Reviews

Eero 7: One-Minute Review

(Image credit: Future / Cliff Joseph)

The Amazon-owned Eero got off to an early start in the Wi-Fi 7 market when it launched the high-end – and rather expensive - Eero Max 7 in 2023. That was followed by the Eero Pro 7 earlier this year, and now Eero has launched its most affordable Wi-Fi 7 mesh system in the form of the Eero 7.

But, like a number of ‘affordable’ Wi-Fi 7 routers and mesh systems that have been launched in recent months, the Eero 7 has to make one important compromise in order to keep the price down. This means that it lacks support for the high-performance 6.0GHz frequency band and limits itself to basic dual-band Wi-Fi 7 that just uses the older 2.4GHz and 5.0GHz bands.

That compromise means that the Eero 7 isn’t as fast as its tri-band Wi-Fi 7 rivals that also support the 6.0GHz band. However, it’s worth remembering that the Wi-Fi 7 standard doesn’t just focus on speed. It’s also designed to provide greater reliability when connecting to lots of different devices, such as smart lights and speakers that you may have in your home, as well as your personal computers and mobile devices.

So while the Eero 7 may not be the fastest mesh system around, it still provides an affordable mesh Wi-Fi system for people who need to reliable Wi-Fi that can reach into every corner of their home.

Price & Availability

• How much does it cost? $349.99 / £349.99
• When is it available? Now
• Where can you get it? Available in the US and UK

Eero states that each Eero 7 mesh router can cover an area of 2,000sq.ft, and we like the fact that it allows you to buy one, two or three Eero 7 units as required. This allows you to choose the option that suits you best, and also provides more competitive pricing for the two-pack and three-pack options.

You can also mix and match different Eero models, perhaps buying a single Eero 7 as a low-cost add-on for an existing Eero mesh system.

Prices start at £169.99/$169.99 for a single Eero 7, or £279.99/$279.99 for a two-pack mesh system. However, we tested the three-pack option, which costs £349.99/$349.99.

That’s certainly a lot less expensive than the Eero Pro or Max, which cost £699.99/$699.99 and a whopping £1699.99/$1699.99 respectively for a three-pack – although, of course, their tri-band Wi-Fi is a lot faster than that of the dual-band Eero 7.

The Eero 7 is currently available in the US and UK, but – as often seems to be the case – Australia has to wait for the latest Wi-Fi 7 products to arrive. However, the Eero Max 7 has recently gone on sale in Australia, so hopefully the Eero 7 and Pro 7 will soon be available as well.

Value: 4 / 5

Eero 7: Design

(Image credit: Future / Cliff Joseph)

• Compact (and sturdy) design
• Two 2.5Gb Ethernet ports
• Powered via USB-C

Unlike the larger Pro and Max models, the Eero 7 sticks with the now-familiar white plastic and curvy space-pod design that the company has used for several years. The Eero 7 models are slightly larger than their predecessors, but they’re still fairly compact, standing just 64.1mm high, and 130mm wide and deep, so it’s easy to place the routers on any convenient shelf or worktop when you’re setting the system up.

They’re pretty solidly built too – I actually dropped one while unpacking the box, but it worked with no problems as soon as I plugged in the power supply.

Each router has two 2.5 Gigabit Ethernet ports on the back, and these are ‘auto-sensing’ ports, which means that they can be used either to connect to your existing broadband router or modem, or to provide a wired network connection for devices such as a gaming PC or console.

(Image credit: Future / Cliff Joseph)

Each router also has a USB-C port on the back, although this is used for the mains power supply, rather than connecting a shared network drive.

Most of the Eero’s rivals provide more Ethernet ports, but that probably won’t be a problem for most home users, and we like the fact that the Eero’s 2.5Gb ports support high-speed broadband connections. However, we’re a little unhappy with Eero’s description of the routers’ performance.

The Eero 7 is quoted as having a ‘BE5000 speed rating’, which many people might interpret as meaning a Wi-Fi speed of 5000Mbps (or 5.0Gbps). In fact, a closer look at the tech specs for Eero 7 reveals that the dual-band routers only support a far more modest Wi-Fi speed of 1.8Gbps.

To be fair, that’s still more than fast enough for most domestic broadband connections, but we can’t help thinking that Eero is overhyping the speed a bit.

Design: 4 / 5

Eero 7: Features

• Well-designed app
• Quick set-up
• Limited parental controls

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(Image credit: Future)

The Eero 7 is certainly well designed, but the low price of this dual-band mesh system does mean that it’s a little sparse on features.

Getting started is fairly straightforward – although poor documentation does mean that we noticed one potential hiccup. There’s no manual provided with the Eero 7, and the Eero app (for iOS/Android) starts by telling you to connect an Eero ‘gateway’ – without explaining what the term ‘gateway’ actually means.

In fact, the ‘gateway’ is simply the first Eero router that you connect to your existing broadband modem or router using an Ethernet cable (included in the box), and any of the Eero routers can act as the gateway.

Once that’s out of the way, setting up the new Eero 7 mesh network is a piece of cake.

You’ll need to turn on Bluetooth on your mobile device, and the Eero app then uses Bluetooth to connect to the Eero routers and link them together to create your new mesh network.

It gives tips on where to locate each router, and can even run a test to check the strength of the Wi-Fi signal as you place the routers in different spots around your home.

To keep things simple, the Eero app combines the 2.4GHz and 5.0GHz frequencies into a single network, and also provides an option to create a guest network if required.

However, additional features, such as parental controls and content filters, VPN and malware protection, do require an additional Eero+ subscription. There’s a two-month free trial available for the Eero+ service, but after that it costs £9.99/$9.99 per month or £99.99/$99.99 per year (and renews automatically at the end of the trial period, so watch out for that).

So while the Eero 7 provides impressive ease of use, there are rival routers and mesh systems that provide a wider range of features without charging for an additional subscription.

Features: 3 / 5

Eero 7: Performance

• Good Wi-Fi range and coverage
• 1.8Gbps Wi-Fi 7
• Dual-band only (2.4GHz/5.0GHz)

With no support for the 6.0GHz frequency band, the Eero 7 clearly can’t match the performance of some of its more expensive tri-band rivals. Even so, its 1.8Gbps Wi-Fi speed is more than fast enough to work with most domestic broadband services, and it didn’t have any trouble dealing with an annoying wi-fi deadspot that we have in our building.

Our aging office router falls well short of the maximum 150Mbps provided by our office broadband connection, generally falling to 120Mbps even for devices that are nearby in the same room. Our old router also struggles to reach an office located at the back of the building, leaving us with a Wi-Fi deadspot where we have to rely on a set of PowerLine adaptors to provide a wired connection instead.

The Eero dealt with both scenarios admirably, immediately bumping our Wi-Fi speed right up to 150Mbs for devices in the same room when running the Ookla Speed Test, and also for large file downloads from Steam. It wasn’t bothered by our office deadspot either, effortlessly maintaining that 150Mbs speed as we picked up our laptop and walked along the corridor to that back office. There’s no doubt that the low cost of the Eero 7 means that its features and performance are fairly basic – but at least it gets the basics right, providing respectable performance and welcome ease of use for home users who simply want to upgrade an older router that still has Wi-Fi 5 or 6.

Performance: 3 / 5

Should you buy the Eero 7? Also Consider

If our Eero 7 review has you considering other options, here are a few good choices.

Netgear Nighthawk RS200

Smaller homes that just need a single, conventional router could consider the RS200 from Netgear. This dual-band router is slightly more expensive than the Eero 7, but it’s much faster, with a wi-fi speed of up to 6.5Gbps.

Read our full Netgear Nighthawk RS200 reviewView Deal

TP-Link Deco BE65 Pro

Recently launched in the US and due soon in the UK and Australia, the Deco BE65 Pro is a high-end option for power users. It’s competitively priced, but provides tri-band Wi-Fi 7 running at a blazing 11Gbps.View Deal

Viltrox 135mm F1.8 LAB: two-minute review

Ever since I saw the Viltrox AF 135mm F1.8 LAB lens for Sony full-frame cameras I've been counting down the days until Viltrox made it made available for Nikon Z-mount cameras. That day has now come.

Viltrox's first professional LAB lens gets the Z-mount treatment, and I've already had the chance to test the lens for several weeks, pairing it with my Nikon Z6 II for supreme shallow-depth-of-field portraits and more.

It's the affordable alternative to my dream Z-mount lens, the pricey Nikon 135mm f/1.8 S Plena, as well as to Sony's own 135mm F1.8 GM.

At $899 / £829 / around AU$1,500 (discounts are available on the Viltrox website too), it's half the price of the Sony lens, and just a third of the price of Nikon's Plena, which originally cost around $2,600 / £2,700 / AU$4,600. For Nikon Z users like me, that's clearly a huge difference.

135mm is an ideal focal length for portraits, but I also love the perspective for landscape photography, together with the excellent light-gathering capabilities of a fast f/1.8 aperture prime lens like this.

So what do I think of the Viltrox 135mm f/1.8 LAB now that I've tested it? It's a truly stunning lens, although it does have one significant drawback that has me thinking twice.

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(Image credit: Tim Coleman) Viltrox 135mm f/1.8 LAB specs Viltrox 135mm f/1.8 LAB: Design

• Premium design and build quality
• Very heavy
• Unique customizable LCD screen is a fun touch

It's clear that the Viltrox 135mm is built for pros. The build quality is top-drawer, from the weather-resistant metal barrel, front lens element and rear mount to the reassuringly secure connection to the camera – you'll need some muscle to click the lens into place – and the premium controls dotted around the exterior.

There's a smooth focus ring, a second ring that can be set to smooth or clicked and which by default is set to control aperture, plus custom buttons and a customizable top LCD.

It's possible to customize the welcome screen of the top LCD (seriously), which is a nice touch, even if I can't see myself creating my own welcome screen... yet. It's also possible to apply firmware updates easily through the USB-C port built into the rear mount.

Focus distances are marked precisely on the LCD, down to the centimeter, which is something you don't get with other lenses. There's also a AF / MF switch plus a focus-range limiter. These exterior controls cover all the bases for the scenarios in which I see myself using the lens.

Autofocus is smooth and essentially silent. Viltrox says focus speeds are "150% faster", although I'm not sure what that's in comparison to, and I wouldn't say this is the fastest-focusing lens I've used, even if it is smooth. I'll touch on why I think so in a bit.

In the box is a decent-sized lens hood and a soft lens pouch for packing the lens away safely. So, all in all, the Viltrox 135mm F1.8 sounds great, right? And it is, but for one thing.

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As I mentioned in my verdict at the start of this review, this lens is heavy – very heavy. It's the first thing you notice as you take it out of the box. How heavy? 43.6oz / 1,235g, without the lens hood. Ouch.

To be clear, quality 135mm f/1.8 lenses like this are heavy, but the Viltrox is another level; it's about 25% heavier than the Sony and Nikon lenses I've mentioned.

I wish the Viltrox was lighter, at least for using it with my Z6 II. The balance is so front-heavy that this is a lens that's best used in short bursts, which is a shame because I could see myself using a lens like this for event photography, and those jobs are long hours.

If you shoot with a larger camera such as the Nikon Z8, or more so the Nikon Z9, the balance of the Viltrox lens will be much better.

Still, there's also a very good reason why this lens is so heavy – its supreme optical quality.

Viltrox 135mm f/1.8 LAB: Performance

• 135mm focal length ideal for isolating subjects
• Virtually flawless optical quality
• Precise and smooth autofocus, but not the fastest

The optical quality of the Viltrox 135mm f/1.8 LAB lens is virtually flawless, much like the Nikon Plena lens, and the MTF charts shared by Viltrox back this up.

Detail is sharp from center to edges, even when using the maximum f/1.8 aperture. There's not a huge amount of vignetting either – it's hardly noticeable if you stop the aperture down to f/2.8, while at f/1.8 it's easily corrected if you don't want those darker corners that help your subject stand out all the more.

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A portrait taken with the aperture set to f/1.8 (Image credit: Tim Coleman)Image 2 of 7

The same portrait, but at f/2.8 (Image credit: Tim Coleman)Image 3 of 7

With aperture set to f/1.8, bokeh is smooth, big and round (Image credit: Tim Coleman)Image 4 of 7

Even at f/2.8, bokeh quality is lovely. (Image credit: Tim Coleman)Image 5 of 7

I tried my hardest to induce lens flare, and even then the quality of shots is top drawer (Image credit: Tim Coleman)Image 6 of 7

Another lens flare attempt (Image credit: Tim Coleman)Image 7 of 7

135mm is an excellent focal length for isolating subjects, and focus fall-off at f/1.8 is smooth. (Image credit: Tim Coleman)

I purposefully pushed the lens in tricky scenarios, such as backlit portraits at golden hour, and it handled flare admirably. It also focused precisely, no mean feat when its VCM motors are working hard to shift those weighty lens elements, of which there are 14 in nine groups, although focusing is slightly snappier with Sony's and Nikon's lenses in my experience.

Most photographers splashing the cash on a lens like this do so for its ability to produce attractive bokeh, and the Viltrox lens impresses on this front, especially for the price.

The 11-blade circular aperture delivers buttery smooth and circular bokeh in out-of-focus areas of dappled light, as you can see in the sample images. This kind of bokeh quality is the holy grail for pro portrait photographers, and it's now available in a lens that costs a fraction of the price of Nikon and Sony's own lenses.

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The top-drawer optical quality, especially for the competitive price, cannot be overstated, and Viltrox has really given me something to think about. Would I buy this lens? Absolutely. I'll just hit the gym first, or upgrade my gear with the chunkier Z8 for better balance, or – more cost-effectively – the Z6 II battery grip.

Its weight and slightly sluggish autofocus are the only drawbacks to an otherwise flawless lens.

Should you buy the Viltrox 135mm f/1.8 LAB? Buy it if...

You want a long portrait lens

The telephoto 135mm focal length is ideal for head-and-shoulder portraits and for isolating subjects.

You want top-drawer optical quality

Supreme sharpness, buttery smooth bokeh, excellent control of flare and lens distortions… optically this lens is essentially flawless.

You want a well-made lens

Build quality and handling (aside from the weight) are excellent – this is a lens that's built to last and which offers you all the controls you need.

Don't buy it if...

You want a lightweight lens for long shoots

Weight is the lens's Achilles heel – at 45.6oz / 1,235g, you'll only want to use it in short bursts.

You want class-leading autofocus performance

Autofocus speeds are slightly on the sluggish side, even if the end results are precise and reliable.

You like to include surroundings in your portraits

The 135mm focal length is designed to isolate a subject, with little room for including surroundings unless you're shooting from some distance.

How I tested the Viltrox 135mm f/1.8 LAB

• Tested intermittently for a few weeks
• Paired with a Nikon Z6 II
• Used in a range of scenarios and at different times of day

I received the Viltrox 135mm f/1.8 LAB lens for Nikon Z-mount a few weeks ahead of its official unveiling on March 19, 2025. It's already available for Sony E-mount.

I've paired the lens with a Nikon Z6 II body, and used it in a range of challenging scenarios to test its optical quality. These situations included backlit portraits during golden hours, with the light dancing around the sun included in some photos.

I haven't yet had the opportunity to test the lens during inclement weather yet, so I can't comment on its weather-resistance credentials.

• First reviewed March 2025

Fitness Boxing 3: Your Personal Trainer is a movement-based fitness Nintendo Switch game, developed by Imagineer. Holding the Joy-Con controllers in either hand, you dodge, duck, and throw out combos following on-screen prompts, progressing through daily structured workouts of increasing difficulty. Warm-ups, cool-downs, a Free Training mode, and separate mitt drills provide enough variety for those looking to switch things up.

Review info

Platform reviewed: Nintendo Switch
Available on: Nintendo Switch
Release date: December 5, 2024

Movement-based console games are an odd bunch, and none more so than fitness games. I remember when you could get Dance Dance Revolution on the original PlayStation, complete with a much worse, fold-away version of the arcade’s iconic dancefloor. Since then, most movement-based games have been party ones like Wii Sports, but offerings like Wii Fit and Ring Fit Adventure have attempted to bring actual workout programming to consoles with mixed success. Who are they aimed at: existing Switch users looking to get fit, or existing fitness fans Nintendo is hoping to sell a Switch to?

Fitness Boxing 3 is solidly aimed at the former, although its harder workouts move at a pace to challenge most. As TechRadar’s Senior Fitness and Wearables Editor, I’ve got a solid background in reviewing fitness kit. I’ve also got a lot of experience punching things, having been a kickboxer for many years in a previous life. It felt as though I was tailor-made to review this thing.

I duly fired the Switch up and worked my way through the tutorial. Anyone who’s played Dance Dance Revolution or one of its many clones, or even Guitar Hero, will understand the principle at work here: you see the prompt work its way up to the on-screen target, and you throw a punch at the exact time required. The better your timing, the higher your score.

Once you complete the initial section, comprised of jabs and straight punches, you work your way through the different combination-based daily classes, adding in hooks, uppercuts, body blows, dodging (by holding the Joy-Cons close to your chest and moving your body) and other moves designed to complicate things, all while increasing speed.

(Image credit: Nintendo/Imagineer) Get with the program

The game will ask you to pop in some details, including your age, weight, target weight, and so on, and set about generating programs for you based on your preferred difficulty level. The Daily Workouts still require you to go through the various combinations in order to unlock types of punches and moves for use in Free Training, which was a little frustrating as I wanted to immediately get stuck in and test everything. However, if you’re moving through a workout program from beginner to advanced as intended, this shouldn’t be too much of an issue for you.

The workout programming is excellent. As someone well-versed in fitness programs, I was glad to see everything started with an optional warm-up and cooldown and reminders to hydrate, and that frustration in lack of customizable programming for me would be a boon for people who need their hand held through their introduction to fitness.

Once you start unlocking workouts and combos, you can string them together in custom programs in the Free Training room, so my itch was eventually scratched with a bit of patience. You can view all your stats and progress in the My Data section, which is very comprehensively laid out in graphs and, in a really nice nod to the sensitivity of health data, it’s passcode-protected.

The huge customizability of everything was also a big plus for me. You can change trainers, from the default instructor Lin to the bulky Bernado or distinctly Eurotrash-looking Guy. They’ve all got birthdays, and hobbies and you can buy them new outfits with your earned points or switch their Kindness levels on and off, depending on whether you prefer a gentle carrot or a drill sergeant stick for workout motivation.

A distinctly parasocial ‘box and bond’ session is available for each trainer, where they’ll talk to you more and tell you about themselves. A little odd to be bonding with a program, but I’m sure it’s a good idea to get people attached to a virtual instructor to keep them motivated.

(Image credit: Nintendo/Imagineer) Once more, mitt feeling

Between the customizable instructors and the stage/song selection, from neon cyberpunk to garage gym to serene aquatic environment, it felt a bit like Tekken or a similar fighting game, which is thematically very appropriate. As someone used to real-life boxing training, mitt drills in the Free Training section were my favorite part: rather than the DDR format, you’ll get a combination to remember and then the trainer will hold a mitt up, testing your mind-to-muscle connection and reflexes.

It’s all very slick, and when used properly, it feels as though it works incredibly well. I really enjoyed it, performing and executing the moves to the best of my ability, until I found a fatal flaw, one that completely soured my experience.

As the mitt drill sped up, I was getting the routine wrong, but the game was still registering “Perfect” with each punch, Bernado lauding my performance as I threw hooks instead of uppercuts. After a bit of experimentation, I soon found that pretty much any fast, forward movement of the Joy-Con would register as a successful punch, regardless of what kind of punch I was actually supposed to be throwing!

Best bit

The customizability of the game. Pick your stage, and music, choose sitting or standing modes, and your preferred trainer - you can even turn the “kindness” setting on or off!

I tried throwing the Joy-Cons out to either side of me, flailing wildly, and to my disappointment, I still got successful Perfect combination recognitions. I was reminded of Wii Sports, in which people would lie on their sofas and flick their wrists to control their avatar during on-screen tennis. At some point, most people playing this game will realize that their carefully choreographed movements actually don’t matter, and they could be doing anything to score their Perfects and earn those points. This realization stung like a bee and sapped a lot of enjoyment from my remaining playtime.

Still, there’s a lot to like about Fitness Boxing 3 despite this, namely the intense customizability and the careful construction of its workout programs. Those buying this game for fitness purposes are unlikely to be looking to cheat themselves: boxing is a terrific workout, and Fitness Boxing 3 is a great primer, daily workout motivator, and reminder to move. You’ll just have to keep yourself honest and throw your punches properly.

Should you play Fitness Boxing 3: Your Personal Trainer? Play it if...

You want to work out at home
Fitness Boxing 3 has comprehensive workout programming to help you structure your weekly workouts.

You’re a beginner boxer
The on-screen prompts and demonstrations will clearly guide you through how to throw lots of basic and advanced combinations.

Don't play it if...

Movement mapping matters
If you want feedback from the Joy-Con, for it to register when throwing a correct or incorrect punch, Fitness Boxing 3 can’t give you that guidance. I’ve yet to find an at-home trainer which can.

Accessibility

A sit-down boxing mode allows those users unable to stand for long periods to play the game and get movement into their day. All lines from instructors come with subtitles, and the instructor’s kindness can be toggled on if you need gentle encouragement.

All in all, the accessibility features are better than I expect from a fitness-orientated gamer.

(Image credit: Nintendo/Imagineer) How I reviewed Fitness Boxing 3: Your Personal Trainer

I played the game for around ten hours on an original Nintendo Switch console using the device’s own screen and my LG TV. I worked my way through intermediate combinations, trying Daily Workouts, Free Training using Mitt Drills, and Basic Training with several different instructors.

I spent accumulated points to buy new songs for different stages (such as I Was Made For Lovin’ You by KISS) and outfits for instructors, and I also stress-tested the controls by deliberately throwing incorrect punches.

First reviewed January-March 2025

This review first appeared in issue 353 of PC Pro.

Workstation technology is the pinnacle of desktop PC power, and this month we’re testing a computer that showcases some of the latest high-performance components. Not only is the Scan 3XS GWP TR Ada our first look at AMD’s latest Ryzen Threadripper, back after a hiatus, but also Nvidia’s Ada generation graphics, and it boasts a bevy of PCI-E 5 NVMe storage as well.

First, that processor. The AMD Ryzen Threadripper 7980X is top of the resurgent range, offering 64 cores running at a base 3.2GHz but with a boost up to 5.1GHz. Scan has chosen Corsair H150i Elite Capellix RGB liquid cooling to eke the most out of this processor. The 360mm version has been installed on the front of the chassis, with three 120mm fans providing plenty of heat dissipation.

With the Ryzen Threadripper supporting quad-channel memory, Scan naturally populates all four DIMM sockets of the Asus Pro WS TRX50 Sage WiFi motherboard. These are 32GB 4,800MHz Samsung ECC Registered DDR5 modules, for a total of 128GB. You would need to replace all of them if you wanted more memory up to the motherboard’s 1TB maximum, but 128GB should be enough for the lifetime of this system.

The powerful components are kept cool by Corsair’s H150i Elite Capellix RGB liquid cooling (Image credit: Future)

No expense spared

Another top-level component is the Nvidia RTX 6000 Ada graphics, which uses Nvidia’s Ada Lovelace architecture, a 4nm design that takes professional GPU performance to the next level and is used in the incredibly potent GeForce RTX 4090 consumer graphics card. The RTX 6000 Ada packs 18,176 CUDA cores, a considerable upgrade on the 10,752 cores of the A6000 it replaces. Both cards have 48GB of GDDR6 memory, but the Ada’s memory is faster (2,500MHz versus 2,000MHz) so bandwidth has increased from 768GB/sec to 960GB/sec. The GPU clock is also up to 2,505MHz on boost, compared to 1,800MHz, so this is a seriously fast 3D graphics accelerator.

Scan has spared no expense when it comes to storage, either. The boot drive is a single 2TB Corsair MP700 NVMe M.2 device. This takes advantage of the AMD Ryzen Threadripper 7000 series’ support for PCI-E 5. Running CrystalDiskMark 8, it delivered 11,492MB/sec reading and 11,773MB/sec writing, which are phenomenal levels of throughput. As if this wasn’t enough, there’s an 8TB array consisting of four more of the same drive in a RAID0 configuration, installed in a Hyper M.2 X16 expansion card that sits in one of the motherboard’s x16 PCI-E 5 slots. This array delivered mind-blowing 34,186MB/sec reading and 42,176MB/sec writing. That’s not a misprint – you’re getting 30 to 40GB/sec throughput. This will make editing even 8K video relatively painless, for example.

The drives offer throughputs of incredible speeds (Image credit: Future)

Touch of style

This plethora of potent components has been housed in a sizeable Fractal Design North chassis. The slats down the front make this look more like a stylish freestanding radiator than a PC, and it’s packed with features. There are two mounts for 2.5in drives, and two more for 3.5in or 2.5in units. None are used as all of Scan’s storage is NVMe-based. The power supply is a 1,000W Corsair RM1000X 80 Plus Gold unit, which should be well within its comfort zone despite the power-hungry core components. Even under full load, this isn’t a noisy computer.

The Asus motherboard offers both 10GbE and 2.5GbE LAN on the backplane, plus a built-in Wi-Fi 7 2x2 radio that can operate at up to 2.8Gbits/sec. There are three PCI-E 5 slots, but the two x16 ones are taken by the graphics and RAID storage array adapter, while the third operates in x8 mode. There’s also an x16 PCI-E 4 slot with a second that operates in x4 mode. The board contains three M.2 storage slots, with two operating at PCI-E 5 x4 speed (one taken by the boot drive), plus a third with PCI-E 4 x4 performance. The motherboard also has hardware and software support for Asus IPMI remote management expansion cards. However, there are only two 20Gbits/sec USB-C ports – one on the backplane and one on the top of the chassis at the front. The rest are Type-A ports of lesser speeds.

There are 10GbE and 2.5GbE LAN ports on the back, plus Wi-Fi 7 within (Image credit: Future)

Blasted with speed

We were expecting top performance from the new Threadripper, but we weren’t quite ready for just how fast this system is. An overall score in the PC Pro benchmarks of 954 is way ahead of anything we’ve tested before. Most of this is provided by the incredible 1,224 in the multitasking test, which is no surprise with 64 cores available. But the video result of 892 is phenomenal as well. Only the image editing score of 267 has been beaten before. This is a mostly single-threaded test, and there are CPUs with faster boost core frequencies.

If you want a true demonstration of how incredible this system is, however, look no further than the Maxon Cinebench R23 multithreaded result of 107,189. Putting this in perspective, the fastest 64-core Threadripper Pro 5995WX workstation we’ve tested – the Armari Magnetar MC64TP – only managed 76,330. The single-threaded result of 1,728 shows the improvement, too, as the Magnetar managed 1,492, although CPUs with lower cores and higher frequencies such as the Ryzen 7000 series or recent Intel Core chips do better in this test.

Further underlining these abilities, the Blender Gooseberry render took only 94.6 seconds using the CPU, the first time we’ve seen a processor complete this frame processing task in less than two minutes. On GPU (using CUDA) it took 69.2 seconds, much less time than any other professional card we’ve tested. The LuxMark 3.1 score of 26,426 is similarly high, showing just how much GPU compute power the Nvidia RTX 6000 Ada has on offer.

Power trip: the 1,000W Corsair PSU is an 80 Plus Gold-certified unit (Image credit: Future)

Tour de force

This GPU power translates into incredible 3D modelling capabilities. The standout result in SPECviewperf 2020 is an astonishing 1,235 with the snx-04 viewport, almost twice the fastest scores we’ve seen before. The catia-06 result of 208 is also impressive, as is 604 in solidworks-07, showing that CAD and product design capabilities are unparalleled, although the creo-03 score of 76 is surprisingly mediocre. For 3D animation, 295 in 3dsmax-07 and 807 in maya-06 tell their own story.

The Scan 3XS GWP TR Ada is a tour de force. Its 64-core AMD Ryzen Threadripper blows everything that went before out of the water with multithreaded tasks, and it’s no slouch with single threads, either. The Nvidia RTX 6000 Ada graphics also dominate for viewport acceleration or GPU rendering, and storage throughput is unparalleled. Of course, this workstation is expensive, but you certainly get what you pay for: the best possible workstation performance on the market.

There are plenty of good reasons to welcome back the non-Pro Threadripper, which is better than ever (Image credit: Future)

For a few years, it seemed like the regular AMD Ryzen Threadripper was history. After the Pro version arrived, there was no non-Pro 5000 series. But now the vanilla Threadripper is back with the 7000 generation. It’s based on the same Zen 4 core as the Ryzen and Ryzen Threadripper Pro 7000 series CPUs, manufactured using variants of TSMC’s 5nm fabrication process, but sits between the two in features and price.

Where the Ryzen 7000 series tops out at 16 cores, the Ryzen Threadripper 7000 series offers 24-, 32- and 64-core iterations. The Pro goes from 12 to 96 cores. Further differentiation comes with memory configuration. All three 7000 series ranges support DDR5 memory at up to 5,200MHz, but where the basic Ryzen has a dual-channel controller, the Threadripper’s controller is quad-channel and the Pro’s is eight-channel.

All three ranges now offer PCI Express 5, but the number of lanes available is another point of difference. The basic Ryzen has 28 PCI-E 5 lanes, but the Threadripper has 48, plus 24 PCI-E 4 lanes, and the Pro has 128 PCI-E 5 lanes. The greater number of lanes will mean that faster storage devices such as NVMe M.2 drives can be attached, faster networking devices can be used, and more graphics cards can be installed.

Since we last had non-Pro Threadrippers, AMD’s Zen core technology has moved on apace. Both the previous 3000 series and new 7000 series top out at 64 cores, but the 3000 version (3990X) had a base clock of 2.9GHz with 4.3GHz boost, whereas the 7980X as found in this month’s Scan system has a base clock of 3.2GHz with 5.1GHz boost. This will offer significantly better performance with software that favors fewer, faster cores and with applications that can use as many cores as possible. With AMD’s Precision Boost 2, you’ll get as many cores as your cooling and motherboard power delivery can handle to run at maximum frequency, although some will be flagged as the most capable after manufacturer testing. Putting this further in perspective, the 32-core AMD Threadripper 2990WX only had a base clock of 3GHz and a boost of 4.2GHz, so the 7980X is a huge leap forward.

As such, this Zen 4-based Threadripper represents another significant update for AMD. Intel has been posing a challenge to the Ryzen 7000 series with its 13th generation Raptor Lake chips, but its Sapphire Rapids Xeon workstation processors have only arrived recently and max out at 56 cores and a 4.8GHz boost frequency. The Threadripper undercuts it in price while the Threadripper Pro now goes up to 96 cores.

With the return of the non-Pro Ryzen Threadripper, there’s a more affordable route once again if you want more than 16 cores in your workstation for the best possible multithreaded performance.

We've also ranked the best large SSDs and hard drives.

This review first appeared in issue 353 of PC Pro.

As the latest member of the HP Poly Studio family, the X52 video bar delivers an advanced all-in-one solution for medium-sized meeting rooms. Taking over from the Studio X50, it features an uprated 20MP 4K UHD camera, a more powerful Qualcomm 865 CPU, improved dynamic framing algorithms, advanced microphones and Wi-Fi 6 support.

Apart from the larger camera there’s little to tell the two models apart but at 95°, the X52 has a narrower FoV (field of view) than the X50. This is because the X52 is designed to deliver a higher resolution when zooming in to participants at the far end of the meeting table.

Its mic array claims a six-meter pick-up range, while sound output is handled by two 20W ported speakers. You have two HDMI-out ports for dual monitor support, HDMI-in and USB-C for host connections, a gigabit network port and a port for Poly’s optional extension mic. All are easily accessible at the rear.

The X52 runs Poly’s Android-based VideoOS software, which supports BYOD (bring your own device) mode and includes built-in video apps. The guest list is impressive, and includes Microsoft Teams, Zoom Rooms, Google Meet, GoToRoom, RingCentral Rooms and BlueJeans Rooms.

Deployment is simple: you connect power and network, wait a minute while it boots up and point a browser at its IP address. The web interface presents a system status dashboard with the active video app and you move to the Provider section to choose another app from the drop-down list.

You can swap between them as required and, although a reboot is necessary, it only takes two minutes to regain access. BYOD mode is always available with the X52 automatically swapping to it when it senses a USB connection and, once you’ve finished, you can exit back to the app.

The Studio X52 delivers excellent video quality and can be remotely managed (Image credit: Future)

We had no problems cloud-managing the X52 by registering it with our Lens portal account. You can remotely manage all your Poly devices, assign them to sites and rooms, run remote firmware updates and upgrade to the premium Lens service for detailed meeting analytics.

We tested with Microsoft Teams and used the registration code presented on the screen to assign it to our Microsoft 365 account, where the X52 appeared as a new Teams Rooms on Android device. We also paired the X52 with Poly’s TC10 PoE-powered controller tablet and used the same registration process.

Our Teams console showed both devices as online and paired, after which the tablet moved all meeting controls to its own display. We had no problems creating and joining Teams meetings using the tablet’s 10in touchscreen, and in BYOD mode we could use its menu to manually control the camera and create up to ten presets for specific camera positions.

Video quality is excellent, and we noted the camera’s focus is markedly sharper than the Poly P15 we use in the lab. The mics worked well, as remote participants could hear us clearly when we were 4.5 meters away, while the dual speakers delivered a clean sound quality that easily filled our 24m2 meeting room at a 60% volume level.

The X52 gets the benefit of Poly’s NoiseBlockAI and Acoustic Fence technologies, which remove annoying background noises, while the DirectorAI feature handles group and speaker tracking. Also accessed from its web console, the DirectorAI Perimeter option allows you to define a custom tracking zone.

Although still in a preview testing phase, the X52 offers people framing, which shows all participants using up to six split screens. Whichever mode you choose, you’ll be impressed with its speed as the camera snaps to active speakers in no more than two seconds.

Poly’s Studio X52 is perfect for businesses that want a professional video conferencing solution for their medium-sized meeting room. Video quality is excellent, speaker tracking is impressively fast and the big choice of built-in VC apps makes it incredibly versatile.

We've also rated the best small business routers.

This review first appeared in issue 353 of PC Pro.

Despite its competitive price – the range starts at £649 inc VAT for a Core i3-1315U/8GB/256GB spec with Windows 11 Home – the E14 Gen 5 is everything a ThinkPad is expected to be. This graphite black laptop has the chrome ThinkPad logo on its aluminum lid, complete with the red-lit dotted “i” that gives it a hint of business elegance.

I tested the version with a polycarbonate/ABS cover, but you can choose aluminum. This adds nothing to the price and only 20g to the weight, and the latter is one of this laptop’s most attractive features: 1.4kg with the 47Wh battery, 1.5kg with the 57Wh option. However, with the bigger battery in place, the laptop only survived 7hrs 48mins in our web-surfing test. With this spec, we expected something over nine hours.

The power drain doesn’t come from Lenovo squeezing every last drop out of the supplied Core i7-1355U CPU. Although the E14 Gen 5 never missed a beat in my daily usage, the benchmarks don’t lie: Lenovo’s own ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 11 scored 8,979 in Geekbench 6.2’s multicore test to the E14’s 8,000. Similarly, in our Handbrake test, the E14 took 10mins 57secs to convert our sample 4K video to 1080p compared to 9mins 5secs for the X1.

(Image credit: Future)

Both machines have 16GB of RAM and, while the X1 has the advantage of LPDDR5 memory, it’s all soldered onto the motherboard. Here, 8GB is soldered on but there’s an 8GB DIMM that can be replaced by a 32GB module. You can also swap out the supplied 512GB SSD, a short but speedy M.2 2242 unit, or specify a 1TB model for an extra £60 when ordering.

The E14 continues Lenovo’s tradition of excellent keyboards, with snappy, deep-travel, chiclet-style keys, the trademark red TrackPoint and plenty of spacing. I loved typing on it and managed 91 words per minute in the 10FastFingers.com test with 97% accuracy, compared to my average of 88wpm with 91% accuracy. A smooth and centrally located touchpad adds to its attractions.

As ever with budget laptops, Lenovo has made a sacrifice with the screen. This is no wide-gamut affair, covering 65% of the sRGB space and 46% of DCI-P3. However, it’s strong in other areas: peak brightness of 374cd/m2 is actually 74cd/m2 more than Lenovo claims, while an average Delta E of 0.3 confirms excellent colour accuracy. It’s anti-glare, too, so great for office work, while a 1,920 x 1,200 resolution looks sharp over the 14in diagonal.

The excellent keyboard makes speedy typing for long periods a breeze (Image credit: Future)

A webcam perches above the screen, and it’s worth choosing the 1080p unit in my machine over the 720p option (at a cost of £20). It produced excellent video in good lighting, and even coped in low-light conditions. Autofocus and tracking were speedy, while using Windows Hello proved a breeze.

The dual mics did a fine job of focusing on my voice while keeping background noise to a minimum, and I was similarly pleased with the speakers.

Music emerged with discernible depth, mid-tones and highs. Take Megan Thee Stallion’s “Her”. The house music bassline hit hard, with no distortion even at the highest volume. Despite being lightweight and pretty slim – 19mm at the front, 22.7mm at the rear – Lenovo includes a generous number of ports. The left side packs two Thunderbolt 4 ports, a USB-A port, an HDMI out and a combo audio jack. The right features a USB-A port, gigabit Ethernet and a nano Kensington lock. The latter adds to an impressive roster of security features, with a physical cover on the webcam, a self-healing BIOS and the option of a fingerprint reader (£10) built into the power button.

Ethernet and plentiful USB ports make this a fine workhorse (Image credit: Future)

Our price includes all these options, including Windows 11 Pro, but one of the great things about Lenovo’s approach is that you can customize it. For example, switching to a Core i5-1335U saves £200. You might prefer to spend some of this to extend the one year of on-site cover to three years; this has a list price of £210, but Lenovo frequently offers generous discounts.

So while battery life disappoints and we have criticisms of the screen and its outright speed, the E14 Gen 5 adds up to a strong choice for businesses on a budget. And even if you do cut it down to its most basic specs, it will exude professionalism for years to come.

We've also ranked the best video editing software for beginners.

This review first appeared in issue 353 of PC Pro.

Kyocera’s EcoSys P2235dn is a compact mono laser printer, designed for moderate use in small groups or businesses. It’s well specified for the price, with a 250-sheet cassette and 100-sheet multipurpose feed, plus duplex printing as standard. It’s also equipped with a gigabit Ethernet port, but there’s no Wi-Fi support; you’ll need the P2235dw for that.

Most laser manufacturers regard photoconductor drums as a consumable, typically good for 10,000 to 40,000 pages, but Kyocera fits a ceramic drum designed to last the life of the printer; in this case, 100,000 pages. The drum is guaranteed to reach that, or to last for three years, but in the UK the printer itself gets a stingy one-year RTB warranty.

The P2235dn has a basic control panel comprising a few lights and buttons, so it’s odd to see it also has a USB host port, which is typically paired with a text or touchscreen so you can browse and select which contents to print. We searched Kyocera’s website and documentation, experimented with different files and button combinations, checked in the driver and combed through the web admin page, but simply couldn’t find out how to make direct prints.

Kyocera’s ceramic drum is designed to last the life of the printer (Image credit: Future)

Using our trusty PC, we subjected the P2235dn to our usual battery of print jobs. It’s a fast device, turning out a first page of text in 17 seconds, and continuing at 28.8ppm over our 25-page job. It extended this to 29.4ppm on a 50-page document, and even reached 12.5ipm when duplex printing ten sides of graphics onto five pages. We were particularly impressed by its 27.7ppm on our challenging 24-page graphics test.

Sadly, the P2235dn seems in too much of a hurry to print particularly well. It’s rare that we criticize text quality from a laser, but up close, character outlines weren’t as crisp as we’d expect. More significantly, mono graphics suffered from fine banding, something we’d usually only expect on the cheapest laser devices.

When considered with its 1.8p per page running costs, this lackluster print quality takes the shine off the P2235dn. It’s a good choice if speed is all important, but there’s little else to recommend it.

We've also rated the best video conferencing software.

Liangstar Laptop Cooling Pad review

The Liangstar Laptop Cooling Pad is an affordable laptop cooling pad, designed to prevent your laptop from overheating during heavy gaming sessions or creative workflows. Given its price point, it would be reasonable to assume you’ll get only moderate-weight cooling. But blow me down: its three 100mm fans, two 80mm fans and one 70mm fan help you secure some pretty cool running.

I ran it through the 3DMark Stress Test on our Acer Predator Helios 300 with an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080, and the cooling it offered was genuinely pretty glacial. After running 15 minutes of running, the temperature of the laptop had risen from 22.2ºC to only 37.5ºC. That’s a temperature rise of just 15.3ºC – and, in the time I've been testing laptop pads, is the most extreme cooling I’ve seen. It's significantly better than the 31.9ºC warming I saw on our baseline test of the laptop alone.

Despite being frostier than a penguin whose name you just blanked on, the Liangstar’s fans are pretty quiet. Ten minutes into the test, I used a sound meter to measure noise – from a few inches away from the device and at my head height. At 59dB and 45dB respectively, the results weren’t really any worse than any of the best laptop cooling pads I’ve tested, and roughly equivalent to the noise the Acer Predator Helios 300 made on its own.

When it comes to design, the Liangstar Laptop Cooling Pad is well put together, in that sharp, angular style common to a lot of gaming gear. Using it felt ergonomically comfortable; I was able to tilt it to the right angle for my wrists, while the flip-up rests didn’t get in the way of using the trackpad or keyboard. Meanwhile, the monochrome lighting is a little more subtle than the RGB type common to many cooling pads – whether this is a positive or negative likely depends on your chromatic predilections, but I feel it’s nice enough here. I’m less keen on the tribal back tattoo at the bottom of the Liangstar, but maybe I’m just not the target audience.

With its powerful performance, you’d be forgiven for expecting this laptop cooling pad to be pricey. But it’s actually competitively priced in most markets: the blue-lit version I tested retails for just $19.99 / £20.99, although Australian readers will have to pay AU$66.91. In the US, you can also get red, white or multi-color lit versions for $22.49, $19.99 or $22.99 respectively. All told, this is a decent saving compared to the $29.99 / £29.77 / AU$49.77 TopMate C12 Laptop Cooling Pad or $26.99 / £21.99 Tecknet N5 Laptop Cooling Pad – despite the fact the Liangstar Laptop Cooling Pad offers superior cooling. So all told, if you care most about getting the best cooling for your cash, the Liangstar should be your go-to.

(Image credit: Future) Liangstar Laptop Cooling Pad review: price & availability

• Released December 16, 2019
• Current price of $19.99 / £28.99 / AU$66.91

First launched on December 16, 2019, the Liangstar Laptop Cooling Pad is currently available for $19.99 / £20.99 / AU$66.91 from Amazon, with the US price being the lowest we’ve ever seen it. There may be some fluctuations here, though: the MSRP in the UK is listed as £28.99, yet prices have dropped as low as £14.44, so it’s worth keeping an eye on our price trackers, as you may be able to pick up even more of a bargain.

However, even at Amazon’s current prices, it undercuts most other products we’ve tested. The only exception is if you’re based in Australia – over there, the TopMate C12 Laptop Cooling Pad comes in cheaper at AU$49.77, but in tests I found its cooling less impressive than the Liangstar, meaning you may well find the extra AU$17.14 is a price worth paying.

(Image credit: Future) Should I buy the TopMate C12 Laptop Cooling Pad? Buy it if…

You want the best cooling
Thus far, the Liangstar delivers the best cooling performance I’ve seen from a laptop cooling pad at the affordable end of the market, keeping our testing laptop at a pretty balmy 37.5ºC during its intensive stress test.

You want an absolute bargain price
Even compared to other affordable laptop cooling pads, the Liangstar is surprisingly cheap. It’s priced much cheaper in the US and UK than many other cooling pads, despite the fact it offers superior cooling.

Don’t buy it if…

You want specific styling
The Liangstar is neither fish nor fowl in terms of design. Without conspicuous RGB lighting, it may not have enough of a gamer vibe for the esports crowd, but its hard angles and tribal logo might be a bit much for creatives.

You’re buying from Australia
OK, this is less of a "don’t buy" than it is a "think before you buy". The Liangstar has a bit of a markup in Australia, even more than we’d expect from the exchange rate and extra shipping. So it's worth considering if it’s as much as a bargain in your market.

(Image credit: Future) Liangstar Laptop Cooling Pad review: also consider

TopMate C12 Laptop Cooling Pad
The TopMate C12 Laptop Cooling Pad can’t quite rival the Liangstar for cooling – its temperature rise was 22.8ºC versus the Liangstar’s 15.3ºC – but it does almost make up for it when it comes to cool points. Its customizable RGB lighting guarantees to give your gaming setup that extra pop, offering 10 different settings for its rainbow-hued LED trim. Read our full TopMate C12 Laptop Cooling Pad review.

How I tested the Liangstar Laptop Cooling Pad

• Tested it over multiple days
• Ran a stress test and measured temperature difference with a thermal camera
• Recorded the volume of fan noise 10 minutes into test with a sound level meter

To test the Liangstar Laptop Cooling Pad, I carried out all of the standard benchmarks we run on laptop cooling pads. Firstly, I measured our Razer Predator Helios 300 with an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 testing laptop’s hottest point to set a baseline, then ran a 3DMark Stress Test for 15 minutes with the cooling pad set to its maximum setting and then remeasured the temperature.

In addition, I checked how much noise the device kicks out with a sound level meter. Once the test had been running for ten minutes, I recorded the sound levels from three inches away and from head height to get a sense of the immediate and subjective noise levels generated by the cooling pad and the laptop combined. I then contrasted this against the noise generated by the laptop’s fans alone.

As well as this quantitative data, I made sure I got plenty of experience using the cooling pad so I could assess its ergonomics and how well it functions in practice. Here I benefited from the many years I’ve spent testing gadgets as well as the 30 years I’ve spent using gaming setups.

• First reviewed: March 2025
• Read more about how we test

Apple Nike Sport Band review

The Apple Nike Sport Band is a workout-ready wrist strap that’s built for the sporty type. At $49 / £49, this is by no means one of the cheaper Apple Watch bands available, but it does, admittedly, have a premium feel to it that takes your workout monitoring to the next level.

Specifically, this band is constructed of the sweat and waterproof material, fluoroelastomer. Apple says that each strap has at least 30% recycled fluoroelastomer and that the flakes littered across the strap are made from a minimum of 66% fluoroelastomer – pretty neat. Interestingly, these flakes are scattered in a randomized manner, ensuring that each Nike Sport Band is unique.

More generally, this is a very nice looking band. I tested the Midnight Sky variant, where the flakes created a starry sky impression against the gray-black strap. Other than Midnight Sky, you can choose from: Blue Flame (blue and orange); Cargo Khaki (green and blue); Desert Stone (a sandy color with orange and blue details); Magic Ember (pink); Pure Platinum (white with mulit-colored splodges); and Volt Splash (green). I was a big fan of the many color options available – whether you want a more muted, professional looking option like Midnight Sky or an in-your-face vibrant band like Magic Ember, there’s a style for anyone – something we always look for on our hunt for the best Apple Watch bands.

That’s not the only variability to mention, though, because there are also a number of size options. This strap is compatible with three different case sizes: 40, 42 and 46mm. You can also get it in either small-to-medium (140-190mm) or medium-to-large (160-210mm). I used the former and found it very easy to get a comfortable fit – just poke the aluminum pin through one of the many holes in the strap and you’re good to go.

Even when keeping this strap on for entire days at a time, I never felt any irritation or annoyance. The high density of holes means there’s plenty of room for your wrist to breathe and the material is inherently resistant against water and sweat, making this strap ideal for workouts, for instance. I went on a run and many a walk and never realized any strain or damage, so you can rest assured that there’s plenty of quality here.

And quality is exactly what you’d expect for an Apple Watch band of this price. At $49 / £49 this thing isn’t cheap. There are some third-party alternatives – like the CeMiKa Silicone Sport Straps or Yoohoo Adjustable Metal Strap – that can be yours for less than $15 / £15. But really, I think you’ll feel the difference. The quality of material, excellent color design and more premium look of the Nike Sport Band makes it a superior companion for your Apple Watch – especially if you’re someone that loves to get active.

(Image credit: Future) Apple Nike Sport Band review: Price & specs

(Image credit: Future) Should I buy the Apple Nike Sport Band? Buy it if…

You’re the active type
If you’re someone that likes to stay in shape – whether that’s running, lifting weights, swimming (maybe all of the above?) – this is the ideal watch strap for you. It’s made from a water-resistant material and has holes to let your wrists breathe – it doesn’t get much better than that.

You want an easy-to-fasten strap
Something I love about the Apple Nike Sport Band is how easy it is to fasten to your wrist. Just poke the aluminum pin through one of the strap’s holes and it will lock into place. No more messing around with an awkward buckle.

Don't buy it if…

You’re on a tight budget
The only real issue I can take with this strap is its price. I don’t think it’s crazy expensive given the quality on offer, but it’s certainly not cheap. If you’re looking for a massively budget-friendly strap, this one is to be avoided, unless you find it at a significantly discounted price.

You want an ultra premium option
If you’re on the other end of the spectrum and want a top-tier premium watch strap, this might not be flashy enough for you. There are high-calibre metallic options like the Milanese Loop, for instance, but that will set you back almost $100 / £100.

Apple Nike Sport Band review: Also consider

Apple Braided Solo Loop
We’ve been hands on with the Apple Braided Solo Loop and found it to be comfortable, easy to fit and conveniently waterproof. It is certainly quite pricey though, coming in at $99 / £99 – ouch. The stretchy band is ultra-easy to slip on, but it may cause some overhang – so maybe stick with this Nike strap if you want a more practical, fitness-oriented option. Read our full Apple Braided Solo Loop review.

Assassin’s Creed Shadows seems to have benefited from its extra time cooking in the fire, as developer Ubisoft Quebec has created an excellent new entry in the action open-world role-playing game line of its behemoth stealth series.

Review info

Platform reviewed: PS5, PS5 Pro
Available on: PS5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, PC
Release date: March 20, 2025

It has all the right ingredients to make it a delicious large-scale experience, from rewarding exploration of a beautiful world to some exquisite combat that’s the best in the whole series. That's on top of its dual protagonist system, which offers the best of both worlds on a gameplay front.

But one word I kept coming back to in particular while sinking dozens of hours into Shadows was ‘balanced’. For example, the balance between protagonists Yasuke and Naoe’s styles, skill progression, and landmarks discovered via exploration constantly tempts you to play further.

As a result, Assassin’s Creed Shadows hits the mark in an awful lot of ways and is right up there when it comes to the best Assassin's Creed games. Yes, its story darts about all over the place to its detriment (although it earns credit for deviating from the obvious means to tell a narrative) and peters out rather, and the Hideout mode demands a fair bit of resource grinding, but these minor quibbles never halted my enjoyment of roaming Feudal Japan and unraveling its many mysteries.

(Image credit: Ubisoft) A world worth waiting for

One of the stars of the whole show is the setting of Feudal Japan in the 16th century. In short, it's perfect for the lore and gameplay of an Assassin’s Creed game. This rendition of the period is an absolute beauty with breathtaking vistas, varied and eye-catching typography, and exquisite landscape features from water courses to lush vegetation and a wonderful utilization of Japanese landscapes, architecture, and gardens.

The environmental and weather effects are both visually and audibly varied too. There are snow blizzards you can’t see through, pounding rain that makes the ground muddy, a distinct hazed redolent of that which often sits on the Japanese landscape, and gusts of wind lightly rustling brilliantly blooming cherry blossom trees.

Not only that, the world is filled with plenty of things to discover, stumble upon, and do. From tombs and parkour paths to find loot in, strongholds to clear, meditation and temples to gain knowledge points from, to painting wildlife and completing contracts, there’s loads to sink your teeth into. While many of these would feel at home in the likes of Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, for example, the slightly smaller map size helps to keep it all in check and creates an emphasis on quality over quantity.

(Image credit: Ubisoft)

There are plenty of viewpoints to climb and get vantage across the land - no AC game would be complete without them - but climbing them doesn’t automatically reveal everything in a region. It’s no longer a one-stop show-me-everything trick. Instead, a few question marks and maybe the next nearest viewpoint or two will appear on your map, but the emphasis is on inspecting the world and identifying the places you want to go to next.

This change in exploration ensured I was immersed in the world and I loved the sense of discovery. The shift to putting the onus on you to actually go to places or find locations is something I’ve wanted from the open-world line in the series for a while - and it works. This also works on a micro scale when looking for evidence or people during missions; you really feel like you’re snooping about and every discovery feels a little more earned.

Thus, even the world itself has a nice balance to it. Its overall size, the amount of things within it, and the distance between those locations and activities make for a well-filled world that reveals itself and can be explored at your own pace.

(Image credit: Ubisoft) Dual blades

As a long-time fan of this series, I was originally unconvinced about the dual-protagonist setup in Shadows. However, after previewing the game at the Quebec studio, and now spending dozens of hours with it properly, I can say that it really works.

Naoe and Yasuke are incredibly specialist and feel honed to their specific niches. It’s still worth remembering, however, that this dual protagonist setup is not like Assassin’s Creed Syndicate for example, where both playable characters are members of the Assassin brotherhood; here, we’ve got one stealth-attuned assassin and one bombastic samurai who’s best suited to all-out combat.

Despite their distinct styles, playing with either has one thing in common: some of the best combat in the series. Whether I was implementing quickfire attacks in one-on-one combat with a Kusarigama hook-and-chain weapon as Naoe, or smashing through doors and mowing down gaggles of goons with Kanobo with as Yasuke, both characters are a blastic.

Shinobi Naoe is a true assassin, and, in a strong field, possibly one of the best to play as yet. She’s fast, lethal, and stocked with stealthy tools. Lurking in the shadows, utilizing her slick parkour moves, and infiltrating places unseen feels excellent. There’s something satisfying about mastering her vulnerability and high-risk one-on-one combat too; Naoe almost feels underpowered when out of stealth, and this successfully balances out her efficacy.

Best bit

Shadows’ take on exploration and discovery of the world is a welcome breath of fresh air for the series. Viewpoints only reveal some of your surroundings, and, as a result, the urge to get to locations and discover more of the world is strong, with more places of interest revealing themselves as you get to each one.

On the other hand, Yasuke is built for head-on combat. Focusing on all-out damage, he can wield the biggest weapons and create the largest devastation, and take the most punishment. Seeing baddies go flying from huge ground attacks or massive kicks brought satisfaction to combat when going big, and every hit felt impactful and spectacular.

Equally, the limits on Yasuke’s stealth abilities feel about right: he’ll get seen when trying to hide behind cover, he’s rubbish at parkour, and his assassinations are deliberately non-stealthy.

I did find myself playing as Naoe an awful lot more due to the excellence of stealth and assassination, but knowing I could rely on changing to Yasuke to go all out with a Kanobo club was a joy - even if the act of changing between them could be a little more seamless than having to re-enter menus.

The balance of the game comes to the fore again, but three-fold: first in the balance between what Naoe and Yasuke offer in style, second in the way that each is balanced in terms of capabilities, but third in terms of progressing both and their skill sets. For example, if you identify skills you want then you can act accordingly, pivoting away to gather specific knowledge points that unlock levels of skills rather than just encouraging you to hoover up one-dimensional skill points.

(Image credit: Ubisoft) A story that fades

Sadly, I can’t rave in the same way about the story as much as I can about everything else.

Told through a mix of flashbacks, main story-adjacent missions, and some linear moments, I appreciate the series trying to weave the narrative in a different way, but it all feels a bit scattershot.

However, there are redeeming qualities that do go some way to mitigating the otherwise spotty narrative. The performances, cinematography, and attention to detail in cutscenes - I was always taken by the characters’ eyes and the level of eye contact between them - is excellent and leads to a wonderfully cinematic feel. This helps to present the story and cutscenes in an engaging and sometimes gripping way - it’s just a shame that it never really got its hooks into me.

It’s worth mentioning that playing the main missions and going after the main targets often culminates in wonderful segments that focus on killing the right person in a sprawling, dangerous location, and then getting out.

I was also pleasantly surprised to find sub-groups and organizations of evil schemers that meant satisfying investigations and assassinations were not limited to one main group of big bads. Complementing this, main targets or not, were the kill screens which were an excellent artistic touch throughout, with the screen changing to black and white splattered by the bright blood of your victim.

(Image credit: Ubisoft) Filling out the experience

Assassin’s Creed Shadows also brings some new facets to the series with it.

The Animus Hub greets you when booting up the game. On one hand this is a functional launcher-type screen that can act as simply the home screen for Shadows and the most recent AC games (from Origins onward). On the other, it actually handles the modern-day stuff well and provides a good launchpad for jumping into any of those games. A nice, apt base for the whole Assassin’s Creed experience.

Personally, I wasn't drawn much to the new base building-like Hideout mode and it does take some time in the main game to gather all the materials needed to build and upgrade everything. In terms of adding buildings to your settlement, there are tangible benefits to be gained such as more scouts that can reveal clues and locations on the map for you, adding engravings (upgrades) to weapons, and being able to remove regional wanted statuses.

In this way, it feels like an evolution of the Ravensthorpe settlement concept from Valhalla. However, I preferred the implementation in Eivor’s adventure which was simpler and wasn’t trying to be a whole new game mode.

Even so, Assassin’s Creed Shadows’ various delays have clearly been worth it, as it’s some of the most fun I’ve had in the series in a long while. It takes all the best bits of the RPG line of games in the series and refines them, but also throws in some excellent stealth, combat, and exploration which makes for a memorable experience throughout. Its drawbacks are relatively small in comparison to its strengths and I am already committed to exploring all its nooks and crannies, well after rolling credits.

Should you play Assassin's Creed Shadows? Play it if...

You want a huge open-world AC game to sink hours into
Shadows is the next big Assassin’s Creed game and if you’ve been after another experience like that of Odyssey or Valhalla then Shadows will not disappoint with its large world and the amount of things to do.

You’ve been pining for a Feudal Japan setting for Assassin’s Creed
The wait for Assassin’s Creed to take its adventures to Feudal Japan has been absolutely worth it. The landscapes, characters, and history of the place are perfect for the series and Shadows capitalizes on that well.

You enjoy different combat playstyles
If you’re an action-adventure fan who likes to constantly mix things up in combat or have multiplayer playstyle options, then those offered by Naoe and Yasuke could scratch quite the itch.

You want an open-world game with rewarding exploration
Shadows shakes up the series’ traditional approach to world exploration and offers something far more nuanced, immersive, and rewarding. Nothing is fed to you in terms of exploration, and areas aren’t suddenly filled after reaching viewpoints; the world entices you to explore it and the satisfaction of doing it is excellent.

Don't play it if...

You prefer the smaller Assassin’s Creed adventures
Assassin’s Creed Mirage this is not, and if you prefer the more focused, small-scale adventures that the series has been known for in the past, then Shadows might be a bit overwhelming.

You don’t want to devote hours to resource-gathering and location completing
While there’s so much to do across Shadows’ landscapes, you’ll need to spend a good while gathering resources to get the most out of the hideout mode and complete a lot of minigames and locations to unlock the top skills.

Accessibility

Ubisoft’s modern suite of strong accessibility options is available in Assassin’s Creed Shadows. There are multiple difficulty levels (all of which are described in full) that affect combat and stealth, and you can also change the game to have one-hit assassinations. If you want to make exploration easier, you can turn on guidance for that to make discovery more straightforward.

There are options to change or turn off graphic effects such as blood, as well as alter the camera, and change inputs for actions. There are also plenty of options for subtitles, text size, background color for text, and language options. The game also features modes to cater to Red-Green and Blue-Yellow colorblindness.

(Image credit: Ubisoft) How I reviewed Assassin's Creed Shadows

I’ve played Assassin’s Creed Shadows for more than 40 hours for this review, going through the main storyline, undertaking a host of side quests, and taking time to explore the vast world. As well as thoroughly exploring the main game as both Naoe and Yasuke and using as many weapons for both as I could, I dedicated time to having a poke about the Animus Hub and spending time in the Hideout mode too to explore what both have to offer.

I reviewed Assassin’s Creed Shadows on both my PlayStation 5 setups testing on a PS5 Slim and PS5 Pro and using an Acer X32QFS gaming monitor and Samsung Q6F 55-inch 4K QLED TV for display, and a Yamaha SR-C20A soundbar and Samsung soundbar for audio. When using a headset, I adopted a SteelSeries Arctis Nova 7 on the PS5 Slim and a SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Wireless with my PS5 Pro. I used a regular DualSense Wireless controller on both consoles, and I also played Assassin’s Creed Shadows on my PlayStation Portal.

The game offered me two or three graphics modes depending on the display I was using. The standard, default two of Quality and Performance are present - with the performance mode being preferable on 60Hz displays - while a Balanced mode is available on HDMI 2.1 displays offering something akin to a quality-meets-40-frames-per-second experience. My preference by far was the latter and found it to be an excellent mix of both performance and overall image quality.

First reviewed March 2025

Fulaim X5M: one-minute review

The Fulaim X5M is yet another option in what has become a boom area of content-creation tech: the miniature wireless digital microphone. Designed for vloggers, podcasters and the like, this set is a competitor to the likes of the DJI Mic 2 and Rode Wireless Micro, with clip-on transmitters wirelessly beaming an audio signal to a receiver that can be connected to a smartphone, computer or camera.

Perhaps the main selling point of the X5M is its budget-friendly price, which undercuts premium rivals like DJI, Rode and Sennheiser by a wide margin. That makes it a tempting purchase for newbie content creators who are just getting started, particularly given the flexibility offered by its adapters, along with the ability to record directly onto the transmitter's own 4GB of internal storage.

I'd expect some concessions to be made with any budget product, and with the X5M I'd say the main ones are its rather cheap-feeling build quality, and the fact that its audio quality tops out at 16-bit where premium rivals offer 24-bit and even 32-bit float options. The display on the receiver could do with some tweaks to make it a little more readable too, but none of the above are what I'd call deal-breakers.

If more premium mics are out of your reach, and you want something a little more flexible than the smartphone-only Boya Mini, the Fulaim X5M is well worth a look.

The core Fulaim X5M set with two transmitters, the receiver and charging case (Image credit: Future | Sam Kieldsen) Fulaim X5M: price and release date

• List price is $199 / £150 / AU$310 for dual TX set
• Cheaper non-recording edition available
• Sold only as a set

Dual-transmitter kits with a charging case don’t come much cheaper than the Fulaim X5M. Its list price is $199 / £150 / AU$311, but I’ve found it for far less at many online stores including Amazon US for around $90 / Amazon UK for around £100, so you’ll be paying a lot less than you would for the likes of the DJI Mic Mini or Rode Wireless Micro.

That’s the price for the version of the X5M I was sent for review, which includes built-in recording on the transmitters. An even cheaper version lacking that feature is also available, for around $30 / £22 / AU$35 less.

Both sets are available to buy now from a range of online stores, but it’s worth noting that you can only get the X5M in a full package that also includes two transmitters, one receiver, a charging case, USB-C / Lightning / 3.5mm adapters, two furry windscreens and a USB-C cable; aside from replacement bits like the adapters and magnets, the elements of this kit aren’t available for individual purchase, at least as far as I could tell.

The charging case with two transmitters, the receiver and all three adapters inserted (Image credit: Future | Sam Kieldsen) Fulaim X5M: specs

The receiver with its three adapters for Lightning, USB-C and 3.5mm devices. (Image credit: Future | Sam Kieldsen) Fulaim X5M: Design

• Most elements slot into charging case for transport
• Entire package weighs 8.5oz / 240g
• Adapters for USB-C, Lightning and 3.5mm included

The X5M, like many wireless mic packages, comprises two wearable transmitters, a receiver that can be connected to smartphones, tablets, computers and cameras, and a case that not only holds them but recharges their internal batteries. The case also has space for three connector adapters for the receiver (USB-C, Lightning and 3.5mm), a USB-C port for charging, and four LEDs on the front to give you a quick indication of its own battery life.

The whole kit will fit easily in your coat pocket, making the X5M wonderfully portable. I would have liked some kind of pouch or carrying bag to be included in the set though, as there’s nothing to stop the case flipping open in your bag and disgorging its contents. Also, there’s no room in the charging case for included accessories like the two furry windscreens or USB-C cable, so having a bag to hold everything would have made a lot of difference.

I found the general build quality to be okay, if a little cheap and plasticky. Pricier mic sets like the DJI Mic 2, Sennheiser Profile Wireless and Saramonic Ultra are all much sturdier than this – but that’s one reason you have to pay more for them, I suppose. There’s also no waterproofing on any of the elements here – at least nothing mentioned by Fulaim – so if you want to record outdoors in inclement weather you’ll need to exercise caution.

A Fulaim X5M transmitter with its furry windshield attached. (Image credit: Future | Sam Kieldsen)

The transmitters are small and lightweight, and can be attached to clothing via a clip or magnet. The clip is nice and strong, but I found the magnet pull to be a little weak, and I wouldn’t want to risk using it on any garment thicker than a lightweight T-shirt, lest it fall off.

Each transmitter has a USB-C port for charging and data transfer, as well as two buttons: one to switch power on/off and another that can be tapped to engage noise reduction tech and held down to start recording. It also has a 3.5mm input, enabling users to attach a third-party lavalier mic.

The receiver has a USB-C port for charging, plus an interface on the back that can accept one of the adapters, allowing it to be connected directly to products with Lightning, USB-C or 3.5mm ports. I tried it on my iPhone 13 and Panasonic GH6 II camera (with the Lightning and 3.5mm ports respectively) and found it to be a secure and fairly low-profile fit.

It also has a small non-touchscreen display that indicates battery life, recording mode, connection status and audio gain. This is a little hard to see from a distance at times, due to the choice of font and icons and its tiny size, but better to have than to not, I suppose.

The receiver also has two hardware buttons: one for power and one to toggle through five levels of gain adjustment.

Fulaim X5M: Performance

• 16-bit audio quality with noise reduction
• Stereo, mono and safety recording modes
• Transmitter can be used solo

There’s no sign of 24-bit or 32-bit audio here. The X5M, as befits its budget status, sticks with 16-bit audio – and I think that’s fine for a cheap wireless mic. Having tested the recording quality both indoors and outdoors on a blustery day, I’m more than happy with it – and I strongly suspect anyone who’s upgrading from a built-in mic on their phone or camera will feel the same. The sound is so much richer and fuller from a dedicated mic, while the furry windshield succeeds in cutting out wind noise when you're recording outdoors.

There’s even a noise reduction mode that, while I wouldn’t rely on it in truly challenging conditions, is very effective at reducing background hums – the likes of fans, air conditioners and road noise.

The X5M can record in three different modes: mono (which uses a single transmitter), stereo (where both transmitters record in tandem to create a single recording) and safety (where the second transmitter records at a slight gain reduction, as a backup track in case of the primary track experiencing a sudden loud noise or similar).

Each transmitter can be used for solo recording too, so you can ditch the rest of the set if you’re traveling really light. With 4GB of internal storage, it can record around nine hours of audio.

The X5M's receiver attached to an Apple iPhone 13 via its Lightning port. (Image credit: Future | Sam Kieldsen)

Battery life runs closer to six hours, however, with two full-recharge cycles being held in the charging case. In theory, with the charging case in your pocket you can get 18 hours of use out of the X5M before having to track down a wall socket or power bank, which is about average for a wireless mic set.

As for wireless range, Fulaim claims the X5M can work up to a range of about 650ft / 200m – that is, the distance between the transmitter and receiver. That’s in perfect conditions, of course, and I would expect the real-world figure to be a lot lower, although for the vast majority of users range is never going to be an issue. I certainly had no problems with connectivity or transmission during my review period.

Should I buy the Fulaim X5M? Buy it if…

You want a versatile wireless mic on a budget

With its trio of adapters for connecting to all types of smartphone plus laptops and cameras, plus solo recording, this is a cheap package that isn’t restricted to a single mode of audio capture.

You’re a beginner content creator

The 16-bit audio recorded by the X5M is so much crisper, weightier, and richer than the sound you’d get from a smartphone or camera’s built-in mic, making it a cheap and simple way to elevate vlog audio.

Don’t buy it if…

You want to record in pro-quality audio formats

The X5M sticks with ‘good enough’ 16-bit audio recording, so demanding professionals who require 24-bit or even 32-bit float recording should look elsewhere – and be willing to spend more money.

You want super-tough build quality

The plasticky build quality, lack of weatherproofing, and lack of a carrying case or bag make this a mic set that needs to be handled with a little care. It’s not necessarily designed for the rough and tumble of frequent outdoor use.

Fulaim X5M: also consider

Boya Mini

This ultra-cheap, ultra-compact and ultra-lightweight wireless microphone is designed to work only with smartphones, meaning you can’t connect it to a camera. Like the Fulaim X5M, it records at 16-bit quality rather than the 24-bit offered by some pricier alternatives.

Read our Boya Mini review

DJI Mic Mini
A premium and versatile alternative that’s currently quite a bit pricier than the Fulaim X5M, the Mic Mini features 24-bit audio and Bluetooth connectivity, meaning you can bypass the receiver altogether. Its transmitters are quite a bit smaller than the Fulaim X5M’s too, which is handy if you want something a little more discreet.

Read our DJI Mic Mini review

(Image credit: Future | Sam Kieldsen) How I tested the Fulaim X5M

• I used it regularly for a week
• I tested outside and indoors
• I used it solo, and paired with iPhone 13 and Panasonic Lumix GH6 II

In order to see how it fared in different environments I tested the Fulaim X5M in a range of scenarios, from the quiet and relatively controlled environment of my home office to the windy coast of southeast England.

I also recorded with it in several different ways: using the transmitter’s built-in recording capability; with the receiver connected to my Apple iPhone 13 using a Lightning adapter; and with the receiver connected to my Panasonic Lumix GH6 II mirrorless camera via its 3.5mm analog adapter.

• First reviewed: March 2025
• Read more about how we test

Samsung 9100 Pro: Two-minute review

It's very hard to say that a drive that sequentially reads nearly 12,500MB a second doesn't live up to expectations, especially not when its performance everywhere else is better than anything else I've tested, but that sticker on the box of the Samsung 9100 Pro that promises up to 14,800MB/s sticks in the craw of an otherwise perfect M.2 PCIe 5.0 SSD.

Starting at $199.99 for a 1TB capacity drive (about £155/AU$315), the 9100 Pro is Samsung's first 'true' PCIe 5.0 SSD after the Samsung 990 EVO and Samsung 990 EVO Plus. Both those drives are PCIe 5.0, but they only use two PCIe 5.0 lanes, which limits their practical speeds to PCIe 4.0 standards.

The 9100 Pro, meanwhile, is a full-fat PCIe 5.0 x4 M.2 drive, meaning its theoretical max speed for sequential reads is upwards of roughly 15,000MB/s and 14,000MB/s for sequential writes (this number has been edging up over the past 3-5 years, so take that theoretical maximum with a grain of salt at this point).

(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)

Samsung promises that its latest drive can hit up to 14,800MB/s sequential read and 13,400MB/s sequential write, and the Samsung 9100 Pro gets there somewhat. It clocks in a max sequential write rate of 13,066MB/s in my testing, but the 9100 Pro's maximum sequential read speed only hit 12,427MB/s. This is still incredibly fast—but, it's not what's promised on the box.

Could that change with BIOS or firmware updates, sure. Possibly. But it's not like other PCIe 5.0 drives like the Crucial T705 aren't hitting close to 14,500MB/s. The T705 hits a max sequential read speed of 14,390MB/s in CrystalDiskMark 8 on the same testbench with a Gigabyte Aorus X870E motherboard, AMD Ryzen 9 9950X processor, and 32GB Corsair Dominator DDR5 running at 6,600MT/s and integrated graphics, so there's no interference from a graphics card.

Meanwhile, compared to its predecessor, the Samsung 990 Pro, the 9100 Pro is a much better overall drive, but there are circumstances where the 990 Pro still manages to outperform its successor such as same and secondary drive copy time and random read and write speeds.

(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)

On balance, the Samsung 9100 Pro isn't the undisputed best SSD you can buy, and for some users (such as gamers or general-use enthusiasts), you will likely be happier with other PCIe 5.0 or even PCIe 4.0 drives on the market, many of which will be cheaper than the 9100 Pro.

That said, this is a drive for professional users and for those who need to save or otherwise write large files to disk regularly, and for that, the Samsung 9100 Pro is the best M.2 SSD on the market.

Gamers won't find much here worth the investment, unfortunately, with even the 990 Pro outperforming the 9100 Pro in 3DMark's SSD benchmark, which is a gaming-exclusive test. It also falls about 17% behind the Corsair MP700 Elite PCIe 5.0 SSD on this benchmark as well.

For general business users, the 9100 Pro is better than its predecessor but lags behind the Crucial T705 in PCMark 10, which tests general productivity speed and performance as well as its performance as a data drive rather than your main system drive.

Given all this, you'd think that the 9100 Pro should score lower, but it really comes in strong on sequential write performance, which is a very big deal for professional users who might need to save media projects that are many, many gigabytes large.

Nothing disrupts a workflow more than a project autosaving for up to half a minute or more, and this is where the 9100 Pro shines. Offering up to 39% faster sequential write performance than the Crucial T705, its nearest competitor in this category, the Samsung 9100 Pro really leans into its pro branding here.

The 9100 Pro unit I tested did not come with a built-in heatsink, so its thermal performance is largely a factor of the excellent PCIe 5.0 heatsink on the Gigabyte Auros X870E motherboard I used for testing (I also used the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X and 32GB of Corsair Dominator DDR5 RAM at 6,600MT/s), so I can't speak much to the heatsink's quality in this review.

Also, I tested a 9100 Pro with a 4TB capacity, whereas every other drive I tested had a 2TB capacity. This, in itself, shouldn't impact baseline scores too much, if at all, but it's worth pointing out that while I still consider this an apples-to-apples comparison, it's more of a Cosmic Crisp-to-Red Delicious comparison, so your actual experienced performance might vary slightly from mine.

All that said, the other major problem with this drive is its price. It's an expensive drive, and for a lot of gamers and those who are more interested in faster loading times for their programs and files, the Crucial T705 is simply a better option with comparable write speeds but close-to-max read speeds for a lower price.

If you're looking for a drive that you can use in more of a professional capacity with frequent saves of very large files like video projects or video game packages in Unreal Engine, the Samsung 9100 Pro is the best SSD you're going to get for that purpose and it will absolutely speed up your everyday workflow considerably.

Samsung 9100 Pro: Price & availability

(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)

• How much does it cost? Starting at $199.99 (about £155/AU$315)
• When is it available? Available now
• Where can you get it? Available in the US, UK, and Australia

The Samsung 9100 Pro is available in the US, UK, and Australia starting on March 18, 2025, for $199.99 (about £155/AU$315) for a 1TB drive.

Higher capacities will cost you more, with the 2TB capacity going for $299.99 (about £230/AU$470)and the 4TB capacity going for $549.99 (about £425/AU$865).

The 9100 Pro 8TB capacity drive is expected to launch in H2 2025, though its price hasn't been released yet.

This puts the 9100 Pro roughly 30% more expensive to start over the Crucial T705 1TB, and slightly more expensive than the launch MSRP of the Samsung 990 Pro it replaces.

Samsung 9100 Pro: Specs Should you buy the Samsung 9100 Pro?

(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler) Buy it if...

You need pro-level sequential write performance
Are you writing 20GB files to disk every time you save your architecture project? This drive is for you.

You want an M.2 SSD with high-capacity options
With a 4TB drive available now and 8TB capacity coming later this year, this is one of the most spacious M.2 SSDs on the market.

Don't buy it if...

You're on a budget
This is hardly the cheapest PCIe 5.0 drive out there, even at this level of performance.

You're looking for a PS5 SSD
If you want a new SSD for your PS5 console, this drive is way too fast for the PS5's PCIe 4.0 interface. You're better off getting the 990 Pro.

Samsung 9100 Pro: Also consider

If my Samsung 9100 Pro review has you looking for other options, here are two more M.2 SSDs to consider...

Crucial T705
The Crucial T705 is the best all-around PCIe 5.0 drive you can buy, with stellar performance across the board and a fairly accessible price point.

Read the full Crucial T705 review

Samsung 990 Pro
The Samsung 990 Pro is the best PCIe 4.0 SSD going, and for 95% of users, this drive will be more than enough for your needs at a decent enough price.

Read the full Samsung 990 Pro review

How I tested the Samsung 9100 Pro

• I spent about two weeks testing this SSD
• I used it for gaming, content creation, and general storage use
• I used my standard suite of SSD benchmarks as well as daily use

To test the 9100 Pro, I ran it through our standard benchmark suite, including CrystalDiskMark 8, PassMark, PCMark 10, 3DMark, and our proprietary 25GB file copy test.

I used this drive as my main system storage (C:\) drive for over a week on my test bench, where I used it extensively for loading games for graphics card benchmarking purposes, content creation, and more. This included loading games and large batches of photos for editing in Lightroom and Photoshop for various reviews.

I've been testing hardware components for TechRadar for over three years now, including several major SSD reviews from Samsung, PNY, and others, so I know what the latest SSDs are best for and whether they are worth your hard-earned money.

First reviewed March 2025

Review information

Platform reviewed: Nintendo Switch
Available on: Nintendo Switch
Release date: March 20, 2025

2053 A.D. The last bastion of humanity flees Earth as it’s caught up in a conflict between two unknown alien factions. The White Whale mothership crash lands on the seemingly habitable planet of Mira where humanity has a chance to begin again, but their struggles are far from over. Two months later, you’re discovered in a drop pod without a single memory save for your name. And so begins Xenoblade Chronicles X Definitive Edition - easily one of the best RPGs (role-playing games) I’ve played in recent years.

As the newest resident of New Los Angeles - humanity’s massive home base that successfully landed on Mira mostly intact - you’re swiftly encouraged to join BLADE (a handy shortening of Builders of the Legacy After the Destruction of Earth), an elite force tasked with everything from exploring Mira and subduing threats to gathering resources and keeping the peace on home ground.

Within your first hour, you’ll select one of eight BLADE divisions to be a part of, each specializing in a particular field (though these are fairly inconsequential outside of the online modes which I wasn’t able to try for this review). These include Pathfinders who specialize in deploying FrontierNav probes to expand the map, and Interceptors who’re tasked with handling dangerous fauna. No matter which division you pick, you’ll still get to explore Mira in pretty much any way you like.

(Image credit: Nintendo)

While Xenoblade Chronicles X Definitive Edition does have a main story to follow, it’s not as much of a focus compared to the other three games in the series. Instead, you’ll be spending the bulk of your playtime ticking off side quests and party member affinity missions (of which there are plenty of both) in order to meet requirements for unlocking story missions and expanding your home base of New LA.

On paper it sounds like a slog - and indeed many quests can boil down to simple item fetches or enemy hunting. Thankfully, the context of each quest makes almost all of them worth doing. Each one meaningfully expands the lore of Mira and its many alien races. There’s also a fantastic feeling of progression here, as a good amount of quests will unlock more features in New LA as well as allow these other races to gradually inhabit the city.

There’s a real feeling of growth and community that’s seldom seen in the genre. And, if you’re paying attention, you’ll notice the various races co-existing. They’ll form their own friend groups, frequent commercial establishments, develop romantic relationships, and contribute to New LA in their own ways. It’s not a real-time simulation by any means, but it all still adds so much detail and flavor to the world around you.

In summary, I love the world of Mira, and I love Xenoblade Chronicles X’s approach to character development and overall progression. Sure, the lengthy gap between main story missions won’t sit right with everyone. Think of it like a hot bath; dipping a toe in can be intimidating, but if you allow yourself to slowly settle in, you’ll find an incredibly rewarding and satisfying experience. It might well be a re-release, but Xenoblade Chronicles X Definitive Edition is handily one of the best Nintendo Switch games today.

The world’s your (extremely dangerous) oyster

(Image credit: Nintendo)

Besides the hub of New LA, Mira is split into five distinct (and utterly massive) biomes. Bordering the city is Primordia, a lush grassland dotted with lakes and mountains. To its west is Noctilum, a labyrinthine forest that combines wide open spaces with plenty of narrow pathways to explore. In the east you have the desert-like Oblivia, then off to the north is the ethereal Sylvalum and then bordering that is the volcanic region of Cauldros.

Best bit

(Image credit: Nintendo)

Exploring the world of Xenoblade Chronicles X Definitive Edition is its own multi-faceted reward. It aids with overall progression, sure, but it’s also full of individual moments that wowed me. As an example, running through the towering forests of Noctilum for the first time while its vocal-driven theme kicked in was a simply awe-inspiring moment. The Xenoblade series has some of the best music in gaming, and that’s certainly no different with X.

While these all sound like your cookie-cutter video game biomes, each has unique touches that help them really stand out. Noctilum, for example, is dense with large coral-like structures. Oblivia is dotted with towering ruins of an ancient civilization. Cauldros is heavily industrialized, having been largely taken over by the antagonist Ganglion race.

As you might expect from the Xenoblade series, there’s no shortage of breathtaking vistas to discover and the sense of scale is truly unmatched. The old adage of ‘if you see it, you can go there’ is often claimed but rarely actually true. However, in Xenoblade Chronicles X, you’d better believe that this is absolutely the case. Especially later in the game when you unlock the Skell, a flight-capable mech that greatly enhances your traversal options.

(Image credit: Nintendo)

What’s especially great about Xenoblade Chronicles X is that you’re free to explore much of Mira from the off with your party of four including the player character. At first, your key objective in exploration will be finding FrontierNav sites at which you can unlock new fast travel points and reveal surrounding points of interest such as treasure locations or powerful Tyrant-class enemies.

On the topic of enemies, you’ll swiftly find that Mira is an incredibly dangerous place. High-level mobs are abundant, often strategically placed to discourage careless exploration. Xenoblade Chronicles X is not a power fantasy; you will frequently fall foul of enemies more than happy to ambush you when you least expect it. Thankfully, punishment for a full party wipe is lenient, simply taking you back to the nearest landmark or fast travel point.

Enemies are also surprisingly dynamic in their behavior. Many only appear at certain times of the day. They can also change their approach to you depending on your mode of travel; some may be perfectly willing to leave you be if you’re on foot. But in your Skell, they might be more hostile. Skell travel, while convenient, isn’t exactly a free lunch, either. Skell fuel is a limited resource and certain airborne mobs will attack if they spot you flying around.

This may sound super frustrating, but the flipside is that eventually, you will be able to fight back against enemies that previously gave you a hard time. It’s so satisfying to plow through an area that was at one point impassible due to the level gap. As you continue to improve your ground gear and Skell builds, you’ll gradually find that more of Mira opens up to you in a very natural way.

Guns, blades and indigens

(Image credit: Nintendo)

Describing Xenoblade Chronicles X’s combat in full would require at least another 5,000 words and my boss would hate me, so I’ll do my best to detail the highlights instead. In short, X’s battle system is rich in depth and so incredibly fun once you get your head around it. But thanks to Definitive Edition’s better tutorialization, things are generally much easier to learn.

You and your party members will have access to a pool of Arts (read: skills) depending on their class (you can freely upgrade and switch yours as you progress, too) which you’ll assign to one of eight slots on the Arts Palette. Arts are color-coded; orange and yellow are melee and ranged attacks respectively. Green Arts provide support such as buffs or healing. Purple Arts typically apply debuffs to enemies, while Blue Arts grant the character an ‘aura’ which provides various temporary benefits.

What makes combat in X so engaging is you can’t just be throwing out Arts willy-nilly. Most will be more potent when used under certain criteria, such as hitting an enemy from its side, or activating the Art while you have an Aura active. It’s largely up to you which Arts to put on your Palette, but the game strongly incentivizes using Arts that synergize with one another.

A new ‘quick cooldown’ button has been added to Definitive Edition, too, which lets you immediately use an Art without waiting for its cooldown. The Art usually won’t be as powerful in this state, but it’s a very handy thing to have if you’re clearing out a group of weaker mobs or looking to quickly reapply a debuff.

(Image credit: Nintendo)

That’s most apparent with Xenoblade Chronicles X’s coolest combat feature: Overdrive. Unlocked early on in the story, Overdrive is a massively powerful party-wide state. It lasts for about half a minute, during which time your Arts cooldowns will be greatly sped up and the party will be able to access a variety of bonuses based on the Arts you use.

In Definitive Edition, it’s easier than ever to tell which Arts to use, thanks to a color-coded chart displayed on-screen during Overdrive. For example, using three melee Arts in a row will boost the experience gained from the fight. Using a Blue and Green Art in succession will provide healing, and using a Green Art followed by any other will double its hit count which increases your TP (the resource required to enter Overdrive in the first place) gain.

Ideally, to get the most out of tough encounters, you’ll want to get your TP back up to 3,000 within your Overdrive window in order to activate it again, replenishing its timer. If managed correctly, you can keep the Overdrive state active throughout an entire fight. Pulling that off feels so, so satisfying and in the late game, it became the reason why I think X has the best combat system in the whole series. It’s up there with Xenoblade Chronicles 2’s take on the Chain Attack system for me.

As great as the on-foot combat is, I unfortunately can’t say the same for Skell combat. It’s as slow and clunky here as it was in the original. Skells feel incredibly floaty, and the Arts provided by its equipment typically have much longer cooldowns. You also can’t use the quick cooldown feature while in your mech. They can certainly be powerful, and hopping into your Skell if you’re running low on health is a viable tactic, but I do wish developers Monolith Soft could’ve taken the time to tighten up Skell combat as it just doesn’t provide the same rush as the on-foot Overdrive loop.

The fairest of them all

(Image credit: Nintendo)

While Xenoblade Chronicles X Definitive Edition is certainly a little dated in the visuals department, by no means does that make it an ugly game. On the contrary, it provides some of the most gorgeous environments I’ve ever seen rendered on Nintendo Switch. Improved character models and an overall bump in resolution also help Definitive Edition look much sharper and cleaner than its Wii U counterpart.

As ever with the series, draw distance is incredibly impressive for a Switch game. However, some pretty egregious object pop-in is still an issue, especially in the busy hub of New LA. Non-player characters (NPCs), objects, and moving vehicles can materialize right in front of you. This can also happen out in the open world; I’ve had many times where I’ve descended onto a seemingly empty patch of earth to grab a treasure or open up a FrontierNav site, only for a group of high-level enemies to spawn in and obliterate my Skell in an instant.

In better news, performance is a mostly stable 30fps (frames per second), only rarely dipping when loading into a new area after fast travel. Load times are also impressively quick for the Switch; it wasn’t often that I had to wait longer than 10 seconds to beam into a new location, making general exploration extremely quick and convenient.

Lastly, I have to make a note of Xenoblade Chronicles X’s god-tier soundtrack. Composer Hiroyuki Sawano - well-known for his work on Attack on Titan and Kill la Kill - provides a legendary score for this game, and he’s back with new music for Definitive Edition, too. His work here does feel distinctly anime, with epic, sweeping tracks for the game’s biomes and vocal-driven battle themes that I never get tired of listening to.

Should I play Xenoblade Chronicles X Definitive Edition? Play it if...

You want to get lost in a unique RPG for potentially hundreds of hours
Xenoblade Chronicles X is a very unique game even within the confines of its own series. The glorious sci-fi setting matched with a deep and involving battle system provides a consistently moreish experience.View Deal

You love exploration
This game simply gets exploring a vast, open world so right. Expanding your map via FrontierNav to discover new, interesting locations as well as treasures and powerful enemies is incredibly rewarding throughout the experience.View Deal

You like mechs
Despite the weak Skell combat, it’s more than made up for in their aptitude for exploration and sheer customizability - which includes everything from weapon loadouts to color schemes.View Deal

Don't play it if...

You just want to get on with the story
You’ll be spending a lot of time in Xenoblade Chronicles X completing side quests and affinity missions in order to meet requirements and recommended levels for main story content. If you’re not willing to take things slow then you may find progression to be irksome especially later on in the game.View Deal

Accessibility

Xenoblade Chronicles X Definitive Edition is unfortunately very minimal in terms of accessibility features. You’ve got subtitles on by default and you can adjust dialogue text speed, but that’s really about it. There are no colorblind options, which would have been helpful to some players given the battle system’s reliance on color-coded Arts.

How I reviewed Xenoblade Chronicles X Definitive Edition

My playthrough of Xenoblade Chronicles X Definitive Edition lasted around 80 hours. This included the main story, most side quests, a good amount of affinity missions, and the new postgame content. I unfortunately wasn’t able to test the game’s online features for this review, as these will open up on release day.

I played the game on my Nintendo Switch OLED in both docked and handheld modes. I found it to be surprisingly playable and stable in handheld mode despite the drop in overall image quality and resolution, but still looks noticeably less soupy than other Xenoblade titles on that OLED screen. For docked play, I played on an LG CX OLED TV primarily with a GameSir Nova controller.

First reviewed March 2025

This review first appeared in issue 353 of PC Pro.

HP’s OfficeJet Pro 9012e is almost indistinguishable from the 9010e we crowned inkjet Labs winner this time last year. It’s a chunky-looking, businessy MFP aimed squarely at home and small offices. While it’s clearly not an enterprise-class device, it’s built to take moderately high use, with a one-time maximum monthly duty cycle of up to 25,000 pages.

In reality this MFP is unlikely to print anywhere near that volume, but it’s well set up for its recommended 1,500 pages a month. In its base you’ll find a 250-sheet paper cassette, while on top there’s a 35-sheet ADF. It can print, scan, copy and fax, with direct control coming via a 6.9cm color touchscreen running a user-friendly menu. It’s hidden slightly on the left side, but you also get a USB host port for direct prints and scans.

The “e” on some HP printers denotes that you must sign up to HP+ to activate the device, and thereafter leave it connected to the internet for it to function. Happily, that’s not the case here, with users allowed to choose whether to activate HP+, the Instant Ink subscription service, or neither. We asked HP to clarify whether it had changed its “dual SKU strategy” which obliged users to choose HP+ or not at the time of purchase, but didn’t hear back before we went to press.

Regardless, the 9012e offers the best of all worlds. Choose to sign up to HP+ and you’ll get an additional year’s warranty and six months of Instant Ink for free. Opt out and you can still get two years’ cover with online registration, and choose to sign up to Instant Ink if you want. We discuss the economics of this in View from the Labs, but without it – at 1p per page in black or 4.2p in color – the 9012e is cheap to run for a cartridge-based inkjet.

Control is via a user-friendly 6.9cm touchscreen (Image credit: Future)

HP claims the 9012e has self-healing Wi-Fi, but we had issues connecting it to our regular Labs router – an unremarkable dual-band TP-Link. It couldn’t detect the 2.4GHz network until we rebooted it, after which the printer failed to connect and lost sight of it again. We tried the 5GHz network with similar results, eventually giving up and using our main router. Although this worked without any problems, it’s further away from the test area, which may have slowed the 9012e down.

If it did, we can’t say we especially noticed. The OfficeJet Pro 9012e took quite a while to spool and start printing multi-page jobs, but once started it was the fastest inkjet in this group. It hit 21.1 pages per minute (ppm) on our 25-page text test, and reached an equally impressive 6.9ppm over 24 pages of color graphics. Encouraged by these results we tried our 50-page Alice in Wonderland test, but with a very long spool time this proved slower at just 11.6ppm. The 9012e was also underwhelming when duplexing, reaching only 3.4ipm when printing ten sides of color graphics.

For an inkjet, this is a fast copier, managing single black pages in nine seconds, and needing only ten seconds in color. It rattled off ten mono copies in 71 seconds, and again needed little longer in color, taking 79 seconds. A 10-page, 20-side duplex color photocopy took nearly five minutes, however.

When it came to scanning, this was again the fastest inkjet here, dispatching low-resolution A4 scans in only ten seconds. We were even more impressed at higher resolutions, the 9012e needing only 12 seconds to capture a 10 x 15cm photo at 600dpi.

The 9012e isn’t a great photo printer, with its pigment inks drying to a dull, semi-matte finish. We were also disappointed in its slightly dark and dingy photocopies. Otherwise, it’s hard to fault the quality of its prints and scans, particularly on typical office jobs such as text and color graphics. It’s certainly good enough for printing formal correspondence, and it would be great for archiving documents – if only it came with software that could save scans as searchable PDFs.

Overall, this remains a great MFP for a typical home office. It’s fast, robust, produces good results, and is almost as cheap to run as cartridge-based inkjets get. However, its purchase price has crept up somewhat compared to the 9010e, so it loses out on value for money.

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This review first appeared in issue 353 of PC Pro.

HP’s LaserJet Pro MFP 4302fdw looks like the perfect color laser MFP for a small office. It’s a four-in-one with fax, topped off by a 50-sheet ADF. Both this and the printer are duplex-capable, so you can start a multi-page double-sided copy and go off to put the kettle on.

This MFP has virtually no packing to remove – you can just load up paper, join it to a network and install the drivers. Unfortunately, that didn’t go as smoothly as it should have. The touchscreen didn’t confirm whether the 4302fdw had joined our Labs network, and it didn’t respond when we repeatedly tried to print a network report. Shortly afterwards the printer sprang into life, delivering several unwanted copies.

We still don’t love HP’s TWAIN scan software, which in this case doesn’t offer 150dpi, but its MFPs’ lipless scan platens make it so much easier to retrieve your originals. This is quite a fast scanner, managing a 10 x 15cm photo at 600dpi in just 17 seconds, but it repeatedly dropped out midway through our 1,200dpi test.

The 4302fdw’s control panel makes life easy, but it wasn’t always particularly responsive (Image credit: Future)

If it’s been idle for a while, the 4302fdw needs only about three seconds extra to warm up before delivering a first black or color page. From standby it managed this in 17 seconds, and went on to deliver our 25-page test in exactly a minute. It was slower on our challenging color test, but its 14.4ppm still compares well at this price.

At 1.5p in black or 8p per color page this isn’t the cheapest laser to run, but you can sign it up to HP’s Instant Ink toner delivery, which brings the cost down as low as 1.3p. Unfortunately, you can’t do much about the 4302fdw’s indifferent print and scan quality. Black text was perfect, but graphics and photographs had a blue bias, apart from skin tones, which tended to look flushed. Office scans were perfectly good, but with photos we noticed a loss of detail from the darkest areas.

It’s a shame. The LaserJet Pro MFP 4302fdw should be the perfect small office device, but its results are just a little too weak.

We also ranked the best small business accounting software.

This review first appeared in issue 353 of PC Pro.

If Epson’s EcoTank ET-2830 was a normal inkjet we’d be bemoaning its high price and taking aim at a relatively basic specification. We’ll come back to the latter, but the first is explained by this MFP’s refillable ink tanks. The ET-2830 arrives with about 6,000 pages’ worth of bottled ink – enough to see out a year or two of light use in the home. It’s better value out of the box than a comparable entry-level, cartridge-based device.

And entry-level the ET-2830 is. It’s a three-in-one, able to print, scan and copy, yet there’s no display, no USB port and no memory card slot. Instead, you get a few buttons and LEDs, and a reasonably appealing and uncluttered design. It offers just a single rear paper feed, and a basic scanner with no ADF. The printer can’t flip over pages for double-sided prints, although the driver will help you do it manually.

The ET-2830 arrives with blue tape holding down every conceivable flap. Remove that and it’s time to flip open its ink tanks and empty the supplied black and color inks into the relevant nozzle – they’re physically keyed to prevent a disastrous misfuelling. This is usually the bit where we gripe about waiting for the one-off ink priming to complete, but Epson’s new Smart Panel app lets you join the MFP to a wireless network and get on with installing software while you wait. We found its verbosity annoying, but it worked perfectly and turned out to be a time-saver overall.

Once set up, this MFP offers no real surprises. Despite its basic nature, it will happily get on with regular household or micro-office duties, leaving printed pages in a neat stack. As you might expect, it’s not especially fast, managing only 12.3ppm on our 25-page black text test. However, with the print quality dropped to draft it reached 17.2ppm – significantly more than Epson’s stated 15ppm.

These ink tanks make all the difference, turning this MFP into a bargain (Image credit: Future)

Cheaper inkjets often make a meal of our challenging 24-page colour graphics test, but the ET-2830 chugged along at a steady 4.5ppm – more competitive than it sounds. It wasn’t even that slow when printing larger photos, needing about three minutes for each 10 x 8in shot printed onto A4 paper. Unfortunately, it only offers borderless prints on 10 x 15cm paper, on which it took a beard-lengthening 14 minutes to deliver six prints. Color photocopies provided another opportunity to grow facial hair, with a single copy needing 35 seconds. At least mono copies, at 14 seconds each, were relatively brisk.

The ET-2850’s scanner didn’t hang about at lower resolutions. It completed a preview in 12 seconds, and in the same timeframe could capture an A4 document at 150dpi. At 300dpi, the same job took 22 seconds. Things got slower at middling resolutions, with the scanner needing 37 seconds to capture a 10 x 15cm photo at 600dpi. However, scan speeds remained competitive at 1,200dpi, with the same document needing just less than a minute.

Delightfully, there’s nothing especially entry-level about the quality of this MFP’s prints, scans or copies. Draft text was quite faint, but Normal quality produced crisp and dark results. Colour graphics weren’t the boldest we’ve seen, but they were free of banding, and comfortably good enough for home and internal business use. Photocopies faithfully reproduced the originals – although colour copies were a touch less saturated.

This MFP’s photo prints were a highlight of our tests, combining surprisingly crisp details with vivid colors and realistic skin tones. Only our black and white photo presented a challenge, with the ET-2830 adding a slight green tint and failing to preserve the darkest shade details. We were also very impressed with its scan quality, which combined excellent color accuracy with a wide dynamic range, making the most of office documents and photographs.

The EcoTank ET-2830 may be basic, but it’s not unduly slow, and it does everything well. Yes, it’s missing duplex printing and other helpful features, but it’s about as cheap as refillable inkjets get. Once you’ve used up the generous bundled ink, its ongoing running costs are less than 0.5p per color page. Don’t be fooled by the purchase price: the ET-2830 is a bargain.

We've also rated the best small business web hosting providers.

This review first appeared in issue 353 of PC Pro.

While Canon’s Maxify printers are aimed at home and small offices, the Pixma series is unapologetically focused on creative and home use. The Pixma TS8750 sits near the top of the current lineup; a six-ink MFP offering high-quality photo prints and detailed scanning. What it lacks in office features it makes up for with photo-friendly touches such as the memory card slot and a huge color touchscreen display.

The TS8750 is a striking MFP, made from a mix of textured, shiny and translucent black plastics. Its squat stance makes it look as much like AV equipment as it does a printer. But although it looks as if you could sit the TS8750 on a bookshelf, you’d risk losing access to its scanner and its 100-sheet rear paper tray. The bulk of the MFP is inset slightly from a base that juts out at the front. Here you’ll find a 100-sheet paper cassette and the card slot.

If it’s not immediately obvious where paper comes out, all becomes clear when you start printing. The TS8750’s motorized paper output tray emerges – tilting the front panel upwards – shortly followed by your first page. It’s a slick party piece, partially reversed when you turn the MFP off; the panel itself isn’t motorized, so it stays slightly open.

With manufacturers including Canon making a big push on refillable printers, it almost feels odd to fit the TS8750’s six supplied cartridges. They’re easy to insert and, although you can physically put them in the wrong slots, the printer won’t initialize until it detects everything is ship-shape. This printer augments a standard black, cyan, magenta and yellow setup with grey and a second black cartridge. The three colors, grey and smaller black cartridges all contain dye-based inks, ideal for photo printing, while the main black tank is pigmented for strong black text on plain paper.

Squat, smart and very black, the TS8750 doesn’t look like the average MFP (Image credit: Future)

The TS8750’s chunky SD card slot might seem to the smartphone generation like a relic, but it makes sense when many high-end cameras still use full-sized SD for storage. Insert a loaded card and the initial single-shot preview isn’t that helpful. You can pull up a multi-frame view through which it’s easier to find specific shots from a selection of snaps, but it won’t let you batch select photos to print.

The TS8750 has two other foibles. There’s a handy lip to help you pull out its main paper cassette, but it’s obscured once the output tray is extended. The paper output tray has a flip-up stop, useful to rein in multiple pages after longer print jobs, but it’s not extended automatically when the tray itself emerges.

We hit the TS8750 with our usual mix of office documents and photos. It wasn’t especially fast, reaching just 13.4ppm over 25 pages of text, and only 3.9ppm on our demanding graphics test. Photo prints were snappier, with borderless 10 x 15cm postcards arriving every 70 seconds or so, although a borderless A4 print inched out over five minutes.

This is a reasonably fast scanner, completing a preview in 12 seconds, and needing 20 seconds to capture an A4 document at 150dpi. At a detailed 1,200dpi it needed 78 seconds to complete a 10 x 15cm photo scan. Copy speeds were middling, with a single page taking 17 seconds in black only or 23 in color.

The huge 10.8cm touchscreen is a doddle to use (Image credit: Future)

If we were underwhelmed by this MFP’s speeds, it rose sharply in our estimations once we looked at our results. Black text was as crisp and bold as you’ll get from an inkjet, while color graphics were punchy and consistent, with only the merest hint of banding. Photocopies were very strong, with both mono and color copies preserving the details of the original.

Without doubt, the best results came on glossy photo paper, and from the TS8750’s scanner. Captured images showed a sharp focus with faithful colors and a wide dynamic range that preserved detail from the very lightest and darkest parts of originals. Photo prints were exceptional, offering perfectly reproduced skin tones, vibrant colors and crisp detailing. Unsurprisingly, given the dedicated black and grey inks, black and white prints were rich and free of any color cast.

This isn’t a cheap multifunction in the first place, and with a cost per page upwards of 10p, it won’t prove especially economical in use. That’s particularly true if you’ll often print text, every page of which will set you back a steep 3.5p. However, if you want a smart home MFP that’s as comfortable printing photos as it is scanning artwork, the TS8750 may well prove worth the premium.

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This review first appeared in issue 353 of PC Pro.

It’s hard to get excited about a laser printer, but Brother’s HL-L9430CDN might just put a hop in an office manager’s step. It’s a big beast, designed for use in small businesses and workgroups, and it comes with a suitable specification. In the base there’s a fully enclosed 520-sheet paper cassette, while the large flap at the front hides a 50-sheet multipurpose feed. Printed pages emerge into a 250-sheet tray on the top.

So far, so standard, but the HL-L9430CDN offers direct control through a large 8.8cm color touchscreen. While many business printers run rather cryptic, unfriendly menus, Brother’s is simple, offering quick access to functions and settings. It’s enhanced with web features, allowing you to access and print from cloud services such as Dropbox, Google Drive and SharePoint. Hidden nearby on the left panel there’s a USB host port for walk-up printing.

The final front panel feature is an NFC reader, used to control access if you need to lock down users or features. Using the printer’s web interface you can block people from printing, using the USB port or accessing web functions, or you can limit the number of pages an individual can print.

It comes with USB and gigabit Ethernet ports. Curiously you can’t buy it off the shelf with a wireless interface, but Brother will sell you one as an option. There’s also a rear USB port for secure printing. Brother offers a range of extra paper trays and a staple finisher, so this printer can grow to match your business’ needs.

The big and fast HL-L9430CDN has good paper-handling features (Image credit: Future)

Load it up and you’ll see the usual nag about setting the correct paper type. The HL-L9430CDN follows this by asking if you ever want to see the question again – a brilliant timesaver if, like us, you rarely change paper type and it simply gets on your nerves. We were also happy to see clear orientation marks at the front of the main tray and in the center of the multipurpose feed. Too many lasers force you to unload the paper just to see how to orientate the stack; a pain if you’re re-using previously printed pages, or using single-sided media.

Start printing and it’s clear that this is a very rapid device. However, if it’s been idle for any length of time the warm-up period can be toe-tappingly long. After an hour of rest we timed a first black text page out in 25 seconds, but the first color page of the day took nearly a minute and a half.

This pause aside, the HL-L9430CDN made mincemeat of our tests. It reached 30.6ppm when printing 25 text pages, and managed 34.9ppm on our 50-page document. Both fall a way short of the stated 44ppm engine speed, but our tests include the time taken to spool and send the job. Discount this and it was almost bang on target.

Like all printers, the HL-L9430CDN was slower when printing our challenging color graphics test. Here it reached 21.8ppm, the fastest color result in this test, and not far behind the 27.7ppm mono result recorded by Kyocera’s P2235dn. At the best Fine print quality it delivered two 10 x 8in photos on A4 paper in only 22 seconds, and six 10 x 15cm prints on three A4 sheets in 21 seconds. It duplexed ten sides onto five sheets at a rate of 14ipm.

The printer comes with generous amounts of toner (Image credit: Future)

So often, a promising color laser is torpedoed by high running costs, but happily that’s not the case here. The HL-L9430CDN is complex, requiring four toners, a drum, a waste bottle and transfer belt, but even factoring in all these it costs 0.9p per black page or 6.1p in color. This printer arrives with generous 9,000-page black and 6,500-page color inbox toners. With the largest replacements good for 12,000 black or 9,000 color pages, maintenance intervals shouldn’t be too frequent.

While not offering perfect color reproduction, the HL-L9430CDN still made a good job of our test photos, and printed excellent color graphics with a pleasing luster.

Black text was as good as you’d expect, too. Overall we could hardly call this hulking laser exciting, but it delivers everything you need in a busy business printer. And with Brother having won our Best Printer Manufacturer award for ten years in a row, you can expect great reliability and support, too.

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Sage Oracle Jet: two-minute review

The Sage Oracle Jet is a serious contender in the world of high-end espresso machines, offering an impressive mix of automation and precision. Designed to cater to both beginners and seasoned coffee enthusiasts, this high-tech machine helps simplify the often-fiddly process of making high-quality espresso, offering consistent results with minimal effort.

One of the Oracle Jet’s standout features is its high-precision burr grinder. With 45 settings, it allows for ultra-fine adjustments to the grind size so that you can get the consistency you need from your coffee beans. This is a really valuable feature, especially since I’ve found many of the best espresso machines require a lot of trial and error to get this right, which wastes time (and coffee). Sage’s latest model really doubles down on this, providing real-time feedback on extraction, and guiding you in getting the perfect shot every time.

(Image credit: Lee Bell)

While the automatic tamping system serves up a uniform coffee puck time and time again, I did find that the grinder could be a little messy, occasionally leaving stray grounds on the portafilter and even on the worktop around the machine, but nothing a quick wipe won’t sort out.

The machine makes up for this minor inconvenience with its sizeable, intuitive touchscreen, which makes the entire brewing process not only feel super premium, but truly effortless. It walks you through drink selection, grinding, extraction and milk frothing in a really fluid and enjoyable way, making it almost impossible to get a bad coffee. And the Auto MilQ steam wand automatically textures milk to the right consistency for your drink of choice, even adjusting settings based on whether you're using dairy or plant-based alternatives – a rare but certainly welcome feature in the world of home espresso makers.

(Image credit: Lee Bell)

Despite its many conveniences, Sage’s impressive machine does have some drawbacks. It’s quite bulky and heavy, so you’ll need ample kitchen worktop space. And the lack of simultaneous brewing and milk steaming can slow things down a bit, especially when making multiple drinks. And, of course, the £1,699.95 / $1,999.95 / AU$3,199 price tag makes it a serious investment.

Still, for those who want top-tier espresso without the hassle, the Sage Oracle Jet delivers. It offers barista-level quality at the touch of a button, making it what I believe to be one of the most advanced and user-friendly coffee machines on the market today.

Sage Oracle Jet: price and availability

• Available to buy now, priced at £1,699.95 / $1,999.95 / AU$3,199
• Sold as Breville outside Europe
• More expensive than most competitors

Sold under the name Breville outside of Europe and Sage in the UK, the Oracle Jet launched in October 2024, priced at £1,699.95 / $1,999.95 / AU$3,199. Available from the brand's official web store as well as John Lewis and other major retailers, it comes in Truffle Black and Stainless Steel in the UK, while buyers in the US and Australia get an additional Sea Salt White option.

Compared to Sage’s other high-end models, the Oracle Jet sits between the Barista Touch Impress (£1,199 / $1,499 / AU$2,299) and the flagship Oracle Touch (£2,099 / $2,799.95 / AU$3,699), making it a solid high-range option.

When stacked up against rival machines, the Oracle Jet holds its ground well. There’s the Ninja Luxe Café ($499 / £400 / AU$750), which offers a semi-automatic espresso setup with some smart features at a fraction of the price, but lacks the same precision and customization.

Meanwhile, the ProCook Barista Elite Bean to Cup Espresso Coffee Machine (£599 / $775 / AU$1,225) is another alternative, offering a very similar experience at a much lower cost, but it doesn’t feature the same level of automation, grind adjustment or cold brew functionality as the Oracle Jet.

• Value score: 4/5

Sage Oracle Jet: specs Sage The Oracle Jet: design

• High-end build with sleek finish
• Intuitive touchscreen for easy navigation
• Clever built-in features like hidden wheels

The Sage Oracle Jet is a serious piece of kit. Right out of the box, everything about it screams premium, and just shy of £2,000, you’d like to think so, too. With a brushed stainless steel finish, it has a sleek, pro feel that will certainly look the part in any kitchen, given it’s got the space for it. That’s the thing – this isn’t some compact coffee maker you can tuck away in the corner of your kitchen. It’s just under 50cm wide and 40cm deep, so you’ll need plenty of free worktop space to fit this beast in comfortably. It's also pretty weighty, weighing in at over 12kg, so you might even need someone to help you lift it out of the box.

Once you've got it set up and pride of place, it’ll be hard not to immediately fall in love with the 5-inch touchscreen, which dominates the front of the machine, and for good reason – it’s your guide through the entire coffee-making process. Whether you’re brewing a classic espresso or frothing milk for a cappuccino, the Oracle Jet serves clear, easy-to-follow instructions through text and images. It even has light and dark modes, which is a nice touch depending on your kitchen lighting. The interface is smooth and responsive, which is a relief since the screen on Sage’s last machine, the Barista Touch Impress, was frustratingly sluggish. It now works as expected, making swiping between different drinks options a dream.

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(Image credit: Lee Bell)Image 2 of 2

(Image credit: Lee Bell)

One of the Oracle Jet’s most, let’s say, thoughtful features is the front-fillable 2.3L water tank. If you’ve ever had to awkwardly shuffle a big ol’ espresso machine around just to access and refill the tank, you’ll definitely appreciate this design feature, as it means you can just fill it up via the access point on the top with a jug straight from the tap. There’s also a window just above the tray so you can peek at the water level, which is always welcome.

Another handy feature is the addition of hidden wheels. Given its size and weight, you might expect the Oracle Jet to be a hassle to move, but a simple swipe of the lever under the drip tray lifts the machine onto its 360-degree wheels, making it incredibly easy to reposition. It’s a small detail, but one that shows Sage has really considered its usability for its customers.

The grinder and portafilter system also boast brilliant build quality, with automatic grinding and tamping, which take the guesswork (and the effort) out of making espresso, but I’ll talk more about that in the performance section. The 58mm portafilter is barista-standard for even extraction, but it also feels well-built and weighty in the hand, like it should.

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(Image credit: Lee Bell)

The Auto MilQ steam wand is another standout. It automatically textures milk to the consistency required for whichever type of drink you’re making – and the neat thing here is that you can input which type of milk you’re frothing, whether that’s your standard dairy or plant-based alternatives like soya, oat or almond. Coffee-brewing control freaks will be pleased to hear they still have the option to steam manually, too.

However, the machine’s biggest drawback is perhaps that you can’t brew and steam at the same time. If you’re making multiple milk-based coffee drinks, you’ll have to wait for one process to finish before starting the other, which can seriously slow things down. This is due to the machine’s single ThermoJet heating system. Unlike dual-boiler machines, which have separate boilers for brewing and steaming, the Oracle Jet uses one heating element for both tasks. If it’s a dealbreaker for you, Sage’s slightly pricier (but not quote as smart) Oracle and Oracle Touch machines are the firm’s only espresso makers that feature a dual heating system, so it might be worth considering those.

• Design score: 4.5/5

Sage The Oracle Jet: performance

• Automatic grind and tamping give top results, time and time again
• Fast heating and smooth espresso extraction
• Cold brew and iced coffee options

The Sage Oracle Jet is built to take the hassle out of home espresso, and after using it for just over a month, replacing my usual espresso maker, I can confidently say it delivers on that promise. From grinding to milk frothing, almost everything is automated, making it ideal for anyone who wants great coffee without the faff.

Let’s start with the grinder. It has 45 settings, which means you can seriously fine-tune your grind size to whatever beans you're using. The smart thing about this is that the machine even tells you if your shot is under- or over-extracted, so you know whether to adjust the grind next time. This is a game-changer if you’ve ever struggled with dialling in a manual espresso machine and haven’t been able to nail the extraction.

The automatic tamping system also works really well here as it means you don’t have to worry about pressing too hard or too soft – you can just let the machine do the work. That said, it does have a habit of leaving a few stray coffee grounds behind, which isn’t a huge deal but does mean a bit of extra clean-up.

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When it comes to pulling a shot, the dual ThermoJet system heats up almost instantly, so there’s no waiting around like with cheaper machines. I found espresso extraction to be smooth and consistent, with rich, balanced flavours – whether you’re using high-end beans or just grabbing something from the supermarket. I used Lidl’s Deluxe range Colombian Supremo beans at one point (costly just over £2 per bag) and these proved equally satisfying in my morning coffee, offering a lovely full-bodied and smooth taste. I suspect this was down to the machine making the most of how they were brewed.

The real-time shot timer on the touchscreen is also worth a mention. It’s probably one of my favourite features on this machine—turning green if your shot is timed perfectly and red if something’s off, giving you immediate feedback. It’s so impressive!

The Auto MilQ steam wand also adds to the top performance experience of the Oracle Jet. The milk textures it produces are always silky smooth, and ideal for making latte art if you’re into that (not that I could produce anything worth looking at, but that’s certainly down to my lack of skills). While manual milk frothing is an option, most people will probably prefer the automatic setting and it will produce great results.

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One of the more unique features on the Oracle Jet is its cold brew and cold espresso modes. Cold espresso is perfect for iced lattes, keeping the flavours bold without melting the ice too quickly. The cold brew function isn’t quite the same as traditional overnight steeping, but it still produces a smoother, less acidic coffee in a fraction of the time.

Cleaning is another area where the Oracle Jet makes life easy. Despite the mess the grinder can make, it has automatic cleaning cycles for the steam wand and internal components, so there’s not much hands-on maintenance. You’ll still need to rinse the portafilter and wipe down the drip tray, but overall, it’s much lower effort than most espresso machines, I’ve found.

• Performance score: 4.5/5

Should you buy the Sage Oracle Jet? Buy it if

You want barista-quality coffee without the effort

The Oracle Jet automates most of the process, ensuring consistent results every time

You’re happy to pay extra for a top quality appliance

If you’re one for appreciating the finer things in life and don’t mind paying extra for the privilege of a well-built and stylish machine, then you’ll be right at home with the Oracle Jet.

You love cold coffee
The cold brew and cold espresso functions are rare on machines of this type.

You want smart guidance

The real-time extraction feedback and grind adjustment tips help you master espresso-making and makes you feel like a pro with very minimal effort.

Don't buy it if

You’re on a budget

At nearly £1,700, the Oracle Jet is certainly not a casual purchase. It’s an investment that will last you years to come, so definitely more aimed at those who are serious about creating a barista-quality coffee at home.

You need a compact machine

It’s large and it’s pretty heavy, so not ideal for smaller kitchens or those tight on space.

You want to brew and steam at the same time

The single ThermoJet system means you have to wait between brewing and milk steaming, so not ideal for those who want to make a swift cup of coffee before dashing off to work.

Sage The Oracle Jet: also consider

Ninja Luxe Café

Price: £400 / $499 / AU$750

A more affordable bean-to-cup option that still offers some automation, including guided espresso pulls and an automatic frother. However, it lacks the fine-tuned grind settings and high-end build of the Oracle Jet.

Read our full Ninja Luxe Café review

Sage (Breville) Barista Touch Impress

Price: £1,199 / $1,499 / AU$2,299

A slightly less expensive alternative from Sage with many of the same automation features, including Auto MilQ milk frothing and guided espresso adjustments. However, it lacks the cold brew and cold espresso options and the digital display just isn’t quite as swift as that on the Oracle Jet.

Read our full Sage (Breville) Touch Impress review

De’Longhi Eletta Explore

Price: £999.99 / $1,899.99 / AU$1,799

An accomplished bean-to-cup coffee machine that’s perfect for coffee lovers who don’t have the time to maintain an espresso machine. Plus, it can make both hot and cold beverages and comes with everything you might need for a fully operational caffeination station.

Read our full De’Longhi Eletta Explore review

How I tested the Sage The Oracle Jet

I used the Sage Oracle Jet for just over a month at home, making two coffee drinks per day using a mixture of high quality Lavazza decaf and fully caffeinated coffee beans. During testing, I noted flavors, consistency, temperature, time to brew, and noise levels. Beyond drinking the espresso and coffee black, I tried the different milk frother presets with both dairy and plant-based milk, observing the foam levels and differences between settings. In the end, I tested almost every setting on the machine and observed how it performed during every step.

First reviewed: March 2025

Corsair K70 Pro TKL: Two-minute review

(Image credit: Future / Marcus Mears III)

Corsair is no stranger to the world of PC peripherals. Some of my favorite stock gaming keyboards, like the K100 Air, fly Corsair sails. So it's no surprise that the Corsair K70 Pro TKL comes with a certain air of polish and and premium feel that other boards strive to replicate but ultimately can't nail down.

However, this keyboard won't be making its way into my daily-driver arsenal, and it's for two main reasons: no hot-swap support, and a sharp, noisy typing sound.

If this keyboard's pre-lubed Hall effect magnetic switches were hot-swappable, it would solve both issues at once; I'd be able to change up the sound and feel at the pull of a switch.

But not everyone wants to buy and apply all new sets of switches and keycaps. Many gamers just want to take a keyboard out of the box, have it give them an edge over the competition, and look good doing it. The K70 Pro TKL is a fantastic option in that regard.

And, with Corsair's iCUE software, you do have quite a few options for customization when it comes to actuation, RGB lighting, macros, and more. Plus, it's actually pretty intuitive to use, which is more than can be said for most peripheral software.

If you prefer the freedom and safety of full customization, this isn't the board for you. I'd opt for something like the Keychron Q6 Max instead, which, despite its higher price point, offers the ability to repair a switch when it breaks rather than purchasing a whole new keyboard or breaking out a soldering iron. This doesn't give you the performance of Hall effect switches, but honestly, unless you're at the summit of competitive gaming, you're probably not going to notice a discernable difference.

But, if you want to plug and play with some of the best performance and features of any keyboard on the block, the Corsair K70 Pro TKL is your chance.

Corsair K70 Pro TKL: Price & Availability

(Image credit: Future / Marcus Mears III)

• How much does it cost? $179.99 / £169.99
• When is it available? Available now
• Where can you get it? Available in the US and UK

The price may be a bit hard to swallow at first glance - $180 for a keyboard definitely isn't cheap. But when you compare it to the best gaming keyboards on the market, that price really isn't too far off (in fact it's more affordable than many premium gaming keyboards).

There are two customization options you have before purchasing: choosing between Black and White colorways and selecting either ABS or PBT double-shot keycaps.

ABS keycaps are generally a bit cheaper to produce but the legends aren't as clear and may degrade over time more easily. PBT, which comes with a $10 upcharge, solves those issues.

Corsair K70 Pro TKL: Design

(Image credit: Future / Marcus Mears III)

This Corsair board has a lot going for it in terms of design. My review unit came in the black colorway, and you can't get much more classic than that. It provides a nice contrast to the RGB lighting, which I'll touch on more later in this section.

Back to the chassis for now though. It's an interesting mix of plastic - which covers the outside of the keyboard - and an aluminum top plate that gives this TKL keyboard a satisfying blend of lightweight portability and hearty structural integrity.

Underneath that top plate is a sound-dampening layer of silicone, followed by the premium Hall-effect-ready PCB, and then another layer of silicone to keep things quiet.

Unfortunately, I can't say these silicone layers accomplish a whole lot. One of my main gripes with this keyboard is the loud, harsh clacking and pinging sounds as you type.

For some people, this won't matter at all because it's all about features and efficiency. For the mechanical keyboard geeks out there who love to crack open a shell and start stuffing tape and foam inside to get that perfect sound (looking at you, me) you'll probably pass in favor of something more customizable.

Similarly, this board is only available in a USB-C wired version - which won't matter for some and will make a world of difference for others.

Onto the stabilizers: they're plate mounted, which I've gone on record as saying aren't my favorite. While they are still pretty easy to replace, they don't offer the same level of security and acoustic accoutrement that screw-in stabs do. This is apparent every time you hit the rattly space bar and it screeches "ping!" back at you.

(Image credit: Future / Marcus Mears III)

There are a lot of upsides, too. I love a vertical volume knob, especially one that lets me mute my audio with a tap. You can also configure this to change RGB brightness and zoom levels, or simply use it as a scroll wheel.

And to the left of that volume knob are two buttons that you can configure in iCUE, Corsair's customization app. These provide some nice functionality like locking into Gaming Mode (which disables the alt-f4 and the Windows key for accidental closures and alt-tabs), and whatever else you assign to the second button.

This is also where you can choose your RGB lighting effects to spice up your setup. There are prebuilt templates like breathing and wave effects, but you can also select individual keys and different effects to create your own designs.

(Image credit: Future / Marcus Mears III)

Turning the board over, there are two feet you can flip out for a bit of added height framing a futuristic-looking back plate. These aren't bad, though I tend to go flat-footed with my keyboards anyway.

I'm also a big fan of the TKL form factor because I think it hits all the right areas without eating away all your desk space.

Plus, there's the star of the show: those MGX Hyperdrive magnetic Hall effect switches. While I don't think the average gamer needs them, they are very fast. And you can make them even faster by adjusting actuation levels in iCUE.

They also come pre-lubed, which is awesome to see more keyboard companies adopt. Keychron has been doing it for years, and it's an edge I always gave to its keyboards when reviewing them - it looks like that's changing in recent times, and I'm all for it. It just makes everything feel that much smoother - and doing it yourself is tedious.

The magnetic wrist rest is also a welcome and well-polished addition, and I found the keyboard comfortable to use both with and without it. That's the thing: this keyboard actually feels quite nice to type on if you like a quick, snappy switch - it just needs to clean up the sound and customization departments.

Corsair K70 Pro TKL: Performance

(Image credit: Future / Marcus Mears III)

This is where the Corsair K70 Pro TKL shines. It has all the cool gaming features you can think of and some I guarantee you didn't.

Starting with the formalities, I never noticed any ghosting, double-typing, or any other low-budget keyboard problems here. The K70 Pro TKL was solid through and through.

Onto the cool stuff. Starting with Corsair's "Rapid Trigger" tech, this lets you feed inputs one after the other in rapid succession without having to release the other key. In practice, that means you can "a" and "d" around a corner to jiggle peak quicker than someone using inferior hardware. You can take this even further with adjustable actuation points, which let you activate a keystroke at the drop of a hat.

There's also dual actuation, which lets you assign two functionalities to one key - like walking if you press the key down half way, or sprinting if you put the pedal to the metal.

With these lightning fast key inputs comes the potential for game winning plays, but also mind numbing mistakes. Say you accidentally fat finger your ultimate key in a MOBA or WASD in Counter-Strike 2 when you meant to be holding an angle - it's a double-edged sword.

Thankfully, Corsair thought of this ahead of time and implemented a neat feature that cuts down on those accidental inputs: FlashTap tech. FlashTap lets you "prioritize the first, last, or neither input" when clicking two keys at the same time, which can be a lifesaver. It's disabled by default but can be toggled on with FN + Right Shift.

Combine all of that with Corsair's Axon tech that gives this keyboard a polling rate of 8,000Hz, and you have one seriously speedy keyboard.

Should you buy the Corsair K70 Pro TKL? Buy it if...

You want peak performance

This keyboard is fast - seriously fast. 8,000Hz polling rate, custom Hall effect key switches, customizable actuation points up to 0.1mm... need I say more?

You want a solid plug-and-play experience

This keyboard comes with a pretty easy setup. Plug it in, download iCUE for any configuration work you want to do, and play.

You like the TKL form factor

I personally love this size board, but some gamers are going to want a numpad for extra functionality, whereas others are going to want to opt for something closer to a 65% layout to save on desk space.

Don't buy it if...

You like switching things up

I enjoy pulling switches out of my board and finding new favorites as I go, but there's no hot swapping here.

You're shopping on a budget

There are plenty of affordable options for great gaming keyboards - this is not one of them.

You care about how your keyboard sounds

If you can distinguish a "thock" from a "clack," your ears probably aren't going to like this one.

Corsair K70 Pro TKL: Also Consider

If our Corsair K70 Pro TKL review has you considering other options, I'd take a look at these...

Asus ROG Falchion Ace HFX 65%

If you want Hall effect key switches on a smaller form factor, this board from Asus delivers.

Read our full Asus ROG Falchion Ace HFX 65% reviewView Deal

Gamakay TK75 V2

If you don't mind sacrificing some gaming performance for a host of customization options and better sound and feel, the Gamakay TK75 V2 is a solid option that comes in at a fraction of the price.

Read our full Gamakay TK75 V2 reviewView Deal

How I tested the Corsair K70 Pro TKL

I replaced my daily driver gaming keyboard with the Corsair K70 Pro TKL for two weeks. I played games from all different genres, performed typing tests to assess n-key rollover and ghosting, and used it for general typing and web browsing.

I've been a PC gamer for more than a decade, and I've reviewed countless keyboards from OEMs like Corsair, Keychron, Das Key, and many more. I frequently mod and customize mechanical keyboards to nail down my favorite feel (until I find my new favorite).

First reviewed March 2025