Software

Quick Look: Lamptron HX070 7″ Hardware Monitor

Lamptron HX070

I would like to thank Lamptron for supplying the review sample.

Lamptron has been around since the early 2000s and is well known for its slew of fan controllers. In recent years, with the disappearance of external 5.25″ slots, Lamptron has expanded the line-up to internal components for both fan and RGB control, as well as several LCD monitors and RGB accessories. In this article, we will take a quick look at the Lamptron HX070, which is a 7″ display that may be used internally or externally.

Packaging and Contents

The Lamptron HX070 display comes in a brown cardboard box with a sticker on top to let you know what is inside. While the HC070 variant ships with AIDA64, this HX070 includes Lamptron’s own Hardware Monitor Software.

Taking a look at the display out of the box, it feels really sturdy with its metal housing. On the back, you can see that the controller board for the HX070 is also encased in the same material. In comparison, the Lamptron also offers an HC070 that comes with an exposed board. There are three connectors in the top. The Micro-USB and HDMI ones are for power and video, but what the third one is for is not clear.

You will receive an HDMI cable and a Micro-USB to USB-A cable to plug everything in properly. On top of that, Lamptron ships the HX070 with a desktop stand as well as a bracket for internal mounting within your chassis. The software comes stored on a Kingston USB drive with Lamptron branding.

There are two parts to the Lamptron software kit. On one hand, it gives you direct access to your system’s sensor data. Out of the box, this comes as a 30-day trial with a user code. You have to email Lamptron the code to receive a unique registration code for the software. I am assuming this is due to the fact that this hardware monitor utilizes a 3rd-party code base with a per-user cost to Lamptron, so this is their way of ensuring the software is not freely passed around.

The second element of the software focuses on the screen and utilizes a total of ten templates, eight for landscape use and two for portrait mode. Below are the landscape ones, which were easy to screenshot, while you are able to take a peek at portrait mode in action further down. While some of these are made by Lamptron, several templates came from fans of Lamptron products. One even has an anime character dancing away for you on screen. I am sure there are fairly easy ways to edit the template, as many visual elements are just part of a static background image, so you should be able to replace outdated product or brand icons with little effort.

Display in Use

The coolest way to use the screen is certainly inside your system. While it is not nearly as bright as your desktop or notebook screen, it should do just fine without nearly 1000 W of studio lights fighting it. The sturdy bracket holds the unit in place nicely, and there is still ample room for bulky GPUs behind it. The HDMI and USB cables need to be routed outward, so an expansion slot bracket with holes in it would have been nice. Once booted, you actually see a Windows screen, as the Lamptron HX070 is a traditional IPS display at its core.

Cycling through the above-mentioned templates can easily be done by clicking the left or right edges of the screen with your mouse. That said, I like the default screen seen in this picture the most.

You may also use the screen outside the case by employing the included stand. Unfortunately, it is not specifically made for the screen and pretty clunky. A small monitor foot instead would have been better, as it could have been screwed to the housing, for example. You may also utilize the screen in portrait mode, as Windows allows you to rotate your desktop accordingly as well.

Once it is set as such, the two remaining templates may be used properly as well. You may even conduct traditional tasks, like “surf” to TechPowerUp on the HX070. While its native resolution is 1024×600 pixels, scaling to 1080P works really well by the way.

Conclusion

The Lamptron HX070 is at its core a 7″ IPS panel with 1024×600 resolution running at 60 Hz. Lamptron has gone as far as figuring out an interface for it to utilize USB as power and HDMI for your video signal. Furthermore, Lamptron has built a steel enclosure for the screen and, in the case of the HX and HM series, the controller board as well.

To round out the total package and present a unique use case, Lamptron includes an internal mounting bracket, which is where the screen really seems to fit best. In terms of the software front, while simple, it is nice to have the templates which can be edited fairly easily by the user, and Lamptron’s simple yet functional Hardware Monitor Software.

Priced at $150, the HX070 is certainly not cheap for a screen, but could still be an interesting purchase for those looking to add something really unique and special to their build.

Pimoroni’s New Pico Display Takes It to the Max

(Image credit: Phil Howard / Pimoroni)

It seems that Pimoroni are working on a follow up to the Pico Display pack. This larger unit was teased via Pimoroni’s software Lead Phil Howard in a series of tweets that show his progress testing the display on a Raspberry Pi Pico. The display is still without a name, but the current working title is “Pico Display Pack Max” as confirmed by Pimoroni co-founder Jon Williamson.

Looks like one of those mazes you get on the back of kids menus pic.twitter.com/7jzClUTgwvJune 17, 2021

We reached out to Howard for more information and learned that the screen is a 320×240 resolution screen powered by an ST7789 SPI TFT driver. The specs look similar to Adafruit’s own 2 inch screen. Pimoroni’s screen is approximately 2 inches in size and features an IPS display capable of 60 fps. Flanking the screen are four buttons (A,B,X,Y) and a single RGB LED which uses three PWM GPIO pins to mix colors. All of these features are the same as the smaller Pico Display.

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(Image credit: Phil Howard / Pimoroni)

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In the tweets we can see the board connected to a breakout, Pimoroni’s Omnibus which suggests that the board follows the design aesthetic of Pimoroni’s Packs that connect to all of the Pico’s GPIO like a backpack. The display is larger than a Raspberry Pi Pico, which would make it the largest pack in the range. We also note that Howard is using Telnet, and connecting to a test URL, so we assume that a Pico Wireless is also connected to the breakout board.

How much and when can we buy one is still not known. But we know that it will be more expensive than the smaller $20 model.

Sonos Arc review: Dolby Atmos soundbar delivers big sound

(Pocket-lint) – Sonos is not one for racing new products out for the sake of it. Its Playbar, for example, ruled the roost for seven years, being its only full-fledged soundbar in that time.

The Sonos Beam arrived in the meantime, but was more meant for smaller TVs and rooms, giving you a better alternative than the speakers on your flatscreen rather than cinematic experience. So, a replacement to the Playbar was long overdue.

That’s where the Sonos Arc came in. But it didn’t just replace the Playbar, it brought so many new bells and whistles to the party that it is an altogether different beast. One with Dolby Atmos – a first for the company – to deliver a virtual surround-sound experience from the single ‘bar.

Design

Dimensions: 87 x 1141.7 x 115.7mm / Weight: 6.25kg
Can be wall-mounted or laid on a TV cabinet
Black and white options available
Adjustable status LED

Putting its tech and audio prowess to one side for a minute, the Sonos Arc is a sleek looking soundbar that matches the aesthetic of the company’s One and Move standalones.

Best soundbar: Options to boost your TV audio

It is long – almost the length of a modern 55-inch flatscreen TV – but more subtle than its predecessor, with a plastic alloy build and grille to front and sides. Even the logo fades away when you’re not staring directly at it, whichever finish you choose (there’s black or white, nothing more outlandish than that).

Pocket-lint

We particularly like that there are no contrasting flourishes in the design, as there’s nothing worse than catching a soundbar out of the corner of your eye while watching an intense moment in a film. Unlike children, speaker systems – and especially soundbars – should be heard and not seen. The subtlety of Sonos’ bar ensures that is the case, whether it’s wall-mounted or laid flat on a TV stand.

There are a few touch buttons on the top for play/pause and volume adjustment, but the Sonos app is so simple to use we couldn’t see ourselves bothering with them. Plus, as it is HDMI eARC-enabled, you can mainly control the soundbar through your TV remote for general use.

What is HDMI eARC? Why is it different to HDMI ARC?

The only other distinguishable icon on the bar itself is a microphone symbol, indicating that it is voice-enabled, with support for both Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant. You can tap it to turn on/off the listening mode – signified by a small LED light.

Connections

Ethernet (10/100 Mbps) and Wi-Fi (802.11b/g, 2.4GHz)
HDMI eARC (with optical digital audio adapter)
IR sensor on the front

Around the rear, hidden in an alcove, there are connections for power, HDMI and Ethernet. That’s it.

Pocket-lint

Those not wanting to connect the Arc through HDMI will be pleased to know that a digital optical audio adapter is included in the box, but that will effectively disable any Dolby Atmos support, as that requires hooking it up to an HDMI eARC/ARC port on a compatible TV. You’ll still get very effective multichannel surround sound, just not Atmos.

Also missing (if setup using the optical connection) will be the ability for full automation through your TV’s remote control. There is an infrared (IR) sensor, so you can set your remote to also adjust volume, but that’s a less elegant solution than using HDMI CEC (standing for Consumer Electronics Control) between TV and Arc. It also emits automated audio sync between them.

Still, if it’s all you’ve got then that’s fine – you’re still getting a superb sound system and are future-proofed to boot.

Plus, while there are plenty of TVs with at least one ARC-enabled HDMI port, only more recent models support Dolby Atmos decoding or passthrough. Even fewer support the full HDMI eARC standard, so it’s possible you might consider the soundbar with an eye on upgrading your TV somewhere down the line.

Pocket-lint

As well as 10/100 Mbps Ethernet for wired network connection, single-band (2.4GHz) Wi-Fi is available too.

Features

Dolby Atmos support (through HDMI eARC/ARC)
Built-in Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa voice assistants
Runs on new Sonos S2 software
Apple AirPlay 2 support
Sonos multiroom compatible

As well as Dolby Atmos – which we’ll come to in a bit – the Sonos Arc is quite a step up over the Playbar when it comes to features.

Support for Amazon’s Alexa and Google Assistant is wholly welcome, for starters, implementing in similar fashion to Sonos One and Move.

The Arc has a four far-field microphone array built in that detects voice from a fair distance. We walked around a decent sized living room, even stepped outside for a moment, and it could still hear and recognise our voice.

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FEATURE UPGRADE

Both services are setup through the Sonos app and, subsequently, their own individual applications on iOS and Android, so once complete act almost exactly as they would on any other supported device.

You can only use one assistant, having to disable the other if you swap, but it’s great to be given the choice. And, depending on Amazon and Google’s compatibility, it means you can play and control music by vocal command, across streaming services, and your own digital library.

You can also technically use your Arc to control your TV, if it too is Alexa and/or Google Assistant-enabled.

Apple AirPlay 2 is also supported by the soundbar, to present the cleanest possible audio sent wirelessly from an iPhone, iPad or Mac. And, Sonos’ Trueplay audio tuning during setup ensures that the output matches your surroundings through very simple instructions.

What is Sonos Trueplay and how does it work?

Of course, the Arc’s biggest, most attractive feature is that it is a Sonos speaker.

Sonos has provided an integrated, connected multiroom solution for many years, and has refined the experience over time. Today it is compatible with all the big music streaming services, including Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, Deezer, Tidal, and more. There is also Sonos Radio, the brand’s own free service with ad-supported stations and curated playlists, so even if you aren’t a member of a third-party platform, you will still have plenty to listen to.

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As Sonos products also connect wirelessly to each other, through your home network, you can sync the same songs playing on your Arc to, say, a Sonos Five speaker in another room, for example. You can group multiple speakers together and have them all play the same music. It’s great for house parties, that’s for sure.

Alternatively, you can use the interoperability to hook up a couple of Sonos One speakers to work as rear speakers, using your Arc as the front, centre and height channels. And adding a Sub for extra bass is made as simple as possible.

Performance

11 drivers: 8 eliptical woofers, 3 angled silk-dome tweeters
Each connected to Class-D digital amplifiers
Four far-field microphone array
Adjustable equaliser (EQ)

A decent feature set is all well and good, but the most important aspect of a soundbar is the sound itself. And the Arc does not disappoint when it comes to spatial performance.

Sonos

It effectively presents a virtual 5.0.2 soundfield with Atmos engaged, 5.0 when not. Dedicated centre, left and right channels provide the front-facing effects. Two other channels angled at either end of the bar provide virtual surround, while a pair of additional drivers point upwards to reflect Dolby Atmos height channels off the ceiling and back to the listening position.

There are eight woofers and three tweeters in all, each with its own Class-D digital amplifier, and when all are working in unison it presents a wall of sound that belies the simple, thin form factor.

We advise pairing the Arc with the Sonos Sub, as that will put extra growl into the bass, but we’re already impressed with the overall effect when it’s playing solo, including low frequencies.

As we’ve mentioned above, you can also add a pair of additional Sonos speakers for true rears/surrounds, but the reason why many invest in a soundbar is for its simplicity. Unless you are a true home cinema buff, you’ll already be impressed with the Arc’s out-of-the-box experience.

We tested the Arc using the latest Sonos software (Sonos S2) and several sources. We also used a Philips OLED754 TV, which has Dolby Atmos processing on board and passthrough – which we activated.

This allowed us to play a few Netflix shows that come with Atmos sound, plus several 4K Blu-rays: The Rise of Skywalker, John Wick 3 and Ready Player One. The second John Wick sequel is an especially good check disk for Dolby Atmos, with rain effects utilising the height channels throughout the first few scenes.

Pocket-lint

Perhaps the best test came via our Xbox One X. The Dolby Access app for the console (plus the One S) comes with a great collection of game and movie trailers featuring Atmos mixes, plus a few of Dolby’s own demo clips. They each gave the Sonos Arc a great workout, which it passed with flying colours. It provides a wall of sound, with clear precise spacing, even at extreme volumes.

When listening to the Arc you get an impression of audio above the seating position, plus a widening of the soundscape. But you also get a bold, cinematic presentation that seemingly comes straight from the TV screen. Having a dedicated centre also allows for clean vocal tracks.

In music terms, listening to high-res mixes of Price’s Purple Rain and The Rolling Stones’ You Can’t Always Get What You Want streamed over Tidal perfectly illustrated the bar’s ability with mid and high frequencies. Even bass response is more than acceptable for music playback.

You are still likely to want a separate Sub to get the most from genres utilising sub-bass – d&b and dubset heads, that’s you – but even without that additional cost the Arc’s neutral tones are a great starting point for all genres.

Verdict

The Sonos Arc is a highly-accomplished bit of kit. There are caveats: it only works with the Sonos S2 software, so cannot be part of the same multi-room setup as older legacy kit; and, without a separate source input on the bar, your TV needs to have Dolby Atmos and HDMI ARC/eARC support to use it at its fullest.

However, those are minor points really as, like the Playbar before it, this is a speaker with the potential to be relevant for the next seven years or more. Your surrounding kit will inevitably catch-up.

In the meantime, the Arc presents an exemplary sound experience even without Dolby Atmos – which accounts for 90 per cent or so of the audio you’ll pump through it anyway. And, with Alexa and Google Assistant built-in, plus AirPlay 2 and Sonos’ own feature-filled music platform, you have yourself a very compelling speaker system to elevate your entertainment no end.

It’s pricey, granted, but you’re getting a tough-to-rival feature set and a very classy act all told.

Also consider

Samsung

Samsung HW-Q90R

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If you’re not bound to Sonos’ multi-room system idea, yet want a true surround sound system in the one box, Samsung delivers a 7.1.4 with ‘bar, sub, rear speakers and Dolby Atmos support out of the box. All for a very reasonable price considering.

Read our review

Writing by Rik Henderson. Editing by Britta O’Boyle.

Vigilante Malware Blocks Pirated Software

(Image credit: Shutterstock)

A piece of malware is spreading across the internet that doesn’t behave like your usual suspects. Strangely, this malware acts as a vigilante of sorts as the software prevents your system from accessing sites known for redistributing pirated data. BleepingComputer and Sophos News first reported on the malware.

When run, the program modifies your computer’s HOSTS file and fills it with a ton of sites, specifically known for doing illegal activity, and redirects those sites to your localhost IP address of 127.0.0.1, which goes nowhere – that is the address of your PC.

The malware will also connect to a remote host when ran, telling the attacker your system’s IP address, which could be used for future attacks.

You can find this malware lurking around on game chart services from Discord, as well as through BitTorrent URLs. Ironically, the software tries to hide its true functionality by looking like a piece of pirated or torrent software. Some files downloaded with the malware point back to the Pirate Bay’s main website.

We don’t know what the exact intentions of the creator were, however, it is a very crude method of “protecting” people from pirating on the internet or protecting people from malware.

A much better practice would be to install a good anti-virus that checks your internet security for threats, to stay protected, as well as being sure to practice safe browsing and, of course, not download anything illegally.

Neo Forza Faye DDR4-4400 MHz CL19 2×16 GB Review

Introduction

High performance memory kits have evolved over the last few years, both in styling and technology. Styling has shifted to heavier heat sinks, LED light bars, and fancy RGB control software. The technology has done what it inevitably will by producing greater speeds and densities at generally lower cost as DDR4 has matured. The latest processors and graphics cards have been nearly impossible to get over the last six months, but memory pricing and availability have remained steady. With no end to the global shortages in sight, let’s dig into a product you can actually buy at MSRP!

Neo Forza started out as an I/C design house that then turned OEM for a variety of international brands over the past 15 years. Neo Forza possesses strong resources focusing on core technologies. From research and design to specific productions meant to exceed the testing benchmark, Neo Forza keeps pushing over technical boundaries, providing topnotch performance and quality.

Neo Forza has leveraged that extensive experience to streamline their wafer screening process: Each Neo Forza design focuses on a single timing bin for each frequency step across the entire product stack. A Neo Forza 3200 MHz kit will offer the same timings and performance regardless of the naming convention or external appearance.

The Neo Forza Faye is a no-nonsense option for those who eschew the RGB trend for a classic look. The Neo Forza Faye kit I have for testing today is one of their high-end kits: 32 GB (2x 16 GB) at 4400 MHz, 19-26-26-46 timings, and 1.45 V. While 3600 MHz is the sweet spot for Ryzen builds, ultra-high-speed kits still offer great benefits on Intel platforms. So let’s see how the Neo Forza Faye performs!

Specifications

Specifications
Manufacturer:	Neo Forza
Model:	NMUD416E82-4400GG20
Speed Rating:	DDR4-4400
Rated Timings:	19-26-26-46
Tested Capacity:	32 GB (16 GB x2)
Tested Voltage:	1.45 V
PCB Type:	8 layers
Registered/Unbuffered:	Unbuffered
Error Checking:	Non-ECC
Form Factor:	288-pin DIMM
Warranty:	Lifetime Limited

Banana Pi’s BPI-M2 Pro With HDMI 2.1 Now Available for $61

(Image credit: Banana Pi)

The BPI-M2 Pro single-board computer Banana Pi announced in March is now available worldwide for $61. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean the board is fully ripe, with CNX Software noting that Banana Pi still hasn’t released its firmware.

Banana Pi said the BPI-M2 Pro features an Amlogic S905X3 equipped with a quad-core Cortex-A55 processor clocked at 1.5 GHz and a Mali-G31 MP2 GPU. It also has 2GB of LPDDR4 memory, 16GB of onboard eMMC storage, and a microSD slot.

The BPI-M2 Pro also offers an HDMI 2.1 port that can theoretically support up to an 8K video output. Still, according to the Banana Pi wiki, it will be limited to 4K output with a 60Hz refresh rate. (Which is to be expected from a single-board computer.)

The board also features 40 GPIO pins, numerous USB ports, and built-in networking that offers Gigabit Ethernet, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth 5 support out of the box. More information about the BPI-M2 Pro’s specs are available via the Banana Pi wiki.

The BPI-M2 Pro is supposed to support Android and various Linux distros, but there aren’t any official images available at the time of writing. It’s not clear if that’s because the board supports images made for the Banana Pi BPI-M5, because it wasn’t supposed to debut yet, or because they’ll be ready when the board reaches buyers.

If the lack of official firmware doesn’t deter you, the Banana Pi BPI-M2 Pro is available now from AliExpress. Just be prepared to wait a while for it to arrive: The retailer said it doesn’t expect orders placed on June 16 to be delivered until July 20.

Inland Performance Plus M.2 NVMe SSD Review: Fast and Cool

Our Verdict

The Inland Performance Plus offers up very fast Gen 4 performance at a lower price than its competition, making it a compelling value for those on the hunt for a new high-performance M.2 NVMe SSD.

For

+ Appealing aesthetics
+ Competitive performance
+ 5-year warranty
+ Keeps cool under most workloads
+ Heatsink is easily removed

Against

– Lacks AES 256-bit encryption
– Lacks supporting software

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Features and Specifications

Inland’s Performance Plus is a high-performance PCIe 4.0 x4 M.2 NVMe SSD that rivals the best SSDs you can buy, but at a cheaper price point. Plus, it comes with a huge heat sink to keep this SSD cool under intensive workloads. You might not recognize the Inland brand, but it’s been a staple at Micro Center for years, and is available via Amazon as well.

Inland’s Performance Plus is one of a few of the company’s recent speedy SSDs we have slated for review. Many (if not all) of Inland’s SSDs look to be powered by Phison-branded SSD controllers, which gives us an idea of what to expect when it comes to performance and reliability. While the brand isn’t as large as say Samsung or Crucial, with the help of Phison, the company is able to remaining surprisingly competitive in the storage arena, against many much-larger rivals.

Available at Micro Center

(Image credit: Micro Center)

Direct Pricing $399.99

Hardware-wise, Inland’s performance Plus is similar in design to that of the Gigabyte Aorus Gen4 7000s, Corsair MP600 Pro, and Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus. It leverages the same E18 NVMe SSD controller and Micron’s 96L TLC flash as these alternatives, along with a sleek heatsink, but it undercuts them in price in most cases. The Inland Performance Plus makes for a solid value for those on the hunt for fast Gen4 SSD.

Specifications

Product	1TB	2TB
Pricing	$189.99	$399.99
Capacity (User / Raw)	1000GB / 1024GB	2000GB / 2048GB
Form Factor	M.2 2280	M.2 2280
Interface / Protocol	PCIe 4.0 x4 / NVMe 1.4	PCIe 4.0 x4 / NVMe 1.4
Controller	Phison PS5018-E18	Phison PS5018-E18
DRAM	DDR4	DDR4
Memory	Micron 96L TLC	Micron 96L TLC
Sequential Read	7,000 MBps	7,000 MBps
Sequential Write	5,500 MBps	6,850 MBps
Random Read	350,000 IOPS	650,000 IOPS
Random Write	700,000 IOPS	700,000 IOPS
Security	N/A	N/A
Endurance (TBW)	700 TB	1,400 TB
Part Number	1TB NVME PERF	2TB NVME PERF
Warranty	5-Years	5-Years

Inland offers the Performance Plus in 1TB and 2TB capacities, priced at $190 and $400, respectively. In terms of warranty coverage, Inland backs the Performance Plus with a five-year warranty or up to 700TB of writes per 1TB in capacity, whichever comes first.

Each capacity can dish out up to 7 GBps in read performance, but both differ in write potential. The 1TB model can write at up to 5.5 GBps, while the roomier 2TB model can sustain writes at up to 6.85 GBps thanks to having double the number of the NAND dies. Additionally, random read performance scales much higher on the 2TB than the 1TB model. The 1TB Performance Plus is rated to deliver up to 350,000/700,000 random read/write IOPS while the 2TB model can manage up to 650,000/700,000 random read/write IOPS.

A Closer Look

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Inland includes a well-designed heatsink, similar to that of the Corsair MP600 Pro, but with a few more cuts to add surface area for taming the heat under sustained workloads. However, measuring 14.5 x 23 x 70mm, Inland’s Performance Plus is very thick and can interfere with GPU placement, depending on the M.2 slot you attempt to install it in. If it gets in the way or you just want to use your motherboard’s heat sink, it is easy to remove, though.

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At the heart of the Performance Plus is a Phison PS5018-E18 PCIe 4.0 x4 NVMe 1.4 SSD controller. Along with features such as S.M.A.R.T. data reporting, secure erase capability, and TRIM, it also features ASPM and APST support for low power consumption at idle.

Unlike Phison’s previous-generation E16, the E18 is built from the ground up tp offer greater performance capability for PCIe 4.0 drives. It leverages a tri-core primary Arm Cortex R5 architecture, along with a dual-core co-processor, which results in very fast sustained write speeds. Furthermore, there are two 8Gb SK hynix DDR4 DRAM ICs on our 2TB sample, in order to accelerate access to the logical to physical mapping tables, ensuring responsive reads.

(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)

As for the bulk storage, we find eight packages of Micron’s 96L TLC. There are 32 dies in total on our 2TB sample, each 512Gb in density. This flash is not quite as fast as Micron’s recently tested 176L TLC, but with it operating at 1200 MTps over the controller’s eight NAND channels, it’s fast enough to keep up with the likes of the best in many cases.

MORE: Best SSDs

MORE: How We Test HDDs And SSDs

MORE: All SSD Content

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Features and Specifications

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Royal Kludge RK84 Review: Lots of Features, One Serious Flaw

Our Verdict

The Royal Kludge RK84 offers a compact design with wired, Bluetooth and 2.4-Ghz connectivity, and hot-swappable key switches. However, the 2.4-GHz option is nearly unusable and the software is awful.

For

+ Sturdy construction
+ Compact design compared to traditional tenkeyless keyboards
+ Hot-swappable switches
+ Three Bluetooth profiles
+ USB 2.0 passthrough

Against

– 2.4-GHz connection not reliable
– Wired USB cable connection is very loose
– No battery life indicator
– Bad, beta-level software

We live in a tenkeyless world. For a long time, the mechanical keyboard market has been dominated by a few big names—Logitech, Razer, Corsair, etc—building standard full-size keyboards. Then they started embracing tenkeyless form factors and keyboards have continued to shrink. Hell, Razer offers a 60% keyboard now.

There’s also been a rise in keyboards that act as a canvas for your own personal expression. While keyboards from larger companies, including many of the best wireless keyboards, carry their specific design aesthetic, smaller companies offer keyboards that are meant to be changed. The $79.99 Royal Kludge RK84 is one of those models, offering wired and wireless connectivity, a sizable internal battery, a 75% keyboard design, and hot-swappable switches. While most of its key functions work well, RK84’s 2.4-GHz wireless mode suffered from serious interference issues and poor range in our tests, though Bluetooth connectivity was far better. This annoying faux pas makes the RK84 difficult to recommend, though if you can use Bluetooth, it may be worth considering.

Royal Kludge RK84 Specs

Switches	MX-compatible Red, hot-swappable
Lighting	RGB backlighting
Onboard Storage	Yes
Media Keys	Secondary FN keys
Connectivity	USB-C Wired, Bluetooth, 2.4GHz dongle
Cable	5.6 inch USB-A to USB-C cable
Additional Ports	2x USB 2.0 passthrough
Internal Battery	3750mAh
Keycaps	ABS Double Shot
Software	Royal Kludge software
Measurements (LxWxH)	12.5 x 5 x 1.75 inches (315 x 125 x 40mm)
Weight	1.77lbs (803.5g)

Design of Royal Kludge RK84

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(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)

Right out of the box, the Royal Kludge RK84 makes a statement about stark simplicity. The entire keyboard is cast in white plastic, with the only breaks being the transparent characters on the keycaps and the black Royal Kludge logo. On the rear, there’s a single USB-C port and two USB-A 2.0 ports; the former is for charging the internal battery and wired connections, while the latter keys are for data and charging other devices.

Because this is a tenkeyless model, the numeric keypad is gone, leaving us with a total of 84 keys. Royal Kludge calls this its 80% keyboard, but the layout is really a 75% model. There’s no space between any of the keys, and the right Ctrl key has been cut in half to make space for a Function key. At 12.5 inches across and 5 inches wide the RK84 is pretty small, but it’s 1.75 inches thick and weighs around 1.77 pounds. That means it has a bit of heft to it, making the overall construction feel solid.

On the underside of the RK84, you’ll find four rubber feet, an on-off switch, the Bluetooth / 2.4-GHz wireless toggle, and a slot for the wireless dongle. The rear feet don’t pop out to change the height of the keyboard. Instead, it comes with two magnetic feet that just snap over the existing feet and add 0.375 inches of height. One problem here is there’s no storage spot for the feet, so if you’re traveling you’ll need to stow them in a separate bag.

The model I reviewed had cloned RK-branded Red switches that mirror the standard Cherry MX Reds, but Royal Kludge also offers Blue and Brown switches as an option. However, the RK84 is built for customization. It comes with a keycap puller and switch puller, in addition to four additional switches. The keycaps are ABS doubleshot keycaps with the familiar cross pattern connector on the bottom. The switches are plate-mounted, 3-pin models, but the board looks to have holes allowing the use of PCB-mounted switches.

That means you can easily order new keycaps and switches and drop them right into the keyboard. Mix and match switch types, add keycaps whose colors reflect your personality. I’d take the RK84 as the starting point, not the final model. Starting with this keyboard, you can hop onto Drop, WASD, KP Republic to pick up new switches or unique keycaps. At the same time, the $79.99 asking price is cheaper than similar models from Ducky One or Vortex, while offering additional features like wireless connectivity. You can also remove the plastic plate surrounding the key to change the RK84 for an embedded key model to a floating key model, depending on your visual preference.

Typing Experience on Royal Kludge RK84

The review unit came with linear Red switches, whereas I tend to do my day-to-day work on the tactile Brown switches. Combined with the learning curve of typing on this 75% model, it was a whole new experience for me. Overall, despite the hot-swappable nature of the switches, they all felt well-seated without a lot of bounce to them.

With the Function key, the F keys double as shortcuts for mail and calculator, or built-in media keys. The Function key also accesses the additional features of the keyboard. Fn plus the up/down arrow raises and lowers the brightness, left/right changes animation speed, Home cycles through the 19 backlighting modes, and End changes color for any of the single-color backlight modes.

Wired and Wireless Connectivity on Royal Kludge RK84

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(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)

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(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)

First up, was testing the keyboard in wired mode. All this requires is hooking the keyboard up with the included 5.6 inch USB-C to USB-A cable. There’s no software needed, as Windows will detect the keyboard automatically. The wired connection was entirely stable with no missed keypresses; in a typing test, my words per minute dropped slightly, but I’m chalking the small gap up to my unfamiliarity with the layout.

The USB-C port or the included cable isn’t sturdy though. I found the cable would pop out occasionally as I moved the keyboard around during testing. It’s worth noting that data and charging on the USB 2.0 port only works in wired mode.

The first wireless mode with the 2.4-GHz dongle is… pretty bad. Initial testing was done on my desktop PC. There, I found the keyboard mostly worked within a range of a foot or two of the dongle, but outside of that, it was a mess of missed keystrokes. This poor performance remained regardless of which USB port I used. It’s one of the worst wireless dongle connections I’ve experienced.

Testing on my laptop was a bit better. Without any other dongles in the laptop, I had a stable connection for up to five feet; after that, I saw the occasional missed keystroke. Adding an active Razer wireless dongle next to it dropped the range down to three to four feet. Even within that range, I found that a large obstacle—in this case, my kitchen counter and sink—caused missed keystrokes as well.

That left the Bluetooth connection. You can pair the keyboard with up to three devices, each accessed via the Function key in combination with Q, W, E. (Long pressing these combinations puts the keyboard into pairing mode.) The distance issues with the 2.4-GHz wireless mode just disappear, making the RK84 a decent choice for a living room keyboard, assuming your device has Bluetooth at all. I found that the keyboard was accurate even a good 14-16 feet away from my testing device. It almost makes me wonder why Royal Kludge added the dongle option at all.

Battery Life

The RK84 has a big honker of a battery, sitting at 3750 mAh. Royal Kludge rates the battery life at 200 hours in 2.4-GHz mode with the backlight off, and a full charge takes 6-7 hours. With a full charge, I ran the RK84 in Bluetooth mode with low-brightness backlighting for a week without dropping to zero. This workhorse will survive a long time.

There are some smaller issues here. There’s no battery indicator, outside of a blinking light on the space bar when the RK84 is at low charge. The software doesn’t even offer an indication of the overall charge level; it’s just a matter of hoping. Also, this is a small nitpick, but I’m surprised that you can’t charge via the USB ports when the keyboard is off or in wireless mode. That would give the RK84 an additional perk. Sadly, that’s not the case. That’s not a knock on the overall device, but a missed opportunity.

Software for Royal Kludge RK84

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(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)

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(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)

This keyboard works entirely without software, but Royal Kludge does have a software configuration suite. That said, it’s a bit low-effort. First, the software has two different versions depending on your keyboard’s serial number, as indicated by an included text file. Second, folks have reported the installer is flagged as malware in some antivirus programs, and it’s not signed in Windows, so you have to approve its installation.

Once you’re in the software itself, there are a good number of configuration options. You can change the key assignments per key, create macros, and change the backlighting. The RGB lighting options include many of the choices that come with built-in keyboard toggles, but you can also change the lighting sleep timer, choose a specific color by RGB value, and even make some custom lighting modes. It’s not as robust an application as Razer Chroma or Logitech G Hub, but the ability is there.

Unfortunately, my experience with it was mixed. Key assignments looked to be saved to the keyboard, working even I connected to another device via Bluetooth. But there’s no way to switch between the profiles via the keyboard itself; it only seems to store the last profile selected on the software. And lighting control is even more spotty. Sometimes a setting would take when I switched devices, while other times it would stay on the default options.

Combine that with the obtuse nature of the software itself—it was hard to tell when I was making a key or lighting assignment—and I’d say you’re probably better off avoiding the software until Royal Kludge improves it. Unless you need to change key assignments, I’d count it as a negative for the overall RK84 experience.

Bottom Line

(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)

On paper, the Royal Kludge RK84 is a winner. A simple design is paired with three connection choices, a larger battery, USB passthrough, and software that allows for further configuration. For customizers, it’s a win with hot-swappable switches and standard keycaps, with a price tag that’s lower than most of the competition. But the 2.4-GHz connection barely works, USB passthrough only works in wired mode, and the software is a miss.

The Royal Kludge tries to offer more for less, but it should ensure that the additional features actually work. Instead, the final product is a series of open questions. If you want a wired or wireless Bluetooth 75% keyboard with software-less RGB lighting configuration and a long battery life, this might be the keyboard for you. But when you step outside of those boundaries, the RK84 falters and stumbles.

The Keychron K2 offers many of the same features at the same price point, with an aluminum body. You can also try the K2’s slimmer sibling, the Keychron K3, for a more low-profile typing experience. Most of the choices from bigger manufacturers—the Razer BlackWidow V3 Mini or Asus ROG Falchion—are usually 65% keyboards and are much, much more expensive. It’s just a matter of knowing what you’re getting into here.

Elon Musk’s company was told SN8’s launch would violate its FAA license, but SpaceX launched anyway

Minutes before liftoff, Elon Musk’s SpaceX ignored at least two warnings from the Federal Aviation Administration that launching its first high-altitude Starship prototype last December would violate the company’s launch license, confidential documents and letters obtained by The Verge show. And while SpaceX was under investigation, it told the FAA that the agency’s software was a “source of frustration” that has been “shown to be inaccurate at times or overly conservative,” according to the documents.

SpaceX’s violation of its launch license was “inconsistent with a strong safety culture,” the FAA’s space division chief Wayne Monteith said in a letter to SpaceX president Gwynne Shotwell. “Although the report states that all SpaceX parties believed that such risk was sufficiently low to comply with regulatory criteria, SpaceX used analytical methods that appeared to be hastily developed to meet a launch window,” Monteith went on.

Launch violations are rare in the industry, even as private contractors have taken over work that once was the US government’s alone. SpaceX occupies a particularly dominant position, as it is now NASA’s only ride to the International Space Station and the Moon. The documents exclusively obtained by The Verge show how SpaceX prioritized speed over safety when launching on its own private rocket playground. Ultimately, the FAA didn’t sanction SpaceX, and less than two months later, SpaceX resumed flights in Boca Chica, Texas.

For Musk, SpaceX’s CEO who was on site for SN8’s launch day, the violation is one of the latest tussles with regulators overseeing his companies. After settling with the Securities and Exchange Commission in 2018 over an attempt to take Tesla private, Musk was told his tweets about the company needed a lawyer’s sign-off. Shortly after, he went on 60 Minutes to say no one was approving his tweets; the SEC brought him back to court, though Musk’s tweets have continued to raise eyebrows with no apparent consequences. In 2020, Musk’s Fremont Tesla factory violated local safety orders, defying the local government’s stay-at-home order to work through the pandemic. Musk taunted local officials, inviting them to come arrest him.

SpaceX emerged from the December launch violation relatively unscathed. The company has since won a $2.9 billion contract to put NASA astronauts on a Starship flight to the Moon in 2024 — the first and only such contract in a half-century.

Neither SpaceX nor Musk has publicly commented on the SN8 violation. SpaceX didn’t respond to a request for comment. The FAA confirmed the violation after a report by The Verge in January. But a confidential five-page report by SpaceX and letters between Shotwell and Monteith reveal what SpaceX employees knew before liftoff and detail how the company responded to its violation in the aftermath.

SpaceX first attempted to launch SN8 at SpaceX’s South Texas Starship campus on December 8th with FAA approval, but it scrubbed due to an engine issue. Launch day on December 9th, when weather conditions changed, was full of ad hoc meetings between company employees and FAA officials, who repeatedly rejected SpaceX’s weather and launch modeling data that purported to show SN8 was safe to fly, according to a five-page SpaceX report. It was unclear what role, if any, Musk himself played in the decision to launch SN8.

SpaceX’s SN8 Starship prototype successfully lifts off in violation of its launch license.

GIF: SpaceX

The FAA’s models showed that if the rocket exploded, its shockwave could be strengthened by various weather conditions like wind speed and endanger nearby homes. As a new launch countdown clock was ticking, SpaceX asked the FAA to waive this safety threshold at 1:42PM, but the FAA rejected the request an hour later. SpaceX paused the countdown clock.

SpaceX’s director of launch operations, whose name wasn’t provided in the report, restarted the launch countdown clock shortly after. The report said the director had “the impression that” SpaceX’s data was sufficient. But that wasn’t the case. As the launch clock was counting down, SpaceX staff in the meeting made little progress — 15 minutes before liftoff, “the FAA informed SpaceX that the weather data provided was not sufficient.” The same safety risk remained, and SN8 wasn’t cleared for launch.

SpaceX employees left the FAA meeting for the company’s launch control room ahead of SN8’s launch. Minutes before liftoff, an FAA safety inspector speaking on an open phone line warned SpaceX’s staff in the launch control room that a launch would violate the company’s launch license. SpaceX staff ignored the warning because they “assumed that the inspector did not have the latest information,” the SpaceX report said.

SpaceX launched the rocket anyway. The steel-clad SN8 prototype flew more than six miles over the company’s private rocket facilities on the coast of Boca Chica, Texas, and blew to smithereens upon landing. No injuries or damage to any homes were reported.

SN8 perishes in an explosive “hard landing”

In one letter to Shotwell, Monteith cited SpaceX’s report and slammed the company for proceeding with the launch “based on ‘impressions’ and ‘assumptions,’ rather than procedural checks and positive affirmations.”

“These actions show a concerning lack of operational control and process discipline that is inconsistent with a strong safety culture,” he said.

SpaceX agreed to take over a dozen corrective measures but defended its own data and decision-making. The company criticized the FAA’s launch-weather modeling software. The software’s results, SpaceX said, can be intentionally interfered with to provide “better or worse results for an identical scenario.”

SpaceX has complained to the FAA in the past about the software, but “this feedback has not driven any action, contributing to the situation described above,” the report said. A “closer and more direct dialogue” with FAA officials would’ve smoothed the FAA discussions before SN8’s launch, SpaceX added.

SpaceX also proposed corrective measures: pausing the launch countdown clocks if an FAA inspector says there’s a violation and lowering the threshold for manually detonating an errant rocket midflight, before a more dangerous explosion occurs. The company also proposed to build at least four new launch and weather modeling tools with the FAA.

Monteith wasn’t happy with SpaceX’s response. He ordered SpaceX to reevaluate its safety procedures and launch day chain of command, and he urged it to go back and review the launch control room phone lines to spot any times SpaceX strayed from the license’s communication plan. He also required an FAA inspector to be physically present in Texas for every Starship prototype launch in the future. Flying inspectors from offices in Florida to rural Texas for each launch isn’t easy, so the FAA might base one in Houston for a shorter trip.

FAA investigators couldn’t determine whether the SN8 license violation was intentional, according to people involved in and briefed on the investigation, speaking on the condition of anonymity. That’s partially why the FAA review of the violation wasn’t a more in-depth investigation that could have resulted in fines or stronger consequences. FAA officials also believed grounding Starship and foisting a two-month investigation on a multibillion-dollar company focused heavily on speedy timelines would be a more effective penalty than imposing relatively trivial fines, the people said.

SN8 marked SpaceX’s first high-altitude launch outside of its other launch sites in Florida and California, where Air Force officials who monitor local weather conditions tell the company whether it’s safe to launch. Those government officials, formally called Range safety officials, don’t exist at SpaceX’s private rocket facilities in south Texas. SpaceX was primarily responsible for its own range safety during SN8’s launch, a responsibility in which it had very little experience. The company acknowledged in its report that the Starship site “was not mature enough” to function as a range.

SpaceX is moving ahead anyway. Since the launch violation, it’s launched four more rockets at the Starship site and even landed one successfully — all with FAA approval and a few changes to its operations. Unlike SN8, which launched on an automatic timer, other Starship launches now require a final “go” command from a human operator, Shotwell said in a letter to Monteith. And it is taking a stab at maturity, at least with its range safety tech.

At least one of the new launch-weather models SpaceX proposed, designed to bolster its range capabilities, has already taken shape. The company is building a database of wind patterns over Boca Chica to help inform its launch day weather modeling, using an experimental tool to gather wind speed data, according to a document the company filed with the Federal Communications Commission in April.

But new weather tools won’t change Musk’s Twitter presence, a concern for agency officials and lawmakers who worry the CEO’s candid tweets influence SpaceX employees and put unfair pressure on launch safety processes.

As the FAA’s review of SpaceX’s safety culture investigation was nearing completion in late January, holding up the company’s SN9 launch for a few days, Musk tweeted that the FAA’s “space division has a fundamentally broken regulatory structure” and that, under its rules, “humanity will never get to Mars.” An FAA spokesman replied, saying the agency “will not compromise its responsibility to protect public safety.”

The House transportation committee that oversees the FAA opened its own probe into SpaceX’s SN8 violation in February as well as “the FAA’s subsequent response, and the pressure exerted on the FAA during high profile launches,” chairs of the committee and its aviation subcommittee wrote to the agency’s administrator Steve Dickson. SpaceX’s recent launch activities raise serious questions about whether the FAA is under “potential undue influence” in making safety decisions, the letter said.

In March, after an onsite FAA inspector left town for the weekend following a week of anticipation for the company’s SN11 prototype launch, SpaceX emailed the inspector on Sunday to return for a Monday liftoff, according to a person familiar with the exchange. The inspector, taking the weekend off, missed the email at first but hopped on an early Monday morning flight back to Texas.

“FAA inspector unable to reach Starbase in time for launch today,” Musk wrote on Twitter, stirring up vitriol against the FAA in SpaceX’s fan base bubbles on Twitter and Reddit. The inspector landed in Texas, and SN11 launched the next day.