PC world AMDs ryzen APU could save budget gaming march 2018

INSIDE: THE BEST FREE BACKUP SOLUTIONS MARCH 2018 RYZEN APU COULD SAVE BUDGET GAMING D’s AM AMERICA, LET’S DO LUNCH TM Lola Silvestri, SINCE 1921 Conversation and good company are her domain Now, she and in seniors face the threat of hunger and millions more live in isolation So pop by, drop off a hot meal and say a warm hello Volunteer for Meals on Wheels at AmericaLetsDoLunch.org CONTENTS MARCH 2018 » DEPARTMENTS » FEATURES News 39 Reviews & Ratings 81 Android Wear vs Samsung Gear 95 Here’s How 116 Tech Spotlight 88 awesome Android features MARCH 2018 PCWorld MASTHEAD EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Matt Egan EDITOR IN CHIEF, CONSUMER BRANDS Jon Phillips DESIGN DIRECTOR Robert Schultz EDITORIAL EXECUTIVE EDITORS Melissa Riofrio, Gordon Mah Ung SENIOR EDITORS Michael Brown, Brad Chacos, Mark Hachman COPY EDITOR Sue Voelkel DESIGN DESIGNER Rob Woodcock ADVERTISING SALES SALES MANAGER Duane Hampson (415/978-3133) FOUNDERS FOUNDER David Bunnell FOUNDING EDITOR Andrew Fluegelman INTERNATIONAL DATA GROUP, INC CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD Walter Boyd CEO, IDG COMMUNICATIONS Michael Friedenberg PCWorld MARCH 2018 REPRINTS AND PERMISSIONS You must have permission before reproducing any material from PCWorld Send email requests to permissions@pcworld.com; please include a phone number in your message BACK ISSUES PCWorld back issues can be downloaded in digital format from www.zinio.com at $6.99 per issue SUBSCRIPTION SERVICES Access your subscription account online—24 hours a day, days a week You can use online subscription services to view your account status, change your address, pay your bill, renew your subscription, get the answers to frequently asked questions, and more WEB pcworld.com/customer EMAIL pcworld@emailcustomerservice.com (Send your full name and the address at which you subscribe; not send attachments.) PHONE In the U.S and Canada: 800/234-3498 QUESTIONS AND COLUMNS Send material electronically to the appropriate online address listed below, or mail it to PCWorld We reserve the right to edit letters ANSWER LINE answer@pcworld.com MAILING LISTS Occasionally we make our magazine subscribers’ names available to other firms whose products may interest you To have your name excluded from these mailings, send a request and your email address to PCWorld Subscriber Services at maghelp@pcworld.com CONTACT PHONE 415/243-0500; FAX 415/442-1891 MAIL Editorial: 501 Second Street #600, San Francisco, CA 94107 STAFF ADDRESS To contact any PCWorld staff member, simply format the address as follows: firstinitiallastname@idgcsmb.com PUBLICATION INFORMATION Volume 36, number PCWorld™ (ISSN 0737-8939) is published monthly at $24.95 for one year (12 issues) by IDG Consumer & SMB, Inc Copyright 2018, IDG Consumer & SMB, Inc All rights reserved PC World and Consumer Watch are registered trademarks of International Data Group, Inc., and used under license by IDG Consumer & SMB, Inc Published in the United States MARCH 2018 PCWorld AMERICA, LET’S DO LUNCH TM Asha Ida Bell, SINCE 1937 Her life’s work is about helping the hopeless find hope Now, she and in seniors face the threat of hunger and millions more live in isolation So pop by, drop off a hot meal and say a warm hello Volunteer for Meals on Wheels at AmericaLetsDoLunch.org News TECH NEWS AND TRENDS THAT WILL AFFECT YOU TODAY AND BEYOND Don’t build a gaming PC right now Buying one premade can save you hundreds of dollars That’s how bad DIY component prices have become BY BRAD CHACOS I t crushes my soul to say this, but if you need a new gaming PC, don’t build your own Buy a prebuilt computer instead IMAGE: HP That’s not permanent advice I’m a diehard DIYer Few things in life are more satisfying than seeing your handmade rig POST the first time you boot it up The deck is MARCH 2018 PCWorld NEWS DON’T BUILD A GAMING PC stacked against home-brew PC builders in today’s market, though, as hardware shortages and the cryptocurrency boom have sent the cost of crucial components sky-high Current graphics card prices are ludicrous (go.pcworld.com/ludi) unless you’re targeting entry-level GPUs, with most models selling for at least twice their suggested price The Radeon RX 570 (go.pcworld.com/rd57) is supposed to start at $170, for example, but the cheapest I can find on Newegg right now costs $509 (go.pcworld.com/rx57), and the vast majority go for closer to $600 It’s no better at other retailers, or even with used graphics cards We’ve even taken the drastic step of suggesting that gamers in a bind snag an Xbox One S with Forza Horizon for $240 (go.pcworld.com/xb1s) or an Xbox One X for $500 (go.pcworld.com/xbo1) until the GPU pricing pain stops Ugh Memory prices hurt just as much The Screenshot from CamelCamelCamel PCWorld MARCH 2018 industry can’t make enough to keep up with demand, so prices for DIY RAM kits have almost doubled over the past year Just check out the price history of this 16GB Corsair Vengeance 3000MHz kit (go.pcworld.com/ ve16), courtesy of CamelCamelCamel (go pcworld.com/caml) It’s a nightmare—and one that isn’t expected to end any time soon PREBUILT VS DIY GAMING PC PRICES Things aren’t as bleak in the world of prebuilt gaming PCs, where vendors like HP, Dell, Lenovo, Falcon Northwest, Origin, et cetera, buy components in bulk directly from hardware suppliers That helps keep costs down Consider the Dell Inspiron 5675 series (go.pcworld.com/dl56) of gaming PCs, which come with AMD Ryzen processors and Radeon graphics cards There’s a $649 model (go.pcworld.com/ingd) that includes a Ryzen 1400 processor, 8GB of RAM, a 1TB hard drive, and the Radeon RX 570 graphics card—a solid 1080p gaming rig, in other words On January 25, a banner on Dell’s site offers 10 percent off all PCs site-wide with the TENOFF coupon code, bringing the total down to $765 (Dell also offers a similarly priced Inspiron 5680 lineup [go.pcworld.com/ The Dell Inspiron 5675 dl80] with Intel and Nvidia GeForce hardware inside.) Remember that the cheapest Radeon RX 570 available costs $470, with most selling for closer to $600 You’ll find 8GB of 2400MHz DDR4 memory for around $100 (go.pcworld.com/cmk8) Add in the Ryzen 1400’s $150 cost, and DIY builders already find themselves near the price of the Dell Inspiron, before you even factor in a case, motherboard, storage, power supply, or a $100 Windows license Dell throws in a wireless keyboard, too CyberPowerPC’s offerings are just as enticing The Gamer Xtreme GXIVR8020A4 costs $720 on Amazon (go.pcworld.com/gxiv) and comes with a 4GB Radeon RX 580, 8GB of RAM, a 1TB hard drive, and a last-gen Core i5-7400, as well as a bunch of snazzy RGB LED fans Radeon RX 580 graphics cards (go pcworld.com/rd58) currently start at $500 stand-alone on Newegg (go.pcworld.com/degc), with some going for over $700 In other words, you can snag CyberPower’s entire system for the cost of what you’d pay for the graphics card, RAM, and Windows license alone in a DIY machine You’d save at least $300 opting for this over building your own PC The massive savings don’t only apply to midrange PCs either CyberPowerPC’s Gamer Xtreme VR GXiVR8080A2 costs a healthy $1,900 on Amazon (go.pcworld.com/cypc), but for that price you get a beastly GeForce GTX 1080 Ti (go.pcworld.com/nv80), a liquid-cooled Core i7-8700K (go.pcworld com/870k), 16GB of DDR4 RAM, and a 240GB SSD augmented by a 1TB hard drive—plus the same snazzy RGB LED fans mentioned in the last CyberPower rig That’s serious firepower But the cheapest GTX 1080 Ti on Newegg right now is $1,200 (go.pcworld.com/z0tc), with the vast majority selling for over $1,300 These cards are supposed to cost $700, remember Once you add in the DIY costs of a 16GB DDR4 kit (about $200 [go.pcworld com/c14m], depending on the brand) and MARCH 2018 PCWorld NEWS DON’T BUILD A GAMING PC The CyberPower Gamer Xtreme GXIVR8020A4 prebuilt gaming PC costs $720 the Core i7-8700K processor ($380 on Amazon [go.pcworld.com/bx80]) alone you’re already spending as much as you would for CyberPower’s full system BUY, DON’T BUILD The pricing gap closes as you move toward entry-level gaming PCs, as graphics options like the GeForce GTX 1050 (go.pcworld.com/ gtx5) and 4GB memory kits aren’t as pricey as more potent gear But even that hardware is still selling for higher than it should Once you move beyond budget builds, prebuilt PCs hold a clear pricing advantage— and it isn’t even close You can save literally hundreds of dollars by picking up boxed computers like the ones I detailed here, and 10 PCWorld MARCH 2018 those come ready to go out of the box, factory tested and backed by warranties with support staff available in case anything goes wrong I know, I know: When you buy prebuilt, you lose the freedom and fun of selecting your own hardware, let alone the pure cathartic bliss of building a machine with your own two hands But hey, you’ll be hundreds of dollars richer Did I mention that yet? Not all prebuilt PCs will be cheaper than comparable DIY rigs though, so be sure to your research before you empty out your wallet Also watch out for prebuilt PCs offering a GeForce GTX 1060 (go.pcworld.com/3gb6) Many of the ones I’ve seen online carry a 3GB GTX 1060 This stripped-down version isn’t as fast as the superb 6GB GTX 1060 (go.pcworld com/6gb6), and its limited memory capacity could already force you to turn down graphics settings in modern triple-A games Or, if you want portability, gaming laptops are more enticing (go.pcworld.com/gmen) when you consider the astronomical desktop prices Fingers crossed these dark days will pass soon… but that seems unlikely unless the bottom falls out of Bitcoin prices Bummer If you’re determined to buy a graphics card without buying a full PC, check out PCWorld’s guide on how to keep gaming in the coin mining era (go.pcworld.com/mner) HERE’S HOW BUILD A MINI-IT X RYZEN GAMING PC Then install the built-out motherboard after if you do, as it sits right underneath the PSU Slip that connector in first, then screw the power supply (via adapter) into the case, with the PSU exhaust fan pointing out of the case There’s only a sliver of open air between the Wraith Spire cooler and the bottom of the SilverStone ST45SF, but it works just fine Fortunately the Sugo SG13 lacks clear panels, because cable management in mini-ITX cases gets ugly After you’ve connected the power cables for your SSD and motherboard, just tuck the rest of the ST45SF’s cables wherever you find some room Be sure not to catch them in the system’s fans! I snaked mine into the space between the power supply and the case fan, and worked some others over to the left side of the case, between the to the bracket makes for a very tight fit if you use a larger 140mm case fan Don’t reinstall the storage bracket yet Now it’s time to install the motherboard Well, after inserting the motherboard I/O shield into the rear of the case You don’t want to commit that common PC building mistake (go.pcworld.com/pcms) Securing the motherboard is easy with the storage bracket still removed Plug in your cables now, including the front panel connections, as the case is about to get real full, real fast Add the power supply before the graphics card, as there isn’t much space between the two Screw the SilverStone ST45SF into its adapter bracket first, then STOP! Don’t install the power supply yet You won’t be able to plug in There’s seriously little room between the Wraith Spire CPU the motherboard’s 4-pin power header cooler and SilverStone’s tiny power supply 102 PCWorld MARCH 2018 note: If you opt for a larger, more powerful graphics card, you may need to install it by sliding it through the front of the case The tiny GTX 1050 Ti has no problem dropping in the top opening though Tidy up any remaining cables, replace the GPU plate and storage brackets, then slide the exterior panels back on You’ve got yourself a portable, hexacore gaming rig! Install your Cleaning up the cables inside a mini-ITX computer can be tricky—or futile, depending on how you look at it operating system of choice and connect the mini-ITX panel and where the graphics card will sit If Ryzen gaming PC to your peripherals and you have some extra budget, SilverStone also monitor offers a version of this power supply with an 80 Plus Gold rating and modular cables—which MINI-ITX RYZEN GAMING means you only install the ones you need—for PC PERFORMANCE $90 on Amazon (go.pcworld.com/80pg) Portability is only part of this tiny PC’s appeal The graphics card is the final hardware It’s got game, too you need to install You’ll need to remove a To test the mini-ITX Ryzen gaming PC’s bracket on the rear panel of the case that chops, we loaded it up with a variety of secures the blank plates (and eventually your games from PCWorld’s various testing suites, graphics card’s video outputs) first After that, testing each in DirectX 11 mode with V-Sync you simply slide the graphics card into the and GPU-specific features (like Nvidia motherboard’s sole PCI-E x16 slot Most Gameworks effects and AMD’s TressFX) GeForce GTX 1050 Ti variants (including the disabled We tested at 1920x1080 resolution EVGA GTX 1050 Ti we used here) don’t The GTX 1050 Ti inside proved more require any supplementary power capable than today’s gaming consoles, easily connections from the power supply Side clearing the 30 frames-per-second barrier MARCH 2018 PCWorld 103 HERE’S HOW BUILD A MINI-IT X RYZEN GAMING PC with all the visual bells and whistles cranked to High 1080p gaming performance Heck, with the exception of 42.8 Deus Ex: Deus Ex: Mankind Divided—an Mankind Divided 36.4 especially demanding game included to see how this rig 82.53 Shadow of Mordor 65.69 performs when you make it sweat—all of the games surpass 45 49.8 Ghost Recon fps with High graphics settings Wildlands 45.38 You could push most of the games closer to the hallowed 60-fps mark 62.45 Rise of the Tomb Raider 55.63 by dropping some visual options down to Medium This rig could 60.6 The Division put in a strong showing at a LAN 47 party Because the build uses a HIGH RED solid-state drive, load times proved nice and speedy as well Overheating can be a concern with such stock performance, too If you tried some of small builds, and I was worried the abundant these seven tricks to maximize your Ryzen cabling and restricted airflow inside would PC’s performance (go.pcworld.com/7trk), cause temperatures to spike Nope your frame rate could soar even higher SilverStone gave the Sugo SG13 abundant In the end, I’m very happy with this build ventilation on all sides This system runs a little It’s one-sixth the size of most of the PCs lying hotter than a similarly configured full-size around my office, it games with far more build would, but after gaming for over an ferocity than consoles, and its 6-core, hour straight, the CPU temperature maxed 12-thread Ryzen CPU makes the tiny rig a out at 72 degrees, and 57 degrees for the productivity beast Sure, it’d be nice if graphics card That’s nothing to worry about memory and graphics prices weren’t whatsoever (Think twice about overclocking outrageously inflated right now, but you a rig like this unless you spring for fancier won’t find a potent system this tiny at any liquid cooling, though.) You can definitely big-box retailer Building something you can’t hear the fans spinning but they’re not find anywhere else with your own two hands excessively loud feels incredibly cathartic—especially when a These gaming benchmarks represent system this satisfying is the result 104 PCWorld MARCH 2018 How to check your PC’s CPU temperature Here’s how to monitor your computer’s CPU temperature, and lower it if needed BY BRAD CHACOS I s your computer’s CPU too hot? If your PC starts spontaneously shutting down, locking up, or acting sluggish during intense tasks, overheating could be the issue Keeping tabs on your CPU IMAGE: THOMAS RYAN temperatures is crucial when you’re overclocking your PC’s processor (go pcworld.com/ovcp), too—you don’t want to accidentally push the performance pedal too far to the metal MARCH 2018 PCWorld 105 HERE’S HOW CHECK YOUR PC’S CPU TEMPER ATURE Bizarrely, Windows doesn’t offer any way to check your computer’s CPU temperature You could dive into your system’s BIOS to find the information, but that’s a lot of hassle to find a simple sensor reading Fortunately, several free programs exist that make it easy to see your processor’s temperature HOW TO CHECK YOUR CPU TEMPERATURE Per-core CPU temperature readings provided by the Core Temp app The fastest, easiest way to check your CPU temperature is with the aptly named Core Temp (go.pcworld.com/cotm) Be mindful during installation though! Like many free programs, it tries to install bloatware (go pcworld.com/inbl) unless you uncheck some boxes during setup Once you’ve installed Core Temp, opening it shows a no-frills look at the current state of your processor, including an average temperature reading at the bottom of the window If you want even more detail, click the Show Hidden Icons button in the system tray located at the right edge of your Windows taskbar You’ll see a temperature listing for every individual CPU core in your computer Core Temp’s Settings menu allows you to tweak exactly what you’ll see in the 106 PCWorld MARCH 2018 system tray, and how you’ll see it, but the default configuration makes it dead-simple to see if your CPU is overheating or performing as expected Core Temp isn’t the only option though HWInfo (go.pcworld.com/hwin) is an in-depth system monitoring tool that provides deep details about every piece of your PC’s hardware If you choose to run it in sensorsonly mode, scrolling down to the CPU section—the dedicated section, not the CPU temperature portion of the motherboard listing—reveals current temps and other nitty-gritty details NZXT’s Cam software (go.pcworld.com/ nzca) is another popular option with a diverse skillset Its slick interface is easier to read at a glance than those on most other monitoring tools, and the program shows all sorts of NZXT’s Cam monitoring software useful info about your CPU, graphics card, memory, and storage Cam also includes an in-game FPS overlay and overclocking tools, among other features You can use NZXT’s Cam mobile apps to keep tabs on your software when you’re away from your PC, too Open Hardware Monitor (go.pcworld com/ophm) and SpeedFan (go.pcworld com/spfn) are other well-regarded monitoring tools that can track system information You’ve got options! But for simply checking your computer’s CPU temperatures, Core Temp’s straightforward focus can’t be beat Finally, note that if you’re running an AMD Ryzen system (go.pcworld.com/rysy), you may see two different CPU temperature readings You want the Tdie reading, depending on how the program you’re using displays the info It’s a measurement of the actual heat on the die The alternative Tctl reading is the control temperature reported to your cooling system and sometimes includes a temperature offset to ensure universal fan speed behavior between the various Ryzen chips Any of the programs mentioned that list a single temperature account for the offset already IS MY CPU TOO HOT? The maximum supported temperature varies from processor to processor Most of the free monitoring software mentioned lists the information as “Tj Max.” That stands for the temperature junction (go.pcworld.com/ tjmx), or the highest operating temperature of the hardware If you don’t see the information for some reason, search the CPU World website (go.pcworld.com/cpww) for your CPU’s model number to find the information Every program listed here displays your processor’s model number, so it’s easy to find MARCH 2018 PCWorld 107 HERE’S HOW CHECK YOUR PC’S CPU TEMPER ATURE But that’s the maximum temperature—the point at which your processor freaks out and shuts down to avoid damage Running anywhere near that hot regularly is bad for the long-term life of your hardware Instead, follow this general rule of thumb regarding CPU temperatures under load Under 60° C: You’re running great! 60° C to 70° C: Still running fine, but getting a bit warmer Consider cleaning the dust out of your PC if CPU temperatures continue to creep up over time 70° C to 80° C: This is hotter than you want to run unless you’re pushing an overclock If you’re not, definitely check to make sure your fans are working and there aren’t dust bunnies clogging up your system’s airflow 80° C to 90° C: Now we’re getting too hot for long-term comfort Check your hardware for broken fans or dust build-up, and if you’re overclocking, dial back your settings—especially the voltage if you’ve tweaked it One notable exception: We sometimes see more powerful laptop processors hit the low 80s during gaming sessions when plugged in, at which point they start throttling back performance This is expected, but if Roll up your sleeves 108 PCWorld MARCH 2018 temperatures cross 85° C, be concerned Over 90° C: Danger, Will Robinson! HOW TO LOWER YOUR CPU TEMPERATURES If you’re regularly encountering high CPU temperatures, there are some steps you can take to try and fix the issue First, clean out your PC High CPU temperatures are often caused by years of dust and grime built up inside a PC, clogging fans and crucial air pathways Local hardware stores usually charge outrageous prices for canned air, but you can pick up a bottle for about $7 on Amazon (go.pcworld.com/ dp10), or four for $18 (go.pcworld com/4c10) PCWorld’s guide on how to clean your PC can walk you through the process (go.pcworld.com/clpc) While you’re at it, check to make sure that all your fans are working correctly, and that none of the vents in your PC are blocked Hopefully that fixes the issue If not, more intensive steps are in order The thermal paste that transfers heat from your CPU to its cooler might have dried out if you’ve had your PC for a few years That can cause temperature spikes Removing the old thermal paste with rubbing alcohol and a applying a fresh layer can potentially help lower temperatures by a large amount TechAdvisor (go.pcworld.com/h2tp) has a helpful, illustrated article on how to remove and apply thermal paste, and you can find small syringes of thermal paste by respected brands like Arctic (go.pcworld.com/actc) and Noctua (go.pcworld.com/nctu) for under $7 on Amazon (I’ve been a happy Arctic Silver user for years now [go.pcworld.com/acs5].) If all that doesn’t help, your cooling solution simply might not be capable of keeping up with your CPU’s heat output, especially if you’re pairing a stock cooler or a modest third-party cooler with higher-end chips—and doubly so if you’re overclocking Buying a new CPU cooler may be in order The Cooler Master Hyper 212 ($30 on Amazon [go.pcworld.com/c212]) is a solid, affordable air cooler With its larger heatsink and fan, it’s a solid step up over stock AMD and Intel CPU coolers Moving up in size and price, the Noctua NH-D14 ($75 on Amazon [go.pcworld.com/d146]) is one of the most effective air coolers ever to hit the streets, but its large size might block memory access or not even fit in smaller cases Closed-loop liquid cooling solutions (CLCs) provide far cooler temperatures than air coolers with minimal hassle The 120mm Corsair H80i v2 ($95 on Amazon [go pcworld.com/9624]) is a great entry-level CLC, but if you plan on overclocking, consider moving up to the Corsair H100i v2 ($109 on Amazon [go.pcworld.com/9625]) and its larger 240mm radiator, which can accommodate even fierce overclocks We’ve been using one inside PCWorld’s dedicated graphics card benchmarking system for years now (go.pcworld.com/gcpc) MARCH 2018 PCWorld 109 HERE’S HOW How to set up two monitors for double the screen real estate A must for multitaskers BY KATHERINE STEVENSON E ven a generous 24-inch monitor can feel cramped when you’ve got multiple windows open on your desktop (and who doesn’t?) It’s much worse if you’re confined to a laptop screen Fortunately, it’s simple enough to add a second monitor to your PC setup and spread out Any modern desktop or laptop PC has the graphics capability to run dual displays All that’s required is a second monitor You can get a very nice second screen for around $100, 110 PCWorld MARCH 2018 such as HP’s 21.5-inch, 1920x1080 Pavilion IPS monitor for $99 on Amazon (go.pcworld com/hppn) or Acer’s 21.5-inch, 1920x1080 G226HQL for $90 on Amazon (go.pcworld com/g226) Both feature fairly thin bezels, an important feature if you want to minimize the interruption between your two screens Today’s monitors typically come with some combination of VGA, DVI, HDMI, and DisplayPort ports In other words, you’ll have a couple options for how to connect the monitor to your PC While its common for VGA and DVI IMAGE: ISTOCK cables to come included with the display, you may have to purchase your HDMI or DisplayPort cable separately if you go that route Those can be easily purchased on Amazon (go pcworld.com/ hdcb) STEP The first part is easy Simply connect The display settings in Windows 10: Click the Identify tab under the graphic to establish your monitors’ arrangement your second monitor to a power outlet and an available port on your PC Windows to treat your displays as one contiguous screen STEP Once you’ve selected that setting, you Next you have to tell Windows how to can tell Windows which monitor is on the left manage the two monitors or right by dragging the graphics at the top of If Windows only appears on one monitor, the dialog box Get this wrong, and scrolling or if the two of them aren’t working the way the mouse will be very confusing they should, right-click the desktop and select The Make This My Main Display option either Screen Resolution (Windows and controls which monitor gets the taskbar Windows 8) or Display Settings (Windows 10) and Start button If you don’t see that In the resulting dialog box you can specify option, the currently selected monitor is the displays’ arrangement The Multiple already the main one You can also Displays pull-down menu allows you to control many of these settings by rightcontrol how the two screens work together clicking the desktop and selecting your Choosing Extend These Displays will prompt graphics control panel MARCH 2018 PCWorld 111 HERE’S HOW Five Chromebook hacks that give your laptop surprising new talents A few tweaks and additions can turn these laptops into indispensable tools BY IAN PAUL C hromebooks may be impressively versatile (go pcworld.com/impv), but a good Chromebook hack helps it break out of its browser-based confines and try new talents on for size Top of the list, of course, is the ability to install a full Linux desktop operating system (go.pcworld.com/ lxos) via the Crouton project But there’s a lot you can tweak or add to multiply a 112 PCWorld MARCH 2018 Chromebook’s powers Some of these features require you to install Linux—a really easy task if you follow our Crouton tutorial— but many not Here are five Chromebook hacks that will improve your user experience and make these laptops even more powerful STEAM STREAMING Just as everyone knows you can put Linux on a Chromebook, it’s probably common IMAGE: GOOGLE knowledge that you can install Valve’s Steam to play games The problem is only a few Chromebooks come with a GPU that can run big-time PC games Enter Steam’s local network streaming (go.pcworld.com/stpc) Using this feature, your full-time gaming PC runs the game you want to play, but you interact with it on your Chromebook Valve gets around device limitations by recording a game’s video stream and sending it to your lower-powered device Then your gameplay inputs (controller or mouse and keyboard) are returned to the gaming PC over your home network It sounds a little janky, but it’s amazing how well this works Don’t be afraid to try your most resource-intensive games, either If you’re new to it, check out our earlier tutorial on the finer points of Steam in-home streaming (go.pcworld.com/sihs) This feature works almost the same on a Chromebook as it does on a standard Linux box The one wrinkle is that Steam’s fantastic feature needs a few tweaks to work correctly That’s because Chromebooks close certain ports by default that Steam needs for streaming Those ports remain closed even when you’ve got Linux running on your box via Crouton Many sites around the web that can show you how to open these ports via commandline magic, but these particular instructions are based on a post by developer Brian Smith (go.pcworld.com/brsm) The goal is to create a Bash alias with all the instructions Then all you have to is type in a simple word or phrase, and the ports you need will open with a few taps To that, jump into your Linux chroot on your Chromebook, open a terminal and type in the following: echo “alias steamStream=’ sudo iptables -A INPUT -p udp —dport 27036 -j ACCEPT; sudo iptables -A INPUT -p udp —dport 37804 -j ACCEPT; sudo iptables -A INPUT -p tcp —dport 37804 -j ACCEPT; sudo iptables -A INPUT -p tcp —dport 27036 -j ACCEPT; sudo iptables -I INPUT -p udp —dport 27031 -j ACCEPT; sudo iptables -I INPUT -p udp —dport 27036 -j ACCEPT; sudo iptables -I INPUT -p tcp —dport 27036 -j ACCEPT; sudo iptables -I INPUT -p tcp —dport 27037 -j ACCEPT;’” >> ~/.bash_aliases Now every time you want to open your ports, fire up the terminal in Linux, type steamStream into the command prompt, hit Enter, then start Steam, and you should see a Stream option next to any games installed on your Windows gaming rig If you forget to run your alias before opening Steam, you’ll have to relaunch the program to see the streaming option MARCH 2018 PCWorld 113 HERE’S HOW FIVE CHROMEBOOK HACKS CHROME REMOTE DESKTOP We’ve covered this before, but it’s hard to beat Google’s Chrome Remote Desktop (go pcworld.com/gcrd) for getting free access to your primary PC when you’re on a Chromebook You can use this feature if you’re on the other side of the house or the other side of the country The only thing to keep in mind is that you’ll need to make sure your Windows PC isn’t set to go idle Otherwise, you won’t be able to access your machine using this method Once you’ve installed the Chrome Remote Desktop Chrome app on both PCs, it’s just a matter of opening Remote Desktop on your Windows machine Then press Get Started under My Computers, and follow the instructions As part of the initial setup process you’ll need to install Chrome’s Remote Desktop Host controller and set a PIN Once that’s done, open Chrome Remote Desktop on your Chromebook, click Get Started under My Computers, select the name of the Windows computer you just set up, enter the PIN, and you’re in VOICE DICTATION For those suffering from repetitive strain injuries or who would rather not type all the time, using a voice dictation app for document creation can help There are several options for using voice dictation with Chromebooks, but two that I tried and liked were Google’s built-in dictation for Google Docs and the free Chromebook app VoiceNote II (go.pcworld.com/vnII) To use the feature on Google Docs, open a word processing document, and go to Tools > Voice Typing in the menu A small window with a microphone will open to the left of the document area Click that and start dictating your document The only problem with Google’s solution is that it was a little on the slow side in my tests When you need to dictate offline, VoiceNote II is a good choice This Chrome app takes dictation very well It’s not the best at doing edits such as properly interpreting what you mean by saying “delete” or “backspace,” but for the most part it works NIGHT LIGHT Like Apple and Microsoft have done, Google added a night light feature to 114 PCWorld MARCH 2018 restart your machine Tap the control panel area in the lower right corner of your shelf You should now see a new Night Light icon between the help and lock symbols Whenever you want to go into night mode— it’s best to this at or a few hours after sundown—just tap that icon To turn off the feature tap it again If you want to schedule Night Light’s active hours or adjust the color mix for the feature, go to Settings > Device > Displays > Night Light By default, Night Light doesn’t have any scheduling, but you can tell your PC to turn on Night Light from sunset to sunrise or set a custom time Chrome OS This feature allows you to tone down the screen temperature at night by reducing the amount of blue light coming off the screen Blue light is associated with daylight, and toning it down is supposed to help your body release melatonin to aid in falling asleep after a late-night YouTube session Google has yet to make this an official feature, but enabling it on a Chromebook is easy enough All you have to is drop into the flags section, where you can find many interesting and experimental features for Chrome and Chrome OS Open Chrome and in the address bar type chrome://flags/#ash-enable-nightlight and hit Enter Next click Enable, and SHARE FILES BETWEEN CHROME OS AND LINUX We’ve already covered how to use Crouton to install Linux on your Chromebook It’s an easy way to get a second operating system on your laptop for those times you really need a full desktop—like when you want to play Civilization VI (go.pcworld.com/cvvl) on the couch using Steam in-home streaming One of the handy features that Crouton has is that by default you can share files between your Linux install and Chrome OS via the Downloads folder This folder has the same contents regardless of which operating system you’re in If you have a file or folder in Linux that you need to drop to Chrome OS or vice versa, just put it in the Downloads folder on either side and you’re all set MARCH 2018 PCWorld 115 Tech Spotlight A video showcase of the latest trends Watch the video at go.pcworld com/iq Nest Cam IQ Outdoor review ≥ The Nest Cam IQ Outdoor’s highlights include 4K internal video resolution, as well as person recognition and sturdier construction It’s also $200 more expensive than its sibling, the Nest Cam Outdoor But if you already own Nest Cam IQs, the IQ Outdoor is the way to go 116 PCWorld MARCH MONTH2018 2017 ... brand) and MARCH 2018 PCWorld NEWS DON’T BUILD A GAMING PC The CyberPower Gamer Xtreme GXIVR8020A4 prebuilt gaming PC costs $720 the Core i7-8700K processor ($380 on Amazon [go.pcworld.com/bx80])... IN PCWORLD LABS WE PUT HARDWARE & SOFTWARE THROUGH RIGOROUS TESTING Ryzen APU: Ryzen plus Vega saves budget gamers during a GPU drought Ryzen 2200G and Ryzen 2400G just stepped in to give budget. .. evaporates, 46 PCWorld MARCH 2018 RYZEN APU PERFORMANCE IN RAINBOW SIX SIEGE 3DMark Time Spy 1.0 Graphics Radeon RX 550 2GB + Ryzen 1600 1,100 Ryzen 2400G Vega 11 DDR4/2933 1,101 Ryzen 2200G Vega