Review

IvyBackup review: Promising, open format, but not quite ready for prime time

At a glanceExpert’s Rating ProsBackups are in common .zip and .vhd formatsGenerally easy to useCompetent feature setConsInterface glitchesPoor pre-backup error-checkingOur VerdictIvyBackup sports a clean look, and saves in common Zip and VHD formats. However, it didn’t check if there was enough space for its image backups, which caused some unlogged failures. Price When Reviewed$69 Best…

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Edifier R1280T review: These attractive speakers deliver solid performance

At a glanceExpert’s Rating ProsPleasing audioBass remains smooth at higher volumesPhysical knobs for bass and treble adjustmentsCapable of loud volumeConsAudio distortion at higher volumesDefault audio profile allows bass to overwhelm mids and highsOur VerdictYou can find low-cost speakers that perform well, but paying more generally results in a richer audio experience. Such is the case…

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Razer Book (late 2021) review: Still slick, now with Windows 11

At a glanceExpert’s Rating ProsSharp aluminum design with cool, quiet operation16:10 tuned display with excellent viewing anglesSmooth, generously sized trackpadMore configuration optionsConsMushy, low-travel keyboard that constantly misses keystrokesNo fingerprint readerOur VerdictAdding a few hardware tweaks alongside Windows 11 doesn’t really change our opinion: A lousy keyboard torpedoes what Razer set out to accomplish with the…

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Candyman Review: Stylish Social Scares

Director Nia DaCosta and producer Jordan Peele deliver a strong and scary sequel to the ’90s horror classic.By Dan Auty on August 26, 2021 at 11:56PM PDT Bernard Rose’s 1992 supernatural Clive Barker adaptation Candyman was not a huge commercial success, and while it inspired two sequels that decade, they were mediocre low-budget films that…

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Acer Aspire Vero review: An eco-friendly Windows 11 laptop

At a glanceExpert’s Rating ProsFunky, eco-friendly design.Preloaded with Windows 11.Approachable price.ConsShort battery life.Dim display.Keyboard quirks might annoy you.Our VerdictThe Acer Aspire Vero would have earned a stronger recommendation among midrange laptops, particularly for environmentally conscious people with budgets of less than $1,000 to spend on a laptop, but the disappointing battery life holds it back.…

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Review Roundup For Halloween Kills

The Halloween series is as old as modern horror. Just like the genre itself, though, Michael Myers can’t and won’t die. He’s once again facing off against Laurie Strode who, when last we saw her, was fleeing as a burning house collapsed around the unkillable killer.Originally set to release in October 2020, Halloween Kills was…

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PNY LX3030 SSD review: Incredible durability for twice the price

PNY’s new LX3030 NVMe SSD isn’t for everyone. It’s marketed directly at Chia cryptocurrency plotting, a very high-bandwidth sustained write task. If you want some info on how much data Chia requires, you can find it here. But if your workload involves something similar, such as continuous large-scale backup, video encoding, or anything else that involves…

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Mullvad VPN review: Our favorite ultra-private VPN gets even better

Mullvad in brief: P2P allowed: Yes Business location: Sweden Number of servers: 780 Number of country locations: 35 (38 for WireGuard) Cost: €5 ($5.86 at this writing) billed monthly VPN protocol: OpenVPN Data encryption: AES-256-GCM Data authentication: TLSv1.3 (TLS_CHACHA20_POLY1305_SHA256) Handshake: 4096-bit RSA For a long time Mullvad has been a solid VPN service that didn’t…

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