The Lenovo ThinkPad X13 Gen 6 is unlike the laptops I normally test. While most are trying to be the most powerful, the most impressive spec-wise, or the biggest and best screen, Lenovo chose to make a hyper-portable option that becomes an instant dream come true for those business professionals who don’t need a supercomputer.
Most people in the business world don’t need a machine that is breaking performance records, one they will never come close to using in their daily work. They need something they can bring to their day-to-day work that’s easy and convenient to carry from meeting to meeting, toss in a bag, and get everyday work done. Would more power be nice? Of course. Would it be nice to have a better screen? Yes. But for businesses buying devices for their employees, or for those who want to buy a machine they'll use for work and work alone, that’s just not always worth it; the ROI may not be there.
Thinking back to when I had a corporate job, or even to my friends and family who have corporate jobs, this may just be a spectacular option for them, giving them what they need and want, while staying super lightweight and functional. Compared to other ultra-portables made for professionals, it's unlikely to feature in our round-up of the best business laptops - but there's plenty to like about the laptop otherwise.
Lenovo ThinkPad X13 Gen 6: Price and availability
(Image credit: Collin Probst // Future )
The Lenovo ThinkPad X13 Gen 6 starts at $1,095 / £1112 - and the Intel model is available from both Lenovo US and Lenovo UK right now.
The base model comes with a 256GB SSD, a non-touch display, no fingerprint reader, and a 3-cell rechargeable battery. If I build out as feature-rich as this machine can offer from Lenovo, I get up to $1,829, adding a fingerprint reader, a 1TB SSD, a touchscreen display, a slightly better camera and mic setup, upgraded wireless, and a slightly larger battery.
It's also available from other online retailers.
(Image credit: Collin Probst // Future )
Lenovo ThinkPad X13 Gen 6: Unboxing and First Impressions
The Lenovo ThinkPad X13 Gen 6 became incredibly impressive from the moment I first unboxed it. It’s hyper-lightweight, as I’ve mentioned, but it’s incredible when you hold it. It’s a full-size machine when it comes to the important things like keyboard size and ports, but outside of that, it’s small, but not too small. Pair that with the lower-resolution display, and things seem to just work.
Sure, on paper, it makes more sense to have a higher-resolution display and better everything, but in practice, this works. I pulled the zoom back from 150% to 125%, and I actually am pretty happy with this setup. It’s a great device to take around, even as a second laptop, due to its size and portability.
Lenovo sent a USB-C charger, which was nice, but I quickly decided to leave it in the box and use one of my Anker power blocks, portable chargers, or UGREEN bricks, along with some nice braided or retractable cables, depending on my setup for the day.
Another thing I was wary of before putting my hands on this machine was the device's quality. I’ve tested and used some lightweight laptops that feel cheap and poorly made. The Lenovo ThinkPad X13 Gen 6, on the other hand, feels well-built, can handle life on the go, and still feels high-quality.
The keyboard features the iconic red Travkpoint at the center of the classic ThinkPad layout everyone knows and loves. Now, that the Trackpoint can even trigger a quick-action menu for select options, making things a bit more practical and helpful.
Lenovo ThinkPad X13 Gen 6: Design & Build Quality
(Image credit: Collin Probst // Future )
This laptop is the epitome of no-nonsense, in the best way. It’s a lightweight, unassuming, powerful, minimal laptop that gets the job done without bragging about it. This is the kind of laptop you grab to rely on, not one you buy to try to impress your boss, coworkers, or direct reports. This is the laptop you grab when you don’t even care what they think, you just care about having a machine that you can depend on and carry with you without even noticing.
Keeping the understated design, the matte black colorway is sleek and professional, with only a slight badge visible at the top. That, plus the red touchpoint, is the only pop of color on this machine, just branding and the touchpoint; everything else is a sleek matte black.
The build quality is exactly as expected. It’s built to last through day-in, day-out use. It’s got a strong chassis, the ability to tilt the display back to 180 degrees, and MIL-STD-810H certification, ensuring the laptop will be protected in environments a tad harsher than a boardroom, a backpack, or even when dropped.
Moving on to a bit more detail on the laptop, this machine has great ports for a full-size, powerful laptop, let alone a thin-line option. It has a standard HDMI, two Thunderbolt 4 ports, a USB-A port, a smart card reader, and a headphone jack. That’s great even in powerhouse laptop worlds.
The review model here has 16GB of RAM, and so far, for my day-to-day use, running some product review writing in Notion, emails, Slack, and browsing the internet for some product research, this computer has been great and hasn’t slowed down at all. If you do a bit more heavy-duty work than casual use, the 32GB option would be a wiser choice, but if you are pretty light on usage, the 16GB variant may be a better fit.
Battery life is always a big deal in this class of laptop, and so far in my testing, I have seen an average of 9 hours and 12 minutes. The ThinkPad X13 Gen 6 has a 54.7Wh capacity with a rated 10h+ of usage, and I can easily see reaching that if you drop the brightness from 100% to 80% and are smart about what you have running at once. Unlike more powerful laptops, there is a good chance that if you are grabbing this laptop, you are on the go regularly and not docking it to one of our favorite Thunderbolt docks, which would keep you charged.
Lenovo ThinkPad X13 Gen 6: In use
(Image credit: Collin Probst // Future )
I’ve had this computer in my arsenal for a few months now. I’ve regularly used it to check email, write my own review, and read a few other reviews. I grabbed it to jump into a quick meeting, and it’s been super easy to double up with the other laptop I need to carry with me in my day-to-day in “the real world.”
In my experience, it boots quickly and launches apps quickly; video calls are stable, though the camera is nothing groundbreaking. The audio is surprisingly clear, even though I still prefer headphones for any meeting that matters.
The screen is good enough for day-to-day use. Yes, I am well aware that it is nowhere near 4K, but for the day-to-day business work I’ve been doing, I have been okay with it, making it a reasonable trade-off. Don’t get me wrong: you clearly notice that it’s not 4K, it's not OLED, and it’s not brilliantly beautiful, but that might just be okay.
If your primary use for this machine is web-browsing, project managing, Slack-answering, email-drafting, word-processing, and or things of that nature, then this machine won’t disappoint — even without the best of the best panel. It’s bright enough to work well in office environments, even in bright ones, though if you’re in an abnormally bright area or facing consistent direct sunlight, it may be difficult for most displays to shine through, including this one.
Part of the reason this machine is so great for keyboard-first tasks is that, quite simply, the keyboard is comfortable. It’s the classic Lenovo keyboard that has grown in popularity for a reason. I’ve been able to sit and knock out a thousand words of writing without any fatigue, frustration, or wishing for a different keyboard, and without any consistent mis-types. On some keyboards, a key is slightly misplaced, the key shape is slightly off, or something else causes me to consistently mistype certain phrases or characters, but with the Lenovo ThinkPad X13 Gen 6, I haven’t noticed that at all. The keyboard is consistent, comfortable, full-sized, and easy to use.
The last thing I’ll dive into in this review is the port offering. My personal daily drivers are predominantly USB-C, with an HDMI port, but I still run into a lot of USB-A in my day-to-day life. So, I always have to have a dock, hub, adapter, or dongle with me. Granted, I know that USB-C is now the standard and that USB-A is becoming less popular, but there are still a lot of things I have to edit, update, or work with that are USB-A for now. With this ThinkPad, even though it's so small, I never needed a dongle, an adapter, or anything of the sort, thanks to its impressive port selection. And that adds a layer of usability that doesn’t always fit well on a briefing or a one-pager.
The ThinkPad X13 Gen 6 is great for most. It’s a laptop that, for a wide variety of people, would do exactly what they need it to do, nothing more, for a great price with a great weight, ports, and power.
I found this a computer that is very pleasant to carry in a bag or around the house or office, make sure you check out the ThinkPad X13 Gen 6.
If you need a high-end screen, this won't be the right laptop for you, but if you’re okay with a 1080p display and a keenly priced business machine, then it's worth a look.
TP-Link has successfully sold the Omada branding to those who work with information systems each day as a byword for strategic thinking.
With managed network hardware that IT people can monitor and configure across multiple locations, equipment in this range has been understandably popular.
Not long ago, I reviewed one of the L2+ switches, the SG3428XMPP, which had two blocks of 1GbE RJ45 outlets, with eight utilising the PoE++ standard, which provides up to 90W of power per port, and sixteen PoE+ ports with a 30W budget per port.
The Omada SG3218XP-M2 is an L3 design, has only 16 Ethernet ports in total, but eight are PoE+ 2.5GbE ports, while the others are 2.5GbE LAN (non-PoE) ports.
Given the increasing demand for Ethernet bandwidth and TP-Link's own Access Points using the 2.5GbE PoE standard, this switch seems a highly appropriate inclusion in the Omada range.
Like the SG3428XMPP, this switch still has 240W of power to distribute over PoE, which is 30W per port. And, it ticks all the boxes in Enterprise networking bingo, with Zero-Touch provisioning, centralised Cloud management and AI-driven monitoring.
For those already using the TP-Link Omada management solution, the SG3218XP-M2 provides a drop-in solution which links via two 10Gbps SFP+ to a network backbone, adding enough high-speed PoE for eight WiFi 7 access points or HD security cameras.
As we move away from the 1GbE LAN, the SG3218XP-M2 is a stepping stone in the right direction, and at around $370 in the US, the return on investment is easy to justify.
Depending on your specific needs, this could be the best network switch around - and it's not expensive to deploy and manage these.
Omada SG3218XP-M2: Price and availability
How much does it cost? $370/£430
When is it out? Available globally
Where can you get it? Direct from a TP-Link, a retail partner or via an online retailer
You can buy the Omada SG3218XP-M2 directly from TP-Link or via online retailers.
If bought through Amazon or directly from TP-Link, the US price on Amazon is $369.99, and the UK price on Amazon.co.uk is £435.40.
Quite why this hardware is so much cheaper in the USA, I’ve no idea, but it is.
If this is the first Omada switch you’ve bought, I’d strongly recommend also getting one of the TP-Link dedicated controllers to work alongside it. Although you can use TP-Link’s Cloud controllers, you can also install the controller application on another system.
The OC300 TP-Link Omada Hardware Controller, designed to manage multiple Omada devices, costs £119.99 from Pacetech in the UK and $159.99 from TP-Link for US customers. And, the OC200 is only $79.99 from Amazon.com, and £71.99 from Amazon.co.uk.
Managed PoE switches of this spec usually aren’t cheap, especially from familiar brand names.
Looking at the usual suspects, D-Link doesn’t offer a Layer 3 managed PoE switch yet, sadly. Netgear has the XSM4328CV, a 24x10G/Multi-Gig PoE+ model with four 4xSFP28 25G ports, and the ability to deliver 720W. But given how much more throughput that switch offers, you won’t be surprised to learn it costs over $4000, if you can find one.
At a similar price to the TP-Link, the Cisco Catalyst 1300-16P-2G offers only 1GbE on the 16 ports.
The closest specification switch I found was the Ubiquiti Pro Max 16 PoE, which has 16 ports: 12 1GbE PoE+ and 4 2.5GbE PoE++, and it has the same dual 10G SFP+ ports. It can only distribute 180W of power over its PoE, but it costs only $279.
If you are already using Ubiquiti hardware, then it might suffice, but it’s not ideal for larger installations with lots of Wi-Fi 7 access points.
New products arrive all the time in this slice of the market, but given what others have available, the SG3218XP-M2 seems suitably priced.
With so much switch hardware available from TP-Link, it’s important to first establish where the SG3218XP-M2 fits in the greater scheme of things.
TP-Link currently offers eight levels of switches, ranging from the Campus series to Aggregation, Access Max, Access Pro, Access Plus, Access, Agile, and Unmanaged.
The SG3218XP-M2 fits into the Access Pro tier, where it resides alongside five other designs, some of which feature 48 PoE ports, in addition to the four 10GbE SPF+ ports.
This design takes a step back from the extreme end of these choices, with only eight ports of PoE+, but it does offer those alongside another eight LAN ports, and all sixteen are 2.5GbE.
Compared to the bigger Omada Access Pro products, this switch uses the same robust steel construction but packages it more succinctly. Where the SG3428XPP-M2 is 330mm deep, the SG3218XP-M2 is only 180mm front to back, enabling it to fit easily into a shallow rack.
I discovered that, because it's only 4.29 kg, getting it into a rack is significantly easier, at least compared to an SG3428XMPP that I chose to swap it with.
TP-Link provides adhesive rubber feet if you prefer shelf installs, along with L-plates for rack mounting.
The current Omada switch designs all use fans mounted on the left side, drawing air from vents on the right, and in this case, there are two fans providing sufficient cooling for the system.
The fan speed is controlled by the monitoring hardware in the switch, and its rotational speed changes with the amount of PoE power it's outputting and the amount of data flowing through it. I’ve seen a few people complain that it's noisy, but with the workloads I ran through and the ambient temperature in my office, it was the exact opposite for me.
(Image credit: Mark Pickavance)
Where this switch might not be ideal is in those locations that use PoE for significant power distribution, since it’s only PoE+ 30W rated. TP-Link does make PoE++ switches capable of delivering 90W per port, but this switch isn’t suitable for that output level.
However, it can operate on all 16 ports, including the 8 PoE+ ports, at 2.5GbE, making it highly suitable as a backhaul for Wi-Fi access points that support 2.5GbE PoE.
The two 10G SFP+ ports are also invaluable, as they can be used to connect the switch to a 10GbE backbone or to NAS servers.
When TP-Link come to upgrade this switch into its next iteration, I’d recommend they add either two more 10G SFP+ or two 10GbE LAN ports, since the latter are now becoming standard for many of the better NAS platforms.
Overall, I like where the Omada SG3218XP-M2 sits. The mix of PoE and LAN with a 10G SFP+ backbone makes it ideal for small business deployment. Power users can connect to the eight 2.5GbE LAN ports, the PoE devices can get their best speeds from the other PoE ports, and other switches can chain via the SFP+.
My only caveat is that I’d definitely recommend that, along with the budget for the switch, enough money is allocated to include an Omada controller, if you don’t already have one.
Design: 4.5/5
TP-Link Omada SG3218XP-M2: User experience
Omada management
Encourages localised controller
I’ve talked about the current Omada user experience in other reviews. But from the perspective of a professional IT person (and I was one once), this is a highly refined solution that gives you three options for configuring and managing switches, routers, access points, and the like.
In the context of the Omada SG3218XP-M2, if you already have a controller configured, deployment of the switch is remarkably easy.
The controller can be any computer with the Omada controller software installed, so it doesn’t cost anything to unlock this functionality for those with limited resources. Alternatively, there is an Omada Cloud service, and depending on how you use that, it can range from being free to a monthly subscription.
And my preferred approach is the local Omada controller, a dedicated box that monitors all the Omada hardware on the network and can make immediate decisions should hardware fail in situ.
(Image credit: Mark Pickavance)
it and the broadband router on a UPS, the entire system will remain operational for a period during a power outage, enabling it to send warning messages and also configure the system to maximise battery runtime.
What’s great about the hardware controller is that if you place that and the broadband router on a UPS, the entire system will remain operational for a period during a power outage, enabling it send warning messages out and also configure the system for maximising battery running time.
Even if you use the Cloud version to administer a collection of remote sites, having local hardware controllers has some useful advantages, especially if the internet has a wobble.
For the largest installations, it's possible to create profiles for all Omada switches, access points, and routers, and execute them across the network and via the Cloud on other networks you control.
That makes rolling out new security strategies and VLAN plans easy, and adding a new Wi-Fi SSID will make it propagate across all access points automatically. But it’s important to say that you can make granular changes also, if those are deemed necessary.
User experience: 4/5
TP-Link Omada SG3218XP-M2: Final verdict
(Image credit: Mark Pickavance)
If you are considering deploying TP-Link Wi-Fi 7 hardware, like the TP-Link EAP725-Wall, then this is the switch designed to make the most of that technology.
There is little point in investing in Wi-Fi 7 if they connect to the internet via 1GbE, since the backhaul to the network becomes the limiting factor.
The Omada SG3218XP-M2 could easily support a 20GbE broadband connection and distribute it to eight PoE+ Access Points, and still have extra capacity for wired connections.
My only small concern is that just arrived on my desk is the Omada EAP787, and it needs 10GbE PoE++ ideally. That's fine for those who have an SX3832MPP or the POE380S 10GbE POE++ injector to connect it. But the Omada SX3832MPP alone is four times the price of the SG3218XP-M2, so going down that rabbit hole could get expensive.
Unless you’ve been chugging the corporate Koolaid and only do extreme deployments, the SG3218XP-M2 provides something significantly better than the many 1GbE PoE switches; its L3 credentials are excellent, and it slots effortlessly into the Omada controller infrastructure. And, given all its capabilities, the price is highly affordable.
Should I buy a TP-Link Omada SG3218XP-M2?
(Image credit: TP-Link)
Omada SG3218XP-M2 Report card
Attributes
Notes
Rating
Value
For the functionality it has, the price is right
4/5
Design
Solid construction and shallow rack friendly
4.5/5
User Experience
Adds L3 switching and 2.5GbE PoE+ to the Omada ecosystem
4/5
Overall
Perfect for those who want a balanced WiFi 7 installation
4.5/5
Buy it if...
You are deploying WiFi 7 To properly move the amount of data that Wi-Fi 7 access points provide, you need a minimum of a 2.5GbE backbone, and the Omada SG3218XP-M2 delivers that over PoE+. That simplifies the deployment and enhances the Wi-Fi user experience. Without a switch like this, spending on Wi-Fi 7 is largely pointless.
You use a 10GbE backbone With two 10GbE SFP+ ports, it’s easy to integrate this hardware into a switched backbone and implement failover planning to cope with hardware failures.
Don't buy it if...
You want 10GbE PoE++ The best speed this switch offers is 2.5GbE, although the two SFP+ ports do run at 10GbE. There are switches that support 10GbE PoE++, but expect to pay much more for those than this, and you might have to consider a 25GbE backbone, or greater, to handle the traffic.
If you think more pixels makes for a better PC monitor, you're going to love the new LG UltraFine 6K Evo 32U990A. This 6K monster of a monitor has over 21 million of them. For context, a 4K display has just eight million. It's a massive step up.
What you don't get, at least not compared with a regular 32-inch 4K monitor, is more actual display size. Instead, those 21 million pixels are crammed into essentially the same 32-inch diagonal, resulting in much, much higher pixel density. Where 4K on a 32-inche monitor comes in around 140 pixels per inch, the LG UltraFine 6K Evo 32U990A clocks in at 224 pixels per inch.
In other words, this is a true high-DPI display. It's a pretty high-performance display by several other metrics, too, at least for an IPS as opposed to an OLED monitor. There's good colour coverage and true 10-bit fidelity, for instance.
Less impressive is the 60Hz refresh. It's perhaps inevitable given the epic resolution and this monitor's productivity rather than gaming remit. But here in 2026, 60Hz seems a bit sluggish, as does the quoted 5ms pixel response time. Countering that is excellent connectivity, including dual Thunderbolt 5 ports and plenty of further USB-C inputs and outputs.
As for value, well, it all depends how you're coming at this LG. Compared to the near-enough $6,000 Apple Pro Display XDR, which is also 6K and 32 inches, it's a bargain, if less capable in some important ways. But at $1,999 or £1,799, it's also way more expensive than most of the best 4K monitors available today. So, you'll really want to appreciate those extra pixels.
The LG UltraFine 6K Evo 32U990A is a slick display that looks like it's been designed to please Apple Mac users. In terms of pure aesthetics it will do just that, thanks to its minimalist vibe, slim bezels and engineering elements like a display hinge that mimics Apple's Pro Display XDR.
However, it's not as nicely built as either of Apple's own monitors, the Studio Display or the aforementioned Pro Display XDR. The mix of plastic and metal used here doesn't feel even nearly as premium as the lush alloys of the Apple alternatives. The huge external power brick is also a little untidy compared to monitors with integrated power supplies.
Still, by PC monitor standards, this LG is well enough screwed together and offers a decent range of adjustability from its stand. It also boasts excellent connectivity. You get dual Thunderbolt 5 ports with 96W of power delivery, just for starters.
To that you can add DisplayPort 2.1, HDMI 2.1 and another three USB-C ports. Together, that ensures pretty much all your connectivity needs are covered, including single-cable connectivity with a laptop, sharing the display with multiple PCs and even daisychaining with full 6K support.
Of course, the main event is the 32-inch 6K panel. It's an IPS Black item, so has heightened contrast compared with most other IPS monitors. But when it comes to not only contrast but also HDR performance, its specs still fall miles behind an OLED display.
That's no surprise given this monitor is only rated for DisplayHDR 600 certification. In other words, it lacks full-array local dimming. That said, colour coverage is good, extending to 98% of the DCI-P3 gamut and there's also true 10-bit per channel colour support without dithering.
LG UltraFine 6K Evo: Performance
LG // FutureLG // FutureLG // Future
Incredibly sharp visuals
Good colour accuracy
Poor contrast and HDR performance
The LG UltraFine 6K Evo 32U990A is both stellar and disappointing in almost equal measure. But let's start with its finest quality, which is surely the incredible pixel density enabled by full 6K resolution on a 32-inch panel.
The resulting 224 pixels per inch makes for incredibly sharp visuals and fabulously clear and crisp text. It also allows for a huge amount of space for professional workflows. The appeal here compared to a mere 4K monitor, for instance, is that you can view 4K content in a window at full resolution and still have significant space left over for timelines, toolbars and more.
However, the 6K resolution and outstanding pixel density is compromised by the IPS panel's slightly old-school anti-glare coating, which introduces a touch of visible sparkle. Moreover, the step up from a 4K panel in terms of visual detail also isn't entirely earth shattering. Yes, this display is sharper and the text is crisper. But you're paying quite the price premium for those benefits.
The very fact that this is an IPS panel as opposed to OLED also makes it feel rather old fashioned. Sure, the colour accuracy at factory settings is good in both SDR and HDR modes. But even with the latest IPS Black panel tech and 2,000:1 claimed contrast, this monitor looks a bit watery and washed out compared to the latest OLED monitors. The black levels in particular look poor next to any OLED display.
In part that's thanks to the fact that this LG only has DisplayHDR 600 certification. That means it's specified with mere edge-lit backlighting, likely with around 16 zones, not full-array local dimming with hundreds or thousands of zones. In short, this is not a true HDR display.
The 60Hz refresh likewise adds to the sense of a slightly outdated display. Sure, this is no gaming monitor. But even for routine daily computing tasks, 120Hz or higher makes everything more pleasant. Of course, by IPS display standards, this is not a poor monitor. It's just, at this price point, you have so many options. What you gain in terms of 6K pixel density with this display you arguably lose in other areas.
LG UltraFine 6K Evo: Final verdict
LG // FutureLG // FutureLG // Future
LG's new 6K display is an exciting prospect, on paper. The combination of native 6K support using the latest IPS Black panel tech is very appealing, for sure. In practice, this premium pro display somewhat disappoints.
For sure, you get an outstanding high-DPI experience. But unless your specific workflows benefit from the extra desktop space, the subjective upgrade in terms of visual clarity and the quality of text rendering is more marginal than you might expect compared to a 4K display of the same size.
At the same time, the limitations of an IPS panel, even with improved contrast, are all too obvious at a price point that includes 4K OLED alternatives such as the Asus ProArt PA32UCDM. The comparatively poor contrast and black levels are all too obvious. There's a significant speed deficit, too, in terms of refresh rate and pixel response.
Admittedly, LG has given this display outstanding connectivity that extends to dual Thunderport 5 ports with support for 6K monitor daisy-chaining. So, in many ways, this is a very powerful productivity tool.
The problem is the 6K and connectivity upsides come with quite a few compromises. Long story short, what many will want is a display like this but based on OLED panel tech. Given the lofty pricing, that isn't an outrageous ask even if such a monitor doesn't currently exist. Until it does, if you are happy with an IPS panel and your workflows will benefit from the 6K resolution, LG's latest Ultrafine monitor probably adds up. But only barely.
The Dell Pro Max Tower T2 is not your usual business PC. It's not going to be the pick for casual users, or gamers, or admin work. And it's worth specifying that to begin with: this is a beast of a machine for professionals who need uncompromising power in engineering, AI, and all-around business performance, and who want a machine that is capable today and upgradable for the future,
Yes, it’s niche, and that’s okay. Dell doesn’t shy away from creating machines for a specific subset of users.
If you’re looking into this machine, there is a wide range in specs and pricing. The entry-level buildout is right around $1,000. But the high specs on my review unit are pushing $13,000. So, it may rank as one of the best workstations I've tested, but it certainly comes at a (hefty) price.
Dell Pro Max Tower T2: Price and Availability
The Dell Pro Max Tower T2 is available from both Dell US and Dell UK in a range of configurations.
The entry configurations are priced at around $1,000 and still include a Core Ultra 7, 16GB of RAM, a 512GB SSD, and an AMD Radeon Pro GPU.
As I mentioned, my buildout is pretty high-tier. My exact buildout is priced at $12,787 and features an Intel Core Ultra 9 285K vPro with 128 GB of RAM, an NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell with 96GB, 4 TB of storage, and a massive 1500W PSU… oh, and a DVDRW drive.
(Image credit: Collin Probst // Future )
Dell Pro Max Tower T2: Unboxing and First Impressions
The Dell Pro Max Tower T2 brings me down memory lane; it makes me remember the PCs I grew up on, the one I learned my fascination with computers on, and then I turned it on.
The machine that once reminded me of dial-up and waiting for a simple PDF or low•res photo to fully render is no longer reminiscent of my past at all, and simply reminds me that this is 2026 and this machine means business for today, and tomorrow. That’s exactly how this machine feels. Granted, it‘s no small casing, but for the amount of power packed into this chassis, the power-to-size ratio is wild.
Another thing that quickly surprised me is the port offering. There are great DisplayPorts, USB-A and USB-C ports, a disk drive for crying out loud, and other great ports that make this a spectacular machine all around. What‘s awesome too is that the build quality is spectacular, yes, it is a big machine, but it's a big machine that is built to last, and built to be re-built as new components are released, keeping the desktop workstation around for quite some time to come.
Dell Pro Max Tower T2: Design & Build Quality
(Image credit: Collin Probst // Future )
This desktop has a classic tower design with a. 32L Chassis that offers great cooling, space to expand and change out parts in the future, and it fits the mold of what pro-level users are used to, which is a bigger deal than some may think.
For those who are not necessarily enthusiasts but are just pro-users, they may not care about the fancy new doohickeys, gadgets, and gizmos. They want a machine that will work the way they need it to, every time, without fail or downtime, and they want it to work right away. They don‘t want to have to learn a new system or rebuild their setup.
The form factor helps with that, but so does the port location, the simple DisplayPort out, the IEC power connection, not some proprietary cable, and the all-around business-first focus. It’s simple things like this that help business users.
Beyond the design, the build quality is great. It’s rugged enough that you can get work done without worrying about your machine breaking, and it looks and feels professional enough that it never passes as a gaming machine, keeping this strictly business.
The internals of this blast-from-the-past-looking tower are nothing close to those with which I grew up. It’s rocking an Intel Core Ultra 9 285K with 24 cores, up to 5.7GHz boost, and built-in NPU AI Acceleration. It has an NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell with 96GB, plus a total of 4TB of blazing-fast SSD storage, 128GB of RAM, and a power supply with plenty of headroom to add other components in the future.
This computer is fine-tuned down to the component selection for AI models, training, 8K video editing, large-scale rendering, massive database manipulation, CAD, simulations, and more. This machine is a powerhouse. Plain and simple.
Dell Pro Max Tower T2: In use
(Image credit: Collin Probst // Future )
I work alongside engineers, those who work with large data warehouses, those who work with AI, those who work in 3D modeling, 4K and 6K video editors, professional photographers, those who run massive visual events, those who run full custom applications, and so on. I was able to work alongside all of those individuals with this computer to see just how powerful the Dell Pro Max T2 Tower truly is.
It is important to note that this is not a gaming PC; those are also highly spec’d, but in different ways. You could upgrade the GPU to a more gaming-focused one to get closer, but right now this machine is built for work, not play.
I'd happily use this machine as my workhorse for serious work. In high-performance roles like data engineering and architecture, tower PCs are common. This machine is spectacular for that. If you already have a monitor and keyboard setup you love, you're just looking for a more powerful engine for your ecosystem. That's exactly what this delivers.
It’s snappy, has great ports, doesn’t slow down, and stays quiet even during benchmarking tests.
The Dell Pro Max Tower T2 is a powerhouse workstation designed for real productivity. It’s not your everyday gaming PC; it’s more than that. Yes, it’s not the most advanced gaming GPU, but it is among the most powerful for raw performance and processing.
For AI, data models, data-intensive work, massive productivity, and beyond, this will handle it. And thanks to the old-school tower form factor, this machine can be upgraded with other components as you desire, without breaking solder joints or cramming parts in.
In short, this isn’t the PC for most, but for those who know they need incredible power in a Windows machine to handle these kinds of tasks, then this may just be the enterprise-grade machine you’ve been dreaming of.
The Notta Memo is another AI-enhanced voice recorder that enables you to record voice memos, record meetings and calls for the purpose of AI transcription, though not in real time, but almost. The style of design is slim and compact with MagSafe mounting, so it’s easily attachable to the back of your iPhone. For other manufacturer phones, there’s a magnetic ring in the box, so even if you're using an Android , you can still easily connect the Notta Memo neatly in place.
From the outset, the ease of use of the Notta Memo stands out, with a single button press to start and stop recording. A switch on the left side of the screen lets you switch between voice calls on your mobile and recording meetings or voice memos. That combination of a button press and a physical switch on the device itself is a really nice touch, letting you quickly access options without having to delve into an app or on-device screens.
Throughout the review process, I utilised the Notta Memo in lectures, meetings, and during phone calls, and in different situations, from a crowded and noisy classroom, through to phone calls in a busy café and meetings in a far quieter office. Each time, the Notta Memo impressed me. It was able to isolate all speakers nicely and cleanly. Again, what I really came to like was the physical switch on the device, enabling me to quickly switch between recording phone calls and live meetings, making it intuitive and like an integral part of the phone.
The one thing that was a little bit irritating was that, to utilise the Notta Memo, you need to first register the app and the device. You can use the AI offline, and the audio recording feature lets you record phone calls or meetings with a single tap, but for the AI features, the core of what this device is about, registration, is needed.
Whilst you can perform basic functionality such as audio recording, the device needs to be online to access transcription, AI summary, chat, language translation, and app sync and export of your recordings. Essentially, it becomes no more than a dictaphone without the app or internet connection.
One of the other smaller issues that I had with the Notta Memo is that once again, it uses a magnetic proprietary charging and data cable, which means that if you do leave home without that cable, you can't use a MagSafe charger or a more standard USB option to give it a boost in power. But then, because of the device's slim profile, fitting into a USB socket would be slightly counterintuitive.
As it goes, the Notta Memo is definitely a step up from the already-impressive AI-enhanced voice recorders I've seen. It's just a shame that an internet connection is still required even for the most basic of grip processes.
Notta Memo: Price and availability
(Image credit: Alastair Jennings)
How much does it cost? From $149 / £139
When is it out? Available now
Where can you get it? Online retailers such as Amazon
Languages: 58 supported Microphones: 4 MEMS + 1 bone conduction Battery: 30 h recording / 28 days standby Storage: 32 GB Connectivity: Bluetooth, Wi-Fi Charging: Magnetic cable Display: Small status screen Accessories: Leather MagSafe case, ring adapter, charging cable
Notta Memo: Design
(Image credit: Alastair Jennings)
The style of these AI-enhanced voice recorders is quite generic, all being about credit card size and ultra-slim so they can easily attach to the back of your mobile phone through some sort of MagSafe connection. For the Notta Memo, it comes in its own leather magnetic wallet, which it neatly slips into before attaching it to the back of your phone.
If, however, you're using an Android phone that doesn't have MagSafe capabilities, the company has included a magnetic ring in the box that simply sticks to the back of your phone or phone case, enabling easy connectivity.
Before starting the Notta Memo, the device needs a good charge, and here a magnetic charger cable is used. This is proprietary to the system and will only fit one way round, but again keeps the sleek, low-profile design of the Notta Memo. You just need to ensure you take it with you, as you won't be able to use any MagSafe or USB-C charger to top it up if it runs out of power, which, from reviewing a few of these devices now, I would personally have preferred.
When it comes to physical size and design, it measures 86.1 x 55.1 x 3.5 mm, essentially the same size as a credit card, just slightly thicker. Weight-wise, and again given the technology it contains, a weight of 28 g is impressive. On top of that, you do have to think about the leather wallet, but it doesn't add much to the unit and does let you easily attach it to the back of your phone, so it's always there, ready to use.
On the device, it’s very simple. On the front, it has a really beautiful, tactile texture, and, of course, it's extremely thin. At the top, there's a small switch that lets you record phone calls or meetings. Next to this is a 1-inch screen that shows which mode you're in, and to the right is the record-on/off button. So again, very minimalistic and simple.
Aside from the design and build's visual and physical features, there are 4 MEMS microphones and 1 bone-conduction microphone built in, which help the Notta Memo capture some of the clearest audio of any AI recording device I've looked at so far.
Design: 4.5 / 5
Notta Memo: Features
(Image credit: Alastair Jennings)
Notta Memo is an AI-enhanced voice recorder that records audio in real time, transcribes it into text, and lets it be saved, interrogated, or summarised in a multitude of formats. This obviously gives you a quicker way to cover meeting notes than traditional data, and you can type simple human questions into the search box after a meeting to ask and clarify what was said. It's an extremely useful tool for anyone in business who often takes phone calls or meetings and needs a transcription to check over later.
Obviously, this in itself is impressive, but the Notta Memo, like many others, goes a step further. It has a companion app with templates to help you create summaries, identify and differentiate between speakers, and create action lists you can utilise later.
These AI voice recorders are improving rapidly, and Notta Memo can transcribe live audio and translate it simultaneously. So if you do find yourself in a multilingual conversation, you can record the audio, translate it almost live, and converse with people in different languages, although you can't just use your Notta Memo alone, and you will need the companion mobile app. While this sounds great, it isn’t quite the live transcription and translation, but it is handy.
That app ties the Notta Memo features together, not only enabling all the advanced AI voice recorder options but also letting you create summaries from a list of templates or export the audio, transcription, or translation so you can send it to other parties.
One of the big features of this AI voice recorder is that it has four highly tuned MEMS microphones, which are very good at picking out the voice from background noise, including busy conversations, even in a crowded café. This means that it picks up not only the vocals but who is talking and is able to differentiate and label voice one and voice two (or more), so once you're looking through the note, you can tell who has said what.
Like many AI voice recorders, there’s a physical switch on the front so that you can switch between the microphone modes. This switches the pickup from being used to pick up people talking in the same room (say, in a meeting), and then, if a call comes through, you can quickly switch to a bone-conduction microphone to pick up the audio from the phone conversation.
The hardware is impressive, though very minimalistic, but it's the app where all the processing happens, enabling real-time transcription and translation, as well as an AI summary and AI chat, so you can ask the app about the conversations you have recorded. These AI features are impressive and, alongside the chat, transcription and translation, there are also 30+ smart templates that you can use to summarise meetings, create sales pitches and far more.
However, it is worth noting that for many advanced features, you will need to pay an additional subscription fee in addition to the device's cost. However, unlike some others, the starter plan is free, offering 300 minutes of AI transcription per month, a good number of reusable AI templates, and AI chat and real-time transcription speaker identification.
Features: 4 / 5
Notta Memo: Performance
(Image credit: Alastair Jennings)
My first introduction to one of these AI recorders was about a year ago, and at the time, the potential was obvious; the ability to record meeting audio that you can then listen back to for reference has been common place for years, but these AI audio recorders take it a step further.
A transcription of what was said by who is only the surface of the abilities, but then the transcription can be formatted so that you can search, summarise and reformat for different purposes. The fact that you can have it as a document or a PDF just adds to its usability. The fact that you can now use a chatbot to discuss and question the meeting transcription afterwards is an invaluable business asset.
From this point of view, the Notta Memo makes a lot of sense. Before I go into how it was to use it, it’s worth pointing out that Notta already has quite a substantial presence in the AI voice recording market, with a standalone app for your mobile phone. So, initially, you might think: why spend almost £200/$200 on a dedicated piece of hardware if you can just get by with your mobile phone?
The simple answer to this is pure convenience. Firstly, having a hardware device with 32 GB of internal storage means you won't fill up your phone's storage with voice recordings. Once you use these AI apps, you realise how useful they are and how quickly they fill up your phone with multiple recordings, especially since a few meetings last only half an hour.
The other point is that with the Notta Memo attached to the back of your phone, it’s always there, ready to use. Whilst it's normally just a quick swipe up on your phone, you still need to launch the app. Here, with the Notta Memo, if you make a call, you simply slide the switch to the call position and press the button. It's all a very natural movement, and you know that you're going to capture everything that was said. Likewise, if you're in a meeting, you can place your phone screen down, tap the button again (making sure the switch is in the right place), and the meeting will be recorded, ready for transcription later.
So really think of the hardware as convenience, firstly for the storage it provides, and then for the quick access to the buttons and of course battery life. It’s just quick and easy to use, making it far more intuitive than digging through your phone for that app. I also found that when I tried to use the app in a meeting, I was always asked what it was and what it would do. Whereas with the piece of hardware on the back doing exactly the same thing, you can simply say it’s a digital recorder, and everyone seems perfectly happy with it, especially when they see the consolidated notes at the end and the easily organised action points that would usually take a while to type up after a meeting has finished.
During the test, I used the Memo in three main areas. The first was during a photography evening class, where I taught black-and-white photography. Whilst the students already had PDF slide notes, additional information often comes up through the night, most importantly, questions about the process of film or print development that arise as the evening progresses. Whilst they do try to make a note of these in a notebook, there are often one or two points that slip through.
But here, with Notta Memo, at the end of the evening, I was able to save the transcription and ask it to pull out a series of Q&As, and it listed them out perfectly. I was able to copy and paste these into an email and send them to all the participants of the evening as a handy addition to the lecture. What impressed me here was that it cut out all the additional chitchat that happened through the night. I was able to use the AI to pull out all the relevant information for the evening and summarise it so I could easily pass it on.
In the next test, I had a small editorial meeting. I needed to speak to a couple of writers and the editor about a few projects I have going on, as well as the logistics of moving certain cameras from one location to another. Here, Notta Memo really came into its own, able to separate the individual speakers and create action points for each. This saved us time while we were taking notes. Having a unified summary made all the difference, so we were all looking at the same interpretation of the meeting rather than walking away with slightly different thoughts. Essentially, the action points were clear and assigned to each individual.
The final test was the phone pickup, again, a simple, straightforward conversation with a colleague about a new 3D printer and a few issues I was having, which they had already sorted out with the manufacturer. Through that conversation, they walked me through the network connectivity step by step. Whilst I was furiously writing notes, just knowing I had that conversation recorded and could ask it questions later on was a huge help, especially as there was so much information to take on board.
What’s even more impressive is that I had to do this conversation in a busy café in Salisbury. Whilst the noise wasn’t drowning out the call, there were a few times when I found it difficult to fully make out what was being said. However, with the live transcription also happening, I could read what was being said, although I will say there was a good five-second delay between the speaker telling me a procedure and those words appearing on the screen.
This time delay varies depending on the strength of your mobile phone's connection, and at all times, all transcription, translation, and templates require a good network connection to work. Later on, I was taking some memo notes whilst on a dog walk using the Notta Memo. I wanted to quickly summarise those notes so that I could send them on to a colleague. However, because there was no internet connection, all I could do at that time was voice record, then translate it once the connection came back in.
Throughout the test, I attempted to use the Memo for a couple of days in between charges. The battery life seemed exceptional. However, once again, it has a proprietary charger, and I always find this can be a bit of an issue, especially when you forget to take that charger with you. Although it might add a little bulk to part of the device, I'm sure it could have been designed so that a USB cable could be inserted rather than the magnetic connection at the back. It might not be quite as convenient for the design, but it would certainly be more handy and usable for anyone who travels frequently.
32GB might not sound like a lot of storage, but when it comes to transcription and audio voice recording, that’s actually quite a great deal. Through the course of this review, I must’ve recorded some 20 hours’ worth of audio, which all sat perfectly happily within the Notta Memo. What I like here is that you can sync that audio with the Notta Cloud, so if you need to access that note and you don’t have the Notta Memo with you, you can log in online and find everything there.
Whilst I have used quite a few of these AI voice recorders, I will say that the depth of the Notta app and its online presence are greater. My one issue with this, as with some of the other recent AI-enhanced devices and applications that I've used, is the overuse of emojis and cartoon characters, such as waving cats, which just doesn’t seem very professional or businesslike in a business-focused device.
Performance: 4.5 / 5
Notta Memo: Final verdict
(Image credit: Alastair Jennings)
The Notta Memo is an exceptionally impressive AI voice recorder, and if you're looking for a dedicated device to complement your mobile phone so you're not filling it up with voice recordings and can also access it quickly whenever a call or meeting happens, then it's a superb option.
I like that you can either use it live, connected via Bluetooth to the app, or, if you're not with your phone and just want to take the recorder, record the vocals and have the transcription applied to those recordings later.
The app is one of the most comprehensive that I've seen. The transcription speed is superb. My only quibble with the app and the online presence is that some of the light-hearted aspects, such as clapping cats and caricatures that randomly appear at different points, just don't feel very professional compared with some other options.
However, that's in stark contrast to the power it actually has, and compared with many of the other AI transcription and, for that matter, translation options, it is extremely powerful. What also gives it the edge is not only the pure accuracy of that transcription, but the fact that you get a decent amount of transcription for free. Obviously, you need to pay for the hardware, but unlike other devices, you can get by for most general use without paying an additional monthly subscription.
AI voice recorders are in their infancy, and whilst many people will see the benefits, it isn't until you start to use one in your day-to-day life that you realise just how useful they are. Just having one in a meeting to record the audio so you can quickly summarise it afterwards is invaluable. And when you're making phone calls, especially to colleagues, having that recording firstly to listen back to, but also to quickly type into a chat and ask to summarise that phone call, is again extremely useful.
At present, I don't really know anyone other than myself who has started using one of these AI voice recorders, but every time I show someone one of these iterations, they need very little explanation as to why they're so useful. Soon, I'm sure they'll become commonplace, attached to the backs of people's mobile phones, ready to aid people in their busy lives alongside AI-enhanced apps we have yet to imagine.
Should I buy a Notta Memo?
(Image credit: Alastair Jennings)
Value
Under £200/$200 for a slimline device that essentially does what your mobile phone can do with an app may sound expensive — until you start using it. Then its convenience becomes apparent.
4/5
Design
The slimline design and MagSafe connection let it sit on the back of your phone, ready for use whenever you need it. Just a shame it uses a proprietary charger.
4/5
Features
The ease of recording with the switch, screen, and button makes it extremely easy to interact with, and the fully featured app, which includes templates, makes it one of the most feature-packed AI recorders yet.
4.5/5
Performance
Transcription accuracy across the test — in the lecture theatre, café, and a quieter meeting room — was almost 100%.
5/5
Overall
Slim, stylish, and easy to use with superb accuracy. Once you start to use one of these devices, there really is no going back.
4.5/5
Buy it if...
You need meeting notes. If you're in a meeting and need to take the minutes, this audio recorder will quickly summarise everything that's been said, who said it, and create action points.
You need to quickly translate. If you're off to a trade show anywhere in the world, and you know you're going to be in situations where you'll be talking to people in a variety of languages, even if the translation isn't live, it is certainly fast.
Don't buy it if...
You only take notes occasionally. While the idea of a dedicated hardware device might be appealing, most of the features can be found through the standard Notta app, which is a software download with a subscription for both iOS and Android devices.
You're worried about privacy. You can make audio recordings offline and take notes, but to use all features, you must be logged in to the ecosystem to enable online transcription, translation, and other features.
The Notta Memo is another AI-enhanced voice recorder that enables you to record voice memos, record meetings and calls for the purpose of AI transcription, though not in real time, but almost. The style of design is slim and compact with MagSafe mounting, so it’s easily attachable to the back of your iPhone. For other manufacturer phones, there’s a magnetic ring in the box, so even if you're using an Android , you can still easily connect the Notta Memo neatly in place.
From the outset, the ease of use of the Notta Memo stands out, with a single button press to start and stop recording. A switch on the left side of the screen lets you switch between voice calls on your mobile and recording meetings or voice memos. That combination of a button press and a physical switch on the device itself is a really nice touch, letting you quickly access options without having to delve into an app or on-device screens.
Throughout the review process, I utilised the Notta Memo in lectures, meetings, and during phone calls, and in different situations, from a crowded and noisy classroom, through to phone calls in a busy café and meetings in a far quieter office. Each time, the Notta Memo impressed me. It was able to isolate all speakers nicely and cleanly. Again, what I really came to like was the physical switch on the device, enabling me to quickly switch between recording phone calls and live meetings, making it intuitive and like an integral part of the phone.
The one thing that was a little bit irritating was that, to utilise the Notta Memo, you need to first register the app and the device. You can use the AI offline, and the audio recording feature lets you record phone calls or meetings with a single tap, but for the AI features, the core of what this device is about, registration, is needed.
Whilst you can perform basic functionality such as audio recording, the device needs to be online to access transcription, AI summary, chat, language translation, and app sync and export of your recordings. Essentially, it becomes no more than a dictaphone without the app or internet connection.
One of the other smaller issues that I had with the Notta Memo is that once again, it uses a magnetic proprietary charging and data cable, which means that if you do leave home without that cable, you can't use a MagSafe charger or a more standard USB option to give it a boost in power. But then, because of the device's slim profile, fitting into a USB socket would be slightly counterintuitive.
As it goes, the Notta Memo is definitely a step up from the already-impressive AI-enhanced voice recorders I've seen. It's just a shame that an internet connection is still required even for the most basic of grip processes.
Notta Memo: Price and availability
(Image credit: Alastair Jennings)
How much does it cost? From $149 / £139
When is it out? Available now
Where can you get it? Online retailers such as Amazon
Languages: 58 supported Microphones: 4 MEMS + 1 bone conduction Battery: 30 h recording / 28 days standby Storage: 32 GB Connectivity: Bluetooth, Wi-Fi Charging: Magnetic cable Display: Small status screen Accessories: Leather MagSafe case, ring adapter, charging cable
Notta Memo: Design
(Image credit: Alastair Jennings)
The style of these AI-enhanced voice recorders is quite generic, all being about credit card size and ultra-slim so they can easily attach to the back of your mobile phone through some sort of MagSafe connection. For the Notta Memo, it comes in its own leather magnetic wallet, which it neatly slips into before attaching it to the back of your phone.
If, however, you're using an Android phone that doesn't have MagSafe capabilities, the company has included a magnetic ring in the box that simply sticks to the back of your phone or phone case, enabling easy connectivity.
Before starting the Notta Memo, the device needs a good charge, and here a magnetic charger cable is used. This is proprietary to the system and will only fit one way round, but again keeps the sleek, low-profile design of the Notta Memo. You just need to ensure you take it with you, as you won't be able to use any MagSafe or USB-C charger to top it up if it runs out of power, which, from reviewing a few of these devices now, I would personally have preferred.
When it comes to physical size and design, it measures 86.1 x 55.1 x 3.5 mm, essentially the same size as a credit card, just slightly thicker. Weight-wise, and again given the technology it contains, a weight of 28 g is impressive. On top of that, you do have to think about the leather wallet, but it doesn't add much to the unit and does let you easily attach it to the back of your phone, so it's always there, ready to use.
On the device, it’s very simple. On the front, it has a really beautiful, tactile texture, and, of course, it's extremely thin. At the top, there's a small switch that lets you record phone calls or meetings. Next to this is a 1-inch screen that shows which mode you're in, and to the right is the record-on/off button. So again, very minimalistic and simple.
Aside from the design and build's visual and physical features, there are 4 MEMS microphones and 1 bone-conduction microphone built in, which help the Notta Memo capture some of the clearest audio of any AI recording device I've looked at so far.
Design: 4.5 / 5
Notta Memo: Features
(Image credit: Alastair Jennings)
Notta Memo is an AI-enhanced voice recorder that records audio in real time, transcribes it into text, and lets it be saved, interrogated, or summarised in a multitude of formats. This obviously gives you a quicker way to cover meeting notes than traditional data, and you can type simple human questions into the search box after a meeting to ask and clarify what was said. It's an extremely useful tool for anyone in business who often takes phone calls or meetings and needs a transcription to check over later.
Obviously, this in itself is impressive, but the Notta Memo, like many others, goes a step further. It has a companion app with templates to help you create summaries, identify and differentiate between speakers, and create action lists you can utilise later.
These AI voice recorders are improving rapidly, and Notta Memo can transcribe live audio and translate it simultaneously. So if you do find yourself in a multilingual conversation, you can record the audio, translate it almost live, and converse with people in different languages, although you can't just use your Notta Memo alone, and you will need the companion mobile app. While this sounds great, it isn’t quite the live transcription and translation, but it is handy.
That app ties the Notta Memo features together, not only enabling all the advanced AI voice recorder options but also letting you create summaries from a list of templates or export the audio, transcription, or translation so you can send it to other parties.
One of the big features of this AI voice recorder is that it has four highly tuned MEMS microphones, which are very good at picking out the voice from background noise, including busy conversations, even in a crowded café. This means that it picks up not only the vocals but who is talking and is able to differentiate and label voice one and voice two (or more), so once you're looking through the note, you can tell who has said what.
Like many AI voice recorders, there’s a physical switch on the front so that you can switch between the microphone modes. This switches the pickup from being used to pick up people talking in the same room (say, in a meeting), and then, if a call comes through, you can quickly switch to a bone-conduction microphone to pick up the audio from the phone conversation.
The hardware is impressive, though very minimalistic, but it's the app where all the processing happens, enabling real-time transcription and translation, as well as an AI summary and AI chat, so you can ask the app about the conversations you have recorded. These AI features are impressive and, alongside the chat, transcription and translation, there are also 30+ smart templates that you can use to summarise meetings, create sales pitches and far more.
However, it is worth noting that for many advanced features, you will need to pay an additional subscription fee in addition to the device's cost. However, unlike some others, the starter plan is free, offering 300 minutes of AI transcription per month, a good number of reusable AI templates, and AI chat and real-time transcription speaker identification.
Features: 4 / 5
Notta Memo: Performance
(Image credit: Alastair Jennings)
My first introduction to one of these AI recorders was about a year ago, and at the time, the potential was obvious; the ability to record meeting audio that you can then listen back to for reference has been common place for years, but these AI audio recorders take it a step further.
A transcription of what was said by who is only the surface of the abilities, but then the transcription can be formatted so that you can search, summarise and reformat for different purposes. The fact that you can have it as a document or a PDF just adds to its usability. The fact that you can now use a chatbot to discuss and question the meeting transcription afterwards is an invaluable business asset.
From this point of view, the Notta Memo makes a lot of sense. Before I go into how it was to use it, it’s worth pointing out that Notta already has quite a substantial presence in the AI voice recording market, with a standalone app for your mobile phone. So, initially, you might think: why spend almost £200/$200 on a dedicated piece of hardware if you can just get by with your mobile phone?
The simple answer to this is pure convenience. Firstly, having a hardware device with 32 GB of internal storage means you won't fill up your phone's storage with voice recordings. Once you use these AI apps, you realise how useful they are and how quickly they fill up your phone with multiple recordings, especially since a few meetings last only half an hour.
The other point is that with the Notta Memo attached to the back of your phone, it’s always there, ready to use. Whilst it's normally just a quick swipe up on your phone, you still need to launch the app. Here, with the Notta Memo, if you make a call, you simply slide the switch to the call position and press the button. It's all a very natural movement, and you know that you're going to capture everything that was said. Likewise, if you're in a meeting, you can place your phone screen down, tap the button again (making sure the switch is in the right place), and the meeting will be recorded, ready for transcription later.
So really think of the hardware as convenience, firstly for the storage it provides, and then for the quick access to the buttons and of course battery life. It’s just quick and easy to use, making it far more intuitive than digging through your phone for that app. I also found that when I tried to use the app in a meeting, I was always asked what it was and what it would do. Whereas with the piece of hardware on the back doing exactly the same thing, you can simply say it’s a digital recorder, and everyone seems perfectly happy with it, especially when they see the consolidated notes at the end and the easily organised action points that would usually take a while to type up after a meeting has finished.
During the test, I used the Memo in three main areas. The first was during a photography evening class, where I taught black-and-white photography. Whilst the students already had PDF slide notes, additional information often comes up through the night, most importantly, questions about the process of film or print development that arise as the evening progresses. Whilst they do try to make a note of these in a notebook, there are often one or two points that slip through.
But here, with Notta Memo, at the end of the evening, I was able to save the transcription and ask it to pull out a series of Q&As, and it listed them out perfectly. I was able to copy and paste these into an email and send them to all the participants of the evening as a handy addition to the lecture. What impressed me here was that it cut out all the additional chitchat that happened through the night. I was able to use the AI to pull out all the relevant information for the evening and summarise it so I could easily pass it on.
In the next test, I had a small editorial meeting. I needed to speak to a couple of writers and the editor about a few projects I have going on, as well as the logistics of moving certain cameras from one location to another. Here, Notta Memo really came into its own, able to separate the individual speakers and create action points for each. This saved us time while we were taking notes. Having a unified summary made all the difference, so we were all looking at the same interpretation of the meeting rather than walking away with slightly different thoughts. Essentially, the action points were clear and assigned to each individual.
The final test was the phone pickup, again, a simple, straightforward conversation with a colleague about a new 3D printer and a few issues I was having, which they had already sorted out with the manufacturer. Through that conversation, they walked me through the network connectivity step by step. Whilst I was furiously writing notes, just knowing I had that conversation recorded and could ask it questions later on was a huge help, especially as there was so much information to take on board.
What’s even more impressive is that I had to do this conversation in a busy café in Salisbury. Whilst the noise wasn’t drowning out the call, there were a few times when I found it difficult to fully make out what was being said. However, with the live transcription also happening, I could read what was being said, although I will say there was a good five-second delay between the speaker telling me a procedure and those words appearing on the screen.
This time delay varies depending on the strength of your mobile phone's connection, and at all times, all transcription, translation, and templates require a good network connection to work. Later on, I was taking some memo notes whilst on a dog walk using the Notta Memo. I wanted to quickly summarise those notes so that I could send them on to a colleague. However, because there was no internet connection, all I could do at that time was voice record, then translate it once the connection came back in.
Throughout the test, I attempted to use the Memo for a couple of days in between charges. The battery life seemed exceptional. However, once again, it has a proprietary charger, and I always find this can be a bit of an issue, especially when you forget to take that charger with you. Although it might add a little bulk to part of the device, I'm sure it could have been designed so that a USB cable could be inserted rather than the magnetic connection at the back. It might not be quite as convenient for the design, but it would certainly be more handy and usable for anyone who travels frequently.
32GB might not sound like a lot of storage, but when it comes to transcription and audio voice recording, that’s actually quite a great deal. Through the course of this review, I must’ve recorded some 20 hours’ worth of audio, which all sat perfectly happily within the Notta Memo. What I like here is that you can sync that audio with the Notta Cloud, so if you need to access that note and you don’t have the Notta Memo with you, you can log in online and find everything there.
Whilst I have used quite a few of these AI voice recorders, I will say that the depth of the Notta app and its online presence are greater. My one issue with this, as with some of the other recent AI-enhanced devices and applications that I've used, is the overuse of emojis and cartoon characters, such as waving cats, which just doesn’t seem very professional or businesslike in a business-focused device.
Performance: 4.5 / 5
Notta Memo: Final verdict
(Image credit: Alastair Jennings)
The Notta Memo is an exceptionally impressive AI voice recorder, and if you're looking for a dedicated device to complement your mobile phone so you're not filling it up with voice recordings and can also access it quickly whenever a call or meeting happens, then it's a superb option.
I like that you can either use it live, connected via Bluetooth to the app, or, if you're not with your phone and just want to take the recorder, record the vocals and have the transcription applied to those recordings later.
The app is one of the most comprehensive that I've seen. The transcription speed is superb. My only quibble with the app and the online presence is that some of the light-hearted aspects, such as clapping cats and caricatures that randomly appear at different points, just don't feel very professional compared with some other options.
However, that's in stark contrast to the power it actually has, and compared with many of the other AI transcription and, for that matter, translation options, it is extremely powerful. What also gives it the edge is not only the pure accuracy of that transcription, but the fact that you get a decent amount of transcription for free. Obviously, you need to pay for the hardware, but unlike other devices, you can get by for most general use without paying an additional monthly subscription.
AI voice recorders are in their infancy, and whilst many people will see the benefits, it isn't until you start to use one in your day-to-day life that you realise just how useful they are. Just having one in a meeting to record the audio so you can quickly summarise it afterwards is invaluable. And when you're making phone calls, especially to colleagues, having that recording firstly to listen back to, but also to quickly type into a chat and ask to summarise that phone call, is again extremely useful.
At present, I don't really know anyone other than myself who has started using one of these AI voice recorders, but every time I show someone one of these iterations, they need very little explanation as to why they're so useful. Soon, I'm sure they'll become commonplace, attached to the backs of people's mobile phones, ready to aid people in their busy lives alongside AI-enhanced apps we have yet to imagine.
Should I buy a Notta Memo?
(Image credit: Alastair Jennings)
Value
Under £200/$200 for a slimline device that essentially does what your mobile phone can do with an app may sound expensive — until you start using it. Then its convenience becomes apparent.
4/5
Design
The slimline design and MagSafe connection let it sit on the back of your phone, ready for use whenever you need it. Just a shame it uses a proprietary charger.
4/5
Features
The ease of recording with the switch, screen, and button makes it extremely easy to interact with, and the fully featured app, which includes templates, makes it one of the most feature-packed AI recorders yet.
4.5/5
Performance
Transcription accuracy across the test — in the lecture theatre, café, and a quieter meeting room — was almost 100%.
5/5
Overall
Slim, stylish, and easy to use with superb accuracy. Once you start to use one of these devices, there really is no going back.
4.5/5
Buy it if...
You need meeting notes. If you're in a meeting and need to take the minutes, this audio recorder will quickly summarise everything that's been said, who said it, and create action points.
You need to quickly translate. If you're off to a trade show anywhere in the world, and you know you're going to be in situations where you'll be talking to people in a variety of languages, even if the translation isn't live, it is certainly fast.
Don't buy it if...
You only take notes occasionally. While the idea of a dedicated hardware device might be appealing, most of the features can be found through the standard Notta app, which is a software download with a subscription for both iOS and Android devices.
You're worried about privacy. You can make audio recordings offline and take notes, but to use all features, you must be logged in to the ecosystem to enable online transcription, translation, and other features.
Consumables included: 4 x set-up cartridges (1,200 black, 1,000 color pages)
Dimensions/Weight: 421 x 427 x 288 mm (WxDxH)/36lb/16.3kg
The HP Color LaserJet Pro 4201dw (or 4202dw in the UK) is an office-oriented color laser printer capable of fast high-volume printing. It improves significantly on the HP Color LaserJet Pro 3201dw with faster print speeds, increased paper and toner capacity and an upgradable modular design.
This makes it well-suited to a busy workgroup of around ten people, but I’m sure its slick and relatively compact design will also appeal to home-based workers. For me, the enhanced black print quality is an attraction, while its somewhat expensive toner cartridges aren’t, so let’s see how it performs overall.
HP Color LaserJet Pro 4201dw: Design and build
(Image credit: HP // Future)
Crisp corners, strict symmetry and refreshing blue panels ensure the HP Color LaserJet Pro 4201dw stands out from all the other off-white office printers. It’s compact enough to share your desk at home and its modular design can be expanded with the addition of a 550-sheet paper tray to suit a growing business.
The blue drawer at the bottom can hold up to 250 sheets of Letter or A4 paper, the standard amount, while the blue panel above reveals a 50-sheet multi-purpose tray, which is more useful than the usual single sheet. The output tray on top is also deeper than most, holding up to 150 sheets.
To access the toner cartridges, you press a button on the side of the printer to make that blue panel hinge all the way open. Another tiny flap on top of the printer hides a handy USB Host port. Always a welcome feature. All other ports are hidden on the rear panel.
Despite being a fairly costly step up from the HP Color LaserJet Pro 3201dw, there’s still no touchscreen, just a four-line LCD with a rotary dial beneath it. Some users might like this retro design choice, but I found it annoying. Overall, I think the design and build quality inspires confidence.
HP Color LaserJet Pro 4201dw: Features & specifications
(Image credit: HP // Future)
HP has endowed this mid-price printer with plenty of features and a pretty high specification. It can duplex print, of course, and has dual-band Wi-Fi 5 with AirPrint and Mopria compatibility. There’s a USB Host port in addition to the usual square USB-B port and HP has even-thrown in a USB-A to USB-B data cable.
It has wide media compatibility with 33 choices appearing on the menu when you come to identify the type of paper you loaded. It can take any size sheet up to letter, legal or A4 with the heaviest paper it can handle being 200 g/m² which is actually fairly thin card. It has HP’s Wolf Pro Security software built in and an adequate 512MB memory.
The print speed is given as 33 or 35ppm (pages per minute) depending whether printing on Letter or A4 paper and that was broadly confirmed by my testing. That’s about equal to the Xerox C320, but slower than HP’s black and white printers.
The HP Color LaserJet Pro 4201dw can take large cartridges capable of holding enough toner for up to 7,500 black and white pages and can be expanded to hold up to 850 sheets of paper if you buy the extra paper tray. That kind of capacity should meet the needs of any SME (small to medium enterprise) and HP suggests a monthly duty cycle of up to 50,000 pages.
HP Color LaserJet Pro 4201dw: Setup and operation
(Image credit: HP // Future)
With the set-up cartridges already pre-loaded, this printer is almost ready to print out of the box. The setup guide runs to 5 pages, but you won’t need it. Just load your paper, turn on and follow the on-screen prompts. I found that initiation took longer than usual because of the dial interface. Like a safe cracker, you need to turn it this way and that to enter every letter of your wi-fi password. Unlike some of HP’s printers, there’s no inbuilt Bluetooth to hand the setup of this printer straight to the HP Smart app on your mobile device.
The next model up in this series is the HP Color LaserJet Pro 4301dw multifunction printer, which does have a touchscreen, and I can see HP’s logic. A single-function device doesn’t have enough settings to justify the expense of a touchscreen. But that doesn’t stop most rival printers at this price having one.
The free HP Smart app for Android or iOS gives you an alternative to the dial interface, but you’ll still need to scroll through the paper types at the machine each time you switch media.
HP Color LaserJet Pro 4201dw: Performance
(Image credit: HP // Future)
The HP Color LaserJet Pro 4201dw performed very well in my tests, achieving strong print quality in all categories, but most notably with text documents. Black text on plain paper looks especially dark and crisp with unusually sharp definition.
This must be down to HP’s 6-bit resolution enhancement technology (RET) which has the effect of boosting the native 600x600dpi engine to a claimed 38,400x600 in best black mode. Basically, with 64 levels of gray (6-bit), the printer is multiplying 600 dots x 64 to give you 38,400 dots.
Mixed color documents also look impressive, thanks to the vivid nature of HP’s LaserJet toner. It’s applied evenly too, so there’s less of that banding you see when shading blocks of black or solid color. Photographs also fare well here, especially when I switched to laser photo paper.
Laser photo paper is only slightly heavier and glossier than regular paper, which is one reason lasers aren’t as good as inkjets when it comes to photos. The other reason is you can always see the dots that make up the 600x600 dpi laser photo and that’s still the case here. Even so, this laser printer is better than most and certainly good enough for printing eye-catching images on brochures and handouts.
HP Color LaserJet Pro 4201dw: Consumables
(Image credit: HP // Future)
The consumables cost for the HP Color LaserJet Pro 4201dw is competitive for monochrome prints, but slightly higher than average for color prints. And there’s only a limited amount of pre-loaded toner. It ships with four setup cartridges which should yield up to 1,200 black or 1,000 color pages, which is about half the toner you get in HP’s standard carts.
The extra high-yield carts, however, can deliver up to 7,500 and 2,200 black and color pages respectively and it’s these expensive carts that give the lowest cost per page (CPP). With the black cartridges having a much higher yield than color, but small difference in price, you have monochrome pages with a pretty good CCP of around two and half cents and color pages costing more than 15 cents.
HP uses software to block any cartridge without a genuine HP chip, so I wouldn’t recommend buying cheaper third-party toner. Given the high quality of its monochrome output in particular, the answer is to buy this printer if you print predominantly in black and white.
HP Color LaserJet Pro 4201dw: Maintenance
(Image credit: HP // Future)
Like other low-maintenance laser printers, the HP Color LaserJet Pro 4201dw combines the optical drum with the toner cartridge, so drum replacement is not a consideration. On the downside, it explains why the cost of its cartridges is relatively high.
HP Color LaserJet Pro 4201dw: Final verdict
HP // FutureHP // FutureHP // FutureHP // Future
There’s a lot to like about the HP Color LaserJet Pro 4201dw. Its slick and compact design, the rapid duplex print rate and the enhanced black print quality for a start. Having two paper inputs is very convenient, while the option to add a third is sensible future-proofing for a growing business.
I’m not so keen on the rotary dial interface — I would have preferred a touchscreen — and it’s a pity it can’t handle paper heavier than 200 g/m². A bigger concern is the relatively high cost of HP’s color cartridges, but that still doesn’t put me off.
The high quality of its black and white output and the more competitive price of its black toner make this an ideal printer for anyone who needs to print a high volume of predominantly monochrome pages.
Consumables included: 4 x set-up cartridges (1,200 black, 1,000 color pages)
Dimensions/Weight: 421 x 427 x 288 mm (WxDxH)/36lb/16.3kg
The HP Color LaserJet Pro 4201dw (or 4202dw in the UK) is an office-oriented color laser printer capable of fast high-volume printing. It improves significantly on the HP Color LaserJet Pro 3201dw with faster print speeds, increased paper and toner capacity and an upgradable modular design.
This makes it well-suited to a busy workgroup of around ten people, but I’m sure its slick and relatively compact design will also appeal to home-based workers. For me, the enhanced black print quality is an attraction, while its somewhat expensive toner cartridges aren’t, so let’s see how it performs overall.
HP Color LaserJet Pro 4201dw: Design and build
(Image credit: HP // Future)
Crisp corners, strict symmetry and refreshing blue panels ensure the HP Color LaserJet Pro 4201dw stands out from all the other off-white office printers. It’s compact enough to share your desk at home and its modular design can be expanded with the addition of a 550-sheet paper tray to suit a growing business.
The blue drawer at the bottom can hold up to 250 sheets of Letter or A4 paper, the standard amount, while the blue panel above reveals a 50-sheet multi-purpose tray, which is more useful than the usual single sheet. The output tray on top is also deeper than most, holding up to 150 sheets.
To access the toner cartridges, you press a button on the side of the printer to make that blue panel hinge all the way open. Another tiny flap on top of the printer hides a handy USB Host port. Always a welcome feature. All other ports are hidden on the rear panel.
Despite being a fairly costly step up from the HP Color LaserJet Pro 3201dw, there’s still no touchscreen, just a four-line LCD with a rotary dial beneath it. Some users might like this retro design choice, but I found it annoying. Overall, I think the design and build quality inspires confidence.
HP Color LaserJet Pro 4201dw: Features & specifications
(Image credit: HP // Future)
HP has endowed this mid-price printer with plenty of features and a pretty high specification. It can duplex print, of course, and has dual-band Wi-Fi 5 with AirPrint and Mopria compatibility. There’s a USB Host port in addition to the usual square USB-B port and HP has even-thrown in a USB-A to USB-B data cable.
It has wide media compatibility with 33 choices appearing on the menu when you come to identify the type of paper you loaded. It can take any size sheet up to letter, legal or A4 with the heaviest paper it can handle being 200 g/m² which is actually fairly thin card. It has HP’s Wolf Pro Security software built in and an adequate 512MB memory.
The print speed is given as 33 or 35ppm (pages per minute) depending whether printing on Letter or A4 paper and that was broadly confirmed by my testing. That’s about equal to the Xerox C320, but slower than HP’s black and white printers.
The HP Color LaserJet Pro 4201dw can take large cartridges capable of holding enough toner for up to 7,500 black and white pages and can be expanded to hold up to 850 sheets of paper if you buy the extra paper tray. That kind of capacity should meet the needs of any SME (small to medium enterprise) and HP suggests a monthly duty cycle of up to 50,000 pages.
HP Color LaserJet Pro 4201dw: Setup and operation
(Image credit: HP // Future)
With the set-up cartridges already pre-loaded, this printer is almost ready to print out of the box. The setup guide runs to 5 pages, but you won’t need it. Just load your paper, turn on and follow the on-screen prompts. I found that initiation took longer than usual because of the dial interface. Like a safe cracker, you need to turn it this way and that to enter every letter of your wi-fi password. Unlike some of HP’s printers, there’s no inbuilt Bluetooth to hand the setup of this printer straight to the HP Smart app on your mobile device.
The next model up in this series is the HP Color LaserJet Pro 4301dw multifunction printer, which does have a touchscreen, and I can see HP’s logic. A single-function device doesn’t have enough settings to justify the expense of a touchscreen. But that doesn’t stop most rival printers at this price having one.
The free HP Smart app for Android or iOS gives you an alternative to the dial interface, but you’ll still need to scroll through the paper types at the machine each time you switch media.
HP Color LaserJet Pro 4201dw: Performance
(Image credit: HP // Future)
The HP Color LaserJet Pro 4201dw performed very well in my tests, achieving strong print quality in all categories, but most notably with text documents. Black text on plain paper looks especially dark and crisp with unusually sharp definition.
This must be down to HP’s 6-bit resolution enhancement technology (RET) which has the effect of boosting the native 600x600dpi engine to a claimed 38,400x600 in best black mode. Basically, with 64 levels of gray (6-bit), the printer is multiplying 600 dots x 64 to give you 38,400 dots.
Mixed color documents also look impressive, thanks to the vivid nature of HP’s LaserJet toner. It’s applied evenly too, so there’s less of that banding you see when shading blocks of black or solid color. Photographs also fare well here, especially when I switched to laser photo paper.
Laser photo paper is only slightly heavier and glossier than regular paper, which is one reason lasers aren’t as good as inkjets when it comes to photos. The other reason is you can always see the dots that make up the 600x600 dpi laser photo and that’s still the case here. Even so, this laser printer is better than most and certainly good enough for printing eye-catching images on brochures and handouts.
HP Color LaserJet Pro 4201dw: Consumables
(Image credit: HP // Future)
The consumables cost for the HP Color LaserJet Pro 4201dw is competitive for monochrome prints, but slightly higher than average for color prints. And there’s only a limited amount of pre-loaded toner. It ships with four setup cartridges which should yield up to 1,200 black or 1,000 color pages, which is about half the toner you get in HP’s standard carts.
The extra high-yield carts, however, can deliver up to 7,500 and 2,200 black and color pages respectively and it’s these expensive carts that give the lowest cost per page (CPP). With the black cartridges having a much higher yield than color, but small difference in price, you have monochrome pages with a pretty good CCP of around two and half cents and color pages costing more than 15 cents.
HP uses software to block any cartridge without a genuine HP chip, so I wouldn’t recommend buying cheaper third-party toner. Given the high quality of its monochrome output in particular, the answer is to buy this printer if you print predominantly in black and white.
HP Color LaserJet Pro 4201dw: Maintenance
(Image credit: HP // Future)
Like other low-maintenance laser printers, the HP Color LaserJet Pro 4201dw combines the optical drum with the toner cartridge, so drum replacement is not a consideration. On the downside, it explains why the cost of its cartridges is relatively high.
HP Color LaserJet Pro 4201dw: Final verdict
HP // FutureHP // FutureHP // FutureHP // Future
There’s a lot to like about the HP Color LaserJet Pro 4201dw. Its slick and compact design, the rapid duplex print rate and the enhanced black print quality for a start. Having two paper inputs is very convenient, while the option to add a third is sensible future-proofing for a growing business.
I’m not so keen on the rotary dial interface — I would have preferred a touchscreen — and it’s a pity it can’t handle paper heavier than 200 g/m². A bigger concern is the relatively high cost of HP’s color cartridges, but that still doesn’t put me off.
The high quality of its black and white output and the more competitive price of its black toner make this an ideal printer for anyone who needs to print a high volume of predominantly monochrome pages.
The people at Paylocity recognize that HR teams want to do more – but they’re often bogged down in tedious administrative tasks.
To that end, Paylocity’s HR and payroll solutions place a strong focus on automation, process simplification, and ease of compliance to give your teams the time they need to think strategically and have a greater impact.
There’s a lot of emphasis on employee experience in this tool, too, thanks to a smart set of employee engagement features. The most recent addition to the app is an AI assistant that can streamline your experience.
Paylocity believes that by combining technology with humanity, it can produce the ideal, all-around HR and payroll solution.
Paylocity: Plans and pricing
(Image credit: Paylocity)
As with most HR solutions, Paylocity’s pricing is devised on a case-by-case basis, with no concrete costing information provided on the company’s website.
While this enables you to pick the modules you need and build a package that is suited to your business, the lack of pricing transparency can make initial budgeting and comparison difficult, and adding plenty of modules could see your pricing scale quickly.
The company says that sample pricing ranges from $18 to $32 per employee per month, with potential setup fees as an additional cost. Those figures tally with what we’ve seen on third-party sites that list approximate pricing for the Paylocity solution.
Paylocity: Features
(Image credit: Paylocity)
With a name like Paylocity and a company ethos that “everything leads back to payroll,” it’s no surprise that this app features strong financial functionality.
Its payroll options are completely customizable, and once you’ve built processes that work for your organization, you can review and run a complete payroll in a few clicks – reducing manual work for your HR teams.
Data flows directly into the payroll system from your employee database, and the system automatically flags employees with discrepancies. It’s both fast and easy to set up general ledger mapping.
Paylocity’s Payroll Readiness Dashboard highlights critical tasks that need attention before your next payment, and a tax geolocation system can audit your staff to ensure they’re paying the correct taxes. It’s also possible to pay local and global employees from the system when using Paylocity.
If your business has grown and has global needs, Paylocity also offers global payroll services alongside consulting, compliance, and treasury management, though these services may incur additional fees because Paylocity is primarily designed for US payroll requirements.
Paylocity’s excellent payroll capabilities are paired with good core HR features. You get centralized document storage and custom, automated workflows across the platform – alongside automation templates to make deploying those workflows even easier.
There’s plenty of personalization available here, too, because you can add unlimited custom fields for tracking and reporting that reflect your organizational needs.
On top of all this, real-time analytics and dashboards that help you analyze your workforce and make smarter, data-based decisions, and AI-powered tools throughout the app improve search functionality and answer your basic questions.
(Image credit: Paylocity)
Paylocity’s reporting and analytics revolve around a module called Modern Workforce Index. This insight and benchmarking tool is a relatively new addition to the solution, and it collates sentiment, utilization, and organizational health data to track the health of your business when compared to the rest of the market.
It’ll track how employees are using Paylocity to inform discussions around ROI, it’ll suggest how you can make improvements, and illustrate your progress over time.
The employee self-service module enables your staff to access and modify payroll and HR data via web browsers and the Paylocity mobile app.
Paylocity’s time and attendance management tools include automated policy enforcement, real-time notifications, and in-depth analytics – so you can easily spot trends, plan shifts, monitor budgets, and reduce administrative overheads.
The app offers AI-enhanced shift recommendations, open shift claiming and shift swapping, and a range of time capture options, from badges and biometrics to apps, kiosks, and smart watches. Geolocation, fingerprint validation, and facial recognition are all supported.
Paylocity’s in-built social network supports greater employee collaboration and engagement, and it’s available on the mobile app too. It’s got a company feed, “ask an expert” options, and AI-assisted announcement creation. Users can even “follow” particularly active colleagues.
A module called Employee Voice collects automatic feedback from your staff that you can then use for analysis and reporting, and you can build customized employee recognition programs with rewards linked to your budget to foster connections throughout your workforce.
The tool’s community engagement features are particularly impressive, so it’s no surprise that Paylocity describes them as a “crown jewel” of the app.
Guided benefits support is available for both providers and employees, so deployment and enrollment are easier, and you’ll get notifications about eligibility changes and benefit requests.
(Image credit: Paylocity)
Paylocity supports a broad range of benefit options and can manage flexible benefits, too, and the system will help you manage benefit compliance at the same time. It also enables you to look after your technology, with an asset management module that tracks hardware assignments and locations – perfect for keeping track of laptops, smartphones, and other equipment.
This solution also includes a broad slate of recruitment options, including candidate screening, headcount planning tools, and self-service interview scheduling. HR teams can use automated job posting to over 20,000 job boards alongside integrations with LinkedIn, ZipRecruiter, and Indeed.
Pre-written templates and AI tools accelerate job requisition, and you can keep recruitment moving by sending emails and text messages from within the platform. It’s even possible to define roles and compensation from within Paylocity by browsing market data – and then create and send personalized offer packages to candidates.
Once talent is recruited, onboarding is bolstered by automation, in-built compliance tools, background checks, pre-boarding tasks in the mobile app video welcomes, auto-assigned training, and team introductions.
Employee performance is monitored using easy feedback collection, 360-degree reviews, and talent assessment templates. Training is handled by an interactive environment that features a vast library of courses, and you can use Paylocity to create, define, and manage your compensation strategy using company and market data. The system supports annual increases and customized bonus payments.
Paylocity supports hundreds of third-party integrations, including Microsoft 365 and Dynamics, Google Workspace, Dropbox, Slack, HubSpot, and QuickBooks.
Hundreds more integrations are available in the Paylocity Marketplace across categories like benefits, finance, compliance, health, and recruiting. The solution also includes API support for creating your own integrations.
As usual with HR solutions, you’ll only get many of these features if you include those modules in your custom package. With Paylocity, we’d advise you to check the international payroll situation before you invest.
Paylocity is a US-first business, and while the company does offer global payroll services, you may need to use additional third-party integrations to ensure smooth operations.
Elsewhere, while Paylocity offers good analytics, reporting, and customization, SAP is stronger for reporting; you’ll find more in-depth customization with some rival products, and the mobile app doesn’t have feature parity with the desktop product.
Paylocity: Ease of use
(Image credit: Paylocity)
There’s no denying that Paylocity is packed with features – and there’s no denying that the team has done a decent job with the interface.
It’s consistent and straightforward, with a navigation pane on the left and a dashboard that’s packed with quick links to common actions. That dashboard presents loads of information, including key details about pay, budgeting, timesheets, urgent tasks, activity, and more.
The dashboard is customizable – you can rearrange the location of the widgets or remove them entirely – but you can’t build your own, and the data displayed in each widget is hard-coded.
Employee and equipment records are well-designed and easy to navigate, and the reporting section is comprehensive, with dozens of options quickly available if you know where to look.
The payroll module does a great job of presenting your payroll options and enabling you to easily start your next run. The community section is great, with a social media-style feed, team-specific groups, and easy-to-spot pinned announcements.
The Modern Workforce Index is one of the more colorful parts of the app, with a dial that gives an easy indicator of your company’s score – and you can dive further into the data to track sentiment, health, and organization across a variety of charts.
Paylocity’s interface does a good job of collating the tool’s wealth of features, but it has some minor downsides.
The data-rich, busy interface could prove overwhelming at first, especially for users who aren’t familiar with complex software packages, and if you want a visually attractive interface, then you would be better off shopping elsewhere.
We’ve seen user sentiment online suggest that implementation experiences vary – some customers experience smooth deployments, while others describe a lengthy implementation due to the complexity of the software.
Paylocity: Support
(Image credit: Paylocity)
Paylocity offers live phone support from 6am to 7.30pm Central Time between Monday and Friday. While it’s not unusual for HR solution providers to restrict phone support to working days, not many offer the breadth of hours as Paylocity, so that’s a plus. It’s also possible to email Paylocity for live, responsive support during those hours, too.
The company assigns customers an account manager and support team to help with implementation and ongoing questions.
As with many HR solution providers, Paylocity offers an online knowledge base, an AI assistant to answer product questions, and a selection of live webinars and on-demand training sessions.
Paylocity: The Competition
Paylocity targets its solutions at businesses of all sizes, though it traditionally focuses on SMBs. While that’s a lucrative and popular part of the market, it brings it up against some strong competitors.
There aren’t many solutions that are as effective as Paylocity when it comes to payroll, but if you’d like to explore your options, then RUN Powered by ADP is a strong contender for smaller businesses, and ADP Workforce Now is the company’s offering for larger organizations.
If you’d like more automation in your HR workflows, then Rippling should be on your list of potential options, and BambooHR is an all-rounder that’s worth consideration, too. And if you need an enterprise-level option, add SAP SuccessFactors to your list of contenders.
Paylocity: Final verdict
Paylocity is one of the most feature-rich HR and payroll solutions you’ll find anywhere, and it’s particularly strong when it comes to financial features, automation, and employee engagement – its community tools are excellent, and the app does a good job of collating so much data and sentiment into useful, actionable information.
There are some trade-offs, though: the depth of functionality available here means Paylocity could seem overwhelming, especially for inexperienced users, and we’ve seen reports of lengthy implementation procedures. There’s no transparency on pricing, either.
That said, if you’re a mid-sized business looking for a powerhouse HR and payroll solution, Paylocity is a strong contender.
Constant Contact was founded in 1995 by Randy Parker, initially known as Roving Software before switching to its current name in 2004. It's one of the oldest email marketing software tools in existence. Since its inception, it has since expanded from a simple email marketing tool into a full-fledged online marketing platform for different types of campaigns, including social media, web, and SMS.
Constant Contact has acquired a lot of other companies to expand, such as CardStar, a loyalty rewards app, and Bantam Live, a social CRM startup. In 2015, Constant Contact itself was sold to IT company Endurance International for $1.1 billion. In 2021, private equity firm Clearlake Capital acquired Endurance International and spun off Constant Contact as a standalone business.
(Image credit: Constant Contact)
Constant Contact: Plans and pricing
Plan
Starting Rate (paid annually)
Renewal Rate (paid annually)
Lite
$10.20/month
$12/month
Standard
$29.75/month
$35/month
Premium
$68/month
$80/month
Lead Gen & CRM
Contact sales
$449/month
Note: Annual pricing reflects 15% discount for 12-month prepayment. Nonprofit organizations receive 30% discount. SMS add-on available for US customers starting at $10/month for up to 500 messages. Premium plan includes 500 SMS messages monthly.
Constant Contact restructured its pricing in 2025, moving away from Core and Plus plans to three main tiers: Lite, Standard, and Premium. The platform no longer offers a free plan, but provides a generous 60-day free trial that's 2x the industry standard.
The Lite plan starts at $12/month for 500 contacts and includes basic email marketing features, one welcome automation template, drag-and-drop email editor, social posting, AI writing assistance, and 300+ integrations. However, it's limited to one user and allows only 10x your contact count in monthly sends. This plan suits solopreneurs or small businesses with minimal automation needs.
The Standard plan begins at $35/month for 500 contacts and adds subject line A/B testing, three automation templates, email scheduling, resend to non-openers, advanced segmentation, social advertising capabilities, and allows up to three users. Monthly email sends increase to 12x your contact count, making this the most popular choice for growing businesses.
The Premium plan starts at $80/month for 500 contacts and includes everything in Standard plus unlimited automation templates, unlimited custom segments, unlimited users, 500 SMS messages monthly, advanced reporting with heatmaps, SEO recommendations, lookalike ad targeting for social media, and 24x your contact count in monthly sends.
For businesses requiring comprehensive CRM capabilities, Constant Contact offers a separate Lead Gen & CRM plan starting at $449/month, developed in partnership with SharpSpring. This includes advanced marketing automation, lead scoring, sales pipeline management, and centralized analytics.
Pricing scales with contact list size across all tiers. For example, at 2,500 contacts, Lite costs approximately $45/month, Standard costs $80/month, and Premium costs $130/month. Lists exceeding 50,000 contacts require custom pricing quotes. The platform offers a 15% discount for 12-month prepayment and 30% discount for nonprofit organizations. A 30-day money-back guarantee applies to all new subscriptions.
(Image credit: Constant Contact)
How does Constant Contact use AI?
Constant Contact introduced its AI Content Generator in 2023 and has continued expanding AI capabilities across the platform. AI features are accessible on all paid plans with no additional credit-based pricing requirements, which is a big relief for budget conscious startups. According to Constant Contact, nearly half of surveyed small businesses now use the AI tools to write emails, subject lines, or social posts.
Their core AI offering is the AI Content Generator, which helps create email copy, subject lines, SMS messages, and social media posts directly within the interface. You simply provide a few keywords, select the desired tone (friendly, professional, informative, urgent, etc.), and the AI generates customized content.
Then, Campaign Builder uses AI to set up multi-channel marketing campaigns with just a few clicks. You select your campaign goals while AI handles the heavy lifting of campaign structure and coordinates messaging across email, social media, and SMS channels.
BrandKit represents another practical AI addition on their part. By simply entering your website URL, you can automatically extract your logo, brand colors, and imagery, creating a library of customizable branded assets that can be reused across emails, social posts, and other marketing materials.
While these AI features provide valuable time-saving benefits, Constant Contact emphasizes that AI-generated content still requires human review and editing. It highlights businesses like like Sky Candle Co. and the Spanish restaurant Lunya, which have successfully integrated these AI tools into their workflows.
Constant Contact: Features
For business owners that are novices at design, Constant Contact has over a hundred customizable templates- already optimized for mobile. Another neat feature will scan your website and auto-generate a template themed for your website’s colors and images.
Editing of these templates is a snap with drag-and-drop layouts or image and text boxes. Users with coding skills will appreciate the feature to create an email template based on a custom code.
To build your contact list, Constant Contact offers the option to enter your contacts one by one, import them from a spreadsheet or file, or import them from Gmail or Microsoft Outlook.
With your contact list complete, you then create segments, which enables you to target, for example, customers who haven’t opened an email in a while via a special promo or update.
Constant Contact also integrates with Shopify and WooCommerce, enabling you to create contact list segments based on what customers have purchased. With Constant Contact’s integration with ecommerce, customers can also shop your store directly from their inbox.
We also appreciate the email automation tools. Automation can reduce the workload, with such features as the ability to send an automatic resend of the email to a non-opener.
(Image credit: Constant Contact)
Constant Contact: Interface and in use
An ease to set up and get started with, Constant Contact takes just a few minutes to register a new account. With your account created, you’ll be queried with a few questions about your business and any existing contact lists.
Intuitively simple to set up, the web interface makes it pretty easy to find what you’re looking for, be it campaigns, contacts, or reports.
Constant Contact also has apps available for both iOS and Android. While the app is sleek and the ability to draft emails and organize contacts on the go has its appeal, the usefulness is extremely hindered by the inability to edit draft email campaigns created on desktop. By way of example, users that want to draft a campaign on their work computer, and then edit it from their iPad later will be disappointed.
Constant Contact: Support
Constant Contact offers direct support through email, live chat, and telephone. You can chat with a live support agent from Monday through Friday or contact them via phone from Monday to Saturday (hours and department phone numbers vary depending on your region). There's also an online community where you can interact with other users and exchange solutions to each other's problems.
This platform also offers many other support resources for users. There's the Knowledge Base, which contains a lot of articles and user guides for all features concerning the platform. You can also find video tutorials to learn about the platform in an interactive way. Likewise, Constant Contact hosts regular webinars for users to interact with marketing experts and ask questions. If you're finding it difficult to run email campaigns, you can hire a marketing professional from Constant Contact's directory.
Constant Contact offers excellent customer support, which is one of its main selling points.
Constant Contact: The competition
For the budget conscious, Mailchimp is a worthy competitor to Constant Contact. It offers most of the same email marketing basics, such as templates and list segmentation- at a lower price. Even further, Mailchimp offers a free plan if you have under 2,000 contacts, making it ideal for users who are just starting out.
For businesses that have webinars as a core component, it might be worth looking into GetResponse, to allow for easy integration of webinars with your email contact list.
Constant Contact: Final verdict
Constant Contact easily makes the shortlist of names people think of when it comes to email marketing, and there’s plenty of reasons why. Constant Contact is easy to set up and use, offering high levels of support and security.
However, the shortcoming is that there’s nothing really setting Constant Contact apart from its competitors among email marketing services. At least Constant Contact offers a 60-day free trial, so it’s worth checking out. However, temper your enthusiasm as you can’t expect game-changing innovation at these levels.
Constant Contact can stand out with the separately featured and more comprehensive CRM plan, but as with the Constant Contact Website Builder, we'll consider that in its own review.
