The base model of the Chromebook 11 comes with 2GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage, and costs $199 from HP. We tested a fully upgraded laptop with 4GB of RAM and 32GB of storage. The best word to describe the HP Chromebook 11 G4 is "adequate." If you need to do some light browsing, document editing and video streaming, this machine can handle it. It has a good keyboard and trackpad combo and loud speakers but falls behind competing Chromebooks with a screen that doesn't get particularly bright, a webcam that takes dark images and below-average battery life.

If you want the performance gains of the more expensive configuration, you can pay an extra $30 for the Dell Chromebook 11 with Core i3 and get a much better processor and battery life. If you want the basics and stronger battery life on the cheap, the less-expensive Lenovo 100S Chromebook is a better buy.

4K screens of varying quality have been slowly making their way into laptops, but they’ve been surprisingly absent from all-in-one desktop computers. The new 21.5in Apple iMac is the first that we know of to come with a 4K monitor which isn’t a surprise given Apple’s history of squeezing high resolution, high quality screens into its devices both big and small.

While cheaper 1080p versions of the 21.5in iMac are available, the 4K model on review here isn’t that much more expensive than its lower resolution counterparts. At £1199 inc VAT, it’s £300 more expensive than the cheapest 1920x1080 iMac available which is a reasonable markup.

Cramming 4096x2304 pixels into a 21.5in screen sounds like a recipe for small, hard-to-read text but Apple has avoided the need for any such squinting. By default, the screen only shows the equivalent of 2048x1152 pixels in most apps. All the other pixels are instead used to make text look incredibly sharp.

The exception is in programs that have redesigned to take advantage of the extra pixels, such as Adobe Photoshop CC or Apple’s own Final Cut Pro. In these cases, images with a high enough resolution and 4K video are displayed in their full, native resolution while text in menus and toolbars etc are still rendered sharply at a readable size.

As Apple has been making MacBooks with similarly high resolution displays for several years now, the selection of OS X programs that take advantage of them are more numerous than they are on Windows. As a result we almost never saw the fuzzy text, tiny inscrutable interface elements or odd, inconsistent scaling issues that still affect Windows and Windows programs on very high resolution screens.

But after using it consistently for work and play, I’m convinced it’s one thing in particular: The iPad Pro is the best computer Apple has ever made. Not the fastest. Not the most portable. And certainly not right for everyone. But, considered as a whole, this version of the iPad achieves the best balance between traditional computing and the places mobile devices like smartphones and tablets seem to be inevitably taking us in the future. It’s a remarkable piece of technology anybody considering buying either a tablet or laptop computer should consider seriously.

The iPad Pro comes in several version starting at $799 for a model with 32GB of internal storage and Wifi connectivity, rising to $1,079 for a model with 128GB as well as Wifi and Cellular connectivity. That’s expensive and, once you factor in the cost of accessories, you can get just above the price of an entry-level MacBook.

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This iPad is big, almost ludicrously so at first encounter. The device is built around a 12.9-inch, high-resolution touchscreen that provides a viewing area the size of two "normal” size iPads side by side. It’s thin (0.27-inches) and weighs a little over a pound and a half. You get used to it pretty quickly: after a day or two, my iPad Air 2 started to look too small in contrast. But the dimensions can make it awkward to hold with one hand, especially in portrait orientation. With an iPad Air, portrait feels like the natural way to hold the device, while the iPad Pro felt most comfortable to me in landscape.

All of this would be for naught if the screen didn’t have good image quality, but the Retina screen didn’t disappoint. Compared to the 1080p screen on the Late 2012 21.5in iMac, the 4K screen was noticeably brighter with purer whites and modestly better contrast. The difference in colour accuracy was far less noticeable than the difference in sharpness and increased resolution, but everyone will appreciate the extra brightness.

Oddly, the 4K iMac doesn’t support Thunderbolt Display Mode so another device, such as a MacBook Pro, can use the iMac’s screen as a second display. This should be well within the capabilities of the iMac’s Thunderbolt 2 ports so this omission is puzzling. In any case, you can use the two Thunderbolt 2 ports to connect two additional 4K monitors to the iMac. Multi-Stream Transport and most Single-Stream 4K monitors work at a refresh rate of 60Hz when connected to the iMac.

One potential annoyance in offices with overhead lighting, such as fluorescent strips, is the screen’s glossy finish. This can potentially reflect such overhead lighting resulting in distracting reflections and glare. However, in the IT Pro office, which has plenty of overhead fluorescent lighting, we had to deliberately position the screen at an awkward angle to cause enough noticeable glare or reflections.

Casing and upgradeability
Externally the 4K iMac looks almost identical to its predecessors from the past couple of years with the same aluminium and glass casing. It’s very slim for an all-in-one with a stand that, while not height-adjustable, can easily be tilted and swivelled single-handed - a seemingly simple feat few other all-in-one desktops can manage.

This slimline build does have its drawbacks though. All of the ports are on the rear which makes them inconvenient to reach unless you have enough room on your desk to completely swivel the iMac around. This isn’t necessarily a given since all-in-ones are often deployed in tight spaces. We’d happily settle for a slightly thicker casing if it meant a USB port and SD card reader mounted on the side or some other easy to reach location.

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The sealed iMac is also not designed to be upgradeable or serviceable by anyone other than Apple-certified technicians. This means you’ll almost certainly want an onsite service contract, such as Apple’s own AppleCare for Enterprise, if you’re deploying any significant number of iMacs.

Even if you’re happy with such service contracts, the sealed casing means you’ll need to give some thought to how much memory you’ll need over the lifetime of the iMac as more can’t be added later. The model reviewed here comes with 8GB which can be increased to 16GB when ordering for an extra £160 which is a little steep. The 16GB limit itself is also a little disappointing given that the Core i5 processor present can support up to 32GB.

Performance and options
Apple doesn’t state which specific Core i5 is used in the iMac, but we think it’s a dual-core fifth generation Broadwell Core i5 5350H, or a variation of it. It runs at a base frequency of 3.3GHz and can Turbo Boost up to 3.6GHz when needed. It made short work of our benchmarks. The iMac was whisper quiet, but with the metal casing becoming hot to the touch as it’s used for passive cooling.

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