The Future of the GPU

It could be the perfect time to upgrade your current graphics card, but what do you need to prepare for the GPU future?

The graphics card is the component most responsible for PC gaming performance. Above everything else in your PC. You could have the most powerful, £800 octo-core Haswell-E CPU in your rig, but if you’ve got a weedy GPU backing it up, you’re never going to be hitting the graphical heights that today’s PC games deserve.

The hidden cost of Windows 10

Barry Collins warns that you always end up paying, even for “free” OS upgrades

It wasn’t so long ago that Apple and Microsoft routinely got away with charging for upgrades to their operating systems. Now, the very idea of paying to update Windows or Mac OS X seems as ludicrous as making Wayne Rooney the poet laureate.

We’re all suckers for a freebie. As soon as an alert pops up informing us that there’s a new version of an OS for our phones, tablets or computers, we eagerly tap the ‘Update’ button... and then spend the next eight hours regretting it while swearing at slowmoving progress bars.

Best New Mapping Tools

We’d be lost these days without Google Maps, but there are plenty of other good mapping tools that offer features it lacks. Robert Irvine directs you to the best

Try the new and improved Bing Maps

Microsoft’s mapping service (www.bing.com/maps) has always been overshadowed by Google’s, but it recently relaunched with a much-improved design that makes it faster and easier to use. Bing Maps lets you switch instantly between road, aerial, birds-eye and street-level views; see real-time traffic information, including roadworks, closed lanes and accidents; save collections of your favourite places; and get accurate directions and journey times based on traffic and transport conditions. If you haven’t checked Bing Maps for a while, you’ll be pleasantly surprised.

The Great Windows 10 Swindle?

One month on from the launch of Windows 10, we expose the hidden costs that undermine the ‘free’ upgrade, reveal how to tweak its most annoying settings and explain how to fix common problems

From early indications, Windows 10 is looking like a success for Microsoft. The reviews have been mostly positive, users are reporting that the new operating system is fast and easy to use, and thus far there has been no sign of the major backlash that followed the arrival of Windows 8.

Smart mirrors

You can ask smart mirrors a lot more than if you’re the fairest of them all, such as if you may be unwell. David Crookes reflects on these innovative new devices

What is a smart mirror?

Smart mirrors go beyond simply showing your reflection as you groggily peer into them in the morning. Instead, they act as large screens that deliver useful, targeted information and even an analysis of your overall health. Their makers say they will revolutionise our daily routines and prompt us to take better care of ourselves.