Table of contents for Xmas 2024 in APC

Five years ago, it would have been hard to imagine that the maker of Fortnite would become the biggest threat to Apple and Google. But a series of court and regulator victories in both the EU and the US means Epic Games is now arguably the most potent risk to the business model of the mobile duopoly. In the EU, Apple has already been forced to offer third-party app stores on iOS – albeit in the most grudging, inconvenient way possible – and allow app makers to use their own payment systems. Now a Californian judge has ruled that Google must do likewise with Android, among a host of new conditions placed on the company. Google is, naturally, appealing. There’s even talk of the US Department of Justice seeking to…

ABOUT IFIXIT iFixit is a global community of tinkerers dedicated to helping people fix things through free online repair manuals and teardowns. iFixit believes that everyone has the right to maintain and repair their own products. To learn more, visit www.ifixit.com APPLE IPHONE 16 PRO AND PRO MAX: MAJOR TECH SPECS • A18 Pro chip; six‑core CPU with two performance and four efficiency cores; six‑core GPU; 16‑core Neural Engine • iOS 18 operating system with Apple Intelligence • 6.9‑inch (diagonal) OLED display (Pro Max), 6.3‑inch (Pro) with adaptive refresh rates up to 120Hz • 48MP Fusion, 48MP ultra‑wide, 12MP 5x telephoto rear cameras, 12MP front camera, shoots up to 4K Dolby Vision video at up to 120fps • 256GB, 512GB, 1TB storage (Pro Max and Pro), 128GB (Pro only) •…

GRAMMARLY $0/$12 per month (annual payment) / $30 per month (monthly payment), www.grammarly.comQUILLBOT $0/$12.49 per month (annual payment), www.quillbot.com Let’s face it, out of all the languages available, there’s a good argument that English is probably the weirdest of the bunch. It’s developed in a unique way. An amalgamation of a whole host of different cultures from across the globe, one that’s been influenced by war, emigration, empire building, culture absorption, religion, regional variance, and whatever words Shakespeare fancied making up to further his sonnets on the day. It’s odd, and its grammatical structures equally so, certainly compared to the Germanic and Nordic languages that form its basis. To write in it, then apply specific style guides to it is quite the challenge. It takes time, practice, and no small…

PRICE From $499 WEB meta.com Meta is clearly determined to bring VR and AR to the masses. Along with slashing the starting price of the 512GB Quest 3 to $799, it has introduced the Quest 3S as a sub-$500 alternative. Despite this, it shares many of the same premium features. Most notably, Meta sticks with the combination of a Snapdragon XR2 Gen2 processor and 8GB of RAM, which ensures excellent performance when playing games and that the interface runs smoothly. This means that while this is a budget headset, you won’t get budget gaming experiences. For instance, Red Matter, where you explore one of Saturn’s moons, ran so smoothly that I felt as if I was truly on this extraterrestrial world. And Fruit Ninja, which requires fast controller swipes to…

PRICE $2,399 WEB lg.com The new LG UltraGear 32GS95UE-B. AAU is not perfect. But it does a pretty comprehensive job of blowing every existing 32-inch 4K gaming monitor based on Samsung’s QD-OLED panel tech into last year. The thing is, LG’s take on the high-refresh 4K OLED gaming monitor riff isn’t on a totally different level from those QD-OLED panels. But it is undeniably and unambiguously, even if ultimately pretty marginally, better. On paper, the UltraGear 32GS95UE-B. AAU is very similar to the likes of the Alienware 32 AW3225QF or Asus ROG Swift OLED PG32UCDM. Whether it’s the 32-inch panel size, 4K native resolution, 240Hz refresh, or 0.03ms response, LG’s OLED monitor looks like a dead ringer for those Samsung QD-OLED-based panels. But this 32-inch 4K beauty has something none…

PRICE $129 WEB anker.com Most of us have some kind of charging stations in our homes, even if it’s only an extension lead with a row of power blocks plugged into it. This neater alternative can power up to six devices, though you’ll still need to provide the cables for each one that you want to connect to it. The front panel has six ports – four USB-C and two USB 3.0. It’s worth noting that, unsurprisingly, you don’t get the same amount of charge from each of the ports. The USB 3.0 ports provide a maximum power of 22.5W, while all the USB-C ports are capable of 100W. This does mean it can charge all types of devices – from phones to laptops and everything in between. However, the…

PDF editor NEEDS Windows 10 or 11, or macOS WEB www.pdfgear.com PDFgear was one of our favourite discoveries of 2023, but other than a few small tweaks, it’s been fairly quiet in 2024 – until now. Version 2.1.8 brings a host of superb new tools and improvements to the brilliant PDF software. These make PDFgear an even stronger rival to Adobe Acrobat, especially when you consider that it’s still completely free. Perhaps the most exciting addition is the ability to create your own PDFs as well as edit existing ones. Click the New PDF button on the home screen or in the top-left corner of the PDF editor to open a blank page. This allows you to add your own text, images and other elements, including watermarks, stamps and signatures.…

How vulnerable do you feel as a PC user? If it’s not the constant blitz of malware and adware, it’s a steady stream of newly discovered vulnerabilities that could result in all kinds of information leaking out on to the internet. In this feature, we’ll show you how to add the layers of security you need to protect yourself and your identity online. We won’t waste time on the basics – we’re going to assume you’re smart enough to have strong anti-malware software installed, while realising the key to staying safe is to minimise your exposure and risk. Neither will we tell you how to behave on social media or why you shouldn’t hand out your social security number or credit card to anyone who asks for it online. No,…

Ditching Firefox I thought supporting Firefox and Mozilla was the smart thing to do, privacy-wise, but Mozilla’s latest ‘feature’ giving advertisers information about user activity (the so-called Privacy Preserving Attribution feature) has left me unsure I can trust them, particularly as it’s been enabled by default. I’m aware of other browsers touting their privacy credentials, like Brave and DuckDuckGo, but what would you suggest – am I being overly sensitive about Mozilla, or should I be looking at yet another browser migration? Debra Pendergraft APC Responds: Unfortunately, Mozilla’s latest move to try to balance privacy with revenue generation through ads has left a sour taste in the mouth for many. The launch of Privacy Preserving Attribution came just weeks after acquiring Anonym, an ad-tech company specialising in so-called “privacy preserving…

The games we play PRICE $49.99 PLATFORM PC, XBS/X WEB tinyurl.com/APC540space Starfield’s vision of the future was just too timid. The squeaky clean corridors of New Atlantis did less for me than the crime-riddled backwater of Riften, and the average planet’s points of interest were spread so thin I felt like I was bushwhacking through miles of desolate space just to find something memorable. So I went into Shattered Space with some anticipation: maybe a more focused experience would allow me to see the potential that Bethesda had previously spread too thin. Unfortunately this DLC had the opposite effect on me. The stage is set to dazzle: it’s a handcrafted zone densely packed with quests and NPCs with competing interests. There are new weapons to find, unique enemies to use…

Inspirational stories from computing’s long-distant past Acorn is best known for the BBC Micro, and for good reason. This iconic series of computers found a place in schools in the early 1980s as a way of teaching children how to code, and it was a key component for the BBC Computer Literacy Project. But while Acorn grew during this period (its profits reaching $16.8 million in July 1983, having been just $5,800 four years earlier), the home computer market soon went through a turbulent time. As a consequence, having already sensed a need to turn things around, Acorn’s co-founder Christopher Curry began looking to target business users with new machines and identified a potential gap in the market. It led to the production of what was the only 16-bit machine…

Meta Orion This isn’t a make or break product. What it is, is a clear representation of the company’s mission: Meta is ready to take its extensive experience in the VR and mixed reality world to the real world. The question is whether the Orion smart glasses will be as the Metaverse was for Meta or whether this really is the time for AR to break through to the mainstream. The Google Glass damp squib happened a full decade ago. Are we, as a society, ready? Maybe. There’s a way to go in terms of marketing and support – we have no idea, basically, what the truth of wearing the Orion glasses will be, or whether there’s a killer app that’ll see these fly off the shelves. $TBA, meta.com Oura…

PRICE $2,399 WEB acer.com The Acer Swift 14 AI is one of the first laptops we have tested with the new Intel Core Ultra Series 2 CPUs, and our test model has an Ultra 7 258V, plus 32GB of RAM, a 1TB SSD, and a 14in 1920 x 1200 OLED display. The Swift 14 AI is designed to be an ultra light laptop, with decent everyday performance, and long battery life. At 1.26kg, and 15+ hours unplugged, it certainly achieves the portability goals. Connectivity is pretty good for a slim machine, and you get dual Thunderbolt 4 (40Gbps) USB-C ports, two standard USB-A 3.2 ports, 3.5mm headset jack, and a handy HDMI output. The Swift 14 comes with a 65W USB-C charger and has a fairly typical 65 Wh battery.…

PRICE $299 WEB logitechg.com The Logitech G Pro X Superlight 2 DEX is a slight remix of the great mouse of the same name, minus the DEX. It doesn’t do anything particularly different to the original mouse which was only released in late 2023, and it is indeed priced identically to its earlier released sibling, but the DEX does come with a slightly different shape that may be more attractive to some users as well as more competitive gamers. Ever so slightly wider, longer and taller than the non-DEX mouse, the Logitech G Pro X Superlight 2 DEX comes with almost identical specs. Both mice come with a constant motion battery life rating of 95 hours, with five programmable buttons, a maximum speed of 888 IPS, and Logitech’s much loved…

PRICE $189 WEB nzxt.com The H5 Flow is on the block, newly released and newly tweaked, although nowhere near as aggressively as its H7 Flow bigger brother. There have been some serious alterations compared to 2023’s edition, though. Long gone is that bottom GPU directional fan bracket, and the removable front radiator bracket, but in its place, the H5 now supports a full 360mm radiator in the front, plus 240mm in the roof. The PSU shroud area has also had its design tweaked, shifting away from solid metal panels to a fully perforated design to better aid in dust build-up… No, wait, cooling. We meant to say cooling. It’s also got a stylised angular design to that PSU cover, which does look pretty stellar. So, what’s the big bugbear about…

PRICE $189 WEB www.gamemaxpc.com Gamemax is a lesser-known PC component brand with a mixed reputation online. Its 1,050-Watt-rated power supply is cheap compared to rivals and has some attractive features, but should you buy it? Gamemax has multiple PSU variants with differences that aren’t always obvious. Our GX-1050 Pro has no RGB, has an 80 Plus Platinum rating and provides labelled cables that facilitate the following, modular connections: 24-pin motherboard; four, six-pin PCIe connectors which enable 10 SATA and three PATA connections (plus a floppy); four, eight-pin CPU/PCIe connections (two CPU cables and three PCIe cables are supplied); and a 12V-2x6 power connector for high-end graphics cards. We had no issues with installation and the PSU runs silently. The main problem is Gamemax’s reputation for power supplies. PSUs are the…

PRICE US$15 per month NEEDS Mac with an Apple M1 chip or later, macOS 11 or later WEB flowvoice.ai The promise of computer speech recognition has never quite delivered. Whether it was IBM ViaVoice hearing “new paragraph” and printing ‘uterus’, macOS’s dictation being almost but not quite good enough for us to quit using keyboards, or Siri putting all kinds of strange-sounding products into our shopping list in Reminders, dictation software has had issues with reliability. And apps aren’t context aware either, so they work the same in direct messages as they do in dissertations. Artificial intelligence (AI) has brought about a sea change in speech recognition. Large language models (LLMs) such as OpenAI’s Whisper deliver exceptional accuracy, and that power’s been supplemented by some clever features in Wispr Flow.…

WatchOS 11 is the most beautiful watchOS yet. But in addition to its good looks there’s tons of substance to match its style – so while the three new watch faces and the redesigned widgets can make your Apple Watch even prettier, the big news is in the range of new health and fitness features that are designed to help you live even better. From new workout types, improved fitness goals and a brand new Training Load feature to new health trackers, sleep health checking and features designed specifically for pregnant people, watchOS 11 is a really big deal. As ever with watchOS, almost all of the new features are available for all supported Apple Watch models rather than just the very latest ones: that means the Series 6 onwards,…

CHROME Chat with Google Gemini in a side panel Google has been surprisingly hesitant about adding its AI assistant Gemini to Chrome. While Microsoft’s Copilot AI is now firmly ensconced in Edge, and Brave and Opera have Leo and Aria chatbots respectively, to interact with Gemini you need to type @ into Chrome’s address bar and click ‘Chat with Gemini’. Entering a query then opens the Gemini website (gemini.google.com) in a new tab, which is less convenient than the ‘browsing companion’ experience offered by other AI assistants. Until Gemini is properly integrated with Chrome, you can make interaction easier by installing the unofficial extension ‘Side Panel for Gemini’ (tinyurl.com/APC540gemini), Click its toolbar button – which looks like a sunglasses emoji ( 1 in our screenshot below) – and Gemini will…

PRICE $28.99 PLATFORM PC WEB tinyurl.com/APC540rally As an arcade racer with clean, semi-realistic visuals, mushrooming dust trails, bulging wheel arches and pastiche Looney Tunes environments, #Drive Rally makes an appealing first impression. Across its four region-specific championships, it wheels out a fleet of 1990s rally legends. In Holzberg, we skid through fir forests and Bavarian towns. In the chunky Bretzel, a BMW M3; and in fiery Sandsturm, an Audi Quattro. Dry Crumbs is an Old West setting of frontier towns and sandstone buttes, while Revontuli yields snow, humble hatchbacks and a Scandi classic in the form of the Brick. Vinh Vang gives us dirt tracks passing long grass, villages and a giant Buddha, its star ride a likeness of the Toyota Celica. In its plain stylings it recalls fan-favourite Art…

PRICE $59.95 PLATFORM PC, XB1/S/X, PS4/5 WEB diablo4.blizzard.com Diablo IV’s first expansion, Vessel of Hatred, marks the end of its redemption arc and the start of its vision for the future. That vision includes a brighter, more expressive Diablo IV than before, one where its story isn’t so bleak that it borders on parody (an overcorrection after complaints that Diablo III was too cartoonish), and one where everyone gets an inventory’s worth of toys to play with as they ascend to demon-slaying god status. Having more human characters by your side doesn’t rob Diablo of its darkness, it enhances it, lending relief and contrast to the campaign’s most horrific moments. I never would’ve thought I’d play a Diablo game where my character earnestly tells their friend that they don’t have…

Old games, new perspectives RELEASE 1989 DEVELOPER Strategic Simulations PUBLISHER SNEG LINK gbc.zorbus.net Years before Baldur’s Gate came along, the CRPGS made in the Gold Box engine, including Curse of the Azure Bonds, were my introduction to the Forgotten Realms. Which is why I’ll always associate the setting with women in impractical armour and names that can’t be taken seriously. In Curse that’s the priest Gharri of Gond, though a few years later Forgotten Realms: Unlimited Adventures would introduce the unforgettable Lunit Bdufe a name that makes Drizzt Do’Urden seem downright mundane. The Gold Box games also introduced me to factions like the Zhentarim and the Red Wizards of Thay, two of the organisations in Curse of the Azure Bonds trying to control you via the magic tattoos of the…

Back in the days when my work computer was a Mac, I once forwarded a PC-using colleague a mysterious email attachment that my Apple machine couldn’t open. Happy to help, he duly double-clicked the file only to find his screen taken over by an obscene message in huge, flashing letters. Both of us were horrified, especially as most of the office could see his monitor, and the offensive screensaver could only be removed by resetting Windows. Understandably, he didn’t speak to me for weeks and though I placed the blame squarely on the prankster who’d sent me the wretched thing, I also learned a valuable lesson: never open an email attachment unless you know exactly what it contains. It’s a rule I’ve generally stuck to ever since, and frequently stressed…

Everything you need to know from the month in tech Microsoft has just launched the Windows 365 Link, a mini-PC designed to run Windows 365 Cloud PCs. The company said on its blog that it starts at just US$349 (AU RRP TBA) and will connect quickly and securely to Windows 365 servers. This device is marketed toward businesses and enterprise customers, especially as these organisations sometimes replace their computers every two to five years. However, you should note that you still need a Windows 365 subscription, priced between $52 to $589 a month per enterprise user. Microsoft says that its 4v CPU option with 16GB of RAM and 128GB of storage, starting at $123 a month per user, is most popular for employees “who only use Microsoft Teams, browsers, or…

We explore the trends and technologies that are set to shape the future As AI becomes increasingly competent at answering emails, making funny pictures and solving complicated science problems that have long stumped us humans, it raises a question: how smart is it really? And we’re not sure how to answer that yet. The goal of companies such as OpenAI isn’t to ease the lives of office workers – though that draws investors such as Microsoft, hence the sudden focus on productivity tools – but to build artificial general intelligence (AGI). This is defined in a multitude of ways, but OpenAI describes it as “highly autonomous systems that outperform humans at most economically valuable work”. Alongside AGI, we have ideas such as human-level AI, expert AI and superintelligent AI. All…

The best external SSDs are much more affordable than they used to be. Not only that, but they’re genuinely portable in a way that older external drives never were. And, if your computer boasts a USB 3.2 port or higher, they can be genuinely speedy, often enough to compete with internal SSDs. If you’re looking to share files between devices, or just carry a games library with you, here are some of the best ones you can buy – and there are even more listed in our storage feature beginning on page 72. 5 TEAMGROUP PD20 The PD20 is a portable SSD that’s so small, it might as well be a USB flash drive. It doesn’t maintain peak speeds for as long as some other drives, but it does for…

35 MetaQuest 3S 36 Acer Swift 14 AI 37 Logitech G915 X Lightspeed Wireless Tactile 38 LG UltraGear 32 39 Logitech Pro X Superlight 2 DEX 40 Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max 41 Samsung Galaxy S24 FE 42 TCL 50 Pro Nxtpaper 5G 43 Apple Watch Series 10 44 Gamemax N80 BK case 45 Nzxt H5 Flow RGB 46 Noctua NH-U9S Chroma Black 47 Gamemax GX 1050 Pro BK PSU 47 Anker Prime Charger 200w APC is Australia’s oldest consumer technology magazine – having been consistently in print for over forty years, since our first issue way back in May 1980 – and we take that heritage and responsibility very seriously. While our focus is obviously on the personal computer the very definition of the PC has changed and shifted…

PRICE $399 WEB logitechg.com The Logitech G915X Lightspeed is the top-of-the-line keyboard from the market-leading peripherals maker. Mechanical, packed with RGB and sporting Logitech’s low-profile keys, the G915X is a refresh of the widely loved G915 which debuted in 2019. It’s releasing with a lower price than its predecessor (down $30) and subtly different designs across the board. Being the most expensive board Logitech has available, this is the pinnacle of Logitech’s gaming range. It includes a Numpad, media controls, a volume scroll wheel and quick buttons for switching between Bluetooth and the wireless dongle, adjusting keyboard brightness and activating ‘Game Mode’ (which cuts off the windows key to avoid misspresses). The board is also capable of wired use, with a battery life of up to 800 hours with the…

PRICE From $2,149 (256GB) WEB apple.com/au If you want the maximum iPhone for your money, the 16 Pro Max is your boy. Yes, the iPhone 16 Plus is large, but the Pro Max has it beaten: with a massive 6.9in display it’s the biggest iPhone Apple has ever made. As well as an outsized screen, the Pro Max comes with a wodge of extra storage. To round things out, the iPhone 16 Pro Max also claims the best battery life of any iPhone – and our testing backs that up. In our continuous web surfing test the iPhone 16 Pro Max lasted for an insane 18hrs 6mins, a full four hours longer than the iPhone 15 Pro Max and more than an hour longer than the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra.…

PRICE From $649 WEB apple.com/au It’s bbeen ten years since Apple unveiled its first smartwatch, and the anniversary brings an impressive update. Although the Watch Series 10 doesn’t look much different to previous models, it introduces some significant design changes. For a start, whether you opt for the compact 42mm model or the chunkier 46mm one, the screen area is now 9% larger than the one on the corresponding Series 9. That’s 30% more display space than the original Apple Watch; if you go for the 46mm version you actually get slightly more screen than on the Apple Watch Ultra 2. The display technology has been updated too. Thanks to a new LTPO specification, the Always-On Display refreshes once per second, compared to the once per minute of last year’s…

PRICE $130 WEB noctua.at There are certain brands that have cemented themselves as the true kings of the fields they inhabit. They have a reputation that’s almost unprecedented, backed up by years of experience, design, creativity, and brilliant performance. They become iconic. Ferrari for the Italian sports car. Rolex for premium watches. Converse for footwear. In cooling, Noctua’s just so far ahead when it comes to air solutions, it’s not even funny. But there’s always been a problem. The colour scheme. Beige and poop brown, to quote another famous tech journalist (thanks, Linus). The justification for that was simple: Noctua valued performance over looks. The materials and plastic composites it used were specially developed to minimise warp under intense RPMs, and it required them to, well, be that colour. It…

After what feels like years of mild stagnation, the Arrow Lake architecture is a significant shift in Intel’s approach to CPU design and construction. The Core Ultra 200S series introduces a platform built around new chiplet technology, updated memory support, and of course further integration of AI capabilities. The new processors ditch the Core i5 /i7 / i9 moniker, and instead adopt the Core Ultra name. So far Intel has released the Ultra 9 285K, Ultra 7 265K and Ultra 5 245K, and the Z890 chipset and new LGA 1851 socket to run them. A key difference compared to older Intel 14th gen CPUs (Raptor Lake) that support sixteen PCIe 5.0 lanes, is that Arrow Lake handles twenty lanes, giving better support for high speed storage and other add-ons. A…

DEVELOPER n3rdopolis WEB https://sourceforge.net/projects/rebeccablackos/ LICENCE Mainly GPLv2+ Celebrity-themed Linux distros are nothing new. Who can forget the likes of Biebian – a mishmash of Debian with a Justin Bieber theme, or even Hannah Montana Linux? The developer, who’s wisely decided to remain anonymous, is a fan of the eponymous celebrity and has been developing this Debian-based OS since 2016. As with PorteuX, they clearly felt a dedicated website was beneath them but they have uploaded an extensive Readme to Sourceforge. It was here we discovered that the latest version is for 64-bit systems only, due to “QtWebEngine refusing to build in 32-bit chroots”. The developer also cautions that the OS does not contain any of Rebecca Black’s images or music, encouraging users to purchase these legally instead. Trying to conceal our…

WHAT YOU CAN DO • Protect your system and data against PC disasters• Access important files and favourite software on the go• Encrypt your drive to thwart thieves and snoopers• Save money on expensive online-storage plans• Transfer large files between devices in just a few seconds• Back up important data across multiple drives Backing up important files from your PC used to involve copying them onto CD or DVD (or floppy disk, going back even further). Not only was this a slow and laborious process, but the limited space offered by optical discs meant you could end up with teetering piles of them cluttering your desk. External hard drives were always an option, but they tended to be large, heavy and expensive, while the first USB sticks – though considerably…

IT WILL TAKE 15 mins YOU WILL LEARN The key security features on your Mac YOU’LL NEED macOS 15 or later With the launch of macOS Sequoia, Apple has made many of macOS’s security features easier to find and easier to use, and there’s more consistency between macOS, iOS and iPadOS too. Sequoia’s System Settings has been given a significant redesign, and the previous Passwords features have been taken out and put in a new app. System Settings has two key places for privacy: under Apple Account > iCloud, and in Privacy & Security. But it’s not the only place with privacy protection. In the Mail app, you can use Settings > Privacy to hide your IP address and block remote content such as hidden tracking images. Safari can also…

PRICE $50.95 PLATFORM PC, XB1/S/X, PS5, Linux WEB tinyurl.com/APC540parcel You play as a well-muscled person with a predilection for tight clothing, chosen from three different courier firms. Despite the cars and buses that circle the city, occasionally honking or flashing you when you get too close, your bicycle is your only method of transport. Strapped to your back is a pack like something out of Hideo Kojima’s Death Stranding, from which you can pull new bikes in the event of a crash, getting you back on the pedals quickly – an important thing in a game with a lot of timed missions. Your bike has extremely good brakes, and these are key to the way you move around the city. Turns require a tap, a slide will get you round…