Borderlands 2 (for PlayStation Vita)

Pros It's unabashedly gun crazy. Same content as all the other versions, complete with DLC.

Cons Repetitive gameplay. Choppy frame rate. Glitchy enemies. Illegible text. Terrible reliance on rear touchpad. Only two-player online co-op. No PC cross-save. Bottom Line Borderlands 2 for Vita is packed with content, but it lacks everything else in this ill-conceived port. You're better off playing this FPS/RPG hybrid on your PC or console.

By Timothy Torres

Yet another port lands on Sony's PlayStation Vita. This time it's Borderlands 2, a game that's been available on PC, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3 for a couple of years now. A hybrid of the first-person shooter and RPG genres, Borderlands 2 casts you as a Vault Hunter on the planet Pandora. Basically, you're a treasure hunter, and the place is littered with boxes, lockers, and nooks where you find guns. Lots and lots of guns. The aim of the game is to collect all this "loot," upgrade your character, and shoot your way through psychos and madmen.

But you won't want to do that on this poorly optimized, ill-conceived port. It's commendable that Iron Galaxy managed to squeeze all the content of Borderlands 2, including its expansion campaigns and two DLC characters, into a portable version, but it did so at the expense of the visuals, the controls, and the co-operative multiplayer. Instead of four-player online co-op, you can only play two, and that's if you're lucky enough to connect to Sony's finicky PlayStation Network. Otherwise, you're on your own and that's not the ideal way to get through this repetitive grind. 

All Loot, No Bite
Port or no, Borderlands 2 gets tiresome, as it doesn't excel at either of the genres it combines. The quest system, the majority of the game, is a chore. Talking to one character after another, fulfilling a task, and then going back and forth across bland environments to collect the rewards becomes tedious. The quests are rarely anything other than fetch quests and janitor work. Clean the area of these monsters. Clean the area of these gangsters. Go to this waypoint. Get to that waypoint. And so on. Sometimes the rewards are worthwhile, like a decent sniper rifle, but usually the prizes are like the points on Whose Line Is It Anyway. They don't matter. The same goes for the contents of the never-ending parade of loot boxes. There are dozens upon dozens of guns to find, but they share similar, negligible stats. It's not rewarding, and you're limited to carrying just two at a time, so trying them all is out of the question.

There's some satisfaction in the simple shooting part of the game. Enemies blow up in bright gobs of red, and tiny numbers indicating their lost hit points pop out when you pop them off. That's pleasant. Otherwise, weapons feel weak and unsatisfying, and foes display little to no intelligence. Most bouts involve running backwards from bad guys that rush you, and rushing at enemies that run away from you. That's about the extent of the game's AI and battle strategy. And you don't even have to fight some bosses. Quit the game mid-fight, and some bosses will have disappeared when you load the game back up. In my testing, one boss even got trapped in an animation loop, which made it a breeze to beat. Simply sitting in a corner and taking potshots ended another fray.

When you're not shooting, and sometimes even when you are, you're listening to characters spout inane dialogue. Characters range from merely tolerable to downright annoying, and the writing never rises above its reliance on outdated memes and pop culture references for laughs. Entire quests revolve around them. Hey, remember the Ninja Turtles?

A First-Person Shooter on a Portable?
The Vita wasn't meant to run first-person shooters, at least not with Borderlands 2-style controls. Aiming, or simply looking, can be a challenge. Turning around takes far too long, especially in the midst of battle as a giant four-armed ape is trouncing your head. You can adjust the sensitivity of the X- and Y-axis, but, even then, precision aiming with the tiny sticks is nigh impossible. This port tries to alleviate the problem by bring the Vita's gyroscope motion sensor into the mix. By holding the L button to look down a weapon's sight, you can move the Vita around to aim, but it's still imprecise. There's always a little lag between your movements and the in-game crosshair focusing.

To make matters far worse, Borderlands 2 for Vita uses the rear touchpad, which means lots of accidental grenade throws, melee attacks, sprints, or whatever's mapped to it. It's possible to remap the controls, including the rear and front touchpads, but it's not possible to turn off either touchpad. You have to map something to the awkward rear pad, thus dooming two abilities to continual accidental use due to the rear pad's awful sensitivity. That basically renders two actions worthless, which is a big blow to gameplay.

Graphics Aren't Everything, But...
When traversing Pandora, the world often sputters and flips out, the frame rate skips completely, and  you find yourself facing a wall when you don't want to. The game rarely ever goes near the 30 frames per second range. In fact, Borderlands 2 seems most comfortable around 10 frames per second, which makes gameplay an even bigger chore than it already is. To add to the annoyance, textures on the wall flicker and blip in and out of existence. The tiny text, with letters maybe three pixels wide, strains the eyes to the point where a magnifying glass is almost necessary. Colors appear darker and duller than they should—a waste of the Vita's beautiful screen. And the HUD is so small as to be useless.

The sound lags, too. Dialogue text will appear on screen and scroll by with the accompanying audio kicking in seconds too late. Sometimes there's no audio at all. Menus have a tendency to lag, with many selections slowing down to a crawl. And finally, there is cross-save support for the PlayStation 3 version, but no such luck for PC players.

Buy It on Steam Instead
If this version had come out alongside the original release of Borderlands 2 it might have had a reason for existing, but releasing it now, when everyone has already played it on other platforms, is just baffling. It also does nothing for the Sony's vision of the Vita as a handheld capable of delivering the full console experience. If you want the full Borderlands 2 experience, you're better off buying the console or PC versions. The Vita version may be great for that extremely forgiving Vault Hunter who just can't live without a loot fix on the bus or the plane, but that's about it. 

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Adobe Ink and Slide

Pros Beautiful color and texture replication. Free, intuitive, and well-designed apps. Slide digital ruler. Compatibility with Adobe ecosystem.

Cons Pricey. Ink is not very accurate at times. Just like true art and design, it takes some practice. Bottom Line In unison with the Sketch and Line apps, Adobe's Ink and Slide hardware can help anyone produce art and design work on an iPad without professional training.

By Antonio Villas-Boas

Raise your hand if you've ever seen Adobe branding on a product you can physically touch. Trick question: All hands should be down. For its first piece of hardware, Adobe has created a smart stylus called Ink and a digital ruler called Slide, which cost $199.99 together and connect to an iPad (4th generation), iPad Air, iPad mini, or iPad mini with Retina Display. The intention is to help anyone draw or design without needing lots of experience with Adobe's Sketch and Line apps. Artists and professionals could find it a handy portable work platform, too. It receives our Editors' Choice award for being a well-designed and integrated hardware and software solution, all while connecting with Adobe's ecosystem and Creative Cloud.

Design and Features
So what does Adobe's first crack at hardware look like? The company partnered with Adonit to manufacture the Ink, which it claims is machined by sheer water pressure into a sleek, slightly warped triangular design that fits any pen-holding style. We've tested many iPad styli, including Adonit's own (and our Editors' Choice) Jot Touch, and the Ink compares well; it's light and comfortable to hold. The Ink has a smooth aluminum finish, with small, white plastic accents at the top and towards the tip of the pen. A lone button breaks the Ink's smooth surface on the bottom half of the pen, which turns it on or off and connects it to your iPad, and brings up a menu in the Adobe Sketch app for quick adjustments and cloud saving or sharing. 

What helps set apart Adobe's entry into the digital pen market is the Slide ruler, which looks like a tiny landline phone. It shares the same smooth aluminum and white plastic finishes as its Ink counterpart. When you place it onto an iPad, two straight guide lines appear automatically on either side of the Slide, which lets you draw perfect lines, even if you try to draw a wavy line. Slide's smooth top surface is also interrupted by a single button that lets you cycle through different shapes and templates.

The Ink connects to the iPad via Bluetooth 4.0, and once paired using the Sketch and Line apps (not in iOS settings), subsequent connections are seamless. You'll need to power the Ink up to use it, as the iPad won't register the tip without being connected. The Slide is capacitive, though, and doesn't need to be powered up or connected at all.

In the box you'll find the Ink stylus, the Slide digital ruler, a white plastic case for the Ink, a lid for the case that doubles as a charger, and a micro USB cable. 

Adobe Apps and Performance
Powered by social design community Behance, Sketch is a socially connected sketching tool that includes pencil, thin and thick markers, and thin brush options. Adobe's Line app is designed for more accurate and polished results, and has far more options, including 2H and HB pencil effects, along with .25mm and .50mm marker pens, a thin brush, and a thick marker. You also get a 3D visualizing tool that helps with drawing 3D spaces or objects.

One of Line's best features is Line Snapping, which helps you connect lines to other points of your work. Additionally, Line has stamp packs that let you imprint objects, including shapes, nature, people, and furniture, as well as comic book and user interface templates onto whatever you're drawing. It's possible to use other design and drawing apps with the Ink, but you won't get Adobe's additional functionality. The Slide digital ruler won't work in other apps, either.

Colors and instruments are beautifully replicated, and Adobe uses Adonit's Pixelpoint technology for life-like pressure sensitivity. However, it's a little difficult to master; lines made with the .25 and .50 mm markers will always begin with a blob, as if I was applying a lot of pressure from the moment I placed the Ink's tip onto the iPad screen, even though I didn't want to create that effect.

To help make the drawing experience as close to your personal style as possible, you can adjust Palm Preference in the Sketch and Line apps, which is meant to adjust where on the iPad's screen the Ink's tip will draw according to how you normally hold your real pen to paper. But the tip is quite thick, which makes it more difficult to gauge exactly where a line would be drawn. For example, coloring in tight spaces often led to colors bleeding outside the lines, but those who have used Adonit pens before will be familiar with the tip. Additionally, spinning the iPad around to draw at a different angle as I would with real paper caused havoc with the Ink's accuracy, so there's still a considerable learning curve.

You can also enable Palm Rejection to prevent your palm from intruding into your work. But this didn't work all that well, as lines would be drawn where my palm was resting. If you normally lay your palm on the surface you draw on, you may need to make some re-adjustments to your style when using the Ink and Slide on apps. Hopefully Adobe will take notice and roll out software updates to amend this issue.

Conclusion
It doesn't replace innate talent or years of training, but combined with the Sketch and Line apps, Adobe's Ink and Slide can provide non-artists and non-designers the ability to create something they otherwise might not even attempt. And professionals might find it useful for light work when their usual tools are out of reach. Some practice is needed to get used to Ink's and Slide's occasional quirkiness, but once you get closer to mastering Adobe's hardware, the results can be excellent. 

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TripCase (for iPhone)

Pros Creates travel itineraries based on email confirmations you forward. Clean interface. Great features. Free.

Cons No automatic email import. Mapped directions use Apple Maps as default and gave wrong information in one test. Bottom Line TripCase creates clean, streamlined itineraries of your upcoming trips by consolidating travel-confirmation emails that you forward to it. It's not as "auto-magic" as TripIt Pro, and the maps didn't consistently provide correct information in our tests, but the interface is great, and it's completely free.

By Jill Duffy

Travel-confirmation emails always contain way more information than you actually need to get out the door and to the airport on time. In terms of staying organized, they can sometimes be more hindrance than help.  And if you have two or three items on your agenda—forget about it. Mobile app TripCase (for iPhone and Android; there's a Web app, too) does 90 percent of the necessary culling and sorting work for you. The TripCase iPhone app (free), which is the focus of this review, presents you with a clear overview of your trip listed in chronological order, with flight information, hotel addresses, car rental reservation numbers, and more—but not too much more. It cuts the junk from those confirmation emails to show you only what's pertinent.

How does it give that information in the first place, you ask? After you set up a free TripCase account, you forward travel confirmation emails to trips@tripcase.com, and the service pulls and collates the pertinent information.

TripCase has one huge competitor: TripIt. The two services are very similar with two exceptions. First, TripIt only has a limited, free app, and you'll need a Pro account ($49 per year) to get the best experience, whereas TripCase is free all around. Second, you can give TripIt access to go right into your email and get your travel details without you having to do a thing. It "auto-magically" finds and extracts details from confirmation emails. With TripCase, you have to forward the emails into the system. TripIt's approach is good if you're forgetful, but perhaps worrisome if you're concerned about security and don't want yet another service poking around your inbox.

In what it does with the information it gets, TripCase is exceedingly similar to TripIt, but I prefer TripCase's interface. Plus, TripIt has many features that are locked behind the Pro pay wall, whereas TripCase is entirely free.

TripCase in Action
I used TripCase on a recent trip to southern California. After setting up an account—which in part involves telling TripCase which email addresses you'll use when forwarding travel confirmations, and confirming those addresses—I sent along a few confirmations I already had on hand to trips@tripcase.com.

Within minutes, I had a trip set up. Using a combination of the iPhone app and the TripCase website, I went through the itinerary that TripCase built to check for accuracy. The flight information was spot on, but I had to make a few adjustments to some details, as you'll see next.

TripCase lays out your itinerary in chronological order. One minor problem is that default times (such as hotel check-in) can throw an item into the wrong place. If my flight doesn't land until 4 p.m., but the hotel check-in time is set at 2 p.m., it will appear as if I need to check in before I land. Correcting the information is simple enough, however. You always have manual control over the details. Still, I wish the system were a little smarter and could catch that kind of thing on its own and maybe offer to fix it for me. TripIt, I should mention, suffers exactly the same nuisance and has the same manual tools for correcting it.

The day of my trip, TripCase sent me a number of push notifications letting me know my flights were on time, the length of my layover, and whether there were any gate or terminal changes. The push notifications can be a bit much, although I had the same experience with TripIt Pro. With both apps, I highly recommend adjusting the smartphone push notifications and email notifications to your tolerance level. They can quickly become overwhelming.

Those real-time flight alerts are by far the most valuable feature, in my opinion, that TripCase has to offer. TripIt also includes them, but only if you're a paying TripIt Pro member. If you want those alerts, and a few other perks, such as the ability to locate alternate flights or find out when a better seat is available in TripIt, you need to pay.

TripCase gives you that stuff for free and makes its money through tasteful and context-sensitive advertisements. The ads appear right in the app, not as pop-ups or overlays, and offer services such as parking at nearby airports. Surprisingly, the ads don't feel spammy or annoying. TripCase is one ad-supported app I can get behind.

From an information perspective, TripIt and TripCase use the same raw data from Sabre, so it should be impossible to get correct information from one and not the other. In my experience with both apps, I was downright impressed at how fast that information was delivered. I learned of delays, both major and minor, and gate changes sometimes before the airport even announced them.

Head-to-head, TripCase and TripIt both fall short with their mapping capabilities, but I had a worse experience with TripCase. TripIt could have smarter mobile maps, yes, but TripCase gave me flat-out wrong information. It tried to send me to Woodston, Kansas, to pick up a rental car that was actually just outside the San Diego airport. At least the error was obvious enough that I didn't follow it, and I haven't seen any other bad addresses before or since. Maybe it was a fluke. In any event, when you ask TripCase to give you directions, it uses Apple Maps. I wish the app had an option to use Google Maps as the default. If you do use TripCase, I recommend avoiding the directions feature and instead using Google Maps when you need directions to your destination.

Seeing as TripCase and TripIt Pro are so similar, the main differentiators are price and design. TripCase, being both free and well-designed, wins on both those fronts. I find the fonts easier to read. I like that TripCase lets me see either a timeline or a swipeable card view of all the items on my itinerary. TripIt isn't bad, but side by side, it looks more cluttered.

TripCase For Free
For its free flight information updates and clear overview of your travel itinerary, I highly recommend TripCase. The interface looks nicer than TripIt's, and the information populating both apps is the same. The only advantage of TripIt is that it automatically pulls information from your emails, whereas TripCase requires you to forward email confirmations manually. If that's worth $49 per year, then you'll appreciate TripIt Pro more than TripCase. Paying for a TripIt Pro account could be worthwhile if your employer or organization uses other compatible solutions from Concur (such as expense reporting) that integrate with TripIt.

That said, neither TripIt nor TripCase turned out to be foolproof in my real-world testing, and thus PCMag does not have an Editors' Choice app in this category. In the end, both TripCase for iPhone and TripIt for iPhone score an equal four out of five—a high score for solving a lot of a traveler's organizational problems, but one that leaves room for growth.

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Mazda Connect

Pros First rotary controller in the compact car segment. Touch-screen interface. Voice activation.

Cons Overly complex menu structures. Key settings buried in submenus. Touch-screen eyesore. Bottom Line The Mazda3's Mazda Connect interface is burdened by its everything-but-the-kitchen sink approach.

By Doug Newcomb

Like it or not, the rotary controller as the primary means of accessing infotainment functions has become a de facto standard of sorts—at least in many luxury vehicles. Since the debut of BMW's iDrive in 2001, a large, round main controller in the center console paired with an in-dash screen has been adopted by German luxury rivals Audi and Mercedes-Benz, as well as Infiniti.

Mazda was the first mainstream automaker (not counting Hyundai, although only in its Genesis and Equus luxury models) to copy the rotary controller concept for the Mazda6. The 2014 Mazda3 s Grand Touring we recently tested has a similar setup, although its new Mazda Connect infotainment system has a different interface and also offers several new features.

And while incorporating this type of controller—as well as adding a head-up display (HUD) and several cutting-edge driver assist features—is a huge leap forward for Mazda, like BMW's early iDrive it gets bogged down by trying to do too much and requires the driver to drill down too far into submenus for simple tasks.

Overview and Mazda Connect Commander
The Mazda Connect infotainment interface consists of the center-console Commander controller that can be moved forward and back, left and right, or turned clockwise or counter-clockwise to access menu items on the 7-inch screen on top of the dash; push the Commander down to select an item in a menu. The controller is surrounded at the front by five buttons: Audio, Home, and Navigation along the top, and Back and Favorites on either side. Next to the commander is a rotary volume knob that can also be pushed in to mute the audio system.

The Favorites button is a good example of how the Mazda Connect borders on overkill in ensuring it covers every base. You can use the button to store and instantly access up to 50 radio stations, phone contacts, or points of interest for the navigation system—provided anyone has or needs that many favorites to tune, call, or navigate to.

The system follows this same theme with an overload of functions and options that may please completists, but can frustrate average users (and even tech geeks like us). The home screen is sort of a Trojan horse, in that it has five main icons—Applications, Entertainment, Communication, Navigation, and Settings—that are easy to toggle through using the Commander. But behind each one is a labyrinth of options. Within Settings alone are eight different submenus, and each one of these can have up to five separate options. There's even a setting for Wi-Fi, but according to Mazda the feature isn't available on the car.

The submenu for the Active Driving Display HUD is another instance of menus gone amok, and one setting doesn't really belong buried there: adjustment of the height of the image within the HUD. Some cars, like the Buick LaCrosse, have a separate control for this on the dash. But just as with some BMW vehicles, the Mazda3 sends you a couple of menus deep just to change the height of the display. This may not be an issue if only one person drives the car. But if two people of different heights regularly drive, having to change the setting every time is a pain.

One savings grace for Mazda Connect is that, unlike similar systems from Audi, BMW, and Mercedes-Benz (and like Infiniti), it also has a touch-screen interface via the 7-inch display stuck to the dash. And you can use voice recognition to access some of the menu items, although I found that, like most VR systems, its accuracy is hit or miss. It also doesn't give on-screen command prompts like some cars.

Conclusion
BMW's iDrive controller took a beating among the press and consumers when it was first introduced. But the automaker slowly improved it over the past 13 years or so—as did competitors—so that it has become an accepted and more refined way to access the growing array of infotainment features now in cars. The Commander-and-screen combo for the Mazda Connect, while not quite as clumsy as the original iDrive, suffers from the same first-effort syndrome and everything-but-the-kitchen sink approach.

This is especially unfortunate given that the third-generation Mazda3 is an excellent vehicle, in part by bringing such firsts as an HUD and driver assists features like lane departure warning and emergency autonomous braking to the compact car segment. Since the 2014 Mazda3 is an all-new model, the Mazda Connect system likely won't be updated for a while. Let's hope it doesn't take more than a decade for Mazda to improve it—or that the next iDrive copycat in the compact car segment does a better job with the interface.

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Fujifilm Fujinon XF 10-24mm F4 R OIS

Pros Ultra-wide field of view. Optical stabilization. Very little distortion. Quick focus.

Cons Pricey. Soft edges at 10mm. Aperture ring isn't marked. Big. Bottom Line The Fujifilm Fujinon XF 10-24mm F4 R OIS is a sharp lens that covers an ultra-wide field of view and features optical image stabilization.

By Jim Fisher

The Fujifilm Fujinon XF 10-24mm F4 R OIS ($999.95) is an ultra-wide angle zoom lens for Fuji X mirrorless cameras. Its field of view is immense at its widest, equal to that of a 15mm lens on a full-frame camera, and it zooms to a moderate 36mm-equivalent field of view, all while maintaining an f/4 aperture. Its optics are excellent, it focuses quickly, and integrated image stabilization is a boon for still and video capture. It falls just a little short of Editors' Choice honors, as the only ultra-wide mirrorless zoom to earn those to this point is the Samsung 12-24mm f/4-5.6 ED. But if you've invested in the X system, a Samsung NX lens won't do you much good, and this 10-24mm is an excellent one.

The 10-24mm is a big lens, especially compared with a slim mirrorless camera like the Fujifilm X-E2 with which I tested it. It measures 3.4 by 3.1 inches (HD) and weighs 14.5 ounces. The front element is big, it accommodates 72mm filters, and a reversible petal lens hood is included. The lens itself is mostly metal, with a rubberized grip over the zoom control, but the hood is hard plastic. There's also a manual focus ring, located directly behind the front element, and an aperture ring that's placed near the lens mount.

Despite the lens having a fixed f/4 aperture throughout its zoom range, the aperture ring doesn't have any marked positions, so you'll have to take a look at your camera's display to judge the current f-stop. There's a toggle switch on the barrel to change between automatic and manual aperture control, as well as one to enable or disable the image stabilization system.

The lens focuses quickly when paired with the X-E2, locking on and firing in about 0.1-second. That compares well with the same body and the Fujinon 18-55mm XF F2.8-4 R LM OIS, which requires 0.2-second to do the same. The minimum focus distance is 9.5 inches. The lens is optically stabilized, which is rare for a lens that's this wide. It's generally easier to handhold a wide-angle lens to get a sharp image, and if you're using this lens for landscapes, you're likely pairing it with a tripod. But videographers will appreciate the stabilization, as it does do a great job of smoothing handheld footage.

I used Imatest to check sharpness and distortion at various points in in the zoom range. The lens is at its weakest at 10mm f/4 where it records 2,100 lines per picture height on a center-weighted test. That's better than the 1,800 lines we use to mark an image as sharp, but there is a drop-off in resolution as you move away from the center of the frame. The center third of an image shows an average of 2,510 lines, but the middle third drops to 1,911 lines, and the outer third shows just 1,025 lines. Stopping down to f/5.6 improves scores all around, and bumps the center-weighted average score to 2,440 lines. The center improves just a bit (2,612 lines), and there's far less drop-off in sharpness in the middle third (2,399 lines) and edges (1,877 lines). At f/8 the center-weighted score is 2,616 lines, which reflects small improvements all around. There's some modest (1.5 percent) barrel distortion here, but it's just barely noticeable in field conditions, and not bad at all when you consider just how wide the field of view is.

Any edge sharpness issues are gone by the time you zoom in just a bit to 14mm. At f/4 the lens shows 2,596 lines, and even the edges of the frame top 2,100. Stopping down to f/5.6 boosts the score to 2,685 lines, and sharpness is just about the same at f/8. At 18mm the score dips a little bit to 2,274 lines, but stopping down to f/5.6 brings it back up to 2,687 lines. When zoomed all the way in to 24mm, the lens scores 2,109 lines at f/4, and peaks at 2,510 lines at f/5.6. Distortion isn't an issue at any of these focal lengths.

The Fujifilm Fujinon XF 10-24mm F4 R OIS is an excellent lens for wide-angle shooters. It captures a field of view that's just about as wide as it gets without moving to a fisheye lens. It's reasonably sharp throughout its range, even at f/4 and at f/5.6, and includes optical stabilization. It's on the pricey side, and the choice not to put marked settings on the aperture control ring is a puzzler. But Fuji X shooters who love ultra-wide angles will find that the results are worth the cost of entry.

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Epson Expression Premium XP-610 Small-In-One Printer

Pros Fast for its price. Above-par photo quality. Can print on optical media. Prints from and scans to memory cards and USB thumb drives. Solid wireless printing choices.

Cons Low paper capacity. No Ethernet. Bottom Line The Epson Expression Premium XP-610 is a compact and speedy inkjet MFP with good photo quality and a solid set of home-centered features.

By Tony Hoffman

The Epson Expression Premium XP-610 Small-in-One Printer ($149.99) is a compact inkjet multifunction printer (MFP) geared toward home users. It offers good speed and solid output quality with better-than-average photos, plus a largely consumer-centered feature set.

Design and Features
Measuring 5.4 by 15.4 by 13.4 inches (HWD), the XP-610 and weighs 21.5 pounds. There's a 100-sheet main tray and a 20-sheet photo paper tray, plus an auto-duplexer for printing on both sides of a sheet of paper. The modest paper capacity is fine for home use, but it falls short of what you'd need for the printer to perform double duty in a home and home office.

On top of this MFP is a letter-sized flatbed for copying or scanning. The front panel houses a 2.5-inch LCD surrounded by touch controls. To the side of the paper trays are the memory-card slot (SD or MS Duo), and a port for a USB thumb drive.

The XP-610 prints, copies, and scans, and can do so without connecting to a computer, and it can print onto inkjet-printable DVDs or CDs. It can also print from or scan to a USB flash drive or memory card, and scan to a computer or a network folder.

You get USB and Wi-Fi connectivity (including Wi-Fi Direct, which allows a direct peer-to-peer connection with a compatible device without the need for a network), but there's no Ethernet port. It's compatible with AirPrint and Google Cloud Print, and with Epson Connect features such as the iPrint app for iOS and Android devices. I tested the printer over a USB connection with the driver installed on a PC running Windows Vista.

Print Speed
The Epson XP-610 handled our business applications suite (using QualityLogic's hardware and software for timing) at 4.9 effective pages per minute (ppm). It's considerably faster than the Editors' Choice Canon Pixma MX922 Wireless Office All-In-One Printer (2.4ppm), which, despite its name, is packed with home-friendly, as well as business-oriented, features. The XP-610 averaged 1 minute 8 seconds in printing out 4 by 6 photos, a good score and just a touch slower than the Canon MX922 (1:05).

Output Quality
Overall output quality is average for an inkjet. Text quality is suitable for most home use, with the exception of documents with which you want to make a good visual impression, like resumés.

Graphics quality is typical of inkjets. Most images showed dithering in the form of graininess and dot patterns in my test prints. Some very thin, colored lines were nearly invisible, and white type on a black background looked degraded at smaller sizes. Graphics quality is good enough for PowerPoint handouts for general use, though not for formal reports and the like.

Photos are above par. A monochrome photo showed some tinting, and several prints showed dithering (graininess), but most were at least the same quality as you'd expect from drugstore prints.

This printer employs five ink cartridges, including a photo black. Its running costs of 4.6 cents per black-and-white page and 13.3 cents per color page (based on Epson's figures for the prices and yields of its most economical ink cartridges) are typical for an inkjet at its price.

The XP-610 sits between the Epson Expression Home XP-410 and the Epson Expression Premium XP-810 in the company's Small-in-One line. The Epson XP-410 is strictly for home use, and lacks the XP-610's auto-duplexer, slot for a USB thumb drive, photo tray. The Epson XP-810 adds business-friendly features, such as fax capability, an Ethernet port, and an automatic document feeder (ADF). Neither of them could approach the XP-610's tested speed (4.9ppm) in printing from business apps, with the Epson XP-810 testing at 3.6ppm and the Epson XP-410 limping in at 2.6ppm.

Conclusion
The Epson Expression Premium XP-610 Small-in-One Printer is not as versatile as the Canon Pixma MX922 Wireless Office All-In-One Printer, our Editors' Choice for budget home inkjet MFPs. That said, the XP-610 could be used in a home-office in a pinch, but the lack of some business-friendly features such as fax, Ethernet, ADF, and adequate paper capacity make it a less than ideal choice in that regard. It is much faster than the Canon MX922, and speedier than either the Epson XP-410 or Epson XP-810. Although printing speed is seldom as critical a factor for home or for home-office use as it is for larger businesses, faster is still better. The Epson Expression Premium XP-610 Small-in-One Printer is not only speedy, but adds good photo quality and a solid feature set to the mix.

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Samsung Galaxy S5 Active (AT&T)

Pros Spectacular screen. Excellent camera. Drop- and water-resistant. Customizable Active key.

Cons Thick, reinforced corners. Bloatware. Bottom Line The Samsung Galaxy S5 Active on AT&T is a no-compromise, ruggedized Android smartphone that will appeal to klutzes and adrenaline junkies alike.

By Eugene Kim

Last year's Galaxy S4 and S4 Active seemed like a natural pairing, but with water-resistance now a standard feature on the Galaxy S5, you might be wondering why Samsung even bothered with an Active variant this year. The big difference, really, is as much form as function: The S5 Active carries a heartier MIL-spec 810G rating, meaning it can take on more physical abuse. But it also just looks and feels like a nicer device to me, even though it's the same price as the standard GS5. This, of course, is a matter of personal preference, but the two are so close in size that taste really should be the deciding factor. Both GS5s are excellent smartphones—choose the one that fits your needs.

Design and Activity Zone
Nearly every feature from the standard GS5 makes its way to the Active. The display, processor, cameras, wireless radios, and software are all identical between the two, so head over to the original review for an in-depth look at those features. We'll focus on the design changes and additional or missing features here.

The S5 Active takes on a more rugged look than last year's device with more pronounced, reinforced corners. Smaller details like etched-in grips and faux-rivets, combined with the camouflage green finish of our review unit, give the S5 Active a decidedly tactical feel. At 5.72 by 2.89 by 0.35 inches (HWD), the Active is shorter than the regular S5 and a hair wider and thicker, but it's also far more compact than the regular S5 with a rugged case slapped on top. It's also nearly a full ounce heavier at 6 ounces, but the added density inspires more confidence in its durability over the long run. The gaudy faux-chrome accents and dimpled back cover are gone, neither of which I particularly liked on the regular S5. I much prefer the matte plastics and tactile accents on the Active. AT&T offers the active in the aforementioned camo green and in more neutral gray or red colorways. 

With IP67 waterproofing and a MIL-spec 810G rating, the S5 Active should be as durable as it looks. The military specification means the S5 Active has been tested against dust, shock, vibration, extreme temperatures, humidity, and high-altitude. The most meaningful durability claim is its shock resistance—Samsung claims that the S5 Active can hold up to drops from up to 4 feet onto a flat surface. I subjected the S5 Active to a round of drops and throws inside our labs, ranging from 3 to 5 feet, onto a relatively hard surface. The back cover popped open a bit after some serious abuse, but the phone never looked worse for wear and functioned perfectly afterwards.  

The micro USB port still has that pesky flap, but I found it easier to open thanks to the notch facing forward instead of to the side. The back still peels off to reveal the SIM and microSD card slots as well as the removable 2,800mAh battery, which is the same size as the one in the standard GS5. Battery life approached 20 hours of continuous talk time in our tests, and the Ultra Power Saving Mode is still here, offering up to 4 hours of intermittent use out of the last 2 percent of battery.

I'm partial to on-screen navigation buttons, but the physical Recent Apps, Home, and Back buttons on the S5 Active have their appeal. They feel well-seated and have a satisfyingly clicky feedback, and I was never a fan of Samsung's combination of capacitive and physical buttons on the standard GS5 to begin with. The Power button is on the right edge, while the Volume buttons are joined by a new "Active key" on the left edge.

By default, the Active key launches Samsung's Activity Zone, a new app that puts barometric measurements and GPS coordinates front and center, with easy access to flashlight and stopwatch apps—you know, things active people might be interested in. Luckily, Samsung allows you to re-program the key to launch any two apps installed on your device, using either a short or long press. I love this feature; it's like the Kickstarter-backed Pressy button, except it's real, and it works without occupying your headphone jack. It's especially useful for underwater photography, since the touch screen doesn't work when wet. 

The heart-rate monitor is still here, but the fingerprint scanner didn't make the cut. That's fine as far as I'm concerned, since the swiping motion was always a bit awkward and inconvenient whenever I used it on the regular GS5. The earpiece and back-ported speaker are, as far as I can tell, identical between the GS5 and Active, and call quality is indistinguishable between the two. There's a more robust lip around the camera lens, but image quality is also identical.

Our 16GB model came with 10.91GB available to users out of the box. There's still a good deal of bloatware here courtesy of AT&T and Samsung. These include redundant services like AT&T Locker and Navigator, as well as Samsung media and app portals. Yellow Pages, Beats Music, and Lookout Security are also preinstalled, and none of these are removable. There's no more bloatware here than on the normal GS5, at least.

Conclusions
The Galaxy S5 Active makes no real compromises to earn its more adventurous designation. I don't care for fingerprint scanners, and I think the Active key will be genuinely more useful for the majority of people. Otherwise, it offers the exact same experience as the standard GS5. I personally prefer the S5 Active's design, and the added weight makes it feel like a more premium device in my hands. Either would make a fine choice, but if you're a klutz or adrenaline junkie, the Active should jump to the top of your list. It shares our Editors' Choice award with its otherwise identical, non-Active sibling on AT&T.

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Dell Inspiron 15 (7537)

Pros Large touch screen. Numeric keypad. Full set of I/O ports. 16GB of memory. Speedy boot time.

Cons Flimsy screen hinge. Keyboard takes time to master. No 5GHz Wi-Fi. Bottom Line The touch-screen Dell Inspiron 15 (7537) ultrabook is aimed at power users who absolutely need premium components for heavy multitasking.

By Joel Santo Domingo

The Dell Inspiron 15 (7537) ($1,149 as tested) is a high-end ultrabook with a premium aluminum and glass construction. It's worth considering if you need discrete graphics for multimedia creation or moderate gameplay. While it is a solid power user's system, it doesn't do enough to distinguish itself from the pack.

Design and Features
The Inspiron 15 (7537) is made of aluminum and Corning Gorilla Glass NBT, which makes for a very slim 15.6-inch laptop. At 0.9 by 15 by 10 inches (HWD), the system is similar in size to rivals like the Acer Aspire V5-573PG-9610 and Asus N550JV-DB72T. At 5.61 pounds, it's slightly lighter than the 5.68-pound Asus system. However, the Acer V5-573PG-9610 is noticeably lighter (4.85 pounds).

I/O ports are plentiful, including an Ethernet port, an HDMI port, a headset jack, an SD card reader, and four USB 3.0 ports. For wireless connectivity you get 802.11 b/g/n 2.4GHz (not 5GHz) Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.0. 

The display has a 1,920-by-1,080 resolution, which means you'll be able to view 1080p videos natively, as well as edit high-resolution photos easily. That's much better than the 1,366-by-768 resolution of the Asus N550JV, but pales in comparison to our premium ultrabook Editors' Choice, the Samsung ATIV Book 9 Plus, which packs a 3,200-by-1,800 QuadHD+ resolution screen into a 13.3-inch laptop. The Inspiron 15's screen is very thin, thanks to the aluminum and Gorilla Glass construction, but it isn't as solid-feeling as the Samsung Book 9 Plus or the Acer Aspire V7-582P-6673. A bit of screen bounce can be a drag if you're a constant touch-screen user.

While the numeric keypad is a plus, its
inclusion means that some keys like the Enter and Backspace are a shorter and more cramped than on a standard laptop keyboard. I often found myself hitting the Number Lock key instead of Backspace, and the 4 key on the keypad when I meant to press Enter. It's not insurmountable, but takes some getting used to.

Our review unit shipped with a 1TB hard drive with 8GB cache solid-state drive (SSD). The supplementary cache SSD helps the system boot up in a quick 14 to 15 seconds, and come out from sleep even faster. The hard drive has plenty of free space, since there are few preloaded apps. I like the fact that Dell includes a one-year subscription to McAfee's LiveSafe Internet security suite with the system. This matches the one-year warranty on the laptop.

Performance
The 1.8GHz Intel Core i7-4500U processor, 16GB of memory, and 8GB cache SSD helped overall performance in our tests. The Inspiron 15's score of 4,133 points on PCMark 7 was better than most of its rivals, but still lagged behind the HP Envy TouchSmark 15t-j100 Quad Edition (5,521 points), which has a faster-clocked Intel Core i7-4700MQ processor. The Gigabyte U24T-CF1, which has a similar CPU and GPU, came in second with 4,992 points, and the Samsung Book 9 Plus and its slower 1.6GHz Core i5-4200U placed third (4,907 points).

Thanks to its Nvidia GeForce GT 750M discrete graphics, the Inspiron 15 performed well on our 3D gaming tests, showing playable scores at medium quality settings (45 frames per second at Aliens vs. Predator; 39fps at Heaven). The Gigabyte U24T-CF1 was a smidge better than the Inpiron 15 (7537) on the Heaven test at both medium (44fps) and max (33fps) quality settings. That's because the Gigabyte system's native display resolution is 1,366 by 768, which is far easier to process than the 1,920-by-1,080 resolution of the Inspiron 15's screen.

At 6 hours 12 minutes on our rundown test, battery life is good, almost matching the Gigabyte U24T-CF1 (6:19). The Acer V5-573PG-9610 (7:17), Acer 573PG-9610 (9:17), and the Samsung Book 9 Plus (8:15) all lasted longer, however.

The Dell Inspiron 15 (7537) is the equivalent of a utility player in baseball. It's solid, and will work well, but it doesn't quite distinguish itself in the crowd. Sure, it plays games better than rivals, but if that's important to you, there are plenty of faster gaming laptops to choose from. With its flashy aluminum exterior, you might expect The Inspiron 15 to stand out on battery life, performance, and weight, but it just doesn't. The Samsung ATIV Book 9 Plus remains our high-end ultrabook Editors' Choice, due to its QuadHD+ screen, speedier SSD-only configuration, and more stable screen hinge.

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Sanyo FVF5044

Pros Inexpensive. Very bright panel. Connected features with included Roku Streaming Stick.

Cons Cold, skewed colors. Only two HDMI ports available with Roku Stick installed. Bottom Line Want a 50-inch HDTV for less than $500? The Sanyo FVF5044 delivers not only a decent picture, but you get a Roku Streaming Stick in the bargain.

By Will Greenwald

You don't need a smart HDTV to get smart HDTV features. All you need is a media streamer, like the Roku Streaming Stick or the Amazon Fire TV. Sanyo recognizes this and offers the FVF5044, a decidedly non-smart, LED-backlit LCD HDTV that's "Roku Ready" (it has an MHL-capable HDMI port), and comes with the MHL version of the Roku Streaming Stick. All you have to do is plug the stick into the MHL HDMI port, and the FVF5044 becomes a smart HDTV right out of the box. Its picture didn't wow us, but at $494 for 50 inches, it didn't really have to. It's a solid performer with connected features through Roku, and is a functional choice if you're looking for a big HDTV on a budget. For sheer picture quality, though, spending a little extra for the non-smart Editors' Choice Sharp LC-48LE551U and then buying a separate HDMI Roku Streaming Stick might be a better alternative.

Design
Like most budget HDTVs, the FVF5044 looks plain. The LCD panel is framed by half-inch, flat, glossy black plastic bezels on each side, with an additional faux brushed aluminum plastic strip on the bottom edge to hold the indicator light. It sits securely on a semicircular black glass base that holds the screen steady, but doesn't pivot. The overall design is understated and not particularly eye-catching, but it's attractive enough in a utilitarian sense.

A row of controls behind the right edge of the HDTV holds Channel Up/Down, Volume Up/Down, Input, Menu, and Power buttons. Two HDMI ports, including the MHL-enabled port designed for use with the included Roku Streaming Stick, sit on the back facing left, alongside the antenna/cable connector and a USB port. A third HDMI port, a component video input, a VGA video input, a 3.5mm audio input and output, and an optical audio output face downward.

The included 6.6-inch remote is as plain as the HDTV itself. The buttons are flat, rubber, and not backlit, and are laid out in fairly cramped clusters around a navigation pad, which feels distinct enough from the number, volume, channel, and playback controls that you can easily find it without looking. The remote controls both the HDTV's menus for picture adjustments and the connected Roku Streaming Stick interface, the latter accessible with a press of the Smart button. It doesn't have the glossy simplicity of the remote included with retail Roku devices, but it's functional.

Roku Features
The MHL-only Roku Stick didn't wow us on its own last year, but as a pack-in product with a Roku Ready HDTV it works very well. All you need to do is plug it into the MHL-enabled HDMI port, and the FVF5044 will act as if Roku's interface is built into the HDTV (though it still takes up one of the three HDMI ports). Roku offers hundreds of different online services and apps in the form of content channels, including all of the standards like Netflix, Hulu Plus, Amazon Instant Video, YouTube, and Pandora. It can access M-Go and Vudu on-demand video services, and even supports local media playback through the free Roku app for iOS and Android via the Play On Roku feature. 

The MHL Roku Streaming Stick included with the FVF5044 shouldn't be confused with the HDMI Roku Streaming Stick available at retail. The HDMI Roku Streaming Stick earned our Editors' Choice distinction for its $50 price tag and the ability to work with non-MHL-equipped HDTVs, thanks to a separate USB port for power. As such, that $50 stick means you can give any non-connected HDTV the same features the FVF5044 has very easily.

Performance
The FVF5044 produces some impressive brightness and black level numbers for a budget HDTV, but that performance is balanced out with poor color accuracy. We test HDTVs with a Klein K10-A colorimeter, SpectraCal's CalMAN 5 software, and DisplayMate test patterns. After basic dark room calibration, which resulted in using the Manual picture mode with Brightness set to 52, Contrast set to 60, and Color Temperature set to Warm, we measured a very strong peak brightness of 329.46 cd/m2, and a solid black level of 0.03 cd/m2 for a very good 10,982:1 measured contrast ratio. On paper, it blows other budget HDTVs out of the water. However, as discussed below, the actual shadow and highlight detail it can display will quickly temper your numbers-based enthusiasm.

Colors didn't fare nearly as well with our tests, either. I noticed color temperature shifting wildly when adjusting Contrast, and with the calibrated settings we used, white ended up appearing downright cold even with Color Temperature set to Warm. The chart above shows measured color levels (the dots) compared to ideal color levels (the squares). White skewed very heavily toward blue, while red, green, and blue each leaned in different directions from where they should have been. Unfortunately, the FVF5044 doesn't have any color calibration settings outside of the standard Color (saturation), Tint, and Color Temperature adjustments.

Dark scenes, like the diving segments in Piranha and the alley and car theft segments in The Amazing Spider-Man, get pleasantly dark and mysterious where they should be, but as the picture transitions from black to simply dark, a lot of details get swallowed by a general murkiness. The screen also suffers from some notable bloom when contrasting very bright and very dark objects. Bright lights next to dark shadows tend to make the picture look washed out when darker scenes get suitably inky. Highlight details also tend to disappear against white when an object is very bright, like the sun-lit decks of boats in Piranha. The Sharp LC-48LE551U doesn't have nearly as impressive brightness, black level, or contrast ratio numbers, but it displays shadow and highlight details much better within its narrower range.

The overly cool colors are readily apparent in both films. In the dark alley scenes in The Amazing Spider-Man, the flesh tones of Peter and the buggers look pinkish and pale. In the bright boat scenes in Piranha, the white of the deck appears harsh and near-blue. This is even clearer in Platoon, where too much pink, purple, and a very cool tinge across the board make the jungle look as it was shot under fluorescent light.

Power and Conclusion
Under normal viewing conditions, the FVF5044 consumes 78 watts. In Power Saving mode, which slightly dims the picture, the number drops to 68 watts. This is very good, edging out the slightly smaller TCL 48FS4690 and Sharp LC-48LE551U's 84 watts each.

The Sanyo FVF5044 is a remarkably inexpensive HDTV that, thanks to the Roku Streaming Stick and its MHL-compatible HDMI port, offers connected features that similarly priced HDTVs don't. Its panel gets satisfyingly bright and dark, but it has some issues in between those extremes, especially when factoring in its overly cool colors. This HDTV won't wow you with its picture, but its price and features make it a compelling buy. If you want an affordable HDTV that looks better, the Editors' Choice Sharp LC-48LE551U offers accurate colors with solid shadow and highlight detail, albeit without any connected features and at a slightly higher price of $500. Of course, you can always just buy your own Roku Streaming Stick to go with it, too.

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Fujifilm Fujinon XF 60mm F2.4 R Macro

Pros Excellent sharpness. No distortion. Metal barrel and aperture ring. Includes metal hood. Compact.

Cons Focus on the slow side. Magnification limited to 1:2. Omits image stabilization. Electronic manual focus system. Bottom Line The Fujifilm Fujinon XF 60mm F2.4 R Macro is a sharp macro lens, but it doesn't offer 1:1 magnification and focus is on the slow side.

By Jim Fisher

The Fujifilm Fujinon XF 60mm F2.4 R Macro ($649.95) covers a short telephoto field of view and is capable of focusing close enough to reproduce objects with 1:2 magnification. It's one of the first lenses that Fuji released for the X camera system, and doesn't disappoint in terms of sharpness. It's not without some faults; the autofocus is on the slow side and the focus-by-wire manual focus can be frustrating when working at macro distances. We had similar complaints when we reviewed the Zeiss Touit 2.8/50M, which is more expensive, but can focus closer for 1:1 macro magnification.

The 60mm is compact at just 2.8 by 2.5 inches (HD), and fairly light at 7.6 ounces. Its front element uses tiny 39mm filters, and a reversible metal lens hood is included. The hood is imposing; it almost doubles the length of the lens. But it's good idea to use it, as it does an effective job blocking stray light from hitting the front element. The lens barrel is also metal, with a physical aperture ring and a manual focus ring that are both textured for a comfortable grip. There's no optical stabilization system; if you want a macro lens with that feature, you'll have to look at another camera system entirely. Samsung's 60mm f/2.8 Macro ED OIS NX is stabilized, and Olympus Micro Four Thirds cameras utilize in-body stabilization, so its M.Zuiko Digital ED 60mm f2.8 Macro is steadied via the body.

Macro magnification is limited to 1:2, which projects images onto the image sensor at half their actual size. The lens can lock onto subjects as close as 10.5 inches (measured from the sensor) to facilitate this. Fuji does build a focus limiter into its cameras—there's a macro button that can set the lens to cover its full range or only non-macro distances on X-series bodies—but the 60mm is on the pokey side when it comes to autofocus speed. The Zeiss Touit 2.8/50M is a little bit shorter in terms of focal length, but it focuses to 6 inches for 1:1 magnification.

Neither lens offers a pleasant manual focus experience. The focus motor is always used to move the lens elements, and it requires several long turns to move from infinity to the close focus distance. If you're serious about macro photography and want a lens with a better tactile feel, consider seeking out a manual focus lens like the Nikon Micro-Nikkor 55mm f/2.8 ($409.95) or the Zeiss Makro-Planar T* 2/50 to use via an adapter for macro work.

I used Imatest to check the sharpness of the lens when paired with the 16-megapixel X-E2. It's quite sharp, bettering the 1,800 lines per picture height benchmark that we require for a lens to pass muster at every tested aperture. At f/2.4 it shows 2,322 lines using a center-weighted average score. Lenses often suffer at the edges of the frame, especially at a wide aperture, but the 60mm shows 1,958 lines at the edges at f/2.4. Narrowing the aperture improves the performance, with the lens showing 2,410 lines at f/4 and peaking at 2,553 lines at f/5.6. At f/8 the image quality starts to degrade due to diffraction, but it still manages 2,432 lines at that aperture. Distortion is a nonissue, as you would expect with a good macro lens.

The Fujifilm Fujinon XF 60mm F2.4 R Macro delivers excellent image quality and does a good job doubling as a short telephoto lens. Images are full of detail, even at the maximum aperture, so you only have to worry about stopping down if you desire a wider depth of field. Impeccable optics aside, the lens is not a perfect product. There's no optical stabilization, the autofocus is on the slow side, and the manual focus experience leaves a lot to be desired. It also doesn't provide 1:1 magnification, but you'll have to spend quite a bit more money to buy the Zeiss Touit 2.8/50M to get that in a native X-mount lens. The Touit is a stronger performer all around, but it also uses a focus-by-wire system for manual focus, which can be frustrating for serious macro work. Don't count out going with a third-party manual focus macro lens and an adapter, if you know that you prefer to work with manual focus at macro distances.

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inSSIDer

Pros Free. Easy-to-use interface. Lots of help and tutorials. Supports Windows, Mac OS X, and Android.

Cons May not be robust enough for wireless networking professionals or larger deployments. Bottom Line InSSIDer is a useful tool for helping wireless networking novices understand and tweak their Wi-Fi networks, thanks to its easy-to-understand interface and abundance of help and tutorials.

By Samara Lynn

inSSIDer is an excellent Wi-Fi analyzer that can be installed on Windows and Mac machines, and there is a version for Android, as well. inSSIDer ($19.99) displays information about the wireless networks in your proximity, including access points' MAC addresses, encryption type, signal strength, and channel. inSSIDer offers several new features since we last reviewed the software, including support for 802.11ac. Wi-Fi professionals may find the software a bit too light on features and might be more interested in a more robust program such as WiFiBuilder or Wireshark, but, for everyone else, inSSIDer is one of the most-powerful and easy-to-use Wi-Fi optimizers around.

Features and Interface
I tested inSSIDer on a Windows 7 laptop, and it was a quick, lightweight install. Unlike some other free networking utilities I've used, inSSIDer has given me no problems with memory leaks, nor has it interfered with Windows wireless settings or any other installed software.

Opening the interface displays the wireless adapter information of the client machine on which inSSIDer is installed. The program's UI is divided between a pane that displays real-time information about wireless networks in proximity and another screen that shows handy information, including tips and a user guide.

The user guide has illustrations and plain-language explanations about the features in the software. You don't just get a user guide, though. The interface also includes links to free webinars for those who want to dive deeper into the wireless world—from diagnosing RF interference to performing basic wireless-packet analysis. There are also links to tools that help users find interference issues and reduce Wi-Fi saturation, as well as advice on selecting the right wireless channel.

Clicking on the Network tab pulls up the real-time information about all nearby wireless networks. By default, the software stars the network to which you are connected. The software helps you optimize that network and prominently displays details about this network, so you can view information such as how many other access points are using the same channel. For performance improvement, you could use this information to place your starred network on a less-crowded channel. This may be one of the most-useful troubleshooting features in the software.

You also get details on all networks in proximity, including signal strength (some tools refer to this as RSSI), channel, security, and MAC address of each access point. A handy graph details a wireless network's signal strength over time.

Right-clicking on any listed network opens a menu that lets you quickly select the information you want to see about that network: SSID, signal, channel, maximum rate, network type, and even the access point's vendor. Your entire view of available networks can also be sorted by the same parameters.

inSSIDer will also calculate a Link score based on information such as channel overlap and signal strength for each wireless network. You can see how tweaking channel settings or even relocating an access point or router influences the score—the higher the score, the better the network performance you should receive.

A Fun, Useful Tool
What's great about inSSIDer is that it can actually help improve your connectivity. For instance, say you are trying to find the best location to place an access point or router. Position the device and then fire up inSSIDER to see the signal strength. This is really useful if you are trying to setup a Wi-Fi network in a place with lots of thick walls, glass or mirrors, or multiple floors.

You can also use inSSIDer to tweak your wireless channel. In the U.S., there are 11 Wi-Fi channels. The channels recommended for access points are 1, 6, and 11, because they don't overlap. So if inSSIDer shows you many wireless networks in your area using channel 11, for example, you know to change your access point or router to operate on channel 1 or channel 6 to tweak performance. 

Yes, it may be lightweight for those who deploy wireless networks professionally, but anyone managing a home or small business wireless network will certainly benefit from the information inSSIDer provides. inSSIDer handily wins our Editors' Choice for networking utilities, and it should be part of every individual and small-business networking toolkit. 

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inSSIDer (for Android)

Pros Powerful, affordable wireless network optimization.

Cons No manual scan of wireless networks in range. Wi-Fi re-scan of all networks occurs whenever phone comes out of hibernation. No information on setting up filters. Bottom Line Even though inSSIDer for Android is lacking a few of the capabilities of the desktop version, you still get the same important Wi-Fi-optimization information. If you use Android devices, it's worth adding to your digital tool belt.

By Samara Lynn

On Windows and Mac desktops, inSSIDer is a must-have tool for gaining insight into wireless networks. It's long been a PCMag favorite for its ability to display information such as an access point's MAC address, encryption level, signal strength, and channel information—all key to optimizing wireless performance. inSSIDer's Android app ($9.99) doesn't offer the entire set of tools the desktop version does, but it's still a very handy utility for your Android devices, and it's far better than much of the junk that passes for Wi-Fi utilities in the Google Play Store.

Download and Install
At $9.99, the most immediately remarkable thing about inSSIDer is its price. Yes, that's expensive for an app. However, in comparison to some of the free apps we've looked at that purport to give you the same networking insight—CloudCheck (for Android) is a recent, disappointing example—with inSSIDer, you're paying a premium rate for premium app. Once you've gotten past the sticker shock, installation is a snap. The download is a 13MB file, and running it requires Android 4.0 or higher. For testing, I installed it on my HTC One , which took just seconds.

Interface
The app's home screen shows all wireless networks in range. There are many access points near my workspace at PC Labs, and I was impressed by how quickly inSSIDer could perform a complete scan from my phone. I did notice scanning happened automatically when I started the app. I would prefer a manual option to begin scanning only when I want it.

By default, the networks are grouped by radio; specifically, by each access point's MAC address (called the BSSID). The channel, network name (SSID), any enabled encryption, and signal strength of each are also shown. Wireless networks can also be grouped by SSID by tapping a drop-down symbol at the top of the screen.

Tapping on a network calls up other menu options across the top of the screen; from here you can drill down for more information about that specific network. Across the top of the screen are two other menu options, 2.4GHz and 5GHz. Tapping each pulls up a signal-strength graph in the respective networks in the area. This is a quick way see which access points have the most dominant (or weakest) signals.

You can also filter access points, although I didn't have much luck with this feature. I tapped the filter icon and a text box appeared, but the app did not explain what I should do next to create a filter. In fact, there isn't any help at all within the app.

Furthermore, most of the help on developer Metageeks' site applies to the desktop software, which has more features. It would be nice if there was some Android-app specific help on the site, and even nicer if there was some help built into the app itself.

I entered the first three letters of a nearby SSID into the filter text box. Instead of seeing information on all access points in proximity, I only saw data on that particular access point. I tried entering an IP address, then a subnet, but the filter returned an empty list of access points, both times. This feature needs more attention.

Optimizing Wi-Fi
The killer application of inSSIDer is using all the information it gathers to optimize your Wi-Fi performance. Tapping on a network lets you drill down into its information and check signal strength. inSSIDer will tell you which channel that network's access point is operating on. The utility even shows the recommended channel you should connect to.

Even better, the app tells you how many networks in proximity are on the same channel. Look for the Overlapping field in the Details screen. The Co-Channel field tells you about co-channel interference from neighboring networks.

So if you have a network on channel 6 and you want to improve wireless strength, you can try another non-overlapping channel, such as 1 or 11. You can then re-scan the environment with inSSIDer and see if signal strength improves. I rescanned by closing and reopening the app.

The time graph shows your wireless radio versus the aggregate of the co-channel networks and the overlapping networks. Knowing this information helps you tweak settings on your access point.

For those who use the inSSIDer desktop software, it's important to note that the Android app is not as packed with features. For example, the Android app lacks Link Score, one of my favorite features in the desktop version. This is a rating inSSIDer's desktop software gives wireless signals. Scoring is based on information such as channel overlap and signal strength for each network. You can see how tweaking channel settings or even relocating an access point or router influences the score—the higher the score, the better the network performance you should get.

Still, a Wi-Fi Winner
Even without Link Score and a few other features found in the desktop version, you still get excellent information for optimizing your Wi-Fi connections with inSSIDer for Android, and that earns it our Editors' Choice nod. This utility is well worth adding to your digital tool belt if you want quick access to wireless environmental information without the steep learning curve or the expense of tools designed for professionals. 

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Acer Aspire V7-482PG-6629

Pros 1080p HD touch screen. Discrete graphics. Full set of ports. Speedy wake-from-sleep and reboot times. Excellent multimedia and 3D benchmark results.

Cons Only one USB 3.0 port. Some bloatware. Bottom Line With discrete graphics, diverse port selection, excellent performance, and a reasonable price, the Acer V7-482PG-6629 is a top pick for midrange ultrabooks.

By Joel Santo Domingo

The Acer Aspire V7-482PG-6629 ($899.99 as tested) midrange ultrabook delivers excellent performance along with a top-notch 14-inch 1080p HD resolution In-Plane Switching (IPS) touch screen. You also get discrete graphics and a diverse selection of I/O ports. The V7-482PG-6629 justifies its price premium over the entry-level ultrabooks we've seen recently, and it has the goods to satisfy the widest possible range of power users. All of this helps it to earn our Editors' Choice award for midrange ultrabooks.

Design and Features
The 14-inch screen dictates the system's size and shape. It measures about 0.9 by 13.5 by 9.5 inches (HWD), which is close in dimensions to the entry-level ultrabook Editors' Choice Lenovo IdeaPad U430 Touch and the Toshiba Satellite E45T-A4300. At 4.18 pounds, it's imperceptibly lighter than either system. The chassis is a bright silver color that mimics the look of brushed aluminum (Acer calls it "Cool Steel"). The panels are actually made of plastic/polycarbonate, allowing Acer to invest more on the discrete graphics card and a 1080p HD screen.

The 10-point touch display is bright and clear, with a 1,920-by-1,080 resolution, matching other midrange ultrabooks like the Lenovo Yoga 2 13. The one-piece touchpad is as wide as the space bar, which is quite convenient if you don't want to move your hands from home position to use the touch screen. The backlit, chiclet-style keyboard is comfortable to use, with a solid key feel. The Backslash key is flush with the Enter key, the result of of Acer repurposing the same keyboard deck cutouts with other markets that use a larger Enter key.

Four speakers built into the bottom of the chassis pump out good-volume audio. It could use a subwoofer for low notes, but in general you'll be happy with sound from games and videos in everything but cavernous rooms. You can, of course, connect a pair of headphones or external speakers for better sound.

There are two USB 2.0 ports on either side of the chassis and an SD card slot on the right. In the back, you'll find an Acer Converter port (for the included VGA dongle), an Ethernet port, an HDMI port, a Kensington lock slot, and a single USB 3.0 port. Rear-mounted ports are rarer on ultrabooks and other laptops these days, but are more convenient if you need to semi-permanently connect your laptop to wired Ethernet and/or an external display. One minor drawback is that the two USB ports on the sides are both USB 2.0. Having a least one extra USB 3.0 port on the side would be more convenient for faster data transfers with equipped peripherals.

There's a bit of bloatware on the 500GB hard drive, including apps like Amazon, eBay, Hulu Plus, and Wild Tangent games. The 24GB mSATA caching solid-state drive (SSD) ensures that the ultrabook reboots and wakes from sleep quickly. The system comes with a standard one-year warranty.

Performance
Multimedia test results were quite good at 1 minute 23 seconds on Handbrake and 4:59 on Adobe Photoshop CS6. Contrast this with the Samsung ATIV Book 9 Lite, which took more than twice as long to run Handbrake (3:09) and couldn't complete the Photoshop test. This shows that the Intel Core i5-4200U CPU and Nvidia GeForce GT 750M GPU in the V7-482PG-6629 are a better bet than the custom AMD X4 and Radeon HD 8250 graphics in the Samsung Book 9 Lite. The HP Spectre 13T-3000 has the same processor as the V7-482PG-6629, but only integrated graphics and 4GB of memory, and it lagged slightly behind on Handbrake (1:33) and way behind on Photoshop (13:50). The Lenovo Yoga 2 13 (1:23 on Handbrake; 5:05 on CS6), the Toshiba E45T-A4300 (1:24 on Handbrake; 5:54 on Photoshop), and the Lenovo U430 Touch (1:25 on Handbrake; 6:13 on Photoshop) were a bit more competitive.

On the 3D gaming tests, the Nvidia GeForce graphics helped the V7-482PG-6629 gain playable numbers on Aliens vs. Predator (39 frames per second) and Heaven (34fps), both at medium-quality settings. None of the other ultrabooks with integrated graphics could score more than 16fps on the same tests. The V7-482PG-6629's frame rates are competitive with the Gigabyte U24T-CF1, a high-end ultrabook that also uses an Nvidia GeForce GT 750M GPU, albeit with less graphics memory (38 fps on Aliens vs. Predator, 44 fps on Heaven). Note that the Gigabyte U24T-CF1 is limited to 1,366-by-768 resolution because of its LCD panel, which explains its higher scores on the maximum-quality 3D game tests. It's not enough to call either system a hardcore gaming rig, but the V7-482PG-6629 puts on a good show for the occasional gaming session.

Eight hours of battery life is our standard for all-day computing. The V7-482PG-6629 doesn't quite get there, but turned in a very good 7 hours 17 minutes on our rundown test. This assuredly trumps the Samsung Book 9 Lite (5:23) and the Gigabyte U24T-CF1 (6:19). The Toshiba E45T-A4300 fared slightly better at 7:32, and the HP 13T-3000 delivered 8:58.

It has been a long time since we've awarded an Editors' Choice for midrange ultrabooks, because the space has been evolving over the past three years. Systems like the Lenovo IdeaPad U430 Touch have moved down in price with lower-resolution screens and spinning hard drives, while high-end ultrabooks, like the Editors' Choice Samsung ATIV Book 9 Plus, have moved upmarket with QHD+ (3,200-by-1,800 resolution) screens, all-day battery life, speedy SSD-only configurations, and lofty price tags. The Acer Aspire V7-482PG-6629 excels in the middle, with a 1080p HD screen and discrete graphics balancing the price savings from its hybrid-drive configuration. It's an excellent choice for the user who needs power more than ultimate portability, and it replaces the venerable Toshiba Portege Z935-P300 as our Editors' Choice for midrange ultrabooks.

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Ultimaker 2

Pros High resolution. Consistently good print quality. Reliable. Easy menu navigation. Large build area.

Cons USB port is for firmware updates only. Print quality, though very good, is short of excellent. Pricey for a single-extruder printer. Bottom Line The Ultimaker 2 offers consistently good print quality, a large build area, and near-flawless operation making it our top 3D printer pick for makers and designers.

By Tony Hoffman

The Ultimaker 2 ($2,899) is a well-designed, good-looking 3D printer geared toward early adopters, schools, and product designers. It has a large build area, and consistently produced good-quality prints in our tests. Most notably, it's a breeze to set up and is the only 3D printer we've tested that operated without a single hitch. The Ultimaker 2 aces ease of use, and despite its high price, its our top 3D printer pick for makers and designers.

Meet the Ultimaker 2
The printer is the brainchild of Ultimaking Ltd., a company focused on 3D printing founded by three Dutch entrepreneurs. Ultimaker sells them directly, and they're also available through online retailer Dynamism, which also provides support. 

The white-framed, single-extruder Ultimaker 2 measures 15.3 by 13.9 by 13.3 inches (HWD), and weighs 23 pounds. It's boxy, yet handsome, with an open front, translucent sides displaying the Ultimaker robot logo, and an interior that is well illuminated by strings of lights running down each of the front inside edges. It has a generous build area of 8.8 by 8.0 by 9 inches, among the largest of the 3D printers we've tested.

You can use either polylactic acid (PLA) or acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) plastic filament to print objects. We tested with PLA. Unlike most 3D printers, which use 1.75mm-thick plastic filament, the Ultimaker uses a thicker 2.85mm filament, which is available from various online dealers from between $30 and $65 for a 1kg spool. The Ultimaker 2's extrusion system is designed specifically for that filament width.

The build platform is a sheet of glass, and the platform is heated before each print job, which helps to keep the corners of ABS plastic objects from curling up. When you first set up the printer, you are asked to apply some glue from an included Staples glue stick to the center of the platform. This makes it easy to remove objects after each print job, and it's far less messy and onerous than the glue system used in the 3D Systems Cube 3D Printer. With the Cube, not only do you have to apply glue before each print job, you need to run the platform under warm water for up to five minutes before the glue is soft enough so that you can remove the object. 

Setup 
Setup consists of attaching the power supply, putting the build plate in place, snapping the filament spool holder and guide in place in back of the printer, turning the printer on, and following the instructions on the five-line display, which is controlled by a dial next to it. First, it helps you level the build plate, moving the extruder to three different positions and having you turn the dial and tighten screws until the extruder is 1 millimeter from the plate at each position. You need to tweak the tightening until a sheet of paper fits, with slight resistance, between the extruder and the build plate.

Then you load the filament material in the feeder to the extruder, and push the filament strand into a tube until it's grabbed between a wheel and gear, and pulled into the extruder. Getting the filament to catch between the two wheels may take some force, and more than one attempt. But once it catches, the filament shoots through a tube to the extruder, and soon it melts and comes out the nozzle. You then add some glue to the build plate, select a file from the memory card, press Print, and you're off.

SD or Bust
Peculiarly, the Ultimaker 2 is one of the few printers we've tested that doesn't support printing over a USB connection. Instead, there's an SD card slot, and the printer comes with a 4GB card with a few test files loaded. The printer has a USB port, but according to the company, it's just for firmware updates. It's unusual that any printer, 3D or otherwise, lacks the ability to print from a PC over USB. (The 3D Systems Cube also eschews directly printing from a PC via USB, but does offer Wi-Fi in addition to printing from a USB thumb drive.) The Ultimaker 2's manual states that the printer is Wi-Fi ready, but Doodle3D's Wi-Fi-Box accessory ($111) is required to connect wirelessly.

That said, I loaded a number of files into the Cura software (more on that in a second), saved them to an SD card on my computer, transferred the card to the printer, and began printing, a process that took 15 to 20 seconds longer than it would have had I been able to print directly over a USB connection. Being limited to SD card printing may not be ideal, but I didn't find it particularly bothersome, and it's a small matter considering that 3D printing jobs often take several hours to complete.

Ultimaker offers a free software package, Cura, for download. I installed Cura on a laptop running Windows 8.1, loaded and modified 3D object files, and saved them to the SD card. The software is easy to use, and lets you resize and move objects, load multiple objects for printing, and change the resolution and other settings.

Continue Reading: Smooth Sailing, and a Printer for Geeks and Luddites Alike

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Toshiba Satellite P50T-BST2N01

Pros Fantastic 4K Ultra HD display. Technicolor-certified color and calibration tools. Harman/Kardon speakers and DTS sound. Solid performance, thanks to an Intel Core i7 processor and Nvidia graphics.

Cons Very short battery life. Ultra-high-resolution display causes some scaling issues. Bottom Line Toshiba's Satellite P50T-BST2N01 desktop-replacement laptop impresses immediately, thanks to a 4K display with 3,840-by-2,160 resolution, but it's best suited to enthusiasts and professionals who simply must have Ultra HD.

By Brian Westover

The latest spec race among laptop manufacturers is in display resolution, kicked off by Apple's Retina display and spurred along with HD+ and ever higher pixel density from PC manufacturers. Toshiba has claimed the lead, with the Satellite P50T-BST2N01 ($1,799.99), the first Ultra High-Definition (UHD) 4K display in a laptop. This is probably the finish line for the current arms race, as 4K displays have struggled to take off, and the content to enjoy them is far from plentiful. Nonetheless, the screen on this high-end desktop-replacement laptop is gorgeous, and will be a welcome feature for creative professionals, and a toy for 4K fanatics.

Design
Good looking, the laptop's chassis has brushed aluminum across the lid and palm rest, with a frameless keyboard and a plastic underside. The aluminum has a slight yellowish tint to it that Toshiba calls Satin Gold, and it's pretty attractive. The design is fairly similar to that of the Toshiba Kirabook. Measuring 1.1 by 14.9 by 9.6 inches (HWD) and weighing 5.1 pounds, the Satellite P50T-BST2N01 is slim enough to claim ultrabook status, but large enough that we consider it a premium desktop-replacement laptop

The biggest thing that the system has
going for it, however, is not its looks or even the internal components, but its gorgeous 15.6-inch 4K UHD display, with 3,840-by-2,160 resolution. The screen is crisp and sharp, with colors that pop. Those colors are also especially true-to-life, thanks to Chroma Tune calibration, and are Technicolor-certified during production for color accuracy. Just how much better is it than standard 1080p? Well, if you divide the display into four quadrants, each quadrant offers 1,920-by-1,080 pixels. It's also of a higher resolution than any of the high-profile HD+ or Retina display systems available on the market, such as the 15-Inch Apple MacBook Pro , or the Dell XPS 15 (9530).

That sort of resolution is ideal for viewing UHD movies, but the content offerings are still pretty slim for 4K versions of major movie releases, and there's virtually nothing for TV shows. However, the biggest appeal of the display isn't for high-resolution entertainment addicts, but rather for content creators. Photographers and videographers can now view high-resolution work on the go, and see it in true-to-life resolution. There are a few scaling issues—tiny text display by default, Windows 8 apps that go a little crazy trying to match the resolution and dimensions of the display—but most of it can be fixed by tweaking the screen settings. The Satellite P50T-BST2N01 offers full touch capability, with 10-finger tracking and Windows 8 gesture support.

To match the high-quality screen, there are a pair of Harman/Kardon speakers set below the display, which provided crystal-clear sound during our tests. The full-size keyboard has a 10-key numeric pad and LED backlight. The accompanying trackpad offers support for all Windows 8 gestures.

Features
The Satellite P50T-BST2N01 is outfitted with four USB 3.0 ports (one with sleep-and-charge functionality), an HDMI output (with support for 4K output), and a Gigabit Ethernet port. On the front edge of the laptop is an SD card slot. The system is also equipped with a tray-loading optical drive (dual-layer DVD+/-R) on the left-hand side of the chassis. Dual-band 802.11ac Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.0 provide wireless connectivity, and Intel's WiDi 2.0 lets you wirelessly stream content to any WiDi-equipped TV or adapter.

Toshiba equips the Satellite P50T-BST2N01 with a 1TB hybrid hard drive, with 8GB of solid-state storage for speedy performance, but even 1TB might start to feel a little small sooner than you expect. High-resolution video content can gobble up storage space quickly, so if you're planning on using this 4K display to the fullest, you may want to pick up an external hard drive with USB 3.0, like the 4TB Seagate Backup Plus Fast, our Editors' Choice for high-capacity portable drives.

Toshiba preinstalls several programs, such as 30-day trials of Norton Internet Security Suite (including Norton Anti-Theft, Norton Internet Security 2013, and Norton Online Backup), and Microsoft Office 365. Toshiba also includes a complimentary copy of Adobe Lightroom 5. Other programs include Evernote Touch, Amazon Kindle Reader, Google Drive, and Netflix. Some, like WildTangent Games, and links to Amazon and Ebay, you might want to clear off right away. Toshiba covers the laptop with a one-year warranty on parts and labor.

Performance
The Satellite P50T-BST2N01 is more than just a beautiful display; the laptop boasts a 2.4GHz Intel Core i7-4700HQ quad-core processor, 16GB of memory, and an AMD Radeon R9 M265X discrete graphics card. The result is a potent combination of visual splendor and processing power. It finished PCMark 8 with 4,441 points, well ahead of the Toshiba Kirabook, which scored 2,344 points. It showed its chops in Photoshop, finishing in 3 minutes 27 seconds, just behind the Apple MacBook Pro 15-Inch and the Dell XPS 15 (9530), both of which finished in 3:14, but well ahead of the Toshiba Kirabook (4:37).

While that AMD Radeon R9 M265X graphics card gets plenty of work simply supporting that 4K display, it still has the processing muscle to support heavy graphics rendering. In 3DMark CloudGate, for example, the Satellite P50t scored 10,204 points, and 907 points under FireStrike Extreme; contrast this with the capabilities of the Toshiba Kirabook, which scored 4,376 points (CloudGate) and 267 points (FireStrike Extreme) which used integrated graphics alone. That said, in gaming tests, the Satellite P50T-BST2N01 produced barely playable frame rates in Heaven at mere 1,366-by-768 resolution, with low detail settings, and never approached acceptable gaming levels in our other tests, Heaven (at higher resolution) and Valley (both low and high resolution).

Where the Satellite P50T-BST2N01 fails to impress is on battery life. In our rundown test, the system lasted a very brief 2 hours 47 minutes. That's not just slightly behind competing systems, it's several hours behind; the Apple MacBook Pro 15-inch led the category with 8:52, but even the others did better, with the Toshiba Kirabook stretching to 8:44, and the Dell XPS 15 lasting 6:49. This can be almost entirely explained by the sheer amount of power it takes to support the 4K display, but it's still disappointing.

Conclusion
The Toshiba Satellite P50T-BST2N01 is a great system, with generally strong performance and a slick design, not to mention a jaw-dropping display that blows past every competitor on the market, but the short battery life puts a serious damper on our enthusiasm. The 15-inch Apple MacBook Pro remains our Editors' Choice for high-end desktop-replacement laptops, largely due to its superb battery life and superior performance, but even the MacBook's Retina Display can't offer true 4K images. That makes the Toshiba Satellite P50T-BST2N01 the system to get if you need 4K UHD and nothing less.

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K7 Ultimate Security Gold 14

Pros Lifetime license never expires. Effective blocking of malicious URLs. In our tests, firewall resisted attack, blocked some exploits. Backup utility. Registry cleaner allows reversal of any changes that prove problematic. Secure deletion. Won't slow your PC down.

Cons Mediocre antivirus ratings in hands-on tests and lab tests. Flagged many PCMag utilities as malware. Useless parental control system. Mediocre phishing protection. No online backup. Private data protection potentially exposes private data. Antispam failed initial test. Bottom Line Unlike most security suites, K7 Ultimate Security Gold 14 offers a lifetime license, not a yearly subscription. Alas, this is not a suite you'd want to spend a lifetime using.

By Neil J. Rubenking

With most security suites you renew your subscription every year, and get all updates automatically. K7 Ultimate Security Gold 14 takes a different approach. For $59.99, you get a lifetime license, and you still get all updates. Unfortunately, this isn't a product you'd want to spend a lifetime using.

Like K7's standalone antivirus, this suite sports a brushed-steel look and a faintly military feel. From the home screen, which displays protection status, you can slide over to the details screen, which offers high-level control over security components in the form of on/off switches. The main Settings screen offers access to more fine-grained control over configuration.

Same Antivirus, Almost
With one exception, the suite's antivirus protection is precisely the same as that of K7 Antivirus Plus 14, and you can read that review for the full particulars. I will simply summarize here.

In my hands-on malware blocking test, K7 detected 61 percent of the samples on sight, leaving it quite a bit behind products like Comodo Internet Security Complete 7 and VIPRE Internet Security 2014, which wiped out 94 percent and 100 percent, respectively, as soon as I opened the sample folder. It did detect more of the samples when I launched them, but its overall score of 8.6 points is in the lower half of the current crowd.

Next, for a false-positive sanity check, I attempted to install 20 antique PCMag utilities, most of which hook deeply into Windows and none of which are digitally signed. I was unpleasantly surprised to find that K7 identified half of these as Trojans. That's far worse than bombarding the user with warnings about suspicious behavior the way Comodo does.

On the plus side, K7's malicious URL blocking component worked well. It blocked all access to 59 of 100 real-world malware downloads and whacked another 11 immediately on download. Only avast! Internet Security 2014, with a total of 79 percent, has scored better.

For a full explanation of my malware blocking tests, see How We Test Malware Blocking.

K7 Ultimate Security Gold 14 Malware Blocking Chart

So-So Lab Results
I carefully follow the regular reports from six antivirus testing labs. Top products like Kaspersky PURE 3.0 Total Security earn stellar ratings from all six. K7 only participates with two of the six, and doesn't do all that well.

Of the last 12 tests by Virus Bulletin, K7 participated in six and received VB100 certification in four. Kaspersky participated in ten and passed all ten; big difference! In a three-part evaluation by AV-Test Institute, with each part worth up to six points, K7 earned 4.0 points for protection, 3.5 points for performance, and 4.5 points for usability (meaning few false positives). Its overall score, 12 of 18 possible points, is good enough to pass, but four products managed 17.5 points and Kaspersky got a perfect 18.

To learn more about the labs and how I aggregate their tests into the chart below, see How We Interpret Antivirus Lab Tests.

K7 Ultimate Security Gold 14 Lab Tests Chart

Other Shared Features
The K7 suite and standalone antivirus share a number of other security features. Both can scan for unpatched vulnerabilities, for abnormal changes to system settings, and for rootkits. Both can check USB drives for malware on insertion and can also modify any USB drive so it can't be colonized by malware. You can use either to quickly wipe out Windows temp files or browser temp files. And a virtual keyboard lets you enter passwords with no chance of keys being logged.

The device control feature gives users detailed control over programs on USB drives, optical media, and floppy disc. You can ban the use of any drive type, make it read-only, or prevent execution of files from this drive type. Really, though, most users won't touch this feature.

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