Nova Development produces an impressive array of design and productivity software, including a range of 3D home design tools, the top of the line version being “Virtual Architect Professional Home Design 12”.
Having reviewed all the best interior design software, I wanted to see how the latest version compares to the rest. So let’s take a look at it.
Virtual Architect Professional Home Design 12: Pricing & plans
Purchase the software online, as you’d expect these days, with a price that’s to be expected for the number of available features, but we were very disappointed to learn that no trial version was available
This software is PC-only, compatible with Windows 8, 10 and 11. It requires a 64-bit OS, a minimum of 2GHz processor, 4GB of RAM and 30GB of storage, and it can be yours for $125.
Sadly, Nova Development does not offer a trial version, so there’s no way for you to check out its wares before purchasing the software. However, they do offer a 60-day money back guarantee, so if you buy it and if it turns out not to be your cup of tea, return it, no questions asked.
The easiest way to get this title is by clicking here - although we found the installation to be quite lengthy, even on full fibre, but we got there in the end.
Score: 3 / 5
Virtual Architect Professional Home Design 12: Interface
Designing your project is easy (Image credit: Nova Development )
The interface feels somewhat antiquated, but its organization is pretty much perfect, allowing you to select the tool you need with ease
The interface feels dated, but the way the information is organised is very clean and easy to understand. The icons at the bottom of the window are used to control your environment.
This is where you get to choose which view to work in (2D or 3D), add cameras to your 3D environment, choose which level of your building to work in, along with general controls when moving objects on your canvas, such as restricting movements to right angles, and making sure objects don’t collide with each other.
You’ll find a series of tabs at the top, which is where all your design tools are stored, organised by clear categories. Further up is the traditional menu bar which contains links to those aforementioned tools, giving you multiple ways to access the same functions, which is something we greatly appreciate: the software allows you to work how you prefer, rather than forcing you to adapt to a developer’s idea of working.
To the right, is the Inspector panel, which changes its content based on the currently selected tool. It’s very clear and simple, although we found the information there to be quite small compared to the other sections.
We also found having to navigate through tiny folders inside a tiny inspector got a little frustrating at times. Thankfully there’s a search field at the top, if you know what you’re looking for.
Score: 4 / 5
Virtual Architect Professional Home Design 12: Building
The 3D interface allows you to manipulate and alter your design (Image credit: Nova Development )
Considering the complexity of designing a building, using this software is remarkably simple as the developers have clearly gone out of their way to make the creation process as easy as they could manage it
Designing walls and rooms is very easy: select the wall tool, click on your canvas, click somewhere else, and one wall has been added between those two clicks. There’s even a function (selected by default) to ensure those walls stay straight, and go off from others at a 90 degree angle.
You can add walls by using your mouse or trackpad, or by typing the value you’re after. By default the measurements will be shown in antiquated feet and inches, but you can alter that to the much more precise metric system from the ‘Settings’ section.
There’s a lot of little touches we greatly appreciated, like the software being intelligent enough to know when the latest wall you’re adding will enclose a room, or when you reposition an existing wall, any other wall connected to it will also be resized as you do so, saving you tons of time when redesigning and fine tuning your project.
Adding doors and windows is just a matter of choosing the one you’re after from the Inspector panel, and dragging it until you’re happy with its position. These objects know they’re supposed to be embedded into a wall and will snap to one in your project as you decide where to put it, even if your cursor veers off a little.
Adding a ceiling can be done in a single click if you just want to cover the entire level in one go, but you’ve also got the option of being much more precise, choosing different types of ceilings for each room, say, or even creating partial ceilings. The flexibility and ease of use is impressive. Same goes for when it’s time to add a roof.
You’ll likely primarily be working in the 2D environment, but you can also switch to 3D, and not just to appreciate your design in three dimensions: unlike some competing products, you also have design control in that environment as well, and we had a lot of fun with that.
Score: 4.5 / 5
Virtual Architect Professional Home Design 12: Wizards
A few ‘wizards’ are available to speed up the creation process even more (Image credit: Nova Development )
If you need another helping hand, conjure up a wizard to speed up some common design necessities, such as a kitchen, bathroom or deck
Despite all the features created to facilitate the building of complex projects, sometimes you may need things to be speeded up somewhat. That’s where wizards come in. This software has a handful of them, to create the bare bones structure of a house, a kitchen, bathroom, a house’s foundations, or even a deck or shed.
The wizard won’t do it all for you, of course, but through a series of simple choices, you can apply a template to your project, and then customize it further after it’s been inserted.
For instance, the Kitchen Wizard will ask you for the basic shape you’re after (L-Shape, Galley, or U-Shape), its orientation, the generic placement of most units, and the style you’re after. After that, you add it to your plan, resize it to suit, and its job is done. You’re then free to take individual items, such as the sink or fridge, and move it around until you’re happy with its position.
It’s a great way to get the basics done in a few seconds, giving you more time to fine tune and personalize your creation.
Score: 4.5 / 5
Virtual Architect Professional Home Design 12: Indoor and Outdoor Decoration
Landscaping, and creating decks, is all part and parcel of the software (Image credit: Nova Development )
The software has a large catalog of objects you can use to furnish your design, and comes with powerful tools to shape the landscape
Adding furniture, both indoor or outdoor, is as easy as selecting a door or window: choose the right category, then scroll down the list in the Inspector until you find the item you’re after.
We were unable to find a way to customize the available objects though (just like we couldn’t resize a chosen door or window), but there are so many options available you’re bound to find the one that matches your needs.
And speaking of outdoor, this software goes beyond your house, and grants you the ability to design the outside, complete with altering the terrain, creating hills, retaining walls, the works, and of course, has a slew of plants and vegetation you can use to bring your design to life.
As you’d expect for a program with such versatility, its minimum specs should be seen as that: minimum, and likely not even worth trying to match. As long as your computer swims in RAM and has a powerful processor, it should easily handle the software.
Score: 4 / 5
Should I buy Virtual Architect Professional Home Design 12?
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Alter the terrain to your heart’s desire (Image credit: Nova Development )
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The furniture inventory is vast (Image credit: Nova Development )
Buy it if...
You’re on a PC, and you’re looking for a powerful, versatile, yet easy to use software package to design a project in 2D and 3D.
Don't buy it if...
You don’t need something with so many options, your PC isn’t powerful enough, and the lack of trial software really puts you off.
Philips 1000 Series Dual Basket Air Fryer: one-minute review
Since Philips introduced the world to the first air fryer back in 2010, the market for this health-conscious kitchen appliance has boomed. Manufacturers like Ninja dominate best air fryers lists, but British Philips continues to improve upon its patented Rapid Air Technology, and its most recent offerings, like the Philips 5000 Series Dual Basket Steam Air Fryer, are increasingly impressive.
The Philips 1000 Series Dual Basket Air Fryer NA150X isn't quite on par with the 5000 and suffers from some of the same issues around ease of use, but it's also considerably cheaper at £133.99. For that price tag, you get a well-performing air fryer with plenty of room and a handful of useful features, such as a shaking reminder and sync cooking, without bombarding you with a bunch of extras.
When the 1000 Series works well, it's excellent: chicken is succulent with just enough crispiness on the skin, muffins are soft inside without being dry, and chips (homemade and frozen) are golden and fluffy inside. I found the presets are mostly accurate and provide top-notch – though you do need to keep an eye on cooking at times – and the recipes provided in the accompanying Home ID app (though limited) are delicious.
(Image credit: Vic Hood)
Frustratingly, you have to rely on that Home ID app a lot, especially at the start. Like the Steam Air Fryer, this appliance comes with a limited physical user manual. You need to download the Home ID app to access the full digital manual that gives clear instructions on each button's functionality and the food tables listing recommended weights and food types. While these tables are helpful, they aren't as thorough as others we've seen and don't cover some commonly air-fried foods. For example, I need to know what weight and settings to use for individual vegetables, like carrots and broccoli, more than I likely need to know the weight to cook meatballs with baked gnocchi.
However, once you get to grips with how the air fryer works, the digital interface is straightforward to use. You have the option to cook in one 7.1L XXL basket or to add the provided divider to create two individually programmable baskets – these can also be set to sync and finish cooking at the same time or to have matching settings. This air fryer is surprisingly compact (compared to its competitors) given its capacity, and the deep baskets are deceptively spacious, with a handy Max line indicating how much you can fill each.
(Image credit: Vic Hood)
The XXL basket and crisping plates are dishwasher friendly (though we always advise against this), and their non-stick coating makes them straightforward to clean – in theory. The XXL basket is cumbersome to clean, especially in a sink, and even if you just use one side, the entire basket needs to be removed and washed. Similarly, if you are cooking two foods at once and need to shake one side, you inadvertently remove and shake the other at the same time.
Ultimately, this is a great air fryer with an affordable price tag, even if the user experience isn't ideal. You may just need some patience (like with many air fryers) to find the optimal settings and weights for foods not listed in the table.
Philips 1000 Series Dual Basket Air Fryer: price and availability
£133.99 at Philips (roughly $181.45 / AU$281.43)
Available in the UK, but not in the US or Australia currently
Available at third party retailers like Amazon, but cheaper from Philips directly
The Philips 1000 Series Dual Basket Air Fryer is a budget to mid-range appliance at £133.99 (roughly $181.45 / AU$281.43). At that price, it's worth considering if you don't want to shell out £200+ on a premium air fryer like the Ninja Double Oven and Dreo ChefMaker. While it does come with fewer bells and whistles than more premium options, including the excellent Philips 5000 Series Dual Basket Steam Air Fryer, it gets the job done. While the results aren't always as consistent, this is a solid air fryer for this price tag.
At the time of writing, the Philips 1000 Series Dual Basket Air Fryer NA15X is only available in the UK as the NA150/09 (the Australian model has seemingly been discontinued). In the US, the closest model to the one we tested appears to be the Philips 3000 Series Dual Basket Air Fryer, which costs $199.99.
You can pick up the model we reviewed from third-party retailers like Currys or Amazon for £159.99, though you'll save some cash purchasing from Philips directly (£133.99).
Value score: 4.5/5
Philips 1000 Series Dual Basket Air Fryer: specifications
Extra functions: Copy (apply same settings to both baskets), Time (syncs cooking times), Shaking reminder
Smart control
No
Rated power
2,450W
Capacity
7.1 liters
Temperature range
40C-200C / 104F-392F
Time range
Up to 60 minutes
Dimensions (including handles)
17.23 in (L) x 11.87 in (W) x 11.61 in (H) / 437.69mm (L) x 301.43mm (W) x 294.91mm (H)
Dishwasher safe
Yes
Weight
12.79lbs / 5.8kg
Philips 1000 Series Dual Basket Air Fryer: design
Black modern design
Fairly compact for an XXL air fryer
Spacious 7.1L capacity
Clear digital LED interface
Cumbersome to hand wash
Full user manual is digital only
The Philips 1000 Series Dual Basket Air Fryer has a matte black body with a black digital LED interface on the top, a glossy black plastic strip around the middle, and two large handles. The XXL basket is pulled out using the handles, like a drawer, and has two crisping plates inside, with each drawer also showing two maximum fill lines, one indicating the max capacity for frozen potato snacks and the other for other food types. A plastic divider is provided, which slides into slots between the two plates, creating two individually programmable, smaller baskets rather than the one XXL basket.
(Image credit: Vic Hood)
Given its 7.1 liter capacity, this air fryer is much more compact than others we've tested of similar size, measuring 17.23 in (L) x 11.87 in (W) x 11.61 in (H) and weighing 5.8kg. So, while it will take up some room in your kitchen, it's nowhere near as chunky as the likes of the Russell Hobbs Satisfry 9L Dual Basket Air Fryer. If you've kids at home, you'll be pleased to hear it's cool to the touch when on, with the airflow temperature out the back (on XXL cooking) averaging around 43C, and it's not too intrusive volume-wise either, averaging around 60 decibels (again on XXL cooking),
The digital LED interface is clear and easy to use, with minimal clutter on the screen. However, to understand how to use its various presets and functions, you need to download the companion Home ID app using the QR code on the front of the appliance. The physical user manual provided mostly consists of confusing illustrations that try to explain how to use the air fryer, but the digital user manual accessible through the app is much more thorough.
t's extremely frustrating that you can only read the 918-page user manual on your phone as a sort of PDF, though, and if you don't have a smartphone to download the app, you're snookered. This is a recurring issue with Philips air fryers we've found, but at least the QR code on this one works, and the app's recommended recipes are actually pretty tasty.
(Image credit: Vic Hood)
The digital user manual provides clearer instructions on the air fryer's presets and features, and how to use them, alongside food tables which recommend the weights and settings to use for certain food types. While these tables cover common food types like fries, chicken breast, and muffins, they could be more detailed – and some of the times listed in the tables are slightly different than the presets on the appliance. Instead of recommendations for cooking turkey roulade and veggies, a clear table on the settings for individual vegetables would be much more useful or what type of vegetables to use for the Mixed Vegetable preset would be much more helpful.
Another annoying issue I found with this appliance was cleaning it. While the Philips 1000 Series Dual Basket Air Fryer's basket and crisping plates can be put in the dishwasher, and I successfully did, we typically advise not to use a dishwasher to clean anything with a non-stick coating (as this has) to ensure it doesn't wear away over time.
You may have difficulty dishwashing the basket on this one anyway because it's pretty cumbersome and will take up a lot of room in your dishwasher. The entire XXL basket comes out as one and therefore the whole thing must be cleaned, even if you only use one of the baskets within it. While it cleans easily with dish soap and water, it can be a bit tricky to get it in the sink and give it a thorough clean.
While it's a shame Philips has dropped the ball again when it comes to a clear, physical user manual (which would benefit older, less savvy users), once you do get to grips with this air fryer, it's straightforward and convenient to use.
Design score: 4/5
Philips 1000 Series Dual Basket Air Fryer: performance
What it cooks well, it does brilliantly
Six presets, mixed accuracy
Time function to sync cooking
Copy function to match basket settings
Quality of life features, like shaking reminder
The Philips 1000 Series Dual Basket Air Fryer comes with six cooking presets (Frozen Fries, Steak, Chicken Drumsticks, Mixed Vegetables, Cake/Muffin, Reheat) and three extra functions (Time, Copy, and a Shaking reminder).
When the Philips 1000 Series Dual Basket Air Fryer works well, the results are impressive. I started my testing with frozen chips, adding 400g of frozen steak cut fries to one of the smaller baskets and selecting the Frozen Fries/Potato Snacks preset. This automatically adds the Shaking reminder (which can also be selected manually), which sees the appliance chirping about halfway through cooking to indicate when to shake or turn your food.
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(Image credit: Vic Hood)
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(Image credit: Vic Hood)
Frustratingly, this does mean you need to shake the whole basket, whether you want the other half shaken or not. The results were excellent, with the chips cooked pretty evenly (though some were a tad more done than others) and crispy outside but fluffy inside. I had similar results when cooking homemade fries, following the food table instructions, though I had to pull the chips out a few minutes earlier than the recommended time to prevent them from becoming overdone.
The results for chicken wings and muffins were perhaps the best I've had from an air fryer yet. Into the XXL pan, I added six full-size wings coated in a Louisiana dry rub and selected the Chicken Drumstick preset (the food tables have no chicken wing recommendation).
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(Image credit: Vic Hood)
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Apart from turning the wings when prompted, I made no changes, and the resulting wings were perfectly crispy outside and juicy inside without being too much of either. Likewise, using a Ninja (sorry, Philips) blueberry and lemon muffin recipe with the Muffin preset in the XXL basket resulted in perfect muffins: soft and fluffy inside but not too dry.
While the recipes in the Home ID app are somewhat limited, at least for my specific appliance, they have stellar results. When you sign up for the app, you choose your appliance and are offered recipes that are suited to your specific air fryer. To start, I tried a green bean recipe that was simple but resulted in the most delicious green beans I've ever had from an air fryer: not too soggy, just perfectly cooked.
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(Image credit: Vic Hood)
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The spicy drumstick recipe was even more impressive and produced eight piping-hot drumsticks from the XXL basket that tasted and smelled amazing. Again, they weren't "grab a napkin, quick!" juicy and had just the right amount of crisp on the skin.
But not every food test worked out this well, and I found a lot of my issues boiled down to the food tables not being detailed enough. I'm always intrigued by an air fryer steak preset and have yet to find one that produces pan quality. The Philips 1000 Series has a Steak preset, but the food table only gives a rough weight for the steak and doesn't recommend the type of steak to cook or if the recommended weight (150g-200g) is per steak or total. I opted for two medallion steaks weighing 340g total and added them to one basket.
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The food table recommends one basket can fit four steaks, but I seriously doubt it, as I would have struggled to add more than two. How you like your steak is a personal preference, and with no notes on timings for specific doneness, I left the steaks in the full preset time and was left with two leather-like chunks of meat. They were like chewing on old shoes. One side of each was nicely seared, and the other wasn't, and they were drier than the Sahara. This is something you could probably experiment with to get the right level of doneness, but my advice is this: just don't cook steak in an air fryer.
I also had disappointing results with mixed veg. Again, the food table wasn't clear on what type of mixed veg it recommends or whether to add oil, but it does state timings may vary due to preference and to cut the veg roughly. I added the recommended weight in broccoli, carrots, and cauliflower to each basket and selected the Mixed Vegetable preset – making use of the Copy function to match the settings for both baskets. When I shook the veg halfway through the 20-minute cooking time, I saw my cauliflower and broccoli had browned on top, but, on tasting, my carrots weren't cooked properly.
(Image credit: Vic Hood)
This could, like the steak, likely be rectified with some experimentation, but without clear instructions on what individual vegetable cooking times are recommended or what to include in your mixed vegetables, it's difficult to know off the bat what the best approach is.
Overall, this Philips air fryer is a solid appliance, and it provides great results more often than poor ones. If you've never owned an air fryer before or don't have the patience to get the most out of some of its peskier presets, you may struggle with it. But if you're a seasoned air fryer user or don't mind a few failed attempts before getting optimal results, it's worth the time, money, and potential effort.
Performance score: 4/5
Should you buy the Philips 1000 Series Dual Basket Air Fryer
Philips 1000 Series Dual Basket Air Fryer: score card
Attribute
Notes
Score
Value
Great value for a solid air fryer, but don't expect the consistency and high quality of more premium appliances.
4.5/5
Design
A sleek and fairly compact air fryer given its spacious capacity. The XXL basket can be divided into two separate programmable baskets, which are easy (but cumbersome) to hand wash. But Philips has dropped the ball with its user manual and instructions, so you'll need to use the Home ID app for thorough instructions.
4/5
Performance
What this air fryer does well, it does brilliantly. It has produced some of the best air-fried food I've had in all my testing. However, the user manual food tables could have more detail on optimal preparation and the settings to use for more common foods, as the results with some of the presets were thoroughly disappointing.
4/5
Buy it if
You want a spacious air fryer that isn't massive
This air fryer offers good capacity but isn't huge and bulky. It will still take up some counter space, but it's relatively small given its size.
You want an air fryer for under £150
This air fryer may have some pesky issues, but it's great value at £133.99 and offers a much higher quality than others we've seen in this price range.
You want an air fryer for simple, day-to-day meals
While mixed veg was a mixed bag, I found it easy to cook common air fryer foods in this appliance, like chicken, chips, and muffins. If you want a convenient air fryer that will cover the basics well (with some adjustment), this is a good option.
Don't buy it if
You have a small sink or dishwasher
While this air fryer's components can be cleaned easily thanks to their non-stick coat, the act of cleaning it can be a pain. The XXL basket is chunky and a struggle to clean, even in our fairly large Belfast sink. That's mainly because it's cumbersome and you need to clean the whole basket even if you just use one side of it. It's dishwasher safe if you have the room, but I advise against it to ensure the longevity of your components.
You want clear, physical instructions
The physical user manual provided with this air fryer is pretty useless and doesn't cover what its functions and features are or how to work them. You can access a digital user manual via the Home ID app, but if you haven't got a smartphone or struggle reading smaller digital print, this may not be the air fryer for you.
You want a heap of extra features
This air fryer doesn't come with a bunch of extra features, functions, or smart control – it sticks to the basics. So, if you do want extra functions like steaming, dehydrating, or grilling, this isn't the appliance for you.
Philips 1000 Series Dual Basket Air Fryer: also consider
Ninja Double Stack
If you don't have space for a full-width two-drawer air fryer, the Double Stack is the appliance for you. It's deeper and taller, but much narrower than the Russell Hobbs Satisfry or the Ninja Foodi Max Dual Zone, and in our tests it produced evenly browned, crispy fries every time.
If you live outside the UK where the Philips 1000 Series Dual Basket Air Fryer isn't available, this is two-drawer air fryer is a great alternative. It looks smart, and produces consistently good results (though we'd appreciate a reminder to shake to food for even cooking).
How I tested the Philips 1000 Series Dual Basket Air Fryer
I used the Philips 1000 Series Dual Basket Air Fryer for a week, cooking a wide variety of foods including fries, chicken drumsticks, steak, fresh vegetables, and muffins. I tested all the air fryer's various modes and cleaned the air fryer in line with the instructions provided in the manual. For more details, see how we test.
Acer is well-known for its Predator range of gaming PCs and displays, but the company also makes a number of Wi-Fi routers and mesh systems that are designed for gaming as well. There are several models in the Predator range, including some very affordable Wi-Fi 6 routers, but at the top of the range is the blazing fast Predator Connect T7 Mesh Router, which Acer claims can provide ‘wired-level latency’ for serious gamers with lightning fast reflexes, potentially making it one of the best gaming routers money can buy.
Its rigidly rectangular design may not be much to look at, but the T7 provides state-of-the-art Wi-Fi performance, with tri-band Wi-Fi 7 that offers a top speed of 11Gbps. And, as the name suggests, you can buy additional T7 routers and use them together to create a far-reaching mesh wi-fi system for larger homes.
Admittedly, those features will probably be overkill for many people – especially if you’re still using older computers and mobile devices that don’t have full support for Wi-Fi 7 – but the T7 is competitively priced for a high-end router, and will certainly appeal to the hard-core gaming audience.
Predator Connect T7 Wi-Fi 7 Mesh Router: Price And Availability
Where can you get it? Available in the US, UK, and Australia
Tracking down Acer products can sometimes be a little tricky, as it often relies on third-party retailers to stock its products. Customers in the US are fortunate as they can buy the T7 direct from Acer’s own website for $329.99, which is a similar price to Netgear’s Nighthawk RS300 that runs at 9.3GBps.
We were also pleased to find that the T7 doesn’t require an additional subscription for parental controls and security features, so it’s certainly competitively priced for such a high-end model. Customers in the UK, Australia and other regions will have to look around online, with the T7 selling for £236.22/AU$699 on Amazon and other sites.
Value: 4/5
Predator Connect T7 Wi-Fi 7 Mesh Router: Design
(Image credit: Future)
Mini-tower design, available in black or white
2.5Gb Ethernet for broadband connection
2x Gigabit Ethernet for wired (LAN) connections
The T7 has a fairly subdued design for a gaming router. You do get a choice of a black or white for the main casing, and there’s a stylised ‘mask’ LED on the top panel, but this is primarily used to provide status information, and the T7 doesn’t have the over-the-top RGB lighting and effects offered by some of its gaming rivals.
Instead, the T7 opts for a rather staid rectangular obelisk that stands an imposing 212mm high, so you’ll need a shelf or table with quite a bit of room available when you’re setting it up.
One minor oddity is that the On/Off switch is cunningly hidden on the base of the router, while the power connector is more visible on the back panel. The Quickstart guide and the longer PDF manual that we downloaded from Acer’s website both fail to mention this, simply telling you to plug in the power connector and then download the Predator app. That left me wondering why the router wasn’t working when I first plugged it in - until I turned it upside down and found the power switch lurking below.
The back panel isn’t exactly overflowing with other ports and connectors, either. There’s a 2.5 Gigabit Ethernet port for a high-speed broadband connection, but it’s disappointing that such a high-end router only includes two 1Gb Ethernet ports to provide a wired connection for a PC or games console. There’s a USB-C port on the back as well, which will allow you to connect a hard drive or other storage device to you network. Again, though, this only supports the aging USB 2.0 standard, which is disappointing.
Design: 3/5
Predator Connect T7 Wi-Fi 7 Mesh Router: Features
It’s also slightly irritating that you’re forced to create an account with Acer before you can use the Predator Connect app to get started. However, the app does provide a number of useful features that will appeal to gamers and more experienced users. Many routers aimed at a more general audience will try to keep things simply by merging the router’s different frequency bands into a single network, but the T7 creates three separate networks using the 2.4GHz, 5.0GHz and 6.0GHz bands. This allows you to reserve the high-speed 6.0GHz band for gaming, while you connect other devices to the 2.4GHz or 5.0GHz bands.
There’s a QoS option – quality of service – that allows you to prioritise high-bandwidth tasks such as gaming or streaming video for specific devices. The T7 even provides useful security features and parental controls without requiring an additional subscription as some of its rivals do.
The app is a little jargon-heavy at times, and if you don’t know what ‘band steering’ or ‘NAT acceleration’ mean then you might struggle with the app at times. Acer’s manual also makes the rookie mistake of simply listing features without really explaining how they work, so you will need a bit of network know-how to make the most of the Predator app.
Within 5ft, no obstructions: 125Mbps/125Mbps Within 30ft, three partition walls: 125Mbps/125Mbps
20GB Steam Download – 2.4GHz
Within 5ft, no obstructions: 125Mbps Within 30ft, three partition walls: 125Mbps
Ookla Speed Test – 5.0GHz (download/upload)
Within 5ft, no obstructions: 150Mbps/150Mbps Within 30ft, three partition walls: 150Mbps/150Mbps
20GB Steam Download - 5.0GHz
Within 5ft, no obstructions: 150Mbps Within 30ft, three partition walls: 150Mbps
Ookla Speed Test – 6.0GHz (download/upload)
Within 5ft, no obstructions: 150Mbps/150Mbps Within 30ft, three partition walls: 150Mbps/150Mbps
20GB Steam Download - 6.0GHz
Within 5ft, no obstructions: 150Mbps Within 30ft, three partition walls: 150Mbps
The T7 creates three networks on different frequency bands, but with its top speed of 11Gbps it comes as no surprise to find that it walks all over my aging office router even on the slowest 2.4GHz band.
Our office Internet service provides a top speed of 150Mbps, but my normal router can only manage 80Mbps on the 2.4GHz band when running the Ookla speed test even for devices that are close by in the same room as the router.
Steam downloads are even worse with a sustained speed of only 40Mbps. The 5.0GHz band is slightly better but can still only manage 120Mbps on the Ookla speed test, and 100Mbps for Steam downloads. Even worse is the fact that both frequency bands struggle to reach an office at the back of the building, forcing me to use Ethernet cables to provide a wired connection instead.
Unsurprisingly, the T7 takes this in its stride. Its slower 2.4GHz band hits 125Mbps for both Ookla and Steam downloads in both locations, while the 5.0GHz and 6.0GHz bands simply shrug their shoulders and give us a pitying look as they breeze along at the maximum speed of 150Mbps even in our back office deadzone.
Admittedly, the T7’s top speed of 11Gbps will be massive overkill for many homes, but if you’re a keen gamer who wants fast, lag-free Wi-Fi for competitive gaming, then the Predator T7 is hard to beat. Then again, it's a router that's not strictly going to be for today's gaming (or business) market, but for the near future (or enthusiasts) instead. If you want to be on the cutting edge, you can be for a price.
(Image credit: Future)
Should you buy the Predator Connect T7?
Category
Verdict
Score
Value
Wi-Fi 7 routers are still relatively expensive, but the T7 is competitively priced for a high-end tri-band router.
4/5
Design
The design is fairly staid, but we’re more concerned about the limited selection of ports available for wired connections.
3/5
Features
Acer’s app can be a bit full of jargon at times, but its tri-band networking features will appeal to serious gamers.
4/5
Performance
A speed of 11Gbps is completely over-the-top for most users, but it’s ideal for the latest gaming rigs that support Wi-Fi 7.
5/5
Overall
Wired connectivity could be improved, and the Acer app isn’t very user-friendly, but the T7’s Wi-Fi performance is hard to beat, and it won’t break the bank either.
4/5
Buy it if...
You’re a serious gamer The high-speed Wi-Fi of the T7 is ideal for hardcore gamers with lightning reflexes and super-fast broadband.
You’re an early adopter The adoption of Wi-Fi 7 is still in its early stages, but Wi-Fi 7 is still backwards-compatible with older devices, so the T7 is a good way of future-proofing your network for years to come.
Don't buy it if...
You’re on a budget Routers with Wi-Fi 7 are still relatively expensive, and most home broadband services really don’t need this sort of speed, so you can get perfectly good performance from less expensive routers.
Your PC is a bit old Millions – maybe even billions – of people are still using older devices that only have Wi-Fi 5 or 6, so the tri-band Wi-Fi 7 provided by the T7 really isn’t necessary for most of us right now.View Deal
Netgear’s making an effort to produce more affordable routers and mesh systems, and the RS300 provides tri-band Wi-Fi 7 with a top speed of 9.3Gbps for roughly the same price as the Acer Predator T7.
Another router for hard-core gamers, the Rapture GT-BE98 from Asus is even faster and more expensive than the Predator T7. With quad-band Wi-Fi 7 and a top speed of 24.4Gbps the Rapture is an utterly no-compromise option for gamers who have cash to burn.
If you're interested in installing one of the best bird feeder cameras in your garden but don't quite know where to start, the PeckPerk Smart Bird Feeder camera is a great option.
It's not only one of the more affordable options (on sale for $119 / £85 at the time of writing), it also offers superb 2K image quality, live broadcasting, a night vision camera, playback features, a built-in feeder compartment, and a unique perch, plus the option for smart AI bird detection of over 10,000 species if you subscribe to PeckPerk's VIP package.
I hadn't used a bird camera before getting my hands on the PeckPerk, and I was pleasantly surprised by how easy this camera was to set up and operate in just a few minutes. The camera arrived pre-charged and ready to go right out of the box; I just needed to add some bird seed, download the free PeckPerk app to my phone, and connect the camera to Wi-Fi.
The PeckPerk comes with a separate optional solar panel, which makes it easy to keep the camera charged up 24/7 without needing to move it indoors. The package also includes an array of assembly tools, including brackets and screws, offering plenty of options for installing the camera. I initially opted for the belt strap tied around a tree, which I highly recommend starting with if you plan on moving the camera around to test multiple spots in your garden or outdoor space.
The PeckPerk camera and connected solar panel (Image credit: Beth Nicholls)
It might take a day or two for local birds to find and adjust to your new feeder camera, but once they do, you can sit back and enjoy the different bird species visiting your space and interacting with the camera – and if you subscribe to PeckPerk's VIP features, the app will identify bird species for you. I had no idea that there were so many blue tits in my local area in south-west England, but other frequent visitors caught on the camera included crows, seagulls, pigeons, cats, and even a few foxes at night.
Top tip: set up your bird feeder camera opposite a bird bath if you want to capture the most interaction – I found that birds loved to bathe later in the evening as the sun set.
I didn't have the highest of hopes that I'd get much activity with the PeckPerk bird feeder camera at first, considering that my dog tends to scare off most of the local wildlife, and the sheer size of the feeder stood out like a sore thumb against our smaller tree. But I was pleasantly surprised, and I thoroughly enjoyed my time testing out this camera and spotting all of the different bird species.
The sensors on the PeckPerk are excellent at detecting movement, the setup process is quick and easy, the app offers everything you could need, and it has superb battery life thanks to the included solar panel.
PeckPerk Smart Bird Feeder camera: price and availability
US$319 / £247 / AU$505
VIP subscription plan US$36.99 / £29 per year or US$3.99 / £4 per month
The PeckPerk has a pretty high list price of $319 / £247 / AU$505. However, at the time of writing, it perches at the more affordable end of the scale, having been reduced to just $109 / £85 / AU$173 at PeckPerk's website.
That discount suggests that PeckPerk feels it's overpriced this camera, and my opinion it's very much worth the current asking price – though I'd be reluctant to spend anything over $200 on it, unless the camera quality could be boosted to 4K or higher. There's nothing much wrong with the image quality of the PeckPerk, but there's certainly room for improvement to match its high full asking price.
Compared to more premium yet similarly styled options like the Birdfy Feeder 2 Duo ($419.99 / £379.99 / AU$665), the PeckPerk does offer a lot for your money, considering that the Birdfy Feeder is only capable of Full HD resolution, whereas the PeckPerk has a generous UHD 2K output. For a more affordable option than both of these models, check out our review of the FeatherSnap Scout bird feeder camera which costs $179.99 / £159.99 (and the design is great, too).
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PeckPerk Smart Bird Feeder camera: specs
PeckPerk Smart Bird Feeder camera specs
Camera
Built-in
Video output
2K UHD live stream
Field of view
165 degrees
Memory
MicroSD (not included)
Sensor
Detection proprietary
Microphone
Yes + audio
Battery
5200mAh (USB-C rechargeable)
Weather resistance
IP65
Operating temp
(-20.5C to 48.5C)
Seed capacity
1.6qt / 1.8 liters
Dimensions
25.3 x 16 x 19.2cm
Weight
1.45lbs / 660g (Unfilled)
PeckPerk Smart Bird Feeder camera: design
Bird-friendly IP65 weatherproof design
Multiple install options supplied
Made from Recycled Plastics (BPA Free)
The PeckPerk stands out compared to more traditional-style bird cameras thanks to its large and slightly odd acorn-like design, which is necessitated by the camera's size and the large-capacity seed tray surrounding it. You can get the PeckPerk in a beige color, which is the variant that I was sent and which blended in nicely with the bark of our tree, or a more vibrant orange hue, which I'm less of a fan of).
The nature-inspired design of the PekPerk makes it appealing to birds, and it's easy to remove from the mount and clean, too. It's made from recycled plastics and food-grade ABS materials, along with UV-resistant, anti-oxidation materials intended for lasting protection.
Design and aesthetic aside, the PeckPerk is built to be robust and sturdy, with its IP65 rating ensuring that it'll survive outdoors all year round. It arrives fully assembled, minus the perch and solar panel, which are great-quality optional accessories that you can choose to attach or leave out.
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I think the perch is a really nice touch that encourages birds to visit the PeckPerk, and the solar panel works wonderfully (at least in the spring season in the UK) to keep the camera fully charged without the need to bring it indoors to charge via the USB-C port every so often.
The fiddliest part of setting the bird feeder camera up was keeping it in place while strapping it securely to our tree, but this installation option is the best method for getting started with the PeckPerk, as you might decide that you want to change its location at a later time while getting to grips with using it, and this way you can avoid having to unscrew it each time.
PeckPerk Smart Bird Feeder camera: performance
2K Infrared night vision or color night vision
Two-way communication and live broadcast
Free 7-day looped cloud recording included
The PeckPerk bird feeder is a lot fun to use, and I was impressed by its performance. The unit comprises a single camera with an ultra-wide 165-degree field of view, and makes use of proprietary motion sensors to detect when a bird is visiting.
You can adjust the sensitivity of the motion detectors via the free PeckPerk app, and I found that it worked extremely well at detecting any movement in the garden from several meters away. The Playback feature is excellent, and will instantly record 10-second clips whenever motion is detected to ensure you never miss a moment.
You can view all of the playback events from the day and up to seven days prior via the app, and download or save any video captures to your phone or the in-app album as you please. The best part is that all of this is accessible for free, and not hidden behind a subscription fee or paywall, as you might find with other bird cameras on the market.
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PeckPerk gave me a free trial code to test out the AI services it offers through its VIP subscription plan, but this really didn't hit the mark for me. On several occasions the AI would state that no birds were detected when there was very clearly a bird in the frame, and I would often get notifications that a squirrel was visiting the feeder, but there was nothing to be seen, and no evidence on playback either. I think the PeckPerk bird camera performs just as well on its own, and you really aren't missing anything by not upgrading to the VIP subscription.
I also found it just as easy and sometimes more accurate to use Google's Circle to Search feature on my Samsung phone to identify birds, and after a few weeks of use the only bird that PeckPerk's AI managed to detect and register in the app was a common pigeon.
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While the AI might need some work, the overall performance of the PeckPerk has been wonderful, and it's a breeze to use. I started off by setting the PeckPerk up in my garden, but, as I suspected, no birds arrived after five days of me patiently waiting, adding more seed, and regularly checking the app (this is not fault of the PeckPerk, I should add).
I then moved the camera to my mother-in-law's house a few doors down, where we set the camera up opposite her bird bath. This worked an absolute treat, and within a few hours we were getting blue tits, magpies and blackbirds drinking from the fountain and hesitantly approaching the feeder.
The camera's real-time observation via live streaming through the app is easy to access, making it suitable for users young or old who might not be especially tech savvy. There were a few occasions where it would take a minute or longer for my phone to connect to PeckPerk's live feed, but given that it relies on a stable 2.4GHz network connection, this could be down to poor Wi-Fi coverage where the camera was placed, and not necessarily an issue with the device.
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Are you sure, PeckPerk? (Image credit: Beth Nicholls)
If you tend to get a lot of wildlife wandering through your garden at night you'll definitely appreciate the PeckPerk's infrared night vision and color night vision options. The camera's playback feature is activated 24/7, so you can check on any nighttime visitors you may have had the next morning – I spotted a few foxes and cats dropping by during the night.
The PeckPerk is equipped with a mic and two-way audio, so you can not only hear the chirps of birds but you can talk through the camera should you wish (though I never found a use for this). There's also an alarm feature via the app which allows the camera to blast a sound scaring away any unwanted guests, animal or otherwise.
I'll finish off by saying that the camera quality of the PeckPerk is more than enough for spotting and detecting birds, though it could definitely be better (especially for the price). This is the first bird feeder camera that I've used, and I have no complaints about its 2K camera quality, other than that the playback feature can sometimes be a bit blink-and-you-miss-it, and I'd like the option to record for longer or watch the footage back at a slower speed.
Should you buy the PeckPerk Smart Bird Feeder camera?
Buy it if...
You want to spy on your backyard wildlife Bird feeder cameras are an affordable option for getting a close-up view of the wildlife around you, and could technically double as a deterrent to put off potential intruders.
You want a gift for a budding bird watcher The PeckPerk is relatively affordable (when on sale) and would make an excellent gift for anyone interested in bird spotting. The app is very user-friendly and suitable for all.
You want a bird feeder camera that you can leave outdoors The PeckPerk is weatherproof and comes with a separate solar panel, which can be positioned close to the camera to maintain stable charging in warmer months. View Deal
Don't buy it if...
You're looking for 4K quality The PeckPerk is great for bird watching, but it won't win you any prizes for wildlife photography. The quality isn't up to par with a smartphone, but it's fine for fun.
You want reliable AI bird detection The PeckPerk has an optional VIP package for detecting thousands of bird species with AI, but I found that it's not quite up to scratch yet.
You want a budget bird feeder camera While the PeckPerk is excellent value for money at its current price (see the price section above), it's not the most budget-friendly when retailing at full price.
How I tested the PeckPerk Smart Bird Feeder camera
I set it up in multiple areas across two different gardens
I monitored the feed via the app during both the day and night
I tested the paid VIP upgrade subscription
I attached the PeckPerk Smart Bird Feeder camera to a tree in my garden to begin with, and it performed just fine, although very few birds made an appearance. After I moved to a more discrete location near a bird bath I saw much more activity, bird and otherwise, which the camera had no issues detecting.
I tested the PeckPerk in the UK during the warmer spring months of April and May, and it withstood several rain showers, though I'd be interested to see how this camera holds up in the colder months when more birds and animals are seeking warmth and shelter.
I used the paid VIP PeckPerk upgrade to test the full capabilities of AI bird detection and registering of species in the app's database.
With Elden Ring Nightreign, FromSoftware has created the definitive blueprint of how to use the parts of an existing game to craft an entirely different experience. In doing so, the developer has built a refreshingly freeing and flexible co-op experience that draws upon Elden Ring’s best bits while continuing to innovate and push FromSoftware into new territory, even if the matchmaking and co-op still feel partially stuck in the past.
Review information
Platform reviewed: PS5 Available on: PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PC Release date: May 30, 2025
FromSoftware has always reused aspects of its previous games for new IPs or titles. For example, Bloodborne and Dark Souls animations can be found in Elden Ring, and Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice bosses like the Blazing Bull were given a new paint job in Elden Ring to create the Fallingstar Beast. It’s a smart, efficient way to constantly generate new content and worlds without having to redo a bunch of work.
But here, the studio goes one step further and uses Elden Ring’s bones to craft a game in an entirely new genre, resulting in a clever roguelike with a lot more going on than first meets the eye. On top of that, unsurprisingly, Elden Ring Nightreign is an incredibly fun and addictive combat experience on par with FromSoftware’s other work.
A convergence of worlds
(Image credit: Bandai Namco)
Set in an alternate timeline from the main lore of Elden Ring, in Nightreign,you play as one of eight Nightfarers. These are mysterious characters with their own combat specialisms that act as classes. They have been summoned to the land of Limveld and the Roundtable Hold. Upon meeting a mysterious hooded maiden, you are urged to survive three days in Limveld and defeat the Nightlord who appears on the third day. Fail and you begin your journey in Limveld again from the beginning of your first day.
During each day, you will drop into a random spot in Limveld and explore the map, gearing up as a ring of rain called The Night’s Tide closes in on you from all directions. Upon exploring during a 45-minute run, you will come across an assortment of castles, outposts, camps, and landmarks from Elden Ring that are filled with randomized enemies, loot, items, consumables, and, most importantly, bosses from the base game and even some of the older Dark Souls titles.
You can also find nods to other FromSoftware games, whether it be a character’s ability that resembles a Bloodborne weapon or reference to a beloved Souls NPC.
Despite seeing bosses and references from old games pop up, they never felt like eye-rolling fan-service moments. It was actually fascinating to see how these challenges from older games have been updated to keep up with Elden Ring’s combat, and there are compelling lore tidbits hidden away in the game that hint at what has caused these many worlds to collide and why these Nightfarers have been brought together.
Learning the lay of the land
(Image credit: Bandai Namco)
While it takes a few runs through Limveld to attune to the game’s faster pace and freeform structure, by the time I tackled my first Nightlord, I was already addicted to the captivating concoction FromSoftware had cooked up.
Instead of a guiding path pulling you and your friends from location to location, Nightreign is all about learning how to make the most of each day in Limveld. Whether that is running from boss to boss at each landmark to stock up on Runes and upgrades to obtain new weapons or level up, exploring caves to find smithing stones to enhance your armaments, or traversing the map to find extra healing flasks to improve your survivability.
Best bit
(Image credit: Bandai Namco)
Finally defeating the Darkdrift Knight after several attempts, only succeeding because my rapier dealt rot damage and slowly ticked down his health as we all dodged attacks with low health and no healing flasks left. The Darkdrift Knight is the hardest fight in the game, I think, and the satisfaction, rush, and relief at finally beating it was immense.
It is very easy to think Nightreign is a brainless boss rush, combat sandbox at first glance, but it is actually a considered roguelite that focuses on map knowledge, where to find the best loot, and when it is best to adjust strategies in a similar way to a battle royale or extraction game. The satisfaction of doing this also reminds me a lot of the best puzzle games like Return of the Obra Dinn or Blue Prince, where you finally decipher how a mechanic works or uncover a clue.
Learning the map and how to optimize my runs through Limveld was one of the most satisfying parts of Nightreign. It is not something I expected to be as vital as it is, but through talking with others in voice chat, sharing findings from our own individual runs, and combining ideas, we eventually found buried strategies.
Examples include figuring out how to max out our level or discovering how to obtain the most legendary weapons in a run to increase our chances of defeating the Nightlords. This sense of player discovery and word-of-mouth knowledge that was rife throughout Elden Ring’s launch is just as potent here in Nightreign, and it’s part of the magic that makes it work, especially if you are able to play with a large group of friends or Discord server.
The same goes for the game’s overarching progression, which revolves around randomized relics you unlock at the end of runs through Limveld. Three of these can be equipped before each run on each character in the Roundtable Hold and unlock small buffs like extra elemental damage, or bigger Nightfarer bonuses like enhancing Nightfarer abilities or allowing you to share the healing from your healing flasks with your co-op partners - giving you triple the healing if standing near each other.
I heard about abilities on these that I never saw from other people while playing during the review period, and the flexibility of Elden Ring’s many levelling systems, elemental damage types, weapons, and the Nightfarers themselves open up the possibility for hundreds, if not thousands, of build combinations and optimizations.
Play your way
(Image credit: Bandai Namco)
Nightreign is about doing as much as you can with the little time you have, rewarding players who stick together and melt bosses in seconds. It encourages teams to combine abilities and attacks to stun foes quickly, while communicating to ensure they are all on the same page.
This makes it an incredibly hard game to play alone (which is an option that is available). While it can be done, the game’s enemy scaling and progression rewards teams that can complete as many objectives as possible, which just isn’t easy to do on your own.
I could spend ages talking at length about the Nightlords themselves, but in reality, fans already know what to expect, and the actual structure and systems in Nightreign are far more innovative. Even still, these Nightfarer fights are incredible spectacles, and some of the best FromSoftware has made. They are brimming with difficult moves to master and a combination of abilities and forms to learn, all set against an impressive, bombastic orchestral soundtrack for each one. FromSoftware simply doesn’t miss when it comes to combat and enemy design, and Nightreign is no different.
One area FromSoftware could have fumbled is the Nightfarers. While they could have felt like cheap forced classes, they are actually really flexible and well-rounded archetypes, with abilities that have a variety of uses. For starters, every Nightfarer can use any weapon or item. If you want to play the katana-wielding, parry-centric Executor with a dagger, you can, even though you won’t be as effective as you would be with a katana.
(Image credit: Bandai Namco)
This means you can craft your build on the fly and you never feel locked into a certain playstyle, allowing you to adapt during your run through Limveld. Bows don’t have ammo, and weight isn’t factored in either, which gives the game’s combat a brisk speed and pace that isn’t found in Elden Ring. It also removes a lot of the barriers to enjoying the game’s wide variety of weapon types, as you can basically pick up anything and begin using it right away. Yes, they actually made ranged combat and magic fun here.
On top of that, the ability kits for each Nightfarer are multi-faceted with several uses that aren’t immediately obvious. For example, Ironeye, the archer, can use his Single Shot ultimate ability to fire a huge supersonic arrow. That arrow can be used to stun larger bosses, wipe out hordes of mobs, and also revive teammates instantly if they are downed. Not only can it do those things individually, but you can also do all three at once with a well-placed shot, and it has saved my team’s run many times.
Each character and their abilities can be used in many ways to deal damage and also support your party and discovering how to utilise them in new ways is just as satisfying as discovering Limveld itself. You can also easily use three of one Nightfarer or any combination and succeed, removing even more barriers, as you don’t need any particular Nightfarer to come out victorious (even if some of them have stronger abilities than others).
(Image credit: Bandai Namco)
Some major barriers to Nightreign, however, do emerge after a few hours. Because so much of Nightreign comes from Elden Ring, it is imperative that you have that existing knowledge to enjoy what Nightreign is offering. You can’t sit and try to fight the Golden Hippopotamus again and again to learn its attacks, because the next time you run through Limveld, it could be in a different location or not spawn at all.
The same goes for the Nightlords. You can’t just skip to the third day and practice them over and over, you need to complete a full 45-minute run through Limveld to reach them again, which is taxing. So, you need to be familiar with Elden Ring’s combat and have completed both the base game and the Shadow of the Erdtree expansion because of the difficulty of some of those Nightlords.
While returning players will be able to pick things up after a few runs, it feels like Nightreign is built for the hardcore Soulslike players and addicts who have memorised every attack pattern in Elden Ring and across FromSoftware’s pantheon of titles.
Another key issue at the time of this review is the matchmaking and lack of crossplay. During the pre-release period, we had issues creating lobbies using passwords where matchmaking would fail or simply not put players together when we all tried to matchmake with the same password set. Nightreign definitely retains some of the dated multiplayer quirks of FromSoftware’s other games.
It is also unforgivable in my eye that in the year 2025 Nightreign doesn’t have crossplay, and because of the demanding nature of the game and the reliance on communication, I simply do not see how you can complete any of the Nightlord bosses reliably, especially the tougher ones, without friends whom you know and people you can talk to. I don’t necessarily think this is a straight-up weakness of the game, but it's a huge condition attached to the game that will prevent a lot of people from seeing everything it has to offer.
Should I play Elden Ring Nightreign?
(Image credit: Bandai Namco)
Play it if...
You are an Elden Ring veteran with a lot of experience with FromSoftware’s other games Nightreign is built on Elden Ring’s foundations, and the roguelike nature rewards those who have already memorised existing bosses and are familiar with the franchise’s combat.
You have a group of friends whom you can rely on and play with consistently Trying to play Nightreign solo is not a fun time initially, and remains a challenge even for experienced players. The game is built for 3-player co-op, and you need to be able to strategize and talk to your teammates to assist each other and optimize your builds.
Don't play it if...
You don’t have any experience with Elden Ring or other soulslikes Nightreign is not a game you can use to introduce yourself to FromSoftware’s behemoth world, especially if you want an experience you can enjoy at your own pace, as the game is focused on time-limited, fast-paced 45-minute runs through the world.
Accessibility
Elden Ring Nightreign offers limited accessibility options. There are basic speed adjustments for the camera and aiming with ranged weapons. There are no difficulty settings, and the game is best played in a co-op party of three, where you can communicate, which may not be possible for everyone.
There is also no subtitle customization or HUD alteration options, and there are no specialist options for those with eyesight or hearing issues. While you can rebind some controls on console, you cannot rebind every button, potentially preventing some people from playing on custom controllers.
How I reviewed Elden Ring Nightreign
I played Elden Ring Nightreign for 30 hours, completing all of the game’s Nightlord bosses and experiencing most of the world and map events available. I played the game entirely in performance mode on PS5 with a DualSense Edge controller on a Gigabyte M28U gaming monitor and using SteelSeries Arena 3 computer speakers.
This review was conducted in an environment where I was able to team up with other creators and journalists reviewing the game to play with them and complete the game’s various challenges.
Alienware has a reputation among system-building enthusiasts for being, well, a little odd, a little out of the ordinary. As premium brands go, there's a certain air about it, a je ne sais quoi, so to speak. Iconic? Perhaps, but it also doesn't know quite what it wants to be. Whether it's a company that's dedicated to the teenage gamer from yesteryear or the modern-day millennial professional is still up for debate, and its products show that. None more so than the Alienware Area-51 (2025), I've been testing over the last few weeks.
Built for a gamer who's not interested in the finer details, yet equipped with enough hardware to simulate the sun, it has a professional workstation price tag but a physical appearance that'd be more at home in 2009 than 2025. It's got a top-tier spec sheet, yet lacks some of the fundamentals that would make it a more pro-grade workstation. In short, who it's for is kind of a mystery.
The unit I tested comes with an Intel Core Ultra 9 285K processor, Nvidia RTX 5090 GPU, 64GB of DDR5, and a 2TB PCIe 5.0 SSD, so this is not going to be a budget gaming PC, that's for sure. The configuration I tested comes in at $5,700 in the US (although that's with a 2TB PCIe 4.0 SSD, not the 5.0 SSD in review), £5,469 in the UK, and an obscene AU$12,320 in Australia. That is a staggering cost, particularly when you consider similar-spec'd DIY machines can be built for a lot less.
That, of course, comes with some fairly major caveats. If you do want to build your own machine, you have to know what you're doing, put in the research, and be comfortable buying all those individual parts and putting it all together. There is some justification for skipping all of that and picking one of these up. Particularly if you're dead set on the hardware and have the budget for it.
(Image credit: Future / Zak Storey)
What you get is otherworldly performance, as you'd imagine. Computational tasks absolutely crumble before the Area-51, and gaming, particularly at 4K, is outstanding with even the most intense titles out there landing north of 100 fps on average without AI upscaling or any of the more modern frame generation shenanigans. Slap those settings on top of that stock performance, and that RTX 5090 just runs away with it, hitting frame rates well into the 200s.
The Area-51 keeps its components nice and cool too, thanks to twin 180mm intake fans in the front, two 120mm fans in the PSU floor, plus a 360mm AIO in the roof, exhausting upwards. That's all backed up with a rather curious 1500W platinum-rated PSU delivering power to the lot.
Aside from the premium pricing, problems also arise when you begin to dig under the surface. The rear I/O on that custom Alienware motherboard is sub-tier at best, with an overreliance on USB-C and very little USB-A at all, and the rest of the I/O is equally as lackluster, with minimal ethernet support and little in the way of integrated HDMI/DisplayPort or other features all too commonplace on even the cheapest of modern-day Z890 boards.
Then there's the case itself. It's big, bulky, and far too heavy. The dimensions are massive, and on delivery, the entire thing weighs 88 lbs (or 40 kg), requiring either one strong PC gamer or a two-person team to lift it and chuck it on your desk. That's surprising given the exterior of the chassis feels particularly dull, mostly composed of an unemotive satin plastic, rather than the thick, girthy steel you'd likely expect, given the heft.
Yes, there are those signature Alienware curves and lines and enough RGB lighting dotted around to keep that 15-year-old kid in you happy, but it just lacks the finesse that the best gaming PCs of this price and caliber should come with, and that's a problem.
Alienware Area-51 (2025): Price & Availability
How much is it? Starting at $3,749.99 / £3,799 / AU$7,271
When is it available? You can pick one up today
Where can you get it? Directly from Dell's webstore
Let's be fair, we all knew the price tag for this thing was going to be ridiculous; after all, it's without a doubt Alienware's signature party trick and is loaded down with top-tier specs from the best graphics cards, best processors, best RAM, and best SSDs you can find on the market right now.
The Area 51 starts at $3,749.99 / £3,799 / AU$7,271 in the US, UK, and Australia, respectively, which is still pretty premium as far as gaming PCs go. That's especially true considering you're getting a Core Ultra 7 system with an RTX 5080, 32GB DDR5 (or even 16GB DDR5 in Australia), and fairly modest 1TB or 2TB storage. The RTX 5090 configuration I tested (with Core Ultra 9 285K, 64GB RAM, and 2TB PCIe SSD) comes in at $5,699.99 in the US, £5,469 in the UK, and a frightful AU$12,320 Down Under.
If I'm honest, we've not tested much like this PC at TechRadar to date, largely because of the RTX 5090 at its heart. And while it's an unabashed monster that delivers exceptional performance, compared to last gen's RTX 4090, it's seen a significant price increase—and that was before Nvidia's low availability and stock issues that it's suffered since its release.
Put this against the best price possible on a DIY rig, though, with the same component tier as my review unit, and the price difference is substantial. According to PC Part Picker, a DIY build would set you back just $4,842.91 in the US, £4,267.64 in the UK, or AU$9,914.60 in Australia. It's up to you whether you want to pay a roughly 18-28% premium to have a prebuilt system like this, but you can likely get the same performance for cheaper.
All configurations come with a custom 02JGX1 E-ATX Z890 motherboard and vary from there based on region. Additionally, all models feature a bespoke PSU, with the US and Australia starting with an 80+ Gold 850W power supply, while the UK only has an option for a 1500W 80+ Platinum PSU.
The US and Australia start with 1TB PCIe 4.0 SSD storage, while the UK starts with a larger 2TB PCIe 4.0 SSD. The US and Australia also start with a smaller 240mm AIO cooler, while the UK only has a 360mm AIO option.
There are also a total of eight fans included: two 180mm intakes, two 120mm intakes in the PSU floor, and three 120mm exhausts hidden above the topmost radiator.
Starting memory options come in the form of a dual-channel kit of Kingston Fury DDR5, ranging from 16GB all the way up to 64GB capacity, depending on your region.
When it comes to max spec configurations, there's not much difference between regions, other than the US maxing out at just one 4TB PCIe 4.0 SSD, while the UK and Australia come with two 4TB PCIe 4.0 SSDs for a total of 8TB of storage.
For the top-tier configurations, you get an Intel Core Ultra 9 285K CPU, an Nvidia RTX 5090 GPU, 64GB DDR5-6400 memory with XMP overclocking, a 1500W Platinum-rated PSU, and a 360mm AIO cooler.
2TB PCIe NVMe SSD (PCIe 4.0 in the US, PCIe 5.0 in UK and Australia)
Cooling
360mm AIO
PSU
1500W 80+ Platinum
The configuration I'm reviewing here is towards the higher end, featuring a Core Ultra 9 285K, RTX 5090, 64GB DDR5 RAM, and a 2TB SSD, though the closest US config to my review unit has a PCIe 4.0 SSD, rather than a PCIe 5.0. It also has a 360mm AIO cooler and the beefier 1500W PSU.
Specs: 4 / 5
Alienware Area-51 (2025): Design
(Image credit: Future / Zak Storey)
Oversized case leaves much to be desired
Internal industrial styling is intense
External shell a bit dull in the modern era
The Alienware Area-51 desktop is big. Seriously big. Its monstrous size will likely keep it off most desks. Even on my own test bench, at three meters long and 60cm deep, it could easily hang off the edge if I had situated it like I do my normal machine.
It's heavy too; that nearly 90 lbs/40kg weight is nothing to snort at—it's the kind of heft I'd expect from a custom liquid-cooled machine, not a pre-built system like this that's mostly comprised of plastic and a single AIO cooler.
(Image credit: Future / Zak Storey)
The overall design is alright. It's got that Alienware chic, with the curves and the alien head logo on the front. Fonts are tidy, and cooling is for the most part well implemented across the board. The internal layout is massive, and there are QR codes littered everywhere for you to scan if you ever need a handy guide on how to update the graphics card or install new memory in the future. It still looks better suited to a launch a decade ago by modern styling standards.
(Image credit: Future / Zak Storey)
What's less impressive is Alienware cutting some corners to bring this machine to market. Cable management internally is less than stellar. There are no braided cables here, and although the rear of the case is tidy, neat, and well-managed, there's a lot of extra cable around the front jutting out that's quite unsightly, or it's bound together awkwardly, pushed into headers on that bespoke motherboard.
(Image credit: Future / Zak Storey)
There's even a massive chunk of metal strapped to the right-hand side of the GPU, solely to help cable-manage that 12VHPWR cable going into the RTX 5090, which not only feels massively overkill but also kind of doesn't work, as it's still draped along the top of it anyway. I mean, yes, technically it is acting as an anti-sag bracket as well here. The RTX 5090 isn't the lightest of cards out there, but there are so many better, more elegant solutions out there these days than just a large block of rectangular metal. It's a real shame.
(Image credit: Future / Zak Storey)
Then there's that custom Z890 motherboard, the adorably named—hang on, let me check my notes here—ah yes, the 02JGX1. A bizarre-looking thing, complete with two DIMM slots for your RAM, three M.2 ports, and, well, that's about it.
It does look like Alienware has attempted to lean into that industrial aesthetic here, but there's so much exposed PCB, wireless cards, and ports just littered everywhere, combined with that poor cabling, it's seriously distracting.
(Image credit: Future / Zak Storey)
Power phase setup is fairly tame too (which directly translates to CPU performance, which I'll speak to momentarily), with a 14-phase design, and the rear I/O is practically nonexistent, with only a smattering of USB Type-A and far too many USB Type-C.
You get one Ethernet port and WiFi support (weirdly running as a passthrough all the way at the bottom of the chassis), and that's kind of it. No Clear CMOS, BIOS flashback, HDMI or DisplayPort out, and no 5.1 audio either.
I bring this up very specifically because this is a $5,700 machine, and motherboards at $235 deliver far more for far less.
Design: 3 / 5
Alienware Area-51 (2025): Performance
(Image credit: Future / Zak Storey)
Incredible 4K gaming framerates
PCIe 5.0 SSD rips
CPU relatively sluggish
Alienware Area-51 (2025) Benchmarks
Here's how the Alienware Area-51 (2025) performed in our suite of synthetic and gaming benchmarks:
When it comes to performance, the Area-51 delivers, although you probably expect it to with top-line specs like it has.
Cinebench R24 performance was well into the two thousands, with a multi-core count of 2,186, on average, and an average single-core score of 136. That's not too shabby at all. In fact, the multi-score number is around 91 points per thread, making it wildly efficient. Similarly, Geekbench 6 also had a pretty good outing, with 21,786 points scored on the multi-core and 3,148 in single-core performance.
That SK Hynix PCIe 5.0 drive in my system, though, is the real winner, and although its sequentials were relatively low for a modern-day PCIe 5.0 drive (averaging just 12.3 GB/s on both read and write), the random 4K performance absolutely decimates pretty much every drive I've seen this year. Its random 4K read performance hit a relatively speedy 113 MB/s, with random writes coming in at 350 MB/s. You're going to see some seriously quick load times with this drive.
Temperatures and power draw were well within parameters, too, with the CPU topping out at around 92°C and the GPU at 75.8°C. Nothing out of the ordinary there. And while it is power-thirsty, the max power draw I saw during testing hit 840.8 W from the wall at peak, which isn't great, but isn't the worst either.
On the gaming side, in my 1080p testing, pretty much every title was well into the 120+ fps range or higher without the help of DLSS or Frame Gen, and a 4K, I saw upwards of 150 fps in Total War: Warhammer III's Battle benchmark, while Cyberpunk 2077 averaged 57 fps at 4K with ray tracing and no DLSS support at all.
The only mild problem I have with this setup is the slight discrepancy against an equally kitted-out rig I built earlier this year. Complete with an RTX 5090 plus Intel Core Ultra 9 285K, my own DIY rig beat out the Area-51 in practically every graphical and computational test.
At a guess, this is likely down to that CPU performance being heavily limited by the 14-phase VRM design, as it just couldn't produce enough juice to keep that Ultra 9 running at full speed for as long as its DIY counterpart.
The odd element about that, though, is that the DIY machine only featured a $220 Gigabyte motherboard, yet temps were at 100°C for the chip (and stable), but performance, both computational and in-game, was around 5-10% higher, depending. For a system that's $1,500 cheaper, that's not a good look.
Performance: 4 / 5
Should You Buy The Alienware Area-51 (2025)?
Alienware Area-51 (2025) Scorecard
Category
Verdict
Score
Value
This isn't a cheap gaming PC, not one bit. Unless you can justify the cost, or it saves you time in some manner, you'd be far better off building your own.
3 / 5
Specs
With the right config, you can easily get the best of the best hardware on the market right now, and you can upgrade it later—if you've got any budget left over.
4 / 5
Design
A design straight of the 2010s, there's numerous fumbles here that let down an otherwise stellar spec sheet.
3 / 5
Performance
Unsurprisingly with that top-tier hardware it absolutely dominates 4K gaming and any task you can throw at it.
4 / 5
Total
Big, bold, and a bit brash. It delivers on the performance front, but with mediocre styling, average build quality, and an insane price, it doesn't quite hit the mark.
3.5 / 5
Buy the Alienware Area-51 If…
You need to save time If you're not interested in building your own machine but want the best hardware, there's no denying this is a good pick, and easily upgradable long-term.
You have the desk space for it It's massive; the case is seriously long, and it's heavy enough that you'll need help just getting it on your desk.
Don't buy it if...
You want the best value A similarly kitted-out gaming PC, built yourself, can save you a lot of money.
You're looking for something a little more stylish Alienware has a style you'll either love or hate, but if you're after something with sharp lines and modern flair, then aside from the interior, you might want to look elsewhere.
Alienware has a reputation among system-building enthusiasts for being, well, a little odd, a little out of the ordinary. As premium brands go, there's a certain air about it, a je ne sais quoi, so to speak. Iconic? Perhaps, but it also doesn't know quite what it wants to be. Whether it's a company that's dedicated to the teenage gamer from yesteryear or the modern-day millennial professional is still up for debate, and its products show that. None more so than the Alienware Area-51 (2025), I've been testing over the last few weeks.
Built for a gamer who's not interested in the finer details, yet equipped with enough hardware to simulate the sun, it has a professional workstation price tag but a physical appearance that'd be more at home in 2009 than 2025. It's got a top-tier spec sheet, yet lacks some of the fundamentals that would make it a more pro-grade workstation. In short, who it's for is kind of a mystery.
The unit I tested comes with an Intel Core Ultra 9 285K processor, Nvidia RTX 5090 GPU, 64GB of DDR5, and a 2TB PCIe 5.0 SSD, so this is not going to be a budget gaming PC, that's for sure. The configuration I tested comes in at $5,700 in the US (although that's with a 2TB PCIe 4.0 SSD, not the 5.0 SSD in review), £5,469 in the UK, and an obscene AU$12,320 in Australia. That is a staggering cost, particularly when you consider similar-spec'd DIY machines can be built for a lot less.
That, of course, comes with some fairly major caveats. If you do want to build your own machine, you have to know what you're doing, put in the research, and be comfortable buying all those individual parts and putting it all together. There is some justification for skipping all of that and picking one of these up. Particularly if you're dead set on the hardware and have the budget for it.
(Image credit: Future / Zak Storey)
What you get is otherworldly performance, as you'd imagine. Computational tasks absolutely crumble before the Area-51, and gaming, particularly at 4K, is outstanding with even the most intense titles out there landing north of 100 fps on average without AI upscaling or any of the more modern frame generation shenanigans. Slap those settings on top of that stock performance, and that RTX 5090 just runs away with it, hitting frame rates well into the 200s.
The Area-51 keeps its components nice and cool too, thanks to twin 180mm intake fans in the front, two 120mm fans in the PSU floor, plus a 360mm AIO in the roof, exhausting upwards. That's all backed up with a rather curious 1500W platinum-rated PSU delivering power to the lot.
Aside from the premium pricing, problems also arise when you begin to dig under the surface. The rear I/O on that custom Alienware motherboard is sub-tier at best, with an overreliance on USB-C and very little USB-A at all, and the rest of the I/O is equally as lackluster, with minimal ethernet support and little in the way of integrated HDMI/DisplayPort or other features all too commonplace on even the cheapest of modern-day Z890 boards.
Then there's the case itself. It's big, bulky, and far too heavy. The dimensions are massive, and on delivery, the entire thing weighs 88 lbs (or 40 kg), requiring either one strong PC gamer or a two-person team to lift it and chuck it on your desk. That's surprising given the exterior of the chassis feels particularly dull, mostly composed of an unemotive satin plastic, rather than the thick, girthy steel you'd likely expect, given the heft.
Yes, there are those signature Alienware curves and lines and enough RGB lighting dotted around to keep that 15-year-old kid in you happy, but it just lacks the finesse that the best gaming PCs of this price and caliber should come with, and that's a problem.
Alienware Area-51 (2025): Price & Availability
How much is it? Starting at $3,749.99 / £3,799 / AU$7,271
When is it available? You can pick one up today
Where can you get it? Directly from Dell's webstore
Let's be fair, we all knew the price tag for this thing was going to be ridiculous; after all, it's without a doubt Alienware's signature party trick and is loaded down with top-tier specs from the best graphics cards, best processors, best RAM, and best SSDs you can find on the market right now.
The Area 51 starts at $3,749.99 / £3,799 / AU$7,271 in the US, UK, and Australia, respectively, which is still pretty premium as far as gaming PCs go. That's especially true considering you're getting a Core Ultra 7 system with an RTX 5080, 32GB DDR5 (or even 16GB DDR5 in Australia), and fairly modest 1TB or 2TB storage. The RTX 5090 configuration I tested (with Core Ultra 9 285K, 64GB RAM, and 2TB PCIe SSD) comes in at $5,699.99 in the US, £5,469 in the UK, and a frightful AU$12,320 Down Under.
If I'm honest, we've not tested much like this PC at TechRadar to date, largely because of the RTX 5090 at its heart. And while it's an unabashed monster that delivers exceptional performance, compared to last gen's RTX 4090, it's seen a significant price increase—and that was before Nvidia's low availability and stock issues that it's suffered since its release.
Put this against the best price possible on a DIY rig, though, with the same component tier as my review unit, and the price difference is substantial. According to PC Part Picker, a DIY build would set you back just $4,842.91 in the US, £4,267.64 in the UK, or AU$9,914.60 in Australia. It's up to you whether you want to pay a roughly 18-28% premium to have a prebuilt system like this, but you can likely get the same performance for cheaper.
All configurations come with a custom 02JGX1 E-ATX Z890 motherboard and vary from there based on region. Additionally, all models feature a bespoke PSU, with the US and Australia starting with an 80+ Gold 850W power supply, while the UK only has an option for a 1500W 80+ Platinum PSU.
The US and Australia start with 1TB PCIe 4.0 SSD storage, while the UK starts with a larger 2TB PCIe 4.0 SSD. The US and Australia also start with a smaller 240mm AIO cooler, while the UK only has a 360mm AIO option.
There are also a total of eight fans included: two 180mm intakes, two 120mm intakes in the PSU floor, and three 120mm exhausts hidden above the topmost radiator.
Starting memory options come in the form of a dual-channel kit of Kingston Fury DDR5, ranging from 16GB all the way up to 64GB capacity, depending on your region.
When it comes to max spec configurations, there's not much difference between regions, other than the US maxing out at just one 4TB PCIe 4.0 SSD, while the UK and Australia come with two 4TB PCIe 4.0 SSDs for a total of 8TB of storage.
For the top-tier configurations, you get an Intel Core Ultra 9 285K CPU, an Nvidia RTX 5090 GPU, 64GB DDR5-6400 memory with XMP overclocking, a 1500W Platinum-rated PSU, and a 360mm AIO cooler.
2TB PCIe NVMe SSD (PCIe 4.0 in the US, PCIe 5.0 in UK and Australia)
Cooling
360mm AIO
PSU
1500W 80+ Platinum
The configuration I'm reviewing here is towards the higher end, featuring a Core Ultra 9 285K, RTX 5090, 64GB DDR5 RAM, and a 2TB SSD, though the closest US config to my review unit has a PCIe 4.0 SSD, rather than a PCIe 5.0. It also has a 360mm AIO cooler and the beefier 1500W PSU.
Specs: 4 / 5
Alienware Area-51 (2025): Design
(Image credit: Future / Zak Storey)
Oversized case leaves much to be desired
Internal industrial styling is intense
External shell a bit dull in the modern era
The Alienware Area-51 desktop is big. Seriously big. Its monstrous size will likely keep it off most desks. Even on my own test bench, at three meters long and 60cm deep, it could easily hang off the edge if I had situated it like I do my normal machine.
It's heavy too; that nearly 90 lbs/40kg weight is nothing to snort at—it's the kind of heft I'd expect from a custom liquid-cooled machine, not a pre-built system like this that's mostly comprised of plastic and a single AIO cooler.
(Image credit: Future / Zak Storey)
The overall design is alright. It's got that Alienware chic, with the curves and the alien head logo on the front. Fonts are tidy, and cooling is for the most part well implemented across the board. The internal layout is massive, and there are QR codes littered everywhere for you to scan if you ever need a handy guide on how to update the graphics card or install new memory in the future. It still looks better suited to a launch a decade ago by modern styling standards.
(Image credit: Future / Zak Storey)
What's less impressive is Alienware cutting some corners to bring this machine to market. Cable management internally is less than stellar. There are no braided cables here, and although the rear of the case is tidy, neat, and well-managed, there's a lot of extra cable around the front jutting out that's quite unsightly, or it's bound together awkwardly, pushed into headers on that bespoke motherboard.
(Image credit: Future / Zak Storey)
There's even a massive chunk of metal strapped to the right-hand side of the GPU, solely to help cable-manage that 12VHPWR cable going into the RTX 5090, which not only feels massively overkill but also kind of doesn't work, as it's still draped along the top of it anyway. I mean, yes, technically it is acting as an anti-sag bracket as well here. The RTX 5090 isn't the lightest of cards out there, but there are so many better, more elegant solutions out there these days than just a large block of rectangular metal. It's a real shame.
(Image credit: Future / Zak Storey)
Then there's that custom Z890 motherboard, the adorably named—hang on, let me check my notes here—ah yes, the 02JGX1. A bizarre-looking thing, complete with two DIMM slots for your RAM, three M.2 ports, and, well, that's about it.
It does look like Alienware has attempted to lean into that industrial aesthetic here, but there's so much exposed PCB, wireless cards, and ports just littered everywhere, combined with that poor cabling, it's seriously distracting.
(Image credit: Future / Zak Storey)
Power phase setup is fairly tame too (which directly translates to CPU performance, which I'll speak to momentarily), with a 14-phase design, and the rear I/O is practically nonexistent, with only a smattering of USB Type-A and far too many USB Type-C.
You get one Ethernet port and WiFi support (weirdly running as a passthrough all the way at the bottom of the chassis), and that's kind of it. No Clear CMOS, BIOS flashback, HDMI or DisplayPort out, and no 5.1 audio either.
I bring this up very specifically because this is a $5,700 machine, and motherboards at $235 deliver far more for far less.
Design: 3 / 5
Alienware Area-51 (2025): Performance
(Image credit: Future / Zak Storey)
Incredible 4K gaming framerates
PCIe 5.0 SSD rips
CPU relatively sluggish
Alienware Area-51 (2025) Benchmarks
Here's how the Alienware Area-51 (2025) performed in our suite of synthetic and gaming benchmarks:
When it comes to performance, the Area-51 delivers, although you probably expect it to with top-line specs like it has.
Cinebench R24 performance was well into the two thousands, with a multi-core count of 2,186, on average, and an average single-core score of 136. That's not too shabby at all. In fact, the multi-score number is around 91 points per thread, making it wildly efficient. Similarly, Geekbench 6 also had a pretty good outing, with 21,786 points scored on the multi-core and 3,148 in single-core performance.
That SK Hynix PCIe 5.0 drive in my system, though, is the real winner, and although its sequentials were relatively low for a modern-day PCIe 5.0 drive (averaging just 12.3 GB/s on both read and write), the random 4K performance absolutely decimates pretty much every drive I've seen this year. Its random 4K read performance hit a relatively speedy 113 MB/s, with random writes coming in at 350 MB/s. You're going to see some seriously quick load times with this drive.
Temperatures and power draw were well within parameters, too, with the CPU topping out at around 92°C and the GPU at 75.8°C. Nothing out of the ordinary there. And while it is power-thirsty, the max power draw I saw during testing hit 840.8 W from the wall at peak, which isn't great, but isn't the worst either.
On the gaming side, in my 1080p testing, pretty much every title was well into the 120+ fps range or higher without the help of DLSS or Frame Gen, and a 4K, I saw upwards of 150 fps in Total War: Warhammer III's Battle benchmark, while Cyberpunk 2077 averaged 57 fps at 4K with ray tracing and no DLSS support at all.
The only mild problem I have with this setup is the slight discrepancy against an equally kitted-out rig I built earlier this year. Complete with an RTX 5090 plus Intel Core Ultra 9 285K, my own DIY rig beat out the Area-51 in practically every graphical and computational test.
At a guess, this is likely down to that CPU performance being heavily limited by the 14-phase VRM design, as it just couldn't produce enough juice to keep that Ultra 9 running at full speed for as long as its DIY counterpart.
The odd element about that, though, is that the DIY machine only featured a $220 Gigabyte motherboard, yet temps were at 100°C for the chip (and stable), but performance, both computational and in-game, was around 5-10% higher, depending. For a system that's $1,500 cheaper, that's not a good look.
Performance: 4 / 5
Should You Buy The Alienware Area-51 (2025)?
Alienware Area-51 (2025) Scorecard
Category
Verdict
Score
Value
This isn't a cheap gaming PC, not one bit. Unless you can justify the cost, or it saves you time in some manner, you'd be far better off building your own.
3 / 5
Specs
With the right config, you can easily get the best of the best hardware on the market right now, and you can upgrade it later—if you've got any budget left over.
4 / 5
Design
A design straight of the 2010s, there's numerous fumbles here that let down an otherwise stellar spec sheet.
3 / 5
Performance
Unsurprisingly with that top-tier hardware it absolutely dominates 4K gaming and any task you can throw at it.
4 / 5
Total
Big, bold, and a bit brash. It delivers on the performance front, but with mediocre styling, average build quality, and an insane price, it doesn't quite hit the mark.
3.5 / 5
Buy the Alienware Area-51 If…
You need to save time If you're not interested in building your own machine but want the best hardware, there's no denying this is a good pick, and easily upgradable long-term.
You have the desk space for it It's massive; the case is seriously long, and it's heavy enough that you'll need help just getting it on your desk.
Don't buy it if...
You want the best value A similarly kitted-out gaming PC, built yourself, can save you a lot of money.
You're looking for something a little more stylish Alienware has a style you'll either love or hate, but if you're after something with sharp lines and modern flair, then aside from the interior, you might want to look elsewhere.
Keeping an eye on your property remotely has become an obsession for many of us. No matter where you are in the world you can see exactly who is in your house and who has come to the front door. You can even use your camera to monitor the miserable weather back home while you are abroad enjoying sunshine.
Now owned by retailing behemoth Amazon, Ring was originally set up by US entrepreneur Jamie Siminoff as ‘Doorbot’ in 2013, but has since gone on to become one of the biggest names in the home security industry. As the name suggests, the Outdoor Cameras (previously known as Stick-Up Cameras) are designed for outdoor use, though there is no reason why you couldn’t use it indoors too – it can be just as easily placed on a table or desk as on the wall outside.
(Image credit: Chris Price)
The Outdoor Camera Plus is certainly a versatile model with several mounting options, including a wall bracket (with wall plugs) as well as a rechargeable battery pack if a power cable isn't feasible (this wasn’t provided). Plastic covers stop water getting into the USB-C power port and the model is ‘weather-resistant’, not waterproof, so shouldn’t be submerged in water!
As with most home security cameras, set up is straightforward. Simply download the Ring app and scan the QR code with your phone’s camera to add the device to the app (several Ring devices can be viewed within the app, including cameras, video doorbells, chimes and alarms). You will then be taken through a set of voice-based instructions for syncing the camera to your home’s Wi-Fi, naming the device and updating its firmware. Usefully this new model features dual-band support so you can add it to either your 2.4GHz or 5GHz network as well as Amazon Alexa compatibility. For added security, two-factor authentication is also now provided.
When it comes to features, the Ring Outdoor Camera Plus doesn’t disappoint. You can set motion detection zones to avoid the camera capturing footage from, say, the swaying of tree branches. And it’s also possible to set up privacy zones that allow you to block out certain areas of the frame, even in ‘live view’. Instead, all you see on the screen is a black rectangle. It’s an unusual feature but one which is quite useful if you have neighbours concerned your camera can view/capture recordings from their property.
(Image credit: Chris Price)
Another unusual feature in the menu is Smart Responses. This enables you to send out a warning message to people to tell them they are being recorded. However, it isn’t live on this device – at least yet. Other more conventional features include motion sensitivity for adjusting the amount of footage you capture (useful if you want to preserve battery life) and motion schedules for setting the times of day you want to record movement.
But that’s not all. For those who subscribe to Ring’s monthly subscription plans, other functions are available too. These include ‘smart alerts’ which filter different types of motion into categories – ie parcel, person and vehicles. Providing you pay for the £15.99 per month Ring Premium service, there’s also an AI-driven smart video search tool that can identify certain objects in your device's recorded motion events.
(Image credit: Chris Price)
For example, just enter ‘dog’ into the search bar you can see all the times your dog has been captured by the camera while ‘red top’ will bring up footage of anyone wearing a red top in the recorded events. Particularly useful is that you can log into your Ring account on the web so you can view footage of all your cameras while working on your laptop, something which isn’t possible with more basic models.
Ring Outdoor Camera Plus: price and availability
Prices start at $69 / £69 / AU$179
Additional solar panel costs extra
Launched March 2025
Ring security cameras certainly aren't expensive to buy compared to some of the best home security cameras. At the time of writing, you can pick up the Ring Outdoor Cam Plus for £69 / $69 / $179 (considerably cheaper than the launch price). However, just like printer companies make their money from selling expensive printer cartridges, home security companies make theirs from selling costly subscriptions.
And really you don’t get too much more expensive than Ring’s monthly subscriptions. Whereas some companies, such as Blink, charge under $5 / £5 / AU$10 a month for a subscription, with Ring you are looking at double that – and that’s just the entry level subscription. If you want all the bells and whistles, such as the Smart Video Search outlined earlier, it will set you back a hefty $19.99 / £15.99 per month (and this top-tier subscription isn't even available in Australia).
In my opinion that’s simply far too much money, unless you are using the Ring for professional purposes such as monitoring, say, high street shops (in which case there are more advanced video surveillance systems available). Far better if you need to keep the recordings is to choose a security camera which provides the option of recording footage locally on a USB stick or MicroSD card.
Value score: 3/5
Ring Outdoor Camera Plus: subscription options
Ring Home Basic:
$4.99 / £4.99 / AU$4.95 per month
$49.99 / £49.99 / AU$49.95 per year
Subscription for a single device. Includes up to 180 days of video event history, person and package alerts, video preview alerts, and 10% off Ring.com purchases.
Ring Home Standard:
$9.99 / £7.99 / AU$14.95 per month
$99.99 / £79.99 / AU$149.95 per year
Includes everything in Basic, plus all devices at one location, doorbell calls, extended live view, alarm cellular backup, and daily event summary.
Ring Premium:
$19.99 / £15.99 per month
$199.99 / £159.99 per year
Not currently available in Australia. Includes everything in Standard, plus 24/7 recording, continuous live view, and smart video search.
Ring Outdoor Camera Plus: design
Upgraded from Ring Stick Up Camera
Versatile mounting
Flexible power options
With the Outdoor Camera Plus, Ring has made a few improvements over its predecessor, the third generation Ring Stick Up Camera (now called the Outdoor Camera). Most notable is its improved design, particularly the versatile mounting options. The Ring Outdoor Cam Plus can be mounted on a desktop/table, on a wall or roof eave using the screws and wall plugs provided. It can be mounted on the ceiling with an additional accessory (not provided as standard) and easily angled for optimum use.
(Image credit: Chris Price)
Power is provided via the USB-C connector in the middle of the camera (a power cable wasn’t provided with our sample). Alternatively, you can take the Lithium-Ion battery out by swivelling the base to the unlock icon and removing it (ensuring you remove the card covering the charging points). You can then charge it via the orange Micro-USB cable provided until it’s ready for installation. Spare batteries are also available to buy online at Amazon of course.
(Image credit: Chris Price)
Available in black or white, the Outdoor Cam Plus features a lens on the front which provides a 160-degree diagonal, 140-degree horizontal, and 80-degree vertical field of view. Underneath is a speaker while above there’s a small microphone for two-way conversations with visitors. When movement is recorded a solid blue light is displayed at the top of the unit while during set up this flashes blue.
Design score: 4/5
Ring Outdoor Camera Plus: performance
2K image quality
Stable video connection
Overly sensitive camera
Ring claims the Outdoor Camera Plus offers ‘brilliant 2K video quality’ but in all honesty there’s not a massive leap in quality between this model and its predecessor, the Ring Stick Up Camera. Whereas the previous model offered 1,920 x 1,080 resolution, this one boasts 2,560 x 1,440 (2K). In other words, an increase of 360 horizontal pixels and 640 vertical pixels – enough to see the difference when you zoom in to an image, but probably not otherwise.
(Image credit: Chris Price)
That said, I didn’t have any complaints about picture quality at all. Images are sharp even at night thanks to the ‘low-light sight’ feature (although colour is limited in low light) and the field of vision is also quite wide: 140-degree horizontal compared to 115 degrees on the Ring Stick Up Camera.
Another benefit is having dual-band Wi-Fi support (2.4GHz and 5GHz) which ensured images recorded on the camera and viewed in Live View were extremely stable even though the camera was mostly located in the back garden, a significant distance from my broadband router.
(Image credit: Chris Price)
One thing worth noting is that the Ring Outdoor Camera Plus isn’t as sensitive as some models which record every bit of motion detected, even moving branches. Instead, you will probably need to turn the motion sensitivity option up a little bit just to capture all the footage you want. This will in turn use up more battery power so it’s worth considering either using the mains or a solar panel as a power supplement.
After nearly two weeks our sample model was already down to 50% so you will probably have to take the battery pack out for charging once a month – not the worst we’ve ever tested, but not the best either.
Performance score: 4/5
Should you buy the Ring Outdoor Camera Plus?
Ring Outdoor Camera Plus score card
Attribute
Notes
Score
Value
While the actual camera itself is relatively cheap, the subscription which gives you most of the added functionality is very expensive.
3/5
Design
Available in black or white, the Ring Outdoor Cam Plus looks OK and is both compact and reasonably well designed. Suitable for a number of locations (indoors or outdoors) it can be powered by mains, battery or even solar power.
4/5
Performance
Offering 2K video quality, the Ring Outdoor Camera Plus provides stable, good quality, images in record mode and live view. However, battery life isn’t the best and the motion sensor isn’t particularly sensitive.
4/5
Overall
A decent home security camera, but the Ring Outdoor Camera Plus loses points for its expensive subscription packages and so-so battery life. Performance isn’t that much better than its predecessor, the Ring Stick Up Cam
3.5/5
Buy it if
You need a versatile home security solution
With support for battery, solar and mains power, the Ring Outdoor Camera Plus is particularly flexible. It can also be used indoors and outdoors.
You want the latest features
There’s no shortage of handy features including Amazon Alexa compatibility and different motion and privacy zone settings, as well as smart video search (if you subscribe).
Don't buy it if
You already have the Ring Stick Up Camera
While picture quality and design are slightly better than the Ring Stick Up Cam there aren’t too many other benefits to justify the upgrade
You don’t want to pay for a subscription
Unfortunately Ring charges more than most other home security camera manufacturers for subscriptions, and you'll need one to get the most out of the Outdoor Camera Plus.
How I tested the Ring Outdoor Camera Plus
I used the camera both indoors and outdoors
I installed it myself
The camera was integrated into my home system with other Ring cameras
Like most manufacturers, Ring makes adding new cameras to its app very simple indeed. Because I already had several Ring security cameras and doorbells connected to my existing app, I simply added another using the QR code at the back of the device. However, starting from scratch would have been just as straightforward.
I started off using the device mostly indoors to get the feel of it and then moved it to my garden where I mounted it on top of the shed focused on the back door. There it has remained ever since (about 12 days at the time of writing), capturing people and pets who go out into the garden. Ring provides a 30-day trial for all the advanced features, such as smart video search and person/package/video alerts, but after this runs out you will need to subscribe online at Ring.com (you can’t do this via the app).
Keeping an eye on your property remotely has become an obsession for many of us. No matter where you are in the world you can see exactly who is in your house and who has come to the front door. You can even use your camera to monitor the miserable weather back home while you are abroad enjoying sunshine.
Now owned by retailing behemoth Amazon, Ring was originally set up by US entrepreneur Jamie Siminoff as ‘Doorbot’ in 2013, but has since gone on to become one of the biggest names in the home security industry. As the name suggests, the Outdoor Cameras (previously known as Stick-Up Cameras) are designed for outdoor use, though there is no reason why you couldn’t use it indoors too – it can be just as easily placed on a table or desk as on the wall outside.
(Image credit: Chris Price)
The Outdoor Camera Plus is certainly a versatile model with several mounting options, including a wall bracket (with wall plugs) as well as a rechargeable battery pack if a power cable isn't feasible (this wasn’t provided). Plastic covers stop water getting into the USB-C power port and the model is ‘weather-resistant’, not waterproof, so shouldn’t be submerged in water!
As with most home security cameras, set up is straightforward. Simply download the Ring app and scan the QR code with your phone’s camera to add the device to the app (several Ring devices can be viewed within the app, including cameras, video doorbells, chimes and alarms). You will then be taken through a set of voice-based instructions for syncing the camera to your home’s Wi-Fi, naming the device and updating its firmware. Usefully this new model features dual-band support so you can add it to either your 2.4GHz or 5GHz network as well as Amazon Alexa compatibility. For added security, two-factor authentication is also now provided.
When it comes to features, the Ring Outdoor Camera Plus doesn’t disappoint. You can set motion detection zones to avoid the camera capturing footage from, say, the swaying of tree branches. And it’s also possible to set up privacy zones that allow you to block out certain areas of the frame, even in ‘live view’. Instead, all you see on the screen is a black rectangle. It’s an unusual feature but one which is quite useful if you have neighbours concerned your camera can view/capture recordings from their property.
(Image credit: Chris Price)
Another unusual feature in the menu is Smart Responses. This enables you to send out a warning message to people to tell them they are being recorded. However, it isn’t live on this device – at least yet. Other more conventional features include motion sensitivity for adjusting the amount of footage you capture (useful if you want to preserve battery life) and motion schedules for setting the times of day you want to record movement.
But that’s not all. For those who subscribe to Ring’s monthly subscription plans, other functions are available too. These include ‘smart alerts’ which filter different types of motion into categories – ie parcel, person and vehicles. Providing you pay for the £15.99 per month Ring Premium service, there’s also an AI-driven smart video search tool that can identify certain objects in your device's recorded motion events.
(Image credit: Chris Price)
For example, just enter ‘dog’ into the search bar you can see all the times your dog has been captured by the camera while ‘red top’ will bring up footage of anyone wearing a red top in the recorded events. Particularly useful is that you can log into your Ring account on the web so you can view footage of all your cameras while working on your laptop, something which isn’t possible with more basic models.
Ring Outdoor Camera Plus: price and availability
Prices start at $69 / £69 / AU$179
Additional solar panel costs extra
Launched March 2025
Ring security cameras certainly aren't expensive to buy compared to some of the best home security cameras. At the time of writing, you can pick up the Ring Outdoor Cam Plus for £69 / $69 / $179 (considerably cheaper than the launch price). However, just like printer companies make their money from selling expensive printer cartridges, home security companies make theirs from selling costly subscriptions.
And really you don’t get too much more expensive than Ring’s monthly subscriptions. Whereas some companies, such as Blink, charge under $5 / £5 / AU$10 a month for a subscription, with Ring you are looking at double that – and that’s just the entry level subscription. If you want all the bells and whistles, such as the Smart Video Search outlined earlier, it will set you back a hefty $19.99 / £15.99 per month (and this top-tier subscription isn't even available in Australia).
In my opinion that’s simply far too much money, unless you are using the Ring for professional purposes such as monitoring, say, high street shops (in which case there are more advanced video surveillance systems available). Far better if you need to keep the recordings is to choose a security camera which provides the option of recording footage locally on a USB stick or MicroSD card.
Value score: 3/5
Ring Outdoor Camera Plus: subscription options
Ring Home Basic:
$4.99 / £4.99 / AU$4.95 per month
$49.99 / £49.99 / AU$49.95 per year
Subscription for a single device. Includes up to 180 days of video event history, person and package alerts, video preview alerts, and 10% off Ring.com purchases.
Ring Home Standard:
$9.99 / £7.99 / AU$14.95 per month
$99.99 / £79.99 / AU$149.95 per year
Includes everything in Basic, plus all devices at one location, doorbell calls, extended live view, alarm cellular backup, and daily event summary.
Ring Premium:
$19.99 / £15.99 per month
$199.99 / £159.99 per year
Not currently available in Australia. Includes everything in Standard, plus 24/7 recording, continuous live view, and smart video search.
Ring Outdoor Camera Plus: design
Upgraded from Ring Stick Up Camera
Versatile mounting
Flexible power options
With the Outdoor Camera Plus, Ring has made a few improvements over its predecessor, the third generation Ring Stick Up Camera (now called the Outdoor Camera). Most notable is its improved design, particularly the versatile mounting options. The Ring Outdoor Cam Plus can be mounted on a desktop/table, on a wall or roof eave using the screws and wall plugs provided. It can be mounted on the ceiling with an additional accessory (not provided as standard) and easily angled for optimum use.
(Image credit: Chris Price)
Power is provided via the USB-C connector in the middle of the camera (a power cable wasn’t provided with our sample). Alternatively, you can take the Lithium-Ion battery out by swivelling the base to the unlock icon and removing it (ensuring you remove the card covering the charging points). You can then charge it via the orange Micro-USB cable provided until it’s ready for installation. Spare batteries are also available to buy online at Amazon of course.
(Image credit: Chris Price)
Available in black or white, the Outdoor Cam Plus features a lens on the front which provides a 160-degree diagonal, 140-degree horizontal, and 80-degree vertical field of view. Underneath is a speaker while above there’s a small microphone for two-way conversations with visitors. When movement is recorded a solid blue light is displayed at the top of the unit while during set up this flashes blue.
Design score: 4/5
Ring Outdoor Camera Plus: performance
2K image quality
Stable video connection
Overly sensitive camera
Ring claims the Outdoor Camera Plus offers ‘brilliant 2K video quality’ but in all honesty there’s not a massive leap in quality between this model and its predecessor, the Ring Stick Up Camera. Whereas the previous model offered 1,920 x 1,080 resolution, this one boasts 2,560 x 1,440 (2K). In other words, an increase of 360 horizontal pixels and 640 vertical pixels – enough to see the difference when you zoom in to an image, but probably not otherwise.
(Image credit: Chris Price)
That said, I didn’t have any complaints about picture quality at all. Images are sharp even at night thanks to the ‘low-light sight’ feature (although colour is limited in low light) and the field of vision is also quite wide: 140-degree horizontal compared to 115 degrees on the Ring Stick Up Camera.
Another benefit is having dual-band Wi-Fi support (2.4GHz and 5GHz) which ensured images recorded on the camera and viewed in Live View were extremely stable even though the camera was mostly located in the back garden, a significant distance from my broadband router.
(Image credit: Chris Price)
One thing worth noting is that the Ring Outdoor Camera Plus isn’t as sensitive as some models which record every bit of motion detected, even moving branches. Instead, you will probably need to turn the motion sensitivity option up a little bit just to capture all the footage you want. This will in turn use up more battery power so it’s worth considering either using the mains or a solar panel as a power supplement.
After nearly two weeks our sample model was already down to 50% so you will probably have to take the battery pack out for charging once a month – not the worst we’ve ever tested, but not the best either.
Performance score: 4/5
Should you buy the Ring Outdoor Camera Plus?
Ring Outdoor Camera Plus score card
Attribute
Notes
Score
Value
While the actual camera itself is relatively cheap, the subscription which gives you most of the added functionality is very expensive.
3/5
Design
Available in black or white, the Ring Outdoor Cam Plus looks OK and is both compact and reasonably well designed. Suitable for a number of locations (indoors or outdoors) it can be powered by mains, battery or even solar power.
4/5
Performance
Offering 2K video quality, the Ring Outdoor Camera Plus provides stable, good quality, images in record mode and live view. However, battery life isn’t the best and the motion sensor isn’t particularly sensitive.
4/5
Overall
A decent home security camera, but the Ring Outdoor Camera Plus loses points for its expensive subscription packages and so-so battery life. Performance isn’t that much better than its predecessor, the Ring Stick Up Cam
3.5/5
Buy it if
You need a versatile home security solution
With support for battery, solar and mains power, the Ring Outdoor Camera Plus is particularly flexible. It can also be used indoors and outdoors.
You want the latest features
There’s no shortage of handy features including Amazon Alexa compatibility and different motion and privacy zone settings, as well as smart video search (if you subscribe).
Don't buy it if
You already have the Ring Stick Up Camera
While picture quality and design are slightly better than the Ring Stick Up Cam there aren’t too many other benefits to justify the upgrade
You don’t want to pay for a subscription
Unfortunately Ring charges more than most other home security camera manufacturers for subscriptions, and you'll need one to get the most out of the Outdoor Camera Plus.
How I tested the Ring Outdoor Camera Plus
I used the camera both indoors and outdoors
I installed it myself
The camera was integrated into my home system with other Ring cameras
Like most manufacturers, Ring makes adding new cameras to its app very simple indeed. Because I already had several Ring security cameras and doorbells connected to my existing app, I simply added another using the QR code at the back of the device. However, starting from scratch would have been just as straightforward.
I started off using the device mostly indoors to get the feel of it and then moved it to my garden where I mounted it on top of the shed focused on the back door. There it has remained ever since (about 12 days at the time of writing), capturing people and pets who go out into the garden. Ring provides a 30-day trial for all the advanced features, such as smart video search and person/package/video alerts, but after this runs out you will need to subscribe online at Ring.com (you can’t do this via the app).
Home design apps and tools are plentiful these days, and you’ll find loads f options for designing interior and exterior spaces online, on your desktop, and on mobile devices. IMSI Design FloorPlan Pro offers high end options for your desktop.
I was keen to see how this professional design tool compared to the best interior design software I've tested - especially considering the company behind it is also responsible for the excellent TurboCAD.
It's not the cheapest 3D home design software out there, but it promises to offer a wealth of features, which you can try free for 15 days
As for this writing, although FloorPlan Pro is available for both Macs and PCs, the former hasn’t been updated in years, and we’ve been told a brand new version is just round the corner. As such, we’ll be focusing our attention on the Windows version.
FloorPlan Pro is the high-end version of IMSI Design’s 3D home design family, the other two being “FloorPlan Deluxe”, and “FloorPlan Instant Architect”. As such it bears the highest price at just under US$280.
With it, you’ll get over 1,000 3D interior design furnishings and materials, over 4,000 plants for landscaping, foundation and HVAC planning tools, advanced dimensioning tools, the ability to import your own materials, backgrounds and plants, and much more.
This is a big software package and you may feel you need time to explore it and make sure it offers all the features you’re after. Thankfully, IMSI Design allow you to try their program free for 15 days.
Score: 4 / 5
FloorPlan Pro: Quick Start
The Quick Start section helps you design the overall structure of your buildings in minutes (Image credit: IMSI Design )
A great way to quickly and easily create the basic outline of the building you’re about to create
There’s little doubt that FloorPlan Pro is replete with powerful features, and is designed with someone who’s serious about 3D home design in mind. However, despite that, the software is also designed to be as approachable as possible, and this is made exceedingly clear from the outset, thanks to the Quick Start section, which greets you when you launch the software.
This enables you to create the bare bones of your building in next to no time: to the right is a sidebar containing various generic rooms, such as a Kitchen, a Bedroom, a Garage, and so forth. Drag them onto your blank canvas (pretty much the rest of the interface), resize them, place them next to others, and within seconds, you’ll have created the outline of your building.
Now, you can’t do much else with this section - you can’t even add windows or doors - that’s for later on - but it does let you get started at lightning speed. Once you’re happy with the results, click on ‘Continue’ to access the ‘proper’ interface.
Score: 4.5 / 5
FloorPlan Pro: Interface
The interface feels crowded, and a little dated, but everything you need is only a click away (Image credit: IMSI Design )
The interface feels crowded as there are buttons and icons on every edge of the screen, but everything is well organised and it won’t take you long to figure out where everything is and make good use of the available tools
FloorPlan Pro’s main interface is pretty busy, although well organised, despite the fact it looks antiquated and could do with a more modern lick of paint. You have alignment controls at the bottom, a series of cursors offering different functions to the left, and at the top, all the tools you need to design your home, organised by category, with ‘Floor’ being selected by default.
That section contains the tools you need to build walls, add windows and doors, insert stairs, railings, columns, and more. Other categories allow you to work on the foundations, add a roof, design the electrics and plumbing, work on the ventilation and air conditioning, add a deck, landscape the outside, etc. It’s incredibly full featured.
If you’re unsure what a tool does, just hover over it for a couple of seconds, and a detailed tooltip will appear telling you exactly what it does, and how to use it. Some even include a short animation to explain the concept more clearly.
By default, you’ll be working in a traditional 2D view, but you can also add a 3D view to the mix, which you can explore in parallel. You can use it to navigate through your design, select items and such, but you cannot manipulate your work from there.
When it comes to making alterations, the interface is very responsive: click on an object to select it, and drag it to move it around or resize it. We did notice however, that unlike other competing products, when you reposition a wall, adjoining walls aren’t resized and repositioned at the same time to accommodate that wall’s new position: you need to work on each in turn.
It’s cumbersome if you’ve grown used to the other way of working, but it shouldn’t be a deal breaker, especially if you like more precise control over your project.
Score: 4 / 5
FloorPlan Pro: Tools
Hover over a tool for it to reveal what it does. Some even include a short animation to explain how they work (Image credit: IMSI Design )
There’s a lot of tools at your disposal, and once you’re used to the interface’s layout, you’ll start enjoying the creation process
As mentioned above, you can find the tools along the interface’s edges, and once you’ve gotten used to their location, accessing the right tool when you need it becomes second nature. In fact we found designing a project to be pretty easy considering the number of available options - not as easy as the “Quick Start” feature, mind, but still, it can become an immersive experience, as you focus on your design.
Working primarily in 2D to create your project might be viewed as a drawback, but there’s an inherent simplicity to the concept that we ended up enjoying the process, occasionally switching to 3D to see how it was all shaping up. The biggest drawback though is that you need a large screen, especially with the 3D view activated, as it can overlap with the rest of the interface and all too easily gets in the way, especially when you’re furnishing your building.
Altering the topography is done through the 3D view (Image credit: IMSI Design )
When it comes to furnishings and materials, everything is located in a drop down menu to the right. All items are organised by category which you can explore, or just use the search field to quickly find what you’re looking for, which you then click and drag onto your design.
We really liked the landscape feature, and can understand why FloorPlan Pro have so many available plants for you to populate your grounds with. The versatility is immense, even allowing you to create uneven ground, creating a much more realistic look for the surrounding area; you can even build a house, cut into a hill for instance, and turn the garden into a dense forest.
The 3D view truly comes into its own when altering the landscape, as this is where you get to change the topography with the various available tools.
Score: 4 / 5
Should I buy FloorPlan Pro?
Image 1 of 3
FloorDesign Pro has thousands of objects you can use to furnish your home (Image credit: IMSI Design )
Image 2 of 3
Use the 3D view primarily to explore your design (Image credit: IMSI Design )
Image 3 of 3
The landscaping is a big part of this software, allowing you to create complex exteriors (Image credit: IMSI Design )
Buy it if...
You’re looking for a professional-grade home design program, with a vast array of features and options, and don’t mind the somewhat dated interface.
Don't buy it if...
You prefer creating, designing and altering your house in a 3D environment, or feel you need an interface that looks a little more modern.
