was a time when mascot-driven platformers ruled consoles. Super Mario 64, Banjo-Kazooie, Rayman, Beyond Good & Evil, Crash Bandicoot, Jak and Daxter—they were everywhere. And The Last Tinker, with its vaguely human protagonist and colorful claymation art style, would've been quite a spectacle. The 3D platformer boom times are gone, but all that really means is that The Last Tinker hasn't gotten the attention it deserves. And it deserves quite a bit of attention, because this is a great (if simple) game.

Hand-built

The Last Tinker looks like a kid's game, and it could be a kid's game. It's definitely pretty simple as far as "platformers" go. In fact, I almost 77

hate to strap that genre onto it because it's not really a platformer. Jumping occurs more like Assassin's Creed's freerunning or Zelda's auto-jump—there's no dedicated button for it. You just sort of reach the end of a platform and then leap off it onto the next one, or fall off if there's nothing waiting. This lends itself to very fluid, fast-paced animations and some clever grinding sections reminiscent of Jet Set Radio or some of the 3D Sonic games, but it also makes the game damn simple. If you're coming to this expecting the challenge of even Mario 64 (not a terribly hard game) then you're going to be disappointed. There are also a handful of easy puzzles to break up the pacing, but if you're at all familiar with games they won't exactly leave you scratching your head. But The Last Tinker sort of lulls you into a rhythm that's pleasant, if not difficult, and it ends up feeling like a miniature version of some bigger games. Combat even has a Batman: The Last Tinker: Arkham Asylum flow to it City of Colors that I never would've expected, and there are PROS: the expected tributes to • Gorgeous hand-crafted art style classic platformers— • Interesting, if predictable, story objects that explode into CONS: currency when hit, • Auto-jump does not a challenge make collectible hidden in • Repetitive puzzles corners, and a silent-butstill-somehow-emotive BOTTOM LINE: main character. The Last Tinker looks like claymation, You play as the titular plays like a simple platformer, and is last of the Tinkers, Koru, perfect to enjoy with the family (or by yourself). a monkey-boy who lives in the multi-hued city of $20 Colortown. Or at least, parts of it are 78

Koru, the titular last of the Tinkers, is a monkey-boy who lives in the multi-hued city of Colortown.

REVIEWS & RATINGS multi-hued—the parts that aren't infested by a bunch of racists. The Red, Green, and Blue districts of Colortown used to live in harmony, but over time that's collapsed and now all three districts live in big walled ghettos to keep the other two groups away. The only part of the city that's still unified is the Market District, which is where Koru resides. If only there were some way of reuniting the city, perhaps through some sort of world-ending disaster... Characters "talk" in words written in chalk on floating cardboard speech bubbles.

Yeah, it's not exactly the most complex story, nor the most veiled of analogies. It's basically a kid's game, after all. The way it's all presented is charming though, with the different segments of the city featuring decidedly different vibes. The Reds are angry and warmongering so their district is all fire and spears, for instance, while the fearful Greens have covered every available surface in security cameras. And I mean presented in the physical sense also. Colortown, and Tinkerworld in general, is a place built from craft materials. It's paper, glue, cardboard, and paint. When people "talk" in their gibberish language, the words are written in chalk on floating cardboard speech bubbles. You're basically playing through a claymation film, like a technicolor version of Chicken Run. The aesthetic is definitely pulling most of the weight in this game, with charming octopuses and a sun that goes to 79

sleep at night to become the moon and even a Bob Ross reference. The soundtrack is similarly spectacular, with different themes for each area and a few musicbased areas that take full advantage of the wonderful orchestration. My favorite was a twangy guitar theme, but all of the tracks are solid.

Bottom line

My favorite was a twangy guitar theme, but all of the tracks are solid.

It's just charming, okay? If you're tired of browns and greys, the drab color palette of most modern games, this is the perfect antidote to gently glide through over the course of a few nights. The Last Tinker's not difficult for an adult who's reasonably familiar with games, but I can't deny I enjoyed playing it. Yes, I wish it was a real platformer instead of an auto-jump game, and I think the final boss needed tuning (or at least some checkpoints). This is one to toss on the shelf for the kids though, and then pull down late at night after they've gone to bed because, damn it, you want to play too.

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REVIEWS & RATINGS

Budget headset roundup: We test five sub-$100 entry level models BY HAYDEN DINGMAN WITH THE RISE of multiplayer voice chat comes the rise of headsets.

This once-luxury peripheral is now about as standard as a mouse and keyboard when it comes to the core PC gaming crowd. And as with the mouse and keyboard, there’s plenty of competition. Boutique brands have pushed the headset to soaring price points, with the Astro A40 and the SteelSeries Elite coming in at $200, and the wireless Astro A50 coming in at a wallet-murdering $300. 81

It doesn’t have to be that way, though! Regardless of whether you’re a gaming headset veteran or just want to test the waters without breaking your budget, there are plenty of affordable, entry-level headset options that will have you screaming orders in the heat of battle for well short of $100. We gathered a handful of sub-$100 headsets and put them in a fiveway brawl. At the low end of the price spectrum—the most entrylevel of entry-level headsets—was the SteelSeries Raw Prism, coming in at a budget-friendly $60. The other four headsets we reviewed all came in at $80: Kingston’s HyperX Cloud, the newly rebranded Corsair Gaming’s H1500, GX Gaming’s scorpion-esque Cavimanus, and a special glossy white edition of Razer’s Kraken Pro. We ran the headsets through a battery of tests, both design- and audio-oriented. Design is a tricky one with headsets, encompassing everything

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REVIEWS & RATINGS from the shape of the earcups to the durability of the headset to the materials used to overall comfort. It also tasks us with watching for some “luxury” features—for instance, in-line controls, or controls built into the headset that allow for on-the-fly volume control and muting. Then there’s the headset itself. While the focus is always on graphics in games, audio is just as important. The sharp crack of a gunshot, the low, ominous strains of a cello as you enter a haunted house, or even just the meaningless prattle of Sims—these all add to your enjoyment of a game, and you’d better be hearing the best the game has to offer. And hey, maybe you’ll want to use this headset for music and movies as well as games! How does that experience sound? We tested each headset with a wide variety of sounds, from test tones to TV to films to music to games. As far as games are concerned we tested mostly with shooters, which tend to have the most involved sound design of any modern experiences. Battlefield 4 is a great reference, if you want to throw on a new headset and put it through its paces. And then there’s the microphone, which makes a headset a headset and not just a simple pair of headphones. Detachable mics, retractable mics, omnidirectional nubs—we’ve got them all in this round-up, and it’s a factor that weighs just as heavily on the score as the audio. Without further ado, let’s dive in. We’ll have a roundup of more extravagant headset purchases soon, but for now here’s your guide to 2014’s budget-friendly headsets: SteelSeries’s RAW Prism, Kingston’s HyperX Cloud, Corsair Gaming’s H1500, GX Gaming’s Cavimanus, and the white Razer Kraken Pro.

We tested each headset with a wide variety of sounds, from test tones to TV to films to music to games.

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Razer Kraken Pro $80

The Razer Kraken Pro isn’t new, per se, but this iteration of it certainly is. Like the special version of the Razer Taipan released earlier this year, the Razer Kraken Pro now comes in a glossy white. Sure, Razer’s strict neon green/black color scheme has its proponents, but I personally enjoy seeing the company branch out a bit. The build quality of the white Kraken Pro is solid. I didn’t really like Razer’s choice of glossy white plastic on the Taipan Pro—it was a bit hard and uncomfortable when my hand was accustomed to softtouch rubber coatings. On your head though? It’s perfect, giving the 84

REVIEWS & RATINGS Kraken Pro a high-end, professional look. That is, it would look professional if it weren’t for the ghastly “fake cut” Razer logo on the top of the headband. Everything else about this headset, even Razer’s snake logo emblazoned on each earpiece, looks sleek and professional. Then there’s just this cheesy typographical nightmare on top. Ah well, you can’t win them all. The earcups on the Kraken Pro are a bit smaller than your average headset, with a circular shape rather than elliptical. While my ears still fit inside, it wasn’t nearly as roomy as I’d like. However, the actual tension of the headband is perfectly tuned, meaning if you’ve got small ears you could use this headset for a while, no problem. The Kraken Pro’s sound is decent, warm, with a slight boost to the bass. Out of all the budget headsets reviewed here today, this is probably one of the strongest when it comes to listening to music (up there with the HyperX Cloud). You’d better like the sound of the Kraken Pro, as unlike its older sibling the Kraken 7.1 you have no Razer software solution for EQ. I did notice a slight muffled quality to the sound, but it wasn’t enough to detract from your experience playing games. It’s primarily noticeable with gunshots— they’re not as sharp and crisp as you can achieve with other headsets. Dialogue also suffers a little. It’s workable. It gets the job done. That’s the best way to describe the Kraken Pro. It’s not really aiming for anything special, and it doesn’t achieve anything special. It’s just an average pair of headphones. I’d 85

More: Sub-$100 Headsets also like to point out that I had easily the least amount of noise leakage with this headset, so it’s perfect for quiet environments. You do get one luxury feature, in the form of a retractable microphone. Retractable microphones are great, considering they’re almost invisible when you don’t need them but don’t get lost or need the additional 3.5mm jack like a detachable mic. The microphone is decent quality, fully positionable. There’s no way to noise-gate, however, so it’s prone to breathing/swallowing noises depending on how you arrange it. The main issue, and what really sinks the Kraken Pro for me, is that there are no on-the-fly controls—no in-line controls attached to the (lengthy) wire, and no controls built into the headset as far as I can tell. That means you have no way to adjust the volume of the headset and, more importantly, you have no way (that I can tell) to mute the microphone outside of potentially retracting it entirely, a process that takes more than a bit of effort. When’s the last time you bought a headset without some form of on-the-fly controls? I don’t even know, in my case. At this price point, that’s unacceptable. Even the $60 SteelSeries RAW Prism, with all its issues, built in a mute button.

Retractable microphones are great, considering they’re almost invisible when you don’t need them but don’t get lost or need the additional 3.5mm jack like a detachable mic.

Bottom line

I’m happy to see Razer making products in color schemes I’d actually want to use, but the Kraken Pro’s in desperate need of an overhaul if it wants to stay competitive at this price. With circular earcups, 40mm drivers (as opposed to the now-standard 50mm), and a lack of in-line controls, the Kraken Pro is showing its age. It’s not the worst headset out there by a long shot, but there are better options for the money. 86

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GX Gaming Cavimanus $80

The GX Gaming Cavimanus is like the headset version of a concept car. Think of every weird, whiz-bang feature you’d want from a headset, and there’s a solid chance it shows up on the Cavimanus. Oh, it’s nothing to look at. The Cavimanus is actually a bit boxy—a far cry from the sleek designs we see out of Astro or SteelSeries—and is decked out in glossy (read: cheap-looking) red and black plastic. This set of cans definitely won’t win any beauty pageants. It’s an unfair first impression, though. Underneath that red and black plastic, for instance, is a durable metal frame that gives this headset a decent heft. The

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More: Sub-$100 Headsets headset flexes side-to-side a bit more than I’m comfortable with, and it doesn’t come close to the build quality of the HyperX Cloud. Among the budget headsets we’ve reviewed, however, this is a perfectly capable device belied by its outward appearance. There’s a sizable volume knob built into the left earpiece. It’s not all that pretty, but it’s functional. This is the easiest built-in volume control I’ve ever used, with the exception of the Siberia Elite’s enormous earpiece-encompassing knob. It’s simple to find, it’s simple to adjust. That’s more than can be said of most headsets, whether using built-in controls or in-line controls. Wearing the Cavimanus is a bit strange. The headset doesn’t seal against the head as much as it just hangs. While this makes up for the relatively thin amount of padding on the earpieces, it also means that leaning forward or back causes the headset to shift. The sound of the Cavimanus leans heavily on the bass. Heavily. Out of the box, this is one of the most bass-heavy sets I’ve ever used. The highs and mids still cut through decently, but there’s an enormous bass presence behind it all that I’d argue is a bit too much, especially if you’re ever going to try and listen to music or watch TV on these things. I think the Cavimanus was designed with bass in mind, though. Remember how I said this thing is like a concept car? Well let’s get into the really weird concepts. Above that enormous volume knob is a solitary button with a “V” next to it. It turns out the Cavimanus is built to vibrate like an overloud subwoofer. 88

REVIEWS & RATINGS Yes, it vibrates on your head. It’s not incredibly powerful—I’d liken it to the kick of a small 2.1 set of computer speakers—but the fact remains the Cavimanus shakes against your head whenever there’s a powerful bass note. I’ve no doubt this is a divisive feature. Me? I thought it was a nice bit of haptic feedback during explosions/ gunfights/what have you. Playing devil’s advocate, though, I could see how the vibration might get really annoying after a while. You can disable it, but do so while playing a game and you’ll notice that the bass feels a bit lifeless afterward. Returning to the idea of the Cavimanus as a powerful device undercut by its appearance, the same theme actually extends to the software that comes with it. The Cavimanus cord (plain rubber, by the way) terminates in a USB connection. You can either install software for sound adjustments off an included disc or download it, if, like me, you’ve moved on from optical media. Wow: The software is ugly. I cannot stress this enough, because at best it looks like you’re trying to adjust the speakers in Windows XP. There is serious power here, though. You’ve got your generic raft of EQ sliders, of course, but that’s just the start. Want to pitch shift whatever’s coming in to the Cavimanus? You can do that. Want to clumsily excise the vocal parts from a song? You can do that. And did I mention this is a full 7.1 surround-enabled headset? And unlike Corsair’s H1500, the Cavimanus gives you all sorts of adjustments to take advantage of its surround sound. You 89

More: Sub-$100 Headsets can, for instance, spoof differentsized environments for the audio (Shower, Arena, Underwater, Cathedral, et cetera) or shift where the virtual speakers are placed in the “room.” The microphone also gets a host of customizations, including a virtual +48V switch if you think the microphone isn’t loud enough. And while the microphone doesn’t bend, it does automatically mute when flipped up out of the way, which is potentially my favorite non-essential headset feature.

Returning to the idea of the Cavimanus as a powerful device undercut by its appearance, the same theme actually extends to the software that comes with it.

Bottom line

The Cavimanus is weird. It’s not very pretty, nor does it have the best sound on the market. Still, it’s such a unique device in many ways (not least of all because of the vibration) that I could see it garnering interest. And that’s not a bad thing. If you’re willing to spend an hour tweaking its sound, the Cavimanus becomes an even more attractive value proposition—it’s a great 7.1 headset at this price point. In fact, I’d say this has the potential to be the best 7.1 headset at this price point, but not everyone’s going to have the patience to tweak and tweak and tweak.

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Corsair H1500 $80

First things first: You’re probably either ambivalent toward the new logo that came with Corsair’s rebrand to Corsair Gaming, or you absolutely loathe it and think it looks like a fancy neckbeard or perhaps something more appropriate for a [ahem] lower back tattoo. Regardless, it’s not going to affect its score in this budget headset roundup, and you’ll have to make that decision on your own. One oddity, however: The old Corsair “sails” logo still flies on the USB connector. It’s like Corsair couldn’t quite stomach giving up the old logo entirely. The H1500 is the cheaper of Corsair’s two offerings, wired in 91

More: Sub-$100 Headsets comparison to the wireless H2100. Apart from that distinction, however, the two are fairly similar. The H1500 certainly makes a bold statement by arriving in black and yellow, a combination not seen much in gaming peripherals. Maybe it’s just because it’s unique and stands out, but I like it. It gives the headset a decidedly high-end look, even at this relatively low price. There are some design oddities. The cable is extremely long, with no way to shorten it. That’s great for me, as a desktop gamer, but plug this thing into your laptop and you’re going to be drowning in excess cable. The in-line controls also hang slightly lower than is useful. There’s a clip on the back which you could attach to your shirt, but I wish it just hung higher. Aside from those minor quibbles, though, this is an excellently designed set. It looks sharp, it feels durable, and the earpieces even swivel outward and lay flat when you bring the headset down around your neck. Wearing the H1500 is a treat also. The earpieces are massive, with plenty of space to completely surround your ear. I did notice a little bit of tightness on my jaw, but the headset seemed to loosen up after a few days so this might go away eventually. Like with the RAW Prism, I’m not a huge fan of the mesh ear coverings, but I can deal. At least the H1500’s mesh is covering a solid amount of padding, making this a comfortable headset to wear for marathon sessions. Unfortunately I didn’t find it a comfortable headset to listen to in marathon sessions. The H1500 isn’t overwhelmingly bass-y, which is a relief. However, the sound profile isn’t flat either, and the easiest way I can describe it is “bright.” The upper mid-range sounds like it’s been boosted quite a bit here. That’s great for guns. Playing Battlefield 4 or Spec Ops: The Line, guns cut through to the top and have a solidity to them that’s lacking in other headsets. However, it starts to tire out my ears after a while.

The earpieces are massive, with plenty of space to completely surround your ear.

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REVIEWS & RATINGS Your ears can really only take so much unfiltered treble before the shrillness starts to wear you out. Music is flat-out disappointing. Corsair lets you tweak the EQ profile in its software, but here I ran into other troubles. More than any other headset in this roundup, I noticed that the H1500’s drivers start to distort at moderately high volumes. Past a certain threshold I could distinctly hear rattling noises whenever the bass kicked in. And yeah, it was loud, but not so much that it was unlistenable. Another consideration: The H1500 had the most sound leakage by far of any headset I tested here, so be careful if you’re planning to use this in the bedroom or anything along those lines. The H1500’s big push is the inclusion of 7.1 Surround. Now, no headphone is going to give you real “surround,” but I do have to say that Corsair comes close here. Is it a huge improvement over simple stereo headsets? Not especially. At this price point, however, the additional situational awareness gained by 7.1 Surround isn’t a bad thing to have, if you can put up with the bright sound profile and a slight (slight) hollowness to what would be the center channel in a true 7.1 setup. As far as the mic goes, Corsair is middle-of-the-road. The H1500 features a boom mic that flips up out of the way when you’re not using it. The microphone picks up decent sound quality, but it’s a bit too quiet. If you think the solution resides in moving the mic closer to your face, well, the boom itself is only semi-flexible. Trying to force 93

More: Sub-$100 Headsets the mic closer to your mouth is like trying to mold a baseball mitt into shape—you just keep pushing and pushing and hoping that by degrees you’re making a difference. It’s still a much better microphone than you’ll find on some of the other headsets in this roundup.

Bottom line

The H1500 is a decent start to Corsair’s gaming rebrand, but I expected better. This is a middle-of-the-road headset. It simply doesn’t compete with some of the others at this price point, in large part because of a scooped-mids audio profile and a mediocre microphone.

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Kingston HyperX Cloud $80

SteelSeries, Astro, Razer—these are the gorillas of the gaming headset (and gaming peripheral) world. And have been for some time. With that in mind, I can honestly say I never expected to come out of this roundup most impressed by a headset from...Kingston. It’s not that Kingston is a bad company. Far from it. I just didn’t have any idea what I was in for with Kingston’s HyperX Cloud headset. It was a nonentity. Another red and black headset in a long line of red and black headsets, stretching back into eternity. What I found after sorting through the array of assorted adapters and cables (cell phone, airplane, USB, and analog extension) included with the HyperX Cloud, however, is one of the best sub-$100 gaming headsets I’ve ever used. The HyperX impresses right from the start with some notable luxury features, even at its diminutive $80 price point. The solid metal construction gives this headset both a nice heft and a durability that’s unmatched in the sub-$100 range, while keeping the form factor slim and attractive. I joked about the red-and-black color scheme, and for good reason—it’s basically “gamer standard.” Still, 95

More: Sub-$100 Headsets it’s not so much a detractor as something you just deal with, and the red stitching along the edge of the band is an attractive highlight. Thanks to the detachable mic I’d even say this is another headset you could use on the street without looking like you just escaped from a call center, although the lengthy braided-fabric cable might give you away. You’ve got two large, “leather” earpieces on the HyperX out of the box, with the option to swap to microfiber for a different feel. The ear cups were large enough to encompass my entire ear with room to spare, but also didn’t commit the sin of transferring the tension to the jaw. This is easily one of the most comfortable headsets I’ve ever worn, with one caveat—my head isn’t the largest around, but I still had to extend the set as far as it could go to wear it. Bigger heads, beware. The earpieces also don’t rotate, which is a shame, as they tend to push on the neck when the set is taken off and shouldered. One last design complaint is the in-line controls. Attaching the control box also requires attaching an extension cable, leaving the controls about a meter below the actual headset—way too far down to find in the middle of a tense firefight. Pressing the buttons also made a horrible ping noise in my audio, which seems counterproductive. Minor caveats aside, it’s a strong design. And surprisingly the HyperX 96

REVIEWS & RATINGS Cloud matches its design with a fantastic sound. Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t a studio-quality set of headphones. It’s a mite heavy on the bass (though less than most gaming headsets) and the high-end sounds a little slick. If you’ve ever dabbled in audio and thrown too much compression on a track, you’ll know what sound I mean. There’s an excellent feeling of presence though, with the large earpieces giving plenty of space and depth to the sounds. Kingston makes no attempt at a “surround” experience, but the sound profile of the HyperX Cloud is better than that on a lot of the headsets touting the feature anyway. If only the detachable microphone weren’t such a half-tooled piece of junk. The microphone plugs into a small jack on the bottom of the left earpiece—a jack protected by a tiny piece of rubber that is just begging to get lost. It’s not hooked to anything, so as soon as you set it down it’s probably going to disappear. Mine did. The best part of the microphone is it’s extremely bendable, allowing you to position it as you please. That’s about all the positives I have for the microphone. It could use a lot more noise canceling, and the wind filter is a poor pop filter at best—speaking at a normal volume, my voice was still full of plosives. Rearranging the mic helped only somewhat, trading a lack of pops for less volume. It also has a tendency to make your voice sound extremely nasal and hollow.

Bottom line

Would I still recommend the HyperX Cloud? Absolutely, especially at this price. The sound quality is second to none in this bracket, the build quality is superb, and it’s extremely comfortable. Make no mistake, though: It’s the microphone that’s holding this headset back. It’s fantastic, until you actually open your mouth. Then it’s just okay.

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SteelSeries RAW Prism $60

SteelSeries has been a major contender in the headset market for years, thanks to its Siberia V2 headset. The DNA of the V2 still exists in the company’s slightly higher-end V3 model (look for a review from us soon) but this time around SteelSeries decided it could go for the even more budget-minded consumer with the new RAW Prism—a real bargain of a headset at $60. And if that price makes you wonder what’s the catch? Well, it’s actually “catches,” plural. The adage “You get what you pay for” isn’t always true in the gaming headset market. There are definitely some low-quality headsets masquerading behind an absurdly high price tag and vice versa. That being said, the RAW Prism is most definitely a $60 headset. Looking at the design from afar, you can’t really tell. It’s sleek, and the single band of adjustable-LED lighting on each ear makes the RAW Prism fit in with its older (and more expensive) siblings. It’s not a work of art, but it looks designed. Truth be told, I probably like 98

REVIEWS & RATINGS SteelSeries headsets the best because they universally look like something I could wear in public, in the office, or around non-gaming friends without immediately calling attention to the fact that these are first-and-foremost gaming devices. The RAW Prism’s fancy looks are all a show, though. This is the headset equivalent of a pleather jacket: Sure, you’ll look the same if you wear it on your motorcycle, but when you finally test it out and the jacket hits the pavement it’s going to shred apart into a million tiny pieces and you’re going to feel sad you cheaped out. Phew, what an analogy. As you might expect from the price, the RAW Prism is not the most solid-feeling device in the world. It’s constructed from white plastic, and when held in your hands it just feels unremarkable. The cord is a stiff white rubber, terminating in a USB connection that powers the LEDs and delivers audio. The cord is also pretty short for a USB device (five feet), which might be tolerable on a laptop but could be a pretty huge hassle depending on your desktop setup. Wearing the headset, you’re immediately conscious of two things: 1) This thing is seriously lightweight, which is great for marathon gaming sessions, and 2) the earpieces on this thing are really cheap. If you want to know the cheapest thing about this cheap headset, it is the earpiece coverings. Both are covered in some sort of mesh fabric that, while breathable, feel like a basketball jersey rubbing against your face. I don’t like it. Next we come to the sound itself. If there’s one thing I want to commend the RAW Prism on, it’s that these things get loud. Deafeningly loud. It’s also nice of SteelSeries to include the SteelSeries Engine 3 software with the RAW Prism, albeit in limited form. You can only tweak a few settings, but hey—customization is customization. And to be fair, the RAW Prism is a decent-sounding headset if it’s

As you might expect from the price, the RAW Prism is not the most solid-feeling device in the world.

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absolutely the only thing you can afford. It will get the job done. Due to the thin ear cups, the most succinct way to describe the RAW Prism’s sound is “flat.” There’s not a lot of space, not a lot of room for the various sounds to breathe or give you much sense of directionality. It’s all just pushed into your ear, functionally and unceremoniously. The other thing you’ll notice, though this should come as no surprise, is that it lacks a lot of the bass end. Explosions are missing their oomf, and again this contributes to the headset’s slightly “flat” feeling. This is less of a detractor for games, though definitely noticeable. Music? Don’t even bother. You’re better off listening on any $20 pair of ear buds. Much more worrisome than the sound, though, is the RAW Prism’s microphone. While this has never been SteelSeries’ strong suite compared to some other brands, the RAW Prism eschews the retractable/boom microphone for an omnidirectional nub on the left earpiece. The nub is a nightmare. It’s not nearly fine-tuned or sensitive enough (even when adjusted through SteelSeries Engine), and I’m not going to yell in my apartment. That’s why I use a headset to begin 100

REVIEWS & RATINGS with. At best it sounded like I was talking from far away in an echoprone room, and all sorts of other noises (my typing, my breathing, my chair, my computer fans, cars driving outside, disturbing thumps from my upstairs neighbors, et cetera) were also picked up and reproduced. This thing will drive your teammates nuts. On top of that, there’s no LED in your line of sight indicating whether you’ve muted the microphone. Props to SteelSeries for building the mute control into the headset—you tap the outward face of the left earpiece to toggle—but without a visual indicator, the RAW Prism team was forced to include an audible notification. This takes the form of a horrific, ear-piercing beep/double beep, and it’s hard to remember which corresponds to muted/unmuted. In fact, even after using the headset for a while I couldn’t remember. That’ll be fun in the middle of a firefight, I’m sure. Last but not least, there’s no on-the-fly volume control.

Bottom line

I commend SteelSeries for trying to bring the price of headsets down to a more reasonable level for entry-level gaming enthusiasts, but the RAW Prism just doesn’t do it for me. The benefits—primarily the low cost—are outweighed by at-bestdecent sound and an abysmal microphone. And is $60 really that cheap? We’ve reviewed multiple headsets that retail for $80 and are much better devices. Even SteelSeries’s own Siberia V3 isn’t that much more expensive than the RAW Prism, and it’s worlds better. I strongly urge you to save up the extra dollars and save your ears (and voice, and sanity) in the process.

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HP Envy 23xt Beats Special Edition All-in-One: Colorful, musical... Kinda' slow BY JON L. JACOBI THE HP ENVY 23xt Beats Special Edition All-in-one is red. Beat-red, if you’ll pardon the pun. I liked the color and it reminded me just how boring electronic black has become. Intended to inspire the budding DJ with good audio and some creative music applications such as eDJing, and Music Maker Jam, the Beats AIO has a very nice 1080p IPS

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touchscreen display and fine-sounding Beats Audio speakers. Fine enough to make up for the unit’s slow hard drive? Not in my book. Even the Hybrid SSD/HD offered as a $50 upgrade on this unit Hewlett Packard won’t cut the mustard for me. And with this AIO costing close to a Envy 23xt Beats grand… Special Edition The Beats AIO’s major strength is All-in-One PC audio. Let’s start there. The PROS: hardest thing to do in audio is • Good audio for an All-in-One accurately reproduce mid-range frequencies, which along with CONS: transients and overtones, is where • Slow, slow hard drive the individual character of musical performance instruments resides. The speakers • Mediocre corded keyboard and mouse are standard. in the Beats AIO actually do a surprisingly good job; sound is $1,049 distortion-free and relatively uncolored. There’s a decent 104

The back of the Envy 23XT Beats also features a striking red kick stand and well as Gigabit ethernet, HDMI and USB ports.

REVIEWS & RATINGS amount of bass, but it’s not rumble-y like a sub-woofer, and the highend is as clear as anything I’ve heard in integrated PC speakers. Component-wise, the $899 (discounted from $999) base model of the Beats AIO we tested also has some strong points, including an Intel Core i5 4460T, 8GB of DDR3/1600 memory, and the aforementioned 1920x1080 display which renders movies nicely. It’s prone to glare as all touch displays are, so you’ll want to decrease the ambient lighting a bit for optimal viewing. There’s also a DVD burner on board. Options include faster processors (the Core i5 4590t and Core i7 4785T), a BluRay burner, and up to 16GB of system memory. The weak point is the storage subsystem. Our unit shipped with a 5,400 rpm Seagate ST1000LM024. That's a 2.5-inch laptop drive and CrystalDiskMark rated it at around 106MBps reading and writing, which is slow, but it seemed even slower in actual use—the system booted slowly and labored when opening and closing programs.

One touch we appreciate is the integrated headphone hanger that slides out. And yes, the hanger is compatible with headsets other than Beats Audio too.

There’s the aforementioned option for hybrid SSD/HD which would probably help some, but in PCWorld’s testing, hybrid drives never deliver the goods, either subjectively or objectively. Trust me on this, what you really want is an SSD and unfortunately, you can’t get one with this AIO. PCMark rated the Beats AIO at 2704 in the un-accelerated Work test and 2376 in the Creative test. Gaming was typical Intel HD 4600—OK for older or less realistic stuff, but unsuitable for any modern game. Only Ice Storm Extreme had acceptable frame rates, and that’s the sixth most intensive 3D Mark test designed for far weaker mobile devices. Encoding a 30GB MKV/H.264 file to Android tablet format took 2 hours and 6 minutes. About average for this CPU—with a slow hard drive. Design-wise, the Beats AIO is a good-looking unit with a hefty kickstand, and as I mentioned up top, the red grows on you. There’s even a handy hook that pulls out from the left side for you to hang your matching Beats headphones on. I wish a pair were part of the package, but apparently, this is an up-sell opportunity for your local box store. Any time you create an AIO that prohibits access to the desktop space behind it, you’ve missed the point, which is increasing your usable desk space by reducing your computer’s footprint. The wedge AIO design looks sexy and facilitates easy touchscreen use, but with no VESA mount point, you’ll need to dedicate it its own 2-foot square area. Sigh. HP isn’t alone in this faux pas, but it should know better. Additionally, the keyboard and mouse that HP shipped with our Beats AIO weren’t styled to match, and their quality was OK at best.

Design-wise, the Beats AIO is a good-looking unit with a hefty kickstand, and as I mentioned up top, the red grows on you.

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The keyboard is short throw, but only the space bar provides any aural feedback, which I’m guessing from the overall quality, was an accident. Also, both peripherals are wired, which knocks down the available USB connectivity from six to four ports. There are wireless upgrades, but HP didn’t send us any so I can’t tell you if they’re styled to match or battery hogs. But for a mere $10, I say go for them. While I’m sort of on the subject, additional ports include an SD card slot, a headset jack, and an HDMI output. Wi-Fi on our unit was 802.11 b/g/n, but an AC upgrade is only $10. What’s with the $10 deal? Go for that one as well. Fire engine red, Christmas red, beat-read, if only HP had put an SSD in this PC. It’s nice-looking, sounds good and the screen is nice. But the overriding impression I took away from it was how slow it booted and programs installed and loaded. I’ve belabored the point, but with a PC this expensive, a slow hard drive will cause buyer remorse. Add an SSD option HP!

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How many light bulbs does it take to change an American?

It’s no joke: climate change is a critical issue for all life on Earth. But can the actions of one individual really make a difference? Visit nature.org to calculate your impact on the world around you and learn about steps you can take to make the world a better place for us all. nature.org/calculate Photo © istockphoto.com / Color of Time

Feature-stuffed

CATALYST OMEGA reinvents AMD’s approach BY BRAD CHACOS

to graphics drivers 109

A NEW APPROACH TO GRAPHIC DRIVERS

LET’S BE HONEST: Most of us don’t update our graphics drivers religiously. Okay, maybe you do, Mr. Hardcore #PCMasterRace enthusiast, but a vast swath of gamers fiddle with drivers only when they absolutely have to— when something breaks, or when a new game is acting funky. AMD’s new “Catalyst Omega” driver and its underlying philosophy are designed around that behavior. Catalyst Omega marks the beginning of a new driver release schedule for AMD. The usual game updates and bugfix drivers will continue to roll out continuously as before, but going forward, AMD plans to reveal a major release brimming with new features

once per year, to entice even the most stubborn of holdouts into updating their software. Catalyst Omega is just such a goodie-stuffed driver—and it’s also the start of a new era of quality assurance for the company, according to Robert Hallock, AMD’s technical communications lead. But it also appears to be the potential dawn of a more ominous age for AMD enthusiasts, because the vast majority of Catalyst Omega’s new features aren’t available for onegeneration-old Radeon 7000-series graphics cards, nor the current-gen R9 280 and R9 280X (which are basically

AMD CATALYST OMEGA’S Virtual Super Resolution in action.

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rebrands of the older Radeon 7950 and 7970. See go.pcworld.com/rebrands). When asked whether some of the features might hit 7000-series cards in the future, Hallock said “This driver is focused on R9 and R7.” I’ve been testing the drivers for a couple of weeks now. Let’s dig in!

Virtual Super Resolution

As you may have guessed from the name, Virtual Super Resolution is AMD’s rival to Nvidia’s Dynamic Super Resolution (go.pcworld.com/nvidia), and it’s new in Catalyst Omega. When VSR is enabled, your graphics card will render games at a higher resolution than your monitor natively supports, and then downsample the image to native resolution when it’s sent to your monitor. Virtual Super Resolution supports resolutions up to full 4K, even if you’re using a 1080p monitor. The technology gives you far smoother edges and textures than you’d see at your native resolution, as well as a much wider field of view— though that can occasionally wreak some havoc in games with small interface elements, as highlighted in the AMD-provided comparison below of Civilization: Beyond Earth at 1080p 111

with VSR disabled (left) and enabled at 4K resolution (right). Downsampling also negates the need for anti-aliasing. Actually using AMD’s Virtual Super Resolution technology is much more seamless than using Nvidia’s Digital Super Resolution, in my opinion—at least if you don’t let Nvidia’s software automatically ‘optimize’ your in-game settings. While Nvidia’s DSR settings are buried inside its GeForce Experience software, AMD’s technology lets you simply select higher-than-native resolutions via in-game options after you’ve enabled VSR in the Catalyst Control Center. …If your system supports it, that is. The first iteration of Virtual Super Resolution requires scaler hardware found only in a handful of graphics cards: The R9 285, R9 290, R9 290X, and

THE TECHNOLOGY GIVES you far smoother edges and textures than you’d see at your native resolution, as well as a much wider field of view The technology gives you far smoother edges and textures than you’d see at your native resolution…

A NEW APPROACH TO GRAPHIC DRIVERS

THE MONITOR RESOLUTIONS and timings supported by Virtual Super Resolution, along with the virtual resolutions available on that hardware.

Target Display Timing

Supported VSR Modes

1920 X 1080 @ 60Hz

2560 x 1440, 3200 x 1800, 3840 x 2160 (R9 285 only)

1920 X 1200 @ 60Hz

2048 x 1535, 2560 x 1600, 3840 x 2400 (R9 285 only)

2560 X 1440 @ 60Hz

3200 x 1800

1920 X 1080 @ 120Hz

1920 x 1200 # 120Hz, 2048 x1536 x 120 Hz

dual-GPU R9 295X2. Sure, the price of Radeon cards has plummeted recently, but those models are still on the beefy end of the spectrum. Fear not, budget gamers! AMD hopes to release a driver that enables VSR in the rest of the R-series lineup using software tricks sometime in early 2015—which, admittedly, takes some of the shine off Catalyst Omega’s “ONE DRIVER PER YEAR!” pitch. It’s also hard not to feel a wee bit disappointed that this feature is limited to current-gen Radeon hardware alone, as Nvidia rolled DSR out to GTX 500, 600, and 700-series cards (go.pcworld.com/ dsr) after establishing it in the new GTX 970 and 980. Your monitor’s resolution and refresh timing also need to be supported for

Virtual Super Resolution to function, though the most common resolutions are. If your monitor doesn’t meet spec, the option to enable VSR won’t even be available in the Catalyst Control Center, as I discovered when I tried using Catalyst Omega with a 30-inch, 2560x1600 monitor. Also note that full virtual 4K resolution is available only with the R9 285. It’s great to see graphics vendors actively supporting downsampling after years of leaving it to third-party solutions like Peter “Durante” Thoman’s (stellar) GeDoSaTo (go.pcworld.com/ gedosato). Technologies like Virtual Super Resolution are a smart way to utilize the extra horsepower of modern high-end graphics cards with monitors that gamers actually use—especially 112

when you consider how screen resolutions have been largely stalled for the past decade.

pesky screen tearing and stuttering issues that can pop up under normal circumstances. We’ve seen Nvidia’s G-Sync implementation (go.pcworld. com/gsync) in action, and the result is stunningly smooth. Catalyst Omega paves the road for AMD’s response. The first FreeSync monitors have yet to hit the streets, but Samsung announced FreeSync support (go.pcworld.com/freesync) for a whole line of 4K displays, and

New monitor support galore—including FreeSync Speaking of displays, Catalyst Omega also enables support for AMD’s FreeSync technology. FreeSync is similar (yet again) to Nvidia’s G-Sync: Both technologies force your graphics card and monitor to sync their refresh rates, alleviating the

FREESYNC PREVENTS the screen tearing seen when your GPU and monitor refresh at different rates.

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A NEW APPROACH TO GRAPHIC DRIVERS

THE FIRST 5K MONITOR is already here, in the form of Dell’s 27-inch UP2715K.

Hallock says at least three other display vendors will be showing FreeSync-compatible monitors at CES 2015. The initial FreeSync monitors are expected to be released this year, with Samsung’s UD590 and UE850 4K displays launching in March. But the first 5K monitor is already here, in the form of Dell’s 27-inch UP2715K (go.pcworld.com/dell27). Catalyst Omega includes support for the display and its eye-popping 5120x2880 resolution, though your graphics card needs at least a pair of DisplayPort 1.2 connections to power such a beastly screen.

And if you’re running an insanely beefy system, Catalyst Omega boosts AMD’s Eyefinity multimonitor support all the way up to a ludicrous 24 simultaneous displays in a quad-GPU setup, along with a tweaked Eyefinity interface. In a word: Damn. If you get a glorious setup like that up and running, be sure to shoot us a picture!

Gaming performance enhancements Catalyst Omega also includes the in-game performance enhancements that are the bread and butter of system 114

graphics drivers, though they’re mostly a secondary focus behind the new features and QA enhancements. As Hallock told me, “We’re not promising the world here.” Indeed, AMD’s supplied performance stats even compare Omega against launch-day Catalyst drivers for APUs and GPUs, rather than the most recent drivers. That makes a bizarre sort of sense, though,

as Omega’s targeted toward people who rarely update their drivers. AMD APUs—which combine an AMD CPU with Radeon graphics on the same chip—see the biggest benefit here. Per AMD’s supplied statistics, several titles see frame rate increases in the double-digit percentages compared to the launch-day Catalyst 14.2 driver. (I don’t have an APU system on hand to test myself.)

BIOSHOCK INFINITE’S AVERAGE FRAME RATE indeed improved drastically, however, leaping from 51.4 fps to 61.7 fps at 2560x1600 resolution, on Ultra settings with Diffusion Depth of Detail enabled.

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A NEW APPROACH TO GRAPHIC DRIVERS

You may also see some frame rate boosts when you’re using discrete Radeon graphics cards, but even AMD’s supplied stats (which compare Catalyst Omega against the older Catalyst 13.12 driver) show modest improvements. In most of our testing suite— comprised of Metro: Last Light Redux, Sleeping Dogs Definitive Edition, Alien: Isolation, Ryse: Son of Rome, and the Unigine Valley and 3DMark 11 Firestrike benchmarking tools— frame rate improvements were negligible over the Catalyst 14.11 beta drivers. Bioshock Infinite’s average frame rate indeed improved drastically, however, leaping from 51.4 fps to 61.7 fps at 2560x1600 resolution, on Ultra settings with Diffusion Depth of Detail enabled. Catalyst Omega has another nifty trick up its sleeve: It brings the frame pacing enhancements previously available for multi-graphics card

BETTER FRAME PACING means less drastic leaps in minimum/maximum frame rate rendering, giving games a far smoother, less jittery feel.

CrossFire setups to AMD Dual Graphics configurations, which is basically AMD’s fancy-pants way of saying an APU paired with a Radeon processor. Better frame pacing means less drastic leaps in minimum/maximum frame rate rendering, giving games a far smoother, less jittery feel. Again, I don’t have an APU on hand to test the claim, but here are AMD’s supplied stats from a system pairing an A10-7850K APU with a Radeon R7 250 processor, with both games run on medium graphics settings at 1080p. Catalyst Omega also includes frame pacing improvements for a handful of memory-intensive games being played in a CrossFire setup: Tomb Raider, Hitman Absolution, Watch Dogs, and Far Cry 3.

Video enhancements

Games aren’t the only media getting a boost from Catalyst Omega. The new driver aims to give video playback a boost through several new features, which is great news for folks who tapped AMD’s Radeon-bolstered APUs for their home theater PC. Contour Removal more efficiently removes those blocky little compression artifacts so common in compressed videos. Contour removal is supported on 25W or higher APUs 116

AMD’S CONTOUR REMOVAL compared to a still from a video that wasn’t optimized with the technology.

and R7- or R9-series Radon graphics cards only (but not on the Radeon R9 280 or 280X). 1080P Detail Enhancement hits a similar note, improving the clarity and sharpness of compressed, lowresolution video when you’re playing it at 1080p resolution. This technology’s supported on AMD 7x00 A-Series APUs and only the Radeon R9 285 graphics card, which is powered by AMD’s new Tonga GPU (go.pcworld.com/tonga). Since the R9 285’s GPU is so fresh, presumably this feature will be supported in wider fashion whenever AMD’s next-gen R9 300-series graphics cards appear. FullHD to UltraHD Video performs the same action but for beefier hardware, by using processing trickery

to improve the clarity of 1080 video when it’s blown up on a 4K display. To use it you’ll need a AMD 7x00 A-Series APU, any R-series Radeon GPU of R7 260 or higher, and—of course—a 4K monitor. (It seems a bit odd that this is supported by the R9 280 and 280X but not Radeon 7000-series cards.) Finally, Fluid Motion Video “uses GPU compute to interpolate inferred frames with real frames,” according to AMD, making playback smoother. Unfortunately, I didn’t have a chance to test the tech because it’s available only in insanely specific scenarios. Beyond requiring an 35W or higher AMD 7x00 A-Series APU or a Radeon R7 260 or higher R-series graphics card (again, sans the 280X and 280) on the hardware front, Fluid Motion 117

A NEW APPROACH TO GRAPHIC DRIVERS

Video works only when you’re watching a Blu-ray disc with Cyberlink PowerDVD 14. Even then, you have to enable it manually in the TrueTheater/Hardware Decoding submenu, which is hidden in the Video, Audio, and Subtitles submenu of PowerDVD’s Player Settings options while you’re watching a Blu-ray.

Quality assurance improvements

I started this article with a call for honesty, and if we’re being honest,

AMD’s drivers have long had a reputation—fair or not—of being not quite as stable as Nvidia’s. With Catalyst Omega, AMD tackled the issue head-on, a fact that Hallock stressed repeatedly. Compared to previous drivers, AMD performed 65 percent more automated QA testing on Catalyst Omega. Beyond letting machines do their thing, AMD also engaged in rigorous internal “dogfooding” of the driver, performing 12 percent more manual testing on Catalyst Omega, across 10 percent more

THE COMPANY’S MAINTAINING a dedicated bug report page and plans to focus on squashing the top community-reported bugs going forward.

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system configurations and 10 percent more display types. All told, Hallock says the team engaged in hundreds of thousands of tests, which found—and fixed—several hundred issues before Catalyst Omega’s release. AMD still has a way to go before it wins over skeptical gamers. To that end, AMD’s been actively asking for quality feedback from its users. Catalyst Omega fixes the ten most devastating driver bugs mentioned by those users. The company’s maintaining a dedicated bug report page (go.pcworld.com/reportbug) and plans to focus on squashing the top community-reported bugs going forward.

And much, much more

Those are only the key consumer features included in Catalyst Omega. Here are a few more highlights: The hair-enhancing TressFX 3.0 adds support for animal fur.

››

›› ›› ›› ›› ››

AMD’s Gaming Evolved client now includes Mantle support for game streaming OpenCL 2.0 and OpenGL ES3.0 are now supported AMD CodeXL 1.6 and HSA Runtime support for developers Catalyst packages for the Red Hat and Ubuntu Linux distros Streamlined Catalyst installation and faster hardware detection

Sure, we’re still eagerly awaiting AMD’s Radeon hardware response to Nvidia’s masterful 900-series graphics cards. But Catalyst Omega shows AMD’s still fighting on the software side of things, too—and you can expect that whenever all those new Radeon R9 300-series graphics cards do start showing up, they’ll take full advantage of the slew of features buried within this driver.

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Use these 10 tricks and tips to get the most out of your subscription

BY JARED NEWMAN 120

N

etflix’s simplistic interface may be well-intentioned, but sometimes you need more powerful tools to find the best streaming movies and TV shows. Now that Netflix has shuttered its public API (go.pcworld.com/techcrunch), the number of useful apps and sites for sorting through Netflix video has thinned. But there are still several triedand-true methods for finding the good stuff, along with a few tools and settings from Netflix that everyone should know about. Here are 10 tips for making the most of a Netflix streaming subscription.

NETFLIX TOOLS

USE BETTER BROWSING TOOLS

Netflix’s catalog of movies and shows is massive, but you might only scratch the surface with its basic apps and website. When you’re really trying to scratch a particular itch, use AllFlicks.net, which lets you search within specific genres, filter movies and TV shows, narrow down a date range, and sort by rating. (InstantWatcher at go.pcworld.com/instant) has a similar tool without as many sorting options, but it does include a handy synopsis view.) If you just want a quick recommendation, try WhatIsOnNetflix.com. It lists a handful of top-ranked movies from IMDB, Rotten Tomatoes, and Metacritic, and its “Random Pick” tool is especially helpful for the indecisive. 122

WATCH NEW & SOON-TO-BEDEPARTED RELEASES

Netflix’s “New Releases” section rarely gives you the full story when you’re trying to find fresh movies and TV shows. For that, turn to InstantWatcher’s “Newly Available on Instant” section (go.pcworld.com/new), which gives a complete list of recent arrivals. It also lets you filter just movies or just TV, and it has sorting options for rating and original release date. You might also want to keep track of which movies and shows will be leaving Netflix. Now Streaming has weekly and monthly roundups (go.pcworld. com/roundups), so you can watch the good stuff before it’s gone.

NETFLIX TOOLS

USE EXTENSIONS TO TAKE COMMAND

In theory, Netflix’s builtin star rating system should work really well, because it’s personalized to your interests. But sometimes you just want to watch a trailer and see what critics think before pushing play. The Netflix Enhancer extension (go. pcworld.com/enhancer) for Chrome can help, showing IMDB ratings, Rotten Tomatoes scores, and a trailer button when you hover your cursor over a movie. To gain even more control, install Lifehacker’s Flix Plus extension (go. pcworld.com/flix), which adds a heap of customization options including a “Darker Netflix” theme and the ability to hide spoilers. 124

GET POWERFUL SORTING OPTIONS FOR YOUR QUEUE

Sorting through the “My List” (go.pcworld.com/ mylist) section of Netflix’s site can become unwieldy if you’ve built up a massive backlog. Fortunately, a free script called Netflix Queue Sorter (go.pcworld.com/ sorter) lets you get a handle on your queue in Chrome, Firefox, Opera, or Safari. Once installed, you can sort your queue by star rating, genre, title, and more. You can also shuffle the order if you’re feeling lucky. Just follow the instructions on Github for your browser of choice. (Note: You must turn on Manual Ordering (go.pcworld.com/order) in Netflix settings for the script to run.)

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NETFLIX TOOLS

FIGURE OUT WHAT’S ON WITH YOUR PHONE

Most Netflix power tools live on the Web, but that makes them cumbersome if you don’t have a home-theater or easy access to a laptop. For powerful Netflix searches on your phone, check out Upflix for iOS (go. pcworld.com/upios) or Android (go.pcworld. com/updroid). The free app lets you sort movies and shows according to their ratings on Netflix, IMDB, TMDB, Rotten Tomatoes, or Flixster. You can also browse through dozens of genres and use a “roulette” feature to get spontaneous recommendations. When you’re ready to watch, you can even jump straight into the Netflix app to begin playback. 126

SEARCH BEYOND NETFLIX

Searching on Netflix can be a waste of time if you’re looking for something specific that the service might not even have. Instead, broaden your search with WhereToWatch (wheretowatch.com), a video search engine that includes several legal online sources, including Amazon, iTunes, and Hulu. You can search by title, actor or director, and while it has a few holes, it’ll save you the disappointment of coming up empty on Netflix.

NETFLIX TOOLS

If you’re ever felt let down by Netflix’s recommendations, it might be because you haven’t fed it enough data. Start by visiting the Edit Profiles (netflix.com/EditProfiles) section of Netflix’s Website, and make sure everyone in your family has their own profile. (Don’t worry, it’s free to have several profiles tied to a single account.) Now head to the Your Account section (netflix.com/YourAccount) of Netflix’s Website and click on Taste Preferences (netflix.com/TastePreferences), where you can rate how much you care for various genres. You can also use the Ratings Wizard (netflix.com/RatingsWizard) to give star ratings to the movies and shows you’ve already seen. It’s a good way to ensure those banal direct-to-DVD horror movies are permanently banished from your menus.

MANAGE YOUR PROFILE

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LEARN SOME KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS

Watching Netflix on a laptop isn’t quite as comfy as kicking back with a TV and remote control, but using keyboard shortcuts are the next-best thing. Some of these controls will work on other video sites such as YouTube and Hulu, so they’re worth remembering: Enter or Space: Toggle pause/play Left Arrow: Rewind Right Arrow: Fast Forward Up Arrow: Volume Up Down Arrow: Volume Down M: Mute F11: Toggle Full Screen (Chrome only)

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NETFLIX TOOLS

For those who watch a lot of foreign fare, Netflix’s Subtitle Preferences menu (go. pcworld.com/subtitle) is worth a visit, as it’ll let you change the color, size and font of all subtitles and captions. (It works on all devices except those running iOS, which have their own instructions (go.pcworld.com/iosdev). You should also check out the Playback Settings menu (go.pcworld.com/playback), which lets you manually adjust video quality—useful when you’re on a limited data plan—and turn off auto-play of the next video in a series. And if you’re perturbed by Netflix’s auto-sorting of your “My List” queue, you can turn on Manual Ordering (go.pcworld.com/manual) to arrange them by hand.

TWEAK A FEW SETTINGS

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If Netflix keeps hitting you with the dreaded “buffering” icon, you may be able to sacrifice audio and video quality for smoother playback. While streaming, hold Ctrl-Shift-Alt and press “S” to bring up the bitrate menu. Select lower numbers for audio and video bitrate to increase your odds of smoother streaming, then click “Override.” You can change things back to normal by bringing up the menu again and hitting “Reset.”

MINIMIZE BUFFERING

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NOVELS ROCK ‘N’ ROLL STAND-UP COMEDY JAZZ VIDEO GAMES MOVIES COMIC BOOKS TALK RADIO EVERY NEW ART FORM HAS ITS FIGHT FOR FREE SPEECH.

OUR TIME IS NOW FIGHT FOR YOUR VIDEO GAMES V I D E O G A M E V O T E R S . O R G

HERE’S HOW 134

The right way to set up your new Chromebook

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When to use Windows 7 and 8 Safe Modes

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Hassle-Free PC Three securityboosting steps to perform on every router

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Answer Line How to stop autoplay videos

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CONTENTS

HERE’S HOW

How to build, maintain, and fix your tech gear.

The right way to set up your new Chromebook Follow these tricks for getting yourself up and running with the right apps, settings, and offline tools. BY DEREK WALTER 134

SETTING UP A new Chromebook is much easier than setting up a PC.

Chromebooks don’t require major updates or antivirus software. You start simply by signing in with your Google Account (or creating that account, if you don’t already have one). All that said, Chromebooks have some unique quirks—such as limited offline capabilities, and a wonky method for connecting a printer. Here’s everything you need to know to set up your new Chromebook up the right way—starting with the tools that let you replace the Windows software that just won’t work on a Googley laptop.

Chromebooks thrive on the web, survive offline

Yes, Chromebooks are primarily conduits to the web. But aside from very specific computing demands, such as high-end gaming or video and image editing, the gap between what a Chromebook can or can’t do is quickly closing. There are a slew of superb, powerful web apps (go.pcworld.com/apps) available that can already replace most people’s basic desktop software. Adobe is building a Chrome-friendly version of Photoshop, while You can still work in Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides offline by enabling this feature in the settings.

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Microsoft is bringing Skype to the web (and native webRTC-based voice and video chats are already here go.pcworld.com/rtc). The absolutely free Office Online works with traditional Office docs and offers enough features for mainstream users. Some recent initiatives (go.pcworld.com/initiatives) by Humble Bundle and Mozilla hint that a brighter future for web-based gaming. The other typical knock on Chromebooks is that they’re not as useful offline. While that’s still true to some degree, Google and numerous third-party developers have been working hard to enable offline capabilities in their web apps. The Chrome Web Store (which is the digital storefront for Chrome apps) even features a section dedicated to offline apps (go.pcworld.com/chromeoff). The Chrome App ecosystem has really taken off in the last year—start by checking out the best (go.pcworld.com/thebest) we’ve found.

Preparing your Chromebook for offline use

Beyond offline Chrome Apps, numerous native Chromebook apps and features can be configured for use away from the web. 136

Pressing Crtl-Alt-? simultaneously can reveal all the secret Chromebook keyboard shortcuts.

HERE’S HOW

For example, Google’s Gmail Offline lets you—you guessed it—work with Gmail while offline. Download the app (go.pcworld.com/gmailoff) from the Chrome Web Store, then fire it up from the Chrome OS app launcher. You’ll then be asked if you want to save your messages offline. (If you’re signed in to multiple Google accounts, toggle the email address at the bottom to select where to save your email data.) Once enabled, Gmail Offline lets you reply and compose new messages, which are cached and then fired off to the recipient once you’re back online. Heavy Google Drive users should head to the settings page (click the wrench icon at the top right) inside Drive to enable offline storage. It will then sync all your docs, sheets, slides, and drawings to your Chromebook. Just like Gmail, it syncs back your changes to the Drive server once you’re reconnected. Be mindful of the limited storage space found in most Chromebooks, however; the files stashed in your Google Drive could easily exceed your Chromebook’s capacity. PCWorld’s guide to everything Chromebooks can do offline (go. pcworld.com/everything) has even more nitty-gritty details.

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Install the Gmail Offline app to access your mail when you’re not online.

Set up your Chromebook for printing

Printing from a Chromebook is the most complicated process you’ll encounter. You’re in luck if your printer is Google Cloud print ready (Google has an official list at go.pcworld.com/official). If so, all you have to do is enable Cloud Print on your Chromebook (go.pcworld.com/cloudprint).

To see whether your Chromebook recognizes your printer, simply open the Chrome Settings menu (click the icon that looks like three horizontal bars, or a “hamburger”) at the top right corner of the browser window, select Settings, click Show Advanced Settings, and then scroll down to “Google Cloud Print.” Under “New Devices” you should see the name of your printer, assuming it’s properly connected to your network. If your printer doesn’t show up in the list, it may not be GoogleCloud-Print ready, or it could just be having some other connection issue (remember: printers are evil at go.pcworld.com/evil). You may have to dig out that instruction manual or head to the printer’s 138

Google Cloud Print connects your Chromebook to a compatible printer.

HERE’S HOW

specific help page. Google also has a support site (support.google. com/cloudprint) that may point you in the right direction. If your printer isn’t Cloud-Print-enabled, the only way to print stuff from your Chromebook is to connect your printer to a Mac or Windows PC, install Cloud Print on that as well as your Chromebook, and then tie it all your Google account. Whew! Here are Google’s specific directions (go.pcworld.com/directions) on how to do that. The kludgy workaround works well enough, but if you plan to print a lot from your Chromebook, you’ll want to spring for a Cloud-Printenabled printer. Another advantage of Google Cloud Print is that once it’s configured, you can print from any device (go.pcworld.com/any) that can sign into your Google Account.

Chromebook power!

With those basics under your belt, you’re ready to rock and roll. For more advanced tricks—such as setting up multi-monitor support, advanced mouse settings, or VPNs—be sure to check out PCWorld’s Chromebook power tips (go.pcworld.com/tips). The beauty of Chromebooks is that after the initial setup, most people will never need to worry about those beefier settings and options—or any other kind of maintenance or management, for that matter.

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When to use Windows 7 and 8 Safe Modes BY LINCOLN SPECTOR FOR YEARS NOW, the quick way to enter Safe Mode, Windows’ strippeddown, minimum-driver environment has been to press F8. But that trick doesn’t work for all Windows 8 PCs. And even in older versions, it’s not always the easiest form of entry. Safe Mode gives you a low-resolution, visually ugly, feature-limited Windows environment useful for diagnostic and repair purposes. You 140

HERE’S HOW wouldn’t want to create a PowerPoint demonstration there, but if things are misbehaving, it can be a fruitful place to visit. For instance, if a program’s uninstall routine keeps failing, it just might uninstall properly in Safe Mode. Among the things that standard Safe Mode cannot do is networking. However, because network and Internet access are needed for some diagnostic chores—such as malware scanning and updating drivers—Windows also provides an alternative Safe Mode with Networking environment. The conventional way of entering Safe Mode still works in Windows 7 and Vista, and in some Windows 8 PCs. Boot the computer and start pressing and releasing F8 repeatedly. Once the Advanced Boot Options menu pops up, you can select Safe Mode or Safe Mode with Networking.

Once the Advanced Boot Options menu pops up, you can select Safe Mode..

Or try this…

If that doesn’t work, here’s something specific to Windows 8:

1. Hold down Shift while selecting the Restart option on the Shutdown menu. This works with the Settings charm and—in Windows 8.1—right-clicking the Start button. 2. On the resulting “Choose an option” screen, select Troubleshoot > Advanced options > Startup Settings > Restart. 3. When the Startup Settings menu appears, type 4 for Safe Mode 141

Hold down Shift while selecting the Restart option.

or 5 for Safe Mode with Networking.

…or this

Here’s one more path to Safe Mode, and it works in Windows 7, 8, and Vista: 1. In the Start menu’s Search field or in the Windows 8 Search charm, type msconfig, and launch the resulting program. 2. Click the Boot tab. 3. Check the Safe boot option 4. Select an option below that. Safe boot brings you to the standard Safe Mode. With networking does exactly what you think it does. 5. Click OK, then Restart. One problem with this method: When you’re done and you reboot Windows, it will take you back into Safe mode. So while you’re still in Safe Mode, launch msconfig and uncheck the Safe boot option.

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Check the Safe boot option

HASSLE-FREE PC

HERE’S HOW

BY IAN PAUL

Three security-boosting steps to perform on every router

THE COMPUTER INDUSTRY has worked hard to make sure that a lot of the gadgets we use are mostly plug-and-play. In other words, you just fire up the device, login and you’re ready to go—no configuration necessary. One device you should never consider “plug-and-play,” however, is your home’s network and wireless router. After the technician leaves your house there are a few important things everyone should do.

Change your router admin details

The first thing you should always do when you have a new router is log into its control panel. You want to do this so you understand where to change the Wi-Fi access password, change the type of security protocol 143

HERE’S HOW

your router is using, change the router name, et cetera. Most importantly, however, you need to login to your router so you can change the admin name and password. Alas, some routers won’t let you change the admin user name, but changing the admin password is the crucial part. If you don’t do this and a bad actor is able to get onto your home network, they can easily log in to your control panel and own your router using the device’s default settings. You don’t want that. If you don’t know how to login to your router check the manual that came with it, ask your Internet service provider, or try to find a user manual for your model online.

Use WPA2

Right now, WPA2 is considered the best way to secure your router connection.

Now that you’ve logged in to your router, it’s time to make sure you are using WPA2 (Wi-Fi Protected Access II) as the encryption standard for connecting to your router. Right now, WPA2 is considered the best way to secure your router connection. This standard works by encrypting all traffic between devices and the router, making it much harder for anyone to nab your data as it travels through the air. One thing you’ll also want to do is make sure that Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) is disabled. This feature allows a weakness in your router that could be exploited by a determined attacker. Your router’s encryption protocol settings are often found under the Security heading or something similar.

Use an uncomfortably long password

Now don’t go too nuts with this one. I’m not suggesting you use a 100-character password or something like that, but a 20-30 character password with randomly generated letters, numbers, 144

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and special symbols (if allowed) is a pretty solid idea. The point is to make it as hard as possible for an attacker to figure out your password. One easy way to do that is to make this password a little longer than most passwords you use online. It does mean you should probably use a password manager to remember it, and the occasional need to log new devices onto the network can be a pain. But the extra effort pays off with a more secure password that keeps the bad guys off your network. Those are just three basic things, but once you’re inside your router there’s all kinds of other settings you could tweak such as changing the Wi-Fi broadcast channel, change the channel width, adjust your NAT settings, and configure port forwarding. PCWorld’s guide to speeding up your router (go.pcworld.com/fast) can point you in the right performance-boosting direction.

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BY LINCOLN SPECTOR

How to stop autoplay videos

Norm Arlt asked “How do I stop the How-To video from automatically starting in my browser when I click on an article?” I sympathize. We all deal with this annoyance. In fact, I’m willing to bet that everyone reading this article who hasn’t already solved this problem knows exactly what I’m talking about. Most of these videos run on Shockwave Flash, so I’m going to concentrate on that technology. The trick isn’t to block Flash entirely, but to make it work only with your permission.

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How you do this varies with each browser. So I’ll offer instructions for the three most popular ones. Christopher Breen of Macworld offered these alternative fixes (go.pcworld.com/more) as well.

Chrome

1. Click the menu icon on the upper-right corner and select Settings. 2. Then scroll down to the bottom of the page and click the Show advanced settings link. 3. Scroll down further until you find the Privacy section. Click the Content settings button. 4. In the resulting Content Settings dialog box, scroll down to the Plug-ins section. Select Click to play, then click the Done button in the lower-right corner. From then on, a Flash window will appear as a gray box with a jigsaw piece icon in the center. If you want to watch the video, click in that box. 147

You’ll find Click to Play in the Content Settings box.

Firefox

1. Press Ctrl-L to go to the address bar, and type in the local URL about:addons. 2. Click Plugins in the left pane. 3. Find Shockwave Flash in the list of plug-ins. 4. Click the Always Activate pop-up menu on the right, and select Ask to Activate. When you visit a page with an embedded Flash video, the video window will again be a box, but this time it will be white with Adobe’s Flash logo (a stylized letter ‘f’) in the center. A gray bar at the top of the page will give you options to continue blocking or allow the flash. If you click Allow, you’ll get options to Allow Now or Allow and Remember. If you want to allow it at all, I recommend Allow Now.

Internet Explorer

1. From the menus at the top of the window, select Tools>Manage add-ons. 2. In the resulting Manage Add-ons dialog box, make sure that Toolbars and Extensions is selected on the left. Wait for the list to appear. 148

Click the Always Activate pop-up menu on the right, and select Ask to Activate.

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3. Find and double-click Shockwave Flash Object on the right (it’s listed under Adobe and will likely be near or at the top). 4. In the resulting More Information dialog box, click the Remove all sites button. Then close the dialog boxes. The Flash windows may not appear at all, or they may appear blank. A bar at the bottom of the window will offer options to allow Flash to play. Click the x on the right to say “No.” Send your questions to [email protected].

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Find and double-click Shockwave Flash Object on the right.

Tech Spotlight

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Watch the video at go.pcworld. com/trinity

CyberPower’s Fang Trinity: simply insane » CyberPower’s Fang Trinity looks like no PC we’ve ever seen. Yet make no mistake, this is real—and it packs a punch: a liquid-cooled, 4GHz Intel Core i7 4790K, Gigabyte Z97 Mini-ITX motherboard, five SSDs, one 3.5-inch hard drive, a Blu-ray drive, a full-size 500-watt power supply, and a full-size GeForce GTX 980 graphics card. 150