Hardware
Best Hardware
Of 2015: Part 2
D
earreaders,mayI be the
amongthefirsttech
journaliststo bidyoua
HAPPYNEWYEAR!I
don’t normallydocaps,butwhen
I do,I likeit to be sincere. I hope
youall hada greatChristmasand
a crackingNewYear’s Eve.
Lastweek,I kickedoff a Best
of 2015two-parter, andby Best
of 2015I meanwhatI consider
to be thebestproductsof 2015–
theonesthatloosenedthestrap
onmywallet,evenif theydidn’t
completelyreleaseit.
Lastweek,I sangthepraisesof
Intel’s Skylakeprocessorrange,as
notonlyare theprocessorsthe
mostexcitingdesktoprelease
sincetheDevil’s Canyonchips
(I’mignoringHaswell-E,because
onlythosein theknowwillbuy
it), they’re alsoa first-classexcuse
to upgradeyourmotherboard
andRAMwhileyou’re at it.
Firstupthisweek,I’msinging
thepraisesof theiPadPro
(www.apple.com/uk/ipad-pro).
It’s nota revolutionaryproduct,
andit’s longoverduein mynot-
so-humbleopinion,butit’s stilla
thingof beauty. It takestheiOS
ecosystemandplantsit in a
super-slim6.9mmthickchassis
witha 12.9"screen.Theextra
screensizemakesit evenmore
usableas a workcomputer, and
there’s evenan optionalApple-
madekeyboard availableto help
usersgetthemostoutof it. The
iPadPro isn’t cheap,though,and
youcangeta MacBookAirfor
lessthanthepriceof the128GB
version,butif youlikeiOSand
prefera tablet,thenyou’llfind
theextra£50forit somewhere.
Of course,youcouldalwaysgo
forthecheaper32GBversion.
Speakingof tablets,the
MicrosoftSurfacePro 4 (tinyurl.AndrewUnsworthhas
beenwritingabout
technologyforseveral
years,he'shandywith
aspannerandhis
handshakingskills
aresecondtononecom/jcmdshm)absolutelyneeds
specialmention.TheSurfacePro
is thetabletthatstartedthe
trendfortabletcomputerswith
optionalflappykeyboard covers
andstylii,andthePro 4 is the
bestyet.Sadly, reportsof bugs
andproblemshavesurfacedin
recentweeks,butMicrosofthas
saidit willfix them.Thebase
modelis powered by an energy-
efficientCore m3processor, and
whileits 4GBof memoryis a bit
lowfortoday’s computing,it’s
stillperfectlygoodforweb
browsing,usingMSOffice
applications,watchingmovies
andlisteningto music.More
powerfulversionswithmore
memoryare available.
If yournewcomputerbudget
doesn’t extendmuchfurther
thanthepriceof a mealforone
at oneof Britain'smanyhigh-
streetburgerbars,thenyou
shouldcheckouttheRaspberry
Pi Zero (tinyurl.com/phfs8hb).
It’s smallevenby thestandards
of theRaspberryPi, yethas
enoughpowerto help
enthusiastsof all agesand
abilitiesundertakeprojects,learn
howto programandgenerally
justhavefun.Remarkably, it
costsa meagre £4.I paymore
thanthatformySingapore
noodlesona Fridaynight.SomethingI’d alsoliketo get
myhandsonis theSamsung 950
Pro (tinyurl.com/onqgahl).It’s a
tinySSDthatslotsintoa
motherboard’s M.2slotanduses
thePCI-Ebusto provideultra-fast
datatransferspeeds.It isn’t the
firstSSDto dothis,butit is
accessibleandnotprohibitively
expensive.AnultrafastSSDthat
takesuplessroomthana regular
2.5"SSD?I’msavingmy
tuppencesalready.
I’mtechnologicallyobsessed
enoughto covetitemsbut
sensibleenoughnotto buy
thingsI don’t needonimpulse.
Somethingthathasconstantly
battered myconsciousnesswith
temptationforthelast 12
months,though,is theRoland
AIRAMX-1(tinyurl.com/
os5okma),whichis a hybrid
musicproductionandDJ mixer. It
hasa built-inmulti-channelaudio
interfaceto allowDJsand
producersto interactwithmusic
productionsoftware as wellas
hardware devices.Whoknows?
Maybe 2016 is theyearwhenI
finallysuccumbto temptation
andbuyone.
If youhaven’t already, please
let us knowwhatyouthink
representsthebestof 2015and
whatyou’re mostlooking
forward to in 2016.AndrewUnsworthrunsoutofspaceashecontinues
TheBestof2015:a RetrospectiveinTwoParts