Monday 22 May 2017
Linksys Velop review
We’ve seldom seen a new(ish) technology throw up so many new products in the space of a few short weeks, but ‘mesh networking’ has really taken off since the end of 2016.
Following on from the Netgear Orbi, Devolo Gigagate and BT’s Whole Home Wi-Fi, the latest new arrival is the oddly-named Velop from Linksys.
Like its rivals, the Velop uses multiple devices – rather than just a single router – which you can place in different rooms in order to establish a really strong and reliable Wi-Fi network throughout your entire home.
Just remember that, like most of its rivals, the Velop is only a router – it doesn’t include a modem for Internet access, so you’ll need to connect one of the Velop units to the existing modem/router that provides your broadband connection at home.
Linksys Velop: UK Price and availability
You have three options when purchasing the Velop. You can buy a single ‘node’ for £199 from Currys, which is quite pricey given that it effectively just acts as a straightforward 802.11ac router.
Of course, it is a bang-up-to-date router that provides tri-band 802.11ac on 2.4GHz and two 5GHz bands with 2×2 MIMO and a pair of Gigabit Ethernet ports.
A pack with two nodes costs £349 from Currys, which is a little less expensive than the two-piece Netgear Orbi (£370).
There’s also a kit with three nodes available for a hefty £499 from Currys, which seems pretty steep, given that the three-piece BT Whole Home only costs £299.
Linksys Velop: Design
The Velop devices are attractively designed, with each node being shaped like a little white ivory tower. The nodes are all identical, so they all have two Ethernet ports in the base that you can use for wired connections, along with the Wi-Fi features.
Somewhat annoyingly, the Velop app – available for iOS and Android – forces you to provide an email address and password in order to set up an account with Linksys before you can even start to set up the Velop itself.
But once that’s done, the actual set-up process is very straightforward.
The app initially uses Bluetooth to connect directly to each node and configure it for you, and the app then checks to confirm that the Velop nodes have successfully connected to the Internet before you switch all your devices over to the new network.
But, as we’ve seen with some of the Velop’s rivals, the simplicity of the app does have limitations. There’s no browser interface available so that more experienced users can configure the Velop from a PC or Mac, and apart from the ability to create a guest network, or to change the network name and password, there’s not a lot of configuration options available in the app at all.
The highlight here is the ability to prioritise up to three devices for maximum bandwidth and performance, which would be useful if you have a particular PC or tablet or laptop that needs good performance for streaming video or playing games.
There’s no equivalent feature in rival systems.
Linksys Velop: Performance
As a reference point, our BT Home Hub 5 provides a speed of 93.8Mb/s to devices located in the same room.
However, this drops to a mere 9.3Mb/s a couple of rooms away through walls and doors.
The signal can be so unreliable that we’ve resorted to powerline adaptors to provide a wired connection to PCs far away.
With one Velop node connected to the BT Home Hub it produced an average speed of 450Mb/s in the same room, which is what we’d expected from a device in this price range.
However, it’s when you add a second Velop node that the real gains are seen. In the same far-range position where the Home Hub 5 gave 9.3Mb/s, the Velop boosted speed to a steady and reliable 300Mb/s.
A powerline kit with built-in Wi-Fi is a cheaper alternative for most people, but the convenience of having a single Wi-Fi network could make the Velop (or the other mesh network systems) more attractive to you.
The post Linksys Velop review appeared first on Gigarefurb Refurbished Laptops News.
source https://news.gigarefurb.co.uk/linksys-velop-review/
HP Spectre x2
Well on a roll with its fresh-looking Spectre line of high-end laptops and tablets, HP has at last given the treatment to the HP Spectre x2 for 2017.
Not only does the tablet come in HP’s now-standard black – sorry, Ash Silver – aluminum frame with copious gold trim, but the firm has naturally upgraded the tablet’s internals. Without much room to refine its product, we see the Spectre x2 become even more like the Surface Pro line that inspired it and so many other 2-in-1 laptops.
Namely, we see the Spectre x2 screen adopt more than a few lessons taught by that of Microsoft’s leading tablet. Mind you, that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
When it lands this June, HP will start the pricing at $999 (about £769, AU$1,342). Luckily, that’s just for one available model housing a 7th-generation (Kaby Lake), 2.4GHz Intel Core i7 processor, a 360GB M.2 solid state drive (SSD) and 8GB of RAM. All of that rests behind a 3,000 x 2,000 IPS touchscreen in a 3:2 aspect ratio – sound familiar?
Design
If you were to look at an HP Spectre x2 in silhouette, you would find that not much at all has changed. Turn on the lights, though, and you’ll know that HP has, again, brought this Spectre into HP’s new design language.
That means a more matte, Ash Silver aluminum frame is now met with golden chrome accents aplenty, namely that of the kickstand. Speaking of which, HP’s stainless steel hinge design is now improved, making it much easier to open and close through magnets.
HP has given its included keyboard cover a similar visual makeover, changing little else, which isn’t a knock in the slightest. Keyboard travel remains relatively deep and feedback satisfying, with bright backlighting too boot.
Also included is HP’s new, low-fi take on the stylus, simply known as the Active Pen, going off of Microsoft’s design spec and naturally supporting Windows Ink. The stylus is a more generic approach than previous proprietary offerings, but tracks just fine for general use.
The entire Spectre x2 package comes in a slick, 2.49-pound chassis that’s just 0.52 inches thin, making it awfully portable, which should be expected at this point. This year, HP has doubled down on USB 3.1 Type-C with two ports joined by a headphone/mic jack and microSD card slot, letting 802.11ac Wi-Fi and Bluetooth fill in the rest.
Display and battery life
HP has made some significant changes regarding the Spectre x2 display, namely in massively upping its pixel count and adjusting its aspect ratio. This time around, HP has equipped the Spectre x2 with a 3,000 x 2,000 screen at a 3:2 aspect ratio, spec for spec what you’ll find in the Surface Pro 4.
The IPS panel is a delight to look at, embodying all of the benefits of the first-assumed weird aspect ratio and such a drastic increase in pixels from 1080p. HP even managed the shrink down the bezels on the tablet’s left and right side, keen to leave the infrared (IR) webcam where it belongs, above the display.
Being an IR webcam, of course, opens the Spectre x2 up to Windows Hello support.
As for how long the HP Spectre x2 will last you, its maker rates the tablet for up to 8 hours of juice during mixed use and up to 7 hours and 15 minutes during video playback. While we’ll be the final judge of battery life soon enough, HP promises that the Spectre x2 can charge from zero to 50% in just 30 minutes.
Early verdict
The refreshed HP Spectre x2 brings the 2-in-1 laptop in closer line with not only the existing offering of Spectre products, but that of the Surface devices that inspired it. While that may make the Spectre x2 a little less unique, the changes no doubt make it a better device than the previous.
That said, 8 hours of battery life is somewhat low for such a thin and light device that’s begging to be brought around all day, especially when it’s safe to expect our own test results to come in below that figure.
All told, the Spectre x2 is a gorgeous sequel that brings the device in line with both HP’s existing products and the company’s inspirations. Knowing its price, the Spectre x2 could very well be a compelling alternative to the Surface Pro devices.
The post HP Spectre x2 appeared first on Gigarefurb Refurbished Laptops News.
source https://news.gigarefurb.co.uk/hp-spectre-x2/
Huawei Watch 2 review
Huawei took to the stage on Sunday 26 February 2017 to announce not only its flagship for 2017, the Huawei P10 and P10 Plus, but also its’ second generation smartwatch, the Huawei Watch 2. However, while the original Huawei Watch was for the fashion conscious, the Huawei Watch 2 has more of a focus on exercise and fitness.
Can the Huawei Watch 2 offer something different to a sea of other fitness-focused smartwatches on sale in 2017? Read our Huawei Watch 2 review and find out.
Interested in other smartwatches available this year? Take a look at our list of the best smartwatches of 2017.
UK pricing and availability
Although Huawei never announced an official UK release date at the launch event, the new smartwatch is now on sale not only via Amazon, but also the likes of Very and Watch Shop.
The Huawei Watch 2 is priced at £329 for the regular model and jumps to £379 if you want 4G LTE connectivity. This puts Huawei’s second-generation Watch in line with the £369 Apple Watch Series 2, although there are differences between the two (Apple’s smartwatch doesn’t offer 4G connectivity, for example).
Meanwhile, the Huawei Watch 2 Classic is £409, but is yet to go on sale in the UK.
Read next: Best new smartwatches and fitness trackers coming in 2017
Design and build
In terms of design, the Sport variant of the Huawei Watch 2 is quite a step away from the fashion focused first-generation Huawei Watch – although that’s not to say it’s not an attractive wearable. Gone is the silver stainless steel body of a traditional watch, as the Huawei Watch 2 boasts a rather generic sporty smartwatch design, complete with a plastic body and a double chrome design.
In terms of dimensions, the circular display of the Watch 2 is fairly large at 1.2in with only one case size available (45mm), meaning it may look a little bulky and awkward on smaller wrists – especially with a height of 12.6mm. It’s also fairly heavy at 57g – for comparison, the second-generation Apple Watch measures in at 45g.
Huawei claims that the ceramic bezel used on the Watch 2 is six times harder than stainless steel, making it resistant to abrasion whilst still being relatively lightweight. While we were initially concerned that the mirror-finish bezels would be prone to light scratches, we can confirm that after five weeks of wear, it’s still scratch-free.
The lugs are also lower than other smartwatches available on the market, and this provides a more comfortable fit around the wrist. It’s not the only benefit either, as it also provides better stability to the watch during heartrate monitoring (especially when moving quickly during exercise).
In terms of colour options, Huawei offers the Watch 2 in three colours: Dynamic Orange, Carbon Black and Concrete Grey. The latter two are fairly similar in look, although with a key difference: the Concrete Grey Huawei Watch 2 has silver buttons, while the Carbon Black variant has black buttons. The Dynamic Orange colour option is also exclusive to the 4G variant of the Huawei Watch 2.
While admittedly the colour options aren’t as ‘out there’ as what is offered with the Huawei P10, the Watch 2 straps can be swapped out for any standard 20mm watch strap, allowing for limited customisation.
Overall, the build quality of the Huawei Watch 2 is around what is expected of a £330 smartwatch. Despite featuring a plastic body compared to the stainless steel first-generation Watch, the mirror-like double-chrome design provides a more premium look than other fitness-focused smartwatches. The lowered lugs also make a huge difference in comfort, especially when worn over long periods.
Read next: Huawei P10 vs Huawei P10 Plus comparison review
Features and spec
Before we get into what the Huawei Watch 2 can offer, let’s first take a look under the hood to see what powers it.
Internals
Inside the second-generation Huawei Watch is a quad-core Snapdragon Wear 2100 processor with 768MB of RAM. The Wear 2100 brings various improvements over the Snapdragon 400 used in older smartwatches beyond a speed bump, including improved battery life and a smaller design.
In use, the Watch is responsive to the touch with no signs of lag when navigating between menus, swiping between notifications or running third-party apps.
As part of the standalone nature, the Watch 2 features 4GB of storage that can be used to store music. Alternatively, the Watch 2 comes with Google Play Music support, and even offers users a two-month free trial to the service when they buy the Watch, allowing users to browse and download music to the Watch on the go.
Display
In terms of the screen, the Huawei Watch 2 features a 1.2in circular AMOLED display with a 390 x 390 resolution, equating to around 326ppi. While the resolution is nothing to be sniffed at, it can’t quite compete with the 480 x 480 resolution of the LG Watch Sport – and it shows. Not all watch faces are as well defined as we’d like, although it’s a small issue that only the more eagle-eyed amongst you will notice in day-to-day use.
Aside from the issues with resolution, we thought the Huawei Watch 2’s AMOLED display was bright and vibrant, with no complaints with use even in direct sunlight.
Fitness
So, what can the Huawei Watch 2 offer that the original didn’t? Like many other smartwatches, the Watch 2 has a heavy focus on fitness, and aims to be your fitness companion, offering helpful stats and professional fitness advice.
While the Watch 2 features preset exercises (cardio, fat burn, bike ride, etc) that you can select on-the-fly, you can also use the Huawei Health app on your smartphone to create your own custom workout plans based on your goals. It’ll coach you during your exercise, giving you stage guidance (warm up, high intensity, low intensity, etc), speed guidance, lap reminders and of course, goal process reminders and more.
The Watch 2 boasts a heart rate monitor that provides a real-time heart rate zone to keep your heart rate in check while exercising, as, contrary to popular belief, having a high heart rate can have a negative effect on your workout. If your heart rate is too high during your workout, the Watch 2 will let you know.
It doesn’t stop there though, as it also offers in-depth stats following your workout, available on your smartphone. It’ll break your workout into different areas, offer post-workout reports for VO2Max, training effect evaluations (for long term comparison) and recovery time advice depending on how hard you’ve pushed yourself.
Don’t worry about sweat damaging the smartwatch either: the Huawei Watch 2 offers IP68 dust and water resistance, meaning it should survive for up to 1m of water for 30 minutes.
Our only annoyance? It doesn’t make any attempt to automatically detect fitness activities. While this may not affect those that plan on going for a run or a bike ride, it means that those who take walks that turn into brisk exercise and forget to turn on the walking activity on the Watch miss out on all that data.
Equally, we found that on occasion we’d forget to end the tracking on the Watch and that it’d still be tracking us hours later – not good for our battery life or our health data.
Read next: Best fitness tracker deals
Connectivity
The Huawei Watch 2 features not only a built-in heart rate monitor, but also GPS, Wi-Fi (802.11 b/g/n), Bluetooth 4.1 and optional 4G connectivity, allowing for standalone use.
This means that you can use the Watch for exercise and even to make and receive calls without your smartphone being in range. It’s worth mentioning that the 4G connectivity is exclusive to the Sport variant, and isn’t available as part of the Classic range.
In terms of sensors, the Huawei Watch 2 boasts an accelerometer, three-axis gyroscope, barometer, compass and a capacitive sensor in addition to the HR monitor mentioned above.
Battery life
In terms of battery life, Huawei claims that the 4G-connected Watch 2 will last for two days on a single charge, while the non-4G variant will last an extra day with a three-day battery life with average use (both feature the same 420mAh battery).
While we can’t confirm the battery life of the 4G-connected Watch, we can say that the standard Huawei Watch 2 lasts around two days on a single charge – it’s only when we toggle on the smart power saving mode that we see three-day battery life.
There’s also a Watch Mode for those that only want to use the smartwatch to tell the time. While it disables most of the functionality of the Watch, it also allows it to be powered on for a whopping 30 days on a single charge.
Huawei claims that if everything is in use constantly (GPS, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, 4G connectivity) like when using it to track workouts, the Watch 2 will reportedly last 11 hours before needing some juice.
The good news is that when the time does come to charge the Huawei Watch 2, it’s pretty fast: we found that it would charge from empty to full in little over an hour.
Read next: Best fitness trackers of 2017
Software
In terms of software, the Huawei Watch 2 boasts the latest version of Android Wear, aka Android Wear 2.0. It’s a huge improvement over the original Android Wear, providing a more intuitive and easy-to-use user interface.
Due to the standalone capabilities offered by the new version of Android Wear, the Huawei Watch 2 features its own built-in Play Store for users to browse and download apps directly to the Watch without the need for a paired smartphone.
While there are a handful of apps for Android Wear that allow for standalone use, many (at the time of writing) still require a connected smartphone to work. While Google Play Music can stream music to the smartwatch via Wi-Fi only, Spotify requires a smartphone to be connected for playback.
Of course, the Huawei Watch 2 also includes Google Assistant support, with users able to long press one of the two buttons on the Watch 2 to activate it. It’s quicker and more responsive than on older smartwatches we’ve used, making it a decent option for text input when replying to texts and emails. For those that don’t enjoy dictation, you can swipe on-screen using the new keyboard.
For more information on what Android Wear 2.0 offers, take a look at our explainer: Android Wear 2.0 release date, features and more
The post Huawei Watch 2 review appeared first on Gigarefurb Refurbished Laptops News.
source https://news.gigarefurb.co.uk/huawei-watch-2-review/
Panasonic Toughbook 33
If you’re looking at this and wondering why you would buy a 2-in-1 laptop from Panasonic, much less one that’s 1.8-inches (4.6cm) thick and weighs 6.1 pounds (2.8kg), the Toughbook 33 isn’t for you. This is, through and through, an enterprise machine with the mobile workforce in mind.
That means the target market for this Toughbook (and every Toughbook before it) consists of professionals such as fire-fighters, police officers and EMTs who take their laptops on the go into unpredictable environments.
The nature of these jobs requires a laptop that’s thick and rugged, and in today’s world of versatile hybrid notebooks, consumer-facing devices simply don’t have this advantage. Boasting a magnesium alloy chassis and a fully rugged design, the Toughbook 33 is for those whose jobs require a laptop meeting military-grade MIL-STD-810G standards.
This is a laptop that, according to Panasonic’s claims, can withstand drops, shocks, vibration, rain, dust, high temperatures, low temperatures, humidity and, of course, an ‘explosive atmosphere’. That alone would explain its steep $3,649 (about £2,800, AU$4,900) starting cost, but Panasonic takes this Toughbook iteration even further.
With the Toughbook 33, Panasonic gives users the choice between 7th-generation Kaby Lake i5-7300U and i7-7600U processors, or 6th-generation Skylake i5-6300U and i7-6600U CPUs. This may seem like a baffling choice at first sight: after all, why would you rather use a last-gen CPU than a current one?
Oh, that’s right – Kaby Lake only supports Windows 10. For anyone that prefers the familiar face of Windows 7 Professional, the Skylake variants of the Toughbook 33 offer a unique downgrade option that Microsoft won’t allow for on Kaby Lake models.
The Panasonic Toughbook 33 gets with the times in more ways than one, too. Not only are the processors up-to-date, but there’s a choice between 256GB and 512GB of storage space with RAM configurations of 8GB and 16GB available.
There’s even Windows Hello support via the 1080p front-facing webcam. Panasonic says the camera is clever enough to tell the difference between twins, making logins especially secure, thereby preventing the threat of your Toughbook being abused if it somehow ends up in the wrong hands. There’s also an 8MP camera located on the back of the device.
The Toughbook 33 has a 12-inch screen that’s equipped with a QHD (2,160 x 1,440) resolution. It’s a capacitive multi-touch screen which can be used while wearing gloves, and it also supports an IP55-rated digitiser pen.
In the flesh, the Toughbook 33’s screen is among its standout features. The 3:2 aspect ratio might seem like a step backwards from the 16:9 standard followed by previous Toughbooks, but for its target audience, this format better accommodates legacy applications that haven’t been updated with native support for the latest display trends.
This Panasonic laptop’s display is rated at a brightness of 1,200 nits, which is a lot more obvious when you’re looking at it head-on than it is in photos. As a result, you don’t have to worry about sunlight getting in the way of, say, accessing your Computer Aided Dispatch and completing tasks quickly and efficiently.
With such a bright, vivid screen, and powerful processors, it’s safe to say we were concerned about the battery life on the Panasonic Toughbook 33. So it was a relief to hear that – if nothing else – the battery is a swappable component of Panasonic’s latest professional-grade workhorse.
Not only can you store two batteries at a time in the Toughbook, but an upgrade makes it possible for the battery life to last 20 hours, as opposed to the default battery’s 10 hours of longevity. In our hands-on demo, we got to take a look at the charging dock, which can apparently handle four battery units at a time.
Luckily, switching the batteries out is relatively painless. By simply sliding off a panel located on the back of the tablet, the interchangeable batteries of the Toughbook can be removed and replaced in a matter of seconds.
More important than the convenience of battery swapping, however, is the overall portability of the machine. With the Toughbook 33, Panasonic doesn’t want users to worry about the extravagant cost of installing new equipment in their vehicles just to keep the notebook docked.
While this machine uses a new CF-33 vehicle dock for use in both laptop and convertible modes, the Toughbook 33 is also backwards compatible by way of a 31 Vehicle Drop Adapter (VDA) negating the roughly $500 (about £385, AU$670) cost of installing entirely new hardware.
Ordinary by name, but exceptional by design, tablet users will take solace in the fact that the detachable Premium Keyboard on the Toughbook 33 is completely optional. On the other hand, after spending some time with the keyboard, there’s no denying its necessity.
The red backlight that automatically powers on in low-light conditions accompanies a comfortable keyboard with unexpectedly decent travel. There are even five user-defined keys (including the A1/A2 buttons visible below the screen) that can be customised to virtually any action. Still, if you don’t mind using an on-screen keyboard, that’s an option too.
In marked contrast, the trackpad is nothing special and arguably even too small for comfort. Despite being pressure sensitive and multi-touch, it could do with having a bit more space. Nevertheless, you can always attach a mouse or even use your finger or a stylus to command the cursor.
Early verdict
The Toughbook 33 is a rugged notebook for the modern age. Its radiant screen and retrospective design choices make it a nearly perfect tailor-made experience for Panasonic’s enterprise customers. Albeit at an absurdly high cost, we can appreciate that the Toughbook 33 is both a step forward and a step back.
Offering a model that still supports Windows 7 was a wise move to entice veteran PC users, while the new-school crowd can take advantage of Windows 10 Pro. And don’t forget about the money saved with the VDA adapter, which could entice any Toughbook 31 owner to upgrade.
The 1080p webcam, QHD screen and the choice of Kaby Lake processors are all fascinating prospects. And Panasonic delivers this without compromising battery life – up to 20 hours is very impressive, if the machine works as well in real-world use cases as it does on paper. Even if not, it’s possible to hot-swap batteries all day long with that sleek charging dock mentioned earlier.
While there’s no USB Type-C in sight to keep it future-proof (ports include HDMI, USB 3.0/2.0, VGA, Ethernet and audio), and the thought of using such a puny trackpad on a luxury device is disheartening, the Toughbook 33 still looks to bring mobile workforce users up to par with everyone else in terms of computing standards.
The post Panasonic Toughbook 33 appeared first on Gigarefurb Refurbished Laptops News.
source https://news.gigarefurb.co.uk/panasonic-toughbook-33/
Asus ROG Strix Radeon RX 580 TOP Edition 8GB review
The Asus ROG Strix Radeon RX 580 TOP Edition 8GB takes the latest graphic card design from AMD and makes it into cooler, better looking and above all, faster.
Asus ROG Strix Radeon RX 580: Price
Although we’re reviewing Asus’ Strix model here, there are lots of RX 580 cards to choose between. Prices will vary a lot depending on the exact model you choose, but expect to pay around £240-£310 for an 8GB card.
This is the same price as the Radeon RX 480 was at launch and is in the same ballpark as a GeForce GTX 1060 which is the RX 580’s main competitor.
Versions of the Radeon RX 580 can be had for less than £200 if you opt for the 4GB version.
Check out our roundup of the best graphics cards for alternatives.
What is the Radeon RX 580?
Based on the fastest of AMD’s new RX 500-series GPUs, the Radeon RX 580 is now the go-to graphics card for AMD fans who demand the highest possible performance, but can’t necessarily stretch to the expense of a high-end RX Fury.
The Radeon RX 580 has 36 compute units, 2,304 stream processors and 144 texture units. If that looks a little familiar, it’s because it’s exactly the same spec as the previous generation RX 480.
The key point here is that, despite the change in leading digit form a ‘4’ to a ‘5’, both the RX 480 and the RX 580 are based on the same fourth generation Graphics Core Next (GCN) architecture and are therefore essentially versions of the same product.
The RX 580 then is simply a fitter, more efficient version of the existing RX 480. While this will be a little disappointing for those itching to upgrade, all is not lost, because the the improved efficiency of the RX 580 allows it to run at higher clock speeds.
So, it’s noticeably faster than its predecessor, clocking in at a base frequency of 1,257 MHz and topping out at 1,340 MHz in boost mode where the RX 480 managed 1,120 MHz and 1,266 MHz respectively.
However, the card we’re reviewing here is no ordinary RX 580. The Asus Strix TOP Edition model comes clocked even faster, with a maximum core speed of 1,431 MHz.
Asus ROG Strix Radeon RX 580: Features and design
The Asus Strix RX 580 is a really big card, not just in length, which remains at 298mm, the same as the Strix RX 480, but also in width. Where its predecessor required 2 slots to accommodate its width, the new card needs 2.5 slots.
This means it won’t fit into all PC cases and there may be situations where it’s not a simple drop-in replacement for a the RX 480 version either.
The reason for the card’s large size lies in its pair of hefty new heatpipe coolers, topped by a trio of variable-speed cooling fans. The board also comes with a protective backplate which runs the full length of the card.
A single 8-pin connector powers the board, and a total of five video output sockets is provided, including DVI, 2x DisplayPort and 2x HDMI 2.0. At the opposite end of the board is a pair of fan headers for direct connection to external fans, typically mounted in your system case. Asus calls this feature, ‘Asus FanConnect II’.
Fans of lighting effects will love the AURA RGB lighting support which can work in conjunction with other Asus-branded products, such as motherboards, to produce coordinated lighting effects which can be choreographed across the whole system. Asus also throws in the control software to make it all happen.
The result is a very impressive looking card, with quite imposing looks which will suit many gaming PC builds – just as long as it fits. The build quality is excellent as we have come to expect from Asus Strix products and goes some way to justifying the rather high asking price for the board.
Asus ROG Strix Radeon RX 580: Performance
This card is factory overclocked to deliver superior performance and our benchmarks show it does just that. Easily outpacing the RX 480 and in some cases leapfrogging Nvidia’s GeForce GTX 1060, although the latter has recently been made available in an upgraded version with faster memory which will be reviewed soon.
The supplied Asus GPU Tweak II software gives you the opportunity to push the card further – all the way to breaking point, but we tested the card using the fastest of three preset performance modes, known as ‘OC Mode’.
This is faster than the ‘Gaming Mode’ selected by default, but we feel most owners of this card are going to want to get as much performance as they can – after all, they’re paying extra for that massive cooling system, so why not use it?
Our results show excellent performance at 1080p where you’ll usually be able to select Ultra quality settings while maintaining a decent frame rate. You’ll often be able to do the same at 1440p, although this will vary from game to game.
Tough titles such as Deus Ex Mankind Divided will need a more powerful card, or perhaps a second Radeon RX 580, to achieve this kind of quality level, however.
In the DX12 tests for Mankind Divided, we saw a minimum frame rate of 27.6fps at the 2K Ultra setting, and 34.3fps on average. At 4K High, these dropped to 18fps and 22fps respectively.
At 1080p Ultra, the RX 580 managed 39.7fps minimum and 50.9fps on average, so that is probably the sensible quality limit for this particular card in Mankind Divided.
Should you buy a Radeon RX 580?
Whether or not you should buy a Radeon RX 580 depends on what graphics card you have already. If you’re starting from scratch, then the RX 580 offers great performance for the money and is good for gaming at 1080p and 1440p resolutions.
This overclocked model also comes in ahead of a standard Nvidia GTX 1060 in most tests, although an overclocked model such as the Asus Strix GTX 1060 is a much tougher opponent costing around the same as our Radeon review card.
If you’re firmly in the AMD camp, perhaps due to your choice of gaming monitor, then the RX 580 is certainly fast enough to stop you lusting after a GeForce 1060.
However, If you already own a Radeon RX 480 there’s little point in upgrading as the technology is essentially the same. Sure, it’s measurably faster, but not so much that it would warrant upgrading to the new card.
When it comes down to exactly which model of RX 580 to buy, things get a little more complicated. For example, Asus offers six different RX 580s in 4GB and 8GB configurations with varying features and clock speeds.
The model reviewed here is the top of the range model running at the highest speeds, which makes it really rather expensive. However, you can save around £30 by buying one of the lesser Asus Strix models which will give you the same features and the same build quality, just with a slower guaranteed factory overclock.
You can then overclock the card manually and see how far you can get on your own.
You can save even more by opting for one of the Dual series cards which come with a smaller cooler and twin, instead of triple, fans. These offer less headroom for overclocking as well as omitting many cosmetic features of the Strix models.
Spend some time comparing prices while paying very careful attention to exact model names as their identical physical appearance and packaging can easily lead to confusion, leading you to think you’re getting a bargain when you’re actually looking at a slower version of the card.
Ultimately the Asus ROG Strix Radeon RX 580 TOP Edition 8GB isn’t about delivering the best frame rates at the lowest price. It’s about delivering the ultimate performance, superior build quality and enhanced features, all of which it does quite admirably.
The post Asus ROG Strix Radeon RX 580 TOP Edition 8GB review appeared first on Gigarefurb Refurbished Laptops News.
source https://news.gigarefurb.co.uk/asus-rog-strix-radeon-rx-580-top-edition-8gb-review/
Sunday 21 May 2017
Review: Review: HP Spectre x360 13-w031TU ultraportable laptop
Things are getting heavy in the land of ultraportables. Not a week goes by without a new ultra-light, super-slim notebook crossing the PC & Tech Authority testbench, and HP has weighed in with two lightweights. The second of these is the Spectre, a 13.3-inch convertible that is as light as it is flexible. Can it live up to the increasing competition of this sector though, where competition is incredibly fierce?
According to the official press release, HP has made some rather impressive improvements compared to the previous version of the Spectre. It’s 13% thinner at a mere 13.8mm, while it’s shed around 150 grams, bringing it to a total weight of 1.295kg, for the entry level model at least. This doesn’t make it the thinnest or lightest on the market, but it’s not far off. The convertible screen rotates through 360 degrees thanks to two hinges, and they’re nice and sturdy, minimising bounce if you choose to make use of the touchscreen capabilities. Speaking of which, the IPS screen is a beauty – our review model came with the wonderfully crisp 4K model. It may seem like overkill on a 13 incher, but it is a delight to behold. Unfortunately the price we were supplied was for the 1080p version – bump it up to 4K and you can add another $600 or so to the price quoted above.
Perhaps the biggest improvement though is a claimed 25% increase in battery life. HP says this should deliver up 15 hours of use thanks to a 57.8W battery combined with the latest Intel 7th Gen Core. Our review unit hit a very healthy 264 minutes in the very demanding PCMark 8 Home Battery test; it would have done even better if it was the 1080p version, as the 4K screen is known to be a bit of a power-pig. Helping optimise battery life even further, our sample came with the Core i7 7500U CPU, which ramps up to 3.5GHz under maximum load but generally likes to hang out around 2.7GHz for regular duties. It’s only a twin core model, but the inclusion of Hyperthreading helps out when it comes to multitasking.
One improvement that is easy to note is the new ‘micro-edge display bezel’, which has reduced the bezel by an impressive 10mm on each side, giving it that the infinite edge look and feel that is now the norm. Unfortunately due to its rather thin nature, the range of I/O ports isn’t overwhelming. On the left is a single USB 3.1 Type A alongside a 3.5mm stereo minijack, while the right has twin USB 3.1 Type C ports. The great news is they’re both Thunderbolt compatible. HP has also generously included three different peripherals that change the functionality of these ports; a single RJ45 Ethernet Adaptor, a HDMI adaptor and a VGA adaptor. There’s even a stylus included, though we couldn’t see any mention of it being pressure sensitive, and a quick test in Paint suggests it’s not, though it is very crisp and accurate. We were also blown away by the audio quality for such a lightweight – the quad speakers pump out clear, loud sound, though it obviously lacks bass.
Digging under the hood reveals a fairly well-rounded machine. As well as the aforementioned CPU, there’s 8GB of memory, which just scrapes in by our books; sadly it’s not upgradable. Our system came with a 512GB Samsung PCIe SSD, which can be upgraded all the way up to a Terabyte, and we’re confident this is why performance was so snappy, giving this machine an excellent score in PCMark 8 Home’s Accelerated test. This was quite the surprise, as the Yoga 910 had double the system memory and a bigger SSD, so by all rights should have placed first. It didn’t though, if only by the smallest margin, so we have to give the Spectre the chequered flag when it comes to performance.
It’s getting tougher and tougher to pick the best Ultrabook around, but the Spectre’s excellent performance combined with solid specs makes it one of the top contenders on the market. If only it had a larger SSD and more memory, it could have been the pick of the bunch.
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source https://news.gigarefurb.co.uk/review-review-hp-spectre-x360-13-w031tu-ultraportable-laptop/
WannaCry hit Windows 7 systems hardest, new research shows
Last weekend the WannaCry ransomware infection caused havoc in hundreds of countries and across hundreds of thousands of machines, and in the immediate aftermath of the hit, many were pointing the finger at outdated versions of Windows XP for allowing WannaCry to cause so much damage.
In fact, new research from Kaspersky shows, 98 percent of the computers hit by WannaCry were actually running Windows 7 – a more modern OS that’s still officially supported by Microsoft. A patch was issued to protect Windows 7 from this kind of exploit in March, so these would appear to be systems that haven’t yet been updated.
So far Kaspersky has only shared one tweet with the statistic – we’ll update this story if we hear more from the security firm- but it shows that running a more recent version of Windows doesn’t necessarily make you safe: it’s the regular patching and updating that keeps you (and your business) protected, not just upgrading your OS as a whole.
Microsoft no longer provides regular patches for Windows XP, which is why last week’s update in response to WannaCry was so unusual. Now it turns out that Windows 7 attacks were far more common, an OS released in 2009 that’s still the most popular in terms of market share, running on 48.5 percent of desktop computers worldwide.
Windows 10 is the only version of Windows completely safe from WannaCry, according to Microsoft, though the ransomware continues to evolve out in the wild. A small number of Windows 10 hits are shown in Kaspersky’s chart, but these are due to manual infections carried out for testing.
Meanwhile, security experts continue to release tools to fight WannaCry, with the latest one removing the ransomware as long as the infected system hasn’t been rebooted. If you’re after a complete guide to how you can stay protected, we’ve got you covered.
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source https://news.gigarefurb.co.uk/wannacry-hit-windows-7-systems-hardest-new-research-shows/
Saturday 20 May 2017
State Of Tango, Google I/O 2017
The search giant is no stranger to ambitious moonshots, but unlike its Daydream View VR headset, Google Glass, or even Google Home, all of which were designed and sold by Google, Tango relies on Android partners to invest in the plan.
When Apple wants to add a major new feature or remove a headphone jack, all it has to do is build a new iPhone. By contrast, Android is open source, and Google relies on partners to manufacture Android phones (some partners, including many Chinese OEMs and Samsung, don’t always seem to want much to do with Google). Google has not yet manufactured any Tango devices itself; it’s relying on partner companies to voluntarily manufacture phones that include these large, complicated, expensive camera setups.
So far, only two phones, from Lenovo and Asus, include Tango, but Google clearly expects it to be a part of every Android phone in the not too distant future. This will take some serious work to happen, but the potential payoff could be huge.
Mixed Signals
If you haven’t heard of it, Tango is google’s augmented reality platform. It uses a combination of cameras and depth sensors (lasers, generally) to detect and track the geometry of whatever you point the camera at in order to create effects and apps that blend the virtual and the real. Last year at I/O, Google’s developer conference, only a few apps were on display.
When we first saw a Tango device in 2016, it was a bulky camera bar built into a custom tablet. You could use it to measure a table leg; scan a chair to make a 3D model of it; look at a virtual dinosaur that seemed to be standing in the room with you; or play Woorld, a game from the creator of Katamari Damacy, where you interact with a number of friendly critters who wander around whatever room you are in.
But developers are just starting to experiment with the potential applications, and from what we saw this year at I/O, Tango is picking up steam.
An important caveat here: The tech demos we saw were mostly shown via video or on-stage presentation, or were in tightly controlled environments. It’s hard to properly evaluate any new app or piece of hardware until you get your hands on it and try it out in less than ideal situations. That said, here are just a few of the things potential uses for Tango.
Putting Tango on the Map
At its most basic level, the Tango sensors let you create a 3D map of a room. Extending this idea out, developers have come up with a number of potential use cases for a good spatial map. You can easily create a 2D floor plan of your house or apartment by simply walking through the rooms and pointing your phone’s camera around.
Another demo showed a scan of a room where at the click of a button, all the furniture was edited out, which leads to another potential use case–using the AR sensors to artificially place furniture in your artificially empty simulation of a room. It’s perfect for virtual redecorating, or seeing if your couch will fit comfortably in a new apartment before you move.
It’s worth noting that the Asus Zenfone AR, the second phone to hit the market with a Tango sensor (coming this summer), is also Daydream ready, meaning you can use it to make a full color 3D map of a space and then pop the phone into a Daydream VR headset and do a virtual walkthrough.
The ability to accurately map a room also leads to an idea that’s a little less obvious. By comparing the camera input with a spatial map (which can be created ahead of time and shared or downloaded), Tango can provide centimeter-level accurate positioning and navigation, even without GPS.
This is actually similar to how the “Worldsense” tracking on the new Qualcomm-designed standalone VR HMD is supposed to function. The camera maps tracking points (generally high contrast points, edges, textures, etc.) and uses their relative position to determine their location in space. Combine this with the depth sensors on a Tango phone, and you have extremely accurate local positioning. Going one step further, Tango’s ability to overlay virtual objects on the physical world means your phone could show you around a city or a store by drawing an arrow on the ground in front of you (Deadspace, anyone?)
An example of this is the AR museum exhibits Google has developed with Tango. In the Singapore ArtScience museum, for example, visitors given Tango phones could see the museum virtually transformed into a rainforest and follow markers on the ground to exhibits on virtual animals throughout the space. (This is similar to the demo we saw in Barcelona over a year ago.) Another exhibit of an Egyptian mummy used a Tango device to show a 3D CAT scan of the mummy as you moved the device over the exhibit. The Detroit Institute of Arts is using Tango, as well.
Life in the Real World
It’s always interesting to look at the industrial potential of new consumer tech, a place where Google actually excels but gets relatively little press. Google Glass never took off with consumers, but it was apparently quite popular with some surgeons and engineers for its ability to display readable text or images while their hands were occupied.
Similarly, Google mentioned an example use case for Tango where a mechanic could point a phone at a malfunctioning engine, and an expert back at the office could highlight problem parts by drawing on the screen. Through Tango’s recently improved “anti-drift” algorithms, the highlight stays pinned to the part in question, even if the mechanic moves the phone away.
The post State Of Tango, Google I/O 2017 appeared first on Gigarefurb Refurbished Laptops News.
source https://news.gigarefurb.co.uk/state-of-tango-google-io-2017/
Friday 19 May 2017
Asus ROG Rolls Out Two Mini-ITX Strix Motherboards
Asus announced the immediate availability of the ROG Strix H270I Gaming and ROG Strix B250I Gaming motherboards. The latest editions to the ROG Strix line of motherboards are both mini-ITX, based on Intel’s H270 and B250 chipset respectively. These two models are almost identical, physically speaking, differing only in a few minor components and chipset features.
Both models possess many features you’d expect from full-sized Intel-based Strix motherboards such as support for 6th (Skylake) and 7th (Kaby Lake) generation Intel Core desktop processors, DDR4 support, PCIe 3.0 x16 slot, dual gigabit LAN, USB 3.1 Type-A/C, Bluetooth 4.1, dual Intel Optane-ready M.2 sockets, and 8-channel HD audio, all bundled into a tiny 6.7 x 6.7″ package.
The Strix H270I Gaming has two gigabit LAN ports whereas the Strix B250I Gaming has a single gigabit LAN port. Both motherboards employ Asus’ LANGuard surge protection and can be managed using the GameFirst IV traffic management software. Due to the mini-ITX form factor, these motherboards have two memory slots that therefore limit system memory to 32GB. Integrated graphics output is handled via DisplayPort 1.2 or HDMI 1.4 ports on the rear I/O panel.
The company also included features found on its higher-end motherboards, such as AURA Sync RGB lighting, a 4-pin RGB lighting header, 802.11ac dual-band Wi-Fi, SafeSlot reinforced PCI-E slot, Q-LEDs, Digi+ VRMs, DRAM Overcurrent Protection, and its unique thermally isolated “double-decker” PCH chipset / M.2 drive heatsink. There are a total of three 4-pin fan headers on each motherboard. Even though all three fan headers can be used for PWM fans, one header is specifically designed to accommodate a high amp fan or water pump. All fan headers can be managed through Fan Xpert 4 Core.
The ROG Strix H270I Gaming and ROG Strix B250I Gaming motherboards are available now for $120 and $110, respectively.
| Asus ROG Strix H270I Gaming | Asus ROG Strix B250I | |
|---|---|---|
| Socket | 1151 | 1151 |
| Chipset | Intel H270 Chipset | Intel B250 Chipset |
| DDR4 Memory | 3800(OC) / 3600(OC) / 3200(OC) / 3000(OC) / 2800(OC) / 2600(OC) / 2400 / 2133 MHz | 2400 / 2133 MHz |
| Memory Channel | Dual | Dual |
| DIMM Slots | 2 | 2 |
| Max Memory | 32GB | 32GB |
| PCI-E x16 | 1 | 1 |
| SATA III | 4 | 4 |
| M.2 Slot | 2 | 2 |
| TPM Header | 1 | 1 |
| LAN | 10/100/1000 | 10/100/1000 |
| Rear I/O | 1 x DisplayPort 1 x HDMI 2 x LAN (RJ45) ports 6 x USB 3.1 Gen 1 (blue) 1 x Optical S/PDIF out 5 x audio jacks 1 x Wi-Fi antenna port |
1 x DisplayPort 1 x HDMI 1 x LAN (RJ45) port 4 x USB 3.1 Gen 1 2 x USB 2.0 5 x audio jacks 1 x Wi-Fi antenna port |
| Form Factor | mini-ITX | mini-ITX |
| Price | $120 | $110 |
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source https://news.gigarefurb.co.uk/asus-rog-rolls-out-two-mini-itx-strix-motherboards/
Corsair’s T1 Race Gaming Chair, Hands (And Back, And Butt) On
Corsair announced its new series of T1 gaming chairs earlier this week with big images, big platitudes, and loud colors.
Resemblances to sports and production rally car seats are purely intentional, as the chair even has holes in the backrest for the shoulder straps of your five-point harness to match its T1 Race name. Unlike the seats that came with your car, however, this one arrived in a box (weighing in at 57 pounds) and required assembly.
Components are primarily factory assembled, requiring users to only bolt the back to the seat and the seat to the base. Everything else snaps together.
You’ve probably heard several of Corsair’s competitors brag about having a metal base, but Corsair saved a bit of weight here by including one of the heaviest plastic bases we’ve seen, rather than an even-heavier metal casting. By design alone, this base isn’t going to be a problem.
Get It Together
The box of hardware includes only an Allen wrench, two spare screws, two sets of side covers (one spare set), a Class 4 gas lift, a telescoping dust skirt for the lift, and a set of roller castors. One key element of the castors is that they use urethane roller blade wheels, which roll more easily on hard floors. The pivots also have ball bearings to eliminate the “stuck castor” phenomenon often found on cheaper chairs when you make a J-turn exit (from your keyboard, of course).
The instruction manual is reasonably easy to follow, but most users probably won’t need it. That’s a shame, because you might miss the facts that 1) the red cap on the lift needs to be removed, and 2) the castors are supposed to be installable using nothing more than firm pressure from your hand. That second point is laughable, as pressing and wiggling the castors while bracing the top of the base against my leg, so hard that I bruised my thigh, got them only halfway in. The manual didn’t suggest that I should try pulling them out and greasing the pin, so I instead flipped the base onto the floor (wheels down) and stomped on each corner until my foot went numb. That did the trick.
The side covers install over the side screws using snap connectors that engage in alternative holes. One of the holes on each side is at the pivot point. We highly recommend using a flashlight to assist the alignment of the snap pins with snap holes, unless you’d prefer to figure out why Corsair included a second set of side covers. Pillows are attached with straps and can be moved vertically, although the neck pillow will need to be relocated to the head rest for most people over 5’4″ (or 162cm).
The side includes a backrest inclination adjustment lever, a seat height lever, and an armrest height button. Sliding the height adjustment inward locks the base, which has an adjustable-resistance tilt spring.
Two more buttons inside the armrests allow the pads to slide in and out, forward and back. The in-and-out function is in addition to the slots on the brackets that secure the arms to the base of the chair so that it’s able to adjust quickly to people of similar size.
So, How Does It Feel?
The premium PU leather seat upholstery feels like the textured Polyurethane covering of mid-priced headphones, with a stiffness analogous to goat skin gloves. Ricardo Montalbán would be proud. The vinyl-topped leather backing is a little more slick and stiff, similar to cowhide used in mid-priced automotive upholstery. For optimal comfort, we suggest wearing a shirt and pants. (You were already going to be wearing those, right? Right?)
In fact, once the base warmed up to my legs, I reclined halfway to relax. Note that you’ll need to lock the base before doing this, unless you want to go for a ride. Unfortunately, the back didn’t fully engage: Instead, as soon as I applied my upper body weight, the back mechanism made the long crunching noise of the latch jumping over its teeth, and the jolt of reaching the bottom caused the chair to flip anyway. Being spring loaded and having given up completely on engagement, the recline mechanism then allowed the bottom to return to the back’s upright position, knees straight up. Considering my lack of head trauma, I guess that the headrest doubles as a safety feature?
Of course, the castor base flipped up, causing its edges to dig into my floor in two places, This is how one of the two scars in the floor looked after 24 hours of flexing back towards its original position. It’s a cheap repair if you can do it yourself, but getting a floor specialist to your location usually comes with a significant minimum fee.
We’re going to guess that a minor manufacturing defect caused the non-engagement of the recline mechanism. It may work itself out or get worse, depending on how the chair gets used. And while other users may never have my experience, I’m going to suggest that everyone buying the first batch of these things wiggle the back hard to make sure it’s firmly engaged before leaning back. The latch of this sample repeatedly jumped its teeth before I started doing that.
Unable to relax in the chair after that, I let others take it for a ride, with the caution not to recline the back past about a 60° angle. The consensus is that this is a very comfortable chair, once you make all the adjustments.
Is it worth $350? Or even the $280 that some discount vendors are suggesting? The only truly cheap thing we could find on it were the castor wheel bearings; they’re bottom-range roller blade bearings with all the grittiness that implies. And even low-end roller blade wheels are a tremendous improvement over what most mid-grade office chairs use. The Corsair T1 Race gaming chair might even be the best chair for a chair race. Wouldn’t you want that in your office?
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source https://news.gigarefurb.co.uk/corsairs-t1-race-gaming-chair-hands-and-back-and-butt-on/
LastPass Authenticator Now Easier To Use With Cloud Backup Feature
Two-Factor Authentication
Two-factor authentication seems to be gaining steam lately as more companies experience data breaches. Two-factor authentications come in multiple forms, such as an SMS code (not recommended anymore), Time-Based One-Time Password (TOTP) code, or a public key paired with a private key inside a hardware token.
Attackers can’t access your account when a second-factor protects it, even if they have your password. It’s usually significantly harder to gain your second-factor code than it is to get your password. They can gain the passwords in bulk in a data breach, whereas to gain your second-factor code, they need to hack you, specifically. Plus, they still need your password, too, to be able to enter your account.
LastPass Authenticator’s Cloud Backup
LastPass Authenticator’s new cloud backup feature is opt-in, so users have to enable it in the app settings manually. It also works in conjunction with the LastPass Password Manager, which has to be installed first on a mobile device.
When the user enables the feature, the seed key of the QR code is stored on LastPass’ servers to remember all of the user’s two-factor authentication pairings for various websites. Thus, when the user resets or changes phones, those pairings can be retrieved from LastPass’ servers instead of the user having to go to each site to re-pair.
When the user launches the LastPass Authenticator on a new phone or a freshly reset phone, he or she will be asked to add a new account manually or restore from backup. According to LastPass, restoring takes only a few seconds, and then everything should work just as before.
However, it’s not usually a good idea to store everything in one place. Users who are worried about this may want to use a different authenticator to log in to the LastPass Password Manager itself while using the LastPass Authenticator for all of their third-party websites.
The post LastPass Authenticator Now Easier To Use With Cloud Backup Feature appeared first on Gigarefurb Refurbished Laptops News.
source https://news.gigarefurb.co.uk/lastpass-authenticator-now-easier-to-use-with-cloud-backup-feature/
iMac 2017 release date, news and rumors
We know they’re coming. Apple recently stated publicly that it will launch new iMac computers this year. But, it’s figuring out what will be different about them inside and out that we can still have fun with.
Before and (especially) since that rare, impromptu meeting Apple held with journalists in April to discuss the future of the Mac, several details regarding the desktop Macs in question have reportedly surfaced.
Of course, we still don’t know the iMac’s 2017 release date, and likely won’t for some time. With that, here’s everything else we know about the 2017 iMac so far.
Cut to the chase
- What is it? The new iMac desktops
- When is it out? As early as WWDC or as late as this autumn
- What will it cost? Likely as much as current models
iMac 2017 release date
When Apple first confirmed that new iMacs would arrive in 2017, naturally executives offered nothing as to when these new computers would release. Since that revealing meeting with select press, we’ve developed a better idea of when we’ll see the 2017 iMacs.
A DigitTimes report, citing supply chain sources, alleges that two new iMac models – 21.5- and- 27-inch, of course – will go into production this May targeting a third quarter, or Q3 2017, launch.
Further, the report states that a truly professional-grade iMac will release later this year, so Q4 2017 would be a safe guess there.
iMac 2017 price
Sadly, we’ve heard little to nothing regarding the iMac 2017 price just yet. However, it would be safe to expect them to fall in line with previous price points for iMacs.
For those keeping score, that’s $1,099 (£1,049, AU$1,699) to start for the 21.5-inch iMac and $1,799 ($1,749, AU$2,799) for the 27-inch model to start.
That said, we’ve seen Apple hike prices up a bit for the sake of flashy new features, like the new MacBook Pro Touch Bar. Since rumor has it the next iMac may come with a Touch Bar keyboard accessory, it might be wise to prepare to spend a little more on iMac this time around.
iMac 2017 specs
Unfortunately, we’ve heard nothing regarding the internals of the next iMacs for consumers like us, but lots of beans have reportedly been spilled regarding the pro-grade device. Namely, Apple is expected to put an Intel Xeon chip inside the all-in-one.
Specifically, the Pike’s Universum blog reports that the 2017 iMac will house AMD graphics, Intel Xeon E3-1285 v6 processors, and from 16GB to 64GB of ECC RAM. Furthermore, the device will offer Thunderbolt 3 through USB-C along with a 2TB SSD inside.
These are likely just a taste of the hardware options that will be available when the pro-grade iMac launches. While we currently don’t know much of what the, say, living room-grade iMac will house inside, we’d be surprised if the offering didn’t include at least Thunderbolt 3 through USB-C and some AMD graphics options.
Finally, again, we should expect to see Apple experiment further with its Touch Bar technology, with reports claiming that the next iMac keyboard will have its very own Touch Bar.
Bonus round: don’t expect an iMac with a touchscreen. It will never happen.
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source https://news.gigarefurb.co.uk/imac-2017-release-date-news-and-rumors/