As its name suggests, AdGuard is best known for its ad-blocker services. However, the organization has also expanded into other security and privacy services, including VPN and DNS services.
Its latest offer, still in beta at the time of writing, is AdGuard Mail, which provides security by offering email aliases and temporary email addresses – so you can keep your mail email addresses and services protected.
Aliases and temporary email addresses can be helpful in a wide variety of scenarios. You might want to sign up for a service or trial to acquire a discount code without signing up for spam, or you could just want to avoid subjecting your mail email address to the risk of phishing attacks or data breaches.
You may need temporary addresses for testing during software development, accessing a webinar or accessing services you don’t fully trust.
AdGuard Mail: Plans and pricing
At the moment, AdGuard Mail is completely free – which instantly places this product ahead of many competitors.
Bear in mind that AdGuard says that Mail is free “for now”. Given that users have to pay for AdGuard’s other products, we’d expect AdGuard Mail to become a paid product once it leaves beta testing. Indeed, AdGuard’s FAQ says they plan to add paid features and customization options in the future.
Happily, AdGuard’s other products offer competitive pricing, so we’re not concerned about AdGuard Mail having extortionate pricing once it does leave beta.
For instance, the central AdGuard ad-blocking product costs $2.51/£1.99 per month if you pay annually, the VPN’s monthly costs are similar if you stick to an annual deal, and the DNS service has a basic free service.
AdGuard Mail: Features
AdGuard’s concentration on aliases and temporary email addresses gives users several privacy and security benefits.
By using an alias instead of your personal email address, you can avoid using anything identifiable if you want to send or receive messages. Instead, any emails sent to your aliases are then forwarded to their linked mailboxes, providing a layer of protection between you and the sender.
If you use temporary email addresses instead, you can avoid sharing your details and subscribing to any unwanted spam or services.
Ultimately, AdGuard’s aliases are ideal for ongoing communication without using your real addresses, and temporary emails are better for short-term activities.
This helps you avoid spam, phishing attacks, data breaches and privacy issues because you won’t have to use your own email address.
This approach differs from many other secure email providers, which give users their own, permanent email address, but AdGuard still promises robust security.
AdGuard cannot access your messages when using AdGuard Mail, and AdGuard uses secure SMTP connections whenever possible to protect your emails from unauthorized access.
The firm inspects email and website content before they’re loaded to check for any threats – and does so without retaining any information about the content. AdGuard’s thorough filtering protects you from fraudulent websites and websites that are known to distribute malware, and the firm’s filters are updated regularly – so you’re protected from the latest threats.
AdGuard’s reliance on aliases and temporary addresses protects your personal addresses, and that’s not the only area where AdGuard Mail impresses.
Once created, any emails forwarded from your alias are marked in your email client with a special header, so you can easily see AdGuard’s emails. Multiple aliases can be used for single email addresses, and multiple recipients can receive emails from single aliases.
Attachments are also supported for aliases, although temporary email addresses do not currently support attachments. Also consider that you can’t reply to emails forwarded by your aliases – to send replies, you will need to reveal your email address.
Ultimately, AdGuard’s method is simple and effective: use aliases to add a layer of protection so you can enjoy ongoing communication without compromising your email address – and use temporary emails to enjoy the same protection in short-term scenarios.
Of course, it must be noted that AdGuard Mail is markedly different from other secure email providers. This is a secure forwarding service rather than an actual email client, where you can create your own address and access a new, fully featured inbox.
That’s not necessarily bad, though, especially if you want to keep using your primary email address while adding extra protection. And if you combine AdGuard Mail with AdGuard’s other services, like its ad-blocking, VPN, or DNS, you can build a robust and versatile security package.
AdGuard Mail: Interface and in-use
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AdGuard Mail excels thanks to its simplicity and versatility. It’s available as a desktop app for Windows and Mac, as an Android and iOS app, and it can also be accessed using a web interface.
If you want to create a temporary email address for one-time use, you can also just use AdGuard’s website to make and then copy a new address. Once you’ve used it to register for a service or input into a registration form, the reply will actually appear in a temporary inbox that’s right there on the same website. It’s a very clever service.
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No matter what platform you use, AdGuard Mail is straightforward. Open the app for the first time, and it’ll guide you through the main features and launch a simple Wizard dialog that will help you create your first alias.
To create more, it’s just a matter of opening a panel, picking a random address and choosing its forwarding address. You can tag your aliases to make organization more manageable and add a description so you don’t forget its intended use.
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The app includes an option for adding more recipients, a basic inbox for accessing emails sent to your temporary addresses, and a settings menu where you can choose Light or Dark modes, block senders and customize how the app functions on your system.
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AdGuard Mail: Support
Right now, the support options for AdGuard are basic – no surprise given its beta status. Most support queries can be answered by browsing the FAQ section, and users can email AdGuard’s support address to access help.
There’s also a web form where users can give feedback about AdGuard Mail, with options for suggesting features and reporting bugs.
AdGuard also maintains active Telegram, Reddit and GitHub communities if you’d like to talk to other service users or troubleshoot using these methods.
AdGuard Mail: The competition
AdGuard Mail has no shortage of competition when it comes to email aliases. Many secure email providers offer this as part of their broader service, like Mailbox.org, Soverin and several others.
Those are paid providers, though, and, at the moment, AdGuard Mail is free – and judging by AdGuard’s pricing elsewhere, it’ll still be a very affordable product in the future, too.
One of the only secure mail rivals that offers aliasing using a free account is Proton, which includes ten aliases in its free product alongside a new email address and 5GB of cloud storage. So, while you do have to maintain a whole new email account, it’s arguably a better deal.
If you just want email aliasing, consider Apple’s Hide My Email feature, Firefox Relay, or even DuckDuckGo Email Protection.
AdGuard Mail: Final verdict
There are plenty of other services beyond AdGuard Mail that offer email aliasing and temporary email addresses.
That said, AdGuard is currently free, it works very well for both aliasing and temporary emails, and it’s certainly worth using – even more if you’re already a keen user of other AdGuard products.
Lots of the best secure email providers use their own platforms and clients, but Virtru is an enterprise-level product designed to integrate with your existing workflows – which means that, in theory, Virtru should seamlessly start protecting sensitive data in your organization.
Indeed, Virtru’s secure collaboration and email product is deeply integrated with Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, and Microsoft SharePoint, and its Secure Share module integrates with Google Drive, Microsoft SharePoint, OneDrive, Zendesk, and Confluence.
Elsewhere, Virtru works with SaaS products from Salesforce, ServiceNow, Kustomer and more. Virtru’s own Data Security Platform delivers secure collaboration and sharing beyond those apps thanks to an agnostic platform.
In short, then, Virtru works with loads of apps and systems. And, as you may have guessed, this is an enterprise-level product that’s not suitable for individuals who need secure email.
Virtru: Plans and pricing
Despite the service's complexity, Virtru’s products are divided into four tiers, which makes pricing a bit easier to understand.
The Starter package is ideal for smaller businesses that need email protection. It costs $119/£94 per month for a five-user package. With that offering, you get secure email for Gmail and Outlook, Virtru’s full slate of email and file protection abilities, administrator controls, and integration with Google Workspace and Microsoft 365. Basic support is also included.
The Business package, again for five users, costs $219/£174 per month. It includes everything in the Starter package and Virtru Secure Share, bulk decryption, integration with Google Workspace CSE and Google Vault, SSO compatibility, an audit log APU and custom branding for your business. You also get a 99.9% guaranteed uptime SLA.
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If you're willing to pay extra, you can also add optional virtual private key stores and integrations with other third-party tools.
The next tier costs $399/£317 per month, again for five users. It includes everything in the Business package, as well as features designed for organizations that do business with US federal agencies.
It’s built to help ensure compliance with CMMC, DFARS 7012, and ITAR. It also includes FIPS 140-2 validated encryption.
It includes moderate FedRAMP ATO and a Virtru shared responsibility matrix for CMMC documentation. It also allows your organization to host private encryption keys. You also get deployment support, phone support and a dedicated customer success team. Premium support is also available as an optional extra.
The top package, Enterprise, uses custom pricing. It includes everything from the previous products alongside integration with Zendesk, Salesforce, and more SaaS systems. You can also add optional integrations with more systems and premium support.
It goes without saying that when you want to expand a package that includes support for five users, the price will rise accordingly.
Virtru: Features
Virtru is a far-reaching, complex product, but underneath it all you’ll find robust security credentials. Virtru’s systems use Trusted Data Format, or TDF, which is an open-source end-to-end encryption standard that protects your data at every stage of its lifecycle.
Underneath all of that, you’ll find AES 256-bit encryption, and it’s worth bearing in mind that encryption keys are not stored on Virtru’s servers – so you can control who has access to those, too.
This decentralized approach means you and your organization can maintain complete control over your data and its protection, and this zero-trust model ensures extra layers of security. Additionally, Virtru’s reliance on TDF means that you can embed policies and encryption directly into individual apps and objects across your organization’s workflows, which means you benefit from flexibility and full control.
Beyond the excellent underlying format, you can deploy attribute-based access control to enforce who can access your content dynamically.
Virtru’s underlying security prioritizes protection, control, and flexibility, and this ethos is evident in other features of its software suite.
Opt for its Google or Microsoft-integrated products, and you can secure your email and cloud storage data, encrypt meetings, safeguard documents, protect presentations and ensure data privacy.
Choose file-sharing integrations, and you can meet advanced compliance requirements, monitor and audit your data, give collaborators an effortless experience and, again, keep your data protected.
Virtru’s Data Protection Gateway protects emails and files before they leave your domain with inbound and outbound end-to-end encryption to ensure total protection for sensitive information, no matter the services involved.
Virtru’s Data Security Platform uses a zero-trust architecture and granular controls to ensure that your business has complete control over its data and who can access it.
Virtru: Interface and in-use
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Virtru’s interface is a little different from many other secure email products – because this is a necessarily complex service that takes a different approach.
Instead of signing in to a web client, for instance, Virtru largely integrates with your existing software, with management handled by Virtru’s Control Center. In this regard, Virtru is excellent: its interfaces and management apps are attractive, well-designed and easy to navigate as long as you’ve got the requisite experience dealing with complex administrative tools.
Given Virtru’s high-end abilities, your organization should already have people who are well-versed in those apps.
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Virtru: Support
Varying levels of support are available with different Virtru products: at the lower levels, you get online help, and if you pay for the higher-end products, you can add phone support, a dedicated success team, premium options and deployment help to the package.
Those latter options are precisely the kind of support features we’d expect from a high-end enterprise product like Virtru.
In addition, Virtru’s website has an extensive knowledge base and basic live chat functionality.
Virtru: The competition
Virtru’s status as a high-end, enterprise-grade secure email and data product means it competes with similar products, such as Zoho’s suite of business apps. Indeed, Virtru even competes with Google and Microsoft, albeit with a greater focus on security and encryption.
In many ways, though, Virtru stands alone. Zoho is more focused on productivity across a wider variety of apps, and Google and Microsoft are designed to act as the underlying tools beneath Virtru. There isn’t much out there that offers the broad concentration on enterprise-level security and protection like Virtru.
Virtru: Final verdict
That leaves Virtru in a good position, especially with larger organizations – and that’s no surprise, because there’s lots to like about this product.
It’s packed with features and has excellent security credentials. The overall design of the Data Security Platform means that Virtru’s tools should integrate smoothly with virtually all of your systems.
Virtru can undoubtedly become expensive, but you get what you pay for – and if you’re a large business that wants to take data protection seriously, you should be considering Virtru.
Lots of the best secure email providers function by providing a web client or mobile app for you to use, but PreVeil is a bit different: as well as using PreVeil’s web client or Android and iOS apps, you can also send using your existing Outlook, Gmail or Apple Mail clients.
That immediately adds a huge amount of versatility to this app. If you move beyond that, you’ll find a secure email provider trusted by defense contractors, education institutions and legal organizations – so there’s some pedigree here.
PreVeil: Plans and pricing
That sort of customer base and feature set makes it all the more amazing that PreVeil actually starts its offering with a free product.
PreVeil’s free account gives you 5GB of encrypted data storage, end-to-end email and file encryption, integration with Outlook, Gmail and File Explorer and mobile device access, so it’s a well-rounded offering if you need secure email and cloud storage.
The Individual plan costs $25/£20 per month, which is immediately more expensive than most of the other individual plans you’ll find on the market – but, in PreVeil’s defense, that package comes with a mammoth 5TB of data storage. That’s more than you’ll find anywhere else. You can also provide free accounts to third parties using this product.
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The Business product costs $30/£24 per user per month but the feature set accelerates. The Business tier meets compliance requirements for HIPAA, FERPA, SOC 2, GLB, FTC and IRS standards, and you can use an admin console, system logs, admin protection and data loss prevention.
Each user in the business product gets a massive 10TB of storage, too, and you get priority support and a dedicated customer success team.
If you work for a government organization or in the defense industry, PreVeil has a product that meets compliance requirements for DFARS 7012, CMMC, and ITAR and is FIPS 140-2 validated.
In this final tier, you get FedRAMP Moderate Equivalent, all data is stored in the AWS GovCloud, and you enjoy a Compliance Accelerator with pre-filled forms – and access to compliance experts.
If you’d like to access that final tier, you’ll need to contact PreVeil for a quote. SMEs can also use PreVeil Pass, a CMMC compliance solution that costs $415 per month for three users and includes encrypted email, pre-filled CMMC documentation, and specialist support.
PreVeil: Features
PreVeil operates using Zero Knowledge encryption with end-to-end ability, which means that all information associated with your emails is only encrypted and decrypted on user devices – so PreVeil can never see or access the contents of your messages. Underneath it all, you’ll find robust AES-256 used for symmetric encryption and elliptic curve P-256 used for asymmetric keys.
Passwords aren’t used with PreVeil, either. Instead, account access is managed by secret encryption keys that are only stored on user devices. Levels of encryption are used to “wrap” those keys to prevent unauthorized access. Your key remains stored on your device, so login is simple and secure.
To encrypt your emails and files, PreVeil deploys a symmetric system with varying keys used with Public Key Infrastructure technology. PreVeil doesn’t use any PGP system, though, which may be worth bearing in mind if you want to work with people who use PGP-based encryption.
Approval Groups cryptographically distribute trust to predetermined groups of users to avoid individuals compromising entire networks, and Trusted Communities allow organizations to safelist domains and email addresses.
We’ve got no qualms about PreVeil’s security, and the service remains impressive elsewhere. Its ability to work with email clients and free Android and iOS apps means that you can access your encrypted emails from anywhere – a boon when using PreVeil’s services in mission-critical business and government scenarios.
It’s not just about email, either, because PreVeil includes secure cloud storage that deploys the same level of encryption as email.
Administrators can manage users, devices and approved groups of users, define rules across their organizations and record the actions of users with tamper-proof logging.
PreVeil: Interface and in-use
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If you use PreVeil’s web browser or mobile apps, you’ll benefit from a straightforward, simple, and well-designed experience. Navigation is down the left, and your inbox is right in the middle.
A pop-up window makes composing emails easy, although there’s no option here to switch to a three-pane email management interface. Indeed, many other products offer a wider range of configuration settings in general. PreVeil is easy to use but not overwhelmed with tweaks and options.
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If you want to use PreVeil with your existing email client, you’ll need to go through a cryptographic setup process. Once that’s done, PreVeil adds a Secure Messages folder to your email app or interface, and a toggle at the bottom of your composition window allows you to activate or remove PreVeil encryption from your messages.
So, while PreVeil may not have as many settings as some rivals, it’s easy to use, whether you use the web client or your existing email app.
PreVeil: Support
Support tickets with PreVeil are filed over email, and there’s a huge knowledge base with loads of information on configuring and using the product.
The support ticket itself is comprehensive. You can provide a phone number to give PreVeil another option for contacting you, and they also have the facility to launch Zoom meetings to provide live assistance.
Certain customers at upper tiers also get priority support, phone support, and onboarding sessions, and PreVeil can provide webinars and training sessions.
PreVeil: The competition
PreVeil’s status as a certified provider for defense, government, and enterprise ensures that the service competes with some major players.
Hushmail, for instance, offers plans designed around the compliances required by legal and medical firms, so both services are worth investigating if you work in those industries. Zoho, too, offers HIPAA compliance. PreVeil goes further than both with military and government accreditations, though.
If you need to explore those accreditations and compare PreVeil to a key rival, check out Virtru. Both aim at the defense industries alongside healthcare and education, and they share many of the same accreditations.
PreVeil: Final verdict
PreVeil might not be the only secure email provider to deliver such a high level of security, compliance and encryption – we’re looking at you, Virtru – but it’s undoubtedly one of the best.
PreVeil's encryption and security are rock solid, and despite the level of power offered, they are very easy to use and, in most cases, very easy to set up.
PreVeil’s ability to work with existing email clients alongside its own interfaces and apps adds versatility.
It might be a little pricier than some secure email providers, but PreVeil justifies the cost with excellent design and security, especially for sensitive data in mission-critical scenarios.
Most of the best secure email providers offer users a new email address, client, and service to start from scratch, but most can be daunting, too, with loads of technical language that non-experts may not understand - and a wealth of tricky, intimidating options to select while setting up and configuring the client.
That’s not the case with Soverin. This secure email provider still aims to provide robust encryption but with a more accessible and straightforward approach than many rivals.
That makes it a potential winner for anyone who wants secure email without delving too much into the technical side of security.
Soverin: Plans and pricing
Soverin’s pricing structure isn’t divided into rigid tiers. Instead, this product uses a more personalized system that enables you to build a package based on your needs.
The minimum cost of €39/$40/£32 per year immediately undercuts many other secure email providers. For that money, you get one mailbox that uses your existing domain and 25GB of space, which is a generous amount of capacity – lots of other services only provide 5GB or 10GB.
If you want to buy a new domain to set up a new, secure address, that costs extra, with .NL and .EU domains costing €13/$13/£11, .COM and .NET sitting at €18/$19/£15, and .ORG topping the list at €23/$24/£19.
Additional mailboxes cost €10/$10/£ each, and if you want to add an extra 25GB block of storage, it’ll cost you €29/$30/£24 every time.
There’s a thirty-day money-back guarantee, and the service doesn’t need personal information when you sign up – although you can’t pay with cryptocurrencies or cash, as you can with other secure email providers.
Soverin: Features
Soverin offers full encryption to emails sent and received through their servers, which is an excellent start for any secure email service. Soverin strips IP addresses from emails – something that not every secure email provider actually does – and supports two-factor authentication through its own web client.
Outbound SMTP servers check and honor TLSA records, and inbound servers benefit from published TLSA records.
Soverin uses DKIM/DMARC by default and, deploys SRS and ARC for email forwarding, and is fully compliant with a broad range of laws and standards, like GDPR, AVG, SPF, SSL, DANE and more.
Third-party services independently verify Soverin’s encryption: it scores a 100% confidence rating on CheckTLS.com and an A+ from SSL Labs. Soverin also scores 5/5 in the EU’s MESCA email test.
It’s worth noting that while Soverin always uses encrypted connections with OpenPGP used throughout, they don’t control security used outside of the Soverin ecosystem. If you want this level of security, you’ll need to use your own OpenPGP connection using a service like Mailvelope.
There’s no tracking, no advertising, and no chance for Soverin to see the contents of your mailbox.
Elsewhere, lots of features prove Soverin’s versatility. Thanks to IMAP and POP3 support, it works with any mobile or desktop email client, and you can use your own domain. A unified platform with full user control can be built and provided, mail can be imported from external services, and domain management is available, too. The platform also has its own spam filter and 24-hour monitoring and alerting for suspicious activity.
If you’re buying Soverin for an organization you can customize the product with custom colors, menus and your logos, you’ve got complete control over the number of mailboxes and aliases you use alongside custom domains, and the web client has integrated calendar, contact and task functionality.
Soverin’s servers are hosted in three data centers in the Netherlands, where secure infrastructure and disc encryption protect physical hardware. Hosting providers are selected based on Soverin’s strict privacy requirements. No customer information is shared with third-party organizations.
Soverin: Interface and in-use
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Because Soverin works by encrypting your existing account, a little setup is required to get things started. You’ve got to verify that you’re the owner of your domain by adding text records to your DNS, MX and SPF settings.
Once that’s done, you can access Soverin’s mailbox. This attractive and straightforward mail client mimics the three-panel design so often seen elsewhere, making it easy to use for anyone familiar with online email.
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At the window's top-right are icons that allow you to switch to your calendar, contacts, and to-do list. In the settings menu, you’ll find all of the key options you need for configuration, but it must be said that many other services give you more granular control over functionality – Soverin’s settings menu is not complicated or intimidating, but you will have more options elsewhere.
Soverin: Support
To access Soverin’s support, you can email them – it’s that simple. The company intends to respond to messages quickly and maintains a service status page on its website.
Elsewhere, the Help section includes guides on setting up your service and customizing key functionality. The guides are well-written and have straightforward explanations that should be easy to follow, even for beginners. There’s also a good FAQ section.
That’s it for support, though. There’s no live chat and no phone support here, which is the kind of thing you’ll find from larger organizations, and lots of other email products offer more depth in their online FAQ and help sections, too.
Soverin: The competition
Soverin’s status as an accessible and affordable secure email provider sees it competing with some big names, including Tuta and Posteo.
All three services are similar, with good security functionality and rock-solid core email client experiences.
Soverin offers more storage than Posteo, but Posteo is even cheaper than Soverin – and it’s not like Soverin is particularly expensive. Tuta, meanwhile, has exceptional security and it also has mobile apps, but customer support is not great.
If you’d like more functionality, including Office tools, VPNs and cloud storage, then it’s worth considering products like Proton and Mailbox.org – and even Zoho if you want a complete business solution. But they’re far more complex and potentially much more expensive, too.
Zoho Mail: Final verdict
Soverin is an effective secure email option, with robust security procedures, straightforward design and flexible, affordable pricing – so if you want a no-nonsense secure email product, it’s worth consideration.
That said, products from larger organizations will offer more support functionality, which is essential for businesses, and the lack of in-depth support won’t sate technical users and people who want more control over their emails.
In my twenty years as a professional writer, I don’t think I’ve ever looked forward to using a keyboard before. Some are good, some are bad, some, like the ones on modern ThinkPads, are easily the best you can get on a laptop and offer very comfortable typing experiences.
In fact, I’ve always hated changing to a new keyboard, with the inevitable typos and finger-slips as muscle memory goes right out the window and the brain tries to relearn the new key placement.
But never, ever, have I wanted to find excuses to type something, anything on a keyboard, or just pressed a few keys as I passed the desk for the thrill of it all.
Until, that is, I got my hands on the Keychron V6 Max mechanical keyboard. And if I could, I’d sit at my desk all day and all night just to feel that pleasing feedback, listening to the satisfying clackety-clack as my fingers depress the keys. It might just be the best office keyboard I’ve ever used.
Keychron V6 Max: Price & availability
This is no budget keyboard - but that’s expected with this sort of design and the features packed in here. It’s a definite ‘investment’ product for those who will be using it day in and day out.
You can also pick up from Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk and other online retailers, where it’s going for the RRP.
Keychron V6 Max: Design
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This little beast is beautifully designed, with its carbon black frame and light and dark blue keys. To me, it really looks the business, eye-catching but professional.
Unlike some Keychron keyboards, like the Q6 Max we reviewed, this model is built from a hardened ABS plastic rather than dense aluminum. It’s still pretty heavy, though, and not suited to portability. On the other hand, the weight also made it very stable, refusing to whizz across the desk under the slightest provocation while I used it. So, pros and cons.
The V6 Max comes in a range of configurations - first off, you can select between a barebones version and one that’s fully assembled.
In the US, you’ll get the double-shot OSA PBT keycaps, while in the UK, you can choose between PBT and ABS keys, with the latter allowing the backlight to shine through.
You can also choose between a few different mechanical switches (Gateron Jupiter Red, Brown, and Yellow), which will subtly adjust your experience (you can see the full differences between each by clicking here). In this review, I’m looking at the PBT version with Gateron Jupiter Red linear switches.
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Along the top row, nestled between F12 and Print Screen, is a sturdy volume knob that can be clicked to mute/unmute. It’s really useful if you want easy access to volume controls, and easily ignored if you don’t.
Around the back are two switches for changing compatibility between Windows, Mac, and Android devices, and alternating connectivity (2.4GHz, cable, and Bluetooth). Over to the right is a nub which houses both the USB and USB-C receivers.
In the box, you’ll also find a wealth of tools - a charging cable, keycap and switch puller, screwdriver, screws, hex (Allen) key, extension adapter for the receiver, and eleven replacement keys.
Keychron V6 Max: App
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One of the big highlights of the Keychron V6 Max is its near-total customizability, both physically and while using the app at launcher.keychron.com. You’ll need to run Chrome, Edge, or Opera, and connect the keyboard with the wire. I found the app found the keyboard pretty quickly - not instant, but quick enough. And I was pleasantly surprised by the host of options on offer here.
Arguably the most useful here is the keymap, where you can alter what each key does when pressed. It’s very straightforward to use. Then, alongside this, there’s a key test to make sure everything’s running smoothly, an option to create macros, which will be essential for coders, firmware updates and bug reporting, and backlight selection.
To my mind, this backlight tab is where every user should head first. To manually change the keyboard’s backlight, you’ll need to turn it on with Fn + Tab, then cycle through each option using Fn + Q. There’s loads of presets here, but let me tell you, it takes ages to find the one that’s right for you - and one wrong press and you’ll need to cycle through them all over again. In the app, on the other hand, you can quickly find your preferred style, and adjust the color using the palette. Job done.
All in all, I thought the app was a nice extra that gives you much more control over layout and style to fit how you want the keyboard to perform.
Keychron V6 Max: In use
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This keyboard is an absolute delight to use. Typing feels natural, comfortable, I used it for hours and hours at a time and never once had any issues. Every keystroke registered quickly and accurately, and there’s a pleasing softness to each one. What more could you want from a mechanical keyboard?
Of course, it helps that it’s incredibly customizable to suit your work, and the desk boasts a gasket mount design with sound-proofing foam under the hood. Saying that, it’s in no way silent during use. As a mechanical keyboard, it has a muted clack that will remind readers of a certain age of busy offices and typist pools.
Personally, I quite enjoy the sound it makes when in full writing flow- it’s somehow soothing. However, it won’t be ideal for those looking for a super low-profile keyboard, where a scissor-switch or rubber-dome keyboard will offer a quieter experience.
Keychron also claims the V6 Max has a polling rate of 1000Hz, which has a theoretical latency of 1ms. So, while it should easily handle competitive gaming, it isn’t strictly designed for this.
For me, it’s one of the best keyboards around, perfectly positioned for productivity-minded professionals, students, programmers - effectively anyone who’s going to be spending a lot of time at their desk. On that score, it delivers an awesome experience.
Should I buy the Keychron V6 Max?
Buy it if...
✅ You want comfort when typing I can’t fault the overall performance of the V6 Max when it comes to general typing, even at speed.
✅ You want to customize your set-up This keyboard can basically be configured any way you want, from switching out keycaps to redefining the key map using the app.
Don't buy it if...
❌ You don’t type much For the price and the specs here, it’s going to be overkill for sending the occasional email or replying on Teams - although it’ll feel good while you’re doing so, at least.
❌ You want a silent keyboard As a mechanical keyboard, this isn’t exactly quiet in use, which you may want in shared workspaces.
I’m happy to see Brother boarding the bulk tank bandwagon at last. Given the outrageous profit margins to be had from inkjet cartridges, its reluctance is understandable, but Brother is expecting to catch up with the launch of this compact and competitively priced supertanker.
The Brother DCP-T580DW is the more affordable model in a new refillable range that’s aimed at the home office or micro business. It’s a basic color A4 all-in-one with key features such as auto-duplex printing, hi-res scanning and Wi-Fi with AirPrint compatibility built in. There’s no automatic document feed (ADF), rear paper tray or color display, which are reserved for the slightly more expensive Brother DCP-T780DW, which also performed better on test.
But what puts this modest multifunction printer ahead of the cartridge-bound competition are its four ink tanks and four bundled bottles of ink, enabling you to print up to 7,500 black and white pages and 5,000 color. For comparison, the HP Envy 6530e comes with cartridges containing enough ink for 120 back pages and 75 in color. You can see why consumers are choosing tank printers. But how does this entry-level model from Brother compare to the best ink tank printers? I tested it to find out.
Brother DCP-T580DW: Design and build
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Specs
Type: color tank inkjet printer
Functions: Print, copy, scan
Connectivity: Ethernet, USB, Wi-Fi
Data storage slots: none
Max print speed: 16ipm (mono)
Max paper size: A4/legal
Print quality: 1,200 x 600 dpi
Apple AirPrint: yes
Consumables included: 4 bottles (7,500 black, 5,000 color pages)
Dimensions/Weight: 15.35 x 13.50 x 5.87in (WxDxH) / 17.42lb - 390 x 343 x 149 mm (WxDxH)/7.9kg
The Brother DCP-T580DW is really a second generation tank printer, following the odd-looking Brother DCP-T525W, which was sold exclusively through Amazon. This version sees Brother take its tank printers to the UK for the first time and it looks much more refined, with the four tanks integrated into a commendably compact design that looks no bigger than a cartridge printer.
To achieve this neat form factor, instead than having the ink reservoirs bulging out at the side as before, their capacity has been reduced. At 48.8 milliliters, these tanks are smaller than Epson’s 65ml EcoTanks, or HP’s 70ml Smart Tanks.
In fact, it’s slightly less than some of Brother’s high-capacity INKvestment Tank cartridges. However, it’s still way more than your average cartridge and it allows this printer to be small enough to sit on your desk without stealing too much space.
There’s only one paper input and its cassette, which holds up to 150 sheets of letter, legal or A4 paper, protrudes slightly from the front. There’s a flatbed scanner on top, but no ADF and the display is a very basic single-line affair surrounded by the usual array of buttons on a tilting panel. The two ports for connecting power and USB cables are at the left side, rather than the rear, which might suit your setup, or it might not.
Brother DCP-T580DW: Features & specifications
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For an entry-level business inkjet, the Brother DCP-T580DW has a sensible specification. The print speed is quite fast for an inkjet at 16imp in black and white pages or 9ipm in color, while the Wi-Fi is 5GHz with AirPrint compatibility. The print resolution is given as 1,200 x 600dpi, with ink droplets delivered through 420 nozzles. That’s 70 nozzles for each color and 120 for black.
The main paper tray is your only input option and it can hold up to 150 sheets of plain A4, letter or legal paper and the weight limit is 220gsm. It’s worth noting that the step-up model adds a rear multipurpose paper input which is able to take thicker paper weighing up to 300gsm. The DCP-T780DW also has a larger display with a color screen and a 20-sheet ADF that makes the DCP-T580DW look pretty light on features.
Brother DCP-T580DW: Setup and operation
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The printed quick start guide is very clear, and you probably won’t need it. Simply load your paper, plug in and turn on. The on-screen prompts will tell you to enter the date and time and when to fill the ink reservoirs. I recommend downloading Brother’s accompanying app called Smart Connect, which will help you get your printer connected to your Wi-Fi network.
This iOS/Android app is also great for printing remotely and checking your printer’s status. With such a small black and white display on the printer, your smartphone offers a much better user interface.
Pouring ink into the tanks is a clean and easy process, or at least it should be. The bottles are the same capacity as the tanks and their necks only fit their corresponding tanks, so you can’t make any catastrophic mix-ups. I didn’t spill a drop, until I made the mistake of only part-filling the tanks and replacing the half empty bottles in the box. What a mess!
Unlike Epson, HP and Canon’s bottles, Brother’s bottles don’t re-seal, even when you think you screwed the lids on tight. To be fair to this printer, it did tell me to ‘fill’ the tanks, so I won’t mark it down for human error.
Brother DCP-T580DW: Performance
(Image credit: Brother // Future)
For me, the Brother DCP-T580DW worked well, starting up promptly and printing as quickly as promised. It makes a slightly annoying wining noise when printing, so it’s less quiet than most inkjets, but there were no instances of jamming, creasing or smudging during the test. The ADF managed to pull in multi-page documents and copy them without any problems and the duplicates were faithful enough.
The print quality is acceptable, but somewhat disappointing at this price point. Starting with black text documents on plain paper, it’s evident that Brother is using a dye-based black ink, which is fine, but the characters look slightly less bold than a pigment black. With office oriented printers you often find dye-based C/M/Y and a pigment BK because text looks sharper and is more scratch and fade resistant, but I wouldn’t necessarily expect it at this budget level.
The colored inks look bright enough, so mixed color documents look fine. It’s when you get to printing images and photos on coated paper that you notice a lack of fine detail resolution. The quoted resolution of 1,200 x 600dpi is the same as the more expensive Brother DCP-T780DW, but it’s achieved using exactly half the number of nozzles. The lower-spec printheads on the Brother DCP-T580DW deliver a very noticeable dip in image quality. The overall print performance is probably good enough for most office documents, homework and handouts, but it’s not great for photos.
Brother DCP-T580DW: Consumables
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Brother comes with three bottles containing 48.8ml of yellow, cyan and magenta and a 108ml bottle of black. This should yield up to 5,000 color pages and 7,500 black and white and a replacement ink set from Brother costs around US$47 or £35, which is a very low cost-per-page. And there’s nothing to stop you using cheaper third party ink.
Brother DCP-T580DW: Maintenance
Being an inkjet printer, the Brother DCP-T580DW is liable to dry out and print badly or not at all if left unused for a length of time. The problem is ink clogging the nozzles and the solution is flushing them through with more ink. At least bottled ink is affordable enough to do that without getting upset. This printer has unusually versatile maintenance options with a choice of three flushing cycles of varying strength depending on the state of your nozzles.
Brother DCP-T580DW: Final verdict
I found much to admire about the Brother DCP-T580DW, from its compact size and fast duplex printing, to its low TCO (total cost of ownership). The features list is rather thin as there’s no ADF, the display is tiny and there’s only one paper input. But at least it ticks all the key boxes, such as auto-duplex printing, A4 scanning, dual-band Wi-Fi and plenty of bottled ink in the box.
It’s a pity the print performance is below average for this price category, with dull dye-based blacks and photos that lack fine detail. For most purposes, it’s probably good enough, but it’s hard to recommend the Brother DCP-T580DW, when the slightly more expensive Brother DCP-T780DW offers all the missing features, more ink and much better print quality.
For more print solutions, I've tested and reviewed the best home printers you can get right now.
CPU: AMD Ryzen V1500B Graphics: None RAM: 4GB DDR4 ECC SODIMM (Max 32GB) Storage: 80TB (20TB HDD x4), 1.6TB (800GB M.2 x2) Ports: 2x Type-A (5Gbps), 1x Type-C (5Gbps), 2x 2.5GbE Ethernet ports Size: 166 x 199 x 223mm (6.5 x 7.8 x 8.8 inches) OS installed: DSM 7 Accessories: 2xLAN cables, 2x drive-bay lock keys, AC power cord
Synology has been producing network attached storage (NAS) technology for over 20 years, and its devices have maintained a consistent look and feel. In that time, the company has developed a highly polished operating system that’s packed with a wide variety of bespoke and third-party apps that do everything from simply backing up files on a home or office network, through managing a household’s multimedia requirements, to running a business’s entire IT stack. The latter includes enterprise-grade backup, all kinds of server functionality, email and web-hosting, virtual machine management, surveillance camera management and much, much more.
In more recent years, Synology has hunkered down in its own segment of the NAS market – eschewing broad compatibility with third-party hardware providers and a Wild-West application community in favor of a more closed and professional operating environment, where you have to buy expensive Synology drives to populate the boxes. While these compatibility changes have driven some users away, what remains is still an incredibly robust, well-supported and well-documented ecosystem that has a huge community following.
The new DiskStation DS925+ is something of a popular, sweet-spot size that can suit new users and network admins alike. At a glance, it looks exactly like several generations of its predecessors and it operates very much like them. Its most significant features include four bays that support both 3.5-inch and 2.5-inch drives and two M.2 NVMe SSD slots. Its tool-less design and simple setup wizards make it quick and easy to build, and you can be up and running in less than 15 minutes. It runs quietly and can be positioned on top of a desk or hidden away (in a ventilated location) discreetly. To casual users (with deep pockets) who want access to Synology’s apps and need only basic NAS functionality, we could stop there. Enthusiasts will want to know more.
(Image credit: Nick Ross)
The list of compatible drives is now smaller than ever. While Synology has kicked certification of third-party drives over to vendors like Seagate and WD, it doesn’t appear to have resulted in more choice… yet. At the time of writing, you’re still limited to Synology’s latest Plus Series consumer drives (which go up to 16TB), its Enterprise drives (up to 20TB), its 2.5-inch SSDs (up to 7TB) and its Enterprise-level M.2 NVMe drives (up to 800GB). All of them are considerably more expensive than incompatible third-party counterparts.
The DS925+ comes with one of its two SO-DIMM slots populated with 4GB of DDR4 ECC RAM. You can upgrade to two sticks of Synology’s own 16GB ECC RAM (for 32GB total) if required, but not if you’re looking to save money. The introduction of error-correcting (ECC) RAM at this level is a boon, nonetheless.
It should be noted that if you’re looking to the DS925+ as an upgrade for an older Synology NAS, it will allow third-party drives if it recognizes an existing DSM installation. However, you’ll get constant drive compatibility warnings in return.
Positive new hardware features include a beefed-up, quad-core, eight-thread AMD Ryzen V1500B processor (note that there’s no integrated GPU) and its two network ports are finally 2.5GbE. There are both front and rear-mounted USB-A 3.2 Gen 1 ports plus a new, slightly controversial, USB-C port for connecting an external, 5-bay extension unit (replacing old eSATA-connected options). What’s most bothersome, though, is the lack of a PCIe network expansion for upgrading to 10GbE connectivity, which limits the possible network transfer speeds.
Ultimately, the initial outlay for a DS925+ can be enormous compared to rivals on the market. However, if you’re going to make use of the vast libraries of free software applications and licenses, it’ll represent great value.
Synology DiskStation DS925+: Price & availability
Synology’s DiskStation DS925+ only recently launched and has limited availability in only a few markets. It’s listed at $830 / £551 / AU$1,099.
Overall, it's well priced compared to its closest competitors such as the TerraMaster F4-424 Max, as well as other Synology NAS devices.
Value score: 4.5 / 5
Synology DiskStation DS925+: Design & build
While the DiskStation DS925+ looks like its predecessors, I felt that it was somewhat more robust and less rattly than some of its forebears. Regardless of that, it’s still a small and discreet black box that will not draw attention to itself, wherever it’s located.
(Image credit: Nick Ross)
The tool-less design makes adding hard drives simple. For 3.5-inch drives, you just lift up the drive bay door, pull out the drive tray, unclip the tray’s side bars, put the drive in the tray, clip the bars back on (they use rubber grommets to reduce sound and vibrations) and slide it back in. If you want, you can ‘lock’ each drive bay with a key to deter opportunistic thieves.
Adding RAM involves removing the drive bays and adding SO-DIMMs to the internal slots on the side. Adding the M.2 NVMe drives involves simply unclipping the covers on the base and sliding them in. Adding six drives takes less than five minutes.
A fully populated DS925+ runs very quietly – Synology says just 20dB – and I can attest that there’s only a very quiet whooshing noise made by the dual 92mm fans, and the drives only make occasional, very low clicking and popping sounds.
Installing the operating system is also simple. A QR code in the box provides access to an online setup document with a link that automatically finds your NAS on the network before offering to install everything for you. After a quick firmware update, it reboots and you’ll be looking at the DSM desktop, in a web browser, just a few minutes later. The NAS will then prompt you to sign into a Synology account, set up SSO and MFA log-ins and install some basic apps.
Newcomers might struggle at first with the terminology surrounding the initial setup of the drives, but (at the basic level) the NAS walks you through the process. It involves organizing the drives into a storage pool, then creating a volume and then adding folders. You’ll also be prompted to list which users can have View, Read or Write access. At this point you’ve got functional network-attached storage that can be accessed across your network.
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The operating system is well-polished and installing bespoke and third-party apps is simple thanks to the Package Center application which operates like a free App Store. It’s also simple to enable remote access using Synology’s QuickConnect ID short-web-link system.
An interesting change with the DiskStation DS925+ is the removal of the (6Gbps) eSATA port for connecting Synology’s optional, legacy, external drive bays and its replacement with a single (5Gbps) USB-C port which connects to a Synology DX525 5-bay expansion unit. I didn't have an expansion bay on hand to test this, but the performance difference should be minimal.
While there are only two 2.5GbE network ports, you can combine them in various ways, with the easiest (load balancing) becoming operational in just a few clicks. It’s more suited to multiple connections rather than improving top speed, though.
Finally, it’s worth noting that compatibility with third-party drives is now strictly limited. At the time of writing, the DS925+ was only compatible with its own (up to 16TB) prosumer Plus Series hard drives, its (up to 20TB) Enterprise Series hard drives and (up to 7TB) SSDs, plus its 400GB and 800GB M.2 NVMe drives. All of these cost considerably more than third-party equivalents. Synology is blunt about why it has limited compatibility so much – it got sick of dealing with support requests that often boiled down to conflicts and crashes caused by drive failures and subsequent arguments with third-party drive vendors. While it’s annoying, I can sympathize with that.
Design & build score: 5 / 5
Synology DiskStation DS925+: Features
(Image credit: Nick Ross)
It’s tricky to know just where to start with the numerous features that are available with the DiskStation DS925+. It performs just about every business and consumer task you can imagine. For many smart-home users, the various multi-device backup utilities, multimedia organization tools and media-server functionality (including Plex, Emby and Jellyfin) will be used more than anything else.
For prosumer and business users, it can be your full-stack IT service provider. There are apps that can transform your NAS into an enterprise-grade backup solution with off-site (third-party and Synology C2) cloud capabilities; email server; web server; Synology Office application provider; surveillance camera manager; anti-malware protection; virtual machine manager and a VPN server.
In all of these applications, multiple user licenses are included, which boosts the value proposition through the roof.
There’s a multitude of third-party applications and high-quality documentation (covering just about everything) that has been created by a large and mature Synology-enthusiast community.
Network admins will also like the numerous drive-formatting options, granular user permission management and SSO and MFA security options.
Storage capacity can be increased via a USB-C connected, five-drive-bay expansion unit.
The two USB-A ports (front and rear) have had many functions removed so they can no longer be used to connect potential security nightmares like printers, media devices, or network adapters, but they can still be used for connecting external USB storage devices.
The twin 92mm fans are quiet and, in conjunction with well-designed vents, do a good job of cooling the NAS. That said, be sure to place it in a location where airflow isn’t impeded and the vents won’t get clogged with dust.
Features score: 5 / 5
Synology DiskStation DS925+: Performance
(Image credit: Nick Ross)
To test the DiskStation DS925+, I installed four Synology 3.5-inch, 4TB hard drives and formatted them with Synology’s own RAID-5-like Btrfs file system which offers striped performance boosts, disk-failure redundancy protection and numerous enhancements that work with Synology’s backup utilities. It left me with a 10.4TB volume and meant I could lose/remove any one drive without suffering data loss.
I also installed two 400GB M.2 NVMe SSDs as a single Btrfs storage volume (they can also be used for caching) which gave me a usable capacity of 362.4GB.
I transferred files from one volume to the other and hit sustained transfer speeds that peaked at 435MB/s, but most people will be moving data externally.
I subsequently performed multiple tests to find its real-world limits, see what doing without a 10GbE port option meant and discover what benefits the two (configurable) 2.5GbE LAN ports offered. I did this by connecting the NAS to a high-end, TP-Link Deco BE85 Wi-Fi 7 Router (with 10GbE LAN ports) via Ethernet and downloading large video files using various wired and wireless configurations.
I compared the DS925+’s performance to that of an older, two-bay Synology DiskStation DS723+ that has a 10GbE wired connection, a dual 3.5-inch hard drive volume and a newly fitted, single, 800GB Synology M.2 NVMe SSD-based volume.
I tested using a high-end Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 X3D gaming laptop with a 2.5GbE LAN connection and Wi-Fi 6E, as well as a new Core Ultra (Series 2) Asus Vivobook 14 Flip with Wi-Fi 7.
I started with the DS723+ which I’ve been using for testing Wi-Fi routers. With the Scar’s 2.5GbE Ethernet port connected by wire to the Deco router, I saw sustained transfer speeds that hit 245MB/s for both the DS723+’s HDD volume and its NVMe volume. Over a 5GHz Wi-Fi 6E wireless connection, this dropped to 194MB/s for both volumes. Over a 6GHz Wi-Fi 6E wireless connection, it achieved 197MB/s using the HDD volume and 215MB/s for the NVMe volume.
Switching to the Wi-Fi 7 VivoBook, on the 5GHz wireless connection, it managed 180MB/s for both the HDD and NVMe volumes. However, when using the 6GHz Wi-Fi 7 network, it achieved 244MB/s for the HDD volume and an astonishing 347MB/s for the NVMe volume. That right there is the power of having a 10GbE-equipped NAS (with an NVMe drive) connected to a Wi-Fi 7 network. Cables, schmables! That’s more than enough for editing multiple streams of UHD video at once.
(Image credit: Nick Ross)
So, how did the newer DS925+ compare? When it was connected to the Deco via a single 2.5GbE port, the 2.5GbE LAN connected Asus laptop reached 280MB/s for the HDD volume and 282MB/s for the NVMe volume – a good 35MB/s quicker than the two-bay DS723+. Over 5GHz Wi-Fi these scores both dropped to 190MB/s which is similar to the DS723+, illustrating a likely 5GHz Wi-Fi bottleneck. Interestingly, performance was consistently slower during the Scar’s 6GHz tests, where it hit 163MB/s (HDD volume) and 172MB/s (NVMe volume), but this is again likely caused by the network, not the NAS.
When the VivoBook connected via the 5GHz network, it managed 186MB/s transfers for both volumes. Over Wi-Fi 7 this jumped up to 272MB/s for the HDD volume and 278MB/s for the SSD volume. So, thus far, the file transfer performance benefits of having NVMe storage on the DS925+ aren’t significant when passing through the bottleneck of its 2.5GbE LAN port.
Consequently, I bonded the two 2.5GbE connections together to form a ‘single’ 5GbE connection in an effort to boost performance. This takes just a few clicks in DSM’s control panel. I opted for the basic Adaptive Load Balancing option, but there are several other configurations for various types of network topology.
(Image credit: Nick Ross)
So, with the DS925+’s two Ethernet cables forming a single 5Gbps connection to the Deco router, I ran the tests again. The 2.5GbE-connected ROG Strix Scar saw transfer speeds (to both the HDD and SSD volumes) only reach 168MB/s, which is around 120MB/s slower than when the NAS was connected via a single 2.5GbE wired connection. Over 5GHz Wi-Fi this boosted (slightly) to 188MB/s for both volumes and over the 6GHz network, it dropped back to 170MB/s for both volumes. It’s fair to say that combining the DS925+’s two 2.5GbE ports is better suited to handling multiple network streams rather than boosting performance of a single connection.
Nonetheless, I repeated the test with the VivoBook. Over 5GHz Wi-Fi, both volumes saw transfer speeds of 176MB/s. Over 6GHz Wi-Fi 7, it hit 283MB/s.
So, what have we learned about the DS925+’s file transfer-speed potential? Using a 2.5GbE wired connection to and from the router, it tops out at 280MB/s. Connecting the laptop via 5GHz Wi-Fi typically sees transfer speeds of between 160MB/s and 185MB/s, but over 6GHz Wi-Fi 7, up to 283MB/s is possible. This means that, in the right circumstances, Wi-Fi 7 can match 2.5GbE connection speeds.
We also learned that combining the DS925+’s two 2.5GbE connections (at least, in my particular setup) reduces the top transfer speed. Most importantly, that means losing the option for a 10GbE upgrade stops us hitting insane 347MB/s speeds over Wi-Fi 7, and 283MB/s is the reduced ceiling. As such, it’s straight-up not worth using the M.2 drives for file transfer performance boosting as the 2.5GbE connection(s) act as a bottleneck.
That all said, the M.2 drives can still improve performance through caching functionality and Synology notes it can give a 15x improvement to random read and write IOPS. This will be a much bigger deal in situations with multiple connections occurring simultaneously.
While some high-end users will miss the option to upgrade to a 10GbE performance ceiling, I found it’s still more than enough to facilitate very high bitrate, 60FPS, UHD+ video playback (and multiple UHD video stream editing) in addition to having multiple simultaneous connections performing numerous lesser tasks.
Performance score: 4.5 / 5
Should you buy the Synology DiskStation DS925+?
It has become normal to gripe about the design decisions and limitations that Synology imposes on each generation of its prosumer NAS boxes. However, if we eliminate the potential purchasers it won’t suit – i.e. those who need a 10GbE connection and those who cannot afford all the expensive Synology hard drives required to populate it – it’s absolutely worth buying.
Its highly evolved chassis is deceptively well built in terms of tool-less access, rigidity, cooling and airflow. Its operating environment remains secure, robust and intuitive and is packed with features. Its software library will satisfy casual and demanding consumers plus network admins alike and almost all of it is free.
While it’s lost the hodgepodge, stick-your-old-hard-drives-in-a-box-and-hack-a-NAS-together old-school vibe, it’s now a reliable (and scalable) professional backbone for any business or smart-home.
As an all-around package, it’s the best on the market for its target audience. Yes, it can be expensive to populate with drives, but the subsequent total cost of ownership borne through reliability, software licensing and built-in security features help offset the burden of the initial outlay. This means that the DS925+ is, once again, a highly desirable winner from Synology.
Attribute
Notes
Score
Value
A closed market makes buying drives expensive. But, the free software library can make it a bargain, regardless.
4.5
Design
It’s incredibly simple to put together thanks to its tool-less design. The software is voluminous, polished, mature, secure and reliable. It also runs cool and quiet.
5
Features
Whether you’re an undemanding consumer or a network admin, the DS925+ can do it all.
5
Performance
The lack of an upgrade option to a 10GbE port limits peak performance, but it’s still not slow.
4.5
Total
Synology’s latest 4-bay NAS is as attractive as its predecessors, which is high praise indeed.
5
(Image credit: Nick Ross)
Buy it if...
You want a one-stop box that can support your smart home
Its ease of setup, friendly multimedia apps, security, reliability and ability to operate almost every facet of a smart home make it a winner.
You want a one-stop box that can support your entire organization
Whether it’s enterprise-grade backups, hosting web or email servers or virtual machines or even providing free office software, this one box can do it all.
Don't buy it if...
You need the fastest file transfers
The lack of 10GbE connectivity means that top transfer speeds are no longer available.
You're on a tight budget
Getting access to Synology’s incredible value and mostly free software library now involves an even heavier initial outlay for compatible drives.
Designed for jet-setting business professionals and travelers, Timekettle’s new AI translator is an update on the original T1 but now includes - you guessed it - artificial intelligence. Where the older model ran AI translations in the cloud, it’s now happening on the device thanks to the AI Edge model.
Beyond the updated internals, it’s largely the same device in size and design, and even specs like the 0.2-second translation time. Still, it’s incredibly well-designed, feels great in the hand, and I had no problems with the translations, which cover everything from two-way conversations to taking photos, letting you translate signs, documents, websites, and so on.
Timekettle T1 AI translator: Price and availability
The Timekettle T1 AI translator retails for $300 / £300 by clicking here. It’s widely available, with the official Timekettle website letting you change to your chosen currency. I’m not yet seeing the latest model on sites like Amazon, but given the non-AI model is available elsewhere, it’s only a matter of time before they reach other online retailers.
The included eSIM gives you two years’ free data. After this, you can continue connecting the handset via Wi-Fi, insert your own SIM card, or sign up for a new eSIM contract - although I’ve struggled to find exact costs for this on Timekettle’s website, which is never a good sign. Information elsewhere for other Timekettle units suggest a price of around $50 a year.
Timekettle T1 AI translator: Unboxing and first impressions
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Everything you need to get started is included in the box, including a USB-C cable, SIM tray eject pin, and a manual for easy set-up.
Then there’s the device itself. And my word, it’s pleasantly small and light. Measuring 4.59 x 2.30 x 0.44in / 11.68 x 5.86 x 1.12cm and weighing 0.25lb / 115g, you’ll have no trouble taking this with you around the world.
This new model also addresses a small but important issue we had with the previous model - there’s now a lanyard included in the box.
Ok, it might not seem like much, but this sort of extra is absolutely essential for business professionals carrying this from meeting to meeting (or holidaymakers while on vacation for that matter). A phone already takes up enough space in the pocket, and now there’s no need to jam another device in there with it.
Timekettle T1 AI translator: Design and operation
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Specs
Connectivity: 2G, 3G, 4G, Wi-Fi, Nano-SIM, e-SIM Offline languages: 31 Online languages: 40 Translation speed: 0.2 seconds Camera: 8MP Operating system: Android 10 Storage: 4GB RAM / 32GB ROM Dimensions: 4.59 x 2.30 x 0.44in / 11.68 x 5.86 x 1.12cm Weight: 0.25lb / 115g
Design-wise, this is pretty much identical to the original FluentTalk T1 translator (you can see our review here). There’s a 4in HD screen, dual-speakers, and three function buttons to the left. On the right, you’ll find the SIM tray and a volume rocker. And at the bottom, a USB-C port for charging and a lanyard loop.
Operating the T1 is very simple - after all, it’s functionally a touchscreen mobile device running Android 10. Even without reading the instructions, I had no difficulty figuring out all the necessary swipes and taps as I made my way around the handset, opening up apps, and testing out what was on offer.
Everything runs relatively smoothly, I didn’t experience any noticeable slowdowns and translations were about as quick as Timekettle suggests.
Timekettle T1 AI translator: In use
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The T1 AI translator is absolutely loaded with tools, and I really liked how useful they all are, in a range of settings.
First, I switched the ‘to’ and ‘from’ languages - it’s the main action, centrally placed, on the home screen, and very to sort. From there, I was also able to download language packs for use during offline translations. There’s a little blue download button next to each, and although I wouldn’t say I have sausage fingers, I still found it tricky to punch the button to begin the download first time. It took a couple of attempts for each one I tried. Once installed, however, they worked well.
After that, I could begin translations. I started with the One Click translation. This opens up a new screen where pressing the top red button lets you speak in your native tongue or the lower blue button for the foreign language. There’s also a dual drop-down menu at the top of the screen for changing to new languages. Once you press the button and begin talking, the device will begin translating, delivering both on-screen text and audio. I found it notably slower using offline language translation than online, but the results are the same.
Next, I tried Photo Translation. Here, select the appropriate language, then simply point the rear camera at foreign language text and take the photo. Usefully, images can be taken in portrait and landscape mode. During my tests, it took around two seconds to fully process the translation of a text document, but accuracy was spot-on.
Swipe left on the home screen and you’ll see a few more options, like Voice Memo (which can’t be translated) and Listen Mode. This recording option is aimed at those in foreign language meetings, events, webinars, that sort of thing, where you want live text translations as you listen to the speaker. Again, it works well - it’s quick and precise - but I would’ve liked to see the option to actually save these recordings or even just the transcripts.
My favorite feature on the T1 AI handset, though, is Chat Translation. Place the handset in between two people, and with languages set, it will automatically listen to both speakers and translate, bisecting the screen so both users can read and hear what’s being said by the other. The microphones admittedly struggled to hear what was being said when the handset was too far from a speaker, but again, I couldn’t fault the execution here. It’s a clever way of letting two people conversing in a fairly natural way - or, at least, as natural as can be with a small handset sitting between them.
Swipe right, and you have a host of useful tools for travelers. This includes two clocks, which can be set for different time-zones, a currency converter, and an SOS app that displays the numbers of emergency services in your chosen location.
There are also two translation apps here, too. Ask for Directions lets you set custom questions - for example, ‘wo ist der Flughafen? - and display them on screen for those you’re asking. If you’re asking a lot of people the same question, it’s handy. However, I found it a lot easier to just use the One Click Translation here.
Finally, there’s Common Expressions, which serves up a list of - you guessed it - common expressions, ordered by categories like Bank, Restaurant, and Shopping. Click into these and you’ll see a longer list of translations that can be played over the speakers or, by pressing a separate button, fill the screen for easy reading.
Timekettle T1 AI translator: Final verdict
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(Image credit: Timekettle )
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(Image credit: Timekettle )
I really like the Timekettle T1 AI translator - it’s a super-portable device that’s light, feels good in the hand, and its translations are accurate and fast. It may not be a significant upgrade to the older T1 - it’s fundamentally identical in design - but the inclusion of on-board AI will be welcomed by those who want slight improvements on translation speeds.
What I particularly like, though, is how useful it is in a range of settings, thanks to the inclusion of photo translation, a listening mode, and two-way conversations.
Operationally, the Android 10 OS isn’t the quickest, and I did have some issues tapping the right area to download offline language packs. Nor is it a budget pick, with a $300 price-tag, and I would’ve liked to see more transparency over eSIM contract prices once the two years’ free data plan ends.
But in terms of function, it’s easily one of the best around and whether you’re a global business professional or an irrepressible holidaymaker, this is going to be a life-saver.
Should I buy the Timekettle T1 AI translator?
Buy it if...
✅ You travel a lot I really like the size and design of this translator - it feels incredibly lightweight and small in the hand. So, it’s ideal for travelers and business professionals working on the go. The lanyard is a welcome addition for those who want easy access any time.
✅ You want translations in a variety of settings There are loads of translation options on-board, like photo translations, conversational tools, and listening mode when attending meetings. That these translations can be conducted offline is the icing on the cake for me.
Don't buy it if...
❌ You want a budget translator With the price-point set at $300, this is on the upper-end of translators, costing about $100 more than others on the market. I still think it’s arguably the best of its class around, especially given its feature-set, but it’s in no way a budget pick.
❌ You only occasionally need translations Given the cost, it’s a pretty expensive device for those who don’t need extensive translation options. If your translation needs are modest, a cheaper alternative or even your phone will be more than adequate.
For more language solutions, we've rounded up the best translation software you can download right now.
Ivanky is a brand that I have not heard a ton about other than a few targeted ads or other people's setups I watch on YouTube (yes, gear is a hobby and a job). Once I got my hands on the iVanky FusionDock Max 1 though, I realized just how powerful this docking station truly is.
Granted, it's clearly designed for MacBooks alone, and M-Series, Apple Silicon MacBooks at that. But for Apple users, it's a great docking station, able to produce the amount of power that just about anyone from a casual user with a single display, to a professional user with a quad setup and plenty of accessories.
I added this to one of my more robust desks I have set up as of recently, with a custom desk from Uplift, a super cool desk shelf from Hexcal and a dual monitor setup. Just the kind of bougie, yet accessible setup the iVanky FusionDock Max 1 commands.
(Image credit: Collin Probst // Future )
iVanky FusionDock Max 1: Unboxing & first impressions
Unboxing this docking station was pretty straightforward, in the box was the dock itself, which is a bit heavier than expected, a Dual USB-C Cable which has connected USB-C ports on one end and disconnected leads on the other end. It also has a power adapter, an HDMI Cable and the user manual.
Personally, I love the floating look, I think it looks fantastic, intentional and unique in a good way. It stands out in all of the best docking stations I have tested, and I have seen quite a few. It has a minimalist design with a compact footprint, though it is a bit too thick to slide underneath my Hexcal Desk shelf, at least without the extensions which would then make my monitors too high.
Moving on, the port split from the front to the back seems very intentional, and easy to navigate. Lastly, the dual-cable system is interesting, though understood. It is interesting that the part that connects to the MacBook is the side that is connected meaning that there is only ever the option to plug both into the MacBook — then again what ports could you possibly want that this dock doesn't already offer?
The iVanky FusionDock Max 1 is clearly a premium product. By build quality alone let alone the materials used and the unique design promoting better airflow, this device is high-end. The ports are tight and assembled perfectly, the labels are clear and descriptive, and the front facing ports are exactly what I would want up front, just enough to keep me capable of pretty much anything I'd need to plug in, but not so much that I feel like there is always a cable cluttering my desk.
iVanky seems to understand the same thing that I have been saying for years with docking stations. The back ports are for your constantly plugged in devices, such as HDMI, Audio, USB-A (most), USB-C (most), power, Ethernet, in this case, optical, and so on. It should be all the devices you don't plan on unplugging anytime soon. The front, however, is where your frequently accessed devices should live. SD Cards, USB-C, USB-A, Headphone jack, and maybe some more.
(Image credit: Collin Probst // Future )
iVanky FusionDock Max 1: In use
From the first time I plugged a MacBook into this docking station it has run wonderfully. Part of the reason I chose to put this docking station on this desk you see in the photos is because that desk has a soundbar that is currently being used via Bluetooth, but it also has an optical port, just like this dock (something I have never seen before on a docking station).
The integration to the MacBook was not only seamless physically but digitally as well. The ports lined up great to plug in, and then once I approved the device on my Mac I was instantly connected to my dual display setup, my SSD, my Optical, Power, Ethernet, and more.
So far, I have yet to have any issues with the FusionDock Max 1. Like I said, I am running audio out every day through Optical, I am streaming content with the network cable, along with uploading and downloading large files and more. I don't notice any lag or latency in the displays, even when running a heavy load.
I will say that under a heavy load this guy can get hot, but thankfully that is why there is a bit of a guard built into the stand, but regardless, if it takes having a dock that gets a little hot to be able to to run as smoothly as this, then it's worth it.
iVanky FusionDock Max 1: Final verdict
The FusionDock Max 1 is a hefty, powerful, and premium docking station with an ideal number of ports for heavy users. It's a feature-rich docking station that has been super impressive to use and rely on for a few months now. I have this dock running a dual-monitor setup for a MacBook, and it has been an absolute dream so far. If you're looking for a reliable docking station to run your professional setup without compromise, this is a docking station worth checking out.
Want the benefits of a standing desk but don't have the space (or you love your existing desk?). Well, Branch has you covered with its new Desk Riser.
I've tried a lot of the best standing desk converters, some electric and some not, some good and some not, but the Branch Desk riser is one of the most beautiful ones to date, boasting the build quality and materials of a high-end standing desk in the form factor of a riser.
(Image credit: Collin Probst // Future )
Branch Desk Riser: Pricing & Availability
The Branch Desk Riser is available for purchase for $349 on the official website by clicking here. They offer four colors and can ship within 3-5 business days at no extra cost. You can also add a shelf to the back of the riser for monitors, the look, or some small storage for an additional $100.
Branch Desk Riser: Unboxing & first impressions
One of the best aspects of adding a standing desk converter like this one to your current workstation, rather than upgrading to any of the best standing desks, is that there is no assembly required with the Desk Riser. You open up the box, cut some ties, and then you're good to go.
Now, any space I want can become my standing-capable workstation. I can bring this to my kitchen and now have it serve as a multi-purpose space. During the workday, it's my place to sit or stand and work on my laptop, and then at the end of the day, I can move it away and have my table back. Alternatively, I can place this on a counter, another desk I already have, or on any flat surface I'd like to stand on rather than sit or hunch over.
This is particularly important and helpful when you have a workspace that is not a traditional one, meaning the ergonomics may not be optimal. The Desk Riser can transform a boring space into the perfect ergonomic height for standing and getting things done.
The materials feel like they will last for a long time; the desktop is smooth, and the lifting system is easy to use and very smooth.
Branch Desk Riser: Design & build quality
Specs
Dimensions: 30.7" W x 24.3" D x 15.8" H Weight: 22 lbs WeightCapacity: Supports up to 26 lbs Material: Laminated plywood top with powder-coated steel frame HeightAdjustment: Manual, spring-assisted lift mechanism Warranty: 3 years
The Branch Desk Riser is made of laminated plywood top and a powder-coated steel frame with a smooth spring-assisted lifting mechanism. The front edge of the desk features a softened curved edge to allow for a smooth resting area for your wrist, rather than leaning it or resting it against a 90-degree angle.
(Image credit: Collin Probst // Future )
Branch Desk Riser: In use
Using this Desk Riser the last few months has been great. It's a fantastic minimalist option for a smaller workspace, or a desk that is not a standing desk that you still love and don't want to give up on quite yet.
I've been using this standing desk converter (admittedly) while the family and I are at the family cabin. One of the many perks of working remote is that you can work from anywhere! In a space like this, I don't have a dedicated office or even desk. So, a standing desk converter like this is literally perfect.
I can take a game table we have downstairs and turn it into a highly usable workspace. I can easily move from standing to sitting with a simple trigger pull, I have enough room on this desk for my laptop, an iPad, a mouse if I want it, and a monitor if I wanted it, but for this setup I like to keep things simple.
(Image credit: Collin Probst // Future )
There's a part of me that wishes it was an electric lifting mechanism, but I also appreciate the simplicity of not having it be electronic. Though that does bring another slight issue where I wish I had an easy way to charge my devices when I'm getting a lot of work in rather than dangling a cable down.
Branch Desk Riser: Final verdict
The Branch Desk Riser combines aesthetics and overall functionality with this lightweight and beautiful desk riser that can work on any flat workspace. It offers flexibility where you may not have had it before and it makes for a perfect accessory for those workspaces that don't have a full dedicated desk.
Attributes
Notes
Rating
Design
Sleek and comfortable, and it looks and feels premum
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Ease of use
So easy anyone can use it
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Practicality
Very practical for working at a table or traditional desk
