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|  | | PC World - 17 Dec (PC World)At a GlanceExpert`s Rating
Pros
Imaging, backup, and disaster recovery
Actively protects against viruses and ransomware
Integrated cloud storage available
Cons
Heavy installation footprint
Subscription only
Lots of telemetry
Our Verdict
Acronis True Image (nee Cyber Protect Home Office, nee True Image) is a comprehensive backup and security solution with no peer. If you want everything tied up in a neat package, this is it. However, if your needs are more mundane, it’s a might bit of overkill. It’s also subscription only.
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Acronis True Image (2024), nee Cyber Protect Home Office, nee True Image, is without question the most comprehensive suite of utilities for keeping your computer backed up and secure. It’s not even particularly close in fact.
Marrying anti-malware and backup, as True Image does, might seem an odd choice at first. However, the ability to fire off a backup or shut off access to previous backups when malware is detected makes a whole lot of sense.
I was a bit skeptical when the company first started down this path, now I’m completely on board with the concept, if perhaps not the heavy system footprint and copious telemetry.
Further reading: See our roundup of the best Windows backup software to learn about competing products.
What are Acronis True Image’s features?
There’s a lot to cover in a program as comprehensive as True Image. I’ll get to the malware protection in a bit, but first let’s talk about backup. The program creates image files from drives or partitions, as well as selected files and folders. These can be full (everything), incremental (everything since the last backup), or differential (everything since the initial backup).
You can also back up files from your phone or files from remote shared-network locations, and employ Blockchain to notarize backed-up files (premium version).
True Image offers just about every backup feature known.
True Image lets you save backup jobs and schedule them, automatically (or manually) cull older backups when space runs low, split backups, copy sector-by-sector or data-only, validate backups post facto, run commands pre- and post-operation, and a lot more. In short, just about every option invented by the backup community has been implemented.
The program also backs up to nearly any type of media or location: local drives, network destinations, the 1TB of cloud storage provided by Acronis with some subscriptions, and even optical — remember CDs and DVDs? They’re still in use! If you’re super old-school, sorry, tape is not supported.
True Image will optionally place a version of the program on removable media for use during restore (Acronis calls it “recovery”) operations — i.e. create a disaster recovery boot disk. A favorite feature of the recovery disk, other than being able to make additional emergency backups (some disks don’t) is the system report facility.
In short, just about every option invented by the backup community has been implemented.
True Image offers a variety of pre-cooked backup schemes including the hybrid chain. The explanatory image is actually animated. Sweet.
Many people conflate sync with backup, and while they have similarities, they’re not the same operation. Backups are meant to be immutable, remaining available well into the future so you can retreat to older versions and data. Syncs evolve and generally reflect the current state of your data.
You can futz sync into backup with some programs by implementing versioning — i.e., saving older versions of files rather than deleting them, and not mirroring deletions from the source.
Acronis’s sync is two-way with the only option being whether it’s synced to Acronis Cloud first (if you opted for the service), rather than the destination, assuming the destination isn’t Acronis Cloud to begin with.
True Image will sync as well as back up. This is file-based, not imaging.
The reason I discussed the difference between sync and backup is because True Image features sync jobs as a separate function — as it should be. This allows you to synchronize data between your local PC, Acronis Cloud, and your mobile devices. Yes, as mentioned, True Image offers Android and iOS clients as well. See below.
Screen captures of the Acronis Android app.
Other related and tangential features include hardware-independent WinRE recovery media (USB/optical), disk cloning, an OEM-like recovery partition (boot time restore of your original OS state from your internal drive) creator, a system cleanup tool (think CCleaner), and a secure-erase utility.
True Image offers a number of image and backup related utilities.
Acronis True Image sports a clean, attractive interface, and is easy to use — once you’re accustomed to it. It’s not amazingly intuitive when it comes to organization and operation, but a half-hour kicking the tires and you should be good to go. Assuming you’re familiar with basic backup concepts.
How effective is Acronis True Image’s malware protection?
A few years ago Acronis recognized an opening in the market due to a spate of ransomware attacks, and added ransomware protection to its flagship software’s bag of tricks.
Don’t pooh-pooh ransomware as something that happens to someone else. It happened to me. It’s out there and without backups, I would’ve been royally hosed.
Acronis subsequently expanded anti-malware capabilities to protect against general threats, malicious websites, and other bad behavior such as code injection into apps. This obviously requires real-time intervention — a big addition back in 2021.
True Image’s Protection settings page.
To test True Image’s anti-malware abilities I ran the tests on the WICAR.ORG site and surfed some known bad areas of the web. True Image caught everything. As effective as it proved, real-time protection is optional and may be turned off.
True Image warning you of a dangerous web page.
How much does Acronis True Image cost?
Acronis thoughtfully provides a 30-day trial that you can use to test out the program. Beyond that, it’s $50 for a one-year subscription sans online storage (Essentials), $58 per year for Advanced with 50GB of storage (enough for most essential, non-media data) and more malware features, and $125 for Premium with 1TB of storage, which should be enough for most of your stuff excluding video. A full comparison is a available here.
Acronis True Image is available as standalone, or with storage.
You’re basically paying $75 per year for 1TB of storage with True Image, which is only a bit more than OneDrive’s 1TB plan. However, OneDrive includes Microsoft Office, both local and online. Note that if the subscription lapses, you’ll be limited to restoring data from the recovery disk after 30 days. You’ll also need to grab your online data within that period.
Which brings me to cloud storage managers such as CloudMounter and Mountain Duck. These will integrate any number of online storage services, including cheaper S3-compatible services, into Windows Explorer as pseudo local drives. You can then use the $50 version of True Image (or any other backup software) to back up to them and save some coin.
Note that there are Enterprise-level versions of True Image available as well, though these still sport the Cyber Protect title.
How fast is Acronis True Image?
Generally speaking, True Image is as quick as it gets. I ran backup jobs to external and internal SSDs, a NAS box (2.5Gbps), wrote folders to optical (single BD-R/M-Disc), and to Acronis Cloud. All proceeded as quickly as you could ask given each bandwidth, and without incident. I hate incidents and tend not to trust backup software that suffers them.
On the other hand, I did have some slight issues with the Linux boot disc, although the Windows PE version was A-OK.
My only real performance gripe is that the main interface is rather slow to launch. No doubt due the large number of processes spawned by the various components, not to mention connecting to Acronis Cloud.
12 processes running in the background is a lot, even for a program as comprehensive as True Image.
As to processes… True Image has a sprawling system footprint that spawns a whopping 12 of them (shown above). I noticed little impact on system performance other than the program boot time, and modern PCs such as my AMD Ryzen test bed should be able to handle it, but for older legacy hardware it might be a strain. True Image also takes up a substantial 1GB of disk space.
One thing that disturbed me a bit was spotting the Google analytics report sender running alongside True Image. While comprehensive, True Image is also singularly intrusive.
One thing that disturbed me a bit was spotting the Google analytics report sender running alongside True Image (see above). While comprehensive, True Image is also singularly intrusive.
Should you buy Acronis True Image?
Given its broad capabilities, True Image is a pretty good deal. You might opt for another vendor with cheaper online storage, but Acronis Cloud is integrated and I will admit, I found it very handy. Bottom line: If you’re looking for a comprehensive, set-it-and-forget-it data-safety solution, I know of nothing better, or comparable for that matter.
However, it’s overkill for the average user, there’s a ton of telemetry going on, and it’s subscription software — albeit with 30-day grace period for restore functionality (perpetual from recovery media). If you’re confident in your anti-malware setup, check out our favorite: R-Drive Image.
Note: This review originally sported the Cyber Protect Home Office moniker in its title. The review has been lightly edited to reflect the product’s new name and our most recent experience with it as of December 2024. Our software testing is necessarily limited due to time and equipment constraints. We report any issue experienced historically or during testing for the article; however, you should research user forums for information on issues other users may have experienced. This applies to all software. Read...Newslink ©2025 to PC World |  |
|  | | PC World - 17 Dec (PC World)I’m a standing desk evangelist. I believe in standing desks so much that if you and I were to meet and get talking and I were to find out you work at a desk, I’d try to convince you to stand at it instead.
I stand almost all day, swaying and rocking on my two feet like a silly person to keep my posture upright and to keep my deep veins from thrombosing. You’d never find me in an office chair, let alone one of those premium office chairs that cost upwards of a grand.
So, when Sihoo asked me to check out their Doro C300 Pro office chair with a $700 MSRP, I told the lovely PR rep not to bother. I wouldn’t use it, I told them. But they insisted, so I acquiesced… and now here I am.
I’m sitting in Sihoo’s Doro C300 Pro as I write this. A chair I said I’d never use, one that I never even would’ve considered paying up for. And yet, now that I’ve actually tried it, I think I probably would. And it’s all because of one standout feature that I didn’t realize was missing from every other cheap office chair I’ve tried.
A history of useless office chairs
Like I said, I’ve mostly eschewed office chairs. Not sofas, mind you, and I love a good chaise lounge when I’m off the clock. But for office work? They always seemed more trouble than they’re worth.
I’m a short man — measuring up at a diminutive 5’4? — and so most chairs are a tricky fit for me, let alone office chairs. They’re typically too tall, both in terms of distance from the floor and in the length of the upper back portion. So even when I sit in an office chair with lumbar support, it’s usefully fixed and woefully out of reach of my actual spine. Meanwhile, my feet are left dangling and scrabbling for a footrest.
I’ve tried a few of those “gaming” chairs over the years with their silly lumbar pillows, but they’ve never provided enough actual support and those constantly shifting pillows worsened my ADHD-driven fidgeting.
Ella Don / Unsplash
Worst of all, office chairs have always led to me sitting with poor posture, which led to back pain, which made my hours in front of my computer unbearable with aches, pains, and general fatigue.
I’ve tried firmer chairs, too, with more rigid components and utilitarian designs that force me to sit properly. But those chairs often left me with pressure aches and other pains. Without getting too much into the weeds here, I’m sure you know the soreness that can come from sitting too long on a surface that’s far too hard.
All of which just drives me back into the open arms of my standing desk. If nothing else, it at least encourages me to keep my upper back straight and my arms away from slouch-inspiring armrests. It’s one of the main accessories that have helped alleviate my back pain.
reallywellmadedesks/Pixabay
After years of success with standing desks, I had resigned myself to staying vertical while I work. These days, I even use a balance board (among other essential work-from-home accessories) while I work to get some extra core exercise in. I stand while I work, I stand while I game, and sometimes I even stand to eat. It’s just easier and better for me.
I always thought office chairs weren’t worth their trouble or price tags. How much better could a $700 chair actually be over a $200 chair, anyway? Turns out, that extra money is worth it.
A begrudging office chair review
The Sihoo Doro C300 Pro arrived in a truly gigantic box and with some of the most robust cardboard packaging I’ve ever seen. It was heavy. My kids made forts out of it for days afterwards, and it withstood their consistent battering better than most toys and games I’ve gotten them.
That sturdy packaging protects this surprisingly heavy chair. The base of the Doro C300 Pro is made of mesh, but the internal construction makes up the majority of its overall weight, so putting it together by myself proved to be quite the challenge. (Be sure to have some help if you aren’t willing to grunt and sweat your way through it solo.)
This guy’s posture might be good, but wait ’til he leans over that terrible laptop desk setup.Sihoo
The hefty weight ultimately leads to an impressively sturdy chair. Sure, the plastic arms and headrest are less premium and they have a bit of flex to them, but they’re comfortable and have just enough give.
That positional flexibility doesn’t extend to the seat itself, though, which is extremely robust and load-bearing but edged with hard plastic all around. This immediately put me out because I couldn’t tuck my leg under myself as I’m want to do in office chairs.
But it did force me to sit up straight and properly. Huh… Maybe an office chair can encourage better posture without being stiffly uncomfortable?
The Doro C300 Pro’s dynamic lumbar support is the real deal.Jon Martindale / IDG
But what about my back? That’s where all my issues have always lain. I’ve had office chairs with fixed lumbar support before, and they’re always out of reach. Surely this would be the same?
Actually, no. This one has a built-in lumbar support that can shift up and down a couple of inches as you lean into it, and you can manually adjust the back of the seat, too. Doing so moves the lumbar support with it, giving it greater flexibility. I also found the ability to adjust the depth of the seat helps a lot in lining up everything just as I need it.
That little slider is the winning piece. It allows the otherwise fixed lumbar support to adjust to my own frame, supporting my back in ways I haven’t gotten from other chairs.Jon Martindale / IDG
And my goodness! What a difference that makes. Is this what I’ve been missing all these years? The ability to sit in a chair without it hurting my back? Who’d have known.
The backup I didn’t know I wanted
Until I tested this chair, I figured I’d be standing for the rest of my days during PC-based activities, at least until my knees gave out when I reached geriatric status. But now, I’m not so sure.
Standing at my desk is still better for my posture and energy levels than sitting. But with the Sihoo Doro C300 Pro, I have another option for when I get tired or when my feet start to hurt. This chair gives me the support my ailing back needs while helping me maintain good posture.
It isn’t perfect, of course. I removed the headrest because I felt it encouraged me to lean my head forward more than was comfortable. And the armrests can’t fold away entirely, which gets frustrating at times. For its solid design, the hard plastic everywhere doesn’t have the premium feel that its price tag would suggest.
There’s also the specter of Herman Miller and Steelcase chairs that my cash-rich colleagues sit on like thrones. Those promise even-more premium chair experiences — at even-more premium prices — that perhaps now I’m more tempted by than I was before.
All that aside, the Doro C300 Pro is proving an excellent companion. I now have something I’d gladly fall back on when I don’t want to stand anymore but won’t also destroy my back and counter all that hard work I do flamingo-legging throughout the day.
I wouldn’t have bought it. But now? I’d likely pay to replace it if someone stole it away. So, please don’t. It’s still very expensive. Read...Newslink ©2025 to PC World |  |
|  | | Good Returns - 16 Dec (Good Returns) Advice Link has appointed an experienced general manager to spearhead growth in the adviser sector. Read...Newslink ©2025 to Good Returns |  |
|  | | PC World - 16 Dec (PC World)Remember back when Windows 11 first came out and Microsoft gave everyone a free pass to upgrade? On the surface, it was a generous move; in actuality, it was a ploy to lure us away from Windows 10.
get windows 11 pro for cheap
Windows 11 Pro
Obviously, if Microsoft was giving something away, it was going to come with a catch. In this case, it’s all the ads that are being added to Windows 11, going above and beyond what we’ve seen in previous versions. Fortunately, we can disable those ads… for now, at least.
If you’re fed up with all the ads and recommendations throughout Windows 11, there are plenty of ways to push back. Here are the settings you need to turn off to ditch Windows’ worst ads.
Further reading: 13 important Windows settings to change immediately
Shut down Start menu ads
Jon Martindale / IDG
The Start menu has been fertile ground for Microsoft’s “Recommended” apps since Windows 10, and it’s alive and well in the latest builds of Windows 11. Fortunately, it’s straightforward to turn off.
Navigate to Settings > Personalization > Start, then look for the option titled “Show recommendations for tips, shortcuts, new apps, and more” and toggle it to Off.
Ditch Windows notification ads
Jon Martindale / IDG
I’m not a fan of notifications. I have enough trouble concentrating on tasks day to day without pop-ups and alerts distracting me — and the last thing I need are ads disguised as important notifications.
Let’s turn those off, shall we? And while we’re at it, let’s remove those pesky full-screen “Finish setting up” prompts, too.
Navigate to Settings > System > Notifications. Scroll down to the bottom where you’ll find Additional settings. Click to expand those options, then uncheck the boxes for “Get tips and suggestions when using Windows,” “Suggest ways to get the most out of Windows and finish setting up this device,” and “Show the Windows welcome experience after updates and when signed in to show what’s new and suggested.” Phew, what a mouthful.
Stop suggested ads in Settings
Jon Martindale / IDG
Fed up with Microsoft’s “suggestions” for Copilot and other features in the Settings app? You can turn those off, too. Navigate to Settings > Privacy and Security > General, then toggle the option for “Show me suggested content in the Settings app” to Off.
Remove File Explorer ads
Jon Martindale / IDG
OneDrive may not be one of our top-pick cloud backup services, but it’s still pretty good and affordable. The problem is, being bombarded with ads for it can be a huge turn-off — and if you’re like me, you’re probably sick of those ads in File Explorer. Here’s how to switch those off.
Open File Explorer and select the three-dot menu in the actions toolbar. Select Options followed by the View tab. Scroll down to near the bottom of the list and look for “Show sync provider notifications.” Make sure it’s unchecked, then select OK.
Eliminate widget feed ads
Jon Martindale / IDG
If you make use of Windows’ widgets, you know all too well that they often try to push you towards breaking stories, stock updates, and other content that may be irrelevant to you. To disable those, you can either turn off specific feeds or disable widgets entirely.
To remove an individual widget feed, select the widget icon at the bottom-left of your screen, then select the cog icon at the top-right of the widget window. Select Show or hide feeds and switch the feed(s) to Off.
To remove widgets entirely, right-click on your taskbar and select Taskbar settings. Then, toggle “Widgets” to Off.
Disable manufacturer bloatware ads
Joel Lee / IDG
If you bought your PC or laptop from a major manufacturer like Dell, Lenovo, or HP, there’s a good chance it came preloaded with unsolicited apps (“bloatware”) you don’t want or need. If you don’t want to uninstall them altogether, you can at least cut down on notification spam.
Navigate to Settings > System > Notifications and look through the list of apps until you find any named after your PC’s manufacturer. Disable those ads by toggling those notifications to Off.
Sometimes they give their apps names that are less obviously identifying. If you spot any suspicious or unusual apps, do a quick Google search on them to see if they’re worth disabling.
Block lock-screen and background ads
Jon Martindale / IDG
The Windows Spotlight feature dynamically changes your background and lock screen images to keep your desktop feeling fresh and interesting. But Microsoft has occasionally shown ads for various games with it, and the related tips can be a little ad-like at times, too.
Unfortunately, the only way to stop that for now is to turn off Windows Spotlight. If you’d rather resort to static images that you change yourself, here’s what you can do:
Navigate to Settings > Personalization > Background. Then, next to Personalize your background, use the drop-down menu to select anything other than Windows Spotlight.
Also, navigate to Settings > Personalization > Lock Screen. Then, next to Personalize your Lock Screen, use the drop-down menu to choose any option that isn’t Windows Spotlight.
Hide the highlight ads in Windows search
Jon Martindale / IDG
Ah, Windows search, how I love and loathe thee. You’re good at finding apps as long as I type them out correctly, but I don’t need you to show me ads and suggested shopping content. Let’s turn that off.
Navigate to Settings > Privacy and security > Search permissions. Scroll down until you find “Show search highlights” and toggle it Off.
No more personalized ads
Jon Martindale / IDG
While all the above settings will prevent Microsoft from serving you as many ads within Windows itself, they won’t stop the operating system from collecting your data to serve you personalized ads in the future. You can put a stop to that now so that even if an ad does somehow get through, it won’t be highly targeted to you and your activity.
Disable Windows device usage tracking by navigating to Settings > Personalization > Device Usage and toggling Off all the options there.
You can also disable further gathering of diagnostic data by navigating to Settings > Privacy and security > General and toggling all the options there to Off as well.
Further reading: All the ways Windows 11 collects your data Read...Newslink ©2025 to PC World |  |
|  | | PC World - 14 Dec (PC World)Remember back when Windows 11 first came out and Microsoft gave everyone a free pass to upgrade? On the surface, it was a generous move; in actuality, it was a ploy to lure us away from Windows 10.
get windows 11 pro for cheap
Windows 11 Pro
Obviously, if Microsoft was giving something away, it was going to come with a catch. In this case, it’s all the ads that are being added to Windows 11, going above and beyond what we’ve seen in previous versions. Fortunately, we can disable those ads… for now, at least.
If you’re fed up with all the ads and recommendations throughout Windows 11, there are plenty of ways to push back. Here are the settings you need to turn off to ditch Windows’ worst ads.
Shut down Start menu ads
Jon Martindale / IDG
The Start menu has been fertile ground for Microsoft’s “Recommended” apps since Windows 10, and it’s alive and well in the latest builds of Windows 11. Fortunately, it’s straightforward to turn off.
Navigate to Settings > Personalization > Start, then look for the option titled “Show recommendations for tips, shortcuts, new apps, and more” and toggle it to Off.
Ditch Windows notification ads
Jon Martindale / IDG
I’m not a fan of notifications. I have enough trouble concentrating on tasks day to day without pop-ups and alerts distracting me — and the last thing I need are ads disguised as important notifications.
Let’s turn those off, shall we? And while we’re at it, let’s remove those pesky full-screen “Finish setting up” prompts, too.
Navigate to Settings > System > Notifications. Scroll down to the bottom where you’ll find Additional settings. Click to expand those options, then uncheck the boxes for “Get tips and suggestions when using Windows,” “Suggest ways to get the most out of Windows and finish setting up this device,” and “Show the Windows welcome experience after updates and when signed in to show what’s new and suggested.” Phew, what a mouthful.
Stop suggested ads in Settings
Jon Martindale / IDG
Fed up with Microsoft’s “suggestions” for Copilot and other features in the Settings app? You can turn those off, too. Navigate to Settings > Privacy and Security > General, then toggle the option for “Show me suggested content in the Settings app” to Off.
Remove File Explorer ads
Jon Martindale / IDG
OneDrive may not be one of our top-pick cloud backup services, but it’s still pretty good and affordable. The problem is, being bombarded with ads for it can be a huge turn-off — and if you’re like me, you’re probably sick of those ads in File Explorer. Here’s how to switch those off.
Open File Explorer and select the three-dot menu in the actions toolbar. Select Options followed by the View tab. Scroll down to near the bottom of the list and look for “Show sync provider notifications.” Make sure it’s unchecked, then select OK.
Eliminate widget feed ads
Jon Martindale / IDG
If you make use of Windows’ widgets, you know all too well that they often try to push you towards breaking stories, stock updates, and other content that may be irrelevant to you. To disable those, you can either turn off specific feeds or disable widgets entirely.
To remove an individual widget feed, select the widget icon at the bottom-left of your screen, then select the cog icon at the top-right of the widget window. Select Show or hide feeds and switch the feed(s) to Off.
To remove widgets entirely, right-click on your taskbar and select Taskbar settings. Then, toggle “Widgets” to Off.
Disable manufacturer bloatware ads
Joel Lee / IDG
If you bought your PC or laptop from a major manufacturer like Dell, Lenovo, or HP, there’s a good chance it came preloaded with unsolicited apps (“bloatware”) you don’t want or need. If you don’t want to uninstall them altogether, you can at least cut down on notification spam.
Navigate to Settings > System > Notifications and look through the list of apps until you find any named after your PC’s manufacturer. Disable those ads by toggling those notifications to Off.
Sometimes they give their apps names that are less obviously identifying. If you spot any suspicious or unusual apps, do a quick Google search on them to see if they’re worth disabling.
Block lock-screen and background ads
Jon Martindale / IDG
The Windows Spotlight feature dynamically changes your background and lock screen images to keep your desktop feeling fresh and interesting. But Microsoft has occasionally shown ads for various games with it, and the related tips can be a little ad-like at times, too.
Unfortunately, the only way to stop that for now is to turn off Windows Spotlight. If you’d rather resort to static images that you change yourself, here’s what you can do:
Navigate to Settings > Personalization > Background. Then, next to Personalize your background, use the drop-down menu to select anything other than Windows Spotlight.
Also, navigate to Settings > Personalization > Lock Screen. Then, next to Personalize your Lock Screen, use the drop-down menu to choose any option that isn’t Windows Spotlight.
Hide the highlight ads in Windows search
Jon Martindale / IDG
Ah, Windows search, how I love and loathe thee. You’re good at finding apps as long as I type them out correctly, but I don’t need you to show me ads and suggested shopping content. Let’s turn that off.
Navigate to Settings > Privacy and security > Search permissions. Scroll down until you find “Show search highlights” and toggle it Off.
No more personalized ads
Jon Martindale / IDG
While all the above settings will prevent Microsoft from serving you as many ads within Windows itself, they won’t stop the operating system from collecting your data to serve you personalized ads in the future. You can put a stop to that now so that even if an ad does somehow get through, it won’t be highly targeted to you and your activity.
Disable Windows device usage tracking by navigating to Settings > Personalization > Device Usage and toggling Off all the options there.
You can also disable further gathering of diagnostic data by navigating to Settings > Privacy and security > General and toggling all the options there to Off as well.
Further reading: All the ways Windows 11 collects your data Read...Newslink ©2025 to PC World |  |
|  | | BBCWorld - 13 Dec (BBCWorld)Mark Rutte urged members to `turbocharge` their defence spending to prevent future war with Russia. Read...Newslink ©2025 to BBCWorld |  |
|  | | PC World - 13 Dec (PC World)Both Amazon and Apple are playing it safe when it comes to allowing generative AI on their respective smart speakers. On the other hand, you can already chat with Google’s Gemini AI on a Nest device, and Google has now detailed how you can get in on the test.
The whole “there’s Gemini in my Nest!” hubbub began earlier this month, when some Nest speaker users began noticing that Google Assistant was speaking in two different voices: the standard Assistant voice, and a deeper, more loquacious voice that most suspected was powered by Gemini.
Google has now confirmed that it’s testing Gemini on certain Nest devices, and (as spotted by 9to5Google), it’s even published a support page detailing how you, too, can give Gemini a spin on your Nest speaker.
Here’s what you’ll need to do:
Get access to Google Home’s public preview program: You’ll need to enroll in Public Preview for Google Home, which you can do for free by applying here.
Turn on Experimental AI features: Once you’re accepted into the Public Preview program, you’ll get—eventually—an invite to turn on Experiment AI features. Just opt in once you see the notification in the Google Home app. (I haven’t received an invite yet, which explains why I still can’t test Gemini on my Nest speakers.)
Subscribe to Nest Aware: Here’s the part where you’ll need to cough up some cash, with Google mandating that you subscribe to a paid Nest Aware plan before testing Gemini on your Nest speakers. Nest Aware costs $8 a month and gives you 30 days of video history, intelligent alerts, and other features, while Nest Aware Plus ups the ante to 60 days of video history for $15 a month.
The right Nest speaker: Not just any Nest device will work for this particular Gemini test. You’ll need either a Nest Audio or a Nest Home mini; sorry, Nest Hub users, but your displays aren’t included in the list.
Turn on Voice Match: This Google Assistant feature allows your Nest device to match your voice to your Google Home profile, thus enabling personalized search results and functionality. To turn it on, open the Google Home app, then tap Settings, Google Assistant, Voice Match, and then follow the prompts.
Checked off all the steps? Now it’s time to give Gemini on your Nest speakers a whirl.
In its support document, Google notes that Gemini will step in to answer “a wider range of questions and provide more in-depth, AI-powered answers on general knowledge topics.” In other words, you may get vanilla Google Assistant if you ask a question like, “Hey Google, what’s the weather?”
Instead, try a question that’s a little more wide-ranging, like (as Google suggests) “Hey Google, can giraffes talk to each other?” You’ll know you got Gemini if you hear a telltale chime before the answer.
Gemini on your Nest speaker should sound a little smoother and more natural on your Nest speaker compared to the old Google Assistant. You should also be able to ask it follow-up questions without the “Hey Google” wake words.
Of course, the usual caveats apply when dealing with an LLM like Gemini, with Google warning that users “double-check these answers as they may be inaccurate,” and “don’t rely on these answers as medical, legal, financial, or other professional advice.” Amen to that. Read...Newslink ©2025 to PC World |  |
|  | | PC World - 13 Dec (PC World)At a glanceExpert`s Rating
Pros
Fast frame rates at high visual quality settings
12GB memory and bandwidth for 1440p gaming
Low, low $249 price
Superb ray tracing for price class (beats RTX 4060)
Bugs and performance oddities from 1st-gen Arc GPUs have been fixed
Uses standard 8-pin power connector
XeSS in over 150 games
Well-designed, fairly compact Intel Limited Edition model
Cons
XeSS 2 and Xe Low Latency features need time to be implemented in games
Slightly higher power draw than rival budget GPUs (but still acceptable)
Lower than expected performance in COD: Black Ops 6 and Black Myth: Wukong
Our Verdict
With 12GB of memory, superb ray tracing chops, a single 8-pin power connector, and the ability to play 1440p games without severe compromise, Intel’s $249 Arc B580 is the budget graphics card gamers have been begging for since the pandemic. It’s a superb option for gamers who don’t want to spend $400+ on a GPU.
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Intel’s $249 Arc B580 is the graphics card we’ve begged for since the pandemic.
That was the headline I used for our initial coverage of Intel’s second-generation discrete graphics cards, because it’s true – at least on paper. Nvidia and AMD have been nerfing the memory system of sub-$350 graphics cards since the pandemic, limiting their best use to 1080p resolution. Meanwhile, gamers are increasingly buying 1440p monitors (a very tangible and affordable upgrade). Intel’s Arc B580 packs 12GB of VRAM to excel at 1440p gaming, with a $249 price point that undercuts its rivals’ entry-level 1080p offerings.
Now that we’ve spent a week testing and gaming on the Intel Arc B580, I can confirm it: Intel’s $249 Arc B580 really, truly is the graphics card we’ve begged for since the pandemic. It’s not perfect – performance lags behind the competition in a couple notable games, and we were hoping for slightly higher overall results – but in general, this graphics card outpunches the $300 Nvidia RTX 4060 and AMD Radeon RX 7600, with the lead growing even larger at 1440p.
This is a great graphics card for someone who wants to play modern PC games without mortgaging away their future. Check out the video above for a game-by-game, Photoshop-by-Photoshop analysis of our testing. Below, we’ll present the same benchmarks, but focused in on the five key things gamers need to know before buying the Intel Arc B580. Check out our initial Arc B580 announcement coverage if you want more nitty-gritty technical information on the guts inside Intel’s new Xe 2-powered GPU.
1. The Arc B580 really is built for 1440p gaming
Before we wade into benchmarks, let’s quickly touch on the Arc B580’s differentiator: This really is a 1440p graphics card for $250, in an era when Nvidia and AMD’s 1440p graphics cards typically go for $400 or more, and when spending less than that typically restricts you to 1080p gameplay.
The Intel Arc B580 is a delightful breath of fresh air in an otherwise brutal decade for PC gamers on a budget.
Adam Patrick Murray / Foundry
Delivering 1440p gaming requires two primary things: A GPU with enough oomph to power all those pixels (which the Arc B580 achieves), and a memory configuration with enough raw VRAM capacity and bandwidth to move those pixels.
The $300 Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 and $270 AMD Radeon RX 7600 wield 8GB memory buffers that hold performance back even at 1080p in some games, paired with puny 128-bit memory buffers that additionally throttle 1440p gaming potential. Making matters worse, turning on ray tracing or frame generation features gobble up additional memory regardless of resolution. Sure, you can play some games on these at 1440p without issue, but they were designed from the ground up to run at 1080p.
Intel
Intel, on the other hand, actually designed this GPU to handle high-resolution 1440p gaming with aplomb. The Arc B580 packs an ample 12GB of GDDR6 memory, fed by a much-wider 192-bit bus. The enhanced memory system also helps when flipping on ray tracing or Intel’s XeSS upscaling technology.
As you’ll see in the benchmarks below, Intel’s beefed-up memory configuration can make a huge difference in performance in some games. As you’re browsing the slides below, don’t simply look at average frame rates – look at the minimum frame times, too, especially at 1440p. If a game runs out of VRAM capacity, it’ll need to hit your much-slower system memory instead, which can introduce stutters as frame rates drop in affected scenes. That’s reflected in the minimums below.
2. Intel Arc B580 performance benchmarks
We’ve tested the graphics cards above at both 1080p and 1440p resolution. We’ve included some Adobe Photoshop and Premiere results in the list, but will focus on gaming performance here. Tl;dr? The Arc B580 offers compelling high-quality gameplay at both 1440p and 1080p resolution, trading wins and losses with its rivals.
If you’re looking to play PC games without breaking the bank, Intel’s Arc B580 is a no-brainer.
Intel’s pre-launch internal benchmarks (see below) claimed the Arc B580 was an average of 10 percent faster than Nvidia’s RTX 4060 at 1440p resolution. That’s definitely plausible, depending on the games selected, but results were much closer in our own tests, which include titles missing from Intel’s sampling and account for a range of game and engine types.
At 1080p resolution, the Arc B580 and RTX 4060 were in a dead-heat in our benchmarks – with literally the same total number of frames rendered across the nine games tested. At 1440p, the B580 was just 0.6 percent faster on average (albeit often with higher minimum frame times). If you omit Black Myth: Wukong and Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 (two games which Intel told us “are on the lower end of the titles vs. 4060 for us”), the lead opens up to 4 percent at both resolutions in our suite.
Dig deeper into the benchmarks, however, and you’ll see Intel pulling a huge lead over the RTX 4060 in Cyberpunk 2077, F1 24, and Returnal. In games where it draws roughly even with the 4060 at 1080p, like Watch Dogs Legion, Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2, and Rainbow Six Siege (DX11 mode), it pulls ahead at 1440p because of its more capable memory configuration.
Bottom line? Expect the Intel Arc B580 to deliver roughly RTX 4060 performance and you’ll be happy. Some games respond really, really favorably to Intel’s architecture and far outpace the 4060, however – and if you plan on gaming at 1440p, the Arc B580 has a clear edge.
Do note that Intel’s Arc GPUs require a CPU and motherboard with PCIe Resizable BAR enabled for optimal performance. Any PCs from this decade should support the technology, but if you’re looking to drop this into an older PC (say, one with a GTX 1060 inside), expect to see frame rates lower than the ones shown here.
3. How do the drivers hold up?
Intel’s debut Arc A-series graphics cards were initially plagued by bugs and poor performance, as you’d expect from a new entrant in the PC gaming field. Since those launched in late 2022, Intel released major driver updates at a torrid pace, bringing initially lagging DirectX 9 and DX11 performance up to par and transforming the overall Arc experience from a bug-riddled roller-coaster ride to a mostly smooth and stable cruise. But how do the next-gen Arc B580 drivers hold up?
Very, very well. We have no significant complaints from our testing session. It’s a huge improvement over the Arc A-series, in which I started my review with a detailed list of show-stopping bugs I’d encountered.
Intel’s done massive work here, and its software engineers deserve applause. That said, the experience wasn’t quite seamless, though none of these quibbles detracted from our overall enjoyment of the card.
Performance was significantly slower than rivals (but still solid) in Wukong and the latest Call of Duty, as mentioned above. We also experienced crashing in Star Wars Outlaws, but that was fixed before release. The new Indiana Jones game also suffered from poor performance, but there was no game-specific driver for it available to testers before release, so it’s an oddly timed edge case.
Other than those minor blips, tester (and PCWorld YouTube mastermind) Adam Patrick Murray ran into no problems, including with the new settings-stuffed Intel Graphics Software, which replaces last generation’s Arc Control Panel. Here are his experiential notes:
“Apart from the games in the test suite, I also played a bit of Baldur’s Gate 3, Silent Hill 2 remake, and Stalker 2, configured to how I would align settings if I owned this GPU. I found a comfortable experience (for me) at 1440p, high settings, and XeSS in Quality mode. So even in some of the newest games this felt like a solid 1440p card if you are okay with a bit of upscaling. I’ll be curious to hear other experiences to see if it falls down anywhere, but as long as you aren’t a day 1 gamer I have no problem recommending this to a normie.
As someone who games on the extremes (high-end desktop and handheld) I was honestly surprised by the performance out of this $250 card — especially in ray tracing.”
4. Intel’s Arc B580 ray tracing rocks
…speaking of!
Intel’s second-generation ray tracing hardware, which improved upon key technical aspects by 1.5x to 2x over the debut Arc cards, absolutely rocks. Ray tracing was already a strong point for first-gen Arc, and the ray tracing enhancements in the Xe 2 architecture put Intel’s GPU firmly ahead of Nvidia’s vaunted ray tracing in Cyberpunk and Returnal. Things pulled closer in Watch Dogs Legion with ray tracing on High, but the B580’s memory configuration helped it open a 7.5 percent lead at 1440p resolution.
AMD has been struggling to bring ray tracing performance up to par in its Radeon graphics cards, but it’s already a strength for Intel.
5. XeSS 2 Frame Generation and Xe Low Latency: Welcome, but not ready yet
Intel
Alongside the Arc B580, Intel is also launching a pair of new performance-boosting features designed to take on Nvidia’s DLSS 3: XeSS 2 Frame Generation and Xe Low Latency (XeLL).
These technologies work hand-in-hand, inserting AI-generated frames between “real” ones to improve visual smoothness, then using XeLL to reduce the latency introduced by those AI frames. It’s exactly how DLSS 3 and Nvidia Reflex holistically interact, but with a key twist: It’s done via AI models on the Xe 2 cores’ XMX extensions. Nvidia’s DLSS 3 requires dedicated Optical Flow Accelerator hardware, which is why it’s restricted to RTX 40-series GPUs. Intel, meanwhile, expects XeSS 2 to work just fine on older Arc A-series cards and even the “Battlemage” B-series GPUs embedded into Intel’s Lunar Lake laptops.
It’s exciting stuff, and considering how quickly Intel’s XeSS Super Resolution was adopted (it’s already in over 150 games), I’d hope it to start turning up in games quickly. But on December 13, launch day, only F1 24 is expected to ship with XeSS 2 – and a bug in a second pre-launch review driver accidentally erased the capability, leaving us unable to test it in time for this review.
These are the games that will support XeSS 2 first.Intel
Fortunately, the XeSS Super Resolution feature in those 150 games works just fine with the Arc B580, ready to deliver faster frame rates with little-to-no visual quality loss. I don’t think upscaling technologies like DLSS, XeSS, and AMD’s FSR look good at 1080p resolution – the reduced pixel count impacts final visual quality. But XeSS SR’s wider adoption will be a boon when playing at 1440p, driving performance even higher, and can help make intensive games falling under the 60fps mark more playable, regardless of resolution. It’s especially helpful when you flip on ray tracing, which can absolutely hammer frame rates.
Should you buy the Intel Arc B580?
If you’re looking for a solid all-around (new) graphics card for under $350, I strongly recommend giving Intel’s new GPU a long, hard look.
Adam Patrick Murray / Foundry
If you’re looking to play games without breaking the bank, Intel’s Arc B580 is a no-brainer. It handles 1440p gaming in style, unlike its rivals, and its 12GB of memory means you won’t need to turn down graphics settings at 1080p in cutting-edge games – something the 8GB GeForce RTX 4060 and Radeon 7600 can’t achieve. It uses a standard 8-pin power connector, can run even faster in games that support XeSS, and – shocker – is actually a reasonable size, in an era when GPUs often exhibit Godzilla-like proportions. Perhaps most importantly, the rampant bugs and performance issues that plagued first-gen Arc GPUs are gone now.
Opting for the Arc B580 means foregoing Nvidia’s vaunted DLSS and content creation capabilities, but those aren’t features many gamers will use on an entry-level graphics card. The 1440p gaming chops and 12GB of VRAM more than make up for those sacrifices, in my opinion. Even if Nvidia and AMD dropped prices to match the B580, Intel’s memory advantage would still give it the edge in my book – at least until those rivals unleash new mainstream next-gen GPUs sometime later next year.
While I was hoping that Intel’s card would be a bit faster across the board compared to the RTX 4060, what I said in the intro holds true: Intel’s $249 Arc B580 is the graphics card we’ve begged for since the pandemic. We haven’t seen a $250 graphics card this compelling this decade – you’d need to go all the way back to the halcyon days of the GTX 1060 and Radeon RX 480 to find a budget GPU with a value proposition this strong.
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