HyperX Alloy FPS Mechanical Gaming Keyboard Release Date, Price and Specs – CNET

I’ve been using the new HyperX Alloy keyboard for a couple of weeks now. It sits in front of my monitor, turned at a slight angle to free up as much space as possible for the hand wielding my mouse. Nothing compares to range of motion for your mouse in first-person shooters.

None of this has made me any better at video games, but I’m told it’s how the pros do it. I thought that was good advice, listening to the pros. After all, that’s what Kingston did for the HyperX Alloy FPS keyboard.

The new Alloy keyboard, available now and retailing for AU$169 (not yet available in the US or UK, but that translates to around $130 or £100), was designed after talking to pros about how they play: Often on the go, bringing their own keyboards and mice, crammed onto whatever tiny desk they get allocated during the early brackets of an e-sports tournament.

There’s a mentality that gaming peripherals need to be big, mean and angular, only worth their weight in LED strips and chrome detailing. The HyperX Alloy couldn’t be further removed from that thinking, taking things back to base elements. It puts keys on a board, and it does it really, really well.

Dave Cheng/CNET

Specs

• 443mm by 130mm by 36mm (17.4 inches by 5.1 inches by 1.4 inches)
• 1049g (2.3 pounds)
• Steel frame
• 100 percent anti-ghosting
• Full NKey rollover functionalities
• USB charge port
• Coloured WASD keys
• Detachable braided cord and a mesh travel pouch
• Cherry MX Blue switches
• Red backlighting
• Game mode key

Checking items off the wishlist for things like portability, maximising desktop space, USB ports and even the types of switches used in the mechanical keys, Kingston, a company better known for its flash memory, has come out with a slim, slick mechanical keyboard for pros that even the violently amateurish like myself can appreciate.

Because luckily, those same requests make it an excellent keyboard for your average player too.

The slim keyboard alongside the travel pouch.

Dave Cheng/CNET

I can’t overstate how open my desk feels now, having replaced the Turtle Beach behemoth I’d been using with the slimmed down Alloy. I’m not admitting to bathing my mousepad in cold tea during a particularly tense shootout, but these things have been known to occur and the reclaimed desk space is a godsend. The Alloy is smaller even than the lightweight Dell number on my desk at work (yep, I measured).

It’s also a full keyboard with numpad, suspending the keys over a solid steel frame with no bezel to speak of. The design struck me as a little strange at first, with quite a bit of space between the keys and base, but the sleek, simple design won me over. The heavy base means that the keyboard won’t shift under even manic typing — the rubber feet usually do the heavy lifting on this front, but it’s nice to rest your hands on something that feels solid.

The mechanical switches (Cherry MX Blue, if you care about such things) are satisfyingly clicky and the tactile feedback on activation provided just the right amount of resistance for my fingers. I indulged, and swapped out my WASD and numbers 1 to 4 for the textured red keys included in the box. Just for that professional edge.

The HyperX Alloy uses MX Cherry Blue mechanical switches.

Dave Cheng/CNET

Little flourishes like the extra USB port for device charging on the rear and the game mode to disable your Windows key are excellent quality of life inclusions. The keyboard runs off a single braided plug-and-play cable, with an additional USB connector to power the charging port on the rear.

At the AU$169 price, it’s coming in well under what you’d pay for most mechanical keyboards from other gaming peripheral manufacturers. That’s because it avoids the bloat of features that you probably won’t ever use. Media controls are wrapped in function keys, rather than dedicated buttons. There’s only one USB port and no 3.5mm jack for your headphones. The Alloy is an exercise in minimalism. Kingston has built it to have the basics, and it built the Alloy very well.

Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 Release Date, Price and Specs – CNET

Xiaomi

Xiaomi found success with the Redmi Note 3, and it’s not deviating too much from there with its newly announced Note 4. Instead, the new 5.5-inch smartphone refines its predecessor’s metal body design with chamfered edges for a more premium look while incrementally improving its insides.

The Redmi Note 3 used a Qualcomm Snapdragon 650 processor, but Xiaomi here has decided to go with Qualcomm’s rival MediaTek. The Note 4 packs a deca-core Helios X20 processor, which should be zippy, especially for a budget phone. The battery of the device gets a slight bump from 4,000mAh to 4,100mAh, though the camera drops a few megapixels from 16 to 13. It also runs Xiaomi’s latest Android-based MIUI 8 skin.

The Note 4 will retail in China for a mere 899 yuan ($135, £100 and AU$175) for the version packing 2GB RAM and 16GB of onboard storage. A slightly more powerful variant, with 3GB RAM and 32GB of storage, will sell for 1,199 yuan (approximately $180, £135 and AU$235).

While it is currently China only, expect the phone to launch in other markets soon, particularly India, where Xiaomi hopes the Redmi Note 4 will do as well as its predecessor.

Key specs

• MediaTek 10-core Helio X20 processor
• 5.5-inch full HD 1,920×1,080-pixel display
• 4,100mAh battery
• Rear fingerprint sensor
• 4G dual-SIM

Origin PC Millennium (2016) review – CNET

The Good There’s plenty of room for two of Nvidia’s latest GeForce 1080 graphics cards in this smartly designed custom case. Configuration options are vast, and customer support is excellent.

The Bad While many gaming desktops are getting smaller, this is still a huge tower that will eat up a ton of space. Building a rig like the one we tested is very, very expensive.

The Bottom Line This expensive build of the Origin PC Millennium is overkill for even most VR gamers, but the component selection, tuning and hands-on support are top-of-the-line.

Visit manufacturer site for details.

The last time we looked at the Origin PC Millennium was a couple of years ago, just when the idea of 4K gaming was starting to take hold. Driven by higher-end graphics cards, in that case the then-new Nvidia GeForce GTX 980, desktops were still a much better way to play high-end PC games at high resolutions, and by a fairly wide margin.

Since then, gaming laptops have closed the gap considerably, with decent mobile GPUs playing games easily in full HD and even in many cases, at higher resolutions like 4K. It looked as if the traditional gaming desktop was on its way to being an anachronism, until virtual reality came along and dropped a shocking high-end list of required specs (including desktop-only components) in our laps.

View full gallery Sarah Tew/CNET

Gaming notebooks are again starting to catch up, and a small handful of bulky models have desktop GPUs crammed inside (including the excellent Origin PC Eon17-SLX), and there’s a generation of laptops coming soon with the new mobile Nvidia 1070 and 1080 chips that promise VR compatibility in slim packages.

Still, for the time being the best VR and high-end PC game experiences come from a desktop, and among the most flexible, most powerful (and in the case of this no-limits configuration, most expensive) is the Origin PC Millennium. (You can also compare the Millennium with other Nvidia 1080 VR-ready desktops in this roundup.)

The custom desktop case hasn’t changed since we last tested a Millennium, but that’s because it was a rare beast to begin with — a desktop PC case designed from scratch for a boutique PC builder. Most desktop and laptop gaming systems built by smaller, boutique companies are essentially high-end parts inside generic off-the-shelf cases, which is a shame in some ways, as these designs often don’t reflect the high prices and attention to detail found inside.

But, the Millennium is built into a custom midtower desktop chassis, designed by Origin PC, and its unique configuration allows it to work in both ATX and inverted ATX positions, plus you can rotate its motherboard and components by 90 degrees, giving you a total of four starting shapes, which is useful for tweaking heat management and fitting in extra components.

View full gallery Sarah Tew/CNET

Configuring a Millennium from scratch starts at around $1,900 in the US, but adding high-end parts, such as the Intel Core i7-6950X processor used here, or a couple of Nvidia GeForce 1080 graphics cards, can drive up the price quickly. Our test system also included overclocked components, a big 512GB solid-state drive (SSD) and 3TB of hard-drive space, which added up to $6,050. Note that component prices and availability can shift, so the exact price may be different depending on when you look.

Origin PC has an Australian site, and the closest available configuration there comes out to AU$9,049. For the UK, the company can provide a custom quote (the US price converts to about £4,570, but the UK price may differ), which may include a hefty shipping fee.

Logitech M320 review – CNET

The Good The curved ergonomics and double-wide scroll wheel make the dirt-cheap Logitech M320 mouse a pleasure to use with any OS while you’re on the go. Its basic button layout relieves your fingers from the strain of a stylus or touchpad and it operates for two years on a single AA battery.

The Bad The rubberized thumb rest on the left side means it’s only useful for right-handed mousers.

The Bottom Line The Logitech M320’s featherweight design, double-wide scroll wheel and supremely smooth optical sensor make it a worthy — and ultra-affordable — travel mouse.

Logitech is easily my go-to brand of PC accessories for the simple fact that it has the biggest selection of shapes, sizes and designs. But if you’re not a die-hard researcher like me or just don’t feel like poring over the 22 different mice on the Web site to find the right pick, you’ve come to the right place.

The Logitech M320 is one of the company’s most basic wireless mouse models, listing for $30 but available online (in the US, at least) for less than half that: $12.99. (In the UK, the price delta is smaller: £30 list and £25 online. The M320 doesn’t appear to be officially available in Australia, but Aussies can opt for the very similar M280 for AU$30 list.) Don’t let the budget price fool you, however: Its featherweight design, double-wide scroll wheel and supremely precise optical sensor make this a trustworthy addition to your mobile workstation.

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Palm-size portability and smooth scrolling make the Logitech M320 mouse a great travel partner.

Sarah Tew/CNET

The M320 looks ambidextrous but the left side actually has a slightly wider rubberized thumb rest, so left-handed users should consider the company’s wireless M310 mouse instead.

PowerVision PowerEgg Release Date, Price and Specs – CNET

It’s very difficult to say “PowerEgg” and not smile or giggle, and that’s sort of the point.

Robotics company PowerVision was looking for a drone design that is friendly and approachable and not intimidating to anyone — and the result is the PowerEgg. When closed up, it looks like a giant shiny white egg, roughly the size of a rugby ball. Press a button to drop its legs, pull up each of its four propeller arms and it’s transformed into, well, a flying egg. A 4.6-pound (2 kg) one at that.

Under a cap on the bottom is the PowerEgg’s 4K-resolution camera on a 3-axis motorized gimbal that, once flying, is completely unobstructed and can rotate 360 degrees. The quad’s visual positioning system is then also uncovered, to assist with indoor flying up to 13 feet (4 m) above the ground.

PowerVision PowerEgg is not your ordinary…
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When flying outside, the drone relies on GPS to keep it stable and to assist with a handful of automated shooting modes. Included are a Follow Me mode that tracks the moves of the controller, another that orbits a subject, one for waypoint navigation and one for selfies.

Those things aren’t unique to the PowerEgg, but the drone’s controller is. PowerVision made it modular by breaking out the flight processor and base station into a separate unit. Bundled with the quadcopter is a fairly typical gaming-style two-stick controller as well as the one-handed, gesture-based PowerEgg Maestro. The Maestro basically lets you point to where you want the drone to fly and it follows.

The Maestro controller lets you use gestures to guide the PowerEgg where you want it to fly.

Joshua Goldman/CNET

The drone is capable of delivering real-time video transmission up to 3.1 miles (5 km) to a smartphone or tablet (Android or iOS). The battery, which loads vertically in the top, has a maximum flight time of approximately 23 minutes, which is disappointing but understandable given the drone’s weight and size.

The PowerEgg can be ordered now for $1,288 (approximately AU$1,700 or £975) through the PowerVision site, but won’t ship till October. That price gets you the drone, the Maestro and two-stick controllers, a battery, a charger and a light-up base station that does nothing more than display your PowerEgg. If you order before the end of September you get a backpack for everything, too.

We did see the PowerEgg in action, and it did manage to take off and land on its own and fly around a loft space if nothing else. We didn’t get to see any video off the camera, so I can’t say what the quality is like. Or how it will behave outside. The price seems too high to me, given how much competition is out there. However, it does offer a couple interesting features, such as its rotating camera and modular controller, and a distinctive design that is made for travel and starting conversations.

Revel F36 review – CNET

The Good The Revel F36 is a 21st century audiophile tower with oodles of detail and resolution, and a broad, yet clearly focused soundstage.

The Bad It’s a big and imposing design. The speaker’s revealing nature exposes poor recordings.

The Bottom Line The Revel Concerta2 F36 floorstander is a beautifully-made speaker which makes great sounding recordings shine.

For going on 20 years Revel has been one of the most respected American speaker companies, finding favor with audiophiles and recording industry pros. The company’s selection currently includes a number of high-end towers, such as the Salon2 and Studio2, starting at $16,000 per pair.

The F36 tower is much more affordable at $2,000, £1,995, AU$3,395 per pair, and it sounds great for the price. It’s an ideal choice for audiophiles craving more resolution and dynamic range scale than you’ll get from smaller and less expensive models.

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The Revel Concerta2 F36 is a hi-fi speaker which offers a 2.5-way design and revealing sound quality.

Sarah Tew/CNET

The F36s we reviewed here — decked out in impeccable, high-gloss white — are big boys. They would probably seem a little smaller in black gloss, the other available finish.

2016 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon Unlimited review – Roadshow

The Good The 2016 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon Unlimited is an excellent off-road vehicle. It has all the mechanical goodies to make your dreams of dirt adventure come true.

The Bad You’ll have to suffer when driving on the pavement. Sure, the road noise and floaty drive may be part of the Wrangler’s charm…but only for the first few hundred miles. The infotainment system is merely average, offering outdated Garmin maps and no backup camera.

The Bottom Line The Wrangler Rubicon lets drivers take on whatever endeavor they choose, but they may pay for it in on-road comfort and media connectivity.

I stopped the 2016 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon at the bottom of the rock pile. Ahead of me were boulders the size of laundry baskets stacked pell-mell on top of each other. I got out to scout, mentally taking a picture of where I would place each wheel as I climbed the hill. Satisfied, I buckled in, put the Jeep into 4L, locked my front and rear differentials and started rock crawling.

The Jeep has quite a history in the United States. Some even say we would all be speaking German if it weren’t for the trusty little four-wheeler. While I’m not one to judge geopolitical events, I will say that the Jeep is as American as Mom and apple pie, eliciting feelings of freedom and independence as no other vehicle can.

Nick Miotke/Roadshow

The Wrangler is the SUV you want in the event of a zombie apocalypse. Even the base Sport is capable in its own right. But you, dear Roadshow readers, are not base kind of folk. You are Unlimited Rubicon folk, the top dawg of 4x4s. With four doors, hence the Unlimited nomenclature, and all the off-road bells and whistles, the Unlimited Rubicon Wrangler is made for getting you into nature, and out of trouble.

Nick Miotke/Roadshow

Powered by a 3.6-liter V6 engine, the Wrangler makes 285 horsepower and 260 pound-feet of torque. A six-speed manual transmission is standard but my tester came with the five-speed automatic. Word on the street is that a diesel, already available in Europe, is in the works for 2017 as well as an eight-speed automatic transmission, but that’s straight out of the rumor mill.

Still, this gas-powered dirt genius gets all the off-road goodies a wheeler could want. Dana 44 heavy-duty front and rear locking axles, disconnecting front sway bar, 10 inches of ground clearance; all are essential to getting to the top of the rock pile, but the keys are the 4:1 low gearing and the 4.10 axle ratio. Sure, the axle ratio will cost you about $700, but it puts more torque to each wheel. When paired with the super-low gearing it’s possible to crawl over weighty obstacles with low speed and greater control.

Unfortunately, all the axle ratios in the world won’t help you if you pick the wrong line. I was halfway up the rock pile before I realized I’d put myself in a precarious situation. The BF Goodrich KO2 tires were trying their damnedest, but I’d gotten a rear wheel up in the air and the rocks were too slick for the remaining three tires to get a purchase. I looked out the door (because of course I had taken the doors off) and realized I was off my intended mark. Had I placed my front driver tire just 2 inches to the left, I would have been OK. As it was, I had no choice but to build a bridge under my open tire with my Maxtrax recovery boards and reverse out of it.

A few bangs and crashes to the skid plates later and I was at the bottom of the rock pile, the Jeep no worse for the wear. My ego, however, was crushed.

Still, there were plenty of obstacles to conquer at The Mounds Off Road Vehicle Park about an hour and a half outside of Detroit, all of which the Jeep, and more importantly the driver, did without a problem. Steep and sandy hills were easy. An approach angle of 42.2 degrees meant I could hit precipitous inclines with speed and not worry about hitting the steel front bumper. Coming over sharp crests is easy with a 21.2-degree breakover angle, and add 4 more degrees to that spec with the standard, two-door Wrangler Rubicon. Coming down a steep face can be done the old-school way, in 4L or with the hill-descent control feature. Don’t worry about the rear steel bumper scraping, as the Rubicon has a departure angle of 32.5 degrees.