This review first appeared in issue 340 of PC Pro.
HP’s acquisition of Poly in August 2022 gives it a strong presence in the hybrid working market with access to a fine range of VC products. Poly retains its name for now, and the Studio R30 on review aims to offer SMBs an affordable all-in-one solution for small conference spaces.
At first glance, the R30 looks very similar to Poly’s P15 video bar, but its chassis is slightly larger, the central 4K UHD camera has a much wider diagonal 120° field of view (FoV) and its digital zoom steps up from 4x to 5x. Internally, things remain the same: it has an 8W internal speaker, while a triple-microphone beamforming array provides speaker tracking and automatic framing.
The Studio R30 employs Poly’s NoiseBlockAI and Acoustic Fence technologies to identify and remove annoying background noises such as keyboard heavy hitters. It goes a step further as Poly’s new DirectorAI feature ensures no meeting participant feels left out by providing automated group, people and speaker framing, along with presenter tracking.
The central 4K UHD camera has a wide 120° field of view(Image credit: Future)
Rear-mounted ports include an external PSU connector and a USB Type-C port for host connection, with the kit including a generous five-meter cable. Two USB Type-A ports allow the R30 to function as a USB hub but, unlike the P15’s mechanical privacy shutter on its lens, the R30 gets only a cheap rubber cap.
Installation is swift. We connected the R30 to a Windows 10 PC and watched it load the camera and audio device drivers in a few seconds. You’ll want to add Poly’s free Lens Desktop app as this provides a firmware upgrade tool along with local access for manually adjusting audio and video functions and selecting a framing mode.
Using the app to link up with our Lens cloud account, we could remotely manage the R30, change its settings from the portal and use the inventory service to see its physical location. Use the app to connect the R30 to a wireless network and it will link up with a remote Poly provisioning server for pushing custom settings to it.
Rear ports include a USB-C, two USB-A and an external PSU connector(Image credit: Future)
During meetings, we found Poly’s tracking and framing features worked very well, with the camera snapping to the current speaker, zooming back out when they stopped talking and moving effortlessly to other speakers. In presenter mode, the R30 easily kept track of us as we moved around our meeting room while we spoke, with shift delays of around two to three seconds.
The speaker delivers a clean soundscape, and in our 24m2 room we found a volume level of 75% was sufficient to cover all areas. The integral mics also impressed, with remote meeting participants saying they could hear us clearly at distances of up to three meters.
In a direct comparison with the lab’s Studio P15, we found the R30’s wider FoV clearly provides greater horizontal coverage. It didn’t suffer from the P15’s slightly soft focus and presented a sharper, cleaner picture with a more natural color balance, while its backlight compensation coped better with bright sunlight.
Video quality is good and the Poly Lens service enables remote management(Image credit: Future)
The camera’s digital pan, tilt and zoom (PTZ) functions can be manually controlled from the Lens app but only when auto-tracking is disabled. Although currently in a preview testing phase, you can also select a conversation mode to display two speakers in a split screen, while people framing shows all participants using up to six split screens.
Poly’s Studio R30 offers SMBs an affordable and easy-to-use 4K videoconferencing solution. Video and audio quality are very good and its clever people-tracking and framing features add that all-important professional touch to your meetings.
This review first appeared in issue 340 of PC Pro.
MSI describes the Summit MS321UP as a business and productivity monitor, as opposed to its huge range of gaming screens and a handful of creative displays. With a peak 60Hz refresh rate it’s obvious that gamers won’t be applying, but MSI still hopes to lure designers here as it includes a monitor hood in the box.
Print designers can’t expect miracles at this price. There is an Adobe RGB mode, but with this selected it covers only 79% of that color space; a huge distance behind the 95% you can expect of an Eizo ColorEdge monitor. But, and it’s a big but, even the 27in ColorEdge CG279X costs twice as much, while the 32in and 4K ColorEdge CG319X retails for almost £4,000. Two more pitfalls for print designers: its color accuracy isn’t great, with an average Delta E of 1.97, and there’s no Pantone certification.
There’s far more for digital creatives and photographers to cheer, as coverage of the DCI-P3 space is 92% if you switch to the Display P3 profile, while color accuracy improves with an average Delta E of 0.88. You may also want to take advantage of the Design Assistance tools. Alongside print-focused aids such as guides for business cards, A4 and more (these guides appear as rectangular overlays on the screen, so you just slot your artwork within the lines), there’s a bunch of rulers and grids, including a rule-of-thirds grid.
In general, though, I found myself sticking to the sRGB gamut as it locks so well to the 6500K color temperature – I measured 6501K, which is essentially perfect for whites – while again scoring 0.88 for color accuracy. And while a 4K resolution may seem overkill when working in typical business tools such as Word and Excel, you grow to enjoy the sheer crispness of the words and numbers on screen.
A monitor hood is just one of this flexible display’s many attractions(Image credit: Future)
The panel pushes up to 468cd/m2, which is retina-burning high for daily use, and, as its HDR600 certification illustrates, it can push right up to 600cd/m2 in localized areas. I preferred to keep it at around 375cd/m2 (70 in the controls), but this consumes 47W of power. If you’re trying to control your energy outgoings then you can manually drop this yourself or switch to the Eco mode, where brightness dropped to 175cd/m2 – which is still fine in a typical office – and power consumption to 33W. You can also activate auto brightness control, but I found that distracting.
As you can tell from all these options, it’s worth investigating the OSD menu. Tucked away at the bottom of the profile choices are three calibration profiles for your own use, for example, and if you select the User profile a sophisticated array of tools for controlling color temperature, saturation and hue become available. But these are probably overkill for most users, unless they want to fine-tune the color calibration themselves.
You don’t need to head into the main menu to switch between profiles, as pushing the joystick upwards flicks between them. Pushing down activates the Design Assistance tools, while heading right gives you the option of choosing the display input: there are two HDMI ports, one DisplayPort and the increasingly crucial USB-C port.
Connections include two HDMI ports, a DisplayPort and a USB-C port(Image credit: Future)
It’s disappointing that this only delivers 15W of power, so it will trickle-charge laptops at best, but that isn’t such a problem if a laptop will stay connected most of a working day. And because there’s a KVM built into the monitor, if you connect a second PC or laptop (via the monitor’s USB-B input as well as the video input) then you can share a mouse and keyboard between them. Pressing left on the joystick allows you to switch inputs, or you can keep it as automatic – or you can use the Picture-in-Picture (PIP) and Picture-by-Picture (PBP) features.
You can also share any device connected via the three USB-A ports, with one port tucked awkwardly at the rear and the other two on the left-hand side. There are mic and headphone jacks here, too – note the lack of built-in speakers – along with a full-size SD card slot.
I ended up being grateful for the proximity of those ports, as this 9.7kg hunk of a monitor isn’t easy to move. There’s 35° of swivel to the left and right, and a more than adequate 100mm of height adjustment, but with a 32in panel such as this you’d need an even heftier stand to support 90° pivots into portrait mode.
Despite this lack of physical flexibility, this monitor fully deserves to be described as versatile. The ease with which you can switch between color profiles, along with the shedload of features, mean it can fit into almost any workflow. And at £700, with a five-year warranty, it’s great value.
This review first appeared in issue 340 of PC Pro.
We are entering another exciting phase for PC processors, particularly if you’re a content creator. While the mid-range pendulum swung back to Intel in our workstations Labs, AMD’s Ryzen 7000 series promises huge potential for content creation. Here, I put it through its paces in Armari’s Magnetar M16R7-1300G3.
Armari has, of course, opted for the top Ryzen 9 7950X for its system. Unlike the Intel Core i9-12900K chips that proved so popular in the Labs, the Ryzen 9 has 16 full-speed cores rather than eight, alongside eight low-power ones. And the 7950X provides a base clock of 4.5GHz across all its cores, with an incredible maximum Boost frequency of 5.7GHz, so it should hurtle through any task with a multithreaded bias.
The Ryzen 7000 series is AMD’s first to support DDR5, with Armari providing a generous 64GB complement of 5,600MHz Corsair Vengeance Black DDR5 as two 32GB DIMMs. This runs at 4,800MHz on the system, but enables the processor’s dual-channel memory capability. It also leaves two DIMM slots free on the Asus X670E ProArt-Creator WiFi motherboard, to make an upgrade to 128GB possible – but this will drop the DIMM operating speed to 3,600MHz.
One area where AMD hasn’t had the upper hand for some years is professional graphics. Nevertheless, Armari sticks with AMD here, via a Radeon Pro W6800 graphics card that sports a hefty 3,840 Stream processors and 32GB of GDDR6 frame buffer. The latter operates at 512GB/sec, a little behind Nvidia’s latest and greatest, but there’s no shortage of connectivity, with six mini DisplayPort 1.4 connectors enabling up to two 8K displays or six 5K ones.
Armari hasn’t gone to town with storage, unlike the £16,000 Scan 3XS GWP-ME A1128T. Just a single drive is included, but it’s a potent one. The 2TB WD SN850 Gen4 M.2 SSD SN850 delivered a sustained reading throughput of 7,050MB/sec in CrystalDiskMark 8, with writing at 5,248MB/sec, making this the fastest single NVMe drive we’ve tested.
Armari’s latest workstation is a powerful beast(Image credit: Future)
If you need secondary storage for large media files, the chassis includes four 3.5in/2.5in easy swap backplanes and drive sleds, which you can switch out when the system is powered down and the side panel off. The case is one of Armari’s secrets, as the firm custom-designs its own. The Magnetar M60 Gen3 chassis has loads of cooling, including a side mount for the CPU liquid system, replete with a trio of 120mm fans.
Despite all this, the Magnetar isn’t a power hog. It consumes 90W when idle, pushing up to 370W when rendering a scene in Blender using both the CPU and GPU. If you run the CPU, GPU and memory all at maximum it consumes 530W, which still isn’t terrible considering how much processing power you’re getting in return. And since Armari has included a hefty 1,300W power supply, you can be confident the system will stay stable even under maximum load.
You may want to make full use of that maximum load, too, because this workstation has outrageous power. The Magnetar was a stunningly quick system in every CPU-related test I threw at it. The score of 773 in the PC Pro benchmarks would have beaten every system in the most recent Labs, and even surpasses the excellent Scan 3XS GWP-ME A1128T with its 64-core Threadripper processor.
Underlining the CPU’s potency is a Cinebench R23 multicore result of 37,170, which trounces a pair of 24-core Intel Xeon Gold processors and would even beat a 32-core AMD Ryzen Threadripper 2990WX. The single-core result of 2,093 is on a par with that of the Intel Core i9-13900K in the Scan Vengeance 3XS – except the Ryzen 9 7950X has 16 cores capable of this speed, where the Intel chip only has eight. To further underline the AMD chip’s power, the Blender Gooseberry render only took 293 seconds using the CPU.
The single area of weakness is the graphics acceleration, but only relatively. With 3D modelling and animation, using SPECviewperf 2020 the AMD Radeon Pro W6800 achieved 174 in 3dsmax-07 and 456 in maya-06, which are great results, but Nvidia’s Quadro A4500 will surpass the latter. With CAD/CAM, the scores were 99 in catia-06, 133 in creo-03, 431 in snx-04 and 259 in solidworks-05. All good results, but again the A4500 holds the advantage here.
Nevertheless, the Magnetar is an unquestionably capable workstation that can slice through every kind of content creation task, be it modelling and design or rendering the results out to a file. Armari has delivered the AMD platform in its habitual efficient, solid build. The price is high, but the amount of power you get from this 16-core processor workstation is phenomenal.
The Galaxy S25 Edge is the phone for Samsung fans who like to complain. Does your Galaxy S25 Plus feel too thick for your tight jeans and small hands? Is the Galaxy S25 Ultra too heavy for your bag? The Galaxy S25 Edge is precisely the phone you want, nothing more and nothing less.
The Galaxy S25 Edge is the solution to a very simple formula. Take a Galaxy S25 Plus. Shave 1.5mm off the thickness by removing the zoom camera and shrinking the battery. Add a 200MP camera sensor. Wrap it in titanium. Voila: Galaxy S25 Edge!
Seriously, that’s it; that’s the whole phone. The Galaxy S25 Edge has the same Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy chipset inside, with the same 12GB of RAM as the Galaxy S25 Plus. There’s a bigger vapor chamber for improved cooling, but we’re talking about a minuscule space made slightly less so.
The Galaxy S25 Edge is only 5.8mm thin, the thinnest Galaxy S ever (Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
Even though it’s thin, this isn’t a phone you should experience on paper. You need to get your hands on a device to see just how thin and light it feels. I spent a couple of hours with Samsung to get hands-on time with the new Galaxy S25 Edge, so I can tell you what to expect: expect a little bit.
It feels a little bit thinner and a little bit lighter than other phones I’ve used. Just a little bit. It’s not the thinnest phone ever. Even Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 6 is thinner when it’s open; it’s just the thinnest ever Galaxy S phone.
It’s not even close to the thinnest flat smartphone ever. The Vivo X5 Max from 2014 was more than 1mm thinner than the Galaxy S25 Edge at less than 4.75mm.
The Galaxy S25 Edge won’t spark a revolution. It won't make your current phone look fat. There will be other thin phones – Apple’s long-anticipated iPhone 17 Air is expected to launch later this year. But I don’t expect a Pixel Edge, or a OnePlus Edge.
Holding the Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge immediately put me in mind of past Samsung phones. Foremost, the ancient Samsung SGH-U100 Ultra 5.9, an incredibly thin phone Samsung launched in 2007 at the sunset of feature phones. That was the last time I remember Samsung making a phone whose main feature was being thin.
The Galaxy S25 Edge is thin, but not shockingly thin (Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
That phone shocked onlookers. Nobody could believe Samsung could make such a thin phone. You wondered how there was space for the buttons to move; it felt so thin.
That’s not true of the Galaxy S25 Edge. It’s very thin, but nobody is going to be shocked. I expect the reaction will be more like ‘huh, that’s pretty thin,’ and not ‘WOW, what a THIN PHONE!’
That’s ok, because the Galaxy S25 Edge is priced right for a subdued reaction. The phone is a bit more expensive than the Galaxy S25 Plus. You lose some battery and some zoom, but you gain a much better camera. Plus, you have the thinnest Galaxy S!
What’s the benefit? Samsung says the Galaxy S25 Edge is easier to hold than the Galaxy S25 Plus. I had an iPhone 16 Pro Max in my pocket to compare, and the Edge was definitely much thinner and lighter than the biggest iPhone. Easier to hold? Maybe a little, but I keep my phone in a case anyway.
All eyes now turn to Apple to see if it can deliver an even thinner iPhone 17 Air to beat the Galaxy S25 Edge. With a 5.1mm iPad Pro on the market, it seems likely that Apple will launch an even thinner phone, but if it packs cheaper cameras or lacks flagship features, it won’t match the thin new Galaxy.
The iPad Pro is only 5.1mm, will the iPhone 17 Air be just as thin? (Image credit: Future)
Which brings me to some big concerns about the Galaxy S25 Edge – everybody is going to put this phone in a case. Samsung is offering its own thin cases, but any case will add bulk. The phone is durable, but it’s not military standard rugged.
With a benefit of only a millimeter or so, you’re already paying more for less battery life and fewer cameras. If you slap a case on it, can you still feel how thin it is? Not as much.
My second concern is that this is the slimmest Galaxy S phone… today. The Galaxy Z Fold 6 is thinner, so we know that even thinner phones are possible. Will tomorrow's Galaxy S26 be just as thin as today’s Galaxy S25 Edge? Is a 5.8mm phone impressively thin in the long run? If you’re going to keep this phone through years of updates, I doubt it’s going to feel as thin as it does today in two years.
(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
With that in mind, the Galaxy S25 Edge doesn’t stand out. It’s thin, but it isn’t going to blow anybody away. It’s the thinnest Galaxy S today, but not the thinnest phone ever, and not even the thinnest phone Samsung makes right now.
However, it scratches an itch. If you were considering the Galaxy S25 Plus, you can spend a bit more and get a thinner, arguably cooler phone. But coolness, like being thin, doesn’t last forever.
I wish there was something unique to this phone to make it stand out from the rest of the Galaxy lineup, but I’m not sure what that should be. Even a new theme or some Edge-related widgets would have been a nice addition. It just feels like otherwise this phone launch is all about giving us the perfect compromise, with no new benefits.
Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge hands-on: Price and availability
(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
Starts at $1,099 / £1,099 / AU$1,849 for 256GB and 12GB of RAM
That’s $100 / £100 / AU$100 more than the Galaxy S25 Plus
The Galaxy S25 Edge is available for pre-order now, and it should be in hands by May 30, assuming the current global economic climate causes no delays. That was a question I heard Samsung folks discussing, but they don’t anticipate any problems.
The phone will come in three colors: black, blue, and silver. You can get it with 256GB or 512GB of storage, and Samsung will have a deal at launch to double the storage for free. Both models include 12GB of RAM inside.
The Galaxy S25 Edge slots in nicely between the Galaxy S25 Plus and the Galaxy S25 Ultra on Samsung’s price ladder. It also costs more than an iPhone 16 Pro, but less than an iPhone 16 Pro Max.
Storage
US Price
UK Price
AU Price
256GB
$1,099
£1,099
AU$ 1,849
512GB
$1,219
£1,199
AU$ 2,049
Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge hands-on: Specifications
(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
The Galaxy S25 Edge has most of the same specs as the Galaxy S25 Plus, with some Ultra inspiration thrown in. It has the important Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy processor that made the Galaxy S25 Ultra such a winner.
The camera is a 200MP sensor, but Samsung said it is not the exact same sensor found on the Galaxy S25 Ultra. Megapixels don’t mean anything, it’s the sensor size that really matters, so I’m assuming there is a smaller sensor in this phone than its bigger Samsung brethren.
The Galaxy S25 Edge has a 3,900mAh battery, which is much smaller than the 4,900mAh cell in the Galaxy S25 Plus. Samsung says we should expect better battery life than the Galaxy S24, but not as much longevity as the Galaxy S25 provides.
For charging, the Galaxy S25 Edge tops out at 25W, slower than the 45W charging that the rest of the Galaxy S25 family can use. There is wireless charging, at least, along with reverse wireless power sharing.
Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge
Dimensions
75.6 X 158.2 X 5.8mm
Weight
163g
OS
OneUI 7, Android 15. 7 major Android upgrades promised.
Display
6.7-inch LTPO AMOLED, 120Hz
Chipset
Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy
RAM
12GB
Storage
256GB / 512GB
Battery
3,900mAh
Rear cameras
200MP main, 12MP ultra-wide with macro
Front camera
12MP
Charging
25W wired, 15W wireless
Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge hands-on: Design
(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
Thinnest Galaxy S ever, thinner than any iPhone
More Galaxy Ultra than Galaxy Plus
Samsung might be selling the Galaxy S25 Edge short by comparing it freely to the Galaxy S25 Plus. In fact, with its titanium frame and muted color options, it feels more like a waifish Galaxy S25 Ultra. In any case, the phone is clearly a current-generation Samsung device, while veering just a bit from the formula.
The camera bump looks, frankly, more like the leaked design of the iPhone 17 than the current Galaxy S25 family. It’s not small portholes, it’s an entire bar that seems to be attached to the back of the phone.
The look is decidedly less polished and clean than the similar round bar that holds the Google Pixel 9 cameras. Google’s phone seems to be a single block of metal, while the Galaxy S25 Edge looks like pieces stuck together.
The Galaxy S25 Edge is not symmetrical, and the pieces don't seem to fit perfectly (Image credit: Future)
The phone is not very symmetrical, and it doesn’t seem to have the same fit and finish as the Galaxy S25 Ultra. On the bottom, USB-C port is centered, but the speaker port and the SIM card slot are both haphazardly aligned. The SIM card holder doesn’t even seem to fit perfectly flush with the phone on some of the units I saw, as you can see in my photo below.
I worry about this phone. I worry that it will bend easily, even with a titanium frame. I worry that the protruding camera will make the lens glass more vulnerable in a fall. I worry the gap between the camera bump and the back of the phone will gather unsightly dust and grime.
I’ll feel better if our review unit proves solid, so check back soon once we’ve had an opportunity to run this phone through a thorough battery of tests.
Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge hands-on: Software
(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
All of the Galaxy software you know...
Nothing special to the Edge, but plenty of Galaxy AI
Samsung’s OneUI 7 is looking good on the Galaxy S25 Edge, running on top of Android 15. All of Samsung’s software tricks are here, including the Edge panels, which now sport some AI selection tools. You can even hook this phone up to a monitor, keyboard, and mouse and use the Samsung DeX desktop environment.
I’m a big fan of DeX, so I was thrilled to see it wasn’t left off. The Galaxy Z Fold 6 inexplicably lacks DeX, so I was worried it would be sacrificed for thinness. Nope, DeX is here, along with all of Samsung’s software features. The endless layers of Settings menus. The massive flotilla of bloatware.
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That latter is probably just a regional choice, because not every Galaxy S25 Edge I saw had the same software preloaded, but some of the devices were jam-packed with junk. There were tons of garbage games, along with carrier software, additions from Microsoft and Google, and then the Samsung folder of apps.
There was a brief time when it seemed like Samsung was pulling back its software bloat, but those days have been washed away with the tide.
Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge hands-on: Cameras
(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
200MP main camera, but not the same as the Ultra
12MP wide lens with macro capabilities
The camera on the Galaxy S25 Edge is just what I was hoping to see… I hope. We knew that Samsung would be reducing its camera load from the triple-lens system on pretty much every other Galaxy phone besides the Galaxy Z Flip series. I was hoping for one big main camera with a big sensor, and that could be what we got with the 200MP sensor on the Edge.
I don’t expect quality on par with the Galaxy S25 Ultra and its 200MP main camera. Samsung says the sensor is not the same, and it would not tell us what sensor it's using or the size of the sensor.
(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
A tiny sensor cut into 200 million pieces will not produce high-quality images. Megapixels don’t matter, what really matters is the size of the sensor, and it’s likely the Edge sacrifices some sensor size compared to the Ultra.
The marketing might say this phone has 2X 'optical quality zoom,' but in fact Samsung is using the 200MP sensor to simulate a variety of zoom lengths, and then enhancing the results with AI.
I kind of wish more phones would use this technique, paired with a larger sensor, because I think we’d get better photos than we do from today’s 5X zoom lenses mated to teeny-tiny sensors.
We’ll see if Samsung can pull off a satisfying camera with only two lenses instead of three. It can’t be too good, of course, or else you won’t want to buy the Galaxy S25 Ultra, still the most expensive in the Galaxy S family.
Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge hands-on: Battery
(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
3,9000mAh battery is smaller than even the Galaxy S25
Battery life won’t be great, and charging will be slower
The Galaxy S25 Edge packs a 3,900mAh battery inside. That’s much smaller than the 4,900mAh cell in the Galaxy S25 Plus – it’s closer to the smaller Galaxy S25, which uses a 4,000mAh battery inside.
In fact, Samsung says battery life will fall somewhere between the Galaxy S24 and Galaxy S25, and you'll be able to get a full day of normal use out of this phone. So, it won’t be great for a phone this big, but it will be acceptable. That’s an expected trade-off for a much thinner phone.
What I didn’t expect was slower charging. I was hoping for a charging miracle, maybe even faster charging speeds than the Galaxy S25 to make up for the smaller battery.
If I could charge this phone to full in 30 minutes, I wouldn’t mind that it can’t last all day on a single charge. But with only 25W charging, Samsung says 30 minutes will get me just over halfway, to 55% charged.
We’ll know just how long the phone can last after we’ve tested it in Future Labs and given it a full review. For now, don’t buy this phone expecting great battery life. Buy it for the style.
SteelSeries Apex Pro Mini Gen 3: one-minute review
The SteelSeries Apex Pro Mini Gen 3 is a compact analog keyboard that promises incredibly responsive performance courtesy of its analog switches. Its looks don’t exactly reflect its gaming prowess, but it’s smart and sleek enough to adorn any setup. The black colorway is a little austere, but this is alleviated somewhat by the vibrant RGB backlighting.
Once you get your hands on it, though, you start to realize this is a premium slice of engineering. It’s reasonably light considering how solid it feels, and the double-shot PBT keycaps have a more textured finish than usual, which feels great under the fingertips. Even the included detachable USB cable is made to a high standard.
As you would expect from any of the best gaming keyboards, numerous customization options are available via the SteelSeries GG software – or more specifically, the Engine section within this app. It hurts usability somewhat that Engine opens in a separate window to GG, but this is a minor gripe.
Alongside the typical RGB tweaks and macro creation features, there are a healthy selection of rebinding options, with plenty of media and system shortcuts available, with various adjustable parameters for binding behavior.
Naturally there are various alterations for actuation, with points settable between 0.1mm and 4mm, which is a generous range of travel. You can also toggle rapid trigger and protection modes, while various SOCD settings (called rapid tap here) and dual binding features are available in addition.
This makes Engine a versatile tool and one that’s easy to use, thanks to its clear layout and useful explanations. The visualizer for key actuation, though, doesn’t respond in real time, which is a drawback.
The Apex Pro Mini Gen 3 excels when it comes to performance. Presses are very tactile and rebound fast, imbuing it with a pleasingly snappy feel, which is great for both gaming and typing.
Hitting certain actuation points is easy too, thanks to the satisfying resistance to the keys which impart just enough feedback without disrupting its light touch.
It’s also comfortable to use, thanks to the indentations of the keycaps, which make it a very tactile board to use while still allowing for easy gliding. The bottom row is very accessible too, especially the space bar, with its low profile making for consistent hits with the tip of your thumb, rather than the edge.
What’s more, the tilt angle, especially when used with the very stable two-stage feet, gave me a comfortable position for typing as well as gaming – although for very long sessions, I would still benefit from using a wrist rest.
The Apex Pro Mini Gen 3 is certainly an expensive keyboard, especially when you consider its small 60% layout and lack of wireless connectivity. However, there’s no denying this is premium hardware, and it performs as well as you could hope an analog board would.
There are a few much cheaper alternatives out there that come quite close to rivaling its performance, but the Apex Pro Mini Gen 3 is hard to beat if you want the absolute best analog performance.
(Image credit: Future)
SteelSeries Apex Pro Mini Gen 3 review: price and availability
$179.99 / £174.99 (about AU$282)
Available now in black only
Very expensive
The Apex Pro Mini Gen 3 costs $179.99 / £174.99 (about AU$282) and is available now in black only. It comes with a detachable USB-A-to-C cable and a keycap puller. It’s one of the more expensive analog keyboards around – especially when you consider its compact 60% layout and wired-only connectivity.
If you’re looking for a much cheaper alternative, the MonsGeek FUN60 Ultra is admirably close to the Apex Pro Mini Gen 3 in terms of performance, yet also features multiple wireless connectivity modes. What’s more, it uses TMR rather than the Hall effect sensors of the Apex Pro Mini Gen 3, which are considered more accurate, although in truth I couldn’t discern a difference. MonsGeek’s software provides a few more features than Engine, but it suffers from a few usability issues.
Another viable option for budget hunters is the Gamakay TK75HE V2. This is similarly cheap for an analog keyboard, but again comes close to rivaling the performance of more expensive models, including the Apex Pro Mini Gen 3. What’s more, it has a larger 75% layout, which might be more useful for those looking for some productivity prowess as well. However, like the FUN60 Ultra, its software isn’t the best from a usability perspective.
Value: 3 / 5
SteelSeries Apex Pro Mini Gen 3 review: specs
Layout
60%
Switch
Analog (Hall-effect magnetic)
Programmable keys
Yes
Dimensions
11.5 x 4 x 1.6 inches / 293 x 103 x 40mm
RGB or backlighting
Yes (customizable)
(Image credit: Future)
SteelSeries Apex Pro Mini Gen 3 review: design and features
Muted looks
Solid but light construction
Useful customization software
The Apex Pro Mini Gen 3 doesn’t push the boat out aesthetically. It adopts a rather functional design that’s inoffensive but still sleek enough to work in any environment. The RGB backlighting also helps to offset the somewhat gloomy black finish.
It’s very well made, and the build quality is certainly level with the best keyboards around. It’s quite light for a board that feels this solid and durable, and the double-shot PBT keycaps are an especial highlight, with more texture than others, but feel great under the fingertips. What’s more, their indentations were a perfect fit for my fingers, which improved their tactility and security when hammering away.
The tilt of the layout ensures a comfortable typing position, which is further aided by the two stage feet, which are incredibly stable and offer meaningful differences in angle. This made the Apex Pro Mini Gen 3 comfortable for me despite its lack of wrist support; although for longer sessions, I would still prefer to use a rest with the Apex Pro Mini Gen 3.
The Apex Pro Mini Gen 3 doesn't have an Fn key; instead, you get SteelSeries’ Meta key, which functions in much the same way. There are numerous useful shortcuts available, including those for adjusting actuation points, rapid trigger and other analog functions.
What’s more, these shortcuts are labelled on the keys themselves, which is very helpful, especially on a compact board such as this, lacking as it does arrow keys, a dedicated F row, and the like.
(Image credit: Future)
The Apex Pro Mini Gen 3 can be further customized using SteelSeries GG – or more specifically, the Engine app within GG. It’s a little inconvenient that the latter opens in a separate window to the former, but this is a small complaint.
You’ll find the usual customizations on offer in Engine, with a generous selection of rebinding options available, including plenty of media and system shortcuts. Five configuration slots are available, and there are even preset configurations for certain games, including one for Counter-Strike 2 created by esports brand FaZe Clan.
Being an analog board, there are plenty of actuation adjustments as well. The actuation point can be set between 0.1 and 4mm, and there’s a rapid trigger toggle with its own accompanying slider to adjust sensitivity within the same range.
A protection mode is also available, which reduces the sensitivity of adjacent keys to prevent mispresses. An SOCD feature called rapid tap is present as well, with different key priority behaviors to choose from when two are pressed simultaneously: you can choose which key always has priority, let whichever is pressed last take precedence, or make neither register. There’s also a dual binding mode, although it’s a little annoying that there’s a separate window for setting up dual actuation first, since both rely on each other.
Overall, however, Engine is laid out clearly and features useful explanations for its various features and settings. However, the visualizer for key actuation is severely lacking, as it doesn’t illustrate presses in real time, which I would’ve appreciated so I could see exactly how my tweaks manifest themselves in practice.
Design & features: 5 / 5
SteelSeries Apex Pro Mini Gen 3 review: performance
Excellent springy keys
Responsive and precise analog switches
Great for gaming and typing
The Apex Pro Mini Gen 3 is an excellent performer on pretty much every front. The keys are very light and springy, yet still offer enough dampening and weight lower down in their travel, which helps to provide feedback.
Actuation points are also easy to hit thanks to the tactile switches and relatively long key travel. The space bar is also a highlight thanks to its very satisfying response, and its low profile makes it very easy to hit flush with your thumb tip rather than the edge. In fact, the whole of the bottom row is easy to use, thanks to the slightly concave layout and keycap indentations.
When typing, these indentations are especially useful, offering plenty of security while still allowing for easy gliding around the board. Also, the amount of Meta shortcuts available to access functions reserved for larger layouts makes the Apex Pro Mini Gen 3 more viable for mild productivity purposes.
(Image credit: Future)
Performance: 5/ 5
Should I buy the SteelSeries Apex Pro Mini Gen 3?
Gamakay TK75HE V2 Scorecard
Attributes
Notes
Rating
Value
With a 60% layout and wired-only connectivity, the Apex Pro Mini Gen 3 demands a lot, and there are much cheaper rivals around.
3 / 5
Design and features
The Apex Pro Mini Gen 3 is built to an incredibly high standard, and the software for customizing its analog keys is mostly great.
5 / 5
Performance
The analog switches are springy and satisfying, making them great for gaming and typing. It’s hard to find fault here.
5 / 5
Overall
The Apex Pro Mini Gen 3 does most things right, thanks to its excellent analog switches and superb build quality. It might be eye-wateringly expensive, but there aren’t many that can outperform it.
4.5 / 5
Buy it if…
You want incredible build quality The board itself and the accompanying software are both expertly engineered. It’s also surprisingly light for something so solid.
You want superlative analog performance The analog switches are very snappy yet ultra precise, and the layout and feel make it great for gaming and typing.
Don’t buy it if…
You want to save money The Apex Pro Mini Gen 3 is very expensive no matter how you slice it – especially when you consider its small layout and wired-only connectivity.
You want wireless connectivity The Apex Pro Mini Gen 3 is wired-only, so those who want to go wireless or switch between multiple devices on the fly might want to look elsewhere.
SteelSeries Apex Pro Mini Gen 3 review: also consider
SteelSeries Apex Pro Mini Gen 3
MonsGeek FUN60 Ultra
Gamakay TK75HE V2
Layout
60%
60%
60%
Switch
Analog (Hall-effect magnetic)
Analog (TMR magnetic)
Analog (Hall-effect magnetic)
Programmable keys
Yes
Yes
Yes
Dimensions
11.5 x 4 x 1.6 inches / 293 x 103 x 40mm
Not stated
12.8 x 5.4 x 1.1 inches / 325 x 136 x 28mm
RGB or backlighting
Yes (customizable)
Yes (customizable)
Yes (customizable)
MonsGeek FUN60 Ultra If you want analog switches at a fraction of the cost of the Apex Pro Mini Gen 3, then the FUN60 Ultra is an excellent choice. Its performance isn’t far behind that of the Apex Pro Mini Gen 3, although it’s not quite so satisfying. However, it offers multiple wireless connectivity modes, whereas the Apex Pro Mini Gen 3 is wired-only. Its software is versatile too, with a few more features than the Apex Pro Mini Gen 3 offers, although it’s not as easy to use. The clunky device switching is another drawback, too.
Gamakay TK75HE V2 The TK75HE V2 is very similar to the FUN60 Ultra in many respects, and although it’s perhaps not quite so satisfying to use, it still competes very admirably considering its relatively low price. However, it suffers from the same software issues as the FUN60 Ultra, so it isn’t quite as refined as Engine.
How I tested the SteelSeries Apex Pro Mini Gen 3
Tested for a few days
Used for gaming and productivity
Over a decade of PC gaming experience
I tested the Apex Pro Mini Gen 3 for a few days, during which time I used it for gaming and working, on both Windows 10 and Windows 11 systems.
I played Counter-Strike 2, a great game for testing peripherals, given it requires fast and precise inputs. It’s especially useful when playing with analog keyboards, since the need for controlled micro-movements provides the perfect testing ground for the rapid trigger functionality.
I’ve been PC gaming for over a decade, and during that time I have experienced a great deal of keyboards. I’ve also reviewed a number of them, including other analog and SteelSeries models.
The Llano RGB Laptop Cooling Pad is a premium laptop cooling pad. Its huge 5.5-inch (140mm) fan is capable of spinning at up to dizzying 2,800rpm, meaning it should be perfect for chilling your CPU during heavy workloads. Cheap it certainly isn't, though: costing a cool $119.99 / £129.99 (around AU$190), it's an expensive cooling pad.
However, in return for this princely sum, you get some glacial cooling. I ran a 3DMark Stress Test using our Acer Predator Helios 300 testing laptop with an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 GPU. Before the test, the laptop’s ambient temperature sat at 82F / 28C; after running the stress test for 15 minutes with the Llano in place at 2800rpm, the laptop had warmed to only 97F / 36C. That 15F / 8C rise is one of the most impressive results I’ve seen in my time testing laptop cooling pads, and should definitely mean that your laptop will be remain nice and frosty during long gaming sessions.
So, on the plus side, the Llano is more frigid than a blizzard; the downside is it sounds like one, too, with its fans kicking out some gale-force noise. Ten minutes into my benchmarking tests, I used a noise level meter to gauge the sound kicked out by the laptop and the Llano RGB Laptop Cooling Pad set to maximum – it recorded 64dB from head height and 79dB from only a few inches away. This is much louder than many of the best laptop cooling pads, and, according to the Center for Hearing and Communication, it's roughly the same volume as a small blender, so you likely won’t be popular using this in an office environment.
Overall, the design of the Llano is tastefully done – there are no aggressively sharp angles of the type often seen on gaming accessories, and the RGB lighting is restricted to a single, modest bar around the cooling pad's edge; there are four lighting modes you can cycle through. Note that I did find the power cable a little on the short side: my power socket is just to the left of my desk, but the cable plugs in on the right-hand side of the device, which was more of a stretch.
Ergonomically, the Llano Cooling Pad is well thought-out, too: its slope ensure wrists are held at the perfect angle, and its three different height settings should make it easy for you to find the optimum slope for your needs. Be aware that the laptop rests do come very close to sitting exactly where you’ll want to lay your wrists, though – I’m not sure why so many brands think right below the WASD keys is the perfect place for a jutting piece of plastic; but it's a common problem with laptop cooling pads.
Despite this, the Llano RGB Laptop Cooling Pad is a fantastic piece of kit, capable of delivering pretty extreme cooling – and looking good while it does it. Yes, it sounds like an idling jet engine, and getting such performance will cost you a pretty penny. However, it will do an astounding job of keeping your laptop cool during demanding tasks, so if you have the money spare, you really can’t go wrong with it.
(Image credit: Future)
Llano RGB Laptop Cooling Pad review: price & availability
Released July 30, 2023
List price of $119.99 / £129.99 (around AU$190)
Originally released on July 30, 2023, the Llano RGB Laptop Cooling Pad retails for $119.99 / £129.99 (around AU$190) on Amazon. However, it's occasionally available for less: at the time of writing, it was reduced to $92.79 in the US – its lowest ever price. It also dropped down to £103.99 in October in the UK, so it's worth keeping your eyes peeled for potential discounts.
At its full price, the Llano definitely comes in at the premium end of the market, dwarfing the price of affordable cooling pads such as the $19.99 / £20.99 Liangstar Laptop Cooling Pad. But on the flip side, it offers far better cooling – some budget options saw our testing laptop temperatures rise by over 68F / 20C, while it was just 46F / 8C with the Llano. For high-intensity gaming or creative work, you may well find that extra spend is well worth it.
(Image credit: Future)
Should I buy the Llano RGB Laptop Cooling Pad?
Buy it if…
You want icy cooling Even during an intensive CPU workout, this laptop cooling pad kept our testing laptop from warming any more than single digits – that’s positively polar cooling.
You want comfortable, ergonomic design With three height settings, it’s easy to find the perfect angle to support your wrists while using this laptop cooling pad. And its memory foam pad and laptop rests keep your laptop firmly in place.
Don’t buy it if…
You can’t handle a bit of noise The Llano is no shrinking violet: when it’s hard at work, you’ll definitely hear it. When it’s running at its peak speed of 2800rpm, it hits around 80dB, which is about as loud as a garbage disposal or dishwasher.
You want an explicit gamer aesthetic While it features stylish RGB lighting, this laptop cooling pad is still pretty discreet. If you fancy something with a much more in-your-face gamer look, you’ll probably want to look elsewhere.
(Image credit: Future)
Llano RGB Laptop Cooling Pad review: also consider
Liangstar Laptop Cooling Pad If your budget won't stretch that far, my current pick for affordable laptop cooling pads would have to be the Liangstar Laptop Cooling Pad. In the same benchmarking tests run on the Llano, the Liangstar saw our laptop temperature rise from 22.2ºC to 37.5ºC – a rise of just 15.3ºC. Not bad, given it costs just $19.99 / £20.99 / AU$66.91. Read our full Liangstar Laptop Cooling Pad review.
How I tested the Llano RGB Laptop Cooling Pad
Tested the cooling pad over several days
Measured the device’s cooling during a stress test on a gaming laptop
Used a sound level meter to assess how much noise it made
When testing the Llano RGB Laptop Cooling Pad, I ran it through TechRadar’s standard benchmarking tests. First, I used a thermal camera to record the temperature of the hottest point of our Acer Predator Helios 300 with an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 testing laptop as a baseline. I then ran a 3DMark Stress Test for 15 minutes with the Llano dialled up to its maximum cooling, before recording its new temperature.
I also used a sound level meter to check how much noise the device kicks out while running. Once our stress test had been underway for 10 minutes, I checked the volume of the combined noise of the laptop and cooling pad from a few inches away and from head height. I then compared this to the noise generated by the laptop’s fans alone, when it wasn’t being cooled.
On top of all of this benchmarking data, I made sure I got plenty of experience using the laptop cooler, to assess factors such as comfort, stability and ergonomics. Here I was helped by many years of experience reviewing gadgets and several decades spent gaming on laptops.
The MonsGeek FUN60 Ultra is a compact wireless gaming keyboard with TMR switches, which claim to have greater precision than other analog varieties. It certainly makes a good first impression, with its sleek yet minimal looks, which are accentuated in the white colorway, and makes the RGB appear even more vibrant.
The build quality is also excellent. This is quite a heavy board for the size, which may be a positive or a negative depending on your preferences. But the overall construction is hard to fault.
Thankfully, the FUN60 Ultra isn’t too thick, which makes it more comfortable to use – although, as with most keyboards I’ve tried, some wrist support still would’ve been welcomed for extended sessions.
The PBT keycaps are similarly premium, and feel just as satisfying as you could wish for from any of the best gaming keyboards around, thanks to their smooth texture that offers just enough grip.
However, perhaps the worst aspect of the FUN60 Ultra’s design is the switch for toggling between Windows, Mac, and wired modes. It’s located underneath the Caps Lock, which means removing this keycap every time you want to change modes. What’s more, this switch isn’t labelled and has a different orientation to the manual illustrations, all of which makes knowing which position to select harder than it should be.
The FUN60 Ultra can be customized using the MonsGeek Driver, which offers all the usual gaming keyboard adjustments, alongside plenty of analog-related tweaks. It’s very versatile in this regard, but there are a few issues with it, such as the cumbersome actuation adjustment process, and the uninformative visualizer that accompanies it.
When it comes to performance, however, I found little wrong with the FUN60 Ultra. The keys are snappy and very satisfying to use, with plenty of bounce but enough dampening for enhanced tactility, which is a boon for typing as well as gaming.
Connecting the FUN60 Ultra via the 2.4GHz dongle and Bluetooth proved easy enough, with no discernible dips in performance over wired play. Switching between wireless and wired modes, though, was more hassle than it should have been.
Battery life seems quite good, with the RGB indicator staying green after a couple of days of varied use. Unfortunately, the software doesn’t provide a percentage, so I wasn’t able to get a precise read on how much remained.
When you consider its relatively low price, the FUN60 Ultra represents great value for those after a high-end analog keyboard experience, as it punches far above its class in terms of performance. It’s slightly cheaper than the Gamakay TK75HE V2, which is one of its closest rivals, although this has a slightly larger layout and is wired only.
For a more luxurious alternative, the SteelSeries Apex Pro TKL Gen 3 is one of the best analog keyboards around, but is considerably more expensive than the FUN60 Ultra, and doesn’t outstrip its performance by as much as the price difference might lead you to believe. So if you’re looking to get into the analog gaming keyboard world, the FUN60 Ultra is a great place to start.
(Image credit: Future)
MonsGeek FUN60 Ultra review: price and availability
$89.99 / £75.59 / AU$142.54
Available now in black and white
Very well priced
The FUN60 Ultra costs $89.99 / £75.59 / AU$142.54 and is available now in white and black finishes. It comes with a keycap puller, a switch puller, a 2.4GHz USB-A dongle, and a USB-A-to-C cable. You can also configure it with PBT or PBT-SP keycaps. Wired and Hall effect variants are available as well, with cheaper price tags.
This makes the FUN60 Ultra one of the cheapest analog keyboards you can buy, and has the potential to be one of the best cheap gaming keyboards around. Other budget-friendly examples include the Gamakay TK75HE, which is slightly more expensive and is wired only but has a larger 75% layout. It performs similarly to the FUN60 Ultra, although the keys don’t feel quite as bouncy and therefore satisfying in my view.
If you want something more premium, the SteelSeries Apex Pro TKL Gen 3 is one of the best analog keyboards I’ve experienced, offering very responsive and accurate presses. This also has a larger layout, but is considerably more expensive than the FUN60 Ultra, and the difference in performance isn’t as great as you might expect. However, the FUN60 Ultra is probably the easier board to live with, and the software, while not featuring quite as many tweaks, is still better to use.
Value: 5 / 5
(Image credit: Future)
MonsGeek FUN60 Ultra review: specs
Layout
60%
Switch
Analog (TMR)
Programmable keys
Yes
Dimensions
Not stated
RGB or backlighting
Yes (customizable)
(Image credit: Future)
MonsGeek FUN60 Ultra review: design and features
Great build quality
Bizarre selector switch placement
Software isn’t the best engineered
The FUN60 Ultra has a neat and minimalist design, with a few design quirks that hint at its intended audience, such as the (rather pointless) side hook and diagonally cut corners. It looks sleek, and in its white finish, quite vibrant, which is emphasized further by the RGB backlighting.
The overall build quality is excellent, with the chassis feeling reassuringly solid, although it’s quite heavy despite its compact size. There isn’t much tilt angle, and the lack of feet means you won’t be able to adjust this.
Thankfully, though, the body isn’t too thick, so I found it comfortable to use, even without wrist support – although for longer sessions I would benefit from using a rest, and I suspect others would too.
The keycaps feel very premium, as you would expect from their PBT construction. It’s a shame, though, that they’re not labelled with their Fn shortcuts, so you’ll have to keep the manual close by.
One very annoying aspect of the FUN60 Ultra is the fact that the switch for toggling between Windows, Mac, and wired connectivity is located under the Caps Lock, which means you have to remove this keycap every time you want to switch between them.
Why MonsGeek chose this location is beyond me. What’s more, the switch isn’t labelled, and runs vertically rather than horizontally as pictured in the manual, so there’s no way of knowing which side is Windows and which is Mac (for your information, down is Windows, up is Mac).
The FUN60 Ultra can be customized using the MonsGeek Driver. Here you’ll find the typical gaming keyboard features, including a macro creator, a section for altering the RGB backlighting, and key remapping.
(Image credit: Future)
The latter offers a reasonable selection of media and system shortcuts, although these aren’t as copious as some gaming keyboards provide. You can bind mouse movements to keys, though, which isn’t a function that’s always present in customization software.
As you’d expect given its analog switches, there are also plenty of actuation adjustments available. You can set the actuation and reset points independently, with a range between 0.1mm and 3.4mm, and there are various modes and features you can use too.
These include a non-stop rapid trigger, continuous trigger and snap tap modes, as well as the ability to bind up to four inputs to a single key, depending on its actuation point and direction of travel. There’s also a rapid trigger stabilizer setting, which prevents unintended inputs when setting very short actuation points.
This makes it a versatile piece of software, with more actuation tweaks than some other software provides. However, the tool isn’t the easiest to use, and I experienced a number of issues with it.
The window can’t be resized, and there are relatively long loading times after making certain changes. I also experienced an issue where the drop-down menus wouldn’t work, requiring a full restart of my PC to rectify – although admittedly, this might’ve been an issue with my particular system rather than with the software itself.
What’s more, while there’s a visualizer to simulate key actuation in real time, this can lag at times, and the color-coded bar representing presses and releases fails to change with the actuation points you set, so its usefulness is somewhat limited. More frustration comes in the form of having to hit a confirm button every time you make these tweaks – and doing so when multiple keys are selected deselects them all (bar one), which only makes the process more cumbersome.
Design & features: 3.5 / 5
MonsGeek FUN60 Ultra review: performance
Bouncy keys
Short yet controlled travel
Great for typing and gaming
The overall performance of the FUN60 Ultra is very good. The TMR magnetic switches I had in my review unit promise a lot, claiming to be even more accurate than Hall effect ones.
In practice, I can’t say I noticed a huge improvement in this regard, but that’s certainly not to disparage them. They are very snappy and tactile, with just enough dampening to make them very satisfying to hammer away on. In terms of feel, they come close to giving some of the best mechanical keyboards a run for their money. And despite the short travel of the keys, there’s enough resistance to make for controlled presses.
The typing performance is also excellent, largely thanks to the fast rebound of the keys. And while it has a clicky sound, it’s not as loud as some other analog keyboards. I would label the FUN60 Ultra as a great keyboard for productivity, if it wasn’t for the compromised layout, which doesn’t even include arrow keys or a dedicated F row.
(Image credit: Future)
Connectivity is mostly great, with no dropouts of noticeable lag when using wireless modes. Switching between Bluetooth and 2.4GHz modes on the fly using the relevant Fn shortcuts also proved responsive enough.
However, switching between wireless and wired modes isn’t the easiest, due to the aforementioned location of the selector switch under the Caps Lock. Worse still was the fact that on occasion, the FUN60 Ultra wouldn’t connect to my wired device even with the selector in the right position, requiring me to remove the 2.4GHz dongle from my other device before it would, which only adds to the inconvenience of switching between devices.
Battery life on the FUN60 Ultra seems quite good. After using it for a couple of days, the backlight indicator remained green, which means it at least remained above 90%. However, I can’t be more accurate than this, since there’s no percentage readout in the software.
Performance: 4.5/ 5
Should I buy the MonsGeek FUN60 Ultra?
MonsGeek FUN60 Ultra Scorecard
Attributes
Notes
Rating
Value
There aren’t many cheaper analog keyboards than this, especially those with TMR sensors.
4 / 5
Design and features
The FUN60 Ultra is solid and premium feeling, although the decision to place the connectivity toggle under the Caps Lock key is baffling. The software offers plenty of tweaks, but it’s not the easiest to use.
3.5 / 5
Performance
The FUN60 Ultra is snappy and with plenty of bounce, with just enough dampening to make it satisfying. Great for gaming and typing.
4.5 / 5
Overall rating
The FUN60 Ultra offers a very compelling package, with top-tier analog switches and build quality at a relatively low price. A few usability issues aside, it’s a great value gaming keyboard all the same.
4 / 5
Buy it if…
You want responsive, satisfying switches The analog switches are responsive, and that bouncy feel is great for gaming and typing.
You want to save money For a wireless keyboard with analog TMR switches and PBT keycaps, the FUN60 Ultra is hard to beat in terms of value for money.
Don’t buy it if…
You want a keyboard for productivity Despite its excellent typing performance, the 60% layout means you’re missing out on some useful functions, such as arrow keys, F keys, and the home-end cluster.
You want to hot-switch between devices Switching between wired and wireless devices was needlessly convoluted, and concealing the mode switch beneath the Caps Lock key is one of the worst design choices I’ve come across.
MonsGeek FUN60 Ultra review: also consider
MonsGeek FUN60 Ultra
Gamakay TK75HE V2
SteelSeries Apex Pro TKL Gen 3
Layout
60%
75%
TKL
Switch
Analog (TMR magnetic)
Analog (Hall-effect magnetic)
Analog (Hall-effect magnetic)
Programmable keys
Yes
Yes
Yes
Dimensions
Not stated
12.8 x 5.4 x 1.1 inches / 325 x 136 x 28mm
14 x 5 x 1.7 inches / 355 x 129 x 42mm
RGB or backlighting
Yes (customizable)
Yes (customizable)
Yes (customizable)
Gamakay TK75HE V2 If you’re looking for an analog keyboard without spending large amounts, the TK75HE V2 is another contender in the space. It uses Hall effect rather than TMR sensors in its switches, which in theory are less precise, but you’d be hard pressed to notice the difference. I didn’t find it quite so satisfying in terms of feel, but it still acquits itself very admirably at this price. It does suffer from software issues, however. Read our Gamakay TK75HE V2 review.
SteelSeries Apex Pro TKL Gen 3 The Apex Pro is a premium analog gaming keyboard in every sense. It has excellent analog switches, offering plenty of precision and responsiveness. The software for customizing is also better than MonsGeek’s, but you’ll certainly have to pay for all these privileges, and the performance isn’t exactly streaks ahead of the FUN60 Ultra’s. But if only the best analog keyboard will do, the Apex Pro is hard to beat. Read our SteelSeries Apex Pro TKL Gen 3 review.
How I tested the MonsGeek FUN60 Ultra
Tested for a few days
Used for gaming and typing
Plentiful PC gaming experience
I tested the FUN60 Ultra for a few days, during which time I used it for gaming and typing. I also made use of its various connectivity modes, and used it on both Windows 10 and Windows 11 machines.
I played Counter-Strike 2, which is a great test for peripherals given its need for fast and accurate inputs. It’s also ideal for putting analog switches through their paces, with counter-strafing and other player movements revealing the effectiveness of rapid trigger modes.
I’ve been PC gaming for over a decade, and I’ve experienced plenty of keyboards in that time. I’ve also reviewed a number of them, ranging in manufacturer, switch type, and price.
You might not think it to look at the Asus ZenScreen MB27ACF, but this 27-inch monitor is actually a portable display.
Now, we’ve reviewed plenty of the best portable monitors, but most clock in at around 14 to 16 inches - so this is a big jump.
It might be relatively light, all things considered, and it does have a built-in kickstand, but with a screen this size, this isn’t one for whipping out to work in the library or cafe, or playing games on a long flight. To my mind, this is a screen designed for businesses, collaboration, and a second screen for desktop set-ups, especially across multiple locations.
We’ve previously reviewed the 24-inch Asus ZenScreen MB249C portable monitor. It’s not dissimilar in design, but we found it had a few flaws - chiefly the low resolution (1080p) and pixel density (92.56 ppi), and the so-so built-in speaker, a perennial issue for portable displays. It seems Asus has sat up and taken notice. The new MB27ACF now boasts a 2.5K resolution that better suits the big-screen experience, a pixel density of 218 ppi, and vastly better speakers.
I took the Asus ZenScreen MB27ACF for a test drive for several weeks as a second screen hooked up to a 14in laptop, to see how it measures up against my favorite portable displays.
Asus ZenScreen MB27ACF: Unboxing & first impressions
In the box: Monitor, monitor arm, hanging hooks, HDMI cable, USB-C cable, PSU
VESA mount: 75x75mm
Dimensions: 24.06" x 29.76" x 11.85in / 61.1 x 75.6 x 30.1cm
Weight: 6.57 lbs / 2.98 kg
First impressions? This display is big. Far bigger than any portable monitor I’ve used in the past. At first glance, I seriously doubted the portability of this display.
In the box you’ll find the VESA-mountable display, of course, alongside a pretty hefty monitor arm, hanging hooks for attaching to whiteboards, HDMI and USB-C cables, and the power supply unit.
Despite my initial misgivings, drawing it from the box, I was pleasantly surprised with how easy it is to carry. Yes, it’s large and relatively heavy at 6.57 lbs before any stand is attached, though not ridiculously so. I wouldn’t like to cart this around on the commute every day, particularly since it lacks any protective covering or sleeve.
With that in mind, I maintain this is still best for multiple set-ups across a single location.
Asus ZenScreen MB27ACF: Design & operation
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(Image credit: Asus // Future)
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Given its size, to look at the MB27ACF, you’d be forgiven for thinking this is just an ordinary computer monitor. The screen is broad, the bezels are fairly slim, except along the bottom of the frame where you’ll find the speakers - a 2.1-channel audio with subwoofer that’s acceptable in use.
It’s only when you spin the monitor around that it gives itself away as a portable device. Around the back is a fold-out silver kickstand that pulls out and downward, which helps support the weight compared to those that just flip out from the bottom. Asus is billing this as a carry handle, but I wouldn’t chance it.
Initially, I found folding out this stand was a bit stiff, and I’d advise using a hand on either side to pull it into position, because it does feel like one hard yank might snap it. Once out, you can set it to multiple positions depending on desk-space and required viewing angle. At the center of the rear is a socket for attaching the C-clamp monitor arm, too.
Along the left side is the power jack, alongside three ports - a HDMI, USB-C, and audio jack. On the right is the menu, arrow keys, and power buttons. As such, operation is very straightforward. That USB-C port also offers 70W power delivery, letting you charge your laptop via the monitor, which is useful if you’re short on power sockets - the monitor already uses one, and there’s no built-in battery to help keep down the weight.
Asus ZenScreen MB27ACF: In use
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(Image credit: Asus // Future)
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Throughout testing, I had no trouble using this transportable monitor. It does everything I needed it to do without any fuss or issues, no dead pixels, problems seeing what’s on the screen. Yes, it is heavy. So, as a fully portable monitor, it’s not ideal. That’s not what it’s designed for, of course.
Surprisingly, the speakers were… acceptable. You’re never going to get high-end audio from a device like this, however, the sounds here are a lot less tinny than on many of the speakers on portable monitors. Saying that, I’d still recommend making use of the display’s 3.5mm audio jack or external speakers for tasks that demand the best audio experience.
Outside of that kickstand, which I would’ve liked to see somewhat reinforced, my only real issue is I didn’t find the screen especially bright. The display has a matte covering, which does a great job of limiting screen glare and reflections, but I’d hesitate to use this in direct sunlight.
I would’ve loved this to have a wider color gamut, too. 100% sRGB is fine for creating online assets. But now imagine if this packed 100% P3, or even AdobeRGB - it would make it a very attractive choice for mobile photographers, video editors, and all-round creators who want to conduct detailed creative work. And, wishful thinking though it may be, i can’t help feeling it’s a missed opportunity.
Realistically, though, that’s not who this monitor is for. It’s for business professionals in a collaborative office, and those who want a second screen on their desk that can be easily stashed away when not in use. On that score, the Asus ZenScreen MB27ACF delivers the goods.
Should I buy the Asus ZenScreen MB27ACF?
(Image credit: Asus // Future)
Buy it if...
✅ You want a big, portable display: With its 27in screen, this is a great choice for those who want a large screen with a high resolution for detailed work, and to supplement your laptop or computer screen.
✅ You’re collaborating with others: For my money, this display is best-suited for businesses who need to collaborate with colleagues or present to the wider team.
Don't buy it if...
❌ You want ultra portability: Ok, it might be thin, light, and transportable, but the size and weight limit its portability - I’d suggest only moving this around multiple spaces in a single location, like an office.
❌ You’re a content creator: At just 100% sRGB, this monitor lacks a wide color gamut demanded by creative professionals like photographers.
The Gamakay TK75HE V2 is a wired keyboard with Hall effect analog switches that provide snappy and precise inputs, and feature multiple actuation adjustments to tailor key response to your exact preferences.
It sports a minimal aesthetic, which, combined with its compact form, makes it conducive to use in any setting. This aspect is somewhat hampered, however, by the short USB cable, which might fail to reach your PC depending on your setup.
Still, the overall build quality of the TK75HE V2 is impressive, on a level-pegging with some of the best gaming keyboards. The plastic chassis is light yet reassuringly solid, and, although it’s thick at the rear, this tapers off towards the front. The PBT keycaps feel as premium as you could wish for, too.
The two-stage folding feet provide plenty of tilt for getting an ergonomic typing position, although I still found the TK75HE V2 uncomfortable to type with for extended periods, owing to the lack of wrist support needed to offset its elevated height.
A screen is integrated in the bottom right corner of the TK75HE V2, although this is very limited in scope, with actuation adjustments, for instance, missing from its menu. For settings such as these, you’ll need to use the Gamakay Driver.
This PC app allows you make all the usual keyboard customizations, with various rebind options available, alongside macro creation and RGB adjustments. Tweaks for the analog switches are plentiful and accompanied by a handy visualizer to see key response in real time.
However, this visualizer lacks some useful feedback indicators, and has a tendency to lag significantly when making multiple inputs rapidly. What’s more, the app window can’t be resized, and a few explanations lack clarity, while others were cut off from the GUI, which was frustrating.
Thankfully, the tool is usable enough, and the analog adjustments it can make provide a meaningful difference to performance. To game with, the TK75HE V2 is certainly responsive, although I can’t say its 8K polling rate makes much difference in this regard, relative to lower-polling keyboards.
Key presses with the linear Mercury switches installed on my TK75HE V2 were less damped than I was expecting – certainly less so than the ultra-soft tactile Pegasus switches I tried in the mechanical TK75 V2, for instance – but I still found them satisfying to use, whether I was gaming or typing.
The latter was also helped by the shallow, short-traveling Cherry profile keycaps, which makes the TK75HE V2 suited to productivity tasks. However, it really needs a wrist rest to make long sessions comfortable.
The TK75HE V2 has a low price for an analog keyboard, undercutting many of its big name rivals by a huge margin, such as the SteelSeries Apex Pro. However, that keyboard has some of the best analog switches I’ve tried, and offers exceptional gaming performance overall.
But the TK75HE V2 isn’t that far behind in this regard, which makes it a great entry point for those looking to get their fingers on some analog switches. The mechanical TK75 V2 is slightly cheaper but not by much, although this would be a better alternative for those who prefer soft and silent key presses.
(Image credit: Future)
Gamakay TK75HE V2 review: price and availability
$109.99 / £85 / AU$176
Available now in two colorways
Cheaper than many analog boards
The TK75HE V2 costs $109.99 / £85 / AU$176 and is available now in two colorways: black and white. It can be configured with two stock switch types: Phoenix, which is silent; or Mercury, which is linear. Additionally, it comes with a USB cable and a keycap puller for hot-swapping purposes.
The TK75HE V2 is more expensive than its mechanical counterpart, the TK75 V2, which has an exquisite typing feel with much more dampening, although this could be due to the tactile Pegasus switches I experienced in that board. However, since it doesn’t use analog switches, there aren’t any actuation adjustments.
If you’re looking for pure analog performance, the SteelSeries Apex Pro TKL is hard to beat. It’s one of the best keyboards with analog switches in my view, offering incredible precision and responsiveness, but it’s considerably more expensive than the TK75HE V2.
Value score: 5 / 5
Gamakay TK75HE V2 review: specs
Layout
75%
Switch
Analog (Hall-effect magnetic)
Programmable keys
Yes
Dimensions
12.8 x 5.4 x 1.1 inches / 325 x 136 x 28mm
RGB or backlighting
Yes (customizable)
(Image credit: Future)
Gamakay TK75HE V2 review: design and features
Minimal looks
Premium feel
Versatile but unrefined software
The TK75HE V2 has a rather understated appearance, although this is buoyed somewhat by the bright RGB lighting, which is even more pronounced in the white variant. But overall its minimal aesthetic should fit in well with most setups.
Build quality is also admirable, with the plastic chassis feeling durable yet pleasingly light at the same time. It has a thick depth at the back, but this narrows out at the front, which helps to keep things compact.
This narrowing also improves usability, since the TK75HE V2 doesn’t come with a wrist rest. It does come with a USB cable, but this is disappointingly short and may prove unfeasible for certain setups.
The PBT keycaps feel premium to the touch, with a very subtle texture that doesn’t encroach on their smoothness. It’s slightly inconvenient, however, that the FN shortcuts aren’t labelled on the keys themselves, so you’ll have to refer to the included manual to see what they are.
The volume wheel is well notched to allow for smooth yet controlled jogging, although its click function is a little too stiff for my liking – but this is a minor grievance.
A small screen is also nestled in the bottom right corner, controllable via the volume knob, although I found little use for it since its functionality is quite limited. You can view the runtime and date, as well as CPU usage and temperature – although these latter two failed to take readings, and there’s nothing in the manual to explain how to set this up.
(Image credit: Future)
Rounding out the interface’s capabilities are RGB lighting adjustments and Mac and Windows modes. You can also display your own drawings, but for this you’ll need to download the Gamakay Driver PC app.
This app also contains many other typical gaming keyboard customizations. There are various rebinding options with multiple layers available, although sadly system shortcuts and commands seem to be absent: you can only remap keys to other keys, key combinations with modifiers, or macros you’ve created.
There are also numerous adjustments for the analog switches, though, including independent actuation point sliders for presses and releases. There are also various modes to toggle and configure, such as multi-input, continuous trigger, and others.
Overall, the Gamakay Driver provides an impressive selection of customizations, although some analog-based functions are missing, such as controller emulation. What’s more, the software isn’t without its faults.
Firstly, the app window can’t be resized, which, in my experience at least, can result in cut-offs. There were also certain sections where text explanations weren’t fully rendered.
What’s more, certain explanations were hard to understand, and some occasional odd word choices didn’t help matters either: for example, a button used to select multiple keys for customizing simultaneously is labelled “drag”.
Design & features score: 3.5 / 5
Gamakay TK75HE V2 review: performance
Satisfying feedback
Not as damped as other keyboards
Controlled analog switches
The TK75HE V2 is very capable when it comes to gaming. Its keys are very responsive, although I can’t say the 8K polling rate provided a noticeable improvement in this regard over other boards.
The unit I had came preinstalled with Gamakay’s Mercury switches, which are said to have a linear profile. Their impact might deter some gamers, as they lack the dampening of some of the best mechanical keyboards: they’re more clicky and louder, but there’s still enough cushioning to make them satisfying to use.
What’s more, they feel a little heavier than other analog switches I’ve tried, which works in their favor as their resistance is progressive, feeling lighter at the top but getting heavier as they near the end of their travel.
This makes for controlled presses, and is especially useful when trying to hit certain actuation points. It also means that quickfire presses are easy to execute, which is especially useful when using the Rapid Tap feature – one of the key selling points of analog switches.
The mild indentation of the Cherry profile keys was something I welcomed too, as they allow for a secure positioning while still being amenable to gliding over the board.
(Image credit: Future)
This aspect also makes the bottom row readily accessible, as does the subtle concaving of the layout in general. The space bar is pleasingly low too, as it meant I could hit it with the tip of my thumb rather than the edge.
However, one small gripe I have is with the feet, which aren’t stable enough to handle even small shuffles back and forth. This may prove frustrating to those who frequently adjust the position of their keyboard.
Typing performance is also good, with those Mercury switches providing plenty of feedback and bounce, while being controlled at the same time. This allowed for fast and accurate typing – although the drawback is the relatively loud noise they generate.
I found the layout a little cramped at first, but I got used to it quickly. The angle provided by the feet does improve the ergonomics, but I still experienced some discomfort after only a short period; the TK75HE V2 is another keyboard that requires additional wrist support and yet sadly doesn't come with any.
Performance score: 4/ 5
Should I buy the Gamakay TK75HE V2?
Gamakay TK75HE V2 Scorecard
Attributes
Notes
Rating
Value
You’ll struggle to find many analog keyboards cheaper than this, and its performance and build are impressive for price.
5 / 5
Design and features
The TK75HE V2 is minimal and inoffensive. It’s also well built, although the software, while versatile, isn’t as refined as others.
3.5 / 5
Performance
The analog switches are certainly responsive, and it’s great for both gaming and typing – although wrist support is sorely needed.
4 / 5
Overall
The TK75HE V2 is an impressive keyboard considering its relatively low price tag. The software provides useful customizations, although it’s not the best engineered. If you’re looking for a budget analog keyboard, this should certainly be a contender.
4 / 5
Buy it if…
You want to hot-swap You can choose which switches come equipped in your TK75HE V2, but if you ever fancy a change, you can swap them out at any time.
You want analog switches at a good price There aren’t too many analog boards around at this price, and it doesn’t exactly feel as if you’re skimping on quality.
Don’t buy it if…
You want the best software The Gamakay Driver has plenty to offer, but it’s not always the easiest to work with, thanks to some interface issues.
You want the best comfort The feet offer a meaningful break angle that makes typing more comfortable, but the TK75HE V2 really needs a wrist rest if you plan on using it for productivity.
Gamakay TK75HE V2 review: also consider
Gamakay TK75HE V2
SteelSeries Apex Pro TKL Gen 3
Gamakay TK75 V2
Layout
75%
TKL
75%
Switch
Analog (Hall-effect magnetic)
Analog (Hall-effect magnetic)
Mechanical
Programmable keys
Yes
Yes
Yes
Dimensions
12.8 x 5.4 x 1.1 inches / 325 x 136 x 28mm
14.5 x 5.5 x 1.5 inches (approx.) / 368.3 x 139.7 x 38.1mm
12.8 x 5.4 x 1.1 inches / 325 x 136 x 28mm
RGB or backlighting
Yes (customizable)
Yes (customizable)
Yes (customizable)
SteelSeries Apex Pro TKLGen 3 The Apex Pro is certainly more expensive than the TK75HE V2, but its analog switches are a dream to use, and its adjustments and accompanying software are great as well. A wireless variant is also available, which is naturally even more expensive, but not by a huge margin. Read our full SteelSeries Apex Pro TKL Gen 3 review.
Gamakay TK75 V2 If you don’t need analog switches, then Gamakay makes for a great alternative. The tactile Pegasus mechanical switches I experienced in this board had much greater dampening and felt fantastic for both gaming or typing. It’s cheaper than the TK75HE V2 too, although not by much, but that’s fine since both are well-priced considering what they offer. Read our full Gamakay TK75 V2 review.
How I tested the Gamakay TK75HE V2
Tested for a few days
Used for gaming and working
Plentiful keyboard experience
I tested the TK75HE V2 for a few days, during which time I used it for gaming and working on both Windows 10 and 11 machines.
I played Counter-Strike 2, which is a great test for any peripheral due the premium it places on fast and accurate inputs. It’s especially useful when testing analog switches, since counter-strafing can put Rapid Trigger features through their paces.
I have been PC gaming for over a decade, and during that time I have used a great deal of keyboards. I have also reviewed numerous examples, including those with analog switches and other Gamakay models.
Wisdom dictates there’s no such thing as an all-purpose lens. Yet in the FE 28-70mm F2 GM, Sony’s had a stellar go at making one. Pitched as a do-it-all solution for photographers who demand versatility without compromise, this is flagship glass that could replace a trio of primes in your kit bag.
Thanks to a constant f/2 maximum aperture, the FE 28-70mm F2 GM delivers the kind of results you’d expect from a prime lens, paired with the versatility of a standard zoom. The sweetener is that it’s packaged with dimensions that are easy enough to work with on a daily basis, more so than Canon's ungainly equivalent.
This isn’t a lightweight lens by consumer standards, but for G Master glass with fast optics, Sony’s done an impressive job of keeping measurements in check. The solid build and weather seals reflect its premium status, as does the way it handles, with tactile control rings and buttons.
In performance terms, the FE 28-70mm F2 GM hits the mark at every focal length. That maximum aperture gives it excellent low-light credentials, allowing you to shoot fast even in dim conditions. F/2 also unlocks beautifully smooth bokeh and striking subject isolation with a shallow depth of field. The lens is as effective for night-time street scenes as it is for 70mm portraits.
(Image credit: Chris Rowlands)
It’s optically excellent too, with no discernible sacrifice in quality for the sake of flexibility. Central detail is consistently sharp across the zoom range, with only the tiniest hint of corner softness when shooting wide open. There’s no shortage of contrast either, with minimal evidence of vignetting or chromatic aberrations.
In-camera correction does address some barrel distortion at 28mm, but this is less impactful than if the lens went to 24mm like most standard zooms. That slight restriction on wide-angle coverage will give some users pause for thought. In practise, the f/2 aperture more than makes up for the slightly tighter focal length.
The only major omission is lens-based stabilization, even this isn’t felt in real-world conditions; with the ability to shoot at fast shutter speeds, paired with rapid, accurate autofocus, you won’t encounter issues with blurring.
In truth, there’s only one drawback to the Sony FE 28-70mm f/2 GM and that’s the price. There’s no escaping that this lens is a serious investment. But when you consider that this is professional glass which delivers prime performance at several focal lengths, its value is self-evident.
If you want a new go-to lens that’s manageable on a full-frame mirrorless body and can handle everything from landscapes to weddings, this might just be the most complete standard zoom Sony has ever made.
Sony FE 28-70mm F2 GM specs
Sony FE 28-70mm F2 GM: Design
Tidily packaged for such a fast zoom lens
Robust G Master build with weather seals
Tactile controls with zoom ring switches
Sony has managed to keep the FE 28-70mm F2 GM surprisingly compact for such a fast standard zoom. It’s by no means a lightweight lens at 32.4oz / 918g, but it’s only a fraction larger and heavier than the FE 24-70mm f/2.8 GM. That’s quite a feat, given the optics required to achieve its f/2 maximum aperture. It’s also significantly more portable than the comparable Canon RF 28-70mm F2L USM.
Paired with a full-frame body like the Sony A7S III, the FE 28-70mm f/2 GM balances well without feeling too front-heavy. It helps that the lens is fantastic to handle. You get a full complement of controls, including rings for zoom, focus and aperture. A pair of customizable focus hold buttons offer useful flexibility, together with the familiar AF/MF and aperture lock switches. Two additional switches let you further influence the shooting experience.
We’ve seen the aperture click switch on other Sony lenses. It’s a welcome one, letting you choose whether you’d like tactile feedback while moving through f-stops. More unusual is the torque switch, which gives you the option of tight or smooth zoom ring rotation. The former is helpful for preventing zoom creep, while the latter lets you change focal lengths with a light touch – something that videographers are likely to appreciate.
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Given the price and the G Master badge, it’s no surprise that the FE 28-70mm F2 GM feels solid. This is a professional lens that’s built for the elements, with weather seals throughout. It’s all sturdy and purposeful, with a lovely weighting to the controls and no sense of compromise anywhere on the barrel.
It’s worth noting that the large front element requires equally large 86mm filters, which are more expensive than smaller standard thread sizes. That shouldn’t be a revelation: with a lens of this calibre, there’s an expectation that budget won’t be an issue.
Sony FE 28-70mm F2 GM: Performance
Fast f/2 maximum aperture at every focal length
Strong center sharpness across the zoom range
Four XD linear motors for rapid, accurate autofocus
When it comes to performance, the FE 28-70mm F2 GM is nothing less than superlative. Autofocus is rapid and reliable, as you’d expect with a quartet of XD linear motors at work. While its size might conjure expectations of a sluggish response, there’s not even a hint of hesitation as the lens hunts for a subject. It’s remarkably quiet, too.
That speed puts another string in the bow of the FE 28-70mm f/2. While a standard zoom wouldn’t be the traditional choice for capturing action, its autofocus capabilities, paired with the ability to use fast shutter speeds at its widest aperture setting, make it a real sporting performer. It had no trouble tracking subjects in motion, locking with laser accuracy.
That constant f/2 maximum aperture is what sets the FE 28-70mm apart from other standard zooms. It unlocks prime performance at every focal length. Whether you’re shooting a night-time street scene at 35mm or a portrait at 70mm, you get the full light-gathering, background-defocusing power of a wide aperture.
F/2 is one stop faster than f/2.8. That means you need half as much light to shoot at the same shutter speed with the FE 28-70mm f/2 GM as you would with the FE 24-70mm f/2.8 GM. That makes a big difference in the real world, allowing you to shoot sharp and fast even in tricky conditions. Only with an f/1.4 prime would you get a meaningfully faster shooting experience.
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The net result is a standard zoom that can replace several primes in your kit bag. And it can do so without optical compromise: bokeh and background blur at f/2 is exceptionally smooth, with beautiful subject isolation.
Taken all together, that recipe makes the FE 28-70mm F2 GM a uniquely versatile option. For wedding and event photographers who don’t want the hassle of switching lenses throughout the day, it’s a compelling proposition – as it is for any well-heeled photographer who covers a wide range of genres.
Arguably its only limitation besides the price is the slight loss of wide-angle coverage: its 28mm starting point is tighter than on a typical 24-70mm zoom. Whether that extra 4mm makes a difference will come down to how you shoot, but the constant f/2 maximum aperture is your pay-off. For most people, that number is probably the more useful of the two.
Sony FE 28-70mm F2 GM: sample images
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A close look at images shot with the Sony FE 28-70mm F2 GM reveals that it really is a master of all trades. Central sharpness is consistently superb across the zoom range and the lens is able to render magnificent detail. Paired with a high-resolution full-frame sensor, you’ll have no trouble cropping in on stills.
Edge sharpness is also excellent. Only at the wide end does a touch of corner softness become visible. There’s some in-camera correction at play here, addressing minor barrel distortion at 28mm. You’ll need a keen eye to spot it, though. Sony has certainly made its life easier by not extending the zoom range to 24mm, where distortion would have been a more significant issue.
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In fact, there’s little evidence of any major imperfections. Both vignetting and chromatic aberrations are kept under tight control, with no color fringing to speak of. Contrast is strong as well, with just a trace of ghosting and a few flare artifacts visible when shooting wide open into direct sunlight. Optically, it’s very hard to find fault with this G Master glass.
In short, the Sony FE 28-70mm F2 GM gives an almost flawless demonstration at every focal length. Even the absence of lens-based stabilization doesn’t hold it back: at f/2, shutter speeds are more than fast enough to eliminate the risk of blur. If you’re willing to dig into your pockets, Sony will reward you with a standard zoom that excels in every respect.
Should you buy the Sony FE 28-70mm F2 GM?
Buy it if...
You want a do-it-all zoom lens
Combining the optical performance of a prime lens with the versatility of a standard zoom, the Sony FE 28-70mm F2 GM can cover everything from landscapes to portraits with aplomb, whether day or night.
You want quality at every focal length
Sony has made very few optical compromises here. Pin-sharp at the center across the zoom range, the FE 28-70mm F2 GM also displays little in the way of vignetting, aberrations or distortion.
You want a lens you can live with
Cleverly packaged and lovely to handle, the FE 28-70mm F2 GM pairs well with a full-frame Sony body. It’s manageable to walk around with, while the G Master build includes full weather seals.
Don't buy it if...
You’re on a tight budget
This is flagship glass that’s priced to match. With a premium build, versatile reach and professional performance, you’re getting your money’s worth, but the Sony FE 28-70mm F2 GM is still a major investment.
You need a 24-70mm lens
Most standard zooms start at 24mm. Sony’s sacrifices 4mm in favor of a constant f/2 maximum aperture. That’s a stellar trade-off, but if you need the wide-angle coverage, you’ll need to look elsewhere.
You shoot at specific focal lengths
Much of the Sony zoom’s value lies in the versatility of its reach. If you only plan to shoot at specific focal lengths, such as 35mm and 50mm, you’ll get faster apertures for less from a pair of prime lenses.
How I tested the Sony FE 28-70mm F2 GM
Tested in-depth for seven days
Paired with a Sony A7S III body
Shot a range of test scenes
The FE 28-70mm F2 GM was only available on a short loan from Sony. That gave me a week to run the zoom through a series of in-depth tests. Given that it’s pitched as the kind of lens you’ll keep on your camera by default, that’s exactly how I lived with it. Paired with a Sony A7S III body, I picked it up every time I left the house.
That gave me a good impression of how easy the FE 28-70mm F2 GM would be to live and shoot with as a long-term standard zoom. Walking around with it allowed me to get a feel for its weight and handling, while shooting a range of scenes in different light conditions yielded a diverse catalog of stills. Covering everything from floral close-ups to abstract street scenes, the results gave me a good basis on which to assess its optical performance.
I’ve shot with several Sony lenses recently, including wide-angle primes and super telephotos, so I had a good benchmark for comparing the build quality. I also regularly shoot with both prime optics and standard zooms on my own Nikon camera, which means I know what to look for when it comes to both image quality and the physical shooting experience.
