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The advance of gaming technology demands much from the hardware side of comput­ing. Complex polygons, shaders and textures are the architects of a good game these days and to support this what is needed is RAW comput­ing power. Graphics card manufactures have also splurged on research and development, producing complex and powerful products in the process. While these cards are still used predominately in gaming, they are also essential for creative content producers and creative professionals. Software like Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Premier, AutoCAD and Maya work better when paired with a decent graphics card. A newfound use of the card was in BitCoin mining, which led to a surge in its demand, greatly inflating graphic card prices the world over. The graphics cards aren’t as useful in BitCoin mining these days, but they are still essential if you want to build a decent personal computer for creative use as well as for gaming.

Companies like Nvidia and AMD are locked in a heated graphics card war, with promising devices from each side; consumers only need to analyze and decide if they want to go green or red. Here we look at two of the best graphics cards that cater to two different tasks, as well as their prices.

Asus ROG Strix GTX 1070 TiAMD

Price
Rs 106,250

If you want the best of the best, look no further than the Asus ROG GTX 1070 TI. True, the 1070 TI is not the best card from Nvidia’s 10 series graphics card line, yet it is a great performer for the price. It has a massive 8GB of video memory, with 2434 CUDA Core, which come very close to the 2560 core count of the GTX 1080. A better performer than the base 1070 card from Nvidia, the card is also cheaper.

The card is cooled well with a three-fan cooling system but, at 180 Watts, is power hungry. Backing up these hardware specifications, the card also performs extremely well with games, averaging about 100 fps on games like Metro Redux, Shadow of Mordor and Tomb Raider on 1080p.

It comes with an RGB lighting system to go with its performance in games. The RGB lighting can be tweaked from inside Asus’s Aura control panel and the customization can be moved further with edits to the core-clock speed. Overclocking this card is also very simple with an easy-to-use Asus GPU Tweak II software. Overall, if you’re looking for an expensive high-end card at a decent price, I’d recommend this one.

TiAMD Radeon RX 470

Price
Rs 41,250Asus

If instead what you are looking for is something cheap that will also fulfill your gaming desires, then the AMD Radeon RX 470 is good enough. While early in the launch cycle the RX 470 had glaring power drain problems, AMD has managed to fix this and now the card draws a decent 120 watts from the power supply. It comes with 4GB of video memory and 2048 stream processor, a significant downgrade from the GTX 1070, but for the price the card per­forms wonders with games on 1080p. It pushes a respectable average of 60 fps on games like Hitman, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, and Assassin’s Creed Syn­dicate. For the price, the RX 470 is a great card for gaming and mining too.

With the miniaturization of technology, com­puter chips have been crammed into the smallest devices. From micro-SD cards to card-sized computers to nano-robotics, technology is not only developing at a rapid rate but also occupying less space. Computers took up entire rooms in the past, but today they can be found computing data as your wristwatch. Since Apple’s announcement of the Apple Watch three years ago, a new genre in technol­ogy was ushered in, the Smartwatch. But with the success of the Apple Watch came com­petitors vying for a share of the market. Today there are smartwatches from different companies such a Samsung, Motorola and even smaller companies like FitBit. A host of smartwatches now flood the market, but among the rabble, here are a few that stand out.

Apple Watch Series 3

Price
Rs 55,000

Being one of the first companies to push smartwatches to the mainstream, Apple has not slacked on its wearable line. With constant improve­ments, the Watch Series 3 improves on its predeces­sor by leaps and bounds. An overhaul to the Series 2, the Watch Series 3 adds Cellular support, which means the Watch can function independently, well, kind of. You still need a phone for it to work, but features like taking calls, notifications and music streaming can now be performed without having to access your phone.

Just call out to Siri to play a song on your 4-G con­nection and it starts playing your music via integrated support for Apple Music and Beats Radio. The watch is also water-resistant and comes with loads of fitness tracking sensors like the run-cycle tracker and a heart-beat monitor. It isn’t cheap though. At almost the cost of a flagship Android phone, the Watch Series 3 is a great device, but a hard cookie to sell.

Motorola Moto 360

Price
Rs 33,000

Without a doubt, many smartwatch savvy readers out there are questioning my reason­ing behind featuring the Moto 360 second-gen­eration up here when it was a failure at launch. The device was riddled with problems: the battery drained too quickly, performance wasn’t smooth and the watch itself was too large for many slim wrists. I admit, the Moto 360 launch didn’t go all too well, but over the years, the company has made significant changes that have helped it evolve into a great device.

The battery-life has been vastly improved, and Goo­gle’s watchOS has also undergone severe changes, making it more robust. Yes, nothing can be done about the size of the device, but it’s still a very good-looking smartphone that mimics mechanical watches in all the good ways. It is a gem to look at but you won’t get a fitness tracker here. The Moto 360 has a heartrate monitor and various movement sensors that don’t track your activity as meticulously as the Apple Watch. Irrespective of its shortcomings as a fit­ness tracker, it still serves as an excellent smartwatch, and a good-looking one at that.

We have seen massive changes in technologi­cal trends in the past five years, from bezel-less phones to razor-thin gaming laptops. Many of these would have been written off as too difficult to achieve in the past, but here we are when concepts like artificial intelli­gence, block chains and cryp­tocurrency have started taking shape. With the advancement in computing hardware, there has also been sufficient change in the way we use these hardware. But as interesting as looking back at the past may be, the future still holds undiscovered and gen­eration-defining tech. We have already seen glimpses of these technologies, but which ones would most likely make it big in the next five years? Let’s find out!

Androids: Not as in Google Android, but more in terms of robotics. There have been many conversationalists among robots in the past few years, just like Sophia who came to Nepal. We also see it miniaturized in our phones in the form of Goo­gle Assistant, Siri, Alexa, and Cortana. These AI systems have been augmented with machine learning and can now even learn from your behavior and respond accordingly. With more research and development into artificial intelligence, there is no doubt the AI will take a more humane form and human-com­puter interactions might as well change drastically. Who knows? Maybe the future holds a Saman­tha for all of us!

The Internet of Things: With artificial intelligence get­ting smarter and smarter, things will also become easier for its end users. Once a computer can logically think on its own, it’s sure to help you automate most of your daily chores. To pave the way to a more autonomous household, home assistants like Google Home and Amazon Echo already control our homes to some extent. But with almost every electronic unit now ship­ping with Wi-Fi capabilities, it won’t be long before all of your gadgets are controlled by a cen­tral control unit. This definitely make it easier for us humans, as many mundane daily tasks can be delegated to a computer but at the same time, it also increases risks of hackers basically con­trolling your house.

Virtual Reality and Aug­mented Reality: I know, every tech writer out there has touted the importance of VR and AR, but AR and VR are yet to truly take off. In fact, the interest in tech has plummeted recently, but regardless, the technology stands strong with good support from the tech community and constant advancement in the field. Even games as popular as The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim has adopted the platform. Further fueled by the massive success of Pokemon Go, there’s clear evi­dence that the technology has promise and can work wonders if implemented well.

But the platform still suffers from growing pains. Since it’s such a new platform, proper implemen­tation is a tough nut to crack but developers, gaming studios and even enthusiastic individuals are already experimenting with it.

With the amount of time we spend on You­Tube these days, the platform has become a critical tool for video makers, musicians and vloggers alike. With 300+ hours of video content uploaded on YouTube every minute, YouTube has turned into no less than a digital archive of human experience. Considering just how many people are on the site, no doubt new YouTubers are entering the fold every day. For such budding YouTubers, a simple start could be getting your gear in order. Here are a few gadgets you’ll want to bring along for a Vlogging run.

Sony A5100L

Price

Rs 63,700

The Sony A5100L is a great mirrorless camera for vlogging. While the camera is not 4K capable, it shoots very good 1080p footage at 24, 30 and 60 fps. It also comes with a 180-degree flip-able screen that’ll help you monitor your frame as you shoot it. The A5100L comes with a kit 16-50mm f/3.5-5.6 lens, which is not great when it comes to quality but is very adaptable. But as a mirrorless camera, you have plenty of lenses to choose from should you desire to invest in a better one. The camera also feels sturdy but at this price point, it is clearly made of plastic. It also does not come with any water resistance what-so-ever, so you be very careful with it around water.

The software on the camera is fantastic, however, with a simple interface designed around ease-of-use while also offering various advanced features. The camera focuses well with a few modes to choose from, but the one that stands out is the face focus mode that tracks your face as you move about the frame, a perfect setting for vlogging. The camera is great and even has a stereo mic for audio (which is pretty good if you want to stay with the on-board mic). But it does not have a mic input, which will is a major downside for videographers. This leads us to our next item.

Zoom H4 Voice Recorder

Price

Rs 23,620

I have to admit, the Zoom H4 is a pretty expensive recorder but I stand by it because I truly believe that good video needs good supporting audio. The Zoom H4 is top of the line, with features that even musi­cians and producers should admire. The recorder captures audio in high-definition 24-bit/96kHz and it has a very good stereo mic on top. The camera also has two XLR ports on the bottom that are attached to many high-quality microphones. The recorder is very capable of recording from a quality mic, which, as a videographer, you should definitely invest in.

If you’re not willing to buy the H4, there are plenty of cheaper options like the Zoom H1 that work great as well.

Sony Vegas Pro

Price

Rs 40,000 to 50,000

Once you have all the hardware, you need the software to put it all together. That’s where Sony’s video-editing software, Vegas, comes in. While there are plenty of professionals locked in the Vegas vs Premier debate, I find Vegas to be a perfect balance between professional and simple. If you’ve had any kind of video editing software before, the interface should be identical. But what sets Vegas apart is its continuous rendering feature and its excellent sup­port for the ‘XAVC S’ format that your Sony camera is going to produce.

 Windows 10 was released three years ago and the operating system has since been lauded for its stability and mature aesthetics. No doubt we’ve gotten familiar to the Windows interface and Windows 10 is now ubiquitous. But the versatility of the operating systems makes it possible for you to customize, tweak, hack and patch your system to your heart’s content. While some of these software come with their own warning and caution notes, they’re pretty safe to use if you know what you’re doing. Considering that, if you’re willing to experiment, here are a few ways to completely change the way your operating system looks.

Dock

If you want something more akin to the task management system of the Mac operating sys­tem, consider getting a dock. There are many kinds of docks out there; some of more popular ones being RocketDock, ObjectDock and XWin­dows. All of these will enable you to hide the taskbar while also acting as a complete replace­ment for it. They do this by offering pin-able applications and window management. Large flashing icons on your screen always look good, and these docks never disappoint in that regard, as they offer a plethora of animations and styles to choose from. These docks are also optimized for Windows 10 and will work wonderfully with your operating system.

Themes

Theming your Windows will completely change its look and feel. From custom frames to color themes, there are applications like WindowsBlinds and UXStyle that go above and beyond what the native Windows 10 theme engine is capable of. WindowsBlinds, while easier to use, is a paid application, and unless you’re willing to obtain the software through some dubious means, UXStyle should suffice.

UXStyle patches some very important system files and it’s usually safe, simple, and free. Tread carefully, however, and follow instructions well when installing and patching your system files. A backup is always a good idea. However, once you have installed UXStyle, you’ll find an ocean of themes for it on the internet. Constantly supported by the internet community, there are way more themes for UXStyle than for WindowsBlinds.

Icons

Changing your icons is a very subtle way of adding some flavor to your Windows experi­ence. You can either choose to change icons individually through the native icon changer option within the properties menu, or if you want something more compressive, consider applications like IconPackager.

IconPackager lets you edit icons on a more systemic level while also providing options to change icons for all kinds of files and folders that Windows won’t natively let you tweak. There are plenty of icons for IconPackager and you’re bound a find a few that appeal to your style. While IconPackager is a paid app, the Windows native icon editor is built-in. So hunt around the internet for some cool icons and get customizing.

Animations

When it comes to animations, the default Windows animations are subdued and simple. If you want more flair, applications like Win­dowFX and Nimi Visuals help you add a little more kick to Windows animations. With a host of animations for close, minimize, maximize and Windows native apps, these applications will help your computer look darn good

With the arrival of high performance computer chips, a lot of complex tasks can now be per­formed on any personal computer with ease. Computing like video-editing, 3D-rendering, digital illustration and photo manipulation can be easily done on a computer, but with recent advancements in gaming components, all this raw computing power can also fit inside the form factor of a laptop. There are more and more high-performance gaming laptops in the market. Even popular smartphone brands like Xiaomi and Huawei have started experimenting with highly efficient and powerful laptops. For the ultimate test of your new high-performance laptop, there’s nothing more satisfying than running an AAA game on Ultra settings with the frame rates to match. Today, we look at some laptops that are so powerful that they’ll breeze through any complex task thrown at them.

Acer Predator Helios 300

Price Rs 150,000

 As a performance-centric laptop, the Acer Predator Helios 300 is an excellent option. It comes with a seventh-generation i7-7700 HQ quad-core processor paired with a hefty 16 GB of RAM. The processor is also supported by a dedicated Nvidia GTX 1060 graphic card, with ample 6 GB of video memory. But the drive on the Helios 300 is a little small for a performance laptop with a 256 GB SSD with no mechanical hard drive.

On paper, the Helios 300 is a beast of a performer, with top of the line specifications that can easily run high-performance games, video-rendering, and 3D modeling tasks. The only downside is the mediocre 15.6 1080p IPS panel; the screen is a bit on the darker side with very low screen brightness. But apart from the screen, the laptop is a solid performer and with a 48whr battery; it’s bound to stay alive for longer too.

Lenovo Legion Y520

Price  Rs 114,000

 If you’re looking for a cheaper value-for-money device, look no further than the Lenovo Legion Y520. This laptop boasts specifications very similar to the Helios 300, and it even outshines the Acer laptop at a lower price-point. The Y520 comes equipped with a seventh-generation i7-7700 HQ (yes, the same as the Acer device), 16 GB of RAM, and a dedicated Nvidia GTX 1050 Ti with 4GB of Video Memory. Apart from the graphics card, the specifications are identical to the Helios 300, so why would you want to go for the more expensive device if the specifications are so similar?

Well, the GTX 1060 on the Helios is a much better graphics card than the 1050, but more expensive too. Besides that, storage on the Y520 is also good, with a decent 128 SSD for boot and a huge 1TB mechanical hard drive for everything else. But just like the Helios 300, the Y520 has a problem with its screen: it’s dull, dark, and entirely mediocre. Its touchpad is also shaped weirdly, which makes using the pad very dif­ficult and frustrating. But regardless of its flaws, the Y520 is a powerhouse when it comes to performance and with a 45whr battery powering everything, it’s a pretty good deal!

Smartphone, today, has turned to such an essential part of human life that we feel weird when separated from our tiny digital devices for too long. One of my colleagues joked the other day about how handing in your smartphone feels like severing an arm, a poignant thought that clearly defined our dependency on information and technology. Owning a smartphone has turned into more of a necessity than luxury, which is why various companies across the world have tried their hands at entering or sustaining their markets. And while the more expensive flagship phone market has and continues to be dominated by big companies like Apple, Samsung, and Google, the fight for a hold on the mid-ranged market still rages on. Companies like Vivo, Oppo and Coolpad are working in a market that competes on a price-to-performance ratio and while some companies are experimenting with more niche segments, the most interesting devices are being marketed as mid-ranged devices with a price point to match. Here are some of our picks for smartphones that cost less than Rs 30,000.

Coolpad Cool Play 6

Price
Rs 30,000

Just making it into this list, the Coolpad Cool Play 6 is a device that wins on most fronts. Its performance is stellar, it’s built well, and it has a camera that overwhelms. At this price point, you’re getting a dual lens setup for the rear camera, both with 13 MP sensors with one at a telephoto field-of-view. The camera takes good portrait shots and good low light shots thanks to its wider f/2.0 aperture, but while the camera wins on the back, it’s mediocre in front with a passable 8MP camera for selfies. The phone is also powerful with an octa-core Snapdragon 653 processor, 4GB of RAM and Full HD 5.5 inch display. The phone also comes with all the sensors you could want from a mid-ranged device such as an accelerometer, gyroscope, proximity sensor, and a compass. It also comes with a surprisingly fast fingerprint reader on the back and the phone stays awake for longer since it’s fueled with a massive 4060 mAh battery.

Oppo F5 Youth

Price
Rs 27,990

While Oppo’s F5 is a great device on its own, the younger sibling managed to turn some heads with a lighter load on the wallet. At first glance, the F5 Youth looks more premium than it really is: it comes with a near bezel-less design and is outfitted with a polycarbonate unibody design. The phone isn’t as impressive as the Cool Play 6 when it comes to specifications, but while the previous phone emphasized rear-camera photos, the F5 Youth is all about getting the perfect selfies with a massive 16MP sensor in the front—even bigger than the 13MP sensor on its back. While there are bigger and sharper selfie cameras in other smartphones, like the Vivo V7, they’re also more expensive. Powered by a MediaTek Helio P23 processor, supported by 3GB of RAM and displayed on a FullView Full HD 6-inch IPS panel, the Oppo F5 Youth is nothing to scoff at when it comes to performance but considering the current standards for smartphone technology, the F5 Youth lags behind a bit. But you’re more into taking selfies than making your phone do all kinds of complex computation, the Oppo F5 Youth is the perfect phone for you.

The ubiquity of the smartphone camera has made it possible to capture more moments than ever before. It’s handy, it’s always there, and it’s pretty good too. The cameras on our smartphones have improved vastly over the years with dual-lens camera modules to the three-lens design on the new Huawei P20 Pro. Smartphone photography has grown to such an extent that we get additional lenses for our smartphones now.

But framing the perfect shot is not where good photography ends. A little bit of saturation, con­trast and curve adjustment goes a long way in adding the extra charm to your photos. Many social media platforms like Instagram and Snapchat offer preset filters to choose an adjustment. But if you want more control on your edits, you might want to give these apps a whirl.

Lightroom CC
Price
Free

If you don’t want to dive into the settings in the beginning, there is plenty to choose from in the pre­sets menu. But if you want more precise control over your edits, Lightroom CC offers a plethora of professional adjustment tools like curve control and color adjust­ments too. The app also comes with a great selective brush tool for paid users.

Cupslice Photo Editor

Price
Free

Cuplice is a haven for those social media occasions that you want to caption in style. There are some really nice and quirky stickers on the store too if you care to look. The app is also very well designed and responsive, following a very material design. The app is perfect if you love captioning your photos on social media or for your Snapchat stories.