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Welcome to the July issue of PC Advisor. Back in March, Apple announced the new 9.7in iPad Pro, which we’ve reviewed on page 39. During the keynote, which introduced the iPad as the perfect desktop PC replacement, Phil Schiller made a dig at PC owners, saying that the fact that over 600 million PCs are over five years old is really sad.
The fact is, most five-year-old PCs are perfectly good computers, with plenty of life left in them yet. Windows 10 will run on the vast majority of five-year-old PCs and will make most of them feel a lot quicker too. Upgrading or reinstalling your operating system is a relatively quick way to declutter and get up and running with a ‘clean’ version of Windows. However, if that sounds too extreme for you, we’ve got plenty of tips on how to make an old PC feel new on page 94.
And if your hard disk is full up, there are more suggestions on how to reclaim space on page 96, and you can remove the need to enter your Windows password (page 108) to speed up boot times even more.
You’re more likely to upgrade your smartphone than your PC these days, and we’ve put the Galaxy S7 edge (page 19), LG G5 (page 25) and iPhone SE (page 28) through their paces this month. Don’t overlook the Chinese alternatives, though. Xiaomi’s Mi 5 (page 31) proves that you don’t need to pay flagship prices to get a great phone.
It even holds its own in our camera shootout on page 54, where we test eight of the best phones’ cameras to see which is best for photography, video and selfies. Phones have pretty much replaced compact cameras now, so it’s worth prioritising the quality of the cameras when choosing your next upgrade. The very best are capable of astonishing quality, and they can do more than take basic photos and videos: many shoot stunning slow-motion and time-lapse video, as well as huge panoramas.
We’ve also rounded up a selection of the best budget monitors (page 82), which are ideal for a second screen on your laptop, or as a replacement for an old PC display. Starting at just £99 ex VAT, these 24in screens are great for work and play, and offer accurate colours for editing photos and videos.