LG 34UC97

Is very wide and slightly curved the new way ahead?

U ltra wide screen monitors take up a rather intimidating amount of desk real estate thanks to the 21:9 aspect ratio and the 34UC97 is definitely no exception. It’s a whopper of a thing, measuring just over 83cm wide and 47cm tall, but with great desk space comes great screen size. The bright 3440x1440 IPS screen is a beauty featuring high pixel density for extremely crisp images and is also slightly curved, making looking from one side of the screen to the other feel a little more natural than some of the flat ultra wide monitors on the market. The matte anti-glare finish is also a welcome feature, as there’s more than enough surface to catch the light.

Acer Chromebook 13

Solid performance and battery life make this Chromebook a very solid choice for mobile mavens.

T here’s a party going on and its name is Chromebook. Acer’s newest entry comes via the Chromebook 13 – a 13-inch portable that ticks a lot of boxes and won’t leave standing on the wall, idly by, at the Chromebook party.

The Chromebook 13’s body felt solid. Weighing in at 1.5kg, it’s well made with a solid feel. The plastic body is textured on the base so it’s not slippery if you’re carrying it without a case. The chiclet keyboard is comfortable to use and the large trackpad was accurate and responsive.

Inside Intel’s Broadwell architecture

Intel’s latest architecture forms the basis of its fastest, most power-efficient processors yet. Mike Bedford explores the technical tricks that provide us with ever-faster chips.

If you haven’t yet come across Broadwell, you soon will: it’s Intel’s codename for the technology that will power next year’s fifth-generation Core i3, i5 and i7 processors, as well as the new Core M series. According to Intel’s now famous “Tick-Tock” roadmap, it’s a “Tick” –  that is, a die shrink of ‚its ‚predecessor Haswell, from 22nm to 14nm.

In the grand scheme of things, a die shrink may not seem significant: if you’re looking for major new features, you’ll have to wait until the next “Tock”, expected late next‚ year in the form of the all-new Skylake core. With the ‚latest consumer devices, though, it’s increasingly the ‚case ‚that performance and features are less of an issue ‚than battery life – so improving efficiency is becoming more and‚ more important in CPUs.