This is an impressive barebones system which is really nicely designed and can pack some powerful components.
For
Great design and easy access to innards
Nicely meaty PSU
Impressive connectivity
Premium build quality
Against
U-shaped cover isn't ideal
Not cheap
The last few years have seen a variety of form factors emerging. However, it's easy to forget that vendors have been trying to break away from the mould (the beige mid-tower format) for ages. One of the first was a Taiwanese manufacturer called Shuttle which pioneered small form factor cubes for ages. You will need a pair of them to fill an average mid-tower case and you don't lose any of the functionality or upgrade capabilities.
The Shuttle SZ170R8 cuts a very familiar shape, reminding us of the XPC SX38P2 Pro and the SH55J2 amongst others – it has a similar rectangular shaped chassis with a square-ish fascia. Since it is a barebones model, it comes without a processor, system memory or storage.
It is available at Ballicom for about £286 (around $420, AU$580) all inclusive which is a lot for what is essentially a pretty case, motherboard and a custom fan. Shuttle aims it at the DIY enthusiast who may use it for a microserver, a portable gaming rig or even a home theatre PC (HTPC).
The front panel is essentially a brushed aluminium, anodised black panel with a couple of LEDs (activity, power) and the power button. At the bottom is a flap that hides two audio ports and two USB 3.0 ports. Note that it doesn't have an SD card reader.
There are plenty of holes on either side of the unit to facilitate air circulation, which is vital if you want to keep your system cool under load. Empty, it weighs around 3.5kg with a 14.2 litre volume.
Visible at the back of the device are the fan outlet (a 60mm unit) for the proprietary power supply unit and the air outlet for the processor heatsink fan plus a myriad of ports. There are six USB 3.0 ports, two DisplayPorts, an eSATA and HDMI connectors, a GbE LAN port, a CMOS reset button and 7.1 audio.
This means that Shuttle's little box will be able to drive two 4K monitors if required. Opening the chassis requires unscrewing three thumb screws and removing the U-shaped cover (which reminded us of how entry-level cases were in the distant past).
There's plenty of space inside, partly because the PSU is so small (and yet it is a 500W model with an 80% plus efficiency). The SZ170R8 can take up to four 3.5-inch hard disk drives (up to 40TB) with four expansion slots available (PCI-e x16, PCI-e x4, M.2 and Mini PCI-e) and four memory slots (supporting up to 64GB DDR4-2133 RAM modules).
The chassis will support dual-slot graphics cards, like the AMD R9 Nano, complete with a 6-pin connector, up to a size of 267 x 120 x 34.6mm.
Access to all the empty ports and the drive cage is pretty straightforward and the same is true when it comes to removing the CPU heatsink and fan. Underneath it is a Socket LGA 1151, which paired with the Z180 chipset, supports Skylake CPUs with a TDP of up to 95W. Note that Intel Xeon E3 v5 processors are not compatible.
The cooler uses Shuttle's signature ICE (Integrated Cooling Engine) technology with three pipes and a temperature controlled 92mm fan with noise reduction technology.
What surprised us was how easy it was to access the ports and empty bays. Sure, there are loads of cables and it was a touch tricky at times, but this is where Shuttle's two decades of expertise come to light, both as a case and a motherboard manufacturer.
Early verdict
A loaded SZ170R8 will have an Intel Core i7 processor at its heart, 64GB of RAM, up to eight SSDs (or four HDDs) and a dual-slot GPU. This spec will compete with ease when compared to much bigger desktop counterparts and the 500W power supply unit has the necessary firepower to handle all these components comfortably.
This is not, therefore, your usual barebones system – it bears all the hallmarks of one that has been fine-tuned for the connoisseur who will look to build a powerful and yet portable gaming rig or workstation that can crunch vast amounts of data.
The SZ170R8 felt premium despite the U-shaped cover, which we were not a big fan of. It is expensive but in the grander scheme of things, will only account for a fraction of what you'd expect to pay for a decent gaming base unit.
When a branded full-size gaming case with a quality power supply unit and a decent cooling solution costs a couple of hundred pounds, it doesn't feel ludicrous to spend a bit more to save on space.
The real competition though doesn't come from other vendors; there's barely anyone left in this space. Shuttle operates in a niche but lucrative market, one that has seen gaming laptops, like the Dell Inspiron 15 7000, emerge as realistic alternatives for gamers on the move.
Outside gaming though, this unit will shine as a more elegant and nimbler alternative to your standard workstation rig. The fact that you can slot in a top-end graphics card (Nvidia Quadro or AMD FirePro) makes it an interesting candidate for all sorts of exotic applications.
This is a very appealing prospect for enthusiast buyers looking for a capable barebones unit with a relatively good amount of upgrade potential.
For
Very capable barebones unit
Impressive upgrade potential
Good value for money
Against
There are cheaper rivals out there
Not as compact as some competitors either
We've had our fair share of ultra-small personal computers, from very well-known ones (HP's 260 G1 for example) to the downright anonymous (like the Pipo X7).
These tiny machines have shrunk further, and have also come down in price significantly making them even more attractive to the dwindling number of customers still interested in so-called Wintel computers – devices powered by Intel processors and using Windows.
Intel saw that niche a few years ago and, just like it did for netbooks and Ultrabooks, decided that a framework was necessary in order to make it a success.
This is how NUC (Next Unit of Computing) came to life but unfortunately its birth coincided with a platform shift that saw customers move to smartphones and tablets as their main devices.
The NUCBU01201 (also known as the XPC Nano Ultra Slim NC01U) shares a lot of features with its rivals but has a couple of interesting capabilities that set it apart.
This device is built by Shuttle, a Taiwanese manufacturer that was popular back in the late 90s and early 2000s thanks to a range of small form factor (or SFF) cube-shaped chassis designs and computers, and the NC01U perpetuates Shuttle's commitment to tiny computers in an extreme way.
The unit that was sent to us is powered by an Intel Core i5-5200U and comes with 4GB of RAM plus a 128GB SSD. It retails for around £290 but it is also available as a barebones without any system memory or on-board storage for as little as £105 excluding VAT and delivery at Lambda-tek.
That's a decent price for a system powered by an Intel Celeron processor – but not any old Celeron model. This one is a Broadwell-based 3205U, rather than its N-series cousins that are at the core of many competing devices. Shuttle, it seems, wanted to go for something a bit more powerful compared to rivals, even if it turned out to be more expensive and less power-efficient.
This is a sweet spot that sits squarely between what you'd expect from Braswell parts and full Core i3/i5 levels of performance which will entice an interesting type of audience: DIY enthusiasts on a moderate budget who aren't afraid to tinker but still want the best value for money.
The XPC Nano is small but not as tiny as some of its competitors, for example Wintel HDMI dongles like the Intel Compute Stick. Visually, it looks like a slightly bigger Apple TV but in black with champagne rose accents. It measures 141 x 141 x 29mm, which translates into a volume of just under a pint.
A power button, power LED, HDD LED, two USB 3.0 ports and one SD card reader can be found at the front. The back panel houses an HDMI port, a Mini DisplayPort, two USB 2.0 ports, a Gigabit-capable Ethernet port, one audio port and a serial/RS232 one.
Flip it over and you will find a proprietary connector that allows it to connect to a docking station for even more upgrade capabilities. That may even include a discrete GPU should you want to use it for gaming purposes.
As for the top of the device, that's adorned with the XPC logo printed on a piano black panel. The entire system is powered by an AC adaptor.
Opening it for upgrades is easy as well – two standard screws secure the bottom panel. Removing them gives you easy access to two memory slots (taking up to two DDR3L memory modules), a 2.5-inch internal drive bay for SATA drives and an M.2 PCIe-based slot which is far more capable than the eMMC modules usually found on entry-level devices. As expected you also get Wi-Fi (802.11ac) and Bluetooth 4.0; accessories include a stand and a VESA mount.
Sadly, the entry level Celeron 3205U CPU doesn't support 4K resolutions which means that you will have to settle for full HD via DisplayPort (plus you can always add another monitor via HDMI). The Core processors though will do 4K flawlessly.
We were also surprised by the inclusion of a legacy serial port which confirms that Shuttle aims for a much broader audience with a clear nod to the digital signage market. Add in a three-year standard warranty and you've got a pretty good package for the price, especially if you want to do a bit of DIY by yourself.
Early verdict
We didn't perform any tests since the aim of this hands-on was to check out the device and not the extra components that it houses. Bear in mind that the XPC Nano is geared mostly towards the enthusiast market where its appeal as a capable barebones unit will be what seals the deal.
And boy does it succeed here – as long as you don't expect workstation performance from this pint-sized box, that is. You will certainly be able to get a cheaper barebones PC but it is likely that you will make concessions when it comes to size or upgradability.
If you love Fossil's traditional timepieces, you'll immediately cling to the Q Founder. Looking underneath the hood, this smartwatch differentiates itself with a few spec boosts to the RAM and chipset, but the changes aren't noticeable during our early testing.
For
Handsome design
Compatible with iOS and Android
Additional RAM
Against
Quite large and heavy
Flat tire display
Fossil is no stranger to wrists, but creating a smartwatch is a venture that this household company is only now getting its start on. The Fossil Q Founder is its first Android Wear device, with many more to come later in the year.
The Q Founder continues the trend occurring within Google's range of smartwatches of looking more like traditional watches and less like a piece of wrist-based technology.
For $295 (£279, about AU$382) Fossil's debut rocks with the best that Android Wear has to offer in regards to its looks. The Huawei Watch, Moto 360 and LG Watch Urbane are among the suit-friendly ranks and the Q Founder fits right in.
But in terms of other important factors, like value, compatibility and battery life, is this the best Android Wear smartwatch that money can buy? I'm currently testing Fossil's smartwatch debut for a full review, but it's a bit of a mixed bag. There's a lot of good, but there seems to be more that's not-so-good.
Design
Fossil's Q Founder makes a grand first impression with its stylish stainless steel casing, effortlessly switching between a brushed and polished texture. It's immediately evident to me that Fossil knocked this out of the park - as long as this is your favored style of wrist wear.
The lugs extending out from the circular build bring a lower profile, much like the latest Moto 360. Compared to the bulkier LG Watch Urbane, Fossil's smart wearable is more trim and juts out less on the wrist.
Its design gives you the sense that the Q Founder is smaller than it really is, which is saying a lot because this watch is quite large. At 13mm, it's thicker than the rest of its Android Wear competitors, only just a touch more than the Tag Heuer Connected, which sits at 12.8mm thick.
This smartwatch weighs about 72 grams, which is the more than any other that I've worn so far. To put things into perspective, the 38mm Apple Watch weighs 40 grams, the Huawei Watch comes in at 60 grams. It seems like a small difference, but you might think otherwise when it's on your wrist.
That said, the 1.5-inch screen on the Fossil Q Founder is vibrant and gets rather bright, though most Android Wear users will quickly get used to keeping the brightness as low as possible due to middling battery performance across the board.
In terms of readability, Fossil's watch fares well with 240ppi density. It's tough to make a fair comparison on such a small screen, but the Huawei Watch, at 286ppi and a resolution of 400 x 400, looks only a smidge clearer than the Q Founder.
This device features the flat tire look made famous (or infamous, depending on your feelings) by the Moto 360. If you're unaware, there's a flat bit of the screen where the ambient light sensor is located. I prefer the seamless, circular display of the Huawei Watch and others and that's a feeling matched by most smartwatch fans.
Around its back, you'll find a smooth, plastic back. It doesn't have the heart rate sensor that you might be expecting from a modern smartwatch. But on the plus side, it doesn't have fidgety wireless charging pins. Instead, it conducts the charge through the plastic back. The included charging dock is an awkward pairing with a watch this nice looking. It's plastic all over and, compared to the more elegant wireless charging solution that you'll find with the Moto 360, this will disappoint.
The Fossil Q Founder works with any and all 22mm bands. If you don't have the tools to swap out the band pins yourself, you could opt for the Android Wear Mode bands, which come with the pin tool, some extra pins, and of course, a slick band that features a simple switch to install it in just a few seconds.
Performance
To have a fruitful Android Wear smartwatch experience, the device needs to offer flawless connectivity, zippy speed and long battery life. And based on specs alone, Fossil's debut looks to surpass some of the competition.
It doubles the RAM standard to 1GB over the 512MB that we've seen in every other model to date. And, perhaps it's because Snapdragon is prepping its efficient, next-gen Snapdragon Wear 2100 chipset, Fossil opted instead for an Intel-made system on chip (SoC) of an unspecified speed and core count.
On paper, the Q Founder should outperform every other Android Wear smartwatch on the market. And while I'm still in progress on more in-depth testing for the full review, the specs don't appear to make much of a difference when jumping from task to task.
I've been wearing Fossil's smartwatch debut for a few days and so far, haven't encountered a moment when that extra 512MB of RAM came in handy.
The Q Founder packs in a 400mAh battery that promises all-day battery life. It's up there in terms of battery capacity when ranked against the competitors and I'm going to reserve in-depth battery testing details for the full review. That said, like the additional RAM, the bigger battery here doesn't seem to do it any favors.
I'm primarily using the Fossil Q Founder with a Nexus 5X, but as it's compatible with iOS as well, I'll be giving it a trial run on my other phone, the iPhone 5S.
Early verdict
If Fossil's Q Founder is to be judged only by its looks, it'd be fair to say that it's a winning debut. But as there are many more factors that go into play with a smartwatch, we need a bit more time with it to determine if it deserves a spot on our list of best smartwatches.
This Android Wear device one-ups the competition with a hearty increase of RAM and a large enough battery to, hopefully, bring about day-long battery life. But whether that actually makes a difference that will impact your experience, it's hard to say just yet. Stay tuned for the final review in the coming weeks.
Acer's Liquid Leap Fit is a promising wearable for the health and wallet conscious, but lacks charm.
For
Continuous heart rate monitoring
Great battery life
Range of bands to choose from
Against
Interface is very basic, a bit hard slow
Jury's still out on quality of heart rate tech
Healthcare is going to be vital to the growth of the wearables market. Wearables that can deliver meaningful, context-rich information - blood pressure, glucose levels, reminding us when to take medications, or when we've not had enough water - are the ones that will thrive.
It's for that reason that Acer is focusing on health for its latest wearable, the Liquid Leap Fit. It's a small device that lacks the grandeur of the Apple Watch; it's not a smartwatch, but a fitness wearable with a couple of smart features thrown in.
Oddly, Acer announced the Leap Fit last year but held it back from launch. Now it's letting us play with it, with an aim to get it on the market in Q3 this year. But the Fit could easily blend into the crowd of other similar devices on the market, not to mention that it's very similar to Acer's Liquid Leap and Liquid Active - so what's the USP here?
The big selling point is continuous heart rate monitoring, which Acer says won't impact on the device's battery life. In fact, it promises a week of battery life from one charge, during which time your heart rate will be continually read.
The Liquid Leap Fit connects to an iOS and Android app which collects this data and presents it in graph form, so you can keep an eye on it over time and have something meaningful.
Another nifty feature is the health-based notifications. These will let you request, via the app, to be reminded to drink water at intervals through the day, take your medication, or do a number of other health-oriented activities. You can also tell the wearable directly how much you've had to drink (for example) and it will log it.
Again, all this information is fed into the app and the Cloud, which gives you useful charts in return.
As well as measuring steps, calories burned, sleep - the basics you'd expect from even an entry-level fitness wearable - the Leap Fit also has a smart coaching feature. I wasn't able to give this a proper workout in the limited space, but Acer says it will offer useful feedback.
The Leap Fit has one of the best performing batteries for a device that continually monitors heart rate, but the trade off is screen and interface. The UI is very simple, monochromatic, and, I found, often unresponsive.
It's far from a joy to navigate, but the lack of a flashy touch display will probably mean that Acer can keep this below the £100/$100 mark again, or at least not much above it.
The other problem I found was that the Fit struggled to actually find a heart rate reading. I double checked - no, I wasn't dead, it really was the band's fault. Hopefully this is just because I was using an early production model; there's no point in Acer singing about the continuous heart rate monitor if it's unreliable.
The rest of the Liquid Leap Fit is attractive enough, helped by the range of different bands you can choose from. Some of them are really nice, even the slightly odd choice of camouflage.
Early verdict
A continuous heart rate monitor that gets a week out of the battery? Impressive, even if it lacks charm. Beyond that, Acer's wearable has a few extra tricks that we're keen to test out in a full review. Right now, this looks like one for the health conscious and the cost conscious.
This is Acer's most powerful gaming laptop yet with the cooling system to prove it – but it'll cost you dearly.
For
Advanced cooling system
Overclockable
Lovely keyboard
Against
Heavy and expensive
When the mobile PC gaming scene is already loaded with liquid-cooled this and desktop-grade that, it's tough to differentiate. So, Acer didn't bother trying, but rather soup up its already winning gaming laptop design in the Predator 17X.
This is Acer's first gaming laptop to house desktop-level components, namely Intel's PC-grade, Core i7-6820HK processor and an Nvidia GTX 980 (8GB GDDR5) graphics chip.
But, more importantly, this laptop employs an even more enhanced cooling system than its predecessors for a quieter system overall and allows for expanded overclocking capabilities.
A gaming laptop from Acer that can overclock? OK, now we're talking.
Design and display
Frankly, the Predator 17X isn't at all different from its predecessor when it comes to frame design. You're still looking at a 10-pound beast of a laptop that's lined in all sorts of lighting and coated in soft-touch paint throughout.
Well, save for one vent and fan. This iteration introduces an intake fan directly beneath the trackpad that has the thinnest blades ever used in a laptop fan – just 0.1mm. The result is room for more blades, which means the fan can operate at fewer rotations per minute and, thusly, generate less noise pollution.
Despite its inch or so of Z height when opened, typing and tracking on the Predator is a widely enjoyable experience. A new keyboard has been used here, incorporating more lighting zones than before and surprisingly punchy travel. The trackpad is equally snappy and responsive, though the mouse buttons could be way firmer than they are.
Plus, special keys for macros and an easily-accessed trackpad toggle only sweeten the pot.
As for the display, Acer went with an FHD (1,920 x 1,080) Nvidia G-Sync solution, which allows for the screen's refresh rate to easily sync with a game's frame rate for smoother visuals. Playing a few minutes of Rise of the Tomb Raider produced some super smooth gameplay, if a little lacking in color saturation.
Luckily, the IPS panel should produce more than wide enough viewing angles for a bit of co-op screen sharing, and there's a 4K option as well.
Power and ports
Rounding out the Predator 17X spec sheet are up to 64GB of RAM, three bays for solid-state drives as large as 512GB as well a fourth for up to 2TB of spinning drive storage. However, it's about the components so much as it is the tech in this machine allowing those parts to be pushed to their limits.
Acer's improved cooling system, borrowed from its line of server products, can create positive pressure inside the system to blast out dust, also known as DustDefender. But what's even cooler is that Acer's PredatorSense software can now manage overclocking.
While likely not overclocking in the truest sense of the word, being handled by a few button presses within some safety parameters, it will provide a boost beyond what these chips provide out of the box. Even that would be welcomed by the space-strapped PC gamer.
Naturally, you can expect oodles of ports given this system's immense size and weight. In addition to USB-C, there are several USB 3.1 ports here on offer as well as more display ports than you'll ever need.
Early verdict
Starting at $2,799 (about £1,954), Acer knows that this laptop is aimed at a very particular type of gamer – ultimately, one that's strapped for space, not cash. And that comes through in every element of the Predator 17X.
This laptop is for the PC gamer that wants every nicety that his or her online buddies have without having to disturb their loved ones or roommates with a gigantic machine. And, with a strong cooling solution for overclocking, the 17X is prepared to oblige.
Will the Predator 17X destroy our benchmarks in a full review? No doubt. But will it be a laptop that can destroy the competition in the details? It's looking likely, but you'll have to wait for our full impressions on that one, and something tells me that you'll want to.
What is a hands on review?
'Hands on reviews' are a journalist's first impressions of a piece of kit based on spending some time with it. It may be just a few moments, or a few hours. The important thing is we have been able to play with it ourselves and can give you some sense of what it's like to use, even if it's only an embryonic view. For more information, see TechRadar's Reviews Guarantee.
If you're in the market for a USB-sized streaming stick that comes with a remote and one of the most improved operating systems around, the Roku Streaming Stick is well worth its $49 (£49, about AU$62) price tag.
For
Significantly faster than before
Most egalitarian OS
Against
No voice search on remote
Pricier than Chromecast
Ratings in depth
The original Roku Streaming Stick, the one released back in 2012 before the Chromecast came onto the scene and the Amazon Fire TV Stick had ever been conceived, was a landmark innovation for streaming video players.
At $49 (£49, about AU$62), the Roku Streaming Stick was cheaper than anything else on the market and smaller by far. It packed all the independent goodness of Roku OS, as well as over 1,000 channels, into something the size of a USB stick.
Even after Google and Amazon's smaller streamers came out in the following year, the Roku Streaming Stick still had some features the other two lacked: a sophisticated remote and an app store that didn't care whether you picked Amazon Instant Video over Netflix, or chose rental services, like Vudu and Fandango, over Google Play TV Shows and Movies.
Now, that's not to say the original was perfect. It was laboriously slow, taking what felt like hours to fully populate the user interface. And, for the first year, you couldn't even plug it into the back of most HDTVs – only ones with a special, MHL-compatible HDMI port.
The latter was fixed quickly, but the processing problems would persist for years.
A fix for that dilemma wouldn't come until this year, when Roku announced a new, even smaller version of the Roku Streaming Stick that packs in a quad-core processor for about eight times the performance of the original.
The latest iteration of the Roku Streaming Stick is everything the company set out to design all those years ago. The difference now is that it's faster and smarter, thanks to software updates to Roku OS, but also more versatile, too. It leverages most of what makes the Roku 4 such a phenomenal streaming video player into a device that's a quarter of the size and a third of the cost.
That said, at $49, Roku Streaming Stick does cost a little more than Chromecast and doesn't offer comparable special features, like mirroring an entire computer to the TV. But, you can chalk those up to the price of having more apps and a physical remote control.
Design
The new, smaller design has undergone a bit of a wardrobe change, trading its old, obnoxiously bright purple covering for a sleek, matte black. It's now more similar in shape, color and size to Amazon's Fire TV Stick and measures in at 3.25 x 0.9 x 0.5 inches (L x W x D).
If that sounds like it's going to be too long to fit behind your TV, don't worry. Roku now offers a free, flexible extender cable that plugs into the HDMI port on your TV for some wiggle room when placing the Roku Streaming Stick in the back of the TV.
Once you have the Stick firmly seated in the HDMI slot, connect it to a wall outlet via the microUSB to USB cable and charging brick. If you have a more modern LED TV, there may even be an open USB port there that can be used to power the device.
You'll then need to add the Roku Streaming Stick to your Roku account via its registration website, or create a new account. Annoyingly, however, Roku does require you to input a credit card when you make a new account, which allows for easy debiting should you decide to shell out for pay-to-view content.
But it's not just the shell of the Roku Streaming Stick that has undergone a transformation, the internal components are radically different as well.
The processor in the latest iteration of the Stick is a quad-core CPU, capable of crisp, 1080p streaming. It runs circles around the 2012 version of Roku's pint-sized streamer and, thanks to an 802.11n, dual-band Wi-Fi antenna, TV shows and movies should now pop up faster and spend much less time buffering.
Clearly there's a lot to like here, but remember that the Roku Streaming Stick is intended to be the introductory product in Roku's lineup. Step up to a Roku 2, and you'll get an ethernet port on the back of the box for a more consistent connection to your router. Upgrade to a Roku 3, and you'll gain a multi-functional remote capable of voice search and private listening through a built-in 3.5mm jack.
If you decide to plunk down on the new Roku 4, currently my favorite streaming device on the planet, you're in store for 4K streaming from services like Netflix and Amazon Prime Instant video alongside an even better processor, 1.5GB of RAM and an 802.11ac Wi-Fi antenna capable of streaming 1.3 Gigabits of video data per second.
The Roku Streaming Stick remote
At this point, you basically know what you're getting with a Roku remote, but the Roku Streaming Stick's remote is even more basic than you might expect.
But before I talk about the physical buttons, let's talk weight. The latest remote is easily the runt of the Roku litter, lighter and thinner than any of the streaming device's other clickers. It's daintier due to a few less buttons – you won't find A, B or a dedicated search button on this iteration of the remote.
What it does have is a standard, simplistic-yet-functional set of controls and four media buttons that will call up Netflix, Sling TV, Amazon Instant Video and Google Play TV and Movies at the touch of a button. It's interesting that Google Play TV and Movies has made its way onto the remote, considering that it has a streaming platform of its own, but it's a welcome change over the Rdio button found on the Roku 4 remote.
It takes AAA batteries instead of AAs, and what's strange, is that you won't find headphone jack or built-in microphone on this diminutive piece of plastic. For that functionality, you'll now have to download and install the updated Roku companion app – a minor inconvenience that probably allowed Roku to shave a few dollars off the production of the remote and use that for an upgraded processor.
Speaking of the app, while it's comparatively heads and shoulders above the software Roku offered in past generations, I still don't find it as useful as the Cast button that comes built into iOS and Android apps. Neither that nor the complete screen mirroring functionality available to Apple TV owners that use iOS and Android TV users with Android TV players.
The Roku Streaming Stick interface
Another entry in the "it looks like a Roku product" category is the interface.
The main screen works as a central hub, with separate spaces for Home, My Feed, Movie Store, TV Store, News, Search, Streaming Channels and Settings, all of which are explained in detail below.
Home is where you'll find a list of all the channels you have installed on the Roku Streaming Stick, ordered by installation date. My Feed was a new feature introduced at the tail end of the Roku 3 that allows you to track films and TV shows. Say you want to know when a new episode of The Simpsons is available to watch. You'd search the show using the remote, add it to the My Feed section and then anytime it becomes available on Hulu or FOX's streaming apps, you'll be notified. Movie Store and TV Store are two of my least favorite functions on the Roku Streaming Stick. Selecting either of these will take you to the Fandango storefront where you can purchase films or shows at varying prices. If you already subscribe to any streaming service, these two options will likely go unused, however will permanently take up residence on your home screen from now until the end of time. News is a video content aggregator that's similar, but not nearly as effective, as the one found on Android TV. You can select a channel (like technology, entertainment or business, for example) and Roku will spit out a few suggestions from YouTube. Search is the piece-de-resistance of Roku features. Using the built-in microphone on the remote or a text search, you'll be able to inquire about TV series and movies, as well as specific actors, actresses and directors.
Search currently pulls in data from 30 different apps (Acorn TV, Amazon Video, Blockbuster On-Demand, CBS All Access, CinemaNow, Crackle, Fox Now, FX Now, HBO Go, Hulu, M-Go, Met Opera On Demand, NatGeo TV, Netflix, Popcorn Flix, SnagFilms, Starz Play, Time Warner Cable, Tubi TV and Vudu, among others) and will list search results from least expensive to most expensive. Streaming Channels is, for all intents and purposes, the storefront for new channels on Roku. There are over 3,000 channels on the store and around 100 "hidden" channels that can only be accessed by entering a channel code on Roku's website, triggering a download on your local system. Settings is pretty self-explanatory.
Content library
While Amazon Fire TV and Android TV products act as storefronts for first-party content, Roku takes a more agnostic approach when displaying all of your options.
As a platform, Roku TV boasts more than 3,000 channels ranging from the streaming mainstays, like Netflix, HBO and Vudu, to the obscure – there's actually a station called "Firewood Hoarders" – so finding something to watch is rarely a problem.
If you're in the US, you'll want to make your first stops at the shop YouTube, Vudu and Crackle for free movies and TV shows, as well as HBO Go, Showtime, FX Now, Starz, Hulu and Plex, if you subscribe to any of those services.
Oh, and it's worth pointing out here that the aforementioned last bunch of services do not come free with the hardware and require separate monthly subscriptions. I can't tell you how often I hear horror stories of someone going out and buying a Roku expecting every app to be free.
If you're in the UK and decide to obtain a Roku Streaming Stick from overseas, check out Sky's Now TV platform (Sky being a shareholder in Roku), the ubiquitous Netflix and Demand 5.
Audio apps of note include Rdio, Pandora, Vevo and Spotify. However, unlike PlayStation Music on the PS4, the latter requires a premium subscription in order to get anywhere. This barrier to entry makes the Roku Streaming Stick one of my least favorite music streaming devices, losing major ground to the new front-runner, Google's Chromecast Audio.
But, while the Roku Streaming Stick doesn't win many points in the music or games categories, it has probably the most sports channels of any other platform. You'll find both the NFL Channel and NFL Sunday Ticket in Roku's channel roster, as well as apps for the NHL, NBA, MLB, MLS, college sports and tennis, not to mention some of the more extreme fringe sports that get covered by the Red Bull TV, GoPro and UFC apps.
As far as content is concerned, Roku has the most diverse streaming video options of any set-top box. It might not do games or music as well as the competition, but if you're looking for a straight streaming device, it's hard to do much better than this.
Performance
If you're looking for a petite 1080p streaming device, the Roku Streaming Stick is a solid contender. Menus load a bit faster here than on the Amazon Fire TV Stick, however, that time might be spent pulling out your phone to use the voice search function that would otherwise be readily available on Amazon's Fire TV remote.
Likewise, Roku Streaming Stick can just eke out a few milliseconds ahead of Chromecast when starting starting a show or switching from one piece of content to the next. Chromecast might benefit from a dual-band, 802.11ac Wi-Fi antenna but, if you don't have a router with a matching spec, that advantage becomes a bit moot.
What I can say with 100% certainty and no caveats is that this model is exponentially faster than any Roku Streaming Stick prior. Roku claims that internal tests show it perform eight times faster than last year's model, and I feel like that number might have been a conservative estimate.
I briefly stepped back to 2012's all-purple iteration just to see what it was like, and I was shocked how long it took to do the simplest of tasks. Starting a video took ages and, in the time it took to load an app, I probably could've found my phone from between the couch cushions, opened Netflix there and started a stream all before the Roku Streaming Stick reached the 50% buffering mark.
The obvious difference between the Roku Streaming Stick and the high-end Roku 4 is the lack of 4K, HDR and Dolby Vision capabilities, but cramming that kind of power into a device this size just isn't possible with our current technology. Now, that might change four or five years down the line but, for now, if you have a 4K TV and are eager to find 4K content to go along with it, you'll need to pony up the extra cash for a Roku 4 or Nvidia Shield.
Roku Streaming Stick vs the competition
When you're considering Roku versus its rivals, the two main points to keep in mind are that Roku has one of the largest, most open platforms on the market, and that it works all on its own without the aid of a mobile device feeding it information.
Roku Streaming Stick vs Chromecast: This is a tricky matchup. The Chromecast is arguably a more social device, allowing anyone in your house to toss content on the screen at any time, whereas the ideal user(s) for the Roku Streaming Stick is someone living by themselves or a spouse.
There are more options for content on the Roku Streaming Stick, both in terms of popular streaming apps (Chromecast can't natively support Amazon Instant Video) and in the obscure. You simply won't find specialized streaming apps called "Made for TV," "Northeastern Baptist Church" and "The Prime Radicals," which specifically focuses on children's math lessons, on any other platform.
While there might not be as much to see and do with Chromecast, it only costs $35 (£30, AU$49), about $15 less than what Roku is asking for its USB-sized streaming device. Ultimately, the decision will come down to whether you want a remote and a traditional interface that lumps content in one easy-to-find spot, both of which you can only find on Roku.
Roku Streaming Stick vs Amazon Fire TV Stick: If you've already bought into Amazon's ecosphere, the Fire TV Stick will be the proverbial rug that ties the room together – it's fast, responsive and works flawlessly with Amazon's infrastructure. It has a microphone built into the remote and subtle extra features, like X-Ray, which identifies actors and actresses when they're on-screen, that won't go unnoticed.
Problematically, however, the Amazon Fire TV Stick doesn't quite like Google very much or always perform a "universal search," often just showing you results from the Amazon Instant Video library. Plus, while the Amazon Fire TV Stick might appear cheap at $40/£35, you'll need to subscribe to Amazon's $99 per year Prime service to really get the most out of the device.
We liked
The Roku Streaming Stick shrinks the much-loved Roku TV OS and puts it in a package that's a quarter of the size and half the price of the Roku 3. There are over 3,000 apps that range from streaming staples, like HBO Go, Netflix and FX Now to completely obscure channels, like the Aliens and UFOs Channel, Firewood Hoarders and Made for TV.
Unlike Chromecast, everything is tied together by a smart, easy-to-navigate interface and a simple-but-effective remote. Inside the stick, the quad-core processor gives the Roku Streaming Stick a snappy response time, while the 802.11n Wi-Fi antenna does a commendable job starting videos faster and rarely falling victim as easily to the dreaded buffering screen.
We disliked
Of course, Roku could've squeezed an extra bit of juice from the Streaming Stick had it decided to use the 802.11ac standard that can handle twice as much data in the same amount of time. Chromecast found a way to do it without raising the price, so I'm not quite sure why Roku couldn't do the same.
It also doesn't help that the Roku remote feels less powerful than ever before, thanks to the decision to allocate voice search and private listening functions to the separate Roku app instead of on the remote that will always be in front you.
These are minor flaws, obviously, and pale in comparison to the vast improvements that have been made to the performance of the device.
Final verdict
Whether you should buy the Roku Streaming Stick over the Amazon Fire TV Stick or Chromecast solely depends on how you intend to use it.
If you're someone who comes home after a long day, grabs the remote and watches Netflix and Amazon Prime Instant Video, and would genuinely consider renting movies from Google Play Movies and TV, there's no better option in the streaming stick category than Roku.
On the other hand, if you're the kind of person who often watches shows, movies and internet clips in a community setting and doesn't mind missing out on a remote, you're best suited saving some money and opting for Google's Chromecast.
There are more powerful entries in the Roku family of products, like the stellar Roku 4 and marginally better Roku 3, but buying one of those will take a bigger bite out of your wallet and take up valuable real estate on your shelf. Granted you're content with 1080p streaming, want the biggest and most open app store and don't mind using 802.11n Wi-Fi for another few years, the Roku Streaming Stick is an unbeatable value.
This is Acer's most powerful gaming laptop yet with the cooling system to prove it – but it'll cost you dearly.
For
Advanced cooling system
Overclockable
Lovely keyboard
Against
Heavy and expensive
When the mobile PC gaming scene is already loaded with liquid-cooled this and desktop-grade that, it's tough to differentiate. So, Acer didn't bother trying, but rather soup up its already winning gaming laptop design in the Predator 17X.
This is Acer's first gaming laptop to house desktop-level components, namely Intel's PC-grade, Core i7-6820HK processor and an Nvidia GTX 980 (8GB GDDR5) graphics chip.
But, more importantly, this laptop employs an even more enhanced cooling system than its predecessors for a quieter system overall and allows for expanded overclocking capabilities.
A gaming laptop from Acer that can overclock? OK, now we're talking.
Design and display
Frankly, the Predator 17X isn't at all different from its predecessor when it comes to frame design. You're still looking at a 10-pound beast of a laptop that's lined in all sorts of lighting and coated in soft-touch paint throughout.
Well, save for one vent and fan. This iteration introduces an intake fan directly beneath the trackpad that has the thinnest blades ever used in a laptop fan – just 0.1mm. The result is room for more blades, which means the fan can operate at fewer rotations per minute and, thusly, generate less noise pollution.
Despite its inch or so of Z height when opened, typing and tracking on the Predator is a widely enjoyable experience. A new keyboard has been used here, incorporating more lighting zones than before and surprisingly punchy travel. The trackpad is equally snappy and responsive, though the mouse buttons could be way firmer than they are.
Plus, special keys for macros and an easily-accessed trackpad toggle only sweeten the pot.
As for the display, Acer went with an FHD (1,920 x 1,080) Nvidia G-Sync solution, which allows for the screen's refresh rate to easily sync with a game's frame rate for smoother visuals. Playing a few minutes of Rise of the Tomb Raider produced some super smooth gameplay, if a little lacking in color saturation.
Luckily, the IPS panel should produce more than wide enough viewing angles for a bit of co-op screen sharing, and there's a 4K option as well.
Power and ports
Rounding out the Predator 17X spec sheet are up to 64GB of RAM, three bays for solid-state drives as large as 512GB as well a fourth for up to 2TB of spinning drive storage. However, it's about the components so much as it is the tech in this machine allowing those parts to be pushed to their limits.
Acer's improved cooling system, borrowed from its line of server products, can create positive pressure inside the system to blast out dust, also known as DustDefender. But what's even cooler is that Acer's PredatorSense software can now manage overclocking.
While likely not overclocking in the truest sense of the word, being handled by a few button presses within some safety parameters, it will provide a boost beyond what these chips provide out of the box. Even that would be welcomed by the space-strapped PC gamer.
Naturally, you can expect oodles of ports given this system's immense size and weight. In addition to USB-C, there are several USB 3.1 ports here on offer as well as more display ports than you'll ever need.
Early verdict
Starting at $2,799 (about £1,954), Acer knows that this laptop is aimed at a very particular type of gamer – ultimately, one that's strapped for space, not cash. And that comes through in every element of the Predator 17X.
This laptop is for the PC gamer that wants every nicety that his or her online buddies have without having to disturb their loved ones or roommates with a gigantic machine. And, with a strong cooling solution for overclocking, the 17X is prepared to oblige.
Will the Predator 17X destroy our benchmarks in a full review? No doubt. But will it be a laptop that can destroy the competition in the details? It's looking likely, but you'll have to wait for our full impressions on that one, and something tells me that you'll want to.
