Laptops/PCs/Apple

Chromebooks have been a Windows alternative for a while and dependant on the tasks you want to carry out can be all you need. Certainly you would not get a Windows touch panel unit for anywhere near the price of this Chromebook offering.

This 27inch QHD Philips monitor, model 272B7QUBHEB, has been designed to provide high performance and to incorporate a range of features such as USB-C docking which are aimed at improving ease of use and enhancing business productivity.

While some Tower and Desktop systems still have 5.25 inch drive bays I have recently seen some who only support 2.5 inch bays rather the norm of 3.5 inch bays. So this latest offering from Toshiba is most likely to be used in a NAS (network attached storage) solution.

This 24inch touch panel can be used as any other panel landscape when vertical but also at any point through 90 degrees of tilt till it is landscape horizontal and with its always attached stand it remains totally stable in any position.

Recently my review of an 8th Generation Kindle was published and it was something I had not seen for a number of versions. Here another such items a Fire Tablet which I see – over the years - I had tried three previous versions, now it comes with Alexa built in so it is possible to talk to your Tablet. So what exactly has been happening with the Fire Tablet recently?

This is a small but extremely powerful tower system. Acer does a number of different versions under the same name and model number both with and without an SSD drive, it also has various Intel and AMD processors so do think about all this prior to selecting where to purchase it from as certain models like this one are only available from two outlets.

Raspberry Pi has launched its 4th generation model which is significantly faster and more capable than any of the existing products.

The Philips 222B9T 21.5 inch 1920 x1080 touch screen monitor with its 16:9 aspect ratio has been built to the IP54 environmental standard for dust and water protection so it can be used in more arduous situations for point-of-sale (PoS), information kiosks or workshop applications rather than just in the office.

This panel could answer all your viewing requirements. It’s big enough to watch a film comfortably and its range of connections work for a PC or a Notebook/Tablet and even your phone as it even has a USB ‘C’ connection. I used it in HD and a range of other screen sizes up to 4K and it can work in both landscape and portrait modes.

Finding a small tower is not easy, Dell describe this as a ‘Small Form Factor Workstation’. I was asked to find a sub £600 small Tower. This however does not actually fill the request but it is a very powerful system that would do everything you need. On the face of it the price is only just over that figure but as it’s sold as a business unit VAT has to be added.

When looking for a portable computer that will not take up too much room in your luggage, this next product might fit the bill.

Size matters and here this is a small tower that can deliver as much as most large towers except of course take up far less desk space. So if you need expansion then this unit can give it as there are three slots although one is occupied in the setup sent to me by the graphics card. So what has Acer squeezed into this small format desktop tower.

This flat panel from Dell ticks a lot of boxes it can be viewed Landscape or Portrait, you can connect to it via Display Port, HDMI or USB ‘C’ and it also has USB ports, and for good measure a screen that does take up unnecessary space.

External hard drives used to be large and also require external power now not only are they powered by the USB lead they are also very capacious and often far larger than the hard disc of the PC that they are often connected to.

Having the ability to display four screens at once is possible for all users of this panel and while technically you could do the same manually with a 1920x1080 display I am not sure how long most people’s eyes would last and indeed how much you could see with it. Here however once used to the AOC software moving things is a breeze.

Last year Dell showed their new rugged range in London and as spring dawns one of their offerings arrives for me to give it the once over. Of course it will be in my office and the around surroundings and not as the early sample was in far flung places with very inhospitable conditions when things like battery life were truly life challenging.

The Philips 27 inch monitor 273V7Q is a no frills basic 1920 x 1080 unit offering reasonable performance and so will meet the needs of many users who want to keep their eyes on their budget.

A powerful Windows 10 notebook for those who still need all the connections yes it even has Ethernet. So suitable for both work and dare I say the word PLAY. This is a solidly constructed offering that may even reduce the need for so many visits to the gym.

A large curved panel is often the solution that may just get a panel to fit a smaller space as the curve allows slightly more to be shown in a smaller desk area. First however your eyes need to discount the fact that the curve is there.

This is a compact panel that will turn your PC into a touch PC. Windows 10 was always marketed with the strap line of ‘made for touch’ and while a good number of notebooks have touch built in a far smaller number of Desktop offerings have that ability supplied as standard.

A 34inch curved panel is large and probably larger than most TV’s of a couple of years ago. However the 3440x1440 display makes it a joy to look at. It supports two screens in side by side display using PeP or the second screen top right with PiP.

This is one of the Predator gaming range, most of which are big heavy powerful notebooks, this is slightly different in that it is a big heavy Tower system, it has a rather unusual configuration of external connections in the supplied unit.

Not everyone can afford all the bells and whistles available from top of the range panels, so here a basic offering that still offers a good sharp image and it is of course flicker free to give an excellent panel available at a budget price.

While a 1TB hard drive for a decent desktop machine is now the norm larger drives are available and as the size of the machine gets smaller a second drive bay gets rarer so having multiple partitions may be the way to go with a single larger drive. However with Windows making the formatting of anything over 2TB more difficult this 8TB offering may be more for those with more specialised uses.

One of the latest batch of notebooks to come on the market from Acer and not only is it powerful but has the absolutely latest version of Windows 10 that is V1809. Another of the recent inclusions is just USB ‘C’ ports on the unit. However for those that still need standard USB2 and USB3 an adapter unit is supplied in the box to attach.

The 27P1 is AOC’s universal 27 inch business monitor. It has the features and facilities that businesses want today and, at the same time, can still be used as a replacement for legacy monitors.

A lot of devices say ‘fast charge’ however fast charge will never be achieved by plugging the device into a USB port on a PC or even a wall socket unless you have a special plug capable of getting more power to your device which means higher power.

While a NAS has long been something for larger organisations and even smaller companies it now has a place for the SOHO or even the Home user as Synology have recently launched a single bay NAS and also Seagate have launched a drive designed for NAS use so a recent visit to London had me finding my way around the chaos at Euston caused by Crossrail for the construction of the Elizabeth line.

Stated to be capable of copying 8K video as captured according to the box. I can certainly confirm capture of 4K video without any problem on two separate devices. It is an SDHC UHS-II Card, mine was 32GB but they do other capacities.

This is a large curved computer panel which can show up to 2160x1440. So if your room can support such a large screen then you will get reasonable sound, great images and once you get used to the curve a more than satisfactory viewing experience.