PC Magazine 12.2020

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BATTERY: NOT BAD FOR THE SIZE
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The iPhone 12 Pro
Max (left) is much
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mini (right).

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SASCHA SEGAN

PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION I SUBSCRIBE I DECEMBER 2020

REVIEWS

HARDWARE

Apple Mac mini (M1, Late
2020): Most Polished,
Potent Tiny Desktop

T he Mac mini doesn’t get upgraded often, but when it does, it makes an
impact well out of proportion to its trim dimensions. The 2018 Mac
mini was a PCMag Editors’ Choice pick for its pep, connectivity, build
quality, and limited upgradability. A slight variation on the same sheet music,
played with little fanfare earlier this year, pumped up the two base models’
SSD capacity. The real update of this iconic little desktop is this one, and it’s a
big-band extravaganza. Apple’s own highly integrated system-on-a-chip (SoC),
the M1 brings the Mac mini to new performance highs, and while a few
fundamentals have changed, the peppy performance, the reasonable mix of
connectivity, and a new lower $699 starting price combine to make it one of
the best values in compact computers, period. It easily earns our Editors’
Choice nod.

DESIGN: A FAMILIAR FACE, AN AMPED-UP Apple Mac mini
CORE
The Mac mini remains the only true “small” Mac (M1, Late 2020)
desktop. Sure, you can still select between 21- and 27-
inch iMac models (which we’d expect to gain the M1 PROS New, lower
CPU before too long, as well). But if you want a starting price. Much
compact, macOS-based system that’s not a laptop to improved overall
attach to a TV, a spare monitor, or even just a public performance from
informational display, the Mac mini has long been the 2018 model.
Apple alpha and omega. Especially promising
bench results with
That said, the fact that the Mac mini is equipped to native “Universal”
work as anything from an everyday productivity apps. Surprisingly
churner, a home theater system, a little music- and quiet and cool
video-editing dynamo, or even just a digital-display operation under load.
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It doesn’t take up much space, and it looks good CONS Boosting RAM
wherever you stash it. and SSD capacity at
purchase time is
The out-of-box experience is as straightforward as can pricey. Fewer
be. The 1.4-by-7.7-by-7.7-inch chassis comes in a plastic Thunderbolt ports
wrapper. Under it, a two-socket power cable is coiled than previous Mac
with care in an elaborate paper carrier. That trim cord mini. Memory no
is all the power gear there is; the Mac mini’s power longer upgradable
supply is internal. post-purchase.

BOTTOM LINE With a
new lower starting
price and Apple’s
straining-at-the-leash
M1 CPU, the Mac mini
is far and away the
most polished, potent
tiny desktop in its
class.

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and apps from another Mac if you’re already in the with the new
macOS ecosystem. Once you hit the desktop, you’ll be
faced with the new look of macOS, Big Sur, which is one look of macOS,
of the biggest switch-ups to the OS in recent years. Big Sur, which

The chassis of the Mac mini hasn’t changed a whole lot is one of the
since the 2018/early 2020 revision. The body is milled biggest
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and no seams in the metal. Only the rear panel is switch-ups to
interrupted by ports or buttons, with the full I/O panel the OS in
out of sight and the power button well hidden on the
right rear corner. (You’ll have to get used to locating it recent years.
by feel.)

The only feature visible on any of the other chassis
edges is a white pinprick of a power-on LED, on the
lower-right corner of the front face.

As before, the bottom of the body is dominated by a
large, black-plastic ring that allows access to the interior
for servicing. But Apple notes that this is strictly for its
own repair personnel only.

There’s no point in prying inside, anyway. Unlike the 2018 Mac mini, the M1-
based version incorporates the main system memory into the SoC’s module.
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you would before. The amount of memory you opt for at purchase time, as well
as the internal storage amount, are what you’ll have to live with for the life of
the system.

CONFIGURATIONS: MAC MINI TIMES TWO
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models: a $699 lower-storage-capacity model (256GB SSD), and an $899
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factory with more system memory or storage, however.

All SKUs of the Mac mini use the M1 processor, Apple’s custom SoC with eight
processing cores, eight graphics cores, and an additional series of cores that
Apple dubs a “Neural Engine.” The eight processing cores are split into four
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that can be shunted over by macOS for power conservation. This is the same
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of the base-model MacBook Air, which employs the M1 but with seven instead
of eight GPU cores.

This is a drastic change from the earlier Mac minis. Before this M1 CPU
switchover, the $799 base-model Mac mini came with a quad-core Intel Core i3,
and the $1,099 step-up version was based on a Core i5, with the option to level
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Mac mini boosted the capacity of the base SSD from 128GB to 256GB in the
$799 model, and from 256GB to 512GB in the $1,099 model.

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the Mac mini are the same. You get the M1 CPU, 8GB of not-user-upgradable
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you select. Each of the two base models can be kicked up to 16GB of system
memory for $200 more. The 256GB base model can be upgraded to a 512GB
(+$200), 1TB (+$400), or 2TB (+$800) SSD, while the 512GB base model can
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whether to pre-install Logic Pro or Final Cut Pro on the system.

That 16GB memory ceiling may be a curiosity for content-creation pros used to
piling on the gigabytes for memory-hogging programs like Adobe Photoshop,
and for heavy multitasking. That said, the memory approach with the Apple M1
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upshot of which ostensibly reduces latency between the SoC’s modules and
gives more direct access to the memory to both the CPU and GPU cores.

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overall benchmark numbers, which are baked, as it were, into the performance
cake. But we’ll address that holistically in the testing section below.

CONNECTIVITY: A NEW MIX
The back panel of the M1-based Mac mini is the biggest physical change from
the 2018/early 2020 model. Like the lack of internal upgradability, it’s about
less, not more.

You get a dedicated Ethernet jack, two Thunderbolt 3/USB Type-C ports, an
HDMI output, two USB Type-A ports, and a combined headphone/mic jack.
That’s in contrast to the earlier Mac mini model’s four Thunderbolt 3/USB-C
ports. The Thunderbolt 3 ports are capable of up to 40Gbps transfers, and
support for the forthcoming USB 4 signals 10Gbps peak transfers with USB-C
devices. The Type-A ports are ordinary 5Gbps USB.

Is fewer Thunderbolt ports than before a major issue? For most casual users,
not really. We’d be hard-pressed to drum up four Thunderbolt 3 peripherals in
PC Labs at one time, never mind on our individual desks. If you’re using an
HDMI-connected monitor, you have two Thunderbolt/USB-C ports to play

with. Also, some Thunderbolt 3-compatible peripherals For display
support daisy-chaining, so you aren’t necessarily going connectivity,
to feel a pinch when you have more than two devices, you get support
depending on what they are. But if you have, say, a host for up to two
of Thunderbolt 3 portable drives that would only
terminate a chain, then you may want to tread carefully. panels at a
time, one on
As for display connectivity, you get support for up to Thunderbolt
two panels at a time, one on Thunderbolt and one on
HDMI. The HDMI port supports a monitor with native and one
resolution up to 4K and up to a 60Hz refresh rate. (No on HDMI.
joy for high-refresh-rate gaming on this port, but that’s
okay; the M1’s onboard graphics cores, though able
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The two Thunderbolt ports work with Thunderbolt-
interface display panels, as well as with monitors
supporting DisplayPort over USB-C (as well as VGA or
DVI, with appropriate adapters). You can connect up to
a 6K panel to one of these ports, which includes Apple’s
exceptional ProDisplay XDR, though that elite panel
would be an odd pairing with an under-$1,000 system.

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the Mac mini, we do wish that Apple would relent on
the stark chassis minimalism and give us a USB port up
front (even if just a petite USB Type-C). As is, we’re
forever fumbling around back to pop in or disengage an
external drive or a USB key.

Another factor is the wireless connectivity, which
includes Bluetooth 5.0 and ticked-up-for-2020 Wi-Fi 6.
Bear in mind that unless you’re using a Bluetooth
mouse and keyboard (like the Apple Magic Mouse 2 and
Magic Keyboard supplied with our review sample, but
are extra-cost options), you’ll want to budget a USB
port or two for wireless or RF dongles, or wired

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some folks are passionate, say, about mechanical keyboards, and most of those
require a wire. As for the Ethernet jack, it’s straight Gigabit.

TESTING THE 2020 MAC MINI: IT’S A BIT COMPLICATED
Benching the Mac mini with M1, like our testing of the new M1-based MacBook
Pro and MacBook Air, takes our normal desktop/laptop testing regimen as a
mere starting point. We ran a few of the cross-platform-comparable
benchmarks that we also run on Windows PCs, but that is only the start of the
story. M1, by its nature, rewrites the rules.

One reason: emulation. The thing to bear in mind is that the Apple M1 chip and
Big Sur were designed hand-in-hand to work best with what are known as
macOS Universal apps, designed for the new CPU architecture and new macOS.
All of the Apple-branded apps you can install, as well as those that are part of
the Big Sur OS, are Universal and optimized.

Key apps from third parties will come at their own pace. The seminal Adobe
Photoshop, for one, is expected in early 2021 and Lightroom CC in December.
Apps and games that aren’t native will run through an emulation layer called
Rosetta 2. And at the moment, that’s most things non-Apple.

We included lots of laptops, not desktops, in our testing mix. That’s because the
most relevant comparison systems for the M1-based Macs are other M1-based
Macs, as well as earlier Macs.

Media Processing Tests: First let’s take a look at those three result sets, for
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(raw CPU muscle for image rendering). You’ll note two Handbrake result sets
and two Cinebench sets here…park that thought.

As noted earlier, the M1 uses four cores for demanding tasks and can ramp
down, at Big Sur’s behest, to its four power-saving cores for less demanding
tasks. Presumably here the four full-strength ones were engaged. But the big
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Cinebenches.

Why is that? Start with Handbrake. The 1.1.1 version is an older version we use
across all of our test models for consistency, and on it the Mac mini returned
decent numbers, though it was outpaced by the most recent Dell XPS 13 (based
on a new Intel “Tiger Lake” mobile Core i7 CPU) and the HP Spectre x360 15 (a
2020 model highlighted here since it uses a muscular H-series Intel “Comet
Lake” CPU and a dedicated GPU, the GeForce GTX 1650 Ti). But look at the M1
Macs’ results with 1.4 beta. The 1.4 beta version is a Universal native app rolled
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for this task, and, well, zoom.

You can see a similar dynamic at play with Cinebench. The R23 version is a new
Universal app, while the venerable R15 isn’t. The M1-based Macs do a bang-up
job on R15 by themselves, rivaling the H-series Core-based Spectre x360 15, but
they practically run away with the ball on R23.

Meanwhile, Photoshop CC, not being a Universal app, exhibits the same kind of
relative behavior as the 1.1.1 version of Handbrake. The M1-based Macs stay in
the game versus the U- and H-series Intel Core systems. We’ll have to see in
2021 how the Universal version of Photoshop shakes out. But these three tests
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apps will be as Apple Silicon gains more momentum.

Productivity and Browser Tests: Next up, let’s look at some productivity
and browser tests we could compare across these new M1 Macs, older
MacBooks, some recent iOS devices, and a few key competing Windows PCs:

There’s a fair bit to unpack here. The Geekbench 5 suite is a slaughter versus
earlier MacBooks and even the mainstream Intel H-series and U-series brigade.
This is a holistic suite that measures a variety of CPU tasks and also involves
elements of machine learning. It registers as a Universal app, so the
optimizations are likely in play here. Alas, we don’t have access to a similar suite
like PCMark that would push the M1s through the emulation layer for
comparison. But this is a bright performance by the M1 Macs.

We tend to take the browser benches a bit less seriously as an overall
performance measure, in that they are measuring limited scenarios of
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two of the three, with the Intel machines reasserting themselves in Basemark
Web, albeit not by much.

Graphics Tests: Last up, graphics tests! This eclectic mix is stocked with a
couple of our benchmark staple AAA games (two of the few we could compare
across Windows 10 and macOS “Big Sur”), as well as GFXBench 5 Metal (more
of a measure of native graphics performance), and the old graphics-test
chestnut Heaven 4.0 from Unigine.

You’ll notice for the two games that we have added a comparison system
dubbed the “Intel Tiger Lake Whitebook,” which represents a best-case scenario
for Intel’s new 11th Generation “Tiger Lake” mobile CPUs and, most relevant
here, its on-chip Iris Xe integrated graphics processor. Iris Xe is Intel’s newly
juiced IGP on its upper versions of its 11th Gen laptop processors.

The two AAA games we could directly compare, Rise of the Tomb Raider and
Total War II: Warhammer, showed a near-run competition between the Iris Xe
IGP on the Intel whitebook and what we saw from the MacBook Air, the two
trading blows. The Mac mini, with its more liberal cooling scheme and extra
GPU core, outpaced them both, but all three are in the same rough ballpark.
(Note that we tested the Tiger Lake whitebook on these games at 1080p, but
the MacBook Air cannot handle that resolution, so we tested at the slightly
higher and marginally more demanding 1,920 by 1,200. We tested the Mac mini
at both.)

We did not test the Tiger Lake whitebook with Heaven 4.0 (we no longer have it
in hand), but we did test the latest Dell XPS 13, which also employs Iris Xe. It
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GFXBench 5 Metal, which uses the Metal API and illustrates what the M1 is
more likely capable of with native software (i.e., much-enhanced performance).

In the course of testing, one big thing we noticed: Through all these
benchmarks, pressing the CPU and GPU to their presumptive limits, the Mac
mini was whisper quiet. Now mind you, the Mac mini (like the new M1-based
MacBook Pro) does have an active cooling solution inside, unlike the fanless
MacBook Air. But this writer had to stick his ear right up on the rear I/O to even
get a hint of it. It didn’t rev up noticeably at even the peak of a Handbrake
conversion grind, or after a series of six consecutive GPU game benchmarks.
And the chassis stays remarkably cool throughout. Not that the Mac mini is an
ideal pick for a production computer gnashing away at hours-long renders, but
the kind of light-use everyday work and play we simulated reveals one cool
customer.

THERE’S NOTHING SMALL ABOUT THIS MINI’S IMPACT
Let’s start with the obvious. If you’re in the market for a macOS desktop, you’re
looking at four choices: a compact Mac mini, a relatively small all-in-one
consumer Mac (the 21-inch iMac), a larger consumer or pro-grade all-in-one
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house content-creation Mac Pro. There’s not a lot of use-case crossover; if you
have a monitor or two you wish to carry over to your new Mac, there’s scant
overlap between Mac mini and Mac Pro needs. So if you’re wedded to macOS,
the desktop divisions are pretty clean.

Should you opt for the new Mac mini if you have a 2018 or early 2020 model?
That depends on your immediate needs. In case you’re running a pre-Catalina
version of macOS, you might want to stay there for a while, if you rely on
essential 32-bit apps that don’t have equivalents on this side of the macOS
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look like on just how big a deal the M1 is for real world use.
That said, if you’re languishing with an older Mac desktop, or have the need for
a good basic macOS-based system, the new Mac mini comes up mostly roses.
With Apple’s already robust basic apps that are part of the OS, and key reasons
you get a Mac, like Final Cut Pro, in the Universal camp, there’s no reason to
wait. As long as your eyes are open to the app-compatibility nuances and fewer
Thunderbolt ports, the M1 looks like a dead-on opening salvo in a new battle for
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on any platform that outdoes it on performance potential, sheer elegance of
hardware and software design, and user experience.

JOHN BUREK

PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION I SUBSCRIBE I DECEMBER 2020

REVIEWS

HARDWARE

SteelSeries Rival 3 Wireless
Gaming Mouse: A Real Value

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FKRLFH

MIKE EPSTEIN

PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION I SUBSCRIBE I DECEMBER 2020

REVIEWS

SOFTWARE

ProofHub: Simple,
Straightforward Project
Management

P roofHub is an online project-management app that helps teams
organize projects, track their status, and collaborate. With an orderly
interface and emphasis on simplicity, ProofHub delivers all the core
tools you need to manage projects. It doesn’t have every feature under the sun,
but it’s also not too complicated, making it the perfect balance for many teams.
You can track multiple projects, create dependencies among tasks in a Gantt
chart view, and get time estimates from your team members. But you don’t get
budgeting, invoicing, or resource-management tools (although you can
integrate with accounting software if needed). The interface could be a touch
more intuitive, and pages occasionally load slowly. Overall, though, it’s an
excellent app for teams that need to work on projects together. The price is
ULJKW IRU D VPDOO DQG JURZLQJ WHDP WRR DV 3URRI+XE FKDUJHV D ÀDW PRQWKO\
rate regardless of how many people use it.

After testing more than two dozen apps for managing ProofHub
projects, PCMag has picked Zoho Projects and
Teamwork (formerly known as Teamwork Projects) as PROS Quick and easy
its Editors’ Choice winners for project management in setup. Competitively
small businesses. These products have a lot in common priced. Nice balance
with ProofHub but edge it out slightly in terms of of features and
IHDWXUHV DQG TXDOLW\ ,I WKRVH VHUYLFHV GRQ¶W ¿W \RXU simplicity. Good tools
needs, however, then ProofHub should make your short for discussing visual
list of alternatives. For larger organizations managing materials.
incredible complex projects, we recommend
LiquidPlanner. CONS Sometimes
loads slowly. Lacks
HOW MUCH DOES PROOFHUB COST? budgeting tools.
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8OWLPDWH &RQWURO <RX ZRQ¶W ¿QG WKH IUHH SODQ BOTTOM LINE Project
advertised on ProofHub’s website, but you can get it by management app
requesting an account by sending an email to support@ ProofHub aims for
proofhub.com. simplicity without
skimping on core
)RU SDLG SODQV WKH FRPSDQ\ FKDUJHV D ÀDW PRQWKO\ RU features. It’s strong
annual fee for an unlimited number of account at getting teams to
members. Many other project management apps charge collaborate on visual
you per person per month. You can get a 14-day free materials and has a
trial of the paid plans. competitive price for
small businesses

ProofHub Essential costs $50 per month or $540 per The price is
year. You can manage up to 40 projects, and you get right for a small
15GB of storage space. It includes all the service’s core
IHDWXUHV WDVNV SURMHFW WHPSODWHV WLPH WUDFNLQJ JURXS team, as
chat, Gantt charts, and more. It doesn’t come with ProofHub
project and resource reports or a project manager role. charges a flat
The Essential account also misses out on a few key monthly rate
admin features, such as the ability to manage regardless of
permissions through roles, as well as to view advanced how many
activity logs. people use it.

ProofHub Ultimate Control costs $150 per month or
$1,620 per year. You get 100GB storage, and there’s no
limit on the number of projects you can manage. The
Ultimate Control plan includes everything in Essential,
plus project and resource reports, a project manager
role, administrative controls, API access, advanced
activity logs, a customized sign-in page, priority
support, and more.

HOW DO PROOFHUB’S PLANS COMPARE?

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rather than a per-person rate, it’s tough to compare its
pricing to that of other project management apps. Even
FRPLQJ XS ZLWK D EDOOSDUN ¿JXUH IRU SURMHFW
management software is tricky, because the more
VLPSOL¿HG WRROV IRU VPDOO EXVLQHVVHV FRVW PXFK OHVV WKDQ
high-end tools for very large organizations managing
hundreds of projects and people.

On the low end, Editors’ Choice winners Zoho Projects
and Teamwork each costs around $4 to $9 per person
per month, depending on the number of people on the
team. GanttPro, which I would put in the same category
of being friendly to small businesses, costs around $8 to
$9 per person per month for a team of 10 to 20 people.
For the same size team, TeamGantt runs approximately
$8 to $9 per person per month.

Based on these estimated prices of reasonably comparable products, you’d need
only 11 people on your team for a ProofHub Ultimate Control account to be
competitively priced.

In some ways, ProofHub reminds us of Basecamp, which also costs $99 per
PRQWK IRU DQ XQOLPLWHG QXPEHU RI WHDP PHPEHUV 7KH GL̆HUHQFH LV WKDW
Basecamp doesn’t have a few key project-management features, including Gantt
charts and task dependencies; that’s why we categorize it as a collaboration app
instead of a project-management app. There’s a huge overlap between the two
categories of project management and collaboration apps, but to help
consumers make purchasing decisions, we keep them separate. It’s also worth
noting that if you’re considering switching from Basecamp to ProofHub, you
can now import your projects from one app to the other.

GETTING ORIENTED WITH PROOFHUB
:KHQ \RX ¿UVW FUHDWH D 3URRI+XE DFFRXQW \RX JHW D WKRURXJK ZDON WKURXJK LQ
the form of informational popups that appear on each new page you land on.
Beyond that, navigating the app at the highest level is simple and
straightforward.

A helpful “Me” homepage gives an overview of what’s happening in your
ProofHub account. You get a summary of tasks and events assigned to you, a list
of all the active projects that you’ve joined, and announcements that people on
the team have made.

The announcements can be customized to appear only to certain team members
or to everyone. You can set how long an announcement should stay on
everyone’s Me page. It’s a nice way to use ProofHub for more general
FRPPXQLFDWLRQ HYHQ LI LW GRHVQ¶W DSSO\ WR D VSHFL¿F SURMHFW

Navigating the app is simple. A column of buttons on the left side and tabs at
the top help you move quickly from page to page. When you click to open an
active project, a menu appears to help you dive directly into the section of the
project you want to see, whether it’s the Gantt chart view, Reports, or
Discussions page.

SETTING UP PROJECTS AND YOUR TEAM
When you start setting up, ProofHub asks whether you want to create a project
RU PDNH D WHPSODWH (LWKHU ZD\ D SDJH RSHQV ZLWK ¿HOGV WR ¿OO RXW

<RX JLYH WKH SURMHFW D QDPH GHVFULSWLRQ VWDUW GDWH DQG HQG GDWH $ ¿HOG FDOOHG
Category is useful for managing projects by type, client, or the team working on
them. You can also assign team members to the project and choose someone to
be the project manager.

In setting up and customizing your project, you can choose which tabs you want
to be in the app for the project. The options are Discussions, Tasks, Gantt,
Calendar, Notes, Files, and Time. For a project that doesn’t require time
tracking, you might omit the Time tab. To streamline where your team
discusses the project, you might omit Notes and Files but keep Discussions.
Another customization option lets you assign a color to each project.

When you add team members to a project, by default you can make that person
an owner, admin, or normal user. Owners and admins have access to all the
projects in the account, whereas normal users can see only those projects to
ZKLFK WKH\ KDYH EHHQ DGGHG <RX FDQ FUHDWH FXVWRP UROHV WRR DQG GH¿QH WKHLU
access and permissions. ProofHub also comes with some team-management
features, which it refers to as groups.

USABILITY
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navigate. You often have to open new windows to get to the details of an item.
6RPH RI WKH IXQFWLRQV DUHQ¶W LQWXLWLYH DQG WRRN D OLWWOH WLPH WR ¿JXUH RXW )RU
example, when adding new team members to an existing project, I got stumped
D IHZ WLPHV EHIRUH ¿JXULQJ LW RXW $QG VLPSO\ HGLWLQJ WKH QDPH RI WKH SURMHFW
WDNHV PXOWLSOH FOLFNV 7KRVH DUH VRPHZKDW PLQRU XVDELOLW\ LVVXHV EXW ¿[LQJ
them would go a long way to making ProofHub more pleasing to use.

That said, many conveniences are built in, such as the ability to reorder tasks by
dragging and dropping them and creating dependencies between tasks in a
Gantt chart by dragging a little circle that appears from one task to another.

Another area for improvement is how you move between projects. If you want
to switch projects (something project managers and team leads do all day long),
there are two ways to do it. First, you can navigate out to the Projects page,
choose the project you want, and select which tab within the project you want to
open. The other way is to use the Jump To button or keyboard command. The
button is at the top-left corner, or you can press Command+J. The current page
darkens, and an overlaid window appears where you can select a project; once
again, you have to choose a tab within it. No matter which method you use, it
still takes three steps when it could be one. We’d prefer a list of projects in that
left column—when you chose one, it would open to either a default tab or the
most recent one you were viewing.

ADDITIONAL FEATURES
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to manage a project but not so many that you’ll get lost in them. One of the most
recently added features is a table view of tasks. Here, you can choose which task
¿HOGV WR VHH VRUW E\ GL̆HUHQW ¿HOGV UHDUUDQJH WKH FROXPQV DQG H[SRUW WKH GDWD
WR D &69 ¿OH

The task-management tools are strong. You can add a In a section of
lot of detail to any task, including estimated time to the app called
complete the task, labels (similar to tags), and
documents that you upload to the task. ProofHub gives Discussions,
\RX D UDQJH RI RSWLRQV ZKHQ \RX ZDQW WR FKHFN R̆ D you and your
WDVN <RX FDQ PDUN LW ,Q 3URJUHVV ,Q $SSURYDO RU 'RQH colleagues can
keep ongoing
In a section of the app called Discussions, you and your conversations
colleagues can keep ongoing conversations about the
work. You create and organize discussions by giving about the
them a title. Discussions are associated with the whole work.
project, rather than being at the level of a task or task
list. You can, however, add comments to any task to
GLVFXVV D PRUH VSHFL¿F GHWDLO WKHUH

Beyond Discussions, ProofHub gives you a few
additional ways to communicate. An in-app chat box
lets you message another team member any time
without leaving the project-management space. The
chat box, confusingly, is found in the same chat bubble
where you can message ProofHub support. That’s not
the most intuitive place for it. While I like having a chat
app right in the interface, it’s clear that team messaging
apps, such as Slack and Microsoft Teams, may make it
irrelevant.

3URRI+XE KDQGOHV XSORDGHG ¿OHV EHWWHU WKDQ PDQ\ In ProofHub,
other project-management apps. Others make you time tracked on
GRZQORDG D ¿OH EHIRUH \RX FDQ RSHQ DQG VHH LW ,Q
3URRI+XE \RX FDQ RSHQ WKH ¿OH ULJKW LQ WKH EURZVHU tasks can
add arrows, write your comments to the side, and even automatically
DSSURYH WKH ¿OH E\ FOLFNLQJ D EXWWRQ DW WKH WRS
ProofHub could use a few more markup tools here, but feed into
WKH RQHV LW LQFOXGHV DUH VẊFLHQW timesheets for
each project or
A Tasks view puts tasks in a list. You can quickly scroll client you need
through and select any one to see more details, such as
VWDUW GDWH GXH GDWH DVVLJQHH DQG FRPPHQWV RU ¿OHV to bill.
attached to it. I would prefer, however, that when
looking at the Task view, I could change the width of the
GL̆HUHQW VHFWLRQV RI WKH SDJH 8QIRUWXQDWHO\ WKH\¶UH DOO
locked into place.

If your team uses a kanban method for organizing and
tracking work, you can view tasks in a Board View. The
Board View is a nice addition, but if your team relies
heavily on kanban boards, you might instead pick up a
specialized kanban app instead, such as Trello.

ProofHub has tools for tracking time and managing
timesheets, but it doesn’t include budgeting, invoicing,
or billing. You can get those tools by integrating your
ProofHub account to FreshBooks, however. In
ProofHub, you and your teammates can enter time on
task manually or run a timer while working. Time
tracked on tasks can automatically feed into timesheets
for each project or client you need to bill.

INTEGRATIONS AND REPORTS
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also connect your ProofHub account to Google
Calendar, Apple iCal, Box, Dropbox, Google Drive,
OneDrive, and Outlook. That’s not an especially long
list, however, and we’d like to see it grow in the future.

Reports in ProofHub are heavy on graphics, which I liked. Admins can see an
overview of all projects and the status of each one, how many projects are
overdue, how many are archived, and so forth. You also see a progress bar for
each project indicating what percent of all tasks associated with that project
have been marked done.

A lightweight resource report gives you some insight into how your people are
doing and whether they’re overtasked, but it’s not particularly rich with detail.
<RX FDQ¶W IRU H[DPSOH VHH ZKHQ VRPHRQH ZLOO EH RXW RI ṘFH RU HDVLO\ UHDVVLJQ
work from one person to another. Those types of functions are often necessary
for large teams that work on dozens or hundreds of projects at once—and it’s
the kind of thing that sets LiquidPlanner and other high-end project
management apps apart from those that are most suitable for small businesses
and small teams.

SIMPLE AND STRAIGHTFORWARD
ProofHub is a simple, straightforward, and reliable project management service
WKDW FKDUJHV D ¿[HG DQG IDLU PRQWKO\ SULFH UHJDUGOHVV RI KRZ PDQ\ XVHUV \RX
have. It’s especially compelling for small businesses. It could use minor
improvements in its interface and loading speeds, but it’s really easy to use. Its
strength is that it provides adequate tools for managing projects without
overwhelming you with features that many teams don’t need, such as
automatically adjusting deadlines of future tasks when earlier deadlines slip.

While Zoho Projects keeps its prices lower than ProofHub, and Teamwork is the
tiniest bit easier to use, ProofHub measures up to those competitors in nearly
HYHU\ RWKHU ZD\ :H HVSHFLDOO\ OLNH LWV TXLFN VHWXS SURR¿QJ WRROV DQG
announcements box. We mentioned that one of ProofHub’s strengths is
simplicity. If the projects you manage are far from simple, or your team is so
large that you need a tool designed to handle complex scheduling, then
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JILL DUFFY

PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION I SUBSCRIBE I DECEMBER 2020

REVIEWS

SOFTWARE

Assassin’s Creed Valhalla
(for PC): Another Winner

T he Assassin’s Creed series has taken us to numerous historical settings
since its 2007 debut, including Ancient Greece, Renaissance Italy, and
Revolutionary War-era America. The newest installment, Assassin’s
Creed Valhalla, details the Viking invasion of 9th Century England from the
perspective of history’s most notorious raiders. Though Valhalla doesn’t
introduce anything wholly new to the series, it’s an excellent PC game that
follows in the footsteps of its equally exceptional predecessors, Origins and
Odyssey.
TO GREENER PASTURES
In Valhalla, you play as a male or female Viking warrior named Eivor and travel
with your clan from your ancestral Norwegian home to conquer and settle
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no less perilous. Whether it’s Anglo-Saxon barbarians, trained soldiers under a
king’s command, or untamed wildlife, England has many trials to challenge
your Viking crew. To survive, Eivor and the clan must forge alliances with other
Vikings and Anglo-Saxon allies.

Establishing and growing your settlement is one of Assassin’s Creed
Valhalla’s main features. By building and expanding Valhalla
structures such as a stable, forge, granary, barracks, and
items shop, you’ll gain access to additional weapons, (for PC)
gear, warriors, horses, and other items. Unlocking and
upgrading your settlement also opens up new missions. PROS Massive
These, in turn, reward you with experience points, detailed open world
weapons, lore, and a chance to get to know your settlers that’s bursting with
better. activity. Distinct,
powerful weapons.
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upgrade buildings, but the process is as simple as focused narrative,
walking up to a structure and selecting “upgrade.”
Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood and Assassin’s Creed: CONS Struggles to
Revelations featured a similar base-building mechanic. maintain 60 frames
But those games’ settlement mechanics didn’t feel as per second in the
intimate as Valhalla’s, because you upgraded buildings open world.
from a bird’s eye view similar to real-time strategy
games. In Valhalla, you live inside your settlement and BOTTOM LINE
see it and its inhabitants mature over time. Assassin’s Creed
Valhalla continues the
BERSERKER RAGE series’ recent winning
Good old-fashioned raiding is the best method for streak. This stellar
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monastery, military fort, or enemy-controlled town expansive world,
while sailing down a river, the game prompts you to many exciting
raid them. Running into a village with a horde of missions, and a tight,
Vikings at your back makes you feel as powerful as an character-driven plot
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enemy and friendly forces clash. During the slaughter, 2020’s best games.
you can ransack churches for precious building
materials, silver, weapons, and other items. You can
attack only soldiers or warriors, which somewhat
diminishes the feeling of being a blood-thirsty Viking
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limbs and heads is a joy.

Combat doesn’t stray far from Origins or Odyssey. You attack and parry using a
variety of weapons, including axes, spears, and maces. When using one-handed
weapons, shields provide excellent protection. If you’re rocking a two-handed
weapon, such as a spear or long axe, you must dodge to avoid damage. Parrying
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opponent, leaving the foe open to follow up attacks.

When you’re able to deplete an enemy’s stun gauge (found above their health
bar), the opponent is temporarily unable to mount a defense. Though you can
mash the light and hard attack when confronting weak foes, you’ll have to
employ more strategy with targets that are as strong (or stronger) than you.
Even during a raid, you must use your wits to survive clashes. Cinematic kill
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spears through foes hundreds of times.

Stealth has always played a major role in past Assassin’s Creed games. Though
Valhalla lets you stealthily approach certain encounters, the mechanic takes a
backseat. This makes sense considering Vikings weren’t exactly known for
attacking from the shadows. Still, bushes and tall grass conceal you from enemy
eyes, as do elevated walkways or tall trees. With your assassin’s blade (a series
staple) you can kill most targets in a single strike. Only higher-level foes will
escape the bite of your blade.

Fighting, discovering new locations, and completing main Assassin’s
and side missions rewards you with experience points Creed games
that provide skill points. You’ll unlock new skills via a are known for
skill tree resembling Norse constellations. Skills let you their vibrant
strengthen your attack damage, boost your health and and detailed
stamina, and increase your stealth and ranged weapon
damage. open-world
environments.
Unlocking skills also raises your overall character level.
Eivor must meet a minimum level in order to tackle areas Valhalla is no
with tough enemies (both human and animals). If your exception.
level is at 60 and a region is at 120, you’ll need to gain
more experience and unlock skills before entering.
Fortunately, nearly everything you do in Valhalla nets you
experience/skill points, which negates excessive grinding.
So long as you complete missions and raids, you’ll be
swimming in skill points. If you aren’t happy with the
skills you’ve selected, you can change at any time.

THE NEW (OLD) WORLD
Assassin’s Creed games are known for their vibrant and
detailed open-world environments. Valhalla is no
exception. Early medieval England’s grass-covered rolling
hills, winding rivers, and settlements come to life in vivid
detail. You can almost smell the manure coming from
pigsties or feel the wind as you sail downstream. Many
environments look like recreations of The Lord of the
Rings’ Shire, which itself was inspired by old England.
You’re free to visit Norway if you fancy, checking out
snow-covered mountains and gargantuan ice lakes.
Though Norway is large, it doesn’t compare to England,
where the bulk of the game occurs. The map is massive,
but it’s not overwhelming like the one in Assassin’s Creed
Odyssey. What it trades in size, it makes up for with
density, which adds to its believability. You can tell the
development team spent many years researching the
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seen in a video game.

The maps contain numerous missions, collectibles, and The Orlog dice
activities. The Orlog dice game is a great way to make game is a great
extra money, so long as you have the patience to play
the sometimes overly long mini-game. Flyting, a way to make
rhyming game, has you trading verses with professional extra money,
and wannabe poets to see who can spit the best lyrics. so long as you

There are numerous hidden treasures in towns and out have the
in the countryside, most of which you can locate by patience to
purchasing treasure maps from your settlement’s
cartographer. You must sometimes explore caves and play the
RWKHU XQGHUJURXQG VWUXFWXUHV WR ¿QG UDUH DUPRU DQG mini-game.
weapons. These often have you completing a series of
complex platforming challenges or solving
environmental puzzles to open inaccessible areas.
Ancient Roman artifacts also litter the land, as do
challenging mini-bosses who actively hunt you. If you
need a break from the main story, there’s plenty to see
and do out in the world. Considering how lush the land
is, you’ll enjoy exploring it.

GODLY GRAPHICS
To play Assassin’s Creed Valhalla on PC, your gaming desktop or gaming laptop
needs at least a 3.2GHz Intel Core i5-4460 CPU, a Nvidia GeForce GTX 960
(4GB) GPU, 8GB of RAM, 50GB of storage space, and the Windows 10
operating system. Using my rig, a PC with an Intel Core i7-4790 CPU and a
Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 GPU, I saw frame rates dance between 45 and 60
frames per second in the open world and 60fps indoors (at 1440p resolution
with Ultra settings). Playing at 4K/Ultra settings on my LG CX OLED TV, I saw
the frame rates drop to 30fps-to-45fps range in the open world, though they hit
60fps indoors. To get the most out of Valhalla, you’ll need a near-godlike
gaming PC.

The display options include the standard PC graphical options, such as
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accessibility options let you completely calibrate your controls (gamepads,
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colorblind UI settings.

Assassin’s Creed Valhalla supports both mouse and keyboard inputs as well as
game controllers. It has achievements and cloud saves via Uplay. The game is
available for purchase from Uplay and the Epic Games Store but not Steam. It’s
also available for PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X. You can stream it on
Google Stadia and Amazon Luna.

VALHALLA AWAITS
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla is both familiar and fresh. It has the large, explorable
open world, dedication to history, and engaging narrative that are the Assassin’s
Creed hallmarks.
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relatable. And the core mechanics don’t stray far from series conventions—
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another winner in the long-running, stealth-action franchise, and one that’s an
Editors’ Choice for PC games.

TONY POLANCO

PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION I SUBSCRIBE I DECEMBER 2020



It’s been a weird year.

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5 8 43 1

2 7
6

9 Llllh

1 BEST ULTRAPORTABLE
DELL XPS 13 (9310)
STARTS AT $999; $1,649 AS TESTED EDITORS’CHOICE
The XPS 13 is the best high-end, clamshell-style ultraportable you can buy, and the clear

choice for Windows users who want to make a statement. It looks equally at home in your

living room and (eventually, once the pandemic ends) in a coffee shop or conference room.

With the latest 9310 model, equipped with Intel’s 11th Generation “Tiger Lake” processors and

Intel Iris Xe graphics, it’s as powerful as it is sleek.

2 BEST DESKTOP REPLACEMENT LAPTOP
DELL XPS 17 (9700)
STARTS AT $1,399.99; $2,939.99 AS TESTED

EDITORS’ CHOICE L l l l h
Simply put, this laptop takes the time-tested design of the beloved 13-inch XPS 13 and brings
it to a much larger screen and chassis. The result is an excellent all-around laptop with a top-
notch screen (4K option included), great audio and inputs, and a wide array of ports. It packs
a punch, too, with options for up to Intel Core i9 processors and an Nvidia RTX 2060 GPU. It’s
sleek, high-quality, and fully capable of replacing a home desktop.

3 BEST BUDGET LAPTOP
ASUS VIVOBOOK S15 (S533)
STARTS AT $699.99; $699.99 AS TESTED EDITORS’CHOICE L l l l h

The budget-laptop category includes plenty of cheap Windows machines, but a Chromebook
won out for best value this year. For a low price, the C523 delivers a sleek, partially metal
design; a large 1080p panel (it’s a 15.6-incher, unusual among the Chromebook set); and a
comfortable keyboard and touchpad. It’s not perfect, but it’s hard to argue with the cost
and feature set.

4 BEST CHROMEBOOK
ACER CHROMEBOOK SPIN 713
$629 AS TESTED EDITORS’ CHOICE L l l l h

At just $629, the Acer Chromebook Spin 713 is a bargain, but it’s no stripped-down economy
model: It’s clad in aluminum instead of plastic, with an antimicrobial Gorilla Glass screen and a
touchpad, and it has a speedy Intel Core i5 with 8GB of RAM. The 13.5-inch display has a more
square 3:2 aspect ratio rather than the familiar 16:9, giving you a taller view for text and web
scrolling.

5 BEST BUSINESS LAPTOP
LENOVO THINKPAD X1 CARBON GEN 8 (2020)
STARTS AT $1,331; $1,888 AS TESTED EDITORS’CHOICE L l l l h

The ThinkPad X1 Carbon is one of our perennial favorites, and we reviewed the 2020 edition
just in time for the holidays. This ultraportable business laptop is a dream to work on at home
or on the road; although your business travel was likely curtailed in 2020, you’ll enjoy using it
anywhere. It is super-lightweight, features one of the best keyboards and displays around, and
has all the connectivity a professional user could want.

6 BEST MOBILE WORKSTATION EDITORS’ CHOICE Llllm
DELL PRECISION 7540
STARTS AT $1,339; $5,227 AS TESTED
When it comes to 15.6-inch laptops, mobile workstations make gaming rigs look like wimps—

and the new king of the hill is Dell’s costly but colossal Precision 7540, which we tested in a

maxed-out Xeon/Quadro RTX configuration. By a narrow margin, it’s the fastest mobile

workstation we’ve tested. This stupendous performance combined with a handsome 4K

screen makes it the best mobile workstation you can buy.

7 BEST GAMING LAPTOP
ASUS ROG ZEPHYRUS G14
STARTS AT $1,049.99; $1,449.99 AS TESTED

EDITORS’ CHOICE L l l l H
The Zephyrus G14 is arguably the best value in gaming this year. Our midrange test
configuration outpaces more expensive machines thanks to its Ryzen 9 processor, and its RTX
2060 is plenty capable as a high-refresh 1080p gaming GPU. It helps that these are tied
together in a slick, super-portable chassis with long battery life and a 120Hz screen at an
unusual-for-gaming 14 inches. In a world of expensive gaming laptops, it’s an unmatched
combination of power, portability, and price.

8 BEST CONVERTIBLE 2-IN-1 LAPTOP
HP SPECTRE X360 15 (2020)
STARTS AT $1,399; $1,849 AS TESTED EDITORS’CHOICE L l l l m

HP’s oversize Spectre x360 15 has a big screen—but it’s a convertible, so you can transform it

into a tablet and use its stylus to sketch, draft, and create. The signature luxury design of the
Spectre elevates the experience, and our review model had a beautiful AMOLED 4K touch
display that artists (especially anyone sensitive to color accuracy) will go gaga over. You won’t
need to configure it much, as this is a full package that can work as a high-end mobile studio.

9 BEST APPLE LAPTOP
APPLE MACBOOK AIR
$999 EDITORS’ CHOICE L l l l h

The new MacBook Air, now based on Apple’s M1 processor, is much faster than it’s ever been.
Thanks to this home-grown chip, the ultraportable catapults into the same speed tier as the
13-inch MacBook Pro, rather than sticking to its role as the slowpoke sibling. It achieves this
feat while maintaining the super-thin fanless design, lux metal build, and insanely long battery
life, all at an attractive $999 starting price.

11
10

10BEST TABLET
APPLE iPAD AIR (2020)
$599.00 EDITORS’ CHOICE L l l l h

Apple iPads have much better creative, gaming, and productivity software options than
Android tablets, while they’re far simpler to use than Windows slates. The company’s latest
iPad Air brings you pro power at a more down-to-earth price. The tablet has a super-fast
processor, excellent cameras, and better Apple Pencil support than the previous Air and
lower-cost iPad models. For many, it’s an even better buy than the pricier iPad Pro.

11BEST EBOOK READER
ONYX BOOX NOTE AIR
$479.99 EDITORS’ CHOICE L l l l h

Our new work-from-home, school-from-home lives demand a new generation of reading

devices. The Onyx Boox Note Air runs full Android 10, so it can use any reader or document
management software. And it gives you a 10.3-inch screen, so you can comfortably read 8.5-
by-11 documents and still hold it in one hand. An included stylus lets you easily take notes or
annotate PDFs.

14 17 12

15

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1 2 BEST US CELLULAR NETWORK
VERIZON WIRELESS
For our annual Fastest Mobile Networks tests this year, we drove around 26 US

cities, testing 4G and 5G networks against each other (our first 5G test). We found that while
Verizon’s “ultra wideband” 5G network doesn’t have much coverage, it was the only 5G that
made a real, generational difference. Verizon’s small amount of UWB 5G is backed up by a
high-performing, nationwide 4G network that delivers all the speed most people need.
Though Verizon’s 5G pushed it ahead of AT&T, its 4G kept the carrier head and shoulders
above T-Mobile in our tests.

1 3BEST ANDROID PHONE
SAMSUNG GALAXY NOTE 20 ULTRA
$1299.99 L l l l m

It took Samsung a few months to recover from the misfire that was the Galaxy S20 Ultra, but
when it came back, it came back roaring. A massive powerhouse, the Samsung Galaxy Note
20 Ultra packs in more technology than any other Android device in the US this year. The
phone has a gorgeous 120Hz screen, a powerful processor, a 5x optical-zoom camera, and
excellent stylus support, and it handles every form of 5G available in the US right now. As you
can surmise from the size, battery life is excellent.

14BEST iPHONE
APPLE iPHONE 12 MINI
$699.99 EDITORS’ CHOICE L l l l h

We’ve been asking for a smaller premium iPhone for a long time. Apple finally delivered. The
iPhone 12 mini isn’t a second-class citizen in the iPhone world—it has all the speed, camera
prowess, and 5G capabilities of its bigger sibling, in a one-handed form factor, for less money.
When we start to leave our houses on a regular basis again, we’re going to want to carry bags,
hold childrens’ hands, and fit things into the annoyingly small pockets of tight pants. The
iPhone 12 mini is an affordable, powerful phone for the world we’re hoping 2021 will be.

1 5BEST BUDGET PHONE
MOTOROLA MOTO G POWER
$249.00 EDITORS’ CHOICE L l l l m

The Moto G Power hits all the basics, the way a good budget phone should. It has excellent
battery life, reliable reception and call quality, and a big screen that’s usable in sunlight.
Motorola always uses a light hand with its Android software, not loading it down with
bloatware, and it has a better track record with updates and support than many other budget
phone makers do. We’ve recommended many phones in the Moto G series, because we know
that when you get one, you don’t have to worry. The G Power continues this solid legacy.

16BEST HOTSPOT
VERIZON MIFI M2100 5G UW
$399.00 L l l h m

The first real hotspot for Verizon’s super-high-speed 5G network is the first hotspot that can
give you a taste of what 5G is supposed to be—provided you can find network coverage. The
M2100 can use Wi-Fi 6 to split Verizon’s gigabit wireless connection across up to 30 devices,
letting you quickly set up an outdoor office or workgroup. It’s held back by Verizon’s network,
which primarily works only outdoors, in relatively small parts of major cities. But at least
Verizon is showing what we can do with true wireless, high-speed access when it becomes
more widespread.

17 BEST SMARTWATCH
APPLE WATCH SERIES 6
$399.00 EDITORS’ CHOICE L l l l h

Outperforming Google Wear OS–based models and offering a much more fully realized
smartwatch experience than Fitbit’s health-centric alternatives, the Apple Watch is once
again our top pick. This year’s flagship Series 6 model offers two key features that can help
keep you safe amidst the global COVID-19 pandemic: an SpO2 sensor that lets you monitor
your blood oxygen saturation level and a countdown timer that keeps you honest when
washing your hands. The Series 6 further impresses thanks to a faster processor, a brighter
display, and an always-on altimeter, all of which help make the best smartwatch you can buy a
smarter choice than ever.

21 19

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1 8 BEST FITNESS TRACKER
FITBIT CHARGE 4
$149.95 EDITORS’ CHOICE L l l l m

Featuring a GPS to map your exercise route without a phone, Spotify controls, and Fitbit Pay,
the Charge 4 gives you the most bang for your buck of any fitness tracker. The latest addition
to the high-rated Charge line also offers a motivating new metric called Active Zone Minutes
and more robust sleep-tracking tools, which together can help encourage you to get moving
and improve your shut-eye. It also stands out thanks to its sleek, water-resistant design and
weeklong battery life.

19BEST HEART RATE MONITOR
POLAR H9
$59.95 EDITORS’ CHOICE L l l l h

For the most accurate heart rate readings, use a chest strap over a wrist-worn device. And for
the best basic chest strap, go with the Polar H9. With a comfortable and swim-safe design,
ANT+ and Bluetooth support for easy pairing with fitness equipment, an excellent companion
app that puts your metrics into context, and training programs to help improve your fitness
level, the H9 offers tremendous value at a competitive price.

20 BEST SMART HOME GYM MACHINE
PELOTON BIKE+
$2,495.00 EDITORS’ CHOICE L l l l h

With the COVID-19 pandemic still raging, there’s never been a better time to invest in a smart
home fitness device. The Peloton Bike+ is one of the best you can buy. It builds on the original
model with a new Auto Follow feature for automatic resistance adjustments, an upgraded
sound system, a rotating touch screen that allows for a better viewing angle when doing floor-
based workouts, and support for one-tap Apple Watch pairing. With these upgrades, plus a
vast and varied on-demand workout library and a regular schedule of live classes, it leaves
other indoor cycling bikes in the dust.

21BEST SMART SCALE
WYZE SCALE
$19.99 EDITORS’ CHOICE L l l l h

With its first smart scale, Wyze upholds its reputation for delivering quality products that
undercut the competition. The Wyze Scale offers unbeatable value with the ability to measure
and track 12 metrics, including your BMI, body-fat percentage, body-water percentage, heart
rate, and more—for just $20. It also offers a safe mode for pregnant women and people who
wear pacemakers, and it keeps your data private while offering auto-recognition and syncing
for eight users, addressing the main limitations of similarly priced and even some more
expensive competitors.

24 23 28

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25

22BEST SMART SPEAKER
AMAZON ECHO (4TH GENERATION)
$99 EDITORS’ CHOICE L l l l h

The newest Amazon Echo speaker is much more spherical than the cylinders of the past, and
inside, it packs some of the best hardware yet. With surprisingly strong bass for its small size
and a built-in smart home hub that supports Zigbee, BLE, and Amazon Sidewalk, this simple
orb can easily become the anchor of your smart home.

23BEST SMART DISPLAY
AMAZON ECHO SHOW 8
$129.99 EDITORS’ CHOICE L l l l h

The Amazon Echo Show 8 hits an ideal middle ground among size, power, and price. Its 8-inch
screen can show plenty of useful information, play video content from Prime Video and Hulu,
and even make video calls. The Show 8’s stereo speakers put out surprisingly strong sound.
Considering the larger Echo Show 10 is nearly twice the price, this is an excellent value for
those who want touch-screen Alexa access at home.

24BEST SECURITY SYSTEM For an
BLUE BY ADT HOME SECURITY affordable
SYSTEM $159.99 L l l l m
outdoor
Although SimpliSafe remains our top pick overall, the Blue by ADT security camera,
Home Security System is the best new system we tested in 2020.
It’s reasonably priced and versatile, so you can start small and the Wyze Cam
add components (such as door and window sensors, motion Outdoor is the
detectors, and flood sensors) as you need them, and you can opt
to monitor your home yourself via the companion app or pay $20 best sub-$50
per month for 24/7 professional monitoring. The system works model money
with lots of third-party devices, supports Alexa and Google voice
commands, and most important, performed flawlessly in testing. can buy.

25BEST SECURITY CAMERA
WYZE CAM OUTDOOR
$49.99 EDITORS’ CHOICE L l l l m

If you’re looking for an affordable outdoor security camera, the
Wyze Cam Outdoor is the best sub-$50 model money can buy.
It’s wireless, easy to install, and offers sharp 1080p video for much
less money than most of the competition—plus free cloud and
local storage. The Cam Outdoor has everything you need to
monitor activity outside your home, as well as Travel Mode, which
lets you take the camera anywhere, connect to it using your
phone, and record motion and time-lapse video without the need
for an internet connection. Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, and
IFTTT support are icing on the cake.

26BEST SMART DOOR LOCK
AUGUST WI-FI SMART LOCK
$249.99 EDITORS’ CHOICE L l l l h

With the addition of embedded Wi-Fi that lets you connect it to
your home network without a bridge, the August Wi-Fi Smart
Lock is the company’s smartest model to date. It’s also the
smallest, featuring an attractive matte-black or silver design with
a textured grip. It’s easy to install and use, and it offers plenty of
features, including integration with voice assistants, support for
Apple HomeKit and IFTTT applets, and seamless integration with
a variety of home automation and home security platforms.

27 BEST VIDEO DOORBELL
ARLO VIDEO DOORBELL
$149.99 L l l l m

Arlo’s first video doorbell is a winner, offering stunning high-res

HDR video that lets you see who’s at your door right from your Hisense proves
phone or on an Alexa-based smart display. It alerts you with a live you don’t need
video stream when the bell has been pressed or when someone
approaches, and lets you speak with whomever is out there. And to spend a lot
it’s easy to install, stylishly designed, and doesn’t require a hub. of money to

28 BEST SMART LIGHTING get a TV with
PHILIPS WIZ an excellent
$9.97 L l l l m picture and
loads of
The Philips Dimmable A19 Smart Wi-Fi Wiz Light Bulb is a far more features.
affordable option than the company’s Hue LEDs, offering ample
features for the price, including support for IFTTT integrations and
voice control via Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, and Siri
Shortcuts. Its companion app lets you create Scenes to set the
mood for different occasions with the press of a button, Rhythms
to automate lighting adjustments based on the time of day, and
Schedules to enable your preferred light mode on certain days
and times.

29BEST ROBOT VACUUM
ECOVACS DEEBOT OZMO T8 AIVI
$799.99 EDITORS’ CHOICE L l l l m

Ideal for big homes and cluttered floors, the Ecovacs Deebot Ozmo
T8 AIVI is an investment—but it can both mop and vacuum, and it
does both better than any robot we’ve tested. It stands out from
the pack thanks to integrated artificial intelligence technology that
allows it to automatically identify and avoid common obstacles
that competing products get stuck on. It also functions as a roving
indoor security camera, making it one of the most feature-rich
hybrid floor-cleaning robots on the market.

30 BEST SMART THERMOSTAT
NEST THERMOSTAT
$129.99 EDITORS’ CHOICE L l l l m

The Nest Thermostat is the company’s most affordable model to
date—and arguably the most attractive. It lets you control your
heating and cooling system by phone or voice, set temperature
schedules, and remotely monitor your energy consumption. It also
offers energy-saving features to help cut down costs on your bill,
including the ability to turn itself down when you leave home, so
you’re not heating or cooling an empty house. It’s a strong
alternative to the Nest Learning Thermostat for around half
the price.

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31BEST TV
HISENSE H9G QUANTUM SERIES
$699.99 EDITORS’ CHOICE L l l l h

Hisense proves you don’t need to spend a lot of money to get a TV with an excellent picture
and loads of features. The H9G Quantum Series offers some fantastic contrast and color for
the price. Its Quantum Dot panel represents HDR content faithfully and vibrantly, and its
Android TV interface lets you use Google Assistant just by speaking to the TV, without even
touching the remote.

32BEST MEDIA HUB
CHROMECAST WITH GOOGLE TV
$49.99 EDITORS’ CHOICE L l l l h

The newest Google Chromecast adds what’s been missing from the media-streamer line
since its launch: a remote and an on-screen interface. Instead of relying on your phone, as
older Chromecasts do, the Chromecast With Google TV offers a powerful and accessible
Google TV menu system with loads of different streaming apps and services, as well as
Google Assistant through the microphone-equipped remote. It’s a 4K streamer, too, with
support for HDR10 and Dolby Vision, so you can stream sharp, vibrant video.

33BEST SOUNDBAR
SONOS ARC
$799.00 EDITORS’ CHOICE L l l l m

If you want powerful, room-filling, one-piece home theater audio, the Sonos Arc is the
soundbar for you. The Dolby Atmos–compatible Arc offers plenty of bass and a big sound field
on its own, or you can combine it with Sonos Sub and Sonos One speakers to build it into a
true surround-sound system. It even functions as a smart speaker, with support for both
Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant voice assistants.

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34 BEST COMPUTER SPEAKERS
HARMAN KARDON SOUNDSTICKS 4
$299.95 EDITORS’ CHOICE L l l l M

Harman Kardon SoundSticks speakers are celebrating their 20th anniversary, and the newest
version is as good as the line ever was. Powerful and clean 2.1-channel audio pumps through
the iconic transparent speakers and subwoofer, and Bluetooth connectivity lets you stream
music from your phone even with the speakers connected to your PC.

35BEST TRUE WIRELESS EARPHONES
BOSE QUIETCOMFORT EARBUDS
$279.95 EDITORS’ CHOICE L l l l M

Bose continues to be the undisputed champion of noise-canceling headphones, and the
QuietComfort Earbuds are some of the most impressive we’ve tested yet. Active noise
cancellation blocks out nearly every rumble, hum, and murmur around you, while excellent
drivers provide fantastic sound with rich bass and clean high-end. They’re expensive, but
that’s the price you pay for best-in-class noise cancellation.

36BEST BUDGET EARPHONES
TRIBIT FLYBUDS 3
$35.99 EDITORS’ CHOICE L l l l M

You can get good sound from wire-free earphones without spending a lot of money, if you
know where to look. The Tribit FlyBuds 3 are inexpensive little earphones that offer plenty of
bass and incredibly long battery life (with a powerful charging case). They’re waterproof, too,
so you can safely wear them to the gym, on runs, or for a walk in the rain.

37BEST HEADPHONES
SONY WH-1000XM4
$349.99 EDITORS’ CHOICE L l l l h

Bose might be the ruler of noise cancelation, but Sony comes in at a close second while

offering even better sound quality. The WH-1000XM4 are noise-canceling, wireless over-ear
headphones that pump out audiophile-level sound quality with powerful bass and crisp highs
that don’t overshadow each other. The noise cancelation is also impressive, blocking out
nearly all outside sounds.

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38BEST COMPACT CAMERA
FUJIFILM X100V
$1,399.95 EDITORS’ CHOICE L l l l h

Photographers who are tired of schlepping around a full-frame camera but want the real
camera experience: Look no further than the Fujifilm X100V when searching for a quality
compact camera. The latest edition of this fixed-lens model has new optics, an improved
sensor, splash protection, and the optical-hybrid viewfinder that has defined the series from
day one.

39BEST BRIDGE CAMERA
PANASONIC LUMIX DC-FZ1000 II
$897.99 L l l l M

2020 was a quiet year for bridge cameras: fixed-lens models with bigger-than-pocket-friendly
confines and loads of power. The Panasonic Lumix DC-FZ1000 II becomes our winner by
default, but wouldn’t be here if we didn’t recommend it highly. It matches a 20MP 1-inch
sensor to a 25-400mm zoom lens and includes 4K video, too. It’s one of the best options for
backyard birders and hikers looking for some zoom and macro, and it can even handle some
sports photography.

40BEST FULL-FRAME CAMERA
PANASONIC LUMIX DC-S5
$1,999.99, body only EDITORS’ CHOICE L l l l h

Two years after joining Leica and Sigma in developing cameras and lenses for the L-Mount

Alliance, Panasonic delivers the best full-frame camera of the year. The Lumix DC-S5 gets it all
right, with a stabilized 24MP sensor, 10-bit video, and a front-facing touch screen. It handles
well, is protected from dust and splashes, and is backed by a growing but robust lens library.

4 1 BEST APS-C/CROP SENSOR CAMERA
FUJIFILM X-T4
$1,699.95, body only EDITORS’ CHOICE L l l l l

Our top-rated camera this year is the Fujifilm X-T4. It’s a true pro-grade, albeit not full-frame,
body, with the expected features—a stabilized image sensor, 4K video, and a rugged, all-
weather build. It tracks subjects at 15fps, offers a ton of stunning in-camera film looks, and is
backed by a large library of quality lenses. It’s the best X system camera Fujifilm has made
to date.

42BEST LENS
TAMRON 17-28MM F2.8 DI III RXD
$899.00 EDITORS’ CHOICE L l l l h

Tamron has delivered a number of quality lenses for the Sony full-frame camera system. The
17-28mm F2.8 Di III RXD is the wide-angle entry in its F2.8 zoom trio, and it’s one of our favorite
lenses for the system. It’s svelte but built for all-weather use, and it’s just as capable for
stills or video. And the price is hard to argue with—it’s less than half the cost of the Sony
16-35mm F2.8.

43BEST DRONE
DJI MAVIC AIR 2
$799.00 EDITORS’ CHOICE L l l l h

Our favorite camera drone is the DJI Mavic Air 2. It’s a small but powerful quadcopter with a
folding design for easier transport, a 48MP Quad Bayer camera, pro-grade 4K video, and loads
of automated flight features. Obstacle-detection sensors prevent collisions and enable
subject tracking, and the drone offers a number of automated cinematic shots to raise your
production values.

44BEST ACTION CAM
GOPRO HERO9 BLACK
$349.98 with GoPro subscription L l l l m

GoPro sets the gold standard for action cams: It delivers a good, tough product, year after
year. For 2020, it’s the Hero9 Black, featuring a slight increase in size versus last year’s Hero8,
in part to accommodate a full-color front screen for vloggers. It’s still a small, mountable
camera and now has a bit more battery life, 5K video, 20MP stills, and support for an add-on
lens, the Max Mod, and other accessories. Pricing is a little confusing, though—the camera is
most affordable when bundled with a GoPro subscription, and that’s an option only from
GoPro and select specialty shops.