We are now in full E3, one of the most important gaming events, and to celebrate it, we wanted to dedicate this Sunday’s guide to pick and explain a series of key points that will help you to improve your gaming PC’s performance.
To make the guide as useful as possible, we will make a complete list with simple and affordable tips that will help you to improve your PC’s performance without having to spend money, but we will also give you a series of recommendations at the end where we will review the most important graphics adjustments.
Some of the most common questions I receive are about photography. I have already spoken in some detail about the choice of cameras and lenses, but I have not yet spoken about how to choose a computer to be used for the purposes of photography.
In fact, in this age of digital photography, the computer has become an indispensable extension of the photographic process. First of all for storing your photos as well as for displaying them, but especially for developing them. I have already said on numerous occasions that: the post-processing of images is a natural extension of the photo taking process. It is indispensable for finalizing your photos. I will not expand any further on the reasons why I say this, suffice it to say that there are some important things that just CANNOT be done while shooting and which must be managed during post-processing, namely contrast and color levels as well as the intensity of bright zones and shadows, etc.
Long story short, to heighten the quality of your photos, you will need to go through post-processing, which raises the question of choosing a computer that will allow you to do so comfortably.
Even though Windows Defender keeps improving its preinstalled antivirus protection on Windows 10 PCs, other ‘complementary’ software are certainly key to keep your PC’s security at a maximum. Therefore, freeing us from malware threats, evidently, although in some cases it would mean sacrificing our PC’s performance ever so slightly. AV-TEST has analyzed several antivirus software for Windows 10 and they have come up with a ranking showing the best ones of 2017.
You already know that Moore’s law is practically dying: reducing lithography and increasing the number of transistors on chips keeps getting more complicated. Manufacturers, especially TSMC, Samsung and Intel, are working incessantly to keep reducing lithography by using new techniques on manufacturing processes, but it is clear that we are very close to the possible limit.
Currently, the main manufacturers are already producing 14 nm manufacturing processes (Intel’s Kaby Lake and AMD’s Ryzen, to name a few), although Intel has already planned its next generation (Cannon Lake) scaled to 10 nm while hinting at having something ready for next year at 7 nm. Meanwhile, TSMC already has its 10 nm process read and it has plans for a 5, and even a 3 nm, lithography, going as far as to anticipate a 2 nm lithography. Do not bother asking for AMD because it currently is the most realistic manufacturer: they have just started with the 14 nm process and it hopes for 7 nm by 2020.
Certainly, we are talking long-term. Getting an actual 7 nm manufacturing process by next year or by 2019 would be quite an achievement, and the plans for 5 nm by 2020 seem pretty far away from what was originally expected. Let’s not talk about 3 and 2 nm: let’s face it, they will not be here any time soon.
We looked under the hood of the popular browsers Firefox and Chrome and now it’s time to find out which one comes out first in a duel.
Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox are among the most popular web browsers used on the PC and are thus also the most widespread ones. Both apps also have phone and mobile (tablet) versions making it easy to keep your data and bookmarks synched across multiple devices. This way you can synchronize settings, favorites, etc. among your devices without using additional software.
Since Microsoft have said goodbye to Internet Explorer and, in Windows 10, released a new browser called Microsoft Edge, more users are looking for an alternative. The popular choice are Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox.
AMD´S RYZEN processors have been with us for a while now and thanks to the tests and analyses that we have been able to do, their possibilities, the value that they offer and practically all their technical issues are very clear to us.
We know many of you have hesitations about this new generation of processors, and that they are due above all to the differing results that have been recorded by different kinds of analyses, although there are also other secondary causes equally important, such as the habitual misinformation produced by some sources blinded by a certain favoritism and which affects even some well-known media.
To illustrate this last point, a simple example will do, and it is that in their analyses some sources began to negatively assess the fact that RYZEN does not include an integrated GPU. Yes, and they stayed that way to their liking.
RAM memory is one of the most important basic components of almost every technological device, including PCs, smartphones, smart watches, and so forth, but it is also one of the components that has the most false myths attached to it.
RAM memory is one of the most important basic components of any technological device that can be found in PCs, smartphones and smart watches, among others, but is also one of the components surrounded by many myths.
Several of these myths still persist and they can be truly troublesome, so we wanted to dedicate this component one of our special segments.
While Acer’s Aspire V-Nitro series isn’t new on the market, it is very popular with consumers which lead Acer to update the range each year. We’ve already reviewed the 2015 line, and now, two years later, we think it’s time to do it again. Optically, not too much has changed, under the hood however, we find Intel’s 7th generation processors, DDR4 RAM and a GeFore GTX10-series GPU.
Naturally, I got both models here – the base features among both are mostly identical. The 17” model (VN7-7936-767M) just has some more bells and whistles than the 15” one (VN7-593G-73HP). Let’s take a look at the specs first:
VN7-593G Display: 39.6 cm (15.6 “) Acer ComfyView ™ Full-HD IPS Display with LED backlight (matt) VN7-793G Display: 43.9 cm (17.3 “) Acer ComfyView ™ Full-HD IPS Display with LED backlight (matt)
Resolution: 1,920 x 1,080 (Full HD), 16: 9
Processor: Intel® Core ™ i7-7700HQ processor (4 cores x 2.80 GHz, up to 3.8 GHz Intel Turbo Boost, 6 MB 3rd Level Cache)
Graphics: NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 1060 with 6GB GDDR5 VRAM
Memory: 8 GB DDR4
Storage: 1,000 GB hard drive
Network: Gigabit LAN, wireless LAN 802.11ac / a / b / g / n, 2.4 GHz & 5 GHz, 2 × 2 MU-MIMO
Connections: HDMI, 1x USB 3.1 (Type-C Gen. 2, Thunderbolt 3), 2x USB 3.0, 2x USB 2.0, 1x audio, 1x SD card
Input devices: backlit keypad with numeric keypad, multi-gesture touchpad with integrated fingerprint reader
Battery: Li-Polymer battery (4 cells / 4450 mAh), up to 6 hours battery life
Dimensions / Weight: 391 x 266 x 24.9 / 22.5 mm (W x D x H) / 2.6 kg
Operating System: Microsoft® Windows® 10 Home (64-bit)
Special features (only VN7-793G): integrated Tobii Eye Tracking Camera, for viewing in selected games
When it comes to specs, Acer hasn’t been a slouch – with the exception of one aspect: Memory. Both devices only come with an old-fashioned hard drive. If you want an SSD you will have to add your own. For this, an M.2 PCIe 3.0×4 slot is available so that even a Samsung SSD 960 PRO can fully be taken advantage of. (I’m in UK, in US market, both two models feature SSD)
The Acer Aspire VX 15 (VX5-591G-75RM) is midrange gaming laptop that does okay for itself but doesn’t really do anything extremely well to stand out from its competition. To top it off, its minimalist-ish matte black design may not appeal to everyone. However, what it lacks in standout features and performance, it makes up for with a very attractive price tag, easily making it one of the best value midrange gaming laptops on the market today.
Doesn’t have as many ports compared to others in its price range
Too little storage options
Acer Aspire VX5-591G-75RM Gaming Laptop Review
Acer has ramped up their efforts in the gaming laptop market in recent years, with them releasing some of the best value portable gaming machines we’ve seen in a while. The Acer Aspire VX 15, which was announced by Acer at CES 2017, seems keen on continuing that trend this 2017.
The top model, the Acer Aspire VX 15 (VX5-5915-75RM), retails for $1049.99 and comes with all the bells and whistles you’d come to expect from gaming laptops at the same price range. It comes equipped with the latest i7 Kaby Lake processor, a 15.6” Full HD IPS screen, 16 GB of DDR4 SDRAM, a 256 GD SSD for storage and a GTX 1050TI with 4 GB of dedicated memory graphics card.
With this tutorial, choosing the best gaming keyboard will be such a child’s play. The gaming keyboard is a magic tool that puts you in a compelling fully digital world. There are basically two different types, depending on their structure design.
Even if it’s a bit noisy, the mechanical keyboard is the most long lasting, reliable and precise one. Its more immediate response makes gaming or typing quicker, by pressing the keys more softly; moreover, it lets you program simultaneous inputs on more than one key.
A cheaper alternative is the membrane keyboard. It needs an harder pressure on the input key, whose response could not be immediate: it’s not expressly designed for high level competitions then.
