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Razer Blade 14 (2025) review: Still expensive, still amazing

by admin September 10, 2025

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Razer Blade 14 (2025): Two-minute review

The new Razer Blade 14 (2025) really wants to be the ultimate portable gaming laptop, and after spending two weeks with it, I can say it mostly succeeds.

Packed into a lightweight 14-inch aluminum chassis, the Blade 14 houses the latest specs you can get for a 14-inch form factor, including AMD’s new Ryzen AI 9 365 processor and up to an Nvidia RTX 5070 GPU.

Those updated specs come at a price though, as the model I tested cost $2,699.99 / £2,299.99 / AU$4,144.95 (equipped with an RTX 5070, 32GB LPDDR5X RAM, and a 1TB SSD). Entry-level models start around $2,299.99 / £1,999.99 / AU$3,599.95, while top-end configs climb as high as $2,999.99 / £2,699.99 / AU$4,899.95.

Razer Blade 14 (2025) (OLED) at Razer for $2,699.99

What impressed me most wasn’t just raw gaming power—it was how well this machine stayed cool and quiet under load.

Running Cyberpunk 2077 with ray tracing at 1800p, I averaged around 50 FPS with DLSS and frame generation enabled, though to be honest, you’ll likely want to tone down the RT if you’re gaming at max resolution for best results, regardless of title. For most of the titles tested, you can comfortably get over 60 FPS at 1800p resolution without ray tracing, or about 60 FPS with ray tracing if you use DLSS upscaling.

Equally impressive is the OLED 2.8K 120Hz display. Colors popped, response times were lightning fast, and the DCI-P3 coverage made both games and creative work shine. Add in six surprisingly loud, clear speakers, and I found myself reaching for headphones less often.

The battery life on the Blade 14 isn’t great, lasting about five to six hours in my day-to-day work mix—emails, writing, streaming, light Photoshop—before I needed a charger. While this is pretty decent for a gaming laptop,it’s still not great for day-to-day productivity.

Design-wise, there’s not much to knock here other than the somewhat shallow keyboard and a chassis that picks up fingerprints pretty much instantly. Performance-wise, you’re almost certainly going to get a better value out of Razer’s various rivals, who often offer more raw power for less money. But as a total package, the Razer Blade 14 (2025) easily contends as the best gaming laptop released this year, even if it isn’t spotless.

Razer Blade 14 (2025): Price & availability

(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)

How much does it cost? Starting at $2,299.99 / £1,999.99 / AU$3,599.95
When is it available? It’s available now
Where can you get it? You can buy it in the US, UK, and Australia through Razer’s website and other retailers.

The Razer Blade 14 (2025) is available now, starting at $2,299.99 / £1,999.99 / AU$3,599.95, coming in with an entry-level RTX 5060 GPU, 16GB RAM, and a 1TB SSD.

My review unit, which comes with an RTX 5070 GPU, 32GB RAM, and 1TB SSD, comes in at $2,699.99 / £2,399.99 / AU$4,144.95. The top-spec config bumps up the storage to 2TB and the memory up to 64GB for $2,999.99 / £2,699.99 / AU$4,899.95.

It’s available in the US, UK, and Australia directly from Razer’s website, as well as major regional retailers like Best Buy and Currys.

Understandably, the Blade 14 isn’t going to be making any best cheap gaming laptop lists anytime soon, given the laptop’s premium pedigree, but it’s still very expensive for what you’re getting. A laptop like the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14, which starts off about $200 cheaper at $2,099.99 in the US (though it is tougher to find in the UK at the moment, and what models are available in Australia end up being more expensive). The US starting configuration for the Zephyrus G14 does get you a better RTX 5070 GPU compared to the Blade 14’s RTX 5060 starting GPU. You can also get up to an RTX 5080 on the Zephyrus G14, for some serious portable gaming power that simply isn’t available on the Blade 14.

You’re ultimately paying the Razer tax here if you opt for the Blade 14, but if you want a Razer Blade laptop, this is pretty much par for the course, and there’s no denying the laptop’s other premium qualities that it brings to the table. Just be prepared to pay the higher bill at the end.

Also, in the US and UK, you have the option to select the Mercury colorway rather than the classic Razer Black, though it is only available on the RTX 5070/1TB SSD/32GB RAM configuration.

Today’s best Razer Blade 14 (2025) deals

Razer Blade 14 (2025): Specs

(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)

Up to RTX 5070 GPU, 2TB SSD, and 64GB RAM
AMD Ryzen AI 9 365 processor
Not upgradeable and not a whole lot of configuration options

The starting configuration of the Razer Blade 14 (2025) gives you the essentials for modern portable gaming: an AMD Ryzen AI 9 365, Nvidia RTX 5060 GPU, 16GB LPDDR5-8000MT/s RAM, and a 1TB PCIe 4.0 SSD. That’s more than enough for strong performance in esports and AAA titles at 1080p, high settings, and medium raytracing enabled when using upscaling, but storage will feel tight if you’re planning on installing a lot of big games.

Swipe to scroll horizontallyRazer Blade 14 (2025) base configurationHeader Cell – Column 0

Australia

Price

$2,299.99 at Razer

£1,999.99 at Razer

AU$3,599.95 at Razer

CPU

AMD Ryzen AI 9 365

GPU

Nvidia RTX 5060

Memory

16GB LPDDR5-8000MT/s

Storage

1TB PCIe 4.0 SSD

Display

14-inch QHD+ 120Hz OLED

Ports

2 x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A, 2 x USB4 Type-C (Power, DP2.1 , Data), 1 x HDMI 2.1, 1 x MicroSD Card Reader, 1 x 3.5mm Combo Jack

Battery

72WHr

Wireless

Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4

Camera

1080p IR w/ Windows Hello

Weight

3.59 lbs | 1.63 kg

Dimensions

12.23 x 8.83 x 0.64 ins | 310.7 x 224.3 x 16.2mm

The top configuration quadruples the available memory and doubles the storage over the base spec while bumping the GPU up to an RTX 5070 GPU. That makes it a very solid mobile workstation for creatives in addition to being a fantastic 1440p gaming platform in an impressively thin 14-inch form factor.

The one knock I do have on the max spec is that other thin and light gaming laptops, like the Zephyrus G14, do manage to give you options for the RTX 5070 Ti and RTX 5080, so those who want even more power do have alternatives to the Blade 14.

Swipe to scroll horizontallyRazer Blade 14 (2025) top configurationHeader Cell – Column 0

Australia

Price

$2,999.99 at Razer

£2,699.99 at Razer

AU$4,899.95 at Razer

CPU

AMD Ryzen AI 9 365

GPU

Nvidia RTX 5070

Memory

64GB LPDDR5x – 8400MT/s

Storage

2TB M.2 PCIe NVMe

Display

14-inch QHD+ 120Hz OLED

Ports

2 x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A, 2 x USB4 Type-C (Power, DP2.1 , Data), 1 x HDMI 2.1, 1 x MicroSD Card Reader, 1 x 3.5mm Combo Jack

Battery

72WHr

Wireless

Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4

Camera

1080p IR w/ Windows Hello

Weight

3.59 lbs | 1.63 kg

Dimensions

12.23 x 8.83 x 0.64 ins | 310.7 x 224.3 x 16.2mm

My review unit fell somewhere in between, with 32GB RAM and a 1TB SSD. Of the available configuration options, it offers what I think is the best balance between cost and performance.

With this setup, I never worried about performance bottlenecks in games or creative workloads, and the 1TB drive gave me enough space for my go-to Steam titles, currently Helldivers 2, Satisfactory, and a heavily modded Baulder’s Gate 3. But unless you’re loading up on small indie titles, you can expect to have to do some storage juggling for this configuration.

It’s also worth noting that this laptop is not easily upgradable, and the RAM here is soldered. There are also a limited number of configuration options to choose from, so it’s not a very customizable laptop, opting for the MacBook route rather than a more DIY approach.

Swipe to scroll horizontallyRazer Blade 14 (2025) review configurationHeader Cell – Column 0

Australia

Price

$2,699.99 at Razer

£2,399.99 at Razer

AU$4,299.95 at Razer

CPU

AMD Ryzen AI 9 365

GPU

Nvidia RTX 5070

Memory

32GB LPDDR5x – 8400MT/s

Storage

1TB M.2 PCIe NVMe

Display

14-inch QHD+ 120Hz OLED

Ports

2 x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A, 2 x USB4 Type-C (Power, DP2.1 , Data), 1 x HDMI 2.1, 1 x MicroSD Card Reader, 1 x 3.5mm Combo Jack

Battery

72WHr

Wireless

Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4

Camera

1080p IR w/ Windows Hello

Weight

3.59 lbs | 1.63 kg

Dimensions

12.23 x 8.83 x 0.64 ins | 310.7 x 224.3 x 16.2mm

Razer Blade 14 (2025): Design

(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)

Thinner and lighter than Blade 14 2024
OLED Display
Black finish is a fingerprint magnet

The Blade 14 (2025) doesn’t take any real risks with the design of the iconic laptop model, being more of a modest refinement of Razer’s aesthetic.

The biggest move here is the display, which is a gorgeous-looking OLED panel rather than the more standard IPS of the Razer Blade 14 (2024). It also comes in thinner and lighter than last year’s model, managing to shave off nearly half a pound of weight (about 0.2kg) and shrink its height by just over half an inch (nearly 2mm).

(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)

The CNC-machined aluminum chassis feels solid in the hands, with zero flex in the lid or keyboard deck. It carries that understated “MacBook for gamers” vibe that a number of the best thin and light gaming laptops hope to hit but often fall short of reaching.

(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)

The matte black colorway on my review model looks sleek, but it attracts fingerprints almost instantly. I didn’t particularly care all that much, but if you do, expect to be wiping this laptop down almost constantly if you’re sticking with the Razer Black finish.

(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)

Port selection is generous for such a compact laptop: two USB4 (with PD, DP2.1, and data), a pair of USB-A 3.2 Gen 2 ports, an HDMI 2.1 output ports, and a microSD card reader, something creatives will appreciate.

(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)

The keyboard offers per-key RGB customization through Razer Synapse, so you have lots of options for customizing the lighting design to your liking. While twinkly, the shallow 1mm key travel left typing feeling somewhat flat compared to a competing MacBook Pro or Lenovo Legion laptop, though the keyboard does feel more comfortable than that of the Dell 14 Premium.

The touchpad, by contrast, is excellent—large, smooth, and every bit as responsive as you’d find on the best MacBook.

(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)

The six-speaker setup also deserves mention. I’ve been on a The Sword kick lately, and their entire catalog sounded fantastic, filling the room with surprising depth. Meanwhile, the chaos of Helldiver 2‘s recent updates never sounded better, making it one of the few gaming laptops where I felt I didn’t need to bother with an external speaker or headphones.

(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)

The 1080p IR webcam is great, but the lack of a physical privacy shutter isn’t, though you do get the enhanced security of Windows Hello.

Like Razer Blade 14s of the past though, the design of this laptop doesn’t lend itself to much upgradability, so if you’re hoping to spec-up in the future, you’ll need to plan for that at checkout before you buy and configure it for the long-haul.

Razer Blade 14 (2025): Performance

(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)

Phenomenal gaming performance
Outstanding creative performance
Not always an improvement over previous-gen models

Day to day, the Blade 14 felt like a solid desktop PC stuffed into a svelte, lightweight 14-inch frame, making it easy to carry around with me and get things done on the go.

Over the course of about three weeks (including one week of dedicated benchmark testing), I used it for writing, photo editing, and heavy multitasking and didn’t experience any real hiccups. Even with my downright abusive Chrome-tab-habits, adding Spotify streaming to the mix and some Photoshop and Lightroom exporting sent to the background, the Blade 14 (2025) stayed fluid and never stuttered.

In my CPU benchmarks, the new Blade 14 generally outclassed its predecessors, and while it doesn’t really compete with the performance of the Apple M4 chip for professional workloads, it does generally come in second against Apple’s best mobile workstation.

Naturally, the upgraded Nvidia RTX 5070 GPU in the new Blade 14 beats the last two Blade 14 models, both of which we reviewed with an RTX 4070 GPU. There aren’t a lot of tests where we can use for an apples-to-razers comparison of the GPU in the MacBook Pro 14 and Blade 14, unfortunately, but at least in the cross-platform 3DMark Steel Nomad, it’s not even a contest, as the Blade 14’s RTX 5070 GPU scores about 3.6x better in this synthetic GPU test.

In terms of creative performance, the Blade 14 2025 more than holds its own against its predecessors and its main rival amongst the best Windows laptops for creatives, the Dell 14 Premium, falling behind only the MacBook Pro 14 in my Crossmark Creativity testing, and even then, not by much.

When it came to gaming, though, the Blade 14 really impressed me. At its native 2880×1800 resolution, Games like F1 2024 and Helldivers 2 ran well into the high double and even triple digits on ultra settings with balanced DLSS (not counting Frame Generation), while games like Satisfactory (my personal go-to) stayed above 100 FPS constantly.

Cyberpunk 2077 with ray tracing at 1080p pushed the GPU hard, averaging around 50 FPS, but enabling DLSS 4’s Transformer model made it silky smooth at 1080p and very playable at 1440p, hovering between 50-80 FPS depending on the DLSS setting used.

Since the base frame rates are north of 50 FPS when using DLSS, you can turn on Frame Generation as well to push that FPS higher to max out the display’s 120Hz refresh without having to worry about input latency, which wasn’t noticeable in my time gaming on the laptop when I used the feature.

The key standout for me though wasn’t just raw average framerates—it was stability on the low-end. Minimum frame rates on just about every game I tested with balanced upscaling were well north of 50 FPS unless I did something like trying to run Cyberpunk 2077 on its max settings with Ray Tracing Overdrive at native resolution.

This means that for pretty much any title, you’re going to get exceptionally smooth gameplay on the go, which is what a laptop like this is really all about.

Razer Blade 14 (2025): Battery Life

(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)

How long does it last on a single charge? It lasted about five hours on my standard ‘performance’ test settings
Proprietary charger required to charge it quickly, but you can use USB4 for slower charging

The battery life on the Blade 14 2025 isn’t fantastic, but it’s pretty solid for a gaming laptop, especially with some power-saving tweaks.

In my normal test settings, with max resolution and frame rate with the laptop set to Windows 11 Performance mode, the Blade 14 2025 fell behind a lot of other competing 14-inch laptops on the market, as well as its two immediate predecessors, with an average battery life of just five hours and one minute in our Web Surfing test.

It manages to do a little bit better on the gaming battery test, though it still lags behind its immediate predecessors. One thing to consider though is that of all the 14-inch laptops I tested here, only the Dell 14 Premium has an OLED panel to match what the Blade 14 is sporting, while the earlier Blade 14s and the MacBook Pro aren’t bogged down by the OLED display’s higher power consumption.

It is worth noting though that slowing down the refresh rate to 60Hz rather than 120Hz and you turn off the RGB lighting on the keydeck, you can stretch this battery life out to over eight hours.

Also, the Blade 14 2025 comes with a proprietary charging brick and port for the fastest charging and best plugged-in performance while gaming, but the USB4 ports do allow for USB-C charging, just at a slower rate.

Should you buy the Razer Blade 14 (2025)?

(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)Swipe to scroll horizontallyRazer Blade 14 (2025) Scorecard

Buy the Razer Blade 14 (2025) if…

Don’t buy it if…

Also consider

How I tested the Razer Blade 14 (2025)

I spent about three weeks with the Razer Blade 14 (2025)
I used it for everyday gaming, work, and creative tasks
I ran it through our standard suite of benchmark tests

I had the chance to test out the Razer Blade 14 2025 for about three weeks, which is about 50% longer than I usually have to devote to a single laptop review, so I really got to know this laptop.

I used it for day-to-day writing tasks (including drafting this review), as well as general productivity and creative work, including Adobe Photoshop for editing the photos shown above.

For gaming, I used it extensively as my primary gaming device, focusing on more demanding titles like Helldivers 2, Satisfactory, as well as more requirement-friendly titles like Hollow Knight: Silksong.

I’ve reviewed dozens of gaming laptops for TechRadar over the course of half a decade, ranging from the very best desktop replacements to the best budget gaming laptops, so I know what the market has to offer. I leverage that insight and expertise to help readers by offering the best advice I can on what gaming laptops offer the best value, and which are worth the splurge.

First reviewed September 2025

Razer Blade 14 (2025): Price Comparison

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September 10, 2025 0 comments

Product Reviews

The creator of Dead Space ‘would love to make an Alien game’

by admin September 10, 2025

Dead Space, along with so much sci-fi horror, probably wouldn’t exist without Alien. Ridley Scott set the bar high, and for close to 50 years the xenomorph’s first outing has informed what people want and expect from their cosmic nightmares.

So it shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise that Dead Space creator and The Callisto Protocol director Glen Schofield would be up for taking a crack at the series—though he’d rather create more original games.

He’s a fan, though, to the point where he likes to muck around in Midjourney creating different xenomorphs. Everyone needs a hobby.

“Let’s say I took on a licence,” he says. “Which I really don’t want to do; I want to make my own. Let’s say somebody came to me and said, ‘We’re going to give you the Alien licence.’ Immediately I could show you, I don’t know, maybe 100 different aliens I’ve made in Midjourney over the last two years, just because I like it. So yeah, I would love to make an Alien game.”

Getting to dabble in a huge, long-running universe usually comes with some caveats and restrictions, though. It’s why, for instance, you’re probably never going to see a Star Wars adaptation where someone hangs dong. Disney doesn’t do dong.

If 20th Century Studios—which is owned by Disney—was to give Schofield the reins, however, he wouldn’t do it unless he had complete creative control. “I have to own the creative,” he says. “That’s not even negotiable. Because I won’t make a great game unless it’s mine and I’m so ingrained in it—then I will give you 130%.”

Thanks to Aliens: Dark Descent, we’re no longer living in a world where the last decent Alien game was Isolation (which is also getting a sequel), but it still feels like a property that has a lot left to offer. The new TV show, Alien: Earth, has reinvigorated the series after an exhausting run of disappointments (though Romulus was pretty good!) while making the universe feel so much larger.

Now the xenomorphs get to share the spotlight with even more horrific monsters, like blood-sucking alien leeches who can impregnate you, or tentacled eyeballs who can turn your body into their puppet. There’s so much potential for new levels of vomit-inducing body horror.

Cool your jets, though. The way Schofield talks about games makes it clear he’s still got that bug—the desire to create. But the current state of the industry means that we shouldn’t count on him directing any more of them, let alone a new Alien game.

In July, he wrote a post on LinkedIn about a project he’d been developing with his daughter, Nicole Schofield, an environment artist who previously worked with her father on The Callisto Protocol.

“We pulled the budget down to $17 million, built a prototype with a small, talented crew, and started taking meetings,” he wrote. “People loved the concept. We got a lot of second and third meetings. But early feedback was “get it to $10M.” Lately, that number’s dropped to $2–5M. So last month, we decided to walk away. Some ideas are better left untouched than done cheap.”

Publishers and investors are becoming more risk averse, stalwart franchises are struggling, and studios that have been around for decades are being torn apart. It’s bleak. And Schofield himself has taken some hits. After The Callisto Protocol missed publisher Krafton’s sales target, he stepped down as CEO of Striking Distance Studios. Since then, most of the development team has been laid off.

“I miss it all,” Schofield said. “The team, the chaos, the joy of building something for fans. I’m still around, making art, writing stories and ideas and still cheering the industry on. But maybe I’ve directed my last game. Who knows? If so, thank you [for] playing my games.”

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September 10, 2025 0 comments

Product Reviews

Samsung 9100 Pro 8TB SSD review: Bigger, badder, and better

by admin September 10, 2025

Why you can trust Tom’s Hardware

Our expert reviewers spend hours testing and comparing products and services so you can choose the best for you. Find out more about how we test.

In response to Phison’s early and near-total dominance of the high-end PCIe 5.0 SSD market, Samsung came, saw, and…well, tried to put up a good fight with its 9100 Pro. Samsung did a lot of the same things right that it had with the 990 Pro, which was itself a fitting successor to the popular 980 Pro, by producing a fast, efficient, and consistent drive. Only one thing was missing: a high-capacity 8TB SKU designed not only to answer the Black SN850X but to take back the initiative while using the newest flagship hardware.

Samsung is no pushover. Its high-quality flash has great random read latency, something everyone desires, and the company knows how to produce a drive that, at the very least, holds its own in every other metric. The 9100 Pro isn’t the fastest drive, but it is more efficient than any of the high-end SSDs that came before it, and it performed well enough to stay in the fight. It was perhaps a little late to the party, but it has been competitive, especially with Samsung’s aggressive pricing, and we’ve only recently reviewed drives that truly improve upon it.

The shifting situation has forced Samsung to adapt in ways it didn’t have to back in the PCIe 3.0 days. For one, Samsung has priced the 9100 Pro more aggressively as we just suggested above. This works in its favor due to its superior brand recognition, even if there is some dilution. The name still sells, but perhaps not as well as it did in the past, which is why the discount is necessary. Samsung has had various issues with the 980 Pro, 990 Pro, and other drives in recent years, and this has tarnished the brand. Secondly, Samsung has begun to emphasize capacity more, with the 4TB 990 Pro release being an excellent example. Samsung introduced a new flash generation with that release – that flash is now used on the smaller SKUs as well – and released the best 4TB drive we had tested to date. It’s still our recommended PCIe 4.0 drive. So far, so good.

The problem with the 9100 Pro was, in part, that we had already tasted the Micron 4600. We knew that the upcoming SMI SM2508 controller could do amazing things, and the later-arriving Sandisk WD_Black SN8100 proved that even more strongly by coupling the controller with BiCS8 TLC flash and optimized firmware. WD, prior to this, had also released the 8TB WD Black SN850X, which claimed the throne as the best high-capacity drive on the market. The 9100 Pro needed a boost, and Samsung decided it was ready to take a step it might not have taken in the past by releasing the 8TB version of the drive. It was even willing to take the risk of releasing a double-sided monster of a drive, and that is the beast we have before us today.

Samsung 9100 Pro 8TB SSD at Samsung for $999.99

Samsung 9100 Pro Specifications

Swipe to scroll horizontally

Product

1TB

2TB

4TB

8TB

Pricing (Bare)

Heatsink

$129.99

$139.99

$199.99

$219.99

$399.99

$419.99

$999.99

$1019.99

Form Factor

M.2 2280

Interface / Protocol

PCIe 5.0 x4 / NVMe 2.0

Controller

Samsung Proprietary (Presto)

DRAM

LPDDR4X

Flash Memory

236-Layer Samsung TLC (V8)

Sequential Read

14,700 MB/s

14,800 MB/s

Sequential Write

13,300 MB/s

13,400 MB/s

Random Read

1,850K

2,200K

Random Write

2,600K

Security

TCG Opal 2.0

Dimensions Bare

80.15 (L) x 22.15 (W) x 2.38 (H) mm

80.15 (L) x 22.15 (W) x 3.88 (H) mm

Dimensions w/HS

80.15 (L) x 25 (W) x 8.88 (H) mm

80.15 (L) x 25 (W) x 11.25 (H) mm

Endurance (TBW)

600TB

1,200TB

2,400TB

4,800TB

Part Number

MZ-VAP1T0

MZ-VAP2T0

MZ-VAP4T0

MZ-VAP8T0

Warranty

5-Year

Today’s best Samsung 9100 Pro 8TB SSD deals

Samsung always planned an 8TB SKU for the 9100 Pro, which is why we had the specifications already outlined in our original review. Performance at 8TB peaks at up to 14,800 / 13,400 MB/s for sequential reads and writes, with the ability to handle up to 2,200K / 2,600K random read and write IOPS. The warranty remains at five years with up to 600TB of writes per TB of capacity, and the drive still supports encryption. The only thing we didn’t know before was the price, and Samsung has now put the MSRP at $999.99 for the base drive with another $20 for the heatsink. This level of pricing requires some discussion of its own.

Our table has revised and current pricing for the smaller SKUs, which, unsurprisingly, show much lower prices than the MSRPs from our original review. In the introduction, we discussed how Samsung had to be more aggressive with pricing, given the 9100 Pro’s market position, and this is reflected in the relatively large price swings. While the MSRP on the 8TB SKU may seem high, it’s actually reasonable given the original pricing. Even with the new pricing, it’s only 25% higher per TB than the 2TB and 4TB SKUs, which isn’t a ridiculous premium when you consider there isn’t a competing high-end PCIe 5.0 drive at 8TB right now, and Samsung had to make a double-sided drive with dense flash packages just to make this work.

Does that justify the MSRP? The presence of the 8TB WD Black SN850X, which has been priced very effectively, makes this a harder sell. Yes, you have Gen 5 bandwidth with the 9100 Pro, but you could almost buy two SN850Xs at its price if you consider the lowest sale price we’ve seen for the latter. In our opinion, the 8TB 9100 Pro can command this level of MSRP given Samsung’s name and the fact that the competition is still pushing 8TB back on their roadmaps. We also think Samsung can and will discount this to some extent. So if you’re the type of person who wants the very best right now, you can probably manage the launch pricing. If not, some patience will likely pay off. Otherwise, we still recommend the SN850X, which is a no-brainer at 8TB as far as we’re concerned.

Samsung 9100 Pro Software and Accessories

Samsung continues to offer a download for its Magician software, an all-in-one SSD toolbox that remains the industry gold standard. WD’s Dashboard is also quite good, but not everyone cares about having an SSD toolbox. This type of application is handy for checking drive health and system information, S.M.A.R.T. readings, and more.

Diagnostics and benchmarking are often included, and a toolbox is essential for getting firmware updates or engaging/disengaging drive features. Finally, the best toolboxes – and Magician falls into this category – offer imaging and backup options for your storage. There are free alternatives for this, but this is one of those rare cases where we think the manufacturer’s software gets the job done.

Samsung 9100 Pro: A Closer Look

Image 1 of 2

(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)

The 8TB 9100 Pro is a double-sided drive with four NAND flash packages. Samsung is forced to go double-sided for this SKU, as the controller and LPDDR4X DRAM occupy considerable real estate. The 236-Layer V8 TLC flash being used is manufactured in dense, 1 TB dies. This means there are sixteen dies per 2TB package, which is an incredible amount of flash to stack. Technically, thirty-two die stacks are now possible, but the yields are poor, and such die density is in high demand for enterprise applications. Samsung has, for quite some time, only delivered single-sided drives, so this departure emphasizes just how strong its desire is to be the first to 8TB.

Sixteen die packages (16DP) have long been the realistic maximum in the consumer space, but it’s much more typical to see eight or octal die packages (8DP) even for high-capacity drives. This is because it is challenging to achieve high yields and maintain acceptable signal integrity with sixteen dies, especially at the higher bus and I/O rates required for the very fastest drives. Samsung uses custom F-Chips inside the flash packages for retiming and control, but we’ve seen external multiplexors used by Crucial in the 4TB T500 and 2TB P510 to help with signal integrity. Depending on the solution, different costs are added as a drawback to reach high capacities with newer, faster flash, so the price premium for this drive is warranted in at least this respect.

The drive being double-sided does mean that some devices will have trouble fitting it, but we don’t think this is necessarily a big deal. The 9100 Pro is a high-end PCIe 5.0 drive, which has limited application in a laptop and other mobile devices, most of which still rock PCIe 4.0 M.2 slots. It will probably work fine in that reduced state, and besides, the 990 EVO Plus and its OEM counterpart already fill that role quite well.

We often say that double-sided drives can be trickier to effectively cool, but Samsung has understood the assignment: the 8TB 9100 Pro’s heatsink is designed for double-sided application, given its increased dimensions. We would recommend this high-capacity drive for desktop use, and the heatsink is an easy $20 addition. If you’re already dropping nearly $999 for the drive, a $20 upcharge is trivial.

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(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)

For more detailed and technical explanations of this controller and flash we recommend reading our original 9100 Pro and 4TB 990 Pro reviews, respectively. To provide a succinct analysis, Samsung’s Presto controller on paper overwhelms the early-adopter Phison E26, but faces stronger challenges from the newer Phison E28 and SMI SM2508. These newer controllers are more efficient and can achieve higher performance levels. That said, we remain a fan of Samsung’s complex but polished controller technology as it is highly consistent and mature. Problems that arose with the last generation of drives do remain in the minds of many, however, so perhaps some caution is warranted.

As for the flash, we remain positive about the 236-Layer V8 TLC from Samsung. It was a compromise of somewhat higher random read latency from the last generation in return for benefits in throughput and improved yields. It’s still high-quality flash that is, frankly, the way to go if you seek the highest endurance – overlooking the unfortunate issues with older flash and firmware on the 980 and 990 Pros. We think Samsung has learned from these setbacks and applied the lessons not only to the 9100 Pro but to the 8TB SKU in particular. The internal strategy appears to be to return to form in any way possible.

MORE: Best SSDs

MORE: Best External SSDs

MORE: Best SSD for the Steam Deck

Samsung 9100 Pro 8TB SSD: Price Comparison

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September 10, 2025 0 comments

Product Reviews

Bryan Fuller Wants Zendaya to Play Clarice Starling in ‘Hannibal’ Follow-Up

by admin September 10, 2025

John Travolta battles an AI with a beef against reckless drivers, Uncle Fester gets his own Wednesday spinoff, and the Scary Movie franchise still sees fit to parody I Know What You Did Last Summer. Spoilers, ahoy!

Ed

Deadline reports that John Travolta, Crystal Reed, and Chet Hanks are attached to star in Ed, an artificial intelligence-themed sci-fi thriller from director Christopher J. Scott. The story is said to concern “a sentient AI chauffeur bot that escapes the lab and begins killing reckless drivers under the guise of public safety. Its grief-stricken creator must stop the carnage before the machine evolves into the embodiment of AI gone bad.”

Harness

Hot on the heels of upcoming sports-horror movie, Him, Variety has word that Fear Street trilogy director Leigh Janiak is attached to Harness, “a thriller set in a gruesome sect” of competitive horse track racers. The story involves “a wannabe female jockey and her trainer brother-in-law” who “become entangled in an illicit relationship full of blood, sweat, and sex that pushes the limits of their bodies and the law.”

Scary Movie 6

During a recent interview with Comic Book, Marlon Wayans listed off some of the movies Scary Movie 6 plans to parody.

I mean, you know, I’m just a fan of the whole genre, man. I Know What You Did Last Summer may have something in there. I think the Scream franchise is always a great one. I think Heretic was a wonderful film. Longlegs. Get Out. Nope. There are just so many great horror films to pull from that we plan on having a field day. Sinners.

Lice

Bloody-Disgusting has our first look at Emilie Hirsch in Lice, a “gruesome throwback to ‘80s high school classics.” The plot involves a deadly lice outbreak… parents, hold onto your hats for this one…

Good Boy

Bloody-Disgusting also has a brand-new poster for Good Boy, a horror movie told from a dog’s point-of-view.

Coyotes

Kate Bosworth and Justin Long contend with a pack of hyper-intelligent coyotes in the trailer for the aptly named Coyotes.

Hannibal

Bryan Fuller revealed to Screen Rant that he wants Zendaya to play Clarice Starling in a Hannibal revival that would adapt Silence of the Lambs.

My dream project is to do a limited series of Silence of the Lambs with Mads and Zendaya as Clarice Starling. If I could put anything out into the universe, I would put that into the universe.

It’s complicated now because Martha De Laurentiis died and she had a certain section of the rights, and now, Thomas Harris is trying to get the rights all under one umbrella. And I think that’s going to take a couple of years of straightening out. But the entire cast wants to come back: Mads, Hugh, Lawrence, Katie, Caroline – like everybody’s in. It’s just a matter of: Will the rights be able to be figured out again?

Uncle Fester/Wednesday

During his recent appearance on The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon, Fred Armisen confirmed Netflix is moving forward with an Uncle Fester spinoff series.

Yeah, we’re working on it. It’s fantastic.

Alien: Earth

Finally, Krull is visually referenced in the trailer for next week’s episode of Alien: Earth.

Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.

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September 10, 2025 0 comments

Product Reviews

Hypochlorous Acid Mists Have Entered the Chat (2025)

by admin September 10, 2025

Skincare has a way of taking the body’s own biology, bottling it, and selling it back to us. Hypochlorous acid (HOCl) is the latest example. It’s a weak acid that your white blood cells naturally produce to fight infection and kill bacteria. Now it’s being spritzed across morning and nighttime routines as an all-around skin fix.

But HOCl isn’t new. Hospitals have been using synthetic versions for decades as a disinfectant. In fact, the lab-made form dates back to 1834 and was used in both World Wars. So while #SkinTok makes it sound like a cutting-edge discovery, dermatologists have known its potential for a long time.

Here’s what it is, how it works, and what dermatologists want you to know before adding it to your skincare routine.

Table of Contents

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Hypochlorous Acid, Clarified

Chemically, HOCl is a weak acid and a potent oxidant. The body produces it during an immune response, but it can also be synthesized in a lab by running an electric current through saltwater. This synthetic version was first developed in 1834, used as a disinfectant during both World Wars, and has long been employed in hospitals for wound care and even in veterinary medicine.

Unlike harsher disinfectants like bleach, HOCl is biodegradable, nontoxic, and free of noxious fumes. Actually, research shows it can kill certain bacteria faster than bleach. In skincare, it’s bottled at ultra-low, stabilized concentrations. “Think of it as your skin’s built-in defense mechanism, bottled,” writes Dr. Mollie Kelly Tufman, molecular biologist and founder of the Beauty Lab.

Why It’s In Skincare

Dermatologists have used HOCl for decades to prevent infection, keep wounds clean, and reduce scarring. Early research suggests potential in treating acne vulgaris, seborrheic dermatitis, and tumor suppression. More recently, it’s popped up as topical sprays and mists, promising to calm breakouts and soothe redness.

Its appeal comes from its antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory properties. HOCl neutralizes acne-causing bacteria and other microorganisms that trigger flare-ups. “Compared to niacinamide, which works gradually to regulate oil and support your barrier, HOCl is more of a first responder,” writes Tufman. “It shows up fast, calms things down, and makes recovery easier for irritated or breakout-prone skin.”

“Benzoyl peroxide also has antimicrobial effects, but it can be a lot more drying and irritating, so it can lead to rashes or dermatitis,” says board-certified dermatologist Gloria Lin, MD. HOCl, by contrast, is gentle enough for sensitive skin and safe for conditions like eczema, psoriasis, or rosacea. Plus, unlike benzoyl peroxide, it won’t bleach your clothes or towels.

It’s effective for reducing bacteria from helmets, masks, makeup brushes, and sweaty gym gear. Some people spritz it under their arms or on their feet for a quick refresh (though it won’t replace deodorant). In eye care, HOCl is used to help with dry eyes, styes, and conditions like blepharitis and meibomian gland dysfunction (MGD). It can also reduce microbial buildup around the lashes and eyelids.

The Caveats

There are limits. Because it’s an oxidizer, it can interfere with ingredients like vitamin C and other antioxidants. If both are in your regimen, dermatologists suggest spacing them out (vitamin C in the morning, HOCl at night). Lin also says highly acidic exfoliants like strong AHAs can disrupt HOCl’s pH.

Stability is another concern. HOCl breaks down when exposed to light, heat, or poor packaging, so most products come in opaque bottles with stabilizers. Store in a cool spot. Don’t pour it into a different container; the molecule degrades once transferred.

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September 10, 2025 0 comments

Product Reviews

Nikon’s ZR is its first cinema camera co-designed with RED

by admin September 10, 2025

Nikon has unveiled its first cinema camera developed in collaboration with the company it acquired last year, RED. The Nikon ZR (the “R” is for “RED” I imagine) is a camera that neither company could have made on its own, marrying RED’s color science and video codecs with Nikon’s advanced subject detect AF and in-body stabilization. It will go up against other creator-oriented models like Canon’s new C50 and the Sony FX3 but at a much lower price.

Nikon’s mirrorless cameras are known for their high dynamic range and the company is leaning into that for the ZR. It has a partially stacked 24MP sensor with a Dual Base ISO of 800/6400 that promises 15+ stops of dynamic range for high low-light sensitivity and greater detail in shadows and highlights. Though it doesn’t quite match the C50’s 7K resolution, it will output 12K RAW 6K video at 60 fps, or 4K at 120 fps.

The internal RAW format used will be RED’s new R3D NE and a log format called Log3G10 with the same color science as RED’s high-end cinema cameras (so it can match those in post). That’s a lighter codec designed exclusively for Nikon, but the ZR also supports Nikon’s N-RAW format along with ProRes/ProRes RAW and H.265. If you want to apply RED’s LUTs, you can load and monitor up to 10 at a time.

Nikon focused on audio as well, offering 32-bit float internal audio recording and Nokia’s OZO surround sound tech via three built-in high-performance mics. You can choose from five pickup patterns including front (super directional), front, all directions, rear and stereo (binaural) for any situation from interviews to vlogging to ASMR.

The ZR comes with subject tracking hybrid phase-detect autofocus, making it more palatable for content creators than any RED camera that has ever existed. That includes AI tracking of people (eyes, head and body) along with animals and vehicles, with nine types total. It also has five-axis in-body stabilization with 7.5 stops of smoothing, something palpably lacking in Canon’s new C50. Another key feature is digital focus-breathing compensation.

Since the ZR has no viewfinder, Nikon made the screen as big, bright and sharp as possible. It’s a 4-inch 16:10 display with 1,000 nits of brightness and full DCI-P3 HDR color coverage, with 3070K dots of resolution, one the highest of any camera display. Meanwhile, the tiny 540 gram (1.2 pound) body dissipates heat well enough to allow 6K 60 fps RAW recording for up to 125 minutes at 25C (77F) temperatures. It supports audio capture through a the digital hotshoe or a 3.5mm input and has a USB-C port for charging, data transfers and webcam/streaming, along with a headphone input. The HDMI port is unfortunately a small and flimsy Micro HDMI type, however.

For its capabilities, the Nikon ZR looks like a stunning bargain. It starts at $2,200 for the body only without accessories, which is nearly half the price of the Sony FX3 and $1,700 cheaper than Canon’s C50. Shipping is expected to start on October 20, 2025. It supports any Nikon (or third-party) Z mount lens or F mount glass with an adapter. Nikon also unveiled the $339 ME-D10 digital shotgun mike that’s compatible with the camera’s 32-bit float audio.

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September 10, 2025 0 comments

Product Reviews

Apple iPhone 17 hands-on | The Verge

by admin September 10, 2025

Apple’s big fall event just wrapped up, and we rushed out of the Steve Jobs Theater to get our hands on the latest iPhones. Here’s a look at the new iPhone 17, Apple’s base model this year, which is joined by the thinner iPhone Air and beefier iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max — there’s no Plus this time around.

The first place to start is the rear camera. Not because a lot has changed here, but rather because it hasn’t: while the iPhone 17 Pro and Air have both adopted new horizontal camera “plateaus,” the regular 17 has the same two vertically stacked lenses as last year. That means this is the only iPhone 17 that actually looks like the iPhone 16 range — which could be a good or a bad thing, depending on your perspective.

The dual rear cameras look the same, but there’s been a big change. Both lenses now use 48-megapixel sensors — a big upgrade for the ultrawide, which was previously 12 megapixels. Apple claims that the main camera will double as a 2x telephoto, while the ultrawide handles macro duties, but don’t expect a camera as versatile as those on the Pros — still, it’s better than the single lens on the Air. The selfie camera has been upgraded too, with an 18-megapixel sensor supported by Center Stage for automatic framing and even orientation adjustment.

The regular iPhone is always the last to get whatever shiny new features Apple rolls out to the Pros, but it looks especially left behind this year with the Air in the mix and a new design for the Pro. But the selfie camera improvements will be appreciated here by anyone upgrading to the base model, and the colors are pleasantly saturated in person.

You’ll get five color options with the base iPhone 17: lavender, mist blue, black, white, and sage. They’re all at the subdued, pastel end of the spectrum, though — bizarrely, you’ll have to opt for the 17 Pro’s bright orange to get a truly punchy finish this year.

That’s not to say that nothing has changed. The iPhone 17 has followed in the footsteps of last year’s 16 Pro models by shrinking its bezel for a slightly larger display, jumping from 6.1 inches in the iPhone 16 to 6.3 inches now. That means it has the same size display as the iPhone 17 Pro, giving you one less reason to upgrade.

Size isn’t the only upgrade, either. This is the first year that the base iPhone has included support for up to 120Hz refresh rates, finally matching a feature you can find on $200 Android phones. That should mean smoother scrolling and more fluid animations, helped along by the upgraded A19 chip — it’s a change that’s sometimes hard to notice at first, but is immediately apparent when you go back to a 60Hz screen. It’s also a brighter screen than before, with a peak outdoor brightness of 3,000 nits, and is protected by the new, tougher Ceramic Shield 2.

Throw in more power thanks to the updated A19 chipset, longer battery life, and support for faster 25W MagSafe charging, and the iPhone 17 is a bigger update than many of us expected.

The iPhone 17 starts at $799, the same price as the 16, but you get double the storage at 256GB. It’ll be available to order from this Friday, with devices hitting store shelves on September 19th.

Photography by Allison Johnson / The Verge

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September 10, 2025 0 comments

OM System M.Zuiko Digital ED 50-200mm F2.8 IS Pro lens in photographer's hands

Product Reviews

OM System M.Zuiko Digital ED 50-200mm F2.8 IS Pro review: an incredible wildlife and sports zoom

by admin September 10, 2025

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OM System M.Zuiko Digital ED 50-200mm F2.8 IS Pro: two-minute review

Having shot with the OM System 50-200mm F2.8 zoom, I’m now an even bigger fan of the Micro Four Thirds format for wildlife photography than I was previously. It’s a fabulous lens in every regard, with superb build quality, excellent handling and top-drawer image quality.

Above all, its bright maximum f/2.8 aperture – which is a first for a 100-400mm equivalent lens – delivers super-fast shutter speeds and better light intake than cheaper alternatives, which levels up the kind of telephoto wildlife action it’s possible to capture.

I tested the telephoto zoom with an OM System OM-1 II; together the IP53-rated weather-resistant pairing are impressively lightweight at just 59oz / 1,674g, and deliver incredible image stabilization and subject-detection autofocus performance, especially for birds – the lens’s autofocus can continuously keep up with the camera’s blazing 50fps burst shooting speeds.

I love how the lens balances with the camera, and I happily carried the pairing all day, rain or shine. Its internal zoom further protects against potential dust ingress over the long run, and I’ve no doubt it’ll last for many years of heavy use.

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(Image credit: Tim Coleman)(Image credit: Tim Coleman)(Image credit: Tim Coleman)

Detail is impressively sharp, even at f/2.8, which is the aperture I used the most. This setting also enables the use of the fast shutter speeds that are crucial for high-speed wildlife photography.

Bokeh at f/2.8 is smooth for the most part, though in some scenarios it appeared a little fussy. Close the aperture down and you lose the circular shaping, and get harder edges instead. Bokeh is fine overall, but this is probably the only real negative to mention regarding optical quality.

Close focusing impresses – just 0.78m at any focal length, for up to half-life-size macro capture.

I do have to get the small matter of the price out of the way at this point. At £3,000 (US and Australia pricing is TBC), the 50-200mm F2.8 IS Pro is less than half the price of OM System’s other pro ‘white’ lens, the 150-400mm F4.5, but almost three times the price of the 40-150mm F2.8.

In fact, it’s pricier than similar full-frame lenses – Nikon’s 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 VR S comes to mind. However, considering the features on board, the build and optical quality, and that maximum f2.8 aperture, it’s still decent value, even if many will be priced out.

I can’t fault the OM System 50-200mm F2.8 as an overall package. It’s a superb telephoto zoom, and one that I can only dream will one day live in my gear bag. If you’re a serious wildlife shooter, OM System has produced one of the best camera and lens pairing you can find.

OM System M.Zuiko Digital ED 50-200mm F2.8 IS Pro specs

Swipe to scroll horizontallyOM System M.Zuiko Digital ED 50-200mm F2.8 IS Pro specs

Type:

Telephoto zoom

Mount:

Micro Four Thirds

Sensor:

Micro Four Thirds

Focal length:

50-200mm (100-400mm effective)

Max aperture:

f/2.8

Minimum focus:

0.78m

Filter size:

77mm

Dimensions:

91.4 x 225.8mm

Weight:

38oz / 1,075g (without collar)

OM System M.Zuiko Digital ED 50-200mm F2.8 IS Pro: Design

IP53-rated weather-resistant design, internal zoom
Relatively lightweight at 38oz / 1,075g
0.78m close focusing for 0.5x (equivalent) magnification

I can’t find any fault in the 50-200mm F2.8’s design. It’s IP53-rated, and is weather-resistant and freeze-proof to -10C; its internal zoom – a feature you’ll generally only find in high-end optics – is further evidence of its rugged credentials, as it’s one less place for potential dust ingress.

Check out the images below, which show how the lens barrel remains unchanged as you zoom through the focal range.

Considering its features – particularly that focal length and maximum aperture combo – it’s lightweight too, at 38oz / 1,075g (without the removable collar). Paired with an OM System camera like the OM-1 II, the total weight is only 59oz / 1,674g, making for a comfortable all-day carry.

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(Image credit: Tim Coleman)(Image credit: Tim Coleman)

All the external controls you’d want in a telephoto zoom are here: optical stabilization, manual / autofocus switch, custom buttons, and a focus range limiter.

Focus range can be limited to 0.78-3m, which is handy for macro photography (for which the lens has that impressive minimum close-focusing distance 0.78m), or to 3m to infinity, which is the option I’d pick when shooting telephoto wildlife. A third option is the full focus distance range, which could increase the risk of focus hunting.

The lens is supplied with a tripod collar, and I tend to keep this attached even when shooting handheld, as it provides another point of contact or place to hold when shooting.

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(Image credit: Tim Coleman)(Image credit: Tim Coleman)(Image credit: Tim Coleman)(Image credit: Tim Coleman)(Image credit: Tim Coleman)

There’s no built-in teleconverter, which is a feature you’ll sometimes find in high-end telephoto lenses, including OM System’s own monster 150-400mm F4.5. However, I’d happily use OM System’s 1.4x teleconverter with this lens – I’ve used it before, and I wouldn’t expect to see any significant drop off in image quality.

Adding the 1.4x teleconverter extends the maximum reach of the lens at the cost of 1EV of light, effectively turning this into a 560mm f/4 lens. That’s still seriously impressive, and a better reach for bird photography, where subjects tend to be small and tricky to get close to.

OM System M.Zuiko Digital ED 50-200mm F2.8 IS Pro: Performance

100-400mm effective focal length with maximum f/2.8 aperture
Optical and camera stabilization combine for up to 7.5EV stabilization
Sharp detail and, for the best part, smooth bokeh
Supports 50fps burst shooting with continuous autofocus

The OM System 50-200mm F2.8 is an impressive performer in every respect. Its autofocus speed and precision are top drawer; when paired with the OM-1 II, it quickly latched onto subjects such as birds, and was able to support 50fps burst shooting with continuous autofocus.

The lens’s optical stabilization can also combine with the OM-1 II’s in-body image stabilization to deliver up to 7.5EV of stabilization.

In real terms, OM System says you can shoot handheld at the maximum focal length, which is 400mm (effective), using shutter speeds as slow as 1/3 sec, and still get sharp results.

Of course, if the action is moving then 1/3 sec won’t be of much use, unless you want to intentionally blur your subject, but static objects will indeed appear sharp based on my testing.

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I used the continuous high burst shooting to increase my chances of freezing the action at the right moment in these two scenarios. (Image credit: Tim Coleman)(Image credit: Tim Coleman)(Image credit: Tim Coleman)(Image credit: Tim Coleman)(Image credit: Tim Coleman)(Image credit: Tim Coleman)(Image credit: Tim Coleman)(Image credit: Tim Coleman)(Image credit: Tim Coleman)(Image credit: Tim Coleman)

For me, what’s even better to have than the superb stabilization performance is the bright maximum f/2.8 aperture. This enables fast shutter speeds to freeze action, which is personally what I’m looking for a lens like this to do – for wildlife, you can do so much more with a f/2.8 telephoto than, say, an f/5.6 one.

The 100-400mm effective focal length range easily covers a range of scenarios – it’s my go-to range for grassroots sports like soccer, and for large wildlife. To give you an idea of the difference between 100mm and 400mm, I’ve taken pictures of the same scene at those extremes, and you can see some examples in the gallery below.

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400mm(Image credit: Tim Coleman)400mm(Image credit: Tim Coleman)100mm(Image credit: Tim Coleman)400mm(Image credit: Tim Coleman)100mm(Image credit: Tim Coleman)400mm(Image credit: Tim Coleman)

I also explored macro photography with the 50-200mm F2.8, and you can see some of those pictures below. The 0.25x maximum magnification (which is 0.5x full-frame effective) is half-life size and super-versatile – there’s no such full-frame lens with such a feature set.

It was while using the lens to shoot macro, including a dew-covered backlit spider’s web at first light, that I started paying particular attention to the bokeh – the quality of the out-of-focus orbs of light.

At f/2.8 it’s smooth and rounded, but there are scenarios, such as the cobweb shots, where it becomes a little fussy rather than smooth – stopping the aperture down to f/7.1 to increase depth of field revealed polygonal-shaped bokeh. For less extreme scenarios, bokeh quality is pleasant, but I wouldn’t buy this lens solely for that attribute.

Image 1 of 10

I took this photo at f/7.1 to increase depth of field, and you see that the bokeh has hard edges and polygonal shape, produced by the lens’s nine aperture blades. (Image credit: Tim Coleman)(Image credit: Tim Coleman)Here I’ve opened up the aperture and bokeh is rounder, but detail in the spider is softer because of the shallow depth of field. (Image credit: Tim Coleman)(Image credit: Tim Coleman)(Image credit: Tim Coleman)(Image credit: Tim Coleman)(Image credit: Tim Coleman)(Image credit: Tim Coleman)(Image credit: Tim Coleman)(Image credit: Tim Coleman)

Where this lens shines is in its wonderfully sharp detail, no matter the focal length or aperture (f/2.8 to f/11, at least). I’ve been really impressed by the quality of detail in my subjects, and I’ve been able to shoot images that simply wouldn’t be possible with cheaper gear, or even with full-frame lenses with darker maximum apertures, like the Nikon 100-400mm.

If anything is holding this lens back, it’s the limitations of the Micro Four Third’s sensor format, which is half the size of full-frame. It’s less clean in low light, and dynamic range is a little limited in high-contrast scenes, like the sunrise shot in the gallery below (scroll past those adorable guinea pigs).

The maximum f/2.8 aperture mostly makes up for any sensor format limitations, though, and in its own right the OM System 50-200mm F2.8 is a top-quality telephoto zoom, with no real drawbacks.

Image 1 of 10

(Image credit: Tim Coleman)(Image credit: Tim Coleman)(Image credit: Tim Coleman)(Image credit: Tim Coleman)(Image credit: Tim Coleman)(Image credit: Tim Coleman)(Image credit: Tim Coleman)(Image credit: Tim Coleman)(Image credit: Tim Coleman)(Image credit: Tim Coleman)

Should you buy the OM System M.Zuiko Digital ED 50-200mm F2.8 IS Pro?

Buy it if…

Don’t buy it if…

(Image credit: Tim Coleman)

How I tested the OM System M.Zuiko Digital ED 50-200mm F2.8 IS Pro

Following an initial testing session with OM System, I used the 50-200mm extensively for an entire week
I paired it with the OM System OM-1 II
I took telephoto shots of wildlife, macro photos of spiders, and more

I first used the OM System 50-200mm F2.8 IS Pro at an event hosted by OM System at a wildlife trust in the UK, where I had some hands-on experience photographing exotic birds. I subsequently used the camera over a week-long loan period, paired with the OM System OM-1 II camera.

During my own time with the lens I’ve taken it out for sunrise shoots of birdlife on a common, been captivated by the macro world of insects including backlit spider’s webs, and snapped my family’s pet guinea pigs at last light.

I’ve made sure that all lens corrections are switched off in-camera, shot in both raw and JPEG format, used every key focal length and various apertures, then assessed image quality using Adobe Camera Raw, which has OM System profiles.

First reviewed September 2025

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September 10, 2025 0 comments

Product Reviews

I thought we moved on from hellish boss runbacks, but Silksong is here to remind us what it’s like to be kicked while you’re down

by admin September 10, 2025

As a modern society, I thought we were done with mile-long, soul sucking boss runbacks in videogames. We’re evolved. Enlightened! Then Hollow Knight: Silksong came out.

In a world where even FromSoftware—the worst offenders of hellish boss runbacks in the Dark Souls series—all but ditched them in Elden Ring, Silksong is here straight out of the 2010s to remind us of when games just straight up wasted our time.

Clawing your way to a boss in Silksong is merely step one of the trial that awaits you when you inevitably die. Instead of showing you mercy and letting you respawn a few steps away from the fight, it drops you in a different zip code.

What could be a short jog back to the boss is actually an obstacle course of spikes, falling rocks, and flies equipped with sniper rifles. Silksong will kill you with bosses who wipe out half of your health bar with a sneeze and then laugh as you trip and fall on the way back.

It’s so brutal that even fans of the original Hollow Knight, which has its fair share of rough runbacks, can’t believe how bad it is from the start. It doesn’t help that it takes Silksong all of 20 minutes before it starts throwing out enemies and environmental hazards that eat two points of your health when you get hit. Threading the needle to arrive at the boss healthy is a herculean task in its own right, especially when you initially have no access to half of the game’s most evasive tools.

(Image credit: Tyler C. / Team Cherry)

The amount of precision Silksong’s runbacks require rivals the difficulty of the boss fight waiting at the end.

Most people point to the final boss of Act 1 as the worst example of a runback that feels straight up cruel. Team Cherry has you running through a miserable sandstorm where the worst enemies known to man sneak up on you in the haze and threaten to knock you off into your doom. Worms nip at your feet as you barely grab onto each tiny platform while dodging flies and shield-bearing guards just to get set on fire by the boss, cursed to do it all over again. I’ve seen the pitiful amount of Rosaries they drop: These dudes aren’t in it for the pay, they’re out here making this chapter of Silksong a living hell for the love of the game.

“It’s not even the distance of the runback as much as it is the resistance of the runback,” soulslike YouTuber Rusty says about this section in his recent video.

The amount of precision Silksong’s runbacks require rivals the difficulty of the boss fight waiting at the end. It’s as if the developers didn’t want you to make it back, which seems backwards in a game where boss fights serve as skill checks in order to progress through the game. The reward for perfecting a boss fight is never having to do it again, but the reward for perfecting a runback is only the chance at never having to do it again.

Notoriously difficult fights like Elden Ring’s Malenia wouldn’t work if it took 10 minutes to get back to her boss room. An attack that might seem like complete bullshit on your second or third attempt becomes more manageable when you can try the boss enough times in quick succession to learn how to prepare for it. Stretching out the downtime between attempts exacerbates the challenge to the point that you just want it over with—it’s no longer just a skillcheck, but a mental health exercise, compounded by how Silksong is with its currency and the mental blow of losing everything you had in your pockets if you die on the way back to the boss.

When I finally beat Silksong’s final Act 1 boss, I didn’t feel triumphant; I felt relieved from a torment I hope to never experience again.

The only catharsis has been watching everyone else suffer along with me. I’m glad I’m not alone in having enough of that one specific enemy that refused to let me reach the boss unscathed. And while I appreciate the people who try to offer advice on how to make the runbacks easier, nothing is going to make me enjoy this part of the game. It’s simply not fun. I want to fight cool bosses, not learn to speedrun chunks of the map every time I hit a snag. Runbacks were novel in Demon’s Souls, expected in Hollow Knight, but just entirely unpleasant in Silksong.

It’s no surprise that one of the first mods made for Silksong solves this problem by ripping the Stakes of Marika respawn system right out of Elden Ring. FromSoft got it right by providing a checkpoint outside the boss room with the caveat that you can’t change up your build unless you go back to an actual Site of Grace. It’s a welcome compromise from its previous games, and it’s not like limiting backtracking stopped FromSoft from designing boss fights that’ll tear you apart in seconds.

Apart from honing your skills at executing whatever is being asked of you, there’s nothing to be gained from repeating the same section over and over.

I think it’s a valid point that some of the frustration comes from the fact that Silksong is a new game that everyone is racing to squeeze every last drop of enjoyment out of in the first few weeks. It’s not built to be blasted through in a few sittings. But you can’t convince me the boss runbacks are meant to encourage players to take a break when they’re as harsh as they are, and when, at least in the early hours, there’s not much else to do when a boss stands between you and the next area.

For the most part, Silksong is a linear game. Yes, you can choose which areas to explore when within limits. But you can’t grind levels or put together a build to cheese whatever boss you’re stuck on. It’s a straightforward 2D game where you go left or right until a boss stands in your way. Apart from honing your skills at executing whatever is being asked of you, there’s nothing to be gained from repeating the same section over and over—there are rarely even shortcuts for boss runbacks to be found by putting your exploration skills to use.

(Image credit: Team Cherry)

The boss fights, however, are full of surprises and clever tactics you pick up on as you practice. You might get lucky and have an attempt where the boss doesn’t do its nastiest attack. Or maybe you finally get the timing right on the dodge, giving you all the advantage you needed to get in that last hit. This dance where you’re never quite sure what moves they’re going to pull out is the reason people replay these games for years.

None of that excitement happens on the way there. The platforming and the enemies don’t change, they only get more tolerable as you repeat them enough to perform the runblack blindfolded. The runbacks are dull exercises in memorization and execution that bar you from all the creativity and satisfaction of mastering Silksong’s boss fights.

The runback of THAT boss be like from r/HollowKnight

Thankfully, Act 2 is where the game opens up a lot more and gives you plenty of alternatives when you can’t crack a boss. There are still evil runbacks that test my patience, but it’s less of a pain when I know I’m choosing to ignore all the other stuff I could be doing.

That the runbacks are only less of a pain in Act 2, however, is why I wish they simply didn’t exist at all. In such an imaginative game full of intricately designed levels, a beautiful soundtrack, and evocative worldbuilding, I don’t see the point of doing the same jumps 40 times to earn the right to death grip my controller for another 90 seconds until I can finally move on to experience its best parts. At worst, Silksong’s nightmarish runbacks feel like unnecessary padding, and at best, they feel like a gross misunderstanding of why I’m playing it in the first place.

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September 10, 2025 0 comments

Product Reviews

What’s the Real Difference Between the iPhone Air and iPhone 16?

by admin September 10, 2025

Thin phones are in. The iPhone Air (not the iPhone 17 Air, as rumors previously suggested) will be the thinnest iPhone ever, or at least that’s what Apple claimed at its “Awe Dropping” product debut Tuesday. Whether that matters to you depends on the size of your pocket, though. If you were wondering just how this compares to the last-gen iPhone 16, we have most of the specs necessary to offer a point of comparison. The iPhone Air effectively replaces the usual Plus model in the latest smartphone lineup. If you were thinking about jumping on the upgrade, perhaps you should hold your horses and consider if you’ll be giving anything up for the sake of a cake-cutting iPhone.

The closest comparison to what you can get in the U.S. is the $1,100 Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge. That device’s 5.8mm thickness is slim enough to cut a slice of pie, but it also gives up flagship-level battery life with its 3,900mAh battery. The first iPhone Air will also miss out on the battery life Apple fans have come to expect from their phones. It’s better to think of the Air as an alternative device, a phone with a very specific use case (extremely thin pockets) and a user base with specific needs (wanting to be the cool kids on the block with the latest iPhone design).

But we’ll need to put the new Air through its paces. Perhaps, with time, it will prove as landmark a device as the original MacBook Air was close to two decades ago. Or maybe China-based companies like Tecno will figure out slim devices with good batteries far faster than the engineers in Cupertino. Time—as always—will tell.

iPhone Air Versus iPhone 16: Design

Your regular iPhone 16 came with several new features that would normally be relegated to the Pro models. For one, it featured an all-new Camera Control capacitive button used for snapping photos or modifying photo settings without having to touch the screen. It included Apple’s A18 chip, which sported a beefed-up CPU and GPU with enough power to handle on-device ray tracing; being close enough to the iPhone 16 Pro, the device felt like a bargain. The good news is the iPhone Air still has the Camera Control button as well as the Dynamic Island on the main display, rather than any sort of notch.

The iPhone Air boasts Ceramic Shield 2 on the glass and back for better scratch and crack resistance, plus titanium sides that are supposed to keep the device from bending under pressure. Apple’s older phone from 2024 was 7.8mm thin, which is standard for a phone that weighs in at just 170g, or .37 pounds. Few people would call that thick or heavy. Compared to the Air, the 16 is a brick. The iPhone Air weighs in at 165g, or .36 pounds. The difference in weight is so minimal, though at 5.6mm thick, the Air is many times thinner than the 16. If you want a point of comparison, glance at this video showing off the S25 Edge at 5.8mm versus the Air.

iPhone Air thinned comparison with Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge #AppleEvent pic.twitter.com/BlujtA6wV1

— Ray Wong (@raywongy) September 9, 2025

The major distinction between the old and new devices is what lies inside. Apple designed the Air from the ground up with new in-house 5G modems and wireless chips. The iPhone 16, by comparison, uses a Qualcomm-made 5G modem. The new device also comes stock with 256GB of storage for its base price, whereas the iPhone 16 makes do with 128GB. While the iPhone 16 and iPhone 17 sport a host of calming colors (pink, teal, and ultramarine blue), the base 17 also comes in calming lavender and sage hues. The iPhone Air will seem a little more mundane with black, white, light gold, plus a “sky blue” hue, which I imagine is similar to the gray-blue of the MacBook Air with M4.

iPhone Air Versus iPhone 16: Battery

If you’re looking for the main distinction between Apple’s new phone category and its battery. The iPhone 16 was rated for up to 22 hours of battery life in video playback tests, but in real life, we’ve seen the iPhone 16 go for more than a full day after regular use and still have some juice for the following morning. The iPhone 16’s battery capacity sits at 3,561mAh, which doesn’t seem especially high until you consider the limited refresh rate and Apple’s good standby power savings on the base iPhone.

Apple has yet to share precise specs for the iPhone Air’s battery capacity. Instead, the company repeatedly promised the device would have a “full-day” battery life. On the specs page, Apple said the Air managed to hit 27 hours in video playback tests, though only 22 hours when streaming. That’s better than a base iPhone 16, though not nearly as good as the iPhone 16 Plus, which the Air is effectively replacing in Apple’s 2025 iPhone lineup. Apple emphasized all the extra work it did to maximize battery efficiency.

iPhone Air with battery pack pic.twitter.com/dSy3jy8LAx

— Carolina Milanesi (@caro_milanesi) September 9, 2025

The iPhone Air promises to support a separate “iPhone Air MagSafe Battery” sold separately from the main unit. This battery, which is three-quarters the size of the actual phone, should push the battery life further at the cost of the thin frame. At least, the new device is compatible with the Qi2 standard up to 20W as well as MagSafe.

iPhone Air Versus iPhone 16: Camera

The older iPhone contained a 48-megapixel Fusion camera as well as a 12-megapixel ultrawide. The main sensor also enabled 12-megapixel 2x telephoto pictures. The device also made use of the TrueDepth camera for Face ID. The iPhone Air is notable since it contains a single camera bump, just like the iPhone 16e. The new device sports the 48-megapixel Fusion main camera that also allows for 2x, 12-megapixel telephoto shots. Unfortunately, there’s no ultra-wide lens to speak of. The new device can also handle 4K video up to 60 FPS, the same as the iPhone 16.

The Air has one sensor that beats the 16. The slim device sports an 18-megapixel “Center Stage” front camera compared to 12 megapixels on the iPhone 16. Apple suggested users would end up spending more time with the front camera with the inclusion of better image stabilization.

iPhone Air Versus iPhone 16: Display

With a 6.3-inch OLED display at 2,556×1,179 resolution, the regular iPhone was still a looker even compared to the larger, higher-resolution Plus model. The device was limited to a 60Hz refresh rate, which miffed some users when comparing their phones to mainline Android devices. Still, that means the device lasts longer compared to other devices.

The iPhone Air is slightly larger at 6.5 inches, less than the iPhone 16 Plus, though it sports a big, 2,736×1,260 resolution screen at 460 PPI, or pixels-per-inch—the same as the older phone models. However, the Air features a much faster screen at a 120Hz refresh rate that can go down to 1Hz if you enjoy an always-on display blazing from your nightstand.

First look at how thin the iPhone Air is #AppleEvent pic.twitter.com/0uMLAJayOi

— Ray Wong (@raywongy) September 9, 2025

The Air may have a brighter display at both HDR and SDR brightness for viewing outside, though the device is not designed to share screens over USB. Compared to the iPhone 16, which supported DisplayPort over USB-C, the iPhone Air doesn’t.

iPhone Air Versus iPhone 16: Chip

The iPhone 16’s A18 chip was one of Apple’s best for the regular iPhone, often meeting benchmarks of the A18 Pro-level chip except in intensive situations, like ray tracing scenarios when gaming. The A18 was built on a six-core CPU and five-core GPU design with a 16-core neural engine.

Not much has changed in configuration, though Apple swears the Air’s A19 Pro is a true next-gen chip despite it all. The A19 Pro uses a six-core CPU with two performance and four efficiency cores, alongside a five-core GPU (the iPhone 17 Pro devices make use of a six-core GPU, which will make them slightly better for graphics tasks). The device still supports hardware-accelerated ray tracing.

The A19 Pro is supposed to make the phone more energy efficient while improving on single-thread performance, which is how Apple is implying it should be able to handle simple tasks faster than before. How well it performs in the field, especially considering its awkward battery life specs, will determine if the thin frame is worth all the other small trade-offs.

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September 10, 2025 0 comments