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With the price of some PC components right now, it's arguably better to go for a prebuilt rig. The iBuyPower 4th of July Mega Sale could help with that, as you can get up to $350 off any custom or RDY prebuilt PC over $999 with the coupon code 'JULY4'.

Out of all the options, I think that this RDY Element 9 Pro R08 is the best value prebuilt PC overall at $2,299 (was $2,549). Use the coupon code and it drops even further to $1,949 — a solid price for a mid-to-high-end gaming PC with an AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D CPU, Radeon RX 9070 XT 16GB GPU, and 32GB of DDR5-6000MHz RAM.

This RDY Element 9 Pro R08 is the overall best value option out of the prebuilt gaming PCs in the iBuyPower 4th of July Mega Sale. It features an AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D CPU, Radeon RX 9070 XT 16GB, 32GB of DDR5-6000MHz RAM, and a 2TB NVMe SSD. These are all reasonable specs for a mid-to-high-end PC, including a graphics card from AMD's latest series and ample storage compared to cheaper alternatives. Remember to use the code 'JULY4' at checkout to get an extra $350 discount.View Deal

Let's get into some of the components. First, the Ryzen 7 7800X3D is a couple of years old now, so not the newest, but not ancient, and still widely regarded as one of the best gaming CPUs you can buy. The Radeon RX 9070 XT, meanwhile, is the flagship card from AMD's latest graphics card series.

Together, these components can capably run modern and demanding games, as well as popular esports titles like Valorant, Marvel Rivals, and Fortnite above 1080p without dipping below 120fps. Most of them can even support up to 1440p.

As for storage, its 2TB NVMe SSD offers enough space for a variety of games without deleting old files every few months.

RAM is still scarce, so now might not be the best time to build your own gaming PC. If you're curious about other options, I'd recommend browsing our best gaming PCs and best budget gaming PCs.

We've had a couple of early reports of Steam Machine failures, describing a red light indicator of a problem that means the PC won't turn on, which is something that'll be very familiar to those who've had an Xbox in the past.

A Redditor posted (see below) that their "Steam Machine was pretty cool for the 20 minutes that it worked", detailing how things went wrong, and how the PC ended up displaying a 'Red Line of Death' and not booting – reminiscent of the 'Red Ring of Death' visited upon some unfortunate Xbox 360 owners (myself included).

The Redditor tells us that they played five minutes of No Man's Sky before noticing an update for the Steam Machine, which they installed — and then the device fell over.

Post-update it failed to boot, and the owner was left looking at a red light on the right-hand side of the Steam Machine's light bar. After a bit of digging, it was discovered that this indicates a 'GPU failure', as per Valve's troubleshooting info on the Steam Machine's LED.

The owner has contacted Valve for help, but at the time of writing, support hasn't yet got back to them (or at least they haven't updated the Reddit thread with the details of what's happening).

This isn't quite a sole complaint, as there's another report of a GPU failure with the Steam Machine on the Steam Forums. But clearly, we shouldn't go running for the hills in panic that this is going to be Valve's very own 'red ring' controversy that casts a hellish blight across this hardware launch just yet.

While talk of the Redditor's Steam Machine being 'bricked', meaning permanently dead, is premature, it's not clear where things might go from here. Given that in the Redditor's case it happened after an update, perhaps it's reversible (the other post on Valve's forums, where the PC immediately failed on first boot, sounds more definitively terminal).

In both cases, though, a GPU failure doesn't sound good, and while it may be possible to resolve that via poking around and attempting a recovery with the PC, the buyer on Reddit is wisely awaiting instructions from Valve's support team.

I'm betting this will be a return in the end (with both PCs), and I think that's for the best, as I'd be worried if a device I bought had an initial problem like this, as I'd fear that it's something that might resurface later on.

Of course, some point out that the problem is that furnishing the purchaser with a new unit may not be a speedy process, given the limited stock of the Steam Machine so far. But Valve will obviously have some contingency plans in place for potential returns, as they will inevitably happen.

That's another thing to make clear here: just because we've seen a Red Line of Death (well, two) doesn't mean everyone should be panicking about the quality of Valve's hardware. There will be a percentage of faulty devices, that's just reality, and currently, we have just a pair of reports.

If these problems keep on coming, though, that's obviously a different matter, and we could be looking at a more difficult situation for Valve. Time will tell, but for now, let's stay well clear of the mentioned hills.

At any rate, at least the red line looks a lot cooler than the red ring. It reminds me of KITT in Knight Rider, or the Cylons in Battlestar Galactica, though the light really should be pulsing from side to side, of course.

• Tesla regains momentum after two years of sales decline
• China and Europe both see an increase in Tesla sales
• Tesla shares still fluctuated, despite the positive news

Tesla’s second-quarter sales results have far exceeded market expectations, with growth in both Europe and China helping to drive a 25% rise compared to the same period last year.

According to The Financial Times, the electric vehicle pioneer delivered 480,126 vehicles in the three months to the end of June, up from 384,122 in the same period last year and well above analysts’ forecasts of 404,000.

Despite shifting its focus to artificial intelligence and robotics in recent years, as well as trimming its model line-up down to just two cars, Tesla has seen huge growth in Europe, aided in part by government EV incentives.

The Guardian reports that the rising cost of fuel and the rapid adoption of electric vehicles on corporate fleets could have also played an important role in boosting sales, while the consumer backlash to CEO Elon Musk’s political statements last year could also have eased.

Despite the vast improvement in sales, BYD once again surpassed Tesla to regain its position as the world’s largest battery-electric vehicle manufacturer.

BYD sold roughly 867,000 electric vehicles in the first six months of the year, compared with 838,149 vehicles for Tesla, according to The Financial Times.

“Tesla has not surprised to the upside to this degree in a while, a healthy sign the auto business is here to stay,” William Blair analyst Jed Dorsheimer told the paper.

Despite the CEO’s questionable political decisions and the company’s reputation for over-promising and often under-delivering, it is still difficult to argue that Tesla’s current crop of electric vehicles is anything short of excellent.

The company’s charging network remains one of the best, even if charging speeds are now being eclipsed by numerous Charge Point Operators, while its latest Model 3 and Model Y are the most comfortable, tech-focussed and luxurious they have ever been.

Thanks to increased competition from both up-and-coming Chinese EV companies and legacy automakers, Tesla has been forced to get competitive with its pricing, offering enticing monthly deals on the Model 3 and Model Y.

It has also recently started to roll-out its Supervised Full Self-Driving system in select European countries for the first time, another factor that could help improve sales further.

• Rockstar Games has been accused of enabling crunch conditions through employee contracts
• Union members say there is a lack of transparency around pay and bonuses at the Grand Theft 6 studio
• The union accuses the studio of scrapping initiatives aimed at addressing gender-based pay inequity

Grand Theft Auto 6 studio and industry giant Rockstar Games has been accused of unfair working conditions that include enabling crunch culture, failing to address gender-based pay inequity, and weaponizing bonuses.

Three members of the Rockstar Game Workers Union (RGWU) spoke to Game Developer in a huge interview - though they wished to remain anonymous due to fear of reprisals - and claimed that the studio attempts to normalize crunch.

"Crunch is prevalent enough that the company built into our contracts, as standard, an opt out of the Working Time Regulations that stops your employer being able to ask you to do more than about 10 hours extra each week," one source explained, referring to the UK protection that can be voluntarily relinquished by employees.

"The union successfully ran a campaign to inform people they could opt back in to the regulations at any time, which resulted in Rockstar management simplifying the process and removing the obligation to meet with HR," the source added.

"Part of the problem with crunch is that there is not an agreed definition, and now it seems the company thinks that offering specific and limited compensation as an incentive for overtime means it no longer qualifies as crunch."

While some teams at Rockstar never crunch, it's claimed that there are also departments that "seem to never get out of it — and often colleagues do not realize the opposite group exists."

The interview also includes claims that workers were forced to return to the office and relinquish hybrid or remote work benefits, a mandate which allegedly didn't apply to company leaders, and there is a lack of transparency around pay and bonuses.

A "considerable portion" of most employees' compensation packages comes in the form of bonuses that fluctuate, often without obvious justification. It's claimed that the compensation workers receive falls below the market rate when compared to adjacent industry work, with one source saying, "When the bonus is particularly good, it can be a windfall, but often the bonus is disappointing and one can end up being paid considerably less than expected for the year.

"The reasoning given for this is often nebulous, inconsistent between departments, even inconsistent between team members within the same department, and sometimes hinges on completely subjective or retroactive criticisms."

It's said promotions are also hard to secure at the studio because Rockstar regularly shifts the goalposts when career progression is discussed.

"The main problem is that [bonuses and progression are] all completely discretionary for the company, and they are under no obligation to show their working," the source added. "Employees want good pay, and if literally anything they do that year could affect it, they will naturally feel they have to be as pliable as possible to their boss's whims. Imagine [how you might feel if] a fifth of your salary could be withheld without any justification or based on a single surprise factor."

Gender-based pay inequity is another issue that the union members discussed, informing Game Developer that the gap between median wages for different genders has widened at Rockstar and that initiatives aimed to address that imbalance have been scrapped.

Union workers say all these issues have created a sense of imbalance and injustice at the studio and feel that employees are not adequately compensated for GTA 6, which is set to be the biggest game launch of all time.

A Take-Two Interactive spokesperson provided a statement to Game Developer in response to the claims. It reads: "We strive to make the best games possible by giving our talented teams world-class work environments and ongoing career opportunities. We have fostered a culture which is focused on teamwork, excellence, and kindness, and where we support and reward the team across all levels of the business through competitive compensation and benefits policies.

"We are proud that as a result, our employee retention is well above the industry standard. We have received a request from a union seeking to discuss voluntary recognition. We value an open and constructive dialogue with all stakeholders and will arrange to meet."

• Sony teased a new RX10 on its Instagram, writing 'The Wait is over'
• Its previous bridge camera was the RX10 IV from 2017, which is discontinued
• This latest in the series will arrive on July 9 at 7am PT / 10am EDT / 3pm BST

Sony just dropped exciting news for fans of its versatile bridge cameras — a new RX10 camera will be revealed next week.

The teaser on Sony's Instagram reveals a surprising amount of detail, including the release date plus a silhouette of the next RX10, which from we can glean some info about its lens.

Perhaps the most surprising part of all is that Sony is launching a new RX10 in the first place. Its most recent bridge camera was the Cyber-Shot RX10 IV which was released all the way back in 2017, and has been discontinued for more than two years.

The RX10 IV is still regarded as the best bridge camera available, which tells you everything you need to know about this space, which has been largely dormant for years, save for a tired Lumix re-release and the occasional cheap Kodak model.

Despite the RX10 IV's skills, we can only hope that Sony has a little more in store for the next RX10, because an upgrade on the mark IV could be super interesting. The teaser (below) gives us a little snippet of what we can expect.

A post shared by Sony | Alpha (@sonyalpha)

A photo posted by on

The most obvious point to note is the release date, which will be July 9 at 7am PT / 10am EDT / 3pm BST. I predict that putting a Sony bridge camera back in stores will be a popular move, especially among enthusiast wildlife photographers desiring a versatile telephoto lens in a lightweight setup.

Otherwise, there's one little clue, and that's the part of the teaser when the lens is extending upwards. We can't see the focal length of the lens, but we can see the aperture range, which is f/2.4 to f/16.

That aperture range is identical to the RX10 IV, which features a 25x optical zoom with a 24-600mm focal length range. The other details in that lens silhouette also look the same as those in the RX10 IV; the Vario Sonnar T* and twin control rings.

It's harder to glean much else from the teaser — the silhouette of the camera body looks similar to the one before it, but it could very well be different.

We won't have long to wait to find out more, with the next RX10 coming in less than a week.

What do you think of Sony's teaser? Is this the next Sony camera you were hoping for? Have your say in the comments.

There are a lot of monitors out there these days, and every one of them is touting how great it is in one way or another. Whether that is visual clarity or resolution, aspect ratio, custom zoning, colors, anything like that.

However, what isn't said is that even though there are iPads that you can buy with tandem OLED displays, most people in a business context or professional context just don't need that and probably don't even understand what they're looking at, even if they had all of the monitors at their disposal. I'm saying this from experience as well. It's not just me saying that as a tech reviewer isolated in a box, but as somebody who procures monitors for a growing business.

I've had several people who, when trying to figure out what they want for a monitor, simply just say they want a 27-inch screen because that's what they're used to and that's all they need and want. I've set up several workstations with much nicer setups, only to see the settings toned down to the point where they are using it as is: a 27-inch HD monitor rather than a fantastic 4K display with color accuracy.

The USB-C feature adds a layer of simplicity to this monitor: instead of needing a dock or an HDMI plug-in, you can simply train your team to plug in their company laptop with a single USB-C cable. One-cable setups are super easy, and this monitor does that very, very well.

For those who need simple and those who don't need anything fancy, this may just be one of the perfect monitors that fits that gap, while every other monitor seems to be trying to push for the best of the best of the best in some other area that may or may not matter to the masses.

The Dell 27 Plus QHD USB-C S2725DC is widely available from Dell in all regions, as well as retailers such as Amazon. It retails for around $250 / £250.

For what you're getting, that feels like a phenomenal price to me. Especially when buying these out in bulk across multiple locations, offices, or similar setups.

Right out of the gate, the unboxing for this one is very similar to the last Dell 27" HD monitor that I tested. It's a very simple white box. Inside is just as simple. There is a monitor, a three-piece stand, and some included cables. The only difference is that this box includes a USB-C cable as well. That is actually a surprising length, making it long enough for you to route into a desk, pull away, or mount somewhere as well, if needed. I would have expected probably a meter or two, but this one seems to be quite a bit longer in a good way.

Once set up, I was able to plug in a test device via USB-C to confirm it had power. Then I tested it with all sorts of different devices that I had. I tested it on my MacBook, my iPad, another iPad, and my iPhone. I tested it with several other laptops and a couple of desktops, and all of them worked out great. This USB-C is quick and responsive. The screen looks sharp, and the few times that you need to use the OSD, it works well.

One thing worth noting on this is that the pop-out ports on the bottom actually work really well. Of course, they're not Thunderbolt 5 speeds, but they're fast enough to get the work done you may need to do on this: charge quick devices, transfer some smaller files, things like that. Of course, it doesn't need to have crazy high-speed transfer rates, because that's not the design of this monitor. That would be like trying to cram 57 cup holders into a Ferrari. That's just not necessary, because that's not what that vehicle is designed for. Same thing here. Why would Dell spend money and time and resources on crazy high-speed USB-C on a device that isn't designed to work that way?

I've already mentioned it a little bit, but the design is simple. It's clean, and it's very work-friendly. This isn't the kind of monitor that's going to turn heads, and that's exactly what Dell was hoping for. This is the kind of monitor you would see on the desk of a data admin or an executive admin at a coworking space. Perhaps a hot desk scenario, maybe an accountant, account manager, or things of that nature.

The stand has some slight upgrades from past ones that I've griped about. Instead of a cable pass-through through the base, it actually has a little clip on the back. It's still not perfect, but it seems a little clearer and cleaner to use if you opt not to use the built-in stand. One thing to note is that the monitor is extremely light, so you will need to aggressively adjust your monitor arm to compensate for the reduced weight, which is not usually the case. Usually you have to account for heavier monitors.

There is an OSD joystick for selecting inputs, adjusting USB-C settings, or even choosing the original language when first setting up the monitor. Lastly, I do appreciate that this is a USB-C monitor, as that one-cable setup without needing another dock, another power, or another place to put a docking station really helps clean things up.

This monitor has functioned well for everyday work. I’ll be the first to note that it wouldn't be ideal for color-accurate creative work. Nor would it be great for those who try to fit everything on their display at once, expecting a high-resolution screen to help by scaling. It’s not for video editors, photo editors, creatives, gamers, or those.

But for people who work on spreadsheets, project management, emails, web-based content, writing documents, working with AI, perhaps even basic coding, and things in this realm, those who don’t have a specialty niche when it comes to displays, this will work great. I immediately thought of my friends who work in finance and Insurance. These guys would kill for a monitor like this, as it does exactly what they need without any fluff. It’s not going to take their time to set up and understand.

Well, of course, the single USB-C is a huge benefit for this monitor. It's also super great for IT professionals who need a simple setup to run a server or plug into a server room or something like that. Other devices can be plugged into the HDMI ports, and then when they walk in with their laptop, they can plug in with USB-C. You could, of course, also plug in other devices via USB-C, like desktops, but that would also be just as easy to plug in an HDMI cable. That's not necessarily a huge selling point.

One of the many things that USB-C can transfer is audio, and while this monitor does have speakers, do not expect them to be anything fancy. You can potentially get away with some background audio, maybe some lo-fi beats on Spotify or a virtual meeting, but I wouldn't expect these to be anything crazy or clear. They'll get the job done in some scenarios, but not in many.

All in all, I think it's pretty clear that this is a simple monitor for simple needs for those who don't have a niche need. Nor do they want to spend what some people spend on a car on a monitor.

Monitor technology has gotten incredible. I would know. I've tested most monitors out right now, and while I do love a fancy monitor, there is something to be said for a simple one that is just plug-and-play, without any bells and whistles, that still costs a very reasonable $200-$250.

There's still plenty of demand for that kind of display, and Dell putting out this monitor shows exactly that.

For more top-performers, we've tested the best business monitors.