BenQ has recently announced the release of ScreenBar Halo – their vision to provide monitor users with a safer and better lighting environment.

Users are welcome to engage in the unrivalled experience by lighting up their personal space in accordance to personal preferences with an intelligent remote controller, enjoying the integrated experience of a monitor, night and reading light.

Technophiles and heavy screen users alike can now benefit from the newest edition of the BenQ Monitor Light series, ScreenBar Halo.An innovative design that provides independent workers or solo dwellers a comprehensive coverage of lighting demands.

In addition to the front and back illumination, the ScreenBar Halo features a wireless control that offers 100 levels of brightness and colour temperatures whilst also equipped with a patented clip that attaches to any monitor (including curved ones) without the need for screws or tape that might damage the screen. It is the world’s first intelligent lamp to present such effective,space-saving and non-slip technology.

Along with an exclusive illumination of a 63 x 40 cm2 desk area in front of the monitor, zero reflective glare or flicker, blue-light hazard prevention, intelligent touch-button design, built-in ambient light sensor and auto-dimming function, ScreenBar Halo provides users with greater control over light modes, according to their preferences and individual users with greater control over light modes, according to their preferences and individual scenarios.Whether you work in a dim area, during the evening or at night or are simply looking for lighting that takes up minimal space, ScreenBar Halo is the perfect choice.

“The ongoing pandemic has normalised remote working and learning on a large scale,resulting in an increase in average screen time for both adults and young digital consumers,” said Grace Tran, BenQ Australia and New Zealand Product Marketing Manager.“We are dedicated to revolutionising and paving the way for new concepts of home productivity and entertainment setups while safeguarding consumers’ eye health.”

Built on its previous success with BenQ ScreenBar and ScreenBar Plus, the monitor light series has been widely well received since its first launch in 2018.These predecessors of ScreenBar Halo have demonstrated how high-quality lighting could significantly contribute to the release of eye strain and eye fatigue, without compromising users’ experience. Besides such dedication to monitor users, BenQ e-Reading Desk Lamps have also strived to benefit those using a smartphone, a tablet, multi-monitor computers, or even crafters by providing similar functions with an extra wide illumination that is 150% wider than average lighting products.

The BenQ ScreenBar Halo is available now.

The post BenQ launches ScreenBar Halo appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

HP’s specific PC gaming brand Omen has always trumped up with the goods when it comes to getting you in to the game.

Recently they released their HP Omen 16 gaming laptop, a 16.1 inch kit full of muscle and ready to play.

STG received one of the units to test out and see if it’s up to grade.

Super sleek in black the HP Omen 16 looks the part and Omen have adopted a full RGB lighting array for their keyboard, not the usual static red, customizable via HP’s own Lighting Studio app.

The 16.1 inch screen has a 165hz refresh rate for it’s vivid anti-glare micro-edge display. And micro-edge it is with a slimmed down side bezel.

There’s no 4K, but you will get FHD (1920 x 1080).

Under the hood there’s Intel’s 16th gen i7 processors coupled with 32GB RAM and a generous 1TB SSD.

A NVIDIA GEForce RTX 3070 powers the eye candy.

The best innovation HP have added to their HP Omen 16 laptop is the power cell.

The battery is purported to last a full 9 hours with average use.

After setting up the review model it was time to get some gaming in.

Cranking up the likes of Forza Horizon 5 in all of it’s glory, with no settings dimmed down the HP Omen 16 handled like a well serviced supercar.

While minimal of screen latency is important when you’re on the track, it’s critical and can mean life or death in battle.

Call of Duty Vanguard had me at my optimal. No screen tearing, blips or drag. Infact I think that the gameplay was more fluid than I’ve ever experienced.

But if you want something with detailed colour, Borderlands 3. This totally popped and again was a seamless streamlined play, both in visuals and playthrough.

All games I played on battery. Would the HP Omen 16 actually last the distance they said it would?

Yes and no.

From full charge to near dead, Forza was 4 hours of non-stop tarmac simulation. Borderlands 3 surprisingly lasted the longest at around 5 and a half hours and Call of Duty Vanguard draining the battery in just over 3 hours.

All of those are good innings though.

So if you’re inclined to pack up your laptop and head over to a mates, or play somewhere where there is A/C adaptor you’ll be sweet for a few hours. Excellent for eSports bouts too.

As great as all of this is there was one thing I had a concern over. Build quality.

Moments of utter darkness in games give you that suspenseful even nerve racking moment. Especially in something like one of the later Resident Evils.

The review model I received in to STG had a very noticeable light leak around the edges of the screen.

Darkened areas were ruined by shafts of white light peeking from edges.

Sure, you’re only going to notice this if you’re playing something onscreen that is rendered in low or zero light. If playing something that’s not so dim and foreboding you wont even see it.

The HP Omen 16, like any good gaming laptop has more than enough ports to connect up all of your gear.

Two USB sockets on the right with another on the left side. The left side is where most of your connectors are placed.

Ethernet, HDMI (only one), USB-C, mini-display, headset / mic and an SD reader.

I reckon ditching the SD card reader and placing in another HDMI would have been ideal.

For those of us that play online, HP have added a Network Booster in to their HP Gaming Hub app which is natively installed on the laptop.

This aims to ensure that your network connection, wireless or connected, does not drop, essentially giving it a front-of-the-line status over and above any other apps.

During my time of online play I never encountered any drops or lag.

To keep things cool and calm during the heat of the moment HP have their own signature ‘Tempest Cooling’ setup. This distributes heat from the device outwards venting through two large fans at the base.

There’s also additional vents at the back.

I never experienced any heat build up but the laptop did get warm with Call of Duty.

While the size of the HP Omen 16 screams out portability, some may want to keep it on a desk. It’s not overly heavy, but it’s not a lightweight either.

Coming in at a solid 2.32kg you’re not really wanting to go too far with it.

Mention of audio needs to be in here too. HP have sound designed by Bang and Olufsen, with DTX thrown in for good measure.

If you game with a high quality headset, you’re absolutely going to notice the difference. If to describe it, either in game or streaming quality media it’s similar to having a 5.1 surround system clasps to your ears.

Good stuff.

In all the HP Omen 16 is an excellent gaming laptop able to perform without a glitch, but is super pricey at just over $5K (NZD).

Still, if you’ve got deep pockets and looking for something to get you ahead of your opponents the HP Omen 16 might just be that weapon of choice.

The post HP Omen 16 Gaming Laptop Review appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

For the second time in a year, Intel has dropped a new generation of CPUs for our PCs.

The 12th generation Intel CPUs, codenamed Alder Lake, promise to be more powerful and more efficient than their predecessors. This is down to a totally new design that moves away from that of the past few years. This change presents users with advantages and disadvantages.

Over the past few years, Intel had been effectively been presenting the same series of CPUs each year with the odd tweak and new feature thrown in. They have been so similar that we’ve even been able to get away with using the same motherboard across generations, albeit with some restrictions.

For the 12th generation of Intel’s CPUs, it’s all changed. Intel sent over a Core i5-12600K and a Core i9-12900K for us to test.

To accommodate these new chips, PCs will need a new motherboard, and perhaps a new cooler. Users wanting to make the most of their new CPUs will also need to source some ridiculously expensive DDR5 memory, an upgrade from the current DDR4 memory that’s rather scarce at the moment but, for the moment, at least, not really that much faster.

There are 12th generation motherboards that can still use DDR4 memory and, in the absence of being able to economically procure any DDR5 modules that’s what we used to test these new CPUs.

The test machine consisted of an ASUS TUF Gaming Z690-Plus WiFi D4 motherboard with CPU cooling via a Corsair H150i Elite LCD all-in-one cooler, 16GB of Kingston Fury Renegade DDR4-4600 RAM, and Nvidia RTX 2080 Ti GPU, all encompassed in a very airy Corsair 7000D Airflow tower case.

Being “K” CPUs, both the Core i5-12600K and Core i9-12900K CPUs are unlocked and thus capable of being overclocked. For the tests, I used the AI overclock built into the Asus motherboard to give the CPUs a boost. This is not an extreme overclock by manually adjusting voltages and clock timings, just the board tweaking the CPU according to performance.

I’d expect anyone buying unlocked CPUs like these to at least take advantage of this sort of facility. With Asus boards, it’s an easy one-click solution that ensures that you get the most out of your investment, as long as you have a decent cooling solution.

Anticipating some raised temperatures with the i9 and wanting to simulate a reasonable build for housing a $1000 CPU, I figured a decent AIO cooler was in order.

The Corsair H150i Elite LCD cooler has a 360mm radiator equipped with three 120mm fans pushing an airflow between 14.86 – 58.10 CFM. This fan is one of the first to come complete with standoffs suitable for the Alder Lake CPUs’ LGA 1700 sockets. My cooler arrived without the LGA 1700 parts which could have been a problem. Thankfully, the H150i Elite LCD is essentially the same spec as an iCue H150i Elite Capellix CPU cooler, for which Corsair sells LGA 1700 update kits.

The H150i Elite LCD radiator is over 400mm long, necessitating a case that could accommodate it. With GPUs getting bigger and bigger, replacing the previous test rig case with a tower seemed like a good idea. Enter the Corsair 7000D Airflow tower case. With its three sock fans, the 7000D Airflow pushes a fair amount of air across your components.

The case has room for over a dozen fans should I wish to increase the flow to the max in the future. Even the huge ASUS TUF Gaming Z690-Plus WiFi D4 motherboard looks tiny in the huge internal cavity of the 7000D, perfect for a test rig that’s constantly having components swapped out.

For the actual testing, in addition to my old favourites, the readily available Performance Test 10.1, Cinebench R.23, and the Blender 2.931 benchmark, I drafted in a few more tests. The idea is to not only check performance from a theoretical stance but to use tools capable of simulating real-world applications.

3D Mark is a test app that I usually reserve for GPUs, but the recent addition of the CPU Profile test makes it a good tool for checking CPUs as well. As well as the new CPU Profile tests, I also ran the Timespy Extreme benchmark to obtain comparable CPU scores in a more game-like setting.

3D Mark’s stablemate, PC Mark 10, is a fairly inexpensive suite of benchmark tests that use real-world application scenarios. The test can be used to derive PC performance in a range of tasks including office productivity, video editing, and photo editing.

The suite uses freeware programs running scripts to gauge the benchmark results.

Procyon is PC Mark’s big brother, the professional benchmarking suite from UL. The office productivity test uses an installation of Microsoft Office to obtain real-world scores using Word, Excel, etc. The photo editing benchmark using Adobe Lightroom to, again, obtain real performance benchmarks. The video editing benchmark runs Adobe Premiere Pro to evaluate performance.

Using commercial software packages UL Procyon provides a valuable insight into system performance in a non-simulated, real-world environment.

CrossMark from BapCo is a cross-architecture performance benchmark program aimed at professional users. It’s an unbiased test that can be used to compare performance across multiple platforms such as Windows, iOS, macOS, iPadOS, and Android. The one test uses open-source applications to assess systems and provide scores across productivity, creativity, and responsiveness.

Performance Test 10.1 is an inexpensive benchmark that is used to score the entire system. It is available as a time-limited evaluation and good for a quick check that everything is working OK. The program not only scores each individual component (CPU, RAM, storage, etc.) but also yields a percentile comparison with other systems that have performed the tests.

Cinebench R.23 is a good freeware test as it checks not only multi-core speeds but also single-core speeds. With most marketing touting a CPU’s top speed, which is usually on a single or with only a couple of cores in use, this figure can be misleading when using software that’s making full use of the CPU. Based on the Cinebench 3D modelling and rendering suite Cinebench offers another real-world test.

Finally, the Blender 2.931 benchmark. This uses the latest version of the open-source rendering software to provide benchmark rendering times across several projects for a direct comparison of system performance with the Blender rendering engine.

Installation of the CPUs should be no trouble for anyone that has installed Intel chips in the past. The LGA 1700 socket is slightly longer than previous iterations, but providing you spot and match up the little triangles on the socket and the CPU, you can’t go wrong.

For the i5-12600K tests, I used the thermal paste reapplied to the AIO cooler, but for the i9-12900K I used a blob of Arctic MX-4 thermal paste.

As a sensibility check, I carried out the same benchmark tests using the Core i9-10900K review rig, sporting an Nvidia RTX 3090. As we are only interested in the PCU results, the superior performance of the RTX GPU isn’t an issue, as the results will reveal.

Prior to the installation of the 12th-Gen CPUs, the test rig was running a Core i9-11900K. Whilst an impressive CPU, it was not much of an upgrade from its 10th-Gen counterpart. I found the 11th-Gen Core i9 to run hot with thermal and power throttling getting in the way of its potential. The less-than-impressive performance of the 11th-Gen CPU is likely due to Intel wringing the last bit of power out of the 14nm process that they have been employing since 2014.

For the 12th Gen CPUs Intel has switched to a 10mn process which they refer to as Intel 7.

This, with the inclusion of two types of processor cores, should see some interesting gains. The performance cores (P-cores) are the main CPU cores designed for single and lightly threaded performance tasks like those associated with gaming and productivity application. The Efficient-cores (E-cores) are optimised for scaling multi-threaded workloads and minimise interruptions from background tasks. Threads and workloads are handled by the built-in thread director which works with the operating system to allocate tasks.

On the subject of operating systems, Windows 11 is recommended to get the most out of 12th-Gen CPUs, and you may see some performance gains. Most people running Windows 10 should have had the opportunity to upgrade to Windows 11 free of charge by now.

On to the results.

First up was the Core i5-12600K. I loved the bang for your buck that the i5-11600K gave me, so I was expecting big things from this CPU.

What I didn’t expect was for it to leave my Core i9-10900K in its dust. For a mid-range CPU, costing half the price of the top-of-the-range CPU from only just over a year ago, to beat it is a shocker.

The Core i5-12600K is an unlocked CPU with 10 cores. That six performance cores and four efficient cores. The stock P-core maximum turbo frequency is 4.90 GHz with the E-core maximum at 3.60 GHz. The Asus motherboard AI overclock took the P-core maximum for two active cores to 5.0 GHz, three to four active cores to 4.8 GHz, and five to six to 4.6 GHz. The one-click overclock raised the E-core frequency to 3.7 GHz across the board.

It also has integrated Intel UHD Graphics 770 which is fine for casual use but nothing else. I expect a non-GPU equipped CPU to be released soon, but for the minuscule cost-saving, it’s probably worth having the UHD GPU to fall back on or to run a supplementary display.

Across the PC Mark, UL Procyon, Crossmark, Performance Test, and Cinebench result, the Core i5-12600K beat the Core i9-10900K. It was only with the Blender result, which was pretty much in parity, and the 3D Mark CPU score that the new i5 didn’t hold its ground so much.

The 3D Mark CPU thread tests were about equal, the gap widening with fewer threads under test. The division of work between the P and E core may be something to do with this, but still an excellent result.

Checking Core i5-12600K temperatures using the Intel Extreme Tuning Utility stress test have the CPU reaching a max temp of 60-degrees with an average of around 50-degrees C. This is with all 10 cores running flat out at 100%. The utility also did not report any power or thermal throttling during the 20-minute stress test.

Whist the detailed results can be viewed below, as an overview, it would be fair to say that a 12th Gen Intel Core i5-12600K performs at a similar level to that of a 2020 10th-Gen Intel Core i9-10900K CPU. These results make the Core i5-12600K a very good CPU for gaming and application performance. It also seems to be a very cool CPU, topping out at 50-degrees, making me wonder how much headroom it has for the dedicated overclocker.

The Core i9-12900K is the flagship of Intel’s 12th-generation family of CPUs. packed with a whopping 16 cores and, like the i5 manufactured using 10nm fabrication, this could be the ultimate gaming CPU. The CPU has 16 cores, that’s 8 performance cores and 8 efficient cores. The base P-core max boost is 5.1 GHz with the E-cores’ being 3.9GHz.

The ASUS AI overclock increased this to 5.3GHz for a single P-core, 5.2GHz for 2 cores, 5.1 for 3-4 cores, and 5.0 for 5-8 cores. For the E-cores the basic AI overclock boosted the frequencies to 4.0GHz. As with the Core i5, the i9 has integrated Intel UHD Graphics 770.

The i9 was tested using the same ASUS motherboard, memory, and cooling solution. I went in expecting big things but wasn’t quite expecting these results. In every test, the 12th Gen CPU performed significantly better than both my existing 10th Gen i9-10900K and the 12th Gen i5-12600K.

For the Core i9-12900K, the PC Mark 10 tests yielded an average performance increase of 29% over the 10th Gen i9 and 12% over the Core i5-12600K. Of note was the whopping 54% increase for the main PC Mark 10 score over the Core i9-10900K.

UL Procyon averaged a 34.13% increase over the 10^th-Gen Core i9 and 8.6% over the 12th-Gen Core i5. Crossmark produced similar results with a 45.22% increase over the Core i9-10800K and 14.1% over the Core i5-12600K.

The Core i9-12900K bumped the Performance Test 10.1 percentile result up to perform better than 96% of tested machines. For the Cinebench tests, the single-core result was 1821 compared to the i5’s 1784, but still significantly better than the i9-10800K’s 1269. The Cinebench multicore test raced ahead up to 25343 from the i5’s 17113 and the 10th Gen i9’s 14291.

The Blender rendering test saw the Core i9-12900K render over a minute faster than that of the Core i5-12600K across all the scenes. The 3D Mark CPU profile results showed the Core i9-12900K performing over 30% better than the i5 and the 10th Gen i9, but only marginally faster than the i5 for single the thread score. The 3D Mark TimeSpy Extreme CPU score again saw the i9 scoring over 30% better than the other CPUs.

The Intel Extreme stress test with the Core i9-12900K running at 100% across 16 cores saw the CPU reach a maximum temperature of 81-degrees C, averaging at 71-degrees. As with the i5, there was no thermal or power throttling during the test.

The results for the Core i9-12900K show a CPU that offers a significant upgrade over a two-year-old Intel i9 PC. Users putting the CPU to work on productivity applications will get the best out of the CPU, as will gamers playing games initialising multiple cores.

Older titles will likely not see much of a performance boost.

As well as performance, there are other reasons why an upgrade to Intel’s 12th-Gen CPUs may be in order. As I’ve mentioned, DDR5 is not really a good enough reason right now, but it will be as the modules get faster and (hopefully) cheaper.

PCI 5.0 is another new technology that is perhaps a little before its time with the 12th Gen CPUs, but with compatible SSD promising 13,000MB/s transfer speed just around the corner, it’s worth watching.

After the less-than-dramatic performance increases I saw from the 10th Gen to the 11th Gen, I wasn’t expecting much from the Alder Lake CPUs. It would seem that the 10nm production technology has yielded CPUs that can not only operate faster but also at lower temperatures.

As is always the case, it’s the Core i5 that offers gamers the best bang for their buck, with the i9’s price tag making it only for the most discerning gamer.

Users wanting top-of-class performance will, however, be very happy with the performance gains to had from the Core i9-12900K.

The post 12th Gen Intel Core i5-12600K & Core i9-12900K CPU Review appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

Recently I reviewed the Surface Go 3. A light weight model designed for students and mid-range users.

But if you want the power for the on-the-go Microsoft’s newly released Surface Pro 8 has got the goods.

A stunning 13 inch Pixel Sense Flow display with 120Hz refresh rate and resolution coming in at 2880 x 1920.

A nicely slimmed down bezel on either side of the screen in portrait mode the tablet hybrid comes with the refreshing and intuitive Windows 11 Home Edition pre-installed.

The model that we received has intel’s 11th Gen i7 processors with data crunching power @ 4.8 GHz, 12GB RAM and 256GB storage. While most don’t know of the feature of being able to add a microSD card to bolster your digital hoarding (the slot is behind the back kickstand), Microsoft confusingly removed this from the Surface Pro 8 (the Surface Go 3 has one).

Still if you’re wanting to download the internet on to your Surface Pro 8, likely you’ll use an external drive, or cloud to store your digital goodies.

Built for the pro’s, the specs are more than enough to get you content creating, vlogging with the 4K, 1080p capable front and rear camera, video editing and of course, gaming… well, mostly.

Being a PC within tablet form then technically you can download, install any game from Steam, Microsoft store or Epic.

However this is where the graphical inner specs of the Surface Pro 8 will say ‘hold up there pal’.

There’s no NVIDIA or AMD here, instead is an on-board Intel Iris Xe.

Now the Iris Xe is not to be sniffed at. It has caching and even internal memory (1.6GB), and can handle 4K real easy.

But putting it to the test with the likes of Borderlands 3, Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands, Forza Horizons 5 and even Tomb Raider (Shadow of the Tomb Raider) it seemed to be a bit too much, graphically. Some games just plainly will not load up.

Scenes weren’t able to render properly, there was screen lag and in highly intensive action moments it staggered. (Okay to be fair Tomb Raider worked 90% okay).

Games of lesser ilk, ones that aren’t going to try and melt your graphics card play fine. Cuphead, Diablo III, Deathspank (an oldie but still a fav) and of course the Xbox Cloud gaming.

So yup, if the Cloud gaming service is available in your region, the Surface Pro 8 is exactly the weapon you need to pick up and play anywhere.

You’ll need to have a Bluetooth connected Xbox One or Xbox Series X|S controller with you, as it is impossible to play via the touchscreen.

Using a third party USB connected one will be tricky though. you’ll need an adaptor as the Surface Pro 8 has two Thunderbolt slots with a 3.5mm headphone / mic jack.

Speaking of accessories, Microsoft has also released keyboard covers in varying colours and their Surface Pen (both sold separately).

Combining the two, the Surface Pen instantly works with your Surface Pro and charges via the designated resting indent on the Surface keyboard. The Surface Pen is an ideal tool for content creators.

The backlit chiclet, slim Surface keyboard itself is super light weight and connects to your Surface Pro 8 magnetically, drawing its power from the tablet – but without affecting the lifespan.

Microsoft have put a lot of intention in to the battery on all models of the new Surface’s.

The Surface Pro 8’s battery is purported to run for a whopping 16 hours on a single full charge.

Right now I’m writing this review on the Surface Pro 8 and haven’t charged it in the past two days, with 30% remaining power right now.

Sure, it will depend on what you run on the Surface Pro 8.

Trying to run larger and meatier games drained it quicker, still I was never caught short after 8 hours.

The charger is the magnetic Surface universal snap on and from totally dead to full took around 40 minutes. For a battery that’s going to last you near to a day or more that’s a real good charge up time.

The Surface Pro 8 is currently the Surface to rule them all.

It’s the big tamale of the current lineup and it shows, from the moment your first power it on to when you start running your digital goodness on it.

The Surface Pro 8 always keeps its cool and is ready to go when you are.

The post Microsoft Surface Pro 8 Review appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

What started out as an interactive (and super expensive) coffee table back in 2008, Microsoft’s Surface tablet hybrid has been around since 2012.

Nine years in, the Surface range has adapted and expanded to all users, so here and now we have the Surface Go3.

Slated more towards students and lighter PC users that need Windows on the go, the Surface Go3 has Intel’s latest (11th gen) i3 processors coupled with 256GB internal storage and 8GB RAM.

Lay it flat on a table, desk or lap or use the kick-stand and prop it upright for video calls, media binging or viewing presentations, the Surface Go3 is as versatile as it is functional.

A little known feature of the Surface tablets is that under the back flap there’s a microSD slot.

I’m happy to see that Microsoft has retained this in the Go3. So for a few extra dollars you can expand your internal storage by getting yourself an external card.

As the base model has 128GB you may want to expand.

Ports are minimal but you do get some. There’s the magnetic charger slot, a 3.5mm mic or headphone jack and one USB-C socket. Via the USB-C port you can add an external monitor (with an adaptor not included, or a monitor that supports USB-C directly).

The Surface Go3, as mentioned, is built for lighter use, students, teachers, administrative workers and the pricing of the Go3 also reflects the lesser capacity.

Microsoft have added in enough RAM to see you multitasking like a pro. The Intel Iris on-board graphics chip is enough for all media to display, except for basically any form of gaming.

Out of the box with the lighter, crispier Windows 11 Home Edition, Microsoft’s newest operating system, the Surface Go3 is super light, vivid with a high-res (1920×1080) 10.5 inch PixelSense touchscreen and dual audio.

The screen does have a chunky bezel to it though.

Video calls or conferencing will see you at your full HD glory. Both front and back camera’s come in at 1080p.

To give yourself the full laptop experience you can get a (separately sold) magnetic clip-on softly textured and styled chiclet keyboard. I recommend getting one actually.

The keyboard will use the Surface’s battery to power it’s backlight yet doesn’t impede the battery life whatsoever. For note taking or finer touch ups you can also pair it with Microsoft’s Surface Pen (sold separately).

But the best feature of the Go3 is the battery. On a single charge you’ll get up to 11 hours use.

In my time with the Go3 the base unit that STG received I was able to get more than the stated maximum. After 15 hours from a full charge I had 3% remaining. This was in constant use for browsing, media streaming and even writing this review.

Using the universal Surface magnetic charger, from flat to full takes around 20 – 30 minutes.

Given the current state of working and learning from home (at the time of writing this review) Microsoft offer up a super reliable Windows based tablet that’s as multifunctional as it is portable.

As an entry point in to Surface computing the Go3 ticks most boxes for me and is always ready to ‘go’ when you are.

The post Microsoft Surface Go3 Review appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

Samsung adds play time to work time and offers up smarts to go along with your desktop with their 32 inch M5 Smart Monitor.

The FHD (1920 x 1080) is not your typical computer monitor.

Coming with a full sized remote the M5 Smart Monitor comes with entertainment and Microsoft 365 apps built in.

Switch from boring work related stuff to your fav show on Netflix – or if you can’t take a break just yet (even a sneaky one) you don’t necessarily need to be tied to your desk with remote access to the Microsoft apps.

The remote that it comes with has Bixby voice command. giving this a test took a few goes before Bixby got it right.

A tactile speak button on the controller works fine – it was Bixby just not quite understanding commands properly. Eventually it got there.

While it does have a 16:9 ratio and HDR it missed out on 4K or even 8K gloriousness to the likes of their Smart TVs.

There are x2 HDMI inputs, one being ARC and x2 USB 3.0.

There is a small amount of DIY where you’re going to need to place the monitor stand on – but easy enough with a couple of screws.

Samsung also include an HDMI cable and of course AC.

As a desktop monitor the M5 Smart Monitor fits the bill. It’s sharp and high res enough for most (60Hz refresh).

The same can be said for streaming your media apps – but if you’re going to use the M5 in a larger room for your series binging it’s not going to cut it. It’s surprising how small 32 inches has become in one’s living room.

Same can be said for gaming. The M5 Smart Monitor is not ideal for either PC or console gaming if you want that visual detail.

But this is not really what Samsung had in mind when they produced the M5.

A one stop monitor, the M5 Smart Monitor will also connect wirelessly to your Samsung smartphone and utilizes DEX without the cables.

I would have like to see more connectivity options such as Display Port and USB-C, perhaps we will see those in future models.

In all the M5 Smart Monitor does exactly what it says. It’s a mid range desktop screen with entertainment media apps built in. A hybrid in the computer monitor market.

Priced surprisingly pocket friendly it’s perfect for students who are staying in a dorm or flatting, for those working from home that find themselves chained to their desks or for you if you’re wanting something a little different and convenient.

The post Samsung 32″ M5 Smart Monitor Review appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

With 14.7 million pixels, 1 billion colours, 500 nits of brightness, and support for P3 wide colour, the Retina display on iMac delivers an immersive front-of-screen viewing experience. All those pixels result in text that looks like a printed page, sharper photos with more detail, and the ability to edit 4K video at full resolution. And now the stunning Retina 5K display on the 27-inch iMac features True Tone technology, which automatically adjusts the colour temperature of the display to match a user’s ambient lighting.

The new iMac offers a nano-texture glass option — first introduced on Pro Display XDR — for even better viewing under various lighting conditions, such as a bright room or indirect sunlight. Unlike typical matte finishes that have a coating added to the surface to scatter light, this industry-leading option is produced through an innovative process that etches the glass itself at the nanometer level. The result is extremely low reflectivity and less glare while maintaining stellar image quality and contrast, and a Retina 5K display that is more gorgeous than ever.

For those using their iMac more than ever to connect with friends, family, and colleagues, the FaceTime HD camera now features 1080p resolution, while the Image Signal Processor in the T2 Security Chip brings tone mapping, exposure control, and face detection for a much higher quality camera experience. To complement the improved camera, the T2 Security Chip also works with the speakers to enable variable EQ for better balance, higher fidelity, and deeper bass. In addition, a new studio-quality microphone array enables users to capture high-quality audio for improved FaceTime calls, podcast recordings, Voice Memos, and more, right on their iMac.

The post iMac Gets a Major Update appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

Apple today previewed macOS Big Sur, the latest version of the world’s most advanced desktop operating system.

macOS Big Sur introduces a beautiful redesign that is entirely new yet instantly familiar. Safari is packed with new features, including a customisable start page, elegantly designed and more powerful tabs, quick and easy translation, and a new Privacy Report. The updated Messages app lets Mac users send and receive more personal and expressive messages, and easily keep track of and interact within group messages. Maps also offers an all-new experience with immersive features for exploring and navigating the world.

“macOS Big Sur is a major update that advances the legendary combination of the power of UNIX with the ease of use of the Mac, and delivers our biggest update to design in more than a decade,” said Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president of Software Engineering. “With its modern and clean look, huge improvements to key apps including Safari, Messages, and Maps, and new privacy features, we think everyone is going to love the breakthrough experience that macOS Big Sur offers.”

macOS Big Sur delivers a spacious new design that makes navigation easier, while putting more controls at users’ fingertips. Everything from the curvature of window corners to the palette of colours and materials has been refined, and new features provide even more information and power. Icons in the Dock have been thoughtfully designed to be more consistent with icons across the Apple ecosystem while retaining their Mac personality. Buttons and controls appear when needed, and recede when they’re not. The entire experience feels more focused, fresh, and familiar, reducing visual complexity and bringing users’ content front and centre.

The customisable menu bar features an all-new Control Centre, delivering quick access to controls from the desktop. An updated Notification Centre includes more interactive notifications and redesigned widgets that come in different sizes, providing users with more relevant information at a glance. And a new design for core apps brings more organisation to multiple open windows and makes interacting with apps even easier.

In the biggest update to Safari since its original launch in 2003, the world’s fastest browser is even faster, providing industry-leading speed1 and battery life. Safari’s fast JavaScript engine helps it outperform other browsers on Mac and PC, and Safari loads frequently visited sites an average of 50 percent faster than Chrome. Tabs have been entirely redesigned to make navigating with Safari faster and more powerful by showing more tabs onscreen, displaying favicons by default to easily identify open tabs, and giving users a quick preview of a page by simply hovering over the tab.

Safari brings new features for greater personalisation while browsing the web. Users can customise the new start page with a background image and sections like their Reading List and iCloud Tabs. With built-in translation, Safari can detect and translate entire webpages from seven languages with just a click. Users can further personalise their experience with improved support for extensions, and the Mac App Store makes it easy to discover and download great Safari extensions with a new category that includes editorial spotlights and top charts.

Privacy has always been built into Safari, and a new Privacy Report delivers added visibility into how Safari protects browsing activity across the web. Users can choose when and which websites a Safari extension can work with, and tools like data breach password monitoring never reveal your password information — not even to Apple.

Messages on the Mac includes new tools to better manage important conversations and share expressive messages. Users can now pin their favourite conversations to the top of their messages list for fast access, and search has been entirely redesigned — organising results into links, photos, and matching terms — to help users quickly find what they are looking for.

Message effects let users add personality to their messages with balloons, confetti, and more. Users can now create and customise their Memoji on the Mac, and express themselves with Memoji stickers to match their mood and personality. And with a new photo picker and #images, it’s easy to quickly share images, GIFs, and videos.

New group messaging features streamline interactions with family, friends, and colleagues. Inline replies enable users to respond directly to a message, and now they can direct a message to an individual in a group conversation by simply typing their name. And users can now set a photo or an emoji for their group conversation that’s shared with all members of the group.

Completely redesigned for macOS Big Sur, Maps brings new features for exploring the world. Discover places to visit and things to do with Guides from trusted resources, or create custom guides of favourite restaurants, parks, and vacation spots that can be shared with friends and family. Get a 360-degree view of a destination with Look Around, and browse detailed indoor maps of major airports and shopping centres. Cycling and electric vehicle trips can now be routed on a Mac, and sent directly to iPhone to have when on the go.

Privacy is at the core of the Mac experience, and macOS Big Sur offers users even more transparency and control over their data. Inspired by the convenience and readability of food nutrition labels, new privacy information detailed in the Mac App Store will help users understand the privacy practices of apps before downloading them, including the types of data the apps might collect — such as usage, contact information, or location — and whether that data is shared with third parties for tracking.

macOS Big Sur will be available this fall as a free software update.

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The post Apple introduces macOS Big Sur appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

Intel introduced today the 10th Gen Intel Core S-series desktop processors, including Intel’s flagship Core i9-10900K processor, the world’s fastest gaming processor.

With speeds reaching up to a maximum of 5.3 GHz with Intel Thermal Velocity Boost out of the box, 10th Gen Intel Core desktop processors deliver real-world performance for a new level of experience in gaming.

“Intel is committed to enabling the future of powerful desktop gaming by continuously pushing the performance boundary to deliver an amazing PC gaming experience. The 10th Gen Intel Core S-series for desktops, and the Intel Core i9-10900K processor, the world’s fastest gaming processor reinforces our commitment to the gaming and enthusiast communities”, Brandt Guttridge, Intel senior director of the Desktop Products Group.

At the top of the stack is the unlocked 10th Gen Intel Core i9-10900K, the world’s fastest gaming processor, featuring up to 10 cores, 20 threads and DDR4-2933 memory speeds. The i9-10900K processor powers the ultimate gaming experience, allowing more tuning control, faster multitasking and smoother gameplay. The new Intel Turbo Boost Max Technology 3.0 provides automatic performance boosts on lightly threaded applications, while per-core hyperthreading control allows experienced overclockers to decide which threads to turn on or off on a per-core basis. Improvements in this generation include

• Up to 187 frames per second for in-game performance while streaming and recording, and up to 63 percent more frames per second in gaming compared with a 3-year-old PC.
• Up to 12 percent faster video editing compared with the previous generation, and up to 15 percent faster video editing compared with a 3-year-old PC.
• Up 18 percent faster 4K video editing compared with the previous generation, and up to 35 percent faster 4K video editing compared with a 3-year-old PC.
• Up to 31 percent better overall system performance compared with a 3-year-old PC.

The 10th Gen Intel Core S-series processors deliver smooth gameplay through best-in-class connectivity, immersive entertainment and enhanced streaming.

• Intel Thermal Velocity Boost: Gamers and creators get an opportunistic and automatic boost across single-core and multicore workloads, with up to 5.3 GHz.
• Intel Hyperthreading Technology: Now across 10th Gen Intel Core i9 to i3 processors.
• Enhanced Core & Memory Overclocking: Gain ultimate control when overclocking your processor and key system components with features enabled by new unlocked and overclockable 10th Gen Intel Core processors.
• Intel Ethernet Connection I225: Now available on the 10th Gen platform, 2.5G Intel Ethernet Connector I225 delivers greater than two times the network speeds of 1GB Ethernet on existing cabling.
• Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX201: Now integrated into 10th Gen Intel Core desktop processors, Intel Wi-Fi 6 (Gig+) delivers responsive gameplay, nearly three times faster downloads and more reliable connections. Delivers best-in-class connectivity with the freedom and flexibility to game or create anywhere throughout the home or office.

10th Gen Intel Core S-series processors are expected to be available globally through normal retail channels and in desktops sold worldwide by OEMs and channel system integrators, starting in May 2020.

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Laptops are pretty boring.

The ideal type of a laptop was, I believe, set way back at the introduction of the Apple Titanium Powerbook, back in 2004. Since then, it’s been a slow process of refinement, with a major shakeup in design inspired by 2008’s introduction of the MacBook Air and the rise of ultrabooks.

Sure, the introduction of the Microsoft Surface line shook up the industry, but that design sensibility has remained a nice in the broader PC and laptop landscape.

But with the ASUS Zenbook Duo, we may be seeing a re-imagining of fundamental concepts of laptop design. With touchscreens dominating so much of our lives as both consumption and input devices, it makes sense that our laptops would start to integrate them in meaningful ways. It’s easy to put a touch-sensitive layer on a standard display, but that won’t fundamentally change how you interact with a computer. Instead, by putting a screen next to the keyboard, you can open up new opportunities for consuming and working with content.

With this first stab, ASUS have shown that the idea has promise, and, unsurprisingly, having two monitors on the go is undeniably better than one. But there are a variety of implementation details that need work before the true potential of this sort of set up can be realised, and there are tradeoffs that you’ll need to carefully consider before you buy a Zenbook Duo for yourself.

But before we get to that second screen, what about the rest of the laptop? From the outside the Zenbook Duo is a sleek, thin laptop not crazily different from others on the market. It has a decent if not mind-blowing array of connectivity options for an ultrabook-style computer.

The main screen is a 1080p 15” IPS display, with strong colour reproduction if a little saturated. I’m a bit disappointed at the relatively low resolution of this screen. For a laptop that’s focused on work, business use and productivity rather than gaming, a 1080p screen unfortunately doesn’t get you to a “retina” grade dots per inch. With such high resolution phones and tablets, this seems like a missed opportunity, particularly for video editors, who I believe would otherwise love this laptop, and I would have liked to see at least a 1440p display.

The secondary screen, above the keyboard, is half the size but actually a higher resolution on a dots per inch basis, which is welcome but creates a strange disconnect between the screens.

On one your window or cursor will be bigger on the other. It’s also touch-enabled, and my model of the Zenbook Duo comes with a stylus that doesn’t quite match the responsiveness of an Apple Pencil, but does quite well at tracking your motion and has a couple of buttons on it to boot. Being touch-enabled, there’s some special software to place not only normal Windows, well, windows, but also a small range of specially-built apps, such as a handwriting surface or a number pad / calculator.

Of course you could also drag down any other app that you have open on your main screen. I found it useful when I wanted to keep an eye on a progress bar, or to keep a Windows Explorer window open at all times, or even to monitor my email inbox without that taking up a significant portion of my normal screen real estate.

But there’s signs that while the hardware is sound, more attention needs to be given to the polish of the user experience as a whole. Whether these are limitations of the Operating System, Windows 10, or a sign that ASUS needs to pay a bit more attention is unknown, but the result is an experience that’s exciting but also jarring, where the promise of solid design doesn’t quite hold true with extended use.

Those issues, combined with the strange (but surprisingly good) trackpad and keyboard placement, make this laptop a very niche purchase.

I think it’s okay with that – it’s never going to be a massive seller, and with ASUS’ vast range of laptops it’s not like the company isn’t providing other options. But I do recommend going out and trying this laptop for yourself before committing. Some will love its forward-looking design and commitment to a two-screen experience, while for others a more traditional laptop form factor will be their preference.

The ASUS Zenbook Duo really is a product to behold.

And while it will not be for everyone, I can see certain segments embracing this new form factor, finding productive uses for the second screen while still enjoying the bright (if disappointingly low resolution) main screen that doesn’t seem to impact the quite good battery life. It will be interesting to see whether this is a trend that the industry gets behind, as future refinements of this premise could make a second screen seem natural, and eventually, expected.

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