Source: Windows Central
What you need to know
- Affinity Photo, Designer, and Publisher just received a major update to version 1.9.
- The update includes GPU acceleration, which can bring a tenfold speed increase on supported systems.
- All of the Affinity apps are currently half price.
Affinity Photo, Designer, and Publisher all have major updates available that bring several new features and major performance improvements. The update brings all of the Affinity apps to version 1.9. The biggest change is that the Windows versions of the Affinity apps now support GPU acceleration. As a result, supported systems will see up to 10 times faster performance on pixel-based tasks.
GPU acceleration has been available on the macOS and iPad versions of the Affinity apps for some time but is now making its way to Windows 10. To take advantage of it, you have a PC with a Direct3D feature level 12.0 capable card.
The release notes are lengthy and go into more detail on every single feature, but here are some of the most important highlights:
Performance improvements (all Affinity apps)
Expect big performance gains when working with large complex vector documents in all apps as well as much faster IDML import in Publisher.
PDF passthrough (desktop only) (all desktop Affinity apps)
It's now possible to flag your imported PDFs for PDF passthrough. This ensures that the file will be a perfect representation of the original PDF when exporting, regardless of whether you have the embedded fonts installed or not.
Windows GPU acceleration (all Windows Affinity apps)
We've made use of hardware acceleration on both the macOS and iPad versions of Affinity for some time (including being some of the first apps to optimise for the new Apple M1 chips). Now, Windows users can experience these large performance boosts too with up to 10x faster performance on pixel-based tasks like filter effects, adjustments and painting. Requires Windows 10 (April 2020 update or later) with a Direct3D feature level 12.0 capable card.
Content sync of store purchases (all Affinity apps)
You now have the ability to link your apps with your Affinity account and download all of your content from the store directly to your apps. All purchased content will show up in your linked apps once you complete the download, ready for you to use even when you're offline.
As a reminder, all of the Affinity apps are on sale for 50 percent off right now. Also, if you prefer to try them out for free, they all have a free trial going on as well.
We may earn a commission for purchases using our links. Learn more.

FlexiSpot BS10 office chair review: Ergonomic and customizable comfort
I previously used the FlexiSpot BS9, which I enjoyed, but found its design a little uncomfortable due to lower back pain issues I've suffered from since I was young. The BS10 is designed to help those with back issues, like myself! So, I've been using the FlexiSpot BS10 for a little over a month at this point, and this is my review!

Would you choose the Razer Book 13 or the Dell XPS 13 Plus?
How do you choose between the best two Ultrabooks on the market right now? On the one hand, you can't really make a bad choice, but on the other, how do you make sure you're getting the right one for you?

Here's everything we know about Alan Wake 2 (so far)
Alan Wake 2 is finally happening. Remedy Entertainment has shared some interesting details, giving us a good idea of where this darker story is heading.

The best photo editing apps for Windows 10
Whether you need to remove red eyes or do heavy duty editing, these are the best photo editing apps for Windows 10.