Table of contents for March 2023 in Tech Advisor

Goodbye, SO-DIMM: memory overseer JEDEC will formally adopt the ‘CAMM Common Spec’ as the next RAM module standard for laptops. JEDEC, the memory group that officially approves RAM standards, is in the process of hammering out the new specification to replace the basic SO-DIMMs that have been in use for 25 years, according to JEDEC committee member, and Dell Senior Distinguished Engineer Tom Schnell. Schnell actually created the original CAMM – or Compression Attached Memory Module – design for Dell last year. JEDEC’s CAMM standard will be based on that CAMM design, but is likely to be somewhat different as companies hammer it out. While the adoption of new hardware standards can be fraught, with hand‑wringing, foot-dragging and all the friction of a negotiation among co-workers over where to get…

Earlier this month, an alert went out on a popular PC subreddit (fave.co/3H8eSZ4), warning AMD graphics card owners of a malicious website. The way you would stumble onto the site? Clicking on the first search result in Google for ‘AMD driver’. The link of course was not one picked by Google’s normal search engine algorithm. It was instead an advertisement sitting in the very first search result slot, but labelled so discreetly that an otherwise conscientious new Radeon owner could be duped. These text-based advertisements aren’t a new feature to Google, but their extremely discreet label and styling allow even old internet hands to click when distracted or in a hurry. They don’t appear consistently either, adding difficulty in remembering when to avoid the very first result for a search.…

The Consumer Electronics Show remains a singular event for PC laptop enthusiasts. Aside from Dell, which ditched the show in recent years, every major PC laptop maker is present, and most use it to reveal their best and brightest for the coming year. AMD, Intel and Nvidia also come packing new mobile hardware heat. Dozens of powerful laptops were revealed this year, but these 10 stood out from the crowd. 1. ACER SWIFT X 14 Arguably the least glamorous laptop on this list, Acer’s Swift X 14 still showcases key trends of CES 2023: the broad reach of OLED displays and newer, quicker hardware from Intel and Nvidia. Let’s talk display. The Swift X packs an optional 14in OLED screen with 2,880x1,800 resolution and a refresh rate of up 120Hz,…

Price: £969 from fave.co/3ZKJZ40 You’d expect to spend loads to get a laptop that delivers huge amounts of power and a headturning design, but the MSI Prestige 15 claims to fit the bill while costing £969. To get the job done, the Prestige 15’s exterior boasts diamond-cut edges and sandblasted textures. On the inside you’ll find one of Intel’s latest processors alongside dedicated Nvidia graphics. When more of us than ever before are blurring the lines between home and work – and when more people use the same laptop for both – it’s important to have a one that can tackle every task. Given that situation it’s unsurprising that the MSI faces some strong contenders. The Dell XPS 15 starts at £1,399 and the Huawei MateBook 16s costs £1,299. Can…

Price: £949 from fave.co/3keVAZ6 Motorola is back for another stab at the modern foldable phone and the Razr 2022 is the third-generation attempt. It’s been a couple of years since the last model, and the Razr 2022’s predecessors both had some issues that need ironing out. The good news is that the main complaints, including performance, cameras and most importantly, price, have all been heavily improved to offer a tempting option to compete with the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4, the dominating clamshell foldable in Western markets. The question is, has Motorola done enough? You might be surprised… DESIGN The Razr 2022 is the same but different when compared to the 2020 Razr 5G. That was unmistakably a Razr but this year the iconic chin is completely gone, for better…

Intel’s long awaited Core i9-13900KS was unwrapped in January and will officially be the first x86 consumer CPU to hit the 6GHz barrier. You will pay a premium for the barrier-breaking privilege, as the chip costs £749. The 24-core Core i9-113900KS is essentially a special edition version of the already released (and unapologetically fast) Core i9-13900K. It features eight performance cores and 16 efficiency cores. The original Core i9-13900K could reach 5.8GHz on single-core loads, while the Core i9-13900KS will round that up to a smooth 6.0GHz on single-core loads. “The Core i9-13900KS continues our 13th Gen Intel Core desktop processor family excellence, showcasing the new performance heights made possible by our performance hybrid architecture,” Intel Client Computing Group manager Marcus Kennedy said in a statement. “Extreme gamers and enthusiasts…

We’re finally getting back to normal. Most major PC players returned to the Las Vegas desert for CES 2023 after sticking to the safety of remote events last year – and they brought some very enticing shiny new tech along with them. Big names AMD, Intel, and Nvidia all made splashy announcements, and PC manufacturers revealed a barrage of large, in-charge laptops taking advantage of the unprecedented power. Computer monitors witnessed revolution like never before. Heck, we even saw a PC case that breathes. Yep, CES is back. No time to sift through all our CES coverage? No problem! Read on for our best of CES 2023 picks – the most intriguing and innovative products that impressed us at the show. 1. AMD RYZEN 9 7950X3D The hotly anticipated Ryzen…

CES 2023 is a very, very good year for PC monitors. Both OLED and Mini-LED – the displays of the future – are just on the cusp of mainstream adoption and, as a result, every monitor maker has launched a salvo of both mid-range and premium options that use these new display technologies. In fact, I’d argue the monitor space is now even more exciting than televisions. From super-ultrawide form factors to folding panels, the monitors of CES 2023 are a wild bunch. Here are the 10 best displays we encountered at this year’s show. 1. LG ULTRAGEAR 27GR95QE-B The LG Ultragear 27GR95QE-B was technically released prior to CES 2023, yet it’s clearly the most important monitor at the show. Why? Because it’s the debut monitor for LG’s new 27in,…

Price: £239 from fave.co/3WdSwto Oppo has clearly thought long and hard about how to make its tablet debut here in the West. Rather than rushing in with an all-singing, all dancing flagship tablet – asit’sclearlycapableofdoing – the Oppo Pad Air turns out to be a highly affordable rival to the Samsung Galaxy Tab A8. With the Apple iPad range mopping up at the top of the market, all of the potential is further down the ladder, with few outstanding contenders for the £200-ish tablet throne. So is the Oppo Pad Air in with a shout? With a refined design, a decent display, and competent performance, it certainly makes a good first impression. Let’s take a look at how it all comes together. DESIGN You wouldn’t necessarily guess that the Oppo…

Price: £899 from fave.co/3W62lta If you’re familiar with dedicated gaming phones in 2022, one brand probably comes to mind: Asus. The ROG (Republic of Gamers) Phone made its debut four years ago, and has since established itself as the go-to handset for mobile gamers. That’s despite fierce competition from brands such as Red Magic, Black Shark and even Poco. But even if you’re set on an Asus handset, there are four devices in the latest ROG Phone 6 Series to choose from. The regular 6 is the second cheapest of these, coming in at just under £1,000 when paying full price. As it turns out, this is the sweet spot for most people – the extra features on Pro and Ultimate handsets don’t justify the increased cost. Here’s my full…

Microsoft’s next-gen Surface Duo phone may actually be a single-screen device, according to a recent report – and that’s probably for the best. Windows Central’s sources say that the ‘Surface Duo’ may actually be a foldable phone using a single screen rather than the dual screens that defined the Duo name. While Microsoft originally planned a dual-screen Duo as their next-gen Surface Duo 3, that device has been scrapped, the site reports. Though my review of the Surface Duo 2 was middling (fave. co/3H7Gs8L), I kept using the device for months afterwards, just so I could fully experience its strengths and weaknesses. Everything that the review stated is still valid, but I found that over time I just fell out of love with the two screens. Yes, in certain scenarios…

Let’s be blunt: CES feels like it’s in a bad place after the pandemic. It looks like taking a couple of years off from the biggest electronics trade show in the world has taught companies that, yes, this could have been an email. Even so, the PC industry didn’t disappoint, with blockbuster keynotes from the major players delivering a sneak peek at what’s coming down the pipe in 2023. And now that the dust has settled, there are some recognizable PC trends that are worth examining – most good, some not-so-good. Here they are, in no particular order: 1. MONITORS ARE GETTING INSANE Call it fallout from a ton of people transitioning to home office, but it looks like monitor makers are set to unleash a hoard of new and…

Price: £1,299 from fave.co/3QOJHW0 The Surface Laptop 3 was a great piece of hardware – so good in fact that Microsoft changed as little as it could in its successor, and hasn’t changed much more for the Surface Laptop 5. That means the fifth model won’t appeal much as an upgrade option, but if you’re using an older Microsoft laptop – or another brand entirely – then there’s still plenty here to like, so long as you can forgive what’s becoming a bit of a dated design and don’t mind the decision to ditch AMD and go all-in on Intel. DESIGN The Surface Laptop 5 is a pretty slick looking piece of hardware, with the caveat that we’ve seen it all before and it’s beginning to get old-fashioned. Microsoft has…

Price: £440 from fave.co/3w9I3EN The Lenovo Tab P11 Pro is a midrange Android tablet that’s here to sweep up prospective entrylevel iPad 10.2 or iPad 10.9 buyers who like the sound of a slightly larger screen. It has an 11.2in screen, a bit smaller than that of the first-gen Tab P11 Pro, which had a 11.5in display. This panel is the highlight, as it’s a sharp and punchy OLED. The rest? It’s not quite as hot. The Tab P11 Pro is a lot less powerful than even the basic 10.2in iPad, and its use of a relatively little-used MediaTek chipset does not seem to help with game optimization. Its build is also less pleasant than the Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 Lite’s, which is cheaper and still the go-to for non-iPad…

It’s not unexpected to think that, after two years of a global pandemic that bounced employees and workers and supply chains around like billiard balls, that 2022 would be a little weird. And for Microsoft, it was: confusing, a bit random, but full of some unexpected successes. Microsoft’s Surface division? Dull, but with a few sparks of life. Windows? Unexpectedly strange. As for the rest of it, yes, we definitely scratched our heads. As we sit next to our glowing monitor, a glass of eggnog next to our mousepad, here’s the wins, fails and WTF? moments of Microsoft’s 2022. SURFACE PRO 9 (5G): WIN We were one of the few publications that actually liked the Surface Pro 9 (5G), an Arm tablet that still suffers from some of the compatibility…