BitLocker, which is Microsoft’s software encryption for SSDs, has run into its fair share of issues over the years since its release. And now there’s another potential problem looming over Windows 11 users with the upcoming version 24H2 update.
There’s a new report that Windows 11 version 24H2, also called the 2024 update, “may enable BitLocker by default during installation” across various versions of Windows including Home edition, according to German news outlet Deskmodder (reported on by Neowin). Why is this considered bad news? For several reasons.
What’s the problem?
The first is that using BitLocker for encryption can seriously slow down your PCs’ performance by up to 45% in Windows Pro, and would most likely affect other versions of the OS similarly. This occurs due to Windows 11 constantly prompting encryption and decryption processes with data on your SSD while your computer carries out read and write operations.
The second issue is that a user unfamiliar with encryption in general or this specific issue with BitLocker could encrypt their data without knowing and then not be able to decrypt and recover their data due to misplacing or not saving the needed key.
There’s also a third issue with BitLocker in terms of security as well — according to YouTuber Stacksmashing, its encryption can be cracked remarkably easily. Their video demonstrates that if you’re using either a Windows 10 or Windows 11 Pro device with a dedicated external Trusted Platform Module (TPM), your encrypted data can be decrypted and read. You only need a $10 Raspberry Pi Pico, physical access to the target endpoint, and the knowledge of how to do it.
How to fix it
Of course, there is a simple way to fix this auto encryption. You only need to disable Device Encryption inside Privacy & security in Settings. Thankfully users have that option, but many casual Windows 11 users, especially those with Windows 11 Home, may not be aware of the situation, let alone how to fix it.
Hopefully, if this report is true, Microsoft will disable auto-encryption before the update launches. It’s not necessary and causes more problems than it really solves.
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An MSI overclocker has alleged that the upcoming Intel Arrow Lake processor could be coming as early as Q3 2024 which would be significantly ahead of what we’ve previously thought.
As reported by KitGuru, an MSI overclocker named Toppc has dropped hints about the MSI Dragon Event in Wuhan, China which is rumored to feature information on the “next” platform which is heavily speculated to be the socket LGA 1851 desktop processors – Arrow Lake-S (via Chiphell).
Previously, it’s been rumored that we would not see Intel Arrow Lake until 2025 so the news that the chipset generation could be coming in just a few months is certainly welcome news. This source also corroborates that the Core Ultra 9, Core Ultra 7, and Core Ultra 5 models will be exclusive to DDR5 RAM, as with AMD‘s AM5 socket.
In terms of what we can expect from the Intel Core Ultra 200 lineup, the flagship of the next-gen CPU generation is believed to be the Ultra 9 285K. According to Wccftech, it’s alleged that this top-end chipset will top out at 5.5 GHz which is down significantly from the 6 GHz of the Intel Core i9-14900K and the 6.2 GHz of the 14900KS.
For reference, that’s the same out-of-the-box speed as the Alder Lake flagship model, the 12900KS, which debuted over three years ago. With changes in architecture, going from socket 1700 (Hybrid) over to socket 1851 (Disaggregated), it seems as though Intel is prioritizing efficiency over raw power with its upcoming CPU generation.
A Q3 release date is possible, but unlikely
Q3 2024 is between July and September which means Intel Arrow Lake could debut anywhere from two to three months from now. Considering the rumors circulating pointing at an end-of-year or early 2025 release date, we’re leaning more towards a later rather than sooner release date, but the K variants could come first.
Toppc has been on the money with leaks and rumors in the past, most notably with the pre-release information surrounding socket AM5 AMD CPUs in 2022 (via Chiphell). That lends credence to the fact we may not be waiting as long, as MSI’s internal events could suggest an earlier release, but we aren’t convinced of a summer release date at this time.
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It’s fair to say that things have been turbulent for Arrow Lake. Recently, the pre-release silicon has been available for sale illegally in China. Engineering samples are being sold for as little as $14, however, even if the hardware is in the fabrication process that doesn’t necessarily mean it will be ready for prime time within the next three months. We’ll be keeping you updated on all things Arrow Lake as they happen.
During Western Digital’s recent Q3 earnings call, CEO David Goeckeler disclosed that the ever-growing need for higher capacity and speedier data access from customers across the world is pushing the company to expand its solid-state capacities.
The company chalked up a profitable quarter, with revenues soaring over forecast to $3.46 billion, a 29% YoY rise. The company managed to turn around a streak of losses, reporting a $135 million profit. These achievements are in stark contrast to rival Seagate, which posted an 11% YoY reduction in its revenues to $1.66 billion.
Goeckeler underlined that Western Digital’s improved financial performance was a result of the company’s efforts to offer a more diversified product range. He also said that WD was committed to delivering larger SSD capacities off the back of growing demand for AI-related applications. He said customers “want them [SSDs] in much bigger capacity points, 30- and 60-terabyte capacity points.”
HAMR HDD technology
Reporting on the third quarter results, Blocks & Files wrote “WD currently ships DC SN640 TLC PCIe gen 3 SSDs with up to 30.72 TB capacity and PCIe gen 4 SN650 and 655 drives with 15.36 TB. We now expect 60 TB SSDs to be announced by WD later this year.”
Without going into details of the exact capacities being worked on, Goeckeler said the company was expanding the size of the drives in line with what customers were demanding, stating WD is “increasing capacity and going through a qualification on that. So, we’re in that process with customers.”
He also discussed hard-drive recording (HAMR) technology, including the issues surrounding it, stating, “we’ve been working on HAMR for quite some time. We understand HAMR extremely well. We understand all the issues with HAMR, and what it takes to get it qualified. Clearly, we’re doing that all behind the scenes, because we have a product portfolio with the best TCO we can offer in the market today, and we can do that all the way up to 40 terabytes.” Western Digital’s rival Seagate recently announced the results of an experimental test that showed one of its hard drives using HAMR could run continuously for over 6,000 hours.
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Continuing a yearly tradition, Apple has revealed this year’s Pride Collection celebrating the LGBTQ+ community. The 2024 set consists of two new wallpapers for iPhones and iPads plus a new watch face and wristband for the Apple Watch.
Launching first on May 22 is the band which is called the Pride Edition Braided Solo Loop. Apple states the color scheme was inspired by multiple pride flags. The pink, light blue, and white threads are meant to “represent transgender and nonbinary” people, while “black and brown symbolize Black, Hispanic, and Latin communities” plus groups who have been hurt by HIV/AIDS. Laser-etched on the lug are the words “PRIDE 2024”.
The Pride Braided Loop will be available in both 41mm and 45mm for $99. It’ll fit on the Apple Watch SE as well as the “Apple Watch Series 4 or later” models. You can purchase it in the US on the 22nd at a physical Apple Store or on the company’s website. Other global regions can buy the band on the following day. No word on how much it’ll cost outside the United States, although we did ask.
Dyanmic wallpaper
The wallpaper coming to Apple hardware is known as Pride Radiance. What’s different about it is it’s not a static image, but rather dynamic. On the Apple Watch, the streams of light actively trace the numbers of the digital clock. They even react in real-time to the wearable moving around. 9To5Mac claims in its coverage users can customize the look of the wallpaper by choosing “from several style palettes.”
On iPhones and iPads, Pride Radiance is also dynamic, but it doesn’t trace the clock. Instead, the light spells out the word “pride” on the screen. Those interested can download the wallpaper through the Apple Watch and Apple Store app “soon”. An exact date wasn’t given. However, the company did confirm it’ll roll out with iOS 17.5, iPadOS 17.5, and watchOS 10.5.
This is noteworthy because, up until this recent post, the company had yet to announce when the next big software update would arrive for its devices. iOS 17.5 in particular is slated to introduce several interesting features such as the ability to download apps from developer websites instead of the Apple Store. We did see clues last week that the company is working on implementing Repair State. This places iPhones “in a special hibernation mode” whenever people take the device in for repairs.
Given the fact Repair State appears to still be in the early stages, we most likely won’t see it on iOS 17.5 a few weeks from now; although it may roll out on iOS 18.
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While I hesitate to call the Rabbit R1 AI companion device useless, I would not describe it as useful. This is a cute, orange gadget that has spent much of its brief time in my pocket. I have little to reason to pull it out. And why would I? It does nothing better than my iPhone 15 Pro Max and the dozens of apps I have on it. It’s not even a better AI device than a smartphone with Gemini, Copilot, or ChatGPT.
Even the design, which gets points for solid construction and cute, retro looks, fails to inspire. The touch-screen, physical scroll wheel navigation is one of the worst system interaction strategies I’ve ever encountered. RabbitOS’s incredibly linear navigation only exacerbates the problem. I can’t remember the last mobile piece of consumer electronics that didn’t know to return to a home screen if you weren’t using it. I’d argue the developers took the “rabbit hole” metaphor a little too seriously and designed an operating system that is nothing but rabbit holes and the only way you get out of them is by carefully backing up.
Rabbit R1 was supposed to be different. it was supposed to be special. It’s not a smartphone and was never intended to be one or even compete with one. Instead, Rabbit tossed traditional smartphone and app tropes out the window and developed something new: a way of connecting your intentions to action without the need for apps. A new AI or Large Action Model (LAM), would connect spoken requests to app logins and then handle all the interactions and execution for you.
Specs
What’s in the box: Rabbit R1 Weight: 115g Dimensions: 3in. x 3in. x 0.5in. Battery: 1000mAh RAM: 4GB Storage: 128GB Display: 2.88in. TFT Connectivity: WiFi (2.4GHz and 5GHz), Bluetooth 5, SIM card-support Location: GPS Camera: 8MP CPU: MediaTek MT 6765
In practice, this means that you’re logging into your Uber, Door Dash, Spotify, and Midjourney accounts through the Rabbit Hole desktop interface and then using the Rabbit R1 hardware, its push-to-talk system, and on-board AI to request rides, food, music, and generative images.
Would it shock you to hear that most of that didn’t work for me? It’s not all Rabbit’s fault. Spotify won’t accept third-party music requests unless you have a paid account. Doordash couldn’t complete the sign-in. Midjourney works but the image generation is happening in Discord and not inside the Rabbit.
LAM turns out to be unimpressive and somewhat jerry-rigged. The built-in large language model that works with Rabbit Vision is somewhat better but why would I buy another $199 piece of hardware to duplicate something I can do with a cheap phone, much less the best phone currently available? I wouldn’t, and neither should you.
Rabbit R1: Pricing & availability
The Rabbit announced the Rabbit R1 AI companion at CES 2024 in January. It shipped in April, lists for $199 (about £160/AU$290), and is currently available in the US, Canada, United Kingdom, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, South Korea, Japan, and Australia. The first run is done and new orders are shipping in June 2024.
Rabbit R1: Design & features
Image 1 of 4
(Image credit: Future)
(Image credit: Future)
(Image credit: Future)
(Image credit: Future)
You have to give Rabbit and design firm Teenage Engineering credit: the Rabbit R1 looks nothing like a traditional smartphone and that difference helps broadcast its intentions, which are ultimately nothing like your phone’s.
Rabbit R1 is a 3x3in by a half-inch thick orange paint-covered and fairly sturdy slab. It has a tiny 2.88-inch color touch screen, an enclosed, rotatable 8MP camera, and below that a large, slick scroll wheel. If you look on the side adjacent to that wheel, you’ll see a small gray push-to-talk (to the device) button that goes right through it. On the opposite side is a USB-C charge port (the device does not ship with a cable or charge adapter). Below that is a SIM slot that you can open with a fingernail, a nice change from all the phones that require a special pin.
There’s a pair of microphones along one edge and on the back is a large speaker grill (one inch by about 0.5 in).
(Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)
Inside is 4GB of RAM, which doesn’t sound like much but considering how little Rabbit R1 does on board it’s probably enough. There’s a surprising 128GB of storage that will mostly go unused. The MediaTek MT 6765 is a middling CPU but it’s unclear how much of an impact since the Rabbit R1 is usually talking to the cloud. AI image generation through Midjourney, for example, is not performed in-device. Instead, it sends prompts to the cloud where Midjourney on Discord handles them, generates images, and then sends them back to the Rabbit R1 to be displayed on the tiny, albeit sharp, screen.
Considering how important that cloud connection is to Rabbit R1’s operation you’d think it would do a better job of maintaining it, but often when I picked up the Rabbit R1, it would say “establishing connection” while I waited. If I had it connected to my smartphone, the connection would often drop out. You can, by the way, buy and install a SIM card to deliver a constant, dedicated connection to your mobile network. Still, without the ability to make calls or even send and receive texts, what’s the point of that?
Design & features score: 3/5
Rabbit R1: Performance & Battery Life
Setup is mostly pain-free, though to use Rabbit R1, I had to get it on a network, which required typing in a WiFi password into a really tiny virtual touch screen. The Rabbit R1 wouldn’t work, though, until I plugged it in and accepted the first of what would become a series of regular updates.
There isn’t much about Rabbit R1’s operation that I’d call familiar. If you pick it up, you’ll notice the screen is dark until you press the talk button. The default screen is a graphical rabbit (Rabbit’s logo) with battery life and time. There’s nothing else on the display. Touching or tapping the screen does nothing. It’s important that you get used to talking to Rabbit R1, as it’s the only way to access its limited feature set. At least Rabbit R1’s microphones are powerful enough to pick up my requests even when I whisper them.
(Image credit: Future)
Rabbit R1 doesn’t do much of anything on its own. There’s the cloud-based large-language model (LLM) that does a decent job of answering questions about the weather, history, and other general-interest topics. It’s also quite good at reading labels. I noticed that when I pointed it at a rocket model, it accurately identified it and then walked me through the bullet list of details on the box. The built-in camera is not for taking pretty pictures (what do you expect from an 8MP sensor?) and is instead used with Rabbit Vision.
The camera is usually hidden but when I double-click the Talk button, the camera swivels to face out from the back of the Rabbit R1 – you use the scroll wheel to flip the camera from front to back and vice versa. I can hold the button down to ask Rabbit R1 to, for instance, describe what it’s seeing. After a few seconds, it usually responds accurately and in surprising detail.
(Image credit: Future)
It did well identifying a banana, a camera, and me as a late middle-aged man. But when I asked it to to help me plan a meal based on what it could see in my refrigerator, it only described what it saw in the fridge and told me there were many options. However, it did not describe a single dish and when I followed up and asked it to suggest a meal based on what’s in my fridge, it said it could not order food.
(Image credit: Future)
I don’t speak any other languages, so I tested Rabbit R1’s real-time translation abilities by letting it listen to some Japanese language videos on YouTube. I told it to translate Japanese to English and, when I held the talk button to let it listen and then released it, the Rabbit R1 quickly displayed on screen and repeated the conversation in English. That was pretty impressive, though, the lack of on-screen guidance on how to make this work was frustrating. Most people not comfortable with technology might just give up.
I can relive all these interactions with Vision through the online “Rabbit Hole,” which keeps the text and images from each interaction in calendar order. There’s no search function but each entry includes a trashcan icon so you can delete it.
Rabbit R1 doesn’t include communication, email, messaging, social media, games, or anything that might prompt me to engage with it more regularly. It’s just an AI wrapped inside a device.
(Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)
There are some settings and controls for things like volume control. To access them you have to press the Talk button and then, I kid you not, shake Rabbit R1. To navigate the menu, you’ll need to use the large orange scroll wheel. This wheel is one of Rabbit’s worst decisions. I found it slippery and hard to turn. I hate it.
Navigating the Settings menu required a series of turns and presses. You navigate down to a menu item and then reverse those steps to get back home. It’s almost as if the designers never used a smartphone. If I weren’t testing the Rabbit R1, I might’ve pitched it out a window.
Rabbit R1 gets points for cute graphics. This is what I saw when I recharged the handset. (Image credit: Future)
Initial battery life on the Rabbit R1 was not good and I watched as it lost a quarter of it’s battery life in the space of an hour. Subsequent updates seemed to help that a bit but I still think battery life drains far too fast (even when you’re not using it). The average smartphone is more efficient and lasts far longer.
Performance and Battery Life Score: 2.5/5
Rabbit R1: Final verdict
If all it took to achieve success in consumer electronics is to deliver an adorable design at a relatively affordable price, Rabbit R1 might be a success. But that’s not the real world.
Rabbit R1 doesn’t do enough to replace your smartphone or even operate as a decent companion. It’s limited, and poorly thought out and much of the magic it promises happens – slowly – in the cloud and then is delivered back to this underpowered orange product.
If Rabbit hopes to lead the AI gadget charge, it better go back to the drawing board for Rabbit R2.
It’s finally time for the iPad to shine. After a long break between updates, Apple‘s iPad lineup looks like it will get more than a major update and design refresh during the May 7 ‘Let Loose’ Event. It could improbably be the showcase for the newest piece of Apple Silicon and Apple’s Generative AI strategy.
There’s much about this May 2024 Apple iPad Event that’s unusual. First, it’s being held early in the morning on May 7, starting at 7 AM PT in Apple’s hometown of California. Apple usually starts events hours later in the morning, Pacific time.
Second, it’s a virtual event but Apple is calling this, what I expect to be a pre-taped video presentation, a ‘Keynote.’ Keynotes are usually the first speech in a bigger, ongoing event. To my knowledge, there’s nothing ongoing beyond whatever Apple CEO Tim Cook and his cohorts deliver in what is expected to be a 35-minute presentation, according to reliable leaker Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman.
Apple’s World Wide Developer Conference (WWDC) is now just a little more than a month away, but Apple has apparently chosen this iPad event to reveal a new piece of Apple Silicon: the M4 Chip.
But wait, it gets weirder.
A very different event
Apple’s own art makes it clear this event will be about the iPad, creativity, and maybe something more. What if those Apples were generated by Apple AI? (Image credit: Future)
Most rumors put that new M4 inside Apple’s anticipated, high-end iPad Pro 12.4 inch tablet (just one of multiple, anticipated new iPads that includes a pair of new iPad Air tablets).
Typically, Apple introduces Apple Silicon updates in its popular Mac line. The Apple M3 chip showed up in the iMac, MacBook Pro 14, and then the excellent MacBook Air 13 earlier this year. Similarly, the MacBook Air, Mini, and MacBook Pro launched with various flavors of the OG Apple M1 in 2020 before that Apple Silicon showed up in the iPad Pro in 2021, then the following year on the iPad Air.
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That’s not all. There are indications that Apple could preview its AI approach on the iPad Pro, a fair assumption since most believe Apple is cooking up on-device Generative AI via the anticipated M4 chip.
Perhaps this will be just a glimpse. Seriously, how much would Apple share about the AI strategy with its developers’ conference so soon, in just over a month? No matter what Apple shows on the iPad, Tim Cook recently made it clear that Apple’s AI intentions scale way beyond a single device. As he told investors last week on the Apple earning’s call, “We see generative AI as a very key opportunity across our products and believe that we have advantages that set us apart there.”
Apple Generative AI is not just an iPad, Mac, or iPhone play. It’s potentially a broad and strategic shift in focus that will underpin the Apple ecosystem.
But let’s go back to Tuesday’s Apple Event.
Getting out ahead of the competition
What Apple CEO Tim Cook says before an Apple Event always matters. (Image credit: Getty Images / Justin Sullivan)
If all these things are true, Apple is suddenly pulling the iPad firmly back into the spotlight, entrusting it with launching its latest custom CPU and Apple AI. It’s a big vote of confidence and a lot of responsibility for a somewhat ignored product category that has, at least on the sales side, floundered a bit in recent years.
Speaking of which, Apple also promised in the earnings call that iPad sales would see double-digit growth in the next quarter. That’s likely confirmation that this is an iPad event, and that Apple will offer more than just a lightweight update.
While I’m surprised that Apple is introducing new chips and AI features to the product line in a somewhat backward fashion, it also makes sense. Between now and WWDC 2024, both Microsoft and Google will hold major events, Microsoft Build and Google I/O, which should tell us a lot about their ongoing Generative AI efforts. Those companies have a huge head start on Apple.
In addition, Microsoft is expected to launch new Surface tablets with Qualcomm chips, like the Snapdragon X Plus and Snapdragon X Elite. These mobile CPUs are notable, according to Qualcomm, for their efficiency and performance, especially in AI tasks. Qualcomm is already claiming that its chips beat Apple’s M3.
The best way for Apple to steal the thunder from Qualcomm, Microsoft, and Google is to pre-announced an AI-sporting Apple M4 and show off just a bit of its Apple AI before the first Qualcomm system ships, before Microsoft reveals big Copilot updates for Windows 12, and before Google impresses us with even more Gemini tricks.
Seen through that light, Apple’s rumored plans aren’t that surprising at all. The iPad gets an elevated push that sets it up for a strong 2024, Apple fans and potential switchers see yet another generational performance leap in the M4, and we finally learn how Apple plans to rule the AI-obsessed world.
As every month, a wave of movies and TV shows will leave Hulu in May – and among this month’s victims are some great crime flicks.
From heist comedies to dark gangster thrillers, there are four in particular we think you need to catch before they leave the service. Each has their own take on the crime genre, with incredible ensemble casts full of recognizable faces.
These are just a few examples of movies that are set to leave, and you can head over to our full list of everything leaving Hulu in May 2024. You can also view our list of new Hulu movies, if you’re looking for something fresh this month.
L.A. Confidential (1997)
Director: Curtis Hanson Runtime: 136 minutes Age rating: R Leaving on: May 31
Not only has L.A. Confidential proven to be a hit with crime movie fans, but it earned Oscar wins for Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Supporting Actress for Kim Basinger. Taking inspiration from film noir and set in 1950s Los Angeles, three police officers each with their individual motives seek to uncover the truth of an unsolved murder. Starring familiar faces Russell Crowe, Guy Pearce, and Danny DeVito, the members of the police force find themselves at the intersection of LA crime and the celebrity world.
Scarface (1983)
Director: Brian De Palma Runtime: 170 minutes Age rating: R Leaving streaming on: May 31
Al Pacino stars as Tony Montana, an ex-convict who makes his way to Miami after assassinating a Cuban government official to attain a green card. He joins the drug trade only to become the biggest drug lord in the state, not afraid to inflict the worse kinds of violence on to people who try to get in his way. But his desires and thirst for power get to his head, and soon his world begins to fall apart.
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The Big Lebowski (1998)
Director: Joel Coen Runtime: 117 minutes Age rating: R Leaving streaming on: May 31
From the creators of the Oscar winning movie Fargo (1996), The Big Lebowski is a crime comedy that follows Jeff ‘The Dude’ Lebowski (Jeff Bridges), a burnout and keen bowler who has the same name as millionaire Jeffrey Lebowski (David Huddleston). When The Dude is mistaken for the millionaire, he’s beaten by thugs and is roped into paying a debt he knows nothing about. He recruits his bowling friend Walter (John Goodman) to gain compensation, but they are greeted with even more trouble.
Ocean’s Eleven (2001)
Director: Steven Soderbergh Runtime: 116 minutes Age rating: PG-13 Leaving streaming on: May 31
Soderbergh’s heist comedy is a remake of the 1960 film of the same name, and features a stellar cast of familiar Hollywood faces, including George Clooney, Brad Pitt and Julia Roberts, just to name a few. Just a day into his parole period after a prison stint, Danny Ocean (Clooney) begins the roll out for his plan to conduct the biggest heist in history. His targets; casinos owned by Terry Benedict (Andy Garcia), who also happens to be the new lover of Danny’s ex-wife (Roberts).
Microsoft has announced a new, upcoming feature, that aims to solve a decades-old conundrum with DNS security.
The feature is called ZTDNS, or Zero Trust Domain Name System, and is currently entering private preview. Microsoft promised a separate announcement once the feature makes it to the Insiders program.
In a blog post, Microsoft explained how virtually since its inception, the process of translating human-readable domain names into IP addresses was, from a security standpoint, a major risk. Due to the way DNS was designed, IT admins were often faced with a choice: to either add cryptographic authentication and encryption to DNS and risk losing visibility over malicious traffic, or route DNS traffic in clear text and leave no option for the server and the client device to authenticate each other, which is as equally risky.
No new protocols
To solve this problem, Microsoft decided to integrate the Windows DNS engine with a core part of Windows Firewall – Windows Filtering Platform – directly into end devices.
Commenting for Ars Technica, VP of research and development at Hunter Strategy, Jake Williams, said integrating these engines will allow Windows Firewall to be updated with a per-domain name basis. In other words, organizations will be able to tell clients “only use our DNS server, that uses TLS, and will only resolve certain domains.” Microsoft calls this DNS server or servers the “protective DNS server.”
“For DNS servers to be used as Protective DNS servers for ZTDNS lockdown, the minimum requirement is to support either DNS over HTTPS (DoH) or DNS over TLS (DoT), as ZTDNS will prevent the use of plain-text DNS by Windows,” Microsoft explained in its blog post. “Optionally, use of mTLS on the encrypted DNS connections will allow Protective DNS to apply per-client resolution policies.”
To conclude, Microsoft stressed that ZTDNS doesn’t include new network protocols, which should enable an “interoperable approach” to domain-name-based lockdown.
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The Corsair One i500 isn’t necessarily the most powerful gaming PC out there, it’s not very upgradeable, and in terms of style, it’s the kind of product that will inspire some very strong opinions — including my own.
Its specs are such that it is an easy contender for the best gaming PC of 2024 just in terms of performance, and its price is absolutely in line with the kinds of gaming rigs I’ve seen running Core i9-14900K and RTX 4080 Super or RTX 4090 GPUs.
Starting at $3,599.99 / £3,499.99 (about $5,220), this isn’t a cheap gaming PC, but for what you’re getting in terms of specs, you’d normally be getting a standard mid-tower PC case, usually in black, with large RGB fans with a tempered glass side showing off even more RGB trim, and you’d still be paying nearly $3,500 or more for the privilege.
That is to say, most gaming PCs today lean so heavily on RGB to define their style, that ‘style’ isn’t really even a factor when considering which one to buy. The cases might vary, they might have a wraparound glass panel to show off the insides more fully, but the fundamental design principle of ‘show off the components’, which are lit up like a carnival, remains the same no matter what PC you buy.
The Corsair One i500, meanwhile, doesn’t even have Corsair iCue, the company’s proprietary RGB control software. It does have RGB, namely in the two trim lines that flank the case’s wooden front panel, but it’s limited compared to other gaming PCs. Instead, the Corsair One i500 uses a wooden front panel and fabric side panels to define its aesthetic, along with the aluminum case underneath that comes in either black or silver.
Depending on the case color, you’ll get a different wooden front panel (a walnut color for the black case and a pine color for the silver), and both cost the same, so you won’t have to pay a premium for one over the other. The PC also comes with a headphone hanger attachment that can fit onto either side of the case, and there are more than enough ports for whatever peripherals you have.
More than anything, this PC reminds me of the Atari 2600 from my childhood, equipped as it was with a wooden panel along the top edge like everything else was in the early 1980s. That quickly gave way to hard black plastic in later models and soon consoles and later PCs left behind natural textures for futuristic flash and forms that persist up to the present. It’s in this milieu that the Corsair One i500 feels like something dropped into the gaming PC market out of a flying Delorean. After so many years of RGB and aggressive gamer aesthetic, it’s still shocking how something as simple and retro as a wood panel on the front can feel so refreshing.
It’s not all positive, though. If there is anything that can be considered a negative with this PC, it’s its lack of easy upgradability. The small form factor case is going to limit what you can fit in it, but the GPU AIO cooler also means that any GPU upgrades in the future are not going to be as simple as dropping in a new graphics card in a few years. You can more easily upgrade the SSD and RAM, however.
But this isn’t really a gaming PC for builders or tinkerers. This is much more a gaming PC for those who want the best without messing with the cables and components, but who also want their new gaming PC to reflect their significant investment. In that, the Corsair One i500 is unmatched.
Corsair One i500: Price & availability
(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)
How much is it? Starting at $3,599.99 / £3,499.99 (about $5,220)
When is it available? Available May 6, 2024
Where can you get it? You can get it in the US and the UK at launch, with Australia availability in June 2024.
The Corsair One i500 is available in the US and UK now, starting at $3,599.99 and £3,499.99, respectively. It will be available in Australia in June, but official pricing hasn’t been released for the APAC region yet.
Both configurations available at launch come with an Intel Core i9-1400K processor and 2TB NVMe storage, and the base configuration comes with an Nvidia RTX 4080 Super and 32GB DDR5 RAM, while the max configuration comes with an Nvidia RTX 4090 and 64GB DDR5 RAM for $4,699.99 / £4,699.99.
This is more expensive than something like the current Alienware Aurora R16, which maxes out at an Intel Core i9-14900KF, RTX 4090, 64GB DDR5 RAM, and 2TB PCIe NVMe storage for $4,049.99 / £3,919. In Australia, the Aurora R16 maxes out at AU$5,772.80 for an Intel Core i9-14900KF, an Nvidia RTX 4080 Super, 64GB DDR5 RAM, and 2TB storage.
Other gaming PCs like the Acer Predator Orion 7000 and HP Omen 40L will sell for roughly the same as the Aurora R16, so the Corsair One i500 is going to be more expensive than the competition, but its competition also features much of the same style as every other gaming PC you’ve seen in a Best Buy or Curry’s for the past decade. Whether the Corsair One i500’s style is worth the extra premium will be up to you, but after all the gaming PCs I’ve reviewed over the years, I believe it’s absolutely worth the premium.
Corsair One i500: Specs
(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)
Up to an RTX 4090 with AIO liquid cooling
Not easily upgradable
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Corsair One i500 Specs
Header Cell – Column 0
Base configuration
Max configuration
Price
$3,599.99 / £3,499.99 (about AU$5,220)
$4,699.99 / £4,699.99 / $4,AU$5,772.80
CPU
Intel Core i9-14900K
Intel Core i9-14900K
GPU
Nvidia RTX 4080 Super
Nvidia RTX 4090
Memory
32Gb DDR5
64GB DDR5
Storage
2TB PCIe NVMe SSD
2TB PCIe NVMe SSD
Corsair One i500: Design
(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)
Gorgeous small form-factor case
Ample cooling fans
Fabric side panels might get grimey over time
(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)
The Corsair One i500’s biggest appeal is its style.
I haven’t seen a wood-paneled gaming device since the Atari 2600, and that device was released when I was a toddler. That’s been enough time, I think, for a wood-paneled device to be cool again, and given the state of PC gaming hardware for the past several years, seeing something new is more than just refreshing.
I can’t say that the Corsair One i500 will transform PC gaming culture to move beyond its decade-old Decepticon-inspired PC cases with over-the-top RGB lighting, but I hope it inspires a new paradigm for what companies can do with a gaming PC. The market desperately needs it.
In terms of specific design notes, this is technically a small form factor gaming PC, though it is bigger than something like the Asus ROG G22CH. Taller than it is wide or deep, this is more like a gaming console than a traditional gaming PC. If you’ve been looking for a living room PC, this will fit right in with a living room aesthetic.
(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)
If you spend this much money on a gaming PC, you should hopefully be able to upgrade to an Nvidia 5000 series graphics card in a few years, but the small form factor case is going to limit what size GPU you can fit.
On top of that, the graphics card in this case is unshrouded, relying on an AIO GPU cooler to manage heat dissipation. You could obviously take all of the fans and heatsink off of any future graphics card you buy and fit it into this PC, but understandably, this is a fairly advanced modification for a GPU.
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(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)
(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)
(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)
(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)
(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)
(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)
On top of the internals, there are a number of distinct design features that you won’t really find anywhere else.
First, the side panels are covered in a soft, breathable fabric. This creates a very cool look to the PC, but fabric in tech devices tend to discolor and gunk up over time, especially if they cover a fan blowing dust out of a PC case.
Still, the fabric panels are a beautiful design touch. Another very cool feature is the tap-to-activate light on the backside of the case, which you can activate to light up the back ports while you’re plugging in peripherals and other cables. It’s a small touch, but given that the backside of a gaming PC can often be cast in shadow, having an easy way to illuminate the area in question is incredibly useful.
Taken all together, the Corsair One i500 is the coolest prebuilt gaming PC I’ve ever used, and it’s all the more impressive given how far it stretches past the ‘accepted’ gamer aesthetic into something new. I’m sure a lot of people won’t like the design of this PC, but I don’t care. The fact that Corsair took the risk to make a dramatically different kind of PC earns five stars in my book.
Corsair One i500: Performance
Fantastic gaming 4K performance
You can probably get the same kind of performance for cheaper if you don’t mind less appealing aesthetics
Now, as good as the Corsair One i500 looks, this is a gaming PC, so its performance matters as much as — if not more than — its aesthetics. In this regard, you won’t be disappointed with this PC.
Its starting GPU, the RTX 4080 Super, is one of the best 4K graphics cards on the market, second only to the Nvidia RTX 4090, which is an optional upgrade for the Corsair One i500. So no matter which GPU you get, you’ll be able to get 4K@60FPS on just about any title on the market, especially if you enable Nvidia’s DLSS 3 in games like Cyberpunk 2077 and any game that features ray tracing.
The RTX 4090, however, is the only graphics card I’ve ever tested that can get you close to 60 FPS in Cyberpunk 2077 with ray tracing maxed out without upscaling, so if you’re looking to play 4K at native resolution, you do at least have the option of going with the RTX 4090.
Given the hardware here, this is also a very competent creative performer, so those who like to get some work done will like what’s on offer here, but I wouldn’t call this the best workstation PC going. This is a gaming PC through and through, and it’s here that this PC excels.
Should you buy the Corsair One i500?
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Corsair One i500 Scorecard
Category
Verdict
Score
Value
While this isn’t a cheap gaming PC, compared to similarly speced competitiors, the price is pretty decent for such a high-end gaming PC.
★★★★☆
Specs
While you can get some of the best specs possible right now, upgradeability is much more limited than with other gaming PCs. You still get a water cooled GPU, which is pretty awesome.
★★★★★
Design
OK, so I think this is a stunningly gorgeous gaming PC that takes risks and does something radically different. You might not like its aesthetics, but it gets full marks for bravery even if some might hate how it looks.
★★★★★
Performance
The RTX 4080 Super model I tested is a fantastic performer, but opting for the RTX 4090 model will get you the best of the best performance on the market.
★★★★★
Total
Capable of keeping up with the most powerful gaming PCs on the market with an undeniable style, this is easily one of a handful
Take the strain, and three, two, one, pull! No, I’m not in the gym lifting weights, but in the woods with my Nikon DSLR and raising its optical viewfinder to my eye to compose a picture. It’s my D800‘s first outing in years and it’s quickly reminding me why I was so happy to switch to mirrorless. At 31.7oz / 900g and combined with my Nikon 70-200mm AF-S f/2.8 VR lens (50.4oz / 1430g) it’s well over 80oz / 2300g, and being cumbersome isn’t even the worst part.
Don’t get me wrong, I’ll come away from this walk in my local woods that’s bursting with fragrant bluebells and wild garlic with some pictures I’m super-excited about (see below), but boy do I have to work that much harder to get the results I want. And without wanting to lug a tripod around, I actually can’t get the same degree of sharpness in my pictures from this day in the dim conditions under a dense tree canopy.
There are aspects of the Nikon D800’s handling that I really enjoy and mixing up creative tools keeps me fresh as a photographer, but overall my mirrorless camera is a much more streamlined experience and I’m still glad that I made the leap from a Nikon DSLR to the Z6 II. Let’s look at where my DSLR struggles begin.
1. Carrying the gear
(Image credit: Future | Tim Coleman)
My Nikon D800 from 2012 is an extra 50% heavier than the Nikon Z6 II I’m now used to, and also the Z7 II that is arguably my DSLR’s modern day equivalent. The 70-200mm f/2.8 F-mount lens is also heavier than the mirrorless Z-mount version, although not by much. Overall, there’s approximately a 20% reduction in weight in the mirrorless version of my DSLR camera and lens pairing.
The DSLR camera body is also bulkier, and I notice this quickly with the chunkier handgrip. In some ways it’s actually a better balance with the fairly large telephoto lens than what my mirrorless camera offers, but in practice I’m wanting to place the DSLR down quicker than mirrorless.
When you’re repeating the motion of bringing the camera’s viewfinder up to your eye to compose a shot, the strain starts to take hold quite quickly.
2. Composing the shot
(Image credit: Future | Tim Coleman)
I like the D800’s optical viewfinder (OVF), a lot. It’s a bright and big display through which I can immerse myself in the scene. And it’s one less digital screen to look at, and I’m all for that.
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However, what you don’t get with an OVF, like you do with a mirrorless camera’s electronic viewfinder (EVF), is exposure preview, which is supremely helpful as you go about taking photos. You get a bright display but potentially a very different looking final image, both in brightness and depth of field / bokeh.
That can cause a problem for me because I tend to fiddle with exposure compensation based on the mood I want in the picture. It’s all too easy to leave the camera at -2EV for a low-key effect and unwittingly carry on shooting dark pictures because the end result is not reflected in the OVF display. Overall, I prefer an optical viewfinder display for the feeling and an electronic viewfinder to meet my practical needs.
Another point regarding my D800 is that its screen is fixed, whereas my mirrorless camera has a tilt display which is super helpful for shooting at low angles, which I often do especially in scenarios like this. Some DSLRs like the Nikon D850 also have a moveable screen, but most don’t, and once you’re used to working from a tilting or swivel screen, it’s hard to go back to a fixed one.
3. Focusing issues
(Image credit: Future | Tim Coleman)
Focusing isn’t bad with the D800. It’s actually very good, but it’s not as refined as the Z6 II mirrorless camera. It’s evident as I pinpoint certain bluebells – the focus points simply aren’t small enough. I wrestle with autofocus as it hunts for the subject that’s right there, more so than with mirrorless.
If I was taking portraits today, I’d be much more relaxed with my mirrorless camera too thanks to its reliable subject and eye detection autofocus, whereas my D800 has regular back-focusing issues.
I’ve also become accustomed to composing shots through the Z6 II’s LCD display, often instead of the viewfinder. If I try to do the same – focusing through the D800’s Live View – it is a significantly worse experience, too. Nikon DSLRs aren’t really designed to be used for photography with autofocus through Live View, though Canon DSLRs do a better job.
4. No image stablization
When looking closely at the detail of the tree bark in sharp focus, there’s a subtle softness that comes with shooting handheld using a high-resolution DSLR like the D800. (Image credit: Future | Tim Coleman)
The single thing I miss the most when opting for my DSLR over mirrorless is in-body image stabilization, which in the Z6 II enables me to shoot handheld in more situations.
I remember when I first bought my D800 just how unforgiving its 36MP sensor was regarding camera shake and its resulting effect – softening detail. At the time, my golden rule to calculate the minimum acceptable shutter speed for sharp shots was shutter speed equals the focal length of your lens – for example, 1/200sec when shooting at 200mm.
That rule went out the window with the D800, the highest resolution full-frame sensor ever, and I would have to be conservative by around 2EV. At the same 200mm focal length a faster than normal 1/1000sec was as slow as I could go really. Or I could bring out the tripod to eliminate camera shake.
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(Image credit: Future | Tim Coleman)
(Image credit: Future | Tim Coleman)
(Image credit: Future | Tim Coleman)
(Image credit: Future | Tim Coleman)
(Image credit: Future | Tim Coleman)
(Image credit: Future | Tim Coleman)
(Image credit: Future | Tim Coleman)
I don’t want a tripod for my shooting techniques where I need maximum portability, like this day in the woods, nor do I want to damage the woodland and bluebells – I need a light footprint. No, I’m going handheld all the way.
Now I’m in these woods shaded by a dense tree canopy and the shutter speed I need to use with the 70-200mm lens requires a high ISO, even with the f/2.8 aperture. Put simply, the quality of detail I can get in this scenario cannot match what I can with my mirrorless camera which is equipped with image stabilization and able to shoot at slower shutter speeds and low ISO because it compensates camera shake.
The photos I came away with using my DSLR
Visually most woodlands are messy. You have to search long and hard for tidy compositions such as a single tree standing out from the rest. Or you can embrace and work with the chaos.
I’ve intentionally used a telephoto lens and shot through branches and leaves to add layers, a sense of depth and to bring in those elements that you otherwise have to work so hard to avoid. And I’m certainly not about to cut away branches or rip up flowers to get the shot I want.
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(Image credit: Future | Tim Coleman)
(Image credit: Future | Tim Coleman)
(Image credit: Future | Tim Coleman)
(Image credit: Future | Tim Coleman)
(Image credit: Future | Tim Coleman)
My overall experience bringing my DSLR back out of retirement was fine, but it has reminded me how mirrorless has evolved the camera experience for the better. Ultimately mirrorless is a more refined experience than a DSLR in just about every department.
Images are better, too. I haven’t been able to shoot handheld at ISO 100 under dense tree cover like I could with mirrorless, and there’s just an edge of softness in my pictures caused by subtle camera shake that I don’t have with mirrorless. I’m less concerned with my DSLR’s inferior corner sharpness and pronounced vignetting compared to mirrorless.
I’m not about to sell my DSLR – I’ll give it another run out soon. It’s just I’ve been reminded the extra dedication needed to the craft in order to come away with the pictures that I’m happy with. As I own both a DSLR and mirrorless camera, opting for the DSLR feels like taking the hard path.
