REVIEWED: AMD’S BLAZING-FAST RYZEN 7 2700X

MAY 2018

 INTEL’S 6-CORE
CORE i9

PUSHING LAPTOPS
PAST 5GHZ
DISASTERS DON’ T
PL AN AHEAD

YO U C AN
DON’T WAIT. COMMUNICATE.
Talk to your loved ones about how you are
going to be ready in an emergency.

VISIT READY.GOV/PLAN.
 CONTENTS

MAY 2018

» DEPARTMENTS » FEATURES

7 News

35 Reviews & Ratings 87 Should you buy a Core i9 laptop?

101 Here’s How

120 Tech Spotlight 92 Intel 8th-gen CPU motherboards explained

MAY 2018 PCWorld 3

MASTHEAD

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4 PCWorld MAY 2018

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MAY 2018 PCWorld 5

IWitnessBullying.org
News TECH NEWS AND TRENDS THAT WILL
AFFECT YOU TODAY AND BEYOND.

Intel’s debut 6-core Core i9

CPUs could push gaming
laptops past 5GHz speeds
Core i9 flagships a full lineup of new H-series chips, and new U-series
CPUs were also announced. BY MARK HACHMAN

F
or years, PC gamers have needed some performance for a laptop they could
to pick a poison: Buy a desktop take on the road. Intel’s new 6-core mobile
with the most powerful Core i9 chip, its fastest notebook CPU ever,
components available, or sacrifice paves the way for 5GHz gaming laptops,

IMAGE: INTEL MAY 2018 PCWorld 7

NEWS INTEL DEBUTS CORE i9

making that decision a little easier. percent faster when streaming and recording
Using new “thermal velocity boost” your gameplay. Since the new Core i9 is
technology to propel the new Core unlocked, expect gaming PC makers to
i9-8950HK from a base clock rate of 2.9GHz release 5GHz systems, Intel executives said.
to a whopping 4.8GHz, the new unlocked And if Optane Memory comes bundled,
8th-generation Core i9 sits atop five new performance could increase further, though
Core i5 and Core i7 high-performance mobile the 7th-gen system Intel used for comparison
H-series chips, plus four more U-series Core includes a slower mechanical hard drive
chips aimed at lower-power systems. (All are rather than an SSD.
Coffee Lake 14nm chips.) Intel also launched a “It’s the fastest gaming processor we’ve
new lineup of desktop Core processors (go. ever launched,” said Fredrik Hamberger,
pcworld.com/dtpc), plus a new designation general manager of Intel’s premium and
(Core i7+; go.pcworld.com/cri7) to indicate gaming notebooks. “It really is the closest to
the presence of hard-drive–boosting Optane desktop performance you can get in a
Memory (go.pcworld.com/hdbt) inside notebook.”
notebook PCs. The new mobile Core chips support the
Compared to a 7th-generation Core software mitigations—not the upcoming
processor, Intel says Core i9 is up to 41 hardware redesign (go.pcworld.com/
percent faster in gaming frame rates and 32 hdrd)—that Intel patched in to fix the Spectre

In the top row, Intel compared the current Core i9-8950HK with the Core i7-7820HK for its gen-over-
gen metrics. On the bottom row, the Core i7-8750H is being compared to the Core i7-4720HQ. Intel
used Total War: Warhammer II and PUBG for “game FPS” and the gameplay/recording/streaming
benchmarks, respectively.

8 PCWorld MAY 2018

and Meltdown
vulnerabilities (go.
pcworld.com/spml).
The performance
numbers reflect the
impact of the
mitigations,
executives said.

What this means for

Intel’s Core i9 may be its new flagship mobile processor, but you’ll probably
you: As with every buy a Core i7-H-based machine, assuming that they’re more moderately
mobile processor Intel priced. They have six cores too.
releases, the real
question is price. Intel doesn’t usually publish unlocked. But if that’s too rich for your blood,
the prices of its mobile chips, and hasn’t in this consider the new Core i7-8850H, which also
case. With just a single Core i9 chip in the packs six cores and 12 threads.
lineup, though, you should probably expect All of the new chips also support Intel’s
this to be shipped into the upper echelons of new effort to push Optane memory into
gaming laptops. The other chips we’re about to notebooks, with optional vPro technology for
discuss are likely to reach many more people. corporate systems.
While Intel’s Radeon RX Vega (Kaby
SPEEDS AND FEEDS Lake-G) chip (go.pcworld.com/kblk) was
Intel executives were blunt: PC gaming is designed to offer 1080p performance inside
exploding, and Intel’s chasing that market. of something that approaches an ultrabook,
Retail gaming notebooks with Intel Core chips the new 8th-gen Core i9 chips are designed
inside them grew 45 percent year over year, for what Hamberger called “musclebooks,”
Hamberger said. offering the absolute best performance that
Intel’s new 45W H-series parts feature two you can get on a laptop.
new Core i7 and Core i5 chips, each, as well as “If this doesn’t get you excited, I don’t
a pair of new Xeons. In fact, the mobile Core i9 know what will,” Hamberger said.
chip looks quite a bit like the Xeon E-2186, with This is the first time that Intel has designed
identical clock speeds, core counts, thermal a chip with what it’s calling a “thermal velocity
design power, and so on. The key, though, is boost,” the ability to push the clock speed
that the Core i9’s clock speeds are totally even higher than normal. Normally, the Core

MAY 2018 PCWorld 9

NEWS INTEL DEBUTS CORE i9

i9-8950HK maxes out at 4.6GHz after the performance and a little more battery life, Intel
turbo boost kicks in. But if the chip is “really also introduced four new U-series chips.
cool and running at full speed, you’ll get a These low-power (28W TDP) 8th-gen Core
little more,” Hamberger said, boosting a chips all feature the more common 4-core,
single core by 200MHz, to 4.8GHz, or 8-thread configuration. Note that these, too,
alternatively upclocking all of the cores by support Optane Memory technology in the
about 100MHz, he said. mobile configuration.
Hamberger reiterated, though, that the All of these will connect to the four new
thermal velocity boost was an “opportunistic 300-series chipsets that Intel also introduced:
thing, not an automatic thing,” and that Intel H370, H310, Q370, and B360. All of them
had targeted system temperatures of 50 add more features from a platform level, an
degrees centigrade or below before the Intel spokeswoman said: enhanced audio and
boost would kick in. I/O, integrated Intel 802.11ac Wi-Fi with
“We spend a ton of time working with gigabit throughput, and 10 Gbit/s integrated
our OEM partners optimizing power Gen2 USB 3.1 I/O.
performance, you name it, tweaking thermals As sales of gaming notebooks have
to get more performance,” Hamberger said. “absolutely exploded,” with retailers
“We think that’s really the trend, to get more devoting more and more shelf space as the
efficient performance into thinner form factors market continues to grow, Intel intends to
that last longer, not sacrifice performance to continue to invest in this space, executives
get thinnest.” said. By boosting core counts and pushing
to break the 5GHz barrier in gaming laptops,
SPEEDS AND FEEDS Intel’s certainly pushing the performance
If you’re looking for something with a little less envelope.

Intel’s 8th-gen,
U-series chips
offer more of a
balance between
performance and
battery life.

10 PCWorld MAY 2018

Dell’s updated XPS 15 could
crush the MacBook Pro
15—again
The newest Dell XPS 15 adds a six-core
Coffee Lake H CPU and faster GeForce
graphics. BY GORDON MAH UNG

K
now why the MacBook Pro 15 For the Dell XPS 15, the big deal is upping
(go.pcworld.com/am15) is so the core count, which Intel claims will
thin? It’s because of all the times increase “overall performance” up to 88
Dell’s powerhouse XPS 15 has percent over previous iterations. Intel’s prior
stomped on it (go.pcworld.com/dvsa). Core i7 processors topped out at four cores
Yes, that’s a cheap shot, but it’s been and eight threads. Dell didn’t just stop there
mostly true—and Apple’s beatdown will only though. While the current Dell XPS 15 9560
get worse as the newest XPS 15 (model 9570) (go.pcworld.com/9560) offers GeForce GTX
ups the ante to a 6-core, 12-thread Core 1050 graphics, Dell says it’ll now run up to a
i7-8750H. Part of Intel’s new enthusiast-class GeForce GTX 1050 Ti.
Coffee Lake H (see page 7) series of chips, the Much of outside remains the same, though
Core i7-8750H is essentially a mobile version the XPS 15’s design remains a strong point.
of Intel’s powerful Core i7-8700K chip (go. You’ll still get a 15.6-inch screen in either
pcworld.com/rv87). 1920x1080 or 4K resolution. Both are rated at

IMAGE: DELL MAY 2018 PCWorld 11

NEWS DELL’S UPDATED XPS 15

400 nits of brightness, but touch capabilities

are available only in the 4K version. The new XPS 15 includes two
The new XPS 15 includes two USB 3.1 USB 3.1 5Gbps Type A ports,
5Gbps Type A ports, HDMI 2.0, an SD card HDMI 2.0, an SD card reader, a
reader, a headset jack, a Noble lock, and a headset jack, a Noble lock, and
Thunderbolt 3 port. And importantly, Dell a Thunderbolt 3 port.
updated the Thunderbolt 3 port to a full
four-lane implementation. The previous options will greatly impact the battery life.
version also included a Thunderbolt 3 port, The XPS 15 9560 features a single M.2 drive
but limited it to just two PCIe lanes, meaning plus a 2.5-inch drive bay. Unfortunately, the
its limited theoretical bandwidth was half that larger battery occupies the 2.5-inch drive bay,
of other laptops. so if you choose any configuration with a hard
Storage options on the XPS 15 include a drive, you’re probably stuck with a smaller
128GB SSD with a 1TB hard drive, a 1TB 56Whr battery. If you go all SSD, you can opt
hybrid hard drive, or pure SSD configurations for the longer-lasting 97Whr battery.
ranging from 256GB to 1TB. Dell started taking orders for the new
Unless Dell has changed the internals— XPS 15 on April 16 with prices starting at
which it doesn’t look like—the storage $1,000.

12 PCWorld MAY 2018

Origin supercharges the sleek
EVO15-S with a powerful 6-core
CPU, 144Hz display
A great laptop gets even better. BY BRAD CHACOS

T
he Origin PC EVO15-S wowed upgrade to match. Recently, Origin
us (go.pcworld.com/ev15) late announced that the EVO15-S (go.pcworld.
last year as one of the first com/or15) and its classy professional cousin,
gaming laptops wielding the Origin NT-15 (go.pcworld.com/nt15), can
Nvidia’s potent GeForce GTX 1070 Max-Q be ordered with the 6-core Core i7-8750H
graphics. Now the slim, sleek, and processor (go.pcworld.com/6ci9) that Intel
supercharged notebook is getting a CPU just revealed. Before now, Intel’s fastest

IMAGE: GORDON MAH UNG MAY 2018 PCWorld 13

NEWS ORIGIN’S SUPERCHARGED EVO15-S

mobile CPUs topped out at four cores. laptop’s screen, a faster option gives the
The processor isn’t the only hardware powerful GTX 1070 Max-Q even more room
receiving a speed boost. Boutique PC to spread its wings. Graphics this powerful
builders like Origin thrive by offering buyers scream at 1080p resolution.
wider component selection than they’d find Beyond those two new features, the
elsewhere. Unlike many premium gaming laptops remain largely the same. Or small-y
notebooks, a wide variety of panel options the same, rather, as the EVO15-S measures in
exist for the EVO15-S and NT-15, and they’re at a scant 0.7 inches thick with a weight
getting another: an ultra-fast 144Hz, 1080p somewhere in the 4-pound range depending
matte display. Previous incarnations topped on configuration. That’s downright svelte for a
out at 120Hz and while we had no complaints portable—and now, a much more powerful—
whatsoever with the performance of the gaming laptop.

Boutique PC builders
like Origin thrive by
offering buyers wider
component selection
than they’d find
elsewhere.

14 PCWorld MAY 2018

The Acer Aspire S24 is an
$879 all-in-one PC with
touches of class
With a 0.235-inch-thin display, it’s the opposite of chunky. BY MELISSA RIOFRIO

A
cer’s Aspire S24 caught our eye thin, a refreshing change from the chunky,
in a way few all-in-one PCs do, top-heavy profiles of most machines in this
because we almost didn’t catch category.
it. At 0.235 inches, the display The super-slim screen makes the Aspire
on the Aspire S24 is blink-and-you’ll-miss-it S24 look premium, even though at its heart

IMAGE: ACER MAY 2018 PCWorld 15

NEWS ACER ASPIRE S24

it’s still a mainstream PC. By focusing on the A CLOSER LOOK AT THE

display technology, Acer gives it some DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
distinction, balancing value with design. This The Aspire S24’s display is where most of the
is a machine you could place at a reception enhancements converge. Granted, the
area or have out in the family room with no 1920x1080 (Full HD) resolution is
aesthetic risk. And it has one more forward- conventional—there’s no 4K luxury and no
looking surprise, too. touch—but this panel is still good for work
and light recreation.
PRICING AND SPECS The display technology is IPS (in-plane
Announced recently with a starting price of switching), so you’ll get wide viewing angles
$879 and available later in April, the Aspire (178 degrees, per Acer) and good color
S24 is a solid midrange machine. As you can reproduction. Additional technologies include
see from the following specs, it has a notable Acer ExaColor for extra color saturation and
drawback in the storage department. contrast, Bluelight Shield to cut down on
sleep-thwarting blue light at nighttime, and
CPU: Intel Core i5-8250U quad-core Flickerless to reduce screen flicker.
processor We already know the 23.8-inch screen is a
Memory: 12GB of dual-channel DDR4 mere 0.235-inch thin. The Aspire S24’s bezels
SDRAM, configurable up to 32GB are skinny, too, at just 0.106 inch and delivering
Storage: 1TB 5,400rpm SATA hard drive. This a 90-percent screen-to-body ratio, according
drive is spacious, but very slow. Luckily, there to Acer. The display itself tilts –5 to 25 degrees.
are two M.2 interfaces for adding an SSD. What you’re not getting is discrete
Networking: Gigabit ethernet, 802.11ac 2x2 graphics. But the integrated Intel UHD 620
MIMO, Bluetooth 4.2 graphics is adequate for everyday computing.
Audio: Dual 2W 2.1 speakers with Acer All of these features are packed into a
TrueHarmony and Dolby Audio Premium black and matte-gold color scheme that adds
Accessories: Wireless keyboard and mouse yet one more touch of class to the affordable
Dimensions: 16.1 inches high x 21.3 inches Aspire S24.
wide by 0.2 inches deep
Why this matters: All-in-one PCs fill a lot of
Here’s the surprise: Support for Qi mainstream computing purposes in home
wireless charging via the S24’s base. If your and office settings. By focusing on display
mobile device supports Qi, you can lay it on design and enhancements, the Acer Aspire
the charging area for battery replenishment. S24 stands out a bit from the competition.

16 PCWorld MAY 2018

Intel’s Kaby Lake-G mystery:
Why Radeon Vega M may be
more Polaris than Vega
Vega may be in the eye of the beholder. BY GORDON MAH UNG

I
ntel’s Kaby Lake-G chip harbors a MAKING THE IMPOSSIBLE
mystery. PCWorld has learned the In January, Intel unveiled it had linked a Core
company’s exciting CPU/GPU combo i7 to an AMD Radeon RX Vega M with its
chip may actually be based on AMD’s advanced Embedded Multi-Die Interconnect
older-generation Polaris cores rather than the Bridge. And thus the Kaby Lake-G (go.
newest Vega cores. pcworld.com/8itl) mobile chip—and a
This revelation doesn’t change how we once-unthinkable Intel/AMD partnership—
feel about the chip, having already tested it was born.
(and liked it) in Intel’s Hades Canyon NUC But that Vega may not be Vega after all.
(go.pcworld.com/hnuc), which earned an For example, fire up Intel’s new Hades
Editors’ Choice award. But an industry- Canyon NUC with a Core i7-8809G inside,
standard system utility identifies the Kaby and its GPU is identified as Polaris by the
Lake-G as having an AMD Polaris bloodline. latest version of AIDA64 (go.pcworld.com/
And we’ve discovered other evidence aida; a system information, diagnostics, and
suggesting the chip’s GPU core is Polaris. testing tool):

IMAGE: ISTOCK MAY 2018 PCWorld 17

NEWS K ABY L AKE- G MYSTERY

If you have The newest

AIDA64
doubts about how
identifies
AIDA64 details Intel’s Kaby
esoteric hardware, Lake G as
having a
the version correctly Polaris GPU—
identified a Ryzen 3 not Vega.
2220G as being
based on Vega (see right). We also
found AIDA64 correctly identified as
a Radeon RX 580 and Radeon RX
Vega 56 card.
But don’t just ask AIDA64.
Among the key differences between
a Polaris GCN-based chip and a
Vega NCU-based chip are DirectX
features. In this page lifted from
AMD’s white paper detailing Vega
(go.pcworld.com/wpvg), it clearly
states Vega has DirectX 12.1
support, while Polaris does not.
To see what feature sets the
GPUs in question support, we used
Windows 10’s DXDIAG tool, which
tells you down to the feature set
what is available at the driver level.
On a Radeon RX Vega 56 and on a
Ryzen 3 2200G (both Vega),
DXDIAG indicated the presence of
DirectX 12.1 support.
AIDA64
Meanwhile, on a
says the
Polaris-based lowly Ryzen
Radeon RX 580 with 3 2200G
is indeed
the latest drivers based on
available from AMD, Vega.

18 PCWorld MAY 2018

the same utility confirmed there was no with additional ROPs (Render Output Units).”
DirectX 12.1. We got the same answer with
the Core i7-8809G and its Radeon RX Vega M THIS MAY DEPEND ON
chip. See all the results above. YOUR DEFINITION OF
Now one might argue that the full feature set ‘VEGA’
hasn’t been turned on in the drivers for the Kaby So is it Polaris or Vega? Well, it may come down
Lake-G. But do to the semantics of
consider that the product marketing.
Radeon RX 580 AMD declined to discuss
Polaris card any details of Kaby
doesn’t show Lake-G, and as a policy,
DirectX 12.1 typically does not
support, even discuss custom parts
though we used used in the Xbox One
the latest X or other game
available drivers. consoles and
We reached products, either.
out to Intel with But in its
our findings. The white paper
company’s discussing Vega,
response echoed the company
what we were told said: “Vega is
at CES in January, the most
when we first looked sweeping
into this matter. “This change to
is a custom Radeon AMD’s core
graphics solution built graphics
for Intel,” the statement technology
began. “It is similar to since the
the desktop Radeon RX introduction of
Vega solution with a high the first
bandwidth memory DXDIAG confirms the two Vega NCU-based devices GCN-based
support DirectX 12.1, while the RX 580 Polaris GPU
cache controller and and the Core i7-8809G with Radeon RX Vega M chips five
enhanced compute units (bottom-most screengrab) do not. years ago.”

MAY 2018 PCWorld 19

NEWS K ABY L AKE- G MYSTERY

HBM2 and the High-Bandwidth Cache

The ultimate judge of Kaby Controller. So is it a Vega-based chip? Or is
Lake-G isn’t obscure inside- calling that chip Vega funny business, too?
baseball nomenclature, but
what matters most to gamers: A SECRET THAT
how it performs. And there’s no SHOULDN’T BE
doubt that the Kaby Lake-G The biggest indicator that the Kaby Lake-G’s
performs as promised. Vega name is deserved may come from AMD
itself. Intel, after all, wouldn’t market Kaby
Among the highlights are: Lake-G chips with the Vega name without
approval from AMD.
• High-Bandwidth Cache Controller The ultimate judge of Kaby Lake-G isn’t
• HBM2 memory obscure inside-baseball nomenclature, but
• Next Generation Geometry path what matters most to gamers: how it performs.
• Rapid Packed Math support And there’s no doubt that the Kaby Lake-G
• Draw-Stream Binning Rasterizer performs as promised. Most reviews of the
Hades Canyon NUC with its Core i7-8809G
Although we could get neither AMD nor Intel have been glowing (see page 53) with respect
to comment on whether Kaby Lake-G has the to gaming prowess. Given this, Kaby Lake-G
NGG, Rapid Packed Math, or DSBR featured, we shouldn’t be afraid to fly its Polaris flag.
do know that it has two
of those five features:
the High-Bandwidth
Cache Controller and
the HBM2 memory. So
do those two
technologies make it a
Vega?
And to be fair,
AMD’s Ryzen 3 2200G
with Radeon Vega 8
Graphics has the NGG,
Rapid Packed Math
and DSBR—but lacks

20 PCWorld MAY 2018

Microsoft’s new Cortana chief
plans to put the assistant’s
smarts in more places
Microsoft Cortana is evolving from being a general-purpose helper within Windows to a
source of intelligence within all sorts of Microsoft apps and services. BY MARK HACHMAN

C
ortana, where art thou? That’s iOS. But Cortana hasn’t talked her way into
what PCWorld wanted to know our homes like Amazon Alexa and Google
when we spoke with Microsoft’s Assistant have, making her staying power
recently-minted Cortana czar, look uncertain.
Javier Soltero. The digital assistant, which That’s where Soltero comes in. We sat
made a splash in Windows 10 with her snappy down with Cortana’s new chief in the wake of
comebacks and silly knock-knock jokes (go. a significant management shakeup (go.
pcworld.com/59bq), is still offering to help pcworld.com/bcha) that will see senior
you with your calendar and search. She’s even executive Terry Myerson leave, as well as the
migrated to mobile apps for Android and creation of a new “Experiences and Devices”

IMAGE: MICROSOFT MAY 2018 PCWorld 21

NEWS MICROSOFT’S NEW CORTANA CHIEF

team that seemingly downplays Windows.

Does that mean Cortana has been
demoted? Far from it.
If you’re used to thinking of Cortana as
an assistant who lives in your search box,
that’s still true to a point. But in the future
Cortana will be more situational, popping
up in apps where she’s never existed:
Outlook Mobile, for example, or Teams.
No, you won’t need a Cortana app for
Cortana to appear. She just will.
Below are the highlights of our
interview, excerpted and in some cases
edited for clarity.

WHAT CHANGE, IF ANY, Meet Microsoft Cortana’s new chief, Javier Soltero.
WILL THE REORG HAVE ON
CORTANA? around a very clear strategy that has been
None. “The good news is that Cortana is communicated to the leadership of the
completely unaffected,” Soltero said, who company, which they’re fully behind.”
arrived at his role from heading up the
well-regarded Outlook Mobile app for iOS IS CORTANA STILL PART OF
and Android. “This represents a super WINDOWS?
important change for the company and Cortana started as a creature of Windows 10,
something that I’m super excited to be a part but she was moved over to Microsoft’s AI and
of. For me, very little changes, and that I Research Group (go.pcworld.com/airg)
believe is a very good thing.” when it formed about 18 months ago.
For Soltero, his job remains the same: Soltero confirmed he still reports to the AI
Lead Cortana into the future. He’s hit the team, led by Harry Shum.
ground running. “The first thing I did was go
360 degrees through the entire product WHAT IS CORTANA NOW?
portfolio: What do we have, what don’t we If Soltero’s words are any indication,
have, what would we like to have, what are Cortana’s future will have her ranging far and
we doing? And we coalesced the team wide beyond Windows. “The guiding light

22 PCWorld MAY 2018

for us is the assistant
concept, and the idea
that you want to help
people get more out of
their time, and, whether
actively or proactively,
make the things that you
do every day easier or
better or more
effective,” Soltero said.
Cortana continues to
be her most helpful Cortana began on Windows, but it’s evolving outward.
when she can keep an
eye on you and find ways to help. “Part of “The temptation for things involving AI
that means looking at a person throughout and technology in general is to show things
their day,” Soltero explained, “looking at that are cool and captivating and inspiring,
opportunities and the different kinds of and we’ve done plenty of that in Cortana and
places where…an assistant technology or a lot of other places,” Soltero said. But he
product experience or whatever you want to doesn’t want Cortana to become a party trick.
call it can provide.” “Part of the change that I’m bringing to the
That means Cortana will continue to pipe discussion is an emphasis around real user
up when she senses a need. “What we’ve value—as measured by, are we really making
noticed, I guess, and what the world has an impact and allowing people to achieve
shown us is that you can start by being more, or be more successful in their
convenient,” Soltero added. “There is endeavors.” That might mean that Cortana is
actually a path towards earning the right to actually used less, Soltero said.
be an assistant.” “If having a more effective Cortana
experience means that you’re able to get
HOW WILL CORTANA more of your schedule and your calendar and
EVOLVE? your email, let’s say, that you are logging less
This is how Microsoft sees Cortana’s next minutes staring longingly at Outlook on your
steps: less flash, more utility. But Soltero also PC or your tablet or your mobile or whatever,
said that doesn’t always play well with a user that’s fine—as long as the return on your
base that looks for the next big thing. investment is there.”

MAY 2018 PCWorld 23

NEWS MICROSOFT’S NEW CORTANA CHIEF

WHAT WILL CORTANA LOOK

LIKE IN THE REAL WORLD? The mistake that Microsoft or
Soltero said he’s in the process of sketching Apple or Google can make
out a broad strategy for Cortana, with the involves thinking of an assistant
goal of laying out an end-to-end experience as an entity that can help users
that he can show customers. For now, without knowing what the user
though, he pointed to a recent change in test is doing, Soltero said.
versions of the Outlook Mobile app.
“We embedded in Outlook Mobile the embedded. But it’s less about…where we
ability for Cortana to say you should get up, attach Cortana, and more about how is
you should go, there’s a meeting,” Soltero having Cortana there truly helping you make
said. “That is a way of saving people time. more out of your time.”
And it’s Cortana that’s doing that. But it’s The mistake that Microsoft or Apple or
expressed inside of that Outlook Mobile Google can make involves thinking of an
experience.” assistant as an entity that can help users
Soltero said Microsoft will be adding without knowing what the user is doing,
Cortana to apps where Cortana has never Soltero said. “Most of our emphasis is going
existed before. “You should expect to see to be less about what device we’re using and
[Cortana], in places where we can help you, more about which situation is the user in and
while you’re on the go,” Soltero said. “You’re what promise are we trying to fulfill. That’s
going to see it in apps in different types, literally how we’ve set it up internally.”
you’re going to see this in standalone
experiences, you’re going to see it IS CORTANA A MOBILE
TECHNOLOGY?
Before Cortana, there Soltero discouraged any definition of Cortana
was Clippy—the one-
time Office assistant that was tied to a platform. Thinking of the
which volunteered to problem on a device-by-device basis is one of
pitch in when the user
the things he’s trying to change. “The
was faced with a task. Its
profound unpopularity imbalanced way we were doing it—certain
will always haunt things on mobile, certain things on Windows,
Microsoft. But like so
many things, Clippy was certain things on speaker—there wasn’t as
ahead of its time. clear a picture of how those things fit
together, is part of the job that I’m trying to
address. I can tell you—as many times as

24 PCWorld MAY 2018

you’d care to hear it—that my real goal is to shaped with some form of ambient devices,
show it to you.” and those devices will take a specific role in
providing assistance throughout your day,
WILL WE SEE ANOTHER and I’ll leave it at that.”
CORTANA-POWERED
SMART SPEAKER? IS CORTANA A BUSINESS
As Amazon Alexa and Google Home morph TOOL, A CONSUMER PLAY,
into ever more sizes and shapes of smart OR BOTH?
device, Cortana still exists on only one, lonely Soltero thinks Cortana can make the jump
smart speaker, the Harman/Kardon Invoke from consumer to business—on the user’s
(go.pcworld.com/hkik). When asked terms. “I don’t think we want them [business
whether the Invoke would have any company, and consumer] to be blurred, I think that’s
Soltero kept his cards close to the vest. “Hold important that people are blurring that line on
that thought,” he said. “I respectfully decline their own. And I think that mobile
to respond to that question until I can provide smartphones in general is the spark that’s lit
a more complete answer.” that fire.”
Soltero did provide a hint, though. “You Soltero credited the RIM Blackberry for
have to assume that the market is being beginning to blur the lines between home
and work twenty
years ago. “If that’s
where you want to
help people and
assist them, you help
them throughout
their day,” he said.
Microsoft has
already talked about
Cortana integration
within Microsoft
Teams, or helping to
join Skype calls.
“Because it’s just
more convenient to
Invoking Cortana on a Harmon Kardon speaker. say ‘join a call with

MAY 2018 PCWorld 25

NEWS MICROSOFT’S NEW CORTANA CHIEF

way we’re
approaching
that involves a
journey that
began before I
took over the
team,” Soltero
continued, “a
recognition that
our SDKs for
skills was having
trouble keeping
up with the
IFFTT offered Cortana a powerful avenue for integrating third-party skills.
difference
Mark,’” Soltero said, “than it is to go hunting between the types of surfaces where Cortana
down buttons and so forth.” shows up today: the difference between a
UI-less speaker, a PC, the RS3 era integration
HOW IS MICROSOFT and how the proactive canvas has evolved,
ADDRESSING THE versus of course mobile. So we were doing
CORTANA SKILLS GAP? multiplatform level work, but our skills layer
Skills—the integration of third-party services— was not suitable for that.”
are the software ecosystem of sorts for digital Given Cortana’s catchup mode, Soltero
assistants. Skills can be a real measure of how seems to be focusing on developing
“smart” a smart speaker is. Why should thoughtfully. “I think what’s interesting is what
Microsoft build in knowledge of airfares, for are the right set of skills, that are most
example, if Cortana can connect to Expedia? impactful, and are those skill developers,
“The skills ecosystem is very important to whether they’re big developers like Spotify, or
us,” Soltero said, while also admitting that even companies like IFTTT, or home
Cortana has her work cut out for her. “The automation appliance manufacturers—are

Skills—the integration of third-party services—are the software

ecosystem of sorts for digital assistants. Skills can be a real
measure of how “smart” a smart speaker is.

26 PCWorld MAY 2018

they seeing a real differentiation or higher Soltero said. “That’s a thing I don’t think
sense or result of having integrated with people around the world are just going to
Cortana.” grant quite readily to a number of companies
Soltero emphasized that skills for the that they don’t have a high sense of trust on.”
sake of skills won’t fly. “The quality of
integrations matters quite a bit and I think if WHAT MAKES CORTANA
you look at the skills usage across the board, BETTER THAN GOOGLE
it’s not quite as deep as most people would ASSISTANT, AMAZON
think it is.” ALEXA, OR APPLE SIRI?
Finally, Soltero said, skills are hard. “Skill The whole idea of trust also plays into how
discovery is a challenge. Skill activation is a Soltero sees Cortana competing in the
challenge. Remembering that you put a skill in super-hot smart-assistant arena. “We are in
an otherwise headless, faceless device, also a all of the places that we need to be to fulfill
challenge. It’s fun. It’s why this race is still this idea of providing systems throughout
going on.” the day,” Soltero said, but user trust is
essential to Cortana’s progress. “I think
WHAT DID YOU TAKE AWAY Cortana has…won the right to be trusted
FROM THE RECENT UPROAR with a certain amount of information that’s
OVER FACEBOOK PRIVACY? not easy and critical to earn access to, and
As Facebook struggles to recover from its Microsoft has a unique understanding of the
Cambridge Analytica data scandal (go. opportunity for people who love us at home,
pcworld.com/cman), Soltero said he was “as and at work, to have a cohesive experience
outraged as any other person” with the that spans those, without taking either side
revelations and sought to differentiate his for granted.”
company from the social media giant. “I’m Soltero seems invested in keeping Cortana
happy to say that Microsoft doesn’t operate in the game. “I use the phrase ‘meeting the
that way at all,” Soltero said. unarticulated needs of the lives of people
For Soltero, the scandal brings up around the world,’” Soltero added. “That is the
questions of trust at a time when more and most concise and thoughtful way of expressing
more companies—not just Facebook—seek to this idea that people have choices now.”
profit from mining user data. “Trusting one Soltero knows Cortana has an uphill battle. “It’s
company…across work and life to not only not a guarantee that you’re going to be the
access the information but modify and write only one they pick because you’re the only
that information —that’s a super high bar,” person there. You have to be better.”

MAY 2018 PCWorld 27

NEWS

The HP Chromebook x2
is a $599 premium tablet
aimed at the iPad Pro
The first detachable Chromebook 2-in-1 makes a lot of sense now that
Android apps are supported. BY MELISSA RIOFRIO

H
P’s Chromebook x2 is more While the Chromebook x2 looks affordable
than the first Chrome OS-based compared to its iPad Pro and Surface Pro
2-in-1 with a detachable rivals, it does look expensive for a
keyboard and pen. This new Chromebook—most of its category cousins
$599 tablet wants to compete with the likes are still around $300. Its features are pretty
of the iPad Pro. If it makes any headway, the nice, though, and Chromebook veterans may
Surface Pro should probably worry, too. be able to appreciate the difference.

28 PCWorld MAY 2018

SPECS AND FEATURES and provides extra durability and a soft, matte
The Chromebook x2 will ship in June. Here finish that resists scratches and is easy to clean.
are the highlights from the specs we know.
Why this matters: Chromebook tablets are
CPU: Intel 7th-gen Core m3-7Y30 finally a thing. The HP Chromebook x2
Memory: 4GB LPDDR3-1600 follows the earlier April announcement of the
Display: 12.3-inch 2400x1600 IPS WLED Acer Chromebook Tab 10 (go.pcworld.com/
backlit ac10), the very first Chrome tablet. Now that
Graphics: Intel HD Graphics 615 Chromebooks run Android apps (go.
Storage: 32GB eMMC pcworld.com/rnap), stylus support and the
Ports: Two USB 3.0 Gen 1 (5Gbps) Type C tablet form factor make a lot of sense.
Cameras: Front 5MP, rear 13MP The Chromebook x2 is priced and
Battery: 4-cell, 48Whr lasts up to 10 hours positioned in a tough spot, though. Sure, it’s
Dimensions and weight: 11.5 x 8.32 x 0.33 affordable compared to the iPad Pro and
inches, or 0.6-inch thick with keyboard Surface Pro with which it wants to compete—
but it’s expensive for a Chromebook. We
The price also includes a digital pen and don’t know how many people raised on
the keyboard cover. A magnetic hinge dirt-cheap $300 clamshells will reach for a
attaches the keyboard cover to the tablet. product that costs twice as much. We’ll let
We haven’t seen the keyboard in person, you know whether it’s worth the jump if we
but it looks like its exterior is a synthetic have a chance to review it.
material with a leather-like
finish. We also don’t know
how stiff the tablet cover
is and what the keyboard
travel is, as these
keyboard covers can
sometimes be a little
challenging to type on.
The tablet’s exterior
surface has an Anodized
Electrodeposition coating.
According to HP, the The HP Chromebook x2 comes with a pen for scribbling and navigating
coating feels like ceramic on screen.

MAY 2018 PCWorld 29

NEWS

Hands-on: Radical Heights is a

free battle royale game oozing
’80s neon and early access bugs
Boss Key abandoned Lawbreakers to make a game that feels like a video game adaptation
of The Running Man, but it’s VERY early access. BY HAYDEN DINGMAN

R
ecently, Boss Key said it was And you know what? I like it.
moving on from Lawbreakers to
a “passion project.” Now that SMASH AND GRAB
passion project is out on Steam Okay, like is maybe too strong a word for
(go.pcworld.com/rhst). I didn’t expect such a what’s here. I think it has potential, though.
fast turnaround, but the game is called Radical Heights cribs a lot of its best ideas
Radical Heights, and it’s a free-to-play, ’80s from the arcade classic Smash TV, but I’m
game show–themed battle royale shooter. hardly going to complain about that. There’s
Basically, it’s The Running Man (go.pcworld. an over-the-top announcer yell-talking bad
com/rnmn). jokes at you, there are “prizes” to pick up. It’s

30 PCWorld MAY 2018

very much that sort of
game show aesthetic,
and it fits well with the
low-stakes setup of
battle royale matches.
Cash is the breakout
difference between
Radical Heights and its
predecessors.
Playerunknown’s
Battlegrounds and
Fortnite are both
centered around the loot. You walk into a everywhere.
building, you vacuum up all the guns and It’s a neat system, and allows Boss Key to
helmets and whatever’s lying on the ground, twist the battle royale formula a bit. My
you leave. Fortnite introduced “Vending favorite idea in Radical Heights is the ATM. At
Machines” recently, letting you trade crafting any point, instead of spending your accrued
materials for items, but they’re still a cash you can find an ATM and deposit it. That
secondary concern. money then becomes available to you
In Radical Heights, loot is more sparse. outside the match, to buy cosmetic items for
On the other hand, almost every building you example. But it also carries over—find an ATM
enter has a cash register or change machines in a future match and your money will be
waiting inside. Smash them, and you’ll pick there waiting. Like Rogue Legacy or FTL/Into
up cash. Other times you’ll find prizes, like a the Breach, it’s a forgiving system that makes
game console, and their cash value will be it feel like you’ve made some progress even if
added to your total. you only ran around for 15 minutes and then
Once you’ve accrued a small fortune, got shot.
it’s time to buy. There are weapon and gear Guns feel better than in Fortnite, which is
vendors everywhere, selling everything an admittedly low bar but still a point in
from armor to remote explosives to guns. Radical Heights’s favor. It’s not quite as
Run up to the machine, press E, and you’ve hardcore as PUBG’s ballistics, but weapons at
got yourself a shiny new toy. Don’t like what least reliably shoot where you’re aiming them.
that one’s selling? Go next door and there’s You can also get around by bicycle, and
probably another machine. They’re pull off some sweet tricks while doing so.

MAY 2018 PCWorld 31

NEWS R ADICAL HEIGHTS

Oh, and my favorite bit from Radical frustrating to be back at square one with a
Heights: No parachutes. You just dive straight battle royale game. Watching people stutter
down, faceplant into the ground, and then to the ground, diving and then freezing in
get up and start grabbing cash. It’s fun. place and then diving again—this is early days
stuff, and I doubt people who put up with that
PRE-PRE-PRE-ALPHA era for the novelty in 2017 are aching to do it
Now for the bad. with a me-too game in 2018.
I don’t know why Boss Key decided to Match pacing also desperately needs an
release Radical Heights this early. Maybe the overhaul. Like PUBG and Fortnite, the
team is worried a flood of battle royale games Radical Heights play area gradually shrinks
will come in the next few months and it’ll be as the match progresses. Very gradually
impossible to get attention? Maybe the though, in the case of Radical Heights. The
Lawbreakers money was running out and first time I made it to the top 10 in a match,
Boss Key needed something to generate a bit the pace of killing outstripped how fast
of revenue? Radical Heights could accommodate and
It’s hard to know for sure, but suffice it to shrink the map, eventually leading to six or
say Radical Heights is barely even Early seven minutes with almost zero conflict as
Access. Sure, you can play a full match, but we all sat content in our little fiefdoms and
the experience is rough. waited for the final circle.
To start, it’s poorly optimized. That’s no Those aspects aren’t unexpected though.
surprise. Hell, PUBG still has optimization Optimization and pacing tweaks are why you
issues a year after its initial release. But it’s do Early Access.
What is
unexpected is the
general lack of polish.
I mean, the game’s
free, so I guess Boss
Key feels like it’s not
exactly ripping
anyone off by putting
it out this early.
You only get one
chance for that first
impression though,

32 PCWorld MAY 2018

 much Radical Heights leans on
its aesthetic, peppering the
map with generic parking
garages and empty apartment
buildings is a major misstep.

BOTTOM LINE
Is Radical Heights worth a
look? Yeah, sure. It’s free, and I
think the core game has some
potential. It takes the cartoon
and Radical Heights does not make a good aesthetic of Fortnite, pairs it with better guns
one. Placeholder UI elements? Yup. Barely and a more unified aesthetic, and strips out
readable map? Yeah. Fully untextured the crafting elements some people don’t like.
buildings? Yeesh. Or if you’re coming from the other end, it’s
And if that weren’t bad enough, check PUBG-lite, with guns that actually feel good
out this radioactive spillage that’s apparently on mouse and keyboard but without the
supposed to be a placid lakefront. military trappings.
For every environment that looks well- It’s very, very early days for Radical Heights,
crafted and fits the theme, like an arcade with though, and I’m stunned Boss Key put the game
that ’80s-grid carpeting, there’s another that out this early. You’d think after Lawbreakers, it’d
is basically gray-box prototype. Given how be wary of a game losing its player base too
early—but I’m worried
if Radical Heights
doesn’t fix its issues,
and fast, we might see
a repeat. The game
was sitting at a
“Mostly Negative”
rating on Steam
barely hours after
release. That’s not a
great sign for the
future.

MAY 2018 PCWorld 33

 AMERICA,
LET’S DO LUNCH TM

Lola Silvestri, SINCE 1921. Conversation and good company are her domain.
Now, she and 1 in 6 seniors face the threat of hunger and millions more
live in isolation. So pop by, drop off a hot meal and say a warm hello.
Volunteer for Meals on Wheels at AmericaLetsDoLunch.org
Reviews & Ratings
TESTED IN PCWORLD LABS
WE PUT HARDWARE & SOFTWARE
THROUGH RIGOROUS TESTING

Ryzen 7 2700X: AMD’s 2nd-gen

CPUs nail the sequel
The Ryzen 7 2700X puts the squeeze on Intel’s 8th-gen Coffee Lake CPUs.
BY GORDON MAH UNG

J
ust over a year ago, AMD flipped Ryzen 7 2700X (don’t call it Ryzen 2—that’s
the PC industry on its proverbial coming later) doesn’t quite shake things up
head with revolutionary Ryzen 7 the way the original Ryzen chips did last year,
processors (go.pcworld.com/rr7p) it’s a solidly good sequel that, in many ways, is
that democratized CPU core counts in a way far better than what it replaces. And it puts the
never seen before. squeeze back on Intel’s 8th-gen Coffee Lake
While the recently unveiled 2nd-gen processors (go.pcworld.com/8clp), which

MAY 2018 PCWorld 35

REVIEWS RYZEN 7 2700X

upped their own core count to counter

Ryzen’s threat. The actual CPU micro-
This review focuses on the 2700X, but a architecture hasn’t changed,
total of four new chips make up the 2nd-gen but AMD said it has optimized
introduction: two 8-core CPUs and two the underlying circuits to
6-core chips. decease latency.

• The 8-core Ryzen 7 2700X costs $329 on helped AMD increase the clock-speed range
Amazon (go.pcworld.com/270x). over the original version.
• The 8-core Ryzen 7 2700 costs $299 on The actual CPU micro-architecture
Amazon (go.pcworld.com/27oo). hasn’t changed, but AMD said it has
• The 6-core Ryzen 5 2600X costs $229 on optimized the underlying circuits to
Amazon (go.pcworld.com/260x). decease latency. The L1 cache sees a 13
• The 6-core Ryzen 5 2600 costs $199 on percent reduction and L3 shaves off 16
Amazon (go.pcworld.com/26oo). percent, while the L2 achieves a whopping
34 percent latency drop. AMD says it all
INSIDE RYZEN adds up to about an 11 percent decrease in
2ND-GEN CPUS latency for main system RAM, too.
The new 2nd-gen Ryzen chips are based on Internally, the chip arrangements are the
refined CPU cores that AMD calls “Zen+.” same. The 8-core parts use dual CCX designs
While the first-gen Ryzen chips were built on a joined by AMD’s Infinity Fabric technology.
14nm process, 2nd-gen Ryzen uses The 2nd-gen Ryzen 5 chips do the same, but
GlobalFoundries’s new 12nm process, which with one core per CCX disabled.

SMART
CLOCK SPEED MAX PREFETCH
MODEL CORE THREADS BOOST/BASE (GHZ) CACHE TDP COOLER PRICE

Ryzen 7 8 16 4.3/3.7 20MB 105W Wraith Prism (LED) $329

2700X

Ryzen 7 8 16 4.1/3.2 20MB 65W Wraith Spire (LED) $299

2700

Ryzen 7 8 12 4.2/3.6 19MB 95W Wraith Spire $229

2600X

Ryzen 7 8 12 3.9/3.4 19MB 65W Wraith Spire $199

2600

36 PCWorld MAY 2018

HIGHER CLOCK SPEEDS Boost’s maximum if you were running an efficient
WITH PRECISION BOOST 2 cooling solution, but only when two cores were
AND XFR2 being used. With XFR2, if the chip is cool
Although the various latency improvements enough, the 100MHz boost can be applied to all
offer performance benefits, much of 2nd-gen cores and threads, just like the upgraded
Ryzen’s performance gains come directly from Precision Boost 2.
higher clock speeds. The original Ryzen 7 Going from a standard 95-watt cooler to
1800X topped out at 4GHz under boost the Ryzen 7 2700X’s included Wraith Prism
conditions, and the 1700X maxed out at with an ambient temperature of 90 degrees
3.8GHz. The Ryzen 7 2700X can hit 4.3GHz. would yield 4 percent more performance
The higher overall clock speeds aren’t the thanks to XFR2, AMD said. Upgrading to a
only improvement. Precision Boost 2, a greatly larger Noctua NH-D15S cooler ($90 on
improved version of the original technology, Newegg [go.pcworld.com/d15s]) and
now pushes 2nd-gen Ryzen processors to lowering the ambient temperature to 68
higher clock speeds on lighter loads that degrees would yield a 7 percent bump. This,
would have pushed the original Ryzen CPUs off AMD claims, all adds up to double-digit
their boost modes. In certain loads that used yields in performance in most tasks when
only three or four threads, AMD said the Ryzen compared to the first-generation parts.
7 2700X would
run nearly
500MHz faster
than the Ryzen 7
1800X.
The “bonus”
clock boosts from
XFR2 have also
been improved.
The original XFR
(or Extended
Frequency
Range) could
give the CPU a
The new Ryzen Master utility with 2nd-gen Ryzen chips now lets you overclock
100MHz bump each CCX. It also identifies the “best” core with a star and the second best core
beyond Precision with a circle.

MAY 2018 PCWorld 37

REVIEWS RYZEN 7 2700X

Much of the improvements in 2nd Ryzen comes from higher clock speeds on more cores.

AM4 MOTHERBOARD regulation modules and may hit slightly

COMPATIBILITY higher overclocks.
The 2nd-gen chips are fully compatible with One new X470 feature that is pretty nifty is
existing AM4 motherboards (go.pcworld.com/ called StoreMI. StoreMI lets you pair a hard drive
am4m). AMD says it has been including with an SSD to improve performance. In many
rudimentary BIOS support for the CPUs for a few ways, it’s similar to what Intel does with Optane
months, so the vast majority of motherboards Memory modules (go.pcworld.com/omem).
on store shelves should be good to go out of And no, it’s not just caching the data
the box. If the board won’t boot, though, you’ll either. StoreMI is actually a “micro-tiering”
have to borrow a CPU from AMD (go.pcworld. technology that moves oft-used files to the
com/bcpu) and update the BIOS yourself (go. speedy SSD and keeps stuff you don’t touch
pcworld.com/upbs). on the much slower hard drive. It’s not
New CPUs demand fresh motherboards, technically a cache because it doesn’t flush
though, and AMD is now offering an your data when you power off. Most of it,
enthusiast-class X470 chipset that anyway. StoreMI can also use up to 2GB of
supplements the capabilities of the existing your system’s RAM to cache hot data.
X370 chipset. For the most part, it’s a minor StoreMI is only found in 400-series AMD
update and doesn’t offer any additional ports motherboards like the X470 options. If you’re
or expansion. Most boards based on the bummed because you’re sitting there with
X470, however, will offer the latest voltage your X370 or other 300-series AMD board,

38 PCWorld MAY 2018

you can get the same feature—for a price. rating to 124 watts. Noise also goes up to
StoreMI is basically a licensed version of 47dBA on max speed.
Enmotus’s FuzeDrive (go.pcworld.com/fzdr) You can control the three zones of RGB
which you buy for AMD’s B350 and X370 lighting with the USB header connected and
motherboards. AMD’s free utility. If you choose to run it off
your motherboard’s proprietary lighting app,
AMD’S SECRET WEAPON: unfortunately, it works as only a single zone.
THE WRAITH PRISM COOLER People used to the “just good enough”
The new Ryzen chips have a new approach to fans bundled with Intel CPUs might scoff at any
cooling, too. freebie, but the Wraith Prism is a custom unit
AMD opted not to bundle CPU coolers built to spec by Cooler Master. The reason it’s
with the first-gen X-branded Ryzen CPUs on the such a big deal here is its performance and
sound logic that, well, enthusiasts building included LED “bling” means you can chose to
high-end machines would just put a stock forego an aftermarket cooler that might cost
cooler on the shelf and install something better $30 to $60 (though it can’t compare to liquid
instead (go.pcworld.com/isbi). AMD officials coolers or premium air coolers). Since Intel
now say customers have been asking for its doesn’t even include a cooler with its K-series
custom “Wraith” coolers even at the high-end, parts, this puts Core i7 even further down the
so it’s now including them in the box. price hole against 2nd-gen Ryzen.
The top-end Ryzen 7
2700X includes the new
Wraith Prism cooler, which
features programmable RGB
lights for the fan, logo, and
fan cowling, as well as
switchable performance
modes. The default L
position limits the fans to
2,800 rpm and 38dBA of
noise, with a TDP rating of
116 watts. Flip it to the H
position, and the maximum
speed goes up to 3,600 AMD includes a beefy new Wraith Prism cooler in the box with its top
rpm, increasing the TDP Ryzen 7 2700X.

MAY 2018 PCWorld 39

REVIEWS RYZEN 7 2700X

The Wraith Prism’s customizable RGB lights work with popular motherboard utilities or with its own
utility (go.pcworld.com/amwr) when plugged into a USB header.

APPLICATION has taken since our original review (go.

PERFORMANCE pcworld.com/8700). To ensure the patches
BENCHMARKS were applied correctly, we also checked each
For our tests, we built three PCs and platform with GRC’s InSpectre utility.
performed clean installs of the Windows 10 All three systems were tested with
Fall Creators Update (go.pcworld.com/10fc) matching Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080
on each. We then installed the latest security Founders Edition cards (go.pcworld.com/
patches and available BIOS updates for each fned) and Kingston HyperX SSDs. Each were
motherboard. outfitted with 16GB of DDR4 set to
This last point is particularly critical as we 3200MHz and a CAS latency of 14. For the
now live in a post-Meltdown/Spectre world Intel system we used a Z370 Aorus Gaming
(go.pcworld.com/pmsw), which hurts Intel’s 7. For the Ryzen 7 2700X, we used an MSI
performance (go.pcworld.com/hitp) more X470 Gaming M7 AC. For the Ryzen 7
than AMD’s. Any proper judgment of how 1700X, we used an Asus X370 Crosshair VI
well the second coming of Ryzen truly is Hero motherboard. Yes, 1700X. Although
would thus require us to account for any AMD compares the new chip against the
performance haircut that the Core i7-8700K previous $500 Ryzen 7 1800X flagship, we

40 PCWorld MAY 2018

think it’s valid to compare
the Ryzen 7 2700X against Cinebench R15.038 nT
the model it replaces. All
Ryzen 7 1700X 1,561
three of the tested chips
currently sell in the $320 Ryzen 7 2700X 1,822
to $360 price range. Core i7-8700K
1,413

CINEBENCH R15 LO N G E R B A R S I N D I C AT E B E T T E R P E R F O R M A N C E

Our first test uses Maxon’s

The Ryzen 7 2700X simply eats the Core i7-8700K’s lunch, dinner and
popular 3D rendering the next day’s brunch too in the multi-threaded Cinebench R15 test.
benchmark, which is based
on the same engine sold
with its Cinema4D
Cinebench R15.038 1T
product. Most 3D Ryzen 7 1700X 154
rendering applications are
Ryzen 7 2700X 179
heavily multi-threaded and
Core i7-8700K
it’s no surprise that both 207
8-core Ryzens leave the LO N G E R B A R S I N D I C AT E B E T T E R P E R F O R M A N C E

6-core Core i7-8700K

With a maximum boost of 4.7GHz on light loads, the Core i7-8700K is
sucking dust. The Coffee no slouch in performance.
Lake chip does fairly well,
though, when you consider that it has two 4.7GHz) and IPC lands it firmly in front of
fewer cores than the older Ryzen 7 1700X Ryzen 7 2700X by 14 percent. That gap
chip. The higher clock speed and its better opens up to a 29 percent maw when
efficiency or IPC put scant 10 percent compared to Ryzen 7 1700X.
between the two, though the Ryzen 7 2700X Since we’re in Cinebench, let’s see if
takes the clear win here. AMD’s claims about holding higher boost
As much as people want to pretend clocks over previous generations holds any
multi-threading is common, it’s not. So we water. To test that, we used Cinebench R15
also run Cinebench R15 using just a single- and increased the workload from one thread
thread to measure performance that you to 16 threads.
might see in such things as Microsoft Word or For the most part, yes, the 2nd-gen Ryzen is
Google Chrome. The result? Intel’s clock well ahead of its older sibling. But one problem
speed advantage (it ranges from 3.7GHz to with the above chart is a sense of proportion. It

MAY 2018 PCWorld 41

REVIEWS RYZEN 7 2700X

doesn’t actually
indicate just how Cinebench R15 scaling
much faster the Ryzen 7 2700X vs. Ryzen 7 1700X
Ryzen 7 2700X is
over the Ryzen Ryzen 7 1700X (8/16)

7 1700X for each Ryzen 7 2700X (8/16)

thread. The next

chart does, though—
and it’s impressive as
hell. At one thread,
the 2nd-gen chip
leads by 17 percent;
at two threads, 23
percent; and 19
percent at four
threads.
What this tells us is that the 2nd-gen Ryzen favors more cores, and again there’s no
is indeed holding far higher clock speeds surprise here: more cores win. In the case of
than its 1st-gen predecessor could ever the Ryzen 7 2700X, they win by a lot.
dream of, especially
from two to six
threads Percent performance increase
Ryzen 7 2700X vs. Ryzen 7 1700X in Cinebench based on thread load

POV-RAY
Our second test
uses the Persistence
of Vision Ray tracer
benchmark. It’s a
program that goes
back to the Amiga
days but has been
updated for more
modern hardware.
Like Cinebench, it

42 PCWorld MAY 2018

 how 2nd-gen Ryzen runs,
POV-Ray 3.7 we turn to Blender. It’s
(PPS) open source, well
maintained, and has been
Ryzen 7 1700X 3,219 used to create the effects
Ryzen 7 2700X for numerous small indie
3,692
movies. In fact, NASA even
Core i7-8700K
3,007 uses it now for modeling
LO N G E R B A R S I N D I C AT E B E T T E R P E R F O R M A N C E (go.pcworld.com/modl).
For our test, we used Mike
Pan’s popular BMW
benchmark.
Blender 2.78b Performance BMW The winner? Ryzen 7
(Seconds)
2700X. There is a surprise,
Ryzen 7 1700X
though: the performance
310
of the 8-core Ryzen 7
Ryzen 7 2700X 270 1700X. It actually loses to
Core i7-8700K
301 the 6-core Core i7-8700K
by a few seconds.
LO N G E R B A R S I N D I C AT E B E T T E R P E R F O R M A N C E

CORONA
Sometimes not everything
Corona 1.3 Performance goes your way and for
(Rays/s)
Ryzen, it definitely doesn’t
Ryzen 7 1700X
in the photorealistic
3,505,290
Corona renderer (which is
Ryzen 7 2700X 3,556,090 available as a plug-in for
Core i7-8700K
4,079,750 Cinema4D and 3ds Max.)
It’s a multi-threaded
LO N G E R B A R S I N D I C AT E B E T T E R P E R F O R M A N C E
benchmark but both Ryzen
chips surprisingly see a
BLENDER pretty big disadvantage to Core i7. We should
While free, POV-Ray is somewhat esoteric. So, note that the current version of the
for a more popular open-source opinion of benchmark uses a somewhat older rendering

MAY 2018 PCWorld 43

REVIEWS RYZEN 7 2700X

core, so performance
could increase when the V-Ray 1.08 CPU Performance
developer updates it, but (Seconds)
this isn’t good when you
consider the advantage the Ryzen 7 1700X 87
Ryzens should have. Ryzen 7 2700X 73
However, we do want
Core i7-8700K
to point out that this 88

benchmark came to our S H O R T E R B A R S I N D I C AT E B E T T E R P E R F O R M A N C E

attention via AMD some

months ago, making
Ryzen’s beating even more
of an eye-opener. The basic
WinRAR 5.20 Performance
(KBps)
lesson is to not assume one
micro-architecture is better Ryzen 7 1700X 12,403
at all things all of the time.
Ryzen 7 2700X 13,737

V-RAY Core i7-8700K

20,658
Our last professional
LO N G E R B A R S I N D I C AT E B E T T E R P E R F O R M A N C E
benchmark is the Chaos
Group’s V-Ray benchmark.
It’s a ray tracer that’s gaining some traction in 2700X stand up? It’s a clear win over Core i7,
Hollywood. “If you are not familiar with V-Ray, but again, that pesky 6-core Intel chip hangs
it is one of the leading raytracers in the world right there with the 8-core Ryzen 7 1700X.
that is used in many different industries
including architecture and automotive COMPRESSION
design,” Chaos Group explains. “It has also Moving on to compression tests, we tapped
been used in over 150 motion pictures and the internal benchmarks of two popular
numerous episodic television series. It also applications to gauge 2nd-gen Ryzen’s
won a[n] Academy Award for Scientific and performance.
Technical Achievement in 2017.” Our first result is courtesy of RARLab’s
The Chaos Groups said its own tests have WinRAR 5.20. With Intel’s Skylake-X (go.
shown 1st-gen Ryzen to be very potent in this pcworld.com/isky) and AMD’s Threadripper
test, so how does the 2nd-gen Ryzen 7 (go.pcworld.com/thrd), we found that

44 PCWorld MAY 2018

 Veracrypt’s internal
7-Zip 9.20 Performance benchmark (based on the
now-dead but once
Ryzen 7 1700X 41,616 popular TrueCrypt), the
Ryzen 7 2700X 8-core AMD chips have a
47,772
nice advantage over the
Core i7-8700K
32,520 6-core Intel chip. This
S H O R T E R B A R S I N D I C AT E B E T T E R P E R F O R M A N C E particular task doesn’t
seem too clock-dependent
though, as the Ryzen 7
2700X is in a dead heat
VeraCrypt AES Encryption with the Ryzen 7 1700X.
(GBps)

Ryzen 7 1700X 12.4

HANDBRAKE
Our last workload test uses
Ryzen 7 2700X 12.5
the popular HandBrake
Core i7-8700K
10.1 application (albeit a
slightly older version) to
LO N G E R B A R S I N D I C AT E B E T T E R P E R F O R M A N C E
convert a 30GB 1080P
MKV file using the Android
WinRAR appears to dislike chips that use Tablet preset. Our workload and preset is
mesh architectures to connect their cores. heavily multi-threaded; more cores usually
And no surprise, WinRAR still doesn’t like mean big wins. It does here, too. The Ryzen
either Ryzen chip. 7 2700X comes up with victory over the
The good news: If you want a solid free Core i7-8700K once again. The troubling
utility to decompress and compress files, part for AMD fans is the performance of the
just download 7-Zip. The performance Ryzen 7 1700X, which doesn’t really outrun
simply sings with 8 cores and the Ryzen 7 the Core i7-8700K by much.
2700X’s clock-speed improvements. Even the
Ryzen 7 1700X crushes the Core i7-8700K here. GAMING PERFORMANCE
BENCHMARKS
VERACRYPT One of the most controversial and downright
We’re not going to get too far down the puzzling issues with the original Ryzen release
encryption performance rabbit hole but using was its gaming performance. AMD’s chip

MAY 2018 PCWorld 45

REVIEWS RYZEN 7 2700X

simply stomped its quad-

core rival, the Core HandBrake 0.9.9 Encode 1080p
i7-7700K, into the dirt in (Seconds)
most apps, but when it
came to gaming— Ryzen 7 1700X 1,376
especially at 1080p—it was Ryzen 7 2700X 1,200
way off the mark from what
Core i7-8700K
was expected for a chip 1,442

that performed so well S H O R T E R B A R S I N D I C AT E B E T T E R P E R F O R M A N C E

everywhere else. This

spawned days of
wondering by everyone. Was it the Inter-CCX to show you a stack of charts that all look
latency (go.pcworld.com/iccx)? Was it the same.
Windows 10 Scheduler (go.pcworld. What we’re interested in finding out
com/10sc)? Was it simply bad games (go. today is how 2nd-Ryzen performs at
pcworld.com/bcgm)? Was it the media 1920x1080 resolution, where CPU
being biased because no one plays at 1080p performance matters more. Will it cause
(go.pcworld.com/180p)? weeks of hand wringing like it did last year
Winding the clock forward one year, (go.pcworld.com/ltyr)?
we now have an updated operating
system, updated games, updated RISE OF THE TOMB RAIDER
motherboard BIOSs, updated drivers and First up: Rise of the Tomb Raider. This is a
even an updated CPU. For the most part, particularly good place to start because it’s
we can tell you without even bothering to one of the games that AMD said was updated
show you a chart that at 2560x1440 with a by its developers for Ryzen (go.pcworld.
GeForce GTX1080-class GPU, it’s a tie com/updv). At 1080p on Very High quality
between Intel and AMD. It doesn’t even (the setting most likely to be used with a GTX
matter what the generations are. Let’s say 1080-class GPU) it’s a wash. This is good
that again: It just doesn’t matter. Those news because last year, the Ryzen CPU would
higher-resolution workloads are simply have been 20 percent slower even at Very
gated by the graphics performance of the High quality.
GPU. And yes, we did run those This doesn’t erase all of Intel’s advantage
resolutions while testing the Ryzen 7 though. At lower visual-quality settings that
2700X and it’s peers—we’re just not going take even more of a load off of the GPU, Intel’s

46 PCWorld MAY 2018

 FAR CRY 5
Rise of the Tomb Raider We suspect Intel’s clock
DX12 Very High Quality (Average fps) speed advantage also to
be somewhat of a factor in
Ryzen 7 1700X 133 Far Cry 5. Even when set at
Ryzen 7 2700X Ultra settings, the Core
135
i7-8700K is in front—it’s
Core i7-8700K
133 just not enough to
LO N G E R B A R S I N D I C AT E B E T T E R P E R F O R M A N C E probably matter much, at
around 7.8 percent. At
higher resolutions,
again, it’s a tie.
Rise of the Tomb Raider
DX12 Medium Quality (Average fps)
RAINBOW SIX
Ryzen 7 1700X 155
SIEGE
Moving to Rainbow Six
Ryzen 7 2700X 161 Siege, all three CPUs and
Core i7-8700K
174 the GTX 1080 are belting
about 200 fps at 19x10
LO N G E R B A R S I N D I C AT E B E T T E R P E R F O R M A N C E
even on Ultra quality
settings.
Again, moving the
Far Cry 5 quality slider to High, we
Ultra High Quality 19x10 TAA and blur on (Average fps)
do see the Core i7 open
Ryzen 7 1700X
up a little bit of space but
97
it’s fairly small and not a
Ryzen 7 2700X 106 game breaker—just shy of a
Core i7-8700K
115 7 percent lead.

MIDDLE-EARTH:
LO N G E R B A R S I N D I C AT E B E T T E R P E R F O R M A N C E

SHADOWS OF
higher clock-speed advantage is still a factor. MORDOR
But it’s not the huge 20 percent or more gap Middle-earth: Shadows of Mordor puts all
that it was last year. three fairly close together but the edge still

MAY 2018 PCWorld 47

REVIEWS RYZEN 7 2700X

goes to Core i7-8700K.

That’s still very respectable Rainbow Six Siege
performance. Ultra High Quality 19x10 (Average fps)

DEUS EX: Ryzen 7 1700X 194

MANKIND Ryzen 7 2700X 194
DIVIDED Core i7-8700K
With last year’s 20 percent 200

performance disparity LO N G E R B A R S I N D I C AT E B E T T E R P E R F O R M A N C E

between first-gen Ryzen

and the Core i7-7700K,
games where Ryzen had
the lead were nigh
Rainbow Six Siege
High Quality 19x10 (Average fps)
impossible to find. Even
in games where AMD Ryzen 7 1700X 224
said Ryzen should have
Ryzen 7 2700X 229
been ahead, we couldn’t
duplicate those results. Core i7-8700K
245
A year later, though,
LO N G E R B A R S I N D I C AT E B E T T E R P E R F O R M A N C E
that’s not true. Deus Ex:
Mankind Divided for
example, puts the Ryzen 7
2700X and Ryzen 7 1700X
Middle-earth: Shadows of Mordor
Ultra High Quality 19x10 (Average fps)
in front of the Core
i7-8700K by a very decent Ryzen 7 1700X 153
margin.
Ryzen 7 2700X 156.3

ASHES OF THE Core i7-8700K

164.1
SINGULARITY:
ESCALATION
LO N G E R B A R S I N D I C AT E B E T T E R P E R F O R M A N C E

One other game that put

the Ryzen 7 2700X on a par with the Core optimization. For our test, we run the CPU
i7-8700K is Ashes of the Singularity: Escalation, Focused benchmark, rather than the GPU
which remains a paragon of DirectX 12 Focused benchmark. As you can see, it’s a tie.

48 PCWorld MAY 2018

 synthetic benchmark of
Deus Ex: Mankind Divided DirectX 12 performance. In
DX12 Ultra Quality 19x10 (Average fps) this case, the Ryzen 7
2700X achieves a decent
Ryzen 7 1700X 76.6 performance bump over
Ryzen 7 2700X Core i7. Once again,
76.2
though, it’s a surprise
Core i7-8700K
67.9 seeing the 8-core Ryzen 7
LO N G E R B A R S I N D I C AT E B E T T E R P E R F O R M A N C E 1700X barely beating the
6-core Core i7-8700K in
what should be a multi-
threaded test.
Ashes of Singularity: Escalation
DX12 Crazy Quality 19x10 CPU Focused (Average fps)
GAMING
Ryzen 7 1700X 43
CONCLUSION
While the Core i7-8700K
Ryzen 7 2700X 46 does have some advantage
Core i7-8700K
47 over the Ryzen 7 2700X in
some games, there’s also a
LO N G E R B A R S I N D I C AT E B E T T E R P E R F O R M A N C E
few games where it loses
or flat out ties it. That’s a
victory for the Ryzen 7
3DMark Time Spy 1.0 CPU 2700X because the last
Graphics performance
time we did this dance, the
Ryzen 7 1700X
Intel Core i7-7700K easily
8,072
had a 20 percent to 25
Ryzen 7 2700X 9,120 percent advantage over
Core i7-8700K
7,995 the Ryzen 7 1800X in
almost every game.
LO N G E R B A R S I N D I C AT E B E T T E R P E R F O R M A N C E

WHAT ABOUT
3DMARK TIMESPY OVERCLOCKING?
It’s not an actual game, but 3DMark’s Time We didn’t touch on overclocking too much.
Spy benchmark is an industry-respected We typically focus on out-of-the-box

MAY 2018 PCWorld 49

REVIEWS RYZEN 7 2700X

performance that everybody can expect, and We can also say we attended a press day
try to shy away from making overclocking where we overclocked about a dozen CPUs
conclusions for an entire series of CPUs from a to the 4.3GHz range using both air and liquid
sample of one. Often, it’s the overclocker and cooling.
not the CPU that makes a large difference.
With immature motherboards, early silicon, RYZEN 7 2700X VS.
and the fact that your mileage may vary, CORE I7-8700K
drawing wider overclocking conclusions in a The question on everyone’s mind: How does
day-one review is often quite pointless. the 2nd-gen Ryzen 7 2700X stack up against
What we have done in the past is quote arch-enemy Intel? While you have to look at
overclocking figures from industry sources the other results presented as well, we think
who have tested dozens or even hundreds of this particular chart helps frame it. We
samples. For example, motherboard makers basically took Cinebench R15 and ran loads
often make forecasts of what sort of using 1 thread to 16 threads.
overclocks people should reasonably hit The chart doesn’t give you the sense of
based on their internal testing. They do this so correct proportions of the performance, so
they can build their own profiles of what’s we also calculated the percent difference
reasonable for a CPU family. between the two CPUs at each load, which
While we don’t have any predictions from you’ll find above. It’s no surprise that Intel’s
motherboard
makers this time, we
do have AMD’s own
Cinebench R15 scaling
Ryzen 7 2700X vs. Core i7-8700K
statement that it’s
now quite possible
Ryzen 7 2700X
to overclock all CPU
Core i7-8700K
cores into the
4.2GHz range and
higher. That
certainly wasn’t
possible with the
original Ryzen
launch, where
4GHz was a hard
limit for many chips.

50 PCWorld MAY 2018

 Percent performance increase
Ryzen 7 2700X vs. Core i7-8700K in Cinebench based on thread load

greater IPC and clock speed advantage gives might actually be better. If you do know—
it a big advantage on loads that stress from because you do video encoding, 3D
one to six threads. The largest advantage rendering, or stream your gaming endeavors
occurs with just one thread active, where the live to Twitch, for example—the right side is
Core i7-8700K will clock all the way up to likely the better choice.
4.7GHz. The problem here is the price equation.
As we approach seven threads, it’s pretty When it was a $360 Core i7-8700K vs. a
much a wash. Beyond that, Ryzen 7 2700X’s $330 Ryzen 7 2700X, we’d argue that
additional cores and improved clock speeds
(compared to the Ryzen 7 1700X) give it a
very big advantage over the 8700K. Before you plunk down $300-
Before you plunk down $300-plus on a plus on a new chip, you have to
new chip, you have to ask yourself: Do your ask yourself: Do your games
games and applications live more on the left and applications live more on
side of the chart or the right side? the left side of the chart or the
If you’re not sure, then, well, the left side right side?

MAY 2018 PCWorld 51

REVIEWS RYZEN 7 2700X

paying for the

Core i7-8700K’s
extra speed on
the left side of
that chart might
be worth it.
But with
Ryzen 7 2700X’s
faster per-
formance and,
perhaps even
more importantly,
the inclusion of a
decent stock
cooler in the box,
AMD’s new chip puts the Core i7-8700K in a Intel’s only move at this point, in our view,
bind. Throw a $40 cooler onto the scale with is to push out an 8-core Coffee Lake chip to
the Core i7-8700K and you’re now talking compete—and maybe include a badass
about a $400 chip vs. a $330 chip. cooler with it.
When you factor in that gaming
performance between the two at real-world BOTTOM LINE
resolutions and settings is much closer than it AMD’s original Ryzen CPUs were a thunder
was with the first-gen Ryzen chips, it gets pretty clap that shook the PC world to its
hard to justify paying that premium for Core foundation. But it wasn’t perfect by a long
i7-8700K unless you have a firm reason to do shot. As a sequel, a do-over, and a CPU that
so. If we had to give it odds, we’d probably actually has more competition than the
take the Ryzen 7 2700X eight out of ten times. original Ryzen did, 2nd-gen Ryzen pulls it off.
Higher clock speeds and a massive multi-
threading advantage push AMD’s CPU
Intel’s only move at this point, performance to new highs. The bundled
in our view, is to push out an Wraith Prism cooler and overall polish push it
8-core Coffee Lake chip to over the top. In the battle of Intel and AMD’s
compete—and maybe include flagship processors, the clear winner today is
a badass cooler with it. the Ryzen 7 2700X.

52 PCWorld MAY 2018

Hades Canyon NUC: Intel taps
AMD’s Radeon Vega graphics
for a powerful mini-PC
Intel’s latest NUC makes good on the gaming promises of its predecessor. BY ALAINA LEE

I
ntel’s Hades Canyon is more than a size: a 45W quad-core processor, integrated
simple successor to its Skull Canyon graphics capable of 1080p gaming, and a
predecessor, an extreme version of port that supported external graphics. At the
Intel’s Next Unit of Computing (NUC). time, that ultra-compact mini-PC (go.pcworld.
When Skull Canyon launched in 2016, it com/ucpc) was unrivaled.
bucked the mini-PC trend of modest specs The Hades Canyon NUC brings its own first:
designed for general computing, instead a single, Intel-produced chip (code-named
boasting the absolute latest in hardware for its Kaby Lake-G) that marries an Intel mobile CPU

IMAGE: ADAM PATRICK MURRAY MAY 2018 PCWorld 53

REVIEWS HADES CANYON NUC

with an AMD Radeon RX

Vega M mobile GPU. It’s
silicon that can handle
heavy-duty tasks without
breaking much of a sweat.

PRICE, SPECS,
AND PORTS
Hades Canyon comes in
two configurations—
one marketed as an
overclockable gaming
machine (the NUC8i7HVK),
and the other as a content-
Getting inside this NUC requires removing the top lid and a metal plate.
creation system (the Intel includes a hex wrench and spare screws for the top lid, but you’ll
NUC8i7HNK). We received still need a Phillips screwdriver for the metal plate.
the gaming version for
review, which is the higher-end option and came pre-equipped with a 118GB Intel Optane
costs $1,000 for just the bare-bones kit. 800P-series SSD, 512GB Intel 545s-series SSD,
Adding storage, memory, and an operating 16GB of Kingston HyperX DDR4/3200 RAM,
system will raise the price by at least a few and a Windows 10 Pro license, would set us
hundred dollars, given today’s inflated prices back by almost $1,550 in total.
for SSDs and RAM. Our review unit, which Each configuration comes equipped with a
different combination of Intel processor and
AMD GPU. (To get a thorough rundown on
Kaby Lake-G, you can read our primer [go.
pcworld.com/5chp] that followed the CES
announcement of the chips.) Inside the
NUC8i7HVK is the 100W Core i7-8809G,
which houses a quad-core, eight-thread mobile
CPU and Radeon RX Vega M GH graphics.
VIDEO REVIEW: INTEL HADES The processor is equivalent to Intel’s 45W
CANYON NUC H-series mobile CPUs (complete with active
Watch now at go.pcworld.com/hcnuc.
integrated graphics that can handle video

54 PCWorld MAY 2018

playback and other basic tasks), though its 6Gbps or x4 PCIe Gen 3 (AHCI or NVMe)
power requirements differ slightly. The actual drives in either a 42mm or 80mm length, with
power consumed varies depending on CPU the option to run two drives in RAID 0 or RAID
and GPU loads, as Intel designed the 1. An Intel Wireless-AC 8265 card handles
package with a shared power budget and both 802.11ac 2x2 Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.2.
uses what it calls dynamic tuning to allow Two SO-DIMM sockets accept up to 32GB of
each component a greater ability to reach its DDR4/2,400MHz RAM at 1.2V, and support
max boost. As mentioned previously, it’s overclocked DDR4 RAM. There’s even a
overclockable, with stock settings of a 3.1GHz beam-forming, far-field, quad-mic array
base clock and 4.2GHz Turbo. Intel says that included this time around.
it’s gotten up to 4.7GHz when overclocking. For ports, Intel’s crammed even more of
Linked to the processor by eight PCIe them into Hades Canyon. Because this NUC is
lanes is the Vega M GH, which runs at a larger than Skull Canyon—at 8.70 x 5.59 x 1.54
1,063MHz base clock and 1,190MHz boost inches (1.2L), it’s roughly the size of a VHS
clock. The GH variant of Vega M comes with tape—you get multiples of almost everything.
24 compute units and 4GB of HBM2 memory, On the front you’ll find an SDXC slot, USB 3.0
along with a slightly faster memory bandwidth charging port, USB 3.1 Gen 2 (10Gbps) Type
of 204.8GB per second. It also supports A, HDMI 2.0a, USB 3.1 Gen 2 (10Gbps) Type
output to six 4K displays simultaneously, with C, and a 3.5mm stereo headset jack.
up to five at 60Hz and the sixth at 30Hz. Like On the back side there’s a 3.5mm speaker/
the CPU, you can overclock the Vega M GH TOSLINK jack, the connector for the 230W
and the HBM2 memory. power supply, two Thunderbolt 3 ports, two Mini
Backing this star CPU-GPU pairing is a DisplayPort 1.2, two gigabit ethernet, four USB
whole array of equally powerhouse 3.0 Type A, and HDMI 2.0a. The two
technology. Two M.2 slots can take SATA Thunderbolt 3 ports each support 4 PCIe lanes,

MAY 2018 PCWorld 55

REVIEWS HADES CANYON NUC

but they’re connected to the

same controller. As a result, 3DMark Fire Strike 1.1
bandwidth may be shared if Graphics performance
both ports run simultaneously
Acer Predator Helios 300
using a x4 configuration. As (Core i7-7700HQ)
11,386
with the Skull Canyon NUC, Dell Inspiron 15 7000
Gaming (Core i5-7300HQ)
10,419
you may run external
Hades Canyon NUC
graphics over the (Core i7-8809G)
10,208

Thunderbolt 3 ports. Dell Inspiron 15 7000

(Core i5-7300HQ)
7,926
You can expand the Dell XPS 15
(Core i7-7700HQ)
5,664
number of USB ports if you
Skull Canyon NUC
utilize the I/O header, (Core i7-6770HQ)
2,417

which carries signals for LO N G E R B A R S I N D I C AT E B E T T E R P E R F O R M A N C E

two USB 3.0, two USB 2.0,

CEC, and the front panel.
The chassis once again features a replaceable the first time we’ve seen the Radeon RX Vega
top lid, though this time it’s been upgraded to M in the wild, I chose to isolate just the
feature customizable RGB LED lights that graphics score in order to see where it ranked
illuminate the shape of a skull. The default is a among other mobile GPUs. This way, the
red-and-blue color scheme, but it’s easily potential influence of the CPU on the ranking
changed through included software to other is minimized.
hues and with different glow patterns. You also As you can see, performance roughly falls
have the option to change the color of the status between that of an Nvidia GTX 1050 Ti and an
LEDs on the front panel, which are also RGB. Nvidia GTX 1060 Max-Q part. That’s about
where I estimated, especially given the fairly
PERFORMANCE notable jump in performance between a 1050
By and large, the NUC8i7HVK’s Intel-AMD Ti and a full 1060. The Vega M GH seems to
combination delivers a solid experience. Let’s skew closer to the 1060 Max-Q (which is a
dig into the gaming performance first. stepped-down version of the 1060) than the
1050 Ti, though.
3DMARK FIRE STRIKE Note: As you may have already figured
We’ll start with 3DMark’s Fire Strike test, a out, all of the comparison systems in these
synthetic benchmark that simulates gaming at charts are laptops—that’s where the bulk of
1080p on Medium settings. Because this is our testing of mobile parts lies. It’s not a

56 PCWorld MAY 2018

perfect apples-to-apples
comparison, given that Rise of the Tomb Raider
laptops have a different set Very High 19x10 (DX11)
of demands for cooling
Acer Predator Helios 300
versus mini-PCs, but it still (Core i7-7700HQ)
72.1
provides a decent Dell Inspiron 15 7000
Gaming (Core i5-7300HQ)
61
representation of standing.
Hades Canyon NUC
(Core i7-8809G)
51.51

RISE OF THE Dell Inspiron 15 7000

(Core i5-7300HQ)
44.6
TOMB RAIDER Dell XPS 15
32.6
(Core i7-7700HQ)
In actual games, the
Skull Canyon NUC
NUC8i7HVK largely (Core i7-6770HQ)
11.53

maintains that position just LO N G E R B A R S I N D I C AT E B E T T E R P E R F O R M A N C E

below systems with the

GTX 1060 Max-Q. In Rise of
the Tomb Raider, which is a
semi-recent blockbuster
Performance in recently
game that can still push released games
budget-range GPUs, we Middle-earth:
got an average of 51 fps on Shadow of War 34
(Ultra 19x10)
the Very High preset. PlayerUnknown’s
Battlegrounds 55.6
That should be smooth (High 19x10)

enough for many folks, but LO N G E R B A R S I N D I C AT E B E T T E R P E R F O R M A N C E

if not, the problem’s easily

solved in one of two ways.
The more exciting option: Hooking up the MIDDLE-EARTH: SHADOW
NUC8i7HVK to a FreeSync monitor (go. OF WAR AND PUBG
pcworld.com/gsfs). Like other AMD GPUs, But what about today’s games? To answer
the Vega M GH supports those variable- that question, I fired up FRAPS in two
refresh displays. (It supports features like contemporary games: last fall’s Middle-earth:
Radeon Chill [go.pcworld.com/chil] as well.) Shadow of War and PlayerUnknown’s
You can also drop the graphics setting down Battlegrounds.
to High, which will then bump up the frame I wasn’t able to benchmark these same
rate to about 63 fps. games on other systems we had in the office

MAY 2018 PCWorld 57

REVIEWS HADES CANYON NUC

moments: As a complete
Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor noob, I ended up largely
Ultra w/4K textures 19x10 wandering maps on the
empty outer edges during
Acer Predator Helios 300
(Core i7-7700HQ)
102.4 those solo matches.
Dell Inspiron 15 7000 Again, remember that
Gaming (Core i5-7300HQ)
83.8
FreeSync is an option. As
Hades Canyon NUC
(Core i7-8809G)
64.96 the NUC8i7HVK ages,
Dell Inspiron 15 7000
(Core i5-7300HQ)
56.8 FreeSync will be the
Dell XPS 15 cheaper option to keep
(Core i7-7700HQ)
42
games feeling buttery-
Skull Canyon NUC
(Core i7-6770HQ)
17.35 smooth. (You can also get
LO N G E R B A R S I N D I C AT E B E T T E R P E R F O R M A N C E an external graphics card
setup, but that’d demand a
much greater cash outlay
compared to the $100 to
Rise of the Tomb Raider $150 you’d pay these days
Ultimate 19x10
for an entry-level, 24-inch
Acer Predator Helios 300 FreeSync monitor.)
(Core i7-7700HQ)
96.1
Dell Inspiron 15 7000
Gaming (Core i5-7300HQ)
88.3 MIDDLE-EARTH:
Hades Canyon NUC
(Core i7-8809G)
62.2 SHADOW OF
Dell Inspiron 15 7000
MORDOR AND
61.5
(Core i5-7300HQ)
TOMB RAIDER
Dell XPS 15
(Core i7-7700HQ)
54.2 As you’d expect by this point,
Skull Canyon NUC
17.8
the NUC8i7HVK readily
(Core i7-6770HQ)
handles older AAA games. In
LO N G E R B A R S I N D I C AT E B E T T E R P E R F O R M A N C E
2014’s Middle-earth: Shadow
of Mordor, it held steady at
in the time available. These standalone results 64 fps on the Ultra preset (and with the 4K texture
do show, however, that this version of Hades pack in use). It did about as well in 2013’s Tomb
Canyon can hold its own in contemporary Raider on the Ultimate preset, with a result of 61
games. Note that the PUBG experience may fps. If you have a backlog of games to chew
not be quite as good during hairier, frenzied through, they shouldn’t threaten this tiny PC.

58 PCWorld MAY 2018

 (Incidentally, if you’re
wondering why the Tomb Cinebench R15
Raider result skewed closer All threads
to GTX 1050 Ti
Corsair One
performance instead of GTX (Core i7-7700HQ)
969
1060 Max-Q: My best Alienware X51
(Core i7-6700K)
879
guess is that it relates to the
Hades Canyon NUC
greater role CPU (Core i7-8809G)
861

performance has on Tomb Acer Predator Helios 300

(Core i7-7700HQ)
748
Raider. It’s possible that the Skull Canyon NUC
(Core i7-6770HQ)
712
given the shared power
Dell XPS 15
management between the (Core i7-7700HQ)
655

CPU and GPU components Dell Inspiron 15 7000

515
Gaming (Core i5-7300HQ)
within the Core i7-8809G,
LO N G E R B A R S I N D I C AT E B E T T E R P E R F O R M A N C E
CPU performance is
throttled enough that it
affects this particular game.)
Handbrake Encode 0.9.9
Seconds
CINEBENCH
Turning our examination to Corsair One
2,109
(Core i7-7700HQ)
pure CPU performance Alienware X51
2,325
reveals zero surprises. To (Core i7-6700K)

Hades Canyon NUC

see how the processor (Core i7-8809G)
2,346
manages short bursts of full Acer Predator Helios 300
2,706
(Core i7-7700HQ)
utilization, we ran Maxon’s
Skull Canyon NUC
2,856
Cinebench rendering (Core i7-6770HQ)

benchmark. It takes just a Dell XPS 15

(Core i7-7700HQ)
3,033
few minutes for most Dell Inspiron 15 7000
Gaming (Core i5-7300HQ) 3,921
systems to generate the 3D
S H O R T E R B A R S I N D I C AT E B E T T E R P E R F O R M A N C E
scene. The 8th-generation
processor inside the Core
i7-8809G performed just as we expected: it trails closer to the socketed CPUs in older,
With its healthy clock speed bump over compact desktop PCs. Everyday tasks should
7th-generation Kaby Lake Core H-series parts, be no sweat on this NUC.

MAY 2018 PCWorld 59

REVIEWS HADES CANYON NUC

HANDBRAKE HandBrake separately with Intel’s Extreme

Because Intel bills the lower-end variant of Tuning Utility open in the background.
Hades Canyon as a content creation machine, According to XTU’s monitoring tools, the CPU
we also turned to HandBrake, a popular reached a max of 84 degrees Celsius while
encoding program, to put this NUC through dashing along at an absolutely rock-solid
its paces. Our real-world test involves 3.9GHz the whole time (just 0.3GHz below
converting a 30GB MKV file into a smaller the maximum Turbo speed).
MP4 using the Android Tablet preset, and it
hammers hard on a CPU. Systems designed POWER DRAW AND
with poor or limited cooling will take a very ACOUSTICS
long time to complete the benchmark, while During testing, I recorded the various
PCs with beefier CPUs and better cooling will maximums for power draw using a Watts Up
zip right through it. Pro. At idle, the NUC8i7HVK averaged about
As in Cinebench, the Core i7-8809G nips 13.8 watts. That’s just a hair under Skull
at the heels of older 91W parts. In concrete Canyon’s average of about 14.6W at idle.
terms, this portable PC can complete CPU- Power draw was highest when playing
intensive tasks in about the same amount of certain games (174.7W in Rise of the Tomb
time as a two-year-old full-sized system. Raider), followed by 165.9W for a pure GPU
To see how the i7-8809G handles load as simulated by running Furmark for an
thermals under a full CPU load, I ran hour, and 115.0W for a pure CPU load as

Hades Canyon (left), side by side with Skull Canyon (right).

60 PCWorld MAY 2018

simulated by running Prime95 for an hour.
As for acoustics, the NUC8i7HVK was Hades Canyon NUC
impressively quiet in our temperature-regulated
PROS
office. That was particularly the case during pure • Solid CPU and GPU performance
CPU loads—I barely heard the fans at all during • Myriad ports, including two Thunderbolt 3 x4
• Can run external graphics over Thunderbolt 3
our Handbrake benchmark. Fan noise became
• Runs quiet
audible only when the GPU was active, and CONS
even then, it was a rather mellow hum. • Redesigned chassis makes access to internal
components slightly more cumbersome

BOTTOM LINE
BOTTOM LINE
The Hades Canyon NUC shows off Intel’s marriage of
a Kaby Lake CPU with AMD’s Radeon RX Vega M
The NUC8i7HVK is capable of much more GPU, holding up superbly during content-creation
than I initially tested. Intel also touts this tasks and 1080p gaming on High and Ultra settings.

machine as an overclockable gaming and

virtual reality machine. One idea that got
bandied about was rolling your own VR toward this NUC will do so because of its size,
backpack system: Pair it with a battery pack enough people will care more about
and your preferred VR headset, and off you performance than form factor and be better
go. I would have loved to discover what we served by a different mini-PC. Zotac, in
drew in the silicon lottery, as well as seeing particular, blurs the line between mini-PCs
how easily I could dive into 3D virtual worlds. and mini-ITX systems with its Magnus PCs,
That said, I still find the NUC8i7HVK to be a which come with a choice of GTX 1060, GTX
very solid PC—not just a mini-PC—and I believe 1070, and GTX 1080 flavors. For those who
that’s more important than VR and care about the most raw power available in
overclocking when evaluating it. VR still has the smallest possible form factor, they’re more
relatively small traction, and Intel cautions that appealing options.
overclocking the Core i7-8809G requires Hades Canyon is a strong mini-PC that
careful consideration and patience due to its offers other possibilities as well. Consider that
power design. Based on performance at stock at just under three pounds, it weighs less than
settings, Hades Canyon is already an extremely some ultrabooks—most people won’t even
worthy successor to Skull Canyon and gives notice it in a backpack. If you don’t need a
other mini-PCs a run for their money. laptop’s included screen, mouse, and
What keeps the NUC8i7HVK from being a keyboard, it’s nigh impossible to beat Hades
grand slam like its predecessor is the Canyon as an on-the-go PC, amply powered
competition. While many who gravitate by its Intel CPU and discrete AMD GPU.

MAY 2018 PCWorld 61

REVIEWS

Asus ZenBook 13 UX331UN:

An ultraportable laptop
with a knack for gaming
Discrete graphics in a slim and trim package. BY BEN PATTERSON

Y
es, you can scoop up a faster keyboard and impressive battery life round
8th-generation Intel quad-core out the enticing (if fingerprint-prone)
ultraportable than the $1,000 package.
Asus ZenBook 13, but good
luck finding one with a discrete graphics core, SPECIFICATIONS AND PRICE
perfect for Photoshop-minded professionals We tested the $1,000 royal-blue version (go.
or casual gamers craving on-the-go Fortnite or pcworld.com/rbvn) of the ZenBook 13, which
Dota 2. A solid array of ports, a snappy comes with a 13.3-inch touch display, an

62 PCWorld MAY 2018 IMAGE: ADAM PATRICK MURRAY

8th-generation quad-core Intel Core was covered with fingerprints. I was able to
i5-8250U processor, discrete Nvidia GeForce buff the shiny finish back into shape, but
MX150 graphics, 8GB of RAM, and a 256GB fighting off the smudges turned out to be a
solid-state drive. A cheaper version of the losing battle.
ZenBook 13 with integrated graphics might Measuring 12.2 by 8.5 by 0.5 inches, the
be on tap in “a couple months,” according to ZenBook 13 makes for an impressively slim
an Asus rep. machine given its discrete graphics core, and
The ZenBook 13’s most arresting feature it feels reasonably light at about 2.7 pounds,
has to be its glossy, gorgeous lid, etched with or a little over three pounds if you include the
Asus’s telltale pattern of razor-thin—or, to be seven-ounce power adapter.
more precise, nano-thin—concentric circles,
courtesy of a five-layer process the DISPLAY
manufacturer calls “nanoimprint lithography.” The ZenBook’s 13.3-inch 1920-by-1080
The shiny result is certainly a sight to display looks sharp and vivid, with svelte
behold, never more so than when you first 6.9mm bezels along the sides but somewhat
glimpse the pristine ZenBook sitting in its thicker bezels along the screen’s top and
cardboard shipping box. Within a few days, bottom edges. Measuring about 282 nits (or
though, the lid of my ZenBook 13 review unit candelas) at its highest brightness setting, the
ZenBook 13’s display is
reasonably bright, well
above our minimum 250-nit
standard for comfortable
indoor viewing, if a tad
dimmer than the 300-nit
readings we’ve recorded on
competing laptops.
Viewing angles on the
ZenBook 13’s AHVA (a
proprietary twist on IPS)
screen were excellent, with
the display dimming only
slightly as I moved from side
The ”nanoimprint lithography” on the ZenBook’s lid is both gorgeous to side or above and below.
and fingerprint-prone. The ZenBook’s

MAY 2018 PCWorld 63

REVIEWS ASUS ZENBOOK 13

touch-enabled display
easily handled my taps and
swipes, and yes, there’s
pen support, although
you’ll have to pony up $50
for the optional ASUS
active pen.

KEYBOARD,
SPEAKERS,
WEBCAM
I’m a big fan of the
ZenBook’s 13 snappy The keys on the ZenBook 13’s backlit keyboard boast a snappy, tactile
keyboard. The Zenbook’s bump when struck.
backlit, slightly concave
keys boast a solid, pleasingly bumpy feel speakers are a cut above your average laptop
when stuck, while the roomy keyboard makes speakers, although thery’re no substitute,
it easy for fingertips to find the right keys while unsurprisingly, for external speakers (go.
touch typing. The hotkey selection is fairly pcworld.com/xspk). “Live and Let Die” by
typical, including the usual hotkeys for Paul McCartney and Wings sounded crisp
brightness, volume, airplane mode, toggling and detailed, even with the volume cranked,
the trackpad and juggling external monitors. while Mozart’s 27th symphony offered up an
The ZenBook 13’s midsize trackpad felt impressive amount of mid-range refinement,
smooth and responsive, although it requires although little in the way of bass (again, no
quite a bit of pressure to click. To the right of big shock).
the trackpad sits a fingerprint reader, which While the ZenBook 13’s speakers are
lets you unlock your Windows profile and log above average, its VGA webcam is
into select Windows Hello-enabled apps and disappointingly sub-par, delivering muddy
services. Personally, I found the ZenBook’s and grainy video quality that barely suffices for
fingerprint sensor to be a bit touchy. The video chat.
reader rarely recognized my fingerprint on the
first try, even after I deleted my initial PORTS
fingerprint and carefully scanned a new one. The ZenBook 13 boasts a solid selection of
The ZenBook’s Harman Kardon-made ports, starting on the left side with a full-size

64 PCWorld MAY 2018

Left-side ports on the ZenBook 13 include a full-size HDMI port, USB 3.0 Type A, and USB 3.1 Gen 1 Type C.

HDMI port, a USB 3.0 Type A port, and USB and closes the deal with solid battery life and
3.1 Gen 1 Type C (up to 5Gbps). Also on the a discrete GPU, a rarity in an ultrabook this
left: a barrel-style charging port. thin and cheap.
On the right, you’ll find a second USB 3.0
Type A port, a Micro SD memory card reader, PCMARK 8 WORK
and a combo audio jack. CONVENTIONAL
Nope, no Thunderbolt 3, but that’s not As with most of its 8th-generation Intel-
a big shock given the ZenBook’s middling powered competitors, the ZenBook 13
price point. breezes through everyday computing tasks.
In our PCMark 8 Work Conventional
PERFORMANCE benchmark, which simulates web browsing,
While it’s not the fastest 8th-generation video chatting, spreadsheet building, and
quad-core Intel laptop we’ve tested, the other day-to-day PC duties, the quad-core
ZenBook 13 keeps pace with the competition ZenBook notched a score well above 2,000,

A second USB 3.0 Type A port, a combo audio jack, and a Micro SD card reader round out the ZenBook’s
array of ports.

MAY 2018 PCWorld 65

REVIEWS ASUS ZENBOOK 13

tasks are probably wasting

PCMark 8 Work 2.0 Conventional their money on a pricier
Native resolution quad-core laptop.

HP Spectre x360 13T

(Core i7-8550U)
3,510 HANDBRAKE
Lenovo Yoga 920 A much better test of
(Core i7-8550U)
3,472
quad-core performance,
Asus ZenBook Flip 14
(Core i5-8250U)
3,321 our HandBrake benchmark
Asus ZenBook 13
(Core i5-8250U)
3,300 measures how well a
Samsung Notebook 7 system handles the CPU-
Spin (Core i5-8250U)
3,220
intensive task of encoding
Dell Inspiron 13 5000
(Core i5-8250U)
3,218 large video files.
LO N G E R B A R S I N D I C AT E B E T T E R P E R F O R M A N C E While the ZenBook 13’s
score of 4,872 seconds
trails its closest
competitors, it’s still in the
Handbrake Encode 0.99.0 ballpark (albeit near the
Seconds
warning track) in terms of
Lenovo Yoga 920 what we’d expect from a
(Core i7-8550U)
3,902
quad-core ultraportable in
Dell Inspiron 13 5000
(Core i5-8250U)
4,117 the $1,000 range, and its
Asus ZenBook Flip 14
4,274 HandBrake performance
(Core i5-8250U)

HP Spectre x360 13T

outshines cheaper dual-
4,373
(Core i7-8550U)
core systems, which
Samsung Notebook 7
Spin (Core i5-8250U)
4,475 regularly take 6,000
Asus ZenBook 13
4,872
seconds or more to
(Core i5-8250U)
complete our
S H O R T E R B A R S I N D I C AT E B E T T E R P E R F O R M A N C E
HandBrake test.

our minimum standard for smooth Office CINEBENCH

performance. Not bad, but keep in mind that Sprinting from last to the front of the pack, the
cheaper dual-core systems often deliver ZenBook 13 surges in our Cinebench
similar PCMark 8 results, meaning those benchmark, which tests CPU performance
looking to perform only basic computing under the crushing load of rendering a 3D

66 PCWorld MAY 2018

image. In our multi-core
Cinebench test, the Cinebench R15.038
ZenBook lags the leader All threads
(the Dell Inspiron 13
Dell Inspiron 13 5000
two-in-one) by a mere (Core i5-8250U)
631
point, leaving its other Asus ZenBook 13
(Core i5-8250U)
630
quad-core 8th-gen
Lenovo Yoga 920
competitors well behind. (Core i7-8550U)
569

Why the difference? HP Spectre x360 13T

(Core i7-8550U)
553
Well, let’s consider the fact Asus ZenBook Flip 14
(Core i5-8250U)
532
that the Cinebench test,
Samsung Notebook 7
which takes only about five Spin (Core i5-8250U)
504

minutes to perform, is like LO N G E R B A R S I N D I C AT E B E T T E R P E R F O R M A N C E

the 100-yard dash, while

the hour-plus HandBrake
benchmark is more like the
10,000 meters. It’s likely the
Cinebench R15.038
Single thread
ZenBook 13 can sprint short
distances but prefers to Lenovo Yoga 920
(Core i7-8550U)
165
pace itself for longer hauls,
HP Spectre x360 13T
all in the interest of keeping (Core i7-8550U)
156

everything cool inside the Asus ZenBook Flip 14

146
(Core i5-8250U)
system’s svelte chassis. Dell Inspiron 13 5000
145
Meanwhile, the (Core i5-8250U)

Asus ZenBook 13
ZenBook 13’s single-core (Core i5-8250U)
145
Cinebench mark score is Samsung Notebook 7
137
Spin (Core i5-8250U)
pretty much in the middle of
S H O R T E R B A R S I N D I C AT E B E T T E R P E R F O R M A N C E
the pack, as we’d expect,
and similar to what you
might see from a cheaper dual-core system. our comparison chart pits it against 8th-gen
quad-core systems with integrated graphics
3DMARK SKY DIVER 1.0 cores. Naturally, the Sky Diver results for the
Before we get too excited about the ZenBook ZenBook and its discrete Nvidia GeForce
13’s 3DMark Sky Diver score, keep in mind that MX150 GPU will crush those of any competing

MAY 2018 PCWorld 67

REVIEWS ASUS ZENBOOK 13

com/an17), our favorite

3DMark Sky Diver 1.0 Overall gaming laptop. Instead,
Demo mode off the Pascal-based MX150 is
more suited for Adobe
Asus ZenBook 13
(Core i5-8250U)
8,630 Premiere and Photoshop
Asus ZenBook Flip 14 chores, or light 720p
(Core i5-8250U)
4,694
gaming and e-sports. Think
HP Spectre x360 13T
(Core i7-8550U)
4,370 Dota 2 or Fortnite (which I
Lenovo Yoga 920
(Core i7-8550U)
4,361 played at 60 frames per
Samsung Notebook 7 second on medium
Spin (Core i5-8250U)
4,346
settings), rather than
Dell Inspiron 13 5000
(Core i5-8250U)
4,086 Battlefield 1 (go.pcworld.
LO N G E R B A R S I N D I C AT E B E T T E R P E R F O R M A N C E com/btf1) with all its
graphical bells and whistles
enabled.
It should also be said
Video Rundown Test that the ZenBook 13’s Sky
Battery life
Diver score (8,630) is
HP Spectre x360 13T somewhat lower than that of
(Core i7-8550U)
769
the Acer Aspire E 15
Lenovo Yoga 920
(Core i7-8550U)
625 (11,526), another GeForce
Asus ZenBook 13
563 MX150-powered budget
(Core i5-8250U)

Asus ZenBook Flip 14

laptop. Then again, if you
551
(Core i5-8250U)
want to choose the Acer
Samsung Notebook 7
Spin (Core i5-8250U)
468 Aspire E 15 over the
Dell Inspiron 13 5000
330
ZenBook 13 based on its
(Core i5-8250U)
higher Sky Diver score,
LO N G E R B A R S I N D I C AT E B E T T E R P E R F O R M A N C E
you’ll have to settle for a
laptop that’s twice as heavy
laptop that settles for integrated graphics. and twice as thick.
But the entry-level MX150 was never
intended to compete with, say, the GeForce BATTERY LIFE
GTX 1080, the 4K-capable graphics core that We test laptop battery life by looping a 4K
sits in the $2,300 Alienware 17 (go.pcworld. video using the stock Windows video player,

68 PCWorld MAY 2018

with screen brightness tuned
to about 250 nits (which, in
the ZenBook 13’s case, means
turning the brightness setting
up to 95 percent) while
dialing the volume halfway,
with headphones plugged in.
The ZenBook 13’s result is
pretty good, squeezing out a
solid nine hours-plus from its
50Whr battery. That’s within
spitting distance of the Lenovo
Yoga 920 (go.pcworld.com/
yg92) and its much bigger
70Whr battery, if well shy of the HP Spectre ZenBook 13 makes for a compelling
x360’s (go.pcworld.com/hp36) nearly 13 ultraportable, particularly for productivity-
hours of battery life from its 61Whr battery. minded users with a taste for casual
Either way, if you’re heading out for the gaming.
day with the ZenBook 13 in your knapsack,
you’re probably safe leaving the AC adapter
at home, a big plus in our book. Asus ZenBook 13

BOTTOM LINE PROS

• Slim and light design
With its enviable combination of peppy • Great keyboard
• Impressive battery life
performance, slim design, long battery life
CONS
and a discrete graphics chip, the $1,000 • Fingerprint-prone lid
• Not the fastest quad-core performance in its class
• Finicky fingerprint reader
BOTTOM LINE
Either way, if you’re heading out With its enviable combination of peppy
for the day with the ZenBook 13 performance, slim design, long battery life, and a
discrete graphics chip, the $1,000 ZenBook 13
in your knapsack, you’re makes for a compelling ultraportable, particularly for
productivity-minded users with a taste for casual
probably safe leaving the AC gaming.

adapter at home, a big plus in $999

our book.

MAY 2018 PCWorld 69

REVIEWS

9.7-inch iPad (2018): Apple’s

tablet is ‘pro’ enough for
many of us
With Apple Pencil support, you may be fine leaving the iPad Pro behind. BY LEIF JOHNSON

P
ull it off the shelf at the Apple new iPad is, well, an iPad.
Store, and you’d be hard-pressed What’s truly new is support for Apple
by sight alone to distinguish the Pencil, the sleek stylus that formerly only
new sixth-generation 9.7-inch played nice with the iPad Pro. But never
iPad (go.pcworld.com/byi9) from last year’s doubt that the Pencil support marks a bold
model (go.pcworld.com/id17). And under move on Apple’s part. Combined with the
the hood, it’s not much different, where new chip, the formerly capable iPad is
there’s simply a speedier A10 processor. The transformed into something that’s now a

70 PCWorld MAY 2018 IMAGE: DANIEL MASAOKA

serviceable substitute for an iPad Pro—for a volume controls to Touch ID sit in the same
mere $329 ($299 if you’re shopping for a spots or the way it offers much the same Wi-Fi
school, $309 if you’re a student, teacher, or and LTE connectivity.
faculty shopping on Apple’s Education Store) The new iPad weighs about the same as
(go.pcworld.com/edst). its predecessor, and the same protective
Some will find Apple Pencil support a cases will fit. It still only has two speakers,
transformative experience, and if you’ve been compared to the four you get on the iPad
looking to upgrade from an iPad that predates Pro. It even sports the same serviceable 8
the iPad Air 2, this is a device that will make megapixel 1080p rear camera and the puny
you glad you waited. 1.2 megapixel 720p front camera, the latter
of which seemingly exists only for occasional
THE MORE THINGS CHANGE Skype and FaceTime chats. Were the new
In light of Apple’s marketing of the new iPad iPad judged solely on specs, it’d hardly
to schools, the design feels like an exhortation warrant much attention over last year’s
not to judge a book (or a tablet) by its cover. It model at all.
reminds us that some things can change for
the better despite outward appearances. In PENCIL PUSHER
some regards, much of what we said about But you shouldn’t judge the new iPad based
last year’s iPad applies here as well, whether on its specs. Tim Cook and friends decided to
it’s the way the buttons ranging from the let this scrappy device support the Apple
Pencil, although you’ll
have to buy it
separately. (That also
means an extra $100
to the total cost,
bringing the 2018’s
iPad’s “true” price up
to $429.) It may seem
like a simple thing, but
the magic of the Apple
Pencil is that it lets you
share much the same
experience of using a
Can you tell which is this year’s model and which is last year’s? pricey iPad Pro, but on

MAY 2018 PCWorld 71

REVIEWS 9.7-INCH APPLE iPAD (2018)

since 2016 on my first-

generation 12.9-inch iPad
Pro (which also lacked
ProMotion), and I almost
never felt the Pencil was
doing anything but laying
down precisely the lines I
wanted to see. Thanks to
the pressure sensitivity,
the way it interprets tilts
and angles, and, yes, the
overall low latency, the
Apple Pencil is the closest
The Apple Pencil has been around for a few years now, so there are many you get on a tablet to
Pencil-compatible notetaking apps on the App Store. mimicking the experience
of writing with a pencil or
a lower-priced tablet. pen on a spiral notebook, which is part of
Never mind for a moment that the new the reason Apple wants to see it catch on
iPad doesn’t have some of the best technical in schools.
goodies found on the iPad Pro, whether it’s The only real drawback to the new 9.7-
the TrueTone technology that adjusts the inch iPad is that it doesn’t have a laminated
display to match the light in the room or the display like the iPad Pro, and so you’ll see a
iPad Pro’s 4GB of memory. (The 2018 iPad visible gap between the display and the glass
makes do with 2GB.) It even lacks the iPad above it. I found, though, that it barely affects
Pro’s ProMotion tech, which boosts the the “feel” of writing, although the extra space
display refresh rate up from the roughly 60Hz makes the sound of the Pencil hitting the glass
found on a device like this to an impressive a bit louder than what you’ll hear on a Pro.
120Hz. That’s important, as it means the I love the Pencil for the way it lets me
newer iPad Pros can better catch the slightest scribble out ideas in apps like Notability (go.
movements of your hands, which makes them pcworld.com/ntbt) or MyScript Nebo (go.
more ideal for professional artists. pcworld.com/msnb) without having to waste
However, you’re likely not going to a forests’ worth of paper, and it’s incredible
notice the difference in everyday use. I’ve for marking up PDFs with highlights and
been using an Apple Pencil as a writing tool marginal notes. It’s also fantastic for students

72 PCWorld MAY 2018

in that they can use Split View multitasking to PERFORMANCE
open a PDF or other document on one side of The new iPad is still a good buy even if
the screen and scribble out notes in an app you’re not into the whole “writing with
on the right. And, naturally, the Pencil remains pencils in 2018” bit. That’s because the new
a stellar tool for artists, who can use it with iPad also fast.
fully featured apps like Procreate (go.pcworld. Last year’s iPad had an impressive A9 chip
com/prcr). packed in its casing, but the new version has
Earlier this year, you’d have to shell out the A10 Fusion chip we’ve previously seen in
$599 for an iPad Pro at the minimum to get the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus. The improvements
that kind of experience. With the new iPad, show up in Geekbench results, with the new
though, you get that kind of power for iPad scoring 3463 on the single-core CPU
about half the price. For a lot of people, test and 5845 on the multi-core test. (That’s
that’s enough to make it a better buy than about the same score you’ll get with an
the Pro. Heck, even I’ve found myself iPhone 7 Plus.) Last year’s 9.7-inch iPad,
leaving my 12.9-inch iPad Pro behind in however, scored only 2384 on single-core
favor of this device, and I’m tempted to and 4372 on multi-core. That’s not too
switch over to it entirely. shabby, especially considering that the new
10.5-inch iPad Pro scores
3908 on single-core and
9305 on multi-core.
In the most casual
cases you’ll find this only
means that apps open
ever-so-slightly faster,
but I find it sometimes
greatly affects game
performance. (Let’s
admit it: A lot of kids in
classrooms are going to
be playing games on
these things rather than
listening to teachers.)
The Apple Pencil support on the new iPad makes creating digital art more On the new iPad, the
accessible for budget-challenged artists. popular battle royale

MAY 2018 PCWorld 73

REVIEWS 9.7-INCH APPLE iPAD (2018)

Fortnite on the 2017 9.7-inch iPad and the 2018 iPad. Notice the greater pixelation on the older device.

shooter Fortnite (go.pcworld.com/ftni) ran WHAT ABOUT THE

beautifully, complete with the shadows and CHILDREN?
richly-detailed textures you’d find while playing Apple sees this iPad as its champion in the
on a Mac. Playing on last year’s iPad, though, I fight against Chromebooks in classrooms,
found the characters and buildings look and there’s no doubt that it’s an impressive
pixelated and rough, and the shadows and device for the price. I don’t think it’s much of
other details were gone. The differences aren’t an exaggeration to claim that it’s the only
so jarring on PUBG Mobile (go.pcworld.com/ tablet that truly matters in the low-end price
pumb), but it’s worth noting that the popular range, regardless of whether we’re talking
game recommends the “high” settings on the about classrooms or playing Candy Crush
new iPad and only the “medium” on last year’s. Saga on the bus.
If you’re looking for performance, in other Sure, on its own, the iPad manages well,
words, you’ll want to pick up the new one. and I was even impressed by the display
From there on out, it’s basically the same keyboard in landscape mode. But the fact
device as last year’s iPad. The screen once remains that getting the most out of an iPad in
again has no anti-glare coating, which means the classroom requiring making certain
you can basically use your iPad as a mirror potentially expensive adjustments. Want a
when you’re in sunlight. The battery life easily physical keyboard? You’ll have to shell out
meets the 10 hours Apple claims it reaches, some additional dough for a keyboard case,
even after I played graphically intensive and then you’ll have to pair it through
games and watched a whole movie with the Bluetooth since the new iPad doesn’t have a
brightness cranked up. Smart Connector for connecting Apple’s

74 PCWorld MAY 2018

 iPads a tough sell when
looking solely at
immediate pricing. All
the same, keep in mind
that iPads will likely
hold up better than
dirt-cheap Chrome-
books over time, which
could save school
districts a lot of money
in the long run.

BOTTOM LINE
Jot it down. In our review of last year’s
9.7-inch iPad, we said it
Smart Keyboard. Logitech announced a was a “better choice than the iPad Pro for a lot of
rugged case for students, but it costs $100. users,” and the addition of Apple Pencil support
For that matter, the budget Logitech and a faster processor makes that especially true
Crayon stylus for the iPad that’s also only for this year’s model. For $329, you’re getting a
available to students costs $49. stellar tablet that feels as though it’s very
Once you’re done, you’re looking at around capable, although without some quality-of-life
$448 total with school pricing. You can get a features. For a general-purpose tablet for
Chromebook for around half that, and they school, business, or pleasure, it currently
almost always come with attached tactile doesn’t get any better than this.
keyboards, mouse supports, ports for attaching
peripheral devices, and Google’s educational G
Suite that’s based entirely online.
9.7in Apple iPad (2018)
Apple’s approach with its Classroom and
PROS
Schoolwork apps, though, requires a full • Apple Pencil adds versatility
commitment to the Apple ecosystem. We’ve • A10 chip brings better performance
• iPad Pro ‘feel’ for low price
already said that we’re optimistic about
CONS
seeing it in classrooms (go.pcworld.com/ • No Smart Connector
schl) on account of its emphasis on privacy $329
and quality, but everyday schools might find

MAY 2018 PCWorld 75

REVIEWS

Western Digital Black 3D NVMe

SSD: High-end performance at
near entry-level prices
This NVMe SSD is a match for the Samsung 960 Pro, but it costs far less. BY JON L JACOBI

W
estern Digital’s (WD) Black end-user, performance NVMe SSD market
3D NVMe SSD delivers since its inception. If you wanted best speed
much the same at a fairly reasonable price, the company’s
performance as the SSDs were your only choice. Until now.
chart-topping Samsung 960 Pro, but for
significantly less cash—$200 less in the 1TB DESIGN AND SPECS
capacity. This is a good thing, and a big deal. Announced Thursday, the WD Black 3D
Samsung has been unchallenged in the NVMe is an M.2, PCIe x4 SSD in the 2280 (22

76 PCWorld MAY 2018 IMAGE: MELISSA RIOFRIO

millimeters wide, 80 mm long)
form factor. It uses WD’s 3D TLC CrystalDiskMark 5 Queued
NAND, though WD was unable to (MBps)
confirm the number of layers. The 609
Random Write 4KB
NAND resides on only one side of (Q=32, T=1) 644
623
the PC board, so the Black 3D
NVMe can fit in the confines of 695
Random Read 4KB
thin-profile laptops. (Q=32, T=1) 741
711
The Black 3D NVMe has
roughly a 1GB/1MB NAND-to- 2,388
Sequential Write
2,171
DRAM-cache ratio, so you get (Q=32, T=1)
1,565
256MB of DRAM with the $120,
250GB drive, 512MB with the Sequential Read
3,432
3,498
$230, 500GB drive, and 1GB with (Q=32, T=1)
2,940
the $450, 1TB capacity. WD
W D B L AC K N V M E SAMSUNG 960 PRO P L E X TO R M 8 P E
wouldn’t talk about the amount of
NAND being utilized in SLC mode
(writing only one bit) as a secondary CrystalDiskMark 5 No Queue
cache, but we’re assuming it’s (MBps)
somewhere around the traditional
285
1.5 to 2.5 percent of total capacity. Random Write 4KB 235
The WD Black 3D NVMe is 205

covered by a five-year warranty and 38

rated for 200TBW (TeraBytes Written) Random Read 4KB 52
for the 250GB capacity, 300TBW for 43

the 500GB capacity, and 600TBW 2,329

for the 1TB capacity. Most users won’t Sequential Write 2,181
1,992
touch those amounts in 10 years of
continuous use. 1,707
Note: There is already a WD Black Sequential Read 2,789
1,679
SSD on the market in the M.2/PCIe
2280 form factor. This is not that drive. W D B L AC K N V M E SAMSUNG 960 PRO P L E X TO R M 8 P E

If it doesn’t say “WD Black NVMe” on

the label, it’s the older drive.

MAY 2018 PCWorld 77

REVIEWS WD BL ACK 3D NVME SSD

reading (raw sustained throughput)

AS SSD 1.9 Throughput with CrystalDiskMark 5, and a
(10GB/MBps) mysteriously slow random write
2,294
access time in AS SSD 1.9. The latter
Sequential Write 1,771 disables caching, so it’s not indicative
716
of a drive’s real-world performance.
2,709 CrystalDiskMark had nice things
Sequential Read 2,698 to say about the WD Black NVMe,
1,955
rating it as the better writer, though
W D B L AC K N V M E SAMSUNG 960 PRO P L E X TO R M 8 P E the 960 Pro was the slightly better
reader when multiple files were
queued for writing.
The numbers below are
CrystalDiskMark 5 No Queue
(10GB/MBps) quite different, telling us that
WD’s caching techniques are
143
quite effective when queues
4K Write (64 Threads) 1,183
92 are involved.
When queues weren’t
1,371
4K Read (64 Threads) 1,666
involved (see above), as when a
678 single large file is copied, the
Samsung 960 Pro was rated as
10
4K Write 155 quite a bit faster by CDM 5. AS
6 SSD 1.9, seen below thought the
26
opposite, placing the WD Black in
4K Read 30 front. Go figure.
25
But with the FUA command
W D B L AC K N V M E SAMSUNG 960 PRO P L E X TO R M 8 P E disabling write caching, something
that never happens in the end-user
environment, the WD Black’s smaller
PERFORMANCE writes fell off the planet. To be fair, this is much
In most respects, the WD Black 3D NVMe closely the same phenomenon we saw with Samsung’s
matched or exceeded the 960 Pro’s own 950 Pro back in the day. Caching is a
performance. However, it fell short on one or two requirement for these drives to keep up with the
tests, most notably non-queued sequential speed of the bus.

78 PCWorld MAY 2018

 Because there’s so much disparity in
the synthetic benchmarks we’ve been 20 GB copies
using (we’ve already started moving our (Seconds)
test MO towards the more modern and 50
consistent AS SSD 2.0 and CDM 6), we 20GB Folder Write 58
62
tend to trust our 20GB file copy tests
more when it comes to sustained 58
throughput. Here, the WD Black 3D 20GB Folder Read 59
58
NVMe was very good with our 20GB
group of files and folders, but not quite 12
20GB Write 11
as fast as the Samsung 960 Pro with the
14
single large 20GB file. We also fed the
drive 48GB data sets from our new test 12
20GB Read 11
layout without any appreciable 21
slowdown over the entire copy.
W D B L AC K N V M E SAMSUNG 960 PRO P L E X TO R M 8 P E
Note that you’ll get slightly slower
sequential write performance out of the
500GB Black 3D NVMe. Approximately section. That makes the WD Black 3D NVMe
300MBps slower, according to WD. The by far the sweetest deal in the performance
Black 3D NVMe 250GB suffers a major NVMe market right now.
drop-off in write performance of 1.2GBs. It’s
still a fast drive in the grand scheme of things,
but that’s a major difference. Note that Western Digital Black 3D
Samsung’s 960 Pro doesn’t not suffer a
PROS
drop-off in the 512GB capacity (and isn’t • Top-notch performance
available in a 256GB version). • Five-year warranty
CONS
• Boring label
BOTTOM LINE • Easy to confuse with an older WD Black SSD that
You get much the same performance with the was also M.2/NVMe
BOTTOM LINE
Western Digital Black 3D NVMe as you do The Western Digital Black 3D NVMe SSD is as fast as
with the Samsung 960 Pro, but for the price Samsung’s 960 Pro, but it costs a lot less. In fact, it’s
only slightly more expensive than entry-level drives.
of a slower Samsung 960 EVO. In fact, it costs It’s the drive that smart buyers should go for.
just a little more than the entry-level Plextor $226
MP9e we compared it to in the performance

MAY 2018 PCWorld 79

REVIEWS

Corsair Void Pro: The best $100

wireless gaming headset
Corsair’s wireless Void Pro is now an even better deal for its inexpensive $100 price tag.
BY HAYDEN DINGMAN

C
rsair’s carved itself out a nice SteelSeries Arctis 7 (go.pcworld.com/ssa7),
niche. Wireless headsets have Razer’s Man O’ War (go.pcworld.com/
come down in price a lot over rmow), and more.
the last five years, but still And yet somehow Corsair continues to
average around $150 list price—a category put out its flagship wireless headset for $100
that includes Logitech’s G533 (go.pcworld. (go.pcworld.com/csvd). The latest iteration is
com/g533) and G933 (go.pcworld.com/ the Void Pro, which improves upon its
g933), HyperX’s new Cloud Flight, the predecessor’s microphone while keeping the

80 PCWorld MAY 2018 IMAGE: ADAM PATRICK MURRAY

same low price. Not a huge upgrade, but is it become painful, the Void Pro’s light touch
enough to earn our recommendation? Read allows for longer-term comfort. However, the
on to find out. Void Pro is so loose it actually slips around
when I look up or down, or even lean back in
CARBON COPY my chair.
I’ll admit: I was hoping for a more extensive This, combined with the Void Pro’s
design overhaul with the Void Pro. That’s not oversized kite-shaped ears and slick mesh
the case. Corsair’s Void Pro is essentially padding, contributes to weirdly precarious
identical to the previous Void model. If you feeling—as if the headset might fall off at any
loved the original Void (go.pcworld.com/ moment. You eventually get used to it, but
ogvd), you’ll love the Pro. If you, like me, other headsets (like the HyperX Cloud Alpha
found the Void competent but flawed in [go.pcworld.com/hxca]) manage to feel both
numerous small ways? Well, all those flaws comfortable and secure. I wish Corsair could
have been carried over too. find a similar compromise, because it’s the
Chief among them, for me, is the size of main issue I have with the Void line.
the Void Pro. Even on the lower settings, the The Void Pro is otherwise pretty solid
Void Pro has a tendency to feel loose. This though. While sporting a bit more plastic than
can be beneficial. While some headsets some of its competitors, the reinforced metal
clamp down on your head/jaw and gradually headband gives it a decent heft. The
headband also slants
forward a bit, which
balances its weight better
than some other headsets.
Corsair’s RGB lighting
remains still top-notch, and
easily controlled through
software. Battery life is also
decent, with around 12
hours of battery when lit up
and 16-ish when dark.
Either way, it’s usually
enough to get through the
day without needing a
charge—though when I did

MAY 2018 PCWorld 81

REVIEWS CORSAIR VOID PRO WIRELESS

need the charging cable mid-day I was Void Pro comes with a yellow-accented
annoyed at how short it is. On the other hand charging cable and USB dongle. For…
that’s easily rectified by buying (or just reasons. The USB dongle could also stand
scrounging up) a longer microUSB cable. to be shrunk down a bit. It’s still a full two-inch
Corsair was also kind enough to send over thumb drive size, which is a bit annoying
the blacked out version of the Void Pro this whether plugged into the front or rear of
time, rather than the bumblebee colorway the PC.
we’ve dealt with the last few times. No As I said, the Void Pro mimics the original
surprise: The jet-black version is a lot easier on Void, flaws and all. Those flaws don’t detract
the eyes. Less unique maybe, but better than too much from the Void Pro considering it’s
what I referred to last time as “Stab Me In The only $100, but I hope the next refresh is more
Eyes Yellow.” extensive and solves at least a few of these
One weird caveat: Even the black (or longstanding design issues.
“Carbon” as Corsair calls it) version of the
CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW?
But let’s talk about how it sounds, since that’s
The jet-black version is a lot where Corsair’s concentrated its efforts—
easier on the eyes. Less unique particularly the microphone.
maybe, but better than what I It really does make a huge difference.
referred to last time as “Stab Me Ostensibly the reason you’re buying a gaming
In The Eyes Yellow.” headset and not a comparably priced (and

82 PCWorld MAY 2018

probably better sounding) pair of
headphones is because you want the A headset microphone just
convenience of a built-in microphone. If that needs to be “good enough,”
microphone sucks, then why bother? considering most users are only
And the original Void’s microphone using it for in-game voice chat,
sucked. From our original Void review: but Corsair barely met even that
low bar before.
“Corsair’s problem is twofold. First, the range
is pretty narrow and it sounds like you’re most users are only using it for in-game voice
talking through a cell-phone mic. Second, it chat, but Corsair barely met even that low bar
has a bad habit of picking up any and all before. The new Void Pro mic is more natural-
plosives.” sounding, more in line with what I’d expect
from a headset in 2018. It’s better on the
The Void Pro is better on both counts, plosives front too, picking up fewer
though it’s the fidelity that counts most. As I secondary noises—good for anyone who
said, the original Void’s microphone sounded doesn’t use push-to-talk.
like you were talking through a cell phone or a As for playback, not much has changed.
walkie talkie. A headset microphone just Again, it’s a bit of a “flaws and all” situation. First,
needs to be “good enough,” considering the ears still leak a lot of sound—not great if
you’re in a shared living
space situation. Even at
low volumes, whatever
you’re listening to can
be clearly heard in a
quiet space.
Aside from that
minor mechanical
issue, the Void Pro is
brighter-sounding than
your average gaming
headset, with a default
sound profile that’s
light on the bass.
Audio can also sound

MAY 2018 PCWorld 83

REVIEWS CORSAIR VOID PRO WIRELESS

expensive wireless
ones. But for $100 and
wireless, the Void Pro is
more than good
enough for the average
person. Even more so,
now that the micro-
phone is up to par.
It’s not the first
headset I’d reach for,
and I’d personally
recommend the extra
$50 for Logitech’s
G533, but if you want
wireless capabilities
and don’t want to
muffled at times, especially music where there spend more than $100, then the Void Pro is a
are lots of complicated tracks layered on top worthwhile option. Your only option, really.
of each other. It lacks the roominess of Again, Corsair’s carved out a nice niche
something like the HyperX Cloud or for itself here.
Logitech’s G933.
The mid-range is clear though, and that’s a
solid foundation for the user to then EQ upon. Corsair Void Pro Wireless
Like the original Void, Corsair’s CUE software is
PROS
flexible enough to give the Void Pro a decent • Improved microphone
bass presence and sharpen the muffled • Unparalleled price for a reputable wireless headset
• All-day battery life
high-end. I typically prefer a headset that
CONS
sounds good by default, not one where I have • Loose fit, slips around
to muck around in the EQ, but well, it’s $100. • Lacking bass by default
BOTTOM LINE
With an improved microphone, Corsair’s wireless
BOTTOM LINE Void Pro is now an even better deal for its
inexpensive $100 price tag—though this new
And that’s the catch, right? Like I said with the iteration carries over many of its predecessor’s flaws.
original Void, you can easily get better audio— $89
both from cheaper wired headsets and more

84 PCWorld MAY 2018

 AMERICA,
LET’S DO LUNCH TM

Asha Ida Bell, SINCE 1937. Her life’s work is about helping the hopeless find
hope. Now, she and 1 in 6 seniors face the threat of hunger and millions
more live in isolation. So pop by, drop off a hot meal and say a warm hello.
Volunteer for Meals on Wheels at AmericaLetsDoLunch.org
Dare to find a career where you can truly make a difference.
Your skills and talents could be exactly what we need to
build the next generation of great teachers. Get resources
to explore whether teaching is right for you at teach.org.
SHOULD YOU BUY A
CORE i9 LAPTOP?
Can’t decide if you need a 6-core Core i9 laptop? We can help.
BY GORDON MAH UNG ILLUSTRATION BY TAYLOR CALLERY
MAY 2018 PCWorld 87
FEATURE SHOULD YOU GET A CORE i9 L APTOP?

I
f you’re asking yourself: “Should I buy a THE CORE i9 LAPTOPS
Core i9 laptop?” don’t worry. We can YOU CAN BUY
help you cut through the hype, Only a handful of Core i9 laptops were
innuendo, and specs so you can make revealed when Intel announced the Core
the right decision. i9-8950HK. They’re all high-performing
Frankly, the name itself is enough to beasts, as you’d expect from notebooks
confuse casual observers. In desktops, the carrying Intel’s first 6-core mobile gaming
Core i9 brand indicates the processor packs a chips, and come with monstrous price tags
ton more CPU cores (10 to 18) than the other to match.
“Core” brands (4 to 8). But today, Core i9 in
laptops mostly just signifies higher clock Alienware 17: Core i9, GTX 1080, 16GB
speeds—not more CPU cores. The 6-core, RAM, 512GB PCIe M.2 SSD with a 1TB
12-thread Core i9-8950HK laptop chip has a 7200RPM HDD, 1440p 120Hz G-Sync
base clock of 2.9GHz with a boost speed of display—$3,699 on Dell.com (go.pcworld.
4.8GHz, for example. Intel’s new 8th-gen com/pr17)
Core i7-8850H laptop chip also packs 6 Asus ROG G703: Core i9, GTX 1080,
cores and 12 threads, but slower speeds at 32GB RAM, 512GB PCIe SSD with a 2TB
2.6GHz base and 4.3GHz boost. hybrid drive, 1080p 144Hz G-Sync
So the correct question, really, should be, display—$3,699 on Amazon.com (go.
“Should I buy a laptop with a 6-core, 8th-gen pcworld.com/prg7)
Intel CPU?” Our official answer: it depends. Gigabyte Aorus X9: Core i9, GTX 1080,
To find out what it depends on, read on. 32GB RAM, 1TB NVMe SSD with a 1TB HDD,
1080p 144Hz G-Sync
display—$3,899 on Amazon.
com (go.pcworld.com/prx9)
MSI G75 Titan: Core i9, GTX
1080, 32GB RAM, 512GB SSD
with a 1TB HDD—$3,999 on
Newegg.com (go.pcworld.
com/pr1t with a 1080p 120Hz
G-Sync display), or $4,499 on
Newegg.com (go.pcworld.
com/pr4k with a 4K 60Hz
The Asus ROG G703. display)

88 PCWorld MAY 2018

IF YOU NEED a new Thermal Velocity Boost feature in
MULTI-THREADED Core i9 hardware that allows for higher
PERFORMANCE: YES clock speeds when the chip is below 50
If you lean hard on your processor, the short degrees Celsius.
answer is yes! Buy a 6-core laptop. But in general, these 8th-gen chips should
The longer answer is yes, but only if you run at higher clock speeds than their
truly use those CPU threads. If you edit video, predecessors. The improvement in single-
render 3D scenes, or do any task that’s threaded performance won’t be as wide as it
typically multi-threaded, you will see a huge is with multi-threaded, but it’ll still be better
performance boost by going with a 6-core than what was typically available before. If you
chip over a 4-core chip. don’t demand peak performance, though,
Adding cores will also generally improve the 6-core Core i7 chips will no doubt cost
performance if you also tend to do many less than Core i9 and still deliver fine results.
things simultaneously. And while the vast Heck, the 6-core Core i5-8400H is only a hair
majority of games won’t really use all six slower than the top Core i7 chip in raw clock
cores, the extra hardware will be a blessing if speeds, but it doesn’t have multi-threading.
you stream to Twitch or Mixer while you
game, or if you edit video of your adventures IF YOU WANT
to post on YouTube. Upgrading to a 6-core OPTANE MEMORY: MAYBE
Core i9 or Core i7 is a worthwhile investment Intel’s Optane Memory (go.pcworld.com/
for gamers who also create content. optm; $38 on Amazon, go.pcworld.com/
io16) is pretty nifty stuff. Designed to improve
IF YOU NEED hard-drive performance at workloads most
SINGLE-THREADED people use rather than just synthetic
PERFORMANCE: MAYBE benchmarks, its main problem was you could
Like I said, the vast majority of games and only use it in a system with a solitary hard
applications aren’t heavily multi-threaded. drive. People wanted to use it in a system with
They generally benefit more from fewer cores the operating system on a normal SSD, and
running at higher clock speeds than they with Optane boosting a secondary hard drive
would from a six-core chip. brimming with bulk files. Well now you can.
The most performance you can wring Besides universally adding support for
out of a laptop will still likely come from a Optane Memory on the new 8th-gen chips,
Core i9 laptop. It runs faster than any other Intel also added a mode that lets you use
8th-gen mobile processor, and there’s also Optane Memory with secondary drives. This

MAY 2018 PCWorld 89

FEATURE SHOULD YOU GET A CORE i9 L APTOP?

knobs for overclocking the chip properly.

This time, though, Intel is also introducing
semi-unlocked or “partial” unlocked CPUs
to allow for milder overclocking exploits. The
6-core Core i7-8850H will be partially
unlocked and allow up to a 400MHz overclock
or four multiplier ratios to be set. Whether your
gaming laptop can actually support those
overclocks is up to its cooling, but this means
we might see overclocking on laptops it wasn’t
previously available on. Nevertheless, Core i9
Optane can now accelerate a hard drive used just
for data so your huge game collection can load at is your only option if you want to crank clocks
SSD-like speeds. as high as possible with no restrictions.

means that on systems that can accommodate IF YOU ALREADY HAVE

multiple hard drives, you can boot to an SSD A MODERN GAMING
and use Optane Memory to cache your big LAPTOP: NO
fat hard drive where all of your games are As much as everyone likes to say the CPU
installed—exactly what everyone asked for. It’s matters in gaming, the truth is that the GPU is
really a win-win for those who can’t fit still king. Yes, a higher clocked 8th-gen chip
everything onto their primary SSD. will yield more frames per second than its
Core i9 laptops can take advantage of predecessors, but if you have a relatively
Optane Memory technology, but it’s not recent gaming laptop with a quad-core CPU
exclusive to high-end chips. Laptops with and a Maxwell or Pascal-based GPU, it
less powerful Core i5 and Core i7 doesn’t make sense to rush out to buy a new
processors can take advantage of Optane’s one “just” for gaming.
caching as well.
IF YOU ONLY CARE
IF YOU WANT TO ABOUT GAMING: NO
OVERCLOCK: YES Six-core CPUs make the difference in video
If you intend to overclock your laptop, the encoding, 3D rendering, and the legion of
only mobile 8th-gen chip that comes “fully other applications that hit—but not in gaming.
unlocked” is the Core i9-8950HK. Like its So if you can find a blow-out deal on a current
desktop counterpart, the Core i9 allows more 7th-gen gaming laptop with a GeForce GTX

90 PCWorld MAY 2018

1060, the gaming experience is likely to be 1180) laptop is released.
pretty damned close to what you’d get in an If you want to sit on your hands and
8th-gen Core i9 gaming laptop with a GeForce continue to game on your GeForce GTX 680M
GTX 1060 inside, except in a handful of game until those new GPUs appear, it’s perfectly
types. So if the price is right on a 7th-gen Kaby understandable. Quite reasonable, too.
Lake gaming laptop, take advantage of it, or
save money on the same amount of cores by IF YOU WANT AMD
opting for a Core i7 8th-gen laptop. RYZEN INSIDE: MAYBE
Of all of the reasons demonstrated for not
IF YOU’RE WAITING FOR buying a Core i9 gaming laptop, this one is
NVIDIA’S NEW GPUS: probably the most unreasonable. While
NOT YET AMD’s Ryzen CPU lineup (go.pcworld.com/
So if gaming is still mostly about the GPU, cpul) has proven to be a true potent
you’ll always see the most bang for the buck competitor on the desktop, the company
with a bigger GPU. Nvidia’s GTX 10-series is hasn’t pushed out mobile CPUs that
now 19 months old and counting. A compete with Intel’s powerful H-series of
successor is expected—fingers crossed—by chips. Mobile Ryzen APUs are in a different
the end of this year. And that means the league of performance. Asus released a
saddest person on the planet will be the one Ryzen gaming laptop (go.pcworld.com/
who buys a GeForce GTX 1080 laptop the rzgl; $1,499 on Amazon, go.pcworld.com/
day before a GeForce GTX 2080 (or GTX assx), but it used an 8-core Ryzen 7 1700
desktop processor in it.
If you’re truly going
to hold your breath
waiting for a more
powerful gaming laptop
with Ryzen inside, you
might be holding it for a
long time. But yes, we
know, you’ll still do it
anyway because you
didn’t get a Ryzen tattoo
for nothing.
Gigabyte’s Aorus X9.

MAY 2018 PCWorld 91

FEATURE

INTEL 8TH-GEN CPU

MOTHERBOARDS EXPLAINED:
Z370 vs. H370 vs. B360 vs. H310
Find the perfect Intel 300-series motherboard with this guide. BY BRAD CHACOS

S
electing the best Intel 300-series threat (go.pcworld.com/rzcp) at the high
motherboard to fit your needs end, but left PC users looking for more
was straightforward when the affordable options in a pickle. Buying a $100
initial wave of 8th-gen Core Core i3 chip doesn’t make much sense when
desktop processors (go.pcworld.com/8thg) you’re forced to slap it in a $130, high-end
launched in October 2017, because only the motherboard, especially with AMD offering a
enthusiast-class Z370 chipset released full arsenal of Ryzen motherboards (go.
alongside the new chips. That was enough to pcworld.com/rzmb) at all price points.
help the flagship Core i7-8700K CPU (go. The disparity ended in April 2018, when
pcworld.com/i87k) counter AMD’s Ryzen Intel revealed the full lineup (go.pcworld.com/

92 PCWorld MAY 2018 IMAGE: ASUS

 Z370 H370 B360 H310

Expected price $$$$ $$$ $$ $

CPU/DDR4 overclocking Y N N N

CPU PCI-E 3.0 configurations 1x16 or 2x8 or 1x8 + 2x4 1x16 1x16 1x16

Max PCI-E lanes 24 20 12 6 (PCI-E 2.0)

Memory channels/DIMMs per channel 2/2 2/2 2/2 2/1

Optane memory support Y Y Y N

Total USB ports 14 14 12 10

Max USB 3.1 ports: 0/10 4/8 4/6 0/4

Gen. 2/Gen.1

Max SATA 3.0 (6Gb/s) ports 6 6 6 4

Integrated Intel Wireless AC (CNVi) N Y Y Y

Max high speed IO lanes 30 30 24 14

Intel Rapid Storage Tech (RST) Y Y Y N

Max Intel RST for PCI-E storage ports 3 2 1 0

(x M.2 or x4 M.2)

Intel RST PCI-E RAID 0, 1, 5 Y Y N N

Intel RST SATA RAID 0,1,5,10 Y Y N N

Intel RST for CPU-attached Y N N N

Intel PCI-E storage

cllp) of 300-series chipsets for its 8th-gen 300-series motherboard chipset offers so you
CPUs. The lower-cost chipsets don’t offer all can make the right decision when you buy an
the bells and whistles of Z370 motherboards, Intel 8th-generation processor.
but they have a few fancy features up their
sleeves that the swankier boards lack. Z370 VS. H370 VS.
Should you buy an H370, a B360, or an B360 VS. H310
H310 motherboard for those extras? Does it You need a new Intel 300-series motherboard
make sense to splurge on a Z370 chipset if you buy an 8th-gen “Coffee Lake”
anyway? Let’s examine what each Intel processor. Older motherboards don’t work

MAY 2018 PCWorld 93

FEATURE INTEL 8TH- GEN CPU MOTHERBOARDS EXPL AINED

with 8th-gen chips, and that includes the that later), and RAID storage options. As the
recent 100- and 200-series options for flagship chipset, Z370 also offers the most
Skylake and Kaby Lake chips. While Coffee high-speed I/O lanes. More HSIO lanes let
Lake chips are largely based around the same board makers divvy out more features, like
architecture as those predecessors, 8th-gen NVMe SSD connections and SuperSpeed
chips pack in more cores, which means they USB ports, as they see fit.
have different power requirements. Here are some of the options in Newegg’s
Our table on the previous page reveals Z370 selection (go.pcworld.com/z370). The
the raw specifications for each of the Intel higher you go up in price, the more extra
300-series motherboard chipsets available to features you receive.
consumers. (We’re not including the Q370, a
chipset that matches Z370 but with additional Gigabyte Z370M DS3H: $105 from
business features added.) go.pcworld.com/370m.
Z370 motherboards are the gold standard, MSI Z370-A PRO: $120 from
built for enthusiast PCs. These are the only go.pcworld.com/370a.
Intel motherboards that support CPU and ASRock Z370 Pro4: for $130 from
memory overclocking (if you have an go.pcworld.com/pro4.
unlocked K-series chip), or handle gaming MSI Z370 Tomahawk: for $150 from
rigs with multiple graphics cards. They’re go.pcworld.com/tmhk.
loaded with the most PCIe lanes, potential ASRock Z370 Extreme4: for $175 from
USB ports (with one notable caveat—more on go.pcworld.com/xtm4.
Asus ROG Strix 370-I
Gaming: $190.
(Mini-ITX) from
go.pcworld.
com/370i.
Gigabyte Z370 Aorus
Gaming 7: $250
from go.pcworld.
com/argm.
Asus ROG Maximus X
Hero: $280 from
go.pcworld.com/
maxh.

94 PCWorld MAY 2018

H370 motherboards are only a notch below B360 motherboards start shaving more off.
Z370, and perfect for people who don’t like You’ll get fewer USB ports, fewer HSIO and
to tinker. These boards don’t support PCIe lanes, and barely any RAID support via
overclocking, multiple graphics card Intel’s Rapid Storage Technology. But they still
setups, or some of the more exotic Intel pack speedy USB 3.1 Gen. 2 ports and
Rapid Storage Technology features. Other Optane Memory support (go.pcworld.com/
than those niche enthusiast features, and omrv) to boost hard-drive speeds to near-SSD
some differences in USB 3.1 support, H370 speeds. Look at these as solid-value
largely mirrors Z370. motherboards for mainstream computers.
Here are some of the options in Newegg’s Here are some of the options in Newegg’s
H370 selection (go.pcworld.com/h370): B360 selection (go.pcworld.com/b360).
Once you start creeping too far north of
Gigabyte H370M D3H: $90 from $100, however, you might be better off opting
go.pcworld.com/mdh3. for an H370 motherboard, unless a B360
ASRock H370M-ITX/ac: $109 from selection includes a specific key feature that
go.pcworld.com/txac. (Mini-ITX) isn’t available in your budget with H370.
MSI H370 Gaming Plus: $120 from
go.pcworld.com/gmp1. Gigabyte B360M DS3H: $70 from
Asus ROG Strix H370-F Gaming: $140 from go.pcworld.com/ds3h.
go.pcworld.com/370f. MSI B360M PRO-VH: $80 from go.pcworld.

MAY 2018 PCWorld 95

FEATURE INTEL 8TH- GEN CPU MOTHERBOARDS EXPL AINED

overall bandwidth. RAID options are

nonexistent. These ultra-basic
motherboards should only be
considered for bargain-basement
systems with simple needs. They
lock you out of a lot of niftier new
features that’ve blossomed in Intel’s
ecosystem in recent years.
Here are some of the options in
Newegg’s H310 selection (go.
pcworld.com/h310). There isn’t
much variety here, nor fancy
gaming brands.

com/prvh. ASRock H310M-DGS: $58 from go.pcworld.

Asus Prime B360M-A: $90 from (go. com/mdgs.
pcworld.com/60ma. MSI H310M PRO-VDH: $65 from
ASRock B360 Pro4: $95 from go.pcworld. go.pcworld.com/pvdh.
com/pr04. Asus Prime H310M-D: $70 from go.pcworld.
Asus ROG Strix B360-G Gaming: $110 from com/10md.
go.pcworld.com/360g.
Gigabyte Aorus Gaming 3 Wi-Fi: $120 from INTEL 300-SERIES
go.pcworld.com/3wfi. MOTHERBOARD
H310 motherboards really strip things back. DIFFERENCES EXPLAINED
Far fewer USB and SATA ports are supported. It The Z370 chipset might have the mightiest
doesn’t support PCIe 3.0, only the slower PCIe spec set on paper, but the other options pack
2.0, and you can’t use Intel’s Optane Memory some features that the original 8th-gen
technology like you can with the other options. motherboards lack, and the stripped-down
The memory
setup only
supports a Once you start creeping too far north of $100, however,
single DIMM you might be better off opting for an H370 motherboard,
per channel, unless a B360 selection includes a specific key
reducing feature that isn’t available in your budget with H370.

96 PCWorld MAY 2018

 motherboards, as vendors
will no longer need to pay for
a third-party controller—this
uses Intel’s own technology.
Adding USB 3.1 ports eats
into a motherboard’s stash of
HSIO lanes, though.
The new boards also
All Intel 300-series motherboards except Z370 can support USB 3.1 move a lot of the functions
Gen. 2 and integrated Wi-Fi. needed for wireless
networking into the
H310 is the only chipset that can’t run Intel’s platform controller hub itself, using Intel’s
hard-drive–boosting Optane Memory. CNVi wireless-AC technology (go.pcworld.
H370, B360, and H310 motherboards com/cnvi). Highlights include integrated
integrate support for speedy 10Gbps USB 3.1 802.11ac Wi-Fi support and up to 1733Mbps
Gen.2 ports into the chipset, which you can see speeds with Intel’s highest-end companion RF
listed in the comparison chart. That should help module, which Intel says is far faster than most
bring the blisteringly fast tech to more affordable Wi-Fi options available.

MAY 2018 PCWorld 97

FEATURE INTEL 8TH- GEN CPU MOTHERBOARDS EXPL AINED

Equipping extra hardware to fully activate hasn’t announced a successor to the Z370
the functionality can add to the cost of a chipset for 8th-gen CPUs, but we wouldn’t be
motherboard, and it’s an option for surprised to see one in the future to bring the
motherboard vendors—not a requirement. So 300-series flagship into feature parity with its
don’t expect to see Wi-Fi on every H370, little cousins.
B360, and H310 motherboard, especially as
you move further down the price scale. LITTLE EXTRAS
(Gigabyte, for example, sells an optional The final part of the equation is finding a 300-
“CNVi WiFi upgrade kit” for some of its series board with finishing touches that fit your
motherboards.) If yours includes it, you’ll want needs. While we’ve described the guts of
an 802.11ac “Wave 2” router that can take every Z370, H370, B360, and H310
advantage of CNVi’s full potential, like the motherboard, vendors can tweak and
Asus RT-AC87U (go.pcworld.com/ac87). configure their hardware in different ways, so
H370, B360, and H310 motherboards also two H370 boards (for example) might have
include “modern standby” features that let slightly different port configurations and wildly
computers sleep to save energy, but listen for a different features, such as RGB lighting (go.
wake word (in smart speaker–like fashion) and pcworld.com/rgbl), fancy audio, one-button
quickly resume. Modern standby functionality overclocking, etc.
previously existed in laptops, but this is a first But now that you know the basics of what
for desktop PCs. each Intel 300-series chipset offers, you can
Once again, motherboards based on the quickly narrow down your search for the
Z370 chipset don’t include any of this new perfect 8th-gen motherboard for you.
native functionality, though
hardware makers can add
Wi-Fi and USB 3.1 Gen. 2
capabilities via add-in
controllers. But curiously,
the business-focused Q370
chipset mirrors Z370’s
specifications (sans
overclocking) and includes
the new capabilities found
in the H370, B360, and The RGB LED-illuminated light strip and RAM slots on the Gigabyte
H310 motherboards. Intel H370 Aorus Gaming 3.

98 PCWorld MAY 2018

 YOUR CLOTHES
THAT ARE TOO
SMALL CAN DO
BIG THINGS FOR OTHERS.
YOUR DONATIONS TO GOODWILL® HELP
FUND JOB PLACEMENT AND TRAINING
FOR PEOPLE IN YOUR COMMUNITY.

DONATE STUFF.
CREATE JOBS.

TO FIND YOUR NEAREST DONATION CENTER GO TO GOODWILL.ORG

It only takes a moment to make a moment.

Take time to fatherhood.gov

be a dad today. #makeamoment
Here’s How HOW TO BUILD, MAINTAIN,
AND FIX YOUR TECH GEAR

How to check if Facebook

shared your personal info
with Cambridge Analytica
Cambridge Analytica harvested personal information from
87 million Facebook users. BY BRAD CHACOS

W
as your Facebook data people to target American voters, using a
shared with Cambridge personality quiz called “This Is Your Digital
Analytica? The political Life” that scraped the Facebook data of you
research firm harvested and your friends. The social network recently
the personal information of roughly 87 million started notifying users who had their

MAY 2018 PCWorld 101

HERE’S HOW CHECK YOUR FACEBOOK DATA

A Facebook help page can tell you whether your information was shared with Cambridge Analytica.

information scooped up. Facebook handles third-party apps, including

If you haven’t seen the prompt in your the launch of a new data abuse bounty (go.
News Feed, you can check if your Facebook pcworld.com/dabu), but it’s better to be
data was shared with Cambridge Analytica by proactive on your end.
logging in to the network and visiting this Curious to see what Facebook itself knows
help page (go.pcworld.com/fbhp). The about you? Check out our guide to
section titled Was My Information Shared? downloading your Facebook data (go.
explains whether you or your friends ever pcworld.com/dnfd), and if you feel
logged in to the nefarious quiz, though it uncomfortable about what you find, here’s
won’t name which friends handed over your how to delete, disable, or limit your Facebook
data to the app. account (go.pcworld.com/ddfb).
While you’re at it, take the time to look
over the other apps (go.pcworld.com/fbap)
that you’ve granted access to your Facebook
account, and disable any ones you no longer
need. The Cambridge Analytica saga drives
home how crucial it is to keep a close rein on
apps that hook into your social media
accounts. Securing your personal data is
more complicated than just running an
antivirus suite (go.pcworld.com/tpav) and
using a password manager (go.pcworld.
com/tppm) to come up with unique logins
for every site. This revelation sparked big
changes (go.pcworld.com/hzwp) in the way

102 PCWorld MAY 2018

Is your VPN secure? How to
check for leaks
A trusted virtual private network is a great tool for security and privacy, but if it’s not
configured correctly it may not be so private. BY IAN PAUL

A
trustworthy virtual private a VPN? In other words, how do you know if
network (VPN; go.pcworld. the VPN is doing its job (go.pcworld.
com/yvpn) is a good way to com/5qvp) or if you’re unwittingly leaking
keep your internet usage secure information to prying eyes?
and private whether at home or on public To find out, you first need to know what
Wi-Fi. But just how private is your activity over your computer looks like to the internet

MAY 2018 PCWorld 103

HERE’S HOW IS YOUR VPN SECURE?

without a VPN running. Start by searching for again to see what you look like over your
what is my IP on Google. At the top of the VPN of choice.
search results, Google will report back your Not all of these tests happen automatically.
current public Internet Protocol (IP) address. The torrent test, for example, requires a small
That’s a good place to start, but there is more torrent file (available via magnet link) to run
to your internet connection and its potential before it can detect any potential leakage.
for leaks. The geolocation test is helpful, but
keeping your location secure is pretty
DIVING DEEPER straightforward. Just don’t allow any website
Your public IP address is one way private to use your location while on a VPN. One way
information can leak over a VPN, but you can to do that is to specify a browser, Firefox for
also leak information via Domain Name example, as your VPN-only browser. Then
System (DNS) queries, WebRTC (go.pcworld. disallow location requests on that browser.
com/wrtc), torrents, and geolocation. To see Alternatively, you could use a browser
what you look like in your default state, visit extension that provides a fake location to
IPLeak.net (go.pcworld.com/ipln). This websites that request it.
website checks all the previously mentioned The most likely culprit for leaked
methods for leaking data. Take note of all the information, however, is DNS. To navigate the
data you see on this page so you can web your machine requires contact with DNS
compare it to your VPN’s. servers to help translate website addresses
Now close this site, connect to your from names to numeric IP addresses. Typically
VPN, and navigate back to IPLeak once your PC automatically uses the DNS servers of
your internet
service
provider. The
problem is that
if you’re using a
VPN and
leaking DNS
through a local
service
provider, you
can reveal
An example analysis from IPLeak.net. enough

104 PCWorld MAY 2018

information to point anyone spying on you in SOME TOP VPN CHOICES
the right direction. That’s why VPN services Many VPN services these days do a good job
often funnel their customers’ queries through of preventing the various data leaks that could
DNS servers that aren’t connected to your ISP. reveal your identity, and our top-rated VPN
services (go.pcworld.com/tvpn) should all
DIVING EVEN DEEPER work well. Still, if you’d like some specific
IPLeak is great, but there’s nothing like a little advice, here are four VPNs that do a good job
redundancy to ensure you’re really private of protecting against data leaks on both
over a VPN. As a second check against DNS Windows and Android. In most cases, you
leaks go to DNSLeakTest.com (go.pcworld. shouldn’t have to make any settings
com/dnsl), and from the landing page adjustments to the VPN, but if there are any
choose the Extended test. This typically takes notable settings to be aware of we will note
some time to complete, but it’s worth it as I them here.
have seen leaky results on this site that IPLeak First up is HotSpot Shield Elite (go.
didn’t catch. pcworld.com/hsse). A recent addition to
If you are still seeing DNS servers from our best VPN roundup. HSS does a great
your VPN provider, and not your ISP, then job of stopping leaks, and unlike many of
you can be reasonably sure you aren’t the other services here it uses multiple DNS
leaking data. servers on mobile. HSS Elite costs $72 for a
full year’s subscription, or you can pay $120
for a lifetime of use. In the Windows app
under Settings > General Settings there’s an
option called Prevent IP leak that is turned
on by default.
NordVPN (go.pcworld.com/nvpn) also
does a good job of keeping leaks away and
its app is easy-to-use as well. This service
costs $69 for a year’s subscription. NordVPN
doesn’t have any DNS or IP leak settings to
worry about, but it does have a new setting
called CyberSec that blocks ads, and
protects against various malware threats and
botnet control. This is turned off by default,
The landing page for DNSLeakTest.com. but it’s a good option to turn on since even

MAY 2018 PCWorld 105

HERE’S HOW IS YOUR VPN SECURE?

ghbr) setting that is

supposed to make your
VPN traffic look closer to
unencrypted traffic though
it can make your browsing
speeds slower.

WHAT TO DO IF
YOU’RE
LEAKING DNS
As we’ve just discussed,
many set-it-and-forget-it
type VPNs (go.pcworld.
com/fvpn) funnel your
NordVPN. DNS requests through
their own providers,
on a VPN cookies set by advertisers make it though some require an explicit settings
possible to track you online. change to do this. Check your VPN provider’s
Windscribe Pro (go.pcworld.com/wscr) is help pages if you are leaking DNS for advice
a great option that is also simple to use and on how to fix it.
costs $49 per year. It does not have any Another way to address this issue is to
settings you need to worry about, but you can permanently switch your PC to an alternative
get enhanced privacy protections, such as ad DNS provider such as Google (go.pcworld.
blocking, if you install the service’s browser com/ggle), OpenDNS (go.pcworld.com/
extension in addition to the desktop app. If odns), or Comodo Secure DNS (go.pcworld.
you’re not willing to pay for a VPN, com/coms). That way if your VPN provider’s
Windscribe offers a free version with up to DNS fails, you won’t be using DNS tied to
10GB per month. your ISP.
Finally, TunnelBear (go.pcworld.com/ Once you’ve fixed your DNS problems,
tnnl) is another fantastic option for return to DNSLeakTest to see what it reports. If
preventing VPN and IP leaks. TunnelBear it shows DNS servers that aren’t related to
costs $50 per year. It doesn’t have any leak your ISP or general location, then you’re all
protection settings you need to worry about. set to enjoy added privacy over your VPN
There is a GhostBear (go.pcworld.com/ connection.

106 PCWorld MAY 2018

How to set up Android Auto
in any car
Skip the expensive infotainment system. An Android phone and a few
accessories will do just fine. BY JARED NEWMAN

A
ndroid Auto will work in any car, Android Auto wasn’t always this easy.
even an older car. All you need is When it debuted in 2015 (go.pcworld.com/
the right accessories—and a db15), you needed either a new car or pricey
smartphone running Android aftermarket hardware to run Google’s
5.0 (Lollipop) or higher (Android 6.0 is better), infotainment system of the future. Google
with a decent-sized screen. Add a few handy brought a stand-alone Android Auto app (go.
apps and phone settings, and you can make pcworld.com/anat) to smartphones the
your smartphone version of Android Auto just following year, allowing anyone with an
about as good as the dashboard version. Android phone to use the simplified menu

IMAGE: GOOGLE MAY 2018 PCWorld 107

HERE’S HOW SET UP ANDROID AUTO

system for music, navigation, phone calls, and pcworld.com/cgcm).

messages. More recently, Android Auto added In my case, I used an old Breffo
support for Google Assistant (go.pcworld. Spiderpodium Tablet (currently $16.95 on
com/goas) and all the same voice commands Amazon ( [go.pcworld.com/bref]), whose
you’d use with a Google Home speaker. bendable arms fit snugly into my Nissan
Read on for the best way to bring Android Altima’s air vents. The remaining four arms
Auto to your car. Once you’re up and running, cradle my Pixel 2 XL (go.pcworld.com/p2xl)
check out Google’s Android Auto Help page for securely when it’s inserted from above.
even more information (go.pcworld.com/anhp).
STEP 2: ADD BLUETOOTH TO
STEP 1: GET A CAR PHONE YOUR CAR
MOUNT Unless your phone needs charging, you
Using Android Auto on your phone makes shouldn’t have to mess around with cables
sense only if you can glance at the screen every time you get in the car. Connecting your
without losing sight of the road. Car mounts for car to Bluetooth removes the extra bit of
this purpose cost around $20, and can attach friction that might stop you from listening to
to your phone’s dashboard, windshield, CD music or asking for directions.
player, or air vent. Check out PCWorld’s car If your car already has Bluetooth built-in,
mount guide for recommendations (go. you’re in great shape. Just pair your phone
through the car’s
infotainment system, and
proceed to the next
step. Otherwise, you’ll
need some extra
hardware to add
Bluetooth to your car.
For cars with an
auxiliary 3.5mm audio
input, Bluetooth
receivers are available for
cheap. Mpow sells its
Bluetooth Receiver
Mounting your phone in landscape mode almost makes it seem like an (currently $14 on
in-car infotainment system. Amazon [go.pcworld.

108 PCWorld MAY 2018

 popular pick on Amazon is the Bluetooth
Transmitter from VicTsing ($18 on Amazon
[go.pcworld.com/vict]), which has a dial for
quickly selecting an open radio frequency.
The car charger also has a spare USB slot in
case your phone needs a boost.

STEP 3: AUTOMATE
ANDROID AUTO
Once you’ve got a Bluetooth solution and
paired it to your smartphone, install the
Android Auto app from the Google Play Store
(go.pcworld.com/inaa). But don’t stop here!
This $18 receiver adds Bluetooth to any car with The real magic happens when you create a
auxiliary input. rule to launch Android Auto when it connects
to the car via Bluetooth.
com/mpbr]), though you may want to Launch the Android Auto app, then press
splurge for the Bluetooth 4.1 Receiver ($18 on the menu button in the top-left corner and
Amazon), which has a dedicated on/off select Settings. Scroll down and select
switch. (The cheaper model requires you to Autolaunch, then flip on the toggles for
press and hold a button to power it on, which Autolaunch and your car’s Bluetooth
is slightly less convenient.) connection. You may also turn on pocket
These receivers have built-in batteries, but detection so the app doesn’t launch
you’re better off keeping them connected to a prematurely.
car charger. RAVPower’s tiny dual-USB car To make your phone feel a bit more like an
charger costs just $8 on Amazon (go. actual infotainment system, you can run
pcworld.com/ravp), and it allows you to
charge the Bluetooth receiver via any micro-
USB cable. Use the second slot to charge Don’t have auxiliary input? You
your phone on long trips. can still use a Bluetooth FM
Don’t have auxiliary input? You can still transmitter, which grabs audio
use a Bluetooth FM transmitter, which grabs from your phone and creates a
audio from your phone and creates a short- short-range broadcast for your
range broadcast for your car radio. The most car radio.

MAY 2018 PCWorld 109

HERE’S HOW SET UP ANDROID AUTO

Android Auto in
landscape mode.
Because I normally
keep my phone
locked in portrait
mode, I used a
popular $3 app
called Tasker (go.
pcworld.com/tskr)
to automate the
screen orientation.
Download the
app, then follow
these steps:
• Under
Profiles, press +,
then press State,
then select Net,
then select BT
Connected.
• Under Name,
press the magnify-
ing glass, then
select the name of
your car’s Blue-
tooth device.
• Under
Address, press the
magnifying glass,
then choose your car’s Bluetooth device • On the Task Edit screen, press +, then
again. press Display. Next, select Display AutoRotate,
• Press the back button in the top-left then select On from the Set menu. Hit the back
corner, then press New Task. (Creating a button in the top-left corner, then press the
name for the task isn’t necessary.) back button again on the next screen.

110 PCWorld MAY 2018

 Your phone will now automatically all Google Assistant actions, so you can even
disable rotation lock when it’s connected to dictate to-do list items, add calendar
the car. When the connection terminates, it’ll appointments, and turn down the thermostat
return to portrait-only mode and exit the at home.
Android Auto app. One more thing: To curb distracted
Finally, you can prevent the phone from driving, Android Auto hides all notifications
feeding audio to the car at low volumes with except phone calls and texts from supported
the free Bluetooth Volume Control app (go. messaging apps. For the latter, Google will
pcworld.com/bvca). After downloading the only offer to speak the message instead of
app, add your car’s Bluetooth with the “+” showing it onscreen. You can then respond
button, and set the volume to 100%. by voice or with a canned message, created
through the Settings menu. (By default, it’s
STEP 4: GET COMFY WITH “I’m driving right now.”)
ANDROID AUTO When you’re finished driving, Android
Android Auto is essentially a special version of Auto should recognize that the Bluetooth
the Android interface, with larger buttons, connection has terminated and will exit the
simplified menu items, and fewer distractions. app automatically. But if not, tap the circle
The headphone icon provides quick access to icon, then press Exit to return to your regular
compatible music apps (go.pcworld.com/ phone interface. Finally, don’t forget to take
cmsa) such as Pandora and Spotify, the your phone with you.
navigation icon provides
directions from Google
Maps (or Waze, if you’ve
installed it), and the
phone button lets you
place calls.
In many cases,
though, it’s easier to use
voice commands. Hit the
microphone icon or say
“Hey Google,” then ask
for music, directions, a
phone call, or a text
message. This works with Music, directions, and calls are a “Hey Google” voice command away.

MAY 2018 PCWorld 111

HERE’S HOW

Excel filters: How to use

number, text and date filters to
extract only the data you need
No matter how big your spreadsheet database is, filters can
find what you need. BY JD SARTAIN

E
xcel spreadsheet databases work For example, in a Human Resources
because users can filter the data spreadsheet database, the IT director may want
inside these workbooks. Filters to hire a candidate with a degree in Computer
are conditions you specify in Science plus experience using HTML, Java, and
databases and spreadsheets to extract only C++ languages. The IT director uses filters
the precise, requested information. based on logical operators to extract all the

112 PCWorld MAY 2018

candidates with these credentials: equal to and notice that Excel sorts the table using the
(Equals) degrees in “Computer Science” plus field that your cursor resides on. For example,
computer languages equal to (Equals) “HTML, if your cursor is on the Points field column,
Java, and C++.” She may add more conditions, Excel sorts the table by the Points field.
such as candidates equal to (Equals) “CS
Software Developer,” but not equal to (Does Step 2: In a small table like the one in our
Not Equal) “CS Hardware Engineer,” to workbook, it’s easy to quickly see how many
minimize the list. This selective process can go Florida drivers have 3, 4, or 12 points. In
on and on until the number of candidates is reality, however, this table would likely have
pared down to a reasonable number. thousands of records and many different
Note that the data extraction is based on levels of points. Using the filters would be a
the field columns in your database. You much easier and more efficient way to
cannot extract applicants equal to “speaks determine how many (and which) drivers have
Spanish” if the database does not contain a Greater Than Or Equal To 12 Points.
field for languages. Therefore, it’s critically
important that you create field columns to NUMBER FILTERS (ONE
collect all the information that you plan to CONDITION, ONE FIELD)
extract or filter by later. Step 1: Click the arrow beside the field
In this how-to, we’ll show you how to column called Points again. Scroll down and
apply Date, Number, and Text filters to select Number Filters. From the submenu that
your spreadsheet. To make it easier for you pops up, select Greater Than Or Equal To.
to practice the filtering tasks we’re about to
describe, we’ve created a downloadable Step 2: When the Custom AutoFilter dialog
Excel workbook with all the data we use in window opens, notice the field name Points is
this article. Just click the following link to start displayed under the prompt that says Show
the download: go.pcworld.com/wbrd.

USING THE SORT & Note that the data extraction is

FILTERS MENU based on the field columns in
Step 1: Access the Violations table. Click the your database. You cannot
arrow beside the field column called Points. extract applicants equal to
Notice the drop-down menu begins with Sort “speaks Spanish” if the
Smallest To Largest or Sort Largest To database does not contain a
Smallest. Choose one of these sorting options field for languages.

MAY 2018 PCWorld 113

HERE’S HOW USE EXCEL’S FILTERS

then all records equal to 4 and

above (through 12, on this table)
would display.

Step 5: To cancel this filter and

view all the records in this table
again, click the Points arrow again,
then click Clear Filter From “Points”
from the Sorting/Filters drop-down
menu.
Note: Points is a numeric field;
therefore, the Filters that are available
on the Filters submenu (which says
Number Filters) are Logical Operators
2. that work with numbers: Equals, Does
Use the Sort + Filters menus to sort fields. Not Equal, Greater Than, and so forth.
The options for other filters are different yet
Rows Where > Points > Is Greater Than Or again. For Dates, it’s Tomorrow, Last Week,
Equal To (your original Logical Operator), Next Quarter, etc. Text filters include Begins
which displays in the first Input box. With, Contains, Does Not Contain, etc. Some
filters overlap between the Text fields and the
Step 3: Click the down arrow on the right Number fields, but the Date filters are unique.
side of the Input box. Notice that all of the
Logical Operators are listed in this drop-down Step 6: You can also use the data under the
menu, which you can re-select if you change Search Input box to extract records that are
your mind and want to use a different Logical equal to the values (or text items or dates) in the
Operator. table. Click Points, then under the Search Input
box, uncheck the check box that says Select All.
Step 4: If you’re satisfied with your original
selection (Greater Than Or Equal To), click Step 7: Check the values you want displayed
OK and your table reappears with the for your query or report (such as 4 and 12),
records that match your filter only (in this then click OK.
case, only two records). If you had selected
Greater Than Or Equal To the number 4, Step 8: Excel removes all records from this

114 PCWorld MAY 2018

 TEXT FILTERS (TWO
CONDITIONS,
MULTIPLE FIELDS)
Step 1: Click the arrow beside
the field column called Violations
(a Text field). Scroll down and
select Text Filters. From the
submenu that pops up, notice
the Text filters that are available:
Equals, Does Not Equal, Begins
With, Ends With, Contains, Does
Not Contain, and Custom Filter.

Step 2: When the Custom

AutoFilter dialog window opens,
notice the field name Violations is
displayed under the prompt that
says Show Rows Where >
5. Violation Type > Equals (displays in
From Number Filters, Select Greater Than Or Equal To. the first Input box). Click the arrow
on the right side of the Input box
view that do not match your filtered query, beside the Equals Input box) and choose a
which means everything is gone except the Violation Type from the drop-down list.
drivers who have 4 points or 12 points.
Step 3: Follow the
instructions above (4-8
under Number Filters) to
extract the driver’s license
data you need for your
report. For example, all
drivers with Violation
Types equal to Running A
8. Red Light, or Seat Belt
Filter out all Florida drivers with 4 points or 12 points. Violation, or Speeding.

MAY 2018 PCWorld 115

HERE’S HOW USE EXCEL’S FILTERS

Step 4: What if you want to extract all

the records that show DUIs and/or
Reckless Driving? Choose Equals in
the top left Input box and then select
DUI from the top right Input box.
Then click the OR circle (tick mark).
Next choose Equals (again) in the
bottom left Input box and select
Reckless Driving from the bottom
right Input box.
Important note: Why choose OR
instead of AND? OR means any
record with DUI or any record with
Reckless Driving. AND means records
that contain both of these violations.
In this database/table, none of the
individual records contain multiple
violations, although some of the
drivers do.

DATE FILTERS (USING

CUSTOM CONDITIONS)
Excel’s Date filters are very
comprehensive and allow you to
extract individual or multiple dates by
day, week, month, year, quarter, or 4.
year-to-date, plus dates within ranges. Use Text filters to extract specific text data.
You can also use negative logic,
such as all dates that do not equal 2017, or all select YEAR from the small drop-down menu.
dates that do not equal March, April, and May.
Step 2: Uncheck Select All, then recheck
Step 1: Select the Violation Date field. Click 2016 and 2015 and click OK.
the arrow beside the Search box under Date
Filters (on the Sort/Filters submenu) and Step 3: Excel removes all years not equal to

116 PCWorld MAY 2018

(Does Not Equal) 2017.

Step 4: Click on Clear Filter

From Violation Date on the
Sort/Filters submenu.

Step 5: On same menu, select

MONTH from the Search box
drop-down menu.

Step 6: Click the plus sign

beside 2017, 2016, and 2015,
then uncheck March, April, and
May. Then uncheck Blanks and
click OK.

Step 7: Excel displays all 7.

records not equal to (Does Not Use negative logic to show all dates NOT EQUAL to something

Equal) March, April, and May.

FURTHER EXCEL TRAINING
If you want to deepen your Excel Step 8: The long list of Date filters includes:
mastery, a number of online courses
Equals, Before, After, Between, Tomorrow,
exist to expand your knowledge. Here
are our top picks to start with: Today, Yesterday, Next Week, This Week,
Last Week, Next Month, This Month, Last
Coursera: Excel Skills for Business:
Month, Next Quarter, This Quarter, Last
Essentials (go.pcworld.com/cors)
Quarter, Next Year, This Year, Last Year,
EDX: Analyzing and Visualizing Data with Year-to-Date, All Dates In A Period (with
Excel (go.pcworld.com/edxc)
four quarters and 12 months), plus Custom
Lynda.com: Excel: Scenario Planning and Filters.
Analysis (go.pcworld.com/lynd)

Udacity: Excel Fundamentals (go. Step 9: Most of these filters are a one-step/
pcworld.com/udct) one-click process: You click a filter, and the
results appear instantly.

MAY 2018 PCWorld 117

HERE’S HOW USE EXCEL’S FILTERS

lists, such as:

Is After Or Equal To:

2/22/2017
Is Before Or Equal To:
5/1/2017

And then click OK. Excel

displays only the dates you
requested.
Note: For this Filter, AND
is the correct Boolean
operator because you want
all dates between (A) AND
9. (B). If you select OR, Excel
Select from a long list of Date Filters. displays the entire database
table because ALL the dates
Step 10: If you choose Equals, Before, After, are Before, After, OR Equal To the dates you
Between, or Custom Filters, the Custom selected.
AutoFilter dialog window
opens and prompts you for
additional information such
as Equals To, Before, or After
a specific date; or Between
two dates; or to create a
Custom Filter.

Step 11: Select Between and

in the Custom AutoFilter
dialog window, notice that
Excel has already added the
conditions for this filter. All
you have to do is select the 11.
dates from the drop-down Use the Date Filter BETWEEN to extract a range of dates.

118 PCWorld MAY 2018

THE CLOSER WE GET, THE MORE WE SEE
Experience the world’s most amazing animals
in one app. WWF TOGETHER – the new free app
from World Wildlife Fund. Download it today.

worldwildlife.org/together
Tech Spotlight A video showcase
of the latest trends

Watch the
video at
go.pcworld.
com/rgbb

Over-the-
top RGB PC ≥ Multi-colored PC lighting has
crept into almost every category out
build prep there—even sound cards and power
supplies. What’s less clear is just
how easy it is to build a system entirely of RGB parts and then
simultaneously control all of the lighting. So to put it to the
test, we’re building a PC that houses as many RGB
components as possible.

120 PCWorld MAY

MONTH
20182017