Author: Danielle

Over the years, the 15-inch gaming laptop has become the sweet spot for gamers, and the Alienware 15 has been a top choice for its design and powerful specs. The 15-inch size is big enough to enjoy games on a built-in display while not being too cumbersome to carry around. 

With the latest third-generation model, the Alienware 15 R3 offers incremental bumps in specs with relatively unchanged design. New for this year’s model are Intel’s latest Kaby Lake processors and Nvidia’s new graphics chips that are as powerful as their desktop counterparts. 

But today, the Alienware 15 R3 is up against stiff competition from the likes of Origin with its compact EVO15-S and the even slimmer Razer Blade (2016). While the Alienware 15 R3 can’t match the size and weight of its competitors, it can more than keep pace in terms of pure performance.

Price and availability

The Alienware 15 R3 is available now with a starting price of $1,100 (£1,349) but can be configured up to a whopping $2,050 (£1,849), with options for more storage and RAM that will further bump up the price. In fact, configured with triple storage drives (including two 1TB SSDs and a 1TB HDD) and 32GB of memory, the Alienware 15 R3 came out to a ridiculous $3,500 (about £2,737).

The Alienware 15 R3 is by no means a cheap laptop but its configurability lets you choose the options that you value the most. However, the processor choices are limited to the latest Intel Kaby Lake Core i5-7300HQ or Core i7-7700HQ. For graphics, you can choose between the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050, 1060 or 1070. 

Design

The Alienware 15 R3 is a striking laptop, thanks to its imposing size and RGB LEDs that are just about everywhere on the laptop. Seriously though, just about everything on this laptop lights up from the Alienware text, logo and even the trackpad. 

While the Alienware 15 R3 is unabashedly a gaming laptop it doesn’t beat you over the head with superfluous fins, red accents or overly aggressive design. We found the laptop handsome with its metal, plastic and rubber construction. 

Although the Alienware 15 R3 sports a 15.6-inch screen, its size is more fit for a 17-inch with beefy bezels around the display. The bottom display bezel is particularly large and houses the light-up Alienware logo. Compared to the Origin EVO15-S, which also has a 15.6-inch screen, the Alienware looks like a laptop from the early aughts in terms of size and weight. 

Speaking of weight, you’ll want to hit the gym if you plan on taking the Alienware 15 R3 anywhere. The laptop weighs in at a whopping 7.69 lbs (3.49kg) and its massive power brick adds a couple of more pounds in your backpack. 

The pay off for that big size and weight is great thermal performance and a spacious, 10-keyless keyboard. While some may miss having a numberpad, the spacious keyboard makes typing a pleasure, and there are macro keys for gaming which can be configured in software.

You can configure the laptop’s slew of RGB LEDs via the AlienFX software. There are presets that look great but you can customize every LED to your liking to match your peripherals or even team colors.

Looking at the top of the display, you’ll notice the dual cameras for Windows Hello support and Tobii eye tracking. Windows Hello works great for quickly unlocking the laptop without ever having to type a password. Tobii eye tracking works fine as well, which we’ll get into more in the performance section.

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The thing about most drones which take photos and videos worth having is that they’re too big. Just as most people choose to leave their bulky DSLR at home and use their phone most of the time, drones such as the Phantom 4 are only taken out on special occasions.

But the Spark changes all that. It may not fold up like the Mavic Pro, but DJI’s latest drone is even smaller and lighter.  

We’ve spent some time flying the Spark and trying out its new gesture control mode and automatic video modes. So consider this a preview that we’ll update to a full review once we’ve had a chance to fully test out all the features.

For more details such as where to pre-order and buy the Spark, colours and accessories see our DJI Spark news roundup.

Who is the DJI Spark aimed at?

DJI is keen to point out this is not a ‘selfie drone’. It does take pretty great selfies, though.

Really, the Spark is like a mini Mavic Pro: it has all the same intelligent flying modes and similar obstacle avoidance tech. So it’s aimed at enthusiasts, not those that simply want an aerial selfie.

If anything, that makes it seem cheap, rather than insanely expensive – the Mavic Pro costs £1099 and the Spark £519.

That’s the ‘from’ price, though. And for that all you get is the drone and a polystyrene box. It’s a nice box, but all the other accessories will cost you.

Despite being positioned as a drone for the family, prop guards aren’t included. And since you can land the Spark on your palm, this seems a bit strange. If you’re worried about spinning propellers causing harm, then a set of guards is £25.

The battery lasts around 15 minutes and takes 45 to recharge so you’ll want a couple of spares. They’re £55 each. You can control the Spark via a phone or tablet, but if you want more than a 100m range, the optional controller is £159.

This is why the Fly More Combo pack makes sense for most people. At £699, it saves you quite a bit over buying all those items separately. It also includes a charging hub that will charge three batteries at once.

A nice feature is that you can charge your Spark via microUSB (and a power bank) on the go – the port is hidden under a flap along with the microSD slot.

DJI Spark: What can it do?

Impressively, you can pop the Spark out of its box and have it flying in about 15 seconds. This is because you can use gestures so you only need to turn it on and double-press the battery button to enable this mode.

When the camera recognises your face, it will spin up the propellers and take off from your hand.

You then show it your palm to put it in PalmControl mode. In whichever direction you move your palm, the Spark flies that way.

Hide your palm then slowly do a big wave and it will back off around 3m and fly up a bit. This is the selfie mode, in which you can mimic a picture frame with your fingers and it will flash its lights to give you time to strike a pose before taking a snap.

Hold your hands outstretched to form a ‘Y’ and the Spark will fly back to you, at which point you can hold out a flat palm for it to land on. It’s a bit unnerving the first time, but it really works.

You can’t shoot any video with gestures, but DJI says it’s working on trying to make that possible. And hopefully it will improve the wave gesture recognition as this was very hit and miss compared to the almost perfect reliability when using PalmControl.

Phone control

If you connect to the Spark’s Wi-Fi (the SSID and password are on a sticker in the battery compartment) then you can use all of the features in the DJI GO app.

Wi-Fi works to around 100m, which may be enough for you, and the app offers on-screen virtual sticks so you can fly it manually. That’s tricky because there’s nothing to feel, so it takes bit of practice.

But importantly, the app includes the new QuickShot modes, Dronie, Helix, Circle and Rocket.

To use them you tap the one you want, draw a rectangle around you or the subject on which you want the camera to focus and then – when it’s locked on – tap GO. The Spark will automatically execute the manoeuver and record video at the same time so you don’t forget.

It even stops the recording and returns to you afterwards. If it looks like it might hit an unseen obstacle, you can tap the’ X’ to stop it.

The two that you’ll use most are Dronie (a reveal shot, flying away and up from you) and Helix, which is a kind of corkscrew motion up and away from you – very cinematic and almost impossible to do manually while keeping the camera focused on you.

Of course, there’s all the other modes you’d expect, including ActiveTrack and TapFly. The latter gives you two options: direction and co-ordinate.

The first simply causes the Spark to fly in the direction you’ve tapped on screen. Co-oridinate is more interesting as it makes it very easy to fly to an object you can see in the live video preview.

In all these modes obstacles will be detected and, if possible, avoided. This works only forwards and downwards, so it won’t stop the Spark crashing as it does a Dronie or Helix as there are no rear or side sensors.

Similarly, when returning to the home point it will detect and try to avoid obstacles. If you walk slowly towards it in gesture mode, the Spark will move backwards as it ‘avoids’ you.

Both cameras and infrared sensors are used on the front and underneath – the camera you can see below works like the Mavic’s and takes a short video when it takes off, then compares the scene it sees with this recording when it lands to try and get the exact spot.

There are a couple of new photo modes: Pano and ShallowFocus. These are self-explanatory, but it’s great to see the former as it takes all the hard work out of shooting and stitching panoramas together. (They can be vertical as well as horizontal, too). Unfortunately, although we tried both modes, we didn’t get a close look at the end results.

One final nice feature in the app is that you can make the gimbal point up or down by tilting your phone or tablet. You can even adjust the sensitivity so you can make nice smooth, slow movements as you fly.

Despite the Wi-Fi connection, the video preview is smooth and the Spark is very responsive to the controls.

Remote controller

Flying the Spark using the controller is the best way to do it, if you want manual control. It’s very similar to the Mavic Pro’s remote, and has fold-out arms which grip a phone so you can see the video preview (and a map).

It lacks the LCD screen of the Mavic’s controller, which is a shame, but it’s comfortable to hold and use.

Plus it adds two feature you can’t get  without it: a 1.2-mile range and Sport mode. Sometimes it’s fun to fly a drone fast, and in this mode the Spark will fly at up to 31mph (50kph). It’s exceptionally responsive, too.

DJI Spark: Video and photos

We’ve yet to examine the full-quality 12Mp photos, since those we took strangely ended up at a resolution of 1440×1080, such as this one:

However, we did manage to record video at the Spark’s highest 1080p30 setting. Despite the two-axis gimbal, footage is pretty much as stable as the Mavic Pro’s.

The third axis (yaw – turning left and right) is stabilised by what DJI calls SmoothVision. This means the image is corrected by software, and it does a pretty ok job. However, whereas on three-axis gimbals yaw movements are damped, they’re much more noticeable in the Spark’s videos.

But as long as this doesn’t bother you, you’ll be pleased with the footage.

The 12Mp camera is fixed focus so you don’t have to worry about remembering to tap the screen to focus before taking any photos or videos as you do with the Mavic.

We’re told it has the same dynamic range as the Mavic’s cameras.

Of course, being limited to 1080p at 30fps rather than 4K means footage is less detailed than the Mavic Pro’s and you can shoot any slo-mo.

Again, as long as this isn’t a priority, you’ll be happy with the quality from the Spark.

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The TP-Link AV2000 2-Port Gigabit PassThrough Powerline Starter Kit (TL-PA9020P KIT and TL-PA9020 KIT) is one of the fastest set of Powerline adapters we’ve tested. See our Best Powerline Adapters round up.

At £99 (see the bottom of this review for the latest online prices) we think it represents excellent value. There are cheaper Powerline adapters out there but none of these match the AV2000 for speed and features.

Powerline is a simple plug-and-play technology that will transform your home network so that you can near-replicate Internet router speeds in more than one room of your house. For more details see What is Powerline?

You simply plug one adapter into a wall power socket near your Internet router, and connect adapter and router via the supplied Ethernet cable.

Then in the second room where you require fast, wired Internet access – say for your smart TV, Sky+ and Virgin Tivo set-top box PVRs or Apple TV, PC or laptops, games consoles and even smart thermostats – you plug the second Powerline adapter into a wall socket, and then connect the devices via more Ethernet cable. (Most starter kits come with two Ethernet cables.) Se also: Best TV Media Streamers.

It’s that simple. No software downloads or scratching your head at obscure instruction manuals.

In essence Powerline is a method for carrying data – including audio and video – over standard electrical cables in the home, rather than stringing ugly Ethernet cables all over your house.

Powerline speed myths

Let’s get this out of the way at the beginning. While Powerline adapters come in a speed range of between 200Mbps and 1,200Mbps you will not actually achieve such speeds in real life. These are the theoretical maximum speeds promised by the processors, and there are way too many environmental factors that slow this by an order of magnitude.

All Powerline manufacturers (TP-Link, Devolo, D-Link, Solwise, Netgear, and TrendNet included) stick to the theoretical max speeds but none can actually meet the promises.

That doesn’t mean Powerlines are useless, just that you shouldn’t expect the stated speeds. In general the 500Mbps Powerlines are faster than the 200Mbps, and the 1,200Mbps adapters are faster than the 500Mbps – so use the speeds as a gauge of speed between models.

TP-Link AV2000 Powerline review: Speed

We thought Powerline speeds had reached a plateau for a while with the release of 1,200Mbps adapters but now TP-Link is claiming a 2,000Mbps maximum. TP-Link still offers its AV1200 Powerline adapters, starting at £55. On top of the speed boost the AV2000 boasts more ports and a passthrough compared to the entry-level AV1200 model.

It uses the same 2×2 MIMO with beamforming technology as the 1,200Mbps Powerlines so the faster speed must be due to the wider data bandwidth (86MHz) it enjoys over the 1,200Mbps adapter’ 67MHz.

AV2 MIMO utilizes all three wires in an electrical cable, transmitting data on any two pairs. It improves speed and longer distances between adapters.

At PC Advisor we use real-world tests to determine Powerline speeds. Much is dependent on the building it is tested in, and we suspect our house slightly plays down possible speeds, but having one test environment means we can compare different makes and models of Powerline adapter.

So how does the TP-Link AV2000 perform?

In our first Room Test we check speeds when both adapters are in the same room – which is not how you use Powerline! We use this to test its top speed and The AV2000 did very well, scoring 432Mbps by transferring a 1GB file in 19 seconds.

When we positioned the second adapter in a room two floors down and about 30 metres apart speeds naturally dropped. This time the AV2000 scored 117Mbps ­ way below the 2,000Mbps on the box but still the fastest we’ve seen from a Powerline.

Remember that you might see faster (or slower) speeds in your home, but the AV2000 stands as the fastest we’ve tested so far.

TP-Link AV2000 Powerline review: Features

The TL-PA9020P KIT version of the TP-Link AV2000 features a pass-through socket on each adapter, which is great for not taking up your valuable wall power sockets in both rooms. There is also a TL-PA9020 KIT version that doesn’t have the pass-through sockets. At £89.99 it’s £10 cheaper than the TL-PA9020P KIT (the last P stands for pass-through) but we’d pay the extra tenner for the saved power socket. (Also, at the time of writing you could buy the pass-through version for £5 cheaper than the supposedly less expensive model (click these links for the most up-to-date Amazon prices, or check at the top and bottom of this review).

Each adapter boasts two Gigabit Ethernet ports – older 500Mbps Powerlines used slower-grade 10/100 Ethernet ports that limited any transfer speed to 100Mbps.

Having two ports is great if you have more than one smart device that requires a wired connection for top speed. Many of us have three or more such gadgets, and there are Powerline adapters that include up to three ports. Alternatively you can buy an Ethernet Switch that will include five or more ports that you can attach to the Powerline adapter.

Some Powerlines can also create an extra Wi-Fi hotspot in the second room – handy if the Wi-Fi in your house is particularly weak. The AV2000 doesn’t have this wireless booster function. Check out our Best Powerline round up for alternatives that do.

The AV2000 seats its ports at the top, which is useful if your power sockets are close to the floor, as it gives the cables more space.

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