DREAM

Beyond Technology Magazine

#5, May 2021

Latest gadgets
Let’s discover them together!

Digital health & fitness

Featuring a GPS to map your
exercise routine without a phone
Table of
contents

4 Note from the editor

It's been a weird year. Like much of America,
the staff of PCMag has been working from
home since March, when COVID-19 hit New
York city hard.

6
Latest gadgets in 2021
Not sure what headphones, smartwatch or
laptop to buy? We've got you covered with our
round-up of the very best products out there.

8
Laptops
This year, the VivoBook S15 was one of the
easiest picks to recommend to the average
shopper seeking an affordable daily-use laptop.
10 Mobile phones
We’ve been asking for a smaller premium
iPhone for a long time. The iPhone 12 mini is
an affordable, powerful phone for the year
we’re hoping 2021 will be.

12
Tablets
Apple iPads have much better creative,
gaming, and productivity software options
than Android tablets, while they’re far
simpler to use than Windows slates.

14 Digital health & fitness

For the most accurate heart rate readings, use
a chest strap over a wrist-worn device. And for
the best basic chest strap, go with the Polar
H9.
Note from the editor

It's been a weird year. Like much of America, the If you remember last year's collection, you'll see
staff of PCMag has been working from home some familiar winners for 2020. After all, the
since March, when COVID-19 hit New York city best product lines, such as Dell XPS and
hard. Our testing lab and photo-and-video studio, Samsung Galaxy, pump out several new
which was housed in a tall office building on products each year, and they often get better
lower Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, is now with each iteration. And because we're
dispersed across various apartment living rooms continually reviewing important products as
and home offices in the five NYC boroughs and their features, performance, and pricing change,
beyond. Laptops, CPUs, and graphics  cards are you'll find some old favorites like Netflix and
benchmark-tested on coffee tables in Staten Spotify. That's not to say it's all predictable:
Island and Brooklyn, and phones and tablets are Watch for some not-so-obvious choices and
photographed against city skylines on the roofs some new categories, too—the Best Smart
of Queens apartment buildings. Despite the Home Gym Machine, for example.
worst pandemic our country has seen in more
than 100 years, the very important business of
product testing and reviewing—to help you This list was compiled after considering every
determine the right technology to buy—marches product we reviewed between November 1,
on. 2019 through the first week of November 2020.
Of the final 100 products we selected, seven
Once again this year, we battled, albeit received a perfect 5-star rating, 90 earned our
virtually, to whittle down the list of almost top accolade—the PCMag Editors' Choice
2,000 products we've tested in the past 12 award, and all were selected by writers and
months to the 100 in this story, which editors who are experts in the product
represents the pinnacle of all that we've seen categories they cover.
this year.

4
Bonus
Our favorite products of the year just happen
to serve very well as your ultimate holiday
shopping list.
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tempor tellus.

6
Latest gadgets in 2021

Not sure what headphones, smartwatch or laptop to buy?

We've got you covered with our round-up of the very best
products out there.

Dream Beyond Technology Recommends is our definitive guide to the best gadgets, gear and
new products. Every single product featured has been tested properly by Dream Beyond
Technology reviewers. This list covers our number one picks for every category we've tested so
far, and links to the new and noteworthy tech we've reviewed. You can head to our dedicated
guides for more ideas and options.

Let’s discover them together!

7
Laptops

Acer Chromebook Spin 713

Think of a Chromebook here in 2020, and you
may envision a small, inexpensive laptop
powering a schoolkid's remote classes, a
pandemic-necessity purchase. We saw our
share of those this year. (See, for example, the
excellent-value Lenovo IdeaPad 3 Chromebook,
around $250.) But this category's brass ring goes
to a different kind of value: Acer's premium
Chromebook Spin 713.
More akin to a Microsoft Surface Laptop than a
Chromebook, it's clad in aluminum, with an
antimicrobial Gorilla Glass screen, and packs a
speedy Intel Core i5 CPU plus 8GB of RAM. The
13.5-inch display has a squarish 3:2 aspect ratio,
not the more familiar 16:9, giving you a taller view
for text and web scrolling.

Price: $749.00

Dell XPS 13 (9310)

The XPS 13 is the best high-end, clamshell-style
ultraportable you can buy, and the clear choice
for Windows users who want to make a
statement. It looks equally at home in your living
room and (eventually, once the pandemic ends)
in a coffee shop or conference room. With the
latest 9310 model, equipped with Intel’s 11th
Generation "Tiger Lake" processors and Intel Iris
Xe graphics, it’s as powerful as it is sleek.

Price: $1,028.99

8
Asus VivoBook S15 (S533)
This year, the VivoBook S15 was one of the Add a dash of style (fun color options!), and you
easiest picks to recommend to the average get an appealing general-use laptop that won’t
shopper seeking an affordable daily-use break the bank at its $699.99 list price. Indeed,
laptop. To be sure, less-expensive alternatives given what a deal it is (and the budget-laptop
exist, but for a full-fledged 15-inch laptop, it stock shortages we've seen here in late 2020 due
offers everything you need in a slim package to the pandemic), etailers have been charging
with good build quality. The S15 has all the above list price for this winning value. You'll have
essential ports, and most important, the to keep a sharp eye to find it at its MSRP.
battery is long-lasting.

Price: $1,865.99
Mobile phones
Apple iPhone 12 mini

We’ve been asking for a smaller premium

iPhone for a long time. Apple finally delivered.
The iPhone 12 mini isn’t a second-class citizen in
the iPhone world: It has all the speed, camera
prowess, and 5G capabilities of its bigger sibling,
in a one-handed form factor, for less money.
When we start to leave our houses on a regular
basis again, we’re going to want to carry bags,
hold children’s hands, and fit things into the
annoyingly small pockets of tight pants. The
iPhone 12 mini is an affordable, powerful phone
for the year we’re hoping 2021 will be.

Price: $699.99
Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra
It took Samsung a few months to recover from
the misfire that was the Galaxy S20 Ultra, but
when it came back, it came back roaring. A
massive powerhouse, the Samsung Galaxy Note
20 Ultra packs in more technology than any
other Android device in the US this year. The
phone has a gorgeous 120Hz screen, a powerful
processor, a 5x optical-zoom camera, and
excellent stylus support, and it handles every
form of 5G available in the US right now. As you
can surmise from the size, battery life is
excellent.

Price: $549.99

Motorola Moto G Power

The Moto G Power hits all the basics, the way a
good budget phone should. It has excellent
battery life, reliable reception and call quality,
and a big screen that’s usable in sunlight.
Motorola always uses a light hand with its
Android software, not loading it down with
bloatware, and it has a better track record with
updates and support than many other budget
phone makers do. We’ve recommended many
phones in the Moto G series, because we know
that when you get one, you don’t have to worry.
The G Power continues this solid legacy.

Price: $219.99

11
Tablets

Apple iPad Air (2020)

Apple iPads have much better creative, The tablet has a super-fast processor,
gaming, and productivity software options than excellent cameras, and better Apple Pencil
Android tablets, while they’re far simpler to use support than the previous Air and lower-cost
than Windows slates. The company’s latest iPad models. For many, it’s an even better buy
iPad Air brings you pro power at a more down- than the pricier iPad Pro.
to-earth price.

Price: $559.00

12
Onyx Boox Note Air
Our new work-from-home, school-from-home And it gives you a 10.3-inch screen, so you can
lives demand a new generation of reading comfortably read 8.5-by-11 documents and still
devices. The Onyx Boox Note Air runs full hold it in one hand. An included stylus lets you
Android 10, so it can use any reader or easily take notes or annotate PDFs.
document management software.

Price: $479.99

13
Polar H9
For the most accurate heart rate readings, use a
chest strap over a wrist-worn device. And for the
best basic chest strap, go with the Polar H9. With
a comfortable and swim-safe design, ANT+ and
Bluetooth support for easy pairing with fitness
equipment, an excellent companion app that
puts your metrics into context, and training
programs to help improve your fitness level, the
H9 offers tremendous value at a competitive
price.

Price: $59.95
Digital health & fitness

Fitbit Charge 4
Featuring a GPS to map your exercise routine
without a phone, Spotify controls, and Fitbit
Pay, the Charge 4 gives you the most bang for
your buck of any fitness tracker. The latest
addition to the high-rated Charge line also
offers a motivating new metric called Active
Zone Minutes and more robust sleep-tracking
tools, which together can help encourage you
to get moving and improve your shut-eye. It
also stands out thanks to its sleek, water-
resistant design and weeklong battery life.

Price: $147.88

Wyze Scale Peloton Bike+

With its first smart scale, Wyze upholds its With the COVID-19 pandemic still raging,
reputation for delivering quality products that there's never been a better time to invest in a
undercut the competition. The Wyze Scale offers smart home fitness device. The Peloton Bike+
unbeatable value with the ability to measure and is one of the best you can buy. It builds on the
track 12 metrics, including your BMI, body-fat original model with a new Auto Follow feature
percentage, body-water percentage, heart rate, for automatic resistance adjustments, an
and more—for just $20. It also offers a safe mode upgraded sound system, a rotating touch
for pregnant women and people who wear screen that allows for a better viewing angle
pacemakers, and it keeps your data private while when doing floor-based workouts, and support
offering auto-recognition and syncing for eight for one-tap Apple Watch pairing. With these
users, addressing the main limitations of similarly upgrades, plus a vast and varied on-demand
priced and even some more expensive workout library and a regular schedule of live
competitors. classes, it leaves other indoor cycling bikes in
the dust.

Price: $27.19 Price: 2,495.00

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