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AceFast’s open-ear offering has all the trappings of the best cheap open earbuds… except the price

12:30 pm | April 23, 2025

AceFast AceFit Pro: Two minute review

Having tested several of the best open-ear headphones now, I’ve been waiting for a really affordable pair of earbuds to shake up this burgeoning and relatively new audio market that's perhaps still looking for a reliable budget offering. So when I heard that AceFast had made some open-fit earbuds, I was ready to be excited – however, I was wrong to be.

AceFast isn’t a big player in the game yet, but I tested the AceFast T9 last year, and loved the funky look, low price and emphasis on usability. I was expecting the new AceFit Pro to replicate all three of these traits, then. Sadly, it only actually nails one.

Arguably, the one attribute it does nail is the most important check-box for open earbuds. These designs typically hover just over the ear canal instead of sitting in it, to ensure you can hear your surroundings while listening to music. And AceFast’s have a reliable, comfortable fit that doesn’t wobble in your ear or fall out without warning, issues other open-ears have certainly fallen foul of.

But AceFast drops the ball with the other two traits. The price is one, as not only are they not cheap earbuds, they’re actually more expensive than some impressive mid-range rivals from Honor and Huawei.

And then there’s the design, which initially began as my favorite thing about these earbuds. Not only do they come in a range of colors, all toting see-through cases with LED lights that you can customize the hue of, but they also boast battery displays. This lets you know the battery percentage left for the case, and how close to fully-charged the buds are. And I absolutely love it – it’s incredibly handy in planning your charging and knowing how much listening time you have left (that’s despite the battery life being pretty awful, all things considered).

Unfortunately, the AceFit Pro’s design is its biggest strength but also its biggest weakness, with a few sad and curious design choices. The sad one is that, like many other cheap earbuds, the case is unreliable – just two weeks into my testing, the right earbud developed a problem that meant the case didn’t always recognize its presence. It wouldn’t always charge when in the case, or turned on when removed, and though removing and reinserting the bud several times would generally resolve the issue, it’s not a good sign for the longevity of the AceFast AceFit Pro.

The ‘curious’ decision I spoke of was to put the charging port on the underside of the case. To power it up, you have to flip it on its back like a beached turtle.

Beyond that, the AceFast AceFit Pro don’t do that much to impress. They have a limited range of features (though they do have an equalizer at least, which you can’t say about all open-ears) and the audio quality leaves a lot to be desired.

Most of these issues could be hand-waved with the simple explanation that cheap earbuds aren’t perfect, and that’s what I did a lot of the time during my testing… but the inescapable fact is that the AceFast AceFit Pro aren’t actually that low-cost. They just have all the hallmarks of cheap earbuds – and all in all, that makes them hard to recommend.

AceFast AceFit Pro review: Specifications

AceFast AceFit Pro review: Price and availability

The Acefast Acefit Pro on a window sill — (Image credit: Future)

Kickstarter campaign ran Jan-Feb 2025, now selling via Amazon
Priced $159.99 (roughly £120, AU$250)
Cheaper option is AceFit Pro at $79.99 / £79.99 (roughly AU$160)

The AceFast AceFit Pro were launched on Kickstarter, in a campaign which ran from mid-January to late-February 2025. Nowadays, though, you can buy them on Amazon, and I’m going to use this price as a guide instead of the Kickstarter fee, as it’s the only way for new buyers to pick up the buds.

At the time of writing, the AceFast AceFit Pro are on sale in the US and not the UK or Australia, though based on precedent (and the Pro's siblings, which we'll get to) I'd expect them to hit Amazon's UK site at some point soon.

You can pick the buds up for $159.99 (roughly £120, AU$250) so they’re mid-range open earbuds, in the rough price bracket that most rivals inhabit (although towards on the higher end of the spectrum than most contemporaries).

For some context, the also-open-ear AceFast AceFit Air sell for $79.99 / £79.99 (roughly AU$160) so those at least are affordable earbuds.

AceFast AceFit Pro review: Design

Funky battery display and see-through parts
Weird-placed charging port
Earbud recognition/charging issues

It’s unusual to find much to say about the case of headphones; that’s never the case with AceFast products. The case – which you can pick up in white, pink, purple or green, as with the buds – is transparent, letting users pretend they’re putting on gadgets from the noughties instead of the twenties.

That’s not all, as the case also has a digital battery display that shows you the overall power of the case in a percentage, as well as the charge in each bud while they’re enclosed. This isn’t just a funky design element but a really useful way to know that your case is fully charged, to prevent overcharging, and to remind you when it needs charging too. I really appreciated this feature and it deserves being mentioned in the ‘Pros’ list of this review.

The feature came in handy when (and this is where things take a turn for the worse) it showed me that one of the buds wasn’t charging. The AceFit Pro buds weren’t always good at recognizing that they were in their charging case: they wouldn’t begin powering up when inserted, or automatically turn on when taken out, and I’d have to wiggle the buds or remove and re-insert them for it to work. I can’t say whether this was a problem with my review unit or a larger issue with the device but it’s not an uncommon headache among cheap earbuds (and in the case of these buds, it didn’t completely scupper the buds, which isn’t always true).

This feature is potentially disastrous, so if you’re confused why I’m not making a bigger deal about it than I am, it’s because the buds still worked, and because I can’t say with any certainty that it’s not just my review unit. It seems unlikely, but it’s not impossible.

As well as the battery display, the case has an array of LED lights to fully embody that noughties aesthetic. You can change the color of this via the app, and since it only turns on when the case is open there’s no need to turn it off.

The case is quite thin, and it’s light too at just 74g. It looks like it’s made from cheap plastic, as you can probably see from the images, but it actually feels surprisingly premium and solid when you get your mitts on it. It’s also sturdy, as I found out through dropping it repeatedly. This wasn’t my butter-fingers but a symptom of the shape of the case: it’s rounded like a pebble, not even flat on the bottom, and so it had a habit of sliding off things I put it on if they weren’t totally flat.

Another weird quirk of the case is that the charging port is on the bottom, meaning you need to turn the case on its back like a flipped turtle in order to power it up – apparently AceFast didn’t take notes from the Apple Magic Mouse. Functionally it doesn’t have much of an effect but it means you can’t really see the battery display while charging, and it frankly looks pretty silly too.

Finally, we move to the earbuds. These will look pretty standard to people familiar with open earbuds: A large pill that hovers over your ears, and a sports loop that ends in a counterweight ad battery pack behind the ear. Your earbuds will be the same color as your charging case.

The AceFit Pro buds are comfortable and lightweight to wear, at 7.8g each. I only rarely found issues with them wobbling too much during exercise, and they felt pretty flexible to fit different ears too. They’re also protected against sweat with an IP54 rating.

There’s a touch-sensitive area on the buds’ body for gesture controls, but this was less reliable than South London buses and I rapidly gave up any hope of using them.

Something that may impress certain users (and upset others) is that the AceFast logo on each bud lights up, which is a lot more obvious than the simple, single LED that most buds have. I’ll admit I did feel quite self-conscious working out with a giant glowing logo on each ear, but the app does let you turn this off.

Design score: 2.5/5

AceFast AceFit Pro review: Features

6-hour battery life (25 for case) or less
AceFast app brings few features
Bluetooth 5.4 connectivity

Even early into my testing for the AceFit Pro, I was surprised by how quickly the battery level dropped. AceFast says the buds have a battery life of 6 hours and the case bumps that to 25 hours, both relatively low figures compared to rivals. But read the fine print and you discover that that’s listening at just 60% volume – I don’t think I ever listened with the volume this quiet.

In my personal testing, I found the AceFit Pro to have a battery life of about five hours, listening at around 80%-90% of their volume (out and about I generally used them one or two volume increments below max volume). That is, frankly, pretty awful battery life – even the AirPods Pro 2 beat that! You know if your product is beaten in battery life by a 2022 Apple option, it’s not quite up to par.

The AceFit Pro can pair to the AceFast phone app, but it doesn’t offer all features that buyers might hope for. No ANC, no find-my-buds feature, no listening tests, but at least there’s an 8-band equalizer and a few presets, as well as the ability to change gesture controls.

It feels like the main point of the app is to customize the LED lights of the bud and case. You can toggle whether the AceFast logo lights up on the buds and change the light color and effect pattern of the case. It’s not exactly a feature which makes the app a must-download, I'd say.

The AceFit Pro connect to your phone with Bluetooth 5.4 and I never had any issues with it during my testing.

Features score: 3/5

AceFast AceFit Pro review: Sound performance

The Acefast Acefit Pro in a man's ear. — (Image credit: Future)

20x8mm driver
V-shaped audio profile loses mids
Some peaking

If, like me, you’re used to cheap-and-cheery AceFast buds sounding… well, cheap, then you might be surprised to peruse a little down the AceFit Pro specs list: three-magnet 20x8mm speakers, bass enhancement tech and a special design to reduce sound loss – it's all painting a very pretty picture.

The acoustic design sadly comes to nothing, because these earbuds simply don’t sound amazing, embodying once again AceFast’s modus operandi of ‘cheap and cheerful’. The audio is fine for the budget-conscious end of the market, but the AceFit Pro can't compete with the big dogs they find themselves up against at this price.

The buds have quite dramatic V-shaped audio – bass and treble vocals abound, but at the expense of just about anything else. As I write this, I’m listening to Counting Crows’ Omaha. I can hear the vocals and bass well but the accordion frequently trails off into nothingness and the acoustic guitar is almost totally missing.

It doesn’t help that audio isn’t very detailed, with character and texture missing from instruments and vocals. And this is when I’m listening indoors – as open-ear users will know, buds like this sound much worse when you’re out and about and they’re competing with every passing bus, street busker and annoying fellow human playing social media videos straight out of their phone's speakers instead of using their own headphones.

For what it's worth, audio loss outside isn't as bad on some other buds I've tested. It's still noticeable, but that's hard to avoid due to the nature of open-ears.

There’s some peaking going on here too, though it’s admittedly hidden well by the fact it’s largely happening in the midrange frequencies – which are so lost in the mix themselves that you might not notice!

I can see buyers looking for simple workout buds finding the AceFit Pro acceptable due to the audio profile, but audiophiles – the few of them who’d ever consider open earbuds – won’t love these buds.

Sound performance score: 3/5

AceFast AceFit Pro review: Value

The AceFast AceFit Pro have all the trappings of the best cheap open-ear buds… except the price.

If these buds had launched for more than a third less (or even better, half the price), I’d be hailing them as a great option for budget-conscious buyers, however the various issues are hard to overlook when you consider the price you’re paying for these earbuds. The low battery life, unimpressive audio and possible longevity concerns all hurt when you’re paying $160 (or equivalent) for earbuds. The competition at this level is fierce – and AceFast simply hasn't aced it.

If you can find the AceFit Pro for below $100 (or equivalent), they could be worth picking up, but it’s hard to recommend them even then, especially when the AceFit Air are still cheaper.

Value score: 3/5

AceFast AceFit Pro: scorecard

AceFast AceFit Pro: Should you buy them?

Buy them if...

You like the battery display

The battery display is a really useful feature that I've loved on various AceFast gadgets, as it's both functional and fun.

You want a reliable on-ear fit

I've tested a fair few open-ear buds that don't sit still when you're walking, running or working out, so sometimes it's nice for buds to just fit reliably.

You find them majorly discounted

The AceFit Pro doesn't offer a great value-for-money proposition, but that could change if you find them with a meaty discount.

Don't buy them if...

You need to listen for long periods of time

Sub-6-hour battery life gadgets are always hard to recommend, due to many use cases requiring longer-lasting buds.

You're worried about how long they'll last

The fact that my buds kept falling off surfaces and partly broke may put off people who've been burned by cheap tech before.

You want top-tier audio

Actually, you can get great audio in an open-ear design (from Huawei or Honor, see below), but if audio quality is your chief concern, you won't enjoy the AceFit Pro.View Deal

Also consider

Huawei FreeArc

These are the best open-ear buds I've tested and they significantly undercut the AceFast AceFit Pro. They sound great, they last longer in your ears and they fit comfortably.

Read our full Huawei FreeArc review

AceFast AceFit Air

The Pro's siblings, which I haven't actually tested, seem to be everything the Pro aren't. They're more affordable, last longer and weigh less, yet don't sound any worse and seem to fit just the same. You're missing out on the battery display, mostly.

How I tested

I tested the Acefast AceFit Pro for two weeks in order to write this review, though I continued to test them for an extra week during the writing process.

The use cases match how I tested many rivals: I paired them to an Android smartphone (and, a few times, a Windows laptop) to go on walks, work at home or in the office, go on runs, cycle around my city and work out at the gym.

I have six years of experience testing tech for TechRadar, which includes many earbuds. I've tested five different pairs of open-ear buds in the last four months and have plenty more waiting to be tested...

Blurb photo book review: specs

The interior of Blurb photo book showing a man standing in front of a sunset, with a vertical amber bar alongside it and a caption reading 'This is a sunset caption' — (Image credit: Future)

Blurb photo book: review

Blurb is an affordable printing service that allows you to produce your own high-quality photo books. Offering a wide range of sizes, from a Lilliputian 13 x 13cm to a colossal 33 x 28cm, five kinds of paper stock and three cover options, it offers a huge range of products. And unlike many photo book services, you can design books in a variety of ways, using professional design tools like Adobe InDesign or Lightroom or Blurb's bespoke software, BookWright.

For those who fancy creating a photo book without the fuss, Blurb’s BookWright software has plenty of options. You can let it do all the work: just upload your photos, click the ‘Save Me Time’ button and it will automatically place your photos on the page. However, I did find when trying this feature out that BookWright defaulted to displaying a single full-size image per page, so you’ll likely only want to use this as a starting point.

Helpfully, there’s another option: dragging one of Blurb’s 188 different layouts onto each page, then choosing the order and placement of your photos yourself. These templates offer a great amount of variety, from large images with smaller photographs inset to blocks of free-flowing text accompanied by tiny thumbnails.

A screenshot of Blurb's BookWright design app, showing some of the layouts it offers — (Image credit: Blurb / Future)

Keen to blaze your own trail? Creating your own unique designs using Blurb is more flexible than pretty much any of the best photo book services. Simply select the photo frame tool, draw a frame, and then you can click and drag photos from your uploaded library.

Adding type is just as straightforward: once you’ve drawn a text frame, punch in your text and then you can tweak fonts, styling and alignment to achieve your desired look. And you can also link text frames together, making it possible to automatically flood text from frame to frame.

While most photo book services offer this kind of hassle-free placement, what sets Blurb apart for me is how accurate you can be. I was able replicate TechRadar’s photo book test template with surgical precision, thanks to the detailed properties menu available when you double-click each element. Not only can you precisely set the size of photo and text frames in inches, but you can also easily rotate and flip photographs, and add borders and round the edges of frames, giving you really precise control over the final look of elements on the page.

On top of this, standardizing layouts and alignments is a breeze. Not only do frames handily snap to each other or to the vertical and horizontal midpoint of each page, but you can also set ruler guides to specific measurements, making it simple to use common alignments from page to page. I also really appreciated the ability to save layouts for reuse – this meant I could easily duplicate arrangements for multiple different spreads, without the hassle of recreating them from scratch.

Image 1 of 3

The interior of Blurb photo book showing a mossy log surrounded by grass and bluebells. — (Image credit: Future)

Image 2 of 3

The interior of Blurb photo book showing a man wearing a backward baseball cap, checked shirt and a well-kempt beard. — (Image credit: Future)

Image 3 of 3

The interior of Blurb photo book showing a triptych of images of a man, with two in black and white and the center in color. — (Image credit: Future)

While Blurb doesn’t offer the pages and pages of clip art that some photo book tools do, what it does offer is actually far more flexible than many rivals. Blurb allowed me to create custom shapes with dimensions of my choosing, as well as dialing in precise RGB color values, rather than being limited to a bunch of preset imagery. Sure, it only offers a spectrum of 386 in its color wheel, there's no color picker, and I’d have loved the option to input Hex and CMYK values as well; but Blurb still offers far better precision than many of its competitors.

Once I was done finessing my photo book, all I had to do was click Review and Upload. This runs you through any warnings and gives you a chance to fix flagged issues, as well as running a spell check. That’s a feature not many photo book platforms offer, so it’s a nice additional touch – although its suggestion that I correct ‘TechRadar’ to ‘technocrat’ feels like a level of sass I’m not used to receiving from software.

Colors within were vibrant without feeling like they were oversaturated – the moss on a log has come out in a gorgeous, vivid green, while a shot of an aurora shows off a rainbow of rich pastel hues. The resolution of images also looked exquisitely detailed; for example the bristle of grey hairs in one subject’s beard were incredibly well-defined, adding real depth to the image.

A close up of some slight damage on the cover of a Blurb photo book — (Image credit: Future)

There were few visible print errors either. As you’d imagine from the precision of its tools, alignments looked spot on, with no awkward gaps between frames or ragged corners, and there were no issues with the edges of pages being unevenly trimmed. It is worth noting that my book did arrive with some damage, with an unsightly dent in the front cover. The blame for this probably falls more on the shoulders of FedEx, but I would appreciate some additional packaging to protect books from these kinds of knocks.

But however strong the finished result was, perhaps the most remarkable thing about Blurb’s photo book was how reasonably priced it was. Setting aside the eye-watering delivery costs for the Australian market, the $80.72 / £50.76 / AU$99.44 plus $6.99 / £8.99 / AU$71.49 price for our sample was much cheaper than the $130 (around £100 / AU$200) cost charged by Shutterfly or $145.78 (roughly £112) charged by Printique. That’s a very decent price to pay, particularly in light of the (generally) excellent finish.

The interior of Blurb photo book showing a tree silhouetted against an aurora, with a vertical pink bar along one edge. — (Image credit: Future)

Should I buy the Blurb photo book?

Buy it if…

You want precise, accurate design tools
Blurb’s BookWright software is capable of producing unerringly precise designs – you can manually set precise dimensions for frames, punch in RGB color values, use ruler guides to use the same positions from page to page. Alternatively, if you’re a design pro, you can create your own book from scratch in Adobe InDesign or Lightroom.

You want a top-quality finished photo book
Blurb’s photo books are produced to an excellent standard. Colors are vibrant without looking artificial, the clarity of printed images is genuinely impressive, and there are also no glaring errors with alignment or the margins of pages.

Don’t buy it if…

You want an online solution
Using an app is the only way you can design a book for Blurb’s platform. So if you’re unable to install third-party apps on your computer and don’t have a tablet to design on, you may find it slightly trickier to use the platform.

You want drag-and-drop clip art
Blurb is more focused on precise photo- and text-focused layouts than stock illustrations and flourishes. If you’re looking to decorate your photo book with clip art or pre-formatted aphorisms, it doesn’t have a lot of options.

The print in the Blurb book is noticeably warmer and smoother, whereas posterization can be seen in the sky of the Snapfish print, as the colors have noticeable steps rather than smoothly blending. — The finished quality of Blurb's photo book on the left, compared to our sample from Snapfish – colors were noticeably brighter and the print smoother (Image credit: Future)

Blurb photo book review: also consider

Printique
Printique is another very solid photo book platform. You can adjust the measurements of elements accurately, and punch in specific color values, and it also offers 88 pre-made themes, making it easier to tailor your photo book to a specific style. One serious caveat though is that it’s significantly more expensive – our 12 x 12-inch photo book cost us $145.78 including delivery (roughly £112), which is almost double the price of Blurb.

Snapfish
If you’re looking for even more of a bargain, Snapfish might well be the way to go. While a 12 x 12-inch 28 page photo book like ours costs roughly the same price, at $84.95 / £46.95 / AU$101.55, Snapfish also offers regular deals of 40% off, which would bring this down to an absurdly low $50.97 / £28.17 / AU$60.93. Unfortunately, Snapfish books don’t have quite as accurate color as Blurb, looking a little duller, and you don't get the ability to set specific values for dimensions or hues. But, if you catch it on sale, it’s still one of the cheapest photo books you’ll find. Read our full Snapfish photo book review.

How I tested the Blurb photo book

I precisely reproduced TechRadar’s photo book template
I spent a number of hours trying out layouts and putting the platform through its paces
I’ve worked in the print and design industries for more than 10 years

TechRadar has a specific photo book template that we try to recreate from scratch using the photo book platform we're testing. When testing out Blurb’s BookWright app, I duplicated this as accurately as possible, copying the exact dimensions of photo and text frames, precisely reproducing the positioning and alignment of elements, and using the exact RGB color values from the original. I also spent multiple hours playing with Blurb's various templates to get a sense of the kinds of layouts that were available.

When the final printed product arrived, I checked it for damage and marks from handling or the printing process. Next, I compared it to the photo book template to see how the colors and alignments compared to the original, specifically looking for any patches of low resolution imagery or inaccurate hues.

In terms of experience, I’ve spent many years taking photographs on both on my Canon DSLR and my iPhone 16 Pro. I’ve also had over a decade’s experience working in print publishing, working on layouts and doing post-production on images, which has given me a keen eye for printing errors and issues with image reproduction.

First reviewed: April 2025
Read more about how we test

The Obsbot Meet SE might be the best budget webcam I’ve ever seen – and it’s also simply adorable

12:05 pm |

Author: admin | Category: Computers Computing Gadgets Peripherals & Accessories Webcams | Comments: Off

Obsbot Meet SE webcam: Two-minute review

The webcam market has long been dominated by a few familiar names, with the Logitech C920 reigning supreme for years. However, the recent arrival of the Obsbot Meet SE signals a shift in the landscape. This compact powerhouse, priced at an incredibly competitive $69, delivers a level of performance and features that surpasses many of its rivals, including the venerable C920.

The Obsbot Meet SE webcam. — (Image credit: Future)

The Obsbot Meet SE represents a significant leap forward in webcam technology. Its most striking feature is the exceptional image quality for the price. Colors appear remarkably accurate and vibrant, showcasing a great level of detail thanks to a 1.8 f-stop: the wider aperture allows for greater light capture, and Dual Native ISO with two separate ISO settings means the Meet SE can effectively minimize image noise and preserve detail in a wider range of lighting scenarios. This all results in brighter and more detailed images, even in challenging lighting conditions; particularly beneficial for streamers and content creators on a budget who may not have access to professional studio lighting.

Being able to fit all of this into such a small package is down to the stacked CMOS sensor. The stacked design allows for faster data processing and improved low-light performance, resulting in sharper images with reduced noise. Here's a side-by-side comparison of the Osbot Meet SE up against the Logitech C920, one of the best cheap webcams, and you can immediately see the difference in sharpness, quality, detail, and colour balance.

The built-in microphones do the job, but I personally wouldn't rely on them too much. They're fine in a quiet room, but in a busy office they picked up a little too much background noise for my liking.

Beyond its impressive image quality, the Meet SE boasts a suite of features that set it apart from the competition. Setup is incredibly straightforward. Simply plug the camera in, and it's ready to use. The intuitive proprietary software provides easy access to adjust settings like exposure, contrast, and sharpness, allowing users to fine-tune the image to their preferences. To make the most of these, you’ll need to download the Obsbot app - an annoyance, I know, but I really would recommend it to make the most of this little powerhouse.

In terms of the listed performance quality and features, you can capture smooth, fluid motion with 1080p at 100 frames per second or 720p at 150 frames per second. I personally found that 1080p at 60 fps is the sweet spot for this camera. The AI auto-framing feature ensures that you always remain in focus. I didn't think I moved around that much while on camera, but it's actually rather helpful.

Elsewhere, the gesture control feature that has become standard on Obsbot's cameras is here too, enabling hands-free operation - but I’d personally turn it off immediately, as anytime I waved my hands around on a call to illustrate what I was saying, the camera would start doing something I didn't want it to do. I understand the idea and how it could be useful for some users, but for me, it was just a frustration.

You can also seamlessly switch to vertical orientation either in the Obsbot app or by manually rotating the camera on the magnetic stand if you want to film yourself vertically. The final feature to discuss here is the 4X digital zoom, though I didn't really end up using this much; if I needed to show something, I would simply hold it up the camera, and the autofocus worked so well that zooming in felt unnecessary. Still, it's nice to have if you need it.

The Obsbot Meet SE impresses not only with its performance but also with its sleek and compact design. The first thing that surprised me when I got it out of the box was how small it was. To give you an idea of just how small it is, here is a picture of it with an SD card for comparison.

This size and its rectangular shape with rounded edges give it a really nice, cute design aesthetic, made even more evident with colors like the Aurora Green option. Obsbot also offers the Space Grey or Cloud White options for those of us who prefer a darker or cleaner look to our setup; the perfect way to have a solution for every buyer.

Its minimalist aesthetic is a welcome departure from the bulkier, more angular look of most of the best webcams. The inclusion of a magnetic mount adds a touch of convenience, allowing for easy placement and removal on various surfaces. However, this also means it can be knocked easily and isn’t as sturdy as a permanent mount. The mount itself can also be a bit fiddly to set up and feel a bit insecure, but it works fine once it's in place.

Obsbot Meet SE webcam: Price & availability

How much does it cost? $69 / £65 / AU$119
When is it available? Available now
Where can you get it? The US, UK, and Australia

Priced at $69 / £65 / AU$119, the Obsbot Meet SE offers exceptional value for the price. It significantly outperforms the similarly priced Logitech C920 in terms of image quality, features, and overall performance while remaining competitively priced.

There are some other great webcams out there around this price, but for my money, what helps to make the Obsbot Meet SE stand out is that it also looks great and comes in three color choices. This makes it an excellent choice for content creators and anyone seeking to enhance their video conferencing experience without breaking the bank while getting a nice-looking webcam at the same time.

Obsbot Meet SE webcam: Specs

Should you buy the Obsbot Meet SE webcam?

Buy it if...

You want a great cheap webcam
Despite its relatively low price, the Obsbot Meet SE has a lovely compact design and also delivers strong 1080p performance with a rich feature set.

You need a webcam to match your setup
With black, white, and pastel green colorways, the Meet SE is one of the very few good webcams on the market that offers a range of color customization options.

Don't buy it if...

You want 4K video
The Meet SE is a fantastic webcam, but if you're a serious content creator who wants to record in 4K, you're going to need to pony up a bit more cash.

Obsbot Meet SE webcam: Also consider

Logitech C920
The quintessential 1080p webcam. Logitech's C920 has been a reliable and sensibly priced choice of webcam for years, making it a good pick if you'd like to save some cash and don't need the fancy AI features found on the Obsbot Meet SE.

Read our full Logitech C920 review

Obsbot Tiny 2
If you're looking for a more premium webcam than the Meet SE, the Tiny 2 from Obsbot delivers 4K video along with AI-powered tracking via its mechanical gimbal mount. For those who want a high-end video experience, this is a great pick (though it's naturally more expensive than the Tiny SE).

Read our full Obsbot Tiny 2 review

How I tested the Obsbot Meet SE webcam

Tested the webcam in video calls
Spent a while experimenting with the gesture command feature
Compared image quality to other webcams

I used the Obsbot Meet SE for video calls and general image quality testing, as well as trying it out with various lighting levels to see how well it performed. I also tried out the gesture controls, and did some side-by-side comparisons with other webcams that offer the same resolution.

De'Longhi Linea Classic Espresso Machine: two-minute review

The De'Longhi Linea Classic Espresso Machine might be one of the best espresso machines for new and experienced baristas alike. The reasonable price tag, simplicity of use, and relatively compact size make it an appealing choice for just about anyone.

While it's not completely automated like a capsule system or a high-end machine that includes a coffee bean grinder and touch screen, it's simple enough to use and takes some of the guesswork out of brewing espresso. A totally manual espresso machine requires you to measure and heat your water to just the right temperature and decide the right amount of pressure to use for your brew. The De'Longhi Linea Classic Espresso Machine eliminates the need for any of that; just fill the water tank with cold water; the water quantity, temperature, and pressure is decided for you. Just load up the portafilter with enough finely ground coffee for one or two shots of espresso, insert the portafilter, and press a button for either a single or double shot. Within seconds, you have a beautiful espresso (or two.)

It's all pretty straightforward, though it's important to tamp your coffee grounds just right. Tamping too firmly causes the water to brew through too slowly, and the espresso will be too intense and bitter. Tamping too loosely lets the water through too fast, and your brew will be too light and sour. If you don't like the automatic setting for water quantity, you can can change the factory setting to allow more or less water to be used.

The frothing wand froths or steams your milk of choice. A setting on the wand lets you choose between frothing and steaming milk. You can also dispense hot water though the wand, which is perfect for making an Americano (espresso with added hot water.) After using the frothing wand, the machine will be too hot to brew espresso; you'll need to run a cooling cycle or give it time to cool down.

De'Longhi Linea Classic Espresso Machine brewing — (Image credit: Karen Freeman / Future)

De'Longhi Linea Classic Espresso Machine: price and availability

Available at many online and brick-and-mortar retailers
Retails for $199.95 (£154 / AU$313)
Discounted on Amazon

De'Longhi Linea Classic Espresso Machine is available directly from De'Longhi as well as most big box retailers both online and in brick-and-mortar stores. The retail price is $199.95 (about £154 / AU$313) but you can find a slight discount on Amazon. At the time of writing it's only available to buy in the US.

De'Longhi Linea Classic Espresso Machine brewing two espressos — (Image credit: Karen Freeman / Future)

De'Longhi Linea Classic Espresso Machine: specs

De'Longhi Linea Classic Espresso Machine: design

Small footprint and lightweight design
Everything you need except coffee and cups included
Fairly straightforward to use but not foolproof

The De'Longhi Linea Classic Espresso Machine is an attractive blend of shiny chrome and plastic. All of the pieces are just heavy enough feel like high quality. It looks nice in my kitchen and would likely look good with just about any decor.

On the front of the machine, you see a pressure gauge and four buttons. On the right side are your power button and frothing wand selection button. On the left are the single espresso and double espresso buttons. The frothing wand control dial is on the right side of the machine and the water tank is at the back.

De'Longhi Linea Classic Espresso Machine with espresso and cappuccino — (Image credit: Karen Freeman / Future)

At just 8.89 x 11.14 x 12 inches (22.6 x 28.3 x 31 cm), the De'Longhi Linea Classic Espresso Machine doesn't take up a ton of space in your kitchen. It's lightweight, too, at just nine pounds (4.1 kg), which is handy if you need to store it away and take it out every time you use it. The water tank has a pretty decent capacity, 57.48 fluid ounces (1.7 liters). I was able to brew a lot of espresso before I needed to refill the tank.

De'Longhi Linea Classic Espresso Machine with everything included flat lay — (Image credit: Karen Freeman / Future)

The portafilter and two filters (single and double espresso-sized) are included in the box. The portafilter is the device with the handle that holds the filters. The scoop that comes in the box is perfectly-sized for a single espresso brew, just use two scoops to make a double. The other end of the scoop is your tamper, which you will use to press the grounds firmly but gently, forming a puck of coffee in the filter. If you tamp too hard or not hard enough, the espresso won't taste very good.

None of the parts of the De'Longhi Linea Classic Espresso Machine are dishwasher-safe, so you'll need to wash all of these by hand after each brew.

De'Longhi Linea Classic Espresso Machine tamping coffee into portafilter — The water tank has a capacity of 1.8qt / 1.7 liters, and slots onto the back of the machine (Image credit: Karen Freeman Future)

If you want to get fancy, you can buy endless accessories, such as a coffee bean grinder, food scale to weigh your coffee, frothing mug, and of course fancy cups and spoons. None of that is included, nor are they necessary to get you started.

On the back of the machine is the water tank, which can easily removed, refilled, and replaced as needed. The wand can be adjusted to dispense hot water, heat your milk, or heat and froth your milk at the same time. It pulls apart for cleaning, which you'll need to do every time you use it.

The drip tray prevents a mess on your counter. It's easy to remove and clean, which you'll only need to do once in a while. Like all of the other parts, it's hand-wash only.

Design score: 4.5/5

De'Longhi Linea Classic Espresso Machine: performance

Produces beautiful espresso drinks with ease
Frother is effective
Getting brew just right takes trial and error

The De'Longhi Linea Classic Espresso Machine performs perfectly in the sense that you load up your coffee in the portafilter, press a button, and beautiful espresso brews every time. However, espresso is a little bit more complicated than that. Taste is highly subjective, but some of my brews were definitely better than others. Getting it just right isn't easy.

If you're not a fan of the factory settings, you can change them to brew your espressos with more or less water than standard. I stuck with the factory settings for my testing.

De'Longhi Linea Classic Espresso Machine packed portafilter — (Image credit: Karen Freeman / Future)

I'm not a trained barista myself, my usual daily espresso comes from my favorite Nespresso machine. So I called upon my middle child, who has taken a class in brewing espresso. He has a fully manual espresso machine at home, so he was excited to try the much easier-to-use De'Longhi Linea Classic Espresso Machine. He gave me some tips for brewing better-tasting espresso, such as loosening up the grounds after scooping but before tamping. He was thrilled with the results.

We did a blind taste test with him, my oldest daughter, my husband, and I, comparing espresso from the Linea Classic to a Nespresso capsule. The results were split down the middle. Everyone's tastes are so different, it's hard to say definitively what is a good espresso and what isn't.

De'Longhi Linea Classic Espresso Machine and cappuccino — (Image credit: Karen Freeman / Future)

There are definitely some quirks with the milk frother. It is quite effective in both steaming and frothing milk, both dairy and non-dairy. It also dispenses hot water, which is handy for making Americano-style (diluted) espresso. However, it doesn't click into place, nor does it click when switching from "hot milk" to "cappuccino" mode. I like to have that confirmation click on devices like this, but you get used to it.

Press the steam button to go into frothing wand mode, and then turn the dial on the side to operate the wand. The biggest quirk about this frothing wand is that once you use it, you can't brew espresso again immediately.

De'Longhi Linea Classic Espresso Machine frothing milk — (Image credit: Karen Freeman / Future)

Once you've frothed or steamed some milk, the machine will likely be too hot to brew espresso again right away. Before you can brew again, you'll need to run a cooling cycle by opening the steam dial to dispense steam and hot water until the heating element has cooled. Alternatively, you can wait for the heating element to cool down on its own.

De'Longhi Linea Classic Espresso Machine brewing cappuccino — (Image credit: Karen Freeman / Future)

Cleanup is pretty easy. After brewing, you'll need to dump out the used coffee puck, I used a plastic utensil to scrape out most of it and a paper towel to wipe out the rest before washing. You'll want to be careful not to let grounds go down your sink drain, even if you have a disposal. Coffee will clog your pipes like cement, so compost or throw away the used coffee grounds. Then just hand wash all of the parts you used. You'll also need to descale the machine periodically, as per the manufacturer's instructions.

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De'Longhi Linea Classic Espresso Machine in action — (Image credit: Karen Freeman / Future)

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Performance score: 4/5

Should you buy the De'Longhi Linea Classic Espresso Machine?

Buy it if

You want to make authentic espresso drinks with ease

In just a few minutes from start to finish, you can make real espresso and espresso-based beverages like cappuccino. It's quicker and easier to use than similarly-priced fully manual machines.

You want to make real espresso on a budget

At less than $200, the De'Longhi Linea Classic Espresso Machine is a solid entry in the home espresso machine market.

You don't have a ton of space

The lightweight and compact De'Longhi Linea Classic Espresso Machine fits into just about any kitchen. It's similar in size to a small, no-frills drip coffee machine.

Don't buy it if

You don't want to put in more effort than pressing a button

While brewing espresso with the De'Longhi Linea Classic Espresso Machine isn't hard, it's certainly not as easy as just popping in a pod or pressing the button on a fully automatic machine.

You want a super consistent taste

While the factors of water and pressure are taken care of for you, you still need to grind, measure, and tamp your coffee just right to get the best taste.

De'Longhi Linea Classic Espresso Machine: also consider

Breville Bambino Plus

This is one of the best espresso machines currently on the market. While pricier, this highly customizable machine makes amazing espresso and espresso-based drinks. In the UK, Breville products are known as Sage.

Read our full Breville Bambino Plus review

De'Longhi La Specialista Touch

This semi-automatic espresso machine has a frothing wand, coffee bean grinder, and a touch screen so you can make nine different custom drinks with the touch of a button.

Read our full De'Longhi La Specialista Touch review

How I tested the De'Longhi Linea Classic Espresso Machine

I brewed a bunch of espressos and made a few cappuccinos with the De'Longhi Linea Classic Espresso Machine over the course of several weeks. I carefully cleaned the machine before use and between each use. The coffee I brewed was De'Longhi's own espresso blend. I used filtered water from my refrigerator's water dispenser, refilling the water tank as needed. For the cappuccinos, I tried both low-calorie almond milk and whole dairy milk, cold from the refrigerator.

First reviewed April 2025

I’ve spent a few hours with the Insta360 X5 – and it feels like the most refined 360 degree camera to date

8:10 pm |

Author: admin | Category: 360 Cameras Cameras Computers Gadgets | Comments: Off

Insta360 X5: two-minute review

Almost precisely a year on from the launch of the Insta360 X4, its successor has arrived – and at first glance it’s hard to tell the difference. The two 360 degree cameras are near-identical in size, weight and shape, and it’s only a few aesthetic differences – plus, of course, the name emblazoned on the front – that enabled me to tell the new camera from the old once I’d pulled it out of its box.

The well-worn phrase “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” feels apt here, and it’s hard to blame Insta360 for not ringing major changes. After all, TechRadar’s glowing five-star review of the X4 dubbed it the best 360 degree camera on the market, and the company would have been unwise to ditch a winning formula. My early impressions of the X5, gleaned from a few hours of use, suggest that it has instead polished and honed where refinements are needed, finessing one superb and versatile camera into an even better and more flexible one.

Incremental improvements have been made across the board, but the headline progression I’ve really noticed has been in image quality. And yes, that’s a big one, brought about largely through the introduction of 1/1.28-inch image sensors. These are 144% larger than those on the X4, and they’ve been paired with a trio of image processing chips (or “AI chips” as Insta360’s marketing department calls them) for noise reduction, sharpening and other enhancements that, in theory, should make the image quality markedly better than the X4’s, particularly in challenging conditions like low light.

I’ve not had the chance to give it a go once the sun goes down just yet, but having taken the Insta360 X5 out for a morning test-run on foot and on my bike I’m more than happy with the general image quality. I’ve embedded the videos below, one of which was recorded at 5.7K 60fps with HDR, the other at the camera’s highest resolution of 8K 30fps, with no HDR.

I used the Insta360 app’s AI-powered automatic editor to create both videos before exporting them at 1080p and 1440p resolution respectively, and both at 30fps. I largely used the default settings here, but it’s worth noting that it’s possible to export at much higher bitrates than this if you wish, and at higher frame rates too provided your original recorded was captured that way.

I’ve been really impressed with the results so far. Sure, the conditions for my test were bright and sunny, so about as far from challenging as can be, but the levels of detail, rich colors, wide dynamic range and general all-round “pop” of the clips are wonderful – and they’re ready to be shared on social media right away, with very little in the way of editing or tweaking to do. Sure – a fully manually edited clip still beats the robo-editor’s take on things, and the tunes and templates provided here are a little cheesy, but those who want to put in the work to do things the old-fashioned way are still free to do so.

Technically, things look great too. There’s barely any sign of the stitch between the two planes, lens flare is minimal, and the selfie stick I was using has been artfully removed from view in signature Insta360 style.

I haven’t experimented much with audio yet, but Insta360 says the X5’s internal mics should be a major upgrade on the X4’s thanks to a built-in steel mesh wind guard plus software-based tweak like the new selectable Voice Enhancement mode, ideal for vlogging. I’ll be testing this fully in the coming days, but for now I’ll say that the above videos were captured on a quite breezy day on the coast and that wind noise is definitely still quite audible, if not overwhelmingly distracting.

Other things I’ve noticed in my initial few hours with the X5 are that its battery life can go down fast, particularly if you shoot in 8K. It also drained the battery of my iPhone 13 very quickly, while I was paired with it, using the companion app and editing and exporting footage. These are all very intensive tasks, so it’s not that surprising – but worth noting all the same.

Insta360 X5 specs

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Insta360 X5 action camera — (Image credit: Future | Sam Kieldsen)

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Insta360 X5: Price and availability

Launched worldwide in April 2025
Standard edition costs $549.99 / £519.99 / AU$929.99
Essentials bundle available for $659.99 / £609.99 / AU$1,109.99

The Insta360 X5 is available to order from its launch day of 22 April 2025, and costs from $549.99 / £519.99 / AU$929.99 – which is only around 5-10% more than its predecessor the X4 cost when it launched in April 2024 ($499.99 / £499.99 / AU$879.99). That’s not too bad of a price jump given inflation and the uncertainty surrounding US tariffs.

That above price is for the standard bundle, which includes just the camera, but an Essentials bundle is also available and might make more sense for certain customers, especially if you’re just getting started on your 360 action camera journey. For $659.99 / £609.99 / AU$1,109.99, it offers the camera plus a second battery, fast charge case, 114cm invisible selfie stick, standard lens guards, rubber lens cap and carry case.

How I tested the Insta360 X5

Tested for two hours, full production model running early firmware
Camera mounted on invisible selfie stick
Recorded videos on foot and on a bicycle

I've only had a few hours to test the Insta360 X5, but as a frequent users of all its predecessors it felt immensely familiar so I was able to get out and shoot video with it almost immediately. I mounted it on the company's invisible selfie stick and shot short videos while walking and riding my bike during daylight hours. For the full review, I'll test it in different conditions, and try out its other shooting modes, including still photography.

First reviewed April 2025

I tested the ViewSonic VP16 OLED – see what I thought of this portable OLED monitor

1:40 pm |

Author: admin | Category: Computers Gadgets Pro | Tags: OLED | Comments: Off

This review first appeared in issue 345 of PC Pro.

There are dozens of 15.6in portable monitors available on Amazon, many costing around £100, so you may wonder why anyone would consider paying over four times that price for the ViewSonic VP16-OLED. The first clue is in the name: including an OLED panel rather than IPS immediately puts this display on a different pedestal.

But the real reason is quality. Cheap portable monitors usually reward you with poor color coverage, low brightness and lackluster color accuracy. What ViewSonic promises is much more in line with a professional monitor. With Pantone validation and a guaranteed average Delta E of less than two, you can be confident of the colors you see. This was borne out in the tests for our review unit, with typical averages of around 0.5.

I say “typical” because this monitor ships with numerous color modes: user, DCI-P3, sRGB, REC.709 and DICOM. DICOM is a medical standard, while REC.709 is used in broadcasting and similar to sRGB. That means it’s conservative in terms of coverage, so for the punchiest colors you should choose DCI-P3.

Full view of the ViewSonic VP16 OLED — **Inputs include two USB-C ports and micro-HDMI** (Image credit: Future)

When testing such profiles, we’re always looking for it to clamp down on the gamut as much as possible. That’s why it was comforting to see sRGB lock the panel to 96.4% coverage out of a 98.6% volume. So, only a tiny fraction of the colors you see on the VP16-OLED will sit outside the sRGB gamut when you’re in that mode.

Likewise in DCI-P3, where the monitor produced results of 95.4% and 96.9%.

It’s also easy to switch between profiles. ViewSonic places four buttons on the monitor’s base, and the text-based OSD is so simple to navigate that I was left wondering why all monitors don’t follow its lead.

Side view of the ViewSonic VP16 OLED propped up in its standard position — **Height adjustment in pictures. STEP 1 Here’s the ViewSonic in its most basic position** (Image credit: Future)

The panel’s only minor negative is that it isn’t a true 10-bit display but 8-bit plus FRC. FRC stands for frame rate control, and mimics colors not supported by the 8-bit panel by flashing alternate colors incredibly quickly. It’s effective, but purists prefer 10-bit panels.

ViewSonic has gained DisplayHDR 400 certification for this screen, but don’t expect images to burn your retina. Still, OLED is naturally easier to view in brighter conditions than IPS thanks to its “infinite” contrast ratio, so although the VP16-OLED peaked at 402cd/m²in our tests I can’t imagine any situation where you won’t be able to see its contents.

There’s even a hood in the box. This is normally included with professional monitors to stop ambient light interfering with colors, but here it’s most useful to keep the screen’s light from interfering with your darker shoots. I was also hoping it would offer protection during travel, but the folding mechanism isn’t quite clever enough to perfectly wrap around the screen.

Side view of the ViewSonic VP16 OLED raised to a moderate height — **STEP 2 Then, with a swivel of the stand, it’s raised a few inches** (Image credit: Future)

Otherwise, I can’t fault ViewSonic’s design. One of the cleverest elements is the adjustable height stand. The photos below tell most of the story; all I need to add is that it moves smoothly through every stage and locks perfectly into position.

The VP16-OLED doesn’t include a battery, but it can draw power from a host laptop over USB-C or work the other way round: plug in the supplied USB-C power supply and then power your laptop. However, it only delivers 40W, so it’s better suited to keeping a laptop topped up than charging it from empty. There’s also a micro-HDMI input.

Side view of the ViewSonic VP16 OLED set up in its tallest position — **STEP 3 And finally it’s at its peak height, elevated by around 100mm** (Image credit: Future)

ViewSonic includes a pair of 1W speakers, and as that power rating indicates they aren’t going to fill a room. Sound quality is mediocre – no depth, weak bass – but if you’re on a video shoot and want to check the audio they’ll be up to the job, or you can resort to the 3.5mm jack.

There’s one final downside to this monitor, and that’s its 1,920 x 1,080 resolution. Again, hunt online and you’ll find 4K portable monitors for half the price. Personally, I didn’t find this a problem in practice as text, photos and videos still look sharp at normal viewing distances.

For its target audience, then, this OLED monitor is worth every penny. It’s accurate, flexible and images pack a punch you won’t see from IPS rivals.

We also ranked the best powerful laptops.

I tried out the TP-Link Omada EAP655-Wall – read what I thought of this affordable wall-mount Wi-Fi 6 AP

1:36 pm |

Author: admin | Category: Computers Gadgets Pro | Tags: AP | Comments: Off

This review first appeared in issue 345 of PC Pro.

TP-Link’s EAP655-Wall is designed to offer discrete Wi-Fi 6 services to a wide range of environments, such as meeting rooms, apartments and home offices. This affordable palm-sized package will also appeal to hotels looking to provide in-room network services as it has three gigabit ports in its base and can deliver PoE on the third one – ideal for adding extra room devices such as IP phones.

The EAP655-Wall offers plenty of features for the price. This AX3000 dual-band access point (AP) delivers speeds of up to 2,402Mbits/sec on its 5GHz radio and 574Mbits/sec on the 2.4GHz radio. It also supports the high-speed Wi-Fi 6 160MHz channels, although the AP’s main uplink port is only the gigabit variety so you won’t see their full potential.

Even so, the EAP655-Wall delivered good overall results in our real-world performance tests. We started with its 80MHz channels enabled. Closerange copies of a large file between a Dell Windows 11 Pro workstation equipped with a TP-Link Archer TXE75E Wi-Fi 6E PCI-E card and a server on our 10GbE LAN averaged 94MB/sec, dropping to 77MB/sec with the AP moved ten meters away and into an adjoining room.

With the AP’s 160MHz channels activated, the workstation reported a 2.4Gbits/sec wireless connection. Unsurprisingly, our file copies maxed out the AP’s gigabit port and only increased to 111MB/sec at close range and 91MB/sec at ten meters, although these speeds will easily be good enough for all but the most demanding of users.

Full view of the TP-Link Omada EAP655-Wall — **The EAP655-Wall offers lots of features for the price** (Image credit: Future)

The AP can be managed in standalone mode, but most businesses will prefer TP-Link’s Omada cloud service as they can manage all their APs from one central web portal. Previously, each site required a hardware or software controller installed locally, but TP-Link now also offers cloud-based controllers with yearly prices starting at £12 per device.

From our main Omada cloud portal account, we viewed all our hardware, software and cloud-based controllers, and selecting the latter took us to its dedicated management console. Before adding the AP to our site, we made sure we’d enabled the cloud-based controller management option from its local web console. We could then import the AP by entering its serial number, naming it and assigning a license. After adoption, access to its local console was disabled and it started broadcasting our site-managed SSIDs.

The site portal presents a detailed dashboard that can be customized with widgets; we added ones to show details such as AP traffic and client distributions, the most active APs, a Wi-Fi summary and 24-hour graphs of client associations and overall wireless traffic. The AP was connected to the lab’s TP-Link TL-SG3210XHP-M2 PoE+ multi-gigabit switch, and we added more widgets to show its active ports, PoE usage and the available power budget.

Desktop screenshot of Omada's management options — **The AP can be remotely managed from TP-Link’s Omada platform** (Image credit: Future)

Wireless features are extensive, with up to eight SSIDs per radio supported and options to apply mixed WPA2/WPA3 encryption. You can set global or per client and SSID upload and download rate limits, and use guest networks to block users from private networks. Captive portal features are equally good, with profiles used to apply a global password, local user, voucher, Radius or Facebook authentication and add logos, greeting messages and acceptable use policies.

The three gigabit pass-through ports are enabled by default, and PoE services on the third port can be activated by checking this option in the portal’s AP configuration page, although make sure the main LAN port is connected to a PoE+ source. During testing, they worked fine and after connecting a Yealink IP phone to the third port, it duly received power and internet access.

It would have been good to see a 2.5GbE port, but the EAP655-Wall remains a reasonably fast Wi-Fi 6 AP with a good range. It offers a wealth of wireless features for a modest price, cloud management is excellent and its three gigabit downlink ports with extra power delivery make it even more versatile.

We've also ranked the best Wi-Fi extenders.

I tried the Qnap TS-262 – read what I thought of this NAS

1:29 pm |

Author: admin | Category: Computers Gadgets Pro | Tags: NAS | Comments: Off

This review first appeared in issue 345 of PC Pro.

Although one of Qnap’s home devices, the Qnap TS-262 is surprisingly well specified for a two-bay device. It has just the one Ethernet port, so no redundancy, but as it’s a 2.5GbE port rather than gigabit you avoid one potential bottleneck. Given that this standard is becoming more and more popular on consumer switches and routers, it’s nice to see this fast connection.

If you do need more speed, there’s a 10GbE port upgrade available via the PCI-E slot, which is accessible when the case is unscrewed. That’s the only time you’ll need a screwdriver, as everything else is accessible via screw-free entry.

For example, pop out both of the hard disk caddies and you’ll see that dual M.2 2280 NVMe PCI-E Gen3 slots are available. These use a simple clip to hold the SSDs in place, so are easy to deal with. Hard disks simply slide into the slot.

As with all Qnap NAS devices, the TS-262 runs its QTS operating system so is compatible with the full range of services that this provides, including the ability to create your own personal storage cloud. There’s an Intel Celeron N4505 processor and 4GB of RAM (non-upgradable), which should prove enough for even heavy use.

There are some extra features you don’t often find on rival NAS devices, including an HDMI 2.0 output. When paired with the compatible remote control, this NAS can be turned into a media streamer, playing video directly from its hard disk. If you have a large collection of films, this might be your best option, but a sleeker option is to install a media server and stream directly from the NAS.

Running over a standard gigabit Ethernet connection, the Qnap TS-262 fell behind the Synology DS723+, when we benchmarked using 22TB hard disks and dual 1TB NVMe drives. However, upgrade that connection to 2.5GbE and things get better, particularly with larger file sizes: running the ATTO benchmark with 2MB files, the TS-262 jumped from 100MB/sec read speeds to 210MB/sec.

There was little difference in the PCMark 10 Storage test, which uses different file transfers and is less dependent on connection speeds.

Synology’s systems are arguably easier to use, but if you want more straightforward file and media sharing, locally and via the cloud, then this NAS is excellent value and fast, particularly when its 2.5GbE port is used.

We've also rated the best Wi-Fi routers.

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De'Longhi Linea Classic Espresso Machine: two-minute review

De'Longhi Linea Classic Espresso Machine: price and availability

De'Longhi Linea Classic Espresso Machine: specs

De'Longhi Linea Classic Espresso Machine: design

De'Longhi Linea Classic Espresso Machine: performance

Should you buy the De'Longhi Linea Classic Espresso Machine?

Buy it if

Don't buy it if

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How I tested the De'Longhi Linea Classic Espresso Machine

Insta360 X5: two-minute review

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