GoodAccess enhances security by implementing a Software-Defined Perimeter (SDP) that utilizes ZTNA principles. This approach ensures that no user or device is trusted by default, regardless of whether they are inside or outside the network. Every user accessing the network must be authenticated and verified, significantly reducing the risk of unauthorized access or cyber threats. Furthermore, the platform employs AES-256 and ChaCha20 encryption to ensure that data is encrypted and safe while traveling between remote workers and the company network. Admins have the choice of setting up VPN protocols such as OpenVPN and IKEv2 with both supporting the industry standard AES as their common denominator.
In terms of the servers available, the offering is on the slimmer side, spanning 35 locations spread across the US, Europe, and Asia. If you have specific location requirements it may be worth checking the list before deciding to commit to the service.
The platform offers split tunneling, which enables you to select which traffic should pass through the VPN and which can access the internet directly. This feature helps optimize bandwidth and ensures that critical business traffic remains protected. Additionally, GoodAccess integrates with Single Sign-On (SSO) providers like Google Workspace and Azure Active Directory (and numerous others), simplifying access management for businesses using these tools.
GoodAccess also includes a DNS filter called Threat Blocker, which protects your network from malicious websites, malware, phishing attempts, ransomware, spam, and other online threats. This feature acts as an extra layer of defense, preventing users from accidentally accessing harmful content.
Additionally, the service comes with split tunneling, which optimizes your VPN gateway connection by allowing you to choose which traffic routes through the VPN and which accesses the internet directly. This helps improve overall speed and reduces latency, ensuring a smoother browsing experience. Additionally, GoodAccess provides a static IP address, giving your company a unique identifier for its network. Curiously enough, there is no kill switch option on offer.
(Image credit: GoodAccess)
An API is available only on higher-paid plans, but the connection agent can be used across Windows, MacOS, Linux, Android, iOS, and ChromeOS. Finally, the central dashboard houses all of the functionality, and features a logically laid out array of functionality on the left side. It is easy to use and offers powerful logging features that collate system and gateway access logs, threat blocker logs, device posture, and admin logs.
Pricing & Plans
(Image credit: GoodAccess)
The positive in terms of the pricing plans is that you have a 14-day free trial across all plans, and you can also schedule a live demo to get the feel of the offering. Plans are split between the Essential, Premium, and Enterprise plans, with Enterprise being tailored to your specific needs and pricing determined following that. All plans have a $39 per month cost for a dedicated gateway and a minimum of five users for the first two plans and $50 for the Enterprise plan.
Essential costs $9 per month, per user, but if you opt for annual billing the costs come down to $7 a month. Premium costs $14 per month, per user, and with the annual billing comes down to $11 per month. The major difference between the two initial plans is the security that you get with the offer, while Essential focuses more on VPN and whitelisting features, Premium offers a full blown ZTNA approach, and is more suited for companies looking to stay protected and scale the protection easily.
Performance
While its server network isn’t as extensive as some competitors, the service maintains consistent speeds and uptime. This makes it suitable for everyday business tasks such as video conferencing, file sharing, and accessing cloud-based applications.
However, companies with heavy data usage or those needing extremely high speeds might find the performance a bit limiting compared to more premium business VPN solutions. This limit is pretty evident if you choose a server which is not close to your location i.e. Asian servers from Europe. Nevertheless, you can squeeze out some more performance if you opt to use IKEv2 as opposed to OpenVPN, which worked at least in our case.
Privacy & Security
The SDP model creates an invisible barrier around company resources, meaning these resources are only accessible to authenticated users with explicit permissions. This drastically limits the attack surface, as potential attackers cannot even see what resources exist within the network. By combining ZTNA with encryption, multi-factor authentication (MFA), and single sign-on (SSO) integrations, GoodAccess ensures that sensitive business data is protected at multiple layers.
Additionally, GoodAccess’s ZTNA framework allows businesses to implement role-based access controls, ensuring that employees have access only to the resources they need. This granular control helps maintain strict security policies and prevents lateral movement within the network, further safeguarding company assets from potential breaches. This makes GoodAccess an effective solution for companies aiming to secure remote workforces and comply with stringent data protection regulations.
The platform also offers two-factor authentication (2FA), providing an additional security layer for user accounts. This makes it more difficult for unauthorized users to gain access, even if they manage to obtain login credentials. GoodAccess places a strong emphasis on privacy protection, demonstrated by its GDPR compliance and ISO 27001 and SOC 2 certifications. These certifications indicate that GoodAccess meets specific business standards for data security, privacy, and compliance, ensuring that customer information is handled with care. While the company does maintain logs to assist its users, it ensures full security and privacy through data encryption. The information stored is mainly related to account usage or for purposes such as providing customer support, development, and analytics.
Alternatives
If speed is not the determining factor, an alternative to GoodAcccess Business VPN could be Windscribe, a quirky, stable and all around great VPN for a price that seriously undercuts the premium competitors. Overall, it provides strong encryption, fast service, malware and ad blocking and flexible number of device connections. Moreover, if you like to have the ability to tweak your DNS and firewall settings, the Windscribe is a great choice, since the granularity it offers can give you an extra edge if you’re an experienced admin. To top it all off, the entry price is lower so if GoodAccess is not your cup of tea, give Windscribe a chance by trying out their free offer.
ProtonVPN is another alternative, though one aimed at more established and larger businesses looking to follow a ZTNA approach to its fullest. Double hop and Secure Core options this provider offers ensure the highest level of safety for your assets while remote workforces connect to them. Moreover, the offering is rounded out with safety and security features that rival other premium competitors in the market. However, be ready to pay for it, since price-wise it is more expensive than GoodAccess.
Final Verdict
GoodAccess is a solid business VPN choice for small and medium-sized enterprises that need a reliable, secure, and easy-to-manage solution. It is simple to deploy once signup is complete, and even easier to manage the remote workforce thanks to a logically laid out, yet powerful dashboard.
While it may not have all the advanced features that larger corporations require, its strong encryption, user-friendly interface, and flexible pricing plans make it a practical option for teams looking to protect their remote access without the hassle of complex configurations. A ZTNA approach is still possible using GoodAccess, though you can get much more with premium providers, but you will also have to pay for it.
On a more serious note, Windscribe offers AES-256 encryption and supports multiple protocols such as OpenVPN, IKEv2, and WireGuard, ensuring secure connections for your team. You have the choice of downloading their app for Windows, Linux, and MacOS, while browser extensions are available for Chrome, Firefox, and Edge browsers. There are also apps for Android, iOS, FireTV and AndroidTV.
It is important to note that some advanced features work only when you have both the PC version and the browser extension installed together. Namely, Double Hop, WebRTC Blocker, and network and per-app split routing work best with both installed - though the last one can work without the browser extension we would argue that you should just go ahead and install it. Windscribe supports an unlimited number of devices, making it a great option for teams that need flexibility.
(Image credit: Windscribe)
One of Windscribe’s standout features is its flexible firewall, which offers an additional layer of security by blocking all internet traffic outside the VPN tunnel. This ensures that no data leaks occur if the VPN connection unexpectedly drops. Furthermore, the split tunneling feature is highly useful for businesses, allowing users to choose which apps or websites should go through the VPN and which should access the internet directly. This helps optimize bandwidth and ensures critical business traffic remains secure.
The R.O.B.E.R.T. (Remote Omnidirectional Badware Eliminating Robotic Tool) feature is another unique offering, acting as a customizable domain and IP blocking tool to help prevent malware, phishing attacks, and unwanted ads.
Unlike many VPNs that offer little to no control over DNS settings, Windscribe gives you the ability to specify which DNS servers to use when the VPN is either connected or disconnected. They’ve also added support for DNS-over-HTTPS (DoH), enhancing privacy and security even further. Since Windscribe also operates Control D, a highly customizable DNS service with a free plan, we'll likely see even more DNS-related features integrated into Windscribe's offerings in the future.
Pricing & Plans
(Image credit: Windscribe)
Windscribe is one of the most flexible VPN offerings in the market when it comes to pricing. The “Build-a-Plan” feature (called ScribeForce team) allows you to choose specific servers and data requirements that you may need, ensuring that you only pay for what you use. The monthly costs are only $3 per seat but include a bundle of services such as all Pro features, a Centralized Billing solution, a Team Management panel, and Static IPs (shareable). For the static IP addresses, you will pay $2 per month for Datacenter IPs or $8 per month for Residential IPs. It is important to note that the static IPs come from a handful of countries: the US, UK, Canada, Germany, Holland, Switzerland, and France; encompassing only a few cities from these countries. If this is an important consideration for you, please check Windscribe’s website before making a decision.
There are additional plans if you want to use the VPN in such a manner, simply called Monthly and Yearly plans. The first costs $9 a month and the second $5.75 a month. Both plans come with all of the Pro features such as access to the network of 69 countries and 134 cities, strong encryption, R.O.B.E.R.T., port forwarding, and split tunneling. Overall a very feature-rich plan for a decent price. If you're looking to save on costs, Windscribe offers two free service options: by signing up with an email, you'll receive 10GB of bandwidth per month, while opting out of email registration grants you 2GB of bandwidth each month. These options provide a chance to test the service before committing to a paid plan.
Compared to the premium offerings the feature set is different but so is the pricing to match. It means business but doesn’t take itself too seriously and it’s a breath of fresh air in the VPN space.
Performance
Windscribe delivers reliable performance with servers in over 60 countries, ensuring a stable connection for remote teams regardless of their location. While speeds may vary depending on the server load, the overall experience is smooth for regular tasks such as browsing, video conferencing, and file sharing. However, Windscribe might not be the fastest option for data-heavy activities, such as streaming 4K videos or handling large file transfers, when compared to premium VPN services.
The Stealth protocol is particularly useful for businesses operating in countries with strict internet regulations, as it helps bypass VPN blocks and ensures continuous access to essential resources. However, if the highest possible speed over a VPN is your primary decision factor, then Windscribe might not be the best choice. To note one more time, it is by no means slow, but compared to premium players, it falls short in this department.
Privacy & Security
Windscribe excels in privacy, with a strict no-logs policy, meaning it doesn’t store any data about your team’s online activities. This is crucial for businesses that handle sensitive information or operate in industries with stringent data protection regulations. The VPN also includes DNS/IPv6 leak protection and a kill switch, ensuring your data remains secure even if the connection drops unexpectedly.
The R.O.B.E.R.T. feature further enhances security by allowing businesses to block malware, phishing sites, and unwanted content, offering a customizable approach to managing online threats. This level of control makes Windscribe a great option for businesses looking to tailor their security settings.
One stand-out feature in the privacy segment, which we haven’t seen with competitors, is the real-time report of data requests from copyright and law enforcement agencies. You can find this report on their site here. In essence, it shows how many requests the company received stressing the sentence: “Exactly zero requests were complied with due to lack of relevant data” showing that user’s security and privacy are their number one concern, which is rare in the VPN space.
Alternatives
The usual suspects crop up in the alternative section, with NordLayer being alternative number one if you’re looking for a more scalable solution that caters to Zero Trust Network standards. NordLayer also offers additional features like double hop, ad and phishing blockers, larger network servers, and amazing speeds to round out its offering. While more on the subjective side, the UI seems to be easier to use with NordLayer, but overall the pricing is higher compared to Windscribe.
ProtonVPN is another business VPN alternative that focuses strongly on encryption, security, and privacy. Similar to NordLayer it also offers a plethora of features that protect business assets and remote workforces. In addition, ProtonVPN offers a combination of double hop and their Secure Core feature which puts the most paranoid at ease while surfing. While R.O.B.E.R.T. is great, Proton’s combination is simply unbeatable at the moment. Price-wise though you will be paying more, but you will be getting a premium offer.
Final Verdict
Windscribe Business VPN is a strong choice for small to medium-sized businesses looking for a user-friendly and privacy-focused VPN solution. It's flexible pricing, robust encryption, and additional security features like R.O.B.E.R.T. make it an attractive option for teams that need secure and reliable access to business resources.
The great apps it offers across various devices will ensure that you and your team are covered even in the case of BYOD practices. The transparency offered by the company, the ease of sign-up, and the purchasing process, coupled with the quirky spirit of the team and the service surely make it one of the great VPN services in the market. It is one of our favorite free VPNs to use, and , with the addition of more services, it could become our favorite business VPN solution.
Larger enterprises may want to explore other options that offer dedicated servers and more advanced features that are in line with ZTN practices that seem to be permeating the business world more and more.
TorGuard Business VPN offers a limited set of features tailored to business users. One of its standout features is AES-256 encryption, combined with support for multiple VPN protocols, such as OpenVPN, IKEv2, L2TP/IPSec, and WireGuard. This ensures a high level of security for businesses that need to protect sensitive data across different devices and networks. Additionally, business users can get dedicated IP addresses (very limited by the pricing plan) and access to over 3,000 servers in over 50 countries, ensuring fast and reliable connections regardless of location.
TorGuard supports unlimited bandwidth and unlimited speeds, making it suitable for businesses with heavy data usage, such as those involved in media production or data analytics.
Another significant feature is Stealth VPN, which helps bypass VPN blocks and firewalls, making it ideal for businesses operating in countries with strict internet regulations or for accessing region-restricted content. The service also supports split tunneling, allowing businesses to route specific traffic through the VPN while letting other data access the internet directly. TorGuard offers two types of kill switches for enhanced security.
The primary kill switch shuts down all internet traffic on your device if the VPN connection drops unexpectedly, ensuring a complete lockdown so no data leaks occur. This feature effectively prevents your real IP address and online activities from being exposed. You can easily activate it in the Network settings, and from our testing, it responds quickly and reliably.
During one instance where TorGuard disconnected, the kill switch immediately kicked in, blocking all traffic to maintain privacy. The second option is the App Kill which targets specific apps or processes that you define if you don’t want to kill the entire connection.
The Tor in the name stands for Torrenting, which explains the heavy reliance and great features surrounding P2P. You have the flexibility to torrent directly through the TorGuard app or by using a SOCKS5 proxy. This provides an extra layer of security and flexibility, ensuring your data remains protected.
Pricing & Plans
(Image credit: TorGuard)
TorGuard pricing is the biggest hurdle in our opinion, despite offering four distinct plans. The Starter plan costs $32 a month and covers a “5-user package” which includes 5 e-mail accounts and only 1 dedicated IP address. The next plan, Small, covers 10 users adds 3 dedicated IP addresses, and costs $69 a month. The Medium plan at $110 a month covers 15 users and 5 dedicated IP addresses, and finally, the Large plan covers 20 users and 10 dedicated IPs and costs $169 a month.
While the pricing may look transparent and easy to follow, we prefer the pricing per user strategy that encompasses much more functionality. At the moment, it is difficult to justify the high pricing of TorGuard let alone justify its use for a serious business that aims to scale its services while relying on an extensive remote workforce.
Once you go to the purchase page of the Business VPN, TorGuard will offer upselling options such as a custom VPN router with varying hardware configuration and prices. You can add additional users to your plan for an extra fee, however, the “slide to add” function on their website is clunky and one of the worst experiences we had in trying to add additional costs to a plan.
Performance
In terms of performance, TorGuard delivers consistently high speeds across its global server network, making it suitable for bandwidth-heavy activities like video conferencing, large file transfers, and streaming. The VPN’s unlimited bandwidth ensures that your team’s activities are not hindered by data caps, and its low-latency servers provide smooth, reliable connections for remote workers.
However, during peak hours, speeds can vary, especially when connected to servers in heavily congested regions. Despite this, TorGuard's performance remains above average compared to other business VPNs. The fact that you can choose your protocol and tweak it to a very granular level lets you squeeze out even more performance if you know what you’re doing of course.
Privacy & Security
Security is solid, and its AES-256 encryption combined with multiple VPN protocols ensures data is protected at all times. The service offers DNS and IPv6 leak protection, preventing any data from accidentally leaking outside the VPN tunnel. For added safety, TorGuard provides a kill switch feature that automatically disconnects your internet connection if the VPN connection drops, preventing any unprotected data transfer.
For multi-factor authentication, TorGuard integrates seamlessly with Google Authenticator, adding an extra layer of security for account access. This is a great feature for the admin console through which you can tweak the security and privacy settings for your workforce. The privacy policy of TorGuard states that they do “not collect or log any data from its Virtual Private Network (VPN) or Proxy services.” However, they do collect data for analyzing and improving their website through their own platform, live chat and emails they receive from users.
Alternatives
NordLayer is miles ahead of TorGuard when it comes to the business environment. First of all pricing per user makes it a more affordable solution and gives you easy scaling options and unparalleled flexibility. Its stand-out features such as DNS filtering, network segmentation, dedicated IP, browser extension, smart remote access, a dedicated account manager, Cloud Firewall, Smart Remote Access, and Threat Block come together to offer a comprehensive business solution. If you’re shopping for a VPN or Zero Trust Network (ZTN) you can not go wrong with NordLayer.
ProtonVPN Business is another great alternative to TorGuard as it also has great P2P features. Pricing is a bit steeper than TorGuard but the sheer number of features it offers easily justifies the price difference. Its Secure Core and NetShield features offer protection for even the most paranoid among us, while protocols such as WireGuard, IKEv2, OpenVPN (TCP or UDP), and Stealth offer enough flexibility for all the tweaks you will need. Over 5,000 companies trust their business to this Swiss-based VPN provider, and if you’re in the market for one, it is a much better alternative compared to TorGuard.
Final Verdict
While TorGuard Business VPN is declared to be a business VPN solution, it is hard to justify its usage in an enterprise setting that relies on remote work. It does provide great performance for its core offering, VPN connection, but there are a few additional “goodies” that businesses rely on when looking to set up a ZTN environment. The niche business market that relies heavily on P2P or just needs protection for a handful of its workers can extract benefits from using TorGuard, but a business looking to stay protected and scale easily will be best served to look elsewhere.
Overall, TorGuard seems easier to recommend to individual users who are looking for a reliable and fast VPN solution, and less so for business users.
Shutterfly’s photo book service appears to be pretty standard out of the blocks. It offers a neat selection of templates as well as enticing cover and page type options. However, when you delve into the editing process, things take a turn. What at first seems to be a simple, customizable beast eventually rears its head, exposing its messy, clunky tendencies.
I’ll be upfront, reader, I had a rough time taming Shutterfly’s software in order to create our standardized TechRadar photo book. But allow me to be more specific. After selecting my photo book sized (12 x 12 inches) and page/cover type, I chose Manual mode and was immediately met by what can only be described as a pretty rudimentary, outdated-looking editing page.
There’s a toggle in the top-right for ‘Advanced Editing’, which you need to flick on to do… well basically anything. On the left side of the page, there’s also a ribbon with four options: Layouts (which includes templates for individual pages); Backgrounds (which lets you alter the background/background color); Embellishments (which enables you to insert Stickers, Ribbons or Frames); and Idea Pages (which includes some different individual page layouts).
Now, this isn’t inherently bad, but the actual options within these menus are poor. For instance, you can’t use a hex code to select a particular background color and you can’t even select from a list of colors. Instead, you have to type in the hue you want and scroll until you find a background color that looks as close to what you want as possible. This is pretty archaic and something that you won’t have to put up with when using some of the best photo book services.
(Image credit: Future)
In a similar vein, adding embellishments, like shapes and ribbons, was extremely clunky. I wanted to add a salmon-colored rectangle against one of my photos, but ran into two key issues. Firstly, I wasn’t able to change the color of shapes – I had to once again just accept the closest shade available from a manual search.
Secondly, I wasn’t able to alter the shape of the rectangle once I found one that was relatively close to the shade I needed. Sure, I could make it larger or smaller, but I wasn’t able to adjust its width or height independently. These rigid, overly simple design choices made the editing process frustrating to say the least.
But some may argue that all of this is only an issue if you’re making a more detailed photo book. So, what about the fundamental act of adding photos? I found this, too, to be a mixed experience. Firstly, the upload process is pretty easy. You can drag and drop images (in the JPG, JPEG, PNG and BMP file format) from your computer and they fill out a section at the bottom of the editor, which includes all of your photos. You can then move photos around the pages easily, adjust their size (with length and width displayed in inches) and position. Alternatively, you can add a Photo Area block and assign an image to that designated area.
(Image credit: Future)
However, it’s not all plain sailing. I was totally unable to reverse images, which you’d assume to be a given with a tool such as this. There was also an irritating glitch, where I would place an image and, after moving to a different part of the photo book, would later find that such image had moved or changed size without my input. This meant that I had to constantly check that the position of photos was in line with my intention, resulting in an overlong editing process.
I was also unable to add the TechRadar logo onto the photo book’s spine – even after resizing it and dragging it into the correct area. But perhaps most bizarrely, the editing screen would sometimes flash white, indicating that my pages were totally blank, even if I’d added text or photos. After refreshing the page, my design would often reappear, but I was still unhappy about the software creating unnecessary stress about lost progress.
(Image credit: Future)
Really, the pure volume of glitches like this was far too high. And I wouldn't expect this, especially given the photo book would typically cost just over $130 (around £100 / AU$200). However, it’s worth noting that thanks to savings, we grabbed our photo book for only $98.84, without shipping costs. Ultimately, this is quite a lot to spend on a 12x12 inch, 27-page book, so I anticipated a more seamless user experience.
It is important to note, however, this price isn’t especially steep against competitors. A rough estimate of the price using envelope figures suggested that the same would cost just over $145 using Printique and $133 via Mixbook.
So, if you’re keen to use Shutterfly your best bet is to use a template. There will still be some user issues, like the fact you can’t use a manual text size (there are just a list of options) and fonts are restrictive. But it will let you get past some of the annoying photo editing issues. If you don’t want to use an overarching template, however, there is something of a middle ground. Just use the aforementioned Layouts option on the left side of the screen and you can auto-add photos to specified areas – this works nicely and I didn’t experience items glitching around the screen or changing shape when using this.
(Image credit: Future)
Let’s finish, then, by taking a look at the actual product. Did it live up to my expectations? Actually, it looked OK overall. I compared it side-by-side with our Mixbook photo book and found that Shutterfly’s alternative offered brighter, more vibrant colors and solid overall clarity. On one page, a man’s face was almost impossible to make out in the Mixbook photo book, whereas the added brightness made his features visible in the Shutterfly alternative.
Colors like pinks and greens were a bit more saturated in the Shutterfly photo book, allowing for more definition and contrast. There were, unfortunately, some instances of patchiness in color. On one page, there was a line of pink missing in a rectangle and there were some inconsistencies in the football image. These weren’t awful errors, but for more than $100 / £100, you’d likely expect better.
At the end of it all, would I recommend Shutterfly for photo book creation? I don’t think so. There is certainly a route to a decent user experience if you’re happy using built-in templates and just want a quick, easy solution. But if you want a more personalized layout, this site is not the most user friendly. With its frequent glitches and constrained editing options, Shutterfly unfortunately falls short of similarly priced competitors, even with solid overall print quality. So, I’d recommend building a photo book using a service like Printique instead, which offers a far smoother user experience – more on this in the ‘Also Consider’ section below.
(Image credit: Future)
Should I buy the Shutterfly photo book?
Buy it if…
You’re happy using a pre-made template If you have a solid selection of photos and you aren’t too fussy on layout, Shutterfly could work just fine for you. There’s a decent selection of pre-made templates to choose from here, so if you want a quick, easy process, it will be better to use one of these.
You don’t want to pay top dollar I would argue that the cost of this photo book was too high, but this doesn’t change the fact that it’s pretty standard against competitors. The likes of Mixbook and Printique offer photo books at a very similar price point.
Don't buy it if…
You want a seamless editing experience My biggest gripe with Shutterfly’s photo book service was the clunky editing experience. There were a number of glitches that ruined the user experience, such as photos randomly moving across the page. But more frustratingly, altering the shape of embellishments and finding the right colors for page elements was either impossible or messy.
You want to use a bespoke template If a pre-made template isn’t going to cut it and you want to make a totally bespoke photo book, Shutterfly might not be your best option. It can be quite restrictive in terms of selecting background colors and page elements, making it far from ideal if you have a unique vision in mind.
Shutterfly photo book review: also consider
Mixbook At the moment, Mixbook sits at number one on our list of the best photo book services around. Why? Well, it offers a wide range of templates, plenty of paper or cover options and a good overall user experience. It’s also well-priced, making this site a worthy candidate for your photo book needs. Read our full Mixbook photo book review.
Mimeo It may not have all the flashy features you get with other photo book services, but still, Mimeo is an easy-to-use, reliable option. You likely won’t have to put up with frustrating glitches here, but watch out for the shipping cost, which can be a little steep. Read our full Mimeo photo book review.
How I tested the Shutterfly photo book
(Image credit: Future)
Built a photo book using TechRadar template
Compared against other websites' photo books
I used the Shutterfly website to build a photo book and test out its various templates. Here at TechRadar, we have selected a standardized set of photos to use across all photo book services, in order to make a fair comparison of the platforms. We also use the same layout for our photo book designs, ensuring that we can uncover which service is truly superior.
As well as comparing software features, I ordered the Shutterfly photo book in order to assess print quality, color fidelity and whether there were any scuffs or scratches to the finished product. For reference, the finished photo book I created was 12 x 12 inches, had a matte finish, a hard photo cover and used the standard page type. Any photo books I compared Shutterfly’s to were as similar in design to this as possible.
For businesses, Proton VPN offers dedicated IP addresses and dedicated servers, which ensures better performance and security for employees accessing corporate networks. This is especially valuable for organizations that need consistent access to resources or want to ensure secure remote work. The VPN also integrates seamlessly with a variety of third-party tools and applications, providing flexibility in how you manage your team's connectivity; which can assist in obtaining security certifications such as ISO 27001, SOC2, etc. There is no need for specialized hardware, so deployment is fast, and for business users there is dedicated 24/7 support.
Its Secure Core architecture adds an extra layer of protection by routing traffic through multiple servers in privacy-friendly countries, safeguarding your data even if a VPN endpoint is compromised. When you connect through Proton VPN's Secure Core servers, your VPN connection takes two hops for added security. It first routes from your device to the Secure Core servers and then proceeds to the VPN server you've selected. Proton VPN emphasizes that its Secure Core servers are located in countries with strong privacy laws and are directly owned by Proton. These servers are housed in secure, high-security facilities, such as old military bases, ensuring that your data is protected from potential threats and unauthorized access. This of course is not the fastest way to surf the web, but is potentially one of the safest options. The auto re-connection option comes as standard across all pricing plans, which is a nice to have feature in a modern VPN solution.
(Image credit: Proton VPN)
Another noteworthy feature is NetShield, an advanced ad blocker that protects against malware, trackers, and ads. In short, it checks DNS requests more thoroughly and relies on a list of blocked sites and domains to avoid phishing and malware. Similarly, it blocks trackers and most of the ads you see on websites. While watching YouTube though, you will get ads served inside of videos unless you have YouTube Premium. Finally, the number of blocked ads and trackers we could not verify, but since we did not see ads that were otherwise served to us, we have to say that it works.
Pricing & Plans
(Image credit: Proton VPN)
If you’re looking to test drive Proton as a single user, we recommend you do so using the free version. It is understandably very limited in its functionality and does not offer the real taste of features that you will need as a business user. For business users of Proton Business VPN, there are three pricing plans, VPN Essentials, VPN Professional, and VPN Enterprise. If you’re looking for monthly payments, then the plans cost €8.99 per user and €11.99 per user, respectively. For the Enterprise plan, you need to get in touch with the sales team.
Additionally, if you’re looking to save some money, opting for 1-year pricing, you get a 22% and 17% discount, respectively. And for 2-year pricing, the discounts rise to 33% and 25% for the initial two plans. A dedicated server and IP will cost you an additional €35.99/month.
Performance
All VPNs will inevitably slow down the speed of your internet since you’re routing traffic through a server. This is also true for Proton VPN, however, the speed loss is negligible (depending on which server you’re using). You’re given the choice of using WireGuard, IKEv2, OpenVPN (TCP or UDP), and Stealth tunneling protocols to establish your connection. Thanks to its large network of international servers (over 4800 across 110 countries), you will have ample choices to protect your connection or avoid geo-restrictions.
If you’re using Chromium-based browsers or Firefox-based ones, you can use Proton’s browser extension which lets you browse or stream securely. The best part is that the extensions are available even for the free plan. We did not notice slowdowns in browsers (Chrome and Firefox) nor was there an additional slowdown in speeds when using the extensions. As with all Proton VPN products, the browser extension is open source, allowing anyone to inspect and verify its code for transparency and security. This extension makes it even easier for users to experience the benefits of Proton VPN’s no-logs policy, which is backed by Switzerland’s strong privacy laws.
Last but not least, if you plan on using Secure Core services for browsing, be ready to suffer a hefty speed penalty, since multi-hop connections do eat into speed; but for the most paranoid amongst us, speed is usually not priority number one.
Privacy & Security
Proton VPN’s privacy policy clearly states that it does not log any user activity or IP addresses, maintaining a strict no-logs policy. In the past, Proton VPN used to store timestamps of the last login, but this practice has since been discontinued. The fact that the VPN is based in Switzerland - a country with one of the strongest privacy laws in the world - will ensure that you are protected from government surveillance and third-party requests. In addition, a separate third-party audit confirmed that the provider has no significant flaws in their privacy policy.
Thanks to the DNS leak protection and kill switch features, your connection will remain secure even if the VPN drops for any reason. Furthermore, AES-265 encryption, coupled with multi-factor authentication, adds an extra layer of security. As a business user, you’re given the option to configure your gateways, segment your network, and isolate devices or resources easily.
Proton VPN apps include built-in defenses against man-in-the-middle (MITM) attacks, particularly when operating over unsecured or potentially hostile networks. If such an attack attempt is detected, the app alerts the user and blocks connections to any suspicious servers, providing an added layer of security against malicious threats.
Alternatives
NordLayer jumps out as a strong alternative to Proton VPN, of course, it also commands premium pricing but does stand out when it comes to speed. Similar to Proton, NordLayer offers a rich feature set, with complex security features that complement any business looking to stay on the safer side of the internet. Browser extensions and mobile apps are easy to use, offer granular configuration, and thanks to its Firewall as a service option, it ticks all of the checkboxes for a Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) solution.
Twingate is another alternative that, like Proton, offers fast, scalable, and seamless deployment of services. Additionally, it offers flexible access policy configurations and comprehensive activity logging, focusing on businesses in regulated industries. Like NordLayer the focus was placed on the UX and UI part of the apps they offer, which are top-notch and very intuitive. In terms of pricing it beats out both Proton and NordLayer, but does come with different sets of features and options. Therefore, the best option is to initially figure out your needs, compare the offerings and then look at pricing to get the best feel for which VPN solution is right for your business.
Final Verdict
Proton Business VPN is a powerful business VPN solution that places a strong emphasis on being open source, highly regulated, and Swiss-based to ensure the highest level of privacy and security for its users. Over 5,000 business users trust Proton with their data, which is not a number to sneeze at.
Complex security features that extend from encryption, and log-in protection all the way to man-in-the-middle attack prevention speak to the level of detail Proton placed on security. Thanks to its Secure Core and NetShield features, businesses can ensure that phishing and malware are reduced to a minimum. Of course, there are some drawbacks in terms of speed if you simply decide to turn all of the advanced features on. However, if you focus on dedicated IP addresses and dedicated servers, and reserve the advanced features for remote workers coming from higher security risk areas, Proton can be an ideal companion. All in all, Proton makes a strong case for being one of the best solutions in the business VPN market.
Established in 2020 to meet the growing need for proxy servers and IP addresses, Live Proxies has been successful in its mission. This means that its servers have allowed individuals and businesses everywhere to bypass geo-restrictions and scrape data from websites for half a decade already.
In late 2022, it expanded its service to provide - among other things - Live Servers, meeting the market demand for secure and reliable virtual machines. In 2023, the platform added static residential and rotating mobile IPs to its existing offerings of rotating residential proxies.
Today, this proxy provider proudly offers access to a pool of more than 10 million IPs spanning 55 locations. Users can take their pick among rotating residential, static residential, and rotating mobile IP addresses to enjoy unrestricted access to the internet.
Live Proxies: Plans and Pricing
(Image credit: Live Proxies)
As mentioned above, there are three types of proxies you’ll get with Live Proxies - rotating residential, static residential, and rotating mobile. Each category has its custom pricing, and there’s also a separate B2B option for businesses.
Customers can choose plans based on location, bandwidth, and number of IPs included. For instance, for 200 rotating residential IPs with a 4 GB bandwidth allocation for the duration of 30 days, you’d have to set aside $70, regardless of the selected country. At the same time, selecting the US as the target location allows you to specify the particular state where you want your IPs to be located. Extending this plan to 60 days brings the price to $85, whereas doubling the bandwidth to 8 GB (during 30 days) costs $100.
With a similar pricing structure, static residential IPs are charged $65 for 50 IPs with a 4 GB allocation for 30 days. Upping this to 8 GB for 45 days costs $110. Rotating mobile proxies are also priced depending on bandwidth and subscription length. Long story short - the higher the bandwidth and subscription length, the more you pay in total (but less per IP).
That said, static residential proxy locations are only available in the US, rotating mobile IPs in the US, Canada, and the United Kingdom, whereas other locations support only rotating residential proxy plans.
Of course, unmetered options are pricier than the metered ones and don’t include rotating mobile IPs. So, the rotating residential plan of 25 IPs for 30 days is charged $130. The same option for static residential proxies costs $150.
As for the B2B plan, its pricing structure is simple - businesses pay a minimum $5,000 monthly to access the entire 10 million+ IP addresses. This is different from residential and mobile plans, which are limited to the specific proxy location.
This pricing plan organization is relatively easy to understand. All you need to know is where you want your IPs to be, how many proxy addresses you require, and how much traffic you need them for. However, the plans might be a tad costly compared to the competition.
Live Proxies: Features
(Image credit: Live Proxies)
Live Proxies not only offers a solid network of more than 10 million IP addresses and three main types of proxies - rotating residential, static residential, and rotating mobile - but also use cases across multiple categories, including web scraping, ad verification, unrestricted eCommerce, social media performance, gaming, brand protection, SEO, travel data aggregation, access to limited-edition sneakers, and much more.
Rotating residential IPs
In line with their name, rotating IPs “rotate” according to specific schedules. This means you’ll be switched to a proxy IP at a set time, like every hour or each time you start a new browsing session.
Live Proxies offers rotating residential IPs in multiple regions - US, Canada, UK, Mexico, Austria, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Switzerland, Germany, Spain, France, Ireland, Israel, India, Italy, Japan, Mexico, the Netherlands, Portugal, Sweden, and Turkey.
Rotating proxies offer better anonymity, as the frequent change makes it difficult for websites to track your online behavior. Suppose you want to scrape data from a real estate listing site with anti-scraping features. Rotating proxies makes it challenging for the website’s admins to track your usage pattern and detect the proxy. They’ll likely assume the rotating proxies come from different individuals visiting their website.
Better off, Live Proxies offers residential IP addresses from legitimate sources. Device owners around the globe agree to add their IP addresses to Live Proxies’ pool in exchange for benefits. Then, you can use these IP addresses to bypass website restrictions and scrape data.
The drawback is that rotating proxies are slower than static proxies. Frequent rotation increases the likelihood of encountering slow connections, and rotating IPs are more expensive than static IPs.
(Image credit: Live Proxies)
Static residential IPs
Static proxy IPs can be used for as long as your subscription lasts, and Live Proxies offers plans for durations of 30, 45, and 60 days. You can select a domestic static IP to bypass geo-restrictions or, say, scrape data from a US-centric real-estate listing website.
At the moment, Live Proxies’ static IPs are only available for the US. We tested these and noted excellent speed and performance.
Rotating mobile IPs
Mobile proxies are IPs sourced from mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets, for various use cases. For example, you can use Live Proxies’ reliable rotating mobile IPs to juggle multiple social media accounts without risking restrictions or having to check whether ads are displayed correctly to mobile users.
B2B
Live Proxies offers a simplified proxy IP plan for businesses. Companies can access the entire pool of 10 million+ proxy IPs across 55 countries for a monthly fee. This plan best suits companies with large proxy needs, such as a price comparison website scraping data from numerous sources.
Live Proxies: Ease of Use
We didn’t observe any hiccups when testing Live Proxies. Its interface is easy to understand, with features neatly arranged on the left side and the main dashboard on the right. The dashboard sports a white background plus a few shades of blue to highlight features. Everything is set up in a way that a layperson can quickly grasp.
(Image credit: Live Proxies)
Customer Support
Live Proxies has a decent help area on its website that includes a detailed knowledge base with answers to common issues. If you require further assistance, you can submit a ticket or reach out through the platform’s Discord channel. There’s no direct live chat on the site, nor is there any telephone support.
(Image credit: Live Proxies)
Live Proxies: The Competition
Live Proxies performed on par with most rival proxy tools we’ve tested. Its proxy IPs provide excellent speed and performance. The drawback is its limited pool of 10 million IPs across 55 countries, compared to rivals like Oxylabs, which has 102 million IPs across 195 countries and Bright Data, which has 72 million IPs across 195 countries.
Live Proxies: Final Verdict
Live Proxies remains one of the best proxy providers in the industry, where speed and performance are concerned. For instance, thanks to these capabilities, it reliably supports large-scale data scraping, SEO boosting, and ad verification in which speed is of the essence, especially useful to businesses. At the same time, it works great for individual use cases dependent on performance, like downloading files, gaming, unrestricted shopping, and social media navigation.
The OdinLake brand is slowly becoming more popular in the world of professional ergonomic furniture. I've tried their chairs, and within the first few seconds of sitting in their flagship chair, the Ergo Plus 743, I was mind-blown at just how good it was. The OdinLake Electric Standing Desk is no different. Right after building, I was thrilled at how good this desk looked and felt. The desk is sturdy, raises and lowers smoothly, has a decent controller, and the wood desktop is durable and can handle heavy use.
OdinLake S450: Price and Availability
Depending on size and customization, the OdinLake Electric Standing Desk ranges from $449 to $699. OdinLake sells directly from its website. However, they offer frequent discounts and promotions, so make sure that if you pick one of these up, you watch out for that. I chose the wood top, which is unique from all the best standing desks I have reviewed, as it's not just a walnut, oak, maple, etc. This one looks like reclaimed wood, its boards torn apart and put together again, this time as a tabletop. For this variant, the desktop itself is made from MDF wood. However, it still feels quite sturdy and will last.
(Image credit: Collin Probst // Future)
OdinLake S450: Unboxing and First Impressions
OdinLake ships their desks in well-packaged boxes that include clear assembly instructions. Each package contains the desktop as a solid piece, the motorized legs, and a control panel. Assembling the desk was straightforward and took only about 30 minutes from start to finish. Initially, I was unsure about the quality since this was the first time I had worked with OdinLake, but once I saw the desk, I was convinced that it was a reputable company. After taking some time to adjust the height settings, trying out the height presets, and setting up a workstation for my team, I am confident in recommending the OdinLake Electric Standing Desk.
(Image credit: Collin Probst // Future)
OdinLake S450: Design and Build Quality
Specs
Height Range: 24.2 - 49.8 in| Multiple Sizes: 47x24in, 55x27in, 60x30in Desktop thickness: 1 inch Materials: include wood, maple, or laminate finishes
The OdinLake Electric Standing Desk features an overall minimalistic design. I chose a tabletop with a bolder finish, but the overall aesthetic remains simple and clean. There are no overly complex components or intricate connections, and the controller is straightforward. Currently, one of my team members uses this desk as his everyday workspace, and it has been working great for him, even though he could be more tech-savvy. He needed a simple desk, and this one fits the bill perfectly.
The desk boasts a minimalistic design while incorporating modern aesthetics and features that people expect from a standing desk. After all, no one wants to hand-crank a standing desk—at least, no one I've met. The ability to easily adjust the height and save presets is a great advantage.
The frame is sturdily constructed with a weight capacity of 275 lbs. While I wouldn't recommend jumping on it (given that I weigh around 210 lbs), I have complete confidence that a standard desk setup won't cause any issues. As shown in the photos, my team has a typical setup on this desk, and there have been no problems whatsoever.
Ultimately, that's what matters: reliability. Additionally, the desk includes an anti-collision safety feature that prevents accidents. This ensures that your beloved coffee won't spill onto your equally beloved laptop, whether a small child walks by while the desk is lowering or if the desk accidentally hits your chair.
(Image credit: Collin Probst // Future)
OdinLake S450: In use
For day-to-day operations, the OdinLake Electric Standing Desk has been excellent. It seamlessly transitions between sitting and standing, and thanks to the built-in height presets, it makes this easy. If I've learned anything about standing desks, I am much more likely to stand during the day if there is a frictionless way to move from height to height. And, since the OdinLake Electric Standing desk has presets, I find myself wanting to stand more often, and so does my team member who regularly uses this desk since it's as easy as just pressing a button, not holding something while standing and moving your chair out of the way and adjusting.
Another massive benefit to a quality desk is the noise levels when adjusting. This desk is pretty quiet, meaning that if you are in an office space, it won't distract your co-workers, spouse at home, roommates, cat, or creepy neighbor on the other side of your apartment wall.
A huge tip I can offer with standing desks is that grabbing a monitor arm is a game changer if you plan to use a monitor. We even grabbed a laptop arm for this desk to get my team member's laptop off the desk, leaving room for what he needed on the desk and getting the computer up to eye height. Monitor arms aren't super expensive, but they are super beneficial. I'd suggest looking into one or a monitor/desk shelf like one from Balolo, Grovemade, Hexcal, Oakywood, UGMONK, etc. Much like getting a suitable desk, getting the right accessories on that desk is worth it. Just throwing a monitor on the basic arm on a desk works, but getting it to the correct height, with a more minimalist look, is huge, or adding a desk shelf and monitor arm for some storage and desk space is also a considerable step up. Check whatever desk company you are buying from if they have desk shelves and monitor arms that work for you, and if not, make sure to check out some of those companies previously mentioned for some desk shelves.
(Image credit: Collin Probst // Future)
OdinLake S450: Final verdict
The OdinLake Standing Desk S450 is an excellent investment for those seeking a high-quality, reliable standing desk. While it carries a premium price tag, its sturdy build, ease of use, and customization options make it a worthwhile choice for professionals and home users alike. My team and I have spent a lot of time with this desk so far, and we have spotted zero issues, even with heavy daily use. So, we can confidently recommend this desk as a solid option.
When I reviewed the Arc A770 and A750, I said that these Alchemist GPUs were impressive first efforts for Intel's Arc range, but not yet at the level that they needed to be to compete with the likes of Nvidia and AMD in discrete graphics.
Well, with the release of the new Intel Arc B580 (2nd-gen Battlemage), there's no doubt that Intel has produced one of the best graphics cards of this generation, and given gamers on a budget an absolute gift just in time for the holidays.
For starters, let's talk about the price of this GPU. At just $249.99 / £249.99 / AU$439, the Arc B580 undercuts both Nvidia's and AMD's budget offerings, the RTX 4060 and RX 7600, while offering substantially better performance, making its value proposition untouchable at this price range.
While I'll dig deeper into the performance in a bit, I'll cut to the chase and point out the simple fact that neither the RTX 4060 nor the RX 7600 can game at 1440p without severely compromising graphics quality. Not only can the B580 perform this feat, it does so brilliantly.
This comes down to some very straightforward spec choices that Intel made with its Battlemage debut that, especially in hindsight, make Nvidia and AMD's respective decisions even more baffling. First, with a VRAM pool of 12GB, the B580 can hold the larger texture files needed for 1440p gaming, whereas the RTX 4060 Ti cannot, due to its 8GB VRAM loadout.
Then there's the B580's wider 192-bit memory interface, compared to the RTX 4060 Ti's and RX 7600 XT's 128-bit. While this might seem like an obscure spec, it's the secret sauce for the B580. This beefier interface allows it to process those larger texture files much faster than its competitors, so this GPU can fully leverage its bigger VRAM pool in a way that Nvidia and AMD's competing cards simply can't, even with larger VRAM configurations.
Boiling all this down, you end up with a budget-class GPU that can get you fast 1440p framerates the likes of which we haven't seen since the RTX 3060 Ti.
Even more impressive, in my mind, is that I did not encounter a single game where there was some kind of quirk or hiccup caused by the driver. With the Arc Alchemist cards last year, there were issues with some games not running well because of inadequate driver support, or a game's reliance on an older version of DirectX that the Alchemist GPUs weren't optimized for. I didn't encounter any of those problems this time around. The Intel graphics team's long, hard work on getting Arc's drivers up to par has definitely paid off.
If there's a criticism I can make of this graphics card, it's that its creative performance isn't as good as Nvidia's. But given the entire creative world's reliance on Nvidia's bespoke CUDA instruction set, neither Intel nor AMD were ever really going to be able to compete here.
Fortunately, the Intel Arc B580 is a graphics card for gaming, and for any gamer looking to play at 1440p resolution on the cheap, the B580 is really the only graphics card that can do it, making it the only GPU you should be considering at this price point.
Intel Arc B580: Price & availability
(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)
The Intel Arc B580 is available in the US, UK, and Australia, and has been from December 13, 2024, starting at $249.99, £249.99, and AU$439 respectively. Third-party graphics card partners like Acer, ASRock, and others will have their own variants of the B580, and their prices may be higher, depending on the card.
The closest competition for the Arc B580 in terms of price are the Nvidia RTX 4060 and AMD RX 7600, both of which have a $20-$50 higher MSRP. And while Nvidia and AMD are preparing to roll out their next-gen graphics cards starting next month, it will still be a few months after the initial flagship launches before either company's budget offerings are announced. So, the B580 is the only current-gen GPU available for under $250 / £250 / AU$450 at the moment, and will likely remain so for many months to come.
Value: 5/5
Intel Arc B580: Specifications
(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)
Intel Arc B580: Architecture & features
(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)
The Intel Arc B580 is the first discrete GPU from Intel based on its new Xe2 graphics architecture, codenamed Battlemage, and there are a lot of low-level changes over the previous-gen Intel Arc Alchemist. Many of these are small tweaks to the architectural design, such as the move from SIMD32 to SIMD16 instructions, but when taken together, all of these small changes add up to a major overhaul of the GPU.
That, in addition to using TSMC's 5nm process, means that even though the GPU itself has become physically smaller in just about every measure, it's much more powerful.
The B580 has a roughly 17% reduction in compute units from the Arc A580 and about 10% fewer transistors, but Intel says that its various architectural changes produce about 70% better performance per compute unit (or Xe core, as Intel calls it). I haven't tested or reviewed the Intel Arc A580, so I can't say for certain if that claim holds up, but there has definitely been a major performance gain gen-on-gen based on my experience with the higher-end Arc Alchemist cards. We also can't ignore the substantially faster boost clock of 2,850MHz, up from 1,700MHz for the A580.
Outside of the GPU architecture, there is also a smaller memory bus, with the A580's 256-bit interface dropping down to 192-bit for the B580, but the B580 features a 50% increase in its video memory pool, as well as a faster memory clock.
Specs & features: 4.5 / 5
Intel Arc B580: Design
(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)
The Intel Arc B580 Limited Edition reference card is what you'd call the 'base' version of this GPU, but don't call it basic.
Despite its all-black-with-white-accent-lettering appearance, this is a good-looking graphics card, much like the initial Arc Alchemist GPUs before it, thanks to its matte, textured black shroud, dual-fan cooling, and rather understated aesthetic.
In a PC component world full of ostentatious, overly aggressive and flashy designs, there is something almost respectable about a graphics card in 2024 that presents itself without gimmicks, almost daring you to underestimate its capabilities due to its lack of RGB.
That said, there is one noticeable difference with this graphics card's design: the open 'window' over the internal heatsink to help with airflow and cooling. Unfortunately, the HWInfo64 utility I use to measure temperature and power draw for the GPUs I review couldn't read the Arc B580 during testing, so I can't tell you how much of a difference this window makes compared to something like the Intel Arc A750—but it certainly won't hurt its thermals.
Beyond that, the card also sports a single 8-pin power connector, in keeping with its 190W TBP, so you can pretty much guarantee that if you already have a discrete GPU in your system, you'll have the available power cables from your PSU required to use this GPU.
It's also not a very large graphics card, though it is larger than some RTX 4060 and RX 7600 GPUs (it's about 10.7-inches / 272mm), though third-party variants might be more compact. In any case, it's a dual-slot card, so it'll fit in place as an upgrade for just about any graphics card you have in your PC currently.
Design: 4.5 / 5
Intel Arc B580: Performance
(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)
OK, so now we come to why I am absolutely in love with this graphics card: performance.
Unfortunately, I don't have an Intel Arc A580 card on hand to compare this GPU to, so I can't directly measure how the B580 stacks up to its predecessor. But I can compare the B580 to its current competition, as well as the Intel Arc A750, which prior to this release was selling at, or somewhat below, the price of this graphics card, and has comparable specs.
In terms of pure synthetic performance, the Arc B580 comes in second to the Nvidia RTX 4060 Ti, performing about 10% slower overall. That said, there were some tests, like 3DMark Fire Strike Ultra, Wild Life Extreme (and Wild Life Extreme Unlimited), and Time Spy Extreme where the extra VRAM allowed the Arc B580 to pull ahead of the much more expensive Nvidia RTX 4060 Ti. The Arc B580 did manage to outperform the RTX 4060 by about 12%, however.
Creative workloads aren't the Arc B580's strongest area, with Nvidia's RTX 4060 and RTX 4060 Ti performing substantially better. This might change once PugetBench for Creators Photoshop benchmark gets updated however, as it crashed during every single test I ran, regardless of which graphics card I was using.
Notably, the Intel Arc B580 encoded 4K video to 1080p at a faster rate using Intel's H.264 codec in Handbrake 1.61 than all of the other cards tested using Nvidia or AMD's H.264 options, so this is something for game streamers to consider if they're looking for a card to process their video on the fly.
But what really matters with this GPU is gaming, and if you compare this graphics card's 1080p performance to the competition, you'll have to go with the nearly 40% more expensive Nvidia RTX 4060 Ti in order to beat it, and it's not a crushing defeat for Intel. While I found the Arc B580 is about 17% slower than the RTX 4060 Ti on average at 1080p (with no ray tracing or upscaling), it's still hitting 82 FPS on average overall and actually has a slightly higher minimum/1% FPS performance of just under 60 FPS.
The AMD RX 7600 XT, Intel Arc A750, and Nvidia RTX 4060 don't even come close to reaching these kinds of numbers, with the Arc B580 scoring a roughly 30% faster average 1080p FPS and an incredible 52% faster minimum/1% FPS advantage over the Nvidia RTX 4060, which comes in a very distant third place among the five GPUs being tested. All in all, it's an impressive performance from the Intel Battlemage graphics card.
Also worth noting is that the Intel Arc B580's ray-tracing performance is noticeably better than AMD's, and not that far behind Nvidia's, though its upscaling performance lags a bit behind AMD and Nvidia at 1080p.
Even more impressive, though, is this card's 1440p performance.
Typically, if you're going to buy any 1440p GPU, not even the best 1440p graphics card, you should expect to pay at least $400-$500 (about £320-£400 / AU$600-AU$750). And to really qualify as a 1440p GPU, you need to hit an average of 60 FPS overall, with an average FPS floor of about 40 FPS. Anything less than that, and you're going to have an uneven experience game-to-game.
In this regard, the only two graphics cards I tested that qualify are the Nvidia RTX 4060 Ti and the Intel Arc B580, and they are very close to each other in terms of 1440p performance. (I can give an honorable mention to the Nvidia RTX 4060, which almost got there, but not quite).
While Nvidia has certain built-in advantages owing to its status as the premiere GPU brand (so pretty much any game is optimized for Nvidia hardware by default), at 1440p it only barely ekes out a win over the Intel Arc B580. And that's ultimately down to its stronger native ray-tracing performance—a scenario which pretty much no one opts for. If you're going to use ray tracing, you're going to use upscaling, and in that situation, the RTX 4060 Ti and Arc B580 are effectively tied at 1440p.
And this 1440p performance in particular is why I'm so enthusiastic about this graphics card. While this is the performance section of the review, I can't help but talk about the value that this card represents for gamers—especially the growing number of 1440p-aspiring gamers out there.
Prior to the Intel Arc B580, gaming at 1440p—which is the PC gaming sweet spot; believe me, I've extensively tested nearly every GPU of the past four years at 1440p—was something reserved for the petit bourgeois of PC gamers. These are the folks not rich enough to really go in for the best 4K graphics cards, but they've got enough money to buy a 1440p monitor and a graphics card powerful enough to drive it.
This used to mean something approaching a grand just for these two items alone, locking a lot of gamers into incremental 1080p advances for two successive generations. No more.
Now, with an entry-level 1440p monitor coming in under $300 /£300 / AU$450, it's entirely possible to upgrade your rig for 1440p gaming for about $500 / £500 / AU$750 with this specific graphics card (and only this graphics card), which is absolutely doable for a hell of a lot of gamers out there who are still languishing at 1080p.
Ultimately, this, more than anything, raises the Intel Arc B580 into S-Tier for me, even though Nvidia's $399.99 RTX 4060 Ti GPU gets slightly better performance. The Nvidia RTX 4060 Ti just doesn't offer this kind of value for the vast majority of gamers out there, and even with its improved performance since its launch, the 4060 Ti is still very hard to recommend.
The Nvidia RTX 4060, meanwhile, can't keep up with the B580 despite being 20% more expensive. And with the AMD RX 7600 XT, laden with its $329.99 MSRP (about £250 / AU$480 RRP), falling noticeably behind the B580, the RX 7600 (which I haven't had a chance to retest yet) doesn't stand a chance (and has a slightly more expensive MSRP).
And, it has to be emphasized, I experienced none of the driver issues with the Intel Arc B580 that I did when I originally reviewed the Intel Arc A750 and Arc A770. Every game I tested ran perfectly well, even if something like Black Myth Wukong ran much better on the two Nvidia cards than it did on Intel's GPUs. Tweak some settings and you'll be good to go.
This was something that just wasn't the case with the previous-gen Arc graphics cards at launch, and it truly held Intel back at the time. In one of my Intel Arc Alchemist reviews, I compared that generation of graphics cards to fantastic journeyman efforts that were good, but maybe not ready to be put out on the show floor. No more. Intel has absolutely graduated to full GPU maker status, and has done so with a card more affordable than the cheapest graphics cards its competition has to offer.
Simply put, for a lot of cash-strapped gamers out there, the Intel Arc B580's performance at this price is nothing short of a miracle, and it makes me question how Intel of all companies was able to pull this off while AMD and Nvidia have not.
Even if you don't buy an Intel Arc B580, give Intel its due for introducing this kind of competition into the graphics card market. If Intel can keep this up for the B570, and hopefully the B770 and B750, then Nvidia and AMD will have no choice but to rein in their price inflation with the next-gen cards they plan to offer next year, making it a win-win for every gamer looking to upgrade.
Performance: 4.5 / 5
Intel Arc B580: Should you buy it?
(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)
Buy the Intel Arc B580 if...
You want an extremely affordable 1440p graphics card A 1440p graphics card can be quite expensive, but the Intel Arc B580 is incredibly affordable.
You're looking for great gaming performance The Intel Arc B580 delivers incredible framerates for the price.
Don't buy it if...
You're looking for a budget creative GPU While the B580 isn't terrible, if you're looking for a GPU for creative work, there are better cards out there.
You want a cheap GPU for AI workloads The Intel Arc B580 might have dedicated AI hardware, but it still lags behind Nvidia by a good amount.
Also consider
Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 The Nvidia RTX 4060 is a better option for a lot of creative tasks on a budget, though its gaming performance isn't as strong despite the higher price.
Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 Ti If you want a strong 1080p and 1440p gaming GPU, but also need some muscle for creative or machine learning/AI workloads, this card is what you'll want, so long as you're willing to pay the extra premium in the price.
Over the course of about three weeks, I used the Intel Arc B580 as my primary workstation GPU when I wasn't actively benchmarking it.
This included using the graphics card for various creative workloads like Adobe Photoshop and light video encoding work.
I also used the B580 for some in-depth game testing, including titles like Black Myth Wukong, Satisfactory, and other recently released games.
I've been doing graphics card reviews for TechRadar for more than two years now, and I've done extensive GPU testing previous to that on a personal basis as a lifelong PC gamer. In addition, my computer science coursework for my Master's degree utilized GPUs very heavily for machine learning and other computational workloads, and as a result, I know my way around every aspect of a GPU. As such, you can rest assured that my testing process is both thorough and sound.
The Lenovo ThinkPad X12 Detachable Gen 2 is Lenovo's answer to the Microsoft Surface, perhaps even the Microsoft Surface Pro. Regardless, Lenovo has positioned this 12.3-inch detachable computer as a fantastic choice for business users who need a lightweight and durable device.
The ThinkPad line-up has been a favorite of many for years, and the X12 Detachable Gen 2 has potential to be great. But how does this sleek two-in-one compare to the best business laptops around? I put it to the test.
Lenovo ThinkPad X12 Detachable Gen 2: Price and Availability
The Lenovo ThinkPad X12 Detachable starts at $1,430 but can easily cross $2,000 once you start upgrading elements of the computer. The best place to grab this device would be through Lenovo or any other partner. However, you can frequently find them for sale at other computer retailers. One great benefit to the pricing on this model is that the keyboard and precision pen are included in the order.
(Image credit: Collin Probst // Future)
Lenovo ThinkPad X12 Detachable Gen 2: Unboxing and First Impressions
Lenovo's ThinkPad X12 Detachable Gen 2 comes in fairly minimalist packaging, including the detachable keyboard and precision pen, packaged separately from the slab of glass that is the ThinkPad X12 Gen 2. Right off the bat, especially with the keyboard detached, the computer feels incredibly light and minimalist. At first glance, believing it's a fully-baked computer can be challenging. However, I noticed all of the iconic ThinkPad aesthetics and realized this was just a detachable ThinkPad computer.
The keyboard attaches easily, and the precision pen has a lovely home to store it when not in use. Everything feels like it intentionally goes together, though as a heavy iPad user, it feels silly not to magnetically attach the pen to the top of the device, much like I do on my iPads.
The kickstand on the back of the computer works well. It's the same as I have seen on other and similar devices.
(Image credit: Collin Probst // Future)
Lenovo ThinkPad X12 Detachable Gen 2: Design and Build Quality
Specs
CPU: Intel Core Ultra 5/7 RAM: Up to 32GB Storage: Up to 1TB SSD Screen: 12.3-inch FHD+ IPS touchscreen with Gorilla Glass protection Connectivity: Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.3, optional LTE
The Lenovo ThinkPad X12 Detachable Gen 2 has a Magnesium-aluminum body with a sleek matte black finish across the entire device case. Lenovo has an excellent build quality with this device, and even though the keyboard may pop off easily if not magnetically holding to the screen while folded up in clamshell, the device boasts the MIL-STD 810H standard. It is an excellent piece of mind for a computer that is this easy to carry around and used to have this level of durability and rigidity.
As briefly mentioned, the ThinkPad X12 Detachable Gen 2 is a detachable computer, meaning it's a slab, much like a tablet, with a keyboard that can be magnetically attached to operate more like a computer. This keyboard features a Trackpoint and backlighting in addition to a standard trackpad.
One thing worth noting is that while this device can look and feel and even be described much like an iPad with a Magic Keyboard, an Android tablet with a Bluetooth keyboard case, or similar, this is very much a full-blown computer; it just has a different form factor than a standard laptop (or even the best ThinkPad laptops).
(Image credit: Collin Probst // Future)
Lenovo ThinkPad X12 Detachable Gen 2: In use
Laptops have become commonplace in our day-to-day lives. Laptops in 2024 have a near-perfect balance between impressive power and portability. However, modularity has yet to be perfected, where a device can be multiple. It's still commonplace to see people with tablets, computers, laptops, and desktops, especially in the professional world.
What the Lenovo ThinkPad X12 Detachable Gen 2 is attempting to do is to create the perfect all-in-one device. And while it's not ideal, it's heading in the right direction. I like having a laptop and a tablet separate. But this is an excellent option for those looking for that all-in-one design. I don't love the kickstand, though I understand why it's there.
Additionally, I don't love the flimsy feeling of a keyboard, but then again, I'm coming from a place where my everyday driver is a classic laptop where the screen is thin, and the bulk of the computer comes from under the keyboard; this design changes that and puts the bulk under the display.
(Image credit: Collin Probst // Future)
Performance-wise, the X12 Detachable Gen 2 is good but could be better. It works well for basic productivity but then struggles with intensive tasks, plus the battery is not as good as I can get in a "comparable" laptop.
I stand with this device because if you are looking for a quality device that can act as both a tablet and a laptop, Lenovo's ThinkPad X12 Detachable Gen 2 is worth considering. However, if you are looking for a productivity laptop, something other than this might fit you. And, if you're looking for a tablet, this is not what you're looking for.
(Image credit: Collin Probst // Future)
Lenovo ThinkPad X12 Detachable Gen 2: Final verdict
The ThinkPad X12 Detachable Gen 2 scores high in durability and design but falters in performance and battery life. While a compelling choice for ThinkPad enthusiasts, other options may provide better value for performance-focused users. Right now, these 2-in-1 machines feel like they are a decent computer and a decent tablet rather than a great version of either of those two things.
The Blink Outdoor 4 is an outdoor-intended camera that offers weather resistance and a simple, easily fixed square design that's perfect for placing up in the corner of a roof or sitting on a windowsill. Its best feature is a phenomenal two-year battery life, powered by two easily replaceable AA batteries – though if you really want, the camera can be powered via a USB-C connection.
Available for $99 / £92.24 / AU$149, this outdoor, battery-powered camera may be attractive just for its low cost. Blink is Amazon’s budget home security brand, and unlike its premium brand Ring, Blink is focused on affordability. Still, the camera works quite well and has a worthwhile range of features. With the included Sync Module 2, offline video capture and storage can be facilitated, provided you have a USB-A device connected (below 256GB).
Aside from this offline solution, you may instead wish to subscribe to one of Blink’s paid memberships, which offer additional features like unlimited 60-day cloud storage and photo capture. However, for most of my time with the Blink Outdoor 4, I used the free subscription with the Sync Module 2, and found it to be a perfectly fine experience.
Setting up the Blink Outdoor 4 was extremely easy. Everything happens through the Blink app for Android and Apple handsets, where you’re prompted to set up an account (you can link to your Amazon account in the app). Pairing your Outdoor 4 with your Sync Module comes next – and as long as they’re both on the same Wi-Fi network, everything works seamlessly. You can place the Sync Module 2 anywhere in your home provided it has power.
After setup, I could check-in on the camera at any time through an always-online live feed. This offers decent (if a bit grainy and motion blurry) 1080p stream, along with two-way audio with sound quality that isn’t terrible, but isn’t the clearest either. Motion-triggered notifications are available with all three subscriptions, but motion event recording, live view recording and person detection are restricted to paid subscriptions.
Motion detection is reliable and you are given the option to turn up the sensitivity in the settings (you can even adjust retrigger time between events). Person detection is serviceable and I generally didn’t have any problems with it, testing it both inside and out.
On the hardware side, the Blink Outdoor 4 is easily mounted on the outside of a home with the included bracket, and its IP65 rating gives it a fair amount of resistance to the elements. A basic mounting kit and power adapter is included in the box, but I’ve happily had the Outdoor 4 sitting on my windowsill over the past couple of months with no mount attached.
Adjusting privacy zones in the app is easy, but selection is limited to an array of rectangular zones on the display (privacy zones will be completely greyed out). The same goes for setting activity zones, though you are given slightly more depth of customization with this setting.
In terms of quality, you may be left unimpressed with the Blink Outdoor 4 if you’re after a replacement for a premium outdoor camera from Ring or Eufy. The 1080p resolution is perfectly fine for a first time home camera, but it’s no premium device. Selecting the ‘best picture quality’ setting will resolve some issues with moving object blur, but you may still find it a bit too grainy. Improving the video quality does reduce battery life. It may be unattractive to you if you already have a robust security system, and it's more intended as a first-time device.
Overall, you’ll be impressed with the Blink Outdoor 4 if you’re after a cheap and reliable battery-powered camera for outdoor or indoor use. It’s not the best security camera on the market but it’s a good entry-level pick for a security-minded homebody. Check out our article on the best home security cameras if you’re shopping for an alternative.
Blink Outdoor 4: price and availability
(Image credit: Zachariah Kelly / TechRadar)
List price: $99 / £92.24 / AU$149
Availability: US, UK, and Australia
Release date: November 2023 (October 2024 in Australia)
The Blink Outdoor 4 is available at quite a low price when compared to other home security cameras, but it’s designed to be an affordable solution. It's been available in the US and UK since November 2023, but only made its way to Australia (along with the Blink brand) in October 2024.
Directly compared to its predecessor, the Outdoor 3, the Outdoor 4 sports a slightly wider field of view (143 degrees versus 110), upgraded night infrared vision, better motion detection, dual-zone motion alerts and person detection. Additional purchases for things such as mounts may be required depending on where you want to place the Outdoor 4 in your home.
Being able to store all footage locally is a huge plus, but note that you’ll need to use the included Sync Module 2 and your own USB-A storage device (up to 256GB). Stored footage can be viewed through the Blink app.
Value score: 4 / 5
Blink Outdoor 4 subscription offers
(Image credit: Zachariah Kelly / TechRadar)
Blink has two subscription tiers to choose from, both offering unlimited recording cloud storage for up to 60 days. Monthly or yearly billing is available.
Blink Basic: $3p/m | £2.50p/m | AU$4.95p/m
Blink Plus: $10p/m | £8p/m | AU$15p/m
Blink Basic includes support for one device, motion event recording, live view recording, automatic local storage backups, instant video access, video sharing, person detection and photo capture. Blink Plus includes all Basic features, along with unlimited device inclusion, moments capture, notification snoozing and 10% off Blink devices.
Blink Outdoor 4: specifications
Blink Outdoor 4: design and features
(Image credit: Zachariah Kelly / TechRadar)
Easy setup
No privacy cover
No remote control capabilities
Setup for the Blink Outdoor 4 couldn’t be more simple. After slotting in the batteries, all I had to do was download the app, scan the barcode on the back of the device, and follow the prompted steps. Setup for the Sync Module 2 is similarly simple.
The Blink Outdoor 4 is only available in Black, and though a basic mounting kit is included in the box, you can get by with just sitting the Outdoor 4 on a flat surface. There’s no motorized movement, meaning you’ll need to make any position adjustments by hand.
The basic mounting kit can be screwed into the wall or ceiling, but note that you’ll likely want it to be within easy reach to replace the batteries. There’s no privacy cover and no ability to simply cut recording unless you physically remove the batteries.
Setting privacy zones is easy enough, but you may be left underwhelmed by the lack of customization. Zones can only be created as collections of rectangles, as can activity zones (though activity zones are given slightly smaller rectangles to modify, allowing for greater coverage control). If you so wish, you can disable video recording or disable the audio connection.
Design and features score: 4/5
Blink Outdoor 4: performance
(Image credit: Zachariah Kelly / TechRadar)
Two years of battery life
Some lag and pixelization
Can be positioned almost anywhere
I reviewed the Blink Outdoor 4 in two different positions – sitting atop my lounge room shelves (keeping an eye on the room) and sitting on the windowsill (keeping an eye on my front door/lawn). In these spots, I tried out all the different recording qualities and, predictably, was most satisfied with the highest quality selection. Two years of battery life is quite a long time to begin with, so I’m not too worried about running the device flat too quickly.
Accessing these settings is easy. Go to the app, then tap the three dots displayed in the corner of the camera’s view, then click device settings. If you have multiple devices set up, you may want to tap the settings icon in the bottom right corner, then access Device and System Settings, then tap the ‘System’ you want to edit, followed by ‘All Devices’, then the camera you want to modify.
All of the video quality options are quite acceptable for the price. Graininess and blurred movements are fine at this end of the market, and ultimately the quality was never so insufficient that the camera was unusable. The camera is set to ‘Standard’ mode out of the box, with lower quality ‘Saver’ mode and ‘Best’ also available. Night vision was also sufficiently capable, but it’s not presented in colour, owing to the lack of an LED light on the device.
(Image credit: Zachariah Kelly / Future)
Audio quality was fine and is most comparable to a standard intercom buzzer for an apartment. Back and forth communication is easy with microphones and speakers on both ends (on the camera and on your smartphone), but Ring fans may find it lower quality than what they’re used to. Motion sensitivity was fine, and for the duration of my review, I had it set to the default setting of five. I could turn the sensitivity up if I wished, but I found no need.
It’d be nice if the Blink Outdoor 4 had the option to view footage on a browser or computer, or any device without the smartphone app. Being limited to your small phone screen for your home security is disappointing, so hopefully this is changed at some point.
Finally, obviously the two year battery life is an estimation provided by Amazon. Unfortunately I’m not a time traveller, so I can’t provide a good estimation of my own on this – though over my two months of use, it hasn’t had any battery issues (the battery is still reportedly ‘OK’ in the app with no percentage offered). Most of my use was inside however, so I could have easily gotten by with USB-C delivered power.
Performance score: 3.5/5
Should I buy the Blink Outdoor 4?
Buy it if…
You want a security camera that saves locally
Though you have to bring your own storage device, the included Sync Module 2 allows you to store footage for ready access.View Deal
You want to save money
The Blink Outdoor 4 is built to save you money and you get decent value with what’s on offer.View Deal
You want a long battery life, wireless camera
Two years of battery life with two AA batteries is nothing to balk at!View Deal
Don't buy it if...
You already have a robust home security system
The Blink Outdoor 4 isn’t compatible with anything outside of the Blink ecosystem (apart from access through Alexa). It doesn’t mix with Ring, despite being owned by the same company.View Deal
You want the highest quality footage
Recording at a maximum of 1080p, the Blink Outdoor 4 doesn’t shoot the highest quality footage, and you may find videos grainy and blurry at times.View Deal
You dislike using apps only
Though the Blink camera app is quite well designed, you can’t currently access your camera system through a computer app or browser, meaning you’re limited to a smartphone or tablet display when previewing footage.View Deal
Blink Outdoor 4: also consider
Blink Mini 2
A sibling to the Outdoor 4, the Mini 2 is a wired-only alternative, capable of shooting in the same resolution and sold at a cheaper price point. It might be more attractive if you intend to place the device indoors, but setting it up outside will require extra handiwork. Read our Blink Mini 2 review.View Deal
Arlo Ultra 2
Shooting at up to 4K and offering HDR night vision, the Arlo Ultra 2 is a more premium wireless outdoor camera than the Outdoor 4. That being said, its six month battery life is nothing compared to the Outdoor 4’s two years of charge, and it’s considerably more expensive. Read our Arlo Ultra 2 review.View Deal
How I tested the Blink Outdoor 4
Tested it over two months in my home
Assessed the device on sound and video quality
Set it up in several different spots in several different configurations
From the moment I received the Blink Outdoor 4, I got to work testing it. I put it through its paces as a casual device, not putting it into a hardcore testing environment and instead treating it as something I would use in my own home.
For most of my review period, the Outdoor 4 was positioned at the top of my shelves, looking over my lounge room. It was given a decently lit and sized room to allow for motion and person capture, and I was given the ability to test privacy and activity zoning with a lot of freedom.
I tested audio quality by giving the camera to a friend and going to the next room, allowing us to have a conversation over the two devices. I frequently checked the camera through the app and would use it to make sure I closed my front door.
I assessed the Blink Outdoor 4 as a first time device, as somebody who has never had a home security camera.
