This review first appeared in issue 360 of PC Pro.
One of the most aggravating things about buying technology is that you can always go one further. Spend a little more, get a little more. And that’s exactly the case if you increase your budget from £1,000 to £1,250, with the Palicomp AMD Destiny offering a significant speed hike over the CyberPowerPC opposite.
The vast majority of this is due to the presence of an RTX 4070 Super card rather than an RTX 4060. At retail, the 4070 Super costs around £600 compared to £300 for its lesser sibling, and it’s roughly twice as fast, too. 3DMark Time Spy is a great measure of this, with the Destiny scoring 18,932 versus 10,518 for the Infinity X145 Elite.
In practice, I can simplify the differences between the two machines in one sentence: the Destiny is a solid option for 4K gaming where the Infinity is not. That’s shown by a trio of results at 4K and High settings in Cyberpunk 2077, Shadow of the Tomb Raider and Dirt 5, where Palicomp’s PC returned averages of 79fps, 114fps and 119fps compared to 39fps, 57fps and 54fps. It doesn’t take a mathematician to spot that the Destiny’s scores are almost exactly twice as fast.
Palicomp has given the RTX 4070 Super a helping hand by using one of the fastest gaming processors on the planet, namely the AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D. The chip’s X3D suffix indicates the extra Level 3 cache (made possible by a 3D-stacked chipset) that AMD adds over the standard 7800X, which gives an instant boost in most games.
An RTX 4070 Super graphics card takes center stage(Image credit: Future)
The downside of AMD’s X3D range of chips is that they don’t have an unlocked multiplier and can’t boost to as high frequencies as their “X” counterparts, so if gaming isn’t your main use then you’re better off with the 7800X (or even the Ryzen 7 7700X, which is roughly 7% faster in multicore tasks). However, in its own right the 7800X3D is a brilliant day-to-day processor, pushing the Destiny to 2,705 and 14,806 in Geekbench 6, 110 and 1,028 in Cinebench 2024, and 1,765 and 17,017 in Cinebench R23 (single-core results first, multicore second).
An overall score of 8,772 in PCMark is also one of the highest I’ve seen, and here I must give due praise to the supporting cast of 32GB DDR5 RAM and a 1TB Adata S70 Blade SSD. The latter is particularly fast, with an astounding 7,476MB/sec sequential reads transfer rate in CrystalDiskMark and a none-too-shoddy 5,461MB/sec result in the writing test.
(Image credit: Future)
If you’re thinking 1TB is too small for your needs, there’s one empty M.2 slot on the AMD TUF Gaming motherboard, while removing the right side of the chassis reveals two mounting spaces for 2.5in SSDs and one 3.5in hard disk caddy. There’s also a rat’s nest of cables, but at least that allows Palicomp to keep the visible side of the Destiny relatively empty. This is mainly for aesthetic reasons, as on-board upgrades are minimal: only one PCI-E x1 slot is accessible.
You can at least add to the memory, with two unimpeded DIMM sockets lying empty despite the size of the air cooler. DeepCool isn’t a name I’m familiar with, and while it does its job well – together with the total of six RGB fans on the front, top and back of this PC – it contributes to a continual hum from the Destiny. It’s by no means annoying (more the kind of hum that you only notice when the PC is switched off) but it’s reflected in the idle power draw of 84W compared to 52W for the CyberPowerPC Infinity.
The Kolink Observatory HF Mesh chassis is basic, but does allow all those RGB lights to shine through and has a handy hinged door to make accessing the innards simple. Palicomp also saves money by choosing a CIT 80 Plus Bronze-rated power supply, rather than a bigger name with better efficiency ratings, but at 700W it won’t hold you back.
The Destiny is designed with 4K gaming in mind(Image credit: Future)
One of Palicomp’s perks is that you can pick from a variety of components at time of purchase, from CPU to GPU to PSU, and you can also upgrade the warranty. I would consider doing this, as it’s one area where this PC falls behind CyberPowerPC – only the first year includes parts, and you have to pay for courier costs. £108 buys three years of C&R cover. You may also be tempted to pay for faster delivery than the standard ten working days, with £75 accelerating that to the next business day.
Overall, the Destiny isn’t as refined a package as the CyberPowerPC opposite, but there’s no arguing with its powerful components, which are all geared towards one thing: making games run fast.
This review first appeared in issue 346 of PC Pro.
The first version of the ProArt Studiobook 16 OLED was one impressive beast. Not content with whacking in a cutting-edge AMD Ryzen processor and GeForce RTX 3070 graphics, it offered the novel combination of a built-in dial and glorious 16in OLED panel. This year’s update isn’t radical, but improvements all round make it even more appealing to the creative professionals that Asus is targeting.
I have only one disappointment: at the time that Asus announced this update, it also shared details of a 3D version of the laptop. Just like the Acer SpatialLabs View screens I reviewed two months ago, the ProArt Studiobook 16 3D OLED (note the “3D”) creates stereoscopic 3D images without the need for glasses. Such technology works fantastically, using eye-tracking software and micro lenses to beam slightly different images to each eye. When you want to switch back to 2D, it only takes one click.
Sadly, if that appeals then you must wait for a launch “later this year”. For now, you must make do with the non-3D version. And you will need to still wait until mid-June for that, at which point it will become available from Scan (code LN135615).
The 3,200 x 2,000 OLED screen is sharp, with rich colors and deep blacks(Image credit: Future)
Screening success
In terms of color accuracy and coverage, Asus throws everything it can at the screens in its ProArt range. Here, that includes Calman Verified and Pantone Validated certifications, with the guarantee that each panel’s average Delta E (a measure of color accuracy) will be under two. Our panel’s accuracy was even better: it averaged 0.51 and had a maximum Delta E of 1.12.
Color coverage is superb, too. You have a choice of color profiles, including DCI-P3, where it covered 99% of the gamut. Print designers who prefer to work in the Adobe RGB space should stick to the Native profile, with 98% coverage.
But what really matters about this OLED panel is that it’s gorgeous. You benefit from incredible sharpness thanks to a resolution of 3,200 x 2,000, and whether you’re watching a film or editing photos you’ll fall in love with the rich colors and deep blacks. While a peak brightness of 363cd/m2 may not sound noteworthy, support for DisplayHDR’s True Black 500 shows that it can go higher in localized areas in supported content.
The design is solid but understated, with just a subtle ProArt logo on the lid(Image credit: Future)
Gaming prowess
That includes games, and with a 120Hz refresh rate and 0.2ms response time there’s much here for gamers to love. The Studiobook ships with Nvidia’s Studio drivers rather than its Game Ready option, but it’s easy enough to switch if gaming is your preference.
Its results in our 1080p gaming benchmark suite were predictably high: 186fps in F1 22, 144fps in Shadow of the Tomb Raider, 101fps in Metro Exodus and 88fps in Metro Exodus Enhanced Edition. Those are all at High settings. Switching to the native resolution of 3,200 x 2,000 saw those figures drop to 105fps, 94fps, 56fps and 45fps.
All our results were with the Studio drivers and the laptop in “MSHybrid” mode, where it automatically switches between discrete and integrated graphics. You can choose to use only the discrete GPU, but that made no difference to our results so I suggest sticking with the default.
Not least because using integrated graphics will squeeze some extra life from the 90W battery. The Studiobook is a power-hungry beast, and the best result I saw was in PCMark’s idle test where it kept going for 6hrs 36mins. It lasted around five hours in both the video-rundown and light-use office tests, while switching to gaming reduced life to a mere 1hr 34mins. Those results are typical of a Windows workstation such as this, but the 16in MacBook Pro lasted for almost 20 hours in our video-rundown test.
(Image credit: Future)
Power on tap
Portability is hardly this product’s forte anyway. Quite aside from the 2.4kg weight of the laptop, you should allow for the 740g power supply. In return for the bulk, however, you’re buying an incredibly powerful system. Let’s start with a Core i9-13980HX processor, complete with eight P-cores that max out at 5.6GHz and 16 E-cores with a peak 4GHz frequency. That’s 32 threads ready to tackle any suitable task, which is why it reached 24,801 in Cinebench R23 and 21,043 in Geekbench 5. The MacBook Pro, by contrast, scored 14,700 and 15,061 in those tests.
Mind you, the Studiobook has the advantage of 64GB of DDR5-5200 RAM to the MacBook’s 32GB. And having two M.2 Gen4 SSDs in a RAID0 configuration is never going to hurt: these scorched through CrystalMark 8’s sequential tests with 7,015MB/sec reads and 6,431MB/sec writes. The only downside, especially compared to MacBooks powered by Apple’s M2 chips, is that the fans kick in as soon as tasks become demanding.
You can admire those fans for yourself by removing the ten Torx screws that secure the base. Doing so reveals how easy it will be to replace the memory and SSDs should the need ever arise; not something that’s possible to do on the latest MacBooks.
The Asus Dial below the keys could transform the way you work(Image credit: Future)
Touching interface
Asus also leans into another advantage of Windows laptops: support for touch. The screen is responsive to fingers, of course, but Asus includes one of its active styluses in the box. This works on the touchpad too, so it’s a shame that this isn’t even bigger. Still, a 6in diagonal provides room to play, and the haptic technology built in works brilliantly.
Then there’s the Asus Dial. Invest time to learn how it works and this could become an integral part of your daily workflow. Especially if you use Adobe’s Creative Cloud: the dial can scrub through timelines in Adobe Premiere Pro, adjust brush sizes in Photoshop and make minute adjustments in Lightroom. Anything where it’s useful to make granular or sweeping changes.
It’s also possible to put the Asus Dial to use in Windows and other apps, perhaps to adjust the volume, brightness and cycle through open tabs in your web browser. It’s hard to imagine these will make a great deal of difference to your daily life, though, so the dial is most useful if you’re using creative tools on a daily basis.
The included stylus offers another way of interacting with the laptop(Image credit: Future)
One minor annoyance is that you must load up two different Asus tools to tweak settings. There’s the ProArt Creator Hub, where you control the dial settings and access calibration tools for the screen. But you also have MyAsus, which offers a bunch more options – some of which, such as switching between performance modes, are duplicated in the ProArt Creator Hub. Both have different aesthetics, so they clearly haven’t been designed by the same teams.
When it comes to the hardware’s aesthetics, though, I have no criticisms. There’s none of the RGB bling found on many Asus gaming laptops, just a sleek and understated design. The metal lid is unadorned by fussy logos, with a subtle “ProArt” the only branding on show. It’s even covered with anti-fingerprint coating to keep the black finish looking swish.
This is one solidly built laptop, too, with Gorilla Glass to protect the screen and the promise of testing to military grade standards. These include shock, vibration and extreme temperatures. Nor can I complain about connectivity, with a generous helping of ports – including two Thunderbolt 4 and 2.5Gb Ethernet – and Wi-Fi 6E. And both the 1080p webcam and the speakers are from the top-quality drawer.
There’s no shortage of ports on offer, despite the slender chassis(Image credit: Future)
Final thoughts
This is a great update to the Studiobook and one that should particularly appeal to 3D designers – when that model becomes available. It will then be possible to rapidly iterate through prototypes: design, get feedback, tweak. If you can take advantage of the Asus Dial, the stylus and the sheer firepower within this laptop, then it could be a transformative purchase.
For everyone else, it’s probably overkill. Especially at this price. But if you like the idea of the integrated dial, then Google for “ProArt Studiobook 16 OLED” and you’ll find cheaper options based on last year’s silicon.
The ProArt Studiobook 16 OLED has a unique design, and if you need its skillset then you can be assured of top components and build quality throughout.
This review first appeared in issue 349 of PC Pro.
When you think of Asus’ Vivobook range, cheap laptops probably spring to mind. So you may wonder what’s going on here: a Vivobook costing £2,500? Surely that’s more Asus ROG gaming laptop territory? Dig into the specs and it sounds like a gaming machine, too, with a turbo-fueled Core i9 matched with 32GB of DDR5 RAM and Nvidia RTX 4070 graphics.
Here, though, Asus has creators in its sights rather than gamers. It comes loaded with Nvidia’s Studio drivers, a Pantone-validated OLED screen and even a clever dial built into the touchpad. But let’s start with the fundamentals: power.
Top guns, part one
It’s easy to get blasé about such things, but I still find it remarkable to say that there are 24 cores inside this laptop. That’s because Asus has opted for a Core i9-13980HX processor, which is as boy racer as it sounds. The 13980 indicates that it’s right at the top end of Intel’s family, a fact reinforced by the H suffix (which stands for high performance). The X is the overclocking cherry on top.
All this would be for naught if Asus had skimped on cooling, but a double fan and meaty heatsinks mean that the CPU should keep running at its peak speeds – 5.6GHz for the eight performance P-cores – even under duress. No wonder it can gobble up to 105W.
It’s also why this laptop returned such stonking speeds in our CPU-torture tests. A result of 16,581 in Geekbench 6.1 multicore is as fast as we’ve seen from a laptop, making me nervous that our new graphs should have a higher peak than 20,000. This supreme speed was repeated in Cinebench R23’s multicore section, where it scorched its way to 25,660.
Asus has packed plenty of powerful parts inside the Vivobook Pro 16X(Image credit: Future)
Top guns, part two
The RTX 4070 doesn’t sit at the top of Nvidia’s mobile range, but it’s still a potent chip. Its main weapons are the 4,608 CUDA cores, which sounds like a huge number when compared to the RTX 4060 (3,072) but surprisingly few next to the 7,424 of the RTX 4080 and 9,728 of the RTX 4090 (to be clear, these numbers refer to the laptop versions of Nvidia’s chips).
How many CUDA cores you have matters in professional applications such as 3ds Max, Catia and Maya – while there isn’t a linear relationship, it’s a great indicator of how long tasks will take – so there are reasons to opt for an RTX 4080 or 4090. Especially as those products come with far superior memory setups: the RTX 4070 includes 8GB of GDDR6 RAM with a 128-bit interface width, but switch to the 4080 and you get 12GB/192-bit, while a 4090 offers 16GB/256-bit. That’s a huge jump.
However, the RTX 4070 has power efficiency in its favor, getting by on up to 115W (35W minimum) compared to 150W for its siblings. It’s also the reason why this laptop costs £2,500 rather than £3,000 or £3,500.
The good news is that with a Core i9 and 32GB of RAM as the backing cast, the RTX 4070 here is given every chance to excel. I first saw this in our suite of gaming tests. Taking the 1080p High results first, the Vivobook returned 225fps in F1 2022, 93fps in Metro Exodus Enhanced, 183fps in Shadow of the Tomb Raider and 86fps in Dirt 5.
Switching to the panel’s native resolution of 3,200 x 2,000, those results dropped to 116fps (F1 2022), 49fps (Metro), 95fps (Tomb Raider) and 49fps (Dirt 5). In our toughest test, Metro Exodus Enhanced at Extreme settings, the Vivobook returned 48fps at 1080p and 25fps at native resolution. In other words, its only unplayable frame rates came in that final, brutal test.
(Image credit: Future)
Creative spin
All those results were with Nvidia’s Studio drivers, as supplied; if you know you’ll be using this machine only for gaming then switch to the Game Ready drivers for the latest optimizations. Asus clearly expects people to use this laptop for creativity, however, so I also put it through its paces in Specviewperf R20.
Here, it performed in line with expectations for an RTX 4070 laptop. Highlights included 91 in the 3ds Max viewset, 335 in Maya and 238 in SolidWorks; to put those scores in perspective, the Lenovo P620 Tower scored 147, 439 and 278 respectively. Those results are significantly higher, but so they should be for a desktop workstation with a Threadripper Pro 5945WX and Nvidia’s RTX A4000 graphics.
Asus loves to add little extras to its touchpads, and here that’s a DialPad. This is a dotted circle, with an inch diameter, that sits at the top left of the touchpad, but you need to activate it: press and hold the tiny symbol at the top right of the pad, then swipe in. It’s a clunky mechanism, but this stops you accidentally switching the dial on and off.
Once active, a white circle within the dotted lines lights up. Press it, and the Asus dial overlay appears on-screen, with different options depending on context. In Photoshop, for instance, it offers the chance to cycle through brush sizes, switch between documents, zoom in and out of layers and quickly undo changes. It’s no substitute for a physical dial, but creatives with dexterous fingers may grow fond of it.
The chunky chassis and poor battery life mean it’s not very portable(Image credit: Future)
Getting physical
I ended up leaving the dial on most of the time, as the touchpad is large enough (130 x 83mm) that it didn’t interfere with navigation. With a glass coating it ticks the usual smooth and responsive boxes, although I occasionally found myself reaching for the F6 key to deactivate the whole thing as palm rejection didn’t always work.
Nor will those people who type for a living love this keyboard, which offers surprisingly little travel for a laptop that measures 21mm thick. The keys themselves offer little “feel”, with a lifeless action, but once you move past this and the single-height Enter key (oddly jammed next to the hash key and finished in the same dark grey) the keyboard fades into the inoffensive background.
And there are a couple of positives. All the keys are a generous size and have a sensible gap between them, helping to minimize typos, the spacebar is huge and, while the cursor keys are shortened, they’re also separated from the main buttons. Plus, a dedicated number pad makes sense in a laptop this width.
The keys are a decent size, and the large touchpad is smooth and responsive(Image credit: Future)
Super size
This machine is no ultraportable.
Whichever dimension you measure, it’s chunky. A 356 x 249mm footprint means you’ll need a good-sized rucksack to carry it with you, and while Asus officially states the weight as 1.9kg that’s for the more basic spec: I weighed it at 2.1kg. The 21mm thickness refers to the front of the chassis; once you factor in the orange “foot” – a U-shape strip that lifts the Vivobook from a surface to aid airflow – it’s closer to 2.5mm.
I like the brash orange color (echoed in the Esc key) as it lifts what is otherwise quite a boring-looking design. Asus also makes this Vivobook in black, but the silver version I tested is unlikely to gain any lustful glances from passersby. Its only other flash of styling is a raised area on the lid – almost like a melded-on business card – that reveals the laptop’s name.
Rather than style, then, this laptop is designed for practicality. Head to the left and you’ll find a gigabit Ethernet port, full-size SD card reader, USB-A 3.2 Gen 1 (5Gbits/sec) port and the power connector. Over on the right, a 3.5mm jack and HDMI 2.1 output are kept company by two Thunderbolt 4 (USB-C) ports and a second USB-A port. That’s a strong connectivity offering, backed up by Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3.
A top-quality OLED panel makes films look great(Image credit: Future)
Power down
To get the most out of this laptop, though, you’ll need to keep it plugged in. I found that battery life varied considerably during my tests, but set your expectations at around four hours – hardly a full working day. And in PCMark’s Gaming test, which pushes the graphics chip in the same way creative graphics tasks will, it lasted only 1hr 41mins.
You can trickle-charge it using the Thunderbolt ports, but I can’t imagine travelling without the 540g power supply. Considering its 240W output, it’s surprisingly compact, and it takes the laptop from empty to 80% in an hour, reaching full capacity in less than two hours.
You’ll probably keep it plugged in much of the time, in which case I recommend you fully investigate the MyAsus app. From here you can switch on the battery care mode, adjust the fan profile (we tested with Performance mode, and the fans get noisy when you’re pushing this machine), and play around with “TaskFirst”, which allows you to set network connectivity priorities – to game streaming, say, or communication apps.
There’s also a bunch of options for the microphone, and unlike many “AI optimizations” I’ve tried, this is worth using. There’s nothing wrong with the plain mode, but the “single presenter conference call” option will bring your voice to the fore. Thanks to the excellent 1080p webcam, which supports Windows Hello and includes a fiddly but effective privacy shutter, you’ll look great on calls, too.
It’s easy to remove the base of the chassis and upgrade the memory and SSD(Image credit: Future)
Entertain me
I have mixed feelings about the speakers, but that’s mainly due to the high expectations set elsewhere. If you listen to music in isolation on the Vivobook then you’ll be impressed by its volume and how clearly instruments and voices emerge – the intricate instrumentation of Björk is normally too much for laptops, but the Vivobook handles the mix of strings and vocals well. Where it falls down is bass, pushing the trebles and mids too much to the fore, but I’m being picky.
Certainly you’ll love watching films on this laptop thanks to its sheer volume (with no sign of distortion), and it helps that Asus includes a top-quality OLED panel. It barely needs saying, but a 3,200 x 2,000 resolution ensures sharp edges on text, and black absolutely punches through to make dark scenes in films look fantastic.
It has DisplayHDR 600 Black certification, confirming that it will hit 600cd/m2 in HDR content, while its peak of 389cd/m2 in SDR mode means it’s easy to read in every condition. Except, as it turns out, bright sunshine, where the screen’s reflectivity became obvious.
Inside, though, it’s superb. You can choose from a variety of settings in the MyAsus app, but for testing I stuck to the standard mode and then switched between the preset gamuts: Native, sRGB, DCI-P3 and Display P3. Native makes most sense if you want to enjoy the widest color range (it stretches 19% beyond even the DCI-P3 gamut), but sRGB and DCI-P3 locked the screen down to those gamuts almost perfectly.
Color accuracy is strong – its average Delta-E never went above 0.72, with anything under one considered excellent – and anyone who values true whites will be pleased by a natural color temperature of 6479K, only 21K off the target 6500K.
The Vivobook Pro 16X is a fine choice for gamers and creatives alike(Image credit: Future)
Final thoughts
If you’re a demanding user, then, this is almost a perfect laptop. It even has the opportunity to upgrade over time: the 32GB of memory comes supplies as two 16GB SODIMMs, rather than being embedded, and if you’re a nimble hand with a Phillips screwdriver you can whip the bottom off this chassis within a minute.
This will reveal the fact that the 1TB M.2 2280 SSD is also replaceable, and note this isn’t the speediest Gen 4 drive around: 4,061MB/sec reads and 2,971MB/sec writes are strong but not exceptional. I would be tempted to replace it with a faster 2TB drive at some future date; sadly there isn’t a second M.2 slot, despite the amount of space available on the board.
Then again, we need to remember that this isn’t a £3,000+ mobile workstation. While hardly cheap at £2,500, it rewards you with all the power and quality that most creative professionals need. In terms of price, that’s certainly competitive when placed next to an equivalent 16in MacBook Pro. And yes, that laptop offers far superior battery life, minimal fan noise and better performance away from the mains, but it lacks the graphical grunt of Nvidia’s RTX chip along with easy upgrades.
Whether the Vivobook Pro is right for you, then, depends entirely on what you intend to use it for. All I can tell you is that Asus extracts the most from its components, while the supporting cast – particularly the screen – come from the top drawer in terms of quality.
Aspyr has built an impressive resume of classic action-adventure remasters over the last few years. The masters of the remaster have previously given delightful modern refreshes to the first three Tomb Raider games and delivered a seminal update to two excellent Soul Reaver titles, and now the Texas-based studio has returned its attention to the original Lara Croft timeline.
Review info
Platform reviewed: PC via Steam and PS5 Available on: PC, PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch Release date: February 14, 2025
Tomb Raider IV-VI Remastered brings 1999’s The Last Revelation, 2000’s Chronicles, and 2003’s The Angel of Darkness to PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, Nintendo Switch and PC with a treasure trove of visual enhancements. Cleaning these Core Design developed titles up after twenty-five years and getting them to look this fresh is nothing short of wizardry at this point.
The Last Revelation, for example, charts Lara’s adventures in Egypt as she works to overcome an ancient curse that she accidentally set in motion, and the level of polish and modern graphical flourishes impress throughout. A new lighting engine sees shafts of sunlight penetrating forgotten temples and provides atmospheric warmth and illumination from fire pits and torches.
Character models have increased levels of detail while retaining the charm and personality of the original releases and the various Egyptian tombs benefit from dramatic rejuvenation that begs you to explore them. Simple flat textures have been replaced with detailed geometrically interesting assets in some spots, creating a sense that these environments could actually exist and aren’t just flat painted boxes anymore.
(Image credit: Aspyr)
A graphical revelation
Once again making use of the original source code as the framework for these remasters, Tomb Raider IV-VI Remastered enables players to instantly swap between the shiny newness and the classic visuals with the push of a button. The Last Revelation and Chronicles, which both debuted on the original PlayStation, see the biggest leap in overall fidelity, and while The Angel of Darkness still receives a noticeable improvement over its PlayStation 2 origin, its revamp isn’t as impactful.
Tomb Raider IV-VI Remastered isn’t pixel-perfect in its execution, however. Chronicles, which acts as an anthology of sorts for previously untold Croft escapades, suffers from some occasional clipping at the edges and corners of buildings. It’s a minor gripe for sure but one that does pop up throughout Tomb Raider V and does prove distracting whenever it appears.
Likewise, all the original cutscenes are preserved and reused here without any visual enhancements or improvements, but the low-res FMV (full motion video) sequences of yesteryear are brief and have a charm of their own.
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(Image credit: Aspyr)
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(Image credit: Aspyr)
Bothersome buttons
Mirroring the remasters of Tomb Raider I-III, Tomb Raider IV-VI Remastered introduces a new modern control scheme for each game aimed to provide an accessible experience for new players unfamiliar with the original games and their classic tank controls. It’s unsurprising then, if not a little disappointing that, just like Tomb Raider I-III Remastered, this latest collection fails to introduce a reliable, modern control scheme.
Before delving into what does and doesn’t work with the modern scheme though, I’d like to take a moment to celebrate the tank controls. Tank controls, the slightly clumpy yet functional feel when you get used to them, and inputs from the original releases, undoubtedly remain my favorite way to experience these games. Classic Tomb Raider always required precise traversal and, while not the most natural method of controlling a character, tank controls allowed just that.
Despite the precision of the original tank controls, players would still occasionally make accidental slip-ups, causing our pony-tailed heroine to plummet to her demise. Aspyr has introduced a couple of new moves for Lara that, while certainly not exciting on paper, do remove some of those frustrating pratfalls of old.
For starters a new slide-to-run animation, a previously cut action from the original games, allows Lara to keep her momentum after disembarking a sloped surface. There are also two new animations for hanging on ledges as well, with the extra actions designed to prevent an untimely death regardless of whether Lara is facing toward or away from a drop.
The aforementioned new animations are available in both tank and modern control schemes, with a brand new ‘turn around in place’ action that is exclusive to the modern scheme and spins Lara a neat 180 degrees on the spot.
(Image credit: Aspyr)
Entering a new area and flicking between the remastered graphics and the original visuals and appreciating the astonishing work and artistry of the team at Asypr. Far from a simple resolution bump, every decaying tomb, claustrophobic cave, or industrial cityscape has clearly received a lot of love in its modernization.
The new additions are good in theory, even if their implementation into Lara’s ever-increasing moveset leaves a lot to be desired. The turn-around-in-place move, for instance, requires the finger dexterity of a double-jointed gymnast to perform, with the default input requiring two opposing face buttons to be pressed simultaneously. I found myself adopting a claw grip like one might use when playing a fighting game, whenever the situation required a tight turnaround.
It's here that the cracks in the modern control scheme start to show. The default control layout doesn’t mesh well with in-game directions. At the start of The Last Revelation, when an adolescent Lara is navigating a Cambodian temple with mentor Werner Von Croy, Von Croy will often dole out instructions as part of the tutorial level. After diving into a pool, the puffed-up archaeologist suggests we “use ‘Action’ to climb out of the water”, except, with modern controls, Lara does nothing but bobs up and down staring at the edge of the pool. Through much trial and error, I discovered that an entirely different button makes Lara climb out of pools, and even worse, grab ledges mid-fall.
The Action button debacle isn’t an isolated instance either with several context-sensitive inputs not aligning with their in-game instructions. While the modern control scheme does have some perks including fluid horizontal movement, it requires some extensive tinkering and remapping of the controls within the options to make it remotely usable.
Another aspect that could use refinement is the weapon system, although the new on-screen ammo counter is a blessing. Switching between the weapons in Lara’s arsenal requires players to pause the game and scroll through the available armaments. There is a new shortcut system in place, requiring players to hold the touchpad and press one of the face/shoulder buttons to bring up individual weapons but it feels unnecessary and clumsy. A weapon wheel would have been a much simpler refinement and worked well for similarly revamped games such as Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy: The Definitive Edition.
(Image credit: Aspyr)
Lights, camera, action
One modern addition I absolutely adore is the returning and expanded photo mode. Tomb Raider IV-VI Remastered builds on the already brilliant photo mode of Tomb Raider I-III Remastered by letting players toy around with Lara’s stances, facial expressions, costumes, and weapons and even moving her freely around the scene.
Aspyr has gone beyond the standard photo mode in Tomb Raider IV-VI Remastered and incorporated a new flyby camera mode, and let me tell you, it’s incredible. The flyby camera mode allows players to position up to twenty different cameras around any scene in The Last Revelation and Chronicles, tweak various settings like field of view and roll, and then press play to witness a cinematic flyby of their custom scene.
Flyby mode is so simple and so powerful. I was creating dynamic, professional-looking animations immediately. The possibilities are literally endless and if you love Tomb Raider, you’ll definitely get a kick out of exploring each level using flyby mode.
Unfortunately, the feature currently appears to be absent from The Angel of Darkness. The sixth mainline Tomb Raider game, where Lara goes all Jason Bourne around Europe in a supernatural murder mystery, is a notoriously sullen affair so it makes sense that The Angel of Darkness doesn’t currently support the brilliantly fun flyby mode just yet. It’s a shame as The Angel of Darkness looks fantastic here and exploring Paris or Prague with the new Flyby camera would make an entertaining distraction from all of the brooding.
The flyby camera is a mind-blowing toolkit for fans of the series and a feature I hope Aspyr retrofits into Tomb Raider I-III Remastered, and that every 3D game incorporates and iterates on it from here on out.
Should I play Tomb Raider IV-VI Remastered?
Play it if...
You love a thrilling caper Tomb Raider IV-VI Remastered sees Lara searching for relics, evading traps, and solving implausibly engineered puzzles on three globetrotting adventures. Tomb Raider IV-VI Remastered delivers hours of exciting, pulpy fun in a beautifully presented package for the price of a cinema ticket and a large popcorn.
You have a playful, creative side As photo modes go, Tomb Raider IV-VI Remastered’s is one of the best around. Creating unique custom shots by harnessing a suite of selectable stances, facial expressions, outfits and the ability to move Lara around in any scene is great fun and the new flyby mode takes that creativity to a whole new level.
Don't play it if...
You have limited patience Tomb Raider as a series is synonymous with challenging brainteasers, but even for a veteran of the series, the controls can feel like a constant puzzle to understand themselves and the modern control scheme compounds the issue further.
Accessibility
Tomb Raider IV-VI Remastered provides only a few, basic accessibility options for players. Subtitles are enabled by default in all three games and are clear to read with a subtle grey background to them. Controller settings can be tweaked with optional vibrations and adjustable stick sensitivity.
All three titles do a poor job of introducing players to controls with no onscreen button prompts or tutorials. Voice lines and subtitles will occasionally guide players on what to do but the instructions often don’t correlate with the default control schemes, making certain sections impassible without much trial and error.
Quality-of-life improvements such as the inclusion of boss health bars, ammo counters, and cutscene skippers are all welcome additions.
(Image credit: Aspyr)
How I reviewed Tomb Raider IV-VI Remastered
I played through the campaigns of all three titles while regularly switching between modern and tank controls, testing Lara’s newly added animations in each. I spent a couple of hours fiddling around in photo mode throughout my playthrough, taking time to experiment with various poses and outfits and producing fun flyby shots.
I played Tomb Raider IV-VI Remastered on my gaming PC which runs a Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti on a Dell U2415 Monitor. I used my EasySMX D05 controller and my Sony Gold Wireless Headset. I also tested the collection on PS5 on a 4K Sony Bravia TV, with my DualSense wireless controller and my PS5 Pulse 3D Wireless Headset for the most part, and occasionally through the built-in TV speakers.
Prior to playing Tomb Raider IV-VI Remaster, I also chose to revisit the original games on the original PlayStation and PlayStation 2, enabling me to appreciate the differences in controls, visuals and playability to the new remaster.
This review first appeared in issue 355 of PC Pro.
The Framework Laptop 16 defies categorization. It’s a gaming laptop, unless you decide not to choose discrete graphics, in which case it’s a productivity workhorse.
Even then you have decisions to make. Which keyboard? Should you choose a number pad? Perhaps an RGB macro pad? What about spacers, ports, storage? This is simply the most customizable laptop I’ve seen.
There are two drawbacks, starting with the price. But all the various input options, expansion choices and graphics swaps make specifying the Framework Laptop 16 a complicated matter. For PC Pro readers familiar with the inner workings of PCs this won’t be a problem, but Framework is hitting the point where you need a degree of expertise or you could make a costly mistake.
(Image credit: Future)
Start with the basics
As always with Framework, you can either build the laptop yourself – and bring your own OS – using its DIY Edition, or opt for a pre-built model. The former starts at £1,399, the latter at £1,699.
If you opt for pre-built, you have three options: Performance, Performance Pro (which, for an extra £50, includes Windows 11 Pro) or Overkill for £2,099. Both Performance models have the same core spec of an AMD Ryzen 7 7840HS, 16GB of memory and 512GB of storage. Overkill ups the ante with a Ryzen 9 79440HS, 32GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD.
Framework sent us its £1,749 Performance Pro configuration, but with the Graphics Module containing a discrete AMD Radeon RX 7700S chip, which adds £400 to the price.
So our test system costs £2,149, but that’s before adding any extras. As part of the price, you get six USB expansion cards to slot into the six bays built into the side of the chassis, and if you stick to USB-A or USB-C you won’t pay any extra. Want HDMI, a DisplayPort, microSD card or an audio jack? Those cost an extra £10 apiece. And if you want Ethernet you’ll pay £30 more. You can also order storage expansion cards, with 256GB (£45) or 1TB (£125) options available. In short, this is a smorgasbord of a laptop for you to kit out as you wish.
Choose carefully, though. You can only charge from the back four ports, while only three of the six ports support display output. And USB-C works in any port, but only the back two allow full USB 4 speeds.
It’s possible to replace and repair every part of this laptop yourself(Image credit: Future)
Key decisions
At this point, it won’t surprise you that the choice of keyboard and touchpad modules on the Framework Laptop 16 depend on you. Your choices, however, must include a keyboard module, touchpad module and spacers, with the possibility of a number pad, macro pad and LED Matrix spacer as extras.
Framework expects you to work out where to put the keyboard. It could be central, with two spacers on either side. Or perhaps you’re left-handed and would prefer to put the number pad there. Just as importantly, if one of these parts dies, it’s easy to replace.
There are a load of options to pick from, and Framework is happy to sell them to you. An RGB backlit keyboard – US English only, for now – costs £50. A number pad module is £39, while an RGB macro pad is an extra £79. This macro pad offers 24 programmable RGB backlit keys that you can configure how you like in software.
(Image credit: Future)
And there’s more. While black spacers for the keyboard come standard, you can switch to orange, grey or lavender for £5 a pop. Or go wild and buy the LED Matrix design for £39 each. The downside of this modularity is that there are seams; while everything is guided by magnets and fits snugly, you can see where the modules and spacers are separated.
The keyboard and macros are controlled by the open-source software VIA, and while Framework uses a simplified, browser-based version, there’s still a learning curve. Framework needs to work on this: it should be far easier to program the RGB macro pad, for instance.
My other gripe is about the keyboard. Framework says the keys offer 1.5mm of travel, but they were too mushy for my taste. If only Framework offered a ThinkPad-like keyboard option.
The choice of keyboard and touchpad modules is up to you(Image credit: Future)
Upgrade ability
While shuffling around the Framework’s modular input mechanisms is easy enough, actually getting into the device is harder than on the Framework Laptop 13. After removing all of the input modules, you have to pull a cable in the metal plate, helpfully labelled number 1. From there, you can use a T5 screwdriver (one comes with the laptop) to remove 16 captive screws labelled 2 to 17.
Our pre-built model came with a single 512GB M.2 2280 SSD installed. If you want to add another, there’s room for a smaller M.2 2230 SSD underneath. The DDR5 memory is upgradable, as is the battery and, in theory, the motherboard (this is also your route to future CPUs). The other upgrade is the GPU, but at the moment the Radeon RX 7700S is your only option. I’d like to see Nvidia get involved, but Framework is making no promises.
You can also buy the laptop with both the Graphics Module and the Expansion Bay Shell. The idea is that if you want to travel lighter, you can swap the shell with the graphics module. However, it’s a trickier process than it should be.
Frequent travelers will probably make the effort, though, as even without the Graphics Module the laptop weighs 2.1kg. With it, that goes up to 2.4kg, and the height at the back increases from 18mm to 21mm.
You can buy a pre-built Framework Laptop if you prefer(Image credit: Future)
Speed boost
Framework’s 16in anti-glare display comes with a 2,560 x 1,600 IPS panel, and it performed well in our technical tests. It covers 75% of the DCI-P3 gamut with a peak brightness of 485cd/m2and an average Delta E of 0.21. There’s also an anti-glare coating, which is better for work than for games or watching films.
Still, when I started testing with one of my favorite games, Control, it looked great. The game features a lot of red lighting, which looked bright and vibrant on the Framework Laptop. The pair of speakers sound good, too, only lacking in bass.
As for speed, I started at 1,920 x 1,200 on High settings with medium ray tracing presets, where the game ran between 40fps and 48fps but with several stutters. Cutting ray tracing and dropping to Medium settings kept me more reliably above 50fps, albeit again with a few hiccups. The fans were spinning loudly during gameplay, keeping the system cool.
Those aren’t great results, especially compared to laptops with an RTX 4070 – which now cost less than £1,500. For example, on Shadow of the Tomb Raider’s highest settings, the Framework reached 86fps at 1080p and 49fps at the panel’s native resolution of 2,560 x 1,600. An RTX 4070 system scored 104fps and 60fps respectively.
It’s a similar story for productivity performance. Although the Ryzen 7 7840HS is a fine processor, with eight high-performance cores and 16 threads, a glance through these pages will review cheaper laptops that outperform it. Bearing in mind this is a laptop with gaming skills, however, it was great to see battery life of 8hrs 49mins in our web-surfing test.
(Image credit: Future)
Final word
While I have my criticisms of the Framework Laptop 16, then, it’s obvious in so many ways that this is a company with ethics at its heart. That stretches to the 1080p webcam, which produces good detail and colours but also features a switch next to it that turns it off. There’s another switch for the microphone, too.
Then there’s its approach to materials: the cover is made from 75% post-industrial recycled (PIR) aluminum, the bottom cover is 90% PIR aluminum, shipping is fully carbon offset and the packaging is 100% recyclable. Framework is setting the standards for other to follow.
While the Framework Laptop 16 isn’t for everyone, it offers tech enthusiasts the chance to build their dream laptop – provided that the dream involves a 16in screen and all-AMD parts.
This review first appeared in issue 357 of PC Pro.
This year’s update to Asus’ Vivobook Pro 15 makes one thing obvious: the days when you had to pay over £2,000 for a powerful mobile workstation are gone. Packed inside this 1.8kg monster you’ll find Intel’s top-end Core Ultra 9 185H processor and GeForce RTX 4060 graphics, and with Nvidia’s Studio software it’s ready to go with a bunch of professional apps.
Asus certainly has its eye on designers here, even building a dial into the top left of the touchpad. If you’re dexterous enough to keep within its 3cm diameter then you can use it to whizz through timelines in Premiere Pro, adjust brush sizes in Photoshop and switch font sizes in PowerPoint. It’s no replacement for a hardware dial, but could be a time-saver on the move.
The huge touchpad includes a dial for use in apps such as Photoshop(Image credit: Future)
The Pantone-validated OLED display is another plus point. Not merely because it’s incredibly sharp, thanks to 2,880 x 1,620 pixels across a 15.6in diagonal, but also because it ships with presets for sRGB, DCI-P3 and Display P3. Or you can stick with its native color gamut, which covers 99% of the DCI-P3 space (with a 115% volume) and reproduces colors with near-perfect accuracy. It hit a respectable 387cd/m2 in SDR mode, and with VESA DisplayHDR True Black 600 certification it should be no surprise that films look incredible.
There’s a fine pair of speakers here, too, with vocals coming through with particular clarity. That quality extends to the 1440p webcam. If you find, as I did, that the captured audio isn’t as clear as you hoped, head into the settings within the MyAsus app and switch off all the AI enhancements.
At 1.8kg this is no lightweight, but in return you get pro levels of power(Image credit: Future)
This app is also where you’ll find the color gamut options and control over the fan settings. I don’t see the point of buying a laptop as powerful as this and not putting those fans into Performance mode; they’re noisier, but you’re rewarded with significantly faster frame rates in games: Metro Exodus Enhanced’s averages went up by over 10%, for instance, moving from 61fps at 1080p High settings to 68fps. And 3DMark Time Spy jumped from 7,969 to 8,605.
If you buy this laptop then you’ll get faster results still, as the system Asus sent me had RTX 4050 graphics rather than RTX 4060. As mentioned in the HP Omen Transcend review, you’ll struggle to get above 120fps to take advantage of the screen’s 120Hz refresh rate in most games – I only breached 100fps in Cyberpunk 2077 at 1080p medium and Shadow of the Tomb Raider at 1080p High – but all current AAA games will play fluidly at reduced settings.
(Image credit: Future)
Our test machine came with a Core 7 Ultra, but shipping units include the Core Ultra 9 185H. With Asus providing combined CPU and GPU power of 125W it will never feel sluggish. The thick – by modern standards – chassis also has plenty of room for a chunky heatsink and fans, but the drawback is battery life. It lasted for 8hrs 19mins in PCMark’s video-rundown test, but switching to Modern Office dropped that to 5hrs 59mins. You’ll need to take the meaty 200W power supply with you.
This has its own power socket, which sits on the right-hand side of the chassis along with Thunderbolt 4, USB-C and USB-A ports. And a gigabit Ethernet connector, 3.5mm jack and HDMI 2.1 output. Safe to say it’s crowded. A single USB-A port and SD card reader sit on the left, along with the heat exhaust vents.
Asus includes every port you’ll need on the right-hand side of the chassis(Image credit: Future)
With a crisp keyboard, complete with number pad, this is a laptop computer that has appeal across the spectrum. I can see reasons for writers, gamers, designers and video editors to reach for their wallets.
You’ll notice its bulk and weight when travelling, but sometimes only a powerhouse will do. And that’s exactly what the Asus Vivobook Pro 15 OLED is.
Developer Aspyr, fresh from remastering the first three Tomb Raider games, has cleaned off its brushes and given vampiric poster-boy Raziel his own substantial makeover in Legacy of Kain Soul Reaver 1&2 Remastered. Every character from the main players in Crystal Dynamics' time and space-bending epic right down to the lowly grunts and creatures has received new, highly-detailed models.
Review info
Platform reviewed: PS5 Available on: PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PC Release date: December 10, 2024
We’ve seen similar levels of uplift in Aspyr’s previous efforts but nothing on this scale. Raziel himself, as the character players will spend almost all of their time viewing, has obviously received the biggest overhaul. Raziel’s wraithlike figure now appears more tangible than before.
His previous skull-cap-like hair is now a thick black bonnet, complete with his trademark bangs that hang down before his glowing white eyes and his garb, the clan banner used to mask his horrific disfigurement sporting high-resolution textures while his exposed bones and muscles now protrude convincingly through his blue skin.
Raziel’s transformation, and that of everything in Legacy of Kain 1&2 Remastered, is easy to admire thanks to Aspyr’s use of the original source code, enabling players to instantly flick between new and classic visuals with a single press of the right analog stick.
Throughout my playthrough, I found myself frequently swapping graphics modes to see how extensive Aspyr’s remaster ventured and I was consistently impressed. The aforementioned assortment of grunts, the low-level enemies that Raziel dispatches along his blood-soaked vendetta, have received a remarkable level of reworking, with all new art assets that go above and beyond a simple texture swap.
This is also true of the collections’ pantheon of grotesque bosses with Raziel’s devilish foes now presented with reworked geometry, hair, skin, bone, and gore that revels in the dark and twisted nature of Nosgoth.
Speaking of the land of Nosgoth, Legacy of Kain Soul Reaver 1&2 Remastered decorates every surface with high-resolution textures that preserve the overall look and feel of the originals and adds a copious amount of details to intricate stone carvings around the gothic chambers, stained glass windows within strongholds and the twisted, haunting sinewy strands of the spectral realm.
Elevated Raziel… not reduced
(Image credit: Aspyr)
While long-time fans will likely get a kick out of the new visuals, giving Legacy of Kain Soul Reaver 1&2 Remastered a lick of paint is only half the battle when rereleasing these titles in 2024, with a revamp of the twenty-five-year-old control scheme requiring just as much attention.
Thankfully, the remaster brings a substantial improvement to the somewhat clunky controls of the original release and marries the new scheme with a welcome bump up to a solid 60fps.
While Soul Reaver 2 always had the cameras mapped to the right stick on controllers, its forebearer required players to rotate the camera around Raziel using the L2 and R2 buttons (on PS5). The original controls also meant that players couldn’t move the camera through the Y-axis, which often made looking for a way forward a cumbersome exercise in trial and error.
Aspyr has rightly corrected this issue with a camera now tied to the right stick and, to highlight just how much care and attention has gone into this remaster, they’ve even created new, moody sky boxes to accommodate Raziel’s newfound ability to look up.
Best bit
(Image credit: Aspyr)
Hearing the late Tony Jay’s booming voice as the Elder God at the start of Raziel’s quest transported me back to 1999. Jay’s vocal performance here is one of the all-time greatest and the exceptional script gives him plenty of juicy lines to chew on, and the upgraded visuals make the Elder God seem that much more of an unsettling presence than before.
The vastly improved camera controls aren’t the only new feature that makes navigating Nosgoth a smoother experience. A brand-new map and onscreen compass remove the frustration of finding your way around the sprawling realms. Purists may be pleased to hear that the map and compass are optional and easily deactivated, however, the maps of Nosgoth, created in collaboration between Aspyr, Crystal Dynamics, and key members of the Legacy of Kain community are truly beautiful works of art that shouldn’t be ignored.
The only area that could benefit from further modernization is the combat. While Raziel must still dispatch vampiric foes, either by impalement, submerging in water, engulfing in fire or bathing in sunlight, before given these opportunities the actual hack-and-slash gameplay of hand-to-hand combat hasn’t aged particularly well and is faithful to a fault.
While the ability to lock on, block (in Soul Reaver 2), and perform dodges have all returned, there’s no way to cycle through targets when facing off against multiple foes. The modern control scheme also means Raziel always feels considerably overpowered against his adversaries from the get-go, making combat throughout both games a bit of a bore. Some of the unlockable powers and skills alleviate the monotony somewhat but it’s a shame we didn’t see some improvements to the basic scrapping.
Thankfully, brawling has always played second fiddle to exploration and puzzle solving in Soul Reaver and the intricate mind-benders are back and, thanks to the various control tweaks, easier to navigate than ever before.
A loving legacy
(Image credit: Aspyr)
Legacy of Kain Soul Reaver 1&2 Remastered evolves beyond a simple visual touch-up in other ways too, adding new features and a heap of goodies for fans and newcomers to dig into.
For those who can’t resist getting a bit snap-happy during their gameplay sessions, a new photo mode is available, although it’s currently a little rudimentary. Pausing the action by pressing in on both analog sticks together gives players free control of the camera and some basic vignette options to toy around with.
It’s functional, but lacks the extensive options available in many other photo modes, with elements such as frames, filters, character poses, and changeable facial expressions all missing. Some of these options were also absent from the Tomb Raider Remastered photo mode at launch before being added in a post-launch patch so hopefully Soul Reaver will receive the same improvements down the line.
Performing much better though is the raft of extras available from the main menu. It’s frankly overwhelming how much high-quality content is on offer here. Legacy of Kain Soul Reaver 1&2 Remastered packs in everything including galleries showcasing concept art, renders, and fan cosplays, a music player to listen to the soundtracks from both games, a movie viewer, and beautifully produced scripts for each title.
(Image credit: Aspyr)
The undeniable standout here though is the Lost Levels. Previously cut sections from the first game have been restored to a playable state and offer a glimpse into an alternative conclusion to Soul Reaver. Each of the small disconnected playable areas presents an interesting curio more than anything you’ll spend a lot of time in but it’s great to see what could have been and be able to poke around in levels that never saw the light of day.
Introduced by a written foreword from pillar of the Legacy of Kain community and creator of The Lost Worlds fansite, Ben Lincoln, the Lost Levels demonstrates the love and passion that has gone into remastering these classic titles. The Lost Levels acts as a reward of sorts for the fans who have supported the series and yearned for another entry since the last game in the franchise, Legacy of Kain – Defiance, released in 2003.
Whether you’re new to the franchise or a returning player, Legacy of Kain Soul Reaver 1&2 Remastered is an exceptional package that improves on almost every aspect of these classic titles and delivers two unmissable epics that every gamer should experience.
Should I play Legacy of Kain Soul Reaver 1&2 Remastered?
Play it if...
You love the originals The bonus content included with Legacy of Kain Soul Reaver 1&2 Remastered is exceptional. Aspyr has gone the extra mile by harnessing the passion of key figures within the Legacy of Kain fanbase to provide an extensive, lovingly crafted treasure trove of bonus features for fans and newcomers to experience and enjoy.View Deal
You thirst for a powerful narrative Legacy of Kain Soul Reaver 1&2 Remastered brings together two of the most poetic narratives in gaming history. Every line in the script carries impressive heft, the characters are exceptionally well realized with best-in-class voice acting and the whole thing is wrapped up in a new, gorgeous skin.View Deal
Don't play it if...
You want thrilling combat Boss encounters aside, scuffles in Legacy of Kain Soul Reaver 1&2 Remastered remain painfully faithful to their gameplay origins from a quarter of a century ago.View Deal
Accessibility
Legacy of Kain Soul Reaver 1&2 Remastered provides only a few, basic accessibility options for players. Subtitles are enabled by default in both games and are clear to read with a subtle grey background to them. Controller settings can be tweaked with optional vibrations and adjustable stick sensitivity.
Aspyr has included new in-game maps, a compass, and gameplay hints in both titles to make navigation through Nosgoth easier for players and all of these features are optional and easily disabled in the pause menu.
(Image credit: Aspyr)
How I reviewed Legacy of Kain Soul Reaver 1&2 Remastered
I played through the campaigns of Legacy of Kain Soul Reaver 1&2 Remastered over a week while seeking out as many secrets as I could find. I explored all of the newly curated bonus content including reading through the various scripts, viewing all of the gallery content, and playing around in the new Lost Levels.
I played Legacy of Kain Soul Reaver 1&2 Remastered on PS5 on a 4K Sony Bravia TV, with my DualSense controller and PS5 Pulse 3D Wireless Headset for the most part and occasionally through the built-in TV speakers.
Over the past few weeks, I’ve also played Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain after it was released on PS+ Premium and revisited the original PS1 and PS2 versions of both Soul Reaver games, enabling me to appreciate and analyze the differences in controls, visuals and playability to the new remaster.
This review first appeared in issue 359 of PC Pro.
Buy a ThinkPad and you know you’re buying a trustworthy and reliable machine for day-to-day work – and make no mistake, this is an all-out business laptop. This is the first-generation ThinkPad E16, available with AMD or Intel chips, and is currently something of a bargain as Lenovo is slowly bringing Gen 2 models to the market.
Lenovo’s E series of ThinkPads are designed for affordability, but despite this it looks and feels like almost every ThinkPad you can imagine. It comes, as usual, with a completely matt black style that isn’t for everyone but does make an immediate statement of corporate intent. The chassis is aluminum aside from the plastic bottom, and it feels reassuringly solid. It comes with one year of Lenovo’s Premier Support cover, complete with next-business-day repair.
At 1.8kg this chunky laptop isn’t designed for life on the move(Image credit: Future)
You can expect speedy performance, too. Our review sample included the AMD Ryzen 5 7530U, which it no longer ships with, so the price above includes the closest offering: a 7430U. This has a lower peak frequency, 4.3GHz to 4.5GHz, but with the same six cores and 12 threads you can expect similar speeds as in our tests. Those who need more should spend an extra £80 on the Ryzen 7 7730U, as this gives you eight cores and 16 threads.
Our tested system included 16GB of RAM, but the price includes 24GB: 16GB soldered, 8GB via a SODIMM. If you need even more, you can choose the 72GB model (40GB/32GB) as that only costs an extra £35 at the time of configuration. Less impressive are AMD’s integrated AMD Radeon graphics, especially compared to the discrete graphics seen elsewhere.
In terms of results in our tests, “solid” is the word. The Ryzen 5 and AMD graphics pairing doesn’t match up well to Intel’s 12th or 13th Gen processors and Intel Iris Xe graphics, as a glance at the graphs on p94 makes clear. Still, it won’t slow you down in office tasks, and that’s reflected in its fourth place in the PCMark Essentials benchmark and second position in the Productivity test. It’s content creation – or any task that requires heavy work across multiple cores – where this laptop falls down.
Notably, any tests that focused on the graphics chip also dragged it down the table. When it comes to gaming, think light. The E16 came second from last in 3DMark’s Time Spy DirectX 12 benchmark, and couldn’t even hit double digits for frames with low settings in the Shadow of the Tomb Raider benchmark. Its battery-life tests were slightly better, typically lasting around seven hours, but at 1.8kg this chunky laptop isn’t designed for life on the move.
Slap it on a desk, though, and the ThinkPad E16 is the epitome of strong, function-focused design. A square lid covers an expansive keyboard, complete with number pad and minimal key shrinkage – there are even separate arrow and PgUp/PgDn keys. The keys don’t have the cushioning of more expensive ThinkPads, with a relatively snappy 1.5mm travel, but they’re clearly designed for heavy use over the lifetime of the laptop and feel solid. As ever, Lenovo’s TrackPoint cursor controller sits above the touchpad, and thanks to a pair of buttons it’s fairly intuitive even for new users.
A number pad adds to the laptop’s functionality(Image credit: Future)
The ThinkPad’s webcam is clear if a little lacking in saturation, and its speakers are what you’d expect from a business laptop: fine for video calls, but they miss some low-end so headphones or external speakers are the best bet for anyone wanting to enjoy music or films with deeper audio. The microphone records clear audio, with our recorded test delivered back to us in a voice that was wholly familiar, without distortion or a skewed pitch.
One area where the budget shows itself is the screen. sRGB coverage was joint lowest at 54%, while its average Delta E of 4.79 again pushed it close to the bottom of the table. This is not a laptop for photographers. However, its anti-glare covering ensures it’s always visible, especially when paired with a peak brightness of 348cd/m2 and solid 1,159:1 contrast ratio. You might notice slightly fuzziness on text, with a 1,920 x 1,200 resolution across a 16in display equating to 141ppi, but at least there’s plenty of room; viewing two windows side by side is bearable.
Ultimately, a business-focused laptop is best for business-focused tasks. That rings true for this ThinkPad, which is comfortable dealing with apps, office work and most multitasking outside of content creation. If you want to break out of pure office gridlines, this isn’t the laptop to opt for, but if you’re looking for a largely desk-based workhorse backed with a great warranty then it’s a strong choice
This review first appeared in issue 359 of PC Pro.
The first sign of any product’s quality comes when you unpack it from its box, especially when it’s honed to hit a budget. Does it feel too light, look too plasticky? Have corners been cut that make it horrible to use? In short, does it feel cheap?
So it was with an inward sigh of relief that I started assembling the HP All-in-One 27. Finished in all white, it looks classy, while the stand not only includes 100mm of height adjustment but a felt-covered base. That may sound trivial, but it shows the attention to detail often lacking in budget laptops and PCs.
HP has also taken account of this machine’s environmental impact, using 40% post-consumer recycled plastic, 10% recycled metal and even using “recycled” coffee grounds as speckles in the plastic. Sadly, that isn’t reflected in any kind of smell.
The stand includes 100mm of height adjustment(Image credit: Future)
Another nice touch is the 1080p camera built into the top bezel. You slide this up when needed – I kept it up as it’s great for face recognition – and down if you’re worried about privacy. It isn’t the world’s finest webcam, capturing a grainy image with such a wide angle that I had to lean in close to fill the frame, but at least the mic works well.
A basic wireless keyboard and mouse set come in the box. The keyboard’s plastic keys have the same cushioning as a park bench, and it’s so light that it will be pushed out of position by an extra vigorous keypress. But it includes useful function keys, particularly the brightness up/down for the screen: I looked in vain for other physical controls for the display, or software control in the various HP utilities. The mouse is a simple two-button affair, unless you count the clickable scroll wheel, and both it and the keyboard connect to the PC via the same USB dongle.
This leaves three USB-A ports free, with a solitary USB-C port keeping it company. Aside from one USB-A 2 port, all these are limited to USB 3.2 Gen 1’s 5Gbits/sec transfers, which is unnecessarily mean. Especially when the supplied SSD offers only 512GB of storage. While you can theoretically get inside this device to replace the drive, as well as the 16GB of RAM (supplied via two 8GB DDR4 SODIMMs), you’ll need time, patience and skill.
The 1080p camera built into the top bezel is a nice touch(Image credit: Future)
HP sticks to Wi-Fi 6 rather than 6E, but it’s always nice to see a physical Ethernet port (gigabit, not 2.5GbE), and there’s a bonus in the form of an HDMI 1.2 output. This spec is getting on for 20 years old, which is reflected in the fact that the highest-resolution screen you can connect at 60Hz is 1,920 x 1,080. Still, if you have a 1080p screen knocking around it could be useful.
I could be critical of the HP’s 27in panel, as it’s a non-touch 1080p unit with a pixel density of 82ppi. Not great, but at typical viewing distances I was never irritated by a lack of sharpness. It helps that colors are a strong point: it covers 95% of the sRGB space with good accuracy – its average Delta E is 0.68 – while a peak brightness of 275cd/m2 is fine for use indoors.
The HP All-in-One is a surprisingly strong choice for films, too, with a pair of beefy 2W speakers that handle explosive scenes and music equally well. Not to the point of audiophilic delight, perhaps, but enough that you can listen to Spotify while working. Their only weakness is lack of volume, but there’s enough oomph to fill a study.
Some might criticize this PC’s power, too, as it includes a relatively timid Core i7-1355U. That’s now been usurped by Intel’s Core 7 processor 150U, but this would only give you a minor speed bump; they share the same basic design of two P-cores and eight E-cores, but the 150U’s peak frequency is higher (5.4GHz vs 5GHz). Besides, this machine is extremely nippy; you’ll only wish you had a more powerful CPU, such as the Ryzen 9 in the Geekom A8 opposite, is if you max out the cores when coding or editing.
(Image credit: Future)
HP relies on the Iris Xe graphics built into the processor, and that means any modern game is out of bounds. To make Shadow of the Tomb Raider playable I dropped to 720p resolution and Lowest settings for an average of 37fps; at 1080p, it was a shaky 23fps.
But this machine isn’t designed for games, and despite its year-old processor and elephant’s graveyard of old standards – HDMI 1.2, really? – I ended up enjoying my time with the HP All-in-One 27. Would I have liked it more if the screen was 1440p, the keyboard less Lego-like and there was a shade more power inside? Yes, undoubtedly. At this price, however, I’m willing to overlook such flaws. It offers quality where it counts – the design, the build quality, the screen, the speakers – and £799 is extremely competitive.
This review first appeared in issue 360 of PC Pro.
Timing is everything when buying a gaming PC. You want to squeeze every last morsel out of your budget at the moment of purchase, and right now, CyberPowerPC is backing Intel’s mid-range Core i5-14400F processor due to its bang-per-penny: you have ten cores and 16 threads when you need them, but a single core can push up to 4.7GHz using Intel’s Max Turbo mode. A generous 32GB of DDR5 RAM means that memory will never be a bottleneck.
The Intel chip’s main partner in crime is Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 4060 graphics, which inevitably don’t have the numbers of the RTX 4070 Super in the Palicomp system opposite – their respective scores of 10,518 and 18,932 in 3DMark Time Spy underline the difference in power – but are enough for fluid 1440p gaming.
You may have to compromise on detail settings if you want to hit 100fps, however. At High detail, Cyberpunk 2077 averaged 80fps, Dirt 5 hit 97fps, Shadow of the Tomb Raider broke through to 103fps but Metro Exodus Enhanced managed only 63fps. Moving to Ultra detail dropped those respective results to 53fps, 77fps, 93fps and 59fps. 4K gaming is too ambitious with this set of games, only breaking the 60fps barrier when I activated DLSS in Shadow of the Tomb Raider.
(Image credit: Future)
For this PC’s foundation, CyberPowerPC chooses the MSI Pro Z790-S WiFi, which is part of MSI’s professional series. That means no RGB, with chunky black heatsinks the order of the day. This includes a shield to cover the main M.2 drive, a fast 1TB WD Black SN770, with a second M.2 slot available.
You also get Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3 built in, while the rear of the board offers a 2.5GbE LAN port, one USB-C 3.2 Gen 2x2 port (20Gbits/sec) and six USB-A ports. There’s no support for case-mounted USB-C ports, which may be one reason why CyberPowerPC opted for the Eluna 243 chassis. This includes three USB-A ports conveniently located along the front, next to the power button. The button kept sticking in my tests, but when I brought this to the attention of CyberPowerPC it assured me the problem had now been fixed.
That’s a relief, because this is a nice-looking chassis, with a subtle white grille effect on the front that allows the trio of RGB fans to shine through in a subtle haze rather than a blast of color. Naturally, there’s a tempered glass panel on the side to give an unimpeded view, which will be dominated by the 120mm RGB fan atop the Cooler Master air cooler. Having read Lee Grant’s views on liquid coolers this month, I’m more than happy with that choice.
The Eluna 243 chassis provides lots of room for expansion(Image credit: Future)
This provides ample cooling to Intel’s Core i5 processor, which performed to its full in every test: along with the Geekbench 6 scores below, it scored 13,829 in Cinebench R23 multicore, while switching to the newer Cinebench 2024 (the scores aren’t comparable with R23) it hit 837 in the multicore section, 106 for a single CPU core and 9,747 in the GPU-specific test. That compares to 1,028, 110 and 18,785 for the more expensive Palicomp PC opposite.
A 120mm RGB fan sits on top of the air cooler(Image credit: Future)
CyberPowerPC’s choice wins for efficiency, however, consuming 52W at idle and peaking at 309W across our tests. It was a quiet guest in my lab, too, only going above a low hum when playing games. A high-quality 650W, 80 Plus Cooler Master power supply means you have plenty of “power budget” if you decide to upgrade any components, while there is room for internal expansion thanks to three empty PCI-E slots. Technically two DIMM sockets are also free, but you’ll need to switch coolers as its fan overlaps the first slot. Remove the chassis’ left-hand panel and you’ll also find space for three more drives, with one 2.5in drive mounting plate and caddies for two 3.5in disks.
I also appreciate the five-year warranty, with the first two years covering parts, labor and courier costs; the final three years are labor-only, and you’ll need to stump up for shipping to CyberPowerPC UK’s Gateshead base. In fact, I liked everything about this PC apart from the niggles I faced with that power button.
