Here a roundup of today's reviews and articles:

AMD Ryzen 7 2700 8-Core 65W Processor Review
Antec K240 AIO Water Cooling Review
Asus ROG Strix X470-F Gaming Review
Kingston A1000 480 GB Review
Lenovo ThinkPad X280 Review
Lumos and Coros Bluetooth Helmets Review
Netgear Nighthawk Pro XR500 Review
The Windows 10 April Update (1803): The Littlest Big Update
Unicomp Ultra Classic Buckling-Spring Keyboard Review

AMD Ryzen 7 2700 8-Core 65W Processor Review

Last month we published reviews on the Ryzen 7 2700X and Ryzen 5 2600X processors and found AMD’s second-generation Zen models to be off to a great start. Both the models we looked at last month support AMD’s XFR 2 technology though and we weren’t able to look at the non-XFR (eXtended Frequency Range) models of the same processors. Today, we’ll be taking a look at the AMD Ryzen 7 2700 8-core, 16-thread processor that is basically the same thing as the Ryzen 2700X albeit with XFR technology disabled and lower clock speeds. Internally it uses the same Zen+ architecture and is fully unlocked, but thanks to the lower clock speeds the TDP has been reduced from 105 Watts on the 2700X down to just 65 Watts on the 2700. That is a huge drop and should appeal to small-form-factor enthusaists that are building in cases with limited airflow. A large number of cases and aftermarket CPU coolers support 65W processors, so building a system for a powerful 8-core processor shouldn’t be a big deal here in 2018.

Read full article @ Legit Reviews

Antec K240 AIO Water Cooling Review

The AIO water cooling market is hotly contested. Antec tries to settle by moving the pump into the radiator, which makes the CPU cooler very compact. What the Antec K240 water cooler achieved, we have tested in the new review, including a new video and of course again with 360 degrees view.

On the front we are directly referred to the main features of K240 water cooling.
– an ultra thin CPU cooler
– efficient LED fan with PWM connection
– a water pressure of 1 m water column
– SATA power connection
– Teflon sheathed tubing

Read full article @ OCInside.de

Asus ROG Strix X470-F Gaming Review

So the first X470 board to come in that wasn’t included in our Ryzen launch kit from AMD was a board from Asus. This was suppose to go along with the new Crosshair that AMD included but we didn’t end up getting one, so, for now, I’m going to check out the Asus ROG Strix X470-F Gaming. I’m going to check out what Asus has done with their X470 models, test the performance to see how it compares to the two other X470 boards I’ve tested, check out the cooling situation, and then run down and see if it’s a good buy for
someone looking to build a Ryzen 2000 Series build.

Read full article @ LanOC Reviews

Kingston A1000 480 GB Review

The Kingston A1000 is a cost-effective NVMe x2 drive, which is priced at just $150 for the 480 GB variant. Using two PCI-Express lanes keeps cost down due to cheaper controller and a simpler PCB design. This makes the A1000 barely more expensive than a SATA SSD, while offering higher performance at the same time.

The Kingston A1000 SSD uses the M.2 form factor with a PCI-Express x2 3.0 interface (which is half that of high-end M.2 SSDs). As the controller, a Phison PS5008 four-channel controller is used, which is paired with BiCS 3D TLC flash from Toshiba.

Positioned as an entry-level/value NVMe drive, the A1000 promises to offer higher speed than 2.5" or M.2 SATA drives without breaking the bank. For users demanding higher performance and MLC, the KC1000 is part of Kingston's product stack.

Read full article @ TechPowerUp

Lenovo ThinkPad X280 Review

The ThinkPad line of notebooks has a long, storied history, from its beginnings as an IBM product, to Lenovo's continued refinements and improvements, generation over generation. ThinkPads are well known, often sought after products, especially by business-class road warriors, due to their no-nonsense design language, excellent keyboards, and reputation for reliability. In addition, ThinkPads have had one other thing remain consistent over the years -- a glorious little red nub, called a TrackPoint or pointing stick, that remains faithfully nestled between the G and H keys. For some it's a love it or hate it sort of feature but Lenovo has maintained it generation after generation, so it's clearly more often the former case. That's not to say there's nothing new about Lenovo's capable ThinkPad X280 we'll be showing you here today. The ThinkPad X280 is a sleek 12.5" ultra-portable with a starting weight of just under 2.9 pounds...

Read full article @ HotHardware

Lumos and Coros Bluetooth Helmets Review

If you are like me, Spring means biking season and I want to tell you about two great bike helmets that connect to your iPhone via Bluetooth to not only make your ride more safe but also more fun too. For over a year, I’ve had the Coros LINX helmet which uses bone conducting conduits to safely send audio signal to your eardrums without blocking natural sound.

A few weeks ago I peeped the new $179.99 Lumos Helmet at the Grand Central Apple Store touting bright lights and a turn signal activated from your phone.


First, let’s get the names out of the way: Lumos and Coros, which sound like siblings from the planet Krypton but they are Bluetooth bike helmets made by 2 separate companies with 2 separate agendas. Despite this, there’s a lot in common here. They both offer Bluetooth 4.0 on already great fitting helmets that will last for years.

Read full article @ 9to5 Mac

Netgear Nighthawk Pro XR500 Review

Especially at a time when more and more games are 'online only', every gamer knows how important it is to have a reliable and fast connection to the servers of your favorite game. This is of course partly dependent on the internet connection you obtain from your provider, but also on the configuration of your own network. Your router is of crucial importance in this respect. The Netgear Nighthawk Pro XR500 is a router designed to optimize your gaming experience both hardware- and software-wise. That, at least, is the manufacturer's promise to us to subject him to our usual intensive testing procedure.

Netgear is a router brand that requires no introduction. This is now also the case for the Nighthawk series, which contains numerous routers with various specifications and functionality. The latest offspring of the Nighthawk family is the XR500 Pro gaming router. As the name suggests, this router is all about gaming. Under the hood, the XR500 is a 'regular' quad stream 4x4 dual-band router, albeit with support for things like MU-MIMO and beam forming. These are fine additions, of course, but we see those so often nowadays that they sound a little less special.

Read full article @ Hardware.Info

The Windows 10 April Update (1803): The Littlest Big Update

We’re about three years into Windows 10, and we’ve seen a lot of changes to the OS, as well as the servicing model, in those three years. The move to no longer offering major OS updates every couple of years with a new name, and requirement for purchase, is very welcome, and has likely been the biggest success of the Windows 10 launch. Microsoft has also refined the servicing model to a more consistent pattern of two updates per year, and while that can either be a pro or a con depending on where you stand, they’ve met that over the last couple of updates. With the Windows 10 April Update, which is version 1803, we’ve got arguably the smallest update yet in terms of new features, but that’s really a bad thing. Three years in, the OS is mature enough that it’s good to see the company dialing back on the major interface changes, and hopefully focusing more on consistency, and reliability.

Read full article @ Anandtech

Unicomp Ultra Classic Buckling-Spring Keyboard Review

Over a decade before I was born, IBM began manufacturing a keyboard that became a legend: the Model M. As any mechanical keyboard fan who lived through the last decade knows, the Model M's claim to fame is its buckling springs. As former TR staffer Cyril Kowaliski's example of the Model M proves, that switch design has stood the test of time.

Unicomp acquired the rights to IBM's buckling-spring designs in 1996, and it's been producing variations of the Model M with buckling springs intact for over 20 years now. However, the keyboard market has changed drastically since the Model M's first debut. Mechanical switches and slim chassis now dominate the keyboard enthusiast landscape. I've spent some time with Unicomp's Ultra Classic to determine whether it can hold its own in the modern keyboard market for gamers and typists.

Read full article @ The Tech Report