The best Australian Chromecast deals in May 2017

The Google Chromecast is not only one of the most useful and innovative gadgets of the last few years, it’s also dazzlingly cheap. And if you’re looking to pick one up for the cheapest possible price, you’ve come to the right place!

Chromecast is a Wi-Fi HDMI dongle that you plug directly into your TV. From there you can use your smartphone or tablet to ‘throw’ video at your TV over Wi-Fi – whether it be Netflix movies, live football matches from the major broadcasters or simply just a funny YouTube video. On this page we’ll find you the best prices for the Chromecast Ultra, Chromecast 2 (or just Chromecast now) and Chromecast Audio and explain how they differ.

What is a good Chromecast deal?

This one’s easy. The standard price for a Chromecast 2 is $54. You should never, ever pay more than that because you can always find one for that price.

Chromecast 2 deals

The Chromecast 2, or ‘new Chromecast’ as it’s also known, is very similar to the now discontinued 2013 Chromecast. Sure, it looks a little different. And it’s got slightly faster network performance and a few other tweaks such as coming with a dangly cable instead of as a rigid stick. But essentially the same product in a different shape.

Chromecast Audio deals

While it doesn’t offer true multi-room streaming at the moment (fingers crossed that comes soon), this easy-to-use and affordable device modernises any trusty set of wired speakers you already own with wireless capabilities. In doing so, it also opens them up to features that will grow and get even better over time. Got an old set of speakers or an ancient iPod dock? Turn it into a wireless speaker with Chromecast Audio!

Chromecast Ultra deals

The 4K Chromecast Ultra is the newest member of the Chromecast family. If you have a 4K TV or are planning on getting one, it’s certainly worth picking one of these up. The Chromecast Ultra is a cheaper alternative to Amazon’s Fire TV or the US-only Roku 4 for getting 4K content on your TV. Chromecast Ultra deals are usually around $88, so anything cheaper is an added bonus.

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The best Windows 10 deals in May 2017

The deadline to get a free upgrade to Windows 10 has sadly now passed. Not to worry though as you can rely on Techradar to track down the best prices around for Microsoft’s latest operating system. Windows 10 is generally seen as an improvement over Windows 8 – yes, the Start button is back!

So, if you’re building a brand new system or want to upgrade to Windows 10 on an older device, you’re going to need to buy a copy. Don’t worry though, because we check the prices of Windows 10 every day to make sure you get the best deals. Deals below are for official copies of Windows 10 – no dodgy third party codes here!

Windows 10 Home deals

The perfect version of Windows for home users

Windows 10 Home is the version that most people will need. It’s for home use and includes game streaming from Xbox One and other consumer features like Cortana, as well as Windows Hello for logging into your PC via a fingerprint scanner or your face. If Windows 8 was the steepest learning curve imaginable, Windows 10 is like meeting a great friend you once knew again – it’s just that they’ve bought some new clothes of which you really do approve.

Windows 10 Pro deals

Go Pro if you think it’s worth paying more for the Pro features

Windows 10 Pro comes with security and management improvements over the Home version above. It includes Hyper-V for virtualisation, BitLocker whole disk encryption, enterprise mode IE, Remote Desktop, a version of the Windows Store for your own business and assigned access (which locks a PC to running only one modern application, to use like a kiosk). Network admins can also schedule updates so they don’t happen at important times.

Windows 7 deals

Windows 7 – because we fear change

What’s this? Windows 7 deals on a page that advertises Windows 10? We understand some of you really want to stick with Windows 7, maybe even on a new machine. Don’t worry, we totally get it. Maybe it’s because you have some hardware/software that works better on the old OS or it just feels better. Or maybe it’s because you’ve no time for the ridiculousness of the tiles format. Windows 7, the classic choice of the PC connoisseur?

Try our new Google Chrome add-on and never pay more than the cheapest prices ever again!

Pricehawk is a Chrome extension that will automatically find you the cheapest deals for the tech and games items you’re shopping for online. It’ll also let you know if there are voucher codes you can use to save even more money!

Visit Pricehawk: in the Google Chrome Store

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Review: Review: TI AMD Gaming Workstation

This PC comes from TI Computers and like its system from last month, also comes pre-overclocked out of the box.

The system is housed in a Cooler Master MasterBox5 chassis which has plenty of room inside for everything, even a 240mm radiator up front if desired. Two thirds of the front grill lifts off easily for cleaning as it acts as a filter for the included 120mm fan. The front IO panel has everything you’d expect including dual USB 3.0 ports. Up top it has a large vent suitable for up to a 140mm fan. Underneath there’s the removable dust filter for the PSU, and around the back the 120mm exhaust fan accompanies 2x USB 2.0 ports, 4x USB 3.0 ports, 2x USB 3.1 gen2 ports, a PS/2 port, DVI-D, VGA, HDMI (for future Ryzen APU support) and three audio jacks all on the motherboard. With the graphics card providing a further 2x Display Ports, 2x HDMI ports and another DVI-D port.

Looking inside the see-through side panel while it’s on you won’t see any RGB LEDs here, however the fans attached to the heatsink do have red LEDs at each corner providing some illumination. The 2TB hard drive sits in a cage at the lower front of the case, an optical drive up top and a modular 650W PSU in the lower rear. All the cabling is well-routed behind the motherboard tray with no excess cabling visible – very well put together.
The speedy Intel 600P series 256GB NVME SSD drive is slotted in between the HSF and the stock clocked GTX 1070.

Looking closer, the HSF is in a push-pull configuration with the exhaust aimed straight up out the top 170mm vent. With the 120mm fan exhausting out the rear you could almost argue there’s three fans cooling this CPU.

Speaking of which, this Ryzen 7 1700X’s base clock is normally 3.4GHz with a boost clock of 3.8GHz. This system came pre-overclocked at 3.75GHz @ 1.35v, slower than the CPU’s own boost speed. This got us wondering, what if we ran a test with the CPU at stock clocks, where boost and even XFR can kick in by themselves, and compare it to TI Computers’ OC at a fixed 3.75GHz. When running PCMark8’s Home Conventional test with AMD defaults we saw core frequencies spike to 3.9GHz (thanks XFR!) so we’re confident that the default clocks would win out. Scoring 4201 we then retested with TI Computers overclock. Despite the lower max speed the pre-made overclock won out scoring 4367. Obviously the CPU is downclocking more often than it is boosting, so the shop OC –  despite initial appearances – is better than stock.

Attempting to tune the overclock further ourselves, we managed to only raise it a little higher stably to 3.95GHz @ 1.4125v. For fun, we even disabled six of the eight cores and managed to go all the way to 4.25GHz with a silly 1.55v. With the CPU reporting near 110°C at just 3.95GHz (which is likely 90°C — see this issue’s Chip News section) with all cores enabled and anything higher causing an immediate crash we suspect the HSF cooler is inadequate for what this chip is actually capable of. For those who like to tinker, an all-in-one liquid cooler would’ve been preferred.

Benchmark results for 3DMark were quite good. Time Spy (DX12) gave us 6219 and Cloud Gate (DX11) reported 38894. When we tried them again with the CPU at our custom 3.95GHz speed and with the GPU at maximum overclock (which allowed it to go above 2GHz core speeds) Time Spy gave us 6413, Cloud Gate 40394 and PCMark8 4391, just a 4% increase. It appears TI Computers has wrung just about all it sensibly can from this system which is good to see.

Putting this into perspective, the 7700K system we reviewed last month (which is basically the same in every way expect CPU) came pre-overclocked at a massive 4.8GHz, giving Time Spy, Cloud Gate and PCMark8 scores of 6169, 37068 and 4825 respectively. With PCMark8 favouring single threaded performance this Ryzen system falls behind, but in the 3DMark tests – where a bit of multi-threading is included – Ryzen pulls ahead. And we didn’t even get around to testing things that would properly stress an eight core CPU.

And that’s the rub. This system doesn’t and never will have the fastest CPU for single or lightly threaded programs and games, but as soon as you want to throw some multi-threaded tasks like Twitch streaming, video editing or file compression at it, this system suddenly becomes a no brainer. Your workload simply needs to be able to make good use of it. A great PC for people who both work and game on the same system.

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Social media giants 'shamefully far' from tackling illegal content

Here's the pick of products from Acer's New York showcase event

My inbox received a veritable landslide of Acer press releases announcing a flurry of new tech for 2017 late last week and we’re just catching up with it now. Here’s a summary of the highlights.

Acer Windows Mixed Reality HMD Development Edition

Okay, it’s not the catchiest of product names, but there’s one thing that’s particularly appealing about this HoloLens-a-like: its price. While it could be compared to the $3,000 HoloLens, it’s real rivals are the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive. It undercuts both: Acer’s mixed reality product will be with us this holiday season for just $US299. 

It’s sensor free, lightweight, comfortable and pretty impressive overall. 

Acer Predator Triton 700

“Bah,” you might be saying. I wanted to spend far more than $300 on Acer brand goods. Well, my imaginary but spendthrift friend, allow me to introduce you to Acer’s new gaming laptop, the Predator Triton 700.

What do you get for your money? A super-thin gaming laptop that doesn’t scrimp on specs. It packs a 15.6in 1080p display, powered by an Intel Core i7-7700HQ processor, 16GB RAM and an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 graphics card. Weighing just 2.6kg, it should be easy enough to cart around, too.

Leap Ware Smartwatch

Smartwartches may be struggling right now, but that hasn’t put Acer off. The Leap Ware device is set to go on sale for $US149, and eschews Android Wear in favour of custom Acer software which pairs with the Acer Liquid Life app.

How does it differ from every other smartwatch on the market? Acer’s answer is sensors, and lots of ’em. The MT2511 bio-sensing chip promises to read the wearer’s stamina, stress, fatigue and blood pressure levels. If you think that’s the kind of information you want to know about yourself, keep an eye out for a review sometime later in 2017.

All-in-One Aspire U27 Desktops

Let’s talk desktops: specifically the all-in-one variety, where the computer is built into the monitor. Acer’s new line – the U27 – starts at $US1,099 and offers a fanless, liquid cooled design.

That’s great for people who dislike the sound of fans, though whether or not they’d actually get too noisy is debatable. The computers support the latest generation of Intel Core processors, and up to 32GB RAM.

Predator X27 4K gaming monitor

For now, Acer haven’t revealed pricing. And there’s likely a good reason for that: if I were a betting man, I’d say you should expect a price that will make your wallet wince.

Games’ll look nice, mind.

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Usenet Farm

If there’s one obvious pattern in the newsgroup industry, it’s that many of the leading providers are based in the Netherlands – and Usenet Farm is no different. The service is aimed at people who want a powerful yet affordable offering that puts privacy at the forefront.

Unlike other Usenet providers, you don’t need to enter all your personal details to use the platform. There aren’t any registration forms or passwords, meaning you don’t have to worry about your information being sold on to third parties, or spending time logging in. Instead, you just enter an email address and you’re sent a special login link.

There’s also an emphasis on anonymity. The company will only store your name and country, rather than all your personal details. And you have the option to pay for your account through Bitcoin, so no one will be able to track your payment details or transactions. As you can see, privacy is definitely at a premium here.

The company has also made a commitment to be transparent and listen to customers. It doesn’t offer services you don’t need, and when choosing a plan, you know exactly what you’re getting – there aren’t any hidden extras that may end up costing you more.

Performance

Retention is always important when it comes to performance – it refers to the amount of time articles are stored. Rates differ from provider to provider, although many offer over 1,000 days, and some over 3,000 days. Usenet Farm boasts a binary retention of 900 to 1,100 days. That’ll be fine for most users, and of course, these numbers can change over time.

Another key point about this company is that it’s capable of checking other Usenet services, if an article can’t be found on its own platform. Usenet Farm can also tap into Abavia (XS News) and Highwinds for articles. You get multiple platforms for the price of one, essentially.

UI and support

For any piece of software, the user experience is crucial. Fortunately, Usenet Farm does fine on this front, with a smooth interface and dedicated dashboard for members that allows for the viewing of statistics about your usage. This can be accessed via the main website, so you don’t need any additional components or software to get it working.

If you have a slow broadband connection, you can run into problems. While Usenet Farm aims to max out your connection speed as best as possible on anything but the most basic plan, if you run into performance issues, there are troubleshooting tips on the website’s FAQ page.

The firm also supports NTD/DMCA take-down, so you can report illegal content and it’ll be removed. There’s a specific form to facilitate this. In terms of other aspects of customer support, you can contact a member of the team via the website, and Usenet Farm aims to respond to tickets within 24 hours.

Pricing

Usenet Farm is not only affordable, but it doesn’t overwhelm you with subscription options.

The cheapest plan (cheekily named ‘stingy’) costs €4.95 (£4.20, $5.40) monthly, and you get 24Mbps of speed, 2TB of data and 40 connections. For the €7.95 (£6.75, $8.70) ‘To the max’ monthly plan, you’re given unlimited speed, 3TB of data and 40 connections. Lastly, you can get a block plan for a one-off payment of €15 (£12.70, $16.40). With this, you get unlimited speed, 500GB of data and 50 connections.

It’s worth mentioning that with the first two monthly plans, the data limit is simply a ‘fair-use’ allowance. In other words, you can download more than this, but after the data allowance has been exceeded, your download speed will be capped to 8Mbps for the remainder of the month. It will revert to the normal speed limit when the next monthly period arrives.

Final verdict

Usenet Farm is an interesting offering. It may not be as accommodating as other platforms when it comes to retention rates, but the firm makes up for this with a generous data allowance. As well as this, it’s good to see that this provider is keen to please on the privacy front.

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Galax HOF PCI-E 1TB SSD Review

Black Friday 2017 falls on November 24: here's what to expect

Black Friday 2017 is on Friday, 24 November

Black Friday 2017 is the biggest shopping day of the year and it’s a really big deal: last Black Friday in the UK we spent a whopping £1.23 billion – and over the Black Friday week, we spent £6.45 billion.

On Black Friday last year Target was shifting 3,200 TVs per minute, and in the first few hours of Black Friday Amazon had sold over 100,000 children’s toys.

In the US, Adobe reports that online sales hit $3.34 billion, with $1.2 billion of that coming from people using mobile devices. The most popular purchases? iPads and 4K Samsung TVs.

It’s ironic that Black Friday drives so much traffic to websites, because it used to be about more traditional traffic: the name was used by US police to describe the chaos when everybody hit the sales on the same day. Black Friday still happens on the High Street, but increasingly the best deals – and the most shoppers – are online.

When is Black Friday 2017?

Black Friday is the Friday immediately after the Thanksgiving holiday in the US, so Black Friday 2017 will be on November 24th.

It’s the starting gun of the Christmas shopping season, and it’s famous for what retailers call “doorbusters”: deals so good that shoppers will try and break down the front doors to get at them. Inevitably that means it’s also famous for shoppers battling one another, with each Black Friday bringing a new bunch of YouTube clips showing people fighting over flat-screen TVs.

Things got so bad on Black Friday 2014 that ASDA, Wal-Mart’s UK brand and the firm largely responsible for bringing Black Friday to the UK, decided not to do Black Friday 2015 or Black Friday 2016 at all. That proved to be an expensive decision. Like for like sales in the 13 weeks to January 1 2016 were down 5.8%, the firm’s worst quarterly sales ever.

By comparison, in 2014 John Lewis UK reported that its Black Friday sales were the highest weekly sales in the company’s 150-year history.

Why Black Friday matters

Black Friday has transformed the Christmas shopping season, for better and for worse. James Miller, senior retail consultant at Experian Marketing Services, told the BBC that “there is little doubt Black Friday has dramatically changed the way people shop in the run-up to Christmas and has created an expectation of deep discounts that arguably did not exist before,” while a report by LCP Consulting found that nearly one-third of UK and US retailers believe that Black Friday is “unprofitable and unsustainable.”

Before Black Friday became a big deal, the run-up to Christmas was a great period for retailers: we’d buy loads of presents for others and for ourselves, and retailers would make huge piles of money. Then Black Friday happened, and all of a sudden many of us were browsing the bargains for the presents to put in Santa’s sack. Money spent on deeply discounted products in November is money that won’t be spent on more profitable products in December.

According to research by Verdict Retail, there is “no evidence” that Black Friday “stimulated demand”: Black Friday is essentially a black hole that sucks in a big part of people’s pre-Christmas shopping. We buy more but pay less for it.

According to Mike Watkins of Nielsen UK, “Whilst Nielsen analysis shows that Black Friday in November 2014 did not deliver incremental food sales it did serve to kick start what was the slowest start to Christmas trading in over 10 years. Perhaps that’s the primary objective in these changing times.”

Gary Booker, CMO at Dixons Retail, told Marketing Week that Black Friday negatively affects purchases in the following weeks: “It takes sales out of what would have been key early weeks in December,” he said, and multiple reports show that since Black Friday has taken off in the UK we’re spending less money on Boxing Day, our previous favourite for bargain hunting.

That means retailers need to think very carefully about Black Friday: they can discount in the hope they’ll make up for the lower margins with higher volumes, or they can decide not to take part in Black Friday and potentially lose sales to rivals who do.

Black Friday 2017 won’t be so crazy

Black Friday 2014 was particularly silly in the UK: while grown men and women knocked each other over to try and get cheap Polaroid TVs in supermarkets, men and women knocked over loads of websites too. Many retailers weren’t prepared for the volume of online traffic and their servers couldn’t cope.

Other firms that hadn’t thought Black Friday was a particularly big deal tried to get in on the action. The result felt rather like some firms were running around with a pricing gun, discounting whatever they spotted.

Black Friday 2015 was very different. Websites coped just fine – although some raised eyebrows with “oh! We’re so busy you’ll have to queue!” warnings that seemed more about marketing than reflecting actual demand – and retailers had a strategy in place. Where previous Black Fridays were crazy, Black Friday 2015 was calm. The difference? Planning.

Retailers knew what to expect, had struck deals with suppliers well in advance and approached Black Friday like any other shopping event. There were still bargains to be had, but it certainly didn’t feel like bargain-conscious customers were getting one over on panicking retailers.

Black Friday 2016 was different again: for many big-name retailers, instead of everything happening on one day, their sales were spread over an entire week from the Monday before Black Friday to Cyber Monday, the Monday immediately after. Cyber Monday used to be a separate event, the day everybody panicked and thought “oh no! It’s nearly Christmas and I haven’t bought any presents!” before visiting Amazon on their work PCs. But in 2016 it was just another part of Black Friday Deals Week.

As Experian’s Richard Jenkings told the BBC, “The Black Friday promotions at the end of November are the start of a longer, more drawn-out peak season, which begins with most of the activity online and then moves in-store as we get closer and closer to Christmas day.”

The best Black Friday deals from last year:

Every year, we load up with pizza and energy drinks to scour the entire internet for Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals. These were some of our favourite deals from Black Friday 2016.

£125 off the iPhone 7
Apple’s iPhone 7 may have been new but that didn’t mean you couldn’t get a Black Friday deal. With the code BLACKNOV125 you could get £125 off the up-front cost of an iPhone 7 – and no, the contract wasn’t more expensive to compensate.

£130 off the PS4
The PlayStation 4 is a brilliant console, and last Black Friday it was a brilliant bargain too: there was £130 off the 1TB model and bundles costing as little as £189. Very chopped 34% off the price of some of its PS4 bundles and Amazon cut 20%.

£40 off the iPad Air
There were lots of iPad bargains on Black Friday 2016 including £40 off the iPad Air, £30 off iPad Pros and up to £50 off iPad Minis. Apple wasn’t offering those discounts, but it did bundle gift cards with various products.

£900 off an LG OLED TV
How’s this for a discount: Black Friday meant a massive £900 off the LG OLED55B6V TV, bringing its price down to a much less frightening £1,899. There was also £550 off Sony 4K TVs and up to £300 off Panasonic TVs.

Huge savings on Xbox One bundles
The 4K Xbox One S was just £199 with Minecraft and Forza Horizon thrown in, and prices were slashed all over the place for every conceivable combination of console, controllers and games. There were good deals to be had on accessories too.

Why to expect from Black Friday 2017:

The last few Black Friday deals periods saw many retailers taking baby steps, but in 2017 they’re all grown up. That means they’ve been poring over their spreadsheet models since the last Black Friday, and they know exactly what they’ll be doing this year. And the first thing they’ll be doing is trying to beat Black Friday by starting their deals early. What started as Black Friday weekend became Black Friday week, and this year we expect some big-name retailers to start discounting long before that.

That makes sense for many reasons: it spreads the load on their websites and shops, and more importantly it means the news of their deals won’t be buried amid the avalanche of Black Friday announcements. So keep your eyes peeled – and keep visiting our deals page – from early November, and maybe even earlier than that.

Something we saw a lot of in 2016 and expect to see even more of in 2017 is a sliding scale of discounting: we noticed deals got bigger and better as the month progressed. That’s likely to recur in 2017, with reasonable deals at the beginning of the Black Friday period and more exciting but limited quantity deals on Black Friday itself. The emphasis will be on the more expensive products where retailers can cut prices but still make a decent profit.

Predicting the best Black Friday deals of 2017:

iPhone 8
We know that Apple’s 2017 iPhone 8 is likely to be dramatically different from the current model, we can reasonably expect it to go on sale in September or October at the latest, and we know that iPhone 8 Black Friday deals will be very popular – so this one’s a slam-dunk. Expect similar discounts to 2016 chopping £100-plus off the up-front price, and Apple to offer gift cards across the range. We’d expect some decent deals on iPads too as Apple refreshes the line-up this year.

Samsung Galaxy S8
Black Friday 2016 saw really good deals on the Samsung Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge, with the Black Friday voucher code BLACKFRI2 wiping out the upfront cost altogether on a £29.99 per month contract. That was a fantastic deal, and we’re expecting to see similarly great Galaxy deals on the Samsung Galaxy S8 in 2017.

PS4 Pro
Black Friday 2016 was all about the PS4 Slim, and Black Friday 2017 will be all about the PS4 Pro. As with 2016 we’d expect the very best deals to be on bundles, with some of them costing only a little more than the PS4 Pro itself, so start working on your game wish list: a bundle’s only a good deal if it includes the games you actually want to play. Up to now, the PS4 Pro is holding its RRP but you can expect that to change later this year, particularly when Microsoft has launched Scorpio…

Xbox One + Project Scorpio
Microsoft’s got a pro console too, and unless something goes wrong with the release schedule it should be on sale long before Black Friday 2017. As with the Xbox One in 2016 we’d expect to see the very best deals on bundles, rather than on the console itself: there’s more wiggle room for the retailer there, so they can afford to be more daring with the discounts.

4K HDR OLED TVs
Black Friday 2016 was positively packed with TV deals, including nearly half-price deals on selected OLED TVs. High-end sets are where the really expensive RRPs are, and the ever-advancing world of telly tech means those prices can only be sustained for a fairly short time. If you’re in the market for the kind of TV whose price tag wouldn’t look out of place on a car, Black Friday 2017 could be a very good day for you indeed.

Black Friday 2017 FAQ: what it is, when it happens and where to get the best deals

What is Black Friday?
Black Friday is the Friday immediately after Thanksgiving. It’s a day when retailers offer big discounts to kick-start the holiday shopping season.

When is Black Friday 2017?
Black Friday 2017 will be Friday, 24 November.What is Cyber Monday?Cyber Monday is the Monday immediately after Black Friday.

When is Cyber Monday 2017?
Cyber Monday 2017 will be on Monday, 27 November.What is Black Friday deals week?It’s the week that includes Black Friday. Retailers are increasingly offering deals before and after Black Friday itself so they stand out from the crowd.

Are Black Friday deals real?
Yes, although in some cases the discounts have been negotiated well in advance with suppliers. As with any sales you’ll see a mix of genuine bargains, discounted end-of-line stock and mysterious things found in the back of a warehouse somewhere. In 2016, consumer magazine Which? accused retailers of some pretty dodgy behaviour.

Where can I find the best Black Friday deals?
Right here on TechRadar of course! We scour all the top retailers’ Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals so that you don’t have to – and we tell you whether the deals are worth getting excited about too. Whether it’s a 4K HDR OLED TV or an Xbox One controller, if it’s discounted we’ll have the details here.

How do I get the best Black Friday 2017 deals?
Know what you want, know what you can afford to spend and know the market: you’ll often spot retailers charging higher than usual prices in October so they can offer amazing discounts on Black Friday. Pay particular attention to real prices, not RRPs: TVs are particularly bad for this, with sets whose RRP is eleventy billion pounds routinely selling for five hundred quid. Sites such as CamelCamelCamel and PriceSpy enable you to tell if you’re looking at a legitimate bargain or some timed tomfoolery.

It’s also a very good idea to be flexible: for example, if you fancy a Sony 4K TV then think about the features you want rather than a specific model number: the BRV123ABD54-88C-9218-B may not be discounted on Black Friday, but an almost identical set with the specification you want probably will be.

Can I get cashback on Black Friday deals?
Sometimes, yes. Your debit card or credit card may offer cashback on purchases, and sites such as Quidco often offer cashback for new customers of big-name online shops. It’s definitely worth looking into, not just for Black Friday but for any online shopping.

Am I protected when I buy on Black Friday?
Yes. In the UK, anything you buy from a company online is covered by a wealth of consumer protection legislation including the Consumer Contracts regulations, which give you the same rights as with any other online purchasing.

How can I stay safe on Black Friday?
Black Friday brings out the scammers as well as the sellers, so be wary of unsolicited emails or links to deals on social media no matter how legitimate they look: anything asking for card details or login details is a scam. Phishing sites do big business on Black Friday, so be extra suspicious – and if you’re on a PC, make sure your security software is up to date. Many suites automatically block known scam sites.

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[Daily Deal] Get the DOSHIn 12000mAh Power Bank for less than £12

Dell Latitude 12 7202 Rugged Tablet

The Dell Latitude 12 Rugged Tablet is not your standard slate – the device is targeted at those who usually slave away on an oil exploration project or work in the Amazonian tropical rainforest (as a biologist maybe).

It is designed to be dropped, bashed about, and generally undergo all sorts of treatment that would pretty much be guaranteed to destroy any consumer-grade tablet. As such, this is no ordinary slate and shouldn’t carry the same expectations as your average model.

That’s also probably why Dell has yet to release a new version – this one has been around for nearly two years and is still being sold despite having a Broadwell-based processor.

Longer product cycles ensure that platforms mature slowly, especially as the capital investments involved are often an order of magnitude bigger compared to the consumer market.

To say that this is a solid tablet would be a massive understatement; it has been designed and manufactured to withstand extreme conditions.

It has IP65, MIL-STD-810G and IP-810G certifications (rather than merely meeting the standards in laboratory tests), and these prove that the Latitude 12 7202 has a thick skin and should give other rugged tablets like the Xplore R12 (iX125 R1) or the Getac RX10 a run for their money.

At 312 x 203 x 24mm, it is fairly large for a tablet with an 11.6-inch display, while its weight – 1.79kg with two 2-cell 26Whr hot-swappable batteries – puts it in the ‘mildly-transportable’ category (as opposed to easily portable). You can only operate this device at arm’s length for only a short time before experiencing muscular discomfort (although your mileage may well vary).

The Latitude 12 is built mostly to withstand harsh environments, not win design contests, which explains a lot of pragmatic/functional decisions made by Dell.

There are massive rubber bumpers on the corners and the rubber enclosure itself is a couple of centimetres thick in order to protect the screen, arguably the most fragile component. The latter is also protected by the use of Gorilla Glass 3 technology in its construction.

Look around the tablet and you will find that most ports are covered with rubber flaps to prevent damage. Opening and closing them will be an issue if you wear gloves and it is worth noting that they can’t be locked. Dell also used a patented HZO liquid protection technology to stop water from killing your tech.

Default ports include USB 3.0, micro-serial port, mini-HDMI, microSD card reader, an audio combo connector and the power connector, which can be used with other compatible 45W Dell laptop power adaptors (like the one on the 2015 edition of Dell’s XPS 13).

Given the varied markets the Latitude 12 is expected to operate in, the tablet has an extensive range of connectors as well, including POGO-pin ports for a docking keyboard and a modular expansion pack.

A FIPS 201-certified smart card reader (with a nifty unit conversion cheat card), a fingerprint reader with TPM (v1.2), Bluetooth 4.0, Dual RF pass-through (Wi-Fi and mobile broadband), NFC, a 4G/LTE modem and 802.11ac Wi-Fi complete the list of connectivity options.

Note also the presence of air vents to cool the device. Even if that sounds counterintuitive given the rugged nature of this tablet, these slits doesn’t prevent it from being reasonably water-resistant. Dell uses a proprietary fan-based thermal management system that combines both passive and active cooling to keep the slate cool.

During our hands-on time with the device, the fan did work for reasonably long spells and we noticed that the tablet warmed up significantly, especially under load.

As expected, all the physical buttons (power, Windows, volume up/down, three programmable buttons and auto-rotate) require far more pressure to register than traditional tablets out there. Not only does that prevent accidental inputs, it also makes them easier to work with gloves. We further appreciated the fact that pressing the buttons causes the device to buzz and vibrate, so you know they’ve been pressed.

The tethered stylus slots nicely in the body of the tablet. It’s not as stylish as the active models, but at least you don’t have to charge it regularly and the pen will work regardless of the immediate environment.

At the heart of the Dell Latitude 12 7202 is the Broadwell-based Intel Core M-5Y71 CPU, a dual-core processor with a tiny 4.5W TDP and a base clock speed of 1.2GHz. It can overclock to 2.5GHz and down-clock to 800Mhz. The graphics subsystem is Intel’s HD Graphics 5300.

Our sample came with 8GB of dual-channel LPDDR3 1600MHz memory and a 128GB SSD (an M.2 2280 model from Lite-On) which was half full. There are two cameras with the front one sporting an interesting flap that allows the user to physically obstruct the lens.

The display, a glove-capable 11.6-inch 10-point multi-touch resistive screen, has a 1366 x 768 pixel resolution which is low, but this can be explained by the fact that, in the markets targeted by the Latitude 12, accuracy and battery life are far more important than the need to cram in as many pixels as possible.

The screen is not as bright as one would expect, although it does a decent job outside thanks to its matte finish. The tablet runs Windows 10 Pro and carries Dell’s solid three-year ProSupport and Next Business Day On-Site Service as default.

Oddly, while Dell included a full array of its own applications (Data Protection, Backup and Recovery, Rugged Control Center etc), there were also a couple of surprising additions like Deezer and Candy Crush Soda Saga; hardly enterprise-grade applications.

In use, the older Broadwell processor posted a decent score in our benchmark testing, although one can only wonder what a Kaby Lake upgrade might bring to the tablet (for a hint, check out the Xplore R12 which boasts a far faster Core i7-7500U Kaby Lake CPU).

The storage could also use an upgrade from a 128GB SSD. The limited capacity and lack of free space could explain why the Lite-On drive performs poorly on CrystalDiskMark and Atto in write tests (as opposed to read).

As for the battery life, the Latitude 12 7202 managed 4 hours 26 minutes with 27% battery left on our standard test (streaming a YouTube count-up video with brightness set to 50%). Extrapolating that number, one can expect the tablet to last just over six hours.

Early verdict

Dell sells the Latitude 12 7202 with two batteries for £1,599 (around $2,040, AU$2,700) excluding VAT and delivery. Options worth mentioning include a self-encrypted drive, a desktop dock, kickstand, keyboard cover with a kickstand, an extended IO module and a scanner module.

Compared to the competition, this is almost a bargain although we suspect that Dell is currently doing a bit of a clear-out – the device carries an official SRP of £2,284 (around $2,920, AU$3,860).

There are some issues here, as we’ve discussed – like a small SSD and an older-generation CPU – but these flaws can’t distract from the value proposition represented by this tablet at the current price.

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G.Skill Ripjaws KM570 Keyboard Review

Ted 2017: Elon Musk's vision for underground road system

Hands-on: Acer Switch 5 review

Inside the extreme science Logitech uses to build gaming mice

Logitech is one of those names you’ll probably find all over your house. Whether it’s a mouse or keyboard, your universal remote, computer speakers or a webcam – Logitech makes a lot of things. However, one of the company’s biggest divisions is gaming, which produces many of the peripherals you’ll find in eSports today.

Beyond making gaming gear for professional players, though, there’s a far richer history and and development process behind every device Logitech G produces.
 

Image 1 of 4

The Wingmang gaming mouse that started it all

Image 2 of 4

The legendary Logitech MX518 gaming mouse

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The iconic Logitech G15 gaming keyboard

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Logitech’s latest marvel, the G900 Chaos Spectrum

Logitech first planted its roots in gaming more than 20 years starting with the original Wingman joystick that released in 1995. A few years later, the company debuted their first Wingman gaming mouse in 1998, which sparked their history of excessively engineered experience. This bear-claw shaped peripheral came with a custom driver and USB port giving it a five-times faster reporting rate than any PS2-port connected mouse at the time.

Gamers consider a number of Logitech peripherals to be legendary, including the MX518 gaming mouse and G15 gaming keyboard. Most recently, the G900 Chaos Spectrum has been heralded as the ultimate wireless gaming mouse by ourselves among many others.

To make a peripheral as good as the Logitech G900, the company goes through a painstaking process of engineering and testing that’s on the level of NASA or any other research facility. While on a trip to the West Coast, we were invited to see some of this process at Logitech’s office in Newark, California.

Wireless perfected 

At the heart of the G900 is a new Lightspeed Wireless module that not only produces a strong signal but is designed to be faster than a wired connection.

Obviously, such a feat requires a lot of testing.

So to this end, Logitech rolled the mouse around a giant wheel for weeks on end to monitor its performance. All while it the team simulated some of the harshest radio signal saturated situations. This was done to see how it stood up against its own wired performance and against other wireless mice competitors.

In another test, Chris Pate, Portfolio Manager, went on to explain just how their mice are tested for tracking speed with a catapult.

“It goes up to a little over 500 inches per second and it still can’t break the sensor–” Pate says. “It’s far beyond what a human can do, not without breaking ligaments and stuff.”

The human touch

That’s just a few examples of the of extreme testing that happens at Logitech. However, beyond the machine and synthetic testing, Logitech also has a room set aside for eSports players to come in and give feedback on peripherals still in development. 

“When you ask them about comfort they’ll palm the whole thing and when they play they’ll keep changing their grip constantly,” Ujesh Desai, vice president and general manager of Logitech G says. 

“Sometimes they’ll verbalize this, some are better at communicating than others,” he says. “So you kind of have to just watch them and just by seeing their actions, you can figure out whether they like the product or not.”

The eSports room is a recent development and originally began as a training space to accommodate players traveling to the west for events. Since then, the added human input has been invaluable for Logitech and was crucial for the launch of the G303 Daedalus Apex. 

“It was two months before we were going to get ready to launch, we sent it out to and we got feedback that they really didn’t like part of the shape,” Desai recalled. “So we literally delayed the launch to go fix that.”

All of this testing is a big point of pride for Logitech and it shows in the products that have been widely regarded by professionals gamers and regular users.

“Why do we test to this crazy amount?” Desai asked. “We just believe in having the best science period.”

Welcome to TechRadar’s 3rd annual PC Gaming Week, celebrating the almighty gaming PC with in-depth interviews, previews, reviews and features about one of the TechRadar team’s favorite  pastimes. Missed a day? Check out our constantly updated hub article to see all of our coverage in one place. 

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Acer's Mixed Reality HMD, Hands On

Acer’s new Mixed Reality Developer HMD may be somewhat misleading with its nomenclature, but the new virtual reality headset certainly turned heads at the company’s annual Next@Acer event. We were able to get some sparse details of the HMD at GDC, but Acer filled us in on the full specifications and let us see its capabilities for ourselves.

Specifications

The Acer Mixed Reality Developer HMD features a 2880 x 1440 (1440 x 1440 per eye) display with up to a 90Hz refresh rate. The term “up to” was used to describe the refresh rate, and we can take this to mean that it will also operate at 60Hz depending on the HDMI output of the host PC (HDMI 1.4 laptops, for example). The display is also hinged and can be lifted away from your face in case you want to sip a drink or take a look at the real world without removing the headset.

The inside-out tracking is provided by the two sensors in the front of the HMD, which detect the space around you in order to achieve room-scale 6DoF. However,

they don’t have a passthrough to import the environment into a mixed reality experience.

The headset supports audio output and microphone input via a 3.5mm combo jack and also sports an accelerometer, gyroscope, magnetometer, and a proximity sensor. The HMD connects to a PC via a single HDMI 2.0/USB 3.0 cable, and it’s compatible with an Xbox controller.

Minimum Requirements

Acer representatives told us that the Acer Mixed Reality Developer HMD requires a PC with the minimum requirements, which were previously disclosed (and pictured below). The PC also needs the Windows 10 Creators update.

Despite the low performance entry point, Acer gave us a demonstration of the HMD connected to one of its powerful Predator-branded gaming laptops, which far exceed the minimum specs.

Calibrating The Height

Because of my abov

e-average height (6’7”) I had to calibrate the height of the headset before I used it. The Acer rep input my height into the PC. Then I had to hold the HMD at eye level for a ten-second countdown. After it completed, the program asked if we wanted to retrace the room scale environment, but we skipped that part. However, we were told that the HMD is used to trace the play space with a similar software-guided procedure.

Comfortable Fit, No IPD Adjustment

The headset is easy to put on, with a forehead support and adjustable push-button strap that makes the Acer Mixed Reality Development HMD fit comfortably on your head, with the weight distributed evenly (it’s not clumsy). However, the lack of IPD (interpupillary distance) adjustment makes properly lining up the lenses somewhat difficult; you just have to adjust the headset until it appears clearest.

The strap itself was somewhat flimsy and hard to set in place, but Acer assured us the final version would be getting an adjustment knob to make it easier. Once I had the HMD properly fit, we launched into our first Windows 10 Mixed Reality demo.

Swanky Apartmen

t, Windows Universal Apps

We weren’t allowed to take pictures or screen caps of the virtual environment, so you’ll have to use your imagination a bit as I describe my experience. The virtual operating system takes the form of a swanky modern condo, complete with an office and a balcony with a view. We were instructed to teleport to the balcony using the Xbox controller and then “enter” a program (which hung in space along the wall). It loaded a 360-degree video that had been filmed on top of a helmet worn by skier. Suddenly I was racing down the slope of a mountain with another skier, which was somewhat nauseating. However, the video was highly detailed, and swinging my arms made the nausea subside (a matched physical interaction with what your eyes see generally helps this).

Once the video completed, we exited the program and headed to the office (again, teleporting with the Xbox controller), where three windows were suspended in the air around the virtual desk, giving us access to Windows Universal Apps including the weather widget (high precipitation in NYC that day), Edge browser, and Outlook.

I was instructed to return to the previous room and load a program that could take me to different locations. After a long loading time (I lifted the display away from my face to chat with the Acer rep for a good minute), I found myself on a hot air balloon above a beautiful European city. The scene was highly detailed (explaining the long loading time), and I was able to walk to the edge of the balloon and look down at the awe-inspiring city.

Other Thoughts

I found Acer’s Mixed Reality HMD to be strikingly similar to the Oculus Rift at its retail launch in both functionality and performance. It doesn’t currently have tracked controllers and relies on an Xbox controller to let you navigate the OS and programs. This limits the immersion of the experience, but the Acer Mixed Reality HMD could support tracked controllers in the future. When we asked if Acer was working on its own controller, the company declined to comment. However, it’s almost axiomatic that Acer would develop its own controller for its own HMD, and we could see a similar or better implementation down the line.

The resolution and framerate wasn’t as rich as more expensive HMDs, but it wasn’t decidedly bad, either. There were some slight tracking jitters as I purposely attempted to bog down performance by rapidly looking around, but they were seldom and didn’t cause me any discomfort.

Acer’s headset features a similar boundary system as the Rift and Vive, and I occasionally made use of it by stepping out of the playable area. When you get close to the boundary with Acer’s device, the image around you totally disappears and a gridded floor appears, totally breaking the immersion. Stepping back into the playable area brings the virtual environment back.

Lowering The Cost Of Entry

From its name alone, we were expecting the Acer Mixed Reality HMD to offer a mixed reality experience. However, we can now conclude that the device is more similar to an Oculus Rift or HTC Vive than a less-expensive version of the Microsoft HoloLens, with an occluded display that lacks camera passthrough that would deliver a true mixed reality experience (as we would define it). However, it does borrow from the HoloLens with the inside-out 6DoF tracking, which is a big deal, even for a tethered device.

The Xbox controller was familiar enough that figuring out how to navigate wasn’t difficult, but tracked controllers would undoubtedly add to the immersion. Room-scale playability almost seems incomplete without tracked controllers, and we hope there’s a solution for that forthcoming. The chaperone-like system is a means to an end, but the image disappears and completely breaks the immersion when you step out of bounds.

Pricing for the Acer Mixed Reality HMD is currently unknown, but we’d venture to guess that it will debut at the lower end of the previously disclosed price points of Microsoft’s partner HMDs. (They “start” at $300.) Therein lies the value of Acer’s VR HMD: the debut of an entry-level 6DoF VR HMD will bring the total cost of the VR experience down to reasonable, mainstream prices without sacrificing too much performance or functionality.

Our brief demo gave us a taste of what’s next from Acer, and we’re excited to see less-expensive options for VR HMDS hitting the market. We’ll have to reserve full judgement of the Acer Mixed Reality HMD until we can give it a proper review, but we’re impressed with the overall comfort, performance, and implementation of the 6DoF tracking.

Product	Acer Mixed Reality Head-Mounted Display
Operating System	Windows 10 R2
Display	2880 x 1440 (1440 x 1440 per eye) LCD
Refresh Rate	Up to 90Hz
Audio	3.5mm Combo Jack
Tracking	Inside Out
Connection	– HDMI 2.0 – USB 3.0
Sensors	Accelerometer, Gyroscope, Magnetometer, Proximity Sensor
Dimensions (L x W x H)	195.8  x 94.8 x 106.59 mm
Weight	350 grams

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Medion Erazer X7849

There’s something to be said for aspiring to move away from a full-sized desktop and towards a more portable, low-space notebook. The latest Erazer gaming laptop from Medion is technically portable: at 17 inches on the diagonal, it’d be considered a desktop replacement.

Packing an Intel Core i7 processor, 16GB of memory, a 480GB solid-state drive (SSD), an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 graphics chip and a G-Sync enabled, 17.3-inch, IPS 1080p screen, this Erazer isn’t about to rob you of a desktop-grade gaming experience just for shrinking down a bit.

This is a system more than capable of driving any of the latest AAA titles at a full 60 frames per second (fps) at 1080p, in beautifully color accurate detail with little to any worry. Couple that with Nvidia’s G-Sync technology, and watch as screen tearing and frame drops become a thing of the past.

Spec Sheet

Here is the Medion Erazer configuration sent to TechRadar for review:

CPU: 2.6GHz Intel Core i7-6700HQ (quad-core, 6MB cache, up to 3.5GHz)
Graphics: Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 (8GB GDDR5); Intel HD Graphics 530
RAM: 16GB DDR4 (SODIMM; 2 x 8GB)
Screen: 17.3-inch FHD (1,920 x 1,080) IPS LED
Storage: 480GB SSD (SATA 3)
Ports: 3 x USB 3.1, 2 x USB 3.1 Type C, 2 x Mini DisplayPort, HDMI-out, LAN RJ45, SD/SDHC/SDXC memory card reader, mic-in, line-in, S/PDIF
Connectivity: Intel Wireless-AC 8260 (802.11ac); Bluetooth 4.1
Camera: Full HD webcam
Weight: 7.7 pounds (3.5kg)
Size: 16.4 x 11.2 x 1.3 inches (418 x 287 x 34.2mm; W x D x H)

Price, availability and value

But, with an asking price of £1,699 (about $2,199, AU$2,937), is the Erazer worth plunking down that much for a recently-dated processor and an apparent lack of spinning storage? That is a huge chunk of money, regardless of how you look at it, especially for the spec sheet this laptop touts, compared to the desktop competition much less laptops.

Don’t believe us? As of this writing, for £1,706 you could get a Ryzen 7 1700 CPU, Samsung 850 Evo 500GB SSD, 1TB Seagate HDD, 32GB of HyperX DDR4 memory, a Gigabyte GTX 1070 and a 27-inch, BenQ 1440p IPS screen – with a solid set of peripherals – for almost exactly the same amount of cash. 

That’s a system with four times as much computational power, three times as much storage, twice as much memory, running on a screen that’s 10 inches larger and at twice the resolution.

Ultimately, you’re paying for that portability. For that same money or less, you could have an HP Omen 17, replete with one of the latest Intel Core i7 processors (Kaby Lake) as well as a 128GB SSD + 1TB hard drive (HDD) combo. Likewise, you can get a custom-built Origin EON17-X laptop for a few more hundred bucks with more recent hardware.

And, honestly, we just don’t see a big portability play here with the Erazer. It’s big, it’s bulky and it’s just too much to cart on a commute. What does that leave you with? A system that you essentially still leave in one place from day to day.

As for availability, Medion serves both the US and UK as well as most of western Europe.

Design

That said, the Erazer is truly a beauty. Although the LED lighting, situated around the trackpad and the back of the screen, may be less than appealing to those looking for a sleeker, more professional device, the soft touch finish wrapping the rest of the system is simply stunning.

And, while it’s certainly not the most portable of notebooks, the sharp angles situated around the design keep it looking sleek. The bezel is a little chunkier than we’d like, and the standard membrane keyboard leaves much to be desired (especially for the price), but there’s a lot to be said for it.

What did impress, however, was the cooling system. No doubt due in part to its large size, but it was rare for us to hear the fans ramp up, if at all. 

That said, unsurprisingly, the fans are somewhat whiney when they do kick in, but they’re nothing that a good pair of headphones can’t drown out. While, frankly, you shouldn’t have to, most of the time you’ll be buried into a good game, so it’s not something we’ll get too hung up on with how rarely it happens.

The I/O, on the other hand – oh boy, what a compliment. With the Erazer, you could effectively run three additional displays attached to this monster.

Memory abound, storage absent

Storage, however, is one area in which the Erazer really comes unglued. In short, you get a single 480GB SSD. Fill that up with your run-of-the-mill OS programs, and you’ll be left with less than 280GB for games – not ideal. Considering the Erazer nears the £1,700 mark, and given it’s humongous dimensions, we have to ask: why no additional HDD?

Fortunately, the situation regarding memory is far merrier. With two out of four available DIMMs taken up with two 8GB RAM modules of DDR4 RAM, meaning you could throw another 16GB in for good measure, to give you a total of 32GB, which useful for media rendering tasks. 

However, in that scenario, a seriously beefy external HDD, or a dedicated NAS, would almost be a necessity.

Benchmarks

Here’s how the Medion Erazer X7849 performed in our suite of benchmark tests:

3DMark Sky Diver: 25,396; Fire Strike: 12,136; Time Spy: 4,997
CineBench R15 CPU: 688 points; GPU: 85.63 fps
GeekBench 4: 3,784 single-core; 13,510 multi-core
PCMark 8 Home: 3,871 points
PCMark 8 Battery Life: 2 Hours and 53 Minutes
Battery Life (Techradar Movie Test): 2 Hours and 37 minutes
Deus Ex Mankind Divided (1080p Ultra): 55 fps; (1080p Low): 107 fps
GTA V (1080p Ultra): 54 fps; (1080p Low): 167 fps

Performance

Computational performance was a little lower than we expected, averaging below 700 on CineBench R15’s multi-threaded performance, as to be expected from the mobile Skylake processor buried at the heart of this wee beastie. 

That last point is a bit of a stickler for us. At this point in time, Skylake is looking positively old in the world of advancing processors. Although Kaby Lake launched early in 2017, the mobile parts have been available since before December. 

On top of that, Kaby Lake X, Intel’s next generation processor, is supposedly right around the corner, meaning we could soon see a slew of new mobile parts hit the mainstream. Couple that with AMD promising Ryzen mobile parts within the next quarter, and the aging Skylake core looks positively decrepit.

Does that mean the Core i7-6700HQ is chump change at this point? Yes and no. It’s still a serious contender, even in its mobile form factor, equalling roughly the same processing power as any keen-eyed Core i5-6600K desktop-side. If you’re looking to dabble in video rendering and editing on the move, it should be more than plenty to whet your appetite.

As for graphics performance, the Erazer is well outclassed by the Origin EON17-X we reviewed last winter and on par with the HP Omen 17 of fall 2016.

A battery bummer

But, the big one is battery, right? In our testing, we found that during intense video playback, the battery lasted 2 hours and 37 minutes. So, enough to get the latest Marvel film done and dusted, and maybe go through some bonus features, but not quite long enough to get a good Peter Jackson ode to New Zealand quite all the way through.

Similarly, the PCMark 8 Home battery test reported a somewhat lackluster 2 hours and 53 minutes. Both of these figures are expectedly a far cry from the 4 hours promised by Medion.

Final verdict

Ultimately, the Erazer is a fine piece of work. Its soft touch finish makes the product feel premium enough, but it doesn’t tout the aluminium stylings we’ve seen from similarly-priced Asus, HP or Dell laptops. 

That said, this laptop should feel like home to any who spend the majority of their free time gaming, its frame resisting sweaty fingerprints and greasy food stains. Performance is solid, dependable even. And, the coupling of that GTX 1070 with a 1080p screen should mean you’re set for any AAA title that launches over the next two to three years at least, without tweaking any major settings.

The price, though, and the lack of portability that comes with it, makes the Erazer less appealing than we’d hoped. If a spinning hard drive was thrown into the mix, we could perhaps forgive it, but for what Medion is asking, well, it’s just a little too much for what’s on the table.

Welcome to TechRadar’s 3rd annual PC Gaming Week, celebrating the almighty gaming PC with in-depth interviews, previews, reviews and features all about one of the TechRadar team’s favorite pastimes. Missed a day? Check out our constantly updated hub article for all of the coverage in one place.

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