PCWorld Oct-15

Trying to figure out which sixth-generation Intel Core chip to buy in Intel’s Skylake family is like going to a preseason baseball or football game: There are numbers everywhere. Somewhere in the crowd are the superstars. But which ones? We can’t test everything at PCWorld, but what we can do is provide a handy scorecard of the Skylake chips Intel launched at the IFA show in Berlin in early September. We’ve already told you why Skylake is a “sixth-generation CPU,” (go.pcworld.com/6thgencpu) what you need to know about Skylake, and even an early review of the i7-6700K (go. pcworld.com/i7-6700k), one of the high-end desktop Skylake chips Intel will ship this fall. (For a general overview of Intel’s Skylake announcements, please see our main Skylake launch story (go. pcworld.com/skylakecpu). Here’s what you need to…

AFTER LAUNCHING A LARGER iPhone 5 Plus last year that mimicked phablets like the Lumia 1520, Apple has taken another page from Microsoft’s playbook with the Apple iPad Pro—which now includes a Surface-like keyboard and stylus. Apple’s new iPad Pro—available from $799 to $1079, with storage ranging from 32GB to 128GB—will be available this November, a bit after the reported introduction of the Surface Pro 4. But for right now, the comparisons between it and the Surface Pro 3 are undeniable. Before we dive into the hardware specs, let’s make one key software difference clear: The iPad Pro still runs iOS, instead of the full Windows desktop OS you can use on a Surface Pro. For many power users, that’s the difference between an accessory and an essential piece of equipment. On the…

IN A SURPRISE MOVE, Microsoft sent a pair of representatives to Apple’s big press event in San Francisco early in September to demonstrate new features in Office for iOS that are tailored for the new iPad Pro. Kirk Koenigsbauer, Microsoft’s corporate vice president of Office 365 client applications, came on stage at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium to show new changes to the company’s suite of apps for Apple’s tablet, including the ability to draw freehand shapes on a Word or PowerPoint document, and then get them translated into shapes like arrows or circles. It’s designed to take advantage of Apple’s new Pencil stylus for the iPad Pro, a $99 accessory the company announced just ahead of Koenigsbauer’s appearance on stage. Users can also draw annotations on documents, and have those annotations…

WINDOWS 10 ADOPTION hasn’t caught up with Windows 8.1 yet, but it may be getting close. According to AdDuplex, the split between Windows 8.1 and Windows 10 devices is currently 61 percent for the former, and 39 percent for the latter. If you don’t count Windows RT devices such as Microsoft’s Surface tablets, the ratio is 58.8 percent for Windows 8.1 to 41.2 percent for Windows 10. The data comes from 173 Windows Store that use AdDuplex for cross-promotional ads. Granted, this is hardly a complete measure of Windows 10 usage, as AdDuplex isn’t even counting devices that run Windows 8.0 or earlier. As we know from other metrics firms, Windows 7 is still the dominant version of Microsoft’s operating system, running on roughly half of all laptops, desktops, and tablets. In last…

WHETHER YOU WANT Windows 10 or not, Microsoft says it may download the files to your PC regardless. In a statement to the Inquirer, Microsoft confirmed that it automatically downloads Windows 10 installation files on eligible PCs, provided automatic updates are enabled through Windows Update. The download occurs even if users haven’t opted in through the Windows 10 reservation dialog. “For individuals who have chosen to receive automatic updates through Windows Update, we help upgradable devices get ready for Windows 10 by downloading the files they’ll need if they decide to upgrade,” Microsoft told the Inquirer. “When the upgrade is ready, the customer will be prompted to install Windows 10 on the device.” When reached for comment, Microsoft told PCWorld that the downloads occurred around the time of Windows 10’s July 29 launch. Why…

ALL THE BIG NEWS from IFA Berlin 2015 is in and, wow, if this eye-grabbing lineup doesn’t help the PC industry make it rain this holiday season, what will? As a follow-up to the Windows 10 introduction in July, we got details on Intel’s latest “Skylake” Core chips, some amazing gaming laptops, a modular PC, a new Compute Stick design, wireless charging for your laptop, and…oh, geez, just check it out—and prepare for a serious case of tech envy. 1. Skylake’s full launch Intel’s “Skylake” sixth-generation Core processors (go.pcworld.com/ skylake10) are the key to everything that was announced at IFA Berlin. It’s kind of like the second act for PCs following Microsoft’s introduction of Windows 10. Combined, the WinTel alliance will deliver powerhouse PCs rocking 4K displays, infrared cameras for facial recognition, and…