I traded the best gaming monitor for something better | Digital Trends

techDecember 5, 2023 FranklinWilbur

Jacob Roach / Digital Trends

Call me insane, but I traded the best gaming monitor money can buy.

I’m talking about the Alienware 34 QD-OLED, of course, which I bought about a year ago. I’ve been in love with it ever since, immediately recognizing why it’s widely considered one of the most important gaming monitors released in the last few years. The most recent holiday barrage of deals got me, though, and I sold the monitor, which often tops lists and review charts, in exchange for something completely different.

I picked up the KTC G42P5. I understand if you don’t know who KTC is — I didn’t, either — but I rolled the dice on the display after I found an Amazon deal that was too good to pass up. I’ve had the monitor for about a week now, and I’ve already put it through its paces. And I’m floored.

Hitting the right price

Desktop background on the Alienware 34 QD-OLED. — Jacob Roach / Digital Trends

Let’s start with why I chose this particular monitor, though. It’s a 42-inch OLED display, which, yes, I recognize sounds like a massive size for a computer monitor. It is, but I’m certainly not the first one to put a 42-inch display in front of my PC. And in practice, a 42-inch 16:9 monitor is a lot closer in size to a 34-inch 21:9 monitor like the Alienware 34 QD-OLED than it sounds.

There are several reasons I wanted to switch back to 16:9. I wanted to be able to play console games on my main display without black bars, and I wanted to be able to take 4K screenshots for the performance guides I write here on Digital Trends. More than anything, though, I was just done messing around with the problems 21:9 brings.

The Alienware 34 QD-OLED is great, but I was fed up with playing Elden Ring with black bars or getting sucked out of Alan Wake 2 whenever a cutscene played. At the same time, I didn’t want to give up the perfect black levels of OLED or the massive screen real estate the Alienware 34 QD-OLED offered me. The KTC G42P5 checked all of my boxes, and at a price I could actually justify.

Cyberpunk 2077 running on the Alienware 34 QD-OLED. — Digital Trends

There are a few other options if you’re interested in this form factor. It uses an LG OLED panel, so naturally, you could pick up the 42-inch LG C3 OLED. There are a couple of problems compared to KTC, though. For starters, it’s a TV, so it lacks DisplayPort, and it’s more expensive. I spent $800 on the KTC display, while the LG TV sells for $1,000, or $900 on sale. The LG has some upsides like image processing if you’re not worried about latency, but that didn’t tip the scales for me.

The main competition is the Asus ROG Swift PG42UQ. It’s a 42-inch monitor just like the KTC, and it’s overclocked to 138Hz (also just like the KTC). It’s a near-perfect monitor, but there’s one big problem. It’s $1,400. Even during holiday sales, I’ve never seen it sell for cheaper than $1,200 — that’s a full $400 more than what I spent on the KTC for what is essentially the same display.

An OLED demo on the Asus ROG PG42UQ. — Jacob Roach / Digital Trends

Those are your only two options if you want this form factor. Older LG TVs like the C2 OLED are available, but for above $1,000, and the Gigabyte Aorus FV43U is cheaper, but it’s not OLED. I picked up the KTC G42P5 on sale for $800, but even now, it’s available for $1,000 at the time of writing. That’s still $400 cheaper than the Asus display at list price.

The natural question is, why? If this is the same panel with the same features, why is it so much cheaper than the competition? There are actually a couple of reasons.

Why is it cheaper?

Hollow Knight on the KTC G42P5. — Jacob Roach / Digital Trends

I’ll assume you’ve never heard of KTC. It’s a Chinese company that started pushing out displays in 2021, and the brand has only recently started making the rounds on Amazon. KTC as a company, though, isn’t new. KTC says it’s been around for 27 years, serving as a manufacturer of displays for companies like Samsung, ViewSonic, and LG. You probably haven’t seen a KTC-branded monitor, but there’s a decent chance you actually have seen a KTC monitor.

The idea here is that the middleman is becoming the seller with KTC, which pushes down prices a little bit. That’s not a crazy idea in the world of tech. Even AMD, Intel’s biggest competitor in the world of processors, started out as a supplier for Intel before breaking off into its own standalone brand.

There’s a practical reason for this particular monitor being cheaper than the competition as well: It doesn’t include a stand. It’s easy to forget how expensive a solid stand for a 42-inch display can be — $125, at least for KTC’s G42P5 stand — and KTC cuts that cost out.

Monitor arm for the KTC G42P5. — Jacob Roach / Digital Trends

That could be a downside depending on what you’re wanting to do with the display. For me, it was a positive. I was able to save some money because I already had a monitor arm — about $50 on Amazon — and for a display this large, there’s a good chance you’re going to mount it on your wall. There are also TV stands available for the 100 x 100 VESA mount for about $15. Regardless, there are several situations with a display this large where you might not use the included stand, and at least you have the option to skip it with the KTC G42P5.

It’s worth noting that, even with the stand, the G42P5 comes in $200 cheaper than the ROG PG42UQ, so the savings aren’t only reliant on the stand.

The monitor itself

The Digital Trends website on the KTC G42P5. — Jacob Roach / Digital Trends

Now, we need to talk about the monitor itself. The KTC G42P5 uses an LG OLED RGBW panel, which is the same panel in later versions of the LG C2. All of that is to say, it looks great. OLED offers perfect black levels for infinite contrast, while brightness, although low compared to LCD, is still enough to overcome most ambient lighting conditions.

Digging into the numbers, I measured brightness at around 400 nits for 10% of the screen in SDR, and that shot up to above 600 nits for a 3% windows in HDR. Those numbers don’t sound high, but remember that this is a 42-inch screen. You don’t want it blasting 1,000 nits at you as a computer monitor.

In practice, I have two windows directly pouring light into my office, and I’ve never struggled with brightness issues, and that’s while running the panel at 30% of its maximum. Unless you have extremely bright ambient lighting conditions, the brightness of the monitor shouldn’t be an issue.

For colors, this OLED panel offers a wide gamut. That means it exceeds 100% of the sRGB gamut, pushing into wider gamut like DCI-P3. In that color space, I measured an excellent 97%.

Color accuracy was a different matter. KTC calibrates each monitor at the factory and includes a report, but the calibration is off, specifically for the DCI-P3 and Adobe RGB color modes. I measured a color error of 6 for Adobe RGB and 4 for DCI-P3, neither of which is great. On the standard mode, the color error was over 3. Ideally, you want to see a color error of under 2.

That’s nothing a little calibration can’t fix. Using the free DisplayCal, I calibrated the monitor, and it was able to achieve a color error of 0.6, which is very good.

It’s always nice when colors are perfect out of the box, but at least you can pull the KTC back if you need great color accuracy. That doesn’t always matter in practice, though. Sure, the colors were off out of the box, but the display still looked great for games and movies before calibration.

Some downsides

OSD on the KTC G42P5. — Jacob Roach / Digital Trends

There are some downsides here. For starters, the OSD (on-screen display) isn’t great. All of the options are there, but it looks a little janky. For instance, “overclock” is “over clock” in the menu, and some settings just randomly don’t capitalize letters. None of this actually matters for the performance of the monitor, but it certainly makes it feel like you’re getting a cheaper product.

The bigger issue is the Auto-Brightness Limiter (ABL). If you’re unfamiliar, all OLED displays have an ABL that limits the brightness when you reach certain thresholds. In practice, this plays out as the monitor quickly dimming itself when you pull up something very bright like a white webpage, and it gets brighter when you pull up something darker, such as a website in dark mode.

Ideally, ABL should be invisible on a display as it was on my Alienware 34 QD-OLED, but it’s very aggressive on the G42P5. I constantly see the display light up and limit itself as I’m swapping between browser tabs. It’s particularly annoying when I pull up the Windows search bar with a website open, as the screen immediately lights up with my dark mode Windows theme.

This would normally be a deal-breaker, but there are a couple of reasons it’s not for me. First, it only applies with HDR. There aren’t issues in SDR, even if I crank the screen to its maximum brightness. ABL still kicks in, but it’s far less noticeable, and it’s fast enough that you won’t catch it most of the time.

Second, it’s never become an issue in games or movies. There are situations where ABL can kick in and become distracting in media, but it’s not common enough to become a problem. Based on my testing, it looks like ABL kicks in when about 60% of the screen is white, dimming to its lowest point when pure white reaches about 70% of the screen. It’s not enough to turn me off of the G42P5, but it’s my biggest complaint coming from the Alienware 34 QD-OLED.

The final issue is the OLED maintenance feature, but it’s more of an annoyance than a problem. It kicks in automatically, giving you a 20-second countdown before the pixel refresh starts. This has already caught me a couple of times, locking me out of using my PC for a few minutes. Thankfully, you can turn off the automatic pixel refresh if you want.

Trading the best

Lies of P on the KTC G42P5. — Jacob Roach / Digital Trends

The KTC G42P5 is a perfect answer for me. As much as I loved the Alienware 34 QD-OLED, I’ve been feeling the squeeze of 21:9 for a while, but I couldn’t justify spending $1,400 on the PG42UQ or over $1,000 on a 42-inch OLED from LG. The KTC G42P5 hit the right price with the right features, and with little in the way of sacrifices.

It’s not as seamless as the Alienware 34 QD-OLED, with disappointing color accuracy out of the box and annoying ABL in HDR. Thankfully, those issues are easy to correct, making the KTC G42P5 a suitable replacement. It nails the screen real estate and the excellent picture you get out of OLED, and it comes in at a price that puts monitors like the PG42UQ to shame.

Editors’ Recommendations

Graphics cards are selling again, and that worries me | Digital Trends

techDecember 5, 2023 FranklinWilbur

Graphics cards are selling again, and that worries me | Digital Trends

Jacob Roach / Digital Trends

GPUs are selling again. Ever since the GPU shortage, graphics cards haven’t been selling well, but a recent report from Jon Peddie Research shows that trend is changing. The report shows that GPU shipments increased by 16.8% compared to last quarter, which is a positive sign. Still, I can’t help but feel worried about what this could mean for GPU prices.

Both AMD and Nvidia came out of the pandemic highs with new ranges of graphics cards. Nvidia set the bar with pricing higher than we’ve ever seen before, and AMD quickly followed, pricing its cards just low enough to be considered a value by comparison. That’s made the price of building a new gaming PC higher than it’s ever been.

Over the past year, however, it’s been difficult for AMD and Nvidia to keep prices propped up. AMD has cut prices on its RX 7900 XTX and RX 7900 XT, and Nvidia has followed with price cuts to the RTX 4070 and RTX 4080. The only GPU that’s gone in the opposite direction is the RTX 4090, which is likely seeing a price increase due to a recent sanction the U.S. placed on China.

RX 7900 XTX slotted into a test bench. — Jacob Roach / Digital Trends

With shipments rising again, I’m worried that Nvidia and AMD will reverse course on these pricing drops. That’s problematic considering the cards we’ve seen this generation almost universally arrived overpriced based on the performance they offer.

That’s what has driven a lot of the price drops. As you can read in our RTX 4080 review, for example, it’s a great GPU if you ignore the fact that it arrived $500 more expensive than the card it was replacing ($1,200 compared to $700 for the RTX 3080). AMD’s RX 7900 XTX — the direct competition to the RTX 4080 — drove some of the price drops with drops of its own. Both are solid cards in a vacuum, but they look downright pitiful when you consider how expensive they are.

The cards still sold, but probably not at the rate Nvidia and AMD were expecting. As Jon Peddie wrote in the report: “All through the last three quarters, add-in boards sold, not at normal volumes, and albeit with complaints about prices, but sold, nonetheless.”

There’s another critical factor at play here, though, which basically guarantees that GPU prices won’t fall any further.

Nvidia has reportedly stopped production of the RTX 4070 Ti and RTX 4080 in order to make room for a rumored Super refresh that’s supposedly arriving at CES 2024 in January. If these Super cards are real, the last several months of lowered prices were likely aimed at clearing the way for them to arrive at the same list prices.

Jacob Roach / Digital Trends

It’s great that GPU shipments are improving, but it could mean that prices creep back up overall. It looks like desktop GPUs are driving this increase, too. the report shows that shipments increased overall by 16.8% compared to last quarter, but desktop graphics cards increased by 37.4% compared to last quarter. Desktop GPUs are the driving factor here.

That doesn’t mean that graphics cards will start going above list price, though. The main worry here is that the lowered prices we’ve seen over the past several months will disappear and GPUs will go back up to list price. It’s important to keep a longer historical context in mind. The report says that, although GPU shipments are up for the quarter, they’re still down 5.1% compared to the same point last year.

Peddie sees this as more of a correction, writing, “This bounce back … is being overpraised, when it largely reflects a cleaning out and straightening up of the distribution channel.” I would be remiss to omit Peddie’s warning about these reports, too: “The mistake is the constant search for sensationalism. It’s fatiguing.”

At the risk of diving into sensationalism, the biggest risk right now is that GPUs will go back up to list price, not that we’ll suddenly be in another situation of GPUs selling for two or three times what they’re worth. That’s still cause for concern when the pricing corrections we’ve seen on several GPUs are at risk of disappearing.

Editors’ Recommendations

1More’s PistonBuds Pro Q30 look like great budget buds at $50 | Digital Trends

techDecember 5, 2023 FranklinWilbur

1More’s PistonBuds Pro Q30 look like great budget buds at $50 | Digital Trends

1More

The new PistonBuds Pro Q30 from 1More boast AirPods-like looks along with active noise cancellation (ANC) and spatial audio, but it’s their rock-bottom $50 price that stands out. As part of the launch, 1More has dropped the price to $40 for a limited time, making these wireless earbuds even more attractive. The PistonBuds Pro Q30 are available in white/gold or black/gold combos.

In the past, 1More has favored a stemless design for its PistonBuds lineup, but this time the company has opted for a stem-based approach. If you’ve ever tried PistonBuds in the past and found them a poor fit, this new shape might be a better option.

Man wearing 1More PistonBuds Pro Q30. — 1More

Inside the buds are 10mm diamond-like carbon (DLC) drivers that 1More claims will deliver “powerful bass and vibrant vocals” and three microphones per side. The mics power the earbuds’ ANC modes, which include transparency, wind noise resistance mode, and an adaptive mode. With the help of an AI-enabled voice recognition algorithm, 1More promises the new PistonBuds will deliver clear calls.

Though not intended as sports wireless earbuds per se, the PistonBuds Pro Q30 have an IPX5 rating for water resistance, which will keep them very adequately protected from sweat and the occasional splash if you clean and dry them after each use.

1More PistonBuds Pro Q30 in white/gold. — 1More

Battery life is rated at 7.5 hours with ANC off, and the charging case’s supply can extend this to 30 hours. A fast-charging system can top up the earbuds with an extra two hours after just 10 minutes in the case. Unfortunately, wireless charging is one feature that didn’t make the cut at this price.

There’s an optional low-latency mode for gaming applications, and the 1More Music app can enable a spatial audio feature for “360-degree listening.” Bluetooth 5.3 is supported, along with Bluetooth Multipoint for simultaneous connections to two devices.

As soon as we get a chance to try them, we’ll let you know if they belong on our best budget wireless earbuds and headphones list.

Editors’ Recommendations

Windows 11 may replace a favorite shortcut with more AI | Digital Trends

techDecember 5, 2023 FranklinWilbur

Windows 11 may replace a favorite shortcut with more AI | Digital Trends

Microsoft is currently testing removing a popular Windows 11 feature and swapping it out for AI.

The brand recently rolled out the Windows 11 preview build for the Dev Channel. In the build, the shortcut to Copilot is a primary feature of the operating system. The shortcut will be located in the bottom-right corner of the screen and will replace the “Show desktop” button, which has been commonplace on Windows since 2009, according to Neowin.

Microsoft / Digital Trends

The Show desktop feature has been an easy shortcut to minimize all apps and allows you to return to your desktop with one click. However, Microsoft is looking to make its Copilot AI-assistant more efficient and present on the Windows desktop. Its position on the desktop will put it near the notification center and the time and date, potentially making it easier to locate and use.

The once default Show desktop feature is now turned off in the preview build update, however, it is still available in the system and can be enabled manually.

You can enable it by selecting Settings > Personalization > Taskbar > Taskbar behaviors > Select the far corner of the taskbar to show the desktop. You can then attach it where you like on your taskbar.

Though Microsoft is testing this setup, there is no guarantee it will make it to a public Windows build. The current Windows look has the Copilot icon located to the right of the search bar, which is a more centered frame of reference on a standard desktop.

Neowin noted that Microsoft developed and tested the Show desktop feature for some time before rolling it out to the public. Perhaps a final version of the Copilot icon placement will allow Show desktop to remain enabled in some form, especially considering Microsoft’s AI assistant also includes the voice activation function as an accessibility feature.

Editors’ Recommendations

Google Pixel Watch 2 just got its first proper discount | Digital Trends

techDecember 5, 2023 FranklinWilbur

Google Pixel Watch 2 just got its first proper discount | Digital Trends

Joe Maring / Digital Trends

If you’re on the hunt for smartwatch deals, here’s an offer that you should definitely consider — the Google Pixel Watch 2 for $300, down from $350 at Best Buy We think there’s a lot of shoppers who have been waiting for the wearable device’s first proper discount since its October 2023 release, so if you want to pocket the $50 in savings, you’re going to have to be quick with your purchase.

Why you should buy the Google Pixel Watch 2

The Google Pixel Watch 2, Google’s follow-up to the Google Pixel Watch, lets you access your favorite Google apps like Google Maps and Google Calendar on your wrist, on a 1.2-inch screen with a 320 pixel-per-inch density and a maximum brightness of 1,000 nits. It comes with Fitbit as its fitness platform, and emergency features such as fall detection and real-time location sharing. The Google Pixel Watch 2 just received an update to enable notifications to your Android phone when it’s fully charged, which is a sign that owners can look forward to more additions in the future.

Between the Google Pixel Watch 2 and Google Pixel Watch, we recommend going for the second generation of the smartwatch despite no visible changes between the two models. That’s because the improvements are mostly under the hood, with a processor upgrade to the Qualcomm Snapdragon W5 Gen 1 for faster performance and better battery efficiency, an entire ensemble of new and improved sensors for fitness tracking, and Google’s Wear OS 4 pre-installed.

The Google Pixel Watch is just nearly two months old, but you can already get this new piece of tech with a $50 discount from Amazon, Best Buy, or Target. It’s down to its lowest price so far of $300 from $350, but probably not for long as we expect a lot of demand for the smartwatch. There’s a chance that stocks are already running low, so if you’re already looking forward to wearing the Google Pixel Watch 2 on your wrist, there’s no time to waste — lock the price in as soon as possible.

Editors’ Recommendations

This is the best Lenovo gaming PC you can buy | Digital Trends

techDecember 5, 2023 FranklinWilbur

This is the best Lenovo gaming PC you can buy | Digital Trends

Jacob Roach / Digital Trends

Lenovo’s Legion series is known for its solid lineup of gaming notebooks, but it also includes gaming tower PCs. With an elegant design and standard-size components, the Legion Tower 7i is currently the best Lenovo gaming PC you can buy. In our testing, we concluded it delivers strong performance alongside an appealing and subtle design.

Unlike most prebuilt gaming desktops, it comes with a standard mid-tower chassis. This allows for comprehensive upgrades in the future, meaning you can easily swap out or add parts if or when required. All the parts installed inside the Tower 7i are standard, including the motherboard and power supply.

It also looks elegant with subtle curving around the edges, a sandblasted finish, and a tempered glass side panel so you can show off your internals. While our review unit didn’t include any RGB fans, the retail unit comes with a total of six RGB fans, along with RGB lighting for the Legion logo on the front and the GPU.

Lenovo Legion Tower 7i gaming PC sitting on a table. — Jacob Roach / Digital Trends

Thanks to the perforated front panel, the case gets plenty of airflow. There’s a 360mm AiO liquid cooler on the front that pulls in fresh air and keeps the CPU well under limits, while two 120mm fans are placed on top and one in the rear to exhaust hot air.

The Legion Tower 7i offers some of the best performance thanks to the top-of-the-line hardware offerings from Intel and Nvidia. Lenovo has notably bumped up the processor class to Intel’s Core i9 series, andit’s paired with an RTX 4080 graphics card. Currently, you can only configure this machine with the Intel Core i9-13900KF processor, with 32GB of DDR5-5600 memory and a 1TB NVMe SSD. Other important components include an 850-watt power supply, 2.5G Ethernet, Wi-Fi 6E, and Bluetooth 5.1 support.

Inside the Lenovo Legion Tower 7i. — Jacob Roach / Digital Trends / Digital Trends

In terms of performance, the Legion Tower 7i is exceptional. The Core i9-13900KF is one of the most powerful processors on the market today, which was evident in our benchmark testing. However, there is a concern that restricts the performance of the CPU– the out-of-the-box memory speeds. Thankfully, there’s an easy fix where all you need to do is head into the BIOS and switch to the correct frequencies.

CPU cooler on the Lenovo Legion Tower 7i. — Jacob Roach / Digital Trends / Digital Trends

On top of that, you get the full potential of Nvidia’s RTX 4080 graphics. It might not be as powerful as the 4090, but it is still a 4K capable GPU, with Cyberpunk 2077 averaging above 60 frames per second (fps) at 4K with everything maxed out. Additionally, you get all the benefits of DLSS, including the latest generation that offers impressive frame generation technologies. Essentially, you have all the power at your disposal to play almost any AAA gaming title at the highest graphics settings.

While all of this costs close to $3,200, it is important to know that a similarly configured desktop from Alienware is going to cost you at least $600 more. On the other hand, there’s the MSI Aegis RS 13, which is close to $300 cheaper, but comes with a lower-tier processor. Lenovo also offers the Legion Tower 5i, which starts at $799 and is available in various configurations, including with Intel’s 13th-gen desktop processors paired with RTX 30 and 40 series GPUs. If you prefer AMD, then there’s also the Legion Tower 5 series.

Editors’ Recommendations

I was completely wrong about the Google Pixel Watch 2 | Digital Trends

techDecember 5, 2023 FranklinWilbur

I was completely wrong about the Google Pixel Watch 2 | Digital Trends

Joe Maring / Digital Trends

As a tech reviewer, part of my job is to review/test every new gadget with as much of a fair, unbiased perspective as I can. But I have a confession to make: I really didn’t want to use the Google Pixel Watch 2 when I received my review unit.

Why? I didn’t like the first Pixel Watch at all. I hated the large bezels, the performance was bad, the battery didn’t last long enough, and it was missing critical health/fitness features. When Google announced the Pixel Watch 2, I went into the watch assuming I’d hate it just as much as the first one.

What actually happened was the polar opposite. I’ve been wearing the Pixel Watch 2 for over a month and have had a lovely time with it. It’s not at all what I expected it to be, and I’m so, so happy I was wrong about it.

The Pixel Watch design is growing on me

The Google Pixel Watch 2 resting on a stone fireplace. — Joe Maring / Digital Trends

So many things about the Pixel Watch 2 have been surprising — one of the biggest being its design. The Pixel Watch 2 looks virtually identical to its predecessor, featuring the same small case size and large display bezels. But for whatever reason, I like it a lot more this year.

Although I’d still love for Google to offer more case sizes with the Pixel Watch 3, the current 41mm body is growing on me. Going to it from the Apple Watch Ultra 2 was a shock at first, but I’ve come around to quite liking how the Pixel Watch 2 looks on my wrist. It’s sleek and subtle, and the domed glass around the screen really is gorgeous. The bezels are still annoying, yes, but they also haven’t been a deal-breaker over the past month.

A close-up view of someone wearing the Google Pixel Watch 2, showing the rotating crown. — Joe Maring / Digital Trends

And while the overall design isn’t all that different, Google did make some small (but important) hardware upgrades this year. The rotating crown, which felt cheap and stiff on the first Pixel Watch, feels much better on the Pixel Watch 2. It rotates smoothly, the haptic feedback is great, and the way menus/lists scroll when you use the crown is more natural, too. It’s still no Apple Watch Digital Crown, but it’s a massive year-over-year improvement.

There’s another change I quite like, though it’s one you can’t see. Instead of using stainless steel like it did last year, the body of the Pixel Watch 2 is made out of 100% recycled aluminum. It still has a shiny finish and looks like stainless steel at first glance, but it’s lighter than before and has been (in my opinion) slightly more comfortable to wear.

Bad battery life? What bad battery life?

The Google Pixel Watch 2's charging puck. — Andy Boxall / Digital Trends

The first Pixel Watch garnered pretty split opinions regarding its design, but there’s one thing everyone could agree on: it didn’t have particularly good battery life. Google used a processor from 2018 in last year’s Pixel Watch, and it showed. The Pixel Watch could get through a full day of use, but just barely. And if you wanted to wear it to track your sleep, you were often forced to charge it before bed. It wasn’t a good experience.

During my testing, the Google Pixel Watch 2 has been significantly better. When using the Pixel Watch 2 to track workouts and receive dozens of notifications throughout the day, I often don’t have to charge the watch until the late morning or early afternoon of my second day wearing it. And that includes having the always-on display enabled and using it for sleep tracking. It’s really quite impressive.

Someone wearing the Google Pixel Watch 2 with a yellow/green fabric band. — Joe Maring / Digital Trends

I’ve also been pleasantly happy with the new charger. Instead of a wireless charging puck like its predecessor used, the Pixel Watch 2 opts for a magnetic four-pin charging cradle. The charger itself feels a bit cheap, but it latches on to the Pixel Watch 2 securely, doesn’t make the watch too warm, and fills up the battery quickly.

Battery life was one of the main things that kept me away from the original Pixel Watch, but amazingly, Google completely resolved those complaints with the Pixel Watch 2. Bravo, Google. Bravo.

The Fitbit experience is getting there

The back of the Google Pixel Watch 2. — Joe Maring / Digital Trends

I also need to give props to how much Google has improved the Fitbit side of the Pixel Watch 2. The first Pixel Watch was fine for basic health/fitness tracking, but it also lacked a lot of really key features, with automatic workout detection being one of them.

Once again, Google addressed my complaints head-on with the Pixel Watch 2. The Pixel Watch 2 does support automatic workout tracking, and it works really well — sometimes even better than my Apple Watch. The skin temperature sensor has also been a welcome addition, as has the cEDA sensor. If I’m feeling stressed, excited, or nervous about something, the Pixel Watch 2 does a good job of detecting those changes in my body and alerting me to them. It’s not always the most helpful thing, but it’s a nice addition that I’ll miss when using other wearables.

The home page of the Fitbit app on an Android phone. — Joe Maring / Digital Trends

Similarly, I’m a big fan of the redesigned Fitbit app. It has an interface that now feels right at home with other Google apps, and while the layout/information is largely the same, it feels more organized and less daunting than it used to.

I’m still not a huge fan of how many features are locked behind Fitbit Premium, but the overall fitness package is a notable upgrade compared to last year. Google’s on the right track here, and I’m excited to see how it keeps growing in the months/years ahead.

I can’t believe how good the Pixel Watch 2 is

A person sitting down and wearing the Google Pixel Watch 2. — Joe Maring / Digital Trends

When I wore the original Google Pixel Watch, I quickly found myself counting down the days until I’d be able to take it off. I tried my best to like it and give it the benefit of the doubt, but it’s not a smartwatch I ever truly enjoyed. Meanwhile, the Pixel Watch 2 has been extremely easygoing.

I use the Pixel Watch 2 to track my sleep and workouts, keep tabs on my notifications, set timers, etc. I’m doing all of this without thinking about how bad the crown is, how terrible the battery life is, or how I’m missing fitness features that I’d really like to have. It’s a shockingly great user experience, and it’s really caught me off guard in terms of how much I’ve liked living with the smartwatch.

The Pixel Watch 2 completely changed my opinion of the Pixel Watch as a whole.

I think that’s what’s stuck out to me most about the Pixel Watch 2. I’m going through each day with it on my wrist with nary a complaint. That never happened with the Pixel Watch 1, but that’s been a recurring experience with its successor. The Google Pixel Watch 2 isn’t a game-changer in the smartwatch landscape, but it is a surprisingly excellent device.

The Pixel Watch 2 managed to completely change my opinion of the Pixel Watch as a whole, and as we head into 2024, I genuinely can’t wait to see what Google does with the next generation. I don’t often like being proven wrong, but in this case, I’m thrilled that I was.

Editors’ Recommendations

Logitech made the ultimate gaming headset, but it’s complicated | Digital Trends

techDecember 5, 2023 FranklinWilbur

Logitech made the ultimate gaming headset, but it’s complicated | Digital Trends

Logitech

Logitech has announced its latest gaming headset, the Astro A50 X. It costs a whopping $380, but for good reason: It’s a headset that’s compatible with the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X that doubles as an HDMI switcher.

The new device is an evolution of Logitech’s popular Astro A50 headset, which features a distinct base stand. The A50 X builds on that idea in a few ways. One key example is that it’s able to connect to both the PS5 and Xbox Series X. That might sound simple, but the consoles feature different connection methods that make it difficult to find a one-headset-fits-all audio solution.

The A50 X pulls that off in a very surprising manner. The wireless headset comes with a base stand that connects to each console via HDMI and USB. Both the audio and visual from each console pass through the base stand. With a press of a “Playsync” button on the side of the headset (or in a Logitech app), players can switch which console appears on the connected TV or monitor, as well as what audio feeds to the headset. It’s basically an HDMI switch inside of a headset.

The base stand of the A50 X sits on a table. — Logitech

The back of the base also includes a port to connect a PC, though that won’t pass video through. Since its Bluetooth compatible, it can also be connected to mobile devices, the Nintendo Switch, and other devices too. That means that you can hook every gaming system you own up to one headset and flip between them on the fly.

The A50 X boasts some impressive stats to justify its enormous price tag. It features Pro-G Graphene drivers and a high-resolution microphone, and has 24 hours of battery life. It features an open-back design (with no active noise canceling, by design) and allows players to mix their game and chat audio on the fly.

While its features are impressive, the headset does come with some major caveats. The headset’s Bluetooth is actually located in the headset’s base stand. That means players can’t connect the headset wirelessly unless both it and their device are in range of the stand. It’s complicated for those who already use an HDMI switch to manage their systems too, as it can only connect to three devices at once. Logitech doesn’t recommend trying to connect the base to a second HDMI switch at present. That may make the headset a bit of a niche use case.

The Logitech Astro A50 X will begin shipping on December 20 and comes in both black and white designs.

Editors’ Recommendations

The best gaming mouse for 2023 | Digital Trends

techDecember 4, 2023 FranklinWilbur

The best gaming mouse for 2023 | Digital Trends

When selecting a gaming mouse, it’s tempting to prioritize the one with the highest DPI count, but there’s much more to consider in choosing the ideal mouse. In fact, the DPI count may be one of the least relevant factors. The key lies in how the mouse feels and responds to your inputs, as well as its day-to-day practicality. Determining the best option for your needs is crucial for achieving optimal in-game performance.

Drawing from our experience in testing numerous gaming mice over the years, we’ve compiled a list of our top recommendations to guide you in the right direction.

Logitech G Pro X Superlight 2

Best mouse for FPS gaming

Pros

Lightweight and nimble
Responsive with low latency
Up to 95 hours of battery

Cons

Lacks dedicated DPI switch
Not the cheapest

Why you should buy this: It’s the best overall gaming mouse you can buy.

Who it’s for: First-person shooter (FPS) gamers looking for the best

Why we chose the Logitech G Pro X Superlight 2:

The Logitech G Pro X Superlight has long been one of the best lightweight wireless gaming mice on the market. This year, Logitech finally introduced a successor. While maintaining the overall shape and design, the newer version improves on almost every shortcoming of the original. It now comes with a USB-C port, an upgraded sensor, an increased polling rate, hybrid optical-mechanical switches, and improved battery life. It is also lighter at just 60 grams.

The new-and-improved Hero 2 sensor now brings in up to 32,000DPI (even though you are never going to game at such high settings) and a maximum speed of 500 IPS. It also supports a polling rate 2,000Hz, which is double of what you get on the original G Pro X Superlight, and the mouse also gets Logitech’s new Lightforce hybrid optical/mechanical switches. This makes it an excellent choice for FPS gamers or anyone who is looking for a premium lightweight mouse that offers excellent response.

Logitech G Pro X Superlight 2

Best mouse for FPS gaming

Razer Orochi V2

Best compact wireless gaming mouse

Pros

Dual wireless connectivity
Can be used with one AA or AAA battery
Lightweight design
Good battery life

Cons

Might be small for some people
No RGB

Why you should buy this: You need a reliable, ultralight mobile gaming mouse.

Who it’s for: Laptop gamers, or gamers who like small mice

Why we chose the Razer Orochi V2:

The Razer Orochi V2 stands out as a compact and efficient wireless gaming mouse, boasting top-tier technology and remarkable battery life in a portable design .Unlike Logitech’s MX Anywhere mouse, commonly chosen for on-the-go use, but not ideal for gaming, the Orochi V2 offers similar dimensions paired with a lighter weight, superior sensor, and 1000Hz polling for swift responses.

The Orochi V2’s emphasis on weight is notable — it weighs 74 grams with a lithium battery and drops to a mere 69 grams with a standard alkaline AAA battery, making it impressively lightweight. This weight optimization contributes to enhanced maneuverability during gaming sessions, providing users with a comfortable and responsive experience. The efficient battery usage ensures extended playtime, reducing the need for frequent recharging or battery replacements.

Compact yet powerful, the Razer Orochi V2 strikes a balance between portability and gaming performance, making it a reliable choice for users who prioritize both convenience and functionality in their gaming peripherals.

Razer Orochi V2

Best compact wireless gaming mouse

Cooler Master MM711

Best budget gaming mouse

Pros

Dirt cheap
Pleasing honeycomb pattern with RGB
Lightweight
Ambidextrous design

Cons

May not be suitable for large hands

Why you should buy this: A highly affordable, lightweight gaming mouse that is functional and looks good too.

Who it’s for: Beginners looking for a low-cost option that doesn’t compromise on design and performance.

Why we chose the Cooler Master MM711:

The Cooler Master MM711 is an affordable and proficient gaming mouse option catering to gamers seeking a flashy, lightweight, and practical device. While visually appealing with its honeycomb pattern and polytetrafluoroethylene feet, it features a simple two-button mouse appearance with essential design elements. The emphasis on comfort and customization is evident, with ambidextrous design catering to both left-handed and right-handed users, as well as various grip types.

The inclusion of Pixart’s PMW3389 sensor means that it offers excellent tracking while the 1000Hz polling rate should ensure a fast and responsive experience. Cooler Master has also incorporated Omron switches for both the left-click and right-click functions, and they are renowned for delivering a comfortable and gratifying clicking sound.

Weighing just 60 grams, the mouse boasts an Ultraweave cable and RGB lighting, offering a balance between portability and gaming performance. Despite its limited additional buttons, the MM711 excels in simplicity for MOBA or FPS gaming. The accompanying MasterPlus+ software is also quite useful as it enables customization of features, DPI adjustment, and lighting, providing a comprehensive gaming experience. While it may lack ergonomic design for larger hands, the MM711’s competitive price of $20 positions it as a reliable choice for beginners entering the PC gaming realm.

Cooler Master MM711

Best budget gaming mouse

Corsair Scimitar RGB Elite

Best MMO gaming mouse

Pros

Variety of customizable buttons
Solid constuction
Compatible with Windows and Mac
Low click latency

Cons

Slightly bulky
Suitable for right-hand users only
Has a learning curve

Why you should buy this: It’s a well-built mouse featuring an array of additional customizable buttons.

Who it’s for: MMO gamers or anyone who wants a gaming mouse with a ton of buttons.

Why we chose the Corsair Scimitar RGB Elite:

The Corsair Scimitar RGB Elite, priced at $80, stands out as the top choice for MMO gaming with its grid of 12 side buttons. The mouse boasts a sturdy construction and features a soft-touch plastic body. The right side incorporates a textured grip, providing an enhanced feel, while on the left, a 12-button side panel adds versatility, allowing you to adjust its position forward or backward according to your hand size. These buttons, featuring varying textures, are easily distinguishable in intense gaming situations.

Ideal for a claw grip, this mouse accommodates hands of any size. Additionally, it proves comfortable for a fingertip grip, except for those with extra-large hands, and for a palm grip, except for those with smaller hands.

With four distinct RGB lighting zones and companion software compatible with both Windows and macOS, this mouse offers extensive customization options. It is notably heavier than most gaming mice at over 120 grams, but that’s due to the array of additional customizable buttons. Thankfully it comes with low click latency, and a low liftoff distance. If you don’t want to deal with cables, the Scimitar RGB Elite also comes in a wireless version.

Corsair Scimitar RGB Elite

Best MMO gaming mouse

Razer Deathadder V3 Pro

Best wireless gaming mouse

Pros

Perfect for palm grip
Fantastic battery life
Lightweight for its size
PTFE feet
Slight tweaks to design look great

Why you should buy this: Carries the legacy of Razer’s premium wireless gaming mouse tech.

Who it’s for: Those who want a no-compromise high-end wireless gaming mouse.

Why we chose the Razer Deathadder V3 Pro:

The Razer DeathAdder V3 Pro, an iconic gaming mouse, has undergone significant improvements in its third generation. Weighing just 63 grams, it sheds 25 grams compared to its predecessor, offering a super-light feel without RGB lighting. The palm grip-friendly design, ergonomic shape, and white color option enhance its appeal. With a new microtexture coating on the shell, the mouse ensures a secure grip during intense gaming sessions.

With a 90-hour battery life and the inclusion of the Razer HyperPolling wireless dongle, it provides excellent wireless performance. Razer is also using its new Focus Pro 30K optical sensor for enhanced accuracy, while the third-generation Razer optical mouse switches are said to offer a rapid 0.2ms response time and a 90 million-click life span.

While tailored for esports professionals, its minimalistic button configuration should suit diverse gaming genres or work tasks. With a price tag of $150, the DeathAdder V3 Pro caters to those seeking a high-performance, no-nonsense gaming tool.

Razer Deathadder V3 Pro

Best wireless gaming mouse

Frequently Asked Questions

What is DPI and why does it matter for a gaming mouse?

DPI, or dots per inch, measures the sensitivity of a gaming mouse, determining how many pixels the cursor moves for each inch the mouse is physically moved. While often emphasized, its importance depends on personal preferences and game types.

Here’s why DPI matters for a gaming mouse:

Precision: Higher DPI offers more precise movements, which is crucial for accuracy in games like first-person shooters.
Adjustability: Adjustable DPI caters to different gaming scenarios, allowing for fine control or quick, responsive movements.
Gaming Styles: Preferences vary; some prefer low DPI for control, while others favor high DPI for agility.
Large Monitors: Higher DPI benefits those with larger monitors or higher resolutions, covering more screen with less movement.
Personal Comfort: Ultimately, DPI importance is subjective; personal comfort dictates its significance.

What DPI should I play at?

Although many gaming mice tout sensors with extremely high DPI figures, we’re telling you now: You’ll never use anything above 4,000 DPI. In fact, most pro gamers play at 400 DPI to 800 DPI, with the goal being longer swoops for the same in-game movement, allowing you to take aim with much higher accuracy. This is also why 60% and 65% keyboards are so popular among gamers: They give the player much more space for mousing around without a numpad in the way.

But don’t take that to mean you should ignore all these high-DPI mice. Rather, take the high DPI number as the maker vouching for its sensor’s performance, as high-DPI mice generally have better tracking, zero pointer acceleration, adjustable or pre-optimized liftoff distance, and most importantly, they are capable of high-speed sweeps while maintaining accurate tracking, something that’s important when playing at much lower DPI settings.

Should I buy a wired or wireless gaming mouse?

This one’s really a matter of cost, but generally, our preference goes to wireless mice. It used to be that wireless gaming mice suffered in performance compared to their tethered counterparts due to slow communications and interference, but that’s no longer the case thanks to radio developments over the last few years. Wireless mice today perform as well as, if not better than their wired counterparts due to not having to drag a cable around. The flip side is that they cost more, need to be charged (especially if they have RGB), and tend to weigh a little more, but we believe the benefits far outweigh the costs.

Do I need a ton of buttons?

If you’re an MMORPG gamer, then the answer to this is a resounding yes. But other than that, most gamers should focus on finding a mouse with a comfortable shape, excellent sensor, and light weight, as these will help better your performance more than having buttons that you don’t use. Because, remember, those buttons add complexity and weight, which will slow you down when aiming down sights.

It is also recommended that you invest in a quality mouse pad for seamless gliding. For optimal gaming performance, consider a compact keyboard with a TKL layout and a high-refresh-rate gaming monitor. To enhance your advantage in competitive games, target a powerful PC capable of achieving higher frame rates that prioritizes performance over visual aesthetics.

Editors’ Recommendations

This is the first serious AI app for writers on the Mac | Digital Trends

techDecember 4, 2023 FranklinWilbur

This is the first serious AI app for writers on the Mac | Digital Trends

Image used with permission by copyright holder

In a year where virtually every tech company in existence is talking about AI, Apple has been silent. That doesn’t mean Apple-focused developers aren’t taking matters into their own hands, though. An update to the the popular Mac writing app iA Writer just made me really excited about seeing what Apple’s eventual take on AI will be.

In the iA Writer 7 update, you’ll be able to use text generated by ChatGPT as a starting point for your own words. The idea is that you get ideas from ChatGPT, then tweak its output by adding your distinct flavor to the text, making it your own in the process. Most apps that use generative AI do so in a way that basically hands the reins over to the artificial intelligence, such as an email client that writes messages for you or a collaboration tool that summarizes your meetings.

Things are a little different with popular writing app iA Writer, though — and the result is a nuanced and ethically minded take on generative AI that feels like something Apple could end up doing itself.

“Working responsibly with AI”

So, here’s how it works. Any text pasted from ChatGPT is grayed out by iA Writer. Any text that you change or replace turns black, indicating that you have written it yourself. The developer of iA Writer says this will turn ChatGPT into a “dialogue partner” rather than a ghostwriter, where there’s a risk that “it takes over and you lose your voice.”

The app won’t automatically recognize pasted text as coming from ChatGPT, though — you have to mark it yourself by right-clicking and selecting Paste As > AI > Enable Authorship. There are also options for marking pasted text using keyboard shortcuts and menus.

If you leave the writing app and ask ChatGPT to edit a paragraph created in iA Writer, you can let the app know by right-clicking and choosing Paste Edits From > AI. And if you want to tell iA Writer that the words you are inserting were created by yourself rather than AI, you can select Paste As > Me.

The developer of iA Writer says that assigning authorship in this way is “new, useful, and prerequisite to working responsibly with AI text generation.” They continued: “We think that everyone would benefit from a future where we can see what the machine processed and what humans felt, thought, and expressed with their hearts and minds.”

All of this means that iA Writer’s update is not designed to detect AI plagiarism. Indeed, the developer says that “it’s up to you to decide how honest you want to be with yourself.” Done properly, though, it could turn ChatGPT into a handy assistant that improves your writing without drowning out your own voice.

The future of Apple AI

This update to iA Writer is starting on macOS, iPadOS, and iOS, but it will be coming to Windows and Android at some point too.

And of course, iA Writer isn’t the only third-party Mac app around, nor will it be the last. But it is a preview of the kind of thing Apple will need to address in full at some point. It has its own first-party apps that are all starting to look a bit outdated compared to its competitors. Google, Adobe, and Microsoft have all embraced generative AI wholesale, integrating it into nearly every piece of software. Windows Copilot is, of course, the supreme example. Apple’s own solution for bringing AI more fully into its products will likely look different — but surely it’ll need to do something.

We’re expecting it to be a major focus at WWDC 2024 next June, where we’ll hopefully see a broader vision of how Apple tackles AI.