At a glanceExpert`s Rating Pros Excellent workmanship and high-quality materials Individually adjustable OmniPoint 3.0 switches Rapid Trigger and Dual Action for fast response times Quiet typing noise thanks to integrated damping and double-shot PBT keycaps High-quality palm rest and stable Construction Cons Very high price No hot-swap for switches No dedicated macro or media keys “Only” 1,000 Hertz polling rate Our Verdict The SteelSeries Apex Pro Gen 3 is one of the most technically advanced gaming keyboards on the market, offering first-class build quality, typing feel, and customization. Price When Reviewed This value will show the geolocated pricing text for product undefined Best Pricing Today Best Prices Today: Steelseries Apex Pro Gen 3 Retailer Price $214.99 View Deal $239.99 View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket Best Prices Today: Check today’s prices SteelSeries has sent its flagship keyboard into its third generation. The company claims the Apex Pro Gen 3 is the fastest gaming keyboard in the world, featuring new magnetic switches, improved comfort, and quieter typing. We took a closer look to see what’s behind the hype and whether the premium price is justified. Friedrich Stiemer SteelSeries Apex Pro Gen 3: Design and ergonomics The SteelSeries Apex Pro Gen 3 makes an impression as soon as you unpack it. The housing consists of a robust aluminum top and a solid plastic base. Weighing around 2.42 pounds, it sits firmly on the desk. Nothing wobbles, nothing slips. A practical highlight is the magnetic palm rest, which adheres firmly to the lower edge and offers a pleasantly soft surface. It provides noticeable relief for the wrists, especially during long gaming sessions. The keyboard is full-size, including a number pad, making it ideal for anyone who writes or does office work. However, with dimensions of around 436 × 139 × 40 millimeters, it does take up a fair amount of desk space. Friedrich Stiemer The RGB lighting is remarkably even. Thanks to the new double-shot PBT keycaps, the light not only shines through the labeling, but also from the sides. These keycaps are known for their durability and abrasion resistance, offer a secure grip, and hardly discolor over time. One small disadvantage is that PBT keycaps are more expensive to manufacture and can feel slightly rougher than ABS caps. In dark rooms, this looks spectacular without being distracting. The matte finish looks high quality and hardly attracts fingerprints. Friedrich Stiemer SteelSeries Apex Pro Gen 3: Accessories In addition to the keyboard itself, the box contains a detachable, braided USB-C cable, the magnetic palm rest, and a keycap remover. Replacement caps or other extras are not included. While they aren’t essential for a premium keyboard in this class, their presence would’ve been a welcome bonus. Friedrich Stiemer SteelSeries Apex Pro Gen 3: Technology and features At the heart of the SteelSeries Apex Pro Gen 3 are the new OmniPoint 3.0 switches, manufactured by Gateron. These magnetic switches register keystrokes not mechanically, but via a Hall-effect sensor. This is a technology that works with magnetic fields to measure key travel (without contact) and with extreme precision. The switches have a linear feel with an actuating force of around 45 grams, which enables fast and consistent input. The standout feature is the per-key adjustability, allowing actuation depth to be set anywhere from an ultra-fast 0.1 mm to a full 4.0 mm. Friedrich Stiemer In practice, this means that if you need fast response times in shooters, you can set the buttons to extremely fine triggering. If you prefer precise typing, increase the depth for more typing control. The customization takes place in the SteelSeries GG software and is saved directly to the keyboard. This allows users to play with their saved profiles even without the software installed. Not all keys are equipped with the more expensive OmniPoint switches. While the main block uses them, the function row and number keys rely on classic linear SteelSeries Red switches. This is hardly noticeable in everyday use, but it’s still worth noting. There is no hot-swap function for replacing the switches. SteelSeries Apex Pro Gen 3: Performance The polling rate is 1,000 Hz. That’s solid, but not record-breaking. Some high-end keyboards now offer up to 8,000 Hz. This means that the SteelSeries Apex Pro Gen 3 registers inputs up to 1,000 times per second, which helps keep input latency very low. The keyboard also supports N-key rollover and anti-ghosting, so that multiple simultaneous keystrokes are reliably recognized. This is especially important for fast-paced games. Friedrich Stiemer One highlight is the “Rapid Trigger” function, which allows a key to reset and actuate again as soon as it is lifted slightly. In fast-paced games such as Valorant or Counter-Strike 2, this enables lightning-fast direction changes. In combination with “Dual Action Keybinds” (i.e. double assignment depending on the depth of pressure), the SteelSeries Apex Pro Gen 3 becomes a serious tool in esports. One button can perform two actions: a light press activates walking, for example, while a stronger press in the same keystroke activates sprinting. This is ideal for dynamic movements in games such as Apex Legends or Call of Duty. SteelSeries has also improved the keyboard’s acoustics. A layer of damping material now sits between the circuit board and the base. As a result, it’s much quieter than other mechanical keyboards. It produces more of a gentle “thock” instead of the typical click-clack. Friedrich Stiemer SteelSeries Apex Pro Gen 3: Software and operation Setup via the SteelSeries GG software is straightforward. Here you can set the trigger point for each button, adjust the lighting, program macros, or manage profiles. Particularly convenient are the predefined presets for well-known games such as Apex Legends, CS2, and Fortnite. Friedrich Stiemer An integrated OLED display in the top right-hand corner shows system information, volume, profiles, and incoming Discord messages. It can also be customized with personal text or a small logo. Together with the aluminum rotary wheel, the display also doubles as a hub for media control. Here you can adjust the volume, hit play or pause, and modify the lighting. However, there are no dedicated media buttons, which is a bit of a shame at this price point. SteelSeries Apex Pro Gen 3: Everyday life and gaming In everyday use, the SteelSeries Apex Pro Gen 3 proves to be a genuine all-rounder. It feels pleasantly direct and precise when typing and reacts lightning-fast in gaming situations. Shooters, in particular, benefit from the low latency. When playing Valorant and Call of Duty, keys responded practically without delay. The keyboard also impresses with long texts. The stroke remains soft, the typing noise discreet, and the palm rest ensures comfort. Anyone who has ever experienced the difference between 0.1 and four millimeters of actuation will understand how finely the typing behavior can be tuned. Friedrich Stiemer The only downside is that, with its weight and wired connection, the Apex Pro Gen 3 is clearly designed as a desktop keyboard. If you’re usually on the move, it’s better to opt for the TKL or wireless version. That version, however, comes with second-generation OmniPoint switches. Read...

At a glanceExpert`s Rating Pros Extremely low weight (39 grams) Very precise and fast sensor Optical switches with a clean click feel Sturdy workmanship despite lightweight Construction Switchable 8,000 Hz polling rate Cons Short battery life, especially at high polling rates Open underside susceptible to dust No comfort features like RGB, Bluetooth, or additional buttons Less suitable for large hands High price Our Verdict Ultra-light, precise, and fast, the Pulsar X2 Crazylight Medium packs impressive performance into just 39 grams of wireless technology. Price When Reviewed This value will show the geolocated pricing text for product undefined Best Pricing Today Best Prices Today: Pulsar Gaming Gears X2 CL CrazyLight Medium Wireless Retailer Price $129.95 View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket Best Prices Today: Check today’s prices Can you build a wireless gaming mouse that weighs less than a chicken egg? Pulsar pushes the limits with its X2 Crazylight Medium, an FPS-focused mouse that weighs just 39 grams. In this review, we’ll explore whether this featherlight wonder delivers in real-world gameplay. Pulsar X2 Crazylight Medium: Design and features The Pulsar X2 Crazylight Medium lives up to its name: the mouse only weighs around 39 grams, which is almost unbelievably light for a wireless mouse. By comparison, even ultra-light competitors like Logitech’s G Pro X Superlight 2 at around 60 grams or Razer’s Viper V3 Pro at 54 grams are about 20 grams heavier. Pulsar achieves this weight through careful internal weight savings. The result? The Pulsar X2 Crazylight Medium feels surprisingly stable despite its lightweight design. The housing neither creaks nor rattles during everyday use, and the buttons sit firmly without any annoying wobble. Friedrich Stiemer The surface is matte and smooth, which makes for a pleasant feel, but it can become a little slippery with very sweaty hands. Optional grip tapes help here. It would have been a nice touch if the manufacturer had included them by default. The shape and dimensions of the Pulsar X2 Crazylight Medium follow the popular Pulsar X2 design in a slightly shrunken version. The Medium model is around 12 centimeters long, 6.3 centimeters wide, and has a flat, symmetrical body. This allows the mouse to sit comfortably in the hand, especially for claw-grip and fingertip players. Those with medium-sized or small hands will find the low, wide shape extremely comfortable. The mouse doesn’t completely fill the hand, but it provides plenty of control for quick movements. On the other hand, the Pulsar X2 Crazylight Medium may feel a little small for larger hands. Pulsar also offers a large and a mini version. Friedrich Stiemer Pulsar X2 Crazylight Medium: High-end sensor Despite its minimalist design, Pulsar doesn’t skimp on top-level technology. At the core of the mouse is Pulsar’s exclusive XS-1 sensor, which is based on Pixart’s PAW9350. This optical sensor supports an impressive 32,000 DPI resolution, 750 IPS, and 50 G acceleration. That’s more than enough for extreme sensitivity settings or even 360-degree spin shots in shooters. Friedrich Stiemer Pulsar also offers an optional polling rate of 8000 Hz (8 kHz) via 2.4 GHz radio. By default, the mouse transmits at 1000 Hz, which is already very responsive. However, if you want every possible millisecond and have the right hardware, you can increase the polling rate up to 8000 Hz using a separately sold dongle. Currently, only a few mice like the Logitech G Pro X Superlight 2 (Lightspeed 2) support such a higher wireless rate out of the box, without replacing the receiver. In practice, the difference is only noticeable in professional esports or with high FPS displays. For most users, 1000 Hz is preferable given the potential side effects… but more on than later! Friedrich Stiemer It’s especially pleasing that Pulsar uses specially developed optical switches, which should last up to 100 million clicks and is designed to prevent double-click problems. The click feel and mouse wheel are subjectively different from mechanical switches. In the case of the Pulsar X2 Crazylight Medium, we noticed slightly less “rich” feedback, but clearly defined scroll steps. This is largely a matter of taste, though. Friedrich Stiemer Pulsar X2 Crazylight Medium: Tiny battery Speaking of side effects, the radical lightweight construction does have its drawbacks. In order to reduce the weight so drastically, Pulsar has cut corners, especially with the battery and the base of the housing. The battery is tiny. Pulsar itself claims a battery life of up to 65 hours, but this figure is probably only valid under the best conditions. In everyday use, you’ll have to charge the mouse more often than usual, especially when using high polling rates. The battery drains rapidly, sometimes after less than 10 hours of continuous use. In 1000 Hz mode, the mouse lasts a few days depending on the usage profile. In our experience, it lasted around five to seven days with average gaming time. This result is fine, but it’s significantly shorter than other competitors. Logitech’s Superlight 2, for example, lasts up to 90 hours. Friedrich Stiemer The second compromise concerns the underside. The X2 CrazyLight has a skeletonized base plate to shave off some weight. In concrete terms, this means that, in addition to the PTFE gliding feet (Pulsar supplies smaller “dot” skates in the package), there are recesses through which you can see inside–even the battery is partially exposed. While this design saves on weight, it also exposes the electronics to dust and dirt. This isn’t a major problem in a clean gaming environment, but we’d recommend not using the mouse on dirty or crumbly surfaces. In more unusual scenarios, you could theoretically push the battery through the openings, but this is unlikely to happen in normal use, unless you finger the underside of the mouse with sharp objects. Overall, we find the compromise acceptable. Most gamers will appreciate the weight advantage more than a fully closed base plate. Friedrich Stiemer Pulsar X2 Crazylight Medium: Performance In FPS use, the Pulsar X2 Crazylight Medium delivers immediate, almost weightless handling. Fast flick shots are precise, and changes in direction feel effortless thanks to the mouse’s low weight. The combination of a high-precision sensor and optical switches creates a direct, responsive gaming experience, which is especially noticeable in titles like Valorant or Counter Strike. You also benefit from the precise fine control in tactical shooters, as even slow, deliberate movements are tracked accurately. Friedrich Stiemer Away from shooters, the mouse still performs reliably. In MOBAs like League of Legends, you benefit from the fast responsiveness of the buttons, although the limited number of additional buttons may be a drawback for some folks. In action RPGs like Diablo, the mouse feels comfortable even during longer sessions thanks to its lightweight casing. The precise tracking also makes it well suited for creative tasks, such as image cropping or detailed work in graphics programs. The symmetrical shape supports smooth control, making long office or browsing sessions comfortable and effortless. Read...

Last month, one of the best productivity apps for Mac finally became available for Windows. That’s Raycast, which is like a keyboard-controlled Swiss Army Knife for your computer. Open Raycast with a keyboard shortcut (Alt + Space by default on Windows and Option + Space on a Mac) to quickly look up files, launch apps, search the web, and more… all from a single text box. While Apple’s Spotlight feature provides similar utility on Macs, Raycast is more powerful and flexible—and it now works on Windows PCs as well. Most of its functionality is free, with an optional subscription for syncing data across devices and using certain AI features. Raycast can be a bit daunting at first, but it can feel like a superpower once you get rolling with it. To give you an idea of how useful it can be, here are some ways I’m using it myself. This column first appeared in Advisorator, Jared’s weekly tech advice newsletter. Sign up to get tech advice like this every Tuesday. Instant calculations and unit conversions Jared Newman / Foundry Raycast’s built-in calculator might be the one feature I use more than anything else. Without ever taking my hands off the keyboard, I can open Raycast, type in an expression, and see the result immediately, with the Enter key even copying the answer to the clipboard. It’s so much faster than reaching for a separate calculator app. Finding files (and folders) faster Jared Newman / Foundry My file system is pretty organized, but opening a specific file or folder through Raycast is still faster than digging through File Explorer. Where Raycast really shines is its “Quicklinks” feature that makes your favorite files or folders even easier to access. Once you’ve saved a Quicklink, you can pin it to Raycast’s main menu, which lets you open it with a custom keyboard shortcut or just find it more easily in Raycast’s search results. I’ve pinned my Downloads and work images folders so they’re never more than a few keystrokes away. An expanded clipboard Jared Newman / Foundry While macOS Tahoe now includes a clipboard history feature, Raycast’s version is better. You can open it instantly with a custom keyboard shortcut—no need to hit Command + Space first—and can optionally paste as plain text. Raycast’s clipboard history is also searchable, and it offers a nice view of copied images. I’ve started using it in place of the built-in clipboard manager in Windows as well. Clipboard history is a good way to get familiar with Raycast’s “Hotkeys,” which let you take actions without even opening the main Raycast window. (I’ve mapped Raycast’s clipboard manager to Ctrl + V on macOS and Windows key + V on Windows.) Quick text snippets Jared Newman / Foundry Raycast’s “Snippets” tool lets you turn small text fragments into larger blocks of text, which cuts down on repetitive typing. For instance: I can type @adv to write “advisorator@jarednewman.com” I can type @adr to write my mailing address. To swat away PR pitches, I can type !gopa, which then prompts me for the PR rep’s name and writes “Hi [name], thanks for reaching out. Gonna pass on this one. Thanks — Jared.” You can set all this up through Raycast’s easy “Create Snippet” menu, where the Snippet is what you want to write and the Keyword is what you type to trigger the snippet conversion. I’ve previously sung the praises of a free Windows app called Beeftext for this purpose, but it’s no longer being actively maintained and there’s no Mac version. Besides, Raycast’s implementation is easily searchable in case I forget the shortcut for a particular snippet. Window management Jared Newman / Foundry After switching to an ultrawide monitor, I’m often moving my windows into and out of split-screen mode. Raycast makes that easier by letting you resize windows with keyboard commands. For instance, I can move Obsidian into the middle of the screen to focus on writing, or split it 33.3%/66.6% with my web browser while researching. This is also a good way to get acquainted with Raycast’s “Command Aliases” feature, which lets you execute commands with less typing. I’ve set it up so that typing LT into Raycast moves an app to the left third of the screen while typing RTT moves an app to the right two thirds. Checking my calendar Jared Newman / Foundry Seeing what’s coming up on my calendar always takes more clicking and typing than I want. Thankfully, Raycast offers a Google Calendar extension for quickly viewing your upcoming agenda. This is one of the many third-party extensions that you can install to make Raycast even more useful. Just type “Store” into Raycast and you’ll be able to peruse all kinds of free enhancements. The one I’m using for my calendar is simply called “Google Calendar.” This kind of tool is the future Whether you use Raycast or not, this category of “command bar” apps is one you should be aware of, as it’s an increasing area of interest for tech companies. Apple has beefed up Spotlight in macOS Tahoe to compete more directly with Raycast, and Microsoft is building something similar with Command Palette in its free PowerToys app. ChatGPT’s Mac app and Google’s new Windows app use the same command bar concept with an emphasis on AI, too. With the rise of AI tools like ChatGPT, I think folks are warming to the idea of asking their computer to do things instead of constantly clicking around manually. Once you get used to doing that with Raycast, it’s hard to imagine using your computer without it. This column first appeared in Advisorator, Jared’s weekly tech advice newsletter. Sign up to get tech advice like this every Tuesday. Read...

LG Electronics will show off it’s new line of lifestyle TVs–the LG Gallery TV line–at CES in January, 2026. The Gallery TV is designed to optimally display the more than 4,500 works of art available from the company’s LG Gallery+ service (a “light” version is bundled with the TV; the “full” version requires a subscription.  The TV features a “Gallery Mode” that promises to optimize color and brightness to best reproduce the visual texture of physical art. And with that goal in mind, there is also an advanced glare and reflection-reduction coating. Ambient light adjustment rounds out the TV’s special display features.  The slim, flush-mount Gallery TV is available in 55- and 65-inch flavors, with customizable magnetic frames available to complete the illusion of a static canvas. There’s internal memory for saving content (including generative AI images and user photos). The TV is powered by LG’s Alpha 7 AI Processor and features immersive AI Sound Pro audio (with 9.1.2 virtual channels).  Speaking of audio, users can choose from a variety of backing tracks, or you can stream your own music to the Gallery TV via Bluetooth. Add mood lighting and you’re done. Read...

At a glanceExpert`s Rating Pros Attractive and sturdy design Bundled display hood and remote Built-in automatic hardware image calibration, brightness adjustments USB-C hub includes Ethernet Great color gamut and accuracy Cons Limited contrast ratio HDR is supported, but only barely No Adaptive Sync Our Verdict The BenQ PD2770U is a monitor built for professional content creation. Its specific feature set will limit its appeal, but makes it a good choice for its intended demographic. Price When Reviewed This value will show the geolocated pricing text for product undefined Best Pricing Today Best Prices Today: BenQ PD2770U Retailer Price BenQ $1699.99 View Deal Check Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket Best Prices Today: Check today’s prices Most monitors sold today are chasing the same trends. OLED panels are common, bringing with them excellent contrast, and refresh rates have surged into the hundreds. These upgrades have led to excellent displays, but the BenQ PD2770U marches to a different tune. It is focused on professional content creation and has several unusual features—such as a built-in display calibration tool—that will appeal to the monitor’s audience. Read on to learn more, then see our roundup of the best monitors for comparison. BenQ PD2770U specs and features The basics of the BenQ PD2770U’s display panel are nothing to write home about. It has a 27-inch 4K IPS-LCD panel with a refresh rate of 60Hz. The backlight is edge-lit LED, so no fancy Mini-LED backlighting here. Adaptive sync isn’t present, either. Display size: 27-inch 16:9 aspect ratio Native resolution: 3840×2160 Panel type: IPS-LCD with LED edge lit backlight Refresh rate: 60Hz Adaptive sync: No HDR: HDR 10/HLG Ports: 2x HDMI 2.0, 1x DisplayPort 1.4, 1x Thunderbolt / USB-C with 96 watts of Power Delivery and DisplayPort Alternate Mode, 1x USB-C upstream with 5Gbps data, 2x USB-A downstream with 5Gbps data Audio: None Extra features: Light sensor, remote control, built-in automatic calibration, uniformity mode, display hood Price: $1,699.99 MSRP However, the BenQ PD2770U includes several uncommon features. It has built-in image calibration hardware tucked into the top bezel, plus ambient light sensors and a USB-C / Thunderbolt hub that includes Ethernet connectivity. It also ships with a display hood and wireless remote for controlling the monitor’s features. These features don’t come cheap, though, as the PD2770U carries a high MSRP of $1,699.99. Speciality monitors meant for professionals tend to carry a hefty price premium. BenQ PD2770U design The BenQ PD2770U is a monitor meant for professional settings, so it offers a reserved and low-key look. That’s not to say it’s unattractive, though. I rather like the charcoal-and-gray colorway, which remains a professional tone and is distinct from the matte black look typical of less expensive professional monitors, as well as the metallic silver used by most similarly priced competitors. Build quality is high. As with most displays, plastic is the material of choice, but the stand base is metal and the plastics that make up the body of the display are robust. It’s a hefty monitor, as well, at nearly 20 pounds with stand. That’s heavier than many 32-inch monitors. Matthew Smith / Foundry A monitor hood is provided with the monitor. The hood is used to shade the display and reduce the impact of ambient light on its surface. It attaches magnetically, too, so it’s not too difficult to install or remove. Most home users are unlikely to use the hood, but it’s handy if you work in a space where you can’t control ambient light as much as you’d like. The included stand has a flat, sturdy base that minimizes its footprint on your desk. Ergonomic adjustment includes up to 115mm of height, 25 degrees of tilt, 30 degrees of swivel, and up to 90 degrees of pivot (for use in portrait orientation). None of these adjustments are remarkable for a premium monitor, but they’re competitive. A 100x100mm VESA mount is also available for use with a third-party monitor stand, arm, or wall mount. BenQ PD2770U connectivity Connectivity is a headline feature for the BenQ PD2770U. The company seems to expect that the monitor will be used with a high-end laptop, like a MacBook Pro or Asus ProArt, and so it provides a Thunderbolt 4 / USB-C port with up to 96 watts of Power Delivery and DisplayPort video. That makes for easy single-cable connections to any laptop that has USB-C with the same features (which includes most modern laptops). The monitor also provides a second USB-C upstream port, though it supports just 5Gbps of data. It’s useful if you want to connect a desktop alongside a laptop. Both USB-C ports expand a connected device’s connectivity to a pair of wired USB-A ports, each with 5Gbps data rates, and a single RJ45 Ethernet port. This isn’t the most connectivity you’ll find from a monitor—the Dell U3225QE, for instance, offers over twice as much USB connectivity—but it’s still a respectable range, and the inclusion of an Ethernet port is always good to see. As you might expect, the PD2770U provides KVM switch functionality. That means you can connect two computers to the USB-C upstream ports, then connect wired devices to the USB-A downstream ports, and use the monitor to switch which computer is connected to the USB-A devices. BenQ PD2770U menus and features The BenQ PD2770U’s on-screen menu system can be accessed either with a joystick control on the monitor, or a convenient puck-style remote. The puck-style remote is a small, wireless dial that’s great for making quick adjustments. Alternatively, most monitor features can be accessed through BenQ’s attractive DisplayPilot software, which is available for both Windows and MacOS. A long list of image quality adjustments are available. These include many preset modes that target specific color gamuts, such as AdobeRGB, Rec.709, DCI-P3, DICOM, and more. The monitor also provides precise gamma and color temperature adjustments with additional color customization, if desired. Matthew Smith / Foundry Ambient light sensors are included and can be used to automatically adjust brightness throughout the day. This can reduce eye strain and will help the monitor appear accurate in a wide range of lighting conditions. The jewel in the PD2770U’s crown, however, is the automatic hardware calibration tool permanently tucked inside the thick top bezel. It can deploy automatically on a set schedule and runs a hardware-defined display calibration process (meaning no additional software is required to use it). Aside from convenience, this feature adds value, as color calibration tools typically sell for $150 to $300 or more, depending on the model. On top of that, the BenQ provides a remote calibration management tool called DMS Local, which can be used to sync color profiles across a fleet of monitors and enforce mandatory calibration. Of course, I can’t comment on the specifics of how well DMS Local works in a professional studio, but I thought it worth a mention. Matthew Smith / Foundry Overall, I like the built-in calibration. Calibration normally requires additional hardware, which you must connect and put into place before calibration can take place. That extra hassle can make it easy to justify putting it off until tomorrow—for weeks on end. BenQ’s built-in calibration gives you less reason to put it off. Calibration does require roughly 10 minutes, though, so you’ll have to take a break (or use a second display). You also need to warm up the display for 30 minutes before it can be calibrated, though the hardware takes this into account and will automatically engage after the warm-up period has ended. The BenQ PD2770U goes the extra mile with an automatic color calibration tool that can operate on a schedule and requires no additional hardware or software to operate. BenQ PD2770U audio The BenQ PD2770U doesn’t include built-in speakers and instead provides only a 3.5mm audio pass-through for connecting a headset or speakers. It is a bit disappointing to see speakers are excluded, though it’s not uncommon for high-end monitors to lack speakers. BenQ PD2770U SDR image quality The BenQ PD2770U is a monitor tightly focused on creative work including photography, videography, and digital art. That might lead you to expect excellent image quality across the board, but the PD2770U instead makes some trade-offs to provide a presentation focused on accuracy and realism. Matthew Smith / Foundry First up is brightness, where the BenQ PD2770U achieved an acceptable maximum SDR brightness of 351 nits. As the graph shows, it’s definitely not the brightest image available, but also not dim. This level of brightness is sufficient to cover SDR workflows, as well, which typically see brightness calibrated to somewhere in the 100 to 200 nits range. Though not the brightest monitor around, the BenQ PD2770U benefits from an effective Nano Matte finish and the included display hood. These features together make glare a non-issue in most situations, even in rooms with unusually bright and uneven lighting. You’ll only see glare if a bright light source is directly over your shoulder. Matthew Smith / Foundry Contrast is a weakness of the BenQ PD2770U. Though it aims to provide great image quality, it’s also a IPS-LCD display, and doesn’t have a dynamic Mini-LED backlight. The result is a contrast ratio that’s behind even most LCD monitors. It should be noted, though, that enhanced contrast isn’t the objective of the display. Rather, the Nano Matte display is meant to diffuse light in a way that provides good color accuracy and a comfortable viewing experience. I like it, though I should mention I am generally biased towards matte over glossy panels. Those who want more contrast should consider the Asus ProArt PA32UCDM, a beautiful professional monitor with an OLED panel. Matthew Smith / Foundry Color performance is something the BenQ PD2770U needs to nail and, fortunately for BenQ, it scores extremely well. The BenQ PD2770U achieved a maximum color gamut that spanned 100 percent of sRGB, 98 percent of DCI-P3, and 99 percent of AdobeRGB. That’s among the best result we’ve ever recorded. There is one detail to note, though, which is that the monitor can’t display this range of all gamuts simultaneously. For example, when the monitor is set to AdobeRGB the DCI-P3 color gamut drops to about 87 percent (and vice versa). This isn’t of much practical concern because I have a hard time fathoming a situation where you would need to work in both color spaces at once on the same display, but I thought I’d mention it. BenQ also provides modes for color gamut standards I don’t normally test, like DICOM and Rec.709. The range of supported color gamuts is wider than what you’ll find on a typical gaming or general-use monitor—even those sold above $1,000. Matthew Smith / Foundry The BenQ PD2770U delivered a solid color accuracy result that dipped below an average color error value of one. While not the very best I’ve tested, any result around one (or below) is excellent, and means the image will generally look accurate and true to the content being displayed. Color temperature and gamma are also important aspects of accuracy, and here the BenQ PD2770U scored extremely well. It presented a tight gamma curve of 2.2 and a color temperature value of 6500K. Both are the values we expect to see at default settings, and the values most monitors target out of the box. These numbers mean the image looks neither too dark or too bright, nor too warm or too cool. The monitor provides a wide range of gamma and color temperature settings, so you can tune these figures to your needs or preference. Sharpness is excellent, as the 27-inch monitor packs a resolution of 3840×2160. That works out to about 163 pixels per inch, which is as high as you’ll find without upgrading to something more exotic, such as a 5K or 6K monitor. 4K images and videos reveal a ton of fine detail, and small text remains easy to read. On the whole, the BenQ PD2770U’s SDR image quality is great with the exception of contrast, which is modest at best—and this rather bluntly defines the PD2770U’s appeal. This is not a monitor for enjoying entertainment or playing games, but rather a monitor for professional work. As such, the accuracy of the image, and the ability to calibrate it, becomes more important than the wow-factor a better contrast ratio would provide. Of course, the dream would be to have a monitor with both a high-contrast OLED panel and the high degree of accuracy and calibration that the BenQ PD2770U provides. Monitors like that do exist, but they’re often at least twice the PD2770U’s price (and yet may still lack useful features found on the PD2770U, such as automatic hardware calibration). BenQ PD2770U HDR image quality and motion performance The BenQ PD2770U supports HDR10 / HLG, but HDR is not the focus of the monitor, and it lacks any version of VESA DisplayHDR certification. You should consider HDR to be something the PD2770U can provide in a pinch, but not something that will be accurate. This is largely due to the lack of brightness and contrast, both of which are required to do HDR justice. Motion clarity also takes a back seat, as the PD2770U only provides a 60Hz refresh rate and does not support adaptive sync. While slower-paced games look fine on the PD2770U, it’s definitely not a good choice for highly competitive games. Should you buy the BenQ PD2770U? The BenQ PD2770U is a professional content creation monitor aimed at creatives who primarily produce SDR content and need excellent, accurate color performance. It goes the extra mile with an automatic color calibration tool that can operate on a schedule and requires no additional hardware or software to operate.While many professional monitors include calibration hardware, it’s unusual for that hardware to be built physically into the monitor itself. It should prove useful if you mean to calibrate your monitor but often find it a hassle, or forget to do it on a regular schedule. This perk is balanced by the monitor’s barely-there HDR support and missing adaptive sync, which mean the PD2770U is not great for entertainment and gaming. However, the PD2770U is a great choice if you need a color accurate monitor for professional work. Read...

TL;DR: Microsoft Project Professional 2024 is on sale for $39.97 (MSRP $1,130). A new year usually brings new goals, new projects, and a fresh attempt to stay organized. That’s easier said than done when work lives across spreadsheets, notes apps, calendars, and a dozen browser tabs. Microsoft Project Professional — now just $40 — is designed to pull all of that planning into a single workspace so projects actually move forward instead of stalling out. This desktop software is built for people managing real timelines, not just to-do lists. You can map out schedules, assign tasks, track progress, and adjust plans when things change, which they always do. It’s especially useful for professionals starting the year with multiple initiatives already in motion. What Microsoft Project Professional Helps You Do Build detailed project timelines with dependencies and milestones Visualize workloads across multiple projects to avoid bottlenecks Run what-if scenarios to see how changes affect delivery dates Track time spent on project and non-project work Sync with Project Server or Project Online for team coordination Unlike subscription tools that lock features behind monthly fees, this is a lifetime Windows license. Buy it once, install it on your PC, and keep using it year after year as your responsibilities grow. If getting organized is part of your plan for the new year, this is one upgrade that actually supports your positive outlook. Microsoft Project Professional 2024: Lifetime License for Windows — $39.97 (MSRP $1,130). Microsoft Project Professional 2024: Lifetime License for WindowsSee Deal StackSocial prices subject to change. Read...

At a glanceExpert`s Rating Pros Very quick to alert on smoke Easy to set up (assuming you have the infrastructure) Some users might find the additional features of value Cons Motion sensor isn’t particularly useful Slow to send mobile notifications about smoke situations Alerts are hard to silence Our Verdict The Place Any Space smoke detector is stuffed with features—and some of the even pricier models in the product line offer even more—but we’re not sure that justifies their high price tags. Price When Reviewed This value will show the geolocated pricing text for product undefined Best Pricing Today Best Prices Today: Place Any Space Smart Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Detector Retailer Price Check Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket Best Prices Today: Check today’s prices When it comes to home safety and fire protection devices, should you have a different detector for each room, one that takes into consideration the typical activities that take place there? That’s the question Gentex seeks to answer with its Place series of safety devices, maintaining that your kitchen, the children’s nursery, and the garage each deserve purpose-built smoke and carbon monoxide (CO) detectors. It sounds logical, at least on paper, but the prices Gentex expects to fetch for its line of Wi-Fi-connected (hardwired for power and interconnected) Place smart home devices—some of which also feature integrated security cameras—could spike  the idea before it gets off the ground. The Place Any Space reacted to smoke faster than any other smoke alarm I can recall testing. Specifications As indicated above, Gentex doesn’t build just one Place detector, it offers four models, each designed with a specific room in mind, although they are all equipped with carbon monoxide detectors, temperature and humidity sensors, and smart nightlights. Each of these devices also has localized voice alerts and a low-frequency sounder that’s said to be more effective at waking deep sleepers and hearing-impaired individuals. The Any Place, reviewed here, is the most straightforward of the lot. It detects both smoke and carbon monoxide (CO) in addition to the other features listed above. The Kitchen model detects smoke and CO, and it adds natural gas detection (but not propane, which many rural homes use). The Garage model has a CO detector, an integrated camera, and an intercom, but it replaces the smoke detector with a heat detector to avoid false alarms. It doesn’t include air quality monitoring, but it detects and alerts to the presence of VOCs. The Nursery model delivers the most features of the four SKUs, incorporating a security camera, an intercom, air quality and VOCs (volatile organic compounds) monitoring, and a white noise generator as well as a smoke and CO detector. Once again, Place alarms must be hardwired for power, and they can be interconnected to each other. Each one gets backup power in the form of two pre-installed lithium AA batteries. The detectors are rated to last the industry standard 10 years; the backup batteries might require periodic replacement over that time. The devices connect to 2.4GHz Wi-Fi networks, and you’ll interact with them using the Place mobile app. Installation and setup The Place Any Place smoke and CO alarm must be hardwired to electrical power. Every model in the Place lineup can be interconnected for maximum safety.Christopher Null/Foundry As a hardwired product, you’ll need to install the Place Any Space Smart Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Detector where you have access to basic two-wire house wiring (a ground wire is not required); plus, interconnect wiring if you plan to chain together multiple Place alarms. Building codes vary by region, but the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) in 1989 declared that newly constructed homes are required to have hardwired and interconnected smoke alarms on every level of the home and outside of sleeping areas. The alarm includes a small bracket plus the bolts and wire nuts needed to mount the alarm to an electrical box. A small clip-in wiring harness bridges your home’s bare wiring to the detector. All told, physical installation is not at all taxing, unless your electrical box is particularly crowded and/or hard to reach (as can happen when detectors are mounted on high ceilings). Once connected to power, the Place app is used to onboard the detector to your network. The app itself isn’t easy to find (use the QR code in the manual to avoid sifting through thousands of apps named with some variation of “place”), but once installed, it’s easy to complete the setup process. A Bluetooth connection auto-discovered my detector, after which I input a few credentials to bridge it to my Wi-Fi network. You will need to create an account (with a verified email address) to complete the process. Using the Place Any Space Smart Smoke + CO Alarm The Place Any Place smoke and CO alarm has localized voice alerts and a low-frequency sounder that’s said to be more effective at waking deep sleepers and hearing-impaired individuals.Christopher Null/Foundry Since it lacks the bells and whistles of the more room-centric smoke alarms that Place offers, the Place Any Space works largely like any other smart smoke detector. Testing with canned smoke caused the alarm to activate quickly, faster than I’ve encountered with any other smoke alarm I can recall testing. The unit is designed with a particularly low-frequency siren, which Place says improves audibility for those with hearing loss. It’s also extremely loud. While the unit purports to have two cautionary alert levels that the device goes through before the alarm sounds, I didn’t encounter these in my testing because the alarm sounded so rapidly. It took about 30 seconds for a push alert to be sent to my mobile phone, which seems very slow. Silencing the alarm is a different story. Even after the smoke cleared, the alarm kept sounding, and it took several presses of the test button (which is oddly touch-sensitive, not a physical button) to quiet the siren. The app can also be used to hush an alarm. However, even after silencing the alarm, the unit continued to chirp periodically, ostensibly an indicator that there was still smoke in the room. This continued for several minutes until I was ultimately forced to disable the alarm altogether by unplugging it from wall power and removing the batteries. The Place app is well done, but the smoke and CO alarm can overwhelm you with motion alerts.Christopher Null/Foundry I’m unsure if this is the intended operation of the alarm, but it was certainly maddening and unlike any other smoke alarm I’ve reviewed. Memo to Place: If someone presses the silence button or uses the function in the app, hush should mean hush—completely. The app includes perhaps minimally useful measurements of temperature and humidity, and it even tracks this data by day, week, and month. The nightlight feature (which can be activated either by low ambient light levels or motion detection) is a nice touch, and it can even be configured to illuminate in the color of your choice. Beyond this, the motion detection feature isn’t otherwise all that useful. Located in a high-traffic area, I found the motion sensor sent dozens of alerts per day to my phone, but there’s no context for these alerts and nothing much you can do with them, nor is there even a way to set them to activate only during certain hours. In the absence of a larger security-centric environment, I quickly got overwhelmed with the flood of unhelpful notifications. Should you buy the Place Any Space Smart Smoke + CO Alarm? With its per-room, do-it-all smoke detectors, Place seems to be hoping to take a position where its hardware becomes the centerpiece of your smart home. Unfortunately, I’m not sure the concept really works, as these devices just don’t do enough to merit having that responsibility. They’re also very, very expensive. The Any Space unit, at $139 (at press time, available only at Home Depot), is in the same realm as the $130 First Alert SC5, which connects directly to the powerful Google ecosystem. The additional units in the series are, however, outrageously expensive, running $250 (Kitchen), $300 (Garage), and $350 (Nursery). And remember that the Nursery model contains an embedded camera, an idea that doesn’t come across to me as a particularly smart idea, given concerns that visitors might feel they are being spied upon by a device with a hidden camera. If you have absolutely no other smart home gear, a Place smoke detector might make some level of sense. The per-room concept is interesting; but in its current incarnation (and price level), it just doesn’t work all that well. Ultimately, I expect that most users will be better off with simpler, less expensive devices, regardless of what room they’re putting it in. In other words: If you need a camera, get a camera. Read...

At a glanceExpert`s Rating Pros High-quality workmanship All-aluminum housing Extremely low latency with rapid trigger “MagMech” technology: magnetic & mechanical switches can be mixed Great acoustics when typing Good price-performance ratio Cons Very short battery life in 8K wireless mode Mode switch awkwardly hidden under the keycap Software can be confusing and takes some getting used to No adjustable tilt angle Our Verdict The Monsgeek FUN60 Ultra may not be perfect, as the hidden mode switch and poor battery life in gaming mode are clear points of criticism. However, Considering the price of less than $100, the overall package is simply impressive. You get premium-level workmanship, cutting-edge switch technology with extremely low latency and the unique freedom to combine magnetic and mechanical switches. If you’re looking for maximum performance for shooters and can do without a numpad, it’s hard to find a better offer at the moment. Price When Reviewed This value will show the geolocated pricing text for product undefined Best Pricing Today Best Prices Today: Monsgeek FUN60 Ultra Retailer Price $94.99 View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket Best Prices Today: Check today’s prices Can a keyboard for less than $100 really keep up with the high-end competition, which often costs twice as much? In our test, the Monsgeek FUN60 Ultra proves that it’s not only aggressively priced, but also teaches the established top dogs the how to provide great value without sacrificing performance thanks to its world-first switch technology. Friedrich Stiemer Anyone looking around the gaming peripherals market at the moment will inevitably stumble across terms such as “rapid trigger” or magnetic switches. These technologies have changed competitive gaming, but were usually an expensive investment—until now. Brands such as Wooting or Steelseries often charge $200 or more for their top models. But now, with the Monsgeek FUN60 Ultra, a challenger is entering the arena that’s shaking up this premium price structure. The manufacturer promises similar—in some cases even superior—performance for just under half the money. We put the “Ultra” in the name to the test to see if it’s justified. Friedrich Stiemer Hardly any other product on the market currently offers this flexibility, making the keyboard a true hybrid for work and play. Monsgeek FUN60 Ultra: Design When you first unpack the Monsgeek FUN60 Ultra, you immediately notice its unexpectedly high weight. At around one kilogram (2.2lbs), this compact 60 percent dwarf keyboard is significantly heavier than most of its plastic competitors. This is due to the solid, CNC-milled all-aluminium housing, which is complemented by a steel base plate. This choice of material ensures that the keyboard is extremely torsion-resistant and sits on your desk as if nailed down. The build quality is surprisingly high and conveys a real premium feel that is rarely found in this price range. Friedrich Stiemer The design of the Monsgeek FUN60 Ultra is minimalist and straightforward, which really brings out the powerful RGB lighting, especially in the white color version. The only curious detail is the eyelet for a carrying strap on the left-hand side of the case, which is probably more of a visual gimmick than anything. However, we take a more critical view of the lack of adjustable feet. You have to make do with the fixed typing angle of six to seven degrees, which we found to be ergonomically pleasant in the test, but still restricts flexibility. However, the engineers made a real design faux pas with the switch for the operating modes. This is hidden under the cap lock button, so you actually have to remove the button cap every time you want to switch between cable and wireless. This is an unnecessarily cumbersome solution in everyday use. Friedrich Stiemer Monsgeek FUN60 Ultra: Typing The so-called “Akko Glare Magnetic Switches” came with our test sample. As these switches are already pre-lubricated at the factory, they glide down smoothly and without any noticeable scratching. Acoustically, the Monsgeek FUN60 Ultra is absolutely surprising, as it’s unbelievably quiet in operation despite the metal housing. Thanks to extensive internal insulation, the result is a rich, muffled sound that is often referred to as “thocky” in enthusiast circles. You won’t find any annoying metallic echoes or rattling of the large keys here, which is why the input device is also suitable for office environments, provided you can do without the numeric keypad. Friedrich Stiemer Haptically, you should note that the circuit board is firmly screwed into the housing, which is known as the tray-mount design. This makes for a very direct, precise touch, but with less give than on spring-mounted keyboards. If you prefer a very soft touch, you might find the Monsgeek FUN60 Ultra a little stiff. The PBT plastic keycaps showed a small shortcoming in the long-term test though: Although these are generally robust, the heavily used WASD keys tended to develop a shiny surface relatively quickly. However, as the keyboard follows the standard layout, you can easily replace the caps with a set of your choice. Friedrich Stiemer Monsgeek FUN60 Ultra: TMR technology and the “MagMech” feature Technically, the Monsgeek FUN60 Ultra clearly stands out from the crowd. While most current high-end models rely on Hall-effect sensors, TMR (Tunnel Magneto Resistance) technology is used here. This technology allows an even finer signal resolution and theoretically saves power. In practice, this means that you can set the trigger point of each individual button extremely granularly between 0.1 millimetres and 3.4 millimetres. Particularly impressive is the rapid trigger function, which means that the button does not have to return to its original position to be triggered again. A minimal stroke of just 0.01 millimetres is enough for the Monsgeek FUN60 Ultra to register a new command. In fast-paced shooters such as Valorant or Counter-Strike 2, this enables movement maneuvers and firing sequences at a speed that would hardly be possible with conventional mechanical keyboards. Friedrich Stiemer An absolutely unique feature is the so-called “MagMech” functionality. The TMR version of the Monsgeek FUN60 Ultra is cross-compatible, which means that you can mix magnetic switches and classic mechanical switches (5-pin) on the same board. You therefore have the option of equipping only the WASD keys relevant for gaming with the fast magnetic switches and using your favourite tactile mechanical switches for the rest of the keyboard. Hardly any other product on the market currently offers this flexibility, making the keyboard a true hybrid for work and play. Friedrich Stiemer Connectivity and battery life The name “Ultra”, as you’d expect, indicates a variety of connectivity options, as the keyboard can be operated via USB-C cable, Bluetooth 5.0, and fast 2.4 GHz radio. The wireless performance is exemplary, as the Monsgeek FUN60 Ultra achieves a sampling rate of up to 8,000 hertz in 2.4 GHz mode. This means that it responds wirelessly just as quickly as a wired keyboard, and even professionals shouldn’t notice any difference in latency. Friedrich Stiemer However, this extreme performance takes its toll on energy consumption: If you use the full 8,000Hz polling rate and activate the RGB lighting at the same time, the 4000 mAh battery runs out of breath very quickly. In our tests, the Monsgeek FUN60 Ultra often only lasted a few hours in this high-performance mode. If you want to game wirelessly with maximum performance, you’ll have to charge the keyboard almost every day. In Bluetooth mode or with dimmed lighting, on the other hand, the battery lasts for days, which is why we recommend only using the 8K mode for competitive gaming sessions. Friedrich Stiemer Monsgeek FUN60 Ultra: Software The Monsgeek FUN60 Ultra is configured using driver-based software that runs in the browser but still requires installation in the background. The range of functions is extensive and extends from the creation of complex macros to “dynamic keystrokes”, in which different pressure depths trigger different actions. Features such as SOCD, i.e. the prioritization of opposing directional inputs, are also available. However, the user interface is not yet fully developed making the menu navigation confusing at times. Although the manufacturer has already fixed many initial bugs with firmware updates, beginners will have to be prepared for a certain learning curve in order to utilize the full potential of the Monsgeek FUN60 Ultra. Read...

At a glanceExpert`s Rating Pros Strong, stable performance 100W USB-C charging supported Fast, easy-to-see display Triple SSD slots Cons Performance mode isn’t automatic Big and bulky Disappointing keyboard Plasticky build Our Verdict There’s plenty to like about the Maingear Super 16, especially where performance is concerned. But you have to know (and remember) to toggle on the peak performance. And when other systems manage this automatically while also offering more exciting designs and competitive prices, the value of the Maingear Super 16 becomes a little more shaky. Price When Reviewed This value will show the geolocated pricing text for product undefined Best Pricing Today Best Prices Today: Maingear Super 16 Retailer Price Check Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket Best Prices Today: Check today’s prices Maingear might not be the household brand that big OEMs like Asus and Lenovo are, but it brings solid chops when it comes to making a gaming computer. The Maingear Super 16 is a clear example of this. It packs in powerful hardware and comes with an exciting list of specs like a 300Hz display.  The Maingear Super 16 may not quite have the looks of some of its rivals as it comes with a chassis made by Clevo, not Maingear itself. Still, the brand does solid work within that constraint. And it even manages to maintain a fairly competitive price. But where value counts, it may come down to some of the intangibles. After all, the Super 16 didn’t blow away the competition in benchmarks, outshine them in design, or cleanly undercut them in price. The cleaner software setup might help, and the promise of in-house, human customer support from a small company could be beneficial for users who’ve found themselves in need of tech support. But if you’re looking to get more performance for every dollar you spend, the Maingear Super 16 may have a hard time earning that money.  Maingear Super 16: Specs and features CPU: Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX Memory: 32GB DDR5-5600 Graphics/GPU: Nvidia RTX 5070 Ti 140W Display: 16-inch 2560×1600 300Hz IPS, Matte, G-Sync Storage: 2TB PCIe Gen 5 SSD Samsung 9100 Pro Webcam: 5MP + IR Connectivity: 2x Thunderbolt 4 with 100W Power Delivery, 2 x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A, 1x HDMI 2.1, 1x microSD card reader, 1x 3.5mm combo audio, 1 x Ethernet Networking: WiFi 7, Bluetooth 5.4 Biometrics: Windows Hello facial recognition Battery capacity: 78 watt-hours Dimensions: 14.02 x 10.75 x 1.18 inches Weight: 5.04 pounds MSRP: $2,758 as-tested ($2,549 base) The Maingear Super 16 essentially comes in a single pre-built configuration with the above specifications. Maingear offers a “Boost” specification that doubles the storage and memory, but the core components remain the same. Maingear also offers a custom configuration with options for 64GB or 96GB of memory and additional SSD choices. The pre-built model ships with a Samsung 990 Pro PCIe Gen 4 SSDs, but our review unit came equipped with a Samsung 9100 Pro PCIe Gen 5 SSD. This drive is available in the custom configurations. The custom configuration also allows for the selection of secondary and tertiary SSDs.  The Maingear Super 16 is a potent gaming laptop that can run with some of the best that big OEMs have to offer. Maingear Super 16: Design and build quality Foundry / Mark Knapp The Maingear Super 16 doesn’t have the most stunning design. It feels like hardware made simply to house the latest components without much emphasis on the laptop’s design itself. It simply fades from the picture. The all-black color scheme helps with that fading, though there’s a sparkle to the paint job that gives it a little luster almost at odds with the blandness of the design otherwise.  The chassis is a combination of hard angles, with nary a smooth curve in sight. That leaves the front lip of the laptop angular as well, which can dig into the wrists a little while using the sizable machine. To house a 16-inch display, the Maingear Super 16 doesn’t get to be small, but its front-to-back length is considerable at almost 11 inches. This makes it harder to fit into bags and a bit of a stretch to reach the keyboard. There’s considerable bulk, too. This isn’t a thin-and-light gaming laptop like the Asus ROG Zephyrus G16, either. Instead it’s almost 1.2 inches thick and weighs five pounds. The charging brick, though not unusually large, adds another 1.5 pounds to the mix. Like the looks, the build of Maingear Super 16 isn’t too exciting. It does get a metal display lid with a Maingear logo stamped on it, but the rest of the system is plastic — rough ABS around the display and smooth polycarbonate for the lower deck. The result is a little cheaper feeling and looking than laptops incorporating metal into the lower frame. The build isn’t overly flexible, but there’s a bit of wiggle and bending here and there that doesn’t make it feel quite as tank-like as it looks.  The laptop sits on large rubber feet that do a great job of keeping it in place while also ensuring the underside has access to fresh air. All the air is exhausted through the large grilles on the sides of the laptop and thinner grilles that extend out of the back of the system. Curiously, I found the laptop vibrating while gaming at one point, seemingly as a result of some sort of resonance from the fans. I could hear the vibration and feel it with my hands on the keyboard. It stopped after a minute or so, but it was an unusual incident.  The one splash of style that the Maingear Super 16 gets is an LED light bar that runs along the back edge of the laptop, where you simply can’t see it while you’re actually using the laptop (though other people can).  Maingear Super 16: Keyboard, trackpad Foundry / Mark Knapp The keyboard is a mixed bag. It offers a long travel and an almost clicky feel that gives it a poppy experience. But that’s offset by poorly and unevenly stabilized keycaps with no contour to help guide my fingers to the center. I find myself often rolling off the edges, landing on the edge of neighboring keys, and even catching on neighboring keys when I try to shift my fingers after pressing a key. The result is that I simply can’t get up to speed without introducing significant errors into my typing. I was able to get to typing speeds between 100 and 110 words per minute in Monkeytype, but usually with accuracy below 95 percent, leaving plenty of typos to clean up.  The keyboard includes full-size arrow keys and a slightly narrow number pad. Unfortunately, the arrow keys eat into the space of the main keyboard and number pad alike. This can make use of the right shift key and the zero key on the number pad a bit fraught. The backlighting of the keyboard is quite effective, fully illuminating the legends and supporting various effects. It only comes in three zones though, so no per-key customization.  There’s little to say about the trackpad. It’s small for a 16-inch laptop, but not annoyingly so. There’s space to swipe around, perform multi-finger gestures, and generally get the job done. The surface isn’t the smoothest, but is passable. The physical click is a bit soft and unsatisfying. At least palm rejection was reliable.  Maingear Super 16: Display, audio Foundry / Mark Knapp The Maingear Super 16’s display is great, but doesn’t quite hit the bar for superb. It’s a bright, easy-to-see IPS panel that hit 547 nits in our testing, and thanks to its matte finish, it’s easily viewable even at far dimmer levels. As an IPS panel, its contrast is naturally a little less impressive, only hitting 1260:1, and it doesn’t boast the widest color gamut with just 84 percent coverage of the DCI-P3 color space. It is sharp and fast, though, delivering 2560×1600 pixels at up to 300Hz with variable refresh support via G-Sync. Playing games on this display, the speed was admirable. But with alternatives out there offering 240Hz OLED panels that have faster pixel response times, wider color gamut, and stronger contrast, the extra 60Hz Maingear provides doesn’t feel worth all that much. The speakers aren’t especially impressive. They’re a pair of down-firing speakers positioned near the front of the laptop. They pack a decent punch, helping them play over the sound of the fans well enough, and they don’t sound boxed in or tinny. But they also don’t stand out for a wide soundstage or exceptional depth either.  Maingear Super 16: Webcam, microphone, biometrics The 5MP webcam on the Maingear Super 16 is a capable one. It captures sharp visuals, albeit with some noise in dimmer rooms. It offers fairly natural lighting and coloring, too, though can struggle to expose properly with strong backlighting. It also supports Windows Hello facial recognition for quick logins. And for privacy, it has a physical shutter to cover up the lens.  The mics are fairly sensitive, capturing my voice easily with plenty of detail. But the side effect of this is that they also pick up a lot of room noise. You won’t get away with typing on the laptop or clicking around while you’re on a call with the built-in mic. Maingear Super 16: Connectivity Foundry / Mark Knapp The Maingear Super 16 isn’t a connectivity beast like it could have been as a 16-inch laptop with plenty of space for ports, but it’s not a disappointment either. It features a pretty typical selection of ports for a gaming laptop of its size. You’ll find a pair of Thunderbolt 4 ports on the right side of the laptop, both of which can support 100W power delivery, though not while gaming. There’s a microSD card slot on the right edge as well. A 10Gbps USB-A port is available on either side of the laptop and a 3.5mm headset jack on the left. The rear edge of the laptop squeezes in a few extra ports with an HDMI 2.1, 2.5Gb Ethernet, and a dedicated DC power jack. Because the Maingear Super 16 has large exhaust vents on the sides, all of the side ports are pushed toward the front of the laptop, which can make for a slightly messier desk look and wired devices can get in the way of a mouse.  Wireless connectivity is a strong point with the laptop supporting Wi-Fi 7 through an Intel Wi-Fi 7 BE200 card, which supports tri-band Wi-Fi 7, giving you access to that less-congested 6Ghz band. The card also supports Bluetooth 5.4.  Maingear Super 16: Performance Thicker laptops tend to have a bit of extra potential where performance comes in, and the Maingear Super 16 shows that off. It offers exceptionally strong performance in the holistic PCMark 10 benchmark, which analyzes systems’ performance in a variety of office tasks.  As a potent gaming machine, office tasks are light work for it. Note, however, that because this test system has an upgraded SSD that the pre-built model doesn’t include, its score is likely a little higher. Even with that SSD, the Maingear Super 16 actually trailed the pack in this gaming laptop lineup for the App Startup sub-test in PCMark 10, which depends on fast storage.  The Maingear Super 16’s Core Ultra 9 275HX CPU performs quite well, though isn’t a class-leader and leaves some performance on the table. Its single-core performance lags a bit behind its competition here. AMD leads the way with the Ryzen 9 9955HX3D in the Asus ROG Strix G16 with strong single-core and multi-core performance. Maingear’s option sits between the Acer Predator Helios NEO 16S AI and Alienware 16X Aurora, both of which use the same CPU but with different levels of performance, showing what a considerable difference cooling and power delivery can make.  Part of the issue with the Maingear Super 16’s performance is that it comes slightly hamstrung by default. Checking out the performance in the demanding 3DMark Port Royal test, we can see that the Maingear Super 16 goes from second-place in its default plan straight to first by swapping over to its higher performance mode, getting over a 10 percent boost in speed. While plenty of gaming computers are happy to automatically kick into higher performance modes when it’s called for, the Maingear Super 16 sticks to a lower-power plan unless manually adjusted. That manual adjustment requires opening up Maingear’s software, too, as there’s no one-click button on the keyboard to enable it. Part of this is to comply with California law, but Maingear explained the reliance on manual power adjustments was because they didn’t want users dealing with noisy fans every time they plugged their laptop in. I’m not quite convinced by that excuse, as plenty of other laptops don’t immediately ramp up the fans just because they’re in a higher power mode but instead do so when in that mode and running a heavy workload. Besides, the Maingear Super 16’s fans make plenty of noise when they’re working hard even in the default power plan. In gaming, the Maingear Super 16 shows what a big difference power supply allowances can make with its 140-watt GPU. It still trails the Asus ROG Strix G16, which offers the faster CPU and has a 140-watt GPU, but next to the other two RTX 5070 Ti-equipped, it gets a nice little performance advantage. The system is very capable at 1080p.  The Maingear Super 16 can even handle quite demanding games well. Metro Exodus at its Extreme settings really hammers PCs even at 1080p, but the Maingear Super 16 is able to maintain a solid 61fps average. Again, its higher-power GPU helps it step away from lower-performance options.  Cyberpunk 2077 shows similar results with the Maingear Super 16 again leading its 115-watt rivals but falling short of the Asus ROG Strix G16. That consistent performance deficit puts it into a bit of a tough spot as the Maingear Super 16 and ROG Strix G16 are very similar laptops in terms of size, weight, and construction but Asus opts for an excellent OLED display. Though we did see the Maingear Super 16 pull back a performance lead by switching to its “Performance” mode in one benchmark, that wasn’t a consistent method to shift benchmarks in its favor. It may have helped it win in 3DMark’s Port Royal test, but it still trailed the Asus system in Steel Nomad. And where gaming is considered, I’ve seen recent AMD hardware tend to deliver an advantage over recent Intel hardware in actual game benchmarks that wasn’t demonstrated in synthetic benchmarks like 3DMark’s. Besides, all of these laptops have their own ways of dialing performance to the max in turn, to help them regain any ground they might lose from the Maingear system dialing up its own performance.  Still, the Maingear Super 16 is a strong-performing laptop. And even with its default power plan, it has plenty to offer. I played an hour or two of Stellar Blade at the laptop’s native resolution and tapping into DLSS Balanced to make the most of what the hardware had to offer, and I enjoyed consistent framerates between 180 and 200fps and a responsive enough experience to face three bosses and prevail on the first try each time. While the fans were a little noisy, they weren’t shrill or obnoxious, and the whole system remained comfortable to the touch during this gaming session.  Maingear Super 16: Battery life Some gaming laptops have seen their battery life improve considerably in recent years, and that’s often aided along by solid software management of the internal hardware. If a gaming laptop is smart about disabling the GPU when it’s not needed, it can last much longer. Unfortunately, the Maingear Super 16 neither includes the largest battery it could nor makes particularly efficient use of the capacity it does have. In our offline video playback test, the system just scraped past a three-hour runtime. Its competition is offering almost double that on average, and turning to a system like the Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 shows how much higher it can go with smart hardware management (and lower-power components).   The real-world battery life can vary quite a bit. Leaving GPU management to the device, it can leverage the RTX 5070 Ti for a lot of little things that might not seem like they need the GPU and hurt the battery life in the process. The display’s matte finish lets it provide serviceable visuals at lower brightness levels than we used in our test, though, so it’s also possible to end up with more conservative battery use. Outside of strong direct lighting, I was comfortably able to use the laptop at its lowest brightness setting, and with the GPU fully disabled, I saw runtime on track for about five to 5.5 hours. That said, that is just about a best-case scenario.  Maingear Super 16: Conclusion The Maingear Super 16 is a potent gaming laptop that can run with some of the best that big OEMs have to offer. Its design is a little less exciting, and it doesn’t bring smart software to the table to help manage power states and easily make the most of its hardware, though. This can make it hard for it to keep up with some of its rivals. And at $2,758, it’s not marking a terribly impressive value either. The dominant Lenovo Legion Pro 7i 16 Gen 10 has an RTX 5070 Ti configuration for less at the time of writing. Asus’s very competitive ROG Strix G16 was also available for considerably less at the time of writing. And for more impressive hardware, the Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 can be fitted with an RTX 5070 Ti as well for a competitive price while offering a more stunning, thin-and-light design that’s a pound lighter and almost half as thick while also fitting a bigger battery and running longer on it. The Maingear Super 16 is decent, but just doesn’t stand out. Read...

At a glanceExpert`s Rating Pros Light as a feather (48 g) Precise 42K DPI sensor 8.000 Hz wireless polling Outstanding workmanship Web app instead of software Constraints Very long battery life (at 1,000 Hz) Spare skates and grip tapes included in the scope of delivery Cons Very high price No onboard memory Only suitable for right-handers No tilt or free-scroll function Battery life greatly reduced because of 8K polling Our Verdict The Asus ROG Harpe II Ace is a lightweight, responsive gaming mouse that ticks off all the right boxes. That said, the 8K polling eats up a lot of power and the price tag might be too steep for some. Price When Reviewed This value will show the geolocated pricing text for product undefined Best Pricing Today Best Prices Today: Asus ROG Harpe II Ace Retailer Price $146.99 View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket Best Prices Today: Check today’s prices With the ROG Harpe II Ace, Asus delivers a wireless esports designed for maximum performance and lightness. Weighing just 28 grams, it features 8,000 Hz wireless polling and the new ROG AimPoint Pro sensor with 42,000 DPI. But is it really worth the $169.99 price point? Let’s take a closer look at this top-tier model. Asus ROG Harpe II ACE: Design and ergonomics The mouse’s lightweight form factor is obvious as soon as you unpack it. At just 48 grams, the Asus ROG Harpe II Ace is one of the lightest gaming mice ever–lighter than many honeycomb-designed models. Yet it remains stable and torsion-resistant, with nothing rattling or creaking. Friedrich Stiemer The housing is symmetrical but not completely ambidextrous. With two side buttons on the left, the mouse is clearly aimed at right-handed users. Its shape was developed with esports pros in mind, including Valorant player Maximilian ‘Demon1’ Mazanov. It sits flat in the hand and is ideal for claw and fingertip grips. In fast-paced shooters like CS2 or Valorant, it reacts instantly, gliding smoothly across the pad without causing fatigue. Friedrich Stiemer The Asus ROG Harpe II Ace’s bio-based nylon surface feels soft, though this is a matter of taste. Some testers praise the smooth finish while others note the visible fingerprints. Overall, the mouse leaves a very high-quality impression. Asus ROG Harpe II ACE: Technology and features The centerpiece of the Asus ROG Harpe II Ace is the ROG AimPoint Pro sensor, which supports up to 42,000 DPI. While that figure might seem like marketing hype, what really matters is precision and the sensor delivers where it matters. Movements are executed without noticeable delay, and even fine aiming corrections are spot on. In our testing, the cursor stayed stable during fast flicks, a clear advantage for esports players. Friedrich Stiemer Another highlight is the 8,000 Hz polling rate, which Asus also enables wirelessly, transmitting eight times more position data per second than standard mice. In practice, aiming and tracking feel noticeably smoother. However, to conserve battery, you should only activate that feature when necessary. At 8,000 Hz, runtime drops to around 15 hours. At 1,000 Hz, the Asus ROG Harpe II Ace lasts for over 100 hours. It charges via USB-C and just a few minutes on the cable is enough for several hours of gaming, so you can keep playing even when the battery is empty. Asus ROG Harpe II ACE: Clicks, buttons, and operation Asus uses durable ROG microswitches that deliver a clean, crisp click. The main keys respond immediately and offer precise feedback with no bouncing. The click feel stayed consistent even after several days of intensive use. The mouse wheel clicks precisely, though it doesn’t tilt horizontally or spin freely. Perfectly fine for gaming, though a bit spartan for productivity. It offers five buttons plus a DPI switch. That’s enough for shooters, but limited for MMO gamers. Friedrich Stiemer The zone mode of the Asus ROG Harpe II Ace is activated via a shortcut using both side DPI buttons. The mouse will then automatically optimize all parameters for competition, turning off RGB lighting and pushing performance to the max. It’s a clever little shortcut for competitive players. Asus ROG Harpe II ACE: Software and configuration Instead of relying on the often-criticized Armoury Crate software, Asus uses the Gear Link web app. DPI levels, key assignments, and lighting can be adjusted directly in the browser, no installation required. The interface is clear, responsive, and works on any device. It saves system resources and makes everyday use simpler. The only downside? No onboard memory. Profiles aren’t stored permanently, so using the mouse on multiple PCs requires reloading the settings through the web interface. Friedrich Stiemer Asus ROG Harpe II ACE: Practice and performance In everyday use, the Asus ROG Harpe II Ace impresses with butter-soft tracking, lightning-fast responsiveness, and excellent control. In shooters such as Apex Legends or Call of Duty, the crosshairs remain stable even during hectic movements. The low weight noticeably reduces the strain on the wrist and forearm, which is ideal for long sessions. The mouse also performs well in office use, although the simple scroll wheel and limited buttons restrict the range of functions. The Bluetooth connection is stable, but competitive gamers will prefer the 2.4 GHz dongle. Asus ROG Harpe II ACE: Scope of delivery The Asus ROG Harpe II Ace comes with a flexible USB-C cable, a USB-C to USB-A adapter, replacement skates, high-quality grip tapes, and a set of stickers. Professionals are thus well equipped and gain extra grip. A carrying bag, however, would have perfectly rounded out the package, especially if you’re the type of person that travels a bunch. Friedrich Stiemer Read...