12 Jun
Blog

The Last of Us Part II Review: A Dark Masterpiece

the last of us part 2 review ellie

"The last of us Part II is a slap in the face in the best way."

  • Deep emotional impact

  • Well-written narrative

  • Breathtaking graphics

  • Fine-tuned game mechanics

  • Characters are fully developed and credible

  • High level of detail in the game and in the options

  • Gating prevents more extensive exploration

Publishing a follow-up to a very popular game is daunting and can easily disappoint fans. The last of us part II accomplishes the feat effortlessly.

This sequel extends and perfects the already well-made story. It lives up to the first release and extends the original without going too far, which could alienate fans hoping to get a taste of what they loved the first time.

The last of us places a heavy burden on this entry because the effects of Joel's actions have far-reaching effects and history is not forgotten. Ellie and Joel started a new life in Jackson, Wyoming, but the game lets players know that it is not that easy to continue.

The plot is certainly dark, but it never feels nervous. There is empathy even for your enemies. Obviously, the game contains many unexpected twists that make The Last of Us Part II look emotionally and narratively polished. There are Easter eggs and funny jokes, but that's a story of revenge. It will never be forgotten.

Emotional impact

The Last of Us has been praised for its emotional narrative that shook players, and Naughty Dog's sequel finds a way to expand on that. The last of us Part II is a slap in the face in the best way.

I can't count the number of times I stared at the screen with wide eyes and thought, "No. It can't be right. It can't be that way."

The players in the first game already know and love Ellie, so it's easy to shop around in her story. That said, this is not a happy story. Fans are likely expecting this since Sony described the plot as a quest for revenge. But The last of us part II takes many dark turns. It twists and affects your expectations and therefore your well-being.

I can't count the number of times I stared at the screen with wide eyes and thought, "No. It can't be right. It can't be that way."

And while I thought I knew Ellie, the game felt like meeting an old friend I was separated from. Sure, she is – but she's older and her attitude has evolved from a spunky, tough child to a blunt survivor.

Ellie is still very loyal and fearless, but she has lost the hope she had in the first game. This is probably because the original Ellie was on the way to finding a cure. It is clear that the failure of this mission took part of its optimism and growing up in a post-apocalyptic world, while the excruciating pressure to be a teenager still didn't help.

We see her story and her fear of telling Joel about her first friend. This story is particularly beautiful and I was glad to see that Ellie's feelings were explored with the same sincerity as a heterosexual relationship.

Screenshot of The Last of Us Part IINaughty dog

Their relationship with Joel also deepens as they create a new life after the events of the first game. There is a look back at one of their birthdays, and the time they spend tying is a strong reminder that the family is not just blood relatives.

Still, Ellie is older. She has questions and she was not one who was afraid to question authority. And after the failed vaccine search by her and Joel, it becomes more difficult to see how people turn away from a bite.

Sometimes Ellie is unrecognizable to herself.

The event that causes Ellie to take revenge is even more relieved.

Sometimes our protagonist is unrecognizable for herself. It is painful to watch their journey – to participate actively, but not to be able to change course. Writing does The last of us part II one of the greatest gaming experiences I've ever had. It reminds me of the games my mother, who really didn't understand my fascination with video games, would look over my shoulder to watch. Those who made her stop asking, "Aren't you tired of playing this?" and sit next to me instead. That made her say softly to my stepfather, "It's like a movie."

Similar to the first time The last of us, The narrative will remind players why they love to play and give birth to a new generation of players.

While Ellie is the star, the story goes beyond her. I was involved in the life of characters I would never meet, some dead, some still out there. You will find documents and memorabilia, similar to the one in the last game. But this time the game does better at creating stories that can last the entire duration of the game. A document in an early area is linked to a document in a later level. One person mentioned in a note is the author of another. And when I came across the last note of an invisible character near his body in a room with an infected person, or worse, my heart was broken.

That was teased Part II is darker, but I wasn't prepared.

This also goes beyond Ellie. The world is at war with itself. Different factions are suffering on both sides after the termination of an armistice for which neither party is to blame. There is also the profound moral question of which side is the right one. People who had previously joined the government-sanctioned FEDRA, the countermovement of fireflies, or who chose to respond only for themselves. But it's not just about survival. It's about what society looks like when the remains of human civilization are desperately trying to hold on.

If you kill a human enemy, his friends will cry out for them. They each have names. Their allies will be devastated to bump into their dead bodies, and not because that means they are in danger themselves. It's a heartbreaking but realistic detail that lights up the game and leaves you with a pit of the stomach.

Way of playing

If you add so many elements to the game, you have to open the map. While not really an open-world game, some levels are large and complex, and definitely worth exploring.

When it comes to game mechanics, it doesn't fix what isn't broken.

I was happy to come across Easter eggs, to unravel a story by leaving notes and clues behind, or to find a particularly practical way to pick up the equipment by bothering.

There are also small moments that trigger cutscenes and appear completely optional. Some parts were just cute, others added a deep emotional layer. I highly recommend reviewing everything and I will probably go to another degree myself.

Screenshot of The Last of Us Part IINaughty dog

Still, The last of us part II is a linear game, and gating – which prevents you from going back to a previous area – removes any illusion that this could be a real sandpit title.

When it comes to game mechanics, it doesn't fix what isn't broken. It works much like the first game, but refines the fight. Stealth is getting smarter, there are new enemies and there are skill trees in which you can invest resources depending on your preferred fighting style. I found it easy to jump in again and appreciated the new elements.

Pictures and details

The visuals of The last of us part II are just great. The details of the surroundings and the objects are absolutely phenomenal. I played on a PlayStation 4 base with HDR turned on and was convinced that I wasn't playing in 4K. It really looks so good. Textures look exceptionally detailed and landscapes look incredible. This is particularly important because a lot of time is spent outdoors.

The character details could be even more impressive. There is a small part where Ellie looks in the mirror and makes different faces, and it is not a cut scene. The animations look so good that it feels like the developers are showing off.

Screenshot of The Last of Us Part II

Of course, it would be inappropriate not to mention the crisis in this game. Naughty Dog has received criticism of his practice of putting his team in stressful hours to end this and other games. It's an absolute shame that everyone would work under these conditions, and they're the unsung heroes who made this game as good as it is.

They contain so many subtleties that have to be explored. The options menu allows you to customize the difficulty of things like enemy health or the number of resources you find.

More importantly, players can change the controls to make them more accessible in several ways. Changes can be made visually to make reading subtitles easier or to display important details. There's also a text-to-speech option and motion sickness settings. Players can even change the guitar playing or operate a boat. These options are also highlighted by on-screen notifications, and other accessibility features are announced at the start. It's a great move that I hope to see in more titles.

Do all these details The last of us part II an incredibly powerful game.

Our opinion

The last part II is a tour de force, in which the best parts of the original are brought into their best forms. History will stagger you, and there are some unexpected twists and turns that you will invest consistently. The level of detail and quality in creating and creating stories in the world is at the top of their class.

Is there a better alternative?

There's nothing like The Last of Us Part II, let alone a better alternative. The gameplay and combat are not unique, but the story that revolves around these elements is unique. This is also the reason why people chose the first game so strongly.

How long it will take?

The campaign lasts between 30 and 40 hours and reaches it easily if you want to explore and find everything that is available. If you just want to get through the story, 30 hours are closer to accuracy, but even narrative players will benefit from additional exploration.

But should you?

Yes absolutely. The Last of Us Part II will go down as a classic game that people will talk about for years, much like the first iteration. The fact that this title extends what worked well so much makes it much easier to justify adding it to your library.

Editor's recommendations




12 Jun
Blog

An Open Letter to CrossFit

An open letter to CrossFit

My name is Greg Walsh. I started working with CrossFit in 2003 and was a member, trainer and manager of CrossFit Long Beach until I returned to my hometown Rochester, NY in 2008.

I started with the Wolf Brigade in 2008 and since then we have been training people from all walks of life and fitness levels every day.

During my time in Long Beach, I developed relationships with many CrossFit employees and started a friendship with Greg Glassman. This resulted in a "partnership" based on my idea of ​​offering affiliates a one-stop shop to get top quality artwork and clothing prints, as well as the opportunity / option to present them on a website called for worldwide purchase, crossfitshirts.com.

We had a small but very high quality printing company in Rochester. I loved CrossFit – especially the affiliates – and I wanted to both help and show more engagement. I presented the “CrossFit Shirts” project at an affiliate meeting in 2007 with a very positive response, and we set off.

The project was a great success. CrossFit products have never looked better, and the subsidiaries benefit from our high level of expertise in art direction and graphic design.

The crossfitshirts.com platform was fun, exciting and mutually beneficial. CrossFit received a percentage of everything that was sold, as did the partners we worked with, and it expanded rapidly.

Between 2007 and 2009, Greg and I became friends (or at least I thought I did), and I felt no obvious reason to apply the brakes as we developed our combined projects. We expanded the print shop, hired talented employees and adapted to the growing occasion. During that time, Greg routinely called to talk about his life, marriage, and business problems, and routinely invited me to his Arizona home, on various CrossFit-related trips, etc. I appreciated it, although I rarely accepted it because we were neck. We work intensively in the gym and develop our “partnership”.

My mistake was to assume that a handshake “contract” meant the same to others as to me.

In 2009, when our coordinated projects were in full swing, I was called out of the blue – first by a persistent lackey by Greg and then by a smug and stylized CrossFit lawyer. Both were asked to send the message that we can no longer use the CrossFit name without affiliate-specific branding, and much more seriously

The website crossfitshirts.com should be handed over to you immediately.

Without dubbing the hand, it felt like a bad joke. We have always had problems – I have been working in and managing small, high quality companies for over 25 years, and we were finally on the way to something that grew and fully in our wheelhouse.

I did everything I could to find out what was really happening. Greg did not return calls, text, or email, and was finally given the “option” to take any remaining soft goods to another partner event in Austin, Texas and try to sell them off. After selling shirts at shows and events since I was a kid, I knew exactly how it was going (bad), but had no choice. After paying for the shipping of the clothes and my trip and selling less than half of what we had brought with me at less than half the prices we would normally charge, I lost several thousand dollars.

This was around the same time that poor decision making, self-based leadership, and myopia drove some of the most advanced, lovable, and respected minds in CrossFit, including Robb Wolf, James "OPT" Fitzgerald, and Greg Everett – three people I've had since my first one Respected exposure and whose positions I took very seriously. I knew at the time, although I was very marginal compared to these three, that our “partnership” was really over; I was classified as expendable or worse, and we had to act accordingly.

In retrospect, I should have downsized, given up on the second press I just bought, let our newly hired, experienced print workers go and get to the point, but I really felt we could keep a lot of the affiliate business and keep going. I was very wrong

The removal of the website crossfitshirts.com and clearly our "CrossFit blessing" has rejected many partners. Many stayed, and I still appreciate this step of faith to this day, but the loss was too great, our answer was not as it should be, and in late 2009 we were forced to close our print shop and solve the committed people, who had operated it.

Now in deep debt after I moved across the country to work on a project that was now dead and cheated and abandoned by someone I thought was a strong ally, I concentrated all my efforts on training people really, really well.

I set out to develop and document our processes meticulously and adapt the general education elements that we had worked on in Long Beach that I knew were critical to our idea of ​​“global linear progression” Meaning. In short, if a glass in this story were half full, the Wolf Brigade would have become one of the best training platforms in the world – in every way and in many ways that no one had ever addressed before. When the chips were at the bottom, I grabbed what had brought me to where I was:

Help people as best I could.

Greg Glassman has never been a good person. Even though almost everyone who reads this believed that it was him, he was still a very judgmental, elitist (wrong way) and opportunistic man who made himself comfortable telling everyone who would listen how much better he was offers very little evidence for this statement.

During this time there are currently many partners / ex-partners / participants who question their direction, the next steps and the need for "damage control". As someone who has often been targeted and attacked based on the irresponsible words of others and outside of the subject at hand, I will say the following:

Stand for what you know is right and stand damn hard. Do what's right, not what you're told.

If you want to train people, chase all the ways of progress and the facts that are available to you and excel in your market.

In response to the fact that he never offers territorial protection to his territories, Greg would say: "The cream rises up". Now is the time to prove this theory to yourself. The current climate is causing unfortunate casualties in small facilities that would otherwise have survived, and the idea of ​​distancing yourself from something on which a foundation has been built and branding it is daunting to say the least.

But that is not impossible. And with all of the current sharpness and negativity, it's important to remember that CrossFit DID, in one way or another, functional or dysfunctional, proves to all of us that we are stronger than we think.

Partner, ex-partner, participant:

Now it is time to "prove your fitness" … and it has nothing to do with burpees or box jumps.

CrossFit introduced me to concepts and ideas that I had never seen before, and I took the ball and ran with it. Greg Glassman teamed up with me – a small, independent, unhealthy, passionate idealist – and left me cold without ever saying a word of comfort, an act of repentance, or even an apology – as he did you all in last time.

This betrayal closed one door and opened another – as was the case for many at that time and under similar divisions – and I used it to reinforce the fire I already had and to develop a brand and training system that are far more transferable. multi-level access and more effective than anything CrossFit has ever done.

If I / we can help you, our door is open.

We are not trying to capitalize on the misfortune of this situation, but we have had the displeasure of being able to predict for a long time, live by ourselves and now have the skills and abilities to help others.

After all, EVERYTHING – at least for those who should still be here – is about helping others.

Honest and sincere Greg Walsh

An open letter to CrossFit - fitness, crossfit, functional fitness, kettlebells, GPP, maces, barbells, subversive fitness, boxing gym

12 Jun
Blog

Father’s Day: Skin Care Gift Ideas For 3 Types of Dads

This June we celebrate fathers – the men who have an important impact on our lives. Whether the man you look up to is your father, husband, father figure or even your grandfather – everyone deserves the best on Father's Day.

Instead of buying him a stereotypical set of golf clubs, ties, or shaving sets this year, why not give dad the gift of healthy skin? Every father is unique. Here you can see three types of fathers and our selection Eminence Organics Products that are tailored to his lifestyle.

1. The outdoor father

The outdoor dad is always ready for adventure. You will find that he cycles, hikes, works in the garden or does everything that requires a healthy dose of fresh air. Although outdoor dads are generally physically fit, their skin condition could tell a different story. Constant contact with the elements – such as sun, wind, water or snow – can make the skin dry, weathered and often damaged by the sun. Eminence Organics Rosehip and Lemongrass Soothing Hydrator

To protect against UV radiation, a sun care product like our Lilikoi Mineral Defense Sport Sun Protection SPF 30 is essential for these fathers. After a day outdoors, our soothing rose hip and lemongrass hydrator for the face and body is another must to restore and replenish the skin. This lightweight moisturizer contains a natural repair complex to hydrate, repair and reduce redness caused by dryness, especially after being exposed to the elements.

2. The career father

The career father is a busy man. You will find that he rushes to his next meeting, defying the rush hour traffic, and spending a lot of time traveling from one airport to the next. These fathers are generally not nonsense, and they look for convenience and quality when it comes to their technical devices and even their skin care needs.

A few dark circles around his eyes are just a normal part of life as he reconciles family life with early morning workouts and late evening meetings. To combat tired, swollen eyes, we recommend our soothing cucumber eye gel. Our Bright Skin Starter Set helps you with skin care on the go. This set is packed in a practical travel bag and offers comprehensive skin care (detergent, moisturizer, mask and serum) that fits perfectly in your father's case.

Eminence Organics Cucumber Eye Gel

3. The relaxed father

The relaxed father is a relaxed, uncomplicated guy. He enjoys staying close to home and spending time with his family, walking the dog, watching the game or reading a good book. Most laid-back dads prefer a BBQ with a few close friends over a fancy dinner, and they definitely want to keep things simple when it comes to skin care.

When we think of products for relaxed fathers, we think of convenience and simplicity. Some of our multitasking products such as our Citrus Exfoliating Wash and our 3-in-1 cleaning water for rice milk are perfect for caring for a carefree father. For example, our Citrus Exfoliating Wash exfoliates and cleanses gently to normally oily skin in one easy step. Fresh lime juice removes impurities, while grapefruit seeds and silica make the skin appear radiantly clear. Our 3-in-1 cleaning water for rice milk is even less maintenance because it can be rinsed off or left on. This product cleanses and tones in one step, which provides the skin with moisture, minimizes the pores and minimizes the occurrence of skin aging. Eminence Organics rice milk 3 in 1 cleaning water

What kind of father do you honor this Father's Day? Tell us in the comments. For more gift ideas for dad, visit our men's skin care page. Happy Father's Day!

Note: This post was originally published in June 2016 and updated for accuracy and completeness.

11 Jun
Blog

Dell XPS 15 (9500) Review: The Best 15-inch Laptop

dell xps 15 9500 review 2020 03

"The elegant design and impressive performance of the Dell XPS 15 make it an excellent choice for creative people."

  • Efficient design

  • An additional Thunderbolt 3 port

  • World class display

  • Excellent performance

Dell hit 15 gold with the XPS. It was the perfect alternative to the MacBook Pro 15-inch, a laptop with problems ranging from thermal throttling to unreliable keyboards.

But now that Apple has the 16-inch MacBook Pro, the ball is back on Dell's pitch. The new XPS 15 is the answer. With improvements to almost every aspect of the design, this is the biggest revision of the XPS 15 since its debut.

Is this the ultimate premium laptop for creative people?

design

Known and yet fresh. That's how Dell describes the new XPS 15, and I have to agree.

The look of the Dell XPS 15 has not changed in almost five years. It took a long time to redesign, especially with all the advances the XPS 13 has received over the years.

Almost every aspect of the XPS 15 has been updated in some way. The only design elements that have remained intact are the black carbon fiber fabric used in the palm rests and the aluminum on the lid. The use of aluminum and carbon fiber makes the XPS 15 look like an XPS product, but this is where familiarity ends.

The first thing you'll notice is the display. The XPS 15 now has an aspect ratio of 16:10 for a slightly larger screen. I really like this choice. It made a difference with the XPS 13, and with the larger XPS 15 it made an even bigger difference.

More screen and less wasted space are always good.

The screen measures 15.6 inches and offers a resolution of 3,840 x 2,400. That's more pixels than a conventional 4K screen and a higher pixel density than the 16-inch MacBook Pro. Angry.

Of course, a bigger screen generally means a bigger laptop. Not here. Despite the larger display, the dimensions of the new laptop roughly correspond to those of the previous model. It still weighs only 4 pounds (or 4.5 for the version with the larger battery) and is 0.71 inches thick. More screen and less wasted space are always good.

This emphasis on efficiency also applies to other areas. The keyboard has a wider, more comfortable layout with larger keycaps and a lot of travel. The touchpad is significantly larger and now corresponds to the size of the MacBook Pro 16 inches. However, you don't need to worry about it being too big – the palm rejection is as good as it gets.

My device had a problem with the touchpad. When pressed, it moves slightly as if it were working, but does not register a click. I learned that I have to push harder for it to work as expected. It's annoying with an otherwise excellent tracking experience.

There's no question that some design elements of the laptop were inspired by the MacBook Pro 16-inch, but it doesn't feel like a copycat. The look is XPS through and through.

The port selection has been reduced this time and the HDMI and USB-A ports have been replaced by plenty of USB-C. Two of them are Thunderbolt 3 ports and one is a standard USB-C 3.1 port. Fortunately, Dell has kept the SD card slot, which is a great blessing for creatives. No doubt some of them will miss their old peripheral ports like a wired mouse, but more future-proof, more powerful ports like Thunderbolt 3 are never a bad thing.

Display and speakers

Dell boasted of its new speakers, which are now located directly on the keyboard deck. The placement offers a much more satisfying audio experience than in previous years, and more bass can be heard here than I've ever heard of an XPS product.

However, this doesn't mean that it competes with the MacBook Pro 16-inch. It still fades in terms of clear bass and full mids. The speakers of the XPS 15 are even thinner than the 13-inch MacBook Pro.

If you are a video or photo editor, you will love this screen.

The display and speakers have been redesigned for the better. The larger panel that Dell chose is as good as they come. Although it is an LED (not OLED), 100% was achieved in both sRGB and Adobe RGB color spaces. It also has one of the most color-accurate screens I've ever seen – even the MacBook Pro 16.

Although I miss the deep black and high peak brightness of the OLED screen (which is no longer on sale), this is still one of the best laptop displays I've ever tested. If you are a video or photo editor or even a graphic designer you will love this screen.

Of course, you do not get this high-resolution screen in the basic model. It's an $ 294 upgrade to make the 1,920 x 1,200 jump – but it's a must for creatives.

Battery life

Thanks to this insanely high-resolution screen, the battery life is impaired. Dell has put a large 86-watt-hour battery in this model, but the 4K + XPS 15 still only lasts about 6 hours with a light workload. Don't expect to spend all day outside of a store.

The 1080p version of the XPS 15 was a record for battery life in the past, but this 4K model sucks batteries away like no one cares.

It is particularly noticeable when you do hard work. I tested this with the Basemark benchmark, which puts a heavy load on the CPU, and it only took less than 3.5 hours. This is not uncommon for a 15-inch 4K laptop, but it is something you should be aware of.

Compared to the MacBook Pro 16-inch and other 4K laptops, the battery life of the XPS 15 is even.

performance

The performance of the XPS 15 has always been the most important feature. In contrast to laptops like the Surface Laptop 3 15 or the LG Gram 15, the XPS 15 is not just a larger screen. It is more power. It has a 45 watt processor with up to eight cores and 16 threads. It also has an option for a discrete graphics card and plenty of memory.

My test device came with the Intel Core i7-10875H, the Nvidia GTX 1660 Ti, 16 GB RAM and a 512 GB SSD. This, of course, is one of the high-end configurations that costs $ 2,200. That's expensive, yes – although it's $ 500 cheaper than a similarly configured 16-inch MacBook Pro.

The system measures quite well. In Cinebench R20 it stomps on the MacBook Pro 16-inch and the XPS 15 from last year. However, the gap in Geekbench 5 is even bigger. However, this lead does not hold up in real performance. It's 5% slower than the MacBook Pro in handbrake video encoding and 15% behind last year's XPS 15.

Video exports to Adobe Premiere Pro are a good challenge for both discrete graphics and a powerful processor. Rendering a 2-minute 4K clip for ProRes 422 took 8 minutes and 42 seconds. Compare this to the 9 minutes and 27 seconds for the Razer Blade, which is equipped with a six-core processor and a powerful Nvidia RTX 2070 for graphics.

It's a solid performance, though it's not earth-shattering. The XPS 15 that I tested last year did that in under 5 minutes thanks to the Core i9-9880HK. It was a faster, fully unlocked processor, and the 32 GB of RAM that was included in my test device didn't hurt either. The latest version of this unlocked 10th generation chip has not yet been shipped in the XPS 15, although Dell says it will be available soon.

While the XPS 15 is a powerful laptop, it is also a fantastic 15-inch laptop in general.

The Microsoft Surface Book 3 was another laptop that surpasses this XPS 15 in terms of video editing. Although there is only one quad-core processor, its powerful graphics dominate the Premiere rendering.

The XPS 15 costs from $ 1,300 for the base model, which gives you only a quad-core processor, integrated graphics and 8 GB of RAM. This model doesn't work nearly as well as the model I've tested, but should be more than sufficient for buyers who don't have a specific, demanding application in mind. While the XPS 15 is a powerful laptop, it is also a fantastic 15-inch laptop overall. The basic model is well suited for users who are looking for a first-class laptop for everyday use.

Gaming performance

The XPS 15 has never been a gaming laptop, and that hasn't changed. The system continues to prioritize processor performance, making the GPU not glow like a gaming laptop.

However, upgrading from the Nvidia GTX 1650 to the 1650 Ti offers a significant improvement in game performance that I was happy to see. It was 105 to 20% faster than the previous model and can play most games with at least 60 frames per second (FPS). In Battlefield V I had to reduce the settings to medium to get there, but in Fortnite and Civilization VI you can easily play at maximum settings and still get 60 FPS.

This is an important number because the screen is locked at a refresh rate of 60 Hz. Anything over 60 FPS is not seen.

The only game that proved unplayable at maximum settings was Assassin's Creed Odyssey. Only 26 FPS were achieved with Ultra High, 47 FPS with High (the middle setting of the game).

There are many more powerful gaming laptops out there. Laptops with more graphics options like the Surface Book 3 or Dell G5 SE are also better gaming experiences. But for those who want to use the XPS 15 on the side for a couple of games, it's just the ticket.

Our opinion

The Dell XPS 15 is the best 15-inch notebook you can buy. The design is beautiful, the screen is out of this world and the performance is impressive. The eight-core Intel Core i7 model I've tested isn't the most powerful version of this laptop, but with the Core i9 on the way, the XPS 15 will likely be one of the most powerful video editing laptops you can buy. However, it is not cheap. To get a model that is similar to the model I tested, easily spend over $ 2,000 on the combination of a premium case, a color-accurate 4K display, and powerful fixtures.

Are there alternatives?

If you want an even more powerful XPS laptop, wait for the Dell XPS 17. Not only does it have a larger screen, it also has a powerful Nvidia RTX 2060 graphics card for even better performance.

The MacBook Pro 16-inch is a good alternative, although it's a little more expensive.

How long it will take?

The Dell XPS 15 should last for at least four or five years. From the components inside to the durability of the chassis, everything is first class. However, the guarantee has nothing special. It's still just a one-year standard hardware warranty, although Dell offers premium care packages like extended support up to four years or accident damage service.

Should you buy it

Yes. It's the best 15-inch laptop you can buy, and an excellent choice for creatives who need a lot of power under the hood.

Editor's recommendations




11 Jun
Blog

Motorola Edge review: Stunning Display At A Reasonable Price

Motorola Edge Review screen angle

"The significant daily benefits of the Motorola Edge, from battery life to performance, outweigh the few frustrating disadvantages."

  • Great screen

  • 5G at a reasonable price

  • Outstanding battery life

  • Strong suitability for everyday use

  • Pretty, easy-to-use design

  • Fingerprint sensor is unreliable

  • Software can get frustrating

  • Camera needs to be improved

The Motorola Edge is so correct that I almost forget the annoyances. It's the best looking Motorola phone in ages, and yes, I'm counting the Moto Razr in that statement. The screen is a killer. I also liked to use it, especially because it's light, compact, and disappears in my pocket or bag. It's ideal for everyday use if you're not looking for a game-oriented powerhouse with the best camera.

However, there are some irritations in terms of build quality, security and software, which are very frustrating and are not entirely offset by the significant benefits. I've been using the phone for almost two weeks now and here are the good and bad details in more detail.

design

The Motorola Edge has been my favorite design for Motorola phones for some time. A main reason for this is the 19.5: 9 aspect ratio screen, which makes the body slim, much like Sony did with the 21: 9 aspect ratio Xperia 10 Plus. The advantage is that the phone doesn't need that much stretch, even though the screen is 6.7 inches and you can still reach the screen buttons with your fingers. It even fits in your pocket.

The screen falls over both sides of the phone in the same way as the Motorola Edge Plus and Huawei Mate 30 Pro, and helps you forget the large and slim aspect ratio by removing the side bezels. I think it looks great and although the functionality is shaky, more on that later, it gives the Edge a striking, modern look that is rarely seen on widely used devices.

Andy Boxall / Digital Trends

It's light at 188 grams, but fairly thick at 9.3 mm, and the body is very slippery. For this reason, a case for long-term use is required. The back of the phone is made of plastic, although it really feels like glass, but it has already noticed some uncomfortable scratches on the back even though it has spent most of its time indoors. This is unfortunate because I love the way the back of the edge looks.

Motorola’s decision not to make the phone very thin means that the camera module doesn’t protrude half a mile and instead is almost flush with the back of the phone. The Motorola logo is etched under the highly reflective black housing, which then takes on a rainbow effect in the right light. It is reminiscent of Samsung's aura glow color on the Galaxy Note 10 Plus.

Andy Boxall / Digital Trends

So all right? No not really. My Motorola Edge review has a striking seam where the glass of the screen meets the body, and it's not consistent around the phone. Run your finger along the bottom left and it's very pronounced, almost as if the screen glass was misaligned, while being perfectly smooth and fitting in the upper right corner. You also don't have to struggle to find this, as you notice every time you hold the phone.

This is a problem with waterfall displays because my Huawei Mate 30 Pro test model has the exact same problem. It distracts and feels like poor build quality, whether it is real or not. The Motorola Edge scores some important design points and can then lose as many.

Screen and security

The 6.7-inch OLED touchscreen offers a resolution of 2340 x 1080 pixels, a refresh rate of 90 Hz and HDR10 support. The aspect ratio of 19.5: 9 is very cinematic and gives the Edge a screen-to-body ratio of 95.9%, which is only interrupted by a small selfie camera with a punch that is barely noticeable. The waterfall display makes the background image look great. If the phone is covered, a white notification light runs along the side, which attracts your attention.

Andy Boxall / Digital Trends

If you watch the ever stunning carfection channel on YouTube in 1080p and set the color profile of the screen to Saturated, it becomes clear that the Edge screen emphasizes the colors strongly, but never oversaturated. Instead, you get a wonderful balance between black and shadow with light blue and red, resulting in an engaging and enjoyable visual experience. Compare it to the iPhone 11 Pro, which has the natural color profile active, and there are times when the Edge looks just as good, and that's a huge praise indeed.

HDR10 videos can be played back easily, and some of the breathtaking films look even better when zoomed in, so that they fill the entire screen, which also brings the cascade edge into play. The audio is also good, with a single speaker at the bottom of the phone, as well as audio from the speaker used for voice calls at the top of the screen. There is a lot of volume and a decent amount of bass, but also a certain amount of vibration through the body of the phone. Overall, the Edge is an excellent media smartphone.

Motorola Edge fingerprint sensorAndy Boxall / Digital Trends

There is a fingerprint sensor on the screen that is slow, unreliable and frustrating. It often takes several attempts to recognize your finger, and then about a second to unlock the device, or worse, a second or two to actually activate the sensor. This means that you tap the screen and press the power button in the hope that it will wake up to make the situation worse when the software gets into trouble. Using Face Unlock as an alternative compromises security and isn't much faster either. Security on the edge is a disappointment.

software

My review Motorola Edge installed Android 10 with the security update from May 2020 and exaggerated the very easy adjustment from Motorola. Visually, it's very similar to the look of Android on a Google Pixel 4, with the app taskbar up and the notification shadow down unaffected and all gesture controls and notifications untouched. This is a good thing since Android 10 is easy to use, attractive and fast.

Andy Boxall / Digital Trends

However, Motorola has added a selection of tools and features, some of which have been successful. I like the peek display, where notifications are sent on the lock screen and more information is shown by touching the icon. The edge light effect, where the sides of the screen light up to alert you to a new notification, caught my attention.

How about the edge of the screen in general? Edge Touch lets you open the app bar and notification shadow from the side of the screen, interact with some app shortcuts, and generally use the phone with one hand. It's not very successful and has often misunderstood my touch. I switched it off. Even then, the accidental interactions don't stop. I often accidentally open Google Assistant and often find that I've moved apps around on the screen. Also, tapping buttons on the edges of the screen is frustrating because they often don't work.

Motorola Edge App Drawer "class =" m-Karussell - picture dt-lazy-no "src =" https://icdn2.digitaltrends.com/image/digitaltrends/motorola-edge-apps-640x640.jpg "srcset =" https : //www.digitaltrends.com/data: image / gif; base64, https: //www.digitaltrends.com/R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP//yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7App drawer from Motorola Edge Andy Boxall / Digital Trends

Motorola Edge Moto action menu "class =" m-carousel - image dt-lazy-no "src =" https://icdn3.digitaltrends.com/image/digitaltrends/motorola-edge-moto-actions-640x640.jpg "srcset = "https://www.digitaltrends.com/data:image/gif;base64,https://www.digitaltrends.com/R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7The Motorola Edge Moto Actions menu Andy Boxall / Digital Trends

Motorola Edge screen customization menu "class =" m-carousel - image dt-lazy-no "src =" https://icdn4.digitaltrends.com/image/digitaltrends/motorola-edge-select-640x640.jpg "srcset =" https : //www.digitaltrends.com/data: image / gif; base64, https: //www.digitaltrends.com/R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP//yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7Motorola Edge's screen customization menu Andy Boxall / Digital Trends

An excellent function is hidden. Since some apps don't work well with the waterfall screen, especially if the text wraps around the edge and makes reading difficult, you can switch any app from an edgeless to a standard full screen view. It is in the helicopter view of open apps and by tapping the app icon. Very practical and a great way to avoid at least some of the interference caused by this type of display.

Most apps ran smoothly, but not the standard camera app. It doesn't want to be in a hurry at all, and when you try it, it crashes often, sometimes to the point where the phone needs a restart to work again. This most often happens when you open the camera from the lock screen, either after unlocking it or when you use the quick gesture to rotate your wrist. Motorola forces you to do this instead of adding a swipe icon. I missed various photographic moments while the camera app fell over for this reason.

camera

The camera app can be painful, but what about the camera itself? On paper, it's a solid performance with a 64-megapixel main camera with an aperture of 1: 1.8, an ultrawide camera with 16 megapixels and 1: 2.2, and an 8-megapixel telephoto lens for 2x optical Zoom shots. There is also a time-of-flight sensor that helps with portrait and bokeh shots. On the front there is a 25 megapixel wide-angle selfie camera with an aperture of 1: 2.0.

Andy Boxall / Digital Trends

The results are good, but not quite as good as I expected, and it looks like Motorola still needs some tweaking. The differences in exposure and dynamic range between standard, wide-angle, and 2x zoom shots are significant, and wide-angle has problems, especially in difficult lighting. The colors are muted and the exposure is too low. Although this can be fixed with some edits, the shots can only be shared if you optimize them. This is not acceptable.

Shoot with the standard camera and the photos are generally much better, but exposure remains problematic. You can't always tell when this will happen, which makes it difficult to predict whether a photo will come out well.

I like macro mode, which can take some very detailed close-ups, and portrait mode is good too. Macro mode, however, requires a very steady hand, while edges when taking portraits can falsely become blurred. The night mode brightens pictures a little and without much influence on details. However, it's not a drastic change like you find on phones like the Huawei P40 Pro.

The Motorola camera app, if it has no problems opening it, is one thing apart. Motorola has placed the Google lens button right next to the shutter button, and not only is it too easy to accidentally press, it's also easily confused with the button used to switch between the rear and front cameras, which is annoying right on the page is placed. You also cannot edit the primary function switch. You must therefore go to a separate menu to activate night or portrait mode. Selfies in good light are great, with bold colors and lots of details, but in low light, it's not that good even in night mode, and edge detection in portrait mode is random.

Motorola Edge Review Standard "class =" m-Karussell - picture dt-lazy-no "src =" https://icdn4.digitaltrends.com/image/digitaltrends/motorola-edge-standard-640x640.jpg "srcset =" https : //www.digitaltrends.com/data: image / gif; base64, https: //www.digitaltrends.com/R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP//yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7Motorola Edge standard lens Andy Boxall / Digital Trends

motorola edge review wide "class =" m-Karussell - picture dt-lazy-no "src =" https://icdn5.digitaltrends.com/image/digitaltrends/motorola-edge-wide-640x640.jpg "srcset =" https : //www.digitaltrends.com/data: image / gif; base64, https: //www.digitaltrends.com/R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP//yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7Motorola Edge wide angle lens Andy Boxall / Digital Trends

motorola edge review 2x "class =" m-carousel - image dt-lazy-no "src =" https://icdn6.digitaltrends.com/image/digitaltrends/motorola-edge-2x-640x640.jpg "srcset =" https : //www.digitaltrends.com/data: image / gif; base64, https: //www.digitaltrends.com/R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP//yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7Motorola Edge 2x zoom Andy Boxall / Digital Trends

The Motorola Edge's camera is just not very consistent, although the hardware is good and it can take some great photos under the right conditions. It's probably all software-related, which means future updates can bring improvements, but the Edge's camera isn't currently inspiring you to use it.

Power and battery

The Motorola Edge does not use Qualcomm's flagship Snapdragon 865 chipset, but the Snapdragon 765G chipset. This will make many think that this is a “middle range”, but real-world performance is anything but. Ordinary, everyday tasks like taking photos, using email, making calls, and checking social media apps are as fluid and fast as you want them to be.

Geekbench 5: 1785 Multi Core / 573 Single Core

3DMark Sling Shot Extreme: 2800 (volcano)

The situation is different with the benchmark results. The closest competitor to the Motorola Edge is the OnePlus 8, which houses the Snapdragon 865 chipset, and which exceeds these numbers. Even the aging Asus Zenfone 6 with last year's Snapdragon 855 processor leaves the Motorola in the dust. However, it beats the Samsung Galaxy A51.

Andy Boxall / Digital Trends

However, the poor benchmark numbers do not lead to slowness. Asphalt 9 Legends is solid if you don't crank up the graphics properly, and DariusBurst is great too. No, the Motorola Edge isn't really for hardcore gamers, but it's okay for casual gaming. Motorola has added a game mode that minimizes distractions, as well as an option for virtual shoulder buttons that are easily programmable for individual games.

Motorola did the right thing with the Edge battery. It has a capacity of 4,500 mAh and it is absolutely no problem to take two full days, sometimes saving energy. However, if you add a few video calls, you will need to charge them sometime in the evening of the second day. Although my phone is currently mostly connected to Wi-Fi, the Edge typically ended a normal day with more than 60% remaining power, even when connected to a smartwatch and using voice calls, photos, and app usage. This is an excellent achievement.

It is quickly charged with the supplied charger with 18 W. Charging from zero to full takes almost an hour and 40 minutes and only reaches 26% after 20 minutes. There are faster charging systems, and unfortunately the Edge doesn't have wireless charging. Since my area is not a 5G coverage area, I was unable to test the Edge's 5G connectivity. However, I had no problems with regular calls and 4G LTE reception, but Wi-Fi sometimes failed when I was further away from my router. Many will also like to look at the bottom of the phone and see a 3.5mm headphone jack.

Price, guarantee and availability

The Motorola Edge costs £ 549 or about $ 695 and can currently be pre-ordered in the UK on Motorola's own website through the O2 network, as well as from retailers such as Amazon and Argos. A publication in the United States has been cited, but there are no details at the time of writing.

Our opinion

The Motorola Edge has strong advantages and disadvantages. The size, performance, and screen are excellent, and long battery life is a serious advantage, the camera is decent, and the price is reasonable because the phone has 5G for the future. These benefits pay off every day and make it very easy to live with. Elsewhere, it's not as good as it should be due to software and security vulnerabilities, but some aspects could be improved in the future by software updates.

Is there a better alternative?

The major challenger to the Motorola Edge is the OnePlus 8. In the UK, it costs £ 599, or $ 699 in the US. While not the most exciting phone you can buy today, it is very reliable and extremely powerful. It has 5G, ready for the future and more power than the Edge. This is the better buy unless you can upgrade to the OnePlus 8 Pro at £ 799 (or $ 899). Spend a little more again and the Samsung Galaxy S20 for $ 999 (or £ 799) is a great phone. If you haven't opted for Android, the Apple iPhone 11 is also an excellent buy for $ 699 or £ 729 with great camera, design, software, and battery life.

How long it will take?

While 5G is not an advantage at the moment, it will become more desirable in the near future and the Motorola Edge ensures that you are ready for the day without spending a fortune. It's moderately durable with Gorilla Glass 5 on the front and plastic on the back, but as I have already noticed, it can be scratched fairly quickly. According to Motorola, the phone is water-repellent, but does not offer an IP protection class. This means it's okay when it rains, but not if you drop it in the bathtub.

According to Motorola, the Edge is guaranteed to get Android 11, but according to the company, it is not certain whether one will arrive afterwards. Based on that, you should only expect one big Android update after purchase, and that's not great.

Should you buy one?

Yes, despite the inconvenience, the everyday life of the Motorola Edge is excellent overall, so it is still worth buying if you are interested in the screen and design.

Editor's recommendations




11 Jun
Blog

An Open Letter to CrossFit

An open letter to CrossFit

My name is Greg Walsh. I started working with CrossFit in 2003 and was a member, trainer and manager of CrossFit Long Beach until I returned to my hometown Rochester, NY in 2008.

I started with the Wolf Brigade in 2008 and since then we have been training people from all walks of life and fitness levels every day.

During my time in Long Beach, I developed relationships with many CrossFit employees and started a friendship with Greg Glassman. This resulted in a "partnership" based on my idea of ​​offering affiliates a one-stop shop to get top quality artwork and clothing prints, as well as the opportunity / option to present them on a website called for worldwide purchase, crossfitshirts.com.

We had a small but very high quality printing company in Rochester. I loved CrossFit – especially the affiliates – and I wanted to both help and show more engagement. I presented the “CrossFit Shirts” project at an affiliate meeting in 2007 with a very positive response, and we set off.

The project was a great success. The CrossFit brand had never looked better, and the subsidiaries benefited from our high level of expertise in art direction and graphic design.

The crossfitshirts.com platform was fun, exciting and mutually beneficial. CrossFit received a percentage of everything that was sold, as did the partners we worked with, and it expanded rapidly.

Between 2007 and 2009, Greg and I became friends (or at least I thought I did), and I felt no obvious reason to apply the brakes as we developed our combined projects. We expanded the print shop, hired talented employees and adapted to the growing occasion. During this time, Greg routinely called to talk about his life, marriage, and business problems, and routinely invited me to his Cross Arizona vacation home for various CrossFit trips, etc. We work intensively in the gym and develop our “partnership”.

My mistake was to assume that a handshake “contract” meant the same to others as to me.

In 2009, when our coordinated projects were in full swing, I was called out of the blue – first by a persistent lackey by Greg and then by a smug and stylized CrossFit lawyer. Both were asked to send the message that we are no longer allowed to use the CrossFit name without affiliate-specific branding, and much more seriously

The website crossfitshirts.com should be handed over to you immediately.

Without dubbing the hand, it felt like a bad joke. We have always had problems – I have been working in and managing small, high-quality companies for over 25 years, and we were finally on the way to something that grew and fully in our wheelhouse.

I did everything I could to find out what was really happening. Greg did not return calls, text, or email, and was finally given the “option” to take any remaining soft goods to another partner event in Austin, Texas and try to sell them off. After selling shirts at shows and events since I was a kid, I knew exactly how it was going (bad), but had no choice. After paying for the shipping of the clothes and my trip and selling less than half of what we had brought with me at less than half the prices we would normally charge, I lost several thousand dollars.

This was around the same time that poor decision making, self-based leadership, and myopia drove some of the most advanced, lovable, and respected minds in CrossFit, including Robb Wolf, James "OPT" Fitzgerald, and Greg Everett – three people I've had since my first one Respected exposure and whose positions I took very seriously. I knew at the time, although I was very marginal compared to these three, that our “partnership” was really over; I was classified as expendable or worse, and we had to act accordingly.

In retrospect, I should have downsized, given up on the second press I just bought, let our newly hired, experienced print workers go and get to the point, but I really felt we could keep a lot of the affiliate business and keep going. I was very wrong

The removal of the website crossfitshirts.com and clearly our "CrossFit blessing" has rejected many partners. Many stayed, and I still appreciate this step of faith to this day, but the loss was too great, our answer was not as it should be, and in late 2009 we were forced to close our print shop and solve the committed people who had operated it.

Now in deep debt after I moved across the country to work on a project that was now dead and cheated and abandoned by someone I thought was a strong ally, I concentrated all my efforts on training people really, really well.

I set out to develop our processes and document them meticulously, and to adapt the general education elements that we had worked on in Long Beach that I knew were crucial to our idea of ​​"global linear progression" Meaning. In short, if a glass in this story were half full, the Wolf Brigade would have become one of the best training platforms in the world – in every way and in many ways that no one had ever addressed before. When the chips were at the bottom, I grabbed what had brought me to where I was:

Help people as best I could.

Greg Glassman has never been a good person. Even if almost everyone who reads this believed that he was, he was still a very judgmental, elitist (wrong way) and opportunistic man who made himself comfortable telling everyone who would listen how much better he was offers very little evidence for this statement.

During this time there are currently many partners / ex-partners / participants who question their direction, the next steps and the need for "damage control". As someone who has been attacked and attacked often due to irresponsible words from others and outside of the subject at hand, I say the following:

Stand for what you know is right and stand damn hard. Do what's right, not what you're told.

If you want to train people, hunt down all the ways of progress and the facts that are available to you and excel in your market.

In response to the fact that he never offers territorial protection to his territories, Greg would say: "The cream rises up". Now is the time to prove this theory to yourself. The current climate is causing unfortunate casualties in small facilities that would otherwise have survived, and the idea of ​​distancing yourself from something on which a foundation has been built and branding it is daunting to say the least.

But that is not impossible. And with all of the current sharpness and negativity, it's important to remember that CrossFit DID, in one way or another, functional or dysfunctional, proves to all of us that we are stronger than we think.

Partner, ex-partner, participant:

Now it is time to "prove your fitness" … and it has nothing to do with burpees or box jumps.

CrossFit introduced me to concepts and ideas that I had never seen before, and I took the ball and ran with it. Greg Glassman teamed up with me – a small, independent, unhealthy, passionate idealist – and left me cold without ever saying a word of comfort, an act of repentance, or even an apology – as he did all of you last time.

This betrayal closed one door and opened another – as was the case for many at that time and under similar divisions – and I used it to reinforce the fire I already had and to develop a brand and training system, that are far more transferable. multi-level access and more effective than anything CrossFit has ever done.

If I / we can help you, our door is open.

We are not trying to capitalize on the misfortune of this situation, but we have had the displeasure of being able to predict for a long time, live by ourselves, and now have the skills and abilities to help others.

After all, EVERYTHING – at least for those who should still be here – is about helping others.

Honest and sincere Greg Walsh

An open letter to CrossFit - fitness, crossfit, functional fitness, kettlebells, GPP, maces, barbells, subversive fitness, boxing gym

11 Jun
Blog

The Outer Worlds Switch Review: Another Disappointing Port

the outer worlds change the evaluation

The Outer Worlds for Switch Rating: Port tariffs bad

“The Outer Worlds is a fun game. It's just a shame that the switch port doesn't run better. "

  • Great world exploration

  • Well-written dialogue

  • No content is cut out of the game

  • Terrible step in the graphics

  • Bad frame rate

  • Sputtering and pop-ins

  • Long loading times

Just when it looked like the horde of badly rushed switch ports was behind us The outer worlds proves that there is always room for more.

News that The outer worlds would come to Nintendo's hugely popular switch console, cautiously optimistic. I thought it might have the polish that other switch ports were missing as no attempt was made to make up for the console's success. While this version is not an unplayable bug, which is more than can be said of some other ports, it is certainly not well made – and does not do justice to the original game.

A nice mess

The outer worlds wasn't the most visually impressive game when it came out in 2019, but it had stunning aesthetics. What he lacked in character models or high-resolution textures, he made up for with wonderfully detailed planets and a coherent appearance that underlined his snarky capitalist dystopia. When I played on an Xbox One X, I was amazed by the living foliage, the blinding sky, and the lovable rust buckets that were used as spaceships.

On the switch, I felt like I was playing a completely different game. The switch port has not met my expectations in many ways, and more importantly, it does not do justice to the unique style of the game.

When I took my first steps on Terra 2, the introductory planet was in The outer worlds I could immediately say that this port would be rough. Still, I made my way and was convinced that I would find the psychedelic fields that I fell in love with when I first played on Xbox One X. Then I realized that I was in these areas. And they weren't psychedelic at all.

The screenshot of the outer worldsObsidian

Textures look amateurish, and anything outside of your immediate area is a blurry mess. Not only is the bad graphics a big disappointment, it also makes it more difficult to engage in ranged combat. The almost constant pop-ins often took me out of the game and I was frustrated.

To make sure, I briefly revised the game on Xbox One X and PC to see if I remembered wrong. That was not me.

In fact, it was worse than I thought. Entire objects and details such as bricks, bushes or paths have completely disappeared. It's not just about looks. Missing objects change the overall feel of the game, as I now walked through a barren landscape rather than a lush planet. I have lost the feeling of wonder associated with exploring a new world.

Looks bad, plays worse

Play The outer worlds on the switch should be impressive. With more than 10 GB, it takes up more space than many other switch titles, and there are seemingly endless loading screens that indicate that a game is being created that deserves such a long wait. You can easily wait up to 30 seconds every time you enter and leave your ship or building and when you are traveling. There is also a lot of sputtering and lag, especially when it's outside.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and BioShock Infinite done. So why not? The outer worlds?

After a while I wondered if a game of this kind with reduced graphics would ask too much. Maybe this just goes beyond what the switch can handle. But The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and BioShock Infinite managed to make the leap to an acceptable level of quality. So why not? The outer worlds?

The switch port targets an inconspicuous 30 frames per second, but even that feels spotty. This is particularly problematic during combat, in addition to the rendering problems removed. In hand-to-hand combat, I swung wildly against enemies who had just dodged a hair, while long-range combat was difficult due to the unresponsive frame rate. If you wait 30 seconds to reappear when you die in the middle of this mess, the experience will get worse.

It's a shame

The technical problems are indeed insurmountable. They make it impossible to recommend the port.

Still, it's worth remembering The outer worlds is a great game. It's not the best game I've ever played, even within the genre, but it's a solid choice that delivers a decent story and doesn't go beyond the greeting. Fallout fans, especially those who love it Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegaswill love it. Obsidian, the developer behind it The outer worldshas worked on these two Fallout titles and the relationship is easy to see.

The screenshot of the outer worldsObsidian

The outer worlds brings biting wit in small details and dialogues, an abundance of characters that you can love and hate with the same passion, and an open world that is ripe for exploration. The world or worlds are smaller than the maps of other popular open world games, including The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the wild and Witcher 3, they're both on switches. But planet hopping is fun and I enjoyed seeing the worlds differ.

Even though I often wanted to run through my run because of the confused graphics and technical problems, I couldn't help exploring every detail. What does this terminal say? What does this message reveal about a character who has not been around for a long time and whom I will never meet?

Among the porting problems, The outer worlds remains solid and the port offers all the functions and story beats of the original. It's just a shame that things are not going better.

Our opinion

The outer worlds is a great open world first person shooter with well written dialogue and building the world. However, playing on the switch is a disadvantage for the original game. It often feels like a chore.

Is there a better alternative?

Yes. The outer worldson literally any other platform. It is available for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Windows.

You can play under switch games The Witcher 3 or Breath of the wild, However, these titles differ greatly in tone, style and many gameplay elements. There is nothing like it The outer worlds on the counter.

How long it will take?

This can vary a lot depending on how far you want to go in side quests. If you stick to the main quest, you can easily measure 20 hours, but a predecessor will spend closer to 40 on the game. I played for about 30 hours and was picky about which side quests and companion quests I wanted to accept.

Should you buy it

No, you shouldn't buy the switch port from The outer worlds. Unless, and this is a slightly special exception, the Switch is your only gaming device and this game is your alley. If you don't have a PC to run the game on, a PS4 or Xbox One – and many players don't – then for sure. The problem is not there The outer worlds. It's like the game is so much better wherever you can play it. For Fallout or FPS fans who only rely on the Switch, however, it's a good title to add to the library. Just be prepared for an imperfect game.

Editor's recommendations




11 Jun
Blog

Stop Overdoing Sport Specific Training

For most lifters, specificity is an overused training philosophy. I know this is a controversial statement in strength training communities, but I'm still not sorry I said it. It's the truth, and this quarantine gives us a unique moment to test this theory.

Let's talk about what specificity is. In short, it is the training principle that states that you improve a particular skill by performing that skill, not other related exercises, but repeatedly perfecting that particular thing. If it is not yet clear, I believe that the specificity in strength circles has become too dogmatic.

When specificity is needed

But the people who benefit from the specificity are top athletes who have to be exceptionally good at their sport. This applies to elite weight lifters and powerlifters as well as elite sprinters and professional running backs. Most athletes that fit in this category already have solid overall strength, are genetically freaked out, and physically fit for their sport. The only thing left to do is to become more and more efficient with details.

But just liking a sport or even being good at one doesn't make you a top athlete who needs to be overly specific in your training. And I would argue that even the best lifters could benefit from spending some time building non-specific power. The problem is that they never listen.

When the gyms were closed

But one day when we Americans thought we had found out everything, the government decided to shut down the country, including our beloved gyms, and no dumbbells were found at once. There are no garage gyms here in NYC, so we all had to lift in our tiny NYC apartments. This meant that my gym had to transform from a barbell gym to a kettlebell, barbell, and odd object gym overnight. But that was a blessing in disguise.

So what we did differently from most others is that we didn't kill people with senseless metcons.

When Yuri Verkoshansky said, "Any idiot can make another idiot tired." We believed him.

So we threw burpees overboard in favor of light speed work. We focused on individual limb movements and trunk stability work as well as sensible, measurable methods to improve the condition of our athletes. At times, this included things like AMAP sets, which were not used as finishers, but rather were incorporated into training cycles aimed at building up work capacities. There is a difference.

More important than anything else, we have developed programming that targets where we knew our lifters were defective. By definition, these movements are not specific. But I'm going to tell you what's going to happen, not because I'm a clairvoyant, but because I've been here for a while. You will come back better.

To be able to better define it, we have to be clear: these athletes have neither additional weight for their primary lifts nor larger muscles. That doesn't mean better here. What will be better is that they return to training with:

The long-lasting effect of this phenomenon is that in the long run they become better, healthier and, yes, stronger. Not seeing training in this regard means neglecting one of the most basic principles of human strength.

We can only accumulate until we need a delay. This should be done in your training at both the micro and macro levels. So let's do a favor and Use this time to do what we should have done a long time ago – stop exaggerating the details.

If you are in New York or are ever in the area, drop by and visit me at JDI Barbell, one of the few standalone barbell boxing gyms in town.

10 Jun
Blog

Lenovo Yoga C640 Review: The Ultimate Student Laptop?

Lenovo Yoga C640 Review C740 01

Lenovo Yoga C640 Review: The Ultimate Student Laptop?

"The Lenovo Yoga C640 is a killer value for students and budget laptop buyers."

  • Great battery life

  • Clean, portable design

  • Excellent ad for the price

  • Enormous value

  • Solid build quality

  • The keyboard is a bit flat

  • No Thunderbolt 3 port

You don't have to spend more than a thousand dollars on your next laptop. This is especially true if you are a student or a person who prefers office apps.

Lenovo apparently agrees, as its new Yoga C640 for $ 600 is specifically targeted at this target group. This is a very attractive price for a laptop that makes few compromises.

Unlike its adventurous predecessor, the Yoga C640 is a proven Intel laptop with a 10th generation Intel Core i3 processor, 8 GB RAM and a 128 GB SSD. Did Lenovo make the best laptop you can buy at this price?

design

The Yoga C640 has a fully aluminum construction that does not do justice to the low prices. There is a small piece of flex in the keyboard shelf and on the bottom of the case, and there is no flex on the lid. It doesn't quite match the build quality of some other Yoga models, like the much more expensive Yoga C930.

The lid can be opened almost with one hand, with only a little friction lifting the chassis floor off the surface of the desk. However, this is a 360-degree convertible 2-in-1, which means that the display changes from clamshell to tent, media and tablet modes. The tight hinge ensures that the display stays in place in all of these modes.

The Yoga C640 feels more elegant and modern than most $ 600 laptops.

Like many yogas today, the aesthetics are pretty conservative. It is a gray color in gunmetal without bling. There is no chrome stitch on the laptop, except for a small stain that surrounds the logo. It won't be noticed in a crowd, especially not compared to laptops like the Specter x360 13 from HP, the "Look at me!" Compared to the $ 650 Acer Swift 3 with its typical silver chassis, the Yoga C640 seems to me to have a more elegant and modern design. The same is true compared to the $ 560 HP Pavilion x360, which isn't as refined and slim as the Yoga C640.

The Yoga C640 is not the smallest 13-inch notebook. At first, the bezels are not huge, but not as small as the Specter x360 13 or the Dell XPS 13. This makes the case a bit larger than that of very small 13-inch laptops. However, the Yoga C640 is quite thin. It measures 0.67 inches thick, which is identical to the Specter x360 and only slightly thicker than the XPS 13. The Yoga C640 weighs 2.98 pounds compared to the HP at 2.88 pounds and the Dell at 2.8 pounds. Portability is comparable to these high-end laptops, although they are much cheaper.

The Yoga C640 receives the same type of privacy screen for the webcam that adorns the ThinkPad line. This is called TrueBlock Privacy Shutter and works similarly. Simply slide it over to physically block the webcam. I prefer the HP button on the Specter x360 13, which turns the webcam off electronically and hackers don't have anything in the system they can access if you want to turn off the 720p webcam.

Connectivity is mediocre even for a budget microlight. There are two USB-A 3.1 ports, a USB-C 3.1 port and a 3.5 mm audio jack. There's no Thunderbolt 3 port – not that we're expecting one for this price – and no microSD card reader, which is disappointing. Wireless connectivity is also a step back with Wi-Fi 5 (instead of the newer Wi-Fi 6 standard) and Bluetooth 5.0.

Keyboard and touchpad

If you like the typical Lenovo Yoga keyboard, you will love the Yoga C640. As always, it has a lot of space and a crisp mechanism. The trip is a little too flat for my taste, but I consistently hit about 90% of my usual 90 words per minute or so. I still prefer the keyboard of the HP Specter x360, and the new Magic keyboard of the latest Apple MacBooks is my absolute favorite.

Thanks to the Microsoft Precision touchpad drivers and a smooth and comfortable surface, the touchpad also works well. It's not a big touchpad, but it takes up most of the available space under the keyboard for a modern, efficient design.

As with all 2-in-1 devices, the display is touch sensitive and as precise as expected. Lenovo has added support for its active pen with 4,096 pressure sensitivity levels (the pen itself is an option for $ 69). This is acceptable at this price, and although I haven't had a chance to test the coloring on the Yoga C640, I suspect it will be as good as the rest of the Yoga line.

Windows 10 Hello login support without a password is provided by a fingerprint reader in the top right corner of the keyboard deck. It is very accurate and fairly quick – I never had to swipe again to log on to the Yoga C640. Once again, Lenovo has built a valuable feature into an affordable laptop.

display

One area where budget laptops are often neglected is the display quality. And that makes sense – manufacturers have to cut costs somewhere in order to fit in a cheap price range. After so much good news with the Yoga C640, I approached the display test with some concern.

As it turns out, I shouldn't have worried. According to my colorimeter, Lenovo chose an average display, that is, an average display for premium laptops. For a $ 600 laptop, it's excellent. The colors weren't particularly wide at 73% of AdobeRGB and 96% of sRGB, but they're suitable for everyone except the most demanding photo and video editors.

The contrast was very good at 1040: 1, which is above our preferred threshold of 1000: 1, and the color accuracy was excellent for an inexpensive laptop at 1.07 (anything below 1.0 is considered excellent). The ZenBook 13 UX333's display had slightly more colors and contrasts, but the Yoga's display was more accurate, even though creative people wouldn't like it. The brightness was her weak point at 242 nits. I like it when displays in brightly lit environments reach at least 300 nits for good graphics.

Still, the Yoga C640's display is comfortable for both productivity work and watching Netflix. The latter was made more pleasant by audio, which as usual had little bass, but was loud and clear and had clear mids and highs. You want to connect headphones to get the best music quality. However, you can flip the display and enjoy Netflix bingeing without having to worry about connecting an external sound.

performance

If you switch from the Qualcomm 650 ARM CPU of the C730 to an Intel Core processor, you can expect a leap in performance. The dual-core core i3 is the entry-level model in the current core product line from Intel and does not quite correspond to the four standard cores that you see in premium laptops. However, Windows 10 runs faster than an ARM CPU and doesn't give up compatibility with older desktop applications and peripherals.

I couldn't make a direct objective comparison between the two processors because not all of our benchmarks are run on ARM. I ran Geekbench 4 on the Yoga C640 and it doubled the performance of the Yoga C630 in the single-core test and was more than 30% faster in the multi-core test. With 4,670 single-core and 8,750 multi-core values, the Core i3 is far behind the next level of the core CPU, the Core i5, which achieved over 15,000 points in the multi-core test. A laptop like the Lenovo Yoga C740 equipped with the Core i5 is significantly faster with more demanding workloads and multitasking.

The Yoga C640 will be fast enough for office workers and students.

The Yoga C640 took almost 6.5 minutes to complete our handbrake test, which converted 4K video at 420MB to H.265. The Yoga C740 ended 2 minutes faster. Our previous low-cost laptop, the Asus ZenBook UX333, was completed around the same time with its 8th generation Core i5. Suffice it to say that this entry-level Yoga C640 is not suitable for heavy-duty applications.

While it's far from the fastest laptop I've tested, I found it fast enough for my usual work. For ordinary office workers and students, the Yoga C640 is fast enough to keep up with their work. Note, however, that you can upgrade to a 10th generation quad-core Core i5 and a 256GB SSD for just $ 170 more while keeping the laptop's budget and increasing performance and storage significantly. This is around $ 100 less than the comparable ZenBook UX333 (8th generation).

Note that if you are a player, this is not the right laptop for you. You're limited to Intel UHD graphics, which let you play older titles with lower resolutions and graphic details, but choke on modern things.

Battery life

Next is the battery life, the main strength of the predecessor of the Yoga C640. This year's model still has the same battery life of 60 watt hours and has a CPU that may be less efficient on paper. So I was looking forward to seeing how it was compared in our standard battery tests.

The results were fascinating. First, the Yoga C640 took around 3.5 hours in our demanding Basemark web benchmark test, which loads the CPU, an average score for a Windows 10 laptop. The Yoga C630 lasted almost 9 hours, a spectacular score. The benchmark was slower, but it shows that ARM CPUs can consume power even under stress. The ZenBook 13 UX333 took almost 5 hours to complete this test, making it a longer-lasting option for demanding jobs.

With a single charge, you can watch amazing videos on the Yoga C640 for 24 hours.

In our web browsing test, which is a good indicator of overall productivity longevity, the Yoga C640 took about 10.5 hours, an hour behind the Yoga C630. Again, the Yoga C640 did a good job on a Windows 10 laptop – for example, it surpasses the 8 hours of the Acer Swift 3 – but it's not in a completely different class. When I ran our video test, where a 1080p Avengers trailer was looped until the battery showed that the Yoga C640 shocked me. It ran just over 23 hours, the best score we saw in this test. This even exceeded the very expensive Dell Latitude 7400, our previous leader, by a full 80 minutes.

The bottom line: if you want to watch videos on the Yoga C640, you can do that for almost 24 hours, which is remarkable. When you do standard productivity work, you get a whole day of work with the laptop.

Our opinion

The Lenogo Yoga C640 is an excellent laptop for $ 600 and a very good budget option for $ 770 if you upgrade to a Core i5 and 256 GB of storage. It's well built, has great input options, offers good productivity performance and superior battery life for the price, and looks good too.

In fact, it is so good that it replaces the Asus ZenBook UX333 as our favorite affordable laptop. The fact that you get the flexibility of a 2-in-1 for less money is just the icing on the cake.

Are there alternatives?

The ZenBook UX333 is a competitive option if you only need a Clamshell laptop. Hopefully Asus will update it to 10th generation CPUs as it is limited to 8th generation parts.

If you can spend more money, the HP Specter x360 13 is a great 2-in-1 alternative. It's faster, has a better display option with its OLED panel, and is one of the hottest laptops ever.

If you are looking for a laptop with a 360 degree hinge, I recommend the HP Specter x360. It's small and nifty like the Dell XPS 13 and a little cheaper.

If you're a MacOS fan, you can consider the new MacBook Air. It's faster, has the superb Magic keyboard, and comes as close to the budget as you'll find in the Apple range.

How long it will take?

Thanks to up-to-date components and a solid construction, the Yoga C640 lasts as long as you need it. The only real limitation is the lack of Thunderbolt 3 support, but you can't expect this high-speed sport for just $ 600. As usual, the 1-year warranty is standard and disappointing.

Should you buy it

Yes. The Yoga C640 is an uncomplicated laptop set at an attractive price.

Editor's recommendations




10 Jun
Blog

7 Summer Skin Care Tips For Oily Skin

If your skin looks less than dull at best, it can turn into an oil slick in summer. As the temperature rises, so does the humidity – and this can lead to an increase in oil production from your skin's sebaceous glands.

While sebum contains lipids and fats that protect your skin from drying out of environmental stressors, too much sebum can make the surface of the skin particularly greasy.

Tips to transform your skin from summer fat to summer glow

1. Clean properly

Double cleansing can be the key to getting rid of oily skin in summer. As we say at Eminence Organics, "Like attracts like" and using a gentle oil cleaner as the first step in your cleaning routine can make a big difference. We recommend our Stone Crop Cleansing Oil to gently remove makeup and remove oil-based products from your pores. The lightening stone plant moisturizes and moisturizes for a healthy looking complexion.

Then clean on a larger scale with the Clear Skin Probiotic Cleanser. Regardless of whether your skin tends to break out, switching to a cleanser designed for problematic skin can help make your skin look dull in the oil-inducing summer months (Curls). This award-winning cleanser is blended with cucumber, tea tree oil, and yogurt to treat oily skin without removing moisture.

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Stone fruit cleaning oil

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Probiotic cleaner for clear skin

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2. Remember to wear sunscreen

While applying sunscreen looks like a recipe for disaster for an oily complexion, Allure says, "A healthy dose of sunscreen (a teaspoon for your face) surprisingly helps control oil and shine." Alternatively, you can use our Sun Defense Minerals choose for your sun care and check the appearance of the shine all day long. The breathtaking supermodel Kate Upton doesn't drive without a vacation.

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Sun Defense Minerals

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3. Makeup Free

Take a cue from Alicia Keys and embrace your beauty this summer without makeup – or at least do without your foundation! In summer, not only is there a brighter trend, but the melting makeup can also clog the pores and cause your skin to produce more oil.

4. Avoid cocktails and spicy food

The saying is true: "You are what you eat" – and during the hot summer months, cocktails and spicy food can destroy your complexion. These increase your heat index, which makes you feel warmer and sweat more. Sweat is not a bad thing by nature, but it can lead to clogged pores if it stays on the surface of the skin for too long. The result? Skin that looks shiny rather than moist. Instead, reach for foods with a high vitamin A content and slow oil production such as carrots, melon and spinach (Curls).

5. Don't forget to exfoliate

Peeling is an important part of every skin care routine, especially if your skin is oily. Regular peeling helps remove dead skin cells that have accumulated on the surface of the skin, clog the pores and tarnish the complexion. We recommend our Stone Crop Oxygenating Fizzofoliant, which contains rice flour and Adzuki powder to polish and smooth the skin structure, and Stone Crop to moisturize and moisturize. This peeling for everyday use gently removes impurities with its light effervescent effect and ensures a perfectly polished complexion.

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Stone Crop Oxygenating Fizzofoliant

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6. Treat your skin to a mask

Dr. Oz recommends applying a clay mask once or twice a week to degrease summer skin. Our Balancing Masque Duo contains kaolin clay and charcoal to remove oil, dirt and bacteria that cause excess sebum, and Buchu leaf extract to reduce oil production and mattify the skin's appearance. Add the moisture Grapefruit cheek treatment to restore moisture to the skin and minimize the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles.

7. Yes, you still need to moisturize

Adding moisture to oily skin may not seem intuitive, but hydrating the skin is key to maintaining balance and controlling oil production. If you're wondering, "Should you use oily skin moisturizer?" The answer is a resounding yes. If you are looking for the best moisturizer for oily skin, we recommend the Clear Skin Probiotic Moisturizer. This beauty editor favorite includes cucumber juice, tea tree, and willow bark (a natural astringent) to tighten and reduce the appearance of your pores, leaving you with soft – never shiny – skin.

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Probiotic moisturizer for clear skin

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How do you deal with oily skin? We'd love to hear your tips and tricks! Let us know in the comments below and join the conversation on social media.

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