Antivirus is an absolutely crucial piece of software that needs to be running on your laptop, phone and any other vulnerable device you might have.
Modern security apps, as you probably already know, provide a barrier against viruses and all sorts of other threats to your data, including ransomware. The last thing you need is for all your documents to be encrypted and not be able to open them.
Cybercriminals have moved on, though, and know that you – the person – is the easier target. You’re much more likely to fall for a fake website and give them your login details when you log in without realising it’s not the genuine article.
Worse, you might hand over your payment details. It’s easily done with the convincing emails and text messages that are becoming ever more common.
But the good news is that the best antivirus protects you from this stuff too: it’ll warn you of dangerous links in text messages and emails, or suspicious results in web searches.
Lastly, the best packages come with extras such as a password manager, a VPN and might also alert you if your personal information is ever leaked online so you can change passwords and other security info.
You might be thinking about getting free antivirus, and that’s certainly an option. Just bear in mind that it tends to be more basic and probably won’t offer all the protections mentioned above.
For example, you won’t find free antivirus with a usable VPN service attached, and free apps tend to nag you into upgrading to get all the features. However, their malware protection is just as good.
Below we’ve rounded up what we consider to be the best antivirus choices for students, but you can also read our reviews of antivirus software if you want more detail on a particular product.
With an easy-to-use interface, the fact it’s available for Android, iPhone, Windows and macOS and that it includes a generous number of features, Avast One Essential is the top choice for any student.
Obviously there’s antivirus, but you also get 5GB per week to use the VPN service, protection from email scams, and a scanner for any compromised passwords so you can change them.
AVG’s free antivirus is it’s most basic offering and – naturally – just like with others here, you can get better protection if you upgrade to the paid-for Premium version.
But the free tier includes phishing protection (in a web browser) as well as from ransomware and viruses.
You can install it on Windows, macOS, Android and iPhones and iPads.
McAfee’s current deals allow you to get a discounted subscription for either one or two years, and for five or 10 devices.
You can pick which deal you want on the website, but we’ve listed the price for the two-year, five-device deal. You can use the software on laptops, phones, Macs and any other supported device. It you were to go for the 10-device deal and use all the licenses, you’ll be paying just £3.99 / $3.99 per device for each year of this two-year deal.
Usually, only the first year is discounted and there’s no option to get that price for two years.
Norton is one of our top antivirus picks, so it’s good news that you can get the first 12 months for only £29.99/$49.99 which saves you £55 / $55.
Do note that the renewal price is £84.99/$104.99 per year after that.
Alternatively, you could take out a two-year subscription (you’ll find this option on the same page) and get two years for £89.99/$89.99 (£44.99/$44.99 a year) which sounds like a worse deal, but don’t forget you’re getting a discount on both years, not just the first, so it is cheaper overall.
With Avira’s free suite you’re getting antivirus, a basic VPN service with a 500MB per month limit.
It also has a few extras such as strong password generator and a battery saver and speed-up tools for Windows. But it’s also available for Macs, iPhones and Android.
There’s quite a lot of nagging to upgrade, but it won’t cost you a penny.
Everything about Nvidia’s new GeForce RTX 40-series graphics cards are big: the size, the performance gains, and especially the price. With some versions of the GeForce RTX 4090 retailing for almost $2,000, gamers were anxious for a more reasonably priced modern Nvidia GPU, but is the $800 GeForce RTX 4070 Ti the solution?
In the PCWorld review, we called it “painfully overpriced” without enough power for 4K gaming, and other reviews agree. And yet, the 4070 Ti is perfect for people like me who refuse to give up on 1440p gaming. In that niche, there’s really no better choice.
The price is right(ish)
Video card prices have finally, mercifully fallen after years of scarcity thanks to the crypto boom and pandemic supply chain difficulties. But they haven’t come down to Earth yet. It is absolutely true that the $800 GeForce RTX 4070 Ti is “overpriced,” especially when many vendors are selling their customized versions for even more. But it’s also true that all current-gen video cards are too expensive.
Part of the blame rests with Nvidia and AMD, which probably got comfortable with obscenely high GPU prices over the past several years. On the other hand, we’re letting them get away with it. We consumers also became so accustomed to seeing top-of-the-line video cards selling for thousands of dollars that, perhaps, the $1,600 starting price for the RTX 4090 didn’t set off the alarm bells it should have—people still lined up to buy them.
All the latest GPUs could stand to be a few hundred dollars cheaper. While Nvidia’s new Ada Lovelace-based RTX 40-series GPUs offer a substantial performance uplift over older cards, the prices of the GeForce RTX 4080 and 4090 are bonkers when you can get a 4K-capable PS5 or Xbox Series X for a third of the price.
Sure, when you compare the RTX 4070 Ti to previous GeForce XX70 cards, the price looks ridiculous—but it’s still a blazing-fast GPU. The 4070 Ti is faster than the fastest RTX 30-series cards, some of which came with MSRPs well over $1,500. By that measure, the RTX 4070 Ti isn’t terribly overpriced, and it’s just right for 1440p gamers.
An imperfect champion
Before the much-maligned RTX 4070 Ti, Nvidia released the GeForce RTX 4090 and the RTX 4080, both of which are monstrously powerful GPUs. The card we now know as the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti was initially intended to be a 12GB variant of the 4080, but Nvidia un-launched that card to rebrand it. That makes sense, given its narrower memory bandwidth and a big drop in CUDA cores compared to the 4080.
Even with those limitations, it’s faster than last-gen $2,000 RTX 3090 Ti in many games. And if you’ve committed to 1440p gaming, the 4070 Ti will run almost anything you can throw at it with maximum settings. It’s always best to play games at your monitor’s native resolution, and going 4K is a major commitment. You always need to be on the bleeding edge of graphical technology to keep up with the latest games. If you can’t justify the expense of constant GPU upgrades, then you’re not getting the most from your fancy ultra-high-resolution display.
For my money, 1440p just makes more sense. It looks much sharper than Full HD, and you don’t need to double the cost of your build to render games at native resolution. When I was looking at GPUs for my new workstation/gaming rig, the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti was the clear winner, and I’m not alone—this card is reportedly topping sales charts. At 1440p, the it’ss fast enough to run games with the bells and whistles and higher frame rates, which is more important to my gaming experience than 4K. I can’t imagine spending 50 percent more to get a 4080 when I’d experience almost no benefit.
But where is AMD in all of this? The new Radeon RX 7900 cards are certainly no slouches, putting up numbers at least in the same ballpark as Nvidia for a little less cash. However, AMD is running at least a full generation behind on ray tracing performance, and I don’t see the point in buying a high-end GPU with sub-standard ray tracing in 2023. I’ll admit, I was a ray tracing skeptic at first, but game developers have been doing some amazing things. It’s worth prioritizing, and for me, it sealed the deal for the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti.
Amazon Web Services (AWS) has announced a new partnership with AI experts Hugging Face to help create the ultimate development environment.
The non-exclusive partnership is designed to make it easier to carry out AI workloads using AWS, the biggest cloud computing and cloud hosting provider.
Unlike Google, Microsoft, and OpenAI, which are all focusing their attention on public-facing chatbots, AWS is hoping to work behind the scenes to provide the fundamental tools required to create this sort of technology.
AWS, Hugging Face, and AI
Hugging Face CEO Clem Delangue told Reuters that the next generation of the open-source AI model Bloom will be run on Trainium, an AWS-created AI chip.
Chips like Trainium are designed to be more efficient as they are geared toward AI workloads, which should help save developers time and money. In turn, AWS hopes to be able to open up AI workload to even more developers.
“Building, training, and deploying large language and vision models is an expensive and time-consuming process that requires deep expertise in machine learning (ML),” an AWS statement said. “Since the models are very complex and can contain hundreds of billions of parameters, generative AI is largely out of reach for many developers.”
Beyond this, AWS has an extensive history of artificial intelligence, largely centered around its Alexa voice assistant, but also including the large AI model that has been designed to make Amazon search more effective. The company hopes to bring this experience to the table in its new partnership.
Whether other companies like Google and Microsoft should be concerned about this partnership is yet to be seen, however it’s clear that Big Tech is gearing up for an AI-centric year ahead.
Windows 11 has got a new preview build that brings in a whole lot of fresh bits and pieces, including a major change and some further minor tweaks for the taskbar, and improvements on the accessibility front.
Microsoft just pushed out build 22621.1343 to the Release Preview Channel, and it reintroduces a search box to the taskbar.
As Windows 11 users are doubtless aware, the operating system changed the traditional search box as seen on Windows 10, morphing it into a button that you had to click, before typing your query in a box at the top of the search panel.
With this new preview, though, we have the traditional box sat back in the taskbar, into which you can directly type your query.
Further minor changes to the taskbar include an adjustment for the system tray, where the icons now have a rounded focus (when moused over). And for tablets (2-in-1s), there’s a touch-optimized taskbar that’s easier to use with your fingers (and it gets fully out of your way when collapsed, to maximize screen real-estate on a smaller display).
As well as a fair bit of work to the taskbar, there’s also a raft of additions in terms of accessibility.
We’re talking about bolstered support for braille devices, and extra voice access functions (with the ‘click’ command in particular, that lets you verbally instruct the cursor to click on various elements on the screen), plus better scrolling using voice controls.
Alongside the new features, there are the expected bug fixes and tinkering. Microsoft also notes: “We improved the reliability of Windows after you installed an update,” which sounds like a useful change to us. It’s a pretty broad-reaching statement, of course, but more post-update stability has got to be a good thing.
For the full list of feature introductions and fixes – it’s a long one in this case – check out Microsoft’s blog post.
Analysis: Smoothing out search and advancing with accessibility
Microsoft has done some good work here, for sure, with a focus on the taskbar and accessibility as noted, and a tasty bone thrown in for 2-in-1 laptop users.
We’re pleased to see the change to the rather clunky search button, or at least that’s how we found it. Not that we often search that much in Windows, mind, but having the box right there is a definite boon – we always saw the button as a step backwards that added some unnecessary faffing about.
That said, not everyone wants a sizeable box on the taskbar, but the good news for those folks is that there are Taskbar settings for how you want to have the search function – you can turn it back into a button if you wish.
The new voice features, and there are plenty of them, are commendable additions, too. Granted, voice clicking (and now scrolling) can be a rather slow way of getting about the desktop, but it’s clearly going to be an invaluable option for some folks.
As these changes are in Release Preview, the last tier of testing before features come to the full version of Windows 11, we can be hopeful that we might see some of this functionality sooner rather than later. Perhaps even in the next big update known as Moment 3? Watch this space…
When it comes to web hosting and website management, there is no shortage of options. The vast majority of companies out there offer affordable services that are good enough to get the job done.
Kinsta is a cloud-based hosting solution specifically designed for websites powered by WordPress. It provides you with access to high-performance servers and effective tools such as staging environments, automatic backups, unlimited visitors and bandwidth, and more.
Kinsta also includes quality security features such as DDoS protection, SSL certificate, and malware scanning.
From the main website, you can access Kinsta’s official blog. It’s easy on the eye and filled with a myriad of articles, most of which are related to WordPress. Among these, you can find a number of easy-to-follow guides written in a meticulous manner. In addition to this, Kinsta offers a fresh and video-packed YouTube channel and relatively active presence on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.
(Image credit: Kinsta)
Kinsta features
Kinsta offers high-end CPUs, as well as global availability thanks to Google’s C2 machines on its premium tier network. By using these top-of-the-line CPUs, you are guaranteed that your website will be up and running faster than ever before.
To further improve the speed of your website, Kinsta also offers a global content delivery network with over 275 locations around the world. This allows Kinsta to deliver fast pages and serve cached assets from your visitors’ closest location.
Kinsta also comes with built-in application performance monitoring (APM), which is its custom-designed performance monitoring tool specifically for WordPress sites. We used this feature to identify any potential issues or bottlenecks slowing down our site during our test of the hosting service.
Kinsta’s DevKinsata feature provides a comprehensive development environment that makes it easy to develop applications locally on your computer. DevKinsata includes many helpful features such as version control which allows developers to roll back to previous versions of their code if needed, easy debugging capabilities with Xdebug integration, and deployments to production servers with just one click.
With the new Kinsta Cloudflare integration, we took advantage of a wildcard SSL certificate which let us secure our subdomains with just one certificate. A wildcard SSL is an SSL certificate that secures both a root domain and its individual subdomains. This is in contrast to other types of certificates that require you to list each individual subdomain on the certificate.
As part of its Cloudflare integration, Kinsta offers customers a unique benefit – reserved IP addresses. Reserved IPs are unique IP addresses assigned to each Kinsta customer site. These IP addresses are reserved exclusively for use by that specific customer and ensure that the DNS A-record IP address will not be shared by other sites on Cloudflare’s network. In some cases, this can cause problems if a service blocks a spam site that happens to share the same Cloudflare IP address as your site.
We were also impressed with the Kinsta Brotli Compression Tool (a lossless compression format that is supported by all major browsers and achieves better compression ratios than gzip).
Brotli compression works by compressing web content with a very large built-in static dictionary that contains various strings in multiple languages. By taking advantage of this feature, the Kinsta Brotli compression tool helped us optimize our page speed by reducing our website’s page size by up to 45%.
Kinsta also released a tool called Edge Caching. This is an incredibly powerful tool for websites running WordPress that can significantly reduce the amount of time it takes to serve cached HTML to site visitors. Edge Caching is included free with all Kinsta plans, and no additional plugins are required.
Kinsta’s Edge Caching tool works by saving your website/page cache to Cloudflare’s global network of over 275 data centers. When site visitors load your website, cached responses will be delivered from the location closest to them, helping to reduce latency and ensure faster loading times.
For web hosting services in Australia, Kinsta CDN is in six Australian cities, including Adelaide, Brisbane, Canberra, Melbourne, Perth, and Sydney.
(Image credit: Kinsta)
Is Kinsta easy to use?
We find Kinsta easy to use – from signing up to navigating through the dashboard. The web host provides you with an intuitive dashboard that makes hosting your website easy. The dashboard let us quickly access all the features and settings in one place, which makes it simple to manage our website’s performance and security.
With Kinsta, you can also set up and manage multiple websites from one account, meaning you don’t have to switch between different accounts every time you want to make changes or update your site.
Kinsta also has a number of helpful features that make managing your website easier. All these features are designed so that even those who aren’t tech-savvy can easily manage their website without too much hassle.
As a fully managed WordPress hosting provider, Kinsta’s prices are higher than other web hosts (Image credit: Kinsta)
Kinsta plans and pricing
Kinsta offers different plans, ranging from $35/month to $1700/month. All plans include free SSL, CDN, staging, and migrations. But what do you get when you purchase one of these plans? The Starter plan starts at $35/month and allows you to install 1 WordPress, 10 GB, and 25,000 visits per month. Moving up to the Pro plan ($70/month), you get 2 WordPress installs with 50,000 visits per month and 50 GB of storage. The Business 1 plan ($115/month) comes with fice WordPress installs, 30 GB of space, and 100,000 visits per month. The Business 2 plan ($225/month) includes ten WordPress installs with 250,000 visits per month and 50 GB of space.
Kinsta also offers the Business 3 plan which costs $340/month and includes 20 WordPress installs, 60 GB of space, and 400,000 visits. The Business 4 plan costs $450/month and includes 40 WordPress installs, 100 GB of space, and 600,000 visits.
Kinsta also offers the Enterprise Plans. For the Enterprise 1 plan, pricing starts at $675/month and includes 60 WordPress installs, 150 GB of space and one million visits. The Enterprise 2 plan is $1000/month and has 80 WordPress installs, 1.5 million visits, and 150 GB disk.
The Enterprise 3 plan is $1350/month and includes 120 WordPress installs, 2 million visits per month, and 200 GB disk space. Finally, the Enterprise 4 plan is $1700/month with 160 WordPress installs and three million visits per month along with 250 GB. All the above plans comes with a 30-day money back guarantee so you if are not satisfied with the service, you can request for a refund.
We used GTmetrix to measure the uptime and response time of our Kinsta site (Image credit: GTmetrix)
Kinsta speed and experience
Kinsta argues that it is almost a certainty that users will see “faster page load times, along with back-end (WordPress dashboard) speed” when hosting with them. Faster than what, we asked ourselves. Faster than the average speed, faster than lightning or faster than Superman?
In any case, GTmetrix (a tool we used to test the speed performance of Kinsta’s main website) appears to agree with them given that it rated the performance of their website with an A (91%), which is not a result we often see. All major core metrics related to the speed were above the average, which looks pretty promising.
When it comes to uptime, Kinsta’s technical team monitors all of its users’ websites at all times, which means that they will be notified if any downtime occurs and lasts longer than five minutes, and, thus, prompt them to rush to resolve the issue. After monitoring Kinsta’s main website for a month using UptimeRobot, we couldn’t find a single trace of downtime, which does inspire confidence.
Kinsta security
Kinsta is one such provider that offers quality security measures (in our opinion) including SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) certificates. An SSL certificate is a type of digital certificate that provides encryption and authentication for data sent over the internet. It helps protect user information, like credit card numbers and passwords, from being accessed by malicious third parties.
An SSL certificate also helps verify the identity of a website so that users know they are connecting to the correct server and not a malicious one.
Kinsta uses “Let’s Encrypt”, an open-source Certificate Authority (CA), to provide its clients with 128-bit or higher encryption as well as 2048-bit RSA keys. Kinsta says its servers are also constantly monitored 24/7 for any signs of suspicious activity or hacking, which is good to know.
You’ll find plenty of how-to guides in Kinsta’s knowledgebase (Image credit: Kinsta)
Customer support
Kinsta offers knowledgeable sales representatives who can help you find the hosting plan that best fits your website or project.
If you want a deeper dive into all of Kinsta’s features, consider scheduling a personalized demo with one of its experts. This is an excellent way to get familiar with Kinsta’s powerful dashboard and hosting features, as well as ask any questions that come up during the process.
We had a few questions about our website and contacted Kinsta through its question form on the website. They got back to us the next day with answers tailored specifically to our hosting dilemma.
Kinsta’s support team is available 24/7 via live chat in the MyKinsta dashboard so that you can quickly receive help. You can also open up tickets here if there are ever any issues with your site.
Kinsta also offers free webinars to its customers (Image credit: Kinsta)
There are more than a few self-help option including rather regular knowledgebase, “Learn WordPress” (series of written how-to guides), free e-books, free webinars, a newsletter and a blog we mentioned before, and everything is dedicated to bringing knowledge about WordPress to its users. In addition to this, Kinsta’s YouTube channel is filled with step-by-step guides and the new ones are coming out on a week-to-week basis at the very least.
As an alternative, you can reach Kinsta’s “timely and knowledgeable” support via telephone and chat, and if you are not in too much of a hurry, you can contact them via email as well.
Kinsta alternatives
Much like Kinsta, Flywheel is a fellow US-based host specialized in “top-of-the-line” managed WordPress hosting solutions. Both of them strive to be beginner-friendly, offer well-rounded, feature-packed packages and are on the high-priced side of the spectrum. However, Kinsta’s least expensive solution starts at a whopping $30, half as much as what is offered by Flywheel. Therefore, if the price is the key criterion (since both hosts are competent) for you, you could save some bucks by going with Flywheel.
Bluehost is one of the most popular hosting options on the market today, even when it comes to managed WordPress hosting. In comparison with Kinsta, Bluehost has a myriad of hosting types and options besides WordPress and its WordPress plans are well-structured and suitable for newcomers. If you are, however, looking for premium managed WordPress options, you might find yourself at home with Kinsta.
DreamHost is a US-based provider supplying WordPress-optimized hosting solutions and related services, including a domain registration, which is something you won’t get with Kinsta. Another thing they don’t provide is a website builder and you’ll have that as an option with DreamHost. What is more, in addition to offering more hosting options, DreamHost has more pocket-friendly plans, so you’ll save some money as well.
Although HostGator does not specialize in WordPress hosting, it has a few rather attractive solutions on the offer. Nonetheless, if you are looking for a premium fully managed WordPress hosting (and you are ready to shell out the money) Kinsta might be a better pick. If you would rather have something simpler and more on the affordable side, HostGator is an excellent choice.
WP Engine is also a great alternative as it offers a wide range of services, from shared hosting to managed WordPress hosting and dedicated servers. WP Engine is known for its fast speeds and reliable uptime, as well as its excellent customer service and support team.
SiteGround is another great option if you’re looking for an alternative to Kinsta. This provider offers a variety of hosting plans that range from shared hosting to VPS and cloud solutions. SiteGround also has excellent customer service and support, which makes it a great choice if you need help getting started or have questions about how to use their services.
Is Kinsta right for you?
Kinsta offers a range of features to help businesses get up and running quickly and easily, including automatic scaling, managed updates, automated daily backups, and 24/7 support.
Kinsta also offers comprehensive security features such as malware scanning, DDoS protection, IP whitelisting, SSL encryption, and more. These features allow you to protect your website from malicious attacks while ensuring customer data is kept safe and secure.
Kinsta also prides itself on its performance and reliability – It’s caching technology ensures websites load faster than ever before; this helps keep visitors on your site longer which can lead to increased conversions.
Kinsta FAQs
Is Kinsta only for WordPress?
No! While Kinsta is an excellent choice for WordPress websites, that’s not all it can do. It also supports static sites, application hosting, and database hosting.
Do I need a security plugin with Kinsta?
No – and that’s one of the many advantages of using Kinsta hosting. The security at Kinsta is built into the platform itself; all accounts are automatically scanned daily for malicious code and activity and protected with regular backups as well as enterprise-grade DDOS protection.
Plus, every account includes free SSL/TLS encryption to protect your data in transit.
Back in 2016, Sony announced its arrival in the world of virtual reality with the launch of the original PlayStation VR. It was the first headset built for use with a games console, and no alternatives have emerged since.
While the original PS VR is compatible with the PS5 (provided you request the separate adapter), there’s always been an expectation we’d a successor that’s specifically designed for the new console.
That became a reality in November, when the PlayStation VR 2 was officially announced. It’s a significant refresh, with key upgrades including a new OLED screen, wider 110-degree field of view and support for 120Hz and 4K HDR.
After more than three months of pre-orders, the headset is on sale now. If you’re based in the US or UK, here’s everything you need to know about buying one.
Where to buy the PlayStation VR2 in the US
Pre-orders were limited to the PlayStation Direct store in many countries, and that’s yet to change in the US:
Where to buy the PlayStation VR2 in the UK
In the UK, you also have to go direct for now:
Sony
In both countries, you’ll need to confirm you’re over 18 to buy one. If prompted to sign in, use the same account as you do for PlayStation Network.
Best PlayStation VR2 prices right now
For the very latest pricing information, see our comparison widget below:
Retailer
Price
Sony
£529.99
Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide
When was the PlayStation VR2 released?
The PlayStation VR2 is on sale now, having been released on 22 February 2023.
How much does the PlayStation VR2 cost?
In short, a lot. Not only is the PS VR2 a lot more expensive than its predecessor ($349/£349), it actually costs more than the PS5 itself ($499/£479).
Sony’s recommended retail price is $549.99/£529.99, which is how much you’ll pay a the time of writing. That includes the headset itself, plus two Sense controllers and stereo headphones.
If you want a bundle with includes Horizon Call of the Mountain, one of the launch titles, it’ll set you back $599/£569. A dock to charge the controllers costs an additional $49/£39.
If reducing damage is a priority in your hair care routine, then it’s worth considering the Nicky Clarke Infrared Pro hair straightener – plus, it will leave your hair sleek, smooth and glossy.
Price When Reviewed
£129.99
Best Prices Today: Nicky Clarke Infrared Pro hair straightener
Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide
Nicky Clarke’s Infrared Pro line is a series of hair styling tools designed to do less damage to your locks than regular heated products.
The straighteners in the range use infrared plates, which heat the hair from the inside out. Nicky Clarke claims that these plates lock in moisture, giving your locks a glossy finish.
But are these infrared straighteners all that they’re cracked up to be? I’ve spent some time styling my hair with these tools – both straightening and curling. Here is what I’ve found out.
Design & appearance
Matte black finish
Infrared titanium plates
10 temperature settings
The Infrared Pro Straighteners take a classic approach to their exterior design. They come in one colour, black, with a matte silicone finish on the plates and a shiny finish on the handle.
Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry
They are 30cm long and 5cm wide, and the plates are around 1.5in, which is slightly wider than a typical straightener. They come with a 2.5m cord with a swivel mechanism for easy maneuvering.
They’re relatively lightweight at 274g excluding the cord and plug, so are comfortable to use. They’ll fit inside a large overnight bag, but aren’t as space-saving as dedicated travel straighteners. Plus, there’s no cordless option available.
The plates are made from titanium, rather than ceramic, and include microsensors which distribute the heat evenly through the plates. The red lines on the plates glow red when turned on, an indication of the technology used.
Nicky Clarke claims that the plates include nanotechnology that “removes odour and harmful chemicals”. Presumably this means that it helps to remove pollutants from your hair but even after using them, we’re really none the wiser.
The buttons on the straightener are in the middle, which can be awkward to get to. They include a power button, as well as a temperature button with 10 different settings, ranging from 120-230℃. The temperature is displayed on the LED screen in blue, and rises gradually until it reaches the number you’ve chosen.
Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry
For your peace of mind, the straighteners have an auto shut-off feature after 60 minutes, should you forget to turn off the switch. The box also includes a rubber heat protective mat that can be folded away. However, no case or glove is included in the box.
Performance
Quick to heat up
Decent performance for both straightening and curling
Higher heat needed for thicker hair types
The Infrared Pro Straighteners take 50 seconds to heat up if you’re whacking it all the way to 230℃.
I have reasonably thick hair with a wiry texture and 2A, loose waves naturally. Some cheaper straighteners often struggle to work well on my hair, but I was able to transform my bushy mane into straight locks in under ten minutes with the Infrared Pro Straighteners – see the results below:
Hair before straightening Vs hair after straightening
My hair developed a few kinks and knots after going out and about (especially in the wind), but often only the most impressive tools can keep my hair poker straight. I had to use the max heat setting in order to achieve this look – some other products from brands like GHD have given better results at lower temperatures.
Nonetheless, if you have finer, thinner or shorter hair than mine, you may have better lasting results with a lower heat setting – which is ultimately better for the health of your hair.
Though these aren’t designed specifically for curling, I found curls and waves held better than when I straightened it, even when using on a lower heat setting. The curved ends make curling reasonably easy, too.
Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry
I found Nicky Clarke’s claim to leave a shiny finish on the hair largely true. One stroke of the plates left the hair looking nice and glossy, and not at all dry like some other cheaper straighteners. The glide is quite smooth, I didn’t find that it caught or snagged on my hair.
The odour erasing claim seems like a bit of marketing fluff, but I can forgive that for what is an overall impressive performance.
Price & availability
The Nicky Clarke Infrared Pro straighteners cost £129.99 and are available directly from Nicky Clarke, as well as from Amazon and Boots. The brand doesn’t typically sell in the US.
This price point is more expensive than traditionally heated products such as the BaByliss Elegance 235 – most likely because of the infrared technology used in the build. However, at the time of writing there is a generous £30 discount, which certainly makes them worth the money.
Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry
If creating minimal damage to your hair is a priority, then you could also consider the Revamp Progloss Steamcare, which includes ionic technology and steam plates. There is also the impressive (and cordless) Dyson Corrale, but this is a luxury product that costs over £400.
The Nicky Clarke Infrared Pro straighteners can give your locks a sleek and shiny finish in a short amount of time. Whilst they are more expensive than some other rivals, the addition of the infrared technology should mean that you’re doing less damage to your locks in the long run.
If you have thicker and more unruly hair, then only the highest heats will product the best results, and the performance isn’t quite as long-lasting as what I’ve seen from other premium brands. Nonetheless, this is still a solid pair of straighteners to consider.
