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S E P T E M B E R 2017
Threadripper
Yes, its
that good
SEPTEMBER 2017
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W
hen Consumer Reports Surface devices (including Surface 3, Surface
stopped recommending Pro 3, and the early Surface Book), according
the Microsoft Surface to a report (go.pcworld.com/atr) the
Laptop and latest publication released recently.
Microsoft Surface Book, it did so based not Microsoft apparently privately confirmed
on those specific products reliability. Rather, this as well, via an internal memo obtained by
the company used reliability surveys of earlier Thurrott.com (go.pcworld.com/mob), which
shows that while return rates of products like Devices corporate vice president Panos Panay
the Surface Pro 3 and Surface Book were wrote (go.pcworld.com/pp).
initially atrocious, they improved substantially
over time. Later Surfaces, like the Surface Hub, Why this matters: Consumer Reports
also never really suffered from the same issues. extrapolated reliability reports from products
In addition to removing its recommended like the Surface 3, Surface Pro 3, and early
rating from four Microsoft Surface devices, Surface Bookall of which suffered from
Consumer Reports stated it wouldnt some hardware flawsto unrelated products
recommend any Surface products at all. like the Surface Laptop, which wasnt even in
Devices receiving the no-confidence vote production during the time of the survey.
include the Microsoft Surface Laptop, with The question is whether, in an analogous
128GB and 256GB of storage, and the situation, a Chevrolet Malibu sedan that had
Microsoft Surface Book, with 128GB and suffered repeated manufacturing defects would
512GB of storage. Consumer Reports also cause the publication to stop recommending
predicted that 25 percent of all Surface the Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck. While a
laptops and tablets will generate problems specific warning about the Surface Book might
within the first two years of ownership. be defensible, claiming that a quarter of Book
Though it named four specific products, a and Laptop buyers will experience problems
Consumer Reports spokesman said it was seems like a leap of logic.
penalizing the Surface brand as a
whole. We cant recommend
any of [Microsofts] laptops or
tablets until we get data that
shows better reliability, a
Consumer Reports spokesman
said in an email.
Microsoft, for its part, said
that the company respectfully
disagreed with Consumer
Reports findings, and that its
real-world return and support
rates are on a par with competing
devices and significantly lower Consumer Reports pulled its recommendation of the Surface
than 25 percent, Microsoft Laptop, even though the notebook wasnt covered in the survey.
G
et ready to facepalm, Intel fans. the company flat-out said the new CPU wont
The companys upcoming work with todays motherboards.
Coffee Lake CPUs apparently When asked by Evan Jensen ...will the
wont work with existing stocks Z270 Supercarrier get support for the
of motherboards, a manufacturer confirmed upcoming @intel Coffee Lake CPUs?
on Wednesday. Asrocks official twitter account, @ASRockInfo
In a Twitter post by Asrock last Saturday, replied: No, Coffee Lake CPU is not
Motherboard maker ASRock says Z270 owners will not be able to run Intels upcoming Coffee Lake CPU.
compatible with 200-series motherboards. Why this matters: The vast majority of new
PCWorld reached out to Asrock for CPU sales are in new systems, and they likely
comment on the tweet but has not heard wont be impacted by the incompatibility.
back. Intel officials declined to comment on However, theres also a very large and very
the statement by Asrock, saying that it doesnt vocal crowd of builders and upgraders who
comment on future products. still swap out older, slower CPUs for newer,
So was the post just a rogue and faster CPUs to maximize their investment. An
uninformed social media post? A hack? upgrade-in-place doesnt sell an Intel chipset,
Nope. but it at least keeps them on the Intel
According to at least one reliable source platform. If consumers are forced to dump an
outside of Intel, the new Coffee Lake CPU will existing Z270 motherboard for a newer Z370
indeed not be compatible with Z270 boards, to get a six-core Coffee Lake CPU, Intel risks
even though the chipsets with the upcoming driving them into the arms of AMD and its
Z370 appear to be the same, PCWorld was Ryzen CPUs.
told.
The source added that there are hopes in WHY INTEL, WHY?
the industry that Intel will change its mind on Again, Intel officials would not comment, but
compatibility. Tomshardware.com said it had there are many reasons for such a move.
independently confirmed (go.pcworld.com/ The most cynical reason is market
ic) the news with Asrock officials as well. segmentation, which is a fancy way of saying
M
icrosoft isnt quite finished new Cortana capabilities and more
developing (go.pcworld. communication between Windows and
com/fd) Windows 10s Fall yourphone.
Creators Update after all: If theres a theme to the new build (go.
Four new features were added as part of pcworld.com/nbr), its following up on
Windows 10 Insider Build 16251, including promises that Microsoft made earlier. At its
AN IMPROVED BOOT
PROCESS ELIMINATES
THE LOGIN
To its credit, Windows continually tries to
shave off seconds from your boot time,
even as it occasionally forces a reboot to
apply patches. By way of apology,
Microsoft hasnt just eliminated the login
process from updates, but also given you
the option to do so on a normal power
shutdown via the Start menu.
Its not something that will be allowed in a
business environment, where security is
paramount. But at home, with your approval,
its a handy convenience.
S
tand down, everyone: Microsoft Microsoft would release MS Paint in the
Paint isnt going away after all. Windows Store as a free app. MS Paint is
Microsoft signaled an about- here to stay, it will just have a new home soon,
face in a recent blog post (go. in the Windows Store where it will be
pcworld.com/bpp) by Megan Saunders, a available for free, Saunders wrote.
general manager within the Windows Saunders acknowledged the pleas of
Experiences group. Instead of deprecating Paint fans who didnt want this longtime app
Paint in Windows 10 (go.pcworld.com/ to go away. Today, weve seen an incredible
dpw)which seemed to many to be the first outpouring of support and nostalgia around
step toward oblivionSaunders said MS Paint, Saunders wrote. Her next words
N
o Windows 10 Creators Update recently that any hardware device that falls out
for you, Microsoft saysat of the manufacturers support cycle may be
least, not if you happen to be ineligible for future Windows 10 updates.
the unlucky owner of certain In the case of the four Clover Trail
older Atom-based Windows devices, and processors (go.pcworld.com/ctx)part of
other aging models in the future. After stories the Cloverview platformthat have fallen into
arose of failed attempts to upgrade (go. Intels End of Interactive Support phase, they
pcworld.com/tu) such hardware to the will be ineligible for the Windows 10 Creators
Creators Update, Microsoft confirmed Update, Microsoft confirmed. Instead, theyll
A
dobe Flash, one of the most HTML5 that it was time to phase out Flash.
controversial elements of the Adobe and Macromedia provided
web, will be phased out by innovation to the web, through browser
2020, Adobe said recently. plug-ins, before the underlying web
Browser makers, including Microsoft and standards could support the interactivity and
Google, simultaneously announced plans for creativity our digital media publishers and
a gradual phaseout over the next few years. consumers craved, the company said in a
Adobe said that enough progress had blog post (go.pcworld.com/bpo). By the
been made within open web standards like end of 2020, we firmly believe that all of these
A
MDs 16-core, 32-thread Ryzen ever unleashed upon mankind.
Threadripper 1950X ($999 on
Amazon, go.pcworld.com/ WHAT IS THREADRIPPER?
a50) is an angry Godzilla Ryzen Threadrippers name tells you its
stomping his way through downtown Tokyo. lineage: the ground-breaking Ryzen 7 (go.
Those puny 8-core, 6-core, and 4-core CPUs? pcworld.com/r7), Ryzen 5 (go.pcworld.
Theyre just tanks and army trucks to be com/r5), and Ryzen 3 (go.pcworld.com/r3)
punted across the city. CPUs that have made AMD a contender
Yes, its that good. But before you buy, again, after years of watching Intel dominate.
theres a lot you need to know about what is While Intel currently builds its CPUs
arguably the most powerful consumer CPU around a monolithic piece of silicon for all of
AMDs new Ryzen Threadripper is based on the same dual 4-core complex (CCX), so instead of one chip,
you get two.
its cores, AMD has designed Ryzen to be of a Threadripper and there are four chipsare
modular at the chip level. The basic building those two other 8-core dies just waiting to be
block of all Ryzen CPUs are two 4-core enabled? Nope. Its no secret that Threadripper
complexes, or CCXes, joined by AMDs reuses hardware from AMDs 32-core, server-
high-speed Infinity Fabric interconnect. Every focused Epyc CPU (go.pcworld.com/ecpu),
Ryzen 7, for example, has an 8-core die. but AMD isnt giving us 32-core consumer
To get to 16 cores in Threadripper, AMD CPUs today. Two of those chips are actually
uses the same high-speed Infinity Fabric to dummy pieces to add structural support for the
join two 8-core dies. The 12-core version also cooler that will be clamped onto the CPU.
joins two 8-core dies, but each of the 4-core
CCXs has one processor core disabled. WITH GREAT CORES, COME
But wait: Youve seen pictures of the inside GREAT RESOURCES
AMD actually doubles down twice with
Threadripper specs, giving you double the
But wait: Youve seen pictures amount of CPU cores and double the amount
of the inside of a Threadripper of memory channels. It also vastly increases
and there are four chipsare the PCIe lanes.
those two other 8-core dies just For example, the mainstream Ryzen line
waiting to be enabled? Nope. supports dual-channel DDR4 memory.
AMDs Threadripper lineup is sparse, but its enough to upset Intels Core i9 lineup.
large lineup of Threadripper CPUs, AMD is read the manual. As expected, Threadripper
officially launching only three CPUs today (the brings a new CPU socket, officially called
8-core Threadripper 1900X will ship in a few sTR4. While the mainstream Ryzen features
more weeks). The lineup (see on the the pin-grid array familiar with AMD fans,
preveious page and below) is sparser than Threadripper moves to an LGA, or land-grid
Intels currently, but an unintentional leak (go. array, that will be more familiar to Intel fans.
pcworld.com/ul by motherboard vendors LGA moves the delicate pins to the
indicates the company has lower-wattage, motherboard instead of the CPU. Which is
non-X versions coming, too. better? From a customer point of view, it
Intels own lineup looks more impressive, probably depends. Mash a pin on a $550
but thus far, the company has shipped only motherboard badly, and you trash the
the 10-core Core i9-7900X and its 8-core, motherboard. Mash it on a $999 CPU, and
6-core, and 4-core siblings. you trash the CPU.
One thing we do know: Installing a
INSTALLATION: READ THE Threadripper is unlike anything youve done
MANUAL. SERIOUSLY. before. That doesnt mean you need to sweat
No matter how many systems youve built, if bullets, but dont just dive into it without first
you buy Threadripper, do yourself a favor and reading the documentation and watching a
Turbo
Base Turbo Boost PCIe Memory
Cores Threads Clock Boost Max lanes TDP channels Price
Core i9-7980XE 18 36 2,600 4,200 4,400 44 165 4 $1,999
Intels new Skylake-X and Kaby Lake-X CPUs look impressive as a group, but only the lower-end (4-core to
10-core) parts have shipped so far.
Failure to use the included torque wrench could To install it, you open the socket by loosening
result in a machine that wont POST. AMD also
includes an adapter bracket that fits many popular three T20 Torx screws with the AMD-provided
Asetek-based coolers. wrench. Remove the top-level protective plate
and insert the entire CPU with the orange plastic
proper installation video (go.pcworld.com/iv) carrier. Slide the CPU until it clicks into place or is
(preferably not ours (go.pcworld.com/noo), clearly at the bottom of the assembly.
which we did dead-tired and blind). Once youre sure the CPU is in the carrier
The three essential takeaways from your correctly, remove the protective cover over
the socket and gently lower
the CPU into place. Finally, you
carefully tighten all three Torx
screws with the provided
AMD torque wrench.
One more time: Dont try
to muddle through this
without at least familiarizing
yourself with the process.
Mode enables NUMA/Local Mode, you give quality settings. AMD just wants gamers to
up a significant amount of memory bandwidth have more granular control so they can wring
Whats right? Well, its complicated. Gears more performance out of the new CPU. Some
of War Ultimate, AMD says, likes low memory may be put off by this complexity, but if youre
latency, so Game Mode should be on for that really buying a 16-core, 32-thread CPU just for
game. Rise of the Tomb Raider likes more conventional gaming, youre doing it wrong.
CPU cores, so maybe youll want it off. Far Cry A regular Ryzen or Kaby Lake CPU is probably
4 likes low core-to-core latency, so maybe better for that purpose.
youll want to switch on Game Mode.
If this all sounds way too complicated HOW WE TESTED
when you just want to play a game, know that None of this matters without solid
for the most part this is just being nit-picky. performance. Our Threadripper 1950X was
Any modern game paired with a modern tested with an Asus ROG Zenith Extreme
powerful GPU and a Threadripper CPU will X399 motherboard, a ThermalTake Floe Riing
run fine at normal resolutions and visual (yes, thats how its spelled) 360 cooler,
Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080, Samsung 960 Pro Getting the Core i9-7900X to run at
SSD, and 32GB of DDR4/3200 RAM. DDR4/3200 was also problematic, as it
These last two items actually differ from our effectively overclocks the CPU to 4.3GHz on
standard configuration, which is a HyperX all cores in our BIOS. So, instead, we ran the
Savage SATA SSD and 32GB of DDR4 at JEDEC Core i9 system using the XMP default setting
2133 speeds. To minimize the impact of the of DDR4/2666.
SATA SSD versus a PCIe SSD, we used a HyperX This isnt ideal, but as memory increasingly
Savage SSD as the target and source drive for ties itself to a platforms performance, well have
any tests where storage might have an effect to continue to search for a happy medium.
primarily our encoding test using Handbrake
and Adobe Premiere Creative Cloud. APPLICATION
The memory configuration was a little PERFORMANCE
stickier, as weve tested previous CPUs with all Pull up a chair, because everyone wants to
DIMM slots filled. On Ryzen, that limited the see how Threadripper does on pretty much
memory clock speeds, as only JEDEC speeds everything. Were going to start with single-
are allowed when fully loaded with RAM. That application performance and some synthetic
hurts Ryzen, particularly because Infinity benchmarks, then move on to multitasking
Fabric is directly tied to the speed of the and gaming.
memory controller.
BLENDER
PERFORMANCE
Lets kick this off where AMD
started the Zen hype train
almost exactly a year ago:
Blender. This is an open-
source 3D modelling
application that actually gets
decent use in indie films for
effects scenes. Heck, even
NASA uses it (go.pcworld.
com/nui) for its models these
days. Blender loves CPU
Thats no moon, thats a Ryzen Threadripper below a Ryzen 7 and to threads, but weve found that
the left of an LGA 2011 V3 Core i7 CPU. it doesnt always scale as well
Core i7-7700K
performance boost. From a multi-
440
Kaby Lake threading point of view, its all win
Core i5-7600K
Kaby Lake 600 here for the Threadripper 1950X.
S H O R T E R B A R S I N D I C AT E B E T T E R P E R F O R M A N C E Before you pop the champagne,
when only a single thread is used
as commercial products such as Maxons this turns into a battle of overall clock speed
Cinema4D. Still, more cores generally means and IPC, or micro-architecture efficiency. When
more performance, and the first win goes to its all about single-threaded clock speeds, its
Threadripper 1950X for handily rendering all about Intels 7th Gen Core i7-7700K, which
Mike Pans popular BMW benchmark file (go. jumps to the front. Skylake-X, with its very high
pcworld.com/bf) 22 percent faster than the Turbo Boost Max 3.0 cores, comes in second.
10-core Core i9-7900X. Threadripper pulls in about 14 percent slower
We know we just said Blender doesnt than the Core i9-7900X, which is within striking
always scale perfectly, but when you look at distance.
the score from the 8-core, 16-thread Ryzen 7
1800X compared to the 16-core, 32-thread CINEBENCH R15
Threadripper 1950X, Threadripper takes just PERFORMANCE
over half the time to render the image. CineBench R15 benchmark is based on the
same engine Maxon uses in its Cinema4D
POV-RAY PERFORMANCE professional application. Like the previous
Our second test is also free: the Persistence of two applications, its all about the thread
Vision Ray Tracer. This application dates all the count, so again Threadripper 1950X triumphs
Core i9-7900X
touted as being
2,180
Skylake-X unbiased and high-
Core i7-6950X
Broadwell-E 2,107 performance. As the test
Ryzen 7
1,606 is new to us, our sample
1800X Zen
Core i5-7600K
Renderer loves CPU cores
691
Kaby Lake and gives the
LO N G E R B A R S I N D I C AT E B E T T E R P E R F O R M A N C E
Threadripper 1950X a
21-percent advantage.
with a score almost 39 percent faster than the
Core i9-7900X. GEEKBENCH 4
As with POV-Ray, we also run CineBench PERFORMANCE
R15 single-threaded to get another dimension Geekbench is one the most popular free
of CPU performance. When youre talking benchmarks around. We dont typically use it
CPU efficiency or IPC and high-clock speeds, to gauge performance of desktop CPUs. Its
the momentum again shifts back to Intels recently been gaining some traction,
7th-gen Kaby Lake CPUs and Core X, though however, as the latest version does away with
Skylake-X is still just 12 percent faster than many of the controversial aspects of the
Threadripper. Note, too, that Threadripper previous version.
1950X manages to hang tight with Intels The results put the Threadripper 1950X
original consumer 10-core, the Core in front, but not by much, never mind its
i7-6950X, which cost $1,723 when released. six-core advantage. Does this mean
Threadripper 1950X isnt as fast as the
CORONA RENDERER previous tests show? No. More than
PERFORMANCE anything else, it probably shows that
One final rendering benchmark is the newish Geekbench 4.04 doesnt scale with
Core i7-7700K
AMDs Infinity Fabric in
Kaby Lake 17,724
some ways, so its entirely
FX-8370
Vishera 9,718 possibly WinRAR is
LO N G E R B A R S I N D I C AT E B E T T E R P E R F O R M A N C E revealing an Achilles heel
in both designs.
available core count. Or that it just doesnt
like something about the Ryzen design, as 7-ZIP PERFORMANCE
the Ryzen 7 doesnt do well either. Fret not, AMD fans: The good news is you can
And no, this isnt the older 4.04 version. just use 7-Zip, because its all roses there.
The latest 4.1 version did add some updates Threadripper 1950X is again large and in
for AMDs micro-architecture, but apparently charge with a 22-percent lead over its Core i9
not enough. nemesis. Although 7-Zip doesnt scale as well
as the 3D tests, Threadrippers still a healthy
WINRAR PERFORMANCE 73 percent faster than the 8-core Ryzen 7
Speaking of applications that seem to have no 1800X.
love for Threadripper 1950X, here are the
results of WinRAR 5.40s internal benchmark. VERACRYPT PERFORMANCE
Theres no mixup: WinRAR just doesnt One other test that AMD has touted is
perform very well on Threadripper. VeraCrypt. Based on TrueCrypt, VeraCrypt
WinRAR seems to be fair in that it picked up where its popular free predecessor
doesnt like Skylake-X much either, instead fell apart. As its new to us, our sample set is
putting the two Broadwell-E chips clearly in tiny, but it shows a whopping 45-percent
front. Why? At the time of our Core i9 advantage for Threadripper.
ADOBE
PREMIERE Adobe Premiere CC 2017
4K video CPU encode to Blu-ray (sec)
CC 2017
PERFORMANCE Ryzen Threadripper
166
1950X Zen
Besides 3D rendering,
Core i9-7900X
video encoding is one of Skylake-X 207
Core i7-6800K
video team shot on a 4K Broadwell-E 394
3DMARK
Handbrake FIRESTRIKE
0.9.9 Encode 1080p (sec)
PERFORMANCE
Ryzen Threadripper
1950X Zen 875 First up is the venerable
Core i9-7900X 3DMark FireStrike test. This is a
Skylake-X 1,027
bit old and mostly a GPU test,
Core i7-6950X
1,130
Broadwell-E but the overall score factors in
Ryzen 7
1800X Zen 1,355 CPU performance too. The
Core i7-6900K
1,429
overall winner is the 10-core
Broadwell-E
Ryzen 5
Core i7-6950X (theres a reason
1,713
1600X Zen
it cost $1,723). A close second
Core i7-6800K
Broadwell-E 1,934 is the Threadripper 1950X in
Core i7-7700K
Kaby Lake 2,518 Creator Mode. We did flip the
S H O R T E R B A R S I N D I C AT E B E T T E R P E R F O R M A N C E
switch for Game Mode and
performance dropped. Why?
Remember, Game Mode tells Windows it has would we say that? If you look at the results of
access to only eight cores, so 3DMark uses the elderly FX-8370 CPU, which was a dog in
only eight of them. every single test, its humming nearly as well
Drilling down into the Physics test results, as the $1,000 CPUs here.
you can see the direct impact of Game Mode.
With all cores used by Windows, TOM CLANCYS RAINBOW
Threadripper pulls out in front. With half of SIX SIEGE PERFORMANCE
them off in the OS, its just slightly faster than Moving on to something newer, we used Tom
an 8-core Ryzen 7 1800X. Clancys Rainbow Six Siege at 1920x1080
This isnt a knock on AMDs Game Mode, resolution and the medium-quality setting to
but clearly, for games that really need more make it less about the GPU.
CPU cores, set it to Creation Mode instead. The Threadripper 1950X exhibits the
familiar pattern weve seen in Ryzen-Core
TOMB RAIDER face-offs in the past: Intel has 10 percent or
PERFORMANCE more better performance. Considering that in
Turns out Tomb Raider with a GTX 1080 at the past weve seen AMDs defecit be 15 to
1080p and set to Ultimate really doesnt care 20 percent in some games at low resolution,
about the CPUits purely a GPU test. Why this isnt bad. But can Game Mode make a
difference?
Yes. With Game
3DMark FireStrike Mode activated, the
1.1 Overall
gap between the
Core i7-6950X
19,494 top-performing Core
Broadwell-E
Ryzen Threadripper
i9-7900X, which
17,601
1950X Zen Game Mode
likely takes a
Ryzen 7
1800X Zen 17,112 performance hit from
Core i7-6800K
17,070 its mesh
Broadwell-E
LO N G E R B A R S I N D I C AT E B E T T E R P E R F O R M A N C E
interconnect.
tests), Threadripper 1950X outpaced all You buy a 16-core CPU for work. Real
comers by significant margins. It simply work. Real work means modelling, encoding,
destroys any 8-core CPU and makes you and doing five things simultaneously, because
question how the 10-core Core i9-7900X its work.
can dare to be priced the same as the For that, Threadripper 1950X is an
Threadripper 1950X. incredible breakthrough in performance and
This last point is very much the entire cost. Just four years ago, consumers paid
reason for Threadripper 1950Xs existence. $1,000 to get a 6-core CPU. Today, the same
Frankly, no one should buy a $1,000, 16-core $1,000 (go.pcworld.com/6cpu) gets you 16
CPU just to play conventional gaming or run cores. Thats something to be applauded
lightly threaded applications. Its the wrong loudly by anyone who cares about
tool for the job. performance.
T
he web browser is by far the web app or a website.
most important piece of software Thats why its important to make sure
on your PCat least for most youve always got the best tool for the job,
users. Unless youre at a and in 2017 that does not include Internet
workstation crunching numbers or editing the Explorer. If you still want the built-in option for
next Star Wars you probably spend the Windows that would be Edge, but its hard to
majority of your computer time staring at a stick strictly with Edge when youve got other
I
f theres any gaming laptop as this laptop besides set it on a desk and forget
recognizable year to year as Razers about it.
Blade line, its probably Alienwares.
Following a redesign a few years back, THE BUILD: BIGFOOT
the humbly named Alienware 17 has stayed The Alienware 17 R4 (currently priced at
pretty much the same ever since, at least on $2,549 on Amazon; go.pcworld.com/az17)
the outside. is still so big. Just staggeringly huge. With so
And you know what that means: Time to many following Razers lead and slimming
hit the gym if you want to do anything with down to actual laptop size as opposed to
My other big complaint is that power (as mediocre battery life. In our standard
well as the proprietary Amplifier port, HDMI rundown test, wherein we loop a 4K video file
out, and ethernet) plugs into the rear vent until the battery dies, the Alienware 17 lasted
area, on the back of the laptop. Alienware is 3 hours and 8 minutes under loadnot bad
hardly alone in this, especially when it comes for a laptop of this size, but certainly not
to these massive desktop-replacement enough to last you through the day.
devices, but wow it can be annoying to try to
plug in your laptop when you cant even see PERFORMANCE:
the port. BATTLE OF THE 1080S
Speaking of which: The power adapter is Its worth it, though. Oh goodness me, its
also gigantic, adding another 2.5 pounds to worth it.
your carry weight. Again, this isnt an The performance gap between slim Blade
Alienware-specific issue, and is typical for a Pro-style laptops and these behemoth
desktop replacement. Its just one more desktop replacements has narrowed in recent
contributing factor to the Alienware 17s yearsand the competition will likely get
dubious portability. Hauling around the even more fierce as Nvidias new Max-Q (go.
laptop is bad enough. Hauling around the pcworld.com/mq) parts hit the mainstream.
laptop and the charger? Injurious. But theres still nothing quite like a so-called
Its not optional, either. Like most gaming desktop replacement for getting desktop-
laptops, the Alienware 17s excellent quality performance.
performance (Ill get to that) comes at a cost: The Alienware 17 we reviewed came
equipped with an Intel Core i7-7820HK, an
Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080, and 16GB of
DDR4 RAM clocked at 2,400MHz, plus
500GB of SSD storage and an additional 1TB
of hard-drive space. Weve seen some
laptops more powerful than this one, but its
up there.
(Note: One oddity is that the Alienware
17s baseline model comes with just a single
8GB stick of RAM. Dont do that to yourself.
Opt for at least 16GB.)
That i7-7820HK is the
Alienware 17s strongest
Alienware 17 R4
intensive task. Our
(Core i7-7820HQ) 102.2
7820HK-toting
HP Omen 17
(Core i7-6700HQ) 95.5 Alienware 17? A little
Acer Predator 15
(Core i7-6700HQ) 61.2 under 39 minutes. An
Acer Predator 17 Alienware 15 with a
(Core i7-6700HQ) 59.5
7700HQ? Almost
Alienware 13
59.1
(Core i7-6700HQ) 46, for a difference of
LO N G E R B A R S I N D I C AT E B E T T E R P E R F O R M A N C E
about 7 minutes. The
same goes for other
asset. Most laptops top out at the 7700HQ laptops like the Gigabyte Aero 15
i7-7700HQa perfectly respectable (go.pcworld.com/ga15) and the Asus ROG
processor in its own right. Indeed, the Zephyrus GX501 (go.pcworld.com/gx5).
Origin EON17-X
Nvidias crop of (Core i7-6700K) 154.8
Max-Q laptopsand Asus G752VS-XB72K
144.7
(Core i7-6820HK)
the performance HP Omen 17
(Core i7-6700HQ) 118.9
advantage when you
MSI GT72S Dragon
buy a full-size (Core i7-6700HQ) 95.4
HP Omen 17
Tomb Raider, for (Core i7-6700HQ) 3,837
Max-Q 1080-sporting LO N G E R B A R S I N D I C AT E B E T T E R P E R F O R M A N C E
GX501 at 104.8.
The same matched-or-slightly-exceeded fps versus the GX501s 156.7 fps. Interesting,
behavior is seen in Middle-earth: Shadow of right? If Max-Q is that good, it seems like it
Mordor, where the Alienware 17 posts 154.9 would completely negate the need for an
E
ver get that text message out of advice. Their kids are going off to college,
the blue? You know: Hey, Im at and they need your all-knowing tech help
Best Buy right now. What do you right now. Because with great computer
think of this Acer laptop versus knowledge comes great responsibility, I
this Dell laptop? One says it has four cores, always wade into the specs, and provide
while the other has 8GB of RAM. Help! quick-take buying recommendations based
Yes, its that time of the year when friends on what I can discern from the configurations
and family hit you up for computer-buying and prices.
the No. 2 is also pretty appealing for budget about two-thirds of a comparable Intel GPU,
shoppers on Amazonthis is the real fight. based on reports. That means, for the most
part, gaming will be limited to lower
2. HP Notebook 15 resolutions and lower game settings.
The theme here is cheap and HPs Notebook On the storage front, you get a 500GB
15 (go.pcworld.com/hpn) pushes the price 5,400rpm hard drive, a DVD burner, and a
for a 15.6-inch laptop down to $252. Dayum. screen resolution of 1366x768.
Costing $100 less than the Acer takes some The upshot is that this a serviceable
effort, which meant passing over Intels pricier laptop, but one that will generally have lower
CPUs for an AMD A6-7310 quad-core chip. performance and perhaps slightly less battery
Although a quad-core may sound better than life than the Acer Aspire E 15.
a dual-core, the underlying design matters At the same time, you save $100, which
too. can go toward rent, or a couple of weeks
Performance data for the A6-7310 is worth of lunches.
limited, but its based on AMDs Puma
architecture. For the most part, the A6-7310 is 3. Asus Chromebook
sandwiched between the performance of an C202SA-YS02
Intel Atom or N series Celeron and a Core Asuss Chromebook C202SA (go.pcworld.
i3. So, not bad, but not great. com/ac1) is one of those laptops that reminds
And despite the Radeon R4 name, you why Chromebooks rule the budget-
graphics performance of the APU looks to be laptop category (see our full review (go.
pcworld.com/frr) for details). Besides their
popularity in education, Chromebooks just
offer a lot of value.
The Chromebook C202SA, for instance,
is intended for schools, which means its
semi-ruggedized, or at least made to take
more of a beating with its rubber-covered
corners and spill-proof keyboard.
Inside the C202SA
is an Intel Celeron
N3060 CPU, which can
be thought of as an Atom CPU
on steroids. Its the primary CPU running
4. HP 14-inch Laptop
The No. 4 seller on Amazon, HPs 14-inch
Laptop (go.pcworld.com/hp14), is a
complicated laptop story. The first thing
that grabs you is the price: Its a Windows
10 Home laptop for $219. The second
thing is the screen: Its a higher-
resolution 1920x1080 panel that makes
the 1366x768 screens you get in this
price range seem janky. Even better, it
uses superior IPS technology. IPS
gives you excellent off-axis viewing,
most Chromebooks today and is fine for most and rarely, if ever, provides a bad
tasks. The C202SA has 4GB of RAM, which is experience, whereas so-called IPS-like or
preferable to the 2GB of RAM you typically wide-viewing angle panels run the gamut
see in low-end Chromebooks. from bad to good.
Storage is handled by 16GB of eMMC Even the AMD E2-7110 CPU isnt half bad.
chip-based storage technology thats similar Like the AMD A6-7310, its slower than Core
to an SSD but slower. As slow as eMMC can i3, but generally slightly faster than a Celeron
be, its still way better than a hard disk drive N CPU. So whats the catch? Storage. HP
and a key reason for budget Chromebooks outfits the creatively named 14-inch Laptop
responsiveness. with a 32GB eMMC drive. While eMMC can
If youre new to Chromebooks and worry yield a more responsive feel than a hard drive,
about 16GB vs. 32GB or more, dont be. the limited space is problematic on a
ChromeOS is a very lightweight OS with Windows-based laptop.
deep ties to the cloud. Its why you can have a This laptop will basically give you a great
16GB Chromebook and use it for years screen to look at and reasonable
without running out of space. responsiveness from its eMMC drive, but the
The only real negative of the C202SA is its minute you fill up the drive (which wont take
bulk, but if the user is a child (or klutz), the long), the experience is going to take a dive.
Its really a shame, because with just a little difference here. The main one is the graphics.
more storage space or a hard drive option With a GeForce 940MX, youre getting
(along with the eMMC), this could be an reasonable graphics performance from a
incredible bargain laptop. As it is, you need budget laptop. The second difference is
to really consider this laptops limitations storage. This particular Acer Aspire E 15
before you buy one. Our verdict: thumbs dumps the hard drive for a 256GB M.2 SSD.
down. That means this laptop will likely feel and act a
lot more responsive than dog-slow hard disk
5. Acer Aspire E 15 drive-based laptops in most use cases.
Take last years best-selling Acer Aspire E 15 Although we havent confirmed it, Amazon
(go.pcworld.com/aa15), update the CPU, customers have reported that a hard drive
add a USB Type C port, and you pretty much upgrade is a snap on this model.
have the No. 5 Amazon laptop. Acer also doubles the RAM from the base
Yes, it looks the same as the No. 1 selling model to 8GB. The CPU is Intels latest
Acer Aspire E 15 above, but theres a world of 7th-generation Core i5-7200U, which is the
the cheapest of the Windows laptops, but RAM, and a 128GB PCIe SSD. The
$279 is pretty close to Amazons top seller, construction of the laptop is top-notch, too,
the Acer Aspire E 15, which gives you a with an aluminum shell and outstanding
higher-resolution screen, and slightly more trackpad and keyboard. For the most part,
performance. So when not on sale, wed say this is a slightly sped-up version of the
the IdeaPad 110 is a wobbler for us. MacBook Air 13 that Apple first introduced
When on sale for $199, however, its an in 2015.
impressive amount of hardware for the price Overall, the MacBook Air 13 yields zippy
and an easy thumbs up. performance for general computing, with
only heavier chores such as gaming and
2. Apple MacBook Air 13 photo-editing being issues. Battery life is also
Apple has a reputation for overcharging for legendary thanks to a giant battery and a
its hardware and that rep is normally well compromised screen. The screen, in fact, is
deserved. The MacBook Air 13 (go.pcworld. probably the main negative of the hardware
com/mba13) you see here though (and at (well, that and the fact that youre buying
the price we stumbled upon) is almost hardware introduced two years ago).
reasonably priced. Even though its only 13 inches diagonally,
Inside you get an Intel 5th-generation, the display is an unimpressive 1440x900 in
dual-core Core i5-5250U, 8GB of LPDDR3 resolution using TN technology. Although TN
U
ntil WDs My Passport SSD the T3 is still a little faster. More on the why
showed up on our doorstep, of that later.
Samsungs T3 (go.pcworld.
com/st3) USB 3.1 (Gen 1, PRICE AND DESIGN
5Gbps) portable SSD was the last word in Small and fast costs more. At the time of this
super-svelte, high-capacity storage. Now writing, the My Passport SSD was available
theres at least a conversation. The My only from Best Buy, with the 256GB version
Passport SSD even adds a little spice to the costing $100, the 512GB version priced at
debate by using a Type C USB 3.1 $200, and the 1TB version we tested going
(10Gbps) interface. The extra bandwidth for an even $400. Thats not cheap, but
made no difference in performance, and roughly on par with the T3.
PERFORMANCE
The 1TB My Passport SSD 20GB copies
Chart subhead Sky Diver 1.0 Overall (Demo Mode Off)
is a bit faster than the
Samsung T3 according to 20GB folder write
89
CrystalDiskMark, as 136
shown overleaf. However, 125
I
ts getting harder and harder to So its worth being selective. Weve
delineate between the busy spring and looked ahead at the upcoming months and
the busy fall. The game release lull that plucked out 15 new games, sorted by release
used to last from May through date, that were looking forward to as 2017
September is now more like late June to early enters its final stretch. This is far from an
August, and even July saw its fair share of exhaustive list, and there are a few
new game releases. There are just so many conspicuous absences since indie titles dont
upcoming PC games nowadays. Youll never usually announce a launch date months in
catch up on that backlog! advance. But still, weve covered the major
ABSOLVER
Release date: August 29
Absolver (go.pcworld.
com/abs; $15 on Steam,
go.pcworld.com/abss is
one of those near and
dear projects I
mentioned in the intro. An
indie game published by
Devolver, its a fighting
other modern isometric CRPGs (see: Pillars of Its hard for me to be too excited about a
Eternity, go.pcworld.com/poe), but instead a Dishonored 2 spin-off given how disastrous
glimpse of where CRPGs could go in the Dishonored 2s PC port was at launch (go.
future. Systems-driven, open-ended, co-op, pcworld.com/d2). Im willing to give Arkane
and full of emergent chaos. the benefit of the doubt, though, especially
The second turns up the dial on all those since stand-alone expansion Death of the
factors. With a more flexible spell-crafting Outsiders (go.pcworld.com/doto) story
system, character backgrounds that are seems quite a bit more interesting than
factored into dialogue, split-screen Dishonored 2 proper. Playing as Billie Lurk,
multiplayer (go.pcworld.com/ssm), and an youll team up with Dishonored antagonist
entire Dungeons & Dragonsstyle tabletop Daud towell, its pretty self-explanatory: Kill
mode (go.pcworld.com/dds), Divinity: the Outsider.
Original Sin II is an ambitious project that Hard to feel bad for the guy,
could set the bar for CRPGs to come. Its considering the Outsider is the most
currently in early access ahead of launch. annoying character in the whole series. I
wont miss his whiny voice, provided I do
DISHONORED: DEATH OF actually get the chance to put a knife to
THE OUTSIDER him. Fingers crossed Dishonored: Death of
Release date: September 14 the Outsider ($30 on Amazon, go.pcworld.
alt-history into the 1970s, and with an science fiction stories, Call of Duty is finally
opening level that features longtime returning to the setting that started it all in Call
protagonist B.J. Blazkowicz slaughtering of Duty: WWII (go.pcworld.com/codw, $60
Nazis in a wheelchair (go.pcworld.com/snw). on Amazon, go.pcworld.com/codwa).
Get this: Every time you fire your weapon, the And you know what? I cant wait. Im
recoil pushes your wheelchair back. unabashedly excited. Yes, its still Call of
Those small details and creative scenarios Duty. Yes, were probably in for a theme park
are what I love about Wolfenstein, and while I version of World War II, hitting the same old
generally try to avoid hype Im finding it Normandy-centric sights weve seen in
difficult to be blas about The New Colossus. World War II games since the Medal of
Honor days.
CALL OF DUTY: WWII But its been almost a decade since we
Release date: November 3 had a big-budget World War II game. Played
Back to World War II. After running the any 2007 games lately? Technologys
modern warfare setting into the ground, then changed a lot in the ensuing years, and I
churning out a few years of bad-to-decent cant wait to see the D-Day landings done up
4 REASONS
WHY I
SWITCHED
FROM
GOOGLE
TO BING
Whether you choose to switch
search engines as a protest or
just because you like Amazon gift
cards, its easy to do.
By Mark Hachman
T
hree years ago, I switched from Google search to Bing.
There, I said it. No longer do I Google something; I Bing it.
And I havent looked back since.
Maybe youre considering doing the same, Meanwhile, Microsofts Bing search engine
either over ire about the recent diversity- was getting no respect. Bing it? Please.
memo controversy, or some other aspect of But Bing doggedly continued to improve.
the search giant that has rubbed you the It added social connections and cards
wrong way. Here are some points to consider. identifying key topics and related searches. It
The move away from Google wasnt easy. improved speed and reliability. Then one day,
Sometime in the late 1990s, I was invited to when I wanted to dig up older stories I had
test out Googles search engine. I moved from written using Googles search engine, I found I
poring though filing cabinets to typing queries had better luck finding them using Bing.
in a search box. If it was out there on the web, So I switched.
Google promised that it would find it. Switching from Google to Bing is easily
Over the years, Google became smarter done in just a few seconds. I provide instructions
and more responsive. Google Instant at the end of this story (go.pcworld.com/inst).
auto-suggested search results before I fin- But before that, here are some of my favorite
ished typing them. Google it became part (even bizarre) reasons to switch to Bing.
of my vernacular. Number one? Microsoft will pay you.
Microsoft Store, discounts on Windows apps, itself wasnt worthwhile. But it is. My personal
or even a free month of Xbox Live Gold. Use belief is that Bing delivers slightly more useful
Bing frequently enough, and you may reach information than Google in general search. (To
Silver or Gold status, which confers a dis- be fair, Ill emphasize general: Sometimes Ill
count on points redemptions. try a search in Google if I cant find what Im
All this for just using Bing during your day. looking for in Bing. As of August 2017, Id say
For even more points, you can visit Bing.com Bings ability to find an old news story of mine is
or click the Microsoft Rewards medallion icon slightly worse than it used to be, though its still
for quick quizzes and suggested searches. It very good.)
all adds up quickly. And dont worry: Using Bing doesnt
prevent you from using other Google ser-
2. SEARCH RESULTS: AS vices, like Gmail, as often as youd like.
GOOD OR BETTER THAN If I search for a term like Notre Dame
GOOGLES football, Bing makes better use of that vast,
I wouldnt even mention Bing Rewards if Bing white space on the right side, displaying
Context is key, and Microsoft has made this a priority with Bing.
worldwildlife.org/together
10
ALTERNATIVE
BROWSERS
S
ometimes it
feels like theres
only room for
four choices
when it comes to web
browsers on Windows:
Firefox, Google Chrome,
Microsoft Edge, and Internet
Explorer. Youll find some
people running Opera, too,
but for the most part its all
about the big four. included some inspiration from Neon.
Despite the seemingly small world of web When you first open up Neon (go.
browsers, theres an entire alternative universe pcworld.com/n) its clear this browser is not
out there. All of them are fighting for your your typical tabs-at-the-top affair. In fact, you
attention with unique features and dont even open new tabs in Neon the way
specializations around new interface you do in other browsers. To open a website
concepts, privacy, music, social media, and you just start typing the URL or click on one of
more. If youre looking to shake up your the link bubbles.
web-surfing experience, consider these 10 Opera Neon, just like the official Opera,
great browsers not named Firefox, Chrome, uses Chromes Blink rendering engine.
or Internet Explorer.
2. VIVALDI
1. OPERA NEON Underpinnings: Chromium
Underpinnings: Blink rendering engine Focus: Power users
Focus: Re-imagining the browser Vivaldi (go.pcworld.com/v) is a Chromi-
Opera Neon (go.pcworld.com/on1) um-based browser that targets hard-core
debuted in early 2017 as an experiment in power users. From the moment you install
interface design and new browser features. it, the browser helps you customize its look
Opera describes it as a proving ground to suit your needs, including color choices,
similar to the way concept cars predict the tab position, and start page image. Its a
future of automobiles. In fact, Opera very simple browser at the moment that
released a new version of its mainstream takes cues from current and former Opera
browser in May (go.pcworld.com/nv) that features (Operas former CEO is leading the
NPAPI plug-insthat last bit is not necessarily It has also added a tablet mode that lets you
a good thing (go.pcworld.com/gt). switch to larger interface elements when surfing
the web on a Windows touchscreen device.
7. COMODO ICEDRAGON
Underpinnings: Gecko 8. GHOST BROWSER
Focus: Security Underpinnings: Chromium
From security firm Comodo, IceDragon Focus: Productivity
(go.pcworld.com/idr) is another browser Ghost Browser (go.pcworld.com/gb) is
promising enhanced security. IceDragons an interesting idea. Its built with productivity
security props include webpage scanning for in mind and lets you create separate browser
malware, the use of Comodos Secure DNS sessions inside the same window. That way
service by default, and active blocking of you can have a set of tabs for your work
known phishing and spyware sites. accounts, and another for your personal ones.
As this is based on Firefox, IceDragon also Each session has separate cookie jars so
comes with the Pocket add-on pre-installed. that you can remain logged in to multiple
IceDragon lets you drag content from a social media or email accounts at the same
webpage to the right to share it on social time in separate tabs. Each new session tab is
networks, and to the left to use that content as automatically assigned a different color.
the basis of a web search. You can even go one level deeper and
YouTube. An always
on top feature
makes sure that your
tabs never get buried
behind other
desktop applications
like Outlook,
Microsoft Word, and
Photoshop.
Avants interface is
decidedly Windows
XP, but if you can get
features a tri-core rendering engine. Instead past that, there are all kinds of power-user
of choosing one popular browser engine it features to satisfy most browser lovers.
uses those of Firefox, Internet Explorer, and That concludes our rundown of the
Safari. latest 10 alternative browsers that have
Avant Browser has several interesting caught our attention, but there are others
features including a video sniffer that helps out there, and theyre just a quick Google
you download videos from websites such as search away.
F
ew things in life are as annoying as and documents, clearing caches, and wiping
finding that your Android handset unneeded music and video files. Theres even
refuses to install any more app an easy way to find and nix space-hogging
updates because its run out of apps that you no longer use.
storage. Unlike many of lifes little annoyances,
though, this ones easy to fix. 1. CLEAR OUT ALL
You can quickly clear out hundreds of CACHED APP DATA
megabytes or even a gig or two by sweeping If you dig into the Apps storage setting screen
up stale downloads, rooting out offline maps and tap on an individual app, youll notice
The cached
data used by your
combined Android
apps can easily
take up more
than a gigabyte of
storage space.
that each app has its own stash of cached folder, and its a favorite hideout for
dataanywhere from a few kilobytes to miscellaneous junk files downloaded from the
hundreds of megs, or even more. Web or by your various Android apps.
These caches of data are essentially just Open the app drawer and tap Downloads
junk files, and they can be safely deleted to to see whats lurking in the Downloads folder.
free up storage space. Tap the Clear Cache Tap the three-line menu in the top corner of
button to take out the trash. the screen and sort the list of downloads by
If poking through each and every app size, then take a look at whats hogging the
looking for cached data to clear
sounds like a chore, theres an easy
way to clear all cached app data in one
fell swoop. Tap Settings > Storage >
Cached data, then tap OK in the
confirmation window.
2. CLEAN UP THE
DOWNLOADS FOLDER
Just like on a PC or a Mac, your Tap and hold a file in the Downloads folder and then tap the
Android device has a Downloads Trash button to delete it.
Google Photos will quickly delete any pictures on your device that have already been backed up to your
Google account.
T
heres no denying that Google easier, nor has it been simpler to field the
Home and Amazon Echo (or the latest traffic report or order delivery for dinner.
less-expensive Echo Dot, if The future is here, and were reveling in it!
youre not using it for music) But the proliferation of these devices
have changed the way we interact with our around our homes leaves room for error.
homes. Turning on the lights has never been Googles and Amazons connected speakers
must always listen for us to utter their magic Google Home or Amazon Echo so that it buys
wake wordsOK Google or Alexa things only after youve specifically authorized
respectivelyin order to perform their tasks. If the purchase. Heres how.
you dont configure them properly, you might
see random purchases show up at your door. HOW TO DISABLE
It happened in San Diego (go.pcworld. PURCHASING WITH
com/sdi) when a little girl asked Alexa to GOOGLE HOME
deliver her a dollhouse and some cookies. Google Home isnt tied to one of the worlds
She knew the right words to say, and in a few largest online retailers, so you might think
days time, she had her goodies. (If you want theres less of a risk of unintended purchases.
to have some fun, watch this news clip (go. But it does provide voice-payment capabilities
pcworld.com/ncl) near your Alexa-powered for Google Express, which allows you to
device and watch it light up.) purchase products from participating retailers
If youre worried about family members, such as Costco, Target, and Toys R Us.
roommates, or pranksters making unwanted The payments setting is disabled by
purchases on your account, you can either default in the Google Home app. If youd
disable this feature altogether, or set up your enabled it previously and have since
HOW TO ENABLE
PURCHASES ON
GOOGLE HOME
If you want to startor restartmaking
payments with voice commands, open the
Google Home app, tap the menu button, and
If you decide you dont want to do voice payments then tap on Payments. Here you can set up a
with Google Home, just flip the blue switch. delivery address and a primary payment
method. Google will automatically pull in any
changed your mind, its easy to turn off. payment data previously associated with your
Just log into the Home app on your account (and prompt you to update any
Android or iOS device, tap the hamburger expired or out-of-date cards). The app will ll
menu, and choose More settings. Tap also ask if you want to grant access to any
Payments on the next screen. Delete Google Home devices you have set up in
everything you see there. Its the easiest your home.
way to ensure no one in your household Once youve set that up, you can order
can run rampant with your payment things through Google Home by saying
information on file. Alternatively, you can phrases such as OK Google, order paper
simply tick the Pay through your towels. Google Home will list options for
Assistant option so that its off and relevant items and their accompanying
unselected. prices. Then, you can accept the order to
The process for enabling and disabling voice purchases is the same whether you have an Echo Dot
(shown here), the original Echo, and Echo Tap, or the new Echo Show.
confirmation code at this point. It willl ensure can ask Amazon to purchase the MP3 with
no one can order things without your your payment information on file. Or if youre
permission unless they know the code. Below in need of toilet paper, you can ask Alexa to
that, you can select to manage your 1-Click send it over with two-day shipping.
payment settings, which selects which of your If youre stuck, or maybe a little shy, ask
bank cards to use when the purchasing Alexa how to shop and itll walk you through
happens. what it can do.
When youre ready to buy something, you
can ask Alexa to order anything from WHEN IN DOUBT, MUTE IT
Amazonphysical as well as digital goods. If If all else fails and your neighboring dwellers
youre listening to a song, for example, you are still managing to make errant purchases,
you can either unplug the device or mute it.
The latter is particularly effective if you have
When youre ready to buy children coming over who find it amusing to
something, you can ask summon virtual assistants.
Alexa to order anything from Then again, who doesnt? Its why we use
Amazonphysical as well our voices to buy things, after all, simply
as digital goods. because we can.
Watch the
video at
go.pcworld.
com/gmtips