This Samsung Chromebook is just $89, but here’s why spending more is so much smarter

If you’re looking to get one of the most affordable computing experiences you can this Black Friday, Best Buy’s discount on a Samsung Chromebook is one of the easiest ways to do that. You can get an 11.6-inch Chromebook for $89, though there’s good reason to spend just $30 more for an upgraded model.

The $89 Samsung Chromebook model includes 2GB of RAM and 16GB of storage. In 2019, those memory and storage capacities are going to be fairly limiting. But, for $119, both of those specs double, so you’d be getting 4GB of RAM and 32GB of storage.

That extra memory can go a long way toward making the computing experience on a Chromebook like this smoother, especially for any tasks that involve multiple tabs or browser windows.

The display on this Samsung Chromebook (for both models) is an HD panel with a 1366 x 768 resolution and, the Chromebook uses a Wireless AC connection for dependable speeds.

There is some uncertainty about the other specs on this model. Best Buy lists the Chromebook as using an Intel Atom x5 processor in the product title (specifically the Intel Atom E8000 as seen in the specifications), but later describes it as having an Intel Celeron processor.

In either case, you’ll be looking at a low-power processor suited to the type of tasks a small Chromebook is suited to.

TechRadar is scouring every retailer and rounding up all the top deals over the Black Friday period, and we’ve put all the best Black Friday deals and Cyber Monday deals in easy-to-navigate articles to help you find the bargains you’re looking for.

Philips Unveils Brilliance 439P9H SuperWide 32:10 Curved Prosumer Monitor

Philips this week announced a new ultra-wide display aimed at prosumers. The curved Brilliance 439P9H brings together a large 32:10 aspect ratio panel with USB Type-C docking capabilities, an integrated KVM switch, a wide color gamut, factory calibration, and more. And while the monitor is not aimed at color-critical workloads, many users who need accurate colors may actually consider it.

The Philips Brilliance 439P9H uses a curved VA panel featuring a 1.8-meter radius curvature, and a 3840×1200 resolution. Other characteristics of the LCD include a max brightness of 450 nits, a 3000:1 contrast ratio, 178º/178º vertical/horizontal viewing angles, a 4 ms GtG contrast ratio, and up to a 100 Hz refresh rate. The display can reproduce 123% of the sRGB, 95% of the DCI-P3, 91% of the AdobeRGB, and 105% of the NTSC color spaces. Furthermore, it comes factory calibrated to a Delta<2 accuracy in case of the sRGB color gamut.

The Brilliance 439P9H has a rather interesting positioning. Being a P-line monitor, it is aimed at professionals and prosumers, which is why it has a built-in KVM switch to appeal to those who are going to use the display instead of two smaller LCDs with two PCs. It also offers a pop-up 2 MP webcam with IR sensors for Windows Hello, USB-C docking with up to 90 W power delivery, a GbE port, built-in speakers, and a USB 3.0 hub. On the other hand, VESA DisplayHDR 400 certification and Adaptive-Sync support will certainly please gamers. Given the intersection of features, Philips clearly wants to address a rather wide audience of prosumers with its 439P9H, yet not exactly professionals with color-critical workloads or demanding gamers with a need for an ultra-high refresh rate.

Given the nature of the Brilliance 439P9H, it is not surprising that Philips equipped it with a host of ports, including two DisplayPort 1.4 inputs, one HDMI 2.0b port, and two USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-C (with DP Alt Mode and 90 W PD) inputs. Furthermore, it also has a quad-port USB 3.0 hub, a GbE port, and a headphone output.

One indisputable advantage of the Brilliance 439P9H is its stand that can adjust height, swivel, and tilt. Typically, ultra-large displays come with basic stands that can only regulate tilt, so the Brilliance 439P9H stands out of the crowd.

The monitor is being first released in the UK for £879. Which will likely translate into an MSRP of around $950 in the US.

This MSI gaming laptop with a GTX 1650 is just $650 right now

Prices for gaming laptops just keep dropping, perhaps in preparation for Black Friday. No matter the reason, it’s great to see laptops with modern Nvidia graphics becoming cheaper, and now you can get one MSI laptop with a GTX 1650 for just $649.00 at Walmart. For context, that’s $50 less than the cheapest GTX 1650 laptop on Newegg right now.

The full specifications of this model aren’t bad at all for under $700. The CPU is an Intel Core i5-9300H, with 4 cores, 8 threads, a 45W TDP, and a max turbo clock of 4.10GHz. Other hardware include 8GB of 2666MHz RAM, a 512GB NVMe SSD, and a 15.6-inch 1080p “IPS-Level” screen. The display only 60Hz, but 120Hz+ screens are usually only available on laptops $1,000 or more. Windows 10 Home is preinstalled.

The GTX 1650 in this laptop is an entry-level graphics card, so while it’s a lot better than Intel HD integrated graphics, you might have trouble playing some large-scale AAA titles. This laptop is best suited for games like Fortnite, The Sims, Overwatch, and other optimized titles. You can get a good idea for how it performs from our review.

Acer’s 27-inch 144Hz FreeSync Monitor Drops to $249.99

A monitor is just as important as the gaming rig itself. Ahead of the best Black Friday tech deals, the Acer XZ271 gaming monitor is currently on sale at Walmart for $249.99, $50 off its normal retail price. It’s an even larger discount from the $450 it was going for early last year. 

Gaming-oriented attributes include a speedy 144Hz refresh rate, 1ms response time and support for FreeSync technology for silky smooth gameplay at FHD resolution with PCs running AMD graphics cards. This should all be enough to appease competitive gamers who also want strong pixel density. 

The XZ271U checks in with a 27-inch curved VA panel. That typically promises better contrast than TN or IPS displays, and the XZ271 is specced with a respectable 3,000: 1 contrast ratio. 

The display also comes with several nifty features, including Acer’s own Eye Protect technology, a blue light filter and low-dimming technology for protecting your eyes against fatigue. Additionally, it supports tilt, swivel and height adjustments and has a standard 100 x 100mm VESA mount.

In regards to connectivity, the XZ271U sports one DisplayPort 1.2, one Mini DisplayPort 1.2, two HDMI 2.0 ports (one with MHL 2.1 support) and four USB 3.0 Type-A ports. You’ll also enjoy a pair of built-in 7W stereo speakers and a 3.5mm headphone jack for plugging in your best gaming headset. 

If this monitor isn’t for you, be sure to check out our top recommendations on our Best Gaming Monitors or, if you want even higher resolutions, our Best 4K Gaming Monitors pages. 

Pixio PXC273 Curved Gaming Monitor Review: 144Hz and DCI-P3 on Budget

When shopping for a new monitor, the first thing most consider is price. Features and performance are important, but price is king, especially if you’re on a tight budget. A relatively new brand, Pixio offers the PXC273 with specs that can challenge some of the best gaming monitors. That includes a speedy 144Hz refresh rate in a 27-inch FHD (1920 x 1080) resolution package. The best part is it sells for just $200 at the time of writing. But that low price also means making some sacrifices, including around image quality

Pixio PXC273 Specs

The PXC273 starts with a high-contrast VA panel running at 1080p resolution. The biggest surprise is its wide color gamut. Pixio doesn’t specify the coverage, and since there’s no HDR here, we’d expect a screen that sticks to the sRGB color gamut. But after testing, we discovered it covers more of the DCI-P3 spec than nearly every other monitor we’ve tested. A little more digging revealed a Samsung-sourced panel with a quantum-dot backlight. Users looking for maximum color will certainly want to check out the PXC273.

Like most monitors today, the PXC273 has a flicker-free backlight. Pixio specs it with a max brightness of 200 nits and contrast ratio of 3,000:1, but we found higher numbers in our testing. Right out of the box, this display offers some nice surprises.

At $200, the value ratio is high when you take specs and features into account. But the proof is in the testing and gameplay.

Unpacking and Accessories

The only bundled cable is DisplayPort, which you’ll need to use the maximum 144Hz refresh rate. If you use the HDMI port you’re limited to 120Hz, and DVI tops out at 60Hz. The power supply is a small wall-wart. You must assemble the stand and base, but tools aren’t required.

Product 360

The PXC273 features a no-frills design that leaves out things like lighting effects, USB ports and speakers. The screen is surrounded by thin 8mm bezels and flush-mounted. There’s a tight-fitting anti-glare layer that minimizes the air gap to the TFT (thin film transistor), resulting in a clear picture with no grain. There was no bleed or glow on our sample.

The stand is quite light and offers only a 15-degree tilt adjustment. It’s made from plastic and attaches near the bottom of the panel. There’s a bit of wobble, thanks to a small mount point. The base is small, saving some desktop space but sacrificing a little stability. The back also features a 75mm VESA lug pattern if you want to use your own stand or bracket.

The curve radius is 1800mm, which is a little more open than recent screens we’ve reviewed that are 1500mm in the same size and aspect ratio. In practice, the curve was barely noticeable and neither enhanced or detracted from the image. The curve only showed a significant impact if we were using two or three monitors simultaneously. But at the PXC273’s price, three screens aren’t out of the question.

The PXC273’s simple design extends to its on-screen display (OSD) control, which is a single joystick that works well with a solid click and feel.

The input panel has one each of DisplayPort 1.2, HDMI 1.4 and DVI. We don’t see the latter much on newer screens, and in this application, due to its 60 Hz refresh rate limit. Even though the monitor is only certified to support FreeSync with AMD graphics cards, we also found that the monitor is G-Sync compatible, even though Nvidia hasn’t officially certified it as such, with the DisplayPort .

In lieu of speakers, there’s a 3.5mm headphone jack and volume control in the OSD.

OSD Features

The OSD appears as a strip across the bottom of the screen, similar to AOC’s method but far less intuitive. Large icons represent different functions, not all of which are obvious at first glance.

The first three options are easy enough to understand. DCR is a dynamic contrast feature, which we recommend leaving off. The PXC273 has excellent contrast already, and DCR will just clip highlight and shadow detail. There are five picture modes, but only Standard comes anywhere close to providing accurate color. The native and only available gamut is DCI-P3; there’s no sRGB mode or HDR. This means you see more color than intended for all content, which may be attractive to some users.

Color adjustments have two color temp presets, plus a user mode with RGB sliders. They work well and can improve the PXC273’s image with a few tweaks. Gamma presets are in a menu called Adjust. Confusingly, that menu shows a picture of an aiming point, which made us think that’s where one adjusts the aiming point. Nevertheless, Adjust features two gamma presets. The gamma presets also have two options for DVI only: auto adjust and auto color.

The Other menu includes overdrive (on or off) and a FreeSync toggle. With the FreeSync toggle on, our Nvidia control panel instantly recognized the PXC273 as G-Sync Compatible, even though Nvidia hasn’t officially certified the display.

All menu screens show the input resolution and refresh rate at the top left and the firmware version at the top right.

Setup and Calibration

Only the Standard picture mode offers accurate color and only in the DCI-P3 gamut. There is no sRGB mode. The default color temp preset is Custom, which needs some tweaking for best results. We only needed a few clicks to bring grayscale tracking to a high standard. The default gamma is quite dark, but changing the gamma from 2 to 1 improved the luminance curve; although, it still wasn’t perfect. Overall color was good once we made these changes.

Gaming and Hands-on

On paper, the PXC273 looks like a winner, but specs don’t always translate to gaming performance. Luckily, in the PXC273’s case, it did. We had to make a few adjustments after calibration, but eventually, we tweaked the monitor to a point where it stood up well against other 27-inch gaming displays costing more, like the Aorus CV27F and Samsung C27RG5. We saw no difference in video processing quality between playing with FreeSync or using G-Sync (unofficially, again, see our article on how to run G-Sync on a FreeSync monitor). Neither platform showed any artifacts. Frame rates hovered around 100 frames per second (fps) with an AMD Radeon R9 285 graphics card and stayed near the max 144 fps with a Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Ti FE.

We fired up Tomb Raider and noted quickly that it looked a little drab. Color was nicely saturated and detail was excellent, but the pop expected from a monitor that delivers, according to our test, 4,100:1 contrast wasn’t there. The culprit was a dark gamma curve, which, even after changing the preset from 2 to 1, made the picture murkier. Turning up the backlight to its maximum improved things.

The overdrive worked well at managing motion blur, which was almost invisible at the highest frame rates. There were neither artifacts nor ghosting. Control response was as expected for a 144Hz monitor: instant with no stutter or lag. We’re getting more accustomed to playing sRGB games in extended color. Since the PXC273 runs in DCI-P3 all the time, there was no other choice. But it didn’t diminish the experience for us.

Call of Duty: WWII is a good test of a monitor’s shadow detail rendering. The Pixio had no issues there. As we holed up in a bombed-out church we saw fine texture among the rubble with clearly visible splinters of wood and fine dust. Characters’ faces had an ideal level of sweat and dirt that really added to the game’s depth and realism. Once we played for a few hours, we forgot that the monitor was just FHD. Fast frame rates and high contrast have a greater impact on gaming image quality than high resolution.

After working in Windows for an afternoon, we missed having a higher pixel density. Our sweet spot is 109 pixels per inch (ppi), but the PXC273 has just 81.6ppi. Tiny fonts in a spreadsheet were harder to read. Workday tasks are the only limitation for an FHD monitor; QHD (2560 x 1440) is still an ideal resolution that works well for just about everything one does with a computer.

Uncalibrated – Maximum Backlight Level

Today’s group are all 27-inch VA panels. Besides offering HDR, the Aorus CV27F and Aorus CV27Q are similar to the PXC273 in every other way. Also here is Samsung’s C27RG5, the MSI Optix G27C4 and MSI Optix MAG271CQR.

Pixio claims 250 nits max brightness for the PXC273, but our sample delivered about 322 nits. That’s plenty of light for any application or environment. There’s no backlight strobe or HDR here, so any more brightness would be unnecessary.

The black level is very low at just 0.0776 nit. Only the two Aorus screens can get darker, but they don’t quite match the PXC273’s performance in the intra-image test (3rd chart). For sequential contrast, Pixio is the best of the rest with a super result of 4,147.8:1. The PXC273’s dynamic range is among the best we’ve tested.

After Calibration to 200 nits

Calibration (see our recommended settings) didn’t change the PXC273’s contrast much at all. It’s still nearly 4,000:1, which puts it ahead of every display here, save the Aorus screens. This is all thanks to an excellent black level that helped up the ANSI test results. Coupled with a large color gamut, this monitor delivers a really good picture with lots of depth and highly saturated color.

For the best color, stick with the PXC273’s Standard picture mode and Custom color temp. They deliver reasonable color accuracy out of the box. Improvements are possible with a few adjustments.

Grayscale and Gamma Tracking

Out-of-the-box Standard mode (graph 1) has grayscale tracking running a bit green from 40% brightness and on. Given the PXC273’s price point, we can forgive this default performance. What’s more concerning is the gamma tracking. It makes the picture darker than it should be and reduces the effect of all that wonderful contrast. You can compensate somewhat by turning up the brightness, but gamma tracking closer to 2.2 would be a better solution.

Once we adjusted the gamma presets in the Adjust menu (2nd chart), we improved the curve visibly, but it was still darker than it should be. The PXC273 would have more pop if the upper brightness steps were at the correct output levels instead of slightly under. This could be fixed with a firmware update that included a more-accurate gamma preset. However, our grayscale calibration had a positive effect, with all errors moving below the visible threshold.

Comparisons

In the recent past, a 4.27 Delta E (dE) average grayscale error would be typical for a gaming monitor. But today’s displays boast better out-of-box accuracy, as evidenced by our sample group. The top four monitors in the grayscale error chart don’t require calibration. However, the PXC273 should be calibrated for the best possible picture (see our settings on page 1).

We couldn’t completely fix the PXC273’s gamma tracking with our adjustments. Changing the preset from 2 to 1 made a visible difference, but it still didn’t track as well as the two Aorus or Samsung monitors. Ultimately, we like the Pixio’s image, but it could be even better if the gamma were more accurate.

Color Gamut Accuracy

It’s obvious from the initial gamut chart that the PXC273 is a DCI monitor. All colors are oversaturated in the sRGB realm except for blue. The average error is increased by a low color luminance level, which is largely due to the high gamma values we recorded.

Calibration brought the secondary colors onto their hue targets, but the over-saturation didn’t change. If you’re looking for an accurate sRGB gaming monitor, the PXC273 is not it. But if you like a more colorful presentation, it will suit just fine. You can see in the final chart that it covers a large part of the DCI-P3 gamut, coming up short only in the green primary. Again, the average error is inflated by low color luminance. Fixing the gamma to a proper 2.2 level would address that issue.

Comparisons

With a calibrated color error of 2.62dE average, you won’t see any major issues in the PXC273’s image presentation. Our recommended settings make things visibly better with greater image depth and a more natural look.

In the gamut volume calculation, the PXC273 turned out to have one of the largest gamuts we’ve seen in a gaming display. It covers almost 85% of DCI-P3, which is more than some HDR-capable screens, like the Aorus CV27F. With over 124% coverage of sRGB, you’ll need a custom profile to rein in the gamut if you do anything color-critical. For gaming, however, many will welcome the extra color.

Viewing Angles

The PXC273 acquit itself well in the viewing angle test. Our photo shows a green shift at 45 degrees to the sides and a 30% light reduction. Detail remains solid in both the horizontal and vertical planes with all steps still visible. From the top, the gamma is much lower, making lighter shades harder to see. Performance is typical of other VA panels we’ve reviewed.

Screen Uniformity

Our PXC273 sample has some of the best screen uniformity we’ve ever measured. There are no visible hotspots, bleed or glow. This is impressive, given the tight fit of its anti-glare layer. Dark material was artifact-free and remained well-detailed down to the zero-signal level. This is excellent performance.

Pixel Response and Input Lag

A gaming monitor must deliver speed and smooth game performance above anything else. The PXC273 manages both. Its 8ms screen draw time is 1ms slower than typical 144Hz screens, but in practice we couldn’t see a difference. Motion blur was barely visible, and there was no stutter, no matter how fast on-screen movements were.

Input lag is last place among our comparison sample, but 29ms is by no means slow. Unless you’re a highly skilled gamer, you won’t notice any lag when playing fast-paced games on the PXC273. To casual gamers, control response will feel every bit as fast as with the other screens here. Those with more frag cred will want to check out the Samsung C27RG5, which recently set a new speed record in our testing. For everyone else though, the $200 PXC273 is more than qualified for the weekly LAN party.

When shopping for a gaming monitor, the principal considerations come down to price, performance and features, and in most cases you’ll have to sacrifice one of those. But if you’re willing to give up features like speakers, USB ports, RGB lighting and fancy styling, the Pixio PXC273 is worth considering. It has a few flaws; but when gaming it manages to deliver a lot for just $200.

On the positive side, it supports both FreeSync and G-Sync (unofficially) up to 144Hz, has an effective overdrive that eliminates motion blur and low input lag. Contrast is better than many other VA panels, and it delivers nearly 85% coverage of the DCI-P3 color gamut.

To get the best possible image, including nixing a green tint, some adjustments are required. Once we made those changes, we enjoyed a decent picture in both games and video. That means an artifact-free experience without frame tears, stuttering or overdrive ghosting. The extra color afforded by its native DCI-P3 gamut will appeal to many, but if you want an sRGB mode, you’re out of luck.

The Pixio PXC273 has room for improvement, but when considering its price it’s hard to fault. At $200, it undercuts similar displays by at least $100, and that may be enough to overcome what’s been left out. For the price-conscious gamer, we have no problem recommending the PXC273.

This Dell G3 laptop with a GTX 1660 Ti is just $700 from Best Buy

The deals on gaming laptops just keep coming, and Black Friday isn’t even here yet. Now you can get a Dell G3 15 gaming laptop with a GTX 1660 Ti graphics card for just $699.99. Not only is that $300 below the original price, but it’s also significantly cheaper than most other laptops with the same GPU.

The specifications on this model include an Intel Core i5-9300H processor, 8GB of RAM, a 512GB NVMe SSD, a 15.6-inch 1080p 60Hz screen, and an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660 Ti graphics card. Windows 10 Home is pre-installed.

This is an excellent deal, mostly because the vast majority of laptops with a GTX 1660 Ti GPU cost around $1,000, and this Dell G3 is a penny under $700. Also, Dell’s G3 lineup is easily serviceable, so you can upgrade the RAM or SSD at a later date without too much trouble.

Acer Predator X35 review: I’m finally sold on ultrawide gaming

Acer has added to the the extra-high-end PC gaming monitor arena with the Predator X35, a commanding 35-inch 1440p ultrawide with G-Sync Ultimate, a 200Hz refresh rate, 2ms response time, and VESA DisplayHDR 1000 certification. It certainly fulfills the needs of most gamers out there, but it comes with a huge price tag that’s more than what most people spend on a gaming PC. I’ve been basking in testing the Predator X35 for a couple of weeks to see exactly what Acer has delivered.

What I love about the Acer X35 Predator

The Predator X35’s 35-inch display has a 21:9 aspect ratio and 1800R curve. It’s a huge monitor that takes up a ton of space on your desk, but the curve is ideal for the size. It’s not too aggressive for the width, and it does a decent job of pulling you in for increased immersion. The metal stand has a split-foot design to take up the least amount of room possible while still offering sufficient stability, though if you have a small desk with keyboard, mouse, and PC tower already established, you’re likely going to have to make some changes to fit the huge screen.

The stand offers decent ergonomic options, including adjustments for height, tilt, and swivel. No rotation for portrait mode; the display is meant to be used horizontally. I like my monitor set up at about eye level to prevent slouching and back pain during long gaming sessions, but the stand doesn’t get quite high enough without adding a riser. For a more permanent setup, there are 100mm x 100mm VESA on the back.

The monitor is relatively thick, but to be fair it’s packing some intense hardware, including a cooling system. The back panel has customizable lighting controlled through the on-screen display (OSD) menu, dual 4W speakers, and a collection of ports in a dedicated cutout section. Altogether it looks rather stylized, especially with the additional thermal vents positioned from the middle out.

Ports include DisplayPort 1.4, HDMI 2.0, 3.5mm audio, three USB-A, and one USB-B, spaced out adequately to not cause crowding if you’re taking advantage of multiple ports. To control the OSD, a joystick and four physical buttons live near the right side of the back panel. There are a number of presets available, including three customizable gaming modes for action, racing, and sports, as well as an eco mode, graphics mode, movie mode, and user mode where you can set things up exactly how you’d like. I was able to delve deep to get the exact picture I wanted, and there are joystick shortcuts — including brightness control — so that you don’t have to open the full menu for common, quick adjustments. A blue-light filter can be enabled to help with gaming or working after hours.

Acer has removed most of the bezel along the top and sides of the display, with a slightly thicker chin along the bottom that includes a Predator logo. It’s an impressive picture. The screen has a bit of an anti-glare finish on it, though it’s not as powerful as you’ll find on something like a business laptop. It’s enough to keep the picture clear without adding too much grain. Considering how bright the monitor gets, especially with HDR enabled, you shouldn’t have any problems gaming in a well-lit room.

Connecting an NVIDIA graphics card (GPU) with DisplayPort allows you to make the most of the X35, including up to a 200Hz refresh rate, 2ms response time, G-Sync Ultimate, and HDR. I mostly used the monitor without the 200Hz overdrive enabled — my PC hardware isn’t quite up to pushing 200 frames — and even at 144Hz without HDR enabled games looked amazing. A 1440p resolution is an ideal middle ground between 1080p and 4K for most people, and with G-Sync turned on the picture is smooth and tear-free.

The panel offers 100% sRGB and 83% AdobeRGB color reproduction, as tested with my Datacolor Spyder5 Pro colorimeter. To put itself in line with VESA DisplayHDR 1000 standards, it also manages about 90% DCI-P3 color. I primarily played Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition; the picture from both games blew me away. The former game, especially in missions with night-vision goggles, made the variable backlight with 512 separate zones especially evident. Dark spots in the scene remained dark despite bright lights nearby, with little to no bleeding over.

The variable backlight (which is also flicker free to be easier on the eyes) is enabled by default with HDR enabled. You might see a bit more bleeding over due to the lights and dark being so much more pronounced, but overall the HDR picture is incredible. The Predator X35 easily offers the best picture I’ve ever seen from a gaming monitor. Colors are vivid without looking unnatural, and every game I tested seemed to take on a new life. The combination of precise color reproduction, high refresh rate with G-Sync, and ultrawide format sucks you in and offers a PC gaming experience that’s not easy to reproduce.

What I dislike about the Acer Predator X35

The Acer Predator X35 delivers an outstanding picture and features premium gaming features, but it’s not a perfect piece of hardware. The dual 4W speakers on the back get loud and they remain clear, though they don’t really deliver anything more than average sound. If you’re watching a movie or playing casually you should find they get the job done, but for any sort of competitive gaming — or for the most immersion possible — you’ll want to invest in either a quality headset or separate set of dedicated gaming speakers.

Monitors with this level of performance include a fan to keep hardware cool, and for the most part you won’t notice the noise overtop of whatever noise is coming from your PC. However, I did notice a few times that turning the monitor off with the physical button rather than letting it go into sleep mode on its own caused the fan to kick into high gear. Leaving my office and returning minutes later, it sounded like someone was vacuuming behind the closed door. This didn’t happen every time, but it did occur more than once. I resorted to leaving the monitor alone after use.

One last thing I noticed during regular use was slight backlight bleed along the bottom edge of the display. It wasn’t anything egregious and it can certainly be ignored, but it is there. And then there’s the price. The Predator X35 reaches nearly $2,500, making it pricier than what most people spend on an entire gaming PC. This puts it into a narrow user-base and makes it a waste of money for anyone not using high-end PC hardware. The NVIDIA RTX 2060 GPU I used to test the monitor with couldn’t come near getting the most out of the X35 when used with modern AAA games. That doesn’t mean I didn’t fully enjoy what I was able to get out of it, but if you’re spending that much money, you want to milk every last drop.

Should you buy the Acer Predator X35?

Answering whether or not you should buy the Acer Predator X35 really comes down to your budget. If you have disposable income to blow on PC gaming, this is about the best picture and performance you’re going to find. The X35 has some flaws, but it’s going to majorly elevate your immersion and enjoyment no matter the game you play.

Porsche Design Unveils Fanless 15.6-Inch Ultra One Laptop

Just like its parent company, Porsche Design specializes in the creation of devices that offer a unique set of features with an eye towards high-end styles. This month the company introduced its Ultra One laptop, which offers a 15.6-inch Full-HD touchscreen display in a chassis that is thinner than most 13-inch mobile PCs, and with a fanless cooling design, is also dead silent as well.

In terms of design, the Porsche Design Ultra One comes in a magnesium chassis with polished stainless-steel elements; the body measures 359×249.5×13.8mm and the complete laptop weighs around 1.5 kilograms. The chassis features a special hinge block that puts virtually all ports of the machine at the back in a bid to hide cables when they are in use and further emphasize ‘Apple MacBook’ style minimalism without actually removing the USB Type-A, USB Type-C, HDMI, and microSD ports. Of course, it is debatable whether these ports are in a comfortable place to use, but at least they are present.

At the heart of the Porsche Design Ultra One notebook is Intel’s low-power 8th Generation Core i5-8200Y or i7-8500Y (Amber Lake-Y) dual-core processors, which use Intel’s UHD Graphics 615 and come with a TDP of just 5 W. The CPU is accompanied by 8 GB or 16 GB of RAM as well as a 512 GB or 1 TB SSD, depending on the model (see the table below for details). Since Intel designed the processor to be as energy efficient as possible, do not expect the Porsche Design Ultra One to offer performance akin to that expected from Porsche cars. What it will likely offer is a very long battery life assuming that there is a high-capacity battery under the hood.

In order to make the Porsche Design Ultra One notebook as comfortable to use as possible, the manufacturer equipped it with a backlit keyboard featuring large flat keys (I wonder what mechanism they use) with keys like PgUp, PgDn, Home, End, Ins, Del, as well as a special key to launch the Calculator app. Furthermore, the laptop has an oversized touchpad, a page from Apple’s book, and a fingerprint reader.

On the multimedia side of things, the Porsche Design Ultra One features stereo speakers co-designed with Harman/Kardon, and Cortana-supporting microphone array. For some reason, the manufacturer never mentions any webcam that is also not seen anywhere, so either it is hidden, or is not there, which is odd, given lifestyle nature of the device.

ASUS Releases ProArt StudioBook Pro X: 17-Inch Workstation With Xeon & Quadro

ASUS has started sales of its top of the range mobile workstation, the ProArt StudioBook Pro X. The heavily-packed machine packs in Intel’s Xeon processor, an NVIDIA Quadro RTX video card, and is equipped with a 17-inch Pantone Validated display as well as a ScreenPad 2.0 trackpad. And, fittingly for a workstation-class laptop, the notebook has received certifications from multiple professional software vendors, ensuring that the laptop will work with their software and qualifies for full end-user support.

The ASUS ProArt StudioBook Pro X W730 comes in a premium-looking metallic chassis with a Turquoise Grey finish that houses a 1920×1200 resolution 17-inch NanoEdge display, which offers wide viewing angles as well as an antiglare coating. Developed with workstation/productivity use in mind in mind, the display covers 97% of the DCI-P3 color gamut, is Pantone Validated, and is factory-calibrated to a Delta E<1.5 accuracy, a rare feature for laptops.

Inside the ProArt StudioBook Pro X is Intel’s hexa-core Xeon E-2276M processor, as well as NVIDIA’s Quadro RTX 5000 GPU with 16 GB GDDR6 memory. The system comes with 64 GB of ECC DDR4-2666 DRAM (upgradeable to 128 GB) as well as 4 TB of storage using two PCIe 3.0 x4 SSDs, and one hard drive.

When it comes to connectivity, the ASUS ProArt StudioBook Pro X naturally features everything that modern professionals might require, including Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.0, two Thunderbolt 3 ports, three USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-A ports, GbE, an HDMI 2.0 output, an SD 4.0/UHS-II card reader, and a 3.5-mm audio jack for a headset.

In a bid to further improve the comfort of the desktop replacement laptop, the notebook has a keyboard with 19-mm key pitches and a two-millimeter key travel. Meanwhile, like other high-end machines from ASUS today, the ProArt StudioBook Pro X uses ASUS’s ScreenPad 2.0 touchpad, which places a small display underneath the trackpad. On the multimedia side of matters, the laptop has Harman Kardon speakers with an amplifier, a microphone array, and an HD webcam.

In terms of bulk, the 17-inch class laptop – while not light – is surprisingly also not particularly heavy: the 2.8-cm thick machine weighs 2.5 just kilograms. Meanwhile, the ProArt StudioBook Pro X is equipped with a 95 Wh 6-cell battery, which is nearly the maximum capacity allowed to carry in airplanes.

Philips Launches Momentum 392M7C: An Entry-Level Curved 38.5-Inch Gaming Monitor

Philips has quietly unveiled its new Momentum 392M7C curved monitor, which is aimed at gamers who are after an entry-level large screen display with high refresh rates and variable refresh support. The huge display with a 3000R curvature promises to provide a cinema-like immersion, though its Full-HD resolution and a relatively low pixel density will have an impact on the experience.

Under the hood, the Philips Momentum 392M7C is built from a 38.5-inch VA with a 1920×1080 resolution. The display features a maximum brightness of 250 nits, a 5000:1 contrast ratio, a 3000R curvature, a 1 ms MPRT response time, and a 144 Hz maximum refresh rate with VESA’s Adaptive-Sync variable refresh rate technology on top (e.g. FreeSync). The monitor can display 16.7 million colors and covers 105.48% of the sRGB and 94.11% of the NTSC color gamuts, which is in line with other inexpensive mainstream LCDs.

Besides its size and a high refresh rate, the main peculiarity of the Momentum 392M7C is its Full-HD resolution and a pixel density of 57 PPI, the latter of which is quite low by today’s standards. For gaming and video playback, pixel density is not often crucial – especially when many video sources are 1080p – but for typical productivity applications a 38.5-inch Full-HD screen with a 57 PPI pixel density does not seem like an optimal combination. Meanwhile, the LCD supports Philips’ SmartImage presets for various game genres (FPS, RTS, Racing, custom) to provide optimal experience.

As for connectivity, the Momentum 392M7C has one DisplayPort input, two HDMI inputs, and one D-Sub input to maintain compatibility both with new and legacy PCs. Furthermore, the monitor has a headphone output. As for the stand, only the tilt is adjustable, which is typical for large entry-level monitors.

The Philips Momentum 392M7C is set to hit the market shortly. Though as we sometimes see with other entry-level monitors, it probably won’t be available worldwide.