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

Confidential computing

How can you process sensitive data without the risk of a leak? Darien Graham-Smith looks at trusted execution environments

“The only difference between the Neo and the Pro is what happens when you put your foot on the accelerator”

The MacBook Neo is far more than a cut-price laptop: it’s an important strategic move that – for now at least – none of Apple’s rivals can match

“I’m increasingly of the opinion that what needs repairing are the brains running global tech firms”

Celebrations as the EU rolls out positive changes, but it’s confusion inside Dell’s parts department. And is a famous wizard hiding inside your laptop?

“What better expert to help me with risks in relation to data given to AI than Copilot itself?”

How do you create a data protection impact assessment? Don’t turn to Copilot, Olivia finds, but do learn lessons from the Large Hadron Collider

“The threat is actually as old as the hills and twice as smelly. I’m talking, once again, of phishing”

Why Signal and Proton Mail remain my privacy go-to partnership, despite the recent misleading headlines that suggest that’s a bad idea

“Everyone looks the same during these discussions, a strange mixture of sure/not sure”

Consider this Steve’s Old Router Survival Guide, including a plea to avoid using open-source firmware to breathe new life into old kit

How I miss the moans of the old days

T wo decades ago, PC Pro ’s news

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

Star letter

Your questions answered I was just reading the

Corporate leeches shouldn’t suck our blood for profit, says Jon Honeyball

I opened the envelope. Inside sat a letter

The slow death of social media

Research shows Britons are tiring of the online abuse and the negative effects on mental health

PC sales spike is false flag

Q1 bump in sales is “not genuine demand”

Making IT admin easier

Intel’s GM for Commercial Client Segments reveals a host of new vPro features

Introducing my learned friend, Claude

As people turn to AI chatbots for health and emotional advice, it’s time to define exactly where they sit in our friendship culture

Amazon needs to read the room

Consigning old but working e-readers to landfill isn’t winning Amazon any fans, but there are things it can do to make book lovers happy

There’s no place like home

Much like moving house, switching to a new laptop is a discombobulating experience until you make everything just so

Readers’ poll

Which of the following most plagues your life when it comes to providing IT support to friends, family and the place you actually work?

BE YOUR OWN IT DEPARTMENT

WHETHER FOR A SMALL BUSINESS OR IN YOUR OWN HOME, BARRY COLLINS EXPLAINS HOW TO KEEP YOUR IT IN ORDER

Inside the INTERNET ARCHIVE

Iain Thomson tours the archive of a trillion web pages, which some copyright holders are trying to drive out of existence

RECYCLE AN OLD PC AS A HOME BACKUP HUB

The free UrBackup platform lets you run your own fully featured home backup server. Nik Rawlinson finds out how

The best way to sandbox software and it isn’t always virtualisation

Virtualisation isn’t the only way to compartmentalise software: Darien Graham-Smith explores how sandboxing and containerisation could save you a lot of memory and disk space

Asus Zenbook A16

Blistering debut for the Qualcomm Snapdragon X2 Elite range, with superb battery life and far better 3D acceleration

How we test

Laptops and PCs We run a selection of

HP EliteBoard G1a (wireless)

A brilliant piece of design that should meet the needs of most businesses – but at what price?

Intel Core Ultra 5 250K Plus, Core Ultra 7 270K Plus

Intel’s Arrow Lake Refresh delivers two bulked-up chips that are refreshingly cheap and great for creators

HP Omen Max 45L (2026)

The new Omen Max 45L extracts the most from its components with minimum noise – and a high price

Re CyberPowerPC Infinity Ultra 7 Plus

Intel’s new Core Ultra 7 270K Plus proves an excellent partner for a GeForce RTX 5070 Ti card

Acer Aspire C27-2

A lack of all-round quality means that only those on the tightest of budgets should consider this 27in all-in-one

Medion Akoya Signium 27 S1

So long as you don’t want to play games, this is a great-value all-in-one PC that chews up everyday tasks

Dell XPS 16 (2026)

Not a gaming laptop, but a superb 16in choice due to the quality of the screen, strong battery life and slim design

Nothing Phone (4a) Pro

Its striking design and useful Glyph Matrix serve as a welcome reminder that phones can still be fun

Xiaomi Poco X8 Pro Max

The long-lasting battery is the star of this affordable phone, backed up by fast charging and solid performance

Apple Studio Display XDR

Game-changing for creative professionals thanks to the 120Hz Mini-LED panel and Thunderbolt 5, but there’s a catch

HP Series 7 Pro 732xk

A 4K, 31.5in monitor that majors on style, connectivity, colour coverage and top-notch image quality

Acer ProCreator PE270XT

If you’re happy with a glossy screen, this is a superb choice for photographers, animators and designers

Huion Kamvas Pro 24 (Gen3)

The vibrant 4K display and huge 24in working area, plus excellent accessories, make for a compelling package

Jabra Evolve3 75

This ultra-premium headset justifies the steep price thanks to features that will genuinely enhance your day

Cherry Xtrfy K5 Pro TMR Compact

Exceptionally crisp action with the build quality we expect from Cherry

Epomaker HE75 Mag

Doesn’t sound the best, but fantastic value for money and it’s great to type on

Keychron V1 Ultra 8K

A triumphant update to the original V1 Ultra, and worth the hassle of importing

Lemokey P2 HE

This magnetic keyboard is ideal for gamers who love to customise

MINI PCs BIG NAMES, SMALL PRICES

Whether you’re looking for something to roll out in a business, play games on or simply a great-value system, our test of 11 contenders has something for you

Slimming down the options: finding your perfect mini PC

Mini PCs can do everything you want, so long as you choose the right one. Here’s how to make the best selection for your needs

Asus ROG GR70 MiniPC

Asus joins the gaming party with a ridiculously powerful PC that surely no-one can afford

Geekom A5 Pro

The Geekom A5 Pro may perform like the cheapest PC here, but it’s genuinely tiny – and classy too

Lenovo ThinkCentre M70q Gen6

If you’re looking for a business PC, Lenovo’s ThinkCentre M70q Gen6 might be just the thing

Minisforum X1 Lite

Not the smallest or best looking, but this compact powerhouse is superb value and performs strongly

MSI Cubi Z AI 8M

The Cubi Z AI 8M is a strong mini PC, well served for ports and upgrades, and a good choice for businesses

Wired2Fire AMD R8845 Mini PC

This latest iteration of Wired2Fire’s mini PC is still brilliant, but it can’t quite do enough to win in this company

Acer Revo RB-102

It might look like a thick carpet, but Acer’s Revo RB-102 is a competent entry-level mini PC

Lenovo ThinkCentre M75q Gen5

Expensive, under-specified and underwhelming, the ThinkCentre M75q Gen5 is probably best avoided

Minisforum M1 Plus

This mini PC is competent and fairly well specified, but it’s not the best way to spend your money

MSI Cubi NUC AI+

Despite its strong specification and Copilot+ PC status, MSI’s Cubi NUC AI+ fails to shine

PCSpecialist Azena 4L AMD

This mini PC packs a mighty Ryzen processor, but you’ll be stuck with its lacklustre graphics

RAMs for the memory?

Mini PCs aren’t immune to the shortage of RAM, and that makes pricing hard to predict

Labs Mini PCs

How we test Details of this month’s benchmarks

Best VoIP for business 2026

Three hosted VoIP services aim to dethrone our long-term A-List choice 3CX in the battle for best service – and they all have their merits, says Dave Mitchell

3CX Phone System 20 Update 8

An unbeatable range of features, flexible deployments, affordable plans and smart agentic AI services

GoTo Connect

Classy, cloud-hosted solution with an appealing set of call features and sophisticated AI-powered services

TelephoneSystems. Cloud

A great cloud-hosted VoIP choice for SMBs that’s a cinch to deploy, easy to manage and excellent value

VoIP8

This affordable and flexible cloud-hosted VoIP solution will appeal to SMBs with limited technical know-how

Ugreen NASync iDX6011 Pro

This mighty desktop NAS teams up a powerful hardware package with smart local AI features

Zyxel NWA50BE Pro

This affordable dual-band Wi-Fi 7 AP performs well and will be by your side when you make the jump to 6GHz

Atari Portfolio review

David Crookes casts judgement over Atari’s pioneering palmtop, which only costs £100 less than it did at launch

What to do about shadow AI?

Workers are embracing AI – whether their bosses know it or not. Steve Cassidy explores the threat, and the opportunities

13 ways AI could save lives

AI might improve patient outcomes and diagnose disease earlier if we apply it to healthcare in an evidence-based way, finds Nicole Kobie