Taking a photo and altering it, like you can do with Adobe Photoshop, is old hat these days, as so many apps allow you to do just that. But if you’re an artist who loves to paint, this type of software can’t replicate the feel of watercolours, oils, acrylics, and pastels as they’re applied onto a canvas.

Some developers saw this as a challenge: how to replicate painting on a canvas in the digital world. Escape Motions’ Rebelle is a serious competitor in this field, and have introduced a few new features with their latest 8th version. Let’s take a look at it.

You can check out Rebelle 8 by clicking here.

Rebelle 8: Pricing & plans

• A multi-platform software package
• One-off license at a cost that won’t break the bank
• Free trial available

There’s a lot of good news for people who like to own - actually own - multi-platform software: first of, Rebelle is available for Windows and Mac users (sadly, Linux fans are all too often left out of the loop, as they are here).

Even better, there’s no option to rent the software: you purchase it with a one-time fee of $90. Which is quite reasonable for software of this caliber, especially since you’re allowed to install it on up to three computers.

There is a more advanced version, called Rebelle Pro for $150. Finally, Escape Motions offers a very generous 30-day trial so you can check out the software and see how it works for you.

You will have to create an account with them in order to access it, but all they ask is an email address - you keep your credit card details to yourself.

All in all, this feels like a very good start. Rebelle 8 available to buy from developer Escape Motions by clicking here.

• Pricing & plans: 5 / 5

Rebelle 8: Interface

• A well-designed interface
• Familiar enough to ease you in if you’re new to Rebelle
• Different enough that there’s going to be a bit of a learning curve

If this is your first foray into Rebelle, you’ll find the interface very similar to other image editing applications. You have two sidebars, one on either side. The left one focusses on your brushes, while on the right, you have your layers, color selections, and navigational options.

The rest of the screen real estate is devoted to your canvas, but that’s not all there is to it. Hop on over to the Menubar’s Window menu to see other tools, which are available by default as floating windows.

However the interface is highly flexible, enabling you to dock these windows into either sidebar, be it as their own unique dedicated area, or sharing the space with other tools - when that happens, a small series of tabs will appear above that shared section, allowing you to switch between them.

This allows you to create a unique setup to match what you need to see as you digitally paint your projects. You’re also able to export this layout to make it easy to set up Rebelle on another computer with your customized personalised setup.

Overall, the interface is similar enough to not feel intimidating, but different enough that it will take you a few minutes to understand where everything is, and what it does. But the main takeaway is that it’s well designed, and is easy enough to understand that it won’t take you long to get the gist of it.

• Interface: 4 / 5

Rebelle 8: Tools

• So many brushes to play with, and so many parameters to explore
• Lots of different types of canvases
• Create truly unique projects… as long as you can handle some of the quirks

The tools available are pretty much all the various brushes you can work with - and there are so many. You start with selecting the type of brush from the top left section of the interface, like an acrylic brush, or one for watercolors, inks, pastels, etc.

Beneath that is another panel, with a handful of parameters to customize how the selected brush will paint on your chosen canvas, and you could easily leave it at that, but that would be ignoring the dozens of options further down the sidebar.

For instance, the Express Oil brushes have sub-categories, such as Round, Glaze, and Flat, and if that’s not enough, a drop down menu allows you to browse through and purchase additional ones.

The options and flexibilities are immense, and it can be a lot of fun to paint digitally in that way. You also have all the advantages of working on a computer, such as having multiple layers, cloning sections, erasing others, the lot.

There were a few things I was disappointed by, the biggest one being that I could only have one project open at a time. As someone who far too often has too many ideas on the go, this felt unnecessarily restrictive to me.

Another had to do with controlling the canvas itself. I work on a laptop and use a multi-touch trackpad for everything, but even with all the options I could find disabled, that canvas would move or suddenly zoom in or out at random moments.

Thankfully there’s a handy and simple keyboard shortcut to bring it all back to the centre, filling the screen, but it got really annoying by the end. I think the lesson here is don’t use the trackpad when doing serious artistic work with Rebelle.

Also, despite using a powerful computer to test this out (a laptop with an M5 chip), I felt like sometimes I had to wait a few seconds for the software to render the stroke I made. This app needs a lot of power.

• Tools: 4 / 5

Rebelle 8: What's new?

• No revolutionary ‘wow’ additions
• Relatively small improvements makes creative life much easier

Version 8 brings a few refinements to this software package - nothing earth shattering, but they’re welcome additions nonetheless. Here are some I felt were important to mention.

The Canvas Panel has been streamlined, making it easy to select a new type of paper and see all those you don’t yet have, but are available for purchase - you can even test this new canvas prior to acquiring it (if this constant advertisement is not your thing, use the filter options to remove those as yet un-owned canvases from the list).

On the other side of the interface are your favourite brushes. That’s nothing new. But right next to them is a new tab, featuring all the latest brushes you’ve used in your current session. This is a most welcome way to help you keep track of what you’ve been working with without you having to do anything.

When it comes to painting, there’s always been a limit to how big a brush can be. In the standard sidebar, that’s usually up to 100. Switch to the Creator Brush panel and you can now go up to 3,000 which is almost big enough to cover an entire canvas with one brush stroke.

There’s also a new Symmetry tool which essentially cuts your canvas right down the middle and everything you draw on one side is instantly mirrored on the other.

And last on my list is the ‘Line’ tool which always allowed you to easily draw parallel lines, but now lets you add perpendicular ones as well, which can save you a heck of a lot of time.

Should I buy Rebelle 8?

Buy it if...

You’re a creative who’s always loved the feel of the brush on your canvas, are looking for a way to reproduce this digitally, and love the fact you only need to pay once to own the software.

Don't buy it if...

Your creative outlet doesn’t extend to replicating how real-life brushes work in a digital environment, and you’d be much happier with the likes of Photoshop or Pixelmator Pro instead.

How I tested Rebelle 8

I fired up my trusty M5 MacBook Pro for this review of Rebelle 8. I sadly couldn’t test the software on my PC laptop - it’s high time I upgraded anyway - although it does show that Rebelle needs more oomph than a lot of other software in its category.

The minimum requirements are an Intel i7 chip with 16GB of RAM, and my PC can’t match that. Considering the computations needed to simulate how real-life paint and brushes behave, I’m not surprised at all that Rebelle 8 would need more power than Photoshop.

But on my Mac, aside from the issues I highlighted in the review, I had no complaints, and the gallery on Escape Motions’ website shows how realistic the paintings done with Rebelle can end up looking.

For more creative tools, we tested the best photo editors and the best digital art and drawing software.

TP-Link BE6300 One Minute Review

I liked TP-Link’s BE3200 range extender, which helped to tackle the Wi-Fi deadspot in my office quickly and easily, and at a competitive price.

However, the BE3200 is very much an entry-level option for Wi-Fi 7, with a relatively modest top speed of 3.2Gbps. If you’re looking for something a little faster for gaming or streaming 4K video then you could consider the BE6300 model, which doubles that speed without doubling the price.

Both range extenders keep the price down by sticking with dual-band Wi-Fi, which uses just the 2.4GHz and 5.0GHz frequency bands, but omits the high-speed 6.0GHz band that is available with the fastest Wi-Fi 7 models.

But, as the name suggests, the BE6300 is still almost twice as fast as the BE3200, stepping up to a top speed of 6.3Gbps, which should be more than fast enough for most home users.

As you’ve probably guessed, the term ‘BE6300’ refers to the speed of the range extender, but it’s also known by the model number RE403BE, so keep your eyes peeled if you’re buying online.

TP-Link BE6300 review: Price & release date

• Where is it available? US-only
• Available Now
• Price: $149.99

The BE6300 is currently only available in the US. You can’t buy it direct from TP-Link either, so you’ll need to shop around online, with the average price sitting at around $149.99.

Oddly, though, there is a similar model called the BE6500 (model RE605BE) available in the UK and Australia. This is slightly faster than the BE6300 that we review here, with a top speed of 6.5Gbps, and costs £188.00/AU$265.

TP-Link BE6300 review: Specs

TP-Link BE6300 review: Design

Unsurprisingly, the BE6300 looks very similar to its little brother, with a chunky, white rectangular design that plugs straight into any convenient mains power supply.

However, the extra speed of this model means that it requires a little more power and the BE5300 is therefore quite a bit larger, and also sprouts an extra pair of antennae – four in total - to boost performance.

The body of the BE6300 measures 161mm high, but unfolding the top and bottom antennae extends that to a full 261mm. It’s wider too, at 81mm, which means that the bulky device could block any adjacent power sockets if you have two or more sockets that sit close together.

You’ll also need plenty of room if you want to use the Ethernet port that's located on the right-hand side of the range extender. Mind you, it’s possible to plug the BE6300 into a mains extender, rather than plugging it straight into a wall socket, although that’s not a very neat solution as it leaves you with additional cables trailing on the floor.

TP-Link BE6300 review: Features

As mentioned, the BE6300 provides dual-band Wi-Fi 7, using the 2.4GHz and 5.0GHz frequency bands with a top speed of 6.3Gbps.

It may not support the high-speed 6.0GHz band, but it does include a Wi-Fi 7 feature called MLO – multi-link operation – that allows computers and mobile devices with Wi-Fi 7 to boost performance by transmitting data on both bands simultaneously. The Ethernet port on this model is faster too, now running at 2.5Gbps.

As we’ve seen before, TP-Link’s Tether app is well designed and easy to use, making it easy to get started even if you’ve never used a range extender before. It recommends that you initially plug the BE6300 into a power socket close to your main broadband router in order to avoid any interference during the initial set-up process.

The app is then able to automatically detect the range extender and guides you through the process of connecting it to both the 2.4GHz and 5.0GHz networks set up by your main router.

If you want to keep things simple then you can tell the range extender to just use the same network name and password as your original network, or you can give the range extender a new name and password for extra security.

Once that’s done you can unplug the range extender and move it closer to the room where you need to boost the Wi-Fi signal. The app can help here too, by checking the strength of the Wi-Fi signal so that you can find the best spot to place it.

The app can also show you all the devices that are connected to the range extender, and allows you to block devices, such as a child’s tablet or smartphone at night-time. There’s also an Eco mode that helps to reduce power consumption, and you can schedule a time for the range extender to turn itself off as well.

TP-Link BE6300 review: Performance

I have a Wi-Fi deadspot in an office at the back of my building, and when I tested the less expensive BE3200, I found that its 2.4GHz band couldn’t quite achieve the full speed of 150Mbps provided by my office broadband service.

That was no longer a problem when I set up the BE6300 in a nearby hallway, and it was easily able to maintain a smooth 150Mbps for both the Ookla Speed Test and for file downloads from Steam. Needless to say, the faster 5.0GHz band worked equally well, cruising along at 150Mbps throughout all my tests.

Not everyone will need a range extender with a speed of 6.3Gbps, so many homes will still get perfectly good performance from a less expensive range extender such as the BE3200. But, if you do need strong performance for gaming or streaming video, then the BE6300 fits the bill at a competitive price.

Should you buy the TP-Link BE6300?

Buy it if…

Don’t buy it if…

Also consider

• Read TechRadar’s reviews guarantee
• First reviewed August 2026

TP-Link BE10000 One Minute Review

Wi-Fi 8 may be looming on the horizon, but routers and range extenders that use Wi-Fi 7 can still be pretty expensive.

One way of keeping prices down is to provide basic dual-band support, which uses the 2.4GHz and 5.0GHz frequency bands while omitting the high-performance 6.0GHz band.

Dual-band routers and range extenders can still perform well, though, as we’ve seen with TP-Link’s BE3200 and BE6300 extenders. But, if you want to pay a little extra in order to get maximum performance then you could step up to its top-of-the-range BE10000 model.

This is a tri-band range extender that adds support for the 6.0GHz band, boosting the maximum Wi-Fi speed to a blazing 10Gbps. You’ll need computers or mobile devices that have Wi-Fi 7 – or Wi-Fi 6E, which also supports the 6.0GHz band – to get the full benefit of the BE10000, but it could be a great option for boosting the Wi-Fi connection for gaming or streaming video in one or two rooms that suffer from a Wi-Fi ‘deadspot’ within your home.

TP-Link BE10000 review: Price & release date

• Where is it available? US-only
• Available Now
• Price: $199.99

The BE10000 is currently only available in the US, and you can’t buy it directly from TP-Link’s own web site so you’ll need to shop around online or try to find it in a local bricks-and-mortar retailer. Online prices also seem to vary a lot too. TP-Link quotes a price of $199.99, but we’ve seen prices ranging from $149 - $249, so it’s definitely worth comparing prices before buying.

The BE10000 is not available in the UK or Australia, although there is a similar model called the BE11000 available in those regions that – you won’t be surprised to find - runs at 11Gbps.

However, this is priced at a rather hefty £299.99/$449, which is considerably higher than the price of the BE10000 in the US, even if you take into account the slightly faster speed of 11Gbps.

TP-Link BE10000 review: Specs

TP-Link BE10000 review: Features

At first glance, the BE10000 looks very similar to the dual-band BE6300, with a bulky rectangular design and four large antennae. However, the BE10000 is even larger, with the body of the range extender measuring 161mm high, although this increases to a full 350mm with the antennae fully extended.

You’ll need a power socket with plenty of free room around it in order to plug in the BE10000, and I found that it was so wide – at 81mm – that it also blocked the adjacent power socket in my office as well. You’ll also need a bit of extra space if you want to plug an Ethernet cable into the Ethernet port on the side of the range extender.

It may be big and bulky, but the tri-band BE10000 certainly earns its keep. The name implies a Wi-Fi speed of 10Gbps, although it’s actually 10.2Gbps, which is more than fast enough to handle gaming and streaming video, while the 2.5Gbps Ethernet port provides a high-speed wired connection as well.

As always, TP-Link’s Tether app makes it easy to get started. You do need to initially plug the BE10000 into a power socket close to your main broadband router, but the Tether app can then automatically detect the range extender and guide you through the process of linking it to your existing Wi-Fi network.

The app allows you to connect to the 2.4GHz, 5.0GHz and 6.0GHz bands separately, perhaps to devote the fastest 6.0GHz band to a gaming PC that needs maximum performance.

The app’s security features allow you to set different network names and passwords for each band, or you can simply carry on using the same name and password as your main Wi-Fi router. Other features include the ability to boost the power supply to the BE10000 in order to increase the range of its Wi-Fi signal, or you can use Eco Mode to save power instead.

TP-Link BE10000 review: Performance

I have an office that suffers from a Wi-Fi deadspot in my building, but I almost feel that I should apologise to the BE10000 for asking it to tolerate my puny office Wi-Fi.

I placed the range extender in a hallway, about halfway between my main broadband router and the office with the deadspot, and the BE10000 seemed to roll its eyes – or, rather, its blinking LEDs – as it picked up my feeble 150Mbps Wi-Fi signal and boosted it into that office.

Unsurprisingly, the BE10000 was able to hit the full 150Mbps on all three frequency bands, when running the Ookla Speed Test and also downloading large game files from Steam.

Ironically, though, that effortless performance is the only real disadvantage of the BE10000. Its 10.2Gbps Wi-Fi 7 is so fast that few homes really need that level of performance. But, if you have a gaming PC with Wi-Fi 7, or that is used for streaming 4K video, then the BE10000 will eliminate any troublesome Wi-Fi deadspots with no trouble at all.

Should you buy the TP-Link BE6300?

Buy it if...

Don't buy it if...

Also Consider

• Read TechRadar’s reviews guarantee
• First reviewed August 2026

I've been intrigued by AI photo editors for a while now. Some work well, some not so well. Photoroom falls into the former camp. By and large, I found the AI tools to be very impressive and intuitive to use. There are some caveats to that which I'll get into, but overall, Photoroom delivered what it promises.

But what does it promise, exactly? Now, compared to a lot of AI photo editors, things here are a little different. This isn't a platform for touching up your holiday snaps or brightening up social media posts. The emphasis here is on business use. Effectively, if you run an online store or similar, then you use Photoroom to transform staid, dull product shots into more enticing and engaging imagery that pops off the page.

Keen to see how it's developed since we last reviewed it three years ago - AI has come a long way since then - I tried out the platform to see what I could create. You can check out Photoroom by clicking here.

Photoroom: Pricing & plans

• Online service via browser, iOS and Android app
• Aimed at businesses large and small
• Reasonably priced subscriptions and free trial

The platform is available online through a dedicated app for your iPhone or Android phone, or if you’re working on a computer, via your favourite web browser. Unlike many I've tested, you're not restricted to either Chrome or Edge here.

As with any online service, you need to subscribe to it to use it with a monthly cost billed annually. Photoroom comes in three tiers.

‘Pro', recommended for ‘solopreneurs’, will cost you $13 per month, billed annually. This level grants you 4,250 AI credits monthly, allows you to perform 1,000 exports, and comes with Photoroom’s standard set of tools.

The middle tier is ‘Max’ and is designed for small businesses. For $35 a month (again, billed annually - all tiers are), your credits are upped to 12,000, your exports to 3,000, and the advanced ‘Video Generator’ tool is now available.

Finally, there’s 'Ultra', for “growing brands”. You’re given 20,000 AI credits,10,000 exports, and can create videos and images in 4K, all for $100 a month.

If you’re looking for a more bespoke option, there’s a tailor-made Enterprise tier, with a tailor-made cost to match.

I recommend checking prices as Photoroom often offer discounts on those standard prices. Plus, you can try any of these tiers free for seven days, although don’t forget to cancel your trial before that should you decide not to carry on with the service and you’re needlessly charged a hefty sum for your forgetfulness.

Photoroom was generous enough to grant me access to their Ultra tier, so let’s see what it’s capable of, and what you can do with all those AI credits.

• Pricing & plans: 4 / 5

Photoroom: Interface

• Simple, well designed, and clear interface
• Easy ways to import images and work on them
• For an online service, I was impressed

The interface is simple and well organised. Once you’ve logged in to your account, you’ll find a sidebar to the left which contains various tools you need.

Thiss includes all the AI tools in your arsenal, templates, a direct link to your Shopify account if you have one, a batch tool so you can work on up to 250 images at once, a Brand Kit where you keep all your assets, and a Design section where your products’ photos are stored.

All the AI tools, which are essentially all your editing tools, are easy to use: you select one, upload a new photo or select one already in your account, apply the effect and you’re done.

There is one thing that I found surprising: Photoroom supports HEIC, the High Efficiency Image Container. It’s a highly compressed image format that’s been around since 2015 and has been increasingly prevalent since Apple made it the default image format for their iPhones in 2017.

The reason I make a point of mentioning this is because far too many services still do not support it, forcing any image or photo saved as an HEIC to be converted into either a JPEG or PNG prior to import. There is no such issue here, saving you time and frustration.

• Interface: 4.5 / 5

Photoroom: Tools

• On the whole, the AI tools do an absolutely excellent job
• Impressive ways to transform passable shots into something potential customers will love
• But... not all tools are created equal

Such a service succeeds on the strength of its tools, and Photoroom iss betting the farm on AI for this. But AI is a very generic term these days. Is it really artificial intelligence to remove an image’s background?

I’d put it more in the “complex algorithm does a very good job with what it’s given” category. Same with removing objects or people from a photograph and replacing it with an artificially generated background that blends with the existing one.

Such tools already existed before “AI” became an all-encompassing marketing brand. Or, taking inspiration from Monty Python's The Life of Brian, “it’s not AI, it’s a very clever tool”.

But whether it’s AI or not is less important than how these tools fare: I found the achieved results to be excellent. More often than not in apps like Photoshop or Pixelmator Pro, I end up having to touch up the output of similar tools, but here, it was essentially a one-click wonder.

Tools that really impressed me were definitely more AI based. Say you want to sell a shirt, which you’ve photographed on a surface, with as few wrinkles as you can manage… except you know how it is: such layouts are never really good enough.

Well fret no more: Photoroom has a tool that digitally irons your shirt for you, transforming your amateurish-looking photo into a meticulously smooth out product. Couple that with the background remover tool, and you’re well on your way to have a professional looking photograph.

But why stop there? Photoroom has a bunch of AI-generated models who can wear your outfit for you. There’s even what they call a ‘ghost mannequin’ to puff up your shirt so customers can see what it would look like on someone, without being distracted by an actual (or virtual) person wearing it.

I found all this pretty incredible, and that’s just scratching the surface. It’s not all sunshine and rainbows though: for instance, Photoroom has a Video Generator.

Select a photo, browse through all available templates, maybe even type in a prompt if you need, and the AI will get to work… this is where I encountered the familiar “AI tries way too hard yet fails miserably” syndrome.

Some templates removed my test products from the usual confines of physical reality, sometimes in a most disturbing way. Or they just didn’t work at all as expected. I trust the team working hard on this aspect of the service (what I was able to use bore no relation to their intro video about it, so things are moving fast in this arena), but for now, maybe stick with still images, where the results are truly impressive.

Photoroom: AI credits

• Set number of monthly credits, so use them wisely
• Many common AI tools don't cost any credits at all
• However, sometimes, the requested action won’t work, so try, try again

As you’d expect, most AI tools will cost you credits. A video generation goes for 500 (money not well spent for now), Exporting an image at 2K or 4K will cost you 135 and 240 credits respectively, adding an AI background to an image is worth 5 credits, and so forth.

Thankfully though, some tools you’ll use most often, like removing the background of a shot, retouching a photo or performing some image enhancements won’t cost you a thing (beyond your subscription).

You’ll just have to balance what you are given each month with what you hope to achieve in that time period, with the relief that when an action doesn’t work, you won’t have lost any credits - yes, sometimes an error occurs.

However, I found that if I request the same action again - and again - it finally does what I asked it to. Teething problems, I’m sure, and at least it does work impressively well eventually.

Should I buy Photoroom?

Buy it if...

You’re looking to sell a ton of product and want the images advertising your wares to look their best, using a service that is well designed, and is easy to use (when it works)

Don't buy it if...

You don’t want to encourage the proliferation of AI, know your way around Photoshop anyway, and can’t justify yet another subscription, no matter how great some effects are.

How I tested Photoroom

I tested this service on my trusty Apple MacBook Pro. Generally I do my best to check how software works on a variety of devices, both Macs and PCs and portable devices, when needed.

But as this was an online service, whose tools are dependent on servers the main bottleneck would be my fibre connection. I experienced no issues on that score.

Everything was extremely responsive. The free tools were nearly instantaneous, and depending on the complexity of what I was asking the AI to do, it took gradually longer.

Video creation took the longest amount of time, clocking in at around 4 minutes for me. Still, that didn't feel like a long time, when I got it working.

For more creative tools, we tested the best photo editors.

Starting as a spinoff of a renowned VPN service called Hola more than a decade ago, Bright Data is among the best providers of proxy services on the market right now. The platform commands a massive ecosystem featuring 400+ million monthly rotating residential IPs and 1.3+ million static ISP and datacenter proxies each, spanning 195 countries.

Lately, the service has notably been pushing beyond “mere” proxy rotation into a complete web data platform equipped with AI-powered web unlockers, SERP and scraper APIs, and pre-collected structured datasets, to name a few things.

• Want to try Bright Data? Check out the website here

Plans and Pricing

Bright Data has quite a few products listed on its pricing page. Let’s start with proxies, namely residential, ISP, and datacenter variants.

Users pay for residential proxies according to the bandwidth they consume. Bright Data offers three standard plans, currently at a 50% discount for the first three months: $499 monthly for 141 GB, $999 monthly for 332 GB, and $1,999 monthly for 798 GB. Alternatively, you can choose the pay-as-you-go option starting at $4 per GB. The drawback is that the pay-as-you-go plan is slightly more expensive in the long run ($4 per GB compared to $3.5 per GB on the 141 GB plan). If you need more than 1 TB, you can reach out to the company for customized pricing.

For datacenter proxies, users can pay according to the number of IP addresses they require. The shared proxy plans (dedicated proxies are pricier) are 10 IPs at $14 per month ($1.4 per IP), 100 IPs at $100 per month ($1 per IP), 500 IPs for $475 per month ($0.95 per IP), and 1,000 IPs at $900 per month ($0.9 per IP). As with residential proxies, if these plans don’t meet your needs, you can contact the company for tailored pricing above 1,000 IPs. Users can also pay for datacenter proxies according to bandwidth. The standard plans are $499 monthly for 1 TB, $999 monthly for 2 TB, and $1,999 monthly for 5 TB. The pay-as-you-go option with no monthly commitment costs $0.6 per GB.

If you need ISP proxies, Bright Data has four plans to offer you: $18/month for 10 IPs ($1.8 per IP), $145/month for 100 IPs ($1.45 per IP), $700/month for 500 IPs ($1.4 per IP), and $1,300/month for 1,000 IPs ($1.3 per IP). You can also pay for ISP proxies according to bandwidth. Bright Data recently doubled the allowance, so now you pay $499 monthly for 71 GB, $999 monthly for 166 GB, and $1,999 monthly for 399 GB. The pay-as-you-go option also saw changes, with no monthly commitment costing $8 per GB.

Dedicated ISP IPs are a bit more expensive but follow the same structure. Similar to residential and datacenter plans, should you require over 1,000 IPs or 1 TB, you’ll need to check in with the Bright Data team directly.

It seems that Bright Data has slowly phased out mobile proxies from its proxy offer. Existing users with an active mobile proxy can continue to use the proxies, but the service is now unavailable to new signups and inactive accounts.

Bright Data offers sophisticated web access APIs with its Unlocker API pricing coming in four versions. First, the Free Tier (found in most products) grants you 5,000 requests per month. Then, there are three Scale plans: $499 monthly for 383,000 requests ($1.3 per 1,000 additional requests), $999 monthly for 908,000 requests ($1.1 per 1,000 additional requests), and $1,999 monthly for 2 million requests ($1 per 1,000 additional requests). The company also offers a custom pricing option for enterprise-level projects. If you don’t want a monthly commitment, you can choose the $1.5 per 1,000 results pay-as-you-go plan.

The Web Scraper API, SERP API, Crawl API, and Scraper Studio (AI-powered development environment for building and deploying custom scrapers) are identically priced, with tiny differences regarding the number of requests/page loads included. The Browser API pricing follows much the same sentiment, costing $499/month for 71 GB, $999/month for 166 GB, and $1,999/month for 399 GB. The no-commitment option is charged $8 per GB.

Bright Data also offers pre-built datasets, a unique feature that many proxy platforms don’t have. Starting at $250 per month for 100,000 records, these datasets allow businesses to access ready-made data instead of scraping it from scratch at higher costs. Available datasets include Amazon products, Yahoo Finance stock market data, Zillow real estate listings, LinkedIn profiles, and much, much more.

Finally, the Data Firehose product delivers a continuous, real-time stream of live web data, while Web Archive provides direct programmatic access to a 90 PB cached repository of the web. Pricing is based on the pay-as-you-go rate, starting at $0.20 per 1,000 HTMLs for Data Firehose and $1 per 1,000 HTML records for archived data. For projects with large data needs, long-term commitments, or multiple scrapers, volume discounts are available through Bright Data's team.

Features

Accessing Bright Data’s features starts with registration. To sign up as a new user, you’ll need a work email address, but the platform also supports logging in with Google and GitHub accounts. You'll receive a verification email after signing up and creating a password.

Residential Proxies

Bright Data offers proxy IP addresses sourced ethically from physical devices worldwide. This means that device owners (peers) explicitly opt in to share their idle bandwidth and IP addresses in exchange for perks like ad-free app experiences, cash payouts, or free premium software such as BrightVPN. Bright Data’s users can then choose one of the IPs to bypass geo-restrictions and scrape data.

Default proxy behavior rotates per request, though Bright Data also supports sticky sessions where the same residential IP is active for a specified duration, as well as custom AI-driven rotation rules. The platform offers more than 400 million ethically sourced residential proxies from 195 countries with precise country-, state-, city-, ZIP code-, and ASN-level targeting. The most popular locations are the United States, Brazil, India, Germany, the United Kingdom, and China.

During our test, the residential proxies had excellent speed and reliability. Both static and rotating proxies allowed us to surf the web seamlessly and bypass strict website geo-restrictions. You can manage all proxies from your user dashboard, deploying new ones or removing existing ones at will.

Bright Data gives you significant control over your proxies. You can choose proxies from specific cities, states, and countries. The robust IP network, especially in Europe and North America, makes it easier to bypass geo-restrictions. If an IP address can’t successfully bypass the restriction, Bright Data rotates different IP addresses until it succeeds.

ISP Proxies

ISP proxies are static residential proxies sourced directly from Internet Service Providers (ISPs). Unlike residential IPs that rotate with each browsing session, a static ISP proxy is assigned only to you. You can keep this static IP for as long as your subscription lasts.

Bright Data offers a network of 1,300,000+ fully compliant static IPs spanning 35 countries. The U.S. commands the vast majority of this infrastructure with over 1.17 million static IPs, whereas international locations account for smaller, dedicated pools of fewer than 15,000 each. This smaller number is expected because of the higher costs and difficulty of obtaining IP addresses directly from ISPs.

The static ISP proxies offered excellent speed and reliability during our test. Bright Data lets users manage static IPs directly from their Control Panel or an external API. The user-friendly Control Panel makes it easy to deploy and organize a large number of proxies.

ISP proxies are more reliable than typical residential proxies because they don’t change frequently. Using one IP address for a long period makes it easier to browse anonymously and break through geographical and IP website restrictions. Once you bypass a site’s restriction with a static IP, you can continue accessing the site with that IP. In contrast, rotating proxies mean you can bypass a site’s restriction today and struggle to bypass it tomorrow with a new IP address. Expectedly, Bright Data’s static IPs cost more than rotating IPs.

Datacenter Proxies

Datacenter proxies are sourced from secondary corporations and high-speed server hubs rather than ISPs. A server (in a datacenter) with a unique IP acts as the intermediary between your device and a website you want to access. You can request a shared or dedicated datacenter IP: a dedicated IP is more reliable in circumventing site blockades.

Bright Data offers over 1.6 million datacenter proxies across 98+ countries, unlike residential proxies available in 195 countries. You can select your datacenter proxy by specific country, state, city, or ASN. These proxies are the fastest option in Bright Data's lineup because your browser request is sent directly from the proxy server to the target website, unlike residential proxies that bounce through several peer devices before reaching the target site.

The drawback is that datacenter proxies are more vulnerable to detection and automated bans because of their predictable IP subnet ranges. They are cost-effective but less efficient at bypassing geo-restrictions than residential and ISP proxies.

Web Scraper API

Web scraping is one of the most common use cases for proxy servers. Some businesses need to scrape massive amounts of data from a website, e.g., pricing data from retail sites. However, many websites discourage scraping by implementing geographical and IP restrictions. Proxy IPs let businesses bypass these restrictions and scrape their desired data.

As a first-rate platform, Bright Data doesn’t stop at providing proxy IP addresses for web scraping. It also provides APIs that let businesses automate data scraping without writing complex parsing code or managing proxy pools. It has north of 600 ready-made scraping APIs for websites like Facebook, Amazon, Instagram, LinkedIn, Zillow, X, ChatGPT, YouTube, and TikTok, as well as the AI-powered Scraper Studio for turning any unlisted site into a structured data pipeline. Several websites, such as Facebook, have filed lawsuits to block these scraping APIs, but Bright Data has countersued and prevailed.

Suppose you run a price comparison site that helps people find the best e-commerce deals. You can use Bright Data’s APIs to automate data scraping from Amazon, Walmart, eBay, and other popular e-commerce sites. You’ll then clean the scraped data and display it on your price comparison website.

Bright Data's APIs can handle bulk asynchronous scraping requests, convert raw HTML into structured data, deliver payloads straight to S3/Cloud Storage, and validate data automatically with built-in self-healing parsers.

Datasets

You don’t always have to scrape data from scratch. Bright Data offers an alternative: ready-made datasets sourced from 250+ domains and 700+ structured datasets. It includes the likes of LinkedIn (profiles, company data, job postings), Pinterest, Crunchbase, Amazon, Instagram, Google Maps, and Redfin. You can also get categorical datasets, such as car prices, housing prices, crime rates, NBA players' stats, etc.

Pre-built datasets reduce headaches for businesses. Instead of scraping data from scratch and waiting a while to access it, you can access over 21 billion clean, validated records. Bright Data even provides an AI prompt tool that lets you describe (in plain English) the precise subset of data you need to filter out fluff before paying.

Ease of Use

Bright Data has an intuitive interface you’ll likely enjoy using. The left menu has all the features you need to access, and the right side is the main dashboard displaying real-time traffic analytics, success rates, bandwidth usage, and so forth. Many features are neatly arranged across the dashboard to make them easy to find. With a white background and a few contrasting colors, Bright Data’s interface looks visually pleasing.

You can access this proxy software primarily from the cloud-based web dashboard. There’s also a Google Chrome and Firefox extension that lets you seamlessly change proxy locations, switch between IP types, and rotate IPs on demand. For complex, large-scale scraping, Bright Data also offers an open-source downloadable Proxy Manager app. The platform’s user-friendliness is unmatched by most rivals, thanks to a fine balance of accessible self-service controls and dev-oriented technical options.

Customer Support

One of Bright Data’s strengths is its top-notch support. You can contact its support team 24/7 and receive a response in less than 30 minutes. It offers support via a dashboard ticketing system, web chat, and email, along with dedicated Slack channels and technical account managers (TAMs) for enterprise accounts, but there’s no telephone support.

Bright Data also provides extensive documentation and user manuals to help users figure out solutions to their problems. The website’s Docs section contains detailed guides for all features and interactive code builders, plus an API reference that helps users write effective data scraping commands.

We found Bright Data’s documentation easy to follow and helpful for our test. For instance, we followed the web scraping tutorial to harvest data from an external website.

The Competition

There’s no shortage of rivals to Bright Data, and the ones we’d like to highlight are Decodo (formerly Smartproxy), Oxylabs, and Webshare.

Decodo is an excellent mid-market proxy provider offering residential, ISP, and datacenter proxies. It's a cost-effective alternative with a large pool of 125 million+ IPs across 195 countries. However, Bright Data has a larger IP pool across the same number of countries and offers more features and customizability.

Oxylabs offers a slightly larger IP pool, with 175 million+ addresses compared to Bright Data’s 400 million+. Both platforms have similar enterprise-grade offerings, but Bright Data provides some features not available in the other, such as a dataset marketplace and browser-based Scraper Studio. Bright Data also has a more responsive support team than Oxylabs, according to our experience when testing both.

Webshare is one of the best alternatives budget-wise that go head-to-head with Bright Data. It’s a notably more affordable tool, including a permanent 10-proxy free tier, which is crucial for small businesses. It offers effective APIs to scrape data en masse, just like Bright Data. However, Webshare has a much smaller pool of IP addresses: roughly 80 million compared to Bright Data’s 400 million.

Final Verdict

Morphing into a full-stack web data platform that goes beyond basic proxy services, Bright Data offers a sizable network of 400 million+ IPs covering 195 countries across residential, datacenter, and static ISP tiers. It pairs its foundational proxy service with an unrivaled suite of data collection and scraping automation tools that include over 600 specialized web scraping and crawling APIs, AI-powered web unlockers, and datasets containing over 21 billion ready-made records.

Thanks to all these features, it’s more than well equipped to provide you with anything you need to bypass website restrictions and scrape required data (developers and AI research teams will particularly be happy with the scope of features). There are a few drawbacks here and there, primarily its higher cost compared to the competition, but it might well be worth it, especially for high-volume needs.

We've also highlighted the best proxy and best VPN

Corsair Nightsword V2 Wireless: Two-minute review

I really wanted to like the Corsair Nightsword V2 Wireless. I've had good experiences with Corsair's mice in the past – having been a big fan of both the M65 Ultra RGB and the Scimitar Elite Wireless SE – so I was hopeful that the new Nightsword would be a contender for our ranking of the best gaming mice.

For those not in the loop regarding Corsair's wide range of gaming mice, the original Nightsword launched nearly seven years ago. Needless to say, I wasn't really expecting another model, but I suppose if The Witcher 3 can get a new expansion more than a decade after its release, anything is possible.

The problem I'm having with the Nightsword V2 is that it doesn't really feel like a 'version 2' of its predecessor. For starters, the design has been changed a fair bit, with the RGB lighting scaled back and the thumb button layout slightly altered. It still maintains the ergonomic overall shape with a nice, comfortable thumb rest, but it's ditched the indent pattern that covered the original mouse.

All that wouldn't cause me to dislike this mouse, though. The problem is that the Nightsword RGB had one very cool feature: adjustable weight tuning. Six mounting points and two different sets of miniature metal weights allowed you to adjust the overall weight of the mouse, with nifty software that automatically detected the mouse’s center of gravity in real time, allowing you to fine-tune your experience to make the mouse feel perfect for you.

It was one of the key selling points of the Nightsword RGB, and Corsair focused heavily on it in its marketing. But in the Nightsword V2, it's nowhere to be found; gone, reduced to atoms.

It's a real shame, because I liked that addition a lot. Not enough gaming mice have tunable weight. It made the Nightsword feel more unique, and removing that feature makes the V2 feel... well, a bit bland, if I'm being honest.

It's certainly not a bad gaming mouse, with an ergonomic chassis that sits comfortably in the hand and a high-quality sensor for fast-paced gaming, but I'd fundamentally struggle to recommend it over some other more exciting options out there. Sorry Corsair, but this one feels like a step backward, not forward.

Corsair Nightsword V2 Wireless: Price & availability

• How much does it cost? $129.99 / £119.99 / AU$189
• When is it available? Available now
• Where can you get it? Available globally

While you could pay more for a gaming mouse these days, the Corsair Nightsword V2 Wireless certainly isn't cheap. Clocking in at $129.99 / £119.99 / AU$189, it sits towards the pricier end of the market, though the build quality and high-spec internals do at least attempt to justify the price.

Although it's a technical upgrade from the original Nightsword RGB, the removal of the tunable weight features stings even more at this price point. Considering that there are plenty of other gaming mice on the market with comparable specs, it's difficult to justify recommending the Nightsword V2 Wireless specifically over similar offerings from other manufacturers, or even Corsair itself.

The Nightsword V2 Wireless is available now in all regions, either directly from Corsair or from assorted third-party retailers.

Corsair Nightsword V2 Wireless: Design

• Robust, ergonomic design
• No more tunable weight
• Thumb button grouping may be frustrating for some users

As I noted further up, this feels like a very different mouse from the original Nightsword – though at first glance, they appear quite alike.

Corsair has stripped back the RGB lighting a bit for the Nightsword V2, with the only RGB zones now being the scroll wheel, the Corsair logo, and an odd little strip on the raised rear underside edge of the mouse that isn't even visible most of the time. Feels like a bit of a waste of an LED to me, but it doesn't feel worth penalizing Corsair for that.

I'll start with the parts I liked. Removing the indent pattern from the Nightsword V2's predecessor was definitely a wise move, as those tiny grooves were just begging to be filled with grime after months of regular use. The main body of the mouse that rests beneath your palm now has a smooth matte finish, with a pattern of raised texturing (rather than the old indentation) on either side to help improve grip. The skates are standard PTFE, which offers a good amount of glide on traditional mouse mats and hard desktop surfaces.

In terms of buttons, we've got 11 in total: the two main mouse buttons, a scroll wheel with both a regular click function and left-right tilt inputs, one multifunction button behind the scroll wheel, three thumb buttons (one of which is the 'sniper button'), and two extra vertically-aligned buttons beside the left mouse button, which turn the sensitivity up and down by default. All of these are fully programmable in Corsair's iCue software or Web Hub, so there's a good degree of versatility here for users who like to tweak their mouse inputs.

You also get plenty of flexibility in terms of sensor control and connectivity. The Corsair Nightsword V2 Wireless supports tri-mode connectivity, with a physical switch on the underside of the mouse letting you easily swap between Bluetooth, wired, and direct wireless connections (with a bundled USB-A dongle and adapter as well as a power cable). There's also a slot on the underside that can house the dongle, making it easy to take the Nightsword V2 Wireless on the go.

The Corsair Marksman S sensor supports up to 33,000 DPI, and this mouse also includes up to 8,000Hz polling rate support (though not in Bluetooth mode), both of which can be tweaked to your liking in iCue – though for my money, 8K polling is a bit of a gimmick that will only really benefit the absolute highest tier of skilled esports players.

The whole thing feels pretty durable and well-constructed, sitting comfortably in the hand for palm and claw grip styles. Fingertip grippers should be advised that mice with thumb rests are simply not designed for them, so you probably shouldn't have clicked on this review in the first place – go buy yourself the excellent Logitech G Pro X2 Superstrike instead.

The buttons are sturdy with a good degree of tactile feedback, though I wasn't overly impressed by the scroll wheel; there's no free-scroll mode, and it lacks the firm motion bump of higher-quality scrollers. The grouping of the buttons on the side of the mouse is also a little awkward, at least for users with large hands like me; while trying to use the sniper DPI button in Valorant and Marathon, I kept accidentally hitting the thumb button immediately above it, using a noisy ability when I was trying to quietly take aim at enemy players. Having scanned through the digital archives of several other reviewers, it seems that thumb button positioning was a bit of a frustration with the original Nightsword too, so it's a shame to see this issue hasn't been addressed.

Of course, I have to further discuss Corsair's baffling decision to eliminate the tunable weight feature of the Nightsword. As someone who loves the Logitech G502 Lightspeed Wireless so much I've bought two of them, due in part to its magnetic tunable weight system, I can't help but feel that Nightsword V2 Wireless could have been a serious competitor to my favorite mouse.

All the other features I like from the G502 Lightspeed are there: a thumb rest, a sniper button, tilt wheel inputs, and a dongle for low-latency wireless connectivity. But removing the weighting system means I can no longer find the perfect balance of heft and handling that I love about my G502, and I'm left simply confused as to why Corsair would remove it for this new iteration of the Nightsword.

At the end of the day, this is a mostly well-designed mouse with a few noticeable foibles, but I can't help but dream of what could have been. It no longer feels like the Nightsword has anything to set itself apart from the crowd, or even from Corsair's own selection of mice; the ergonomic design with a thumb rest is shared by Corsair's M65, Dark Core, and Ironclaw models, for example.

Oh, and as TechRadar's resident southpaw, I have to note that there's no left-handed model available here. I'm pretty sure they call us lefties because we're left out so often – even if I've personally managed to adapt to using my mouse right-handed.

Corsair Nightsword V2 Wireless: Performance

• Comfortable even for lengthy gaming sessions
• No noticeable input latency even in 1K polling mode
• Long battery life

In practical use, the Corsair Nightsword V2 Wireless is perfectly competent and comfy to use for extended periods thanks to its ergonomic shape and thumb rest. I'm a palm-type grip user, and I didn't have any issues whatsoever with hand or finger strain even after a solid six-hour run in Marathon (the new season is about to start, and I had priority contracts to finish, alright?)

I tested the Nightsword V2 in both 1K and 8K polling rate modes, and frankly didn't notice much of a difference whatsoever – but to be clear, that's not really an outright criticism, as I found the mouse to be highly responsive both in terms of movement and clicks regardless of which polling mode I was in.

I prefer a fairly high DPI, especially for shooters, and the sensitivity here is great. High-skill users who want a really sensitive mouse may want to look for one with a 40K+ DPI sensor (which will probably cost you more), but the 33K Marksman S sensor in the Nightsword V2 ought to be plenty for the majority of PC gamers.

Aside from the issue I mentioned further up regarding the tight grouping of the thumb buttons leading to potential misinputs, I found that the buttons generally felt great. With optical switches for minimal input latency and improved longevity, the main mouse buttons have a decent amount of travel and a firm, satisfying click. The same goes for virtually every other button on the mouse; no cheap, flimsy feeling or wobbliness here.

I actually quite liked the feel of the sniper button (when I wasn't accidentally firing off an ill-timed energy blast instead of lining up a headshot, anyway). It has a good tactile response, so I know when it's been clicked even with my headset on during a noisy firefight, but it doesn't require much force at all to actuate, meaning that it's easy to hold down for careful aiming.

I did have to remap some of the default button settings, because having the DPI up/down adjustment set to the two side finger buttons just didn't feel right – I opted for the typical setting of the button behind the scroll wheel to swap between DPI presets instead.

The good news about remapping is that you no longer need to install Corsair's iCue software to tweak your peripherals. It's still available, but like a few other PC hardware manufacturers (including Razer), Corsair now offers a fully functional in-browser web app.

The Corsair Web Hub, which I mentioned earlier in this review, allows you to access all the usual software-level modifications for your Corsair devices all within an super-simple browser page. As someone who has long bemoaned the plethora of proprietary software tools for PC peripherals, it's immensely refreshing to be able to do everything I want to do in a regular browser tab, with no downloads required. I arguably can't really say that this is a point in favor of the Nightsword V2 specifically, but good work on the new Web Hub, Corsair.

Lastly, the battery life on the Nightsword V2 Wireless is seriously good, with Corsair rating it for up to 170 hours of use. Across seven days of regular use (more than eight hours a day on average, since I used the Nightsword V2 both for my daily work and gaming after hours), I didn't need to charge it once after my initial testing with the wired configuration.

Should you buy the Corsair Nightsword V2 Wireless?

Buy the Corsair Nightsword V2 Wireless if…

Don’t buy it if…

Corsair Nightsword V2 Wireless: Also consider

How I tested the Corsair Nightsword V2 Wireless

As usual for peripheral reviews, the Corsair Nightsword V2 Wireless became my regular mouse for just over a week while I was testing it out, replacing my daily driver, the Logitech G502 Lightspeed Wireless.

I used it every weekday for my regular work at TechRadar, which in terms of how I use my mouse, is mostly just clicking stuff in my browser and sometimes highlighting text. More pertinently, I used it to play a whole bunch of games: Warframe, Marathon, Valorant, Overwatch, and Apex Legends all currently feature in my regular gaming rotation, and I also used it for Slay the Spire II – though I doubt it had my impact on the quality of my gameplay in that particular title. I'm still really bad at the Necrobinder.

First reviewed May 2026

Alienware 15 (2026) review: Two Minute Review

Alienware's going "entry-level" with this one. Or, at least sort of. The whole list of configurations of the new Alienware 15 (2026) is a little confusing. Officially it starts at £879 in the UK, but for that you get an RTX 3050 GPU instead of the 5050 that we have in this review unit. That's a five year old graphics card there hidden away in a 2026 laptop. So first thing's first, keep a bloody good eye on the spec you get. The last thing you want is to think you're snatching up a bargain, only to be caught out by a sub-par silicon mix-up crushing your frame-rates in the process.

The good news, though, is that on the whole the specs of the Alienware 15 (2026) we were sent (Ryzen 7 260, RTX 5050, 16GB DDR5, and 512GB SSD), is actually remarkably good value for money. Particularly in the US. You can pick one up for about $1,160 or so. It's a lot more expensive in the UK (£1,333) and Australia (AU$1,999.80) but Stateside, it's a healthy config that delivers some impressive performance as it just peeks over that $1,000 parapet.

Ultra graphical presets aren't off the table here, at 1920x1200, but medium-high on those AAA titles is really going to be the place that leverages that 165 Hz 1920x1200 panel most efficiently. It's not the best of screens, though, as Alienware's got this thing labelled as "IPS", and I'm just not sure about that, because to be frank, the color reminds me more of a TN panel from 2011, than a modern-day IPS, "IPS-like" maybe. Perhaps we've been spoiled with OLED displays of late. Perhaps.

It's not the only place that's been stripped back either; connectivity still touts Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.2 (yes, in 2026), the build quality is a little plasticky, and the bevelled edges and rounded corners everywhere feel a bit dated, even if it keeps in-line with the brand's style. Oh and then there's my personal pet peeve, the dreaded single-channel memory setup. So you (yes you) can spend more money and increase the capacity at a later date (I mean you could do that with a dual-channel setup as well, but what do I know?).

Fortunately, a lot of the usual laptop woes that crop up with single-channel memory are easily overlooked by that hefty RTX 5050 delivering the frame-rate goodness, but it's still worth bearing in mind, if you are fixated on using this thing for productivity over gaming.

Oh and the SSD is just sad. Sure it's a PCIe 4.0 drive, and the sequential speeds are good, but the random 4K writes are savagely low, and it's a 512GB model, leaving you with about 480GB to play with once Windows 11 is installed. Ouch.

Still, for the price, and those negatives aside, it's remarkably robust and a genuine bargain, particularly around deal time.

Alienware 15 (2026) review: Price & Availability

• Available for $1,159.99 / £1,333 / AU$1,999.80
• UK and AU buyers pay a hefty premium compared to the US
• Base config still ships with RTX 3050 or 4050 era silicon

On the cost front, the Alienware 15 (2026), also known by its model number DA15265, is a curious thing. And its appeal is almost entirely dependent on where exactly your PC gaming escapades are based.

If you're in the US, it's a strikingly good deal. At $1,160 at time of writing, you get top-tier performance in the budget area, delivering high frame-rates in modern titles, for a smidge over the $1K mark. If you're in the UK, though, this specific config will set you back £1,333.81. That's the equivalent of about $1,800. And yes, I know sales tax is a thing as well, but it's not $640 that's for sure. What a markup.

The more confusing element, however, is the broad range of SKUs available. It's not uncommon to see a single product and design offer many different configurations, especially graphics cards for gaming laptops, but the fact that the Alienware 15 (2026) is available with cards all the way down to an RTX 3050 does muddy the waters somewhat. Particularly if you're snapping up a quick deal around Black Friday, and don't take time to check the specs.

• Value score: 3.5 / 5

Alienware 15 (2026) review: specs

Alienware 15 (2026) review: Design

• Slimmer than you'd expect from Alienware
• Dated design leaves a lot to be desired
• Spongey keyboard and abrasive trackpad

Surprisingly for a 15-incher, the Alienware 15 (2026) is... well, not quite as bulky as you'd expect for an Alienware unit at the budget end of the spectrum.

It's not light at 2.2kg (4.85lbs), at least not in this configuration, but it's a far cry from what you'd usually expect for an affordable gaming laptop. Sadly, Alienware's still hanging onto that smooth-faced design somewhat here, and there's a lot of curvature. The panels, the chassis, the hinge, the edges, they all slowly curve downwards, into an almost egg-shaped design. Even the screen has a bevelled curved edge smoothly radiating outwards, which does feel a touch dated compared to some of the competition out there.

Perhaps unsurprisingly for a laptop at this price, the materials aren't the best either; there's a lot of plastic here, and it's the single biggest indicator that, yeah, this might be on the cheaper end of the budget spectrum.

The keyboard too, is remarkably spongy. If you told me it was a membrane board, I'd believe you, and the trackpad has this weird cheap semi-abrasive finish to it that gives me the ick a little bit (thanks Gen Z). But you know, no gamer worth their salt is going to be using that over one of the best gaming mice anyway.

Port selection is fairly minimal too, and there's no Thunderbolt either (given it's an AMD platform), although you do get HDMI 2.1, and Gigabit Ethernet to cover the essentials.

• Design score: 3.5 / 5

Alienware 15 (2026) review: Design

• RTX 5050 and 1200p screen are a radical pairing
• Single-channel RAM is frustrating
• Rapid sequential SSD performance, but it struggles on large transfers

Alienware's paired Nvidia's RTX 5050 laptop chip with that (I'm still calling it an) "IPS-like" 1920x1200 display capable of driving 165 Hz refresh rates, with AMD FreeSync to back it all up (at least in this configuration), and the good news is that performance absolutely slaps at that resolution.

Cyberpunk 2077 on the medium preset averaged 90fps at 1080p with the lows sliding in at just 72, and not a drop of upscaling insight. Switch to DLSS on quality with frame generation, and that figure skyrockets to 157 fps on average. Total War: Warhammer 3, also managed an impressive 134 fps as well, and Final Fantasy XIV's Dawntrail benchmark clocked an impressive 102 fps on the High (laptop) preset. Ultra at native resolution isn't off the cards here, and it shows.

As for the CPU, that's one of AMD's Zen 4 Hawk Point Ryzen 7 260s, complete with eight cores and 16 threads, and it cuts just as neatly a line in professional activities as its RTX 5050 counterpart does in game. Cinebench 2024 managed 826 points in the multi-core test, and it savaged 3D Mark's CPU Profile benchmark with a juicy 7,558.

There are a few caveats worth mentioning. Namely, the SSD is a bit... underwhelming. For one, it's just a 512GB model, and although its sequential performance is solid (it's a PCIe 4.0 unit provided by Samsung), the figures that count for game load times, random 4K read and writes, were well under par.

And then there's the memory. I've banged on enough about how frustrating it is dealing with the memory crisis, and manufacturers continually turning to single channel setups for their off the shelf PCs and laptops, and it's unfortunately true here. If you do want to expand and chuck another 16GB stick in later, yeah you can, but there really ought to have been a default option for that from the get go. It's like we're going backwards in performance, not forwards.

• Performance score: 4/5

Alienware 15 (2026) review: Battery life

• Rapid charging
• 70 Whr battery can't compete against hungry silicon

Let's not beat around the bush here; this is a gaming notebook. It's not a Snapdragon-based Acer model with ridiculously impressive multi day battery life, nor is it one of Intel's hyper-efficient Panther Lake units like we saw in Dell's latest XPS, no sir.

You can throw all the Nvidia Optimus screen switching tricks you can at this thing, but at the end of it all, it's still going to chew through battery life faster than I get through cable ties. And chew through it it did.

The Alienware 15 managed just 89 minutes in PC Mark's gaming battery benchmark, before tapping out at 2%. The video test faired much better however, scoring 4 hours and 9 minutes, although again a far cry from the 14 hours Asus's Vivobook S 15 Copilot managed.

Should I buy the Alienware 15 (2026)?

Buy it if…

Don't buy it if…

Alienware 15 (2026) review: Also Consider

How I tested the Alienware 15 (2026)

• Tested at home, in the office and on the move
• Benchmarked and used across a wide variety of gaming and productivity tasks
• 11 years of expertise testing laptops, and three weeks with the Alienware 15

I put the Alienware 15 (2026) through its paces, testing it against my usual suite of gaming laptop benchmarks, covering everything from CPU performance, to gaming and everything else in between. I compared it against my database of similarly priced laptops, and used it as my daily driver for three weeks of thorough testing.

Every result was captured under identical, controlled conditions, on a clean Windows 11 install, with the latest updates and drivers. No programs or bloatware were removed, and no power profiles altered during testing, to better represent what an end-user might expect.

• First reviewed: August 2026

Kensington Expert Mouse Pro TB900 EQ: 30-second review

The Kensington Expert Mouse Pro TB900 EQ follows a long line of large-ball control devices that rethink the standard computer mouse entirely. This latest version is a relatively large unit that sits where your mouse would, with a big central trackball with controls neatly arranged around it.

Setup on the Mac took a little longer than expected, requiring a couple of restarts and some security authorisation in System Settings. Everything is guided and reasonably straightforward, and where something did not work first time, a restart sorted it. On Windows 11 it was considerably simpler: install Kensington Konnect and the applications and integration were ready to go.

Once running, you can start customising it per application. I tested both wired and Bluetooth connections, and both were fast and responsive for video and photo editing, as well as for Word and Excel.

Kensington Konnect is where everything happens. You add applications to the list on the right, and the presets for the TB900 EQ swap automatically as those applications come to the front. Switching between Photoshop and Final Cut Pro during this test, I had a different set of presets waiting for each. I could not find any pre-configured application profiles supplied, though this is a pre-release unit and maybe they’ll arrive as downloads later.

In Final Cut Pro, most of the defaults were close to what I wanted. I changed the dial around the main ball to scrub, the lower-left button to blade, and the right button to select. With those three, plus the ball tracking left and right, the four most common movements were all within reach without moving my hand.

The test that convinced me was a head-to-head edit. I edited the same footage once with keyboard and mouse as I normally would, then again using the TB900, and the trackball was quicker despite years of muscle memory pointing the other way.

If you work in the creative sector, or simply find a mouse annoying, this is worth a look. Having used many control boards over the years and trackballs, I am genuinely surprised by how much I like the TB900 EQ and how quickly it improved my video editing.

Kensington Expert Mouse Pro TB900 EQ: Price and availability

• How much does it cost? TBC
• When is it out? Coming soon
• Where can you get it? Directly from Kensington

The Expert Mouse Pro TB900 EQ is at pre-release and not yet available in stores. The previous TB800 EQ is widely available from major retailers and directly from Kensington, so I expect the new TB900 to follow suit.

• Value: TBC

Kensington Expert Mouse Pro TB900 EQ: Specs

Connectivity: USB-C wired, Bluetooth and 2.4GHz USB dongle
Size: 125 x 165mm, approximately 60mm high with the ball fitted
Weight: Just under 450g
Ball diameter: 55mm, removable
Tracking: Kensington Diamond Eye optical tracking
Controls: Four buttons around the ball, 360-degree scroll ring, two side scroll dials, four top buttons, mode button, three underside toggle switches
OS Installed: Kensington Konnect software, macOS and Windows

Kensington Expert Mouse Pro TB900 EQ: Design

The TB900 is a great-looking device, though far larger than an average mouse, with a desktop footprint of 125 x 165mm and a height of roughly 60mm with the ball fitted. At just under 450g, it is also considerably heavier, which in practice means it stays exactly where you put it rather than wandering across the desk.

The point of the design is that it takes up little room and you never move it. Your cursor travels because the ball turns, not because your hand travels. Around the 55mm ball sit four buttons and a rotating scroll ring. Across the top are four additional buttons and a mode button; on the left are two rotary dials with a connectivity switch and button; and on the right are two quick-access buttons.

Underneath there are three toggle switches that turn off the two side scroll dials and the top button. That makes more sense the more you use it, because those controls are easy to knock accidentally. Moving between Word, Excel, and creative applications, I found myself flicking the side dials off and on, and having physical switches for that rather than a menu is something I really liked.

Build quality is excellent and this review sample is the black-and-grey option, with a matt black body in good-quality plastic and a silver-grey ball that has a satisfying weight.

A red version is also available with a red ball but the same body. It’s also worth noting that while the device is relatively small, there’s no carry case in the box, so if you’re thinking of portability, that is something to consider. Placed into my kit bag, the ball would come loose.

That one oddity to anyone new to the system is that the ball lifts straight out. It’s held only by the cradle's light grip and its own weight, making it quick to swap in a different-coloured ball, although less well designed for portability as mentioned.

• Design: 4.5 / 5

Kensington Expert Mouse Pro TB900 EQ: Features

Compared with a standard mouse, the TB900 EQ is surprisingly feature-packed. Reading the movement of the ball is Kensington's Diamond Eye optical tracking that moves the cursor across the screen as the 55mm ball is rotated. In use, this instantly feels far more accurate than using a mouse, with plenty of control over interaction speed accessible through the Konnect software. The ball's own weight also means that it’s smooth to move but feels tactile rather than loose.

Around the ball is a fully adjustable scroll ring with 360-degree rotation, and it is superb for scrubbing through video footage. On the sides sit two customisable scroll dials which, by default, are both set to zoom in whichever application you are in. That proved annoying, and I reassigned them quickly because I kept catching one with my little finger. Likewise for some of the speed settings, the vertical scroll set at slow was actually the perfect balance; however, I did switch off the inertia scroll.

Every button and control is customisable through Konnect, which lets you create presets for each application. For this review, I configured Photoshop, Premiere Pro and Final Cut Pro. Aside from the zoom assignment, the defaults were fine for most productivity work.

Konnect splits into Buttons, Pointer, and Scrolling tabs, with Easy Mode and Advanced Mode, and settings are stored under named profiles. Pointer speed runs on a slider with optional acceleration, and a custom speed can be bound to modifier keys so a Cmd or Shift press temporarily changes tracking speed.

Alongside the dials, the buttons around the ball take what is possible on a standard mouse a good deal further. At the same time, there are plenty of mice with multiple buttons and customisation software. It’s only when you start using a trackball like this that you realise how much more intuitive the arrangement is, particularly for creative work.

• Features: 4.5 / 5

Kensington Expert Mouse Pro TB900 EQ: Performance

I tested the TB900 EQ on both macOS and Windows 11. The majority of the work was done on a MacBook Pro M1 Max, with part of the test carried out on an ASUS ProArt desktop to similar effect. Installation on the Windows machine was extremely straightforward: install Konnect, and the applications and integration were set and ready.

On the Mac it was more involved. Security authorisation is needed from within System Settings. While the setup process opens the relevant window directly rather than leaving you hunting for the toggle switches, I still hit a few connectivity issues. These were resolved with a restart of the machine, after which everything was resolved, and every connection after that initial setup was instant, with my configured presets remaining intact.

What struck me when I started was how intuitive the trackball felt. A dip into Konnect to reduce sensitivity, so the cursor was less jittery, showed how much more control you have than with a mouse. I found that resting two fingers on the ball gave the greatest control for the cursor with my thumb on the dial.

It also didn’t take long for the ball and surrounding buttons to feel natural, essentially mimicking a mouse layout. Once normal operation was established, I then moved on to per-application customisation, starting with Final Cut Pro, then Photoshop, and finally Premiere Pro.

What I was keen to address is the problem with any video edit of scrubbing control with a mouse. Essentially, scrubbing through footage both quickly and accurately to find the exact frame where an edit is needed. With the use of the ball, this all changes and what I liked here was that the four buttons around the ball and the scroll ring let me assign all the most common functions.

The ball itself scrubs the timeline. The scroll ring around it handles precise scrubbing, one frame at a time. The left button selects, the right blades, and the two top buttons move to the previous and next cut. All of it is assigned through Konnect.

Once those basics were set, everything else fell into line. After about five minutes of editing, it was clearly faster than the mouse-and-keyboard setup I am used to, and it felt far more like being back in an edit suite than at a desk.

The comparison I ran was a straight head-to-head. Stating a three-minute edit with the keyboard and mouse took around 20 minutes, consisting of a soundtrack edit then B-Roll. I then took a look at another similar video and repeated the process, and the second edit took around 15 minutes with a definite speed increase due to the button layout.

What really made the difference was the precision, being able to assign the dial around the ball to scrub, so a quick spin would speed through the footage while a smaller turn would go frame-by-frame, giving absolute control

Moving to Word, I assigned the features I use most to the buttons, with the scroll ring handling accurate movement through the text. Having the control dial skip a line at a time, with the left button for selection, again felt more intuitive than mouse and keyboard.

The TB900 however does not work in isolation. I still use the keyboard for typing and for shortcuts, but I was able to move far more of the control function away from the mouse and onto the trackball. Individually, those are a couple of seconds in savings. Over a half-day, edits add up to a considerable difference.

• Performance: 4.5 / 5

Kensington Expert Mouse Pro TB900 EQ: Final verdict

Thinking about who this is for, office workers get the simplest benefit: quick navigation around the screen without the faff of moving a mouse across the desk. The trackball stays fixed and close, so you never need to clear a path for it.

Then there is the customisation. Once you start assigning buttons to different applications and functions, and spend serious time in a piece of software, it is not difficult to tune it to exactly what you need.

Where it really comes into its own is the creative sector. The analogue feel of the two side dials and the main ring around the ball makes a genuine difference, and the texture and weight of the ball add a lot when working with creative media, giving fine and precise control. That is the real difference between this and a mouse: you feel fully in control of both cursor navigation and the edits you are applying.

It does take a little time to bed in and to get the right customisation assigned. Once you do, this is as close to a perfect trackball design as I have come across, especially when working across several applications rather than treating it as a dedicated video controller.

If, like me, you are not that keen on a mouse and often fall back to a trackpad instead, the Expert Mouse Pro TB900 EQ will be a pleasant surprise. And if you have tried trackballs before and struggled to get your head around them, my experience across this review is that this one is quick and easy to pick up.

Should I buy a Kensington Expert Mouse Pro TB900 EQ?

Buy it if...

Don't buy it if...

RunStar 4E Body Scale: One minute review

The RunStar 4E is an affordable smart scale that costs little more than a standard set of electrical scales. Considering it measures more than 20 different body composition metrics, the low price becomes even more impressive. As you’d expect at this price, there are limitations though, with the inability to measure composition accurately (fat-to-muscle ratios and so on) being the most glaring one.

Despite these shortcomings, everything, from app setup to using the scales, is smooth, straightforward, and wonderfully intuitive. Connecting the scales to the companion app is quick and easy thanks to a robust Bluetooth signal, and the option to create multiple users within the app is a nice touch for a family of my size and stage.

The weight measurement consistently measured around 0.4% more than the pricier RunStar 8E SmartScan Pro, which isn’t a massive deviation. For almost all the other measurements, the RunStar 4E adopts a bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) measuring method through four metal sensors located on the top panel of the scale.

BMI measurements were almost identical every single time compared to the 8E SmartScan Pro (probably because it's a mathematical calculation not dependent on the electrodes), but almost all other composition measurements offered up a deviation of between 3 and 30%. For these reasons, it’s not likely to make it into our best smart scales guide. That said, for the price, the RunStar 4E is a respectable set of scales for weight and quick BMI calculation.

RunStar 4E Body Scale: Specifications

RunStar 4E Body Scale: Price and availability

• $33.54 / £31.00
• Not available in Australia
• Budget-friendly smart scale

At $33.54 USD / £31.00 GBP, the RunStar 4E Body Scale is incredibly affordable as far as smart scales go. It might lack full body measurements for fat loss and fitness and muscle gain, but for that pleasure you’ll have to part with a lot more money and shoot for something like the RunStar 8E SmartScan Pro, Withings Body Scan series, or Wyze Scale X.

A comparable option in terms of price and features would be the Vitafit Smart Bathroom Scale, which scored a respectable four stars in our testing. Positives included the easy connection, extremely fast results, and the comprehensive app. Our reviewer had some concerns over accuracy, but overall it’s a solid choice.

The scales are FSA and HSA eligible, which means US users are able to use them in conjunction with designating pre-tax money to be taken from pay and put towards paying medical expenses.

• Value score 4.5/5

RunStar 4E Body Scale: Design

• LCD display with color graphics
• Compact and lightweight design
• Powered by 3x AAA batteries

At the heart of the RunStar 4E is a bright LCD display that provides an easy-to-access readout of six metrics: weight, body fat, BMI, muscle mass, body water, and bone mass. The display cycles through these with a few seconds given over to each stat. Unfortunately there’s no way to move to a specific metric using on-device controls, although the full list is available in the accompanying app.

At 11.02 x 11.02 x 0.78 inches and 3.17 pounds, the smart scale is both compact and lightweight. As a result, finding a suitable spot for it in a bathroom or bedroom shouldn’t be a problem. It can also be easily stowed on its side in a cupboard while not in use.

The scale is covered in 6mm tempered glass, which protects against scratches and cracks, neither of which I suffered despite my children doing their accidental best to inflict a dent or two. Underneath you’ll find four anti-slip silicone feet.

Quick and effortless connectivity is via Bluetooth, and power is delivered courtesy of three AAA batteries. USB-C charging would have been better for the environment, but with minimal power required, I don’t envisage getting through too many batteries.

• Design Score: 4/5

RunStar 4E Body Scale: Features

• 22 reportable metrics including weight, BMI, and muscle mass
• App supports multiple users

The RunStar 4E boasts an impressive feature set for such an affordable scale, or at least it would be if the extras were more impressive. At its core, the scale is capable of measuring over 20 metrics, including weight, BMI, body fat percentage, body mass, muscle mass, body water rate, bone mass, and visceral fat. Six of these are visible on the smart scale itself, while the full set is reported in the Starfit RunStar app.

To accommodate families, the Starfit app enables users to set up multiple profiles, one for each family member. By entering the height and target weight of each person, the app is able to provide more accurate and informed reporting. The app also tracks measurements over time and plots them on a chart for trend analysis.

• Features Score: 4/5

RunStar 4E Body Scale: Performance

• Quick results on-device and in-app
• Accurate weight, BMI, and metabolic age
• Some inaccuracies consistently reported

The first thing to note is that the RunStar 4E is quick. In a matter of seconds the scale is able to measure over 20 different body composition metrics and display them instantly in the app. There’s no waiting around for calculations to be made and zero lag when the display is cycling through the six core metrics.

Weight, as you’d expect, is measured prior to all the body composition elements. Having measured myself hundreds of times, I found that the 4E regularly mismeasured my weight by around 0.4% compared to the RunStar 8E SmartScan Pro and, indeed, my rudimentary pair of digital weight scales. It would be unfair to judge the scales too harshly for this small deviation, especially given the price.

According to research published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research, one study conducted on smart scales shows a median margin of error of around 0.3kgs, so I can forgive it some small deviation. That said, if you’re requiring absolute accuracy, you’ll need to look elsewhere.

BMI was also consistently measured more or less accurately, with deviations of only 0.5%. If you’re only concerned with quick measurements such as weight and BMI, then the RunStar 4E won’t cause you any problems.

Getting into the specifics, musculoskeletal-related measurements using BIA include muscle, muscle mass, and skeletal muscle rates. The first two measured around a 3% deviation from the 8E SmartScan Pro, but it was the skeletal muscle rate which was most concerning, measuring a deviation of nearly 15%.

Unfortunately variable results continue with fat-related metrics. Compared to the SmartScan Pro, body fat percentage, subcutaneous fat, and body fat mass all reported a massive 30% deviation.

Despite comparably poor results on some metrics, it’s worth remembering that most of these are specialized measurements, and to expect too much from a smart scale that costs $33.54 / £31.00 might be a little unreasonable.

That said, it would be preferable for consumers if smart scale manufacturers would only include metrics that they could report on accurately. The RunStar 4E also measures consistently with itself, which means it can still be trusted as a weight loss tool assuming you allow for the margin of error.

• Performance score: 3.5/5

RunStar 4E Body Scale: Scorecard

RunStar 4E Body Scale: Should I buy?

Buy it if...

Don't buy it if...

Also consider

How I tested

My family (two adults and three children) has been using the RunStar 4E for three months. We’ve used it to measure and track all types of metrics, including weight, BMI, and muscle mass. I carried out comparison tests with the more premium RunStar 8E SmartScan Pro. In addition, I’ve used every feature of the app to give the smart scales a thorough testing.

First reviewed: July 2026

Sorting, managing, editing, and sharing your photographs is a job and a half, often requiring multiple apps just to get on top of the workflow.

I’ve tested several software packages that do a very good job at merging practically every tool you need into a single app, but what’s bugged me is they only cater to Windows users.

Which is why my interest was piqued by ON1’s Photo RAW’s multi-platform capabilities (well, for Windows and Macs - sorry Linux users). So let’s take a look at it.

ON1 Photo RAW 2026: Pricing & plans

• No subscription model
• You purchase the software outright
• Generous trial period, money back guarantee, what's not to like

The ON1 Photo Raw has a flash sale ending today (August 7), with 50% off - you can check it out by clicking here.

More and more companies have jumped to subscription plans - I'm never a fan of this.

Well, ON1 are having none of that, and its Photo RAW app is only available to own outright. Full price, it costs a very fair $100.

When you consider you can use Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop for $20 a month, not only will you be saving money with Photo RAW after only 5 months.

The software also comes with a very generous 30-day free trial (email address required, but not your credit card details). If you purchase it and conclude it’s not for you, there’s also a 30-day money back guarantee. That means ON1 want to be certain you’ll only buy their software if you’re delighted with it.

You can see what's on offer here.

• Pricing & plans: 5 / 5

ON1 Photo RAW 2026: Interface

• Plenty of tools
• When all on display, you’re not left with much space for photos
• But thankfully you can hide sidebars at will

I found Photo RAW’s interface to be very well thought out, polished and designed. Perhaps a little too polished, as some actions and concepts weren’t immediately obvious to me.

Like a little hollowed out blue circle being a tick box, or clicking on a menu’s header would collapse or expand its content. But it just takes a few seconds to figure it out and then you’re flying.

There are numerous sidebars on either side, the thinnest one furthest to the left is contextual, depending on the module you’re in. Selecting ‘Home’ shows you some recent photos you’ve worked on, along with those available in recently opened folders. You’ll also find links to helpful tutorial videos.

‘Browse’ reveals the guts of your local hard drives, with every single folder you’ve ever created ready to be accessed, and also offers access to online storage from Dropbox, Google Drive and OneDrive

‘Edit’ is where you’ll work on your photos, and selecting that icon will also reveal additional icons down that sidebar.

If you’re ever puzzled about what a particular icon does, hover over it for a few seconds to reveal a tool tip popup window, complete with a short audioless video illustrating what it does.

When a tool is selected, a toolbar at the top of the interface will offer specific parameters for that selected tool. The other three sidebars can be customised - you can choose if some tools are displayed in the left or right one, or you can remove them from view altogether offering more space to the shot you’re working on.

By default, the large sidebar on the left is for your presets and layer work, while the one on the right is for your regular color correcting tools, and similar. A small sidebar on the far right contains options to share your work either online or by printing it.

• Interface: 4 / 5

ON1 Photo RAW 2026: Editing

• Tools are easy to use
• Many are made better with the clever use of complex algorithms designed to improve your work rather than supplant it

Now, to start, I downloaded a series of free RAW files from Signature Edits (check out the website here).

If you’ve done any color correction you’ll recognise all the sliders present in the ‘Tone and color’ section on the right, which allow you to make satisfying alterations to an image in next to no time.

But if that just takes too long for you, just above those sliders is a ‘Brilliance AI’ button. Activate it, and complex algorithms will do the necessary changes for you. But unlike many other AI features from competing software, this doesn’t need to be the be all and end all of the process.

Expand Brilliance AI to reveal sliders to enhance or tone down those automatic changes, including some very clever masking options to focus your changes on specific sections, such as people, animals, the sky, and more. You can also just go back to Tone and color sliders to make any further alterations yourself.

Adding Filters is as easy as selecting one you’d like and using one of its preset ‘Styles’. As before you’re also free to make manual changes thanks to the available sliders, if you’re after a more unique look. It’s good to know you can add as many filters as you’d like to an image.

When it comes to masking, Photo RAW has some complex algorithms ready and waiting to work for you, in the shape of Super Select AI. Clicking on that tool (in the thin left sidebar) lets the software analyze your image. This should only take a couple of seconds. You can then isolate a specific area of an image, modifying it while leaving the rest untouched.

The level of precision you can have with masks is quite extreme. For example, adding to your selection, solely focussing on small sections of your image such as a subject’s eyes, adding a filter to the entire shot, and then removing it for one or two specific areas. You can get amazingly detailed with your alterations.

And if that isn’t enough, you’re able to work with layers, just like you can with Photoshop, superimposing photos on top of others, masking areas, revealing others, adding text. Although to be honest, being used to Photoshop and the like, that section did feel a little too bare in comparison.

What you can do with Photo RAW is remarkably intensive, and it uses those complex algorithms it calls AI in a way that enhances your creativity rather than take over the process, and that can only be lauded.

Should I buy ON1 Photo Raw?

Buy it if...

You’re looking for software to organize, manage, alter and share your photos, love the idea of a perpetual licence, and appreciate AI being used as a clever and intricate tool rather than a replacement for your actual vision.

Don't buy it if...

You are too wedded to Adobe’s suite of creative software, or your editing needs are too casual to take advantage of the level of complexity and precision Photo RAW offers.

For more creative tools, we tested the best photo editors.

Photo Studio Ultimate 2026 is seen as ACDSee’s competitor to Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop, combining many image editing tools of both into a single package.

For those looking for one of the best Photoshop alternatives, it's definitely up there. Although not quite as powerful as Adobe's dominant software or photo organizer Lightroom, it's a good place for those that want loads of advanced features without the pro-grade complexity found in Adobe's suite.

I took the latest version for a spin to see what the newest features bring for photo editors.

ACDSee Photo Studio Ultimate 2026: Pricing & plans

• Good value for one-off purchase and subscriptions
• Windows-only

First off, the bad news: in a move that feels quite atypical in this day and age, Photo Studio Ultimate is Windows only, so if you run a different type of computer, you’re stuck looking for alternatives.

Now for the good news: unlike an increasing number of companies who only allow you to rent their software, ACDSee give you a choice: subscribe to Photo Studio Ultimate for $8.90 a month or $89 a year, or buy it outright for $150 (discounted to $69.95 as of this writing).

There are restrictions with the latter: you can only install it on a single machine, and once a new major version is released, you’ll be stuck with the old one until you choose the upgrade (just like the good old days).

Subscribing has additional perks, such as recording and video editing software, the ability to install the program on up to 5 machines. You also get free software upgrades, but once you stop paying, you lose it all.

There are positives and negatives for both options; it just depends which you’re more happy to live with. But kudos to ACDSee for actually offering customers a choice.

As a comparison, Adobe offers Lightroom for $12 a month on a yearly contract, making it $55 more expensive than ACDSee’s option.

If you’re curious, a free 16 day trial of the software is available, so you can be sure it does exactly what you expect it to do.

• Pricing & plans: 4.5 / 5

ACDSee Photo Studio Ultimate 2026: Interface

• Lots of features inside a single application
• Intuitive once you’re used to it
• Initial tutorial should not be skipped

Photo Studio Ultimate doesn’t copy your photos into a new library for you. Instead, it enables you to access all the shots you have stored on your computer. You also have the option of getting the software to focus on a default folder, where you can organize your images as you please.

However, that won’t prevent you from accessing stills stored elsewhere - that default link is just there for your convenience, to avoid you having to navigate to that folder each and every time you launch the app.

Once you’ve set that, you’ll be graced with a pretty busy interface. There are sidebars on both sides of the interface, a series of menus top left, a set differentiated with a larger font size top right, with the central section reserved for your shots. That’s a lot to handle, and it’s much busier than Photoshop and Lightroom, but that doesn’t mean it’s hard to find your way around.

The first time you launch the software, you’ll be taken through a series of labelled screenshots explaining what most of the interface does, and it’s well worth spending a few minutes with them to familiarise yourself with the software. After that, you’ll get comfortable with where everything is in next to no time.

Photo Studio Ultimate is essentially divided into 5 sections, represented by the larger menu top right of the interface. Put simply, ‘Manage’, ‘Media’ and ‘View’ are three ways to see and organize your portfolio, ‘Develop’ focuses primarily on color correction, and image fixing (such as lens correction and straightening), while ‘Edit’ offers more Photoshop-like tools, such as sky replacement, image repair, and even allows you to work with multiple layers.

• Interface: 4 / 5

ACDSee Photo Studio Ultimate 2026: Tools

• Well-stocked feature-set
• Comparable to Photoshop and Lightroom

So everything’s pretty well organized. That’s good. But what’s more important is what you can do with this software.

For instance, ‘Manage’ is there for you to search for specific images based on their metadata, oh and speaking of, the Properties tab on the right is where you get to add as much information about your selected image, or groups of images, making the search tool more accurate as a result.

‘Media’ is designed to explore specifically selected photos in greater detail. You can group them by date or based on specific properties, and also have a couple of viewing options.

Meanwhile, ‘View’ focuses on one selected image at a time (you can bring in multiple ones, but these will appear as a filmstrip at the bottom, as a single shot takes up most of the interface at any one time. Interestingly enough you can also view PDFs and Microsoft Office documents in this mode.

So that’s the cataloguing and organising sorted. But what’s more interesting would be the tools at your disposal to make alterations and improvements. And in its next two modes, ‘Develop’ and ‘Edit’, Photo Studio Ultimate has got them in spades.

All alterations are non-destructive, and range from the basic yet detailed color correction to more advanced features. That includes reducing noise, tuning skin tone, or applying masks with either the Brush, Gradient, Luminance, and color Range tools. You’ll also be able to correct lens distortion, correct red eye or other blemishes too.

One feature I particularly liked is the ability to save Snapshots of your work as you go, allowing you to go back to any saved state at any time, and going in a different direction from there.

‘Edit’ is where you’ll find the more Photoshop-like tools. We all know how gargantuan Photoshop is, and ACDSee’s product doesn’t go anywhere near that level of complexity.

But what’s included enriches the portfolio of available features greatly. You’ll be able to apply edits to specific areas, or even add objects, like circles and arrows, to your image, as well as be able to work with multiple layers.

• Tools: 4.5 / 5

ACDSee Photo Studio Ultimate 2026: AI

• AI tools work well
• But they were slow in my experience

Now these days, an image editing software package wouldn’t be worth its salt without some AI-branded tools, and so Photo Studio Ultimate has you covered on that front as well. Some of the new features for the 2026 version, include AI Denoise, Hair Masking, Face Edit and a few Presets available in the ‘Develop’ section.

And let’s not forget those that were already available, such as AI Sky Replacement, which does exactly what it says on the tin, and comes with a wealth of different skies for different feels, such as blue sky, sunset, storm, and more.

In my experience, these worked very well, although the newest AI tools felt like they took forever to do their job, but that might be more due to the age of my trusty PC than anything else.

There’s one last thing I’d like to mention: ACDSee has a mobile app known as ‘ACDSee Mobile Sync’. With it, you can link your phone to your copy of Photo Studio Ultimate, to transfer files from your device to your computer.

Once the very simple setup was done, moving files over was essentially effortless, and an excellent companion to an app stuffed to the gills with features.

• AI: 4 / 5

Should I buy ACDSee Photo Studio Ultimate 2026?

Buy it if...

You’re on the lookout for a photo editing app crammed with features, including a sprinkling of very useful and powerful Photoshop-like tools, and a useful assortment of AI.

Don't buy it if...

What comes bundled with your computer is sufficient for your needs, or you are wedded to Adobe’s subscription plans, or you own something other than a Windows PC.

For more creative tools, we tested the best photo editors.

Sony Inzone M10S II: Two-minute review

The Sony Inzone M10S was one of the best gaming monitors of 2024, offering uncompromising performance and a suite of practical tournament-ready features that made it the perfect choice for both professional and aspiring esports players.

Now Sony is back with the Inzone M10S II, a successor that delivers a number of small but nevertheless impactful upgrades while maintaining everything that made the original so good. It’s the same 2560 x 1440 resolution, but feels even snappier thanks to an increased 540Hz refresh rate and a lower 0.02ms response time. There’s even a dual mode, letting you bump the resolution down to 720p for a staggering 720Hz picture — invaluable for Counter-Strike 2 or Rocket League.

If that wasn’t enough, it’s now even brighter, coming in at up to 1,500 nits rather than 1,300, with the same rich colors and impressive contrast. There’s a new anti-glare coating on this model as well, which does a fantastic job of keeping glare at bay. You barely see any kind of reflections, even in a brightly lit room with ring lights and lamps pointed directly at the screen, preventing possible distractions in a tournament setting.

I did note that the matte texture makes it prone to smudging and quite hard to clean, though, which might be a little frustrating if you accidentally touch the panel while setting up.

Like its predecessor, the Inzone M10S II is packed with handy esports features like a dedicated 24.5-inch display mode, the ability to set up on-screen timers and crosshairs, or an option to display a frame rate counter to check your performance.

They’re all accessible via the monitor’s options menu, or the easy-to-use Inzone Hub software. The software even lets you import and export your setup, meaning you can take your at-home profile to a competition and replicate the same settings every time.

As this is a Sony product, it shouldn't come as much of a surprise that it also has a dedicated PlayStation 5 mode, which is activated automatically when the system is plugged in and optimizes the picture for console play.

It’s all brought together by a market-leading stand. The base included with the original Sony Inzone M10S is one of the best I’ve ever used, with a low-profile disc-shaped base that fits underneath your keyboard, plenty of vertical adjustment, and a full 360 degrees of rotation. The version that comes with the Inzone M10S is even better, benefiting from an additional few degrees of tilt to ensure a comfortable viewing experience no matter how you’re seated.

Sony Inzone M10S II: Price and availability

• Costs $1,099.99 / £1,199 / roughly AU$2,300
• Same price that the original M10S launched at
• The older model is now cheaper, though

The Sony Inzone M10S II is far from cheap, but it’s not really competing with most other gaming monitors. You can easily find capable 4K screens for far less than this price, such as the Gigabyte M32UC, which is going to be a better fit for those seeking to play cinematic games like Horizon Forbidden West or The Last of Us Part 1 on PC or console.

The Inzone M10S II is instead positioned as an alternative to models offered by dedicated esports brands such as BenQ Zowie. The Zowie XL2586X+ is a good point of comparison, as it’s very similarly priced at roughly $1,000 / £1,150 / AU$1,799. That model features a 600Hz 1080p TN panel designed for the best possible motion clarity. While technically faster, you lose out on the higher-resolution picture, more vibrant OLED colors, and stylish design of the M10S II.

If you’re looking at the Inzone M10S II, then the original Sony Inzone M10S, which is still sold alongside this newer model, is also a viable alternative. The M10S is now easy to find around $900 / £990 / roughly AU$1,600, so it comes in a decent chunk cheaper — though you do lose the spec upgrades.

Sony Inzone M10S II: Specs

Sony Inzone M10S II: Design and features

• Sleek and attractive
• Brilliant included stand
• Wealth of ports

The design of the Sony Inzone M10S II hasn’t changed that much from the original M10S — but that’s certainly not a bad thing. This is a sleek and attractive-looking monitor that comes bundled with a fantastic stand. Its base is a low-profile, 4 mm thin metal disk that fits comfortably underneath a keyboard and connects to a robust stand that keeps the monitor impressively stable.

You get the same full 360-degree rotation too, so you can freely show your screen to teammates in a match. The large power button and the thumbstick used to edit settings are still as intuitive and easy to use as before, and it retains smart design features like a power indicator LED that’s set off to the side so that it doesn’t shine in your eyes as you play.

The ports are identical to the original M10S as well: DisplayPort, two HDMI 2.1 ports, an upstream USB Type-C alongside two downstream USB Type-A ports for peripherals, a 3.5mm audio jack, and a single USB Type-A port reserved for software updates (accomplished with a USB stick). Its major software features are also unchanged, so you still get support for Nvidia G-Sync, HDR, and a suite of visual modes including an FPS Pro+ mode developed in collaboration with esports team Fnatic.

This isn’t the best looking aesthetically, but it makes it far easier to see key visual cues like the red dots that indicate rival players in a match of Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 or even obscured enemies in Valorant.

In terms of what’s actually new, it’s a subtle distinction, but the M10S II benefits from a wider -5 to 35 degree tilt range (its predecessor tilted at -5 to 25 degrees), which allows for even more flexibility in your seating position (the monitor also supports a 100 x 100 mm VESA mount, if you would prefer to use a third-party arm).

The Inzone M10S II is also coated with a new ‘Super Anti-glare Film’. It’s incredibly effective, and means you can play unimpeded with a literal torch pointed at the display. The matte texture does make it very prone to picking up smudges, though.

Sony Inzone M10S II: Performance

• 540Hz refresh rate is incredibly smooth
• Beautiful, vibrant colors and strong brightness
• Perfect for competitive games

The Sony Inzone M10S II looks pretty dim and unimpressive out of the box. The culprit? The power-saving mode is on by default. Once you turn that off and crank the brightness up to about 80%, the vibrant OLED colors are absolutely lush and look gorgeous. The sRGB profile is a good choice if you want color accuracy, and is usually my preference when using monitors, but I found the slightly poppier appearance of the standard preset very appealing.

The enhanced brightness of this model is immediately noticeable compared to the original M10s and, along with the effective anti-glare coating, ensures that the picture remains visible in even harsh lighting conditions like direct sunlight or with the display positioned next to a desk lamp.

In games, the performance is simply perfect. The 540Hz refresh rate is beautifully smooth, and motion is impressively clear. It elevates titles like Counter-Strike 2, where the enhanced smoothness genuinely helps with target tracking. The 0.02ms GtG response time certainly helps everything feel snappy, and sits among the fastest on the market.

Although my Nvidia RTX 4080 Ti-powered rig didn’t break a sweat achieving a stable 540fps frame rate at 1440p, you can comfortably lower the resolution to 1080p and maintain a decent level of picture quality — especially in the dedicated 23.5-inch display mode. Things feel even better if you take advantage of the dual-mode feature and crank it up even further to 720Hz at 720p, though this does come at a noticeable cost to picture quality.

Competitive first-person shooter titles are what this monitor was made for, but that doesn’t mean that it delivers poor performance in other genres. The grim world of Warhammer: 40,000 Space Marine 2 looked absolutely gorgeous with expressive colors and strong contrast, while Forza Horizon 6 benefitted hugely from the smoothness of VRR.

Even if I wouldn’t recommend buying the Inzone M10S II exclusively to play those kinds of games when cheaper 4K options are available, it’s good to know that you will still be able to enjoy a wide range of titles if you’re an aspiring esports player who picks one up for both practice sessions and home use.

Should you buy the Sony Inzone M10S II?

Buy it if...

Don't buy it if...

Also consider

Here’s how the Sony Inzone M10S II stacks up against the original model, plus a 4K alternative for those who want something for general use.

How I tested the Sony Inzone M10S II

• Tested for over two weeks
• Used as primary display
• Evaluated with a wide range of games

I tested the Sony Inzone M10S II for more than two weeks, using it as my primary monitor for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X. Throughout my time with it, I tested a wide range of titles, ranging from esports favorites Counter-Strike 2, Rocket League, Fortnite, and Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege to popular shooters such as Battlefield 6 and Call of Duty: Black Ops 7.

I also tried a selection of more traditional games, such as Assassin’s Creed Shadows and Stellar Blade, to elevate its more general performance. During my time with the monitor, I endeavored to test each of its available features using both the built-in settings options and the compatible Inzone Hub software.

Read more about how we test

First reviewed August 2026

Looking after your photos, cataloguing them, colour correcting them, improving them and all round preserving them is a job onto itself, and you need an excellent application to sort all of this for you, and more.

Thankfully, there are a host of options for you to choose from out there, which creates a whole other problem onto its own: which one should you choose? I’ve looked at a few in the past, but now, it’s time to explore Zoner Studio.

It's effectively a Windows-only take on both Photoshop and Lightroom. An entry-level or intermediate photo editor and organizer that stacks up as one of the best Adobe Photoshop alternatives for those new to this type of software.

Zoner Studio: Pricing & plans

• 7-day free trial with no card details
• Fairly priced subscription plans
• Windows-only

You can check out Zoner Studio by clicking here.

First, system requirements. Zoner Studio is a Windows-only program, compatible with Windows 10 and 11, requiring a 64-bit Intel or AMD processor and at least 8GB of RAM, among other specs. Mac and Linux users, I’m sorry, but you’ll have to look for alternatives.

Like most in the creative software space, it has subscription-based pricing, costing $5.99 a month or $59 a year for the Individual Plan. You can also grab a Family Plan license for $9.98 a month or $98 a year.

The website states “everyone in the household”, and since the cost of living means our kids can no longer afford to move out, that Family Plan looks like a pretty good deal.

Compare this with ACDSee’s Photo Studio Ultimate which I reviewed recently, which costs $89 a year for a single licence, or even better, Adobe’s Lightroom, which you can rent for $144 a year, and even Zoner’s individual licence looks very attractive.

Your Zoner subscription guarantees new features twice a year, the ability to order 15 photo prints for free annually, and 20GB of online storage. These last two apply to each member of your Family Plan.

All this sounds good, and there’s a sweetener for those who aren’t sure if they’d want to commit to yet another subscription: you can download the full version, use it for free for 7 days. There isn’t even a need to give Zoner any payment details (so you don’t have to worry about forgetting to cancel an agreement you never wanted to make in the first place, and the company starts charging you regardless).

Zoner Studio: Interface

• Remarkably clean interface
• Crammed with features
• ‘Catalog’ import option is great for RAW users but can be slow

If you compare Zoner Studio with some of its competition, like ACDSee’s Photo Studio Ultimate, despite having a similar set of features, Zoner’s interface feels more spacious in the same screen real estate.

Top right, you’ve got a menu for you to access the app’s various modules, you have sidebars on either side of the screen, one to browse through your portfolio of images, be they online or on local physical drives, while the other is your contextual inspector window. The centre of the interface is reserved for your shots.

Each module is dedicated to a specific function: Manage is where you organize and catalog your shots, Develop is for the usual color correction and overall fixing of an image, Editor is for more Photoshop-like alterations, allowing you to work with multiple layers, add text and such like, Print is where you create and have published books, individual prints and other, and Video is to turn your shots or your clips into short video projects.

As you can see, it’s full-featured, and yet I never felt lost navigating it. All the tools I needed were be easily found. If you do get lost, hover over any tool icon and a large tooltip will appear, offering detailed information about it, with some having a link to an article for a more detailed description. Zoner also has a wealth of tutorials on YouTube.

One thing worth mentioning is ‘Catalog’. Zoner offers two ways to browse through and work with footage: either directly, wherever they are currently stored, or by bringing a copy into its ‘Catalog’. Said ‘Catalog’ is always at the top of the left sidebar. The difference between these two options truly shines when you’re working in RAW.

Once in the ‘Catalog’, these RAW images are processed in a way that makes them accessible much faster, speeding up workflows immensely. That said, it can take a while for them to be ready when you import them into that ‘Catalog’, and the developers do suggest you grab a coffee or go out for a walk while your PC does the necessary computations. I haven’t noticed any speed difference when working with JPGs.

Zoner Studio: Tools

• Massive amount of tools, all well arranged, easy to find and use
• Work with layers, order books, create video projects

Such a rich app is hard to describe in a limited amount of space, so allow me to tell you how using the software felt instead, and I’ll also chat to you about some of the features which took me pleasantly by surprise.

All the tools you’d expect to make the alterations you need to a photograph are there, present and correct, from the basic, like straightening an image, to doing standard color correction. You’ll also find some more advanced options for greater precision, including specific AI-based selections, enabling you to work on just part of a shot.

I really liked the advanced ‘color Shift’ tool, which allows you to select a range of color and alter it using a very easy to use and alter color wheel.

This isn’t the first time I encountered Photoshop-like editing options in such a software package, but I increasingly like the idea. You no longer need two apps to manage your collection, and can do it all from one.

Granted you won’t get as many tools as you’d expect from dedicated image compositing software, but if your needs aren’t intricate, you will likely feel quite satisfied by what’s on offer with Zoner.

As for being able to design and order Books, Calendars, Prints and even Magnets and more, that’s a welcome inclusion. Yes, Adobe Lightroom offers something similar, but Zoner has gone into much greater detail here.

For instance, creating a book offers you 5 different hardcover sizes, you can change the number of pages, choose a format for any text you might wish to apply, you get to see how much the book will cost you upfront, and add it to your cart once you’re ready. Incredibly easy and satisfying.

And finally we have Video, which is an unexpected option for an image editor, but at the same time, why wouldn’t you want to turn your stills into a short animated video complete with background music, keyframe effects and cool transitions?

As a video editor by trade, I wasn’t expecting much, and yet, clips snap to each other making building an edit a breeze, the transitions are impressive looking and easy to add, you can work with multiple layers, and the shortcuts above the playhead (in a blue box) are actually more useful than they look.

You can also add video clips - obviously - and although the default size for any new project is HD, you can work in anything from the tiny 620x480 up to 4K. The only downside I could find was the overly small timeline, making it tricky if you work on a longish project.

Should I buy Zoner Studio?

Buy it if...

You’re new to photo editing and organization, and you want a versatile, highly capable image cataloguing and editing software with more features than you can shake a stick at, and appreciate its affordable subscription price.

Don't buy it if...

You don’t have a Windows PC, your image editing needs are too light for such a powerful and versatile piece of software, you don’t like subscriptions, or you’re too wedded to the Adobe hegemony.

Beelink EQi Wildcat Lake: 30-second review

The Beelink EQi is essentially an ideal office machine. There’s nothing fancy about the design; in fact, it feels a little lightweight and plasticy; however, the balance of features is far greater than the specifications would initially have you believe.

As ever, this Mini PC is compact with its 126mm-square footprint that enables easy positioning around the desk; however, while the looks may not highlight anything special, it packs in an unusual amount of connectivity for a Mini PC at this price and with this level of CPU.

The major surprise here is that on the back, alongside the usual 2.5GbE LAN port, is a second, ultra-fast 10GbE port, which is the sort of specification you normally find on hardware costing far more, but also ideal if you’re connecting into a UGREEN IDX6011 NAS over a 10GbE network for archiving. Next to this network port are two Thunderbolt 4 ports at 40 Gbps, HDMI 2.0, and triple-display support, meaning that for integration into an office or studio this machine is highly tuned.

It’s also very neat with the dark grey ABS enclosure feeling cheap compared to aluminium rivals. Still, the 85W power supply is built into the chassis, so the only cable at the back is a mains lead, and those going to monitors and accessories, there’s no power brick to get in the way.

Open the base and the interior is exceptionally well organised, with both M.2 slots covered by a substantial metal heatsink that lifts off with two screws. The rear port layout is the odd decision, with the two Type-A ports placed on either side of the HDMI output rather than together, which is awkward if you use a wired keyboard and mouse.

Performance is well balanced by Intel's Core 3 304, though it has its limitations. It’s quick where it counts when browsing the internet, using office software, or playing media, and I've even found myself using it to offload image and video files to the server quickly and to book equipment and locations. Where it does fall is in graphics performance, as highlighted by the benchmarks: great for the office but really a no-go for gaming unless optimised for lower-specification systems.

Storage is also interesting with two M.2 slots. However, they support different lane counts, and a Crucial T710 Gen 5 drive returned 3510.25 MB/s read in slot one but only 1750.42 MB/s in slot two, which is slower than the UFS drive Beelink already fits, but then does enable you to boost the overall internal storage neatly.

Everything else is again well-balanced for office use. This is a nice, quiet machine with Windows 11 Pro pre-installed. The design is nothing flashy, but for dedicated office use with serious network potential it’s one of the best mini PCs I've tested.

Beelink EQi Wildcat Lake: Price and availability

• How much does it cost? From $509
• When is it out? Available now
• Where can you get it? Directly from Beelink and retailers such as Amazon

The EQi costs $509 for the 16GB LPDDR5 and 512GB configuration that I’ve looked at in this review. It's available direct from Beelink here in three configurations - 16GB LPDDR5, 24GB DDR5, and 32GB DDR5 RAM, all with 512GB SSD.

I'm also seeing several models on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk for around the same price.

• Value: 5 / 5

Beelink EQi Wildcat Lake: Specs

CPU: Intel Core 3 304, 5 cores/5 threads, up to 4.3GHz, 6MB cache, 15W TDP
Graphics: Intel Xe3-LPG integrated graphics
RAM: 16GB LPDDR5, or 24GB/32GB DDR5 at 5600MT/s; DDR5 version upgradeable to 64GB
Storage: 512GB UFS 3.1; two M.2 2280 slots (slot 1 PCIe 4.0 x2, slot 2 PCIe 4.0 x1), up to 4TB each
Left Ports: USB 3.2 Type-A, USB 3.2 Type-C, 3.5mm audio jack
Right Ports: 2x Thunderbolt 4, 2x USB 2.0, HDMI 2.0, 10GbE, 2.5GbE, AC input
Connectivity: Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.2, 10GbE Ethernet, 2.5GbE Ethernet
Audio: 3.5mm combined audio connection
Camera: None
Size: 126 x 126 x 44.2mm,
Weight: 500g
OS Installed: Windows 11 Pro
Accessories: HDMI cable, regional AC lead/power adapter and user manual

Beelink EQi Wildcat Lake: Design

If you’re looking for a machine that blends into the office background, then the Beelink EQi Wildcat Lake is a perfect option. The dark grey finish, rounded corners, and a lightly textured top panel are neat and strike a note that really highlights the machine's price point and specifications.

The size is also in line with what you’d expect from a standard Office Mini PC, with a relatively small form factor and a compact 126mm x 126mm footprint, at just 500g.

While the design might not be the most inspiring, it is generally well thought out and, surprisingly, has a built-in 85W power supply, so just a single power cable runs to the AC mains, with no need for a power brick.

On the front and back are a good range of ports, highly specified for a machine at this price. There’s also good air ventilation through the base, with airflow entering over the processor and passing through the storage.

Beelink quotes 32dB as the noise in normal use, and this seemed about right, with the ambient noise in the office slightly higher when ideal. This is also one of the neatest laid-out Mini PCs internally that I’ve seen, accessible through the base, which is held in place by four small cross-head screws. A small attention to detail is the small label that just helps to lift the base free, enabling easy access.

Once inside the interior, both M.2 slots are slightly hidden under a single large metal heatsink that lifts off with two screw. Once removed, your choice of M. 2 2280 SSD can be installed. This heatsink shows real consideration as a thermal solution for the installed drives, with the installation process taking no more than a couple of minutes.

The port selection and specification are where things really get interesting. Starting at the back, there are two USB 2.0 Type-A ports on either side of the HDMI Max 4.0 60Hz output rather than together, so a wired keyboard and mouse end up separated by a display cable.

Then there are two LAN ports, a 2.5GbE and a 10GbE, which is very unusual for a machine at this level; also unusual are the two Thunderbolt 4 ports. The front is a little more standard, with a USB 3.2 Type-A, a USB-C 10 Gbps, a 3.5mm audio jack, and finally the power button.

• Design: 4.5 / 5

Beelink EQi Wildcat Lake: Features

A quick check through the features highlights the intended audience for this PC. At the heart of the machine is the very respectable Intel Core 3 304; it’s nothing flashy, but this is a new-generation CPU so offers far more than entry-level CPUs in the past, and while not an AI powerhouse, does feature an integrated NPU as well as GPU, handy if you use Copilot on a day-to-day basis for work.

The CPU offers a five-core, five-thread processor with one performance core and four efficiency cores, 6MB of cache and a 15W TDP, turboing to 4.3GHz. Beelink quotes AI performance at 24 TOPS across the CPU, GPU and NPU for local AI processing.

While it’s great to see this entry-level office machine has AI potential, connectivity is what has surprised me about the EQi through this test. On the back are those two Thunderbolt 4 ports that run at 40 Gbps with DisplayPort 1.4, and if you need to connect more monitors, then there’s the more traditional HDMI 2.0, which I used to connect to my monitor for this review.

The two network ports, one 10GbE and one 2.5GbE, are a headline feature and enabled me to connect directly into the 10GbE LAN in the office. This meant that I could quickly offload video and image files through the machine's Thunderbolt 4 to the network. While this is an office-focused machine, I use an old Intel NUC 9 in the office for this exact task, and its speed over 1GbE and USB3.2 Gen 1 is unmatched by this.

Inside there’s a fixed 16GB LPDDR5 or upgradeable DDR5 at 24GB or 32GB, both at 5600 MT/s, with the DDR5 version supporting up to 64GB. Storage is 512GB of UFS 3.1, again fixed, but there is the option to install two M.2 2280 SSDs, both enabling up to 4TB. One point about these two slots is that they don’t support the same number of PCIe lanes, with one half as fast as the other.

Wireless runs over a MediaTek MT7922 module, with Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.2.

• Features: 4.5 / 5

Beelink EQi Wildcat Lake: Performance

Getting started with the Beelink EQi was extremely straightforward, with a single power cord that plugs in, eliminating the need for the usual power brick. While this may seem small, it actually makes quite a difference, reducing cables and bulk to deal with.

Once the initial setup with the mouse, keyboard, and 4K monitor was complete and Windows 11 Pro was set up, the machine was installed with the usual array of applications. Microsoft Office, Adobe Creative Suite and a few games for good measure.

Starting with the main office applications, performance proved solid, running PowerPoint, Word, and Excel without issue, with Copilot there to support me as I put together a presentation for September. The speed is good, and despite the CPU's entry-level position, it handled everything impressively.

Checking out the results of the Geekbench 2,337 single-core and 6,303 multi-core results and, more importantly, the PCMark 10 came in at 4,733, showing that while this machine doesn’t excel, it’s where you would want it for a competent everyday computer that won’t get bogged down under heavy processing.

During the test, I edited a few images in Lightroom and Photoshop, and both ran surprisingly well, even with the images stored on the internal UFS 3.1 drive. While this drive isn’t the fastest compared with the latest SSDs, it is fast enough for most office-based work, with CrystalDiskMark results of 1977.4 MB/s read and 806.79 MB/s write.

What’s interesting is that inside there are two PCIe 4.0 slots, one listed as PCIe 4.0 x2 and the other as PCIe 4.0 x1, so I fitted a Micron Crucial T710 Gen 5 NVMe to each in turn to check out the speeds of each, just as a note you can add up to 4TB in each, giving a total of 8.5TB of storage which is impressive.

The first slot recorded 3510.25 MB/s read and 3530.98 MB/s write. The same drive in slot two returned 1750.42 MB/s read and 1766.17 MB/s write. That's roughly twice the speed in the first compared with the second and still very acceptable for the intended end user. While I used a PCIe 5.0 SSD, a respectable PCIe 4.0 SSD which is far cheaper should gain a similar result.

Switching to the Xe3-LPG graphics, things start to fall slightly. The integrated graphics are ideal for everyday work, watching back multimedia and light photo and video editing.

However, when it comes to gaming, the potential is limited. Hogwarts Legacy ran slowly, and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle was a no-go. Other games ran, but due to the lack of space on the internal storage, I ran all from the faster Crucial in the first of the two spare SSD slots.

After running the Mini PC in the office for a week, using it mainly for Word and research work with some light photo editing, a few features became apparent that set this Mini PC and test apart from most others. The speed of those connections just enabled the EQi to integrate perfectly with the studio; it’s nothing flashy, but it turned out to be the fastest machine for transferring image and video data to the NAS.

After a shoot, I plugged the CFExpress Type-B card reader into the Thunderbolt 4 port and transferred the files at speed over to the Ugreen IDX6011 NAS. The connection speed over the network, due to that 10GbE port, made the transfer speed far exceed that of any other machine I know.

I usually use an old Intel Nuc 9 Ghost Canyon that I can leave for a few hours before network editing on the MacBook Pro; however, here, with this small, inexpensive machine, it handled everything at speed.

While the 24-core TOPS, as quoted by Beelink, is marginal on the AI processing front, and while I was able to use Co-Pilot, running a local LLM was limited to a 3-4B model, I opted for Qwen3. The main issue here was that the RAM is only single-channel, which limits the speed; however, for checking through documents and basic summary tasks, it actually worked surprisingly well.

• Performance: 4 / 5

Beelink EQi Wildcat Lake: Final verdict

The Beelink EQi is an impressive office-focused machine that underwhelms with its design but outperforms in performance. It packs in the usual office-based Mini PC features such as being able to support three displays, 2.5GbE networking, a base level of storage and RAM, but then it surprises by offering more.

The 10GbE networking and Thunderbolt 4 ports are surprising and completely change what’s possible with this machine, and for something with such a small footprint, those two specifications instantly make it interesting.

When you then add in the fact that you can expand the internal storage with two 4TB SSDs, it then becomes even more interesting.

For me, the 10GbE and Thunderbolt ports are what make this Mini PC go from something that would blend into the background to something that’s actually very useful. The speed of those two ports enables me to hook this directly into an existing 10GbE network and to take advantage of the speeds that it offers. The issue, of course, is that you need the network infrastructure in place to make the most of this speed.

That brings me round to who the Beelink EQi is best for? Straight down the line, it would be for Office work. It has excellent single-core performance, runs pretty much silently, supports up to three displays, lets you upgrade the internal storage, and has an ultra-fast network connection that is beyond what most desktops offer. It’s also not really usable for playing games, and, on the surface, if you work in the creative sector, it’s not going to make an impact there either.

However, as I found with a cheapish mini PC that offers solid performance, the Thunderbolt 4 and 10GbE network make it great for offloading large video and image files to the NAS. Realistically, however, this is a Mini PC perfectly suited to anyone whose work involves documents, spreadsheets, browsers, and moving large files across a network; it is one of the more capable small machines I have tested this year.

Should I buy the Beelink EQi Wildcat Lake?

Buy it if...

Don't buy it if...

For more professional-grade desktops, we've tested the best business computers.

Satechi Thunderbolt 5 CubeDock: 30-second review

The Satechi Thunderbolt 5 CubeDock is one of a new wave of high-performance docks that offer ultra-fast connectivity and the option to add internal storage. The design is reminiscent of the Mac Mini range with its cubed compact aluminium design that sees a single Thunderbolt 5 cable running from the dock to your computer, and once done, adds three more Thunderbolt 5 ports, alongside a spread of USB, UHS-II card readers, 2.5GbE Ethernet, audio, and up to 140W of charging.

The big features here are the Thunderbolt 5 connection and the option to add an M.2 NVMe SSD, changing this from a high-performance hub into an SSD enclosure. The SSD must be purchased separately; it comes in a model with up to 8TB of capacity and takes less than a minute to screw into place. Satechi has included everything you need, including a screwdriver and thermal pads.

Once the SSD is installed and all desktop cables are connected, it's a neat solution that enables you to connect monitors, control boards, speakers, network connections, and additional drives in a matter of seconds.

This makes it a great solution if you’re a photographer or video editor and need to offload files quickly after a day's shoot, though it's disappointing that the network is limited to 2.5GbE, whereas many other premium docks have already adopted 10GbE. Despite that, for creators, I found it to be the best docking station I've tested.

At the price, however, this doc is well balanced; you do need a Thunderbolt 5 to get the most out of it. On anything slower, Thunderbolt 4, USB4 and so on, it still works, but the speeds drop dramatically.

In this test, I utilised an Asus Prime-based machine fitted with a Thunderbolt 5 card to check the speeds. It’s also worth noting that in an editing environment where you want everything to be as quiet as possible, there is an active fan that helps keep the SSD cool, but unfortunately, it adds a little noise under load.

If you use the CubeDock with the right machine and have an SSD installed, it’s one of the neatest ways I've come across to turn a laptop into a full creative workstation, storage included, from a single cable.

Satechi Thunderbolt 5 CubeDock: Price and availability

• How much does it cost? From $399
• When is it out? Available now
• Where can you get it? Directly from Satechi or Amazon

The Satechi Thunderbolt 5 CubeDock with SSD enclosure is priced at $399.99 in the US, available direct from Satechi and Amazon.com. In the UK, it's up for £399.99 at Amazon.co.uk.

The price is for the dock alone, and if you want to install an M.2 NVMe SSD, then this is a separate purchase, so budget for the drive on top of that.

• Value: 3.5 / 5

Satechi Thunderbolt 5 CubeDock: Specs

Upstream: 1 x Thunderbolt 5 (80/120Gbps), up to 140W host charging
Downstream: 3 x Thunderbolt 5 (80Gbps data each, 15W each)
SSD enclosure: M.2 NVMe, 2230/2242/2260/2280, up to 8TB, PCIe 4x4, up to 6000MB/s
USB-C: 1 x 10Gbps (30W), 1 x 10Gbps (7.5W)
USB-A: 1 x front 10Gbps (7.5W), 1 x rear 10Gbps (4.5W)
Card readers: SD + microSD, UHS-II,
Ethernet: 2.5GbE
Audio: 3.5mm in/out
Displays: up to 8K 144Hz single / triple 8K 60Hz (Windows); up to dual 6K 60Hz (macOS, chip-dependent)
Cooling: active fan, smart curve, 20-40 dB(A)
Power: 180W smart power supply
Dimensions: 12.7 x 12.7 x 5.2cm
Weight: 588.9g

Satechi Thunderbolt 5 CubeDock: Design

The CubeDock is a compact cube in industry-grade aluminium, measuring 12.7cm square and 5.2cm tall, and weighing a substantial 588.9g, far heavier than you would initially expect and highlighting that this is a permanent office fixture rather than portable.

The weight is reassuring, especially when it’s sat on your desk, having various accessories and peripherals plugged in. The aluminium build and natural finish look great and have the dual function of durability and passive heatsinking. There’s also an internal fan that's vented to keep everything at a stable temperature.

On the front and back, there are plenty of ports, and the layout is well thought out, with the connections I most frequently need, such as USB-C, USB-A, and the two card readers, positioned on the front. The permanent connections, such as the Thunderbolt 5 ports, Ethernet, audio, power, and a second USB-A port, are all on the back.

As ever, there's a Kensington lock slot, too, which is good to see if you do work in a shared office, especially if you install an expensive 8TB SSD.

That SSD is installed at the base of the dock and requires a screwdriver to access it. Satechi has included everything needed in the box: a small screwdriver, the mounting screws and two thermal pads, so there's no hunting for bits.

Checking out the cavity where the SSDs slot in, and it’s good to see that the space has been designed to take any M.2 NVMe drive from 2230 up to 2280, so whatever size you have, the installation process is easy enough. Installing a Crucial T710 took a couple of minutes.

One surprise is that there are no HDMI or DisplayPort connections for a monitor. Instead, all video runs through the Thunderbolt 5 ports, so if your monitors use either of these connector types, you'll need adapters or cables to connect them.

• Design: 4.5 / 5

Satechi Thunderbolt 5 CubeDock: Features

The design of the dock instantly highlights its close affinity with the Mac Mini in style and colour, although it is only available in silver. It’s also compatible with both Mac and PC systems, as long as they have a Thunderbolt 5 port; if not, it's fully backwards compatible with previous Thunderbolt and USB-C ports.

The feature that sets this apart from the vast majority of other hubs, even those with a Thunderbolt 5 port, is an integrated SSD enclosure. This means that rather than having the dock and then plugging in a separate external SSD, you can have one integrated internally, freeing up a port and also enabling maximum connection speeds.

If you deal with large files of any type, then having access to fast, readily available storage is essential, especially if you work with video. With an 8TB SSD inside, you'll be able to work off that fast internal storage for editing, offloading cards, and keeping an active project library for recent projects without constantly needing to archive.

Through the test, I popped in a Crucial T710 1TB, a PCIe Gen5 NVMe M.2 2280, and it’s highlighting that while the enclosure is compatible with the latest Gen5 modules, it runs at PCIe 4x4, which is rated at a maximum of 6000MB/s, so even if the drive is faster, you’ll be limited by that technology.

The storage is a feature that draws me to this dock, but there’s also the fact that a single-cable connection to your computer is all that’s needed, letting you connect all your devices. This not only helps with the time it takes to connect up in the mornings when you arrive at the office, but also at the end of the day. That one cable to my laptop, and then the Desktop PC enabled me to connect displays, data, networking, and charging.

On the feature side, there were a couple of points that surprised me, and the first was the display options: there are no HDMI or DisplayPort ports, so adapters will be needed if that’s all your monitors support. However, if you can connect via Thunderbolt 5 to Windows or macOS machines, you have plenty of flexibility and choice.

On Windows machines you can drive up to three 8K displays; on Mac, it's chip-dependent, with up to dual 6K on capable Apple Silicon and triple-display support reserved for the very newest Pro and Max chips, on my M1 Max, I was limited to two monitors and the speed of the Thunderbolt 4 connection, whereas the desktop equipped with the correct TB5 showed a huge uplift in speed.

The rest of the feature set is almost what you’d expect from a premium; up to 140W charging back to the host, ideal for my 16-inch MacBook Pro, plus 30W from a front USB-C for a phone or tablet; UHS-II SD and microSD readers great for the GoPro Mission 1 and the Sony A7 IV that I often use and a 3.5mm audio jack.

The one issue for me is that there's only 2.5GbE Ethernet; at this price, I would have expected at least 5GbE, with the more premium docks now all sporting 10GbE. Thankfully for the now-ageing MacBook Pro M1 Max and me, the dock is fully backwards compatible with Thunderbolt 4, Thunderbolt 3, USB4, and USB-C.

Another feature worth highlighting is the active cooling, which features a smart fan that only starts up when the dock needs it, keeping the SSD and controllers cooler under load. When working with video in the doc and with an SSD enclosed, the fan did kick in, but the office volume wasn’t overly loud or distracting.

• Features: 4 / 5

Satechi Thunderbolt 5 CubeDock: Performance

I tested the CubeDock with my MacBook Pro M1 Max, with a CrucialT710 1TB installed in the enclosure. I also tested on an M1 Max-equipped machine with Thunderbolt 4, so I was unable to reach the full potential of a Thunderbolt 5-equipped machine. The T710 is a PCIe 5.0 drive. To measure the CubeDock at its full Thunderbolt 5 potential, I've connected it to the Thunderbolt 5-equipped Asus ProArt.

Setting the CubeDock up is easy enough, and I opted to install the Crucial T710 from the outset. This took a few minutes, and it was good to see that a screwdriver had been supplied along with thermal pads to help with the heat dissipation. Once installed and all cables were connected to the dock, I connected my MacBook Pro M1 Max via the Thunderbolt cable included in the box.

After a couple of seconds, the Crucial drive appeared on the desktop, as it had already been formatted. The monitor also sprang to life, and I had a direct connection to the network, albeit limited to 2.5GbE. That single-cable connection is something I use extensively in the office, with two permanently fixed docks: one for the MacBook Pro and the other for the Asus desktop. They just make everything so much cleaner, cut down on cables and increase the speed at which I can connect, especially with the laptop.

On the M1 Max, while the docking is handy, I’m used to that feature with the other docks, but here, having the internal storage was definitely a great addition. However, as the MacBook Pro M1 Max runs Thunderbolt 4, the T710 was never going to reach its full potential, and combined with the enclosure's PCIe 4x4 ceiling, the test results using this setup reflect the connection rather than the drive's or, for that matter, the enclosure's full capability.

What I will say is that in a real world environment for everyday offloading of memory cards and drives as well working directly from that larger internal SSD drive that I installed, it was a great solution and did highlight that soon it will be time to upgrade to a Thunderbolt 5 machine, although whether that will be a Mac or something else is at the moment very much up for debate.

While the benchmarks are impressive, they're far from the potential of the Dock, so for the real TB5 test I’ve connected to the ProArt desktop, here the speeds take a massive increase in speed and for any creative environment this dock not only works as a handy dock adding in ports that are easily accessible, but also takes the place of a fast working drive in a small desktop box.

What impressed me was the Benchmark tests that showed transfer speeds from the internal SSD that I had installed, of 4622.50 MB/s Read, 3721.54 MB/s Write.

Connecting a Thunderbolt 5 external SSD through the dock showed speeds of 4332.44 MB/s Read, 2748.33 MB/s Write.

On the MacBook Pro M1 Max with Thunderbolt 4 this reduced to 3441.50 MB/s Read, 1752.96 MB/s Write.

Connecting a Thunderbolt 5 external SSD through the dock showed speeds of 3445.34 MB/s Read, 1659.22 MB/s Write.

All very impressive. Alongside the SSD speeds and connectivity to connected and internal drives, there are also SD card slots, both of which are UHS-II and rated to 312 MB/s.

In the test, I offloaded a USH-II Lexar Professional Silver Pro 512GB card containing images captured on the Sony A7 IV, with transfer speeds of 243.76MB/s read and 104.68MB/s write. After recently coming across a premium hub that dropped to UHS-I, it's good to see proper UHS-II readers here.

Some of the other connections are also worth noting, and for use with laptops, 140W charging and networking are both handy, although, as stated before, I wish that the networking had been rated at the 5GbE, but still 2.5GbE still enables quick transfers to achieve NAS, just not quite the speeds I’d like for network video editing.

During the test, with transfers to and from the dock to the SSD I had installed, the internal temperatures did rise due to the load; however, the active fan kicked in quietly and kept the temperatures in check. The noise from the dock really wasn’t an issue.

• Performance: 4 / 5

Satechi Thunderbolt 5 CubeDock: Final verdict

The Satechi Thunderbolt 5 CubeDock is a great bit of kit, both in function and style and what stood out to me was the integrated SSD enclosure that enables direct fast storage that’s essential for most laptop users, especially those working on MacBooks.

Having that storage option in the dock itself, albeit you need to supply your own SSD, helps keep things neat, so there’s never a need to plug in an external SSD, since the storage is already contained within the hub, ready to go as soon as you connect. It just makes it all a little more permanent.

The remaining connection ports, including the two UHS-II readers and the 2.5GbE networking, combine to offer a well-rounded package and a perfect option for any professional environment, especially for those in the creative sector.

However, as a dock, it’s expensive at $399.99. This is a combined dock and enclosure, and, of course, you also need to consider the price of the SSD you pop in. You also need a Thunderbolt 5 machine, although it is backwards compatible, to take full advantage of the speeds on offer.

My Thunderbolt 4 MacBook Pro M1 Max, while limited in speed, did benefit from additional storage capacity and connection options. I’d also highlight that it’s worth checking your monitors to ensure they have a USB-C display connection, as there is no HDMI or DisplayPort; however, I found Ugreen cables for less than £10 each.

If you're running a Thunderbolt 5 machine and want a single, compact dock that handles your displays, data, networking, charging, and storage at once, then the CubeDock is a great option, especially when you look at the price compared with some of the other Thunderbolt 5 docks on the market.

Should I buy the Satechi Thunderbolt 5 CubeDock?

Buy it if...

Don't buy it if...

For more professional-grade desktops, we've tested the best business computers.

Q Acoustics 3040c review: Two-minute review

The 3040c is the smaller of two floorstanding speakers in Q Acoustics' celebrated 3000c range — it’s the fifth and final 3000c model, and it’s arguably the best of the lot.

For £599 or equivalent, depending on where you reside, you'll receive two reasonably compact, elegant and nicely finished cabinets (available in four different finishes) with optimised point-to-bracing inside and a three-strong driver array on the outside.

Two 120mm mid/bass drivers sandwich a 22mm soft-dome tweeter that’s decoupled from the rest of the cabinet — and with some input from a rear-firing bass reflex port, a claimed frequency response of 43Hz - 30khz is the result.

Sensitivity of 88dB means you don’t need all that burly of an amplifier to drive these Q Acoustics speakers effectively.

And when they’re being driven effectively, there’s plenty to like in ultimate terms and even more when you keep the price of these speakers uppermost in your mind. They’re a balanced, poised and expressive listen, good at soundstaging, better at maintaining a convincing tonal balance, and best of all when it comes to detail retrieval.

Some of the best stereo speakers on the market? Yes. OK, they could do with a touch more dynamic headroom and a slightly more assured method of expressing rhythms, but really I’m tempted to ask what more you might realistically hope for when listening to a pair of compact, well-made floorstanders for this money…

Q Acoustics 3040c review: Price & release date

• $1,099 / £599 (around AU$1,140, based on UK pricing)
• Released July 30, 2026

The Q Acoustics 3040c passive floorstanding loudspeakers are on sale now, and in the United Kingdom a pair will cost you £599. This translates to €899 in the Eurozone and £1099 in the United States (yes, a little pricier in the States) while prices for other territories, including Australia, are yet to be confirmed.

Competition? You'd really be looking at bookshelf speakers for anything as affordable as this from a trusted name — and let me be clear, Q Acoustics is one such name. So, it's a lot of speaker (and speaker tech) for the price.

Q Acoustics 3040c review: Features

• 22mm soft dome tweeter
• 2 x 120mm Continuous Curved Cone mid/bass driver
• 43Hz - 30kHz frequency response
• 88dB sensitivity

No one’s expecting a whole lot of features when it comes to reasonably affordable passive loudspeakers, which is just as well given the Q Acoustics 3040c have just the essentials.

As is the company’s standard operating proactive, though, these few features are completely fit for purpose.

On the inside, Q Acoustics has used its targeted ‘point-to-point’ bracing technology — having identified those areas of the cabinet that are prone to low frequency vibrations, ‘P2P’ reinforcement seems to minimise those vibrations and produce a cleaner, better focused soundstage as a result. It’s also deployed ‘Helmholtz Pressure Equalisers’, a series of tubes that minimise internal pressure; this reduces the build-up of standing waves inside the cabinet and keeps sonic colouration to a minimum as a result.

At the rear of the cabinet there are a couple of very low-profile speaker binding posts, positioned just below a fairly large bass reflex port. Q Acoustics provides foam bungs for the ports — so feel free to experiment with the position of the speakers and the effect of the bungs too.

Up front there are three drivers that are familiar from some of the more expensive model ranges in the Q Acoustics line-up. Here, a decoupled 22mm soft-dome tweeter is positioned between two 120mm mid/bass drivers — these are of the ‘continuous curved cone’ design that made its debut much further up the Q Acoustics loudspeaker range.

‘‘C³’ is designed to combine the low-frequency response of a straight conic cone with the control and clarity more commonly associated with a flared cone design. It’s a straightforwardly impressive design with, at this point in time, nothing to prove.

• Features score: 5 / 5

Q Acoustics 3040c review: Sound quality

• Full-scale sound with drive and poise in equal measure
• Great facility with detail retrieval
• Could use greater dynamic impetus

Every audio product reviewed at TechRadar (and there are myriad options) has be put into proper context, of course — and so while I’m going to open this section with a couple of mild-ish criticisms, it’s important to remember that these are relatively affordable floorstanding loudspeakers that are likely to form part of a relatively affordable stereo system. Agreed? Good.

So when playing a copy of Phoebe Bridger’s Lost Boys the 3040c don’t have quite the dynamic potency to track the changes in volume or attack quite as fully as they might. They can do more than allude to changes in intensity, of course, but they don’t put quite as much distance between ‘minimum’ and ‘maximum’ as is absolutely ideal.

And while I’m finding fault, there’s no denying the Q Acoustics don’t quite have the instinctive flow that’s required to fully express a rhythm or manage a tempo. Control of low-frequency activity is never in any doubt, and there’s no suggestion the speakers can drag at the rhythm of a recording — but there’s no denying the 3040c could sound more fluent, especially when asked to play overtly rhythm-based material.

But with this griping out of the way, I can concentrate on all the ways the 3040c is straightforwardly impressive.

It’s a very nicely balanced listen where tonality and frequency response are concerned, for starters. Previous Q Acoustics loudspeakers have tended to err on the warm-ish side of neutral when it comes to tonality, but the 3040c is not at all inclined to stick its oar in — any heat (or lack thereof) in the sound you’re experiencing is there before it reaches the speakers, either in the recording or in the source equipment that’s delivering it.

The speakers are poised and even from the bottom of the frequency range to the top; there’s no overstating of any part and no underplaying, just a smooth and balanced representation. The integration of the drivers is first class, and the point at which handover from the bigger drivers to the tweeter takes place is imperceptible.

As well as the low-frequency punch and substance I mentioned, the Q Acoustics deal with the attack and decay of bass information fairly confidently — and they’re just as adept when it comes to midrange resolution. The 3040c are a detailed listen in every respect, and this manifests itself particularly where voices are concerned. There’s plenty of information about timbre and texture made apparent. At the top end there’s similar alacrity, and more than a hint of bite and shine — but with the substance to ensure treble sounds are never hard or edgy.

Despite the lack of ultimate dynamic headroom, the Q Acoustics do good work with the more minor, but no less significant, dynamics of tonal and harmonic variation. They can identify and reveal even very fleeting and/or subtle occurrences in a recording, and coherently lay them out as part of the overall presentation. If there are details embedded in a recording, the 3040c do their utmost to get them to you.

• Sound quality score: 4.5 / 5

Q Acoustics 3040c review: Design

• 942 x 285 x 281mm (HxWxD)
• Magnetically attached grilles
• Choice of four finishes

You have to hand it to Q Acoustics: the 3040c look, and even to an extent feel, like much more expensive loudspeakers than they actually are.

The standard of build and finish is excellent, and even the vinyl wrap that covers the MDF cabinets of my ‘Claro’ walnut review sample is a cut or two above the norm — and I am confident that is also the case if you prefer the ‘pin’ oak, satin white or satin black alternatives.

The 942 x 285 x 281mm (HxWxD) dimensions mean the proportions of the cabinet are harmonious. That ‘width’ measurement includes the small aluminium stabilisers that fit to the back of each cabinet and make it less susceptible to rocking or, heaven help us, toppling. The look of the cabinet is further enhanced by the crisply rendered curves along each horizontal edge.

Q Acoustics supplies magnetic grilles, but for my money you’re better off leaving them in the packaging and enjoying the sight of the driver array instead. The satin nickel brightwork that surrounds them is a confident touch, and another little flourish that suggests the 3040c might cost a fair bit more than they actually do.

• Design score: 5 / 5

Q Acoustics 3040c review: Usability & setup

• Attach the stabilisers and spikes
• Connect to an amplifier using appropriate speaker cable
• Toe in just a little towards your listening position

Well, they’re passive loudspeakers and so setting them up and using them is hardly rocket science.

You’ll need to attach the little outrigger stabilisers to the bottom of each cabinet, and then attach the floor spikes. These can be adjusted from the top, so getting the cabinets level is no hardship.

Then, connect the speakers to the amplifier that’s driving them with speaker cable — ideally two identical lengths. And then try to make sure the speakers are toed in, just a fraction, towards the spot from where you do your listening.

• Usability & setup score: 5 / 5

Q Acoustics 3040c review: Value

• You'll struggle to find decent floorstanding speakers for this money
• Q Acoustics is a trusted name — and the 3040c are worthy of that heritage

This money won’t even get you on the ladder at some loudspeaker companies, but Q Acoustics first made a name for itself by redefining what ‘entry level’ ought to mean where booth sonic performance and build quality are concerned.

It almost goes without saying that the 3040c does nothing to spoil this reputation — and as a result, it represents prodigious value for money for anyone who wants a fairly big sound from a fairly compact and unarguably affordable floorstander.

• Value score: 5 / 5

Should I buy Q Acoustics 3040c?

Buy them if…

Don’t buy them if…

Q Acoustics 3040c review: Also consider

Part of the appeal of the 3040c, in addition to the way they look and sound, is the money Q Acoustics wants in exchange for a pair. It’s genuinely hard to find a pair of floorstanding loudspeakers from a brand anything like as credible as this one for anything like the money — even brands such as DALI, Fyne Audio or Monitor Audio (to name just three) start their floorstanding ranges with models costing several hundred of your chosen currency more than this.

If you're happy to consider bookshelf models however, look to the Dali Sonik 1 or even Cambridge Audio L/R S. But again, they're not floorstanding speakers.

How I tested the Q Acoustics 3040c

I connected the 3040c to a WiiM Amp Pro using a couple of lengths of QED loudspeaker cable, and then connected a preamplified Technics turntable to the WiiM’s single analog input.

I used a Rega CD player, connected to the amplifier’s digital optical input, and also streamed via Bluetooth and Tidal Connect using an Apple iPhone 15 Pro. Which meant I was able to listen to music in lots of different formats, and at lots of different resolutions, more-or-less non-stop for a week or so.

• Read TechRadar's Reviews Guarantee
• First reviewed: July 2026

HP Omen 16 Slim: Two-minute review

In these strange times where PC memory prices seemingly double by the day, an affordable gaming laptop is a tantalising prospect. But is it actually realistic? Enter the HP Omen 16 Slim, HP's latest mainstream gaming portable.

There are two core variants of the Omen 16, a standard-sized model and this so-called "Slim". Long story short, this Slim model is a little skinnier but still isn't exactly super compact for a 16-inch laptop, thanks to not only a fairly hefty lower screen bezel, but also a chassis that sticks out beyond the base of the display. At least the slightly tanky proportions translate into a tanky chassis with a solid feeling keyboard bed.

Anyway, it's the value proposition that matters and that means getting into the specs. CPU-wise, we're talking Intel Core Ultra 7 255H, which is a pretty modern 16-core chip from Intel's Arrow Lake generation. Here it's configured with 24GB of DDR5 in dual 12GB SoDIMMs. But various configs are available, including 16GB and 24GB.

There's also 1TB Gen 4 SSD, but with any gaming laptop surely the most important single component is the GPU and it's no surprise to find an Nvidia GeForce RTX 5060 8GB doing the pixel pumping duties.

It's one up from the bottom of Nvidia's RTX 50 Series laptop GPUs, but it gets the full feature set, including all the latest DLSS upscaling bells and whistles. It outputs to a 165Hz 16-inch LCD display with a native resolution of 1,920 by 1,200 pixels, making it a 16:10 aspect panel rather than the usual 16:9 ratio.

The battery is a pretty generous 70Wh item, meanwhile, and networking includes WiFi 6E, Bluetooth 5.4 and Ethernet. Slightly less impressive is the physical connectivity. Not only are you limited to just one USB-C port (plus three USB-A), it can only do a measly 10Gbps. So, the only video out is the single HDMI 2.1 port.

Of course, gaming performance is the key metric here, and the results are pretty good, albeit with one major caveat. This skinnier Omen 16 Slim makes do with 110W of Total Platform Power (TPP) and 80W maximum for the GPU, where the full-sized Omen 16 cranks that up significantly to 170W TPP. Given premium gaming laptops can supply as much as 175W and more just for the GPU, you can see how 110W for everything, including CPU, RAM and storage, can be a limiting factor.

That said, the RTX 5060 GPU is pretty efficient and well matched with the 1200p (near-enough 1080p) 165Hz display. You'll need to use DLSS upscaling to get slick frame rates in the most demanding games. But, broadly, you'll get fairly smooth results at very high detail settings. What's more, the chassis doesn't get too hot and the fan noise is moderate.

All of which means HP has done a nice job with the HP Omen 16 Slim. It's well built, mostly well specified and delivers a pretty sweet gaming experience. Whether it makes sense as a buy comes down to pricing. As configured here with 24GB of RAM, it's a little spendy. But there's an otherwise identical 16GB model that we just spotted for a whisker under $1,200. Right here in 2026, that's a very decent deal.

HP Omen 16 Slim review: Price & availability

• Available for £1,499 in the UK with 24GB of DDR5
• The closest US config rocks 16GB of DDR5 for $1,599
• Looks out for deals on sites like Newegg

In this precise configuration with 24GB of DDR5 RAM, the HP Omen 16 Slim weighs in at £1,399 in the UK. That's actually very good given current memory prices, right now. Indeed, you could argue it would make sense to knock that back to 16GB, keep everything else the same, and save some money.

Indeed, in the US, just that configuration is available, while the 24GB option is not. With 16GB, you're currently looking at $1,599, which is a fair bit less appealing. Currently, an otherwise identical version but with an RTX 5050 instead of the RTX 5060 can be had for $1,198 on Newegg, which implies you might be able to bag one with the 5060 and 16GB for around $1,400 at some point if you hang around and wait for a deal. At that price point, the HP Omen 16 Slim would start making a lot of sense.

HP Omen 16 Slim review: Specs

HP Omen 16 Slim review: Design

• Not actually that "Slim"
• Solid, well-built chassis
• Connectivity is only OK
• Cooling is well executed

The HP Omen 16 Slim is mostly plastic, just the bottom cover is metal. But it still feels very solid and durable. The Keyboard is nice and stable, with only a touch of flex when pushed hard. The keyboard, while we're on the subject, has four configurable RGB lighting zones, but at this price point, you're not going to get per-key lighting.

HP has done a nice job with the cooling, too. The twin fans draw air from the bottom cover and push it out the back and do so without making too much noise. However, despite the "Slim" branding, this is not a super compact laptop.

Coming in at 1.99cm to 2.27cm thick, where the standard Omen 16 measures between 2.39cm and 2.54cm, the 16 Slim is thinner than its sibling. But it's still not that compact.

Thanks to a rather large chine bezel and the way the rear of the chassis sticks out beyond the screen hinge, the Omen 16 Slim actually has a larger footprint than many laptops that trade on pure performance rather than portability and also tips the scales at 2.42kg. So, it's no featherweight.

In that context, the somewhat limited connectivity is a touch disappointing. You get three USB-A ports, but just one USB-C and even the latter is limited to 10Gbps, though it does at least support video out and charging the laptop itself.

HP Omen 16 Slim review: Performance

• Decent frame rates at 1200p with DLSS
• Seriously quick SSD
• Fan noise is reasonable

Intel's Core Ultra 7 255H is very much a known quantity, what with its eight Performance and eight Efficient CPU cores. It's all you need for gaming in CPU terms, so the HP Omen 16 Slim's critical gaming component compared with the competition among the best gaming laptops is that Nvidia RTX 5060 GPU and how well it's been implemented.

This thinner HP Omen 16 Slim model does suffer slightly in the wattage department, with the Total Platform Power shared across the GPU, CPU, memory and more capped at 110W. But that doesn't absolutely hobble gaming performance.

For instance, running at the 16-inch display's native 1,920 by 1,200 resolution, you can crank Cyberpunk 2077 right up, with Ultra RT settings and Quality DLSS scaling and still get 44fps average frame rate.

OK, that's not spectacular. But it is acceptable for a single-player title. Switch off the ray tracing and you'll be looking at frame rates nearer 100. Moreover, in less demanding games, let's say something a little older like Shadow of the Tomb Raider, you can hit over 130fps even without DLSS upscaling and really make the most of the 165Hz refresh rate of the 16-inch display.

Speaking of the screen, the 16:10 aspect is a little odd and adds a little GPU load versus a vanilla 1080p panel. But it's reasonably vibrant, with nice-ish colours and contrast and decent 3ms response times. It's nothing special, but probably what you'd expect at this price point.

Just note the panel reviewed here is the upgrade 400 nit option. The base display is only 300 nits, runs at 144Hz and has much less colour fidelity. Avoid that if at all possible.

The 16 Slim's thermal performance is pretty impressive, too. It doesn't get too hot under load and the fan noise is reasonable. Well, it is unless you enable "Unleashed Mode" in the Omen Gaming Hub app. That cranks up the fans, but doesn't do much for frame rates.

Elsewhere, the SSD is particularly nippy, clocking over 7GB/s for reads and nearly 6GB/s for writes. For what is pitched as a value-orientated system, that's impressive. As for other elements, the sound quality from the speakers is tolerable at this price point, but the volume could be a little higher, and the webcam quality is OK.

In terms of physical performance, the chassis feels robust, even though only the bottom cover is made of metal, and the keyboard base is nice and solid with minimal flex. As for the trackpad, it's mechanical and doesn't have niceties like a glass cover. But it's large and works well enough. It's also worth noting that the memory, storage and Wi-Fi cards are all upgradeable, which is welcome in an age where too many laptops have everything soldered on.

HP Omen 16 Slim review: Battery life

• Surprisingly good for a budget gaming laptop
• USB-C charging is supported
• Not actually all that portable

Undoubtedly one of the HP Omen 16 Slim's more impressive aspects is battery life. OK, you're not going to get more than a couple of hours of light gaming off the mains, but for watching video, this laptop has some real legs.

Our local video playback test netted over 12 and a half hours with the screen at half brightness. That's a realistic setting for use on, say, a plane, albeit you might want to wind the screen up a little in bright daylight.

Whatever, that's a very impressive result for a gaming laptop and makes this portable much more plausible as an all-round computing device to take with you on trips and outings. The caveat to that is that the fairly large proportions and relatively hefty 2.4kg kerb weight mean this isn't a laptop you're going to sling into a small shoulder bag and forget about.

Should I buy the HP Omen 16 Slim?

HP Omen 16 Slim: Scorecard

Buy the HP Omen 16 Slim if…

Don't buy it if…

HP Omen 16 Slim review: Also consider

How I tested the HP Omen 16 Slim HX

• Used as my daily rig for two weeks
• Threw my Steam library at
• Got forensic with the screen and build quality

I've been round the block when it comes to gaming laptops. My first portable ran a GeForce 2 Go, if you can remember back that far. My current lappie runs an RTX 4080, and there have been plenty more in between. ANd those are just my personal machines. I've long since lost count of how many gaming laptops I've reviewed. There are always a few knocking around.

Over the years, I've learned a lot about what makes a good gaming laptop and I applied that to the HP Omen 16 Slim over a couple of weeks. That means throwing everything in my Steam Library at it, from classic strategy titles like Total War to graphics fests including Cyberpunk 2077. All round performance, including the SSD, is also important, as is battery life for what is, ultimately, meant to be a portable machine.

I'm also very picky when it comes to screen quality and keyboard feel and have something of a forensic obsession with laptop build quality. You have to be realistic at this price point, but build quality is particularly important to gaming laptop longevity. Bendy chassis usually end up in flakey performance, eventually.

• First reviewed: July 2026
• Read more about how we test

Razer Kiyo V2 webcam: Two-minute review

Razer is a household name in the webcam space, with its Kiyo brand being one of the most popular choices for streamers and PC gamers. The latest Kiyo V2 is another sterling example of Razer's commitment to premium build quality and high-end components, and for the most part, it's a great product.

Delivering either 4K recording at 30 frames per second or 1080p at 60, the Kiyo V2 captures quality video with a high degree of customization via the Razer Synapse software. It's fairly pricey (don't expect to see it on our list of the best cheap webcams), but for a 4K webcam with this sort of build quality and feature set, it's actually quite competitively priced.

Coming in black, white, and pink colorways (mine is the pink 'Quartz' model), the Razer Kiyo V2 is an extremely well-constructed product. It's durable and pleasingly tactile. The base can be extended and rotated to capture the perfect angle, and it easily clasps onto any monitor; I tested it both with the two monitors in my home desktop setup and my laptop, and it snapped into place with no issues. It's a little heavy, however, so laptops with flimsier display hinges might struggle.

The design is a departure from previous Razer webcams, which typically opted for a singular large casing surrounding the lens construction. Instead, it's a smaller lens housing with an oblong body, immediately reminiscent of the Logitech MX Brio 705.

Not everything has been abandoned with this new design, however. The lens housing, like previous Kiyo models, includes a pleasingly tactile rim that can be twisted to close the built-in physical privacy shutter. I'm always a fan of privacy solutions like this, though given the large size of the glass lens face, it would've been nice to see a lens cap included to keep it dust- and scratch-free.

It would potentially be nice if the webcam could be detached from the attached mount in order to fit it to a different mount; many content creators will have their own video setups and may want to use their own camera stands. However, the mount does have a threaded screw connector on the base, letting you fit it atop most industry-standard camera mounts.

In terms of video quality, it's great. 4K video is sharp and colorful, and even zoomed in, I found I looked perfectly detailed in the footage I recorded. Color reproduction is great, and the camera performed well in a range of light conditions. Low-light performance resulted in some mild oversaturation, but I've seen worse performance in more expensive cameras. It also supports HDR, though only at 30fps even at lower resolutions.

The autofocus works well, but I found it was a little slow to adjust if I quickly moved closer or further from the camera. Having tested quite a few webcams in my time, I feel that a webcam in this price range should be a bit snappier to focus.

That big lens means that the default field of view is huge. A 93-degree FOV means that the Kiyo V2 is liable to capture not just yourself but the entire room you're in, but thankfully it's easy enough to tweak this via the zoom and crop tools in Razer's Synapse software.

On the topic of Synapse, it's still a frankly rather clunky piece of software, but for webcam users who want granular control over their hardware, it does a solid job. In addition to zoom and crop tools, you can also manually tweak the autofocus, auto exposure, and color balance.

The Kiyo V2's software-side feature set also includes a selection of AI-powered tools, which are covered prominently in the marketing material for the webcam. These include dynamic light correction and noise reduction, but these features already existed in Synapse, and to be honest, I'm not entirely clear on what AI brings to the table here.

Look, Razer: I get it. I'm sure there's tremendous pressure from your shareholders to make everything AI-powered, because it's the buzzword du jour. But anyone who actually wants AI in their webcam (for whatever inane reason) likely isn't going to be better served by the Kiyo V2 than any other cutting-edge 'AI' webcam, like the Obsbot Tiny SE.

One element that does actually benefit from the involvement of machine learning is the auto-framing feature, which uses AI-powered head-tracking to keep you in the center of the frame even if you move around. However, since the Kiyo V2 lacks a mechanized gimbal, it can't alter the frame while fully zoomed out and can only track you so far; it can keep you in center frame if you move by a foot or two, but it won't follow you around a room.

On the bright side, you don't actually have to use Synapse and the AI features at all. The Kiyo V2 works great straight out of the box; just plug in the bundled cable, and you're off to the races, assuming you're happy with the default wide-angle FOV.

Now, for the only real problem I have with the Razer Kiyo V2. It comes with a USB-C to USB-C cable in the box (the one with my review unit is pink, like the webcam itself), and as far as I can tell, you have to use this cable to access the full 4K functionality of the camera.

Considering that the cable is USB-C-exclusive, you'll need a free USB-C 3.0 port to make full use of the Kiyo V2. I tested it out with a USB-C to USB-A adapter, as well as using one of my own USB-C cables; no dice. It's frustrating, because USB-C ports can be in short supply for users connecting multiple peripherals, and the bundled cable is a bit short and inflexible.

Lastly, the built-in microphone is... fine, I guess. It's good enough for video calls, but anyone aiming to produce professional-level video content should definitely use a proper standalone microphone.

It's fair to say that the Razer Kiyo V2 deserves a spot among the best webcams on the market. There are a few niggling issues, but nothing that should ruin the experience for a gamer who wants a high-end webcam. For hardcore content creators, it remains a sound choice, but you should be aware of the downsides.

Razer Kiyo V2 webcam: Price & availability

• How much does it cost? $149.99 / £149.99 / AU$279.95
• When is it available? Available now
• Where can you get it? The US, UK, and Australia

At $149.99 / £149.99 / AU$279.95, the Razer Kiyo V2 is significantly cheaper than the brand's own older Kiyo Pro webcam. If you're looking for a high-quality 4K cam, it's not an unreasonable price.

Sure, you could easily get a cheaper 4K webcam, but you'll need to risk it on a less established brand, and you almost certainly won't be getting the same rich feature set seen in the Kiyo V2. Similarly effective models from other premium brands like Logitech and Elgato will cost a comparable amount, so I'm pleased to say that despite its reputation for pricey hardware, Razer got the price right this time around.

Razer Kiyo V2 webcam: Specs

Should you buy the Razer Kiyo V2 webcam?

Buy it if...

Don't buy it if...

Razer Kiyo V2 webcam: Also consider

How I tested the Razer Kiyo V2 webcam

• Tested the webcam in video calls and recording
• Compared image quality to other webcams
• 8+ years of experience reviewing computer hardware

I replaced my usual webcam (the Insta360 Link 2 4K) with the Razer Kiyo V2 for two weeks, using it for all my normal video calls during the workday. I also tested it in various different lighting conditions by recording video separately and comparing the clips side by side. Naturally, I installed (well, reinstalled) Razer Synapse to properly test out all the software-side features as well.

I've been testing and reviewing PC hardware for more than eight years, starting at the PC-building hobbyist magazine Maximum PC before making the leap to TechRadar's computing team. I put all of my knowledge and experience behind each and every one of my product reviews, so you can be assured that you're getting an informed and bias-free judgement.

Read more about how we test

• First reviewed July 2026

AngryMiao AM Infinity.97: two-minute review

It seems everyone and their dog is betting on where the high end gaming mouse market is going next, and the AngryMiao AM Infinity.97 is betting big on super light and powerful mice that nail the basics.

Okay, we've already seen this with the Razer Viper V4 Pro, but AngryMiao takes a different approach, with a heavily perforated chassis that looks like it's escaped from a sci-fi film rather than the gaming section of a branch of Currys or Best Buy.

Look past the aesthetics, though, and there's a genuinely accomplished mouse underneath. A sub-50g weight with or without a battery, a zippy 30,000 DPI PixArt PAW3950 sensor and true 8000Hz wireless polling put it right up there with the best ultralight mice I've tested this year, and its swappable battery system is a genuinely clever solution to the age-old wireless mouse problem of battery anxiety, with spares stashed inside the wireless receiver box for whenever you need them.

It's not a mouse without its flaws, though. The companion software is basic and has an annoying habit of running in the background, there's no dedicated DPI button or clutch anywhere on the chassis, and at $189 it's more expensive than its direct rivals. Whether that's a dealbreaker depends on how much you value standing out from the crowd.

That's ultimately what I feel you're paying for here. The AM Infinity.97 looks and feels like nothing else on the market, and backs that up with performance that goes toe-to-toe with mice from far bigger names. If you want a boutique ultralight mouse that doesn't sacrifice substance for style, this is one of the most compelling options I've tested all year.

AngryMiao AM Infinity.97 review: Price & release date

• $189 (approx £141/AU$270)
• Released in January 2026
• Towards the top end of the market

The AM Infinity.97 costs $189, and that puts it right at the top of the ultralight gaming mouse market against some genuinely excellent competition. The Logitech G Pro X2 Superstrike costs $179.99, and the Razer Viper V4 Pro is $159.99 — meaning AngryMiao's boutique option is comfortably the priciest of the three.

It launched in January 2026 as the slightly smaller brother to the brand's original AM Infinity mouse, offering a different take on the highly competitive ultralight mouse sector from a brand better known for its keyboards than such potent mice.

For the price, it's competitive in features, too, with a flagship wireless sensor and polling rate specs, clever swappable batteries and a magnesium alloy chassis that's lighter than both Razer and Logitech's choices. In terms of features. It's perhaps closer to the Viper V4 Pro in that it seeeks to nail the basics of being a competitive ultralight mouse, rather than introducing new features such as rapid trigger, as the G Pro X2 Superstrike does.

AngryMiao AM Infinity.97 review: Specs

AngryMiao AM Infinity.97 review: Design

• Sci-fi-inspired looks
• Magnesium alloy chassis keeps things sturdy
• Software has very little frills

AngryMiao is a brand I associate more for its wacky keyboards than mice, but its house style is unmistakeable. As with the likes of Gravastar, it leans into a sci-fi aesthetic with a perforated chassis in keeping with the older guard of what ultralight gaming mice used to look like.

Intriguingly, it's slightly smaller than rivals, too, being only 97% of the size of a standard gaming mouse. That's because of AngryMiao's own market research that demonstrated this kind of size was what players preferred, not least for a mouse designed more for claw grippers than palm or fingertip users. Saying that, I had no issues using this high-power rodent with my usual palm grip, and the little orange piece on the rear of the chassis acts as a useful grip that does more of the heavy lifting than you might initially expect.

The AM Infinity.97 is available in three colors: black, white, and pink. I asked for my sample in the vivid pink, but ended up with a white one – no harm done, though, as it's a nice white that's almost got a creamy, off-white hue in some lighting environments.

At 47g with the battery in, it's one of the lightest mice I've used this year, and pulling out the battery for wired use drops that to a genuinely absurd 39g. That's a fair bit lighter than both Logitech and Razer's choices, although not quite as light as the Corsair Sabre V2 Pro, which weighs 36g with its internal battery.

That lightness doesn't feel flimsy, either. The AM Infinity.97's chassis is magnesium-aluminium alloy, and it's properly sturdy under the fingers, with gentle contouring to to sit well in the hand and a cool metallic touch that's oddly pleasant during longer sessions.

The button layout here is sensible, with two main clickers and a scroll wheel on top, side buttons within easy reach on the left, and a Bluetooth/2.4GHz toggle tucked underneath. What you don't get is a dedicated DPI button – an odd omission at this price, and the first real crack in an otherwise polished package. The main clicks use custom TTC Orange Dot Optical V2 switches, and I've become a big fan of these in my two weeks with this mouse. They're snappy and positive under finger, and because they're optical rather than mechanical, they're also noticeably quicker to register than more traditional gaming mice.

Okay, there isn't the rapid trigger or haptic feedback you'll get from the Logitech G Pro X2 Superstrike, but the short, sharp travel with ample tactility still feels pleasantly brisk and solid under finger.

If there's one area where things get less impressive for this AngryMiao mouse, it's th software. Being a web-based UI means things should be lightweight, although it's paired with a a downloadable executable that has an annoying habit of nibbling away at system resources you'd rather it left alone when running in the background.

When you do open it, it's easy enough to navigate, but there isn't much to it — DPI and polling rate, remapping, macros, profiles, lift-off distance and acceleration is about where the feature list ends. The bigger brand rivals offer much more complete software customisation.

• Design score: 4.5 / 5

AngryMiao AM Infinity.97 review: Performance

• Flagship 30,000 DPI sensor
• 8000Hz wireless polling
• Innovative swappable batteries

AngryMiao has fitted the AM Infinity.97 with a 30,000 DPI PixArt PAW3950 sensor, one I've put through its paces in plenty of other mice as a top-end flagship sensor, and it's every bit as sharp and responsive here either for general navigation or for getting stuck into Counter Strike 2 – my usual test for peripherals.

You won't get away for using the full 30,000 DPI all the time, as it turns this rodent into a jittery nightmare, hence why it can be moved down to a number of preset levels between 100 and 30,000 DPI in the mouse's software. Somewhere between 1600 DPI and 3200 DPI is where I ended up, preferring the former for more precise aiming in CS2, and the latter for navigating Windows and productivity workloads.

Alongside the beefy sensor, the AM Infinity.97 benefits from true 8000Hz polling across both wired and 2.4GHz connectivity, plus you get Bluetooth as an added bonus. In my testing, both wireless connectivity methods felt rock solid throughout testing, whether I was on Bluetooth with a MacBook Pro or the 2.4GHz receiver box on my Windows gaming PC.

As much as 8000Hz wireless polling isn't the standout feature it was a couple of years ago, and its efficacy for normal folks is debatable, it's still very nice to see for a competitive oriented rodent such as this AngryMiao choice. It's something competitive players will feel more than us normal folks, but is still handy for peace of mind your mouse is performing at its best.

The fact is that the high DPI sensor, fast wireless polling, superlight chassis and snappy optical switches combine to make the AM Infinity.97 one of the best gaming mice I've tested this year, and I've given both the G Pro X2 Superstrike and Viper V4 Pro a run for their money, too. I'd wager it's closer in philosophy to Razer, nailing the fundamentals rather than throwing haptics and rapid trigger into a light chassis the way Logitech does — but as a first impression, it's a knockout.

I found its low mass makes wrist flicks and sweeping CS2 movements almost effortless, while those optical switches give you brisk, satisfying clicks and its sensor felt dead accurate to boot.This is a mouse that nails the basics and turns that into something genuinely excellent.

The AM Infinity.97 also has one further trick up its sleeve with a feature I've only seen on a couple of other gaming mice – the Glorious Model O3 and D3 Wireless – with swappable batteries. In this instance, the batteries clip on magnetically to the underside of the mouse, and can be swapped out for a spare kept inside the 2.4GHz wireless receiver box that connects to your PC with the bundled USB-C to USB-A cable.

The mouse also works wired, so a dead battery is never really a crisis. What you don't get is an internal backup cell, meaning if both external batteries die, you're out of luck until you plug in – Glorious has a 'Guardian battery' inside the mouse chassis itself, which is the one area where I think they win.

This swappable battery system leads AngryMiao to claim 'infinite' battery life in its marketing bumf, although a little further down the product page, it's more reasonable. With 1,000Hz polling, you'll see up to 165 hours, while at the full 8,000Hz, this drops to up to 30 hours. For reference, I was getting between 25 or so hours on a charge on one battery with 8,000Hz enabled, demonstrating just how thirsty a higher polling rate continues to be.

• Performance score: 4.5 / 5

Should I buy the AngryMiao AM Infinity.97?

Buy it if…

Don’t buy it if…

Also consider

How I tested the AngryMiao AM Infinity.97

• Tested over two weeks of use
• Used across both Windows and macOS
• Extensive gaming mouse review experience