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Bag a software bargain

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Your bonus software

We scour the globe to negotiate the best software deals for our readers, from extended licences to full programs you don’t need to pay a penny for. Here’s this month’s lineup

UPGRADE TO FIRST-CLASS WI-FI

Fast, centrally managed, campus Wi-Fi – the perfect solution for education and business environments

Let’s stop the endless moaning and start thinking positively

I t takes a lot to get me

The A-List

The best products on the market, as picked by our editors

Readers’ comments

Your views and feedback from email and the web

Readers’ poll

If PC Pro was going to give you one gift worth £3,500 this Christmas, what would you want?

PCPRO Next month

ON SALE Thursday 2 January 2026

The latest bother at the BBC is only the start of changes that need to happen, says Jon Honeyball

I t seems that our Auntie is in

Winter is coming for streaming services

Slowing growth and higher prices threaten survival of streaming firms

Three new ways to stash your data

New storage devices bring fresh ideas

Affinity reborn free

Ash Hewson, Affinity CEO

Substacked to the max

Substack is now home to some brilliant thinkers, so it’s a shame that subscribing to them all would bankrupt a small country

Social media gave us brain rot and AI is making it worse

Put down the phone, switch off ChatGPT and go and do something more interesting instead – your brain will thank you

AI agents need a web of their own

Watching AI navigate around websites designed for humans highlights the hurdles we must surmount and suggests a new web is on the way

GIFTS FOR GEEKS

Whether you’re looking for yourself, need to drop a hint to a loved one or are searching for inspiration for friends and family, this is your one-stop guide

5 RETRO GIFTS THAT GO BACK IN TIME

With a little help from Retro editor David Crookes, we pick out five gifts that will bring a smile to those who love a touch of nostalgia

THE BEST THING I BOUGHT IN 2025

Our team pick their favourite tech purchases of the past year

WHAT’S NEW IN MICROSOFT EXCEL

It’s 40 years old, but the venerable spreadsheet software just keeps getting smarter. Nik Rawlinson explores all the latest features

BIOMETRICS FACE THE FACTS

Today’s devices can log you in instantly with a fingerprint or a smile. But how do biometric technologies work, and can they really be relied upon? Darien Graham-Smith finds out

Samsung Galaxy XR

Not available in the UK at the moment, but that should give Samsung time to smooth out the early bugs

Apple Vision Pro M5

It’s faster and comfier than the original, with longer battery life too, yet that still doesn’t feel like enough

Apple MacBook Pro M5 (14in)

No big changes, but a superb display, chart-topping speed and long battery life are hard to argue with

Acer Predator Triton 14 AI

A top-quality creative laptop with superb styling, plenty of GPU acceleration and a clever touchpad

Framework Laptop 16 (2025)

The most repairable and upgradable gaming laptop gets RTX 5070 power, albeit for a chunky price

Asus ProArt P16 H7606WX

This supercharged version of the already brilliant ProArt P16 delivers for speed, less so for value

Dell Pro Max 14 Premium

The mobile workstation previously known as Precision benefits from superb build quality, solid performance and Thunderbolt 5

Asus ROG NUC (2025)

Smaller than a PS5, yet delivers some of the best gaming performance you’ll find from any pre-built PC

Dell Tower Plus Desktop (2025)

Great customisability, quiet running and a discreetly designed case make this a jack of all trades

Medion Erazer Recon E40

A modest system in terms of price, spec and expansion options, so only buy it if it’s exactly what you want

Cherry Xtrfy K33

High-quality “mem-chanical” keyboard that feels like it should cost twice the price

Lofree DOT 1970s

Surely the prettiest mechanical keyboard, and it’s beautiful to type on too

Amazon Echo Show 8 (4th Gen)

Sets a new standard for Amazon’s smart displays with a striking redesign, smaller bezels and vastly improved audio quality

Amazon Echo Studio (2025)

With booming bass, spatial audio and Alexa+, this is the best smart speaker for an Amazon-centric home

Amazon Echo Dot Max

Better audio than the Echo Dot, and ideal if you want to beef up your Amazon-powered smart home

OnePlus 15

Brilliant battery life, stellar performance and top-notch cameras, in an understated yet durable design

BEST PRO & CREATIVE TABLETS

While the iPad Pro remains the king of the tablet castle, if you can’t pay the enormous price that Apple demands then one of its dozen rivals here may well tempt you

Six steps to selecting the best tablet

When looking to find your ideal device, it helps to first prioritise what matters to you most – whether you’re choosing from this month’s selection or not

Apple iPad (A16) 11in (M5)

With improved performance and excellent software, this is still the best mainstream device you can buy

Apple iPad Air 13in

High speeds and a great display make this a formidable option for business and creative use

Apple iPad Pro

Ludicrously powerful and close to perfect, though you may baulk at the whopping price

Lenovo Idea Tab Pro

Performance is only adequate, but value is off the scale thanks to a simply superb 12.7in screen

Lenovo Yoga Tab 11.1

The best of the small-screen Android tablets when it comes to performance and price

OnePlus Pad Lite

Quite simply the best tablet for under £200, even if compromises mean it misses out on an award

Samsung Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra

King of the big-screen Android tablets, with a stunning 14.6in panel, albeit at a king’s ransom price

Apple iPad Mini (A17 Pro)

Lightweight and compact, it’s the ideal iPad for gaming, reading and media on the move, and it’s speedy too

Honor Pad X7

This tiny budget tablet almost punches above its weight, but performance is too weak

Huawei MatePad 12x

The hardware is fantastic, but getting the software you need might not be easy due to Huawei’s own OS

Lenovo Idea Tab Plus

A decent tablet for work or study, but the Idea Tab Plus is too slow to make its mark in this competitive Labs

Samsung Galaxy Tab S11

A great, lightweight and beautifully constructed tablet, but the competition leaves it looking overpriced

TCL NXTPaper 11 Plus

Chef’s kiss for the screen, sad face for the lack of speed – what a missed opportunity

AI in tablets: the state of play

How does AI in iPads compare to that in Samsung’s tablets and other Android devices? Here’s what you need to know

How we test

W e run each tablet through a fearsome

View from the Labs

Are tablets becoming too big for their own good?

Video conferencing meeting room solutions

Practical buying and strategic advice for IT managers and decision makers

Biamp Parlé VBC 2500a

This big meeting room solution offers great video quality, outstanding audio output and slick setup

Insta360 Connect

Dual cameras deliver superb video quality, fast speaker tracking and a smart integrated whiteboard mode

Logitech Rally Bar and Sight

The Rally Bar and Sight work seamlessly together to bring new viewing dimensions to meetings

Owl Labs Meeting Owl 4+

The clever Owl 4+ makes meetings a hoot with its 4K camera, smooth tracking and all-round sound and vision

Firewalla Access Point 7 Desktop

The perfect Wi-Fi 7 partner for Firewalla’s appliances with great security and wireless performance

Ubiquiti U7 Pro Wall

A superbly built Wi-Fi 7 AP with good performance and the best remote management features in town

EVERY BUSINESS NEEDS CRM

It’s not just for sales teams: Nik Rawlinson explores how CRM can be a powerful tool for any organisation, of any size

“I’m getting tired of receiving emails telling me about price changes to services at almost no notice”

Trust in vendors is important, but perhaps it’s most important of all when it comes to storage – an idea reinforced by the recent AWS outage

“Using basic PCB sets, I spent a couple of hours taking a stream of beginners through the basics”

As penance for waving a soldering iron at complete strangers, Lee is forced to tackle the Gordian knot of Lenovo’s warranty service

“Fear is a business model. It captures your attention and opens your wallet”

Killer robots make great headlines – and for great fundraising – but we can’t let fear, uncertainty and doubt distract us from the real causes of harm

“The question of how bad passwords are is more nuanced than it might appear at first”

Passwords are incontrovertibly awful, but – with the help of a huge US security agency – Davey offers some advice on making them less so

“From where I’m sitting, Windows 11 has a worse in-use track record than Windows 10”

When it comes to Windows 10 security updates, Microsoft giveth with one hand and taketh away with the other, but there’s no need to rush to Win11

Ctrl-Alt-Del

The story of the three-finger salute

Who’s winning the smartglasses race?

And does anyone care?