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• o3 and o4-mini are out for Pro, Plus and Team users now, free users can try o4-mini, too
• They can combine and use every tool in ChatGPT's arsenal
• o3 and o4-mini add reasoning using images to ChatGPT's abilities

OpenAI has just given ChatGPT a massive boost with new o3 and o4-mini models that are available to use right now for Pro, Plus, Team and even free tier users.

The new models significantly improve the performance of ChatGPT, and are much quicker at reasoning tasks than the earlier OpenAI reasoning models like ChatGPT o3-mini and o1.

Most importantly, they can intelligently decide which of OpenAI’s various tools to use to complete your query, including a new ability to reason with images.

OpenAI provided a livestream for the release:

Here are the three most important changes:

1. Combining tools

Both the new reasoning models can agentically use and combine every tool within ChatGPT. That means they have access to all of ChatGPT’s box of tricks including, web browsing, Python coding, image and file analysis, image generation, canvas, automations, file search and memory.

The important thing though is that ChatGPT now decides if it needs to use a tool itself based on what you’ve asked.

When you ask ChatGPT to do something complicated using the new models, it shows you each step it is taking, and which tool it is using, and how it arrived at that decision.

Once it has done all the research the notes on its working out process disappear and you get a report on its conclusions.

2. Better performance

The way that o3 and o4-mini can intelligently decide which tools to use is a step towards the intelligent model switching we’ve been promised with ChatGPT 5, when it finally arrives.

As you’d expect from advanced reasoning models, the report you get at the end is extremely detailed, and contains links to all sources used.

According to OpenAI, “The combined power of state-of-the-art reasoning with full tool access translates into significantly stronger performance across academic benchmarks and real-world tasks, setting a new standard in both intelligence and usefulness.”

The real world result of this is that these models can tackle multi-faceted questions more effectively, so don’t be afraid to ask them to perform several actions at once and produce an answer or report that combines several queries together.

3. Reasoning with images

Reasoning with images in ChatGPT. (Image credit: OpenAI/Apple)

Both new models are the first released by OpenAI that will integrate uploaded images into its chain of thought. They will actually reason using the images, so for example, you could upload a picture of some cars and ask what the name and model of the cars are, then how much retail value they will hold in five years time.

This is the first time that ChatGPT has been able to integrate images into a reasoning chain and presents a real step forward for multimodal AI.

Introducing OpenAI o3 and o4-mini—our smartest and most capable models to date.For the first time, our reasoning models can agentically use and combine every tool within ChatGPT, including web search, Python, image analysis, file interpretation, and image generation. pic.twitter.com/rDaqV0x0wEApril 16, 2025

My verdict

I’ve tried the new models on the Plus tier and I’m impressed with both the speed and comprehensiveness of the answers to my queries. While I’ve always enjoyed the depth of reasoning that the o1 and o3-mini models have provided, it’s always meant waiting longer for a response.

The o3 model has now become my default model to choose on Plus because it’s fast enough that I don’t feel like I’m waiting around too long for an answer, but I get a satisfying amount of detail.

In short, I’m impressed. The new models feel like a natural evolution of ChatGPT into something that’s smarter and more capable. I also like the way that it can decide which of ChatGPT’s various tools it needs to use to provide the best answer.

Trying it for yourself

Here’s how to try the new ChatGPT models for yourself:

Plus, Pro and Team users will see that they can select ChatGPT o3, ChatGPT o4-mini and ChatGPT o4-mini-high from the drop-down LLM menu inside ChatGPT, and free tier users can get access to o4-mini by selecting the Reason button in the composer before submitting your query. Edu users will gain access in one week.

There’s no visual notification for free tier users that they are now using the 4o-mini reasoning model, but if you click the button and ask ChatGPT which LLM it is using then it now says 4o-mini.

There will be a rate limit for how many times a free tier user can use the Reasoning feature, and for Plus users is much higher.

OpenAI say they expect to release o3-pro “in a few weeks”, with full tool support. Pro users can already access o1-pro.

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• Nvidia’s new Game Ready Driver 576.02 has a mountain of bug fixes
• It cures many problems with games crashing, and black screen lock-ups with RTX 5000 models
• While past-gen Nvidia GPUs aren’t mentioned in the release notes, it appears they got some love here too

Nvidia has released a new graphics driver that brings in support for its freshly introduced RTX 5060 Ti GPU, but I suspect what most gamers will be more interested in is the absolute mountain of bug fixes delivered here.

That includes the solutions for various games being crash-happy, as well as the most important fix of all for those who’ve bought one of Nvidia’s Blackwell graphics cards.

Yes, Game Ready Driver 576.02 (the release of which VideoCardz flagged) resolves the random black screen crashes that have been frustrating those with an RTX 5000 GPU, or Nvidia claims it does anyway.

On top of that, Nvidia lists a couple of other separate bug fixes for issues with RTX 5000 graphics cards getting black screen lock-ups “when playing graphically demanding games” as well as hitting black screens upon installing drivers and booting into Windows. (How about RTX 4000, or earlier RTX GPUs, black-screening, you might be thinking – well, I’ll come back to that).

On top of that vital work, a whole lot of general bug fixes are put in place here, such as “stability issues” with Windows 11 24H2 and stability quirks elsewhere, page fault error crashes when using DLSS 4 MFG (Multi-Frame Generation), PCs failing to wake after spending a long period asleep, DisplayPort-related problems, and much more besides.

Regarding the fixes for bugs that have hit specific games, we’ve got a lot of work on that front too. Check out the following list of solves:

• [Fortnite] random crashes during gameplay
• [The First Berserker: Khazan] DXGI_ERROR_DEVICE_REMOVED Crash
• [Star Wars Outlaws] Application will freeze after leaving the game idle for 5+ minutes
• Game stability issues when playing games with DLSS Frame Generation + GSYNC
• [Monster Hunter Wilds] Crash after accepting quest with DLSS-FG Enabled
• [InZoi] Game crashes with error "GPU crashed or D3D Device Removed"
• [Overwatch 2] Stutter when using VSYNC
• [Hellblade 2 Senua's Saga] Increased aliasing when using TSR
• [Hellblade 2 Senua's Saga] Crashing when using Smooth Motion
• [The Last of Us Part 1] Crash when using Smooth Motion
• Dithering/banding in some games on RTX 50-series GPUs
• [Control] Flickering corruption in multiple areas
• Stutter when using VSYNC
• VSYNC in NVCP + frame generation causes issues in DLSS 4 games
• [Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection] Artifacts on screen when collecting treasures

If you want the exhaustive list of cures applied by Nvidia with this new graphics driver, see Chapter 3 of the full release notes [PDF]. Be warned, it’s a lengthy read.

(Image credit: Nvidia) Analysis: The importance of getting it right from the off – and what about RTX 4000 GPUs?

There’s a lot of good work here, then, and some important cures for RTX 5000 GPUs. Still, the sheer volume of the remediation work contained within this release doesn’t reflect well on Nvidia, because, in an ideal world, it shouldn’t have been necessary to apply these fixes in a ‘live’ fashion, as it were. These bugs, and notably the showstopping black screen crashes that have been present since the first Blackwell GPUs emerged, should’ve been ironed out before those graphics cards appeared on shelves.

This isn’t just about Blackwell, though. These black screen crashes that gamers have been suffering have also affected some of those with past-gen Nvidia GPUs (RTX 4000, or even RTX 3000 models going by some reports, but it’s more the former). There’s no mention of any fixes for black-screening with those graphics cards in Nvidia’s release notes here.

However, the positive news is that taking a sampling of reports on Reddit – caveat: hardly a scientific method, but a reasonable barometer of how things are going – it seems that a fair number of folks are saying their RTX 4000 black screen blues have been resolved. Now, not everyone is claiming that – some are still reporting issues (as you can see in the thread below) – but overall, the wind appears to be blowing in a more favorable direction with this latest driver.

Comment from r/nvidia

Overall, then, it seems this is a solid step forward for Nvidia in terms of rectifying the many glitches that have manifested in its graphics drivers since Blackwell GPUs first emerged, which has to be a good thing.

But as noted, those bugs should never have been witnessed in such quantities to begin with, and it’s kind of bewildering as to how this happened – only serving to bolster the cases of those who theorized that Blackwell was a rushed launch.

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• AWS, Microsoft and Google testify at UK CMA investigation
• Microsoft’s licensing terms and fees appear to be a problem
• Google denies dominance, says it’s a challenger

Ever since the UK’s Competition & Markets Authority has been investigating the health of the UK cloud market, the hyperscalers in question have been battling it out against each other by submitting little digs in official documentation meant to act in their defense.

This time, AWS is slamming Microsoft for its unfavorable licensing terms, which are preventing customers from being able to use alternative cloud storage providers without excessive fees.

“Perhaps 50% of those workloads currently running on Azure would move elsewhere if it was economically feasible,” AWS told the CMA.

AWS criticizes Microsoft’s licensing terms and high fees

Microsoft’s 2019 changes increased the costs relating to running Windows Server on non-Azure cloud (such as AWS, Google Cloud and Alibaba Cloud), making it up to four times more expensive for customers.

Those fees aren’t just affecting customer, either. “AWS said that it has to offset the additional costs imposed by Microsoft’s licensing restrictions including on the cost of licences that need to be repurchased and the additional monetary impact of non-pricing features,” the CMA hearing summary continues, but “it cannot offset all those costs in a profitable way.”

Google also agreed with AWS’ comments in a separate hearing summary, providing an example where a customer chose Azure solely for licensing/commercial reasons despite having an actual preference for Google Cloud.

However, Google might not be entirely on Amazon’s side. The company described itself as a “challenger cloud provider and a distant third in size to the two market leaders, AWS and Microsoft.” Still, Google is worried that Microsoft could dominate the UK cloud market in as little as five years “if nothing change[s].”

Defending its position, Microsoft argued that egress fees are not a major concern for customers, adding that even after removing the fees under the EU Data Act, switching remained low.

The outcome of the investigation is anyone’s guess, but the market dominance is clear.

When Ofcom first submitted its complaint to the CMA in October 2023, it noted in a report that Microsoft and Amazon accounted for 70-80% of the UK’s cloud market in 2022, estimated to be worth £7 to £7.5 billion. Google, in third place, only accounted for 5-10%.

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(Image credit: pocketlight/iStockphoto)

• GitHub CEO Thomas Dohmke advocates for coding education in schools
• Artificial intelligence is just amplifying human work, not replacing it
• Using AI is just another pillar of continuing to learn

Microsoft-owned GitHub, which has introduced a series of powerful generative AI tools to its popular developer platform in recent years, still believes that there’s a place for traditional code.

Speaking on a recent podcast interview with EO (via Business Insider), CEO Thomas Dohmke explained his belief that schools should teach coding just as they do other core subjects, like physics, geography and maths.

Advocating for an early start, Dohmke believes children should learn coding from a young age, expressing his belief that skilled developers are still in high demand despite the emergence of artificial intelligence.

GitHub advocates for coding education despite AI

AI tools like GitHub's own Copilot and other popular chatbots, like ChatGPT and Gemini, have democratized coding by making software development more accessible to everyone, ultimately lowering the barrier to entry.

For experienced developers, small teams and even solo programmers can now unlock more scale, with AI freeing up time that was otherwise spent on repetitive tasks that can now be automated.

With the emergence of the tech, questions have been raised about the future of jobs in coding, with leaner teams potentially reducing job openings, but Dohmke doesn’t seem to be concerned about this and instead still urges people to learn to code.

“The anxiety is understandable, but time and again, developers have discovered how to channel the new capabilities into entire domains of innovation that didn't exist before,” he said, indicating that use cases are expanding and the need for skilled programmers isn’t taming.

“You got to keep training. You got to keep learning. You're never done with learning,” he added. Reflecting on his three decades in the industry, Dohmke says that if he’d stopped reading blogs and other literature, he’d have been left behind. With this in mind, AI is very much just an evolution of the role rather than the end of it.

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• Galaxy S25 series phones are getting a small One UI 7 update
• The release schedule for other phones remains uncertain
• Galaxy S23 models could get the update next week – or next month

Samsung's rollout of One UI 7 (based on Android 15) has been a long and frustrating one for users, with delays and bugs aplenty – and we've got some more details about when the software might actually arrive on your phone.

First up, well-known tipster @UniverseIce notes that the "final full version" of One UI 7 is now rolling out for the Samsung Galaxy S25. Or at least it appears to be in South Korea, so it should reach the rest of the world soon.

The Galaxy S25 phones launched with One UI 7 on board back in January, but this latest "final" version seems to bring the handsets up to date with the latest features – including a new charging animation and improved interface support for media player apps.

That leaves every other Galaxy phone. Officially, One UI 7 was supposed to be heading to the Galaxy S24, Galaxy Z Fold 6, and Galaxy Z Flip 6 on April 7, though that process was put on pause, and it's not clear if it has fully resumed. Based on reports on Reddit and social media, it seems it may depend on where in the world you are.

Coming soon?

The official One UI 7 rollout timeline for the India region‼️Repost pic.twitter.com/WqzOnmNdU6April 16, 2025

With ongoing uncertainty about the One UI 7 update for Galaxy handsets launched in 2024 and 2025, it's perhaps no surprise that we're seeing conflicting leaks around when older phones such as the Samsung Galaxy S23 are going to be included.

If you own a Galaxy S23, you'll be encouraged by a report from Android Headlines suggesting the phone could get One UI 7 as early as next week – though it seems the Canadian carrier listing the leak is based on has now been revised.

From Canada to India, where well-known tipster @tarunvats33 has posted another rollout timeline that specifies the Galaxy S23 upgrade date as May 25. Some other phones and tablets will apparently have to wait until June or even July.

As has tended to be the norm with One UI 7, we're left with a lack of clarity from Samsung and a lot of conflicting rumors – not helped by the complex logistics of managing software updates across multiple countries and carriers. Once again, Galaxy phone owners are having to patiently refresh their Android update screens and wait.

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• Apple has released the iOS 18.4.1 update to iPhones
• It fixes an annoying CarPlay bug that has been causing issues for drivers
• CarPlay users have been reporting the problems for weeks

For a few weeks, users of Apple’s CarPlay have been plagued by a series of bugs, crashes and all-round problems that have hampered the in-car entertainment system. Now, though, it looks like Apple has rolled out a fix that has finally put the issues to bed.

The fix is included in the iOS 18.4.1 update, which Apple released yesterday. The release notes explain that the patch “provides important bug fixes, security updates, and addresses a rare issue that prevents wireless CarPlay connection in certain vehicles.”

That should provide some comfort to Apple customers affected by the irritating issues in their CarPlay-enabled vehicles. That said, we’ll have to wait for user reports to roll in to be sure the fix has worked. That’s because there were several problems that were previously reported rather than just one.

A variety of problems

(Image credit: Shutterstock / Hadrian)

Scouring online forums and message boards, you can find a variety of CarPlay glitches that seem to have recently affected people, as we reported a couple weeks ago.

For instance, one user reported that their vehicle’s dashboard was no longer displaying Now Playing information. For others, their devices would repeatedly connect to CarPlay, promptly disconnect, then reconnect again, over and over. Still other users couldn’t connect their devices to CarPlay at all.

The problems were being experienced across a variety of different car brands, suggesting that the issues lay with CarPlay itself rather than the vehicles’ own software. And sure enough, the release of this patch by Apple seems to have confirmed that.

If you’ve found yourself affected by recent CarPlay issues, we’d recommend that you download and install the latest iOS 18.4.1 update on your iPhone. Hopefully, that should finally remedy the glitches once and for all.

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• A new iPhone 17 Pro render shows a single color for the whole back of the phone
• This is at odds with previous renders
• However, it matches a design claim from a reputable source

So far, most renders of the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max have shown them with a two-tone design, where the rumored large new camera block is one color, and the rest of the rear is another. But a new render shows these two elements in the same shade.

The image you can see below was shared by @kdctweets (via Phone Arena), and we’d take it with a pinch of salt, since they don’t yet have much of a track record as a leaker – and also it’s unclear whether this image is based on new information they’ve obtained, or just their own vision of what the iPhone 17 Pro might look like.

But it’s notable regardless, because recently Mark Gurman – an Apple watcher with a superb track record – claimed that the iPhone 17 Pro series wouldn’t have a two-tone design. So there’s a good chance this image provides a more accurate look at the iPhone 17 Pro’s design than previous renders do.

pic.twitter.com/4vWww2aP7KApril 16, 2025

No two-tone for your iPhone

Whether it all being one color is better or worse than two-tone is somewhat subjective – and may not matter much anyway if you’re just going to put the phone in a case. But while nothing is certain just yet, we’re inclined to believe Gurman on this – meaning the design in this render is probably something along the lines of what Apple will unveil.

That said, even if the colors of the two sections are mostly a match, there may be some slight differences in the tone, as a previous iPhone 17 Pro leak suggested the camera housing would be metal, while the bottom half of the phone would be glass. So the colors might not be quite as uniform as they are here.

We’ll probably find out for sure in September, as that’s when the iPhone 17 series is likely to be unveiled, but we’d expect plenty more unofficial renders will emerge in the meantime.

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• Comper Joris de Man would return to write music for another Horizon Zero Dawn game
• De Man says Guerrilla Games is "very, very good at keeping their cards close to their chest"
• He couldn't confirm if he's working on a third game, but says, "I'm there for it, is all I can say"

Composer Joris de Man, best known for Killzone and the Horizon series, can't confirm if he's working on the third Horizon game, but would return if Guerrilla Games asked.

Ahead of the PlayStation: The Concert Tour, a live music event scheduled to play music from PlayStation's most iconic games like The Last of Us and God of War, TechRadar Gaming sat down with Joris de Man to discuss his time composing music for video games and expressed interest in returning for another Killzone game.

When asked if he will continue working on the Horizon series in the future or on the third installment, de Man said he's all in.

"I'm there for it, is all I can say," de Man said. "Yeah, in terms of what's happening, what I will say is that Guerrilla is very, very good at keeping their cards close to their chest, and even as someone who's known them the past 20 years, I'm always kind of almost a bit shocked and a bit perturbed that I don't know more about what they're cooking up there in Amsterdam."

On the topic of different genres he would like to explore next in his career, de Man revealed the desire to write music for a role-playing game (RPG), similar to Diablo or even a Fallout game.

"I'd love to do an RPG, like a proper RPG, you know, whether it's something a bit like Diablo..." de Man said. "I mean, I'm a massive Diablo fan, so although I have not been much of a fan of the recent one [...] I've not managed to get into it as well as I did with the other three, which I played until the disc was literally gray.

"But yeah, no, I love those games, so I'd love to write something for that, and otherwise, a Fallout game would also be quite cool to write on, because I just love the original soundtracks, and I'd love to explore that kind of vibe a bit further for a future Fallout game."

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• The first gameplay trailer for Cronos: The New Dawn has arrived
• It shows off the upcoming survival horror game
• It also offers a glimpse at its unique 'Merge' mechanics

Silent Hill 2 remake developer Bloober Team has released the first gameplay trailer for its next game, Cronos: The New Dawn.

An all-new survival horror property, Cronos: The New Dawn looks a little bit like Silent Hill crossed with Dead Space and The Medium. Its set across two parallel time periods - the post-apocalyptic far future and 1980s Poland.

In Poland, players will explore the fictionalized ruined district of New Dawn, which was inspired by the real-world Nowa Huta in Krakow.

As a Traveller and agent of the mysterious Collective, it's your job to travel back in time to rescue key people from the incoming apocalypse.

Standing in your way are the Orphans, supernatural creatures that don't stay dead. If you're not able to burn their bodies, other enemies can absorb them in a unique process called 'Merging' - becoming stronger and gaining additional abilities. This is certainly an interesting idea and reminds me a little bit of the terrifying Crimson Head zombies from the Resident Evil remake.

The trailer also offers some glimpses of the combat mechanics, with the player wielding a mix of powerful range weapons including a pistol, a meaty shotgun, and a few futuristic looking launchers.

They game will feature a soundtrack from award winning composer Arkadiusz Reikowski, who has helmed music for a number of Bloober Team games, in collaboration with the Polish-Ukranian indie folk band Zazula.

Cronos: The New Dawn is set to release in 2025 and is coming to Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, PlayStation 5, and PC.

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• Xbox's official support account may have spilled the beans on the Oblivion remaster's release date
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Xbox's official support account may have just shared more than it was supposed to on the alleged remaster for The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion.

After a round of screenshots leaked online this week, the internet was once again abuzz with speculation as to if (or indeed when) we'll get to play the long-rumored Oblivion Remastered anytime soon.

It seems like we may have just gotten our answer. As reported by GamesRadar, several users on X / Twitter have been claiming that Xbox's official support account, via direct messaging, has been outright stating a release date of April 21, 2025 for Oblivion Remastered. At the time of writing, that's four days from now.

pic.twitter.com/U1SqhpKMbvApril 16, 2025

The above video shows a DM interaction between X / Twitter user Ser_Raven18 and what appears to be the official Xbox Support account.

"The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered is set to release on April 21, 2025," writes the account.

Furthermore, in a reply to gaming account 'Synth Potato, another user shared a screenshot with details on how Oblivion Remastered will be handling the original's bevy of downloadable content, including the legendary Shivering Isles expansion.

"The remastered version of The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion on Xbox Game Pass will include the base game only. The Shivering Isles DLC, along with other expansions like Knights of the Nine, will be part of the Deluxe Edition."

As a screenshot only, this message does carry less weight, and there's always the chance that correspondence here could be fabricated just to stew the pot. So naturally, take everything here with a healthy pinch of salt.

That said, a lot of things do seem to be lining up. Hopefully the speculation can be put to bed with an official announcement or trailer soon, especially as the alleged release date is mere days away.

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• OpenAI CEO says saying "Please" or "Thank You" to ChatGPT costs the company 'Tens of millions of dollars'
• A Future survey found that roughly 70% of people are polite to AI
• Experts believe being polite to AI is actually beneficial to the responses you receive, but at what cost?

Do you say "Please" or "Thank you" to ChatGPT? If you're polite to OpenAI's chatbot, you could be part of the user base costing the company "Tens of millions of dollars" on electricity bills.

User @tomiinlove wrote on X, "I wonder how much money OpenAI has lost in electricity costs from people saying 'please' and 'thank you' to their models."

OpenAI CEO, Sam Altman, responded, "Tens of millions of dollars well spent - you never know." Thanks for lowering the world's anxiety around an AI uprising, Sam. We'll all be sure to waste even more energy by saying "Please" or "Thank You" from now on.

In February, Future PLC, the company that owns TechRadar, compiled a survey of more than 1,000 people on their AI etiquette. The survey found that around 70% of people are polite to AI when interacting with it, with 12% being polite in case of a robot uprising.

Obviously, there's an energy cost when using ChatGPT, which has massive AI-powered servers that run the whole operation. But as these tools thrive in popularity, are most of us even aware that one simple message, or one AI-generated meme, is impacting the planet?

TechRadar reached out to OpenAI for comment, we'll update this story when we hear back.

tens of millions of dollars well spent--you never knowApril 16, 2025

Should we be polite to AI?

If being polite to AI can have such an impact on energy consumption, should we even bother being nice to ChatGPT?

Presumably, these 'Tens of millions of dollars' Altman speaks of are due to users saying "Please" or "Thank You" in a contained message rather than at the end of a prompt. Hopefully, OpenAI will respond to our query to give us more of an understanding of how people frame these particular messages.

TechRadar writer Becca Caddy stopped saying thanks to ChatGPT and found that being polite to an AI chatbot might actually help with responses.

In her article, she wrote, "Polite, well-structured prompts often lead to better responses, and in some cases, they may even reduce bias. That’s not just a bonus – it’s a critical factor in AI reliability.

As AI evolves, it will be fascinating to see whether politeness itself becomes a built-in feature. Could AI favor users who communicate respectfully? Will models be trained to respond differently based on etiquette?"

So while it may not be energy-efficient, being polite to AI could in fact give you a better experience while interacting with ChatGPT. But is it worth the environmental cost?

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This review first appeared in issue 347 of PC Pro.

Video conferencing (VC) continues to enjoy unprecedented growth levels since the pandemic, and Biamp now wants a piece of the action. It makes its play for the small to medium-sized meeting room market with the imposing Parlé VBC 2500.

Measuring nearly one metre in length, this all-in-one conferencing bar takes a lot of the technology Biamp has developed over its 46 years in the professional audio-visual (AV) space and hands it to SMBs. Whereas most competing VC bars offer a beam-forming array made up of five or six microphones, the VBC 2500 boasts a highly accurate beam-tracking array comprising 27 microphone elements.

It sports a 4K UHD camera capable of delivering up to a 2160p resolution at 30fps and teams this with a wide 120° field of view (FoV) plus digital pan, tilt, zoom (PTZ) functions with 5x zoom capabilities. The camera incorporates a mechanical shutter that automatically obscures the view when a meeting has finished or a user disables video from their UC app.

The VBC 2500 delivers great video quality and its digital auto-framing is rapid (Image credit: Future)

Sound output is a cut above the rest, too, as Biamp has designed the speaker array to accurately reproduce human speech. The array comprises a pair of 20W speakers in sealed enclosures plus passive radiators to improve bass, and it uses active distortion compensation to ensure a flat response.

Placement options are plentiful: the VBC 2500 has an integral hinged desk stand and the kit includes a metal wall-mount bracket. Behind the rear removable panel is an external power supply socket plus a USB-C host connection port – for BYOD operations you can connect the VBC 2500 to Biamp’s optional Devio SCR-10 desktop unit.

A standout feature is Biamp’s automated room configuration: simply plug the bar in, press the Launch button underneath and stand back. The bar measures the room’s acoustics by emitting a series of sounds that wouldn’t be out of place in a 1950s sci-fi movie.

It uses the audio feedback to optimize the mic array, speakers and integral digital sound processor (DSP) specifically to its environment. The upshot is that anyone can set up the VBC 2500, and the same process is used if it’s moved to another room.

Installation took seconds. We plugged the VBC 2500 into a USB port on a Windows 10 Pro host and all necessary drivers were automatically loaded. As to which VC software platform to use, the choice is yours – the VBC 2500 is UVC (USB video class) compliant and we had no problems using it with Skype, Microsoft Teams and Zoom.

The imposing Parlé VBC 2500 is supremely easy to set up (Image credit: Future)

Video settings can be tweaked to suit using Biamp’s free Camera Controller app. Auto-framing and backlight compensation can be disabled, PTZ functions manually operated, the image mirrored or flipped, UC profiles for Microsoft Teams, Google Meet and Zoom applied and three presets saved for further use.

Video quality at 1080p is impressive, and we found the image was sharp and clear with great contrast and color balance. Backlight compensation works well, as does auto-framing, with the camera snapping to the active speaker in a couple of seconds and tracking them if they moved around the meeting room.

Audio quality is even better – this is easily the best-sounding VC bar we’ve yet tested. Biamp’s speaker technology delivers a superb sound, with a warm, deep bass, natural-sounding voices and none of the shrillness you’ll find with smaller VC bars.

It’s loud, too, as we had to drop volume levels to 40% for our 24 square meter meeting room. Crank it up to maximum and it’ll go with you as the sound doesn’t break up at all.

The Parlé VBC 2500 isn’t as versatile as Logitech’s Rally Bar, which offers BYOD and standalone modes courtesy of its Android OS, but Biamp can’t be beaten for presentation quality. Video and audio are exceptionally good, digital auto-framing is fast and the smart launch mode makes meeting room setup a piece of cake.

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This review first appeared in issue 348 of PC Pro.

The WS AR-X6700 makes good use of its £4,500 budget, with a solid balance of components. Workstation Specialists has chosen the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X, which offers 16 cores and 32 threads, with a base 4.5GHz clock and boost up to 5.7GHz. This is backed by 64GB of RAM, provided as two DIMMs, so there’s room to upgrade. It’s 5,200MHz DDR5, which the Ryzen 7000 series now supports.

Graphics acceleration comes from the Nvidia RTX A5000. With a hefty 8,192 CUDA cores and 24GB of GDDR6 frame buffer on a 384-bit bus offering 768GB/sec of bandwidth, it’s a potent workstation accelerator. Its quartet of DisplayPort 1.4a connections support up to four 4K screens at 120Hz, or two 8K screens at 60Hz.

Apart from the decidedly skinny Lenovo chassis, the Fractal Design Define C Tempered Glass case here is the most compact this month. There’s still room for a couple of 3.5in or 2.5in drives, plus up to three 2.5in units. The only storage supplied, however, is a 2TB Samsung 990 Pro NVMe SSD, which when tested with CrystalDiskMark 8.0.4 delivered competent 7,457MB/sec sustained reading and 6,915MB/sec writing.

(Image credit: Future)

The overall result in the PC Pro benchmarks of 731 is superb compared to systems from any previous year, but in this month’s company it’s joint second slowest. For everyday tasks, Intel’s Core i9-13900K has the lead. The multicore rendering result in Maxon Cinebench R23 of 36,030 is similarly both excellent while still being third slowest this month. The Blender Gooseberry render took 282 seconds with the CPU, however, which is more competitive.

Sadly, with so many powerful systems in this test, the Nvidia RTX 5000 manages performance only in the middle of the pack. Looking at the SPECviewperf 2020 v3.1 results, the score of 178 in 3dsmax-07 is the third slowest, although 535 in maya-06 is a bit higher up the rankings. Only Lenovo’s P620, with its RTX A4000, consistently falls behind. The OpenCL rendering result in LuxMark 3.1 of 15,489 is in line with our expectations for an RTX A5000, while GPU rendering with Blender took 148 seconds, which is also mid-range.

Overall, while the Workstation Specialists WS AR-X6700 is well put together and specified, it doesn’t have the leading performance of this month’s Labs Winner.

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Despite paying $195 more on average than the previous year, most people still experienced speed and reliability issues.