Andrew Munro 5 hours ago Featured Tech Reviews, PC, Reviews
We love reviewing the biggest, most powerful systems here on KitGuru but not everyone needs a huge PC glowing like a disco. For casual users and businesses there are some far more practical options available. The ASUS PN50 Mini PC is a tiny system but don’t let that fool you. Featuring a Ryzen 7 4700U, integrated AMD Radeon Vega 7 graphics, Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5, 8K and 4x 4K monitor support as well as upgradable memory and storage, this little machine punches above its weight class.
Watch via our Vimeo channel (below) or over on YouTube at 2160p HERE
Specifications:
Review model: ASUS PN50 Barebones system (No OS, SSD or RAM included)
Barebones configuration price: £369.99
AMD Ryzen R7-4700U (8-core, 15W TDP)
Integrated AMD Radeon Vega 7 Graphics
Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX200 (Gig+)
Bluetooth 5
Monitor support: 8K support, 4 x 4K support
IR Sensors for use with remote control
Dual-array microphones
3 in 1 card reader
Front I/O: 1 x USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-C (Support Display Port 1.4, Battery Charging 1.2) 1 x USB 3.2 Gen1 1 x Audio Jack (Line in/ Mic in/ Headphone out) 2 x Microphone Array 1 x IR receiver 1 x 3 in 1 Card reader
Side I/O: 1x Kensington Lock
Rear I/O: 1 x USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-C (Support Display Port 1.4) 2 x USB 3.2 Gen1 1 x HDMI 2.0 Port 1 x Display Port 1.4 1 x RJ45 LAN 1 x DC-in
90W Power Adapter
Storage supported: 1 x SATA 6Gb/s for 2.5″ 500G/1TB HDD 1 x M.2 2280 for SATA & PCIe 128G/256G/512G/1TB SSD (Supports NVMe)
RAM supported: 2 x SO-DIMM, DDR4-3200MHz memory (4GB to 64GB)
Dimensions: 115 x 115 x 49 mm
Weight: Under 0.7Kg
The PN50 is aimed at businesses, both office and retail, those that just want a compact system and even home-theatre setups. Since it’s so small it can easily be tucked out of sight where other systems would struggle to fit, and can even be attached to the back of a monitor via the included VESA mount. Weighing less than 1kg, dimensions of 115 x 115 x 49 mm and a sleek black, brushed, aesthetic the PN50 will suit any home or office setup.
As this is a barebones system it does not come supplied with any storage drives, RAM or even operating system. Of course, depending on your use for the system will depend on what you choose to install but for our test purposes we chose 16GB of G-Skill Ripjaws SO-DIMM DDR4 3200MHz RAM and 1TB WD Blue SN550 NVMe SSD.
Installation is easy, even if you’re not a confident PC builder the instructions are clear. I don’t think you should be put off and I’d give it a good 8/10 for how easy it is to install or even upgrade.
If you take a look at the specifications above, connectivity wise, it really does have a lot going for it, more so than a lot of full-sized systems. This is excellent for business users as well as home use too. On the front we also have one combination audio jack for line in, mic in and headphone out, dual-array microphones for use with Windows Cortana and an IR receiver for use with a remote control, which is another great feature that will appeal to businesses and a 3 in 1 micro-SD card reader.
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Parallel to Sony’s presentation of the Playstation 5 game console, Cooler Master and KFC apparently jokingly announced the KFConsole, a “console” for “real 4K gaming and 120 Frames per second”. Now Cooler Master is getting serious and introducing the device on a specially set up landing page.
The internet is full of hot IT news and stale pr0n. In between there are always pearls that are too good for / dev / null.
After this 120 – fps gaming with the Playstation 5 and Xbox Series X has now more or less become mainstream, the manufacturer advertises with the KFConsole 240 – fps gaming pleasure. The inclined fast food lover also gets a drawer integrated into the housing with a small plastic grate including a collecting container on which, for example, chicken wings can be kept warm.
Cooler Master KFConsole (5 pictures) (Image: Cooler Master) Compact game PC Contrary to the name, the KFConsole hides a fairly normal one (Windows) PC in compact design. Intel’s “Compute Element”, a plug-in card with a soldered-on mobile processor, M.2 SSD and DDR4 SDRAM serves as the core. The fastest version relies on the eight-core Core i9 – 9980 HK.
This is joined by a GeForce RTX graphics card from Asus. Cooler Master does not name an exact model, but the pictures show a dual mini version from Nvidias 2000 generation – these are available as GeForce RTX 2060 and GeForce RTX 2070. Faster offshoots, for example in the form of a GeForce RTX 3060 Ti, are larger and probably do not fit into the case .
The food is kept at a constant temperature using the waste heat from the hardware components. What sounds like a nice gimmick in marketing is likely to be suboptimal from a hygienic point of view. Cooler Master and KFC have not yet commented on prices and availability, but assure that the KFConsole should actually go on sale.
“During the darkest days of Model 3, I reached out to Tim Cook to discuss the possibility of Apple taking over Tesla for a tenth of our current value. He refused to attend the meeting.” This is what Tesla boss Elon Musk wrote in a tweet yesterday, Tuesday.
Tesla’s market value is currently barely reaching the New York Stock Exchange 610 Billion US dollars, according to Musk’s tweet, Apple Tesla would have paid for 60 billions of dollars. About a year ago, a Tesla share was about a tenth of its current value.
The Model 3 is supposed to bring Tesla out of the upper-class niche into a broader market. The market entry at the end 696 went with numerous production delays, exceptionally long waiting times for customers and, last but not least, strong price increases hand in hand. In February 2019 the influential US consumer magazine Consumer Reports the Tesla Model 3 from its list of recommended cars. In the annual reliability survey, some problems with the body, windows as well as paintwork and trim were stated, it was said.
Musk’s doubts Apple’s work on its own car became concrete for the public five years ago. Musk said at the time that he expected such a car for 2019. Now the Reuters news agency reported that an “Apple Car” for the mass market can be expected for 2024.
Apple is concentrating on battery cells with as much active material as possible by largely avoiding packaging the battery. The company is also interested in lithium iron phosphate cells (LFP) in order to reduce the risk of overheating and to make the vehicle as safe as possible. Overall, the cost of the battery should be greatly reduced and the range increased.
Tesla’s model range (33 Pictures) The Roadster was Tesla’s first production car, the new model is supposed to 2020 on come the market.
(Image: Tesla) If Apple’s plans come true, Musk would find them strange, he wrote in another tweet. Tesla already uses iron phosphate for its vehicles, which are manufactured in Shanghai, and the mono cells that Apple is considering are “electrochemically impossible”.
In mid-November 2020 the Certificate Authority (CA) Let’s Encrypt warned of the expiry of the IdenTrust root certificate with which its own free X. 509 certificates are cross-signed. Instead of solving the problem with a new cross signature, the CA wants to rely entirely on its own root certificate ISRG Root X1 in the future in favor of more independence.
For Android devices with operating system versions prior to 7.1.1, this would have meant that apps and internal browsers would no longer have been able to connect to servers with certificates from Let’s Encrypt. At least not without manual “contortions”, because with these versions Let’s Encrypt’s own root certificate is not contained in the memory of the root certificates. From the start of the changeover to ISRG Root X1 on 11. January 2021 it would have hailed error messages when surfing many websites – because an alternative “Intermediate Certificate”, the previous root certificate “DST Root X3” from IdenTrust until it expires on 11. September 2021 should have been explicitly requested by the server operator.
A comprehensive solution to the problem was initially missing. But now Let’s Encrypt has convinced IdenTrust to continue to act as a higher-level certificate authority and to provide the new root certificate ISRG Root X1 with a cross signature for another three years. This means that the compatibility problems feared from January will no longer apply, according to a current blog entry by Let’s Encrypt.
DST Root X3 long-term as an anchor certificate Already when Let’s Encrypt was founded almost five years ago, IdenTrust came up with the DST Root X3 root certificate as Partner on because this s ch was already established in the leading web browsers as well as under Windows, Mac OS X, iOS and Android. The cross-signature ensured that these systems and browsers also trusted Let’s Encrypt from the start, whose own root certificate ISRG Root X1 was still largely unknown.
Current browsers and systems have long known this certificate, but old ones Android versions whose certificate store cannot be updated by Google, simply not. Let’s Encrypt will therefore continue to provide a certificate chain that contains its own ISRG Root X1 with a cross signature via IdenTrust’s DST Root X3.
Since the validity of DST Root X3 in September 2021 is an unusual action, so Let’s Encrypt. As an anchor certificate, it is still not worthless, as these basic root certificates in particular are not assigned an expiration date on Android – they remain valid indefinitely on this platform. Other operating systems and browsers ignore the cross-signature because of the expiry date, but are satisfied with the current ISRG Root X1 anyway.
But not complete independence The ISRG (Internet Security Research Group) consortium behind Let’s Encrypt and IdenTrust have obtained confirmation from the auditors that this procedure continues to meet the guidelines of the CA / Browser Forum. As a higher authority and association of CAs, browser manufacturers and developer companies, it monitors the issuing practice of recognized X. 509 certificates.
For IdenTrust, this step means continuing to share part of the responsibility for Let’s Encrypt. And for the free provider, a dependency remains, from which Let’s Encrypt actually wanted to free itself, according to its now updated statement. The need to continue to use the older Android versions, which are still in widespread use, ultimately outweighed the desired independence via one’s own root certificate.
Longer term, longer certificate chain The change to the new, downwardly compatible certificate chain as the standard will take place on 11. January 2021 now in late January or early February 2021 respectively.
The The new certificate chain with two intermediate certificates (center) still contains the DST Root X3 from IdenTrust as a cross signature for old Android versions.
(Image: letsencrypt.org)
Nothing changes for the server operator and visitors and no further actions are necessary than the usual certificate renewal with one of the Let’s Encrypt clients. However, the provider points out that the client used must be up-to-date in order to use the latest version of the ACME (Automatic Certificate Management Environment) used for domain validation. As an official client, Let’s Encrypt offers its own Certbot written in Python, but also maintains a list of compatible clients in other languages.
For connecting to servers and services with certificates from Let’s Encrypt, this means longer certificate chain with the additional intermediate certificate, more effort for the TLS handshake, since the server presents two certificates. Let’s Encrypt wants to make the handshake more efficient again in the future and is therefore planning ECDSA-based root and intermediate certificates in the coming year, which will be significantly shorter than the previous RSA-based certificates. (ovw)
Many apps process highly sensitive data, but how well do they take care of it? You can quickly set up your own test laboratory for the analysis with our tips.
(Image: Albert Hulm)
Health apps are all the rage, and accordingly many of them are currently seeing the light of smartphone displays. However, there are always reports of spectacular security gaps in such and many other apps or the associated infrastructure. Those who do not want to blindly rely on the skills of the developers can check for themselves how secure an Android app is. Assuming some basic knowledge and the right tools, interesting insights are not far.
Even if you do not have a 1337 H4x0r, you can do something with this article. Previous knowledge of Android, Linux and Java is helpful, but an interest and willingness to learn is much more important. As is known, the best hacking tool is a good search engine. This article shows you basic ways to tackle an Android app. There are also tips and tricks from the practice of a penetration tester.
You first need a PC with an operating system of your choice – am best a Linux so you can play through this article in full. However, most tools also work on Windows and macOS. You also need an Android smartphone that can run the app you’re targeting. A reasonably current Android version should be installed on it: at least version 7.0 (Nougat), better 8.0 (Oreo) or newer. It is advisable to use a smartphone for such experiments that you do not depend on in everyday life.
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Telegram is adding a new group voice chats feature that’s similar to an always-on Discord room. Voice chats are now part of existing text chats, and operate as a persistent option to speak live with friends or family. As they’re always available, you can dip in and out of voice chats just like you would in a Discord room or call.
Telegram is supporting “a few thousand participants,” so even bigger groups for things like live events will include voice chats. The feature appears at the top of an existing group chat, if enabled, allowing anyone to join the conversation freely. On the desktop versions of Telegram for Windows and Mac, you can also use a push-to-talk key for voice chats to control your microphone input.
Telegram’s new voice chat overlay for Android.Telegram
Telegram has also built a useful voice chat overlay for Android, which operates as a system-wide floating widget. It lets you see who’s talking or operate microphone and mute options when Telegram is running in the background.
At the moment group voice chats is focused on audio, but Telegram says it’s adding video and screen sharing features in the coming weeks. If you’re interested in trying out group voice chats you’ll need to be an admin of a group to enable the feature in the group settings menu.
Alongside the group voice chats option, Telegram CEO Pavel Durov has revealed that the service is nearing 500 million users. Telegram now plans to monetize its service with an ad platform that’s designed for one-to-many public channels. Durov describes the platform as “one that is user-friendly, respects privacy and allows us to cover the costs of servers and traffic.”
Update December 23rd 6:15AM ET: Article updated with Telegram monetization plans.
Verizon’s new nationwide 5G network is reportedly slower than its LTE network, to the point that users are apparently better off just disabling 5G entirely unless they’re near a mmWave network. The results come from testing done by PC Magazine’s Sascha Sagan, who points to Dynamic Spectrum Sharing, or DSS, as the culprit.
The tech lets carriers run LTE and 5G networks side by side, which is useful if, like Verizon, you don’t yet have enough dedicated 5G spectrum. While the carrier has largely focused on its mmWave network until recently, it also has begun rolling out a mid-band nationwide 5G network, which promises to avoid mmWave’s range issues by using DSS. The only catch is that, with Verizon, it seems like this tech leads to worse performance in most cases for phones running in 5G mode.
The solution, at least for now, is to just turn 5G off if you’re a Verizon customer. If that has your concerned about speeds compared to your T-Mobile customer friends, don’t worry too much: in it’s nationwide speed test earlier this year, PC Magazine found that T-Mobile’s 5G can often still be slower than Verizon’s LTE, even though it uses dedicated 5G bands. That same nationwide test also revealed that AT&T’s 5G can be slower than its LTE as well — which makes sense, given that it also uses the DSS technology for it’s 5G network.
The results from PC Magazine were only done in New York City, so if you have a 5G phone on Verizon, it may be worth checking to see if you’re actually getting faster speeds with 5G on. If you’re not, it may be worth turning it off entirely for now. This is also likely just a temporary issue — as Verizon continues to add dedicated 5G spectrum, their speeds are going to improve.
It’s important to note that this doesn’t apply to Verizon’s mmWave technology, which is much faster than anything any other carrier has to offer. However, while mmWave has the speed, it doesn’t have the range, and it can be blocked by trees, buildings, and sometimes even windows. But if you often find that 5G UB logo popping up on your phone, and you need that speed, it may be worth keeping 5G on, even if it could lead to slow downs when you get outside its range.
Calls and video calls can be also perform from desktop with WhatsApp Web and with the dedicated client. Their arrival is finally official in the preliminary version, a sign that everything could finally land also in the official versions. Here’s how they will work.
by Bruno Mucciarelli published 22 December 2020 , at 10: 41 in the web channel Whatsapp
During the COVID pandemic – 19 and lockdown periods the calls and the online video calls have become increasingly common, both for private users, and for companies that have had to find an alternative to physical meetings. Facebook and Zoom took advantage of the moment by proposing their own technologies, and WhatsApp was also updated by increasing the limit of group calls to 8 people. But there are more news in sight.
WhatsApp Web: calls and video calls arrive
As stated by the usual WABetaInfo, in fact, the WhatsApp team is working on the implementation of the functionality also on the client for desktop systems, therefore within the WhatsApp Web platform accessible via browser. The feature was implemented in the first test builds these days, but is not yet accessible to the public and provides for support for both calls and video calls with WhatsApp also on desktop .
In this case, here is WhatsApp Web has brought to the interface the buttons and graphic elements necessary to initiate calls and video calls also from PC, Mac and tablet. There are keys to start the calls that have been positioned in the upper bar, where there is also the header of the chat or group. In this case, the actual calls and video calls should take place within separate windows from those of the main chats. Not only because for voice calls there will be a compact size control bar which will guarantee, from what it seems, to hang up the phone call or even switch to a video call. If, on the other hand, a call is received, the window will expand to accommodate the caller’s profile photo, allowing you to reject the call, to answer on video, or to receive the communication using only the microphone.
Virtually only calls and video calls from the web interface on WhatsApp are missing. A shortcoming that certainly made itself felt not a little, especially in this period of smart working and lockdown. Two elements that have been available for years in the smartphone versions of the application but which are always lacking in the one accessible from the browser.
When the calls and video calls on the WhatsApp desktop client arrive also for the public version and on WhatsApp Web ? As usual, no official dates are released. The function is under development and has not yet been confirmed but in fact the landing on the Beta channel for some time can only bode well for a not too distant release. Or at least hopefully.
Home/Software & Gaming/Microsoft Flight Simulator Sim Update 2 drops today with realistic winter weather and VR
Matthew Wilson 27 mins ago Software & Gaming
Earlier this year, Asobo Studio announced that it would be bringing VR headset support to Microsoft Flight Simulator. Beta testing began back in October and the developers have had a quick turnaround, with the game’s big VR update now officially rolling out to all owners of the game today.
We might be living under travel restrictions here in the UK, but we can still take a virtual trip around the world. Microsoft Flight Simulator is getting its VR update today, with support for Oculus headsets, the Valve Index, HTC VIVE and Windows 10 Mixed Reality headsets.
Virtual Reality support isn’t the only thing coming in today’s Flight Simulator update. The game is also getting updated for the Winter season, with realistic weather conditions, such as snow and ice. Thanks to the game’s real-time weather simulation technology, this is all down in real-time, so snow and ice coverage will be true to life, based on real-world coverage across the entire planet.
This all comes ahead of the game’s next major expansion, which will see more realistic locations added to the UK part of the map in early 2021.
KitGuru Says: Have many of you played Microsoft Flight Simulator this year? Will you be checking out today’s major Winter and VR update?
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Microsoft has moved the vision “One .NET” to .NET 6.0. But even without the promised standardization .NET 5.0 brings some progress.
Of
Dr. Holger Schwichtenberg .NET Framework: Performance and deployment in .NET 5.0 improved The classic is slowed down Conclusion Article in iX 1 / 2021 read Microsoft announced in May 2019 to merge the previously separate .NET variants .NET Framework, .NET Core and Mono into one product line as part of .NET 5.0. With the reference to the slower progress in the home office caused by the pandemic, the standardization was postponed to that for November 2021 planned .NET 6.0.
You have to differentiate clearly between marketing and technology. Technically, .NET 5.0 is a further development of .NET Core 3.1. In order to suggest to customers that the future belongs to this product line alone, Microsoft deleted the term “Core” and skipped the version number 4.0.
Developers who are still using the .NET Framework 4.8 or a his predecessors work, you have to reckon with a considerable migration effort, because not only has the project model changed, but .NET 5.0 also no longer offers some components. This includes in particular Windows Communication Foundation (WCF), ASP.NET Webforms, ASP.NET Webservices, .NET Remoting, Windows Workflow Foundation (WF), LINQ-to-SQL and Applications Domains.
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Cyberpunk 2077 is currently not only notorious because of its many bugs, but also for its exorbitant hardware requirements: If you want to play with ray tracing, for example, you not only need an Nvidia graphics card, but in most cases also have to switch on the AI upscaling DLSS – otherwise it will even jerk on an RTX 3080.
Stadia not only shows a blurred image, but also more unrealistic reflections on the glass due to the lack of ray tracing .
(Image: c’t Magazin)
The hour for cloud streaming platforms strikes: Services such as Google Stadia, Nvidia GeForce Now or Shadow run the game in data centers on server hardware and stream the Video output to customers. This doesn’t even require a computer, so all three services also run on iOS and Android mobile devices or even on streaming boxes for the television (Stadia on Chromecast Ultra, GeForce Now on Shield TV). For all services you have to buy Cyberpunk 2077, but the conventional GOG runs on GFN and Shadow – or Steam version (you just log into your own account), you have to buy the game on Google on the Stadia platform – if you have it on Steam or GOG, this doesn’t do you any good.
Latencies are not a big problem with proper Internet access, as several c’t tests have already shown, for example this one here (for a fee).
From 16 watch we stream live with GeForce Now and Google Stadia.
Video live stream: We play Cyberpunk 2077 on Stadia and GeForce Now
GeForce Now impresses: Raytracing Ultra with 60 fps We to have Cyberpunk 2077 (Version 1. 05) tried on Stadia and GeForce Now (GFN) and were positively surprised, especially by the Nvidia service GFN: With a chargeable “founder” account (currently 27, 45 Euro for 6 months) we could play the game with all (!) Settings on the maximum value without any problems in 1080 Use p-resolution (“Raytracing Ultra”) – at least if DLSS is activated (“Auto”). Without the AI-supported upscaling function, you could still play reasonably well, but with it it was much more fun and feels like 60 fps. Unfortunately, with the GOG version we tested it is currently not possible to display the frame rate calculated by the server. For comparison: On a local gaming PC with a GeForce RTX 2070 and AMD Ryzen 3700 x the game ran significantly worse with the same settings. There is also free GFN access, but there always seems to be long waiting times. With the chargeable founder account, we never recorded waiting times on several test days.
Google Stadia: Runs okay, but graphically slimmed down There is also Google Stadia in a free version, we could use it without any problems. It runs with a maximum of 1080 p-resolution and stereo sound. 4K, HDR and 5.1 sound are reserved for the Pro version (9, 99 euros per month). We also tested with this. Unlike GFN, Stadia runs a specially adapted version that has significantly fewer setting options. So there is only one option under “Graphics” between a 60 – fps mode (“high frame rate”) and a 30 – fps mode (“graphics”). Otherwise you can only set chromatic aberration, depth of field, lens flare and motion blur. Both Stadia preset modes are significantly slimmed down compared to the PC or GeForce Now version: For example, there does not seem to be any ray tracing effects, not even in the 30 – fps mode.
Cyberpunk 2077 in the cloud: image quality in comparison (10 Pictures) PC native (Raytracing Ultra)
(Image: c’t Magazin) In our test runs, the game always ran smoothly under Stadia and also worked without any problems via a Chromecast Ultra with a Stadia controller. However, the image sharpness varied significantly, especially when we used a browser instead of Chromecast. In one case – Edge was running under Windows 10 – the picture worked especially in 60 – fps mode very washed out. After a restart there was more sharpness in the picture. We didn’t have these problems with Chrome. Incidentally, it didn’t seem to be due to the video codec used: With the browser extension “Stadia Enhanced” we had manually preset VP9, the codec is more efficient than the H otherwise used. 264. During the two-hour test run, the Stadia version crashed twice.
All tests ran on a gigabit cable connection (1000 Mbit / s down, 50 Mbit / s up), the Windows – 10 – test computer was connected to the router by cable. We didn’t test Shadow because it currently takes around six months to get an account.
Conclusion The free version of GeForce Now requires a lot of waiting.
Cyberpunk 2077 is more fun in the cloud than on many gaming PCs – especially with GeForce Now you can get into that Enjoy the full graphic splendor, including ray tracing effects. At first glance, these are subtle, but make for a much more realistic overall impression. The unfortunately ray-tracing-free Stadia version is well suited for people who have a Chromecast Ultra but do not have a gaming PC. If you are not too impatient, you should wait a few months anyway until CD Projekt Red has eliminated the most violent bugs.
Microsoft has fixed a bug that some Windows – – installations in the versions 20 H2 and 2004 affected and by the cumulative update KB 4592438 of December 8th 2020. Users who run the command line “chkdsk / f” reported that this operation corrupted the file system. In some cases, the systems could not be started afterwards.
The Windows on-board tool chkdsk is actually supposed to contain errors in the file system and bad hard disk sectors track down and repair. In the current case, the file system repair initiated by “chkdsk / f” apparently had the opposite effect. Microsoft has documented the problem in the support article for KB 4592438 in the section “Known issues in this update”.
Error correction and troubleshooting As can be seen from an addendum in the support article, Microsoft has now got the problem on “unmanaged” devices – those that are not updated in a company network via WSUS or SCCM – remotely remedied. It could take up to 24 hours for the changes to take effect; a restart might speed up the process.
How the remote correction works without a new update package is not clear from the article; A change in a registry entry by Microsoft is conceivable. For managed devices in corporate environments, however, a special group policy is available that must be downloaded and configured manually.
For devices whose Windows 10 no longer start due to damage caused by “chkdsk / f”, Microsoft provides step-by-step instructions for solving the problem in the “Known Issues” section. In summary, it is recommended that users start the command line via the repair environment that opens automatically after several boot attempts, restart a “chkdsk / f” process and then try a restart after entering “exit”. If the recovery selection opens again, a new “exit” should lead back to the operating system.
Repair hard drive – you can do that (heise tips + tricks) (ovw)
(Pocket-lint) – Picking up a top ultrawide monitor can transform your desk setup, whether you want to use the screen for gaming or working from home.
Before you toss your old CRT monitor onto the trash heap, though, it’s important to understand what you’re getting with an ultrawide monitor. Essentially, these wider screens let you view your content in a 21:9 aspect ratio, rather than the standard 16:9 ratio – kind of similar to watching something at the movie theater instead of your TV at home.
The best monitor 2021: Top 4K and Quad HD options for everyone
This means the bezel gap you find with dual-screen setups is eliminated, and you can enjoy wide-angle viewing in its most natural form.
Since there are enough models of ultrawide monitors to fill a warehouse, though, we’ve boiled things down and detailed some of the very best for every budget that can elevate your home setup – whether you’re seeking more immersion in spreadsheets or your games.
Our best ultrawide monitor picks to buy today
AOC
AOC CU34G2X
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If you’re after a mid-range ultrawide monitor that can really elevate your gaming sessions, AOC’s CU34G2X is one that manages to rise above the rest of the crop.
The 34-inch, 3440 x 1440 Quad HD resolution provides you with next-level crispness, while the 144Hz refresh rate and 1ms MPRT is the key behind some very smooth gameplay.
The screen itself offers 1500R curvature, which adds to the immersion, with room for two DisplayPort, two HDMI 2.0, and four USB ports.
LG
LG 25UM58
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Not everybody wants an ultrawide monitor primarily for gaming – sometimes you just want to stretch the screen to stop yourself drowning in different windows. That’s where LG’s budget 25UM58 comes in.
The 25-inch, Full HD 1080p monitor can be both mounted or rested on the included stand, with features available for easily dividing up your screen.
If you do want it to double up as a gaming monitor, it does have three modes for different genres, as well as black-color stabilization and Dynamic Action Sync to assist smoothness.
Samsung
Samsung CRG9
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There’s ultrawide, then there’s super ultrawide – and if money is no object, Samsung’s CRG9 should absolutely be on your considerations list.
The 49-inch, Quad HD curved behemoth is the equivalent of running two 27-inch QHD displays without the bezel gap, offering 120Hz refresh rate and AMD FreeSync 2 for the smoothest, sharpest HDR image possible.
There are also dedicated modes for both split-screen, allowing you to connect to two devices at once, and reducing blue light emissions, allowing you to enjoy flicker-free imaging in longer gaming sessions.
Philips
Philips 346B1C
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The Philips 346B1C is another impressive mid-range ultrawide monitor that doesn’t skimp on features.
The Quad HD, 34-inch curved display (1500R) gives you excellent resolution, while USB-C docking/charging and a built-in KVM switch allow you to flip between multiple inputs – both real life-savers and not something you’ll find consistently.
Elsewhere, there’s one DisplayPort, two HDMI 2.0 ports, and built-in speakers, with dedicated modes to reduce blue light, view two sources at once, and also to save energy.
Sceptre
Sceptre C345W
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Sceptre manages to undercut most of the mid-range market and still deliver a seriously impressive ultrawide monitor.
The 34-inch model features a 1500R curve, 2560 x 1080 resolution, and 100Hz refresh rate for a solid, smooth picture, with two dedicated modes for gaming and one for reducing both blue light emissions.
There are also three HDMIs and one DisplayPort, while the display itself can be tilted 15 degrees backward and 5 degrees forward.
LG
LG Ultrawide 34WL50S
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For the work-from-home body who needs the ultimate ultrawide monitor for multi-tasking, say hello to LG’s 34WL50S.
The Full HD monitor gives you 2560 x 1080 resolution for a sharp image, with HDR 10 backing this up and elevating colors and brightness.
LG’s OnScreen Control also gives you the ability to split your display when you’re working, and there’s even something for gamers – AMD FreeSync, with LG’s Dynamic Action Sync and Black Stabilizer, all work to give you the ultra-smooth experience you crave.
The MSI Prestige 14 Evo brings a first-class Tiger Lake processor to MSI’s productivity ultrabook, but it’s held back by a dim screen and quiet/tinny speakers.
For
Strong performance
14-inch display
Great webcam
Against
Dim display
Quiet, tinny audio
MSI’s back with an Intel Evo-certified update to its Prestige 14 productivity line. Alongside another, non-Evo refresh, this brings Tiger Lake to the gaming company’s productivity ultrabooks. While we miss the pink color option we saw with its 10th gen machines, this latest iteration of the Prestige 14 gives it industry-leading performance. But performance isn’t the only thing that matters, especially in the best ultrabooks.
MSI Prestige 14 Evo Specs
CPU
Intel Core i7-1185G7
Graphics
Intel Iris Xe
Memory
16GB LPDDR4-4267
Storage
512GB NVMe SSD
Display
14 inches, 1920 x 1080, IPS-level
Networking
802.11 ax Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.1
Ports
2x Thunderbolt 4, 1x USB 2.0 Type-A, 1x microSD card reader, 1x 3.5mm combination microphone/headphone jack
Camera
720p, IR
Battery
52 Whr
Power Adapter
65W
Operating System
Windows 10 Home
Dimensions(WxDxH)
12.6 x 8.6 x 0.6 inches (37.1 x 21.8 x 1.5 cm)
Weight
2.8 pounds (1.3 kg)
Price (as configured)
$1,149
Design of the MSI Prestige 14 Evo
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The Evo-certified update to the MSI Prestige 14 keeps the same basic look as previous releases, but unfortunately lacks the bright pink option from the
Ice Lake model
we reviewed earlier this year. Instead, you’ll have a choice between white and black here, though each comes with snazzy metallic lining on the edges of the lid and the touchpad.
There’s some extra styling on the MSI Prestige 14 Evo that gives it a premium look. On our gray model, a metallic blue strip accentuated the edges of the laptop’s lid and its touchpad, and in the right light, almost looked like it was an LED strip.
The rest of the laptop is more plain aesthetically, with the majority of the case being taken up by a uniform, somewhat glittery gray surface that’s unfortunately prone to collecting fingerprints. If you flip the laptop over, you’ll notice that the laptop’s vent hole placement resembles a city skyline, though this isn’t something you’ll see during typical use.
The keyboard is also home to a nice visual touch, as its keycaps are decorated with a slightly lighter version of the case’s color scheme.
Opening the laptop lid also lifts the keyboard off the desk at a five degree angle, to make for easier typing and better cooling.
There’s a wide variety of ports for such a small laptop. The laptop has two
Thunderbolt 4
ports, and the right side has a single USB Type-A port, a 3.5mm combination headphone/microphone jack and a microSD card reader. That last inclusion is a rare but helpful addition, although it’s unfortunate that the Type-A port is just USB 2.0 as opposed to belonging to a more recent connection standard like USB 3.2.
This is the first non-convertible 14 inch Tiger Lake ultrabook we’ve reviewed, so it’s a touch larger than the closest competitors we have on record. At 12.6 x 8.6 x 0.6 inches, it’s certainly not large, but it is a touch longer than rivals. The Dell XPS 13 and Razer Book 13, for instance, are 11.6 x 7.8 x 0.6 inches, while the Asus ZenBook 13 is a slightly chunkier 11.9 x 8 x 0.5 inches.
The Prestige 14 Evo is surprisingly lightweight, though, matching the Dell XPS 13’s 2.8 pounds. That does make it slightly heavier than the ZenBook 13’s 2.4 pounds, but it’s still not as weighty as the Razer Book 13’s 3.1 pounds.
Productivity Performance on the MSI Prestige 14 Evo
This is our first time looking at a shipping laptop with the Core i7-1185G7 CPU. Every other Tiger Lake i7 laptop we’ve reviewed has an i7-1165G7, besides a whitebox system featuring the chip. What’s the difference? Not much. The 1185G7 has a slightly higher max turbo speed (4.3 vs 4.1 GHz), but both can run between 12W and 28W of power. Still, the Prestige’s chip is just a touch more, well, prestigious.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
You can see this in action on the Prestige 14 Evo’s Geekbench 5.0 results. This synthetic benchmark tracks general performance across a number of arenas, and the Prestige 14 Evo scored higher than any computers we tested it to. At 5,718 points, it’s closest match was the Razer Book 13 (5,460), coincidentally also made by a manufacturer known for gaming. The Dell XPS 13 was next (5,254), while the Asus ZenBook 13 came in last (5,084).
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
This trend continued in our Handbrake video editing test, where we track how long it takes a machine to transcode a video down from
4K
to
FHD
. The Prestige 14 Evo completed the task in 12:27, while the Razer Book 13 took slightly longer at 14:46. The Zenbook 13 trailed behind with a 17:51 time, while the XPS 13 took the longest at 18:22.
The Prestige and the Razer Book once again lead scores in graphics testing, with all machines using Intel Iris Xe internal graphics which we benchmarked using 3DMark Fire Strike. Here, the Prestige scored 5,240 points and the Razer Book 13 scored 5,216 points. The Zenbook 13 dipped significantly with 4,407 points, and the XPS 13 rounded out the rankings with an even lower 3,598 points.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
The one category where the Prestige isn’t on top is on file transfer speeds. Here, it copied 4.97GB of files at a respectable 805 MBps, which was about on par with the XPS 13’s 806.2 MBps and was much higher than the Razer Book 13’s 479.2 MBps. Still, the ZenBook 13 was the leader here, with a transfer speed of 966.8 MBps.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
We also ran the MSI Prestige through Cinebench R20 20 times in a row to test how it holds up to extended strain. Our average score was 2206.2, which was impressive given that our first test earned 2268 points and that we tend to see a significant drop as the stress test continues.
During the stress test, the Prestige 14’s CPU ran at an average clock speed of 3434.1 GHz and an average temperature of 85.3 degrees Celsius (185.54 degrees Fahrenheit).
Display on the MSI Prestige 14 Evo
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At 14 inch screen on the MSI Prestige 14 Evo is
IPS-level
, but my viewing experience found that it was almost uncomfortably dim.
I tested the display on the MSI Prestige 14 Evo by watching the Wonder Woman 1984 trailer on it. To the screen’s credit, I found that the viewing angles on this screen were almost complete, with the image never washing out regardless of how far away I got from the display, whether horizontally or vertically. The panel also wasn’t reflective, and I was able to clearly see the image in both normal and low light.
The difficulty was in the actual image on screen. While I could follow the action well, the Prestige 14 Evo is more than just dim. It borders on dark. Colors also weren’t vivid or striking, though blacks were impressively deep.
Our testing backed up my impressions. Our luminance testing found that the average brightness across the Prestige 14 Evo’s screen was 284 nits, which is much lower than even its closest competitors. That would be the ZenBook 13, which had a 370 nit average brightness. The Razer Book 13 and Dell XPS 13, meanwhile, far exceeded these two laptops at 436 and 469 nits, respectively.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
The Prestige 14 Evo did fare better on color, registering a 78.9% DCI-P3 rating on our colorimeter. That’s more than we saw on the XPS 13 (69.4%) and the ZenBook 13 (76.1%), though it’s not quite as high as the Razer Book 13’s score (80.7%). Still despite scoring high on official benchmarks, the dim screen held the colors back in practice, since I had to strain more to see them.
Keyboard and Touchpad on the MSI Prestige Evo 14
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The keyboard on the MSI Prestige 14 Evo makes a strong first impression thanks to some snazzy decoration and the laptop’s hinge lifting it five degrees off the desk, but it starts to show some minor weaknesses with further use.
Keypresses are cushiony but still feel tactile, and there’s enough key travel for you to get an idea of when your press is registered. The issue comes with the construction of the keycaps themselves. They’re sturdy enough, but the top of each keycap can start to feel slippery during quick typing, which can get disorienting when touch-typing and is likely to cause the occasional typo.
Still, I was able to maintain a high words per minute count on 10fastfingers.com, where I scored 76 wpm on most tests. That’s just a few points below my 80 wpm standard.
The Prestige’s precision touchpad is generous, and multitouch gestures register well. My only complaint is that the laptop’s fingerprint reader sits in the touchpad’s upper-left corner, and running your finger over it doesn’t register as moving the cursor. So, essentially, it acts as a dead zone that you could accidentally run into during use. However, the touchpad’s larger overall size means this isn’t much of an issue in practice.
Audio on the MSI Prestige Evo 14
The MSI Prestige 14 Evo features a bottom-firing speaker on either side. I tested their audio by listening to Mood by 24kgoldn, and I had a subpar listening experience.
The most immediate issue with the Prestige 14 Evo’s audio is its volume — or lack thereof. Even at 100%, the Prestige 14 Evo was quiet, just barely able to fill my small office with music. Even for personal use, you’ll probably want to keep it at close to 80% of its max volume.
Volume wasn’t the Prestige 14 Evo’s only problem, though. Its audio also tends to come across as tinny and weak. For example, Mood opens up with thunderclaps meant to evoke a raging storm, but they sound more like rustling leaves here. The song’s frequent drum beats also bear a remarkable similarity to clapping hands.
Essentially, the Prestige 14 Evo’s speakers are so poor that my first impression of them was “Are these mono?”
Upgradeability of the MSI Prestige 14 Evo
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
We opened the MSI Prestige 14 Evo by removing the 7 Phillips Head screws along its bottom with a J0 screwdriver. Note that there is a screw underneath a “factory seal” sticker in the center of the case’s lid that you’ll have to remove alongside the screws on the laptop’s side.
Inside the Prestige 14 Evo, you’ll find the M.2 SSD and the networking chip, but since the RAM is soldered in and there’s no slots for expanded storage, the only change you’ll be able to make is swapping out the SSD for one with a larger capacity.
Battery Life on the MSI Prestige 14 Evo
The Evo branding suggests the MSI Prestige 14 should last long. But we have our own battery test, which continually browses the web, streams video and runs OpenGL tests over Wi-Fi at 150 nits of brightness. It confirmed that the Prestige 14 Evo does indeed last for a while before turning off.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
Specifically, we found that it had 12:25 hours of battery life on our test. That puts it a little over an hour behind the Asus ZenBook 13 (13:47), but it’s still ahead of the XPS 13 (11:07) and the Razer Book 13 (11:44).
Heat on the MSI Prestige 14 Evo
The MSI Prestige 14 Evo doesn’t get that hot under strain, but it does heat up more frequently than we’d like, even during casual tests.
After 15 minutes of streaming YouTube, the touchpad was the Prestige 14 Evo’s coolest location. It registered 77.7 degrees Fahrenheit (25.4 degrees Celsius). The next hottest location was the keyboard at 87.3 degrees Fahrenheit (30.7 degrees Celsius), while the laptop’s bottom measured 92.3 degrees Fahrenheit (33.5 degrees Celsius).
Its hottest location was slightly above its F4 key, where it hit 93.4 degrees Fahrenheit (34.1 degrees Celsius).
All of this is within what we’ve seen from similar 14 inch Tiger Lake laptops like the Lenovo Yoga 7i, but what makes the Prestige 14 Evo stand out is just how frequently it heats up. Even just sitting idle off to my side as I wrote this review, its fans were on full blast most of the time. This got noisy fast, and I quickly took to turning the MSI off when it wasn’t in use.
Webcam on the MSI Prestige 14 Evo
The MSI Prestige 14 Evo’s webcam reflects the need for strong video conferencing during the pandemic. The picture is so clear that I thought it might have been 1080p when I first turned it on. No, this is a 720p camera, but my mistake indicates how highly I think of it.
In both normal and low light, the Prestige 14 Evo’s camera displayed virtually no grain and was true-to-life in capturing the color and texture of my face. More impressive, however, is that I was able to easily capture a photo in front of my office window without it being washed out by background light. Instead, I was surrounded by the cityscape surrounding my apartment, a rare treat even on the best webcams.
The Prestige 14 Evo’s webcam also acknowledges privacy concerns, and the laptop’s Fn bar has an option to turn it off on the hardware level so that you don’t have to worry about being recorded without your knowledge. It also has an IR sensor for use with Windows Hello.
Software and Warranty on the MSI Prestige 14 Evo
The MSI Prestige 14 Evo comes mostly free of bloat, but because this is a productivity laptop coming from a brand known mostly for gaming, MSI’s snuck in some utility software to prove that it’s not limited to helping players up their K/D ratios. So, on top of standard Windows pack-ins like Microsoft Solitaire Collection and Spotify, you’ll also find apps like the MSI Center for Business & Productivity.
The MSI Center for Business & Productivity is essentially a fancy name for a program that lets you change your CPU’s power consumption based on which apps are open, plus direct more CPU resources to certain productivity programs like Photoshop. It also has noise cancellation functions, and can help you clear SSD space. It also has a unique feature to link iOS devices to your computer as a second display.
ColorDirector for MSI, Music Maker Jam and PowerDirector 17 Essential for MSI are also present and are more akin to bloat. These Cyberlink photo/video editing apps aren’t particularly popular choices among professionals, but I suppose they could make for a good way to get your feet wet before dipping into anything more advanced.
MSI Prestige 14 Evo Configurations
The Evo-certified MSI Prestige 14 has five available configurations, with price and availability depending on theretailer. Our configuration had an Intel Core i7-1185G7 CPU 16GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD. It cost $1,149 at B&H and Newegg at time of review.
The cheapest version we could find was the version with the i5-1135G7, 16GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD, which came in at $1,099 at B&H at time of the review.
On the other side of the spectrum, the most advanced version we could find had the same specs as our review unit, except for having a 1TB SSD. It cost $1,199 at Best Buy at the time of review.
Bottom Line
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The MSI Prestige 14 Evo may seem premium at first, thanks to its name and the shiny trim along its outer edges, but on further inspection, it has serious compromises on everything but its performance.
While the Prestige 14 Evo largely boasted slight performance improvements over competitors, its gains were mostly meager, with the
Razer Book 13
in particular nipping at its heels across our tests. This is unfortunate, given that the Razer Book 13 has a brighter screen as well as louder and, in our experience, clearer audio.
Granted, the $1,599 Razer Book 13 is also more expensive than the Prestige 14 Evo, and the
Dell XPS 13
, which has similar strengths, is even more unapproachable at $1,650.
But the $999
Asus Zenbook 13
, which has a larger SSD and a brighter screen, is actually cheaper than the Prestige 14 Evo. MSI’s machine outclasses it a touch more on performance than the Razer Book 13 and the XPS 13, but the ZenBook actually has faster file transfer speeds than any of them. Its speakers were similarly tinny to the Prestige 14 Evo, but were much louder.
So whether you settle on the Prestige 14 Evo depends on your priorities in a laptop. If budget and performance are your first concerns, then it’s a pretty enticing machine. But if you’re willing to take a slight performance hit and pay a few hundred dollars more, you can get a machine with much higher quality components. Alternatively, if you’re OK with a noticeable but not oppressive performance dip, you could also get a machine with overall better components while paying less.
Microsoft Flight Simulator has always been about making you feel like a pilot, but you’ve never been able to experience it in VR — until today. With today’s free update, Asobo Studio has added support for OpenXR-compatible headsets, which include Windows Mixed Reality headsets as well as the Valve Index, HTC Vive, and the Oculus Rift and Oculus Quest (if you use a Link cable).
Microsoft originally announced that the VR feature would be coming first to the HP Reverb G2. This latest update includes support for most Windows Mixed Reality headsets, Oculus, Valve, and HTC headsets.
Before, if you wanted to feel like you were really in an airplane while playing Flight Simulator, it would take a lot of computer monitors and some carpentry skills. Even then, you could only make your surroundings look like the cockpit of a single model of airplane. Now all you’ll need is a VR headset — oh, and a powerful computer to run it at a resolution that’s passable for screens an inch from your eyes. When Microsoft ran a beta test of the feature, an i5-8400 or Ryzen 5 1500X paired with a GTX 1080 were listed as the minimum specs.
The update is also giving the world a winter makeover, adding snow and ice to the variety of weather conditions in the game’s real-time weather simulation. According to a blog post by the head of Microsoft Flight Simulator, the game will now “add real-time snow and true-to-life ice coverage to the entire planet.”
Currently, flying over the North Pole in the game gets a bit weird, not least of which because it’s all water with no ice. As you would imagine, in real life that region is often very icy, so it’ll be interesting to see if the new weather conditions will make this area more true to life. In fact, let’s go see for ourselves. We’ll be departing as soon as everyone turns their phones off. And the runway clears. And, of course, we’ve got to de-ice the wings now.
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