Microsoft Surface Book

Extending the Surface in a new direction

Since the first Surface launched a little over three years ago, Microsoft has aggressively pushed the 2-in-l concept — tablets that can replace your laptop thanks to an (optional) keyboard cover that lets you have your cake and eat it too.

The new Surface Book comes at things the other way and the fact that Microsoft calls this "the ultimate laptop" on its website is a fairly telling sign of where it's aiming — it’s very much a notebook first and a tablet second. And with a tough and slick-looking exterior that's hewn from the same matte-finish magnesium-

alloy as the Surface tablet line, an absolutely gorgeous 13.5-inch, super high-res (3,000 x 2,000-pixel) display, the new multi-nib Surface Pen, an optional Nvidia GPU for when the going gets tough and up to 12 hours battery life, it's certainly kitted out with a lot of neat, cutting-edge tech. So is this a natural extension of the Surface 2-in-1 concept, or a wrong turn into a dodgy cul-de-sac?

Microsoft Surface Pro 4

The Surface Pro 4 continues the family tradition and inches Microsoft's 2-in-1 closer to becoming the perfect tablet-laptop hybrid

The Surface revolution is one that got off to a pretty slow start. Microsoft's vision for a hybrid 2-in-1 tablet that can double as an ultra portable laptop has been in place since the first Surface launched back in 2012, but it wasn't really until last year's Surface Pro 3 that the design caught up with the ambition, where Microsoft really honed in on what it'd take to make its devices go from good to great.

NZXT HUE+

If you’re keen on lighting up your PC, you probably have a few sets of LED strips or cold cathodes in a drawer somewhere. The trouble is that as soon as you change PC cases or hardware, these lights invariably end up clashing with your new parts’ colours. Similarly, standalone kits usually have limited lighting functions. However, NZXT reckons it has the answer with an update to its HUE programmable lighting system, called the HUE+.

Vertagear Racing Series S-Line SL4000 Gaming Chair

Vertagear is new to the growing gaming chair market. With so many people dedicating hours of their free time to sitting in one place while immersed in a game, comfort and posture become more than just an afterthought. Although any good-quality office chair is usually sufficient for comfort, a gaming chair offers a little more, with a look and feel that complements some gaming genres, such as racing and flight simulators. Vertagear’s SL4000 sits in the middle of its range, with the SL5000 and SL2000 sitting on either side.

Media Studies

Antony Leather investigates the various options available for home media streaming, and looks at the ideal kit for building an HTPC

The home theatre PC (HTPC) was dealt a bit of a blow with the launch of Windows 10 – it no longer included Windows Media Center (WMC). In some ways, it’s a relief – Microsoft had never given Media Center the support it needed to thrive and the application was mainly reliant on third parties for features. Even at the end of its life, it wasn’t able to offer a complete experience, but it came pretty close.

The Stories Games Tell

How modern games are offering a whole new spin on narrative by Richard Cobbett

Many years ago, the very smart John Carmack said a very silly thing: "Story in a game is like a story in a porn movie. It’s expected to be there, but it’s not that important." That hasn't really been true since games set their sights higher than "save the princess" and "defeat the aliens." In recent years, though, story has been on the rise. The adventure and RPG genres have seen a resurgence, thanks to games like The Walking Dead and Dragon Age. In Mass Effect, give or take one terrible ending, BioWare created one of the finest interactive SF universes in any genre. From indie games to Tomb Raider to Grand Theft Auto, the modern industry badly wants to tell stories.

Razer Seiren Pro

The streamer’s dream mic?

Well, Well, Well, we may as well face it—streaming is here to stay. If you head over to Twitch, you’ll see thousands of streamers, companies, and YouTubers merrily selling their subscriptions and unadulterated content to the masses, open for all to see. Hell, we do it, so why shouldn’t you?

But what happens if you want to take that first plunge into the digital stream? Dipping your little toe into the icy waters of Internet fandom? Well, you need to get yourself a solid PC, ideally something with at least four cores, 16GB of RAM, and one or two meaty graphics units from your favorite team (green or red, we won’t judge).

Asus Maximus VIII Extreme

An extreme budget for an extreme board

Let’s be clear here. We understand not everyone is into overclocking. It can be a daunting, possibly bank-breaking pastime, with the potential to take your hardearned hardware and render it as useful as sunglasses in a thunderstorm. That being said, for those who are looking for the absolute pinnacle of Skylake mobos, those who want the very best overclocking potential, regardless of cost, the Asus Maximus Extreme series should be your first port of call.