TechLife August 2021

What a year it’s been in tech. What an array of computing hardware and releases, with great strides – and some rather unexpected efforts – made by so many great companies. How do you pick the best from such a roundup? Want to send us some feedback? Get in touch with what you like, and what you’d like to see change. But it’s all come out in the wash, and you can see who walked away with the gongs on page 12. From best laptops, the hottest PC hardware, and our favourite brands, it’s all there. And if you want something a little more exciting, by now our APCA video stream is live! So head to www.australianpcawards.com.au and watch our three-part award presentation! Back to the magazine at hand, this issue we’re looking…

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$TBC, www.asus.com The best gaming laptops, for years, have been dominated by Intel and Nvidia hardware, something that only really started to change in 2020 when AMD launched its Ryzen 4000 laptop processors. The Asus ROG Strix G15 is the next step in that direction, launching with not only Ryzen 5000 series processors, but paired with the latest high-end Radeon graphics announced at Computex 2021. So, admittedly, there’s a lot riding on this gaming laptop, as it is going so against the grain of the hardware we typically see in devices like this, especially in its price range. We’re not sure yet exactly how much the Asus ROG Strix G15 is going to cost when it hits the streets, but we have been told that it will cost around $2,130. That’s a…

Back in February 2021 rumours surfaced that Facebook was working on its own health-tracking smartwatch. More rumors have surfaced about this Zuckerberg watch, but far from a fitness tracker, they suggest it’ll function more like an action cam. According to The Verge, which apparently spoke to people involved in the Facebook smartwatch project, the wearable will have a screen that can be removed from the strap. This display will have a front-facing camera so you can take selfies whenever you want, as well as a rear, higher-resolution one, that’s iPhone 13 could have improved cameras and Face ID Fire up the Dino widget. A lot of components go into building an iPhone, and one of those components is a voice coil motor (VCM), something which this year Apple is reportedly using a lot…

The Sony Airpeak S1 drone has just officially taken off in a full launch – and it’s promising to be a DJIbeating aerial tool for pro filmmakers. Sony has been teasing the Airpeak, its first drone, since the project was first announced in November 2020, but it’s now released the full specs and price tag of its Alpha-friendly flying machine. Sony says the Airpeak S1 will be a three-part filmmaking system, consisting of the drone, the Airpeak Flight app (which is, curiously, iOS-only) and the Airpeak Plus cloud service. Of course, the drone itself is the most interesting of these, and the Airpeak S1 has some very impressive specs. Sony says the Airpeak S1 will be able to zip from 0-80kph in just 3.5 seconds, which is 1.5 seconds faster than the equivalent…

Each year, as we put together the Australian PC Awards, we carefully consider the products, technologies and the companies behind the gear from the year leading up to this. As hardcore tech fans, this is always a most excellent opportunity to pause and reflect on the events of the year passed – but this time we’re looking at 2020, and we all know how impactful that year was. There are many reasons why these particular awards are notable. They cover the period from the beginning of 2020 to March 30 this year (Covid affected our plans to do it in the usual tidy calendar year). In that time we not only saw generational leaps for almost every component – but the sheer importance of the PC came into a tighter focus…