Review: Razer Edge Pro tablet—insane performance that's completely impractical

PC gaming is poised to break free from the desktop—it just needs a device that delivers fast frame rates and lush graphics in an affordable, portable package. Enter the Razer Edge Pro, a Windows 8 tablet built expressly for playing PC games on the go. The hardware even comes with an optional controller accessory that turns the tablet into a handheld game console. 

But Razer's pitch goes way beyond gaming. The company is marketing the Edge Pro as a multi-purpose machine that can replace your laptop, desktop, tablet, and, yes, even your Xbox, PS3 and Wii. After using the premier version of Razer's new tablet as my primary device for a week, I think it comes close to delivering on its multi-disciplinary promise—if you're willing to make some compromises.

In terms of raw processing performance, sure, the tablet can do everything.

First, the good news: It works. Thanks to a Core i7 processor and discrete Nvidia graphics, the tablet is powerful enough to run Far Cry 3 and Dishonored at decent frame rates. And thanks to Windows 8 Pro, it can run legacy desktop applications, including essential gaming utilities like Steam, uPlay and the launchers for World of Warcraft and Guild Wars 2. The Edge Pro also easily chews through productivity applications, handling the processor-intensive Photoshop with aplomb.

The bad news: Whether you’re playing games, watching movies, editing images, or writing tablet reviews, the Edge Pro requires significant compromises. In terms of raw processing performance, sure, the tablet can do everything. But in terms of ergonomics, convenience, display quality and price, the tablet falls short of more specialized, cheaper devices. We reviewed the highest spec'ed version of the Edge Pro, and at $1450, it proved to be a luxury product for hardcore PC gamers only.

But at least it's a luxury product that solves a nagging PC gaming problem: Finding killer performance in a reasonably portable package.

Durable chassis with a disappointing display

Compared to the Surface Pro, Razer’s matte black Edge Pro feels chubby. It weighs roughly 2.25 pounds and measures just over 20 mm thick, whereas Microsoft's high-end tablet is just 2 pounds and 13.5 mm thick. Razer’s tablet is durable: it doesn’t have the advantage of Gorilla Glass or a fancy VaporMg chassis, but it survived a week gallivanting around San Francisco in my crowded messenger bag without so much as a scratch. Its composite aluminum body feels cheap to the touch, yet holds up under significant wear and tear. 

Even when using the Edge Pro as a regular Windows 8 tablet, sans accessories, the weight of the hardware is noticeable.

While certainly functional, the Edge Pro's 10.6-inch, 1366-by-768 pixel screen is a letdown when watching movies, playing games or doing pretty much anything that’s predicated on visual fidelity—in short, everything that the Edge Pro is designed to excel at. It’s a serviceable platform for playing Skyrim, but I can’t help but envy the iPad's Retina display or even the bright, 1920-by-1080 screen on the Surface Pro. The Edge Pro looks shabby by comparison, and it’s just not bright enough to use in direct sunlight. This is hardly a deal-breaker, but it does mean you’ll need to draw the shades during daylight gaming sessions.

Razer earns respect for cramming so much processing performance into a tablet chassis. But with PC power comes PC problems.

The 10-point capacitive touchscreen is big enough for playing games, as long as you run them full screen. I had no issues browsing the web or using Windows 8 apps, but I felt cramped while trying to manage multiple desktop applications on the Edge Pro’s limited real estate. It’s a problem that’s easily solved by hooking up the tablet to an external display, but you’ll have a difficult time doing so without purchasing the dock accessory, as the Edge Pro tablet itself sports just a single USB 3.0 port.

Bottom line: To use the Edge Pro as a full-fledged desktop PC replacement, an HDTV gaming console or a mobile gaming machine, you must invest in Razer’s portfolio of pricey peripherals.

If you choose to shell out $99 for the Edge docking station—which packs three extra USB 2.0 ports, an HDMI out port, a mic jack, a stereo port, and a jack for the power adapter—you won’t have any trouble outputting to a full 1080p display. I connected the tablet to both a 24-inch Gateway monitor and a 40-inch Mitsubishi HDTV via HDMI, and it effortlessly drove each display at 1920-by-1080. To this extent, the Edge Pro actually doubles as a decent desktop gaming PC—if you’re willing to pay for the docking station and deck it out with a keyboard, mouse, monitor and headset.

Razer earns respect for cramming so much processing performance into a tablet chassis. But with PC power comes PC problems. Play a processor-intensive game like Dishonored for more than a minute, and you’ll feel the heat—literally.

Despite the integration of heat-dissipating grilles along the top-rear edge of the tablet chassis, the tablet consistently became almost too hot to handle during gaming sessions. I passed it around to a few friends and nobody found it painfully hot, but we all agreed that the Edge Pro is uncomfortably warm to the touch while running PC games. It’s not a deal-breaker, but Razer might consider adding “lap warmer” to the Edge Pro’s already lengthy list of functions.

As far as fan noise, the Edge Pro emits a noticeable hum during processor-intensive use. I found it inoffensive and easy to ignore, but your tolerance may vary.

Best-in-class performance

The Edge Pro’s go-for-broke hardware helped the tablet earn top marks in PCWorld's suite of performance benchmarks. Razer sent us the premium version of the tablet, so our tests were able to tap into a 1.9GHz Core i7 CPU, 8 GB of RAM, and a discrete NVIDIA GT 640M LE GPU alongside the standard Intel HD 4000 graphics chip.

Our review unit, which you can order now on Razer’s website for $1450, also came with a 256GB SSD. The standard $1300 Edge Pro comes with a more modest 128GB SSD. And if you want to spend even less money, a cool $1000 will get you the basic Edge tablet, which sports the same discrete Nvidia GPU, but comes with a Core i5 processor, a 64GB SSD, and just 4 GB of RAM.

The top-of-the-line Edge Pro tablet runs contemporary PC games like Crysis 3 at playable framerates.

The premium-priced Edge Pro delivers fantastic performance that helps justify its $1450 price tag. For one, we saw 73 frames per second running Dirt Showdown at native resolution. That’s more than twice what Microsoft’s Surface Pro was able to deliver in the same test, and confirms that the Edge Pro is the best gaming tablet on the market.

Razer’s beast also outperformed the Surface Pro, The Acer W700 and the Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 13 in our PCMark 7 suite of productivity tests, including our Photoshop CS6 image editing tests and the 3DMark11 graphics rendering tests. Granted, the Edge Pro has a lower native resolution that the competition, and this makes it easier for the tablet to deliver high frame rates in games. But when you view all the benchmark results together, it's clear the machine is purpose-built for performance.

The flipside of all this fantastic performance is poor battery life. The Edge Pro was pitiful in our battery rundown test, burning through a full charge in just under four hours—six with the extended battery attached. Of all the Windows 8 hybrids we’ve tested, only the Lenovo ThinkPad Twist fared worse. And that’s just in our lab tests, which are actually a little forgiving because they rely on looping video playback and automated PCMark 7 tests to drain the battery. While running demanding PC games on the Edge Pro, I routinely ran the battery dry after two to three hours of continuous play.

This presents a significant problem for real-world use: The utility of a portable gaming machine that can only run for a couple of hours is dubious at best. The brief battery life isn’t an issue if you’re just puttering around your Steam library from the comfort of your couch, but it’s a complete deal-breaker if you’re on a long plane trip or otherwise isolated from a power outlet for more than a few hours.

The 256GB SSD in our review unit was more than spacious enough to install Windows 8, a few productivity programs, benchmarking software, and a handful of games with large storage footprints (Skyrim, Far Cry 3, XCOM and Sleeping Dogs) with plenty of space left over. Even the 128GB SSD in the basic version of the Edge Pro seems spacious enough if you don’t load it up with an excess of music, movies and games. The 64GB SSD in the base Edge tablet concerns us, though, given the storage requirements of Windows 8 and most modern PC games.

Accessories required

It’s impossible to discuss the Edge Pro without delving into its accessories, which Razer sells separately at premium prices. Three are available at the time of this review: a $99 Docking Station,  a $249 Gamepad Controller, and a $69 Razer Edge extended battery, which inserts inside the Gamepad Controller. Razer's engineers are also working on a keyboard dock, which should be available by the holidays. Its price is still unknown, but it's slated to support the extended battery.

The docking station resembles a sleek USB hub. Along the rear are three USB 2.0 ports, audio out and mic jacks, an HDMI 1.4 port, and a power jack for the Edge power supply. The idea is to set up the station next to your PC or TV, plug in all the requisite cables for your display, mouse, keyboard, and so on, and then just plop the Edge into the dock when you get home and use it as your desktop PC or gaming console.

Plug the tablet into the docking station (sold separately) and use it's suite of ports to hook up three additional USB devices and drive external hardware via HDMI and audio out.

I did both, and I’m happy to report the Edge Pro performs very well in either capacity. It’s a little challenging to find decent PC games that support multiple players using gamepads, but my friends and I had a fantastic time playing through Double Fine’s The Cave on a 40-inch HDTV. The Edge Pro performed equally well when docked with my mouse, keyboard and 24-inch monitor—the extra screen space and input control make the Edge Pro shine as a desktop replacement.

Of course, if you’re away from the docking station and want to play anything other than simple touch-based games on the Edge Pro, you’ll need to either plug a controller into the tablet’s sole USB 3.0 port, or jack into the optional $249 Gamepad Controller, which cocoons the tablet in a considerable amount of extra hardware.

The Gamepad Controller gives you console-style button controls—a welcome feature when playing many PC games. But the accessory is also a hefty investment in terms of both price and poundage: When you slot in the extended battery, the machined aluminum chassis adds more than two pounds and almost four inches to the tablet. This expanded form factor is manageable, but I needed to curl up on a couch when using the Edge Pro in all it’s mobile gaming glory for more than 15 minutes at a stretch. The ergonomics are challenging, and many seating positions just won't work.

The Edge Pro is at its best—and heaviest—when jacked into the gamepad chassis (which conceals a slot for an extended battery.)

The chassis is sturdy—there’s no danger of snapping the thin supports that link the hand grips to the shell—and conceals motors that deliver surprisingly satisfying vibrational feedback during game play. Razer’s design clearly duplicates Microsoft’s Xbox 360 for Windows gamepad, with two analog joysticks, a directional pad, four face buttons (A, B, X, Y), and the requisite Start and Select buttons.

Six triggers crown the two cylinders—three on either side—and all are within comfortable reach of your index fingers. Using the directional pad and face buttons isn’t as comfortable, because each button cluster is nestled about an inch beneath an analog stick. This is a cramped arrangement, and when you're quickly moving your thumbs back and forth between the controls, fatigue sets in quickly. Given how much real estate is available on each cylinder, it’s hard to understand why Razer built the buttons and sticks so close together.

Can a tablet really fulfill all your gaming needs?

The Razer Edge Pro is the most powerful Windows 8 tablet PCWorld has ever seen. Sure, it’s not as sleek as the competition, but the extra girth is an acceptable compromise in exchange for the power of an Nvidia GPU and a Core i7 processor.

More importantly, it’s solid proof that Razer can successfully build a Windows tablet that runs the latest PC games at playable frame rates. The Edge Pro is expensive and cumbersome, but it works: It lets you play Skyrim in bed, and that alone makes it a must-buy for a subset—a very, very rich subset—of PC gaming enthusiasts.

My biggest problem with the Edge Pro is that it’s so clearly a luxury product. Razer built a Windows 8 tablet that only gamers could love, and even then only if they shell out almost two grand for the premium model with all the optional accessories. For that price, you could pick up an Xbox 360, a Nexus 7 and enough hardware to build your own gaming PC, andstill have a little cash left over for games. The Edge Pro simply isn’t a practical replacement for any device save perhaps a Windows tablet, and even there it can’t match the price, portability or convenience of the Microsoft Surface Pro and its Type keyboard covers.

The Edge Pro is an amazing piece of kit, but it's hard to recommend it to anyone but a hardcore PC gaming enthusiast. If you want a Windows 8 device for any other purpose, you'd be better served by a Surface Pro or a Windows 8 hybrid, at least until Razer improves upon the Edge Pro's design shortcomings. It's just a few ounces, inches and dollars from being a game-changing product.

Read More

802.11n Wi-Fi Routers: Tested to the Nth degree

Sure, those fancy new 802.11ac routers are wicked fast, but the IEEE isn’t expected to ratify that standard until later this year. So today’s 802.11ac hardware could be rendered obsolete if the standards body changes course between now and November.

That probably won’t happen, but if you value interoperability assurances more than raw speed—for instance, if you’re buying networking equipment for your small business—you’ll want to stick with products based on the tried-and-true 802.11n standard. Here’s a look at five of the best routers in that category.

You might recall that the first 802.11n routers hit the market in advance of the IEEE’s final ratification of that standard. But there’s a key difference: Back then, the Wi-Fi Alliance ran a certification program that not only assured consumers that all 802.11 Draft N equipment bearing the Wi-Fi logo would operate together, but that those devices would also be compatible with the final 802.11n standard. The Wi-Fi Alliance is not operating such a program for gear based on the 802.11ac draft standard, so you’re on your own.

What the jargon means

Each of the routers in this roundup is a so-called N900 model, meaning it supports three 150-megabits-per-second spatial streams on the 2.4GHz frequency band, and three 150-mbps spatial streams on the 5GHz frequency band. That’s 450 mbps in total for each band. Multiply that by two and you get 900. You should be aware, however, that none of these routers will actually deliver 900 mbps of data throughput—N900 is just a label.

Each frequency band is subdivided into channels. The 2.4GHz band has 11 available channels (in North America, that is). Each channel is 20MHz wide, but only three of the 11 channels don’t overlap one another. To reach 450 mbps, the router must bond two of the 11 channels together to form one that’s 40MHz wide. But in order to avoid a situation where one router consumes all the available bandwidth in its vicinity, a router is supposed to abide by what’s known as a “good neighbor” policy: It should not bond two of the non-overlapping channels, and it should engage in channel bonding only if it doesn’t detect any nearby routers operating in the same spectrum. As a result, it’s almost impossible for a 2.4GHz router to achieve channel bonding in a city environment, because so many other devices operate in this same spectrum (everything from microwave ovens to cordless phones, not to mention other routers).

There are many more channels available on the 5GHz frequency band, so crowding is much less of a problem. As a result, a router operating in the 5GHz spectrum can more readily engage in channel bonding without interfering with other routers operating nearby. The downside of operating a router on the 5GHz band is that it will deliver less range, because the smaller wavelengths are more readily absorbed by walls and other solid objects in the signal path.

You might be wondering why 802.11ac routers, which operate exclusively in the 5GHz band, don’t have the same problem with range. One reason is that the 802.11ac standard uses channels with more bandwidth (each channel is 80MHz wide, versus the 20MHz-wide channels that 802.11n routers use). Another is that the 802.11ac standard uses a higher-density signal modulation scheme (256 QAM versus the 64 QAM that 802.11n routers use).

Common features of 802.11n routers

Cloud services Some routers allow you to administer them from an Internet connection. More-advanced models let you access storage attached to the router from the cloud, and a few even give you the power to access PCs connected to the router from the cloud.

Guest network A guest network allows you to establish a separate wireless network that your guests can use. It allows them to access the Internet, but prevents them from accessing other PCs or storage devices operating on your network. A guest network is a courtesy that small-business owners can offer their customers, and that individuals and families can offer their visitors.

Media servers Any router should be equipped with a UPnP (Universal Plug-n-Play) server at a minimum. This enables the router to stream music and video to client devices on the network. More-advanced routers will also offer a DLNA-certified streamer (the acronym stands for Digital Living Network Alliance, and the standard has been embraced by nearly every company in the consumer-electronics industry). If you’re an iTunes fan, you’ll appreciate having a router with an iTunes server.

Parental controls This feature is ostensibly designed for moms and dads who want to shield their children from seamier side of the Web, but small-business owners might also find it useful when deployed in moderation. It enables an administrator to establish rules as to when individual computers can access the Internet, and it can block particular websites or even entire categories of sites.

Quality of Service If you depend on your router for VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol), frequently stream music and video around your network, or play online games, you’ll want a router with good QoS (Quality of Service) features. Most high-end routers have at least the basics, meaning that the router can analyze traffic moving through the network and distinguish between lag-sensitive packets (VoIP and media streams, for instance) and non-lag-sensitive packets (such as file downloads). The router will assign higher priority to the former, to prevent dropouts, and lower priority to the latter (because any dropped packets can be re-sent with little impact). A more advanced router will allow you to customize its QoS settings or even allow you to write your own rules.

USB ports High-end routers typically sport one or two USB ports. You can use one port to share a printer and the other to share storage—in the form of a USB hard drive—between all the computers on your network. Some router manufacturers are taking the step of building a hard drive into the router itself. If you need fast storage, however, you’ll be better served by a dedicated NAS box.

Read More

Best Password Managers: Top 4 Reviewed

What good is a secure password program if you can't get access to your data when and where you need it?

Using a password manager application to automatically log into Web sites -- and to secure and manage all of your user IDs and passwords -- is a great help in organizing your digital life. But most password managers simply save your data in an encrypted file and then leave it stranded on one computer.

That doesn't work if you have a Windows desktop at work, a Mac or Linux machine at home, an iPad in your family room and an Android phone in your jacket. You need secure access to your data from any device, at any time, whether you're online or offline. And you don't want to have to manually update several work, home and mobile password databases every time you change an account's credentials -- something I've been doing for years.

The makers of an emerging breed of password managers are striving to provide secure online access to your passwords in the cloud and give you a synchronized, local copy of your password database on every computer and mobile device, no matter what operating systems, browsers or mobile platforms you use. (Having a synchronized local copy means you don't have to worry if the password database in the cloud goes down -- or the vendor suddenly disappears.)

In Video: How to Retrieve a Lost Windows Password

For this roundup, I looked at four products in this category: Agile Web Solutions' 1Password, Clipperz from Clipperz SRL, LastPass from the company of the same name and RoboForm from Siber Systems Inc. I tested each on four different platforms: a MacBook Pro running OS X 10.5.8, laptops running Windows 7 and Windows XP, and an iPad. I also tested browser add-ons for Internet Explorer, Firefox and Chrome.

Keeping passwords secure

All four applications work by having your computer encrypt passwords and other personal data before uploading a copy to the cloud. Because the data has been encrypted locally, the vendor does not have the key to unlock the data stored in the cloud: Only you do.

You secure your password database by creating a user account name and a master password. Once you're logged in, the applications automate the process of gathering user IDs, passwords and other information as you visit each Web site. They can then automatically fill in and submit your log-in credentials each time you return to those sites.

LastPass, RoboForm and 1Password can also fill in forms using data stored in profiles. You can create "identities" that have access only to subsets of your password data (such as work-related information, personal data or data for systems shared by you and your spouse), and you can store other types of sensitive data, from locker combinations to safe deposit box numbers. The way in which Clipperz supports forms is a little more involved, requiring the use of bookmarklets and mapping fields into what Clipperz calls Direct Login links.

The local versions of these products rely on any or all of three different technologies to do the job: Native applications designed to run on each operating system, extensions and plug-ins for popular browsers, and bookmarklets that can run on any browser that supports JavaScript. Not all products support a locally cached copy of your data on every device. In some cases, a product supports a local cache on one platform but not another; others support a local copy, but it's read-only.

Support for mobile devices is more limited. On some mobile devices, such as Apple'siPhone or Android-based phones, the password management application may include a simple, stand-alone browser when it can't integrate tightly with the native browser for the device. On some platforms, some products may lack the ability to maintain a synchronized, local copy of your data.

As a category, these products are still evolving. Once you figure out the best way to work with them, however, they make securing and accessing your passwords from any device, at any time, convenient and easy.

Read More

Review: Norton Internet Security 2013: Solid performer with a polished interface

Symantec’s 2013 edition of Norton Internet Security ($50 for one year and three PCs, as of 12/19/12) is a solid performer with a polished, touch-optimized user interface. This security suite didn’t totally dominate its competitors, but it did completely block, detect, and disable all malware in our real-world tests, and it performed well enough overall to snag second place in our roundup.

Norton’s excellent showing in our real-world attack test indicates that it should be effective at blocking brand-new malware attacks as it encounters them in the wild. As noted in the F-Secure review, of the security suites we tested, four others were also successful at completely blocking 100 percent of attacks: Bitdefender, F-Secure, G Data, and Trend Micro.

Norton produced stellar—though not absolutely perfect—results in detecting known malware. In our malware-zoo detection test, the program successfully detected 99.8 percent of known malware samples. Norton Internet Security also put up a perfect score in our false-positive test: It didn’t mistakenly identify any safe files, out of more than 250,000, as being malicious.

Norton does an acceptable job of cleaning up a system that has already been infected, but it missed some infections completely in our evaluation. In our system cleanup test, the program detected and disabled 90 percent of infections, and completely cleaned up 60 percent of infections. This is a decent but not fantastic showing—seven of our tested suites detected and disabled 100 percent of infections, and six cleaned up all traces of infection at least 70 percent of the time.

On the other hand, Norton Internet Security is a relatively lightweight program that won’t bog down your system. It added about half a second to startup time (compared to a PC that had no antivirus program installed), and also added 3 seconds to shutdown time; in all of our other speed tests, it was faster than average. Norton is faster than average when it comes to scanning speeds, as well. The package required just 1 minute, 19 seconds to complete an on-demand (manual) scan, and 2 minutes, 55 seconds to complete an on-access scan—both are times that represent better-than-average results.

Norton’s interface is very polished and simple, and the program installs with just one click. The main window has tilelike buttons, which look designed to work well with Windows 8 touch systems. You’ll find four tiles on the main screen: a tile that shows your protection status, along with information about your CPU usage; a ‘Scan Now’ tile; a LiveUpdate tile (which you’d use to install any updates to the suite); and a tile for advanced settings. You can also access the settings via the Settings tab, which is located at the top of the screen.

The settings menu is relatively easy to navigate, though it has more options than a beginning user really needs. Still, Norton does a good job of explaining different features and toggles, and a little help button (which takes you to Norton’s online support site) is always located next to confusing terms.

The 2013 version of Norton Internet Security is definitely worth a look, especially if you’re a Windows 8 user.

Read More

Reviewed: Three touchscreen displays that bring Windows 8 to life

You don't necessarily need a touchscreen monitor to use Windows 8, but swiping your finger to invoke the Charms bar is a lot more fun than holding down the Windows key and pressing C. I'll admit that initially I had to force myself to use the new touch gestures, but after a short time with the OS I found myself reaching out to touch even my MacBook Pro's screen.

Since the debut of Microsoft's latest operating system, monitor manufacturers have been working to bring touchscreen support to desktop users. At first it was near impossible to find a display that responded to all the gestures in Windows 8, but now we're able to review three 23-inch models with 10-point multitouch support (meaning the monitors recognize all 10 fingers on both your hands). 

We put the three monitors through a gauntlet of tests to find which one offers the best value, quality and feature set to win a spot in your workstation.

Acer T232HL

Acer's T232HL is a 23-inch, 10-point touchscreen LCD monitor with a resolution of 1920 by 1080. It uses environmentally friendly LED backlighting and a high-quality IPS panel for wide viewing angles.

The T232HL offers VGA, HDMI, and DVI inputs. Acer thoughtfully includes cables for each connection type in the shipping box, but we still found the initial setup to be a bit tricky. The T232HL’s stand uses a hinged design that lies flat against the display for shipping. It took a lot of force (and courage) to open the stand, but eventually we were able to pull it into position. A note in the setup guide would go a long way to alleviate fears of snapping the base off your newly purchased monitor. The stand doesn’t allow for height adjustment, pivot, or swivel, but it does tilt back to a 45-degree angle very easily, once you’ve set it up.

Acer's T232HL touchscreen display has the edgiest design aesthetic of the three models we reviewed.

We connected the display via HDMI, and our test PC recognized it automatically as a Windows touchscreen device, booting directly into its native resolution without issue. The T232HL delivered impressive performance as we ran the display through our battery of test images. On our solid-color screens, we found no stuck or dead pixels, and color and brightness were uniform across the screen. Its viewing angle was top notch, losing contrast only at extreme angles. Its glossy surface, which can be problematic in terms of glare, helps to enhance the appearance of photographs. Even gray tones appeared neutral at its default color settings.

While no one would confuse the T232HL with a Retina display, text was legible even at small point sizes. We also watched test clips of HD video, and the action played smoothly without any obvious artifacts. The built-in speakers are okay, if a little tinny. The speakers are located in the back of the display, and they sound like it.

As for touchscreen performance, the T232HL was responsive and accurate. We didn’t have any issues using the gestures, closing open windows, or selecting menu items. The stand’s ability to lean back to a 45-degree angle made the touch features—especially the on-screen keyboard—easier to use for extended periods of time.

Despite a little trouble in our initial setup, the Acer T232HL is a nice display that uses high-quality components. It performed admirably in our text, motion, color, and uniformity tests, and it would definitely be worth considering even without its 10-point touch capabilities.

Acer T232HL, $549 (street price)

Pros:

• 10-point touchscreen
• Wide viewing angle
• Accurate colors
• Smooth gradients

Cons:

• Stand is difficult to set up and offers no height adjustment

Bottom line:

This is a terrific display, but we do wish it allowed height adjustments.

4 stars

LG Flatron 23ET83V-W

The LG Flatron 23ET83V-W is based on a high-quality IPS panel with 1920 by 1080 resolution and an LED backlight. Sporting a white plastic case with a thin black bezel, this glossy-screened monitor connects to your PC via HDMI or VGA.

LG

LG's Flatron 23ET83V-W doesn't offer the great off-axis viewing experience we've come to expect from IPS displays.

A red light illuminates a thin, translucent, crescent-shaped plastic tab on the bottom edge of the screen that reflects off the desktop. The tab is not a button, but it sits just below the buttonless touch power control. Although the absence of physical buttons might make for a cleaner, simpler-looking design, we prefer the tactile response of a button. Maybe we’d get used to the menu system over time, but we found ourselves frequently hitting the wrong buttons and having to exit and reenter the menus.

Aside from a few degrees of tilt, the LG display’s stand offers little ergonomic flexibility. You can’t adjust the height, pivot it into portrait mode, or swivel the screen from left to right. Other touchscreen monitors we’ve looked at can lean back farther, making it easier to use touch gestures without having shoulder fatigue setting in immediately.

A quick note about the setup: When attached to an AMD graphics card, the display would boot up underscanned, with about an inch of black space around the screen. The LG’s on-screen menus have an Overscan setting, but turning that from its default off position to on did not fully correct the problem. We had to turn off overscanning on the display and then go to the AMD Catalyst Control panel’s advanced settings and move the overscanning slider to zero. In addition to the unwanted space, the screen was blurry in this underscanned mode, and that affected calibration. When we attached the monitor to a system with an Nvidia-based graphics card, the proper resolution came up automatically and the image filled the screen as expected.

Once we had the screen properly set up, the 23ET83V-W performed well in most of our image tests. We found no stuck or dead pixels, and colors were uniform. Text was legible even at small point sizes, and photographs looked good, although making out details in shadowy areas of the image was hard. In some of the DisplayMate gray-level test patterns, we were unable to see differences in the first few gray-level patches. Switching the display’s Black Level control setting from its default Low to High resolved the issue.

The LG’s viewing angle wasn’t quite as stellar as that of other IPS screens we’ve seen. Color shifts weren’t an issue, but at extreme angles it was harder to see what was on screen. This minor drawback is probably attributable to the touchscreen coating.

Speaking of the touchscreen, the 23ET83V-W performed admirably in that regard. It was responsive and accurate, and we had no problems using Windows 8 touch gestures or closing windows and choosing menu items on the Windows 8 desktop.

The LG Flatron 23ET83V-W is a capable touchscreen display. Its viewing angle isn’t as wide as that of most IPS screens we’ve tested, but is still very good. Its controls were a bit of a hassle to use, and we needed to make adjustments to the black-level settings to help the display look its best. While those are admittedly minor grievances, the monitor’s lack of ergonomic agility could reduce the amount of time you end up using its touch capabilities.

LG Flatron 23ET83V-W, $550 (street price)

Pros:

• 10-point touch
• IPS panel
• LED backlight

Cons:

• Limited ergonomic flexibility
• Black levels require adjustment

Bottom line: 

This is a very good display, but its controls are more difficult to use than they should be, and its viewing angles aren't as good as other IPS monitors we've evaluated.

3.5 stars

Viewsonic TD2340

Viewsonic’s TD2340 display is built like a tank, weighing a hefty 20.4 pounds. It features a 23-inch, LED-backlit, IPS panel that delivers a resolution of 1920 by 1080 pixels, and it supports 10 touch points.

The TD2340 has a heavy-duty, dual-hinged base that offers a few inches of height adjustment, the ability to pivot into portrait mode, and even the option to tilt the display down so that it sits completely flat like a tabletop. At a height of 6 inches above the desk, however, the flat orientation seems like an awkward way to work. The best position we found for typing directly on screen using the touch keyboard was tilting the panel back to a 45-degree angle and lifting the bottom-front edge a couple of inches off the desk. This position allowed us to type on the screen without reaching as far, while still being able to keep our physical keyboard and mouse in front of us.

VIEWSONIC

You'd never guess by the ViewSonic's TD2340 Frankenstein feet just how limber this display can be.

You can connect the TD2340 to your computer via HDMI, DisplayPort, or VGA. To use the touch capabilities, you need a USB connection as well. The on-screen controls are simple and easy to use, which we find refreshing. Button 1 brings up the menus, while button 2 selects with up and down arrows for adjusting color, brightness, contrast, volume from the SRS speakers, the on-screen menu position, and much more.

The TD2340 offers a wide viewing angle, which is helpful if you collaborate with other people around your screen or if you take advantage of the aforementioned flexible stand to position the screen at nonstandard angles. Text was legible even at small point sizes, and colors were uniform across the screen. We found no stuck or dead pixels when testing the display. The glossy screen helps to give photographs more depth, but glare can be an issue. You'll need to consider where, in relation to windows or other fixed light sources, to position a glossy-screen display like the TD2340.

The Viewsonic’s 10-point touch capabilities were impressive. Input was responsive and accurate, and we didn’t have any issues using Windows 8 gestures or maneuvering around the Windows 8 desktop.

Of the Windows 8 touchscreen monitors we’ve evaluated, the Viewsonic TD2340 is the most capable. Its wide viewing angle, its agile yet bulky stand, and numerous little touches such as the SRS speakers, multiple inputs, and easy-to-use menus combine to make the TD2340 a great choice for Windows 8 users. It’s more expensive than some other touchscreen displays, but it earns its price tag.

Viewsonic TD2340, $600 (street price)

Pros:

• 10-point touchscreen
• Wide viewing angles
• Versatile stand
• DisplayPort

Cons:

• Not very attractive
• Bulky and heavy

Bottom line: 

ViewSonic's TD2340 is more expensive than other monitors in its class, but it delivers enough features and value to warrant the difference.

Read More

How to become a LinkedIn power user in five easy steps

LinkedIn is the most popular business network on the planet, boasting more than 200 million users. You’re probably one of them. Also highly probable: You’re not taking full advantage of this business and career networking service.

Here’s the good news: LinkedIn can be an excellent resource without becoming a time sink. Don’t neglect your profile or the service in general just because you’re not actively looking for a job at this very moment. Hiring managers, clients, colleagues, and potential customers and business partners are constantly browsing LinkedIn. A killer profile and savvy search skills will give you a competitive edge. It might also remind your current boss—who is probably doing the same thing—just why you’re so valuable (and potentially poachable).

Our five-step guide will make you a LinkedIn power user, so you can land your next job opportunity, promotion, or business deal.

Step 1: Polish your profile

Your professional profile is the most important—and often the most neglected—element of LinkedIn. This is where you display your work experience, skills, and education. More important, it’s the best place to inject some personality into what can otherwise be a dull laundry list of a résumé.

Wayne Breitbarth, author of The Power Formula for LinkedIn Success, points out that the LinkedIn profile is designed to be much more than a simple CV. “Hiring reps love LinkedIn,” Breitbarth says, “because it has defined spaces and it offers a lot more information than a traditional two-page résumé, such as recommendations and links to projects or published works.”

The more information you provide in your profile, the more likely your name will appear in searches. LinkedIn has a number of widgets that you can add to your profile to highlight honors and awards you’ve received, coursework you’ve completed, patents you’ve been awarded, languages you speak, certifications you’ve earned, and even causes you’ve volunteered for. To add widgets, go to Profile > Edit Profile, and choose widgets from the right side of the screen.

Be sure to include a well-lit, professional-looking photo on your profile too. “The biggest mistake people make is not having a photo,” says Breitbarth. "That’s an automatic disqualifier for many job seekers and hiring managers alike.”

A complete profile is the most important factor in having an effective LinkedIn presence.

LinkedIn will automatically fill many of the fields in your profile, but there’s no reason to accept what it comes up with. For instance, typically it populates the profile headline (the words displayed beneath your name) with your current job title. But you can edit the headline to say anything: Just click Profile > Edit Profile, and then click the pencil symbol next to that headline. If you’re an independent contractor, for instance, you might prefer to write something that encapsulates your philosophy or describes your unique take on your craft.

You might also want to edit your peer-endorsed Skills & Expertise section. While you're in Edit Profile mode, scroll down to that section, click the pencil icon, and add or remove areas of expertise and manage your endorsements. If you’re on the market for a new job, this is a great place to add skills that hiring managers will be seeking.

Don't underestimate the value of cataloging your skills and expertise.

Your profile is a living résumé, so keeping it up-to-date is critical. Add a reminder to your online calendar prompting you to review your profile every month. You should also update your profile every time you undergo a major work shift, whether it’s earning a promotion, moving to a new job, or changing careers. Tout your new work experience, revise your summary (which is one of the first things people see), and don’t forget to update your contact information. In fact, if you're logged in to your account, click that button now—it’s in the right corner of the first profile box, beneath your number of connections—just to make sure the information displayed there is current. To edit your contact information, go toProfile > Edit Profile > Edit Contact Info.

A job move or a promotion is one of the best times to tap current and former bosses, clients, coworkers, and other people you know—and who know your track record—for endorsements and recommendations, according to Jessica Bedford, a recruiter and account manager at Artisan Creative. “Make sure you really know the person, and be specific about what you want them to share,” she advises.

Step 2: Get connected—and stay connected

LinkedIn’s most valuable feature is its ability to connect you with other professionals. Whether they’re people you work with now or worked with years ago, met at a trade show, collaborated with, or did business with, your relationships can be highly and mutually beneficial—but only if you stay in touch with each other.

LinkedIn has a service that will scour your email contacts to find potential connections. To use it, go to Contacts > Add Connections. Select your email provider and enter your email address in the designated field. Once the service finds all of your contacts who have LinkedIn accounts, it will ask which ones you want to connect to. This can be a lot of people, especially if your email service is like Gmail and adds every person to whom you’ve ever sent an email to your contact database. Don’t just hit Select All—you probably don’t need to add your tech-savvy grandmother or the guy who bought the couch you advertised on Craigslist. Spend a little quality time choosing the people who will form your network.

Make careful use of the LinkedIn Contact Finder tool. Simply dumping your entire contact database into your network could prove counterproductive. 

Aside from that first “contact dump” of LinkedIn invitations, you should add a personalized message each time you invite someone to connect. The only exception to this rule is if you’ve known the person forever, and you’re positive they’ll recognize you. If you’ve just met the person, you should always include a note reminding them of who you are and how you know each other. If you’ve never met the person, a friendly and inviting approach is all the more important.

A small, well-maintained network is more valuable than a large network of people you’re never in contact with. Make an effort to stay in touch with people in your network, whether it’s within or outside of LinkedIn. The easiest way to do this is to send brief messages to people in your network every so often. Your best opportunities arise when they earn a promotion or change jobs, but you can also comment on their status updates, which appear on the main page in your LinkedIn feed. You can also offer endorsements and recommendations, which can prompt them to get back in touch with you—possibly to return the favor.

Speaking of endorsements, this is a recent feature that LinkedIn added to the Skills & Expertise section of user profiles. The tool lets users quickly vouch for other people’s skills. LinkedIn is clearly trying to drum up user involvement: Whenever you visit a connection’s profile, a large blue box will pop up, encouraging you to endorse that person’s skills.

Peer-corroborated skills look good in your profile. Returning the favor when appropriate is a good way to stay in touch with your contacts.

Here’s what you need to know: You don’t need to endorse all (or any) of those skills. If you’d rather not endorse that person, simply click Skip. If you feel comfortable endorsing only some of the listed skills, delete the ones you don’t want to endorse by clicking the X next to them. If you want to endorse the person for a skill that isn’t listed, type one in next to the preselected skills.

Don’t endorse people for skills you don’t think they possess—doing this will reduce the tool’s results to useless noise. A good rule of thumb is to treat endorsements as quicker, easier recommendations: If you wouldn’t write a two-sentence recommendation about that person’s skills, don’t endorse them.

Read More

Best Android Smartphones (April 2013 edition)

Introduction

Looking to replace your aging Android companion with something newer and with a little more oomph? Here are five excellent Android-powered smartphones from Google, Motorola, and Samsung.

No matter whether you are looking for a consumer handset, or something that will be suited to a BYOD role, you're bound to find something of interest here.

The handsets are arranged in no particular order, but my current favorite is the Nexus 4. It's a powerful package that delivers what I believe to be the best, purest Android experience possible.

Read More

Review: HTC One is the Android phone to beat

HTC knows how to make good-looking hardware. I loved the white ceramic body of theHTC One X and Nokia could learn a thing or two about making Windows phones by taking a closer look at the HTC Windows Phone 8X. The company’s latest offering, the HTC One, is a paragon of industrial design: Its chiseled chamfers, rounded edges, and chrome accents are sure to turn more than a few heads when you whip out the phone in public. But the One is more than just a pretty face: HTC packed a lot of power under the phone’s hood, and the handset’s camera benefits from numerous software and hardware tweaks that should excite fans of mobile photography.

A feast for the eyes

JASON CROSS

The HTC One is a well-crafted handset.

The first thing you’ll notice when holding the One is how well it sits in your hand. At 5.4 by 2.7 by 0.4 inches, the phone is larger than Apple’s iPhone 5 but smaller than HTC’s previous handset, the Droid DNA. Though the phone comes with a 4.7-inch display (shades of the Samsung Galaxy S III), the One’s aluminum unibody design and gentle curves compare favorably to the S III’s primarily plastic body. That slick exterior does come at a price, however: The One’s power and volume buttons sit flush with the phone’s chassis—which makes them difficult to press—and the 2300mAh battery is nonremovable. The phone also lacks a microSD card slot, meaning that you’re stuck using the supplied 32GB (or 64GB, if you buy the larger model) of on-board memory to store your photos, apps, music, and movies.

JASON CROSS

The One has two front-facing stereo speakers.

The absence of expandable storage is lamentable, especially since in other respects HTC designed the One to function as a multimedia powerhouse. The One’s 1920-by-1080-pixel display packs 468 pixels per inch, which makes viewing HD content a feast for the eyes. Bordering that gorgeous display are two large, front-facing stereo speakers, which pump out surprisingly loud, clear audio. One big advantage of positioning the speakers on the front of the device rather than on the back is that audio doesn’t get muffled when you set the phone down on a flat surface. I did notice an occasional pop at higher volumes, but the speakers’ sound quality was more than acceptable overall.

The TV app on the HTC One.

If you tend to mislay your TV remote, you’ll appreciate the One’s built-in IR blaster, which lets you use the phone as a universal remote control. The phone has a TV app with a setup wizard that simplifies the task of programming the One to work with your TV, cable box, and home theater. The app also pulls listing information fromPeel, showing which TV shows and movies are currently playing. You can arrange for the phone to remind you when your favorite shows are on and to provide a brief synopsis of specific episodes. I tested the remote functionality of the phone with an LG TV and a Motorola cable box in our office and was surprised at how well the combination worked. Though I was 13 feet away from the cable box, I noticed little or no delay when I changed channels or browsed through the guide. The app is so well made that I almost wish I subscribed to cable...almost.

Built to be social

HTC’s BlinkFeed app.

Another cool bit of software that the One offers is BlinkFeed. HTC is marketing BlinkFeed—which resembles the Live Tiles on Windows Phone to some extent—as a “magical” way to stay up-to-date on your social networks and news feeds, but in reality it’s just a glorified RSS reader that lives on your home screen. You can tie BlinkFeed to your Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter accounts so that your friends’ updates show up there; however, clicking an update just kicks you into the corresponding app. You can also instruct BlinkFeed to display news headlines, but the news outlets you can subscribe to are limited to a handful of blogs—though you can subscribe to a catch-all news category like ‘lifestyle’.

Despite using the phone for several days, I never felt inclined to spend much time with BlinkFeed. Though I loaded all of my social accounts into it, I ended up using the stand-alone Twitter and Facebook apps to update my status and to see what my friends were up to. Being able to browse headlines quickly was convenient, but other dedicated apps such as Zite perform better in that regard. Most annoyingly, you can’t turn BlinkFeed off: It always appears as your leftmost home screen, and you can’t get rid of it without installing a different launcher.

UltraPixels make a difference

JASON CROSS

The HTC One has a 4-megapixel camera.

The other features that HTC played up when it announced the phone were the One’s camera and camera software. Rather than perpetuate the myth that the more numerous the megapixels, the better a camera’s image quality, HTC opted in favor of a 4-megapixel camera with larger pixels than those traditionally used in smartphones. These UltraPixels are designed to take in more light, making them better for capturing photos in low-light environments.

After taking the One’s camera out for a spin, I think HTC may be on to something with UltraPixels. The One handled everyday shots well enough, but it excelled at taking photos in areas with less-than-optimal lighting. Photos were less noisy than comparable shots taken with an iPhone 5 or a Nokia Lumia 920 under the same conditions, and the One’s flash didn’t completely wash out the subject. The iPhone 5’s outside shots looked better than the One’s, but the two were more evenly matched on indoor photos.

A sample photo taken with the HTC One.

The One’s biggest advantage over the iPhone, however, is in the number of features that HTC packs into the phone’s native camera app. The default Android camera has various extras built into it already, but HTC seems to have omitted only a kitchen sink app in assembling the One’s camera software: Among the available shooting modes are HDR and panorama; and you can apply filters to your photos without having to resort to third-party apps such as Instagram.

Another noteworthy shooting mode is Zoe. When you activate Zoe, the phone takes up to 20 photos and records about 3. seconds of 1080p video. The feature is designed for action shots, of course, where you’d expect a lot of movement; and you can select and pull additional stills from the 1080p video. Though Zoe mode is a neat extra, I didn’t find much use for it in my day-to-day life. Perhaps very creative people will find some cool uses for the feature.

The processor steps up the power

The One’s many features require a lot of processing power, which the One has in good supply. The One is the first handset to ship with Qualcomm’s quad-core Snapdragon 600 processor, which is supposed to deliver superior graphics and battery life. The phone gracefully handled every app I threw at it, including games like Shadow Gun and Temple Run, though it did get noticeably warm when performing processor-intensive tasks (like gaming) or downloading 20+ apps at once.

The phone’s battery should survive an entire day of normal use (about 9 hours), so you don’t have to worry about the One dying on you in the middle of the day. If you like to play lots of movies or games on your phone, however, you’re well advised to bring along your charger: The One’s high-resolution screen can be a real drain on the battery if left on too long.

We received the Sprint version of the One for testing. (It will also be available on AT&T and T-Mobile.) Call quality over Sprint’s network was solid, with little or no static on either end of the call. Unfortunately, Sprint’s data speeds were somewhat underwhelming. In San Francisco, where we have access to Sprint’s LTE network, I often found myself using the One on Wi-Fi when streaming HD video or downloading large apps. Its performance might improve as Sprint fleshes out its LTE network, but for now don’t expect miracles if you’re a Sprint customer looking to upgrade to the One.

Bottom line

Even with its handful of quirks, the HTC One is among the best Android phones you can buy. Heck, it’s among the best smartphones you can buy, period. A superb design, a beautiful screen, and such extras as the IR blaster and the Zoe camera mode help it stand out from the pack. If you’re in the market for a new smartphone, this is the one to get.

Read More