Endless Ocean Luminous review - splendid Switch spelunking

Review info

Platform reviewed: Nintendo Switch
Available on: Nintendo Switch
Release date: May 2, 2024 

Endless Ocean Luminous is the third game in the Arika-developed series of deep-sea diving adventures. But having been absent since the days of the Nintendo Wii, you may not know that it’s something of a cult series in Nintendo’s repertoire. That said, it offers something wholly unique and compelling on Nintendo Switch and is very easy to recommend for those after a more laid-back experience that puts chill exploration and treasure hunting above all else.

There’s no action or violence to be had in Endless Ocean Luminous, and if you go into it with the right expectations, you’ll find a game that offers an incredible sense of adventure. Each new discovery of sea life or sunken treasures feels meaningful as you fill out your catalog. On top of that, there’s a wider mystery to solve that’ll keep you coming back dive after dive. 

Piercing the veil

(Image credit: Nintendo)

Endless Ocean Luminous is a third-person deep sea exploration game set in the fictional Veiled Sea. It’s a somewhat supernatural location that procedurally shifts with each new dive you embark on. Plus, it’s filled with well over 500 sea creatures to catalog - from the most mundane fish to colossal mythical beings. Your goal - in addition to logging all these species - is to solve the mysteries of the Veiled Sea and return life to the World Coral (essentially the core of the ocean) which will in turn save the planet’s underwater ecosystem. Some rather high stakes for what is otherwise a very relaxing experience.

The main narrative beats will unravel over the course of Endless Ocean Luminous’ story mode, which also serves as a tutorial for the majority of the game’s mechanics. Here, you’ll learn how to scan fish to add them to your catalog, call fish to swim beside you (or on you in the case of crustaceans and mollusks) as well as take photos among other things. It’ll also introduce you to the Mystery Board, a set of 99 secrets to uncover as you explore the Veiled Sea.

The story mode is quite short at just a couple of hours, but its role as an onboarding tool is somewhat diminished by the way you need to go about unlocking each chapter. Essentially, chapters won’t unlock until you’ve scanned a certain number of sea creatures, which you’ll do in the Solo Dive and Shared Dive (that’s online play) modes. Exacerbating things is the fact that the final chapter is locked until you’ve completely finished the Mystery Board, which can take an excruciating amount of time.

Overall, though, the story mode isn’t lacking in charm. There’s some fun dialogue between your AI guide, Sera, and a plucky diver named Daniel who accompanies you throughout the journey. There’s also a nice pro-environmental message here, even if it’s only puddle-deep.

Take the plunge

(Image credit: Nintendo)

The bulk of your playtime will be spent in the Solo and Shared Dive modes. Upon starting a new dive, Endless Ocean Luminous will create a seed that procedurally generates a map for you to explore. You can even share these seeds via code with other Endless Ocean Luminous players, which can be handy if you’ve come across a particularly great discovery and want to help others reach 100% completion.

There’s a really impressive variety of biomes in the Veiled Sea. Warm water shallows, intricate cave structures, abyssal crevices, ice caverns, ancient sunken cities and much more are waiting to be explored. Most creatures also tend to prefer certain biomes, so thorough exploration of each area is strongly encouraged if you want to see everything the game has to offer.

There are plenty of sea creatures to discover in Endless Ocean Luminous, though it is worth noting that, well, you may want to give the game a miss if you have thalassophobia. Your diver can’t be harmed in any way (nor can they run out of oxygen) but the game doesn’t shy away from presenting you with some frightening-looking creatures. I’ve been caught off guard more than once by a colossal shark or giant squid appearing right behind me. 

Mystery Machine

(Image credit: Nintendo)

What I find to be the most fascinating aspect of Endless Ocean Luminous is the Mystery Board. It’s a stone tablet you’ll unlock very early on in story mode, and it presents you with 99 tasks to complete as you explore the Veiled Sea. These mysteries can range from scanning certain rare creatures (known as UMLs, or unidentified marine lifeforms) or finding particular treasures, to solving more complex riddles like guiding certain creatures to stone dais you can find dotted around the map.

While ticking off mysteries is fun, the process isn’t without its flaws. For one, you get absolutely no hints whatsoever about any of the mysteries; they’re displayed as “???” in the Mystery Board menu until you’ve completed them. I think some guidance in the form of even vague hints would be nice here, as it’s not always clear what you should be looking for.

Furthermore, unlocking the final story chapters requires the full completion of the Mystery Board, meaning you may need to grind the game out by exploring different seeds that generate new maps to explore. Thankfully, while these maps are procedurally generated, there does seem to be some intelligence to it; I found that newly generated maps always featured sea creatures, biomes, treasures, and mysteries that I hadn’t previously encountered.

Dive in

(Image credit: Nintendo)

Best bit

The most magical experience I had in Endless Ocean Luminous was uncovering a new type of biome for the first time. Discovering somewhere new, with glittering caverns of ice, ancient ruins, and teeming with all kinds of unpredictable creatures, many of which were prehistoric or mythical, was an absolute joy.

Fortunately, uncovering the mysteries of Endless Ocean Luminous doesn’t need to be a solo endeavor. By hopping into the Shared Dive mode, you can share a map with up to 29 other players online, allowing for 30 in total. I managed to get some online time pre-launch thanks to a session with Nintendo, and it’s clear that this is where players could find themselves sinking most of their time in the game. That is, if you want to fill out the completion list more efficiently.

What makes the online suite in Endless Ocean Luminous so good is that it feels like a genuinely cooperative endeavor. Players can tag sea creatures and treasures with various unlockable emotes, highlighting them on the map for everyone to see. This alone makes filling your database and completing the Mystery Board a lot easier. I can imagine players also sharing their seed codes online with others post-launch, allowing them to scan sea life or pick up treasures that may have eluded them.

There is no voice chat support when playing Endless Ocean Luminous online, which is admittedly realistic but may be a letdown for some. However, the game does somewhat compensate for this with several emotes and stickers you can present to other players. There’s also a ‘diving buddy’ system that registers other players you pass during a dive. You even give them a little wave, which often made me smile.

There are definitely some performance drops when playing online, and I did notice the framerate (which usually targets 30fps) dip periodically in busier areas and when a number of other divers are around. Thankfully it’s not game-breaking at all, and connection quality throughout my session remained stable with no noticeable lag. Mileage may vary here post-launch, of course, especially if you’re playing with divers from across the globe.

Overall, I loved my time with Endless Ocean Luminous and it’s certainly one of the most unique Nintendo Switch exclusives out there. It’s a fantastic, no-stress experience that I often found to be just the tonic I needed after a day at the desk. If you have a love of sea life and a thirst for engaging exploration, Endless Ocean Luminous is extremely easy to recommend. 

Accessibility

(Image credit: Nintendo)

Endless Ocean Luminous doesn’t have much in the way of accessibility settings. However, there are numerous options for adjusting how the camera operates in-game which can help. Players can invert both the X and Y axes, set rotation speed, and enable an auto-follow. That’s just about everything available, though. 

Should I play Endless Ocean Luminous?

Play it if...

Don't play it if...

How we tested Endless Ocean Luminous

I played Endless Ocean Luminous for approximately 20 hours on my Nintendo Switch OLED. This was enough time to fill out the majority of the creature and treasure catalogs in addition to roughly two-thirds of the Mystery Board’s objectives. 

I played primarily in docked mode using the GameSir Nova Lite controller, with a handful of hours in handheld mode where I found performance to be comparable to docked play, albeit with a knock to resolution and overall image quality. I also found a heightened level of immersion when pairing the game with a pair of wireless earbuds. In this case, the Asus ROG Cetra Speednova buds were excellent at honing in on the swelling sounds of the deep.

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Kobo Clara Colour review: finally, an affordable color ereader

Kobo Clara Colour: One-minute review

Kobo might play second fiddle to the popularity of Amazon’s Kindles, but the Japanese-Canadian brand has beaten the tech giant in being the first to deliver mainstream color ereaders that are also relatively affordable. Two were announced side by side, with the Kobo Clara Colour being the cheaper option.

It’s an entry-level model compared to its bigger 7-inch Libra Colour sibling but, despite its 6-inch display size and lack of stylus support, the Clara Colour is a great option for anyone looking for a dedicated reading device. With no other functionality on board, it’s distraction-free reading at its best and in color too.

In fact, Kobo makes full use of the E Ink Kaleido 3 display technology that’s adopted for the Clara Colour. Not only are the book covers displayed in color, but the selected tab on the bottom of the home screen changes to a reddish-brown when selected. Even the download status bar is that color.

There’s even a dark mode available here and, if you happen to have highlighted words and passages in an ebook, they will still be displayed in color – only the text and background colors get inverted.

Page turns are fast, the on-screen keyboard is responsive and the battery life is good too. It’s waterproof, lightweight and portable as well. It looks like the Amazon Kindle (2022) but its biggest selling point is that color screen, for which you will be paying a little more. All in all, Kobo has done really well with the Clara Colour.

(Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)

Kobo Clara Colour review: price and availability

• Announced April 2024
• Launch price of $149.99 / £139.99 / AU$259.95
• Available in one colorway with optional slipcovers

There aren’t many mainstream 6-inch ereaders with a color display, so it’s hard to compare the Kobo Clara Colour with others. Still, at $149.99 / £139.99 / AU$259.95, it’s arguably the cheapest big-brand color ereader on the market. If you don’t need the color display, then opting for the 2022 edition of the Amazon Kindle or even the 2024 Kobo Clara BW will save you some cash, with the former costing only $119.99 / £94.99 / AU$179 without ads and the latter setting you back $129.99 / £119.99 / AU$239.95.

If the color display is important to you, then you’re looking at going up one size at the very least, with the Kobo Libra Colour being one of the cheapest in the 7-inch size class at $219.99 / £219.99 / AU$359.95. All other color ereaders worth their salt are more expensive.

• Value score: 4.5 / 5

(Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)

Kobo Clara Colour review: Specs

Kobo Clara Colour review: Design and display

• Body built with up to 85% recycled plastic
• Sharp, responsive 6-inch display
• Sunken screen, which reduces glare

Kobo has stuck with the same design formula it used for the Clara 2E, bringing an identical black plastic body and raised bezels over to the Clara Colour – while its monochrome sibling, the Clara BW, gets a two-tone chassis to shake things up a little. Available in just a black colorway, the rear panel is textured to provide a little grip, while the side bezels on the front are just broad enough to offer your thumbs a place to rest.

While the raised bezel design might look a little dated now, it’s better at preventing glare from overhead lighting (indoor or sunshine). Less glare also means you won’t be spotting smudged fingerprints as much either.

That’s not to say the screen is reflective – far from it. The 6-inch E Ink Kaleido 3 display is, like all other e-ink displays, glare-free but its smooth surface can have bright spots from overhead lights. That said, the built-in frontlight on the display can help reduce those bright spots.

The ComfortLight Pro on the Clara Colour is the same frontlight Kobo has been using on all its ereaders for a long while now. It lights up the screen evenly – I didn’t notice any areas of shadows or excessive lighting – which makes the reading experience a good one. Moreover, there are amber LEDs on the device, so you can adjust the light temperature to warmer tones for evening or nighttime reading to reduce eye fatigue.

(Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)

As the name of the device suggests, the display can now handle some color – 4,096 hues to be precise. As I’ve mentioned in all my other reviews of color ereaders: don’t expect the colors to pop with saturation as they do on an LCD screen. They will appear a little muted in comparison and that’s a limitation of the e-ink screen technology, not an issue with Kobo’s implementation.

Anything displayed in black and white on this screen will have a resolution of 300ppi, while anything shown in color will be at 150ppi resolution. The lower resolution might sound like color images (like comics and book covers) won’t look good, but far from it. In fact, the higher pixel density actually renders colors well, making them appear a little more saturated than they would on a larger E Ink Kaleido 3 display as used in the 7-inch Kobo Libra Colour or the 7.8-inch Onyx Boox Tab Mini C.

Despite tipping the scales at 174g – just 4g more than the Clara 2E – the Clara Colour is light and compact, being the perfect size for traveling with. It’s also waterproof, with an IPX8 rating that will keep the device in working condition if immersed in 2 meters of water for up to an hour.

The navy blue rear panel of the Kobo Clara BW (left) and the black of the Kobo Clara Colour (right) (Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)

Like its predecessor, over 85% of the body is recycled plastic, which includes waste that would have ended up in our oceans (like plastic bottles and CDs). The packaging it comes in is made from 100% recycled materials and is recyclable in turn, and the ink used to print the text and images on the box is soy, so biodegradable.

Rounding out the design elements is a concave power button on the rear of the device, a USB-C port placed off-center of the bottom edge, and the Kobo branding on the lower bezel. It’s a simple design that reflects the device’s single-minded purpose of digital reading.

It’s also possibly one of the most repairable ereaders on the market, along with its 2024 siblings. Kobo has partnered with iFixit to provide spare parts and instructions on how to perform some repairs, although, at the time of writing, neither of these are available on the iFixit website. I'll update this review when there's more information from either Kobo or iFixit.

• Design & display score: 4 / 5

(Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)

Kobo Clara Colour review: User interface

• Streamlined, easy-to-use UX
• Good font and file support
• Cloud transfer files not available

I have always been a fan of Kobo’s easy-to-use interface on its devices, with everything neatly laid out on the home screen. Up to four of your current reads are listed right up top of the home screen, followed by a My Books section and another that cycles through either new recommendations, access to Kobo Plus or one of your Collections within your library.

Above the book tiles is the quick menu for screen brightness, Wi-Fi, battery, cloud sync (for firmware updates) and search, while at the bottom of the home screen are the four tabs to navigate around the device and the Kobo Store.

It’s nice to see Kobo has taken full advantage of the E Ink Kaleido 3 screen by displaying the selected navigation tab in color. The same red-brown hue is also used for the download status of a title you’re either purchasing or accessing via Kobo Plus.

The More pane on the Kobo Clara Colour (right) misses out on the Google Drive and Dropbox support seen on the Kobo Libra Colour (left) (Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)

OverDrive support to borrow from partnered public libraries is still a stalwart presence on Kobo ereaders, as is Pocket. The latter, which is essentially a browser plugin that allows you to save web articles for reading later, gives you access to those articles on the Clara Colour if you already have a Pocket account.

Unlike the more expensive Kobo ereaders, there’s no Google Drive or Dropbox support on the Clara Colour. The only way to sideload titles is by plugging the device into your laptop and PC via the USB-C port and dragging files over.

File support is good, although not as extensive as what you’ll get on an Onyx ereader. Despite that, all the essential file formats are supported, including EPUBs, the most common ebook file format. Two comic files are also supported, plus 4 image formats. The only audio format supported is Kobo Audiobooks, so you can’t sideload audiobooks you might have sourced from a third party – you have to either purchase it from the Kobo Store or listen via Kobo Plus.

Audiobooks, however, take up storage space on a device and the Clara Colour only has 16GB to offer, with no microSD slot to increase it. So you may need to keep an eye on the storage if you're more into audiobooks than ebooks. 

The Kobo Libra Colour (left) and the Clara Colour (right) have dark mode, with color content displayed as is. Only text is inverted. (Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)

A new addition to the Clara Colour’s settings is the option to “reduce rainbow effect” when viewing in color. I’ve never come across this option in color ereaders from other brands, and I haven’t been able to figure out what exactly a rainbow effect is, so I haven’t a clue how the setting works. I suppose, if color content starts to look a little strange, selecting this setting might help.

Dark Mode is available here and that only inverts text color while you’re reading an ebook. If your book has color images, you will see them displayed in color on a black background, which I think can make some pictures pop a little more.

One change I’ve been waiting for Kobo to make to its interface is the ability to create subfolders within the library. You can create what Kobo calls Collections, but you can’t set up nested sub collections within your main ones. Kindle allows for it, so I think it’s time Kobo adopted a similar option.

• User interface score: 4.5 / 5

(Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)

Kobo Clara Colour review: Performance

• Responsive touchscreen
• Good battery life
• Less contrast in black-and-white compared to some other ereaders

It’s been hard for me to fault Kobo’s ereaders when it comes to performance and it’s the same with the Clara Colour too, especially with a 2GHz processor keeping things ticking along nicely. Reading on it is a pleasure, although I personally find a 6-inch screen too small due to needing to turn a page a touch too often for my liking – that can eat into the battery life of the device. The small size might also make reading comics and graphic novels less enjoyable as, depending on how the title has been formatted, some frames could get cut off.

Both black-and-white books and color content look good on the Clara Colour, but I found the former lacked little contrast in comparison to some other monochrome ereaders I’ve previously tested. That said, you'll only notice the difference if you compare two different models side by side and it doesn't affect the reading experience at all. If it does, though, Kobo allows you to make the text on the screen ‘heavier’ by making the font a little thicker. Colors, on the other hand, appear comparatively more saturated on the 6-inch screen when compared to larger color ereaders and that’s down to the pixel density. 

Opening an ebook on the Libra Colour during testing had a significant lag, but that’s not the case with the Clara Colour. It’s faster in that respect and, just like its bigger sibling, has a peppy screen performance. Page turns are quick and the on-screen keyboard has no major lag either, whether that’s to make annotations or type in your Wi-Fi password.

(Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)

I had no issues pairing the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones to the Clara Colour to listen to audiobooks, although the Bose QuietComfort Earbuds II took a few tries before they paired. I’m putting that down to the slightly temperamental nature of the earbuds as I’ve had this issue with the same set and other ereaders before.

As with other ereaders, the Clara Colour will give you weeks of reading pleasure on a single charge. It has a 1,500mAh battery pack – the same as the Kobo Clara 2E but smaller than the 2,050mAh in the Libra Colour – and you can easily eke out up to 5 weeks of use, depending on how you use it. In my case, a screen brightness of 15%, the refresh rate set to every chapter and the Wi-Fi always on, gave me 34 days of reading about an hour each day before the battery dropped to 21% from full. So you can definitely get more. In fact, the Clara Colour has better battery life than the Libra Colour despite a smaller capacity, but then it doesn’t need to handle as many tasks as its bigger sibling needs to.

A recharge can take up to two hours, but that’s only because trickle charging kicks in at about the 95% mark – as happens with other Kobo ereaders. While it might seem frustrating to have to wait for an hour to see just a 5% top up, trickle charging preserves the battery for longer, thus ensuring a longer lifespan for your device.

• Performance score: 5 / 5

Marginally bigger and heavier than the Amazon Kindle (2022), the Kobo Clara Colour is still light and portable. (Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)

Should I buy the Kobo Clara Colour?

Buy it if...

Don't buy it if...

Also consider

How I tested the Kobo Clara Colour

• Used for three weeks alongside the Kobo Libra Colour and the Onyx Boox Palma
• Used it for both reading ebooks and listening to audiobooks
• Compared it with other 6-inch and 7-inch ereaders

(Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)

I was lucky to have been sent the Kobo Clara Colour ahead of the official announcement, so I'd been using it for a few weeks before publishing this review. I used it alongside the Kobo Libra Colour as well as the rather different-looking Onyx Boox Palma. I also had the brief pleasure of comparing it to the Kobo Clara BW as well.

I used to the Clara Colour to both read and listen – I have a Kobo account, so signing into it via the device gave me access to my existing library. It also gave me access to my Kobo Plus subscription, which is where I found some audiobooks to listen to.

While using the Clara Colour, I had the opportunity to compare it to other ereaders, both black and white as well as color. These include the Libra Colour, the Onyx Boox Tab Mini C, the Onyx Boox Poke 5 and the PocketBook InkPad 4.

Read more about how we test.

[First reviewed April 2024]

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Razer Blade 14 (2024) review: premium performance on the go

Razer Blade 14 (2024): Two minute review

The Razer Blade 14 (2024) continues to impress as a gaming powerhouse in a remarkably compact form. 

It remains largely unchanged in design from its predecessor, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, considering it has long been my top pick for the best gaming laptop going, and this latest refresh makes a compelling case for keeping that title. 

Starting with its design, the familiar all-black CNC-milled aluminum chassis is both eye-catching and sturdy, with a weight that reinforces its premium build without sacrificing portability.

Performance-wise, the Blade 14 is more formidable than ever, thanks to its updated AMD Ryzen 9 8945HS processor and the choice between Nvidia RTX 4070 and 4060 GPUs. This setup handles everything from intense gaming sessions to demanding creative workloads with ease, supported by a cooling system that, while noisy, effectively manages heat even during extended use.

The display is another highlight, boasting a 2560x1600 resolution with a 240Hz refresh rate. It delivers vibrant colors and smooth visuals, making it a delight for both gaming and multimedia consumption. However, it does fall short of some competitors when it comes to brightness and HDR support.

Keyboard and trackpad functionality are excellent, providing comfortable typing and precise control. Razer Synapse software remains a useful tool for tweaking performance settings and personalizing the RGB lighting to enhance both aesthetics and functionality.

Battery life is decent for a gaming laptop, offering about 10 hours of light use and significantly less during gaming or high-performance tasks. Port selection is adequate, though the lack of an Ethernet port might irk some users.

Overall, the Razer Blade 14 (2024) is an excellent, if expensive, choice for those who need a powerful, portable laptop that can handle almost anything thrown its way.

Razer Blade 14 (2024): Price and availability

(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)

• How much is it? Starting at $2,199.99 / £2,149.99 / AU$3,999
• When is it available? It is available now.
• Where can you get it? You can get it in the US, UK, and Australia

The Razer Blade 14 (2024) is available now globally, starting at $2,199.99 / £2,149.99 / AU$3,999 for the base model with an RTX 4060 GPU and 16GB RAM. You can opt for my review configuration, which gets you an RTX 4070 and 32GB of RAM for $2,699.99 / £2,699.99 / AU$5,199, and honestly, this is the configuration to get. You're already spending north of two grand, so there's no reason to settle for an RTX 4060.

Still, this pricing does put it on the higher end of the 14-inch gaming laptop market, particularly when compared to alternatives like the Asus ROG Zephyrus 14 or HP Omen Transcend 14, both of which start at a lower price point. There is also the Razer Blade 14 (2023), which is still available for a lower starting price on Razer's website right now.

Given where 14-inch laptops are right now, this is easily one of the most, if not the most, expensive 14-inch laptop that isn't called the MacBook Pro. So, if you're really concerned about your budget, then the 2023 Blade 14 is likely a better bet since other than the processor and the extra RAM, there isn't much difference between the two Blade 14 models.

• Value: 3.5 / 5

Razer Blade 14 (2024): Specs

(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)

Razer Blade 14 (2024): Design

(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)

• Gorgeous finish and solid build
• Mercury silver colorway is stunning
• Mercury silver colorway costs substantially more

Razer's commitment to premium materials and build quality continues with the Blade 14. 

Its chassis, crafted from a single block of aluminum, offers a sleek, durable feel with a weight that is reassuring yet portable. The design mimics the minimalist, professional aesthetic of modern ultrabooks, which might deceive some into underestimating its gaming capabilities.

The display, a speedy 240Hz QHD+ IPS panel, sports up to 100% of the DCI-P3 color gamut with Calman verification for vivid, fluid-looking visuals, while the 3ms response time will make sure that the display is about as responsive as you'll find without going for mini LED or OLED panels.

(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)

The body of the Blade 14 is very reminiscent of the MacBook Pro 14-inch, though turning the laptop over, you'll find two intake fans to help keep the components cool. Of course, fans produce noise, and under load, this laptop can get rather loud. You do have some control over this though through Razer's Synapse software.

(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)

Razer's THX audio is another standout feature of the laptop, thanks to its top firing speakers, but this does cut back on what keyboard space is available for everything else, and on a 14-inch laptop, typing space is at a premium.

(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)

Typing on the Blade 14 is still a pleasure, and the keys are adequately spaced and have a great feel to them, even after typing for several hours.

(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)

Finally, there are a good number of ports, including two USB-A and two USB-C ports, the latter of which allow for power delivery and features DisplayPort output for a second screen.

• Design: 5 / 5

Razer Blade 14 (2024): Performance

(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)

• Best-in-class performance for a 14-inch laptop
• RTX 4070 GPU is powerful enough to handle just about any game
• For the price, there are more powerful gaming laptops out there

While the aesthetic appeal of the Razer Blade 14 is undeniable, at the end of the day, this is a gaming laptop, and so you're going to want it to perform at the highest level possible, especially considering the investment you're making in this device.

Fortunately, the Blade 14 delivers outstanding performance thanks to its Ryzen 9 8945HS processor and RTX 4070 GPU, leveraging both to get the most frames per second of any 14-inch laptop we've tested this year so far.

Despite its size, the laptop's cooling system manages heat relatively well, although it can get quite loud under load. The high-performance components do not throttle significantly, which is impressive given the limited space for air circulation and the fact that the GPU can be pushed to 140W, making this the most powerful RTX 4070 laptop you're going to find right now (something backed up by my testing data).

In the end, you're going to want this laptop to game at its best and possibly transition into a mobile workstation for high-end design work or content creation on a regular basis. It will certainly be able to swing that with ease, especially if you opt for the Mercury colorway, which gives the Blade 14 something of a distinguished look about it that won't be out of place in meetings.

• Performance: 5 / 5

Razer Blade 14 (2024): Battery life

• Decent enough battery life with light-use
• The 140W GPU drains the battery quick
• Relatively fast charging

Battery performance is solid, with Razer promising up to 10 hours of power life — under the right settings, of course. However, like most gaming laptops, intense gaming sessions will drain the battery very quickly, though the laptop does supports fast charging that'll get you up to 80% in an hour.

Unfortunately, it does seem to get less battery life than its predecessor, and it's battery performance is the only metric where this average falls below the 14-inch class average in our tests.

That said, the power brick is portable enough, and the Blade 14 itself is more than capable of hopping from power outlet to power outlet if needed thanks to its slender build and lightweight construction. 

Finally, this is a gaming laptop, after all, so if you're hoping for all-day battery life, there isn't a gaming laptop out there that will give it to you, so it's hard to knock off too many points here.

• Battery Life: 3.5 / 5

Should you buy the Razer Blade 14 (2024)?

(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)

Buy the Razer Blade 14 (2024) if...

Don't buy it if...

Also consider

If my Razer Blade 14 (2024) review has you considering other options, here is another laptop to consider:

How I tested the Razer Blade 14 (2024)

I spent the better part of three weeks with the Razer Blade 14 (2024), using it as my everyday laptop for work, content creation, and gaming in the evenings.

In addition to its real world use, I also ran our standard battery of benchmarks on the device, including synthetic, creative, gaming, and battery benchmarks.

I've been reviewing gaming laptops for nearly half a decade, and have a Master's Degree in Computer Science. I am also a lifelong gamer, so I'm better positioned to judge the merits and value of this laptop than many in the industry.

• First reviewed April 2024

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LG Gram SuperSlim review: solid productivity and style, but falls short on a number of fronts

LG Gram SuperSlim: Two-minute review

LG launched a separate laptop in its Gram lineup called the LG Gram SuperSlim, which borrows heavily from the adjacent 2023 LG Gram Style model in terms of its looks. However, the latter was a disappointment in terms of performance, despite my loving the extremely thin and light chassis and aesthetically pleasing design. 

So color me suspicious about the SuperSlim and whether it could impress me. What I’ve found is a mixed bag, with middling benchmark results and surprisingly solid productivity performance that could rival even the best laptops. However, some drawbacks still hold this laptop back.

At first glance, the SuperSlim is in a less impressive black color than its counterpart, but it makes up for that by its 15.6-inch weight and measurements beating out the 16-inch sizes of the Style and matching the 14-inch version. The result is an absolutely dreamy lightweight and razor-thin chassis and, unlike the Style, it doesn’t have that cheap plastic feel to it. 

There’s still a slight wobble to the hinge but all around it feels far more stable and solid, with a superior build quality. I also enjoy the material of the chassis, which has a more textured feel to it.

Ventilation has much improved, with the laptop staying cool even during heavy workloads, which is another improvement over the Slim, which suffered from overheating issues. LG seems to have addressed many build issues between these two laptops.

(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)

The keyboard still features snappy and responsive keys, which are nice and wide and perfect for a variety of finger sizes to type on with little chance for typos. Thankfully the touchpad has been restored to a much more standard one, and it’s perfectly responsive, unlike the haptic feedback nightmare on the Style.

(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)

The display’s resolution did take a hit compared to the Style’s 2.8 or 3K, as the SuperSlim is now FHD. It still thankfully retains the OLED screen and supports HDR, giving the display that sharp and bright look. 

The webcam is pretty standard, which is to say not particularly great but is fine for conference calls. The sound quality is quite solid, able to differentiate between various instruments as well as reproduce a deep bass. Its volume is also a noticeable improvement from the Style, as it can get pretty loud without losing too much in quality.

LG Gram SuperSlim: Benchmarks

Here's how the LG Gram SuperSlim performed in our suite of benchmark tests:

3DMark: Night Raid: 16,447; Fire Strike: 4,842; Time Spy: 1,778
Cinebench R23 Multi-core: 8,275 points
GeekBench 5: 1,842 (single-core); 9,783 (multi-core)
PCMark 10 (Home Test): 5,495 points
Battery Life (TechRadar movie test): 14 hours, 55 minutes
Civilization VI (1080p, Ultra): 42 fps; (1080p, Low): 25 fps

Though on paper through benchmark tests its performance is about the same as the Gram Style, in practice it functions much better. Productivity-wise, it’s capable of having tons of tabs open for both work and play including video conference meetings, word-processing documents and spreadsheets, video streaming, and more. Unfortunately, that means its CPU benchmarks are still below that of other similar Ultrabooks.

(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)

The LG Gram SuperSlim is made for office work and casual use through and through with almost no heavy-duty gaming capabilities. It’s all thanks to the bog-standard mobile GPU, which is rather offensive considering the steep price of the machine.

Other laptops for a similar price are equipped with a proper gaming GPU, so why LG refuses to make the upgrade is mind-boggling. Even a laptop like the Dell XPS 17 (2024) has better specs for a similar price point, and the Apple MacBook Air 15-inch (2023) doesn’t have a gaming GPU but the M3 chip is far superior to Intel’s silicon.

By far the biggest improvement over the Style is its extraordinary battery power, though, which gets close to rivaling even the best MacBook and best MacBook Pro models. During our battery tests, it was even able to last around 15 hours and that was under the stress of constant movie playing.

All in all, the LG Gram SuperSlim is something of a mixed bag, with some fantastic performance in terms of productivity and battery life, but don't expect much more from it than that.

LG Gram SuperSlim: Price & availability

• How much does it cost? $1,649 / £1,299 (about AU$2,530)
• When is it available? Available now
• Where can you get it? Available in the US and UK

The LG Gram SuperSlim is an Ultrabook is currently retailing at  $1,649 / £1,299 (about AU$2,530), with availability in both the US and the UK. Unfortunately, this particular model has been discontinued in Australia, so buyers out there would have to import it, making it even more expensive.

As for pricing itself, while it’s overall a superior model to the Style with some much-needed changes and enhancements, it’s still a hard sell compared to other similarly priced products like the Dell XPS 17 (2024) and the Apple MacBook Air 15-inch with M3, which both boast more well-rounded usage and better specs.

Unless the price drops down significantly, it would be difficult to make the SuperSlim more appealing to buyers. This is a shame since it does have a great niche as an incredibly portable laptop that works for offices and during commutes and events. If you can buy this laptop with a decent discount, then it's definitely worth considering.

LG Gram SuperSlim: Specs

As of now, the only model available in both the US and UK is this setup:  Intel Core i7-1360P CPU, Intel Iris Xe Graphics, 16GB of RAM, and 1TB SSD of storage. There's also no way to customize or upgrade the SuperSlim either.

Should you buy the LG Gram SuperSlim?

(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)

Buy the LG Gram SuperSlim if...

You want solid productivity performance
This laptop can handle plenty of productivity work including video calls, documents, web surfing, and more. It's the ultimate workhorse in a gorgeous chassis.

Don't buy it if...

You’re on a budget
This is an Ultrabook, meaning it has a premium price tag attached to it. Unless you have plenty of spare change, this is not the laptop for budget-minded buyers/

LG Gram SuperSlim: Also consider

If my LG Gram SuperSlim review has you considering other options, here are two more laptops to consider...

How I tested the LG Gram SuperSlim?

• I tested the LG Gram SuperSlim for several weeks
• I tested it using productivity and creative applications, as well as gaming
• I stress-tested the battery using the TechRadar movie test

First, I tested the general weight and portability of the LG Gram SuperSlim by carrying it around in a laptop bag. After I set it up, I ran several benchmarks to thoroughly test out the processor and graphics card. Finally, I used a variety of programs and applications to test out both battery life and general performance during work-like conditions, as well as gaming benchmarks to test the RTX 4050 GPU.

The LG Gram SuperSlim is meant to be a portable laptop with a thin and light chassis. I had to spend a good amount of testing not only on performance issues but also looking for any ventilation issues. I also tested out battery life to see how long it could last off AC power.

I've tested plenty of gaming PCs and laptops, making me more than qualified to understand benchmark test results and how to properly stress test machines to see how well they perform as a work machine.

Read more about how we test

First reviewed April 2024

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FlumeIO 5901 U.2 SSD review: as good a PCIe 5.0 enterprise drive as you're going to find

FlumeIO 5901 U.2 SSD: Two-minute review

Mainstream customers looking for fast storage have had a pick of dozens of M.2 PCIe 5.0 SSDs on the market over the last year and a half, but enterprise customers, creative industry professionals, or those who have been looking to upgrade their cloud server storage from older SATA or racks of PCIe 3.0 U.2 drives haven't been as lucky. 

With U.2 PCIe 5.0 drives only now just starting to make it to market, storage newcomer FlumeIO just might be a godsend with its FlumeIO 5900-series U.2 NVMe PCIe 5.0 SSDs, offering a massive speed upgrade for I/O-heavy devices like network servers at a surprisingly affordable price for an enterprise-grade SSD with this level of performance.

With budgetary pricing starting at $643 for 4TB, and scaling up to $2,059 for 16TB, the FlumeIO 5900-series (comprised of the FlumeIO 5900 and FlumeIO 5901 models, the latter of which I tested for this review), is often cheaper than slower, last-gen drives like the Samsung PM9A3, a Gen 4.0 drive with substantially lower read/write speeds, fewer IOPS, and higher latency.

(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)

It goes without saying that this affordability is relative, as customers in enterprise channels are used to paying many thousands of dollars for new drives on a rolling basis as their existing SSD drives near the end of their drive-write lifespan.

But while this drive is almost exclusively for data centers or similar high-throughput, high-volume network devices and systems, there are many creative or engineering and research workstations out there with U.2 compatible motherboards, and this drive might be especially interesting for those in these industries who need both massive storage capacity as well as speed.

(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)

Fortunately, the FlumeIO 5900-series promises a lot and effectively delivers on those promises, at least as far as my testing is concerned. After an extensive couple of weeks putting this drive through its paces, it was ultimately with a heavy heart that I had to send it back to FlumeIO, as it's the kind of SSD I'd have loved to have incorporated into my test bench in the NYC TechRadar office.

(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)

Starting with a simple, single direct I/O operation with 4KB read/write blocks and a 4GB file size, the FlumeIO 5901 scored lower than the promised IOPS and sequential read speeds, but that's to be expected when using a single process and blocks so small, but it is instructive as to the performance of a single process on this drive. Multiple processes in a production environment will be able to push these numbers much higher, as we see when increasing the block size, process pool, and I/O queue depth.

Moving things into a more "production" like environment starts to push up against the promised 14GB/s sequential read and 10GB/s sequential write performance, while its random read IOPS likewise increases considerably, while its random write IOPS decreases a bit, given the increased block size.

Increasing the block size to 128KB slows things down a bit, especially with random I/O IOPS, but increase the number of processes to a true production environment of 128 processes or higher and these numbers too will likewise increase considerably.

For content creators or researchers with workstation-class hardware capable of mounting a U.2 drive and who might be considering this drive over an M.2 PCIe 5.0 SSD like the Crucial T705 or similar, this drive has a lot to offer you as well, including substantially faster random read and write speeds, while still maintaining top-tier sequential read and write performance that you'd expect from a PCIe 5.0 drive. 

Even better, rather than having to configure several M.2 SSDs into a RAID configuration to get a solid storage device for very large files, this drive can give you a one-and-done solution thanks to its significantly larger capacities.

In the end, then, whatever your needs might be, this is one of the best U.2 SSD options on the market, and if you're looking for a PCIe 5.0 SSD, there aren't really many to choose from, making it relatively lower price point all the more impressive.

FlumeIO 5901 U.2 SSD: Price & availability

The FlumeIO 5900 series SSDs will be available in Q2 2024 with budgetary pricing kicking off at $643 for 4TB, and topping out at $2,059 for 16TB.

FlumeIO 5901 U.2 SSD: Specs

Should you buy the FlumeIO 5901 U.2 SSD?

We pride ourselves on our independence and our rigorous review-testing process, offering up long-term attention to the products we review and making sure our reviews are updated and maintained - regardless of when a device was released, if you can still buy it, it's on our radar.

Read more about how we test

First reviewed April 2024

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BodyBilt G7 review: a luxurious and comfortable experience

BodyBilt G7 Chair: Two-minute review

The BodyBilt G7 Chair is a gaming chair that's solely built for comfort. Every feature is devoted to delivering an incredibly high level of comfort to the buyer, and in this goal, it succeeds tremendously. Aesthetically it's simple yet pleasing, with mostly black and brown highlights on the seat that give it a classy look. It fits right at home in both an office and gaming setup.

Its parts are also high-quality, with a cushy seat that conforms to your derriere and ensures minimum discomfort during long and intense gaming sessions. The back of the chair is just as comfortable, with a mesh that's breathable (important for long sessions in which sweat becomes an issue) yet outfitted with proper lumbar support for the lower back that many other gaming chairs lack.

The armrests are height-adjustable 4D, making them much more stable and ergonomic. The back is also high and quite straight, which allows for freedom of movement when you rotate or stretch your body. The best part is the headrest, which looks unassuming but is easily the most comfortable one I've tested out. Unfortunately, the back is a bit short, so those taller than me might not fully benefit from the comfort of the headrest.

Like the other parts of the chair - including the cylinder, reinforced steel brace bars, and steel plate - the material of the seat and back are high quality and built to last for a long time. The steel parts that build up the chair are rather refreshing, as many gaming chairs tend to use plastic which creates a flimsy base that's uncomfortable and wears down quickly. As for the seat material, you can even have it outfitted with leather to give it that extra quality and longevity. This also includes the casters, which are likewise high-quality and roll well over most floor types including hardwood and carpet.

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In my opinion, the best feature to grace the BodyBilt G7 is that it's delivered to you fully assembled, which not only means you don't need to struggle to put it together yourself (or pay someone else to) but that professionals put the chair together. This ensures that no parts are worn down, broken, or poorly slotted together.

The second best feature is the fact that you can have the chair customized to your specifications, not only for the aforementioned leather option for the seating but for general measurements as well, including a custom fitting from the company to help make sure your fit is as solid as possible.

Though the standard design has a more shallow seat than I'm used to, the recline is steep and feels downright luxurious, especially coupled with the integrated lumbar support. Unlike many other gaming chairs, the BodyBilt G7 is made with comfort first in mind, much closer to an office chair rather than a flashy chair with bright colors, a gamer aesthetic, and very little else to commend them. For those like myself who have significant lower back problems, it's refreshing.

My only complaint on the comfort front is that the armrests aren't padded. While they aren't uncomfortable in the least, I would have expected some cushioning on them considering that BodyBilt clearly prioritizes comfort above all else. Otherwise, it;s easily one of the best gaming chairs around, especially for those who find most gaming chairs long on flash and short on comfort.

BodyBilt G7 Chair: Price & availability

(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)

• How much does it cost? $1,048.95 (around £842 / AU$1,615)
• When is it available? Available now
• Where can you get it? Available in the US

The BodyBilt G7, while an extremely high-quality chair, is extremely expensive as well. According to the official website, the standard model will run you by $1,048.95 (around £842 / AU$1,615), and that's not including the pricing for a customized version which you would need to request a quote for depending on your needs and add-ons.

It's around the same price as the Razer Fujin Pro, which retails for $1,049 / £999, but is far more expensive than the Boulies Master, which runs for $499.99 / £349.99. Both options, like the BodyBilt G7, are made to be more well-rounded chairs that attract both gamers and office workers. They all offer nice adjustment options and ergonomic designs that prioritize comfort over style, an issue that most other gaming chairs in the market have.

The only real downside to the BodyBilt G7 is that it's only available in the US with no UK or Australia options. It's a shame since the quality of this chair is superb and having shipping options for other regions and countries would be great for the market.

Should you buy the BodyBilt G7?

(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)

Buy the BodyBilt G7 if...

Don't buy it if...

If you're on a budget
This is an extremely expensive gaming chair, well over $1,000, so it's best to find other options if you can't fit this one in your budget.

BodyBilt G7 Chair: Also consider

How I tested the BodyBilt G7 Chair

• I spent about a month testing this chair
• I tested it for gaming and productivity work
• I used it extensively in an office environment

I tested the BodyBilt G7 in a work office environment, seeing how well it functioned in both gaming and productivity work. I also carried it around in various bags to test its portability.

The BodyBilt G7 is a gaming chair that's meant for extensive use over the years. I made sure to quality-test it to see if it held up to those standards while maintaining maximum comfort levels.

I use and extensively test a wide range of chairs for both the office and gaming, and understand how to properly rate and test them out to ensure that they reach a certain level of quality.

We pride ourselves on our independence and our rigorous review-testing process, offering up long-term attention to the products we review and making sure our reviews are updated and maintained - regardless of when a device was released, if you can still buy it, it's on our radar.

Read more about how we test

First reviewed April 2024

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AndaSeat Kaiser 3 XL review: bursting at the seams with features - and value

Andaseat Kaiser 3 XL: Two-minute review

If you're looking for a great value, do-it-all chair, with all the bells and whistles of some of the bigger brand options (most notably Secretlab) then the AndaSeat Kaiser 3 XL is absolutely the chair for you.

At $500 / £500, the XL gets you an incredibly comfortable, plush, bucket-seat design, combining an impeccable feature set that includes 4D magnetic armrests, in-built adjustable dual-lumbar support, a magnetic pillow headrest, an impressive steel chassis, and some of the best castor wheels I’ve ever seen on a gaming chair. This thing is a monster of a gaming chair, that comes in seven different color combinations in the Premium PVC leather option alone. Swap to fabric mode and you get another two variants on top of that.

It’s still not the cheapest out there, and you are penalized going for the XL over the L (by $100 / £100 depending on your region), but it makes for a darn fine gaming chair, perhaps one of the best gaming chairs out there right now, regardless of your size.

The only downside is that some of the stitched-on logos look kind of pixelated, and its bucket-seat design is a bit antiquated these days as well. In fact, most chair manufacturers (such as the Razer Iskur line, and the Secretlab Titan series) have opted for a more mature look in recent years, one that fits in just as well in a professional office as it does in a gaming room.

Still, if you can look past all that, for the price, it’s hard to be too critical of the AndaSeat Kaiser 3 XL; should you pick one up, it’ll be all the gaming chair you need for many years to come.

AndaSeat Kaiser 3 XL: Price and availability

(Image credit: Future/Zak Storey)

Right now, you can pick up the AndaSeat Kaiser 3 XL from a number of major US retailers, including Amazon. It’s available in a variety of color schemes, including the black PVC leather option our review unit was finished in, along with mint green, maroon, and white as well (although the latter will typically cost you $50 extra). As standard it clocks in at just shy of $500.

You can also get a few more colorways when buying directly from AndaSeat, where there’s a wider variety of schemes to choose from. Additionally, if the XL isn’t for you, then you can opt for the slightly cheaper L variant instead, and save yourself $50 in the process (sorry tall people).

For the UK, Amazon and AndaSeat directly are still your best bet (with pricing starting from £500), and the same goes for Europe. In Australia, you can get it shipped from AndaSeat directly (priced in USD) and JB HiFi has the chair available at $750 AUD.

AndaSeat Kaiser 3 XL: Specs

AndaSeat Kaiser 3 XL: Design and features

(Image credit: Future/Zak Storey)

The AndaSeat Kaiser 3 XL follows a very similar design to some of its competition. You still get the five-pronged ergonomic base, some absolutely stunning roller casters (they’re super smooth to glide about on), a full-on bucket seat with comfortable bolsters that aren’t too aggressive, full reclining and locking backrest (pivoting from 90 to 165 degrees), magnetic, four-direction (4D) armrests, a magnetic headrest pillow, and of course the creme de la creme, built-in adjustable dual lumbar support.

The list is quite extensive. Combine that with a plush PVC leather fabric, and some seriously impressive cushioning, and the Kaiser 3 XL is easily one of the most comfortable gaming chairs you can get right now.

If you take a Secretlab Titan Evo 2022 XL and put it side-by-side with the Kaiser 3 XL, the feature set is darn near identical. They look alike aside from some slight tweaks to the sizing and the backrest is different, and AndaSeat does have a more aggressive, traditional bucket shape. But the bolster stitching, the logo placement, the armrests, and the little plate on each arm are all practically the same. 

(Image credit: Future/Zak Storey)

That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but it feels like you’re paying for a slightly different bucket, castor wheels, base and materials, and a few dimension tweaks, rather than anything majorly different between the two brands. That different bucket and base does lead to some dimension differences. 

The seat base on the Kaiser 3 XL is slightly wider, the bolsters on the Kaiser around the waist area are slightly narrower and slightly broader in the shoulder department, and it’s a slightly lower chair as well (we’re literally talking half an inch in some cases). And it also doesn’t rise quite so high as the Titan Evo does, or the Noblechairs Hero, but that’s really it.

However, the Kaiser 3 XL has one big advantage and that’s the price. The 3 XL is nearly $100 / £100 cheaper than the Secretlab Titan Evo XL, which is a huge price drop by comparison, particularly as you‘re getting practically the exact same feature set.

AndaSeat Kaiser 3 XL: Performance

(Image credit: Future/Zak Storey)

But how does the AndaSeat Kaiser 3 XL perform? Well, let me preface with the fact I’m a 5-foot-8.5-inch human (174 cm), the Kaiser 3 XL is suggested for folk 5’11" and above, and I can wholeheartedly say, that is absolutely not true. That’s not to say it's too small for the larger person either; some of my 6-foot-plus colleagues had a blast using it too.

The only awkwardness about being such a short human, by comparison, is how heavy this thing is, and moving the packing box around. AndaSeat has gone above and beyond on the design of the Kaiser 3 XL and there are some seriously premium materials. Whether that’s the PVC leather, the seriously impressive internal bracing, or the awesome amount of steel in the overall construction it’s made this thing an absolute solid unit. Not once have I had any comfort issues at all, even over longer eight-hour days, sat at home working away or in long gaming sessions.

Construction is an absolute breeze, and AndaSeat includes a fairly impressive manual with it too. Everything is packed in the box well, and there are a few nice touches in the accessory box. Building it and working around the tilt arm is a little nerve-wracking, particularly as it comes with a security screw and a strap around the base unit, but otherwise, if you’ve built one gaming chair, you’ll know what you’re doing with the Kaiser 3 XL.

(Image credit: Future/Zak Storey)

A lot of the branding and logos are a little disappointing as many of them are stitched rather than embossed making it look somewhat like you’re staring at a 360p screen in some places, and the magnetic covers that go over the screws securing the base to the backrest are somewhat weak.

The showpiece, the integrated lumbar support, however, is impeccable. There are two dials located on either side of the chair back, and you simply twist them to adjust the support to your liking. It’s very much a fire-and-forget thing. You set it up once, and then you’re good to go for the foreseeable future.

For those cross-legged sitters out there, the Kaiser 3 XL supports that too, and the base bolsters aren’t quite as aggressive as something like Corsair’s T3 Race. Admittedly it’s not quite as smooth and squishy as the Secretlab’s Titan Evo is, but it’s certainly a close second, especially given that it’s $100 / £100 cheaper.

Andaseat Kaiser 3 XL: Should you buy it?

Buy it if...

Don't buy it if...

Also consider...

How we tested the AndaSeat Kaiser 3 XL

I spent more than a week with the AndaSeat Kaiser 3 XL putting it through its paces. I’m 5’8.5”, and weigh in at around 156lbs (75kgs) or so. I built and assembled the chair at home, before testing it in all manner of sitting positions. I used it in video calls and spent countless hours gaming, and writing in it as well. I tried different lumbar positions, with and without headrests, and also different heights and armrest orientations too, to really get to grips with how it felt. I documented that entire process, taking notes throughout my time using the chair.

I also got a number of my close colleagues and friends, all of whom are different shapes and sizes, to sit in it, and provide me with their feedback on how they felt the chair was, before collating that information and using it in my review.

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