TechRadar Reviews

Wandrd PRVKE V4 bag: Two-minute review

I've tested plenty of the best camera bags over the last 15 years (seriously, I've got quite the collection), but only recently got my hands on Wandrd gear for the first time. Of course, I had to start with the established American accessory maker's best-selling PRVKE, which is now in its V4 version.

It's a stylish roll-top backpack, available in seven muted colors and three sizes, with an optional cube insert designed to stow camera gear.

Wanting a slimline day pack, I opted for the mid-size 21L version in 'Sedona Orange' – the boldest look of the lot – with the cube insert. There's an even smaller 15L version (the only size in the range with the camera compartment built-in) or a larger 31L size. Wandrd has seemingly ditched the 41L size from the previous version of the PRVKE.

I also picked up the D1 fanny pack (also in Sedona Orange) at the same time, to complement the bag for essentials.

(Image credit: Tim Coleman)

What I particularly appreciate about the PRVKE V4 is how good it looks without the usual camera bag tell-tale signs. No, this looks like a regular roll-top bag that I see so often on commuter trains in the UK, and a particularly stylish one at that.

Inside, however, I could pack several thousand dollars/pounds worth of camera gear (in the 'Essential Camera Cube'), squeeze in my 17-inch MacBook Pro, and fill a number of the small zipped pockets with accessories such as charging cables.

And there's still space in the open third at the top, which is accessed through the roll-top, for day items such as a sweater and tupperware container.

It took me a little while trying out the various compartments with my gear, seeing what combinations would easily fit in the cube, and at first, I wasn't convinced I had picked the right size for my mid-range mirrorless camera and lenses.

However, with a little endeavor, I squeezed in my mirrorless camera with lens attached, an additional lens, and various accessories, including a small LED light panel.

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I've happily used the PRVKE V4 21L for commuting and day trips, although it'd be a stretch using it for a weekend – I reckon the 31L version (which I haven't tried but has the same layout) would be ideal for that.

The PRVKE V4 truly looks the part – I really like the wide choice of muted colors it's available in, which now total seven in all, especially the orange that I went for – but it's also practical too.

The shoulder straps and back are lined with a padded mesh, making a long day of lugging gear a comfortable experience.

On one side, a stretch pocket easily holds a water bottle or tripod, with an additional strap to secure taller items. On the other side, a zip pocket accesses where the cube sits – directly to your camera gear. Not all of today's discreet camera bags offer such direct access to gear, so points to the PRVKE V4 there.

I like the handle on the top, too, with the two straps fixing to each other magnetically. They make picking up the bag a breeze, as does the additional handle on the back, which can conveniently slot over a suitcase handle for air travel.

(Image credit: Tim Coleman)

The PRVKE V4 is not quite perfect, mind you. I found dirt a little sticky on the smooth back of the bag, and the roll-top design isn't the most weatherproof. I don't think all of the pockets are necessary either, but that might not be true of the next person.

It's also a shame that the key camera gear accessory – namely the cube insert – is a pricey extra for what is already a relatively expensive bag (15L aside, which has the camera compartments fixed in place).

Overall, these are minor drawbacks for what is clearly a well-designed backpack. I can easily see myself relying on the 21L bag for days out, commuting, and, with the cube removed, even a weekender pack. If you want a weekend bag with camera gear, I'd recommend the 31L version instead.

There's a reason the PRVKE has proved such a hit these last few years, and now, in its updated V4 form, I'm glad to have joined the party. This will no doubt be my go-to day bag for the foreseeable future.

Wandrd PRVKE V4: price and availability

• Available in 15L, 21L and 31L versions
• There are seven muted colors to choose from
• Prices start at $234 / £207 (Australia availability and pricing vary), the camera cube costs extra

The Wandrd PRVKE has been available for a number of years, and this review is of the current V4 version.

The PRVKE V4 can be purchased in one of seven muted colors at the Wandrd store: Black, Aegean Blue, Wasatch Green, Yuma Tan, Sedona Orange, Rhone Burgundy, and Atacama Clay. It's available in three sizes: 15L, 21L, and 31L – the smallest is the only one to feature a camera gear compartment. Here's a breakdown of the prices:

The 15L version costs $279 / £246 (no need for an optional cube insert), the 21L bag only is $234 / £207, and the 31L bag only is $254 / £224.

The Photography bundle includes the Essential Camera Cube and adds $85 / £74 to the cost of the 21L and 31L versions, while the Pro photography bundle includes the larger Pro Camera Cube and add $120 / £105 to the cost. Those accessory prices are a little steep in my opinion.

The former version of the PRVKE bag also came in a larger 41L version, which is still available at various retailers for around $273 / £242.

Wandrd PRVKE V4: specsWandrd Prkve Specs

Sizes

15L, 21L and 31L

Colors

Black, Aegean Blue, Wasatch Green, Yuma Tan, Sedona Orange, Rhone Burgundy and Atacama Clay

Dimensions

17 x 11 x 6.25in / 43.2 x 27.9 x 15.9 cm (21L version)

Weight

2.98lbs / 1.3kg for the 21L version

Laptop sleeve

13.5 x 9.75 x 1in / 34.3 x 24.8 x 2.5cm

Should I buy the Wandrd PRVKE V4?

(Image credit: Tim Coleman)Buy it if...

You want a stylish camera bag
There's no sacrifice on style here – the PRVKE V4 is an attractive roll-top style backpack, in a wide range of colors.

You're wanting a casual day or weekend bag
It's well made, but not the bag you'd take on extreme outdoor shoots. This is a more of a day or city break kind of pack.

Don't buy it if...

You're stowing large gear
Even the largest 31L version will struggle to hold super telephoto lenses and such gear. The older PRVKE comes in a 41L version, though.

You're wanting a camera gear-only bag
The PRVKE is more your day bag for a mixture of camera gear and regular items.

Also consider Peak Design Everyday Backpack V2

The Wandrd PRVKE V4 and Peak Design Everyday Backpack V2 share many similarities – they are similar in capacity and offer direct side access to camera gear. However, the PRVKE V4 is better for style and as a general bag, while the Peak Design offering is better suited as a dedicated camera bag, plus it costs less given the camera insert is included.

Read my Peak Design Everyday Backpack V2 review

How I tested the Wandrd PRVKE V4

(Image credit: Tim Coleman)

• I had the 21L version of the PRVKE V4, with the 'Essential' cube insert
• I used the PRVKE for over a month, mainly as a day or weekend bag

Wandrd arranged a long-term loan of the PRVKE bag for me – the 21L version with cube insert.

I've used the PRVKE as my primary bag for commuting, simple day trips, and the occasional weekender.

It has stored a range of my camera gear – from mid-range mirrorless models with a couple of lenses, to smaller vlogging gear with a range of accessories such as LED lights. I've also stored a 17-inch MacBook Pro inside.

Throughout my testing, the bag has been subject to inclement weather and used in a range of environments, including large cities. This is a true long-term review.

First reviewed January 2026

PowerA Advantage Wireless Controller for Nintendo Switch 2: One-minute review

The PowerA Advantage Wireless Controller for Nintendo Switch 2 is just far too expensive to recommend.

As a Nintendo Switch 2 Pro Controller alternative that comes in at $69.99 / £49.99 (around AU$100) (that’s only $15 / £15 less than the going price of Nintendo’s official offering), it simply shouldn’t feel anywhere near as cheap and hollow as it does.

This is far from the only issue, as there is a raft of other problems to contend with. Although the PowerA Advantage Wireless Controller for Nintendo Switch 2 features all of the expected inputs (including two remappable rear ones), the Start and Select buttons are tiny and positioned right at the bottom of the pad’s face, making them difficult to press.

The triggers are also quite shallow, leading to a very unsatisfying pulling motion. If that wasn't enough, the hard plastic and abrasive texture around the tips of the thumbsticks make them uncomfortable to use over long periods of time.

These are all issues that were present with the much cheaper PowerA Advantage Switch 2 Wired Controller, but it’s much easier to forgive on a model that starts at just $39.99 / £29.99. It’s especially egregious when even super budget controllers like the $24.99 / £29.99 GameSir Nova Lite don’t suffer from anywhere near the same number of problems.

The PowerA Advantage Wireless Controller for Nintendo Switch 2 isn’t a total lost cause, though. The battery life, which can reach up to 30 hours, is strong, and its motion controls work well. You also get the option of far more interesting designs than you would find with the official offering, which is pretty neat.

(Image credit: Future)PowerA Advantage Wireless Controller for Nintendo Switch 2: Price and availability

• Costs $69.99 / £49.99 (around AU$100)
• Official Pro Controller goes for $85 / £64.99
• Not strong value for money

At $69.99 / £49.99 (around AU$100), the PowerA Advantage Wireless Controller for Nintendo Switch 2 is not particularly good value for money, especially when you can find the official Pro Controller for around $15 / £15 more in either the US or UK at the time of writing.

The hollow build quality is almost identical to the significantly cheaper $39.99 / £29.99 PowerA Advantage Switch 2 Wired Controller, so I don’t understand why PowerA thought it would be appropriate to hike up the price just for the addition of wireless connectivity and motion controls.

If this controller were to cost around $49.99 / £39.99, then this would be a much more positive review - but it’s just not competitive at its asking price. This is especially true when you factor in similar costing third-party options like the 8BitDo Ultimate 2, which is far superior in terms of build and features.

The PowerA Advantage Wireless Controller for Nintendo Switch 2 is at least widely available in the US and UK via the PowerA website or retailers like Amazon.

PowerA Advantage Wireless Controller for Nintendo Switch 2: Specs

Price

$69.99 / £49.99 (around AU$100)

Weight

7.8oz / 222g

Dimensions

5.88 x 4.09 x 2.44in / 149 x 104 x 62mm

Compatibility

Nintendo Switch 2, Nintendo Switch

Connection type

Wireless

Battery life

Up to 30 hours

PowerA Advantage Wireless Controller for Nintendo Switch 2: Design and features

• Standard controller shape
• Row of buttons at the bottom
• Features remappable rear inputs

The PowerA Advantage Wireless Controller for Nintendo Switch 2 looks like your standard Nintendo Switch or Nintendo Switch 2 controller, with the usual face buttons and asymmetrical thumbstick layout. Although this controller is compatible with both systems, it features a dedicated C button like the official Nintendo Switch 2 Pro Controller.

My only real issue with the design here is the positioning of the Start and Select buttons. They’re tiny and arranged as part of a row with the Capture, Home, and C buttons that are positioned right at the bottom of the face of the controller. They’re awkward to hit as a result, and frequently required me to reposition my hands a little in order to reach them, which is a frustrating oversight. They sit above a little LED light bar, which illuminates when the controller is in use.

I tested the ‘Mario and Friends’ variant of this pad, which has a colorful Super Mario-inspired pattern. The print is high quality, and the colors are pleasant, which definitely gives this controller some edge over Nintendo’s comparatively boring Switch 2 Pro Controller in terms of looks. There is also a cute Kirby design available, or a more subdued Pokémon one. The controller is also offered in plain black if you prefer.

(Image credit: Future)

On the back of the pad are the two programmable rear inputs and a dedicated programming button. Unlike the Nintendo Switch 2 Pro Controller, where everything is remapped through software, this pad requires a bit of fiddling with the programming button in order to get your desired bindings set up. The process is quick and intuitive, though, so it’s hard to dock PowerA any points for it.

The company does lose marks for its choice of plastics, though, which are noticeably lower quality than those found on Nintendo’s first-party hardware. The whole controller has an almost brittle feel to it, and I don’t think it would fare well if it were dropped on a hard floor, even from a modest height.

The huge visible screw holes on the back of the controller also don’t do it any favors, lending it a very cheap appearance from behind

(Image credit: Future)PowerA Advantage Wireless Controller for Nintendo Switch 2: Performance

• Uncomfortable thumbsticks
• Shallow triggers
• Otherwise fairly solid

The best thing I can say about the PowerA Advantage Wireless Controller for Nintendo Switch 2 is that it does at least function, and is still suitable for casual players or as a spare in multiplayer environments. It’s not very pleasant to use, though, thanks to a few major flaws.

Firstly, while the thumbsticks here do contain Hall effect sensors, which is good for longevity, they’re made of a hard plastic and have an abrasive texture around their tips that becomes uncomfortable for the thumbs over extended play sessions.

The controller’s triggers are also very shallow but simultaneously rather spongy and thus almost impressively unsatisfying to pull. The D-pad is pretty bad too, with a similarly spongy feel and a very flat, broad shape that makes precise inputs difficult. This is definitely not a controller that you would want to dive into a shooter or retro platformer with.

As is common with third-party Nintendo Switch 2 controllers, you also don’t get support for HD rumble or amiibo. The PowerA Advantage Wireless Controller for Nintendo Switch 2 does gain points for its motion control support, however, and I found it more than accurate enough for pointer controls in games like Super Mario Galaxy 2.

The battery life is another strong suit. PowerA claims that you can achieve up to 30 hours per charge, and I found this figure to be accurate. It’s a bit less than the staggering 40 hours offered by the Nintendo Switch 2 Pro Controller, but still among the best in the third-party scene.

Once you get used to the positioning of the Start and Select buttons, the rest of the pad is perfectly solid to use. The buttons feel decent and all work as intended, and I never experienced any issues with connectivity or pairing.

(Image credit: Future)Should I buy the PowerA Advantage Wireless Controller for Nintendo Switch 2?Buy it if…

You find it heavily discounted
The PowerA Advantage Wireless Controller for Nintendo Switch 2 has flaws, but it could be a decent choice with the right discount. Pick it up if you find it at half price or less.

You really like the designs
PowerA definitely has the edge over Nintendo when it comes to crafting eye-catching, colorful designs.

Don’t buy it if…

You can spring for the official alternative
If you can stretch your budget a little further to reach the official Nintendo Switch 2 Pro Controller, then it is a much better choice. It’s more comfortable to use and beats PowerA’s attempt in terms of battery life and features.

You require rumble or NFC
The PowerA Advantage Wireless Controller for Nintendo Switch 2 does not offer HD Rumble support or feature an NFC reader for amiibo compatibility. If you need those features, the official pad is your best bet.

Also consider...

Not pleased by what the PowerA Advantage Wireless Controller for Nintendo Switch 2 brings to the table? Here are two more premium alternatives worth weighing up.

PowerA Advantage Wireless Controller for Nintendo Switch 2

Nintendo Switch 2 Pro Controller

8BitDo Ultimate

2

Price

$69.99 / £49.99 (around AU$100)

$84.99 / £74.99 / AU$119.95

$69.99 / £59.99 / AU$90 (or $59.99 / £49.99 for PC-only model)

Weight

7.8oz / 222g

8.3oz / 235g

8.7oz / 246g

Dimensions

5.88 x 4.09 x 2.44in / 149 x 104 x 62mm

5.8 x 4.1 x 2.4in / 148 x 105 x 60mm

5.7 x 4.1 x 2.4in / 147 x 103 x 61mm

Compatibility

Nintendo Switch 2, Nintendo Switch

Nintendo Switch 2

PC, Android (Switch/Switch 2 version sold separately)

Connection type

Wireless

Bluetooth, USB Type-C

2.4GHz, Bluetooth, USB Type-C

Battery life

Up to 30 hours

Around 40 hours

10-15 hours

Nintendo Switch 2 Pro Controller
This is the superlative Nintendo Switch 2 pad right now. Although expensive, it’s overflowing with features, has leading battery life, and has best-in-class build quality.

Read our full Nintendo Switch 2 Pro Controller review

8BitDo Ultimate 2
This wireless pad from 8BitDo Ultimate 2 is a top alternative. It has worse battery life than the PowerA pad, but is more comfortable to use and comes with a charging dock out of the box.

Read our full 8BitDo Ultimate 2 review

How I tested the PowerA Advantage Wireless Controller for Nintendo Switch 2

• Tested for more than two weeks
• Tried with a wide range of games
• Compared to a range of other controllers

I tested the PowerA Advantage Wireless Controller for Nintendo Switch 2 for a period of two and a half weeks. During that time, I tested a wide range of Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2 games, such as Mario Kart World, Super Mario Galaxy 2, Cyberpunk 2077: Ultimate Edition, Hitman World of Assassination – Signature Edition, and more.

I frequently compared my experience to my hands-on testing of other Nintendo Switch 2 peripherals, including PowerA’s own PowerA Advantage Switch 2 Wired Controller and the Nintendo Switch 2 Pro Controller.

Read more about how we test

First reviewed January 2026

Sigma 17-40mm f/1.8 DC | Art: One-minute review

Cast your mind back to 2013 and Sigma had just brought out its 18-35mm f/1.8 DC HSM | Art lens – the world’s first zoom with a fast, constant f/1.8 aperture – and was set to revolutionize the photography industry.

Over a decade since that lens pushed the boundaries of what a zoom lens could do, the world's largest independent lens manufacturer has gone one better with the Sigma 17-40mm f/1.8 DC | Art, which like its predecessor boasts a constant and bright f/1.8 aperture and promises to deliver exceptional image quality comparable to a prime, but with an expanded zoom range, all while being more than 30% lighter than its predecessor.

The lens is specifically designed for mirrorless cameras with an APS-C sensor and is available in L-mount, Sony E, Fujifilm X, and Canon RF versions. I've spent a month testing an E-mount version of the lens mounted on a Sony A6700, to see if this optic really can do the job at least three primes.

The TLDR is that it absolutely can, and I thoroughly enjoyed hitting the streets to use it for all sorts of photography, from city shots to portraits, shallow-depth-of-field still-life shots, and even low-light scenes like traffic trails and stars.

(Image credit: Future / Dan Mold)

While the 17-40mm f/1.8 DC | Art builds on its predecessor in pretty much every way, it's not free from faults. It's an APS-C lens with a smaller imaging circle, so it's less future-proof if you upgrade to a full-frame camera later down the road. It's also very expensive, and costs significantly more than its predecessor did back in 2013.

If money is no limit, and you love to shoot at a range of wide-angle focal lengths while also having the versatility of a fast f/1.8 aperture, this is the lens for you, providing you shoot on an APS-C mirrorless body. However, if you're on a stricter budget, and prefer smaller lenses and don't mind switching between them, then you may be better off with one or two cheaper prime lenses instead – provided you're not shooting weddings and other events where you may have less time to swap your optics over.

Sigma 17-40mm f/1.8 DC | Art: Price and availability

• Priced at $919 / £779 / AU$1,650
• Lens hood included
• Announced in July 2025

The Sigma 17-40mm f/1.8 DC Art costs $919 / £779 / AU$1,650. That’s more than Sigma’s original 18-35mm f/1.8 DC HSM Art, which retailed for $799 / £699 (around AU$1,150) at launch. However, this higher price is to be expected given more than a decade of inflation since then, and tariff increases have likely impacted US pricing too. Regardless, I think the extra money is justified in the US and UK by the suite of upgrades that come with the new and improved version.

It’s difficult to say exactly who this lens is for, as I personally found it a bit frustrating with it either being not wide enough or not telephoto enough for my shooting style, though as someone who regularly likes to shoot with 35mm prime lenses, there were times when the extra versatility from its small zoom range was welcome. It is a bit like a souped-up kit lens, but one that costs significantly more.

If you’re on a tighter budget, and not fussed about that wide f/1.8 aperture, or you’re looking for something a bit more portable for your everyday carry lens, then the Sigma 18-50mm f/2.8 DC DN Contemporary would be a better choice. Similarly, if you don’t want a zoom and simply want a smaller prime lens there are options like the Canon RF 35mm f/1.8 IS Macro STM that are lighter, smaller and a little bit cheaper, too. So it really comes down to what you want to use the lens for.

However, for events and wedding photographers shooting with APS-C bodies I can see this lens being a game changer, giving those photographers extra focal length options and a fast f/1.8 aperture when they may not have the time to change lenses.

Sigma 17-40mm f/1.8 DC | Art: SpecsSigma 17-40mm f/1.8 DC | Art specs

Type:

Wide-angle zoom

Mount:

L-mount, Sony E, Fujifilm X, Canon RF

Sensor:

APS-C

Focal length:

17-40mm (25.5-60mm effective on Fujifilm, Sony & L-mount, 27.2-64mm on Canon RF)

Max aperture:

f/1.8

Minimum focus:

0.28m

Filter size:

67mm

Dimensions:

72.9 x 115.9mm

Weight:

18.8oz / 535g

Sigma 17-40mm f/1.8 DC | Art: Design

• Some degree of weather-sealing, usually saved for more premium Art lenses
• Combines a versatile zoom range with a fast f/1.8 maximum aperture
• Switches on the lens barrel to control AF/MF and iris ring functions
• Much longer than most prime lenses with a length of 115.9mm

The Sigma 17-40mm f/1.8 DC Art lens improves on its predecessor in virtually every way. Not only is it 34% lighter, tipping the scales at 18.8oz / 535g, it’s also 6.5% leaner in diameter and 4.2% shorter in length. Despite being a skinnier and lighter model it manages to pack in a 2.35x optical zoom, with a more expansive focal range of 17-40mm, whereas the original 18-35mm fell just shy of 2x optical zoom, so the overall zoom range has been expanded by roughly 18%.

As in the 18-35mm f/1.8 the optical design comprises 17 elements, but there’s one fewer aspherical and one fewer SLD (Special Low Dispersion) elements this time around, meaning there’s a total of three aspherical and four SLD elements inside the barrel.

The aperture has been upgraded however, and instead of the old nine-bladed design, we now have a more premium 11-bladed design, which should deliver better-rounded bokeh.

Measuring 115.9mm tall, the Sigma 17-40mm f/1.8 DC | Art is substantially longer than primes like a 35mm f/1.8 or 50mm f/1.8 so it's not quite as compact, though it does the job of several primes between 17mm and 40mm so it's the price you have to pay (Image credit: Dan Mold)

The rear mount is brass and also weather sealed, confirming the dust and splash-proof credentials of the optic. The lens is available to fit L-mount, Sony E, Fujifilm X and Canon RF, and factoring in the 1.5x crop factor of APS-C sensors the lens will behave much more like a 25.5-60mm, with the exception of Canon cameras, which have a 1.6x sensor crop and with which the lens will be have a slightly tighter perspective at 27.2-64mm.

On the outside of the lens barrel are the zoom and focus rings, which are a decent size and have a knurled rubber finish, making them very grippy and comfortable to use. Because this new lens is designed for modern mirrorless cameras it has an electronic fly-by-wire focus ring rather than a mechanical one, and this also means we’ve lost the focus distance window on the top. Both rings turn smoothly and are easy to operate.

An iris ring is featured on the L-mount, Sony E and Fujifilm X versions, though this is replaced by a Control ring on the Canon RF version. There's also two customizable focus hold buttons on the lens barrel (Image credit: Dan Mold)

A third ‘iris’ ring sits closest to the lens mount and is for controlling the aperture. This also has a lock to keep it securely in the ‘A’ position if you prefer not to use it, and there’s also a switch to enable or disengage the click – videographers will likely prefer the smoother declicked option when recording footage. It’s also worth noting that on the Canon RF version this is instead a Control ring which can be assigned custom functions for all sorts of settings, including but not limited to aperture.

The zoom is internal, so the lens remains compact and doesn’t rack out when zooming in or out. The throw from 17mm to 40mm on the zoom ring is also quite short, and certainly less than 90 degrees, so you can zoom fully in or out very quickly.

Also on the barrel is a switch to control AF/MF, and there are two AF-L buttons for holding focus, though these can be assigned different functions via the menu.

The lens is dust and splash resistant and a rubber gasket around the rear mount shows the lens has weather sealing (Image credit: Dan Mold)

Heading to the front of the lens we see the front element, which isn’t overly large considering it has a wide f/1.8 max aperture, and this is also where you’ll attach the 67mm screw-in front filters. The front element also has a water- and oil-repellent coating to make it more durable in harsh outdoor environments.

Also in the box is a LH728-02 petal-shaped lens hood, which is part plastic and part rubber for a premium feel, and also has a nice chunky button to lock it in place and release it. This fits on the lens backwards to take up less space when not in use.

Sigma 17-40mm f/1.8 DC | Art: Performance

• Chromatic aberration and flare handled well
• Bright f/1.8 aperture makes it great for low light and blurry backgrounds
• Corner details a little soft and vignetting at f/1.8 but cleared up by f/2.8
• Autofocus is fast, quiet and accurate

When it comes to assessing performance, we first need to consider who the Sigma 17-40mm f/1.8 DC lens is for. It clearly excels in low light with its fast maximum aperture of f/1.8, though its wider focal range of 17-40mm makes it a bit too wide for portraits, so it’s likely to be better suited to indoor events, astrophotography, and perhaps as a wide option for wedding photographers who don’t have time to switch lenses and need its versatility.

It is designed for use with APS-C cameras, which means its imaging circle is too small for full-frame cameras, with which you would see a pronounced vignette. That said, you can still pair the lens with a full-frame camera using the camera’s APS-C crop mode. The downside to this approach is that you won’t be making the complete use of the sensor – effectively throwing away pixels.

I took the lens out around London for several days, using it as my main lens for street photography. In this setup I found it to be a little on the large side, not in terms of width, but in overall length – it’s easily twice the length of, say, my Canon RF 35mm f/1.8 Macro IS STM. This made it more difficult to keep a low profile and take candid shots of people going about their lives without me being noticed, though this is the cost of having a more versatile zoom range.

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With its focal length of 17-40mm it’s fair to compare the lens to an 18-55mm kit lens, but with a little less telephoto power – it falls frustratingly short of that magical 50mm focal length which works wonderfully well with a wide aperture of f/1.8 for wider mid-length and head-and-shoulders portraits.

With all that being said, it is a big step up from the old 18-35mm f/1.8 DC HSM Art lens – the new version is 34% lighter, 6.5% shorter and 4.2% thinner, all while boasting two more aperture blades and being able to focus 2cm closer. While these may sound like minor updates, when combined they make the lens feel like a big upgrade overall.

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On to image quality, and I have to say that considering its broad zoom range and constant f/1.8 maximum aperture I was quietly impressed. Corners were a little soft and showed some vignetting when shooting wide open at f/1.8, though this was pretty much cleared up by f/2.8 and was easy to fix in software. Impressively, there was very little sign of chromatic aberration, and flare was handled well when shooting towards the sun.

There is a little barrel distortion around the edges when shooting at the wider focal lengths, which as expected starts to disappear as you zoom in – at 40mm the distortion has completely vanished. What distortion there is is very minor and testimony to the new lens element construction, and the in-camera lens corrections do a good job at ironing this out, though further correction can be applied in post-production to straighten out vertical lines more.

Autofocusing was a joy thanks to the High-response Linear Actuator motor, with the lens being very speedy, silent and reliable in achieving focus even in low light.

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(Image credit: Dan Mold)Should you buy the Sigma 17-40mm f/1.8 DC | Art?Buy it if...

You own an L-mount, Sony E, Fujifilm X or Canon RF APS-C body

The Sigma 17-40mm f/1.8 DC | Art is designed with a smaller imaging circle for APS-C mirrorless camera bodies

You need both speed and zoom

This Sigma lens has a unique combination of a versatile 17-40mm zoom range as well as a fast constant f/1.8 aperture which means it can do the job of several prime lenses

You want to blur backgrounds

With its f/1.8 maximum aperture you can throw backgrounds into a blur with a shallow depth of field easily

Don't buy it if...

You're looking for a small, portable prime

The Sigma 17-40mm f/1.8 is roughly twice as long as many 35mm f/1.8 or 50mm f/1.8 primes, so if portability is your main priority you'll likely be better off with a prime lens

You're on a budget

The Sigma 17-40mm f/1.8 DC | Art is very expensive at £779 / $919US making it much more expensive than the usual nifty-fifty prime lenses that usually cost between $100-300

You own a full-frame mirrorless body

The Sigma 17-40mm f/1.8 DC | Art has a smaller imaging circle for APS-C camera bodies and while it can be used on full-framers in crop mode, you won't be making the full use of that larger sensor. This also means it's not a very futureproof lens if you eventually upgrade from APS-C to full-frame at a later date, tooView Deal

How I tested the Sigma 17-40mm f/1.8 DC | Art

• I used the Sigma 17-40mm f/1.8 DC | Art extensively for a whole month and regularly took it out on day trips around busy cities in both day and night
• I paired it with the Sony a6700 APS-C body as well as a Sony a7R IV full-frame body in crop mode – both of which delivered 26MP stills
• I took shots at all focal lengths and apertures of cities, sunsets, low light scenes, stars and more

I got hold of the Sigma 17-40mm f/1.8 DC | Art and Sony A7R IV and A6700 bodies for a month to give the lens a thorough testing over an extended period.

Due to its small size and portability the lens quickly became my go-to option when I needed to bring a camera with me for days out around cities such as London, where I shot everything from landscapes to cityscapes, sunsets, astro and still life shots.

I took a range of pictures with in-camera lens corrections enabled and also turned off to see the comparison. I also shot in RAW and JPEG formats and shot at all of the various apertures to gauge how things like corner sharpness and vignetting changed throughout the aperture range.

• First reviewed January 2026

Specs

Type: color inkjet 4-in-1 printer

Functions: Print, copy, scan, fax

Connectivity: Ethernet, USB, Wi-Fi

Data storage slots: none

Print speed: 35ppm (mono)

Max paper size: Legal/Letter/A4

Max print quality: 4,800 x 1,200 dpi

Memory: unknown

Apple AirPrint: yes

Consumables included: 5 bottles; 15,100 black pages, 5,500 color

Dimensions/Weight: 375 x 347 x 240 mm (WxDxH)/16lb/7.3kg

I can see why Epson has sold over a 100 million EcoTanks. Being the first to bring the refillable concept to market, Epson hasn’t stopped tweaking the design so that the Epson EcoTank ET-4950 series looks like the slickest all-in-one inkjet in the shop.

I’m testing the white ET-4956 variant, but its also available in black and they both come with a feature-set to suit any small business or home-based professional. It can both duplex print and duplex scan as well as offering an improved automatic document feed (ADF) and a faster print speed than its predecessor.

The main attraction is the huge amount of inbox ink (enough to print for three years), but the asking price is rather high, so let’s see if the new model can maintain Epson’s lead in the increasingly competitive refillable 4-in-1 printer category.

Epson EcoTank ET-4950 series: Design and build

(Image credit: Epson // Future)

The redesign looks fresh to my eye, especially in this white livery. The folding front panel ensures the touchscreen display is always visible, while the new status light encircling the top of the ink tank cover makes it easy to see if and how your printer is responding from the far side of the office. The smooth plastic feels sturdy enough and the motorized paper output glides out smoothly every time you’re ready to print.

The paper input tray can hold an adequate 250 sheets of paper up to letter or A4-size, but it’s a pity there’s no second input tray as this means you’ll need to unload the main tray each time you want to print on different media.

The 2.4-inch touchscreen is somewhat small, but big enough to operate and quite sensitive. The cable ports are easily accessible at the left side and the fairly large 70ml ink tanks are well integrated on the other side. It’s a practical design overall and the whole thing feels well made.

Epson EcoTank ET-4950 series: Features & specifications

(Image credit: Epson // Future)

As the top model in Epson’s three-strong range, the ET-4950 series is a four-in-one multifunction device with print, scan, copy and fax functionality, plus plenty of extras. The ADF on top can hold 30 sheets of paper and copy both sides of each page automatically.

That’s something the previous model couldn’t do. It’s using a PrecisionCore print head with 784 inkjet nozzles to achieve a print resolution of 4,800 x 1,200 DPI. WiFi 5 with AirPrint compatibility is built in and it can print on paper up to 300g/m².

It prints quickly for an inkjet with a claimed top speed of 35ppm (pages per minute) with simplex monochrome pages or 23 in color. That’s slightly confusing as the ISO/IEC 24734 is just 18ppm, but suffice to say, that it printed a little faster than its predecessor and compares well with other inkjets in its class. The quoted 8.5-second FPOT (first page out time) is accurate and also PDQ (pretty darn quick).

The only features missing are Bluetooth, NFC, a USB Host port for printing from or scanning to a USB stick and a multi-purpose tray. The first three items I can live without, but a second paper input tray would have really improved the functionality of this printer. Perhaps Epson will include it with the next update.

Epson EcoTank ET-4950 series: Setup and operation

(Image credit: Epson // Future)

The printed quick-start guide is easy to follow. Just remove all the transport tape, load some paper, plug in, turn on and follow the on-display prompts.

I’d recommend downloading the Epson Smart Panel app onto your Android or iPhone first as this makes it easier to add your new printer to your wi-fi network. I’d also recommend printing out the test pages when offered to ensure all your nozzles are aligned and firing correctly.

Filling the ink reservoirs is a quick and clean process as the bottles hold the same volume of ink as the tanks — 70ml for the three coolers; 127ml for black — and each spout is shaped to fit only its corresponding tank so you can’t muddle them up.

Epson EcoTank ET-4950 series: Performance

(Image credit: Epson // Future)

The Epson EcoTank ET-4956 I tested put in a strong all-round performance, printing quickly and cleanly with only one paper jam where I loaded a photograph into the automatic document feed for copying. Where the manual says that it can handle paper up to 300g/m² (my photo paper was only 200g/m²) it means via the main tray and evidently not via the ADF.

That incident aside, I was pleased with my test pages, although I couldn’t honestly see any improvement over the outgoing EcoTank ET-4850 test pages. That’s unsurprising given it’s using the same heat-free inkjet technology and the same hybrid pigment and dye-based inks.

Plain pages of text print quietly in simplex mode and the paper is turned swiftly in auto duplex mode. The pigment black is applied precisely enough, but it’s not as dark as, for instance, the Canon MAXIFY GX4020, which uses a smiler hybrid ink system.

Switching to color test documents plays more to the Epson’s strengths as its dye-based C/M/Y inks are particularly bright and color documents look pleasingly vivid. It also does well with photography for the same reason.

The Epson recognizes a range of coated photo paper types and given premium glossy photo paper, my test photos really popped. This printer manages an enhanced resolution of 4,800 x 1,200, which is enough for photo printing, but dedicated photo printers, like the Canon PIXMA G3270, produce sharper images for less money.

Epson EcoTank ET-4950 series: Consumables

(Image credit: Epson // Future)

The Epson EcoTank ET-4950 comes with five ink bottles containing a total of 464ml of ink. That’s equivalent to around 65 regular ink cartridges and enough, Epson reckons, to print for around three years before needing to buy refills.

Epson’s bottled ink is cheap compared with cartridge ink and there’s nothing to stop you from buying third party ink, which is even cheaper. Put like that, Epson’s claim that this printer is up to 95% cheaper to run than a cartridge printer seems reasonable.

Epson EcoTank ET-4950 series: Maintenance

(Image credit: Epson // Future)

Epson says its heat-free printing tech means you’ll never need to replace the printhead, which is a cost incurred by plenty of other inkjet owners. This printer is also less prone to clogging in the nozzles thanks to some improved engineering.

However, the settings menu includes several anti-clogging cycles that can be run if (or more likely, when) dried up ink stops you printing. Epson includes a one-year, or 100,000-page warranty with this model.

What you may well have to replace is the maintenance box when it eventually fills up with the tiny amounts of excess ink generated by printing and cleaning. A replacement costs around ten dollars and it looks to me like you could save money by emptying and cleaning the existing one.

Epson EcoTank ET-4950 series: Final verdictImage 1 of 4

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(Image credit: Epson // Future)

The Epson EcoTank ET-4950 and its variants proved that Epson is the brand to beat in this refillable office-friendly mid-price category. I found it easy to set up and operate thanks to the responsive touchscreen and good design and it has all the features I consider essential for the home worker or small shared office.

In other words, it duplex prints pretty quickly, connects readily my 5GHz Wi-Wi and turns out crisp and colorful test pages on all kinds of media. I also appreciated the two-sided scan feature and, of course, the generous amount of inbox ink.

Does Epson still make the best ink tank printers? This category only gets more competitive with new players like the significantly more affordable Brother DCP-T780DW entering the fray, while the excellent HP Smart Tank 7001 comes with larger ink tanks and the Canon MAXIFY GX4020 offers superior print quality.

But with more features than those rivals, and such a strong all-round performance, I can highly recommend the Epson EcoTank ET-4950 series.

For more top-performing models, I've tested the best home printers and the best all-in-one printers.

Zendesk, known primarily for its customer support software, has been expanding its offerings to cover more aspects of customer engagement. Zendesk Sell is one of the best CRM platforms on the market and aims to provide sales teams with a streamlined tool for managing leads, deals, and customer interactions.

It promises to boost productivity, improve pipeline visibility, and ultimately drive revenue growth. The CRM integrates closely with Zendesk's support tools, potentially offering a more cohesive customer experience across sales and service departments.

To add a "Why you can trust TechRadar Pro" section to the Zendesk Sell review, it is effective to highlight the platform's unique position as a CRM built by a customer service giant and how TechRadar’s testing confirms whether that integration actually works.

At TechRadar Pro, our business technology experts move beyond the marketing brochures to provide hands-on, objective analysis. To review Zendesk Sell, I spent days navigating the platform’s interface, testing its Sell-to-Support data pipelines, and evaluating its AI-driven forecasting tools.

Our reviews are 100% independent. We never accept payment for product rankings, ensuring that our verdict on Zendesk’s usability and its specific value for service-heavy sales teams is based entirely on real-world performance. When we identify a strength or a deal-breaker flaw, it is because we have encountered it firsthand during our testing process.

Below, I'll dive deep into Zendesk Sell's features, usability, pricing, and overall performance to provide an unbiased analysis of how well it stacks up against other CRM competitors for sales teams. Read on for the full Zendesk Sell review.

Zendesk Sell core capabilities

(Image credit: Zendesk)

Zendesk Sell provides a centralized database for storing and accessing customer information, including contact details, interaction history, and account-specific notes. I began by importing and organizing my test contact list. I appreciated that the system supported both CSV and Excel file imports. It's helpful how the system tracks leads from initial contact to conversion.

The platform offers customizable sales pipelines, allowing me to adjust the stages to fit my sales process. I noticed the intuitive interface for moving deals through stages, making it easy to visualize progress and spot potential bottlenecks. However, some advanced lead management features, such as task automation and lead scoring, are limited to higher-tier plans.

Zendesk includes forecasting tools that enable sales managers to estimate deal volume and revenue growth. During my evaluation, I generated accurate forecasts using sample historical data and current pipeline status. While these features work well, I’ve seen more advanced predictive analytics in other CRMs.

The platform provides 20 pre-built charts, reports, and dashboards for insights into key sales metrics. It also allows the creation of custom reports using a drag-and-drop interface. Analyzing trends by region or team and predicting revenue growth adds value for sales managers. However, some users noted that competitors offer more detailed reporting options.

I liked how the CRM integrates with preferred communication tools. Zendesk works smoothly with popular email clients like Gmail and Outlook, automatically logging email communications. This integration saves time and ensures all customer interactions are captured within the CRM, offering a complete view of customer relationships. It also provides various automation tools, including task assignments, email follow-ups, and lead nurturing workflows. One such recent addition in this area concerns the dedicated Sales Copilot included in the CRM's AI suite. This can autonomously research a prospect’s support history to provide a sales rep with a Sentiment Summary before they jump on a call.

In addition to email, Zendesk has a marketplace with many pre-built integrations and developer-friendly APIs. You can select from thousands of pre-built connectors to popular apps like Asana, Dialpad, SurveyMonkey, and Ada. Zendesk also provides API Reference Docs to help developers create custom integrations, offering all necessary tools and step-by-step instructions.

Recently, a major UI overhaul has also narrowed the gap between Sell and Support, making using the CRM a little easier. Reps can now view full Zendesk Sunshine custom objects directly within the Sell lead card, providing a truly 360-degree view of the customer without switching tabs.

Zendesk’s mobile app, available for iPhone, iPad, and Android, offers full functionality, including geolocation features. You can create and manage tickets, view reports, and receive real-time alerts about customer requests. This allows sales reps to manage customer interactions on the go and enables sales managers to track their progress from the office.

However, while Zendesk Sell covers essential CRM capabilities, some features are restricted to higher-tier plans. Advanced permissions and roles, which are important for larger sales teams, are only available in the Professional Plan. Some users reported slow load times and occasional bugs, especially after adding third-party integrations.

How easy is Zendesk Sell CRM to use?

I found Zendesk Sell to be user-friendly, though it has some learning curves. Upon logging in, I saw a clean, modern interface that was easy to navigate. The customizable dashboard lets users prioritize important information for their roles.

I also appreciated Zendesk’s logical organization of information. Contacts, deals, and tasks are accessible from the main menu. I could switch between different views quickly as I changed my focus. The option to customize these views was helpful, allowing me to concentrate on the most relevant details for my workflow.

Zendesk’s CRM interface is very visual. Its smart lists help segment contacts and leads based on various criteria. The drag-and-drop feature for moving deals through the pipeline made it even more user-friendly. Together, these elements simplify the sales process.

Onboarding is straightforward. As an admin user, I could set up the system and invite team members easily. The guided setup process helps new users learn to create contacts, deals, and tasks. This support is useful for those new to CRM systems.

Zendesk Sell excels in integrating with other Zendesk products, especially the customer support platform. For businesses already using Zendesk for service, the smooth connection between sales and support data enhances usability and data consistency.

In terms of customization, Zendesk Sell strikes a balance between flexibility and simplicity. I tailored the system to my needs without feeling overwhelmed. Creating custom fields, deal stages, and pipelines allowed me to adjust the CRM to my specific sales process.

However, I noticed that some advanced features in higher-tier plans required more exploration to understand fully. For instance, setting up custom fields and creating advanced reports took time to master. I also found limitations in customization in lower-tier plans. Advanced automation features and custom dashboards are available only in higher-priced plans.

Zendesk offers mobile apps for both iOS and Android. I found them well-designed and responsive, providing most desktop functionality. This is beneficial for sales teams needing to access and update information while on the go.

Zendesk Sell CRM integrations

(Image credit: Zendesk)

Zendesk’s integrations are among its best features. Its close connection with Zendesk’s customer support platform ensures smooth data flow between sales and support teams, offering a unified view of customer interactions. Additionally, Zendesk Sell provides native integrations with major productivity suites such as Google Workspace and Microsoft 365.

For businesses using other popular SaaS applications, Zendesk Sell integrates with tools like Mailchimp for email marketing, QuickBooks for accounting, and Zapier for connecting to many other apps. The setup process for these integrations is easy, typically needing just a few clicks to authorize and configure.

You can find all these integrations at Zendesk Marketplace, which serves as a center for discovering and installing both native and third-party apps and plugins. Although Zendesk offers over 1,500 integrations, some competitors provide even more out-of-the-box connectors for popular applications.

For custom integration development, Zendesk Sell features a powerful API that enables developers to create specific connections with other systems. It includes both REST APIs for basic CRUD operations and advanced APIs like the Sync API for real-time data synchronization. The API documentation is thorough and well-organized, including step-by-step instructions for developers. I appreciate how Zendesk allows you to submit your custom integrations as paid apps to the Zendesk Marketplace, enabling you to earn from your work.

While examining the integration capabilities, I also noticed a few limitations. Some advanced integration features are available only in higher-tier plans, which may affect smaller businesses or those with budget limitations. There’s also a premium API for creating advanced custom apps that’s accessible only from the Growth plan onward.

How good is Zendesk Sell CRM customer support?

(Image credit: Zendesk)

When assessing Zendesk Sell's customer support, I found a well-rounded system built on Zendesk's customer service expertise. The platform offers various ways for users to get help, including live support and self-service options.

Zendesk Sell provides support via email and live chat for all pricing tiers. However, phone support is limited to higher-tier plans, which might pose challenges for smaller businesses. Chat support is quick, with agents usually available during business hours.

Email support is accessible 24/7, benefiting businesses across different time zones. Users receive replies within a few hours, even during off-peak times. The quality of email responses is generally high, offering detailed answers and step-by-step instructions when necessary.

Zendesk Sell's self-service features are strong, showcasing the company's expertise in knowledge management. The extensive knowledge base covers many topics, from basic setup to advanced features. I found the articles clear, concise, and frequently updated to reflect recent platform changes. Helpful screenshots and video tutorials enhance understanding, particularly for visual learners.

Zendesk's community forum is another useful self-service resource, active and well-moderated, with contributions from both company staff and experienced users. Peer support can be especially valuable for addressing unique or complex issues not detailed in standard documentation.

In terms of response and resolution times, Zendesk Sell generally performs well. Its service level agreements state that the company aims for a first response time of under 8 hours for standard inquiries and under 1 hour for urgent issues on higher-tier plans. Resolution times depend on the issue's complexity, but straightforward problems usually receive solutions in the first interaction.

Zendesk Sell CRM pricing and plans

Plan

Team

Growth

Professional

Enterprise

Price

$19/user/month

$55/user/month

$115/user/month

$169/user/month+

Best For

Small teams needing basic CRM functionality

Growing businesses requiring more advanced tools

Larger teams needing customization and automation

Enterprise-level organizations with complex needs

Features

Customizable sales pipeline; Email integration; Basic reporting

Advanced sales reports; Sales forecasting; Prospecting tools

Lead and deal scoring; Task automation; Advanced permissions

Unlimited pipelines; Custom APIs; Premium support

Limitations

Limited to 2 sales pipelines

Lacks advanced automation features

May be costly for smaller teams

Pricing may be prohibitive for some businesses

Zendesk Sell employs a tiered pricing model with four plans tailored for various business sizes and needs. The pricing is clear, calculated per user, per month. While Zendesk Sell's pricing is competitive in the CRM market, it may not be the most cost-effective choice, this means Zendesk typically isn’t the best CRM for start ups on a shoestring budget.

The entry-level Team plan costs $19 per user each month with annual billing. It offers essential CRM features like contact and deal management, email integration, and basic reporting. While this plan makes Zendesk a contender as one of the best CRM for small business, it lacks some common features in other platforms' entry-level plans, such as web-to-lead forms and advanced analytics.

The mid-tier Growth plan is priced at $55 per user per month when billed annually. It introduces advanced features like sales forecasting, bulk email templates, and product catalogs. This plan strikes a better balance of features and cost, making it suitable for growing businesses.

The Professional plan at $115 per user per month provides more advanced tools, including lead and deal scoring, task automation, and advanced permissions. These features can greatly enhance sales processes, but the significant price increase from the Growth plan may cause hesitation for some businesses.

At the highest level, the Enterprise plan begins at $169 per user per month with annual billing. This plan encompasses all features from the lower tiers, along with advanced customization options, dedicated account management, and premium support. While thorough, this pricing positions Zendesk Sell among the higher-priced enterprise-level CRM solutions.

Certain advanced features, like the power dialer or extra storage, incur additional costs. Zendesk offers a bundle called the Zendesk Suite, which combines Zendesk Sell with other products like Support and Chat, potentially offering significant savings for businesses using multiple products.

Additionally, Zendesk Sell provides a 15% discount for annual billing compared to monthly billing, which can lead to substantial savings for larger teams. A 14-day free trial is available for all plans, allowing potential customers to explore the platform before committing. However, Zendesk misses out on being one of the best free CRM platforms with no free tier, which may be a drawback for very small businesses or individuals seeking a no-cost CRM solution.

How to pick

Choosing Zendesk Sell is a strategic move if your primary goal is customer lifecycle visibility rather than just lead acquisition. To decide if it fits your tech stack, consider your strategy and internal resources carefully.

For instance, assess your technical ability. Zendesk Sell is built on Zendesk Sunshine, an open, flexible CRM platform. This is ideal if you plan to build custom apps or need to pull in data from external data warehouses like Snowflake. However, if you don't have developer resources and just want a plug-and-play tool with no customization required, you may find the depth of Zendesk's platform more than you actually need.

Another factor in your decision should be whether you actually need a CRM or, at least, an upgrade on one. If your team is used to the dense, spreadsheet-heavy legacy systems of the early 2010s, Zendesk Sell will feel like a massive upgrade. It focuses on a single-pane-of-glass philosophy. However, if your team requires highly visual, board-based project management alongside their CRM, you might find Monday Sales CRM more flexible for your specific layout needs.

How we choose

At TechRadar Pro, our review process is designed to focus on the actual daily workflows of a modern business. We don't just look at screenshots. We perform a full installation, importing live datasets (typically from CSVs or rival CRMs like HubSpot) to measure the Time-to-Value. We specifically look for how many manual steps are required before a sales rep can make their first call.

Moreover, we direct our assessment based on unique aspects of the particular CRM we are evaluating. So, for Zendesk, we tested the bi-directional data flow between Sell and Support. We simulated customer tickets to see if the sales rep receives real-time sentiment alerts and if the data remains consistent across both platforms without manual syncing.

We also took mobile capabilities into account, knowing that this is of increasing importance for sales teams. As such, we tested the Zendesk Sell mobile app in the field, evaluating its offline capabilities, geo-mapping for lead proximity, and how easily a rep can update a deal stage while on the move.

Zendesk Sell CRM: Summary

After analyzing Zendesk Sell, I find it a strong and user-friendly option that balances essential features with ease of use. Its strengths include an intuitive interface, solid integration with customer support tools, and regular updates that keep the platform competitive.

Zendesk Sell suits small to medium-sized businesses seeking a unified approach to sales and customer support. Its seamless integration with other Zendesk products makes it a great choice for companies using or considering their support platform.

However, larger enterprises or those needing specialized CRM features may find Zendesk Sell somewhat limited compared to established enterprise solutions. Also, while the pricing structure is competitive, it might be high for very small businesses or startups.

Zendesk Sell CRM FAQWhat are Zendesk Sell's core features?

Zendesk Sell offers a centralized database for customer information, customizable sales pipelines, and tools for sales forecasting and reporting. It also integrates with email and offers various automation tools, meaning it has most of the core capabilities that users expect from a CRM.

How does Zendesk Sell handle customer data?

Zendesk Sell provides a centralized database for storing and accessing contact details, interaction history, and notes. It also supports importing data from CSV and Excel files. As such, it provides a variety of ways for users to input and store customer data.

How does Zendesk Sell support the sales process and its aftermath?

Zendesk Sell gives users a customizable sales pipelines with an intuitive drag-and-drop interface for moving deals between stages. This helps sales teams visualize progress and identify bottlenecks.

Once the sales process has concluded - either successfully or not - Zendesk Sell also boasts reporting and analytics functionality. The platform includes 20 pre-built charts and dashboards and allows for the creation of custom reports using a drag-and-drop interface. This helps sales managers analyze trends and predict revenue growth.

Is Zendesk Sell a good choice for small businesses?

That all depends. Certainly, the entry-level "Team" plan is geared towards small teams and offers essential CRM functionality. However, the pricing may not be the most cost-effective for startups on a tight budget, as there is no free tier.

Does Zendesk Sell have a mobile app?

Yes, Zendesk Sell has a well-designed and responsive mobile app for both iOS and Android, offering most desktop functionality for sales reps on the go. This is especially important now that hybrid work has become commonplace, with many sales and marketing professionals working remotely at least some of the time.

How does the platform integrate with Zendesk's other products?

Zendesk Sell integrates seamlessly with Zendesk's customer support platform, ensuring a unified view of customer interactions for both sales and service teams. If businesses already use some of the other tools within the Zendesk suite, the appeal of Zendesk Sell is sure to increase.

What are some of the limitations of Zendesk Sell?

Perhaps the biggest limitation - although, certainly not one that is unique to Zendesk Sell - is that some advanced features, such as task automation, lead scoring, and advanced permissions, are restricted to higher-tier plans. Some users have also reported slow load times and occasional bugs after adding third-party integrations.

Founded in 2010, Pipedrive has grown to serve over 100,000 companies across more than 175 countries. It’s designed to help sales teams manage leads, track deals, and streamline sales processes.

At its heart, Pipedrive CRM offers a visual sales pipeline that lets users easily move deals through different stages by dragging and dropping them. Its intuitive interface is supported by features such as contact management, email integration, reporting tools, and workflow automation. Ultimately, it aims to simplify sales management by providing insights that help teams close more deals, making it one of the best CRM platforms out there.

In this review, I'll take a close look at Pipedrive's key features, usability, pricing, and overall performance to see if it lives up to its reputation as a user-friendly and effective CRM solution. I'll share my hands-on experience with the software and compare it to other CRM solutions in the market to see how it stacks up.

At TechRadar Pro, our business software experts don’t just summarize product pages - we get hands-on with the tools we review. To evaluate Pipedrive, I spent dozens of hours building custom sales pipelines, importing real-world lead data, and testing the platform's automation recipes to see if they truly save time.

Our reviews are 100% independent. We never accept payment for product rankings, ensuring that our verdict on Pipedrive’s ease of use and its sales-first philosophy is based solely on practical performance. When we recommend a feature or highlight a limitation, it is because we have encountered it ourselves during our rigorous testing process.

Pipedrive's core capabilities

(Image credit: Pipedrive)

At the heart of Pipedrive’s system is the contact and lead management feature. I liked how easy it was to import and organize contacts, with the ability to add custom fields to capture specific information relevant to my sales process. The system allows for a comprehensive view of each contact, including communication history, associated deals, and activities.

Pipedrive’s visual pipeline interface is one of its standout features, allowing me to track and move deals through various stages with a simple drag-and-drop action. I found it very easy to maintain a clear overview of my sales pipeline and quickly identify which opportunities needed attention.

There’s a paid LeadBooster add-on that enhances Pipedrive’s lead management capabilities even further. It includes web forms, live chat, and a prospecting tool that can help generate and qualify leads automatically. While these are powerful and well-designed, it's worth noting that they come at an additional cost on top of your base plan.

Pipedrive also offers advanced forecasting capabilities — the platform creates customizable sales forecasts based on the deals in your pipeline, allowing for accurate revenue predictions. I found the ability to create multiple pipelines particularly useful, as it allowed me to customize the sales process for different products or customer segments separately.

Pipedrive's Projects add-on has been overhauled recently, allowing for a seamless transition from Closed-Won to post-sale implementation, including automated task assignment for delivery teams.

While the CRM offers a range of pre-built reports based on various KPIs, Pipedrive’s custom reports are where it really shines. It offers a range of options to measure team efficiency, software effectiveness, and sales performance from a bevy of different angles. The reports themselves are incredibly visual, making it easy to understand the different charts, graphs, and numbers.

You can automate your sales workflows easily with Pipedrive. I found the process of setting up these automations to be straightforward, with a visual builder that made it easy to create complex workflows without needing any coding knowledge. However, there isn’t any support for marketing automation, which can put off some teams.

How easy it Pipedrive CRM to use?

Pipedrive’s minimalist design eliminates clutter, allowing users to focus on what matters most - managing their sales pipeline and customer relationships. The visual pipeline view is particularly user-friendly, offering a drag-and-drop interface that makes it easy to move deals through various stages.

Something that really impressed me was the smart contact data feature. With a single click, the system can search the internet for information about a prospect and populate records automatically. It saves a lot of time on data entry and research, allowing reps to focus more on actual selling activities.

Customization options on this platform are robust yet straightforward to implement. Pipedrive allows users to tailor fields, pipelines, and workflows to match their specific sales processes. During my testing, I was able to easily add custom fields to capture industry-specific information and create multiple pipelines for different product lines.

Pipedrive offers a variety of learning materials, including video tutorials, webinars, and a knowledge base. Its in-app guidance is particularly noteworthy, providing contextual tips and explanations as users navigate through different features.

Automation features in Pipedrive further enhance its usability. The platform offers a range of pre-built workflow automations that can be easily customized to fit specific needs. They help streamline repetitive tasks, such as follow-up emails or activity creation, allowing sales reps to focus more on building relationships and closing deals.

Similarly with AI, Pipedrive has integrated generative AI directly into its email composer. Unlike generic AI, this tool looks at the history of the specific deal to draft context-aware follow-ups that match the previous tone of the conversation, boosting productivity for sales reps and marketers who need to send a lot of messages.

Pipedrive offers a mobile app for both iOS and Android. It provides a seamless experience, allowing users to update deals, access contact information, and log activities on the go. I found the mobile interface to be just as intuitive as the desktop version, ensuring that sales teams can stay productive even when out of the office. This is an especially helpful feature for businesses with mobile sales teams.

However, I did find that setting up some of the more advanced features, like email sequences and certain automations, required a bit more time and effort to master. Still, Pipedrive offers ample documentation and training resources to get through the initial stages after implementation.

Pipedrive CRM integrations

(Image credit: Pipedrive)

Pipedrive CRM offers a powerful ecosystem that allows users to connect the CRM with a wide array of third-party applications. Pipedrive's Marketplace hosts over 400 out-of-the-box integrations, covering essential business tools across categories like email marketing, document management, project management, analytics, live chat, and accounting.

Connecting Pipedrive with popular tools like Slack, Zoom, and Microsoft Teams was a seamless process, allowing for real-time notifications and improved collaboration. The integration with email platforms like Gmail and Outlook was particularly useful, enabling me to manage emails and CRM data from a single interface. One integration that stood out was the Leadfeeder connection, which automatically transfers website lead data into Pipedrive.

There’s also an open API, which provides developers with the flexibility to create custom integrations when needed. It uses a JSON format for output and supports CORS requests, which adds to its versatility. I was impressed by the comprehensive documentation and developer resources available for API users, making it relatively straightforward for technical teams to extend functionality through custom integrations.

For users who aren't developers, Pipedrive offers integration with Zapier, a popular automation tool that can connect Pipedrive to thousands of other applications without requiring coding skills. This greatly expands the potential for creating automated workflows across different platforms, even if they don't have a direct integration with Pipedrive.

For a smooth flow of information, the platform uses database replicas that sync in real-time, ensuring data continuity and minimizing the risk of data loss. However, for those concerned about data backup, Pipedrive also conducts nightly backups of all database machines and creates encrypted off-site backups of customer databases.

For businesses looking to create more complex integrations or automate specific workflows, Pipedrive's Developer Platform offers additional tools. This includes webhooks, API endpoints, and SDKs, allowing for deeper customization of the CRM experience.

Plus, users will find that Pipedrive has deepened its native integrations recently to include Slack and Microsoft Teams. It's now possible to move deals between stages and update record values directly from a chat window without switching back to the CRM tab

How good is Pipedrive CRM customer support?

(Image credit: Pipedrive)

For all users, regardless of plan, Pipedrive provides 24/7 email and chatbot support. While the latter is a great option for basic queries requiring quick resolution, the former is meant for more complex issues that aren’t so time-sensitive.

Users on the Advanced, Professional, Power, or Enterprise plans have access to human agents during live chat. Response times are quick, usually within a few minutes. Support agents are knowledgeable, and able to address most of my basic queries efficiently. However, for more complex issues, I noticed that the initial response often involved directing me to relevant knowledge base articles rather than providing immediate solutions.

The availability of live chat support depends on your subscription tier. Advanced plan users can access live chat during business hours (9:00 am to 5:00 pm in the user's timezone), while Professional plan subscribers enjoy 24/5 support. Power and Enterprise users benefit from round-the-clock support, seven days a week.

For users on the Power or Enterprise plans, Pipedrive also offers phone support. However, it's worth noting that this service is only available during limited hours - from 7:00 am to 11:00 pm (CET/CEST) for English speakers, and from 10:00 am to 11:00 pm (CET/CEST) for Portuguese speakers.

For self-help purposes, Pipedrive’s knowledge base is extensive and well-organized, covering a wide range of topics from basic setup to advanced features. I found the articles to be clear, concise, and often accompanied by helpful screenshots or video tutorials.

Pipedrive also offers an online learning platform called Pipedrive Academy. This resource provides a series of video courses and tutorials designed to help users master various aspects of the CRM. I found these courses to be well-structured and particularly useful for new users or those looking to expand their knowledge of specific features.

Pipedrive CRM pricing and plans

Plan

Essential

Advanced

Professional

Power

Enterprise

Price

$12/user/month

$24/user/month

$49/user/month

$59/user/month

$79/user/month

Best For

Small teams starting with CRM

Teams scaling sales processes

Larger teams optimizing performance

Big teams with complex needs

Large organizations requiring robust management

Features

Visual sales pipeline; Basic lead management; Simple reporting

Email sync and tracking; Customizable automations; Sales prospecting tools

AI sales assistant; Contract management; Revenue forecasting

Project management; Expanded permissions; 24/7 phone support

Unlimited custom fields; Enhanced security; Advanced customization

Limitations

Limited open deals and custom fields

Restricted automation capabilities

No project management features

Fewer customization options

Minimum 10 users required

Pipedrive’s pricing is competitive and flexible, offering a range of options to suit different business needs and sizes. As of my review, Pipedrive offers five main pricing tiers: Essential, Advanced, Professional, Power, and Enterprise.

The Essential plan starts at $12/user/month, billed yearly. It offers basic CRM features: contact and deal management, customizable pipelines, and simple reporting. This option makes Pipedrive one of the best small business CRM platforms out there. Higher plans add more advanced features.

I found the Advanced plan, at $24/user/month, to be particularly great value. It includes email templates, tracking, and customizable automations, boosting sales team productivity. The Professional plan, priced at $49/user/month adds AI features, revenue forecasting, and e-signatures. It’s perfect for growing businesses.

For larger companies or those needing more complex solutions, the Power and Enterprise plans are available at $59 and $79 per user per month, respectively. These plans include project management, better security, and unlimited custom fields. They also offer incrementally higher limits on deals, reports, and automation workflows.

Across all plans, opting for annual billing instead of monthly can save you up to 17%. Pipedrive also offers a 14-day free trial for all its plans, which is less than some competitors but still reasonable. While the base plans offer comprehensive features, Pipedrive provides several add-ons that can enhance functionality. These include LeadBooster for lead generation (starting at $32.50 per company monthly), Web Visitors Tracking ($41 per company monthly), and Campaigns for email marketing ($13.33 per company monthly).

A potential drawback I noticed is that Pipedrive doesn't offer a free plan beyond the trial period. For very small businesses or solopreneurs looking for a free CRM solution, this could be a limitation. This means Pipedrive isn't necessarily one of the best CRM for start ups on a shoe string budget, although start ups with a small budget could benefit from the affordable Essential plan.

It's also worth mentioning that Pipedrive's pricing can vary depending on your location and the currency you're billed in. I found that prices are often kept at the same numerical value across different currencies (e.g., $99 USD, €99 EUR, £99 GBP), which can result in higher costs for users outside the US.

After thoroughly evaluating Pipedrive across multiple key areas, I believe this is a top-tier CRM platform with its visual pipeline interface and intuitive deal management tools standing out as significant strengths.

With its user-friendly interface and straightforward customization options, companies should have no trouble ensuring a healthy level of adoption even through the early stages of implementation. But while Pipedrive offers a solid range of integrations and a well-documented API, there's room for improvement in terms of advanced marketing automation capabilities. The customer support, though generally responsive and helpful, could benefit from more consistent quality and faster response times for email inquiries.

Overall, Pipedrive CRM is a strong choice for small and midsize businesses looking for an accessible yet feature-rich sales management platform. While there are areas for improvement, it delivers more than its share of value for the price point.

How to pick

To choose the right CRM, a company must decide whether they need a broad business platform or a specialized sales engine. Pipedrive is the latter so if your primary goal is pipeline velocity rather than all-in-one business management, it's a solid pick.

If you need a single tool to handle marketing, customer support, and sales, HubSpot or Zoho may be better solutions, but if your sales team feels overwhelmed by those complex interfaces, Pipedrive is the winner. Similarly, if you have a dedicated IT team to build custom objects and complex logic, Salesforce offers more raw power. But if you need to be up and running in 48 hours without a consultant, Pipedrive’s visual drag-and-drop interface is virtually foolproof.

As always, price is also a consideration. So, before picking, calculate your Total Cost of Ownership (TCO). If you need 10 different add-ons, a mid-tier Monday Sales CRM or Freshsales plan might actually be more cost-effective for your 2026 budget.

How we choose

At TechRadar Pro, we don’t just rank software based on market share or name recognition. Our selection process for "Best of" lists and individual reviews like this one follows a weighted evaluation framework designed to separate operational utility from marketing hype. When we choose to feature or recommend a platform like Pipedrive, it is because it has met or exceeded various criteria - from ease-of-use to pricing.

By sticking to our rigorous standards, we ensure that our recommendations - whether for a solo founder or a scaling enterprise - are based on the platform's ability to act as a genuine growth engine for your business.

Pipedrive CRM review: Summary Pipedrive CRM FAQWhat is Pipedrive's core feature?

At its heart, Pipedrive is built around the visual sales pipeline. This standout feature allows users to easily track and manage deals through different stages with a simple drag-and-drop interface. This makes it incredibly easy to maintain a clear overview of your sales process and quickly identify which opportunities need attention.

Of course, there's much more to Pipedrive too, including lead management and workflow automation features. The latter, for example, centers around a visual builder, which makes it straightforward to set up automations for repetitive tasks, such as sending follow-up emails or creating activities. However, it is worth noting that it does not natively support marketing automation, which may be a consideration for some teams.

Can I create my own sales reports with Pipedrive?

Although Pipedrive offers a range of pre-built reports, its custom reporting is where it truly shines. You can create highly visual reports to measure team efficiency, software effectiveness, and sales performance from a variety of angles, making it simple to understand the numbers behind your team's success.

Does Pipedrive have a mobile app?

Yes, Pipedrive offers a mobile app for both iOS and Android. The app provides a seamless experience, allowing sales teams to update deals, access contact information, and log activities on the go, making it an especially helpful feature for businesses with mobile sales teams.

How easy is Pipedrive to use?

Pipedrive's ease of use is one of the platform's core strengths. The CRM is known for its user-friendly interface and minimalist design, which helps users focus on their sales activities without unnecessary clutter. Its visual pipeline and drag-and-drop functionality are particularly intuitive. The platform also includes a smart contact data feature that automatically populates records with information from the internet, saving reps a lot of time on data entry.

GMKtec NucBox M7 Ultra: 30-second review

Having just reviewed the GMKtec M5 Ultra, that prior investigation puts an interesting twist on the M7 Ultra now before me.

Because the M5 was built on a platform that wasn’t widely utilised, and the M7 Ultra turned out to be built on a platform from 2022 that nobody used at all.

However, don’t be put off by the older hardware, because this Ryzen 6000 series processor with Zen3+ architecture is well-suited for a mini PC. It has DDR5 support, USB4 and plenty of PCIe lanes, enabling the M7 Ultra to deliver a well-rounded and confident performance level that’s above any of the Ryzen systems that use DDR4 and the Vega 8 GPU.

It’s also got plenty of potential for upgrades, either internally with the SODIMM and M.2 slots, or externally via USB4. And it must also be one of the cheapest systems to come with Oculink, enabling the external connection of discrete graphics cards via its 64Gb/s interconnect.

Compared to a cutting-edge system, it only has eight cores (sixteen threads), the DDR5 is only 4800 MT/s, and while it is a PCIe 4.0 system, it only supports PCIe 3.0 on the M.2 slots.

Those caveats make me think that the M7 Ultra is suitable for someone who needs a little big more power, but not the performance of a Ryzen 9 or Ryzen AI machine.

For that person who does more than just basic office tasks, this might be ideal, and if they suddenly need more graphics performance, it can be added via Oculink.

Where this system is flawed is that it's slower than the M7 and M7 Pro that came before it. Given the silicon's age, this isn’t going to feature in our round-up of the best mini PC systems, but with a reasonably effective platform and plenty of ports, it's not junk either.

GMKtec NucBox M7 Ultra: Price and availability

• How much does it cost? From $310/£260/€300
• When is it out? Available now
• Where can you get it? Direct from GMKtec and via online retailers

Much like the M5 Ultra, the M7 Ultra is offered in three basic SKUs that go from the baseline barebones system with no memory or storage, to an intermediate 16GB+512GB option that’s reviewed here, to the top spec with 32GB of RAM and 1TB of storage.

In the USA, these machines are priced at $309.99, $439.99, and $529.99, respectively.

GMKtec doesn’t have a specific UK outlet, but from the European site (e.g., de.gmktec.com), these systems are £260, £347 and £408, which, if you have DDR5 and an M.2 module, looks like a great deal. Euro prices are €299.99, €399.99 and €469.99. And all the M7 Ultras bought in Europe come with a free 8-in-1 USB docking hub reputedly worth €29.99.

I'm also seeing it available on both Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk with similar pricing.

For those curious, based on the current exchange rates when writing this, the 32GB+1TB model is almost the same price no matter where you buy it, but the barebones model is 12% more expensive.

Another obvious question is how these prices compare with the M5 Ultra? In short, the M7 Ultra is about $50 more than the M5 Ultra for the barebones, and about $40 more for the 32GB+1TB option. When you consider that the M7 Ultra comes with USB4, uses DDR5 and is significantly faster, then the price difference is modest.

What I’d advise against is sourcing this via Amazon, as their systems only come with 512GB of storage, and the asking price is $489.99.

In this part of the review, I’d normally list the other mini PCs that use the same platform and how some are more expensive, and others are cheaper, but not today.

Unless I missed one, no other mini PC maker is using this platform, and I couldn’t find any retail computer, of any variety, that uses it. There are several mini PCs with AMD Ryzen 7 6800H, 6850H, and other “H” series chips, but these are not the same as the PRO 6850U.

Why is this the case? I’ve no information to share. It might be that AMD has TMSC make bins of many Ryzen 6000 mobile chips with no clear market, and now they’re having a clear out of those that didn’t sell.

Whatever the reason, this is a mid-2022 platform built on a fab AMD no longer relies on, and it might be that the GMKtec M7 Ultra is the one and only machine the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 6850U gets to see the light of day.

Which might go some way to explain how competitively priced this system is.

• Value: 4 / 5

(Image credit: Mark Pickavance)GMKtec NucBox M7 Ultra: Specs

Item

Spec

CPU:

AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 6850U( 8C/16T, up to 4.7GHz)

GPU:

AMD Radeon 680M, up to 2.2 GHz

NPU:

N/A

RAM:

16GB DDR5-4800 (8GB x 2) expandable to 64GB

Storage:

512GB M.2 2280 PCIe Gen 3

Expansion:

1x M.2 2280 PCIe Gen 3

Ports:

2x USB4, 2x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A, 2x USB 2.0, 1x HDMI 2.0, 1x DisplayPort 1.4, 1x 3.5mm Audio, 1x Oculink

Networking:

2x 2,5GbE Realtek RTL8125, WiFi 6E, Bluetooth 5.2

OS:

Windows 11 Pro (pre-installed)

Base Power:

15W-28W

PSU:

19V 6.32A 120.08W

Dimensions:

132 x 125 x 58 mm

GMKtec NucBox M7 Ultra: Design

• Decent build quality
• Easy internal access
• VESA mountable

There are two important things about GMKtec systems I like, and those are the build quality and the ease of internal access. And, the M7 Ultra doesn’t confront either of those expectations.

While the top and underside of this NUC are plastic, the part that is likely to take the greatest amount of abuse, the sides, is metal on all faces.

It’s a cool gunmetal grey, and the plastic top is painted to match.

Access is remarkably straightforward, with the top rotating to come away, and with that removed, there are four large screws visible that most people should have a suitable screwdriver for.

I like that these are large, easily visible screws, not the tiny ones that ping under my desk before activating their inbuilt cloaking devices. These are only discoverable either with socked feet or the use of a stupidly powerful electromagnet.

Even I couldn’t misplace these screws was my first thought on seeing them.

With those removed, the DDR5-4800 modules and M.2 slots are unobscured, and upgrading either of them merely requires the replacement parts and a couple of spare minutes.

The memory modules were branded as GMKtec, but the chips had OEM Micro branding. Therefore, based on the repositioning of that source for memory, we won’t be seeing this in future GMKtec products.

Thankfully, you can swap the RAM with any DDR5-4800 SODIMMs of any brand, as long as they’re the same type and size.

(Image credit: Mark Pickavance)

On the outside, the M7 Ultra doesn’t go off the beaten path with all the ports on the front or back, and those on the front are well placed for the attachment of storage. Both USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A ports are on the front, along with the USB4 port, the 3.5mm audio jack and the Oculink port. Oh, and the power button.

Maybe the Oculink port might have been better on the back, but there isn’t much room with dual 2.5GbE LAN sockets, dual USB 2.0, another USB4 port and both HDMI and DisplayPort.

One feature which is slightly controversial on the M7 Ultra is that hot air is ejected under the external ports, not above them. While there is the possibility that it might impact the connected cables, I can’t see this air getting heated enough to melt the insulation on these.

As GMKtec do with most of its systems, included with the M7 Ultra, is a plate that can be used to VESA mount the system to the back of a monitor. As the scale of this system might make it tempting for someone to pick it up and take it home, connecting it to the monitor is probably a good idea. For those seriously concerned about theft, it also has a security slot on the rear.

As with the M5 Ultra, the engineering, accessibility and port deployment are good, and there doesn’t appear to be any significant design issues with this design.

• Design: 4 / 5

(Image credit: Mark Pickavance)GMKtec NucBox M7 Ultra: Hardware

• AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 6850U
• DDR5 Memory
• Gen 3 PCIe M.2 Slots

The AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 6850U is a mobile processor featuring eight cores, launched in April 2022 as an offshoot of the Ryzen 6000 series. And, the closest silicon from the core series is the Ryzen 7 6800H, a Zen 3+ (Rembrandt) architecture chip made for Socket FP7.

AMD’s Simultaneous Multithreading (SMT) doubles the effective thread count to sixteen, giving it some potential for multi-threaded software.

Operating at a base frequency of 2.7GHz, boosting up to 4.7GHz when required, this silicon was part of the swansong of the 6nm process at TSMC before AMD moved to the 4nm fabrication in the 7040 series.

The thermal design power (TDP) is just 15W, but that can be bumped to 28W, making it highly energy-efficient. It supports DDR5 memory in a dual-channel configuration, with a maximum official speed of 4800 MT/s. It also supports 6400 MT/s for surface-mounted LPDDR5, but GMKtec hasn’t chosen to use that.

And, as I’ve alluded to already, this is the only PC I’ve found that uses this specific processor, so it now seems unlikely that a machine using the greater bandwidth memory is ever likely to appear.

Since Zen3+, AMD has evolved the Zen4 and Zen5 architectures, with more powerful GPUs, 8000MHz DDR5 options and larger core and thread capabilities.

In this context, the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 6850U provides a solid underpinning to the system where it can run reliably for long periods and remain effectively silent.

(Image credit: Mark Pickavance)

However, there are a few choices GMKtec made that are more nuanced than merely picking an older processor. One might assume AMD let this business have these at a bargain price.

As is often the case, this all revolves around PCIe lanes and how these critical resources are allocated. In this system, there are various draws on the bandwidth of the PCIe subsystem, which has twenty lanes of PCIe 4.0 at its disposal. The AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 6850U has an integrated USB4 controller, but it still needs at least four lanes for USB4 and at least four more for Oculink, leaving only eight lanes for everything else.

In that pile are all the other USB ports, dual 2.5GbE LAN ports, the small M.2 slot for the Wi-Fi, and most importantly, the two M.2 slots. However you dice this up, without using a PCIe switch, something had to give, and what gave here was the M.2 slots ended up being only Gen 3, not Gen 4.

I can see a strong argument that either one of the USB4 ports or the Oculink should have been sacrificed to provide Gen 4 storage, but that might have created a thermal issue for keeping the NVMe drives cool.

With the amount of bandwidth available, this was a tough choice, and GMKtec went with Oculink and two USB4 ports but downgraded the M.2 slots, for good or bad.

I’d have liked at least one Gen 4 M.2 slot, but I’m not the one trying to shoehorn all this technology into a tiny box.

• Features: 3.5 / 5

GMKtec NucBox M7 Ultra: Performance

Mini PC

GMKtec NucBox M7 Ultra

GMKtec NucBox M5 Ultra

CPU

AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 6850U

AMD Ryzen 7 7730U

Cores/Threads

8C 16T

8C 16T

RAM

16GB DDR5 (2x8GB)

32GB DDR4 (2x16GB)

Storage

512GB AirDisk SSD

1TB NVMe

Graphics

Radeon 680M

Radeon Vega 8

3DMark

WildLife

9846

6711

FireStrike

4149

3154

TimeSpy

1495

1264

Steel Nom Lt.

1420

1035

CineBench24

Single

90

78

Multi

401

414

Ratio

4.47

5.29

GeekBench 6

Single

2096

1806

Multi

8582

5939

OpenCL

22656

12823

Vulkan

21484

11472

CrystalDisk

Read MB/s

3558

3624

Write MB/s

2520

2642

PCMark 10

Office

6973

5581

WEI

8

8.1

Given the modest price difference between the M7 Ultra and its M5 Ultra little brother, these seem the obvious systems to compare.

And, unsurprisingly, with DDR5 memory and the 12 cores of the Radeon 680M in its corner, the M7 Ultra is a good bit quicker than the M5 Ultra in the majority of the tests.

Although, for some curious reason, the CineBench24 multi-core test is a win for the AMD Ryzen 7 7730U over the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 6850U. But these results aren’t replicated in Geekbench or PCMark 10.

Why Windows Experience Index scores the GPUs inaccurately in this instance is another mystery, but that's the precise result reflected here.

There is, however, a hollow aspect to this victory, which is that my results from the old GMKtec NucBox M7, which used the Ryzen 7 PRO 6850H, were much better, scoring 14909 for 3DMark WildLife. Given that the original M7 system used DDR4, something doesn’t add up.

Yes, this system is up to 50% faster than the M5 Ultra, but it should be even quicker than that. It’s like it's operating on a single memory module, though I checked that it isn’t.

Looking back at the original M7 and the M7 Pro, the M7 Ultra has less processing power and lower GPU performance than both of these.

Unfortunately, the M7 is out of stock, and the M7 Pro is discontinued, I suspect.

I’ve concluded that, unless there was a fault with my machine, the M7 Ultra has the unfortunate accolade of offering less power than the models it replaced, sadly.

• Performance: 3 / 5

GMKtec NucBox M7 Ultra: Final verdict

(Image credit: Mark Pickavance)

Not sure what to think about the GMKtec M7 Ultra, since it uses a processor no other machine has ever used and yet delivers performance numbers below those of its predecessors.

What’s the most curious thing about this system is that it uses DDR5 memory, but with the same 680M GPU, it's slower than the M7, which used DDR4. How is that possible?

The M7 Ultra's bandwidth should make it faster, not 66% of the M7’s speed in the 3DMark Wildlife benchmark.

I’m hoping that this system merely needs a firmware update to deliver the results the hardware should be capable of.

Because of these issues its not an obvious replacement for the M7 or the M7 Pro, but there are plenty of alternatives using Ryzen 6000 and 7000 chips that can perform better.

Should I buy a GMKtec NucBox M7 Ultra?

Value

Affordable system, especially barebones

4/5

Design

Easy access and a good port selection

4/5

Features

Odd processor, but Oculink and USB ports

3.5/5

Performance

Not as quick as it should be on paper

3/5

Overalls

Dissapointing follow-up to M7 and M7 Pro

3.5/5

Buy it if...

You want a medium-cost NUC
Not super-cheap but still affordable, the M7 Ultra has a specification that is suitable for users who need extra performance above an entry-level system. While not as fast as the original M7, it's still better than most Intel Core i5 systems.View Deal

You need a flexible NUC
Compared to some NUC designs, this one is remarkably flexible. With two 2.5 GbE LAN ports and dual M.2 slots, it can be used as a hardware firewall, media server or marketing display controller. But adding an Oculink port also enables it to be enhanced with a discrete video card, making it suitable for graphics-intensive tasks that the integrated graphics would not handle.View Deal

Don't buy it if...

You want ultimate performance
This is a mid-range mini PC, lacking the power of those with the fastest processors, such as the Ryzen AI Max+ 395. View Deal

Also consider

Geekom A5
The Geekom A5 mini PC delivers a decent user experience for office work in a small, easy-to-deploy package. It doesn't have a second M.2 slot, but it does have a SATA and a place for a 2.5-inch drive.
In testing it produced almost identical performance to the M5 Ultra, using its AMD Ryzen 5 7430U CPU.

Check out my Geekom M5 review View Deal

GMKtec NucBox M5 Plus
Another mid-tier mini system, this time the prior design from the same brand as the M5 Ultra. This one utilises the AMD Ryzen 7 5825U (8 cores, 16 Threads) CPU and features 1TB of onboard NVMe storage. Where this is slightly better than the A5 is that the second M.2 slot is 2280, and it has dual 2.5GbE LAN ports.

Check out my GMKTec NucBox M5 Plus review View Deal

Light spoilers follow for all eight episode of Wonder Man.

2026 is a big year for Marvel. With its cinematic universe struggling to rediscover the consistency that defined its first decade, there's never been more pressure on highly-anticipated movies like Avengers: Doomsday and Spider-Man: Brand New Day to get people back onside.

And yet, it falls on Wonder Man, the comic book giant's first Disney+ show of the year, to convince casual fans that the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is worth sticking with or jumping back into. It's a wonderful thing, then, that Wonder Man is a franchise-disrupting, metatextual caper that's arguably the studio's most creative TV original since WandaVision.

I was born to play this character

Yahya Abdul-Mateen II portrays Simon Williams, a down-on-his-luck, Los Angeles-based actor (Image credit: Marvel Studios)

Produced under the Marvel Spotlight banner, Wonder Man introduces us to Simon Williams (Yahya Abdul- Mateen II), a luckless and capricious actor struggling for work in the MCU's version of Hollywood.

Williams' tortured nature is captured with pitch-perfect intensity and gravitas by Abul-Mateen II

When Williams learns that Oscar-winning director Von Kovak (Zlatko Burić) is remaking 'Wonder Man', an in-universe movie that's also his favorite film of all time, Williams vows land the lead role. Well, as long as he can keep his biggest secret – as one of Wonder Man's teasers confirmed, that he possesses actual superpowers – under wraps.

Having superhuman abilities should be advantageous for a project like this, right? Not if you're Simon Williams, a serial overthinker whose passion for his craft often makes him difficult to deal with personally and professionally.

Williams' life is falling apart when we meet him in Wonder Man's premiere (Image credit: Marvel Studios/Disney+)

His failure to secure regular work and tendency to lose the roles he does get due to a passion interpreted as overzealous interference are, unsurprisingly, emotionally destabilizing moments for Williams. Add in your demonstrably powerful abilities appearing whenever you experience negative emotions, and that's a recipe for disaster.

That's especially true if Williams' abilities ever manifest while on set. The reason? Enhanced individuals are banned from working in Hollywood, so it's not the ideal profession for Williams, whose tortured nature is captured with pitch-perfect intensity and gravitas by Wonder Man's lead star Abdul-Mateen II.

Trevor Slattery (right) has two options: help the DoDC or complete his prison sentence for his crimes as The Mandarin (Image credit: Marvel Studios/Disney+)

Wonder Man is as much Trevor Slattery's (Ben Kingsley) story as it is Williams', though.

A washed-up thespian and recovering substance abuser who we first met as fake terrorist The Mandarin in Iron Man 3, Slattery is an important cog in Williams' journey and the Marvel Phase 6 show's wider narrative.

Slattery is the uproarious fulcrum for many of Wonder Man's hijinks

Apprehended by the Department of Damage Control (DoDC) at an airport following his redemption arc in Shang-Chi, Slattery is coerced into helping the superhuman-monitoring US government agency keep track of Williams, whom it believes to be a highly dangerous individual.

Rather than position Slattery as a primary supporting character, though, Marvel installs Kingsley as the series' co-lead. It's a storytelling decision that not only allows Wonder Man to thoroughly examine this enigmatic and eccentric character's background, personality, and motives in greater detail than before, but also plays to Kingsley's strengths as an actor.

Utilizing the British icon's extensive affiliation with the Royal Shakespeare Company and penchant for playing characters as straight as possible, Wonder Man gives Kingsley a stage to really shine on. Equipped with Slattery's awkward and unfiltered persona, Kingsley is the uproarious fulcrum for the various hijinks that ensue throughout, too.

Just the two of us

Williams and Slattery are another absorbing buddy cop pairing to add to the MCU's growing roster (Image credit: Marvel Studios/Disney+)

Armed with either of these likeable albeit lost souls, Wonder Man would be an enthralling watch. The resolution to build its plot around both, then, is a match made in heaven.

The decision to build Wonder Man's plot around Williams and Slattery is a match made in heaven

From their initial encounters at a Midnight Cowboy screening and then the 'Wonder Man' auditions, where a regret-filled Slattery takes pity on Williams as he struggles to maintain his composure, they're a mesmerically mismatched pair that deserve to be added to the MCU's ever-expanding collection of charming double acts.

A two-hander in all but name, it's the kind of odd-couple dynamic that doesn't come along often, but produces all manner of on-screen fireworks from the outset.

Williams and Slattery's professional and personal lives become entwined as the story progresses (Image credit: Marvel Studios/Disney+)

It's a bond initially formed by their mutual love for their craft. Slattery sees his tactless and ego-driven self in Williams and uses his experience and calming influence to guide the less-seasoned actor through the murky world of Hollywood. It isn't long, though, before their student-teacher relationship blossoms into a genuine bromance – and, like me, you'll soon be rooting for them to individually and collectively succeed.

You'll soon be rooting for Williams and Slattery to individually and collectively succeed

That said, I'll admit my desire to root for them was strained at times. Whether it's the emotionally unavailable Williams occasionally shutting out his mentor, or Slattery's duplicity in trying to keep both Williams and the DoDC onside – honestly, at one point, I genuinely thought Slattery would fully betray his new friend – theirs is a companionship buffeted by numerous outside forces. Ultimately, though, the earnestness of their buddy-cop dynamic, plus the hardships these tragic characters have endured, is what'll make you cheer them on.

And all the world's a stage

Von Kovak (right) will ultimately decide if Williams and Slattery land roles in his 'Wonder Man' movie remake (Image credit: Marvel Studios/Disney+)

With its intimate, dual-character-study-first approach, Wonder Man plays more as a tragicomedy with sitcom elements than a biting commentary on the corporate Hollywood machine.

Wonder Man doesn't hold up a taunting mirror to Hollywood in the same way that The Studio does

Sure, Wonder Man's metatextual layers run deep, and it doesn't shy away from the cutthroat nature of the entertainment business. However, it's not a fourth-wall-breaking project in the way She-Hulk: Attorney at Law or the Deadpool films are. Nor does it hold up a taunting mirror to Hollywood in the same way that The Studio does. Laugh-out-loud funny though Wonder Man is, it's not as outrageously chaotic or toe-curlingly hilarious in its takedown of the industry as that Apple TV Original is, or as scathingly satirical of the superhero genre like Prime Video's adaptation of The Boys is.

Riveting as Wonder Man is, it isn't without its missteps (Image credit: Marvel Studios/Disney+)

I don't consider those to be faults that Wonder Man possesses, but Marvel's latest small-screen offering isn't beyond reproach.

For one, its Williams and Slattery-absent Twilight Zone-esque fourth episode provides context for one of Wonder Man's early mysteries, but brings its primary narrative to a grinding halt just as it's really beginning to build momentum. Similarly, while its circumnavigation of Williams' complicated comic book history facilitates an easier MCU introduction for the character, this source material deviation will irritate some Marvel Comics purists.

And then there's the finale, which falls foul of the same problem that's plagued other Marvel TV Originals on one of the world's best streaming services. In its favor, it foregoes the archetypal – not to mention predictable – CGI showdown between hero and villain, which is a welcome departure from the Disney subsidiary's usual TV blueprint.

Nonetheless, just another five to 10 minutes showing how Williams has grown as an individual across its eight-episode run would've helped its pacing and stopped it from racing towards an ending that may be perceived as somewhat anticlimactic.

My verdict

Ultimately, though, those niggles didn't prevent me from having a blast with Wonder Man. Pardon the pun, but it's a wonderfully executed slice of television that's both a celebration of the performing arts and an eye-opening peek behind the curtain of an industry that continues to entertain us to this day.

It might be a bit on the short side, runtime-wise, and its narrative flow is a little uneven, especially in the first half. But, armed with a charismatic leading pair firing on all cylinders, and a story that'll resonate with anyone who's set out to achieve their wildest dreams and did so, Wonder Man deserves a standing ovation for proving nothing is impossible if you put your mind to it – and if you have a little help along the way.

Wonder Man releases in full on Tuesday, January 27 (North and South America) and Wednesday, January 28 (everywhere else). To learn more about the series ahead of launch, read my guide on everything we know about Wonder Man.

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Onyx Boox Go 7: Two-minute review

I received the Boox Go 7 months ago for review, along with the Boox Go Color 7 (Gen II), and I’m glad I delayed my testing. A few firmware updates since I tested its color sibling have improved overall performance and I now have the new stylus for it.

That’s right: the Go 7 is more than just a basic ereader, offering stylus support and a native Notes app that’s full featured. You’ll need to purchase the stylus separately, though, but that’s not unprecedented – you’ll need to do the same for the Kobo Libra Colour as well, for example. While the new InkSense Plus is an improvement over the older Boox InkSense pen previously sold, writing on the Go 7 isn’t as nice as I’ve experienced on other ereaders – there’s just not enough friction.

That said, the 7-inch E Ink Carta 1300 display here is the standout feature and there’s nothing more important for an ereader than its screen. Right from the start, it made the Go 7 the better device compared to its sibling – something I said in my Boox Go Color 7 (Gen II) review and I still stand by that statement – putting it on par with the likes of the current-gen Amazon Kindle Paperwhite (2024). Text is sharp and crisp, while the overall reading experience is enhanced by very snappy performance. Page turns are quick, whether you want to tap to turn or use the buttons.

Speaking of which, access to the Google Play Store gives you a lot more flexibility on how you want to use the ereader – the native apps are great, but if you have personal preferences for specific reading or productivity app, they’re easy to install, with fast load times and smooth third-party functionality.

Another reason I love a Boox device is the impressive file and font support. You can sideload a wide variety of files and fonts, and you don’t even need a wired connection for that – Google Drive and Dropbox support help with cloud transfer that’s quick and easy. Transferring directly from a USB-C external hard drive or portable SSD is also remarkably simple and very fast and, in all honesty, I don’t see the need to tether this device to a PC at all for file transfer.

The Boox interface has also improved but, as I’ve said before in many of my previous reviews, there’s still too much going on and some setting options are still hidden within the native app and accessed from different submenus. Better streamlining is definitely called for, which would be a huge help to first-time Boox users.

Another reason I’m docking marks from the Go 7 is its lack of waterproofing. Given its price tag and that all its main competitors have IPX8 certification, it’s a huge oversight. If you’re careful with it while traveling or reading by the pool, in the bath or near the kitchen sink, this is arguably the best Boox device I’ve tried in a long time.

(Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / Future)Onyx Boox Go 7 review: price & availability

• Released in April 2025 in most major markets
• List price: $295.99 / €249.99 / AU$419
• Available to buy directly from the Boox Shop and select retailers

It seems very strange to me that if you’re in the US and you shop directly from the online Boox Shop, the Go 7 costs more than the Go Color 7 (Gen II) – the latter is listed at $279.99, while the former is $295.99 at full price at the time of writing.

On the other hand, the pricing for Europe and Australia makes more sense: €249.99 and AU$419 respectively for the Go 7 compared to €279.99 and AU$459 for the color variant.

No matter where you live, the monochrome Go 7 is a relatively expensive ereader, although it can be argued that its price is justified by the open operating system and 64GB of onboard storage that’s expandable via a microSD card.

Moreover, its features include writing (although the InkSense Plus stylus will need to be purchased separately for $45.99 / €45.99 / AU$69) and built-in stereo speakers (sound isn’t great though). That said, not everyone will need the freedom that the Android operating system provides and the likes of the Kobo Libra Colour is cheaper at $229.99 / £209.99 / AU$379.95.

• Value score: 4 / 5

(Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / Future)Onyx Boox Go 7 review: Specs

Display type:

E Ink Carta 1300

Screen size:

7 inches

Resolution:

300ppi (1680 x 1264)

CPU:

Qualcomm Snapdragon 690

Frontlight:

Warm and cold

Storage:

64GB (expandable)

Battery:

2,300mAh

Speaker:

Stereo/dual

Water protection:

None

Software:

Android 13

Connectivity:

Wi-Fi (2.4GHz + 5GHz); Bluetooth 5.1

File support:

20 document; 4 image; 2 audio

Dimensions:

156 x 137 x 6.4 mm (6.1 x 5.4 x 0.25 inches)

Weight:

195g (6.9oz)

Onyx Boox Go 7 review: design & display

• Crisp and clear 7-inch E Ink Carta 1300 display
• Slim, lightweight and compact body with page-turn buttons
• Features speakers and microSD card tray

The Go Color 7 II and the Go 7 are siblings, meaning they’re identical physically – the only difference being the screen technology they use. In fact, the design has been inherited from the original Go Color 7 and that’s not a bad thing at all.

(Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / Future)

The Go 7 is slim, lightweight and compact enough to take with you anywhere. And the page-turn buttons are well placed to be just where your thumb would sit when holding the tablet in one hand. Personally, though, I would still prefer the old Kindle Oasis asymmetry (still used in the Kobo Libra Colour) that had a little extra thickness along the larger bezel to make it more ergonomic. The thinness of the Go 7 can make the fingers hurt if you're someone who reads for long hours. Having a case to add some overall thickness helps with this little issue.

I love how the page-turn buttons feel and work – there’s a nice little feedback that makes them satisfying to use. They become volume-adjustment buttons if you’re using an app that doesn’t need scrolling or page turning, which is nice since you can listen to audio files here.

(Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / Future)

As with the color variants (Gen I and II), the rear is textured, and there’s a small power button on the bottom right corner of the tablet. One slim edge is just thick enough to house a USB-C port for charging, as well as a microSD card tray and speaker grilles. A tiny mic is on the opposite edge.

Boox continues to steer clear of waterproofing for its ereaders, sadly, with the Go 7 also missing out. In my opinion, it’s an unforgivable oversight given its price tag.

(Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / Future)

The star of the show, however, is the Go 7’s display. As its name suggests, it’s a 7-inch screen using E Ink’s Carta 1300 technology. This display has proved itself time and time again on other ereaders and does so again here where it’s been optimized well.

Text and images are displayed marvelously well and the anti-glare coating on top ensures bright overhead lights don’t distract when you’re reading. The LEDs for the screen are fantastic, far better than the screen light on the Go Color 7 II. The light is brighter and not nearly as yellow as on the color version of this ereader. In fact, I’m amazed at how different the two screens are – the Go 7 is practically perfect while the Go 7 II is fuzzy and too warm.

• Design & display score: 4.5 / 5

Onyx Boox Go 7 review: software & apps

• Runs a slim version of Android 13 with excellent native apps
• Full access to the Google Play Store offers a lot of freedom
• Clean user interface, but some settings are hidden in submenus

An ereader running Android is an excellent choice for anyone who doesn’t want to get locked into either the Kindle or Kobo ecosystems. The freedom to use third-party apps or source content from any platform, can make a huge difference to the user experience.

That said, the native apps have plenty to offer and the average user may not even need to download anything else from the Play Store. The library app called NeoReader, for example, offers plenty of customization options that you don’t need to use MoonReader or KoReader… unless that’s really what you prefer. The same goes for the native Notes application too. There’s also a browser and music player, among other things.

Some of the third-party apps I’ve used on this Boox device are Kindle, Kobo and Evernote, but I’ve used Libby on a different Boox ereader.

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The Boox interface has evolved into a much cleaner version of the convoluted UI from years past, but there’s still room for improvement. For example, it’s not at all obvious that there’s some library settings in NeoReader hidden on the top menu bar under More – it’s very easily missed unless you have the patience to explore every single menu option on the device.

The Notes app is also not available on the home screen navigation by default; you need to head into the device’s System Settings to find it and apply it to be visible if you plan to use it often. For me, given the Boox Go 7 has stylus support, the expectation is that the Notes app would be available by default on the home screen.

(Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / Future)

I saw a major change in how the ebook styling menu in the library app was set up in 2025 and that’s been carried over, which is a good thing. However, the complications still exist: tap in the middle of the screen when an ebook is open to bring up the menu, choose Style and the setup is much cleaner than before, but you need to tap on More Settings to adjust fonts, spacing and margins. These are much easier to access on a Kindle or Kobo.

Long story short: I can see the Boox UI is improving, but there’s really just too much going on still and the average user doesn’t need so many customization options. I don’t think even a power user like me needs so many options on an ereader. Less is more, Boox.

• Software & apps score: 3.5 / 5

(Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / Future)Onyx Boox Go 7 review: user experience

• Arguably one of the best reading experiences on an electronic device
• Full featured, but takes some learning to get it set up for individual needs
• Not a great writing experience

Most of us read text-heavy books, so opting for a monochrome ereader makes economical sense as there’s really no point in opting for a color screen if you aren’t going to be viewing anything more than a book cover in color. But the Go 7 makes a much stronger case of being the better ereader compared to the Go Color 7 (Gen II) by offering a much nicer reading experience.

As I’ve already alluded to in this review, the screen on the Go 7 is a standout. Text is sharp and there’s good contrast too, making it one of the best Boox ereader I’ve used. This is further enhanced by the fact that page turns are quick, whether via a tap on the screen or the buttons. That said, individual books take a little longer than the Amazon Kindle Paperwhite (2024) to open, but all other library functionality is snappy. Boox really has done an excellent job of optimizing the E Ink Carta 1300 display for this device.

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Text selection for highlighting or annotating is also quick, and it’s very precise if you use the InkSense Plus stylus. However, the Boox Go 7 doesn’t support global handwriting, which means you won’t be able to annotate or markup books using NeoReader – and that's despite a feature called FreeMark (which allows you to write on the screen when any app is open but not annotate). The native Calendar (for memos) and Notes apps are the only places where there's default stylus support.

This might seem restrictive, and for a power user like me, that definitely is, but the average user looking for a capable ereader won’t necessarily need all the bells and whistles of a more advanced epaper tablet like the Boox Note Air series.

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(Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / Future)

If you did want to use the Notes app, though, be warned – the writing experience isn’t great. The InkSense Plus glides over the screen with barely any friction and it can be a little disconcerting at first, but you do get used to it. That said, there’s absolutely no lag and stylus input is instantaneous. I’ve used it to write and draw crude designs on the Notes app and didn’t mind it, but I would much prefer to use the Boox Go 7 as an ereader rather than a note-taker.

• User experience score: 4 / 5

Onyx Boox Go 7 review: performance

• Fast and snappy performance
• Occasional ghosting only when reading image-heavy books
• Battery drain is higher compared to the competition

The Go 7 uses a Qualcomm Snapdragon 690 chipset paired with 4GB of RAM – the same combo powering the color variant – and performance is generally very good for an E Ink device.

While the NeoReader app isn't the fastest book loader, that's not a fault of the device but he application. However, using third-party apps is smooth, with quick loads and all other functionality within them working well. Where I’ve previously encountered third-party app crashes on older Boox tablets, I had no such issues here.

As with the Go Color 7 II, I found wired file transfer via OTG to be remarkably quick and, for the first time while testing a Boox tablet, I didn’t even bother using Google Drive or BooxDrop to access my ebooks. I only signed into my Google account to access the Play Store.

Thanks to the Carta 1300 screen, the Go 7 doesn’t suffer as much from ghosting as the color version. In fact, I had no ghosting while reading text-only books, but there was the occasional overlay when reading graphic novels, which is common when reading image-heavy titles on epaper displays.

(Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / Future)

Battery life, however, is disappointing. The expectation from an ereader boasting a 2,300mAh capacity pack would last a few weeks, but in real-world use Android devices like the Go 7 don’t offer as much use on a single charge like a Kindle or Kobo.

If you have Wi-Fi switched on at all times, you’ll get about a week of use when reading about two hours a day and the screen brightness set at medium levels. You’ll eke out more with Wi-Fi (and Bluetooth) turned off and the light dim.

Start doing more than just read and you will see the battery drain even faster. The browser and music player are power hungry, and the more you jot notes, the quicker the Go 7 will run out of juice. Battery drain even in sleep mode is quite significant – something I’ve seen in nearly every Boox I’ve tested to date.

While there’s no quick charging here, you don’t need to wait too long for the battery to top up. On average, the Go 7 took about two hours to go from 9% or 10% to full over the several months I used it when plugged into a USB-C port of a 65W wall charger. It will be slower if you use a dock connected to your PC or a USB-A to C cable, but this is quite standard for most ereaders.

• Performance score: 4 / 5

Should I buy the Onyx Boox Go 7?

Attribute

Notes

Score

Value

It's a relatively expensive device, but its open Android ecosystem could justify its price for many users.

4 / 5

Design & display

Lightweight and compact, this is a fantastic spiritual successor to Amazon's Kindle Oasis, with an equally fabulous screen to read on.

4.5 / 5

Software & apps

While Android offers a lot of flexibility on a device like this, Boox's interface requires a steep learning curve to master.

3.5 / 5

User experience

If you're use it solely for reading and the occasional productivity feature, it's fantastic. There are, however, restrictions on where stylus use is supported.

4 / 5

Performance

There's barely anything to complain about when it comes to performance, although keep an eye on the battery drain.

4 / 5

Overall

Boox makes good ereaders, but the Go 7 is arguably my favorite.

4 / 5

Buy it if...

You want a fantastic screen on an ereader

Giving the 2024 Kindle Paperwhite a run for its money, this 7-inch E Ink Carta 1300 on the Go 7 is one of the best displays I've had the pleasure of using for reading ebooks. There just isn't enough friction to make writing as pleasurable, though.

The freedom of an Android operating system is enticing you

A lot has to be said to not being locked into the Amazon or Kobo walled garden. If you want to be able to use other apps on your ereader, this one is for you.

You want physical page-turn buttons on a lightweight and compact ereader

Even though the Kobo Libra Colour and the Go 7 share the same screen size, the latter has an overall smaller footprint and is 4g lighter. While that's neither here nor there, page-turn buttons make using ereaders nicer when holding in one hand.

Don't buy it if...

You want a no-frills, cheaper ereader

If the additional writing features and the ability to use third-party apps is overkill for your needs, you can save money by opting for, say, the base model Amazon Kindle (2024) or the Kobo Clara BW.

You don't need stylus support

If your sole purpose of getting a new ereader is only reading, then it would be economical to look at other options like the 7-inch Kindle Paperwhite instead.

You want a dedicated writing tablet

For users keen on making full use of an epaper tablet's writing features, you'd be better off looking at a larger 10-inch alternative. They'll cost you more, but a bigger screen is better for both productivity and creativity.

Onyx Boox Go 7 review: Alternatives

If you're not sure whether the Boox Go 7 is worth picking up, I've listed a few alternatives below, with the Kobo Libra Colour, despite its color screen, being its closest rival from a design perspective. There are other standard ereaders as well and I've listed their specs in the table below to help you compare them all.

Onyx Boox Go 7

Kobo Libra Colour

Kobo Clara BW

Amazon Kindle Paperwhite (2024)

Price

$295.99 / €249.99 (about £217) / AU$419

$229.99 / £209.99 / AU$379.95

$139.99 / £129.99 / AU$249.95

from $159.99 / £134.99 / AU$299

Screen

7-inch E Ink Carta 1300

7-inch E Ink Kaleido 3

6-inch E Ink Carta 1300

7-inch E Ink Carta 1300

Resolution

300ppi in B&W

300ppi in B&W; 150ppi in color

300ppi in B&W

300ppi in B&W

Operating system

Android 13

Linux-based

Linux-based

Linux-based

Storage

64GB (expandable)

32GB

16GB

16GB

CPU

Qualcomm Snapdragon 690

Undisclosed 2GHz dual-core chipset

Undisclosed 2GHz dual-core chipset

Undisclosed 1GHz dual-core chipset

Battery

2,300mAh

2,050mAh

1,500mAh

Undisclosed

Connectivity

Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, USB-C

Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, USB-C

Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, USB-C

Wi-Fi, Bluetooth (in select regions), USB-C

Waterproofing

None

IPX8

IPX8

IPX8

File support (including images and audio)

25

16

16

17

Speakers

Yes

No

No

No

Dimensions

156 x 137 x 6.4 mm

161 x 144.6 x 8.3 mm

112 x 160 x 9.2 mm

176.7 x 127.6 x 7.8 mm

Weight

195g

199.5g

174g

211g

Kobo Libra Colour

Its design looks dated, but the Kobo Libra Colour is my pick of the best ereader you can buy for good reason. Cheaper than the Go 7, it too has both reading and writing suites, but its overall interface is a lot more streamlined.
Read my in-depth Kobo Libra Colour review

Kobo Clara BW

If you don't want the writing features and a 6-inch ereader will suffice, the Kobo Clara BW is a good mid-range option to consider. It's waterproofed and offers seamless operation in a compact form factor.
Read my in-depth Kobo Clara BW review

Amazon Kindle Paperwhite (2024)

The 12th generation Kindle Paperwhite is a fantastic 7-inch ereader with a black-and-white screen that I'd recommend if you're already part of the Amazon ecosystem. With direct access to the Kindle Store and a smoother interface than Boox, its E Ink Carta 1300 is one of the best optimized in the business.
Read my in-depth Amazon Kindle Paperwhite (2024) review

How I tested the Onyx Boox Go 7

(Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / Future)

I might have had the Boox Go 7 for months, but I've used it on and off for maybe just two of those before writing this review. That's because I got distracted by other Boox devices...

I digress, though. For this review, I tried various ways to upload files, including signing into Google Drive. I moved one font folder over, but used the OTG support to import the ebooks I wanted on the device for my testing. I used the same method to transfer a couple of music files to test the built-in speaker as well.

I was sent the new InkSense Plus stylus towards the end of December and I was pleasantly surprised to see that setup was remarkably simple as long as the pen was charged.

From the Play Store, I downloaded the Kindle and Kobo apps to access my existing libraries and to test how third-party apps function. I also used Evernote and Libby on this device, plus downloaded CPU X to confirm what hardware was powering this device.

I used the stylus to both write and draw, but spent most of my testing hours reading. I did use the browser briefly.

I've been testing ereaders for nearly a decade now for TechRadar and built up a strong knowledge base to help me able to objectively compare different models from different brands – and the Go 7 definitely stands out.

Read more about how we test

[First published January 2026]

What types of hosting does InMotion Hosting offer?

InMotion Hosting offers everything from shared hosting for the most basic needs to dedicated servers.

Its managed WordPress hosting supports running anything from simple family blogs to heavy-duty business sites, while hosted WooCommerce and Prestashop plans can help you build a professional web store.

If it's raw server power you're after, VPS (Virtual Private Server), dedicated and cloud hosting plans cover everyone from expert personal users to international corporations.

Starting at the 8GB and higher plans, all VPS servers are using Gen 4 NVMe SSDs which can be 6x faster than SATA SSDs and up to 20x faster than traditional spinning drives.

There's a lot to consider, but next we'll look at some of these hosting types, find out what they offer, what they don't, and whether they could be a good choice for you.

Shared hosting 

Shared hosting is a system where your website and many others are stored on the same web server. Sharing both resources and costs means shared hosting can be slow, but it's also very cheap, and can be a good choice for smaller sites.

InMotion Hosting's shared hosting starts with its Core plan (from $3.19/mo for first-time buyers on a 3-year term). This includes a free domain, supports one website, provides 100GB of SSD storage, and offers unlimited bandwidth. The plan only comes with 10 email addresses (most accounts have no limit). There's also free SSL, malware protection, and 1-click WordPress installation, while the excellent cPanel has everything you'll need to manage your site.

The Launch Plan only supports 2 websites, but the Power and Pro plans scale this up with 10 and 40 respectively. They handle as many email addresses as you need, and have some unusual speedup features, including ultra-fast NVMe storage, for instance, something we rarely see with shared hosting.

Unsure about signing up for long-term contracts? Us too, but InMotion Hosting offers more protection than most with a 90-day money-back guarantee (three times the industry standard 30 days), for all of its shared and WordPress hosting plans, plenty of time to be sure if this is the right package for you.

Prices before and after renewal for a three year plan

Plan

Starting price

Renewal price

Core

$3.19

$10.99

Launch

$4.99

$13.99

Power

$4.99

$17.99

Pro

$10.99

$24.99

WordPress hosting with In InMotion Hosting (Image credit: Future)WordPress hosting

WordPress is the world's favorite website creator, a one-stop tool which can build anything from simple personal sites to busy web stores and the most heavy-duty business-critical projects.

InMotion Hosting's shared plans have an automatic WordPress installer, good news if you're just looking to learn the basics. But its specialist WordPress hosting range goes further, with server-level speed optimisations, extra security to keep hackers at bay, automatic WordPress updates and more.

Prices start at only $3.69 a month over three years ($11.49 on renewal) for the WP Core plan. It's limited to one website and ten email addresses, but InMotion Hosting suggests a WP Core site could handle 20k visitors a month, more than enough for many users.

The $ 5.49-a-month WP Launch plan lets you host one more website (for a total of two) and provides enough resources to support 50k visitors a month, making it our budget pick.

These are capable plans, reasonably priced, with the power to handle (at the top of the VPS range) perhaps a million visitors a month. But the WordPress-specific features are much the same as you'll find with other providers. If you're after real WordPress power, WP Engine offers genuinely Premium themes, intelligent updating, smart performance optimizations, page speed testing, and more.

InMotion Hosting also offers what it calls UltraStack ONE for WordPress. These are special plans built on their VPS platform, albeit fine-tuned for mission-critical WordPress sites. These start at $33.33/mo (same price on renewal) if you sign up for a one-year term. UltraStack ONE plans come with a minimum of 8 vCPU and 8GB RAM, alongside NVMe storage, W3 Total Cache, Redis cache, and a 99.99% uptime SLA.

Prices before and after renewal for a three year plan

Plan

Starting price

Renewal price

WP Core

$3.69

$11.49

WP Launch

$5.49

$14.49

WP Power

$5.49

$18.49

WP Pro

$11.49

$25.49

InMotion's plans have lots of features as standard (Image credit: Future)VPS hosting 

Virtual Private Server (VPS) hosting is a mid-range option which gives your website more server power, for a little extra cost. You're likely to see better and more consistent speeds, with fewer of the slowdowns that often happen with shared hosting.

InMotion Hosting has four VPS plans. These start at $9.99 a month over three years ($16.99 on renewal) for a plan with 8 GB RAM, 160 GB NVMe storage, and a 4 vCPU core server, and range up to $44.99 a month ($111.99 on renewal) for 32GB RAM, 460 GB NVMe SSD storage, and a 16-vCPU system.

Although these prices are higher than some, that's because they're stuffed with valuable features. Every plan gets a free migration, at least two dedicated IPs, and a choice of control panel. They're fully managed (InMotion Hosting support can help update your VPS and troubleshoot any server issues for you), and all plans come with Launch Assist, which includes two hours with their expert System Administrators to help you set up and optimize the server, migrate a previous site, or whatever else you need.

These are powerful products that could work for many levels of users. The 4 vCPU plan is ideal for mid-range sites that have outgrown shared hosting, or demanding projects that need more resources (a busy photography site where users can explore many image galleries, for instance). Upgrading to a more powerful VPS may help with sites where consistent performance is critical - a web store where just a brief slowdown might drive customers away - or if you need to host multiple sites on the same server.

Pricing before and after renewal for a three year plan

Plan

Starting Price

Renewal price

4 vCPU

$9.99

$16.99

8 vCPU

$19.99

$46.99

12 vCPU

$31.99

$76.99

16 vCPU

$44.99

$111.99

Minecraft server hosting

Like Hostinger, InMotion Hosting doesn’t promote its Minecraft Server Hosting offerings as much as it does its other services, but it’s worth checking out. Eight different plans are available from the minimal Grass server which is $6 per month and offers 2GB RAM, right up to its hefty Netherite server for $185 and providing 32GB RAM.

All server plans take less than five minutes to set up, include a dedicated IP address, full access to files, and 99.9% server uptime. There’s also DDoS protection and 24/7 server support. A 7-day money-back guarantee is a good way to try things out.

Its game control panel is reasonably intuitive to use and clearly laid out, so you can easily pick out different mods or types of server.

It’s these kind of things that ensure InMotion Hosting feature in our look at the best Minecraft server hosting.

Dedicated hosting 

Opt for dedicated server hosting and your site gets the full power of a server all to itself. No more unexpected slowdowns because a neighboring site is suddenly really busy, because there are no neighboring sites: the server is entirely yours. If you're running a large business-critical site, where speed matters, even when you're really busy, dedicated hosting is a must-see.

InMotion Hosting has five dedicated hosting plans. These have been beefed up significantly over the past few months, not just in capability, but also price. They now begin at $124.99 a month for a managed 4-core/8-thread, 16GB RAM, and 1TB SSD system, and range up to a hugely powerful plan that provides Xeon E-2388G chips with 8 cores/ 16 threads, 128 GB DDR4 RAM, and 2x4TB NVMe RAID-1 storage. That'll cover most sites and requirements, but if you're unhappy, a 'Build your own' plan allows you to choose whatever CPU, RAM, storage, and other features work for you.

These aren't the lowest prices around, but as with other InMotion Hosting products, that's because the company isn't skimping on the server specs. There's a 1Gbps network connection, unmetered bandwidth, at least 50GB of free backup space, free cPanel and WHM licenses, free SSL, free website migrations, and more.

It's good to see that InMotion Hosting now offers a data center in the Netherlands, as well as the US, a welcome performance boost if your main audience is outside of North America.

Overall, InMotion Hosting's dedicated products offer a capable full-featured service which can handle some of the most demanding business and speed-critical tasks.

Pricing before and after renewal for a one year plan

Plan

Starting price

Renewal price

Aspire

$124.99

$159.98

Essential

$189.98

$189.98

Advanced

$259.98

$259.98

Elite

$309.98

$309.98

Extreme

$339.98

$339.98

InMotion Hosting's website builder solution (Image credit: Future)Does InMotion Hosting have a website builder?

InMotion Hosting includes the BoldGrid WordPress Website Builder for free with all its plans. Choose a prebuilt starter site from 200+ industry-specific designs, drag-and-drop blocks (text, pictures, videos, forms, more) onto the page, and you can customize them with your own text and photos just like any other editor.

BoldGrid is easy to use, and a handy site-creating alternative if regular WordPress feels a little too intimidating. But it doesn't have a lot of features, and is really only suitable for creating small-scale sites.

HostGator's Gator website builder is also simple and seriously cheap (from $3.84 a month), but even the most basic plan supports a tiny web store and email campaigns. At the top of the market, Wix has great templates, stacks of features, an intuitive editor, and the power to handle almost any web task.

Surplus control panel options (Image credit: Future)How easy is InMotion Hosting to use? 

InMotion Hosting's customer account panel looks more appealing than most, with the usual text links replaced by 30+ colorful cPanel-like icons. Unfortunately, many of these are for functions you'd use rarely, if ever. Add another credit card; buy or transfer in a new domain; buy a Sucuri website security package; read InMotion Hosting's GDPR statement. These should be tucked away in a menu, not permanently taking up valuable screen real estate as though you might need them every day.

There's a separate set of icons for each hosting package you have, but they share a similar problem. There are some useful shortcuts, for example to launch cPanel, or Softaculous to install WordPress or hundreds of other apps. But many of the others are less helpful. How often do you think you'd use functions like 'Request Email Limit Exemption' or 'Simple CSR Request for 3rd party SSL', for instance?

Fortunately, you don't have to spend long in the account panel. One click launches Softaculous, you can have WordPress ready to go within a minute or two, and the excellent cPanel has all the email, file, database and other management tools you need to get your site running smoothly.

How fast is InMotion Hosting? 

We began our performance tests by signing up for an InMotion Hosting shared plan, then setting up a simple WordPress website based on a standard template.

Next, we measured our server's core WordPress performance. These are several segments of server performance vital to how well it can handle WordPress websites. Finally, we use the SIege testing tool to see how the website performs under increase loads of concurrent users.

WordPress benchmark testing (shared hosting)

CPU & Memory

Operations with large text data

10

Random binary data operations

6.93

Recursive mathematical calculations

6.16

Iterative mathematical calculations

8.34

Filesystem

Filesystem write ability

9.82

Local file copy and access speed

10

Small file IO test

9.8

Database

Importing large amount of data to database

10

Simple queries on single table

10

Complex database queries on multiple tables

7.08

Object Cache

Persistent object cache enabled

0

Network

Network download speed test

10

Overall

Your server score

8.5

WordPress benchmark testing (VPS)

CPU & Memory

Operations with large text data

4.9

Random binary data operations

6.38

Recursive mathematical calculations

4.07

Iterative mathematical calculations

6.01

Filesystem

Filesystem write ability

8.23

Local file copy and access speed

8.45

Small file IO test

9.92

Database

Importing large amount of data to database

7.12

Simple queries on single table

9.18

Complex database queries on multiple tables

3.14

Object Cache

Persistent object cache enabled

0

Network

Network download speed test

10

Overall

Your server score

6.1

In our core benchmark tests, InMotion Hosting's shared plans held up better than most others we've seen. Not only did it handle processing jobs quickly, but it also had robust database and filesystem performance.

What was a little unusual, though, was its benchmark results in the VPS space. This was primarily held down by mediocre performance in the CPU and memory space. However, the overall VPS benchmark score of 6.1 is still fairly decent and held its own against even cloud VPS providers like Cloudways.

Still, for four CPU cores running at 2.7 GHz, I expected a bit better performance.

Siege test

Concurrent users

5

9

15

Transactions

2311

4119

6756

Availability

96.25

96.15

96.31

Elapsed time

299.49

299.2

299.48

Data transactions

25.08

44.12

70.4

Response time

0.64

0.64

0.66

Transaction rate

7.72

13.77

22.56

Throughput

0.08

0.15

0.24

Concurrency

4.96

8.8

14.83

Successful transactions

2247

3966

6501

Failed transactions

90

165

259

Longest transaction

4.33

5.41

7.28

Shortest transaction

0.09

0.09

0.09

InMotion Hosting's performance under increasing user load was a bit surprising. Given the excellent core benchmark results, we expected it to handle user loads relatively well. However, we observed failing transactions even on a minimal 5-user load. Even stranger was the fact that the longest transaction times, even under heavy loads, weren't that high.

It's entirely possible that some of these failed transactions are due to the shared hosting servers' internal safeguards, rather than to specific performance issues.

What is InMotion Hosting's support like?

InMotion Hosting offers 24/7 US-based support via phone, email and live chat, a web Support Center, a customer exclusive Knowledge Base and community forums.

Their website has a 5,000+ articles, guides and tutorials on the full range of hosting topics, way more than you'll see with most providers. The search engine doesn't do a good job of sorting its results by relevance, so it might take some scrolling to find what you need, but there is a lot of detailed and helpful content to explore.

They also have a Customer Exclusive Knowledgebase which is constantly being updated with new guides. Customers must be logged into their AMP to access the knowledgebase.

Ticket support wasn't the fastest we've seen, with replies to even relatively basic product queries taking around four hours. These typically pointed us in the right direction, though sometimes didn't have all the details we'd expect.

Fortunately, live chat gave the best results. We found responses were speedy and helpful, and the agents were able to give us useful answers to any extra questions we asked.

Final verdict

Whether you're a total website newbie or a big business running a huge and high-traffic web store, InMotion Hosting has a fast and feature-packed product which can help. A must for your web hosting shortlist.

InMotion Hosting FAQsWhat payment types does InMotion Hosting support?

InMotion Hosting accepts payment via credit or debit card, PayPal and U.S. purchase order or check.

Does InMotion Hosting offer refunds?

InMotion Hosting has a '100% satisfaction guarantee' which promises your money back if you ask for it within a very generous 90 days.

There are some exceptions. There's 90 days of protection for all shared hosting, 6 month and longer VPS and reseller hosting packages. But dedicated servers and monthly-billed VPS and reseller plans get 30 days.

Most hosts only give 30 days across the range, though, so even taking the small print into account, InMotion Hosting tramples over the rest.

Does InMotion Hosting have an uptime guarantee?

InMotion Hosting's website doesn't quote an uptime guarantee for shared hosting. Most hosts do a little more, typically claiming 99.9%, and with some explanation of how this is calculated and the compensation you might get if this isn't met.

The company looks to do better with VPS hosting, claiming each VPS is on a server 'with 99.99% uptime.' It doesn't use the word 'guarantee', though, and there's nothing in the small print to explain how this 99.99% is calculated or guaranteed.

Confusingly, the website quotes two figures for dedicated servers. At the top of the page it says servers are on a '99.99% uptime Tier 1 network'; at the bottom, it says current network uptime is 99.999%. Again, there's no mention of a guarantee.

We prefer hosts to offer more clarity, and offer compensation if expected uptime isn't met. For example, Scala Hosting's Uptime Guarantee says customers get all their monthly fees back if unscheduled downtime is greater than 1% (that's more than around 7 hours 18 minutes).

Where are InMotion Hosting's data centers?

InMotion Hosting has two US-based data centers in California and Virginia. It also provides another data center in Amsterdam. Even shared hosting users can choose which data center should host their website.

cPanel is included (Image credit: Future)What is my InMotion Hosting IP address?

If you need to connect your InMotion Hosting site to a domain managed elsewhere, it can help to find your web server's IP address.

To locate it, first log into the InMotion Hosting account management panel.

Scroll down and find your hosting plan in the list (it'll appear under your domain name).

Find and click your plan's cPanel icon (probably top left in the list.)

Your server IP address appears in the General Information panel on the left, in the 'Shared IP Address' box.

If you can't see a General Information panel, click the Server Information link, and look for the 'Shared IP Address'.

What are InMotion Hosting's nameservers?

InMotion Hosting's nameservers are ns1.InMotionhosting.com and ns2.InMotionhosting.com.

Cancel plans from the account panel subscriptions area (Image credit: Future)How do I cancel an InMotion Hosting product?

Point your browser at www.InMotionhosting.com, click Login top-right of the page, and log in using your regular InMotion Hosting credentials.

Click Billing, My Subscriptions.

If you see a red cross to the right of the subscription you'd like to cancel, click it and fill in the cancellation form. Your plan will remain active, but it won't renew and you won't be willed again.

If the Cancel column includes the text 'Set to Manual Renewal', the plan already has its 'auto-renew' setting turned off. You'll still receive email reminders just before the subscription is due to end, but if you're not interested, you can just ignore these and leave the account to expire.

The story of Mochahost began in 2002, when its future founders recognized a profound need for high-quality web hosting companies and decided to launch one of their own. Founded in San Jose, Mochahost’s key objective was to strike a balance between “top-of-the-line” services and a pocket-friendly price, and, at the same time, cover everything from personal blogs to large businesses.

Today, their main office is in New York, and they seem to have expanded beyond a US-centric strategy. In the past, their only data centers were in Texas and Illinois. Now they offer a choice of eight locations covering Texas, Canada, the UK, India, Singapore, Germany, Mexico, and Australia.

We first reviewed Mochahost in 2021, and a lot has changed since then. Where a visit to their site then was like a blast to the past (as in, the early 2000s), it's now caught up with the times and sports a simpler look in trendy colors.

• Want to try Mochahost? Check out the website here
• Also check out our roundup of the best WordPress hosting

Plans and pricing

Like most other hosting companies, Mochahost offers potential customers a range of plans to choose from. Unfortunately, while its website may be more up to date, its hosting plans seem to lag a bit further behind.

Mochahost's primary offerings are shared and VPS hosting, with a couple of WordPress-specific plans thrown in. There are no Cloud hosting plans nor dedicated servers available here.

Yet being somewhat entrenched in the past isn't always a bad thing, since it means Mochahost is also one of the few remaining service providers that still offers Windows web hosting in both the shared and VPS space. Because of this, Mochahost can offer relatively niche hosting solutions, such as Java Tomcat hosting.

Shared hosting

Shared hosting at Mochahost isn't cheap but comes with ample resources and cPanel access. (Image credit: Future)

Shared hosting plans at Mochahost start with the Soho plan at $3.99/mo on a 1-year term, with renewal prices on that plan hiking up to $12.99/mo. At the high end of that spectrum is Mocha, costing $9.99/mo and $20.99/mo on renewal. These prices aren't exactly low, but Mochahost is relatively generous with resources and provides cPanel access, Imunify 360 security, free SSL, free weekly backups, and free site migrations.

The problem is that several competitors are offering similar freebies and resource levels at much lower prices. For example, with just a bit less storage space, HostPapa comes at a much better price point. Personally, unless Mochahost offers stunning performance figures for its hosting plans, these prices seem a bit too high to be excellent value for money.

WordPress hosting

(Image credit: Future)

As if in retrospective shame of its high shared hosting prices, Mochahost throws $1/mo WordPress hosting plans in your face. The problem is that the dollar deal is only valid for the first month and renews at $14.99/mo (Lite) to $99.99/mo (Business).

Most of the freebies on Mochahost's WordPress plans are similar to those on its shared hosting plans. The only advantage beyond those is that if you sign up for the Starter or higher plans, you get WP Rocket included. That's about $59/year in value, which isn't enough to offset the monthly hosting charges here.

To put things in perspective, Cloudways hosting plans start at around $14/mo for cloud hosting ($11/mo if you're willing to forego their premium servers), with a custom server management dashboard. It also doesn't restrict you to a specific number of WordPress sites. At Mochahost, you'll need to be on their Pro plan or above to run more than a single site.

Windows shared hosting

(Image credit: Future)

Windows shared hosting plans at Mochahost range from $4.45/mo to $8.45/mo. We won't debate this pricing, since, as we all know, a considerable portion will go to Microsoft for its operating system license.

Resource allocation is similar to the Linux shared hosting plans we discussed earlier. You also get the comparable Windows hosting tech stack, meaning Plesk instead of cPanel, plus MS SQL/MariaDB, and all the .NETs you could want. The one point you'll want to be aware of is the relatively low memory allocation. On the cheapest Soho ASP.NET plan, all you get is 300MB.

Plus, since these are relatively niche plans (yes, it sounds a little weird to consider Windows hosting as niche, even today), you also have a narrower range of data center locations to choose from: either in Europe or the US.

VPS hosting

(Image credit: Future)

As with its shared hosting plans, VPS at Mochahost comes in both Linux and Windows variants. The same price adjustments apply, with Linux VPS plans slightly cheaper. The lowest-tier Linux VPS costs a mere $24.38/mo for a 1-year term, renewing at $48.75/mo thereafter. For that, you get 2 CPU cores, 4 GB of RAM, 80GB NVMe, and unlimited bandwidth/mo.

Impressively for the price, Mochahost also throws in cPanel (most hosting companies today charge separately for this on a VPS). For specs, the VPS plans at Mochahost seem like a relatively good deal, especially for managed plans.

There's also a lot of leeway for scalability since their top-of-the-line VPS comes with a whopping 64 CPU cores, 128GB of RAM, and 960GB NVMe storage.

Ease of use

Mochahost offers its users either Plesk of cPanel to help manage their hosting plans (Image credit: cPanel)

When creating an account with Mochahost, the first step is to select a hosting type, operating system, and a plan, and there are a whole lot of them. The next step is choosing a billing cycle, and this is where you’ll see details on the price and the plan’s key features. There, you can choose whether you want to be billed monthly, annually, biannually, or triannually.

To finalize the creation of your account (and your order), you’ll be required to provide Mochahost with some standard personal information. Then you’ll set a password, choose a preferred payment method, and complete your purchase.

The best part about Mochahost plans is that they all come with recognizable control panels, either cPanel or Plesk. These are industry-standard and help you manage your hosting server easily and quickly.

Speed and Reliability

For testing, we put the spotlight on Mochahost's Soho plan, which is the entry-level tier on its shared hosting list. We then uploaded a standard test WordPress website and ran WordPress core benchmarks and a load test to see if it holds up well under stress.

Aside from speed, it's notable that Mochahost offers separate uptime guarantees of 99.9% and 99.95% for its shared and VPS hosting services, respectively—nothing super-impressive, but just about meeting industry norms.

WordPress benchmark test (Soho)

CPU & Memory

Operations with large text data

6.82

Random binary data operations

8.38

Recursive mathematical calculations

4.71

Iterative mathematical calculations

7.18

Floating point operations

7.11

Filesystem

Filesystem write ability

3.55

Local file copy and access speed

4.79

Small file IO test

8.4

Database

Importing large amount of data to database

6.52

Simple queries on single table

8.79

Complex database queries on multiple tables

7.2

Object Cache

Persistent object cache enabled

0

Wordpress core

Shortcode processing

6.33

WordPress Hooks

8.45

WordPress option manipulation

9.06

REGEX string processing

7.95

Taxonomy benchmark

7.69

Object capability benchmark

7.89

Content filtering

3.47

JSON manipulations

7.85

Network

Network download speed test

10

Overall

Your server score

6.8

On WordPress core tests, Mochahost shared hosting did reasonably well with an overall score of 6.8 (out of ten). The scores were not dragged down in any specific area, meaning it offers a relatively well-rounded experience across CPU and memory, the filesystem, the database, and other elements.

The key takeaway here is that while these are relatively strong results, they aren't the best we've seen by far. As an example, SiteGround is a host with comparable shared hosting prices to Mochahost and scores much better in core WordPress benchmarks.

Siege test (Soho)

Concurrent users

5

9

15

Transactions

2253

3524

5503

Availability

100

100

100

Elapsed time

299.1

299.48

299.23

Data transactions

66.29

102.44

147.04

Response time

0.66

0.76

0.81

Transaction rate

7.53

11.77

18.39

Throughput

0.22

0.34

0.49

Concurrency

4.99

8.98

14.95

Successful transactions

2253

3525

5503

Failed transactions

0

0

0

Longest transaction

2.67

11.22

12.21

Shortest transaction

0.07

0.07

0.07

Mochahost also performed well under Siege, a tool we use to send an increasing user load to hosting servers. At 5, 9, and 15 concurrent users, Mochahost held its own and achieved a 100% success rate on every transaction attempted. This is pretty impressive, since most of the hosts we test start indicating some degree of failed transactions even at the 9-user mark.

One notable point, however, is that despite a 100% success rate, the longest transaction time increased from an initial 2.67 seconds at the 5-user load to 12.21 seconds at the 15-user load. This means that while all requests were processed, users on a real-world site would likely experience longer wait times as load increases.

Still, it's a fair cop overall and one that somewhat justifies Mochahost's steeper-than-typical price tags on its shared hosting plans.

Customer Support

Mochahost offers several support channels including a phone support line (Image credit: Future)

Like most web hosting companies today, Mochahost uses a chatbot as its first line of defense in customer support. From what we've seen, the chatbot scans a knowledge base and, if an answer isn't found, hands you over to a customer support representative.

We tested the process and were impressed that the handover from the chatbot to a real-live agent took just a minute. This stands in stark contrast to some hosts, where it took hours for a real human to respond to queries.

Aside from live chat, you can also get assistance by submitting a support ticket (for existing customers), or calling a phone support line.

Mochahost's knowledgebase is presented as a wiki-style site (Image credit: Future)

Aside from the support channels that allow you to talk to them, Mochohost also offers a relatively decent knowledge base. It's wiki-style and easy to navigate, but primarily covers how-to documentation. That means you can easily find out how to get things done, but you'll likely need to contact their support team if you're facing an actual problem.

The competition

HostGator is Mochahost’s fellow US-based rival, with data centers within the USA. With a full range of hosting options and features, competent support, and pricing, both can offer a bit of something to suit everyone’s needs. However, HostGator's pricing is lower even on renewal.

Bluehost and Mochahost are both suitable for newcomers and veterans alike, although neither host is without its flaws. With Mochahost’s cheapest plan, you won't get as many valuable features as with Bluehost.

Final verdict

Mochahost isn't one to promise you the moon and stars, and its plans are certainly not in the cheapest tier. However, its hosting servers perform well even under load, assuring potential customers of a firm, but a steady-performing website, so long as you don't create problems with your own designs and code.

There is a shortcoming in the lack of cloud and dedicated server plans. Yet Mochahost more than makes up for this with robust VPS offerings that go beyond the dedicated server plans offered by some hosts.

Finally, if you need Windows hosting for some reason, then Mochahost is one of the few places where you can still find these plans.

• We've also highlighted the best web hosting

In recent years, we've seen several hosting brands attempt to expand their services and challenge the envelope of the best web hosting services. Spaceship is the result of one such effort, with the parent company being Namecheap.

Granted, Spaceship offers a slightly more futuristic site design and interesting product names (e.g., Starlight, Hyperlift). However, even this is subjective, since one man's meat can be another's poison. Additionally, the superficial design differences don't affect the performance of the core products themselves.

In some instances, the product offerings are also identical in many ways. For example, the cloud WordPress hosting offered by Spaceship is EasyWP, which is another product that Namecheap has tried to spin off as a standalone offering.

(Image credit: Future)

• Want to try Spaceship? Check out the website here

What types of hosting does Spaceship offer? 

Spaceship offers an extensive product range that includes domain name services, web hosting, and associated services like a CDN, VPN, and domain name-based communication services. And because it's stripped out some essential services from hosting, these can also be considered other services, such as email hosting and auto backups.

Spaceship shared hosting

(Image credit: Future)

Spaceship's shared hosting plans start at $1.21/mo and top off at $2.87/mo on two-year cycles. They all begin with a 30-day free trial before any charges are due. The lowest-tier (Essential plan) comes with 20GB NVMe storage, free SSL, SiteJet AI website builder, and security services from Imunify360.

As you move up the plan tiers, storage space increases, and you also get the inclusion of AI tools that can help you write content for your site.

The kicker is that email services are free for only 30 days or one year, depending on the email plan you choose during sign-up. You'll also have to decide if you want auto-backups, which start at $11.76 for 5GB on the two-year plan. Added together, that initially low hosting price doesn't feel so low anymore.

Spaceship Cloud WordPress hosting

(Image credit: Future)

With WordPress sites driving much of the internet today, it's unsurprising that Spaceship also offers cloud-based WordPress hosting. These plans include the same 30-day free trial option as Spaceship's shared hosting plans. Thereafter, prices range from $28.88/year to $48.88/year, depending on which plan you choose.

Likewise, email services on these plans are free for a year, after which you'll have to pay separately for them, outside your hosting fees. At least you get HackGuardian for free, along with MalwareGuardian Autoclean protection on the two higher-tier WordPress plans.

Spaceship VPS hosting and App hosting

(Image credit: Future)

Spaceship offers a range of Virtual Private Server (VPS) plans called Starlight Virtual Machines. These come in three flavors: standard, CPU-optimized, and memory-optimized. The prices are also similar to Spaceship's cloud plans and are available on a monthly, quarterly, yearly, or pay-as-you-go basis.

For example, the standard VPS offers 1 CPU core, 2GB of RAM, 25GB of NVMe storage, and 1 TB of bandwidth. This is priced at either $4.90/mo, $13.88/3 months, $42.44/yr, or $0.007/hr.

You can also add on block storage of between 50GB and 500GB to these plans, of course, for an additional fee. Block storage plans cost between $30.44/year and $302.44/year, and you can attach up to 3 blocks to each virtual machine.

(Image credit: Future)

App hosting comes in the form of Starlight Hyperlift plans, which are essentially micro VMs. These allow you to connect to GitHub, then pull and build your code for deployment. It's a convenient and super-cheap way of deploying apps quickly. Hyperlift plans cost between $30.88/year and $453.88/year.

Can I build a web store with Spaceship?

Since Spaceship comes with the SiteJet AI website builder and supports WordPress, you can technically build an online store. That means you either create one from scratch or run WooCommerce.

There are no ecommerce specific features at Spaceship, so you'll have to find all your ecommerce needs elsewhere, such as payment gateways, specialized plugins, and so on. However, most of what you'll need is available with the Softaculous app installer (free at Spaceship).

If you want a dedicated ecommerce or online store, consider a service dedicated to this, such as Shopify or Squarespace. Or if you're planning to build for extreme traffic, a more scalable option like Cloudways or ScalaHosting.

How fast is Namecheap?

To measure Spaceships' performance, we uploaded our standard WordPress test site. This site sports a relatively simple design with online store functionality and a handful of products.

We then run two key tests: One to assess how well the hosting server handles WordPress in general, and the other to see whether it can withstand increasing user traffic over set periods.

WordPress benchmark test (Essential plan)

CPU & Memory

Operations with large text data

9.57

Random binary data operations

7.64

Recursive mathematical calculations

5.82

Iterative mathematical calculations

9.1

Floating point operations

6.05

Filesystem

Filesystem write ability

3.6

Local file copy and access speed

4.86

Small file IO test

8.59

Database

Importing large amount of data to database

4.03

Simple queries on single table

7.44

Complex database queries on multiple tables

5.38

Object Cache

Persistent object cache enabled

0

WordPress core

Shortcode processing

5.79

WordPress Hooks

8.29

WordPress option manipulation

8.94

REGEX string processing

0

Taxonomy benchmark

8.17

Object capability benchmark

7.63

Content filtering

3.38

JSON manipulations

7.1

Network

Network download speed test

8.72

Overall

Your server score

6.4

It's interesting (and yet unsurprising) to see that Spaceship shared hosting servers offer nearly identical performance characteristics to Namecheap servers. In core WordPress performance areas, Spaceship servers held up well under scrutiny, with results slightly above average.

Siege test (Essential plan)

Concurrent users

5

9

15

Transactions

10483

11535

12814

Availability

100

100

100

Elapsed time

299.83

299.8

299.68

Data transactions

53.43

58.8

65.34

Response time

0.14

0.23

0.35

Transaction rate

34.96

38.48

42.76

Throughput

0.18

0.2

0.22

Concurrency

4.95

8.99

14.96

Successful transactions

10484

11539

12815

Failed transactions

0

0

0

Longest transaction

5.08

5.11

5.16

Shortest transaction

0.02

0.02

0.02

The siege load testing tool we use is the more critical of the two since it best reflects how well a site hosted on Spaceship will perform in real-world scenarios. Unsurprisingly, performance here was also similar to Namecheap, with Spaceship successfully processing all transactions even at 15 concurrent users.

Even better, the longest transaction times were consistent, meaning your website users won't have to deal with overly long wait times, even when many users are on your website. While it may sound like something all web hosts should be capable of, this delicate load-balancing act isn't always present among hosting brands.

How easy is Spaceship to use?

The Hosting Manager at Spaceship allows you easy control over your web hosting plan. (Image credit: Future)

Right on its About Us page, Spaceship states that its "primary mission is to redefine speed and simplicity." This is about half right since we've already seen that Spaceship offers above-par performance. However, the usability factor is a separate ballgame altogether here.

After you've signed up for a Spaceship plan, the site attempts to take you through what it calls an "unboxing process," which initially worked well for us. However, after completing the final step, we were unceremoniously booted to the website's main page with no explanation. After that, we were on our own and had to follow the standard experimentation process. Not an altogether smooth transition.

User dashboard at Spaceship (Image credit: Future)

The user dashboard at Spaceship is also a little hard to use, especially for those new to web hosting. Sure, it looks cool (subjective), but it doesn't offer much of a different experience from cPanel. You'll still have to plod through the options one by one and figure them out on your own.

The bigger problem is that our default WordPress installation didn't work. This ended up in a chat with support, which took around 30 minutes to resolve. The strange thing was that the issue was caused by a misconfiguration in the .htaccess file, which the system itself created. Not an entirely great experience nor first impression if you're a new Spaceship user.

What is Spaceship's support like?

You can find some how-to guides in Spaceship's knowledge base. (Image credit: Future)

Spaceship offers 24/7 support via a knowledge base, live chat, and email (there's no telephone support).

The web knowledgebase is a modest collection of how-to articles organized into several categories. Sometimes, even the categories don't make much sense. For example, although Spaceship offers the SiteJet AI website builder, there is a knowledge base category that covers the Alf website builder instead. At the same time, Alf is what Spaceship calls its automated support chatbot, so you can understand our confusion.

Aside from the knowledge base, you can also choose to chat with their AI agent (and get transferred to a human) or email them for support. The process of getting in touch with them is smooth. We tried the process, and it took us just a few seconds to connect to a real support agent.

Final verdict

Spaceshop hosting plans start at pretty unbelievable prices, but you'll quickly realize that if you need all the regular features a hosting plan comes with, those low prices will soon balloon. At the same time, stripping them out offers a good deal if you don't want email or backups with your plan.

While their server performance is decent, we're concerned about the failure of their automated WordPress installation system. For new users, this can be a breaking point and lead to a disastrous first impression.

Spaceship web hosting FAQsDoes Spaceship provide free SSL?

Yes, Spaceship does offer free SSL certificates for most of its hosting products. Spaceship also protects custom-redirects with SSL for better data integrity. These features are part of an all-round security suite that helps keep you safer at Spaceship.

How secure is Spaceship?

Aside from SSL, Spaceship comes with many security features that protect everything from their servers to your apps. This includes suspicious login monitoring, passkey logins, virus and malware monitoring, strict firewall rules, and robust encryption on its email services.

Does Spaceship support ecommerce sites?

You can build an ecommerce site on Spaceship using the provided tools, such as the Softaculous app installer. However, Spaceship doesn't offer some features you'll need, such as payment processing. For that, you'll have to source a third-party provider from elsewhere.

Is Spaceship hosting reliable?

Spaceship hosting offers an impressive 99.99% uptime guarantee across all its web hosting plans. The industry standard is around 99.9% for shared hosting and 99.99% for VPS and cloud plans. However, Spaceship does not explicitly state what happens if it fails to deliver on that uptime guarantee, unlike some other providers that specify compensation tiers in the event of a breach of the service level agreement.

Namecheap is known as one of the best domain registrars where you can find and buy whatever dot-com or other TLD you'd like to use for your website. According to Domainstate, it handles more than 14 million domains: only GoDaddy has more.

But there's much more to Namecheap than domains. The company has steadily been increasing its range of the best web hosting products, covering everyone from bargain-hunting first-timers to demanding business users.

Recent additions include Namecheap's own content delivery network (CDN), which accelerates your website's speed for visitors worldwide. The company even offers a budget VPN to keep you safe on public Wi-Fi and let you access regional content from other countries.

• Want to try Namecheap? Check out the website here

What types of hosting does Namecheap offer? 

Namecheap's range starts with low cost and easy-to-use shared hosting, a perfect choice for first-timers and less demanding websites. There are Namecheap promo codes for bringing the cost down even more too.

Namecheap also offers EasyWP, a managed WordPress hosting option with valuable site management features and more resources delivering extra speed. If you need more power and freedom than that Namecheap' also offers VPS and dedicated hosting.

Namecheap's shared hosting plans start off incredibly cheap though they do increase in price upon renewal (Image credit: Namecheap)Namecheap shared hosting

Using a shared hosting plan means your site is hosted on a single server along with many others. That's great for value, as the server costs are shared across multiple accounts, but it can hurt speed and reliability. Sharing a server's CPU, RAM, and network connection with other sites can disrupt your services because they may experience traffic spikes that consume shared resources. There's no sign that Namecheap's shared hosting is overloaded, but it's always something you need to keep in mind when choosing a shared hosting service.

Namecheap's shared hosting range looks, well, seriously cheap, with headline prices starting at just $1.98 a month over two years ($4.88 on renewal).

A good set of core features includes a free domain, free migration, a bundled website builder, unlimited bandwidth, and at least twice-weekly backups. Softaculous is on hand to speedily install WordPress and 150+ other apps, and cPanel has all the power you'll need to manage your web space.

Even the cheapest plan supports hosting three websites, too (the others allow unlimited sites). Most providers only allow a single site on their starter shared plan.

All shared hosting plans come with 50 free SSL certificates for the first year. If you do not want to pay the $6.99/year to renew one, you still get free SSL through cPanel.

Prices before and after renewal (1 year plan)

Plan

Starting price

Renewal price

Stellar

$1.98

$4.88

Stellar Plus

$2.98

$6.88

Stellar Business

$4.98

$9.88

(Image credit: Namecheap)Namecheap WordPress hosting 

WordPress is a hugely popular website creation platform with over 40% of the world's sites using the CMS. It's easy for beginners to use, yet powerful enough to build huge business websites and leading-edge web stores.

Namecheap's EasyWP plans are more expensive than its shared hosting plans, but they offer more resources and are specifically optimized to deliver faster WordPress speeds (Namecheap says they're at least three times faster than regular WordPress on its shared hosting account).

EasyWP Starter offers 10GB of NVMe storage, a free CDN to boost performance, and support for a single site with unlimited monthly visitors. It looks cheap at $3.24 a month on the annual plan and $5.74 on renewal, though there is one catch: the SSL is free only for Namecheap domains. This is where the price can start to increase: Positive SSL for 5 years is $5.99 and renews at $6.99 per year. If you want to manage all your hosting and services in one place, Namecheap is a good option, but if you want to distribute your services across multiple providers, hosting with Namecheap might not be the best option.

The other EasyWP plans add more storage and resources. The top-of-the-range EasyWP Supersonic plan comes with the most goodies, but still offers fair value at $6.57 a month on the annual plan and $11.57 on renewal.

The plans have some weaknesses. They support creating only one website, and you don't get the same range of WordPress-oriented features as some of its top competitors offer.

If Namecheap doesn't have the power you need, consider SiteGround's WordPress hosting range. These start at $3.99/mo with relatively modest resources. However, SiteGround also offers advanced WordPress and AI-based tools for you to play with.

Namecheap's WordPress yearly plans

Plan

Starting price

Renewal price

EasyWP Starter

$3.24

$5,.74

EasyWP Turbo

$5.16

$9.57

EasyWP Supersonic

$6.57

$11.57

(Image credit: Namecheap)Namecheap VPS hosting

Virtual Private Server (VPS) hosting is faster and more configurable than shared hosting. But it's also relatively expensive, and more complex to set up and manage, which means it's not an ideal choice for novice users with simple, low-traffic sites.

If you're an expert or have a more demanding website, though, it's a very different story. A good VPS can give you massive control over your server, and the power to handle hundreds of thousands of visits a month, sometimes for less than the cost of high-end shared hosting.

Namecheap's VPS hosting starts at $6.88 a month, billed annually, for a 2-core CPU, 2GB RAM, 40GB NVMe storage, and 1 TB bandwidth (renews at $9.88). While that looks cheap, keep in mind that it's an unmanaged system, which means you're left to run the server yourself (add, install, and update software, restore a failed server, and more). You don't even get a control panel.

Managed VPS is easier to use, but also more expensive. The unmanaged Quasar plan is $12.88 billed monthly for a 4-core, 6GB RAM, 120GB storage, and 3TB bandwidth system. Adding complete server management and cPanel lifts the price to $54.76 (and you can add $1.50 a month if you need Softaculous to install WordPress or anything else).

Namecheap's top-of-the-range Magnetar VPS plan is more powerful, with 8 CPU cores, 12GB RAM, 240GB storage, and 6TB bandwidth. It's $28.88 billed monthly for an unmanaged system, rising to $63.76 with the managed option.

The significant advantage of Namecheap's VPS range is its price. We often recommend Hostwinds' extensive VPS range, but what do you get for $29 a month there? Two CPU cores, 6GB RAM, and 100GB storage, a far less capable system.

The problem with Namecheap is that it offers only three VPS plans, and they're not as configurable as the best in the competition. If Namecheap's choices don't suit your needs, you'll find far more appealing deals elsewhere.

If you're on a budget, IONOS' cheapest VPS plan starts at $2 billed monthly, for instance. It's as basic as a VPS gets (1 core, 1GB RAM), but it's ideal for learning how the technology works.

At the other end of the market, InMotion Hosting's VPS hosting is crammed with features, with great support, and is primarily for more demanding business users.

Namecheap's unmanaged VPS plans after renewal

Plan

Starting price

Renewal price

Pulsar (2 CPU cores, 2 GB RAM, 40 GB storage)

$6.88

$9.88

Quasar (2 CPU cores, 2 GB RAM, 40 GB storage)

$12.88

$15.88

Magnetar (2 CPU cores, 2 GB RAM, 40 GB storage)

$24.88

$28.88

(Image credit: Namecheap)Namecheap dedicated hosting

Opt for shared or VPS hosting and you're forced to share your web server with others. Sign for a dedicated package, though, and it's entirely yours. RAM, CPU time, the network connection, it's all reserved for your website only, so you'll never again be slowed down by what's happening with other accounts.

Namecheap used to offer only a handful of dedicated server deals, but right now there are 58. There's something for everyone, with prices starting low at under $50 billed monthly for an unmanaged 4 core, 8GB RAM system, rising to around $250 for a 16 core CPU with 128GB RAM and fast-as-it-gets 4 x 1.92TB SSD NVMe storage. All plans include free site migration and a 99.99% uptime guarantee.

As with VPS hosting, the lowest prices are for unmanaged systems (you must run the server yourself.) Choosing the Complete Management option (Namecheap maintains the server for you) with a cPanel Solo license adds around $65 to the server cost (billed monthly.) But that's still great value, especially as there's no setup fee, and you can pay significantly more elsewhere.

The main issue with Namecheap is the lack of configuration options. You can't take a base server and pay extra to add more RAM, or an extra backup drive, for instance: what you see is more or less what you'll get. There's still no Windows hosting option, and servers are only available in the Arizona data center: you can't choose the UK or Netherlands.

If you don't have any special configuration needs, and you're looking to run a high-traffic or business-critical site where speed and reliability are vital, then Namecheap's lengthy list of base servers and great value should earn it a place on your shortlist.

Also consider IONOS. It doesn't have as many server plans, but there are some very cheap managed and unmanaged deals, and other options you won't find at Namecheap (Windows hosting on some servers, storage servers with up to 48TB storage and US or Europe data centers).

Elsewhere, both A2 Hosting and InMotion Hosting have a wide range of managed and unmanaged plans, with unusually flexible billing to keep costs down (1, 3, 6 and 12 months.) And if you're looking for real power, check out Liquid Web. Its high-end servers can handle just about anything, and the company's 100% uptime and power guarantee (and excellent support) should get you an ultra-reliable service.

Bundled with shared hosting, Namecheap's no-code website builder allows you to easily create a website thanks to the inclusion of over 200 templates (Image credit: Namecheap)Does Namecheap have a website builder? 

If you don't have a website yet, and WordPress looks too complicated, a website builder could be the answer. Choose a starting design from a site gallery, then add content to a page by dragging and dropping text, images, maps, contact forms and more.

Namecheap includes a free website builder with its shared hosting packages. This has 230 templates of various types (business, blogs, food, more), and a decent selection of widgets allows you to add plenty of content to your site: image galleries, maps, forms, blogs, product listings, payment buttons, and more. It's not a bad product, especially for free, and it provides an easy alternative to WordPress for simple site creation.

Namecheap also has a paid website builder called Site Maker, which is part of the Visual suite of design tools. Answer a few questions, upload an image or two, choose a color scheme, and Visual automatically creates your site. You can then replace the default text with your own and add pre-built blocks to insert new content, such as forms and photo galleries.

Namecheap doesn't stop with the website. Bonus free tools allow you to create a logo, design business cards, and more.

This isn't the most powerful of website builders (there's no web store support, for instance), but it's enough for simple personal sites, and the price is right. Visual is $3.88 billed monthly, with a free SSL certificate, 99.99% uptime, and support for creating a single site. There's a free .contact, .design, or .xyz domain, too, though beware, .com, .net, and other top-level domains must be purchased separately.

Sign up for Namecheap's shared hostin and you'll get a copy of Softaculous (Image credit: Namecheap)Can I build a web store with Namecheap? 

Namecheap doesn't have any specialist ecommerce products, at least yet (we suspect the new Visual website builder will add something soon), but you're free to build a web store using any of the company's shared, dedicated or VPS hosting plans.

Sign up for shared hosting, for instance, and you'll get a copy of Softaculous. It's a capable platform which can help you install OpenCart, PrestaShop, WooCommerce or other ecommerce systems. Namecheap doesn't give you any special tools or store-building support to point you in the right direction, so you'll have to learn the basics yourself, but it's not too difficult (if you know your way around WordPress, you can learn WooCommerce.)

If you're looking for something simpler, try HostGator's website builder, which has the option to add a web store. Bluehost's WooCommerce plans are a good mid-range alternative that add a bunch of useful business-friendly marketing extras, and Wix offers great templates, a wealth of features, and the power to build almost anything.

How fast is Namecheap?

To test Namecheap shared hosting performance, we uploaded a pre-created WordPress website, then ran core benchmark and load tests. This enables us to see a snapshot of how the server should perform for WordPress websites and how it can cope with increasing user loads.

Reliability is also a factor in a hosting provider's performance, so, as a side note, Namecheap offers a 100% uptime guarantee for many of its hosting plans. That includes much of its shared hosting range, VPS, and Dedicated server accounts.

WordPress benchmark test (Stellar Business)

CPU & Memory

Operations with large text data

4.91

Random binary data operations

5.28

Recursive mathematical calculations

3.61

Iterative mathematical calculations

6.84

Filesystem

Filesystem write ability

3.6

Local file copy and access speed

4.85

Small file IO test

8.59

Database

Importing large amount of data to database

3.88

Simple queries on single table

7.38

Complex database queries on multiple tables

1.31

Object Cache

Persistent object cache enabled

0

Network

Network download speed test

8.25

Overall

Your server score

4.7

Unfortunately, Namecheap's shared hosting didn't do quite as well as we would have liked. The overall score is 4.7, which wasn't dragged down by any particular WordPress key performance segment, but showed overall weakness across the board.

There are several other hosts in the best cheap web hosting space to have this lacklustre performance in shared hosting. It's only unfortunate that some cheap yet high-performance solutions also exist, such as Hostinger, which scored an impressive 8.1 for its WordPress core benchmark test.

Siege test (Stellar Business)

Concurrent users

5

9

15

Transactions

1677

2903

4917

Availability

100

100

100

Elapsed time

299.15

299.02

299.78

Data transactions

72.19

129.47

216.13

Response time

0.89

0.92

0.91

Transaction rate

5.61

9.71

16.4

Throughput

0.24

0.43

0.72

Concurrency

4.99

8.97

14.97

Successful transactions

1677

2903

4917

Failed transactions

0

0

0

Longest transaction

7.25

7.16

8.95

Shortest transaction

0.63

0.63

0.63

Given the not-so-great results in core WordPress benchmarks, we weren't too hopeful about Namecheap's load test. This is where we were proven wrong, and Namecheap pulled a whopper on us.

As user loads increased, Namecheap's shared hosting server maintained a 100% successful transaction rate and a reasonably low longest transaction time of 8.95 seconds. While the overall transaction volume was middling, it does mean that Namecheap's servers are highly reliable under load.

Based on these results alone, we can definitely recommend them if you're in the market for a reasonably priced host that can run a steady WordPress website.

How easy is Namecheap to use? 

Easy to use cPanel (Image credit: Namecheap)

Namecheap's account control panel looks a little cluttered at first glance, with lists, and sidebars, and menus and icons everywhere you look. But spend just a moment exploring, and it begins to make a lot more sense.

There's a list of your domains over here, for instance, hosting panels over there, and some of these pages are hugely useful. Visit your hosting plan's Manage panel, for instance, and you'll find its disk space and bandwidth allowance; server hostname, IP address and data center; cPanel Launch button and shortcuts; usage stats, auto-renewal settings, a Cancel button and more.

That's a huge improvement on many providers, where key settings and options are scattered around, and you can spend an age trying to find the features and details you need.

You'll probably spend more time managing your website rather than your hosting plan, of course, but Namecheap scores here, too. While IONOS, iPage and some other hosts try to cut corners by providing their own custom management tools, Namecheap uses industry standards such as Softaculous to install and manage WordPress, and cPanel to set up your domains, emails and just about everything else.

This is good news, for a couple of reasons. First, it's a guarantee of quality (that's how these tools got to be industry standards.) But mostly, it makes life easier for everyone. If you've ever used cPanel or Softaculous before, you'll feel at home here immediately. And even if you haven't, the time you spend learning the cPanel basics won't be wasted. If you move from Namecheap in a few years, there's a good chance your next provider will also use cPanel, and you'll already know how to do all your most important hosting tasks.

What is Namecheap's support like? 

You can find how-to videos, guides and more in Namecheap's help center (Image credit: Namecheap)

Namecheap has 24/7 support via its website, live chat and ticket (there's no telephone support).

The web knowledgebase is a vast collection of articles organized into common hosting categories: email, SSL certificates, domains, EasyWP (Namecheap's WordPress range), and more.

Choosing a section like WordPress displays articles in subsections: Getting Started (Dashboard Overview, How to create a website etc.), WordPress migration, plugins and themes (How to install a new theme), database access, domains and more.

It's both hugely comprehensive, and also surprisingly easy to use. Just scrolling down the WordPress category page reveals articles that many users will want to read: 'What's the different between managed WordPress hosting and shared hosting?', 'How to access your WordPress dashboard?', 'How to improve WordPress website security', and many more. This isn't just a place for troubleshooting specific issues; it's somewhere we might happily visit just to learn about a product.

Sometimes you need to solve an immediate problem, of course, and that's where live chat comes in. This worked well for us: chat was always available, the longest we waited for a conversation to begin was around three minutes, and the agents did a good job of identifying our issues, and clearly explaining what to do next.

Our test ticket left us waiting for a little longer, but we still had a reply in around 90 minutes. It was helpful, summarizing everything we needed to know in a single paragraph, and providing a link if we needed to know more.

The lack of any phone option might be an issue for some, but overall Namecheap's support worked well for us, especially considering the (very low) prices you're paying. If this is a key priority for you, check out the support site for yourself; you don't have to be a customer to view it, and just browsing the categories and articles will give you a good idea of how the service could work for you.

Final verdict

Namecheap’s hosting doesn’t quite have the power or features you’ll see with the best of the competition. Still, it could be a wise value choice for first-timers with relatively basic sites, or businesses that can make good use of its more powerful dedicated hosting range.

While the plans we tested didn't offer blazing-fast speeds, we did note that they're steady workhorses that can pull along just fine even at somewhat heavy loads. Combined with their "all-in" services, Namecheap is as good as it gets if you want decent hosting and everything else in one service provider.

Namecheap web hosting FAQsWhat payment types does Namecheap support?

Namecheap accepts payments via card, PayPal and Bitcoin.

(Image credit: Namecheap)Does Namecheap offer refunds?

Namecheap's refund policy is far more complicated than most providers, with all kinds of special clauses and exceptions. Scala Hosting describes its money-back guarantee in under 140 words; Hostwinds, under 180; Namecheap needs more than 1,500.

If we summarize that, as a general rule, Namecheap offers a 30-day money-back guarantee for most shared and VPS hosting packages, and 7 days for dedicated hosting. Add-on products and services mostly aren't covered, with a few exceptions (some domain name renewals are refundable if you make a request within five days of purchase, for instance).

Although we'd prefer a policy that's a little simpler to follow, Namecheap's 30 day refund period is standard for the industry. If you need more, HostGator offers 45 days, InMotion Hosting an exceptional 90 days on many plans.

Does Namecheap have an uptime guarantee?

Namecheap has a 99.9% uptime guarantee for its VPS and reseller accounts, and, unusually, a 100% uptime guarantee for its other shared and dedicated hosting plans.

For every hour of unscheduled maintenance or downtime you experience in a month, Namecheap will offer you a day for free, up to a maximum of one month's free hosting.

This isn't quite as good as it sounds. Other providers typically have a 99.9% uptime guarantee, which translates to an acceptable downtime of 43.83 minutes a month. Although Namecheap specifies a 100% uptime guarantee, it won't begin to pay out until your site has been down for a total of one hour: the company is allowing itself more downtime, not less.

Despite that, Namecheap's deal is still better than we see with many providers. GoDaddy has a 99.9% uptime guarantee, for instance, but if it doesn't meet that, you can only receive a maximum 5% credit for your monthly fee.

Where are Namecheap's data centers?

Web hosts run and maintain their servers in buildings called data centers. A good web host should have plenty of web hosts around the world, and allow you to choose which one will host your site. If your audience is in California, say, selecting a US data center will get you much better performance than something in Australia.

Namecheap has data centers in the USA, UK and Netherlands. There's a catch in an unusual extra $1 a month for choosing the UK or Netherlands locations for some plans (look carefully in the shopping cart when you pick a data center, to be sure you're not caught out.) But if you can live with the price, that should deliver good results for both North American and European customers.

Namecheap's locations aren't much help if you're in Asia, though, and some providers have a more global reach. For example, GoDaddy has data centers in North America, India, Singapore and Europe.

What is my Namecheap IP address?

It's sometimes useful to know the IP address of the server hosting your website. For example, this can help you point a domain you've registered elsewhere to point at your Namecheap web space. Whatever the reason you need the IP, it only takes a moment to locate. Here's what to do.

Log into your Namecheap control panel (ap.www.namecheap.com).

Click 'Hosting List' in the left-hand sidebar.

Find your plan in the Hosting Subscription list, and click its 'GO TO CPANEL' button on the right-hand side.

Look at the General Information box on the right-hand side. Your server IP is listed as the 'Shared IP Address'.

(If you don't see a General Information, find and click the Server Information link).

What are Namecheap's nameservers?

If you have a Namecheap shared hosting package (Stellar, Stellar Plus or Stellar Business), you must use the nameservers dns1.namecheaphosting.com and dns2.namecheaphosting.com.

With other plans, check Namecheap's 'How to connect a domain to a server or hosting’ support document for more information.

(Image credit: Namecheap)How do I cancel a Namecheap product?

Log into your Namecheap control panel (ap.www.namecheap.com).

Click 'Hosting List' on the left-hand side.

If you'd like a plan to expire when its subscription ends, click Auto-Renew to turn it off.

To cancel a plan right now, click the arrow to the right of the 'GO TO CPANEL' link and click Manage.

Click Cancel Service to open the cancellation page and complete its various steps. Be sure to read everything carefully, because there are important details here. You may be told if you can (or can't) get a refund, for instance, and if there's anything else you need to do to cancel the account.

Where can I find my Namecheap support PIN?

Contact Namecheap support with any account-related question and the agent will ask for a support PIN, a secret number which verifies that you're the real account owner.

If you can't remember your PIN, log into the Namecheap account panel (ap.www.namecheap.com), then hover your mouse over (or just click) your account name top-left of the screen. The Security page appears, and your support PIN is listed on the left, in the Access section.

Alternatively, to access the Security page directly, click Profile, Security in the left-hand sidebar.

Amazfit Helio Strap: One minute review

The Amazfit Helio Strap is a good lower-cost alternative to a Whoop band or even some of the best fitness trackers like Fitbit, as long as you enter with the right expectations. The hardware itself is substantially cheaper, and no subscription is required for day-to-day use of a Helio Strap.

In return, you get all-day health and fitness tracking, with more of a focus on active forms of exercise than some lifestyle wearables. Amazfit doesn’t provide quite as explicit training readiness insights as a Whoop band, but with stats that focus on your training load and overall condition, it doesn’t take a degree in sports science to join the dots for yourself and get most of the benefits.

This is a less upmarket band than some of the competition. Its central part is plastic, with no metal parts, but this is a win for comfort as it further lowers weight.

Amazfit Helio Strap: Specifications

(Image credit: Future / Andrew Williams)

Component

Amazfit Helio Strap

Price

$99.99 / £99.00 / $179.00AU

Dimensions

33.97 x 24.3 x 10.59mm

Weight

20g with band

Case/bezel

Fiber-reinforced polymer

Display

N/A

GPS

N/A

Battery life

Up to 10 days

Connection

Bluetooth

Water resistant

Yes, 5ATM

Amazfit Helio Strap: Price and availability

• It costs $99.99 / £99.00 / $179.00AU
• Less than the Polar Loop
• Much less than the ongoing Whoop subscription

Despite having less tech inside than a more traditional fitness tracking wearable, the pricing of these screenless wearables (other than the Whoop MG) is less aggressive than some other categories. It’s because they’re a lifestyle buy as much as anything

The Amazfit Helio Strap is one of the better-priced options, though. It costs $99.99 / £99.00 / $179.00AU, far less than a Whoop band or the Polar Loop.

There’s no need for an ongoing subscription here either, although one is of course offered. It’s called Aura (not to be confused with Oura). This adds an AI-based wellness advisor and lots of audio-based relaxation content, costing $69.99 (around £52 / AU$100) a year, although during testing we were offered a year’s worth for £19.99. There’s a 14-day free trial too.

• Value score: 4/5

Amazfit Helio Strap: Design

(Image credit: Future / Andrew Williams)

• Screen-free
• Does not feel premium, no metal
• Extremely light – set and forget

The Amazfit Helio Strap is a screen-free wearable, and an exceptionally light one. It weighs just 20g, strap included. You can thank the relatively low-frills style of the central unit for this, which is just a puck of plastic. All you see when wearing the Hello Strap is the fabric of the strap itself, which hooks up to the tracker’s block using traditional watch fastenings. Amazfit also offers an arm strap, should you prefer to wear it off the wrist.

I have at times had to check whether the watch was actually still attached, which is just not something that happens with the GPS running watches I tend to wear daily. There is one important caveat to note on the design, though; the Amazfit Helio Strap is not as slimline as you might guess. It sticks out a way from your wrist and its sides don’t fully hug its surface either. In person it’s thicker than the Coros Pace 4 watch I was using at the same time, which is at odds with the vibe most of these screenless wearables try to give out.

That said, Amazfit doesn’t sell the Helio Strap as a casual step and sleep tracker. It apparently has the keener exerciser in mind, as you can see from the Hyrox-themed strap attached here. Hyrox and Amazfit have entered a partnership (Amazfit is now the official timekeeper for the event), but the standard version of the strap is plain two-tone dark grey.

This watch isn’t a friend to those tight-fit long-sleeved base layers that hug the wrist, but actually wearing the Hello Strap has been an entirely discomfort-free experience. Of course, you will still need to make the strap reasonably tight for the most accurate heart rate results so the little sensor mount on the back will leave an imprint in your wrist. It comes with the territory.

Amazfit rates the watch’s water resistance at 5ATM, so you won’t have to take it off too often. The official guidance is the Helio Strap is “suitable for splashes, snow, showering, swimming” but shouldn’t be worn in the sauna or for a “hot shower” as the steam can damage the internal seals.

• Design score: 4/5

Amazfit Helio Strap: Features

(Image credit: Future / Andrew Williams)

• Relatively slight on features
• Transmit HR data to gym machines and fitness watches
• Set up to 10 haptic alarms

Wearables like the Amazfit Hello Strap are not out to wow us with their expansive feature lists (after all, they’re designed not to be interacted with) but it does do more than you might guess.

It has a temperature sensor, for example, used to check for variations from the norm overnight. Such a change could be an indicator of illness. You can set up to 10 alarms too, which use the Helio Strap’s vibration motor to alert you. It’s not a massively powerful buzz, though, so you might not want to rely on it to wake you up for work each day.

A little unusual for a screenless wearable, Amazfit also stresses its active fitness tracking skills. You can manually start a specific tracked exercise in the app on your phone, and the Helio Strap can also be set to automatically detect workouts and log them as such. When you start a tracked session in the app, the Helio Strap can transmit live heart rate data to another device. Some more advanced gym machines support this, as do cycling computers and some fitness watches. It uses Bluetooth for this, not ANT+, which was the classic technology of heart rate chest straps.

What else is there to note? The Hello Strap uses a tiny little charge puck that connects to a pair of metal contacts on the back. Easy to lose, but also easy to transport in a pocket.

• Features score: 4/5

Amazfit Helio Strap: Performance

(Image credit: Future / Andrew Williams)

• Battery life as described
• Solid heart rate accuracy
• Plenty of metrics provided in-app

Low upkeep is one of the best parts of the Amazfit Hello Strap. Despite weighing next-to-nothing, Amazfit still says it delivers “up to 10 days” of battery life. And that is entirely consistent with our experience. After using it for a week, the Helio Strap had 35% charge left. While two-week battery watches with screens are common enough, they weigh a lot more than the Helio Strap.

A lot of this wearable’s metrics rely on heart rate data. The Hello Strap’s is mostly solid with some small issues that may not dull its appeal too much, especially at this price point. Throughout the day, passive tracking is decent and there are no wild spikes as you walk around your home or office. This can happen when a tracker takes any sign of walking as a suggestion your HR is likely rising fast.

You don’t manually start tracked activities on the watch, but when comparing the results of long runs on the Helio Strap with those of a chest strap, though, the Amazfit Hello Strap occasionally overestimates heart rate by around 10bpm. Not a hugely meaningful difference to most, and certainly good enough for an indication of heart rate zones, but still not quite as accurate as the best Apple Watches. Amazfit does talk about the Helio Strap as a wearable to pair with another fitness watch, to fill in stat gaps throughout the day and night, and during other workouts the results were (relatively) bang-on accurate. But there’s definitely scope for tracking accuracy to improve in a firmware update.

As for tracking steps, the Amazon Helio Strap recorded slightly lower counts over a five day period, apart from one day when they were almost identical just 3000 steps apart. Over the five day period the Helio Strap recorded 94% of the steps of the Garmin Forerunner 970. It’s also worth noting the Garmin was worn on my dominant arm (the Helio Strap was not) so that could have a part to play here.

Sleep tracking performance is solid. A couple of nights during testing I wore the Amazfit Helio Strap alongside three other wearables to see how great the disparities would be: the Garmin Forerunner 970, Polar Loop and Coros Pace 4. All four of these watches failed to pick up on any of the moment you briefly wake up and wonder why the alarm clock reads 4:55am. But those times you actually have to get up to go to the toilet? It picks them up. The Amazfit Helio Strap also did consistently note a change in sleep state and heart rate during those missed moments of wakefulness, though – the next best thing.

It’s also important not to underrate the quality of the Amazfit Helio Strap app. It’s Zepp, shared with other Amazfit wearables. And its layout is kinda great for the purposes of a wearable like this. On the front page you get a handy summary of stats you likely want to see daily, with a traffic light system too show which (if any) are a bit dodgy. These include resting heart rate, sleep duration, Skin temperature, exertion load and more.

This layout returns in a separate Sleep tab, where we get stats like heart rate variability, Deep Sleep duration and skin temperature, again with the traffic light system.

Amazfit also goes big on a concept called BioCharge, which is an estimation of your overall energy level. The one missing next step is what you get with Whoop, where such data – and other bits – are used to more explicitly tell you whether you should work out on a specific day or not. And the paid-for Aura subscription is more about wellness and relaxation that that kind of athlete-focused experience.

• Performance score: 4/5

Amazfit Helio Strap: Scorecard

Category

Comment

Score

Value

Cheaper than most and with a no forced subscription? Typical of Amazfit, the Hello Strap is decent value.

4/5

Design

It may not be a luxury wearable but the super-low weight is fantastic for comfort.

4/5

Features

While screen-free wearables are never feature-packed, this one has a few neat extras including heart rate broadcasting.

4/5

Performance

You get good overall stat accuracy with just some missed wakeful moments during sleep tracking.

4/5

Amazfit Helio Strap: Should I buy?

(Image credit: Future / Andrew Williams)Buy it if...

You want a good-value screen-free wearable

While not Amazfit’s most aggressively-priced tracker, it beats the big-name competition and then some.

You value comfort highly

At just 20g, you can often forget the Amazfit Helio Strap is even on your wrist.

You want quick daily dose health stats

The Amazfit app does a good job of highlighting unusual health stats, with a colour highlight system.

Don't buy it if...

You want a wearable for run tracking

This band doesn’t have GPS (or a screen, obviously) so is not ideal for more hardcore run training.

If luxury style is a priority

A fabric strap and plastic housing are great for low weight, but there are no luxe touches here.

You want a direct Whoop replacer

The stats the Amazfit Helio Band are much more classic lifestyle fitness tracker fodder instead of Whoop’s hyper-detailed recovery focus.

Also consider

Whoop MG

The most premium version of the original screenless wellness wearable.

Read our full Whoop MG review

Polar Loop

A little more money, but a more premium stainless steel design.

Read our full Polar Loop reviewView Deal

First reviewed: January 2026

GTBox T1: 30-second review

Since Intel stopped its NUC platform, and by its definition guidance, we’ve seen a significant number of mini PC designs that have stepped outside the norms of shape and size in mini systems.

GTBox makes a mix of conventional designs and more out-there options, and the T1 is distinctively different. This NUC-sized motherboard is vertically mounted in a cylindrical speaker case measuring 115mm in diameter and 165mm high.

Because of that ergonomic choice, there is no front or back, only a single I/O section where all the ports and the power button are located. That’s a bit of a crunch, and due to this, there is only one USB4 and LAN port, but there are HDMI and DisplayPort video outs.

Inside the cylindrical speaker case is a punchy AMD Ryzen 7 8745HS processor, Zen 4 architecture from the 2023 Hawk Point series. In this context, it's combined with 32GB of DDR5 memory and a 1TB Gen 4 NVMe SSD.

This makes the T1 a powerful small system eclipsed only by Ryzen AI platforms, and the pre-release pricing is extremely competitive.

However, the downside to this design is that there is no access to the memory or storage, and you are specifically told that opening up the T1 to do this is ‘irreversible’.

If you are happy with those limitations, then the T1 might be a good choice, but the lack of flexibility precludes it from being one of the best mini PCs I've tested. Maybe with the T2, or whatever, GTBox can work out a way to put the mainboard on sliding rails to make memory and storage upgrades (or replacements) possible.

GTBox T1: Price and availability

• How much does it cost? From $700
• When is it out? Available now
• Where can you get it? Direct from GTBox

At the time of review, there is only a single SKU of the GTBox T1 available from the official GTBox site.

That model comes with 32GB of DDR5 and 1TB of storage. The cost is $699.99 for US customers with shipping included. GTBox doesn’t quote specific prices in other currencies, but they will ship to the UK, EU and Switzerland.

One oddity I noticed is that before you add this system to the cart, it tells you that “Free standard shipping on orders over $99” and “Free shipping and tax included in Europe and the United States.”

When you add it, it says that if you spend another $100, you can get free shipping.

I hope that’s a mistake. In both the UK and the EU, there are rules about real price discounts, where you can’t say you’ve made a reduction if you never sold it at the pre-discount price. GTBox has this machine reduced from $799.99 to $699.99, and I suspect it had that from the start.

Looking at competitor systems using the same platform, the candidates include the Bosgame M4 and the Acemagic W1.

The Boxgame M4 has had some hardware changes since I reviewed it, but you can still find the original M4, which uses the AMD Ryzen 7 8745HS and costs $559 for the 32GB+1TB SKU, via Amazon.com.

And, the Acemagic W1 is $549, but there is no stock of the memory and storage options. However, Acemagic will sell you the barebones model for only $280.

All of these systems, when in stock, are cheaper than the GTBox T1, and all of them also have the ability to be internally upgraded with extra RAM and storage.

On that basis, the T1 doesn’t look like an especially hot deal.

• Value: 3 / 5

(Image credit: Mark Pickavance)GTBox T1: Specs

Item

Spec

CPU:

AMD Ryzen 7 8745HS ( 8C/16T, 3.8GHz up to 4.9GHz)

GPU:

AMD Radeon 780M, 12 cores, up to 2.6 GHz

NPU:

AMD Ryzen AI 16 TOPS (38 TOPS total)

RAM:

32GB DDR5-4800 (16GB x 2) not expandable

Storage:

1TB M.2 2280 PCIe Gen 4

Expansion:

N/A

Ports:

1x USB4, 3x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A, 1x USB 2.0, 1x HDMI 2.0, 1x DisplayPort 1.4, 1x 3.5mm Audio

Networking:

1x 2,5GbE Realtek RTL8125, WiFi 6E, Bluetooth 5.2

OS:

Windows 11 Pro (pre-installed)

Base Power:

35W-54W

PSU:

19V 6.32A 120W

Dimensions:

115 x 115 x 165 mm

GTBox T1: Design

• Speakerific
• Limited ports
• Zero internal access

There is something about the mesh covering that speakers use that is lovely to touch, with a distinctly fabric feel. As this system is a computer-in-a-speaker, with a slate blue colour scheme, it looks great perched on the edge of a desk.

That’s where this system was designed to sit, since it doesn’t have any VESA mounting options, and you wouldn’t be able to hear the sounds it generates if it were out of sight.

On top is a circular depression with an LED light that can be set to pulse through various RGB colours via the BIOS. That there isn’t a software component to set this is disappointing, as repeatedly going into the BIOS to make changes seems excessively complicated.

But where this system entirely leaves behind the current world of mini PCs is that it only has one place where ports are accessible, and there is no access whatsoever to the internal system.

All the ports are on a single I/O shield, and that includes five USB ports, one USB4, three USB 3.2 Gen 2 and one USB 2.0. There are both HDMI and DisplayPort, and if you use the USB4 port for video, it allows triple displays to be operated from this one computer.

There is also a 3.5mm audio jack, a single 2.5GbE LAN port, the power inlet and a power button. But there is no security slot to stop anyone from walking off with the T1.

With things so tight in this area, maybe the top might have been utilised for a second USB4 port, but that wasn’t something the designers embraced.

(Image credit: Mark Pickavance)

Having more ports is always better, but what really confronts the reality of this system is the lack of internal access. With no approved way in, should you want more memory (if it's even socketed) or to replace the storage, there are no options. That limitation is problematic for a business customer as it reduces the flexibility of this design considerably.

What you do get is a system with an inherently fairly loud speaker, but you can’t really use this for conferencing, since there is no corresponding microphone.

• Design: 2.5 / 5

(Image credit: Mark Pickavance)GTBox T1: Hardware

• AMD Ryzen 7 8745HS
• One USB4 port
• Unused PCIe lanes

Many mini PC builders are turning to AMD, largely due to the affordability of its components and the generous number of PCIe lanes, which allow for an array of high-speed ports. The Ryzen 7 8745HS is a Hawk Point processor that, to my knowledge, was originally released in June of 2023.

This chip boasts eight cores with hyperthreading, enabling it to handle sixteen concurrent threads. It offers a slightly improved power profile over the Ryzen 7 8745H, resulting in modestly higher clock speeds.

While there are several advantages to this processor, but also one notable drawback. That caveat is the age of the 780M GPU, which has now been superseded by the 890M and also the new 8060S integrated GPUs. It’s not Intel UHD Graphics bad, but there are faster options that aren’t discrete video cards.

On the upside, it utilises Zen4 architecture, matching the performance of the previous generation's 7745HX. Additionally, it supports DDR4, DDR5, and the latest LPDDR5x memory standards. Its most significant advantage for mini PC applications lies in the twenty PCIe 4.0 lanes provided by AMD, which facilitate multiple ports and significant expansion capabilities.

The capacity of these lanes has enabled the implementation of USB 4 and Oculink on some systems, but here there is only one USB4 port and no Oculink. However, the M.2 SSD slot does at least get PCIe 4.0 lanes, even if you can’t get inside to use an SSD of this spec in that slot.

(Image credit: Mark Pickavance)

With only one USB4 port, no Oculink and a single M.2 Gen 4 slot, this machine has PCIe lanes that sit entirely idle and contribute nothing to the overall experience.

Therefore, this system is something of a contradiction, as it has a decent processor and DDR5 memory technology with dual modules, providing ample bandwidth and enhancing GPU performance.

But, there are also at least eight PCIe lanes doing nothing, no way to exploit the PCIe 4.0 M.2 slot, and no expansion path other than using a single USB4 external drive or the LAN.

• Features: 3.5 / 5

GTBox T1: Performance

Mini PC

GTBox T1

Bosgame M4

CPU

AMD Ryzen 7 8745HS

AMD Ryzen 7 8745HS

Cores/Threads

8C 16T

8C 16T

RAM

32GB DDR5 (2x16GB)

32GB DDR5 (2x16GB)

Storage

1TB GTP3000-1TB

1TB NVMe Kingston OM8PGP41024N

Graphics

Radeon 780M

Radeon 780M

3DMark

WildLife

19813

17746

FireStrike

7726

7448

TimeSpy

3194

3126

Steel Nom Lt.

2765

2559

CineBench24

Single

103

104

Multi

903

909

Ratio

8.8

8.71

GeekBench 6

Single

2587

2609

Multi

12380

12840

OpenCL

30593

26664

Vulkan

25443

31667

CrystalDisk

Read MB/s

3431

4087

Write MB/s

2258

3142

PCMark 10

Office

7458

6992

WEI

8.2

8.2

As a counterpoint to the T1, I chose the excellent Bosgame M4. But if you go to the Bosgame website now and select the M4, it shows as discontinued for the M4 Neo and the M4 Plus. However, it is still possible to get the original M4 from other outlets.

The reason I went with the M4 was that it uses the same CPU, GPU, and memory as the T1, giving some indication of whether the T1 is a good version of this platform.

And, looking at the first part of this benchmark collection, all the signs are good, as it edges the M4 in the GPU tests and matches it in most of the processing metrics.

But where it all goes slightly awry is when we get to the CrystalDisk benchmark and discover that the best performance the GTP3000-1TB can achieve is below the 4,000Mb/s threshold that PCIe 3.0 M.2 NVMe drives can almost reach.

This is a guess, since I can’t identify the maker and spec of the GTP3000-1TB, but given the number, I’m inclined to believe that this is a Gen 3 drive, which, as this system has a Gen 4 slot, is a depressing conclusion. If it is a Gen 4 drive, then it's one of the slowest I’ve ever seen. What makes this even worse is that because you can’t get inside the T1, this drive can’t be replaced with something quicker or larger.

The phrase grasping defeat from the jaws of victory seems suitable for the T1, since it had all the pieces it needed to be a winner, and then blew it with an apparent cost-cutting exercise.

Overall, aside from the storage, this machine performs well and is perfect for a power user, or rather one who doesn’t need more than 32GB of RAM or 1TB of quick storage.

• Performance: 4 / 5

GTBox T1: Final verdict

(Image credit: Mark Pickavance)

There are two elephants in the GTBox T1 room, and the first of those is a design where you explicitly can’t get inside the system to do any form of upgrades. There are plenty of appliances where that sort of limitation is considered normal, but the PC isn’t one of them.

And, given the upgrade paths that other mini PCs provide, that’s a significant problem.

I’d had less of an issue with this if GTBox had at least made some sort of effort to make the M.2 slot accessible, but the owner is told not to open the T1 under any circumstances.

The other elephantine problem is the asking price, which seems about $150 more than it should be with this specification. It may be that, with this unique speaker styling, GTBox assumed a price premium was in order, but nothing about this design justifies it.

With memory and storage going up in price, the cost of the T1 might suddenly become something of a bargain, but based on other machines using the same platform, it's way too high, and there are Ryzen AI systems that aren’t much more than this cost.

But, if we put our purchasing blinkers on and ignore the lack of flexibility and the price, this is a decent mini PC with a great hardware platform (ignoring the SSD) that delivers a good user experience.

However, business IT buyers don’t tend to wear those blinkers much these days, and they’d reject this due to the cost and the lack of internal access.

Should I buy a GTBox T1?

Value

Expensive for the spec

3/5

Design

Zero internal access and limited ports

2.5/5

Features

Powerful CPU and USB4, but unused PCIe lanes

3.5/5

Performance

Decent performance on CPU and GPU

4/5

Overalls

Interesting take, but it lacks flexibility

3.5/5

Buy it if...

If you want a power-user NUC

The T1 has an excellent Zen4 system at its heart, which is perfect for those who want more power, and the DDR5 memory used in it makes the most of that CPU and GPU combination. However, the lack of any memory or storage upgrades needs to be considered for its role.View Deal

You hate upgrades
Not everyone sees buying hardware as the start of a path to enhancement. If you have no intention of ever putting more memory or storage into your systems, then the T1 might be perfect for you. Though this also means that should anything go wrong with the SSD, then this system is junk.View Deal

Don't buy it if...

If you need a flexible mini PC
The lack of internal access and the inclusion of only one USB4 port make this mini PC highly inflexible, since you can’t upgrade either memory or storage, and what you can connect externally is limited by only having one high-performance port.View Deal

You want ultimate performance
This is a value-led mini PC, so it's not going to be as powerful as machines loaded with the fastest processors - for top performance, check out mini PCs using the AMD Ryzen AI platforms like the Ryzen AI Max+ 395, with 16 cores and 32 threads.View Deal

Also consider

Bosgame M4
Built around the same platform as the T1, the Bosgame M4 is a more traditional NUC design.
While it doesn’t have a metal case, the M4 ticks every other box for a successful NUC design. The asking price is low, the performance is good, and it’s a highly flexible system that can perform many tasks. Little to dislike here.

Check out my Bosgame M4 review View Deal

I need everyone in the movie industry to listen up and repeat the following pact: "I solemnly swear to never make a film told through the lens of social media ever again. Never will I sit my main character in front of a screen, digesting the rest of the storyline through open internet tabs, Instagram feeds and MacBook files. I will only include digital elements if it effectively serves the plot."

Agreed? Great, because Chris Pratt's new AI sci-fi thriller Mercy is the latest victim of this heinous crime. With a 101 minute runtime, Pratt spends 90 of those sitting in the same chair, wrongly accused of a murder he didn't commit. Instead of being given a defense lawyer like a normal society would, he has to face off against an AI-generated judge in a 'mercy' courtroom (who conveniently looks exactly like Rebecca Ferguson).

If he can't prove his innocence past a certain percentage, he'll be fried on the spot. Override the algorithm sufficiently, and he'll walk free. Cue an entire movie of sifting through ring cam footage, facetiming witnesses and finding crucial evidence on his daughter's private Finsta account.

After about 15 minutes of this, the gimmick wears off pretty quickly. Pratt himself is clearly loving it (possibly due to the ease of his character also being called Chris) but unsurprisingly, this doesn't translate offscreen. Mercy is mundane in its own unique way, but there are few surprises – it'll hit you over the head with its ambivalent AI messaging.

Mercy refuses to call AI a hero or a villain, and that's a missed opportunity

"Maybe humans and AI both make mistakes" is a line of dialogue in Mercy that I've only slightly paraphrased, and it sums up the movie's moral vagueness in one nifty sentence. Sure, we've just spent an hour and 40 minutes watching an AI-generated court judge nearly kill Chris over a wrongful conviction, but we all make mistakes, right?

This was Amazon MGM Studios' chance to lay down the AI line by deciding what side of the industry argument they're on. Instead, they've chosen to sit on the fence, and that transforms any vim and vigor Mercy did have into pure monotony. If we're not using storytelling to send home a powerful message, especially about something so ever-changing, then what's the point?

Of course, the point is to make a bit of money at the box office by seeming to touch on a topical subject. It's the same way that a social media influencer might look like they're supporting a social campaign, but are actually doing the surface-level bare minimum to help it. Mercy could have been an industry-changing heavyweight piece of art, but no – let's play around with some CGI graphics instead.

For a big-budget studio, these graphics feel incredibly cheap. This is where the most obvious connection to Prime Video's take on War of the Worlds, starring Ice Cube, comes into play. Both have the same function and aesthetic look – almost as if Amazon is ashamed that is uninspired slop is all it's got to offer.

@techradar

♬ original sound - TechRadar Rebecca Ferguson is our one and only savior

Rebecca Ferguson is our AI judge. (Image credit: Amazon MGM Studios)

Almost no movie (perhaps with the exception of 2023 thriller Missing) can use tech, screens and social media as its sole method of storytelling to its advantage – the concept is as lame as lame comes. But our AI-fashioned Rebecca Ferguson is the jewel in our crown of criminal offenses.

Even as a non-human entity, Ferguson shines. She's far from a voice of reason, but seeing the cracks in her generated facade is easily the most satisfying payoff in this otherwise faltering farce. She's also the only source of continuity when Mercy decides to finally let Chris out of his chair for an unhinged 15-minute duration, abandoning all of its narrative mechanics without warning.

You get where I'm coming from here. ChatGPT could probably have written a much stronger script and overarching plot, while watching any other takes on AI or the digital world would be a more shrewd use of your time. Our best case scenario is hoping Mercy is popular enough to finance more Guardians of the Galaxy or Star-Lord content, and then never speak of it again.

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HP Pavilion x360 14: Two-minute review

The HP Pavilion x360 14 is a compact 2-in-1 laptop that aims to offer both performance and versatility in a single package.

True to most of HP’s lineup, the Pavilion x360 14 has a smart and understated appearance. The light grey colorway and sleek contours imbue it with elegance, while its 14-inch size helps with portability.

However, this latter aspect is undermined somewhat by its relatively thick and heavy construction, so it’s not the best laptop for frequent travelers who want a device with as minimal a footprint as possible.

The upshot of this weight, though, is that it adds some reassuring solidity. Both the base and the display enclosure of the Pavilion x360 14 have very little give, while the materials used all over the unit feel premium. The hinge for the lid is also sturdy, if a little clunky in action when you're pushing the screen beyond 90 degrees, as I often do whenever I use a 2-in-1 laptop.

Despite its small size, there are a good number of ports on the Pavilion x360 14. Along with two USB-A and one USB-C port, there’s also an HDMI port, a microSD slot, and a combo audio jack, all of which I welcome. What’s more, they’re conveniently located.

The general performance of the Pavilion x360 14 is pretty good. It can handle light productivity and stream 4K content with ease. However, it can suffer from micro-stutters when moving quickly from task to task. Also, gaming performance is average-to-poor, owing to the absence of a dedicated GPU. Of course, this isn't a gaming laptop, so you shouldn't really expect impressive game performance.

(Image credit: Future)

I noticed that even under moderate loads, a fair amount of heat radiates from the left side of the Pavilion x360 14, as well as the top keyboard rows. Thankfully, temperatures aren’t alarmingly high. The fans generate some noise, but remain pleasingly quiet relative to many other laptops under stress.

The display is pleasingly sharp and vibrant, and although reflections are prominent at times, I usually found the maximum brightness setting could mitigate their presence to an acceptable degree.

Despite the small size of the Pavilion x360 14, its keyboard has a pleasingly spacious layout, which, combined with the snappiness of the keys themselves, makes it satisfying to type on. However, there was no backlighting in my particular review unit – a grave omission given how hard it was to make out the lettering most of the time.

The touchpad is usable, if a little small, and has a smooth surface. It’s also quite solid, although I did notice a slight rattle when tapping and clicking, which can hamper feel and feedback.

The touchscreen on the Pavilion x360 14 is responsive and accurate, however, those keen on illustration might be disappointed with the small – but still noticeable – levels of friction, which can lead to slightly rough swipes, whether a stylus or a finger is used.

The battery life of the Pavilion x360 14 is quite good. It lasted over 11 hours when I ran our movie playback test, which is similar to some of its more expensive rivals. However, it pales in comparison to the highest performing laptops on this front, which can endure twice as long in some cases.

All things considered, though, the Pavilion x360 14 is a strong option in the 2-in-1 sector, thanks to its decent everyday performance and impressive design. It’s a shame that it’s not as portable as other convertible models, and there may be better value alternatives depending on what you require from a laptop, but at the very least the Pavilion x360 14 deserves a place on your shortlist.

HP Pavilion x360 14 review: Price & Availability

(Image credit: Future)

• Starts from £699 (about $920 / AU$1,400)
• Available now
• Expensive compared to some rivals

The HP Pavilion x360 14 is available now and starts from £699 (about $920 / AU$1,400). For that, you get an Intel Core i3, 8GB of RAM, and 256GB of storage. However, we have seen it on sale for half this price from HP’s own website, which obviously makes it much better value.

The unit I review here is the top-spec model and costs around £1,000. It features an Intel Core i7, 16GB of RAM, and 512GB of storage (although you can upgrade to a 1TB drive instead). Again, we’ve seen a hefty discount on this variant, but its usual price is quite dear.

If you don't need a truly convertible laptop, but still want a touchscreen, the Lenovo Yoga Slim 9i is a fine alternative. It’s decidedly more expensive, but it’s a truly premium machine, featuring an OLED display and a pleasingly portable design.

However, if your heart is set on a 2-in-1 but you want a more budget-friendly option, the Acer Chromebook Spin 312 is worth considering. Thanks to its compact form factor, great display, and usable touchscreen, it’s one of the best Chromebooks currently around.

• Value: 3.5 / 5

HP Pavilion x360 14 review: SpecsHP Pavilion x360 14 Specs

Base configuration

Review configuration

Price

£699 (about $920 / AU$1,400)

£1,000 (about $1,300 / AU$2,000)

CPU

Intel Core i3 1315U (1.2GHz, 6 cores)

Intel Core i7 1355U (1.7GHz, 10 cores)

GPU

Intel UHD Graphics (integrated)

Intel Iris Xe Graphics (integrated)

RAM

8GB DDR4

16GB DDR4

Storage

256GB PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD

512GB PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD

Display

14-inch FHD (1920 x 1080), IPS, Touch screen

14-inch FHD (1920 x 1080), IPS, Touch screen

Ports and Connectivity

1x USB-C (Power Delivery, DisplayPort 1.4), 2x USB-A, 1x HDMI 2.1, 1x combo audio; Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.3

1x USB-C (Power Delivery, DisplayPort 1.4), 2x USB-A, 1x HDMI 2.1, 1x combo audio; Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.3

Battery

43Wh

43Wh

Dimensions

12.7 x 8.3 x 0.8in (322 x 210 x 20mm)

12.7 x 8.3 x 0.8in (322 x 210 x 20mm)

Weight

3.3lbs / 1.51kg

3.3lbs / 1.51kg

HP Pavilion x360 14 review: Design

(Image credit: Future)

• Heavier and bulkier than expected
• Solid construction
• Impressive port selection

The Pavilion x360 14 looks smart, with its pristine light gray finish, rounded edges, and flat surfaces. All these aspects reflect HP’s desire to emulate the best MacBook designs.

Despite initial impressions, though, the Pavilion x360 14 is actually less slender and light than you might expect. Not only does this heft hamper portability, it’s doubly disappointing to see in a convertible laptop, since you’ll likely be picking it up and flipping it upside down frequently to use the touchscreen. The best 2-in-1 laptop options are all lighter than this.

On the plus side, the weight does contribute to the overall sturdiness of the HP Pavilion x360 14, as there’s virtually no flex to any of its panels. The materials employed seem quite premium as well, more akin to metal than plastic.

Also, the lid hinge is stable enough to prevent the display from wobbling under most circumstances. It operates smoothly, too, although I found it took a bit more effort to adjust the display angle compared to other laptops I’ve used.

More irksome, however, was the fact that once it’s reclined beyond 90 degrees, the rear of the base lifts clean off the underlying surface. This is a design choice some other laptops employ, but it’s not one I’m fond of. It always felt awkward adjusting the display to this point, and results in less stability when using the keyboard.

(Image credit: Future)

Speaking of which, my review unit had no backlighting for the keyboard. I always lament this omission in any laptop, but it’s especially disappointing in the case of the Pavilion x360 14. The characters are dark and contrast marginally with the finish of the keys themselves, making them hard to see in many instances; at certain angles, they were totally invisible.

Even though the Pavilion x360 14 is a small laptop, it has an admirable selection of interfaces. There are two USB-A ports and one USB-C, the latter of which supports both Power Delivery and DisplayPort 1.4 standards.

Additionally, there’s an HDMI port, a combo audio jack, and a microSD card reader. It’s a small shame the latter isn’t fit for standard SD cards, but I can forgive this omission given the form factor of the Pavilion x360 14.

The ports are spread quite evenly across both sides, which improves convenience. They’re also ordered in a logical way: for instance, the power connector is furthest away from the user, while the microSD reader and combo audio jack are closest.

• Design: 4 / 5

HP Pavilion x360 14 review: Performance

(Image credit: Future)

• Reasonable everyday performance
• Heat and noise even under moderate loads
• Responsive but uninspiring touchscreen

HP Pavilion x360 14 benchmarks:

3DMark Night Raid 13,367; Fire Strike: 3,646; Steel Nomad: 139
GeekBench 6.5 Single-core: 2,535; Multi-core: 7,729
CrossMark Overall: 1,480; Productivity: 1,517; Creativity: 1,528; Responsiveness: 1,247;
HandBrake - 4K to 1080p average FPS: 30.27

The general performance of the Pavilion x360 14 is reasonable, if not spectacular. It can handle light productivity and entertainment tasks well, even streaming 4K content without disruption.

However, despite my review unit having an Intel Core i7 installed, it wasn’t as swift as I was expecting. When switching between browser tabs or loading new web pages, it frequently stuttered. These stutters were momentary, so were minor infractions in the main, but they added up to become more disruptive when I tried to accomplish multiple (but not especially demanding) tasks in quick succession.

Being the top spec model, my review unit also had Intel Iris Xe Graphics. In theory, this offers improved performance over Intel UHD Graphics, but it’s still integrated to the CPU. This means that the Pavilion x360 14 is only capable of very light gaming. I managed to run Cyberpunk 2077 on Medium graphics, but it wasn’t a smooth experience, in terms of frame rate and visual fidelity.

A noticeable amount of heat emanated from the left vent of the Pavilion x360 14, as well as from the top keyboard rows and the section above. This was the case even when I conducted moderate workloads. Thankfully, the temperatures were never uncomfortable or concerning. Fan noise accompanied such moments, but it was pleasingly quiet relative to some other laptops under load.

(Image credit: Future)

The 1080p resolution of the Pavilion x360 14 provides plenty of sharpness, which is doubtless helped by the compact 14-inch display. Colors also appear vibrant. It can be quite reflective at times, but thankfully there’s enough brightness to keep them from being distracting.

The touchscreen functions well, responding to inputs made by either a finger or a stylus quickly and accurately. However, the surface isn’t the smoothest, so more intricate usage, such as drawing or handwriting, can result in a dragging sensation. The effect isn’t as egregious as it is on some other touchscreens, but if you’re after one of the best touchscreen laptops, the Pavilion x360 14 might not cut it.

If you’ll mainly be typing, though, you’ll be pleased with the keyboard on the HP Pavilion x360 14. The keys are comfortably spaced despite the compact layout, and there’s a surprising amount of travel to presses, which makes them satisfying to use. They’re still snappy enough to type quickly, though.

The touchpad is less impressive. It operates well enough, but the small size and numb-feeling taps and clicks – in part due to the slight rattle I noticed – result in a less tactile experience.

• Performance: 4 / 5

HP Pavilion x360 14 review: Battery Life

(Image credit: Future)

• Respectable by 2-in-1 standards
• Some longer-lasting rivals
• Quick to recharge

The Pavilion x360 14 has a decent battery life. It lasted about 11 hours in our movie playback test, which is close to the same score achieved by the Acer Chromebook Spin 312.

However, it can’t beat the Microsoft Surface Pro 11, another fantastic 2-in-1 laptop, which managed over 14 and a half hours. Also, more conventional laptops can last longer, sometimes up to 20 hours or more. The Pavilion x360 14 is quick to charge, though. It took about two hours to fully replenish.

• Battery Life: 4 / 5

Should I buy the HP Pavilion x360 14?HP Pavilion x360 14 Scorecard

Notes

Rating

Value

The HP Pavilion x360 14 has a reasonable starting price, although prices rise steeply with higher-spec models. We’ve seen big discounts on it recently, though.

3.5 / 5

Design

The HP Pavilion x360 14 looks smart and is well made, but it’s heavier and bulkier than you might expect. My unit was crying out for keyboard backlighting, too.

4 / 5

Performance

Not blistering, but still efficient for workaday use. The 1080p display looks crisp, while the keyboard and touchscreen are effective.

4 / 5

Battery life

Decent for a convertible laptop, although some rivals can beat it. It’s quick to recharge, though.

4 / 5

Total Score

The HP Pavilion x360 14 is a premium-feeling machine with a compact form, but one that's less portable and maneuverable than you might expect. There are also some better-value rivals, but it still offers enough to deserve consideration.

4 / 5

Buy the HP Pavilion x360 14 if...

You’ll be doing a lot of typing
The keyboard is a joy to use, thanks to the comfortable and snappy keys.

You want a premium build
Not only does it look smart, the Pavilion x360 14 is solidly constructed, and the materials employed feel more upmarket than your usual flimsy plastics.

Don't buy it if...

You’ll be conducting demanding workloads
Since it lacks integrated graphics, more strenuous tasks, such as gaming, are a struggle for the Pavilion x360 14.

You want the best usability
Despite its small size, its thickness and weight hamper tablet-style use, as well as portability.

HP Pavilion x360 14 review: Also Consider

Lenovo Yoga Slim 9i
It might not be convertible, but the Yoga Slim 9i still has a touchscreen. What’s more, if you want the ultimate in portability, you can’t do much better. It’s a far more premium option than the Pavilion x360 14, but we found that its build quality and performance lived up to its commanding price tag. Shame there’s no audio jack, though.

Read our full Lenovo Yoga Slim 9i review.View Deal

Acer Chromebook Spin 312
If you’re on a tighter budget and can forgo the Windows operating system, the Acer Chromebook Spin 312 is a strong choice. It has a great display, keyboard, and touchscreen, all of which make it one of the best budget laptop picks. Its performance is also respectable – although it won’t handle heavy multitasking with the composure of more powerful machines.

Read our full Acer Chromebook Spin 312 review.

How I tested the HP Pavilion x360 14

• Tested for a few days
• Used for a variety of tasks
• Laptop testing experience

I tested the HP Pavilion x360 14 for a few days, during which time I used it for multiple tasks, including productivity, streaming, and gaming.

I also ran our series of benchmark tests for laptops, which are designed to assess every facet of performance. I also tested the battery life by running a movie on a continuous loop.

I have plenty of experience both using and reviewing laptops. I have covered many models, ranging in their form factors, use cases, and price points.

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

I feel as though I'm going mad when I say there was once a time when Ryan Murphy TV shows were fresh, bold and innovative. Nip/Tuck was a scathing satirical putdown of cosmetic surgery culture in the early 2000s, Glee – while completely unhinged – dominated the television zeitgeist in a way no other show was daring to, and the first three seasons of American Horror Story were bona fide masterpieces.

Unsurprisingly, Murphy's track history likely means that streamers like Hulu and Disney are all but happy to throw money his way and wait for the next big thing to materialize... except, this isn't really happening anymore. While shows like 9-1-1 are getting more grandiose by the minute (Angela Bassett in space? Really), others including American Sports Story and Grotesquerie fell off the radar and were quickly cancelled.

Then All's Fair became the 0% Rotten Tomatoes stinker that took the internet by storm, guaranteeing a second season purely by fully leaning into its own stupidity. I really didn't think Murphy could top his own dreadfulness, but new FX series The Beauty easily clears any flop he's ever previously produced.

Why? Because at least All's Fair knew how terrible it was. At least Grotesquerie didn't pretend to be a success story. The Beauty is masquerading as something much more significant than it actually is, without contributing anything to the cultural zeitgeist aside from making sure you have the safest sex possible.

The Beauty on FX is The Substance-turned-STD, and everything about it is wrong

I know that you won't want to watch this series based on the above trailer, but let me set the scene for you anyway. Two FBI agents (played by Evan Peters and Rebecca Hall) travel across Europe to unravel the mysterious death of a group of supermodels. None of them appear to know each other, but all have the same symptoms – a virus, burning alive from the inside and spontaneously exploding upon death.

This either sounds like the recipe for absurd hilarity or insightful social commentary, but The Beauty is neither. After you've finished being baffled by Bella Hadid's out-of-place cameo, you're left feeling nothing aside from wondering how the series was green lit in the first place. We had The Substance last year, so we hardly need its knockoff little sister.

It doesn't take long for The Beauty to hit you over the head with its intended messaging of "what will people risk in order to be beautiful?". You could argue that a plethora of shows and movies have mulled over this age-old question already, ironically beginning with Nip/Tuck itself. Truthfully, we know what people would risk to be attractive (everything), and the critical analysis ends there.

Murphy is clearly churning out old ideas here, and there's nothing of merit or value contained within any single scene. The decision to make the killer virus a sexually transmitted disease (STD) is morally ambiguous, particularly when you consider Murphy's deft handling of the AIDS crisis in Pose. Is this meant to be an ironic nod to real-life history? Is it merely intended to shock whoever is watching? Condom sales might increase after this, but not much else will.

Go girl, give us nothing

I can't even remember their character names they are that forgettable. (Image credit: FX)

But let's put the gory gimmicks and missed narrative opportunities to one side. What else do we have left? Peters and Hall are secretly lovers, but don't have an ounce of chemistry between them. This makes flogging an already dead horse even trickier, because there's almost no incentive to watch. Murphy has already told us how our exploding supermodels die thanks to the mutant sex virus, so where's the payoff?

There's also the gauche notion that "fat is bad" that plays through the center of the story, and that's neither fitting for 2026 nor is it an original thought. 20 years ago, Murphy could have been lauded as daring by tackling body image head-on, but now it's just uncomfortable to watch slim actors in fat suits. Again, there's nothing of value to making this a worthwhile endeavor.

So we're left with a mis-matched, tone-deaf, mundane splatter of madness on our screens, and I'd rather have been blasted straight in the face with the VFX department's guts like an Italian horror movie from the 80s. Perhaps that way, I'd have felt something.

During the international press tour, I saw star Ashton Kutcher talk about The Beauty as if nobody has dared to make television like this before. I have to wonder if he's actually ever watched TV before now, and that's before I consider that his ex-wife Demi Moore examined this same topic in an infinitely more successful way.

Our only two wins are the brash pop soundtrack and a cameo role from the icon that is Isabella Rossellini. I don't know what Murphy has got on her to get this appearance, but God is she so much better than this. We all are.

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Huawei FreeClip 2: Two minute review

In 2025, open earbuds became the trendy new kind of headphone to buy, and the market was dominated by sports loop-style buds. By the end of the year, though, cuff- or hook-style open-ears had dethroned them, and the Huawei FreeClip 2 are some of the big new buds to use this form factor.

My favorite open-ears of last year were the Huawei FreeArc, so I was hopeful that this new option would deliver something special – perhaps even enough to dethrone the big names on this particular block, like the Bose Ultra Open Earbuds or Shokz OpenDots One. However you might as well call these the FreeClicarus, because the company has flown too close to the sun.

The selling point of the FreeClip 2 is this: they’re some of the lightest, thinnest and therefore most comfortable clippy ear-cuff type earbuds to date. This is clear from the size of the charging case, which is the smallest I’ve ever seen in such buds, but also from the design and build of the buds themselves.

However even with the ‘heaviest’ cuff-style buds, I’ve never had a problem with weight, and in the FreeClip 2, the reverse was true. Buds like this rely on gravity to lock them firmly around your ear, and if they’re light, they just won’t sit right. I found the buds didn’t naturally sit properly, so needed some adjustment every time I used them, and were far too easy to knock off if they received a bump or swipe. They never fell out during exercise, but they did when I was pulling up my hood, putting on a bike helmet or bringing my noggin too close to my neck.

There are other aspects of the bud that are poorly designed. The touch controls are too finickety, requiring a precision and soft touch that I defy anyone to have at any point, let alone when they’re running or walking. And like all Huawei hearables, the companion smartphone app requires so many hoops to jump through, you’ll feel like an elephant at a circus (on Android, at least – on iOS or HarmonyOS, the process is simple). And, perhaps most damning of all, the audio quality just isn't very good.

You might now be wondering why I gave a modestly positive score to the FreeClip 2, and that's for two reasons. Firstly, it's because these issues aren't terrible. Secondly, it's for two really handy perks that the buds offer which alternatives don't.

Firstly, as I've already said, they're lovely and lightweight, and they were more comfortable to wear for runs or walks than alternatives. Secondly, the maximum volume is really high, fixing a common open earbuds issue – hearing your music properly. Despite their issues, the dearer-than-they-should-be pricing and being a let-own compared to the FreeArc, I can see these being a reliable buy for certain users.

Huawei FreeClip 2 review: Specifications

Component

Value

Water resistant

IP57

Battery life

9 hours (earbuds), 38 hours (total)

Bluetooth type

Bluetooth 6.0

Weight

5.1g / Charging case: 37.8g

Driver

10.8mm

Huawei FreeClip 2 review: Price and availability

(Image credit: Future)

• Released on January 21, 2026
• Priced at £179.99 (roughly $240, AU$350)
• Premium price for clip-style buds

The Huawei FreeClip 2 were announced in December 2025, and put on sale on January 21, 2026 (today, at the time of writing). Just in time for your New Year Resolution to run more – unless you live in the US or Australia, where the things don’t sell.

At £179 (roughly $240, AU$350), the FreeClip are fairly premium cuff-style buds. They match the highly-rated Shokz OpenDots One, though undercut the $299 / £299 / AU$449 Bose Ultra Open Ears. Most earbuds with this form factor I’ve tested have been cheaper, though, with some great options at half the price that we’ll explore near the bottom of this review.

For some Huawei-shaped context, the original FreeClip were released two years prior for about the same price. If you want any open earbuds regardless of the form, the Huawei FreeArc came out in early 2025 for about half the price, and they’re the best sports-loop-style open earbuds I’ve tested to date.

Huawei FreeClip 2 review: Design

(Image credit: Future)

• Incredibly light case, comfortable buds
• Too flexible and light to fit properly
• IP57 protection

When I first took the Huawei FreeClip 2 out of the box, I thought Huawei had left them in the wash too long and they’d shrunk. The case is absolutely tiny. I’m talking about 5 x 5 x 2.5cm, smaller than any other charging case I’ve ever seen, and at 37.8g I don’t recall testing any lighter either. Lovely for popping the case in my pocket.

Like most clip-style open earbuds, the left and right buds are interchangeable, so you can pop them in your ears or the case either way around. But the process of putting them in the case is quite confusing, with an arrangement that seems… illogical. You can see what I mean in the pictures; it’s different to any other cuff buds I’ve tested, and I constantly put them in wrong and only noticed when the lid wouldn’t close properly. I found this quite annoying, but it’s the price to pay for a small case.

Onto the buds themselves: a spherical bud (or Acoustic Ball, according to Huawei), counterweight (Comfort Bean, apparently), and the connector loop (Airy C-bridge Design), all in a 5.1g package. The loop is quite elasticky, so there’s a lot of flex between the components, but I never noticed any ill effects when the buds were in my ears.

(Image credit: Future)

I noticed something with the bud – sorry, the Acoustic Ball – that I’ve not heard on other clipping buds. Sometimes when I put them in my ear, the audio wouldn’t be at full power, and I’d have to readjust them before they sounded right. Usually this kind of bud just falls into place, and I wasn’t used to this kind of micromanagement. It was also easier than I’m used to, to knock them out of place – they had a solid fit when exercising, but I kept hitting them out of my ear with bike helmet straps, hoods and hats. I think the frail design and light weight have resulted in some fit reliability problems.

There are touch controls on the buds: stroke the counterweight – I mean, Comfort Bean – for changing the volume, double-tap any part of the buds to play or pause, tripe to skip. The tapping was generally okay, even though my touch wasn’t always picked up, but I really struggled with the swiping – it’s really hard to intuitively reach the right spot behind your ear to find the trigger, and in my experience it was rarely picked up correctly anyway.

You can pick up the Huawei FreeClip 2 in three colors: blue, black or white. They’re rated to IP57, so they have limited protection against dust and can be immersed in shallow water for a limited time.

• Design score: 3.5/5

Huawei FreeClip 2 review: Features

(Image credit: Future)

• Fantastic listening test
• Battery life is 8 hours, 32 hours with case
• Fewer other features than some rivals

A recurring problem with Huawei earbuds is that their app situation is, I'm sorry to have to say it, a bit of a nightmare for Android users (an app-solute nightmare?) and that’s no different for the FreeClip 2. Own an iPhone? You’re in the clear – the companion app can be pinched straight from the App Store.

On my Android phone I had to go into a web browser, download and then install an APK for the Huawei AppGallery and use that to install the Huawei Audio Connect app (I then, for good measure, deleted AppGallery). That’s quite a lot of admin just to turn off touch controls.

It might not be worth it. The app lets you pick between four presets (and lets you create your own with a 10-band equalizer), and lets you toggle a few features like touch control, wear detection and head control (you can shake your head to reject an incoming call). Okay, there’s a ‘Find-My’ feature for lost buds or case and drop detection, two useful features. The app also has an Experimental Features menu which, for now, just has a toggle for adaptive volume – since this is labelled as under development, it didn’t feel fair to evaluate it for this review.

(Image credit: Future)

I will say, wearer detection is rarely present on open earbuds, and even more rarely is it fully functional. One thing I noticed over my testing process is that on the FreeClip 2, it works very well. Sometimes, it’s the small things!

The battery life is a little longer than the rivals, with the earbuds lasting 9 hours before you need to pop them back in the case. The case, despite its short stature, offers a decent amount of mileage too: 39 hours in total. It’s not class-leading, but it’s still very good.

The FreeClips support Bluetooth 6.0, a figure I don’t always see in buds like these, and I never had any connection issues; they were fast to pair every time I used them. They can also pair with multiple devices simultaneously so you can use them with both your phone and, say, a running watch.

• Features score: 4/5

Huawei FreeClip 2 review: Sound performance

(Image credit: Future)

• Single 10.8mm driver
• Music sounds lifeless
• Lovely, high max volume

Each Huawei FreeClip 2 earpiece has a 10.8mm driver, just like its predecessor – it seems that the improvements in this sequel are in the design department, not the audio sector. That’s a shame because while we didn’t receive the original model, I saw some negative responses to its audio quality, and I’m going to level (I think) those same complaints at the new model.

Music, frankly, sounds flat and lifeless, condensing different instruments into one musical line instead of a sonic spread and then, oddly elevating mid tones higher above treble and bass. It sounds like the guitarist forgot to plug their axe in, the singer is struggling to remember the lyrics, the bassist is pushing through carpal tunnel syndrome.

In The Roosevelts & James Mason’s This Is Life, the rhythmic acoustic guitar seems to take dominance of the mix over the bass and vocals (drums? Not here, officer). The same happened in ABBA’s Waterloo: the acoustic stings in the verse stood above everything else, but strangely when the instrument returned in the chorus it was barely audible. I listened to a recording of the fourth movement of Antonin Dvorak’s New World Symphony, and the brass overshadowed the entire instrumentation – even in the segments they’re barely present.

In short, I wasn’t wowed by the Huawei FreeClip 2’s sonic prowess – it’s not the worst I’ve ever tested, but it is for the price. However, the buds do one spec better than any other model I’ve reviewed, and it’s a department that’s crucial for open earbuds: volume.

Too many times, these open-fit headphones don’t go loud enough, and they’re hard to hear due to the background noise you’re not meant to be isolated from. The FreeClip 2, however, go really loud, and for this reason alone I’d still recommend them to some fitness users who’ve struggled with other options.

If the buds support any features like Dolby Audio or aptX, or codecs like LDAC or AAC, it isn't mentioned on Huawei's website or app.

• Sound performance score: 3/5

Huawei FreeClip 2 review: Value

(Image credit: Future)

Given the glut of cuff-style open earbuds at sub-$100 (or £, AU$ equivalent) prices, you can expect a premium product if you’re going to pay a premium price like this. I’m sorry to say that I don’t think the FreeClip 2 quite deserve to be called that, though; the feature set, fit and sound quality aren’t significantly better than the budget options on the market.

I think Huawei missed a trick by pricing these buds as they did. You can pay less and get just as much, or pay the same amount and get more from rivals.

• Value score: 3/5

Huawei FreeClip 2 review: scorecard

Category

Comment

Score

Value

These are priced like premium buds but perform like budget ones.

3/5

Design

The teeny tiny build feels good, although it brings problems. At least the case is small.

3.5/5

Features

It may be a little light in the feature department, but what it has works well. It's a shame about the app situation though.

4/5

Sound

They sound a little flat and lifeless, but the high max volume makes them a suitable pick for certain users.

3/5

Huawei FreeClip 2: Should I buy?

(Image credit: Future)Buy them if...

You need something loud
Listening in a noisy environment? The volume you can reach makes these better than others on the market.

You want a small charging case
The tiny carry case for the Huawei FreeClip 2 is easily pocketable and won't weigh you down like some of the alternatives.

You find them as a gift with another gadget
They cost more than they should, but as a purchase gift with a Huawei tablet or phone, they'd be alright.

Don't buy them if...

You're an audiophile
It should go without saying, but it's doubly true of the Huawei. Don't buy these if you want a detailed sonic experience.

You're a cyclist or hat-wearer
Because of its build, headwear could really affect the FreeClip. Not for helmet-wearers or those who like a hat.

Also consider

Component

Huawei FreeClip 2

Shokz OpenDots One

Bose Ultra Open Earbuds

Water resistant

IP58

IP54

IPX4

Battery life

9 hours (earbuds), 39 hours (total)

10 hours (earbuds), 40 hours (total)

7.5 hours (earbuds), 27 hours (total)

Bluetooth type

Bluetooth 6.0

Bluetooth 5.4

Bluetooth 5.3

Weight

5.1g / Charging case: 37.8g

5.6g / Charging case: 52g

6g / Charging case: 43g

Driver

10.8mm

2x 11.8mm

12mm

Shokz OpenDots One

Shokz' debut options are a solid fit, sound great and come in a charging case that's small, though not Huawei small. They match the FreeClip 2 in price, though are slightly older so have seen some reductions.

Read our full Shokz OpenDots One review

Bose Ultra Open Earbuds

These top-price options have fantastic audio, even if they look a little more robotic than most alternatives. If you've got money to burn, Bose is ready.

Read our full Bose Ultra Open Earbuds review

How I tested

I listened to the Huawei FreeClip 2 for just over two weeks before writing this review. In that time I used it paired to my Android smartphone.

I used the FreeClip daily during that time. I worked out at the gym, went on runs and cycled, and also used it when not exercising at home and on walks around my neighborhood. I listened on Spotify and Tidal, watched on streaming services and played several games with them.

These are the latest in a busy line of earbuds I've tested at TechRadar, including plenty of open-ear options and various gadgets from Huawei.

Read more about how we test

• First reviewed: January 2026

HP Pavilion 16: Two-minute review

The HP Pavilion 16 is aimed at those looking for a capable everyday machine for a reasonable price.

It’s clear that HP has paid attention to the aesthetics of the Pavilion 16. Not only does the Sky Blue colorway add more interest than the monochromatic tones typical of mid-range laptops, but the materials employed look premium as well.

Its elegance is further emphasized by its sheer slenderness; I don’t recall having seen a thinner 16-inch laptop, making it one of the best laptop designs around. While this aspect helps with portability, the deceptively hefty weight doesn’t.

I can’t complain about the build quality of the Pavilion 16, though. There’s little flex to any part of it, despite its aforementioned lean form, while the parts that are plastic are pleasing to the touch. This is especially true of the keys, which have a slight texture for added tactility.

There are some useful ports on the Pavilion 16, including two USB-A, two USB-C (which support both Power Delivery and DisplayPort standards), and an HDMI port. However, most are loaded on the right-hand side, and the two USB-C ports are placed closest to the user, which can be inconvenient as the power cable has to be plugged into one of them.

(Image credit: Future)

The Pavilion 16 handles general tasks rather well, from light productivity to 4K video streaming. However, since it lacks a dedicated GPU, graphics-heavy workloads are handled with less aplomb. Some light gaming is still possible, but you’ll have to dial back the settings and settle for unremarkable frame rates and visuals.

Fan noise is noticeable, even when the Pavilion 16 is running at a moderate intensity, but I would still describe it as being within acceptable bounds. Nearly all of the heat is confined to the very rear of the underside, which I also appreciated.

The 1200p WUGXA display is sufficient for this size of laptop, providing a clear and sharp image. Color reproduction and brightness levels are also commendable, although reflections can be a little too prominent at times.

If you’ll be doing a lot of typing, the Pavilion 16 is likely to meet your needs. The wide spacing of the keys, coupled with their deep travel and dampening, makes them satisfying to use. And if you’ll be dealing with lots of numbers in your work, you’ll be pleased with the inclusion of a numpad, too.

However, the touchpad is less impressive. It’s quite small for this size of laptop, yet at the same time manages to intrude while typing; I would often trigger cursor movement with my thumb palm. In the main, though, it’s still sufficient enough for everyday use.

An area where the Pavilion 16 excels is battery life. It lasted over 20 hours in our movie playback test, and charging times are very fast as well. On this front, it beats most of its similarly-priced rivals.

When you combine this aspect with its other plus points, the Pavilion 16 adds up to an enticing proposition, given its reasonable starting price. There are certainly other great laptops at this end of the market, some of which may have the edge in terms of performance, but the Pavilion 16 remains one to consider if you’re after a mid-range, workaday machine.

HP Pavilion 16 review: Price & Availability

(Image credit: Future)

• Starts from $459 / £569 (about AU$700)
• Available now in various configurations
• Reasonable price point

The HP Pavilion 16 starts from $459 / £569 (about AU$700) and is available now. Models with different Intel and AMD processors are available, as are models with touchscreens. RAM configurations also vary from 8GB to 16GB.

This is a reasonable price for a large laptop of this spec. For a similar price, you could also get the Acer Aspire Go 15. I was impressed with its performance when I reviewed it, which is perhaps marginally better than that of Pavilion 16. However, its display is less impressive than the Pavilion 16’s.

If you’re looking for another budget alternative, the HP OmniBook 5 14-inch (2025) could be one to look out for. It features a cutting-edge and vibrant OLED display, and impressively long battery life.

• Value: 4 / 5

HP Pavilion 16 review: SpecsHP Pavilion 16 review configuration

Price

£569 (about $745 / AU$1,140)

CPU

Intel Core Ultra 5 125U (3.6GHz, 12 cores)

GPU

Intel Graphics (integrated)

RAM

16GB LPDDR5

Storage

512GB PCIe 5.0 NVMe M.2 SSD

Display

16-inch (1920 x 1200), 16:10, IPS, micro-edge, anti-glare

Ports and Connectivity

2x USB-A, 2x USB-C (Power Delivery, DisplayPort 1.4a), 1x HDMI 2.1, 1x 3.5mm combo audio; Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.3

Battery

59Wh

Dimensions

14 x 10 x 0.7in (358 x 255 x 18mm)

Weight

3.9lbs / 1.77kg

HP Pavilion 16 review: Design

(Image credit: Future)

• Exceptionally thin
• Premium feel
• Mixed connectivity options

The Pavilion 16 cuts an elegant figure, thanks to its minimalist design that’s free from fuss and unsightly bulges. The Sky Blue colorway also helps to distinguish it from many others in this sector, endowing the unit with enough interest while maintaining a professional appearance.

More impressive is just how slender the Pavilion 16 is. For a 16-inch laptop, it’s remarkably thin, which certainly helps with transportation. Its weight, on the other hand, is more of a hindrance, since it’s heavier than I expected it to be.

The plastics used in the Pavilion 16 feel premium, especially that of the keys, which are finished with a subtle texture that offers a pleasing amount of traction. They’re also secured firmly in place, without a hint of looseness.

(Image credit: Future)

This same level of solidity applies to the overall construction of the Pavilion 16, too. There’s remarkably little flex to the chassis or the lid, despite how thin both are. What’s more, the hinge holds the display in place with impressively little wobble, no matter the angle, while being very easy to adjust at the same time.

There are two USB-A and two USB-C ports on the Pavilion 16, as well as an HDMI port – an increasingly rare sight on modern laptops. There’s no SD card reader, though, which is a small shame.

A bigger point of contention is the placement of the ports. All but two are on the right, which might prove inconvenient for some. And while I was glad to see the USB-A ports split across both sides, the two USB-C ports are both on the right.

What’s more, they’re located in front of all other ports, nearly mid-way along the chassis, which can cause issues when connecting the USB-C power adapter. Personally, I always prefer the power port to be the furthest away, in order to prevent the power cable from trailing over others or being obstructed by things you may have next to your laptop.

• Design: 4.5 / 5

HP Pavilion 16 review: Performance

(Image credit: Future)

• Reasonable everyday performance
• Not ideal for gamers or creative pros
• Tactile keyboard

HP Pavilion 16 benchmarks

Geekbench 6 (Single Core): 2,166; (Multi Core): 9,496
Cinebench R23 (Multi Core): 7,730
Cinebench R24 (Single Core): 94 (Multi Core): 411
Crossmark Overall: 1,433
3DMark Night Raid: 18,673; Fire Strike: 4,717; Steel Nomad: 352; Solar Bay: 6,519; Solar Bay Unlimited: 6,993; Solar Bay Extreme: 737; Solar Bay Extreme Unlimited: 734
BlackMagicDisk Read: 2,639MB/s; Write: 2,494MB/s
Total War: Warhammer III: Mirrors of Madness (1080p, Low): 22.7fps

The everyday performance of the Pavilion 16 is commendable. It handles light productivity, browsing, and entertainment tasks well, which is what one would expect from this grade of laptop. More impressively, it can stream ultra-HD video without issue.

Such content is enhanced by the large display, which is allowed to make full use of its space thanks to the thin bezel. There’s enough brightness and vibrancy to make the viewing experience an enjoyable one, and while reflections can reveal themselves at points, for the most part the Pavilion 16 does an admirable job of keeping them at bay.

Even when performing moderately intense workloads, the fans in the Pavilion 16 were audible. However, the noise never rose above a muted whir, so I didn’t find them disruptive. Most of the heat was confined to the rear underside, with commonly-touched surfaces remaining cool.

Since it has no dedicated GPU, the Pavilion 16 isn’t the best choice for gamers or creative types. Cyberpunk 2077 was just about playable on Medium settings, but even here I experienced some stuttering and the occasional slowdown. Naturally, it wasn’t very pleasant to look at, either. You'd be better off checking out our list of the best gaming laptops instead.

(Image credit: Future)

Thanks to the wide chassis, the keyboard fits comfortably in the Pavilion 16, even with its number pad. However, while the keys have plenty of space between them, they don’t seem as large as those on other laptops. I had to adapt my typing accordingly, but as the size difference is that great, this didn’t take long.

Better is the considerable amount of travel and dampening they have, especially by laptop standards. This makes them more tactile and engaging to use.

Despite its relatively small size, the touchpad got in the way as I typed. The palm of my right thumb frequently triggered cursor movement; thankfully, no clicks or taps registered, which would’ve been much more disruptive.

Its small size also means navigation isn’t as expansive as it could’ve been. What’s more, it lacks the smoothness of some of the best in class, and I felt a slight rattle whenever I tapped or clicked, which made such actions feel awkward. Having said all this, I’ve certainly experienced more frustrating laptop touchpads, and it’s perfectly usable in the main.

• Performance: 3.5 / 5

HP Pavilion 16 review: Battery Life

(Image credit: Future)

• Lasts long
• Beats many rivals
• Quick to charge, too

The battery life of the Pavilion 16 is very impressive. It lasted a mighty 20 hours and 15 minutes during our movie playback test, a score that bests many of its rivals by a large margin. The Acer Aspire Go 15, for example, only managed close to 12 hours.

Equally as impressive is just how quickly the Pavilion 16 can fully recharge, taking about 90 minutes.

• Battery Life: 5 / 5

Should I buy the HP Pavilion 16?HP Pavilion 16 Scorecard

Attributes

Notes

Rating

Value

The HP Pavilion 16 offers a lot for the money, but it stands alongside some equally-capable rivals.

4 / 5

Design

The HP Pavilion 16 is remarkably thin for its size, while the looks and build quality are admirable at this price point.

4.5 / 5

Performance

For general tasking, the HP Pavilion 16 suffices. The display and keyboard are great, but gaming and creative applications suffer from the absence of dedicated graphics.

3.5 / 5

Battery Life

The HP Pavilion 16 can outlast many of its rivals by a long way, and it’s quick to recharge, too.

5 / 5

Total

The HP Pavilion 16 represents good value considering what it offers, but you’ll have to settle for poor graphical performance.

4 / 5

Buy the HP Pavilion 16 if...

You’ll be doing a lot of typing
The tactile keyboard is a cut above many others at this price point, owing to its deep travel and comfortable layout.

You want all-day battery life
Its impressive score in our battery test means the HP Pavilion 16 should last you a full day or more unplugged.

Don't buy it if...

You want to game or create
Since it doesn’t have a dedicated GPU, the Pavilion 16 can only handle very light gaming and creative tasks.

You want the best touchpad
The touchpad on the HP Pavilion 16 is quite small for a 16-inch laptop, and it’s not the smoothest operator. It can also get in the way when typing.

HP Pavilion 16 review: Also Consider

Acer Aspire Go 15
The starting price of the Acer Aspire Go 15 is much lower than that of the Pavilion 16, but you’d be wise to ignore this base model, since its spec is frankly unfit for modern use. The model that most closely matches the Pavilion 16 is also similarly priced. But while it performs well, its display is far less impressive, so I wouldn’t recommend the Aspire Go to those wanting the best visual experience.

Read our full Acer Aspire Go 15 review.

HP OmniBook 5 14-inch (2025)
Another HP laptop, the OmniBook 5 is a little more expensive than the Pavilion 16, but it features an OLED display, which impressed us with its vibrancy. Its light build and enjoyable keyboard and touchpad were further highlights. Build quality and top-tier performance are somewhat lacking, but the OmniBook 5 is a solid offering all the same.

Read our full HP OmniBook 5 14-inch (2025) review.

How I tested the HP Pavilion 16

• Tested for a few days
• Used for multiple purposes and benchmarked
• Experienced laptop reviewer

I tested the HP Pavilion 16 for a couple of days. I used it for a variety of tasks, from productivity and browsing to streaming video and gaming.

I also ran our series of benchmark tests, designed to comprehensively assess every aspect of a laptop's performance. This included a battery life test, where I ran a movie on a continuous loop until the HP Pavilion 16 shut down.

I am an experienced laptop reviewer, having tested a large number across a broad range of price points, form factors, and specifications.

Read more about how we test

• First reviewed November 2025