Tired of feeling cramped on your cheapo 1080p monitor? It’s likely affecting your productivity, which means it’s time to upgrade—and if you hop on it now, you can save a lot of cash. Amazon is selling the Samsung ViewFinity S65TC for 50% off, bringing it down to just $399.99. Yup, Prime Day ended yesterday, but some deals still abound.

Going from your tiny 21- or 24-incher to this 34-inch beauty will redefine how much you can get done and how quickly you can do it. And it’s not just 34 inches with a 16:9 aspect ratio—the S65TC is an ultrawide. That means a glorious 21:9 that actually lets you stack app windows side by side and have room to spare. It also has an aggressive 1000R curve that wraps around your eyes, letting you see everything without even turning your head, minimizing eye strain and bumping up immersion when you watch shows and movies.

Three other standout features. First, the Thunderbolt 4 port with 90W of power delivery means you can connect it to a laptop and it’ll stay charged, freeing you from a separate power tether. Second, you can then plug your keyboard, mouse, and external storage drive into the monitor and access from your laptop—the monitor effectively becomes a dock. Third, it has a built-in KVM switch. If the monitor is hooked up to your laptop and desktop PC, you can use one set of keyboard/mouse for both.

The rest comes with caveats. HDR10 is nice for richer-looking movies and images, but the S65TC lacks the color accuracy needed for professional content creators. Its 100Hz refresh rate is smooth enough for productivity tasks, but combined with the VA panel, it’s not good enough for serious gaming. The aggressive screen curve will distort lines, so it’s bad if you’ll be doing artwork or CAD drafting. And if you aren’t going to take advantage of Thunderbolt 4, you’re paying the premium tax for no benefit.

If none of those caveats filter you out, you’ll come out ahead if you snag the Samsung ViewFinity S65TC for $399.99 while you can. But if it’s still too pricey for you, see PCWorld’s picks for the best ultrawide monitors.

When I went to Google’s presentation on its new Googlebooks, it was an act of convenience. I happen to be near New York City, so I’m used to schlepping my way onto a bus for media events. As the Performance desk lead, I really don’t have any personal interest in Google’s successor to its Chromebook venture, especially since it’s packed with “AI.” So I was there mostly to support our AI expert, Ben Patterson.

But one bit of news caught my attention: You get access to the bootloader.

A brave new (old) world

This requires a bit of context. See, I’m an Android guy. I started my tech journalism career on Android-focused sites, back when smartphones were still the hottest, newest tech on the planet, and tons of people were obsessing over every new model. One of the most exciting parts of Android was the ability to modify the software fairly easily. You could “root” them to get access to all the various bits and bobs, or even load up your own custom-cooked, open-source operating system, colloquially called a ROM.

Rooting and ROMs are still a thing in the Android world, but they’ve fallen off by an order of magnitude since the glory days of 2010-2015. Somewhat because phones are far more locked down, aside from some where open access is a feature, like Google’s Pixel line or the Fairphone. But mostly it’s because phones are powerful and flexible enough to do pretty much everything you want now, no risky or skilled modifications required.

I installed an AOSP-based ROM on my Barnes & Noble Nook Color e-reader to turn it into one of the first full-power Android tablets. But I can’t remember the last time I looked at an Android phone’s bootloader, despite trying dozens (maybe hundreds!) of different ROMs back in the day.

Googlebooks are, at least in the purest technical sense, Android-powered laptops. They’re running Intel and Qualcomm chips — some of the same ones that power Windows laptops, in fact. But Android software is based on open-source code, loath as Google is to admit that these days. That means it should be possible, if not easy or straightforward, to modify it. At the NYC event I asked various representatives from Google and its hardware partners if they would allow users to wipe the laptops clean and install Windows, and they didn’t have an answer ready for me.

Fast forward to this week, and we have confirmation via Google support that Googlebooks will arrive with an unlockable bootloader. For those of you who’ve never dug deep into an XDA forum to find a Gapps ZIP that will work with your tweaked CyanogenMod build, that means you should be able to load up custom ROMs.

That’s got the nerdiest part of my soul extremely excited. Custom ROM developers advanced Android’s early years in ways that might be invisible to those outside of that particular niche. Google, Samsung, and others apparently took direct inspiration from the ways that developers modified their software in order to improve it, particularly in terms of the user interface and performance.

You know how you can swipe up from the bottom of your phone to go home and swipe on the side to go back? How there’s an easy shortcut to turn on the rear camera flash and make a quick flashlight? Yeah, both of those showed up in custom Android ROMs and other modifications years before they were stock in either Android or iOS. The prospect of seeing users customize the operating system in Googlebooks is absolutely tantalizing.

…but it’s not very likely to happen

But there’s a fly in this particular ointment. The early Android ROM scene was so vibrant specifically because millions and millions of people were excited about smartphones. It was the Wild West, and everybody wanted the fastest horse. For the same thing to happen with Googlebooks, Google’s AI-laden “reinvention” of the laptop, people will need to be excited about Googlebooks. And I don’t see that happening, not even to the degree that people were interested in Chromebooks when they debuted back in 2011.

There’s an extremely narrow slice of the consumer market for whom I think a Googlebook purchase makes sense. You need to be A) really, really happy with your Android phone, B) really want a new laptop, C) not reliant upon any tools or software that only works on Windows or Mac, and C) not particularly bothered by a lack of native game support. Oh, and you need to have a budget of about a thousand dollars or more, because even limiting the RAM to 8GB isn’t making Googlebooks cheap.

There’s a faint possibility of an exciting new world in custom laptop software. But it’s very faint indeed without a large, dedicated group of people making it happen. And as much as I want to see it, I doubt that I will.

You need antivirus software. Because of AI, online threats keep getting more sophisticated—more and more AI-fueled attacks pop up with each passing week. Even the tech-savvy and cautious can get tricked into exposing themselves to malware, spyware, ransomware, or a phishing attack. This guide compares the best Windows antivirus suites, including when Windows Security is enough and when extra privacy, parental, or identity tools make a paid suite worth it.

Make sure you understand how all our picks differ before settling on any one choice. For instance, Norton is great for all around value, but Avast is great for ease of use, AVG for budget buyers, Avira Prime for beginners, McAfee for the privacy-conscious, and Panda for a surfeit of features. Not to mention what Windows Security brings to the table at no cost at all.

Why you should trust PCWorld for antivirus reviews: PCWorld has been deep in the trenches of testing computer hardware, software, and services since 1983—including security suites. As users of PC hardware and software, we run all products through rigorous testing, with plenty of hands-on evaluation and benchmarks (when the later is applicable). We don’t recommend gear or apps we wouldn’t use ourselves.

Best antivirus of 2026 reviewed and ranked

Other antivirus software tested

• Surfshark One: This VPN software includes adequate antivirus protection with a clean, simple interface, but you’ll get more bang for your buck (and a lighter hit to your PC’s system resources) by choosing rival security software with a stronger focus on antivirus protection.
• McAfee+ Ultimate: This comprehensive all-in-one package offers strong antivirus protection and a vast array of online protections, but its apps, services, and tools could use more polish. Its scans also can tangibly decrease performance on mid-range and budget PCs.
• Avast Premium Security: You can choose a couple of different paths when upgrading from Avast’s already excellent free antivirus software—and this branch of the company’s software leans hard into safeguarding your PC. However, a couple of buggy features keep this suite from standing out among its rivals.
• Bitdefender Total Security: Superb antivirus defenses are packed into an easy-to-use app that includes a unique safe payment environment. However, it lacks some features you get with similarly priced suites, like a password manager.
• Malwarebytes Premium Security: Technology newbies will like this antivirus software’s simplicity, but you can get more bang for your buck elsewhere.
• Norton Antivirus Plus: Its one-device limitation is tight, but this simplified antivirus suite is affordable and offers more features than similar rivals. If you can work comfortably with its quirks and potentially heavy performance effect, it can be ideal software for digital minimalists.
• Trend Micro Maximum Security: Even when you can count on Trend Micro Maximum Security to work, this beginner-friendly antivirus suite feels underbaked. You can find much stronger malware protection, along with a more robust set of features, in rival software—and often at a lower price.

How to choose the best antivirus software

When shopping for antivirus software, you want to be mindful of the must-haves versus the nice-to-haves. The former consists of core protection and usability features: If an antivirus program doesn’t offer the following three things, it’s doing it wrong:

• High detection rate for malware and other threats, both online and offline
• Low use of system resources
• A simple, clear interface

Beyond that, it’s up to you what other additional features are necessary from your antivirus. Security suites now come packed with extras like a backup service for essential files, mobile apps for Android and iOS, advanced firewall features, content restriction and GPS location for family members, and the ability to install the app on multiple computers. Access to a VPN and a password manager have become more common, too. Your budget and personal situation will dictate if you need these additional features.

If you’re looking to go beyond the basics, our baseline recommendation is to find a suite that comes with a firewall, supports enough devices to cover what you own, and (if you don’t already have separate services set up) access to a password manager and VPN. Not sure if you need all that? Our guides on security suite features, password managers, and VPNs can help you decide.

There’s a brand new platform for Windows-powered laptops arriving soon, with a familiar name and some shockingly high prices. If you’ve been following the high-end hardware news in 2026… then I’m sorry. But possibly the most exciting thing to land in some time is Nvidia’s Spark RTX, an Arm-based chip that’s now going into consumer laptops, headlined by the Surface Laptop Ultra.

“Consumer” gets a bit of an asterisk there. While these Arm-based laptops are at least somewhat similar to Qualcomm-powered Snapdragon models we’ve seen for the last few years, there’s nothing spare or affordable about them. With chips custom-tuned for “AI” at every level, tons of speedy, expensive integrated RAM, and an integrated GPU that matches an RTX 5070 (at least on paper), Nvidia and its partners want these laptops to hit at the high end.

They certainly land at high-end prices. RTX Spark laptops start at $2,600 USD, and only get more expensive. Microsoft’s flagship Surface Laptop Ultra is a cool three grand at the recommended configuration. Pre-orders are available now, and shipments should be arriving next week. Here’s an at-a-glance look at all the RTX Spark laptops announced so far:

Microsoft Surface Laptop Ultra — $2,600 to $5,900

• CPU: 20-core or 18-core
• GPU: Blackwell 6244-core or 5120-core
• Screen: 15-inch 3270×2180 touchscreen
• RAM: 24GB, 32GB, 48GB, 64GB, or 128GB
• Storage: 512GB gen5, 1TB Gen5, or 2TB gen5
• Ports: 3 USB-C (USB 4 spec), one USB-A, SD card reader, HDMI, hedaphone jack
• Battery: “Up to 15 hours of local playback”, 92 watt-hour
• Weight: 4.41 pounds (2 kilograms)

Microsoft’s Surface Laptop Ultra is the flagship of this push, ranging from an at least believable $2,600 all the way to an insane $5,900, if you load it up with the maximum RAM and storage. The magnetic USB-C charger is neat.

Asus ProArt P14 — $2,600 to $6,500

• CPU: 20-core or 18-core
• GPU: Blackwell 6244-core or 5120-core
• Screen: 14-inch 2880×1800 OLED touchscreen
• RAM: 24GB, 32GB, 48GB or 128GB
• Storage: 512GB Gen4 or 1TB Gen4
• Ports: 3 USB-C (USB 4 spec), one USB-A, HDMI, SD card, headphone jack
• Battery: 90 watt-hour
• Weight: 3.26 pounds (1.48 kilograms)

Asus offers a slightly smaller take with the ProArt P14, sharing the same moniker as its well-regarded “creator” series.

Asus ProArt P16 — $2,800 to $7,000

• CPU: 20-core or 18-core
• GPU: Blackwell 6244-core or 5120-core
• Screen: 16-inch 3840×2400 OLED touchscreen
• RAM: 24GB, 32GB, 64GB or 128GB
• Storage: 512GB Gen4, 1TB Gen4, or 2TB Gen4
• Ports: 3 USB-C (USB 4 spec), one USB-A, HDMI, SD card, headphone jack
• Battery: 99.9 watt-hour
• Weight: 3.9 pounds (1.77 kilograms)

This bigger variant from Asus packs a 4K screen and an even bigger battery, impressively still sliding under the four-pound mark. But c’mon, Asus, for seven thousand dollars you couldn’t toss in a Gen5 SSD?

Dell XPS 16 Creator Edition — $3,800 to ???

• CPU: 20-core or 18-core
• GPU: Blackwell 6244-core or 5120-core
• Screen: 16-inch 3200×2000 OLED touchscreen
• RAM: 32GB, up to 128GB
• Storage: 512GB or 1TB
• Ports: 3 USB-C (USB 4 spec), HDMI, SD card, headphone jack
• Battery: “Pending”
• Weight: 4.45 pounds (2.02 kilograms)

Dell doesn’t seem ready to launch its highest-end XPS laptop, with a lot of specs still missing and/or inconsistent with retail listings. The cheapest configuration features 32GB of RAM, but there will be a 128GB version, presumably at a much higher price than is listed in pre-orders. It’s also considerably thicker and heavier than the Intel-based XPS 16.

HP OminBook Ultra 16 — $3,200 to (at least) $5,000

• CPU: 20-core
• GPU: Blackwell 6244-core
• Screen: 16-inch 2880×1800 OLED touchscreen
• RAM: 32GB or 64GB
• Storage: 1TB Gen5 SSD or 2TB Gen5 SSD
• Ports: 2 USB-C (USB 4 spec), 2 USB-A, HDMI, headphone jack
• Battery: 99.9 watt-hour
• Weight: 4.89 pounds (2.22 kilograms)

HP’s top-of-the-line OmniBook looks like an affordable and practical choice, at least in this crazy lineup. It defaults to the more beefed-up 20-core Spark chip with the faster GPU, and springs for Gen 5 SSDs. You also get two USB-A ports for older gadgets.

A smaller HP RTX Spark laptop, the OmniBook X 14, has been announced. It doesn’t appear to be ready for the October launch.

Lenovo Yoga 9n — $3,000 to $4,500

• CPU: 20-core or 18-core
• GPU: Blackwell 6244-core or 5120-core
• Screen: 16-inch 2880×1800 OLED touchscreen, reversible
• RAM: 32GB or 64GB
• Storage: 512GB gen4 or 1TB gen4 SSD
• Ports: 2 USB-C (USB 4 spec), 2 USB-A, HDMI, SD card, headphone jack
• Battery: 99.9 watt-hour
• Weight: 4.28 pounds (1.94 kilograms)

Lenovo offers one of the only choices for a convertible laptop in the initial RTX Spark lineup, which makes sense, as its top-of-the-line Yoga series sells itself on flexibility. It also comes with a stylus in the box. But where are the ThinkPads and Legion laptops with this hardware?

All of these models are available for pre-order now, though they’re scattered across manufacturers and retailers. (MSI has also announced a Prestige N16 with a convertible screen, but I haven’t been able to find a pre-order page for it.) In the U.S., Best Buy seems to have the best selection of pre-orders. Pre-orders should arrive on October 16th, or slightly later, depending on the usual factors.

For the past couple of years, Microsoft has made a concerted effort to move users from the classic Outlook app for Windows 11 to “new” Outlook, a web-based app.

If you’re using new Outlook, you should take advantage of the ability to back up your account settings. These settings are stored in the ‘UserSettings.json’ file, which you can find in the ‘C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Olk’ folder. If you have set up multiple accounts in Outlook, you will find separate configuration files in each of the individual user folders.

To create a backup, copy this file or these files to another secure location, or include them in the backups created by your backup software. To restore the configuration, simply copy the JSON file back to its original location.

If the Olk folder is missing — for example, after reinstalling Outlook — create it manually. The configuration will be applied automatically when you start Outlook.

Related content

• If Windows 11’s new Outlook app refuses to open, try this
• 12 useful tips for the new Microsoft Outlook
• How to prevent forced installation of new Outlook on Windows 10 PCs

For years — decades, really — the entry point inside Windows has been the Start menu. But from what Microsoft showed as part of its AI vision for Windows 11 this week, Start might be on its way out. Instead, Windows Search may be the app you connect with first when you want to get things done.

Yes, Windows Search, the humble search box buried in your taskbar and at the top of the Start menu. Microsoft plans to embed even more functions inside it, including Actions, essentially mini-widgets for controlling features like Windows’ dark mode. Think of it like a chat box already built into your PC, and you can start to see where this is going.

Eventually, Windows Search will start calling on other applications, including Copilot, to provide answers and complete tasks. Pavan Davuluri, Microsoft’s executive vice president of Windows, says “thousands” of these actions are headed your way by year’s end.

You’re not just searching. You’re doing. Weird. Or is it?

Let’s back up a bit. In July, Microsoft said it was moving to a quieter, purpose-built iteration of Windows Search, following an earlier mega-memo about simplifying and focusing Windows. That included cutting out unnecessary uses of Copilot — bye, Notepad Copilot — and moving to a new framework called WinUI 3, which Microsoft thinks is more efficient and will speed up Windows as a whole.

That’s happening, Microsoft said this week, as part of an update provided to Microsoft’s Experimental Insider Channel. Windows is getting faster! That’s good.

But from a design standpoint, things are getting a little odd. Originally, the Search app featured recommended content, highlighting offbeat holidays like World Otter Day and suggesting games to play. That was too unfocused, so the July update pared back the recommended content. The update also polished features such as detailed document previews, making it easier to make sure you had the right file.

However, Microsoft’s upcoming Search update concluded that not enough people were clicking on the previews — were they supposed to? — so those rather nice-looking previews are disappearing, too.

For now, anyway. Later this year, Windows Search will add those document and web page previews back as small cards in the list of Search results, along with “widgets” like weather and stock price, plus visual results for queries like “How tall is the Eiffel Tower?” Too rich? Not rich enough? Microsoft can’t seem to make up its mind.

What “hybrid intelligence” means to you

This isn’t about two design teams squaring off in the cafeteria over variable fonts, though. There’s a reason. Windows Search is responsible for turning up the right document and information both on the user’s PC and online, and that dichotomy is the tricky balance Microsoft is carefully navigating.

Wednesday’s official launch of the Surface Book Ultra and competing third-party devices ushered in what Microsoft calls “hybrid intelligence,” a way of balancing intelligence based in the cloud (Bing, Copilot) with information stored and searched for on the PC (File Explorer). Nvidia’s RTX Spark superchip (tied to a Mediatek Arm CPU) is being asked to run AI locally on the PC. Well, some AI, anyway — Microsoft wants to balance how cloud and local AI interact.

It just so happens that Windows Search is one of the first places where this battle is being fought.

In addition to the cards or widgets that Windows Search plans to add, there will be Actions, which Microsoft began talking about last year: turn on dark mode, adjust your mic volume, or turn on “do not disturb.” You can take a screenshot or adjust your windows positions, too. All of these capabilities have seeped into Windows over time, from the short-lived effort to have Copilot control your PC to adjustments made in the search bar within Windows 11’s Settings. Heck, Windows 10’s Cortana even allowed some of these changes.

“You can make these changes as fast as you can type,” Davuluri said.

Copilot: less of an app, more of an ingredient

That seems like a signal. Windows Search feels more like an iteration of Copilot than it ever has, where users type in what they want and Windows responds. That’s not far-fetched! Microsoft wants Copilot to “know” what’s on your PC, just as it wants it to know what you’re working on. It’s not that far from Microsoft understanding that the “Contoso spreadsheet” refers to a specific file to wondering if you want to book that same hotel in Maui you visited last year.

(And it’s still a little scary.)

Jacob Andreou, the executive tasked to lead the Copilot experience at Microsoft, showed Copilot with a big toggle switch next to “Hybrid Intelligence,” implying you’ll be able to flip it off if you want. Of course, the idea is that you won’t.

“Copilot now has access to three new things,” Andreou said. “First, local context. Local context means that Copilot can now [access] all of the local files on your PC… Second, local actions. Local actions means that Copilot can now take action directly on my machine. It can move files, it can change a setting, it has the same level of the ability to control and change things that I do as a user, but always with permission.”

Copilot will also use the cloud when needed for complex tasks, but where “cost and privacy matter more, it can delegate down to local models that run directly on your computer,” Andreou added.

Last month, Microsoft detailed a major update to Copilot, which would let you vibe-code Windows apps (Code) and design and set loose agents (Autopilot) on your PC. Andreou showed off how Autopilot could respond to a task from an accountant, assembling a bunch of tax documents.

In the demo, Autopilot searched the user’s inbox, assembled the documents from OneDrive, the Documents folder, and other locations, collected them into a folder, renamed the files (?!) and then even bundled them into a zipped archive. Copilot then authored a email response and waited for approval.

“Copilot now truly understands your PC,” Andreou said, adding that this is Copilot “natively designed for Windows.” These new features will arrive in the next couple of months, he said.

Is the future of PC work just giving orders?

At one time, you typed in an address into a web browser. You visited Google to search. Today, every browser in existence allows you to search right from the URL bar and a similar transition feels like it’s occurring on the PC. Did I mention that you’ll be able to access Copilot from Windows Search, too?

Microsoft has promised features like putting your PC into dark mode for years. And yet, time and again, it hasn’t quite delivered. It feels like Microsoft wants PC computing to be less about moving windows around with a mouse and more about telling your PC what to do. I mean, you’ll even be able to install LLMs when you set up a new PC.

I’m sure that there will be more than one way to perform all these tasks, such as launching the Copilot app directly. But Microsoft wants to take its new AI-powered Windows and build a front door. And, well, who would have thought? That door is apparently Windows Search.

When you’ve reviewed as many tech products as I have, you wind up with dozens of abandoned online accounts, most of them created and forgotten the moment I was done with my testing.

Over the years, I’d started to wonder: How many of those accounts are still floating around, idle but still active? Good question, and I’m sure I’m not the only one curious about the online accounts they’ve left behind.

A good method for tracking down forgotten online accounts is to scour your inbox for signup confirmations, and Consumer Reports has a detailed explainer on how to do just that. But I was curious to take it a step further, enlisting Claude’s help for a prompt that would automate the process, sifting through my email for me to catalog the accounts I’d collected over the years.

This prompt takes two of Consumer Reports’s best ideas — searching through your email, as well as checking sites like haveibeenowned.com for possible account breaches — and hands the busywork to Claude Cowork or another AI agent, like Google’s Gemini Spark, Meta’s Muse, or a ChatGPT Dot.

Now, this prompt does involve giving your agent access to your email, typically via a Gmail integration or connector (and all the four AI agents I just mentioned have one). If that prospect makes you uncomfortable — and that’s a perfectly reasonable reaction — by all means, skip this prompt.

Still here? OK, here’s the prompt we’re going to use:

Search my email from the last 5 years for signs that I created an account somewhere — welcome emails, “verify your email” or “confirm your account” messages, and password-reset emails. Build a new spreadsheet (a Google Sheet if you can) with one row per service: service name, website, date of the earliest signup email, date of the most recent email from them, and whether the service appears on haveibeenpwned.com’s public list of breached websites (with the breach year). For each service, find its official account-deletion page and add the link; if you can’t find one, write “not found” — don’t guess. Put services I haven’t heard from in 2+ years at the top. Don’t sign in anywhere, request password resets, type my email address into any website, delete anything, or contact anyone.

This is a lengthy prompt, by design; rather than trying to prompt to alter an AI’s behavior, we’re telling the agent what we want it to do — and what not to do.

Namely, this is a passive, hands-off search, meaning the agent won’t try to log onto any outside websites or ping anyone about your accounts. That also goes for the haveibeenowned.com search, with the agent only checking whether a given service has recently been compromised rather than plugging in your particular email address. 

When you’re done, you’ll get a spreadsheet that details all the online accounts the agent found, with the ones that appear the most dormant at the top.

I tried this prompt with all four of the biggest consumer-level AI agents, and they all spat out their spreadsheets within anywhere from five minutes to half an hour. Each agent tagged at least 50 accounts, with my ChatGPT Dot leading the pack with 73 accounts detected.

Looking over the spreadsheets, many of the discovered accounts are ones I recognized and use frequently: Facebook, Netflix, Hulu, Instagram, Microsoft, and Disney+ are all there, along with SeatGeek, Roborock, and OpenTable.

But there were also some surprises and “oh, right”-type finds. I’d forgotten all about the Bowers & Wilkins account I’d signed up for way back in 2022 (I must have been reviewing a pair of B&W headphones), as well as a Hawaii Pacific Health MyChart account from 2023 (created, as I now recall, after I’d broken my toe during a Honolulu vacation). 

I also spotted a Dunkin’ Rewards account I have no memory of signing up for, along with Dick’s Sporting Goods (huh?), Golf Galaxy (no clue), and strangest of all, LocalFlirt (which, as it turns out, was one of those random “confirm your account” emails that slipped past my Gmail spam filter).

The spreadsheets also include links for deleting the various accounts, although roughly half of them came back with “not found” or simply point to privacy FAQs. You’ll also see which of the various services have suffered recent breaches, although again, those notes don’t pertain to your specific email address.

In any event, this “find my old accounts” prompt is a good example of the kind of busywork AI agents are good at, and I’ll be teeing up more for you in the weeks ahead.

Last week, Amazon launched a new Fire TV Stick 4K with a bold claim: It’s nearly 20 to 40 percent faster, the company says, than “a similarly priced 4K streaming stick from another leading brand.”

Amazon won’t name the competitor, but in my own tests, the advantage over comparably priced streamers isn’t so clear-cut.

What I tested

Amazon’s own comparison video is impossible to test because it doesn’t show real-world results. Instead, it’s just a mock-up “for illustrative purposes,” based on Amazon’s measurements of “time from content selection to playback” in “the three most popular apps.” In addition to not naming the rival streamer, Amazon won’t say which apps it tested.

So I decided to conduct my own measurements instead, looking at how long a few similarly priced streamers take to boot up, wake from standby, and start streaming. I also measured their ability to quickly switch between different apps.

For these tests, I pitted the new Fire TV Stick 4K against Walmart’s Onn 4K Plus and Roku’s Streaming Stick Plus. Both Amazon’s and Roku’s sticks cost $60 and are often on sale for less. Walmart’s device is a small box rather than a streaming dongle, but it has a cheaper regular price of $50. (Walmart also sells a less-powerful dongle for $40, but that’s not a fair comparison unless Amazon lowers the Fire TV Stick 4K’s retail price.)

Boot times

Here’s how long it takes to fully load each streaming device’s home screen after unplugging it and plugging it back in again.

• Fire TV Stick 4K: 23 seconds
• Onn 4K Plus: 33 seconds
• Roku Streaming Stick Plus: 22 seconds

Roku has a slight edge here, though in most cases it won’t matter. If your device is plugged into an outlet, or your TV’s USB port supplies power when it’s off, rebooting will be a rare occurrence.

(That said, it’s too bad Amazon’s and Roku’s streamers no longer ship with wall chargers or lengthy USB cables. If you want to plug them into an outlet — for instance, because your TV’s eco mode disables USB power when it’s off — you’ll have to bring your own charger.)

Launching Netflix

For this test, I waited until each streaming device’s home screen was fully rendered, then timed how long it took to load Netflix and start playing a video:

• Fire TV Stick 4K: 32 seconds
• Onn 4K Plus: 43 seconds
• Roku Streaming Stick Plus: 39 seconds

I also ran a second test, waiting an extra 30 seconds before jumping into Netflix. This gave each device more time to fully boot:

• Fire TV Stick 4K: 15 seconds
• Onn 4K Plus: 23 seconds
• Roku Streaming Stick Plus: 19 seconds

The Fire TV Stick 4K was the clear winner on both cases, validating Amazon’s claim of being 20 to 40 percent faster than the competition at least when Netflix is involved.

Launching Apple TV

While testing, I noticed that Netflix was launching faster from boot-up than other apps. To rule out any potential special treatment, I decided to run the same tests as above with the Apple TV app:

• Fire TV Stick 4K: 30 seconds
• Onn 4K Plus: 33 seconds
• Roku Streaming Stick Plus: 29 seconds

And here are the results with a 30-second wait after booting:

• Fire TV Stick 4K: 25 seconds
• Onn 4K Plus: 24 seconds
• Roku Streaming Stick Plus: 27 seconds

Interestingly enough, the Fire TV Stick 4K loses its advantage here, though the results are pretty similar across all three devices.

Fast app switching

The only thing better than an app that loads quickly is one that loads instantly. To that end, I tested how many apps you can switch between before any of them required a full reload:

• Fire TV Stick 4K: 3 apps
• Onn 4K Plus: 5 apps
• Roku Streaming Stick Plus: 4 apps

The Onn 4K Plus has 2GB of RAM, versus 1GB on the other streamers, so it’s no surprise that Walmart’s box can keep more apps in memory. While its boot times are slower, it can feel faster as a result.

Waking from standby

Both the Fire TV Stick 4K and Onn 4K Plus enter sleep mode after 15 to 20 minutes of inactivity, while Roku streamers just show a screensaver indefinitely. Here’s how long each of them took to get back to their home screens:

• Fire TV Stick 4K: 5 seconds
• Onn 4K Plus: 2 seconds
• Roku Streaming Stick Plus: 2 seconds

While Amazon’s Fire TV Stick 4K is a few seconds slower, you’ll probably end up waiting longer for your TV to power on anyway.

Looking beyond load times

While it’s fun to measure these things and deflate Amazon’s marketing, ultimately a few seconds’ difference in load times won’t make or break the experience. What really matters is how easy it is to find what you’re looking for in the first place.

On that front, the new Fire TV Stick 4K is similar to Amazon’s other streamers, with the same major home screen redesign that started rolling out earlier this year. It looks and behaves similarly to the Google TV software on Walmart’s Onn devices, but of course with more emphasis on Amazon Prime content.

It’s also running Amazon’s new Vega operating system, which has more limited app support and does not allow sideloaded apps. The new system is more for Amazon than for you, but it’s also inevitable as Amazon says it won’t make any new streaming devices based on its old Android-based platform.

All of which means that if you’re okay with the Fire TV experience, the new Fire TV Stick 4K could be a nice upgrade. Just don’t expect it to help you get where you’re going much faster.

Sign up for Jared’s Cord Cutter Weekly newsletter for more streaming TV advice.

You’ve heard all of the stories about skyrocketing laptop and PC component costs. You’re trying to limit your tech expenses. Is there any way you can improve your workstation in 2026 that’s not completely going to bust your budget?

There is. The one upgrade that you can and should make without hesitation right now your monitor — or monitors. A 27-inch 4K monitor can now cost less than many individual PC upgrades.

You’ve probably heard this argument before: invest in something you’ll use for hours at a time. At night, you should sleep for (hopefully!) eight hours on a comfortable, supportive mattress. During the workday, you constantly touch a keyboard, but you’re always viewing the fruits of your labors on a display or two in front of you. Though some people might still work from just a laptop, I’m betting that the 2020 pandemic prompted you to set up a home office with at least a single external display. Let’s dig into why it’s time to upgrade your monitor.

Big is better

You may have heard that more displays equal more productivity; larger displays do, too. A study (funded by NEC) found that 20-inch monitors returned an 18 percent improvement in performing tasks than an 18-inch monitor.

And that makes sense, given that a 27-inch 16:9 display has about 3.5 times the display area of a 14-inch 16:10 laptop screen. You can simply see more.

Likewise, an 18-study meta-review in 2021 also found that users uniformly preferred using at least two displays, and there was moderate evidence that they reduced desktop interactions, improving efficiency. So there’s evidence that buying more, larger displays works. A display with a 60Hz refresh rate is standard, but a higher refresh rate is easier on your eyes — if you can afford one, I think they’re worth it.

My workspace includes a pair of Acer 4K 160Hz (XV275K P3) 27-inch displays (provided by Acer) that I use for testing the 4K capabilities of Thunderbolt 5 docks. They’re excellent for testing the high-end capabilities of I/O hardware, but they’re absolutely overkill for the average home office. Even two 27-inch displays can take up a great deal of desk space, which is why I rotate one into a vertical or portrait mode.

New features for the same price?!

So there’s an argument to be made for buying an upgraded display just on the numbers alone…but there’s more to it than just that.

In 2024, IDC found that the average price of a display actually decreased. That was the result of “normal” market forces. Then 2025 arrived, and…display prices were hit again? Absolutely. Because the price of memory and storage skyrocketed, display prices benefited — laptop makers were desperate to find some place to save a buck, and displays were the answer. Panel makers pushed prices down. Obviously rising memory costs overshadowed that, at least for notebooks. However, the cost of IPS panels (and IPS displays) remained relatively flat, according to reports.

Meanwhile, OLED displays entered the picture. In 2023, laptop makers like Samsung started building in self-emissive OLED displays into laptops like the Galaxy Book 3 Pro 360, amazing everyone (me included) with their high-contrast displays, making video content pop. Quickly, however, they began adding the features IPS display buyers had become used to: higher and higher refresh rates, plus a greater number and diversity of I/O options, such as USB-C/Thunderbolt I/O.

Ideally, given what I’ve just recommended (about 27 inches, 4K, 60Hz refresh rate or better) we would simply add OLED to the mix to create what’s approaching (at least for me!) the perfect productivity monitor. We’re not quite there yet, unfortunately. While 4K, high-refresh-rate OLED displays exist, they’re typically considered to be gaming monitors like this Samsung 32-inch Odyssey OLED G7 ($749.99 at Amazon, 32% off at press time). Great display! I’d love to have it! But it’s still a little rich for my blood.

Instead, if you’re willing to drop down a notch, consider this 27-inch Samsung Odyssey OLED or this Acer Predator 26.5-inch 240Hz OLED for $314.99. Both are 1440p displays, rather than true 4K, so there’s an unfortunate compromise. Still, doesn’t that seem a lot more affordable than a new PC?

In my opinion, monitor prices have not only held steady throughout the past year or two, but they’ve shown continual improvement by adding new features and technologies. Something tech-related that’s improved while holding prices constant? Is that actually possible in 2026?

So what should you buy?

Remember, monitors typically fall into one or two categories: gaming and office productivity. I would recommend that you review our recent recommendations for productivity displays to see if in any deals are in effect. We list the current prices, so you’ll be able to check for deals.

If you’re seeing this the day I published it, my colleague Michael Crider recently saw a 27-inch, 240Hz OLED gaming monitor on sale for $300 at Best Buy, at 1440p resolution. Snag it if it’s still there!

Productivity in the news

• Speaking of OLEDs, how about a review of Samsung’s recent 4K Odyssey OLED monitor, too?
• Michael Crider has an app suggestion that straddles productivity and personalization: Wallpaper Engine.
• Here’s a quick way to test your Internet speed — right from your taskbar?
• Two websites one tab: it’s Firefox getting creative, again.

Productivity on camera

• Remember my earlier newsletter in managing OneDrive? This is a more opinionated take. Much more.
• AI transcription is awesome, but expensive. Microsoft Word (yes, Word!) can save you money.

Productivity tip for the week:

AI is such a controversial subject these days, and I generally avoid it in favor of my own knowledge and expertise. But AI tools are certainly tempting, especially for cutting out some of the busy work. Cal Newport reminds me of this report from The Wall Street Journal earlier this year, where using AI tools required constant supervision — and supervision meant a loss of focus. That’s something for both you and me to think about, I think. Feel free to drop me a line on Bluesky or Twitter/X if you have any ideas.

Thanks for reading!

Thanks for tuning in to this edition of Smart Mode, PCWorld’s newsletter devoted to helping you make the most of your life, smartly. Sign up and have it sent to your inbox every Thursday!

Best Prices Today: Chuwi UniBook

With the UniBook, Chuwi is introducing Intel’s affordable Wildcat Lake platform. At $449, the 14-inch laptop focuses on practicality rather than raw performance. Its key strengths are its lightweight form factor and wide selection of ports. The 8GB of RAM, however, raises questions about how it handles multitasking and more demanding tasks.

Chuwi UniBook: Design and build quality

The dark grey UniBook has an understated look and feels significantly more substantial than its price would suggest. The lid, keyboard bezel, and underside are made from an anodized aluminum alloy. The matte surfaces show fingerprints only some fingerprints. Our test unit is neatly assembled. We found no sharp edges, uneven gaps, or creaking joints. The lid bends slightly in the middle, but remains stable during normal use. Even the keyboard yields only a little under firm pressure.

Measuring 12.38 × 8.70 × 0.65 inches, the UniBook takes up barely more space than a sheet of A4 paper. Chuwi states its weight as 2.65 pounds. This makes it significantly more portable than the MSI Modern 15, which, at 14.13 × 9.49 × 0.79 inches and 3.86 pounds, takes up more space in your bag. The compact 65-watt USB-C power adaptor also fits in well with the portable design.

The hinge holds the screen securely in place and allows for an opening angle of 180 degrees. However, the base is too light to open with one hand.

The backlit chiclet keyboard makes good use of the width of the chassis. The keys offer a clear actuation point and sufficient travel for longer texts. Two brightness levels make typing in dark environments easier. The backlighting shines through noticeably at the edges of the keys in places. Our test unit also features a US QWERTY layout without dedicated keys for umlauts and the ß. Prospective buyers should therefore check which keyboard layout the laptop comes with before purchasing. Due to the 14-inch format, there is no numeric keypad. The arrow keys are on the small side, but the rest of the layout remains clear and uncluttered.

The touchpad measures approximately 12 × 7 centimeters. Its smooth surface responds precisely to movements. Clicks work across almost the entire surface, though they feel firmer at the top edge.

The matt 14-inch screen has a resolution of 1920×1200 pixels in the practical 16:10 aspect ratio. This provides more vertical space for documents than a standard Full HD panel. Text appears sharp, whilst IPS technology ensures consistent viewing angles. The refresh rate is 60 hertz. This is sufficient for Office and video streaming. However, photos look noticeably washed-out and color-accurate editing is out of the question. Outdoors, there is a lack of brightness reserve.

The matt finish is a welcome feature, as it reduces distracting reflections. The display does not flicker. However, with dark images, the backlight shines through slightly at the edges.

Overall, Chuwi delivers impressive build quality. However, the UniBook does not match the torsional rigidity and build quality of more expensive premium devices.

Windows 11 Pro 10.0.26200 is pre-installed. Chuwi has omitted unnecessary additional programs, so the system appears tidy once set up.

On our test unit, not all Intel components were correctly configured after the Windows setup. We had to install the available chipset, graphics and NPU drivers separately. Some of these are found by the Intel Driver and Support Assistant.

Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2024 is already pre-installed. The package includes Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. An additional Microsoft 365 subscription is not required to use it.

Chuwi UniBook: Webcam, microphone, biometrics

The 722p webcam produces soft images with little detail. It’s adequate for occasional video conferences, but not for high-quality recordings. A mechanical slider covers the camera when required. An integrated microphone is also available for voice calls. T

he stereo speakers are loud enough, but the sound is thin and lacking in bass. Headphones are recommended for films and music.

Biometric login is not possible. The UniBook has neither a fingerprint sensor nor an infrared camera for Windows Hello. To unlock the device, you must use a PIN, password, or an external security key.

Chuwi UniBook: Connectivity

In terms of ports, the UniBook outperforms many of its competitors. On the left-hand side are two USB-C ports with USB 3.2 Gen 1, DisplayPort output, and Power Delivery. There’s also an HDMI 1.4b port and a USB-A port with 5 Gbit/s.

On the right-hand side, we find two further USB-A ports (one of which supports USB 2.0 only), a micro-SD card reader, Gigabit LAN, and a 3.5-millimetre jack. Both USB-C ports can charge the laptop and power a 4K display at 60 Hertz via HDMI. A maximum of 4K at 30 Hertz is possible.

The Realtek RTL8852BE module supports Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.2. High data transfer rates are possible on compatible Wi-Fi networks, though Wi-Fi 6E is not supported. The wired Realtek interface delivers 1 Gbit/s. The fold-out network port is a nice feature, especially if you work from home.

Chuwi UniBook: Performance

The UniBook is powered by Intel’s Core 3 304 from the Wildcat Lake series. The 15-watt chip combines a fast performance core with four energy-efficient cores, as well as five threads. The maximum clock speed is 4.3 GHz, and the L3 cache is 6 MB. The processor is manufactured using the Intel 18A process. The architecture is modern, but the limited expansion options place tight constraints on performance.

In PCMark 10, the laptop scored 4,917 points. The sub-scores of 7,765 points for basic functions and 8,099 points for productivity show that web browsers, Word, and spreadsheets run smoothly.

For digital content creation, the score drops to 5,130 points. Programs launch quickly, but running several large applications pushes the 8 GB of LPDDR5 RAM to its limits. Unfortunately, the RAM is soldered in place and cannot be upgraded. Anyone using lots of browser tabs, Microsoft Teams, and image-editing software simultaneously should expect short delays.

The 3DMark CPU Profile confirms the unbalanced core configuration. A single thread scores 1,027 points, while two threads reach 1,615 points. With four threads, the score is 2,691 points and the maximum score is 3,331 points.

The single P-core responds quickly, but during prolonged rendering or video conversion, additional powerful cores are needed. The UniBook is best suited for Office tasks, research, and media playback. Software development, large RAW projects, and video rendering require more patience.

The integrated Intel graphics uses just one Xe3 core running at up to 2.3 GHz. Its performance is sufficient for navigating Windows’ interface and video playback.

In 3DMark Time Spy, the UniBook scores 893 points, although 3DMark flags the result with a warning. The graphics score is 783 points, while the CPU score is 4,383 points. Despite the lack of validation, the result suggests that the graphics performance is likely sufficient only for older or less demanding games.

Demanding games run too slowly, even at 1080p. Newer 3DMark tests wouldn’t run because the graphics unit lacks hardware ray tracing and other DirectX 12 Ultimate features. According to the manufacturer, the NPU achieves 15 TOPS. This is sufficient for individual local AI functions, but does not meet the requirements of a Copilot Plus PC.

The 256 GB HOGE H750 NVMe SSD uses PCIe 3.0. CrystalDiskMark records sequential read speeds of 2,383 MB/s and write speeds of 2,101 MB/s. That’s respectable for a budget laptop. Around 237 GB is available after formatting, though Windows reduces the available space further. The M.2-2280 SSD can be swapped for a larger PCIe 3.0 or PCIe 4.0 model. A second SSD cannot be installed.

The MSI Modern 15’s Ryzen 5 7530U processor offers six cores and twelve threads. It performs noticeably faster on parallelized tasks and features more powerful Radeon graphics. Its RAM is also not upgradeable.

The UniBook, on the other hand, is more compact, lighter, and has longer battery life. If you prioritize value above all else, you’re better off with an affordable Ryzen 5 model. For commuters, the Chuwi offers a good balance between size, battery life, and connectivity options.

Chuwi UniBook: Battery life

The built-in lithium-polymer battery has a capacity of 53.38 Wh. In our battery test, with the display brightness set to 150 cd/m², the UniBook lasted around 13 hours and 40 minutes. At maximum brightness, the battery life drops to just under twelve hours. This is more than enough for a working day involving word processing, web browsing, and short video conferences.

In idle mode, we measured power consumption of around 2.5 to 4.8 watts, depending on the display brightness. Under typical load, consumption rises to around 18 watts. For short periods, it can reach just over 50 watts.

The included 65-watt power adaptor has plenty of headroom and can charge via either of the two USB-C ports. A charge level of around 60 percent can be reached after about an hour. The manufacturer’s claim of up to 20 hours, however, depends heavily on light use and low display brightness. In everyday use, 12 to 14 hours is more realistic.

Chuwi UniBook: Cooling, noise level

The UniBook actively cools the Core 3 304 with a single fan. When idle or during light office work, the fan often stops running. As a result, the notebook operates silently.

Short periods of heavy processing usually result in only a faint hum. Under full load, the noise level briefly rises to over 40 dB(A), but drops to around 30 dB(A) after the initial power surge. Compared to the MSI Modern 15, the cooling system seems more restrained, as the MSI fan is clearly audible under load.

The processor briefly draws up to 35 watts at the start of a task, allowing programs to launch quickly. After a few seconds, the firmware reduces power consumption to 15 watts to keep the laptop cool and quiet. As a result, computing performance drops during longer tasks such as rendering.

Even under load, the chassis only warms up moderately. Using the Thermal Master 3 thermal imaging camera, we measured a maximum of 101.5 degrees on the top surface. The warmest area is above the keyboard near the hinge. The keys and the palm rest remain significantly cooler. On the underside, the UniBook reaches a maximum of 90.9 degrees. This means it’s pretty comfortable to use on your lap. Just make sure the ventilation slots aren’t blocked.

Chuwi has sensibly tailored the cooling system to its target audience. The UniBook causes no disturbance, especially in a quiet working environment. The trade-off is not thermal throttling in the problematic sense, but rather a fixed performance budget. This configuration is well-suited to office software. Users with constant CPU loads will benefit more from a laptop with multiple performance cores and a larger cooler.

Chuwi UniBook: Conclusion

The Chuwi UniBook impresses in situations where an affordable device needs to be practical. The metal casing is lightweight and well-finished. The keyboard is suitable for longer typing sessions, and the battery lasts a full working day. Five USB ports, HDMI, a card reader, and Gigabit LAN mean many users won’t need an adapter. For $449, this combination is rare.

The cost-cutting measures remain evident. The display is matte and sharp, but covers only around 59 percent of the sRGB color space. Colors appear correspondingly pale. The webcam and speakers deliver basic quality. A more significant drawback is the 8 GB of soldered-on RAM. Even with demanding multitasking, there’s little room to maneuver. The Core 3 304 offers good responsiveness per core, but it doesn’t match the Ryzen 5’s performance under sustained load. Its modest Xe3 graphics are hardly suitable for gaming.

Anyone looking for a quiet, long-lasting laptop for office work will find this a well-rounded package. Buyers should assess their storage requirements and not expect any spare capacity for resource-intensive creative software. The MSI Modern 15 is larger and heavier, but offers more processing and graphics performance with the Ryzen 5 7530U. The UniBook wins when it comes to portability, but not when it comes to performance.

Chuwi UniBook: Specs

• Processor: Intel Core 3 304, Wildcat Lake, 1 P-core plus 4 LP-E cores, 5 threads, up to 4.3 GHz, 6 MB L3 cache, 15 watts
• Graphics: Intel Graphics, 1 Xe3 core, up to 2.3 GHz, 9 TOPS
• NPU: Intel NPU 5, up to 15 TOPS
• RAM: 8 GB LPDDR5-6400, soldered, dual-channel
• Storage: 256 GB HOGE H750 NVMe SSD, PCIe 3.0, M.2 2280, removable; slot supports PCIe 4.0 x4
• Display: 14-inch, IPS, matt, 1,920 × 1,200 pixels, 16:10, 60 Hz
• Ports on the left: 2 × USB-C 3.2 Gen 1 with charging and DisplayPort, HDMI 1.4b, USB-A 3.2 Gen 1
• Ports on the right: USB-A 3.2 Gen 1, USB-A 2.0, Gigabit Ethernet, micro SD card reader, 3.5 mm audio
• Connectivity: Wi-Fi 6 via Realtek RTL8852BE, Bluetooth 5.2
• Camera: 720p with mechanical privacy cover
• Keyboard: Chiclet, two-level white backlighting, QWERTY layout on the test unit
• Audio: Stereo speakers, combined headphone/microphone jack
• Battery: 53.38 Wh lithium-polymer
• Power adaptor: 65 watts, USB-C Power Delivery
• Dimensions: 314.5 × 221 × 16.4 mm
• Weight: approx. 1.2 kg
• Warranty: 12 months
• Operating system: Windows 11 Pro
• Software: Office Professional Plus 2024

TL;DR: Pay $134.99 once for lifetime Babbel access to all 14 languages.

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We all know companies profile us. But understanding that abstractly is one thing. Reading the words “has flat buttocks” in your Amazon account is very much another.

If you’re not on Threads, this discovery is one of the latest viral posts. A woman stumbled upon this assumption while in her Amazon settings, buried among other, less inflammatory ones within the Your Shopping preferences section.

Of course, having read that post myself while doomscrolling before bed, I resolved to look at my own profile in the morning. (I have a vested interested in privacy as a topic, after all.) Turns out, Amazon has little incendiary commentary about me. You might even say I’m boring.

Here’s how you look it up. On a desktop PC, head to Account. Under Ordering and shopping preferences, click on Your shopping preferences. Then look for Manage your information at the bottom of the page. You should then see a page titled About You, listing details that Amazon says it uses to “personalize your experience for you and everyone you shop for.”

For me, Amazon believes I like technology and photography. And I prefer Command strips for mounting hardware. That’s about it.

As you might guess, these assumptions are based on your shopping habits—and surprisingly upfront. (Finding the equivalent information on Facebook feels like a labyrinth of clicks, and the details aren’t as blunt as “has flat buttocks.”)

As disappointed as I am Amazon’s spiciest commentary on me was “prefers white networking cables,” I got a good lesson from looking up my profile. One, it confirms that where and how you shop affects the data that businesses collect. Two, it’s a good reminder that I should keep looking up these details on different websites and services. And three, this will only get more complicated as agentic AI services pull in and collate data about us through friends, family, and associates.

Microsoft’s new Surface Laptop Ultra is powered by a Mediatek CPU and Nvidia’s powerful RTX Spark SoC, which is mainly designed to run local AI models on the user’s lap. Five competing laptops—from Dell, HP, MSI and more—will offer additional options.

Here’s the thinking. Microsoft is banking on near-future AI developers and enthusiasts running local AI models and tools directly from their PC. If needed, they’ll tap Microsoft’s Copilot AI for more horsepower. Microsoft calls this “hybrid intelligence” and it’s basically an acknowledgement that users won’t necessarily care which device does what. It’s a compromise, as is most anything that’s AI-related in productivity: some love it, others despise it.

There are further tradeoffs. Users will be able to run models locally, but the Surface Laptop Ultra ships with a 140W power adapter. That’s a signal that it will consume much more power than typical laptops, though not gaming laptops. (That’s another question: is this a gaming laptop? Microsoft showed just a single Gears of War game running on the Ultra, with no indication of frame rate.)

Nevertheless, I left the Windows and Surface Event with a question that no one at Microsoft could answer: What will be the battery life of these laptops? In one demonstration, Microsoft employee Kayla Cinnamon proudly put the Surface Laptop Ultra into “airplane mode,” showing how the laptop could run entirely disconnected from a network.

(Microsoft’s official stance: “Battery life details for Surface Laptop Ultra will be shared closer to availability,” reads the Ultra’s spec page. “It varies based on usage, settings, configuration, and other factors.”)

But these laptops may not even work on airplanes. For one, 140W is more than some airplane power outlets can supply—110W to 150W is apparently typical. (Edit: Jason Rabinowitz, cohost of the AVTalk podcast and an avid airline enthusiast, says that 60 to 100 watts is actually more common.) Will you be able to run AI agents continuously throughout a 13-hour flight from San Francisco to Taiwan? I very much doubt it. We don’t even have a reliable way to test the battery life while churning tokens.

All of these unknowns left the analysts I spoke to shaking their heads. Who’s going to buy these devices? The $2,599 price is the base, which means as users scale up to more and more memory—to run larger and more powerful AI models—the price will balloon with it. We’re still in 2026, a time when the $699 Apple MacBook Neo blew up headlines.

“I think it’s very obvious that no one wants to spend all this crazy money [on cloud AI],” said analyst Bob O’Donnell, principal at Technalysis. But how users want to divvy up their work between slower local AI and faster, more expensive cloud models remains to be seen.

It seems we have a new breed of laptops that might not really be laptops at all—they may not have the battery to last with how much power they chug, and they can’t plug in while on the go. They’re “portable” AI workstations for a niche of users who are willing to pay more than what it costs for a normal productivity laptop, for “productivity” loathed by some of its users. Whew.

Updated at 2:02 PM with additional detail.

Being a PC gamer in 2026 makes me want to self-medicate. Upgrading your PC hardware or looking for a new laptop is an exercise in self-punishment, as RAM and storage push prices beyond the breaking point. That being the case, if you’re trying to upgrade on Amazon Prime Day, it’s time to look to everything else on your desk.

I’ve made a pick for every major component connected to your desktop PC, and a few more besides. Hopefully you can find a few things you’re interested in, at a budget that works for your wallet. And for more deals, be sure to check out the rest of PCWorld’s Prime Day coverage.

Monitor: Alienware 34-inch OLED 240Hz, $630

If I had a few hundred bucks burning a hole in my pocket, this is the monitor I’d go for right now. With new tech for the OLED panel, 240Hz of speed, and a big-but-not-crazy size, it’s perfect for a lot of desktop setups. If you need something more affordable, be sure to check out the number one pick in our Prime Day monitor roundup, a 27-inch OLED for just $300.

View Deal

Keyboard: Epomaker TH80 75% wireless, $54

Good lord keyboards have gotten expensive, probably because a lot of brands have realized that people are willing to shell out for them. This Epomaker model has all the features I look for — multi-device wireless, hot-swap switches, PBT keycaps — plus a little extra blink and a choice of switches. It’s a great way to get something new (or get into the hobby) for cheap.

View Deal

Mouse: Solakaka SM809, $37

This is the mouse I use every day, a far, far cheaper copy of Razer’s swappable Naga Pro design. It gives you a choice of side panels: Three buttons for shooters and other simple games, or nine buttons for MMOs and MOBAs, plus four more programmable buttons on top. The thing is crazy flexible for the price, just $37 during the sale.

View Deal

Mouse mat: Wolvende felt desk mat, $34

Another one that I’m using right this minute. This super-wide, real felt mat adds a touch of class to my desktop, while still protecting it and giving me a solid surface. If you want something a little more conventional and gamer-y, I can also personally recommend Corsair’s big ol’ mouse mat, just $16 at the time of writing.

View Deal

Speakers: Edifier R1280T, $110

These are the favorite of Reddit’s Battlestation sub, and yes, I use them too. I’ve loved these speakers for years, but I have to admit they’re less of a deal than they used to be after the price jumped up without any new upgrades. Thanks, 2026. Even so, at $40 off the current list price they’re a good discount. Want Bluetooth too? Then go for the $140 version.

View Deal

Headphones: HyperX Cloud Flight 2, $86

For me, a headset pulls double duty: focus for games and flexibility for listening when I’m away from my desk. And nobody beats HyperX when it comes to wireless battery life. This headset claims 100 hours of life in 2.4GHz mode — weeks or months for most users — and 150 in Bluetooth. All for nearly $50 off the retail price, not bad at all.

View Deal

Microphone: Logitech G Yeti Orb, $50

This budget option won’t get you ready to launch a podcast or music career. But for a nice upgrade to spare the ears of your teammates or coworkers, it’ll do fine. And just fifty bucks is more than reasonable.

View Deal

Lights: Quntis Monitor Lamp, $32

Your parents were right: Gaming in a dark room will ruin your eyesight. This monitor bar will illuminate the space both on your desk and on your wall, without washing out what’s on your screen. All for under thirty bucks with a remote control, that’s a steal.

View Deal

I’ve been hoping for SSD prices to drop at least a little during holiday sales—and thankfully, Amazon delivered by slashing the price of the Samsung T9, one of our favorite portable SSDs, down to just $335 for the 2TB model. That’s an all-time low since February, when the prices of SSDs began skyrocketing. Normally, this fast, rugged portable SSD has gone for around $450 on the street, with discounts both small and rare.

View This Amazon Deal

We’re big fans of the Samsung T9, having given it an almost-perfect 4.5-star rating in our review. It offers top-notch performance, with transfer speeds that zip along at up to 2,000 MB/s, a 5-year warranty, and even a textured surface for better grip while out and about. If you need to copy big files across devices while on the go, this is the drive for you.

As crazy as it sounds, Amazon’s 25 percent discount on this 2TB T9 is one of the best we’ve seen in months… even though the prices aren’t quite the same as last year. (You can place full blame for that on AI data centers.) If you’ve been holding out for a good deal on a speedy, reliable portable SSD, this is your chance. Don’t wait on it!

(Unless, of course, you’re holding out for a different kind of SSD sale—if so, check out our round-up of the best October Prime Day SSD and storage deals.)

Get $115 off Samsung's T9 portable SSD for Amazon Prime Day

Buy now on Amazon

Aw, have you seen that viral video of the little puppy nuzzling with a baby? It’s absolutely adorable — so adorable that it’s probably AI, although not even Reddit seems to know for sure.

Now Google has unveiled a site featuring a tool designed to spot AI-generated images, videos, and audio files, using a technology called SynthID to pinpoint invisible watermarks embedded in AI-generated content. Surely the SynthID tool can tell us whether that suspicious puppy video was created by AI, right?

I plopped the ultra-cute video into the tool, waited a few seconds, and got the result: no AI watermarks detected. So, the video must be real, right?

Well, not exactly.

Developed by Google as a method of tagging AI-generated content, SynthID allows AI models to embed invisible watermarks in the images, videos, audio files, and other content that they create. There’s even a version of SynthID for watermarking text, but this particular SynthID detection tool (which was previously available to researchers, journalists, and other media professionals) is limited to image, video, and audio formats.

Of course, not every AI model supports SynthID watermarking, and for now, Google’s SynthID tool can only detect AI-generated media created by models from Nvidia, Google, OpenAI, and South Korea-based Kakao.

Put all that together, and it means Google’s SynthID detection tool can tell you one of two things: that it detected a SynthID watermark in a given piece of content, or that it didn’t detect one. That’s all.

To put the tool to the test, I asked Gemini and ChatGPT to create some AI slop for me — namely, images and videos of “a robot visiting Disneyland.”

I plugged those images and clips into the Google tool, and got a result within seconds: “SynthID was detected,” with the site correctly telling me that one image was created by OpenAI (ChatGPT) while the other was from Google AI (Gemini).

But the baby video I mentioned earlier? The SynthID tool chewed on it for a moment before returning its verdict — not that the video was real, mind you, but merely that it hadn’t detected an embedded SynthID watermark.

I got the same results from other and more obvious AI slop videos I found on Reddit and elsewhere, including one of a man gulping soda from an overturned Coca-Cola truck and another of a bunch of cute kittens lining up to sip milk from a row of baby bottles. Were those videos generated by AI? Sure. Were they watermarked? Nope.

Another look at the SynthID’s report spells it out: “It is unlikely that this media was made with AI from a SynthID partner,” the tool says, while adding that “this may have been generated by a non-partner organization, or at a time prior to a partner adopting SynthID.”

In other words, Google’s SynthID tool can’t prove that an image, video, or other content was definitely created by a human; instead, all that it can tell you is whether it found a SynthID watermark or not. That doesn’t mean Google’s SynthID detector is broken; instead, it’s simply a tool with a narrowly defined job.

So when will we get a foolproof AI detector, including one that works with watermarking tools from a wide range of companies? As Google notes in its SynthID detector FAQ, developing such a tool “takes time,” and would require a “layered ecosystem where watermarking, metadata standards, and verification tools work together across the industry.”

In the meantime, is that video of the puppy nuzzling the baby real or AI? Your guess is as good as mine.

If you’re still on Windows 11 24H2, time is running out. Microsoft is ending support for that version of Windows this month, so you’ll need to upgrade to either 25H2 or (ideally) 26H2 as soon as possible. If you don’t, you’ll put your system at increasing risk over time.

Support for Windows 11 24H2 ends on October 13th, 2026—less than a week from today. Once that deadline hits, you’ll no longer receive security, feature, or quality-of-life updates on your PC.

How do you know if you’re still on 24H2? You can check by opening Windows Settings (use the Windows key + I keyboard shortcut), clicking “System” in the left panel, scrolling all the way down to “About” in the right panel, scrolling down to the “Windows specifications” section, and spotting what it says for “Version.” If you’re on 24H2, it’ll say “24H2.” (Also make note of “Edition,” which will likely be “Windows 11 Home” or “Windows 11 Pro.”)

Microsoft explicitly states on this support page:

Windows 11, version 24H2 Home and Pro editions will reach end of updates on October 13, 2026. Devices running these editions will no longer receive fixes for known issues, time zone updates, technical support, or monthly security and preview updates containing protections from the latest security threats. Enterprise and Education editions remain supported until October 12, 2027.

In other words, the end of support will only affect PCs running Windows 11 Home or Pro editions. Windows 11 Enterprise and Education editions will get another year of support, ending on October 12th, 2027. This extra year is in line with Microsoft’s standard practice and isn’t specific to 24H2.

Windows 11 26H2 is already available, so you should upgrade to that if you can. To do so, open Windows Settings again and navigate to “Windows Update” in the left panel, then enable the “Get the latest updates as soon as they’re available” option in the right panel. Then, wait until the Windows Update page shows “Windows 11, version 26H2 is available.”

Even though the update has a few known issues for some users, it has some important optimizations that speed up Windows 11 performance on older hardware, so it’s worth taking the leap.

That’s one of the areas in which Microsoft is indeed improving Windows 11. We graded Microsoft’s delivery on its promises from earlier this year—see our Windows 11 26H2 report card for a deeper dive.

It’s the last day of October Prime Day, which means it’s your last chance to take advantage of this discount on my favorite power bank. Anker’s Zolo power bank is on sale for $32.99 right now, which is just a few bucks higher than the lowest price it hit all year long.

What I love about the Anker Zolo is the built-in USB-C cable. I love that I can just pack this portable battery in my bag and not worry about also grabbing a separate cable. When not in use, that built-in cable doubles as a carrying strap, which is handy when I don’t have a bag. I’ve taken it to concerts, for example, and that loop kept it secure on me while freeing up my hands.

The next best thing about this power bank is its large 20,000mAh capacity. That’s enough to get 3 or 4 full smartphone charges—more than enough for a day trip or a night camping. And it charges pretty fast, delivering up to 30W of charging speed. Have other devices that need power? The Zolo has extra USB-C and USB-A ports, allowing you to juice up to three devices at once. Just note the 30W gets split when multiple ports are in use.

Keep it on you during your commutes and you’ll never worry about your phone dying before you get back home, and take it with you while traveling for use in airports. (It’s small enough to comply with FAA and TSA regulations.) It measures 4.72 x 2.89 x 1.23 inches and weighs 12.45 ounces, so it’s no problem to carry around.

You’ll need Prime for this deal, so grab a free Prime account and snag this discount while you still can. For more great deals, see the best Anker deals for Prime Day and best Prime Day tech deals on Amazon.

October Prime Day ends today, which means this is your last opportunity to grab Amazon’s marked-down products, including Blink, Ring, Echo, Fire TV, and Eero devices. Not sure which ones are worth pulling the trigger on? I’ll guide you to the best discounts going on right now.

I didn’t just go through Amazon’s search results and pluck out what look like good deals. Every product on this list fits two criteria: it’s at a significant discount compared to its “street price,” and I would actually buy this product at this price over same-class items from other brands. If I wouldn’t seriously consider it for my own cart, it doesn’t qualify for this list.

Prime caveat: While some of these deals can be had without an active Prime subscription, others can’t. But don’t fret if you don’t have Prime. See our article on how to get Amazon Prime for free to score the following discounts—and others—without paying for a sub.

There’s a sweet spot I look for when I want to have some fun, a little bigger than standard without being unmanageable. Just enough to enhance the experience, not so big that you can’t fit it into the space available. I am, of course, talking about PC gaming monitors. And absolutely nothing else. For Prime Day, Alienware’s 34-inch OLED gaming monitor is just $630. Nice.

The AW3426DW is an upgrade to Alienware’s already popular 34-inch designs, keeping the semi-standard 3440×1440 resolution (also a “sweet spot” for PC gaming) while boosting the speed up to 280Hz. That should satisfy almost everyone who plays multiplayer games, and/or put your PC through its paces when you’re in a single player and drinking in the visuals. The Penta Tandem panel upgrade also makes text more legible.

This newer model officially supports AMD FreeSync and Nvidia G-Sync, but like previous Alienware OLEDs, skips extras like USB video. You do get a couple of USB ports (one of them is C with 15 watts of charging) to help with accessories. Otherwise it’s a little barebones, making this display a good companion to a desktop PC but less so for a monitor, unless you have a good dock.

At $629.99, this monitor is a fantastic deal. It’s $170 off the regular list price, and $70 cheaper than you can typically find a 34-inch OLED even on sale, while being slightly faster. If you’re looking for something smaller or more affordable, be sure to check out our Prime Day monitor roundup.

Looking for a lightweight Windows laptop that doesn’t cut too many corners? Then take a look at this Samsung Galaxy Book6 deal on Amazon. It’s a 14-inch laptop that weighs just 2.98 pounds. It’s also packing a current generation Intel Core Ultra 5 325 processor. And right now, it’s $999.99 for Prime Day, down from $1,249.99.

The thing that really caught my eye, though, was the amount of memory and storage. 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage are exactly what I’d want to see in a laptop at this price point. That’s enough memory for multitasking, Zoom, streaming… the whole chalupa! And the 512GB SSD gives you more breathing room than the 256GB drives you’ll typically see in entry-level laptops.

The 14-inch display is quite good, too. It has a 1920×1200 resolution and a 16:10 aspect ratio. The aspect ratio is worth nothing because you’re getting more vertical space than you would with a standard 16:9 screen. 

The Galaxy Book6 is meant to be an easy grab-and-go laptop, which is a big part of the appeal here. Plus, if you already use a Samsung Galaxy phone, the ecosystem integration is another nice perk.

At $999.99, I’d put this squarely in the “solid Prime Day deal” category. The 16GB/512GB configuration makes it a much more attractive long-term purchase than the 8GB/256GB version.

Get the Samsung Galaxy Book6 for $999.99 at Amazon

Nowadays, most modern laptops don’t have an Ethernet port. It’s a fairly large port, and with laptops getting thinner and thinner, there simply isn’t enough room for one. However, if you still wish to enjoy the benefits of a fast and stable LAN connection, you can always use an adapter or a docking station.

Even if you can set up a LAN connection with an adapter, you should check whether you’re actually achieving the optimal data rate. For a gigabit adapter with 1000 Mbit/s, this should be around 950 Mbit/s. If this isn’t the case, there are several steps you can take to resolve the issue.

Update the Ethernet driver

If you’re experiencing speed issues, installing a fresh driver for the external adapter may help. The next step should be visiting the manufacturer’s support page.

You can find out which adapter you have using Windows Device Manager. First, connect the adapter and open Device Manager. There, you’ll find the LAN hardware in the Network Adapters section. On a laptop, it’s usually listed alongside the Bluetooth and Wi-Fi entries.

In most budget adapters and docking stations, the LAN hardware is supplied by Realtek. The entry might read, for example, Realtek USB GbE Family Controller. Next, download the latest driver from Realtek.

There, click the Check for Updates button. The operating system may offer a suitable adapter for the adapter based on the hardware listed in Device Manager. The installation will then be quicker than searching for and downloading the driver from the manufacturer’s website.

Once you’ve installed the new driver, you should unplug and reconnect the adapter so that Windows can recognize it again and load the updated driver software. During our tests, we found on several occasions that the LAN speed did not change immediately after installing the new driver. This was resolved straight away by unplugging and re-plugging the adapter.

Adjust the driver settings

If the speed issues persist, open the driver settings for the LAN hardware. To do this, right-click the network chip entry in Device Manager and select Properties → Advanced. Depending on the driver’s capabilities, you’ll see a number of options on the left-hand side of the program window.

The key setting is called Speed & Duplex. Normally, Auto Negotiation appears on the right-hand side under Value.

This means that the two devices connected via LAN determine the optimal speed by exchanging short control signals before transmission. Change this setting in the drop-down menu to 1.0 Gbps Full Duplex and confirm by clicking OK. You should now be getting the correct data rate.

Anyone who wants or needs a new desktop computer has long had a choice to make: Buy a ready-built computer or build one yourself from individual components.

The choice isn’t always that simple, and there are several factors that can make either option appealing. The price of a pre-built computer always includes, in one way or another, the cost of assembling it. If you build it yourself, you can spend all your money on getting the best possible components and pay for the assembly with your own time and by taking on the risk yourself.

But building your own computer also offers incredible freedom and a sense of pride in what you can achieve yourself. It’s something that’s difficult to quantify in terms of money, but for many people, that’s the biggest draw.

Related content

• 5 mistakes to avoid when buying a PC case
• Building a PC? Take these 7 important measurements first
• 5 secrets to getting a good PC deal in 2026

Price When Reviewed

2TB: $158 I 4TB: $208

Best Prices Today: Seagate One Touch Portable

Seagate has expanded its One Touch line to include 2.5-inch hard drive models such as the One Touch Portable reviewed here. In short, there’s nothing revolutionary about the One Touch Portable, but it’s the fastest such beastie I’ve tested. It’s simply a very capable, attractive, and portable USB hard drive that will set you back a lot less per TB than a similar capacity USB SSD. A lot less.

What are the One Touch Portable’s features?

The One Touch Portable carries forth the sculpted, wavy styling of its 3.5-inch sibling and offers the same Type-C connectivity. It’s available in gray, ivory, and dark blue, at 2TB or 4TB capacities.

The drive measures approximately 4.65-inches long, by 3.15-inches wide, and 0.5-inches thick. Weight is a mere 4.6 ounces. Yup, portable. A Type-C to Type-C cable is included with the drive.

Seagate was specific about the flavor of USB involved, but it really doesn’t make any difference whether it’s 5Gbps or 10Gbps as both offer far more bandwidth than any hard drive can use.

The company’s Toolkit software is included and provides diagnostic and backup capabilities.

Seagate warranties the drive for two years with data recovery (where available?) for the same period. Why not three or five years? It is a hard drive with spinning platters and a mechanical read/write head moving about, after all. It’s also portable and likely to encounter at least moderately rougher handling than a desktop hard drive.

How much is the One Touch Portable?

The One Touch Portable is $158 in its 2TB capacity, and $208 for 4TB. That’s about half the current SSD price per terabyte, though quite a bit more than 2.5-inch drives were going for just a couple of years ago. The price per terabyte is also greater than 3.5-inch hard drives such as Seagate’s Expansion Desktop, One Touch USB, and X Vault, but not ridiculously so.

Note that after a slight dip in August 2026, SSD prices again soared in September. This surprised me just a tad, but if you need capacity, hard drives are by far the more affordable option at the moment and likely to remain so for the immediate future.

How fast is the One Touch Portable?

For a 2.5-inch USB hard drive, the One Touch Portable is actually quite fast — a couple MBps faster than the other 2.5-inch drives I’ve tested. It’s not for moving vast amounts of data in a hurry, but it’s more than adequate for unattended backup, streaming media, and other tasks.

Note that streaming even high-resolution movies doesn’t require nearly as much bandwidth as some people might think. Less than 50MBps generally speaking.

I included the 3.5-inch Seagate One Touch along with the WD My Passport, Works with USB-C and WD My Passport Ultra for Mac (yes, those are actually the names) just to show you how much faster the larger drive is.

As for the 2.5-inch competition, the One Touch Portable easily motored past the older WD My Passport drives in all our tests, including CrystalDiskMark 8 (shown below). The 4K tests are not included because the performance in those is generally only a MB or two per second and the chart looks a bit ridiculous.

If you need capacity, hard drives are by far the more affordable option at the moment and likely to remain so for the immediate future.

The One Touch Portable also banged on the competition in our 48GB transfers.

Shaving nearly 13 minutes off the 2.5-inch competition is no mean feat for the One Touch Portable. Here again, however, you can see the speed advantage of a 3.5-inch hard drive, which lopped off another 23 minutes.

For a 2.5-inch USB hard drive, the One Touch Portable hauls the mail. That said, it’s still about the slowest type of external storage you can buy these days. Buy 2.5-inch for capacity and portability.

Should you buy the One Touch Portable?

If you need both capacity and portability, this buy makes sense. It’s the best 2.5-inch hard drive I’ve tested. You can get more capacity and speed with a 3.5-inch hard drive, but those are significantly less convenient in the haul-around department. Given the SSD’s rising price per TB, we’re currently favoring hard drives for a lot of storage missions.

Further, the 4TB unit is our choice between the two capacities thanks to a $52 versus $79 price per terabyte. Thank me later.

Drive tests currently utilize Windows 11 24H2, 64-bit running off of a PCIe 4.0 Samsung 990 Pro in an Asus Z890-Creator WiFi (PCIe 4.0/5.0) motherboard. The CPU is a Core Ultra i5 225 feeding/fed by two Crucial 64GB DDR5 4800MHz modules (128GB of memory total).

Both 20Gbps USB and Thunderbolt 5 are integrated into the motherboard and Intel CPU/GPU graphics are used. Internal PCIe 5.0 SSDs involved in testing are mounted in a Asus Hyper M.2 x16 Gen5 adapter card.

We run the CrystalDiskMark 8.04 (and 9), AS SSD 2, and ATTO 4 synthetic benchmarks (to keep article length down, we only report one) to find the storage device’s potential performance, then a series of 48GB and 450GB transfers tests using Windows Explorer drag and drop to show what users will see during routine copy operations, as well as the far faster FastCopy run as administrator to show what’s possible.

A 20GBps two-SSD RAID 0 array on the aforementioned Asus Hyper M.2 x16 Gen5 is used as the second drive in our transfer tests. Formerly the 48GB tests were done with a RAM disk serving that purpose.

Each test is performed on a NTFS-formatted and newly TRIM’d drive so the results are optimal. Note that in normal use, as a drive fills up, performance may decrease due to less NAND for secondary caching, as well as other factors. This issue has abated somewhat with the current crop of SSDs utilizing more mature controllers and far faster, late-generation NAND.

Note that our testing MO evolves and these results may not match those from previous articles. Only comparisons inside the article are 100% valid as those results are gathered using the current hardware and MO.

If the sight of a boxy, dull-beige desktop and a floppy disk drive gives you a weird little rush of nostalgia, then Desktop98 is about to blow your mind.

It’s a free Windows 98 simulator that runs in your browser. Not only does it give you the desktop nostalgia, it goes well past that, making you feel like you actually sat down at a computer in 1998. I can just hear the gentle buzzing of the CRT monitor in the background and smell the molten hot Pizza Rolls.

With Desktop98, you can fire up AOL and listen to a 56K modem screech its way onto the internet. You can open Winamp—remember that? You can browse the web in Internet Explorer or, better yet, Netscape Navigator. All of the browsers link to real archived pages from the era through the Wayback Machine. That means that Geocities, Yahoo, AltaVista, and my personal favorite, Ask Jeeves, are all available to browse.

Beyond just the retro-nostalgia of the early internet you can also use old programs like MS Paint, Minesweeper, and Solitaire. There’s even DOOM and Duke Nukem 3D emulators. They run through DOS emulation, so you can play the original games in a browser tab.

Probably the most ambitious throwback is the AOL recreation, which includes chat rooms, instant messages, Buddy Lists, and yes, “You’ve Got Mail.” The chat rooms mix real Desktop98 users with AI characters playing people from 1998. They stay in character and outright refuse to acknowledge that any year after 1998 exists. It’s kitschy, but also kind of delightful.

If you lived through this era, then Desktop98 is about as close as you’ll get to a time machine back to the golden days—minus your mom yelling at you to get off the internet because she needs the phone.

For more fun and helpful tips, tricks, website and app recommendations, be sure to subscribe to our PCWorld Try This newsletter.

Keeping a modern PC safe, secure, and optimized can feel like a complex juggling act of different apps and services. Learning how they work, keeping them updated, and actually remembering to run them often takes far too much time and effort. Bringing those tools together in one application can make the job far simpler. System Mechanic Ultimate Defense is built as an all-in-one solution for managing your PC’s security, privacy, and performance.

Boost performance, lock down security

When it comes to protecting against viruses and malware, the best defense is proactive. System Mechanic Ultimate Defense includes real-time monitoring and a system shield that actively protects against trojans, ransomware, and spyware. That helps stop any nasty applications from gaining a foothold in your system by blocking them before they even get started.

It’s not just malware you need to watch out for online, though. Websites and advertisers scrape all kinds of information when you use their services. Something as innocuous as your PC’s hardware and font list are often enough to identify you to advertisers. System Mechanic Ultimate Defense locks that information down to better protect your personal privacy and make it much harder to track you online.

Whatever web services you use, you should have a strong and unique password for each of them. Re-using passwords is never a good idea, but with this tool’s built-in password generator you can quickly make a new password for every site and service, and store it conveniently offline. Local data encryption further protects your login credentials against outside attacks.

No matter how safe you are, though, a slow and unresponsive PC is a chore to use. That’s why  System Mechanic Ultimate Defense also includes automated repair algorithms that clear up unnecessary files to boost performance and free up extra storage capacity and memory space. Better yet, these tools run in the background while the PC is idle, so you don’t need to start those tasks manually. Automated optimization, with as little hassle as possible.

Easy to use, easier to manage

A convenient all-in-one tool doesn’t just consolidate features; it unifies the user experience. System Mechanic Ultimate Defense is a single app with an intuitive and familiar layout that means everything you need is just a couple of clicks off the main menu. That means less time figuring out different tools next time you want to clear up some files, or come up with a new password.

You get a free month of 24/7 technical support too, and you can extend that to cover your entire subscription period if you like.

System Mechanic Ultimate Defense brings together security, optimization, and privacy to make managing your PC simpler, easier, and less time-consuming.

Download System Mechanic Ultimate Defense today, and you can get the full suite of tools for just $39.95 for a year. Just input the code “PCWORLDSMUD” at checkout

TL;DR: Visual Studio Professional 2026 is Microsoft’s full IDE, and a lifetime license is on sale for $30 through October 11.

Professional IDEs usually have a recurring license fee, and you keep paying it as long as you write code. Microsoft Visual Studio Professional 2026 is the full 64-bit version of the IDE for Windows, but you don’t need to pay a recurring fee to use it. During this limited-time sale, you can get a lifetime license for just $29.97.

Because Visual Studio Pro 2026 is a 64-bit IDE, it can handle large solutions and heavy workloads without slowing down. You can build mobile and desktop apps with .NET MAUI, write web interfaces in C# with Blazor, and build and debug .NET and C++ apps for Windows, Linux, and containers. Hot reload updates a running app right away, so you don’t have to restart after every change.

IntelliCode suggests code based on your variable names, libraries, and coding patterns, and it can finish whole lines or blocks. AI-assisted refactoring reduces boilerplate code and bugs. CodeLens shows recent changes, authors, test status, and commit history in the editor. With Live Share, teammates can edit and debug your code with you at the same time, without cloning the repo first.

This single-user license works on one PC running Windows 10, Windows 11, or Windows Server 2019 or 2022. You need a Microsoft account to activate it online, and you have 30 days to redeem the code. Minor updates and security fixes for the 2026 release channel are included.

Stop paying a recurring fee for your IDE.

Get Microsoft Visual Studio Professional 2026 on sale for $29.97.

Sale ends October 11 at 11:59 p.m. PT.

Microsoft Visual Studio Professional 2026See Deal

StackSocial prices subject to change.

The CyberPowerPC Gamer Xtreme with an RTX 5060 is 15 percent off for Prime subscribers this Prime Day, dropping it to its best price in well over a year. (If you aren’t already a Prime subscriber, here’s how to get Amazon Prime for free.)

Gaming PC prices are rough right now, which makes practically any prebuilt in the neighborhood of $1,000 worth a second look. Amazon has the CyberPowerPC Gamer Xtreme for $1,100 for Prime Day (down from $1,300). That’s a $200 discount and the lowest price we’ve seen on this configuration since June 2025—those are pre-AI data center price surges and tariff numbers right there.

And for the money, you’re getting some pretty capable hardware. This Gamer Xtreme packs an Intel Core i5-14400F and an Nvidia GeForce RTX 5060 with 8GB of VRAM, a combo that’s right at home with 1080p gaming. Modern AAA games should run at smooth frame rates and since it’s an Nvidia card DLSS can give it a lift on supported titles.

You also get 16GB of DDR5 RAM and a 1TB PCIe 4.0 SSD.The 1TB SSD is particularly nice here as it’s double the amount some comparably priced systems provide and it gives you enough room for a decent-sized game library too.

If you’ve been holding your breath for gaming PC prices to come back down to earth, you might need to keep holding it, but in the meantime this is as good as it gets in this economy.

Prime Day ends at midnight on October 7, so grab this CyberPowerPC Gamer Xtreme for $200 off while the discount is still live. And be sure you also check out PCWorld’s big Amazon Prime Day tech deals roundup for even more great sales.

Get the CyberPowerPC Gamer Xtreme for $1,100 at Amazon

Look, a good electronic screwdriver set is useful in any household. But if your household is the kind that likes to roll up its collective sleeves and dive deep into the bones of DIY desktop computers, a good electronic screwdriver set is downright necessary. Good news! You can grab a beefy 25-piece electric screwdriver set for just $28.50 at Amazon during Prime Big Deal Days — damned near half off its usual $50 price tag.

I’ll take it! No, seriously — I just bought one before bothering to write this to expand beyond my much tinier set.

HOTO’s kit contains 25 different S2 steel bits of varying shapes and sizes, including an extended standard bit for those times when you need to reach far into the guts of your PC. Not enough? The kit also comes with an extender — and all the bits are magnetic so you won’t have to worry about dropping screws into your case’s guts while you’re meddling.

The screwdriver itself offers three different torque settings, a long-lasting 1500mAh battery charged via USB-C, and a circular LED light to improve visibility. Again: Great for DIY desktop deep-dives.

If you don’t own an electric screwdriver set currently, this HOTO set would be a game changer — and you can get it for an incredibly delicious price right now. Don’t wait, though: Amazon Prime Day ends at midnight on Wednesday. Be sure to check out PCWorld’s roundup of the best Prime Day tech deals if you’re looking to maximize your dollars!

Get HOTO's 25-piece electric screwdriver set for $28.50 at Amazon

I use my AirPods every single day. They come with me when I’m cooking dinner, writing, and walking the dog. Honestly, next to my Kindle, they’re probably the gadget I use most.

And that makes the Apple AirPods Pro 3 an incredibly tempting buy during Prime Day. They’re currently $179 at Amazon, a massive $70 discount off the usual $250 price. They have active noise cancellation, with Apple saying they remove up to twice as much unwanted noise as the previous model. They feature better three-dimensional audio, Live Translation, built-in heart rate sensing, and up to eight hours of listening time on a single charge.

They also come with silicone ear tips. AirPods aren’t the most comfortable things to stick in your ears, especially if you’ve got smaller canals like me. The tips come in five different sizes, ranging from XXS to L.

And right now, Amazon has them marked as a limited-time deal, so you better swoop in sooner rather than later, especially if your current pair are getting a little long in the tooth. Prime Day ends at midnight on October 7.

Get the AirPods Pro 3 for $179

It’s been a brutally bad year for anyone who needs more storage or RAM, but Amazon’s Prime Day is ready to rescue you from misery. Today and tomorrow, you can grab the fantastic 1TB Samsung 9100 Pro SSD for $207 – assuming you’re a Prime subscriber of course. (Here’s how to get Amazon Prime for free if needed.)

I won’t try and oversell that by saying it’s “only” $207 when storage prices have skyrocketed over the past year (thanks, AI). But in this current hellscape, you could do a lot worse. That $207 price is a whopping 39 percent off the drive’s stated $340 MSRP, as well as a solid $40 discount below the $250 price the drive has sat at (or above) since April.

And the Samsung 9100 Pro is flat-out great. Our review hailed it as “the return of the king” upon launch a year ago, praising its chart-topping performance and abundant features. “In the right system with the right software, the 9100 Pro will run rings around the competition,” our veteran SSD tester reported.

If you’re going to spend an arm and a leg for an SSD, might as well spend that money on one you’ll have zero regrets about – especially when you can get it on a rare, substantial discount. Be sure to snag the 1TB Samsung 9100 Pro for $207 before Prime Day turns into a pumpkin at midnight Pacific time, and also make sure you check out PCWorld’s big Amazon Prime Day tech deals roundup for even more juicy sales.

Get the Samsung 9100 Pro SSD for $207 at Amazon

Amazon’s October Prime Day (hopefully) kicks off the holiday sales season, and it’s an ideal opportunity for you to update your home office. From new displays to an update to the humble mouse, these are some of the deals that we’re keeping an eye as the deal days progress.

Keep in mind that Amazon’s October Prime Day deals last just today and tomorrow, October 6 through October 7. However, rival Walmart is running its own sales all week, so that may keep deals in place longer than Amazon planned. If so, expect to see this article updated as warranted.

Remember, some or all of these deals might require an Amazon Prime membership to sign up for. Don’t despair — there are ways to get Amazon Prime for free.

Believe it or not, there are two centerpieces for your desk, your display and the laptop docking station. We have deals on both.

Plugable Thunderbolt 4 Dock: $149.96 ($50 off at Amazon)

Who is this for? Plugable’s dock is slim, compact, and to the point: It gives you what you want, and not much more. I really like the two dedicated HDMI display ports and the additional Thunderbolt4 upstream port, which can be used for connecting a monitor or for additional expansion.

Why is this deal good? I’ve seen mainstream Thunderbolt 4 docks at $225 to $250, and it’s wonderful to see a focused Thunderbolt 4 dock arrive at a price well under that.

Get the Plugable Thunderbolt 4 Dock for $149.96 at Amazon

View Deal at Amazon

I really want to buy a new OLED display for my desk, but the problem is that OLED displays with stunning blacks and high contrast aren’t quite there in the format I’d like: large, 4K, and high refresh rate. So you have a choice: drop down to a slightly lower-res 1440p display, or choose a more traditional IPS panel…which to be honest, works just fine.

High-refresh rate OLEDs are generally considered “gaming” monitors, even if you use them for normal work.

Acer Predator 26.5-inch 1440p OLED (X27U): $314.99 at Amazon

Who is this for? Acer’s Predator 1440p OLED is designed for gamers, but there’s little difference between someone who is using this for productivity or for playing games after hours. Since it offers 99 percent DCI-P3 coverage, you can certainly use it for photo editing as well as shooting aliens.

Why is this deal good? There’s no discount on this display, but it’s at the lowest price in a year, so it’s worth it.

Get the Acer Predator 26.5-inch 1440p OLED (X27U) for $314.99 at Amazon

View Deal at Amazon

if you’re looking for something a little more productivity focused, however, there’s an opportunity to buy a lovely large 32-inch 4K IPS display, too.

Asus 32-inch 4K Display (VP327Q), $179.00 ($70 off at Amazon)

Who is this for? The selling point here is size: A 32-inch display allows you to see more of what you’re working on, especially for a single display. Is it too large? I don’t think so, especially with the number of pixels it’s pushing. DisplayPort and HDMI connections can accommodate most display outputs. There are built-in blue-light filters, too.

Why is this deal good? Another display that’s at its lowest price in a year. A month ago, this would have cost about $239 or so.

Get the Asus 32-inch 4K Display (VP327Q) for $179.00 ($70 off) at Amazon

View Deal at Amazon

Don’t forget that laptop! We think that the Asus Vivobook Go is one of the best deals we’ve seen.

Asus Vivobook Go 15, $479.99 ($120 off at Amazon)

Who is this for? My colleague Ashley Biancuzzo says that the Vivobook Go is for anyone who just needs a barebones machine. Just something reliable for browsing or streaming. Whatever it is you do when you’re busy killing time. Check out her roundup of the best Prime Day laptop deals for more.

Why is this a good deal? The Vivobook Go sits in that increasingly important “just enough laptop” category. It’s not trying to be crazy powerful. It’s trying to be consistent. 

Get the Asus Vivobook Go 15 for $479.99 ($120 off at Amazon)

View Deal at Amazon

What would a home office be without a webcam? I reviewed the Obsbot Meet 2 4K webcam earlier this year, and I loved it. Amazon has it on a substantial sale for October Prime Day.

Obsbot Meet 2 4K webcam: $99.00 ($30 off at Amazon)

Who is this for? The fact is that 4K webcams are more common than ever, so testing them really helps determine which webcams work best in low light, which are more color-accurate, et cetera. My review of the Obsbot Meet 2 really helped convince me that this is a webcam that you want to buy. (Sample pictures included, of course.)

Why is this deal good? You will find lower prices on other webcams at Amazon. However, nearly a quarter off on a solid 4K webcam is worth it, I think.

Get the Obsbot Meet 2 4K webcam for $99.00 ($30 off at Amazon)

View Deal at Amazon

Unfortunately, Amazon is not selling the excellent Logitech MX Master 4 mouse as part of its Amazon October Prime Day sales. However, the older MX Master 3S mouse is being offered at a decent discount, which is an ideal opportunity to upgrade if you haven’t done it already.

Logitech MX Master 3S (Bluetooth) Wireless Mouse: $79.99 ($20 off at Amazon)

Who is this for? The Logitech MX Master 3S boasts an incredibly accurate 8,000 dpi sensor and the series’ noted thumbwheel and thumb rest. If you set the MX Master 4 aside, it’s probably the ultimate productivity mouse. The MX Master 4, unfortunately, is not on sale.

Why is this deal good? Logitech was selling refurbs for $50 earlier this year. Fortunately, this deal matches Logitech’s best price of the year, which appeared in August.

Get the Logitech MX Master 3S (Bluetooth) Wireless Mouse for $79.99 ($20 off) at Amazon

View Deal at Amazon

OK, storage prices stink these days, but hang on…what’s this?

Lexar 2TB ES5 External SSD: $284.49 ($95 off at Amazon)

Who is this for? This drive works as an external SSD for PCs and phones with a USB-C port, and also includes MagSafe compatibility for iPhones, which is something you rarely see. It’s a nice, quick way to transfer files quickly from your phone to your PC, and the USB-C cord works as a strap, too.

Why is this deal good? We all know that storage prices have skyrocketed, but the price of this external SSD isn’t bad: It’s the lowest price since February, when the prices started spiking. Amazon says that this drive was about at $180 or so a year ago, but that’s just the way it goes.

Get the Lexar 2TB ES5 External SSD for $284.49 ($95 off) at Amazon

View Deal at Amazon

It’s time to upgrade your USB-C cables, especially if you got them over five years ago and they came bundled with a device. Amazon is currently selling a 2-pack of 60W Anker cables for $7.99, which amounts to just $4 a piece. That’s the lowest price we’ve seen on these cables, and a great deal for one of the better value cables on the market.

These deliver up to 60W of charging, enough to fast-charge most phones, and work fine with older, weaker chargers as well as newer GaN chargers. It won’t push power-hungry laptops to their fastest charging speeds, but for phones, tablets, and everyday charging, it’s plenty.

At 3.3 feet, these are shorter than Anker’s 6-foot version, so they’re better suited for charging at a desk or nightstand than stretching across a room. They’re covered in braided nylon and rated for up to 5,000 bends, so they’ll hold up to daily use and pack up without concern for damage.

The first caveat is, these cables aren’t built for fast data transfers. They support up to 480 Mbps, so you can use them in a pinch, but don’t rely on them frequently for large files like 4K videos. If ultra-fast data transfers are a priority, get this Anker USB4 cable instead. It tops out at 5,000 MB/s and it can still be used to charge at up to 240W.

The second caveat is, this deal is Prime exclusive. If you don’t have an active Prime account, learn how to get Amazon Prime for free. With October Prime Day in full swing, you should take advantage and score the big deals going on right now. Not sure what else to get? Check out our roundups of the best Anker deals for October Prime Day and best October Prime Day tech deals under $10.

I’ve been using bone conduction headphones for about a decade. They’re wonderful for bike riding or kayaking, or any other activity where you don’t want your ears plugged (up to and including grocery shopping). The Shokz OpenRun Pro 2 are, without qualification, the best pair I’ve ever used. And today Amazon has them for $55 off, down to $125.

The OpenRun Pro 2 are, appropriately, designed to be worn while in motion. They’re phenomenally lightweight and comfortable, they resist sweat and rain (if not full swimming), and they last for twelve hours on a charge. Oh, and that charge doesn’t need to be from a proprietary cable — reliable USB-C is all you need. While open-ear headphones can never match the audio fidelity of standard designs, particularly in bass, this set has excellent volume, mid, and high tones.

This set is normally $180, and not unreasonable for that. But it’s a lot more palatable at $125. Amazon is selling four color variants at this price, including the hard-to-find orange, plus the “mini” variants with a slightly shorter headband. Best Buy and Walmart seem to have similar sales going at the same time.

If you’re not sure about bone conduction and you’d rather start with something a little cheaper, the Shokz OpenMove is going for just $55. This older design has less sophisticated drivers and a shorter battery life, but it’s also water-resistant and recharges with USB-C.

Would you look at that! We finally have a proper deal on PC storage. Right now, Amazon is selling the 1TB SanDisk Extreme Portable SSD for just $209.99. That isn’t just a big $90 drop from its original $299.99—that’s a brand-new all-time low price for this drive. Given the state of the PC hardware market and skyrocketing SSD prices, this October Prime Day deal is one of the biggest surprises… so get it while you still can.

This is SanDisk’s newest SSD model, released earlier this year, and you’re paying for three big benefits. First, its 1TB capacity. That’s a lot of storage space, large enough to hold dozens of 4K movies. Having that much space on hand is great for convenience and peace of mind, especially if you have data-hoarding tendencies—and that’s all the more true if you have a small laptop with a tiny drive filled up by your operating system.

But second, what you’re really paying for is the performance. This SanDisk Extreme is rated for up to 2,000 MB/s, which is blazing fast for a portable SSD. Compare that to SanDisk’s cheaper 1TB SSD at $129.99 for 600 MB/s or Samsung’s T7 1TB SSD at $229.90 for 1,050 MB/s. For similar speeds, you’re looking at Amazon Basics 1TB SSD for $239.90 or Samsung T9 1TB SSD for $254.66—clearly, this SanDisk Extreme is the best value.

Just note that your laptop (or whatever device) will need to support USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 to reach these speeds. Otherwise, it’ll cap out at the top speeds supported by the port you plug into.

Third, you’re paying for its ruggedness. It carries an IP65 rating, meaning it’s sealed against dust, splashes, and spills; it also survive bumps and drops from up to 3 meters high; and it even has 256-bit AES encryption with password protection to keep all your files fully secure.

The SanDisk Extreme 1TB is the best portable SSD deal for October Prime Day, so take advantage if you need a high-performance drive. The one catch is that this is a Prime-exclusive deal—if you don’t have Prime, learn how you can get Amazon Prime for free. And if you still have more shopping left in you, check out the best tech deals for October Prime Day.

October Prime Day is now here, and that means exciting discounts on Anker’s best products. We love Anker because they provide quality devices and accessories at affordable prices, and they have a solid track record of safety and consumer-friendly practices.

But not all Anker products are made equal. I’ve gone through the October Prime Day deals and found the best ones to snag, including ones that have dipped down to record-low prices. These are the deals that’ll save you the most cash without leaving you with buyer’s remorse.

Note: Many of these October Prime Day deals require a Prime subscription. Don’t have Amazon Prime? Get it for free now so you can score the biggest discounts, both on this list and across Amazon during this sales event.

If you’re looking for deals on PC gaming hardware… well, good luck. Even during a big sale event like Amazon’s Prime Day, gaming desktops, laptops, RAM, and storage are nearing unattainable levels of expense. So it’s a good time to upgrade your accessories and external gear instead. Right now, Best Buy is selling an AOC 27-inch OLED monitor for just $300, a fantastic upgrade. Get it soon—I doubt it will last long.

We’ve seen this model, the Q27G41ZDF, before. It’s about as simple as they come in terms of extra features, but with a 2560×1440 panel and speedy 240Hz refresh rate, it’s hitting the sweet spot for PC gaming at the moment. That should be sharp enough and fast enough for most fans of online multiplayer gaming. Otherwise, you get a single HDMI and DisplayPort, plus a headphone jack. It also has a VESA wall mount, so you can use a more flexible, ergonomic monitor arm with it.

This price is about the lowest I’ve ever seen for a new, not-refurbished OLED gaming monitor, and it’s a little surprising that it’s coming from Best Buy. At least a few locations in the US have stock in their retail stores, but those seem to be going fast at this price. My nearest store is already out, and others nearby are spotty. If I were looking to buy, I’d grab one quickly—the same monitor is listed for $320 on Amazon.

If you’re looking to save even more, there’s another AOC model for just $279.99, but that one’s using an older 144Hz panel. For now, Best Buy is, indeed, the best buy. If you’re looking for something bigger or more practical, see our roundup of the best Prime Day monitor deals.

If you’ve been waiting for the price of Apple’s M5 MacBook Air to come back down to earth, Prime Day just delivered. The 13-inch M5 MacBook Air is $1,099 at Amazon, the first time it’s dropped back to that price since Apple hiked it in June.

That’s $200 off its current $1,299 price — and effectively wipes out Apple’s steep recent increase. If you want a MacBook that can handle more than the basics but don’t want to spend MacBook Pro money, this is the one I’d zero in on.

According to our friends over at Macworld, Apple didn’t exactly reinvent the wheel here… but honestly? It didn’t need to.

The M5 chip delivers impressive performance, with Macworld finding it performed similarly to the pricier M5 MacBook Pro in many tests, especially single-core CPU workloads (think tasks like opening programs and general responsiveness). The Air is fanless, though. While that means quieter operation, the MacBook Pro still has the edge as far as demanding tasks go.

The 13.6-inch 2880×1864 Liquid Retina display is another reason why the Air works well as an everyday laptop. Macworld praised its color accuracy, so it should be great for everything from documents and browsing to watching movies.

And then there’s the battery life. Macworld managed 18 hours and 24 minutes in its battery test, while noting that the Air could comfortably make it through an eight-hour workday without needing a plug. 

The MacBook Pro is probably overkill for most people, and this Prime Day deal makes the M5 Air an even easier choice. For the first time since Apple raised its price, you can get it for $1,099 again — with plenty of performance for everyday work and then some.

Get the MacBook Air for $1,099

The modern look of Windows 11 relies heavily on what is known as ‘Fluent Design,’ with transparent menus and smooth animations. It looks stylish, but it takes up processing power. According to Microsoft’s documentation, rendering certain glass effects — such as the so-called ‘Acrylic’ material — is GPU-intensive and can slow down system performance on older PCs or laptops, as well as putting greater strain on your battery.

If you’re using less powerful hardware or simply want a more responsive system, you can disable these effects in just a few clicks:

• Disable transparency effects: Press Win + I to open Settings and navigate to Personalization > Colors (or Accessibility > Visual effects). There, toggle off the switch for Transparency effects. This will make the display look a little simpler and may result in smoother performance on less powerful hardware.
• Disable animations: Under Settings > Accessibility > Visual effects, you can also turn off Animation effects. This means that, amongst other things, Windows will no longer display animated transitions when opening, minimizing or moving windows, nor will it show other motion effects in the interface. Menus and windows will then appear without these brief transitions, which can make the interface feel more immediate and responsive.

A classic performance tweak via the Control Panel

You can also disable further visual effects in Windows. To do this, type ‘Adjust Windows appearance and performance’ into the search box on the taskbar and open the corresponding entry. Go to the Visual Effects tab and select Adjust for best performance. Windows will then disable various animations and other visual effects, which can make the system run more smoothly on less powerful hardware.

Even more performance bottlenecks lie dormant in the Autostart folder on older PCs. Open Task Manager using Ctrl + Shift + Esc and go to ‘Startup apps.’ You can disable any programs you don’t need there. These will then no longer be loaded automatically by Windows at start-up. You can re-enable these start-up programs at any time from here.

Note: Don’t expect these settings to provide a massive performance boost — on modern gaming PCs, the effect is negligible. On older laptops or mini PCs, however, disabling these visual effects can result in smoother performance or longer battery life.

Related content:

• 12 easy tweaks that maximize your Windows 11 PC’s speed
• 3 Windows settings that can make or break your PC
• I use Windows Task Manager daily. I wish I’d known these 9 tips sooner

If you’re shopping for a new laptop and don’t want to settle for 8GB of RAM, this Asus Vivobook 16 is definitely worth a look. It’s currently $529.99 at Amazon, which is $140.01 off of the original $670 price. 

One thing I really like about this deal is that Asus didn’t cheap out on the memory. You get 16GB of RAM, which is what I’d go for in a laptop these days. Sure, you can still find plenty of lower-cost laptops with 8GB, but 16GB gives you a lot more breathing room when you’re bouncing between browser tabs and programs. 

You’re also getting a 512GB SSD, so storage isn’t an afterthought either. Put those two specs together, and this feels like a laptop you can actually live with for a few years rather than one you’ll want to upgrade in a year or so. 

The Snapdragon X processor is another nice fit for this kind of laptop. It’s designed with efficiency in mind, so the focus is less on raw performance and more on giving you a responsive machine for the daily stuff, paired with a long-lasting battery. 

The 16-inch 1920×1200  display is another reason I’d consider this over a small budget laptop. You get more screen real estate for spreadsheets and documents, as the 16:10 aspect ratio gives you a little more vertical space than a standard 1080p screen. 

This laptop isn’t trying to wow you with one premium feature. Instead, it’s giving you a well-rounded set of specs. It’s one of the best Prime Day laptop deals around if you’re on a budget — especially if you don’t want to suffer the sacrifices an 8GB laptop requires.

Get the Asus Vivobook 16 for $529.99

Best Prices Today: Samsung Odyssey G8 G80SH 27”

When I tested OLED monitors last spring, I didn’t include any of Samsung’s monitors. Their Odyssey monitors are primarily aimed at gamers, and at the time, the new models I was interested in were too expensive for me to consider.

So when Samsung got in touch in late summer and asked if I’d like to test one of their monitors, I thought it was a good opportunity to try out the Odyssey G8 G80SH.

Samsung Odyssey G80SH: Perfect for editing work

This monitor is available in 27- and 32-inch sizes–I tested the smaller one. By no means is it means inferior, though. It delivers 4K resolution from a high-quality QD-OLED panel with perfect contrast, a color gamut covering 99 percent of the DCI-P3 standard, and Pantone validation for professional-grade color accuracy, including additional Pantone validation for skin tones.

This makes it excellent for creative editing work. The 4K resolution also provides plenty of workspace, allowing you to keep a broad overview of complex projects and toolboxes.

Samsung Odyssey G80SH: More guidance and options for gaming

But Samsung does a good job of hiding this, thanks to the Odyssey series’ gaming focus. Almost everything in the settings menus and documentation relates to features and settings for optimizing the experience for gaming.

You get pre-set profiles tailored for RPGs, RTS, FPS, and sports, as well as the more general Entertainment, Eco, and Original profiles. Most of these have a slightly cool white balance.

There’s a Graphics option that offers more neutrally balanced colors. Unfortunately, it’s not clear whether this is what delivers Pantone-accurate colors, but I’d guess that’s probably the case. In any event, it looks excellent with the test photos and videos I’ve shown.

You don’t get a great deal of control over the image detail, and the compact interface doesn’t exactly make it easy. However, it’s controlled via a four-way button on the back, so it’s not entirely impossible to navigate. You can also download the Samsung Display Manager app and access exactly the same settings on your computer.

Samsung Odyssey G80SH: A matte finish on an OLED screen?

For media, the screen is very pleasant, with its rich colors, sharp contrast, spot-on dynamic range, and good HDR support, delivering both high brightness peaks, pitch-black blacks, and fine nuances in light and dark areas.

What really sets it apart from other OLED screens I’ve tested is its semi-matte finish, which does an excellent job of diffusing the reflections that glossy screens suffer from. It’s the same solution used in Samsung’s recent OLED TVs, and it has the same pros and cons. Mostly pros, with reflections almost completely eliminated. The slight drawback is that if you’re sitting in a room that’s too bright, you’ll never get that true black in the dark parts of the picture that OLED is known for.

When the monitor is connected, it becomes my computer’s primary audio source. However, I choose to disable this, as there are no built-in speakers–just a headphone jack that doesn’t sound particularly great. Things are better when it comes to video inputs: dual HDMI 2.1, a large DisplayPort, and a USB-C port with DisplayPort Alt Mode and 98 watts of power, perfect for plugging a laptop into.

Samsung Odyssey G80SH: It updates quickly and syncs correctly

That way, you’ll also get USB data through that port and can use the monitor’s two USB-A ports for a mouse and keyboard, for example. Unfortunately, that’s the only USB port, so you won’t get any KVM functionality. On the other hand, this isn’t a monitor you’d use for office work. You’ll probably only be running one computer at a time.

Like most high-end OLED monitors, it’s great for gaming too. After all, that’s what it’s primarily marketed for. A 240 Hz refresh rate at 4K, a response time as low as 0.03 ms, and support for both G-Sync and FreeSync Premium Pro–not much to complain about there.

There are also a few small extra features for gamers, such as a virtual crosshair in the center of the screen and the option to control adaptive sync. It should also be able to upscale low-resolution video signals to 4K. I’ve never been able to activate this, no matter what settings I use on my computer or connecting to other video sources. The option is there, but it’s greyed out.

Samsung Odyssey G80SH: There’s light effects on the back

On the back of the otherwise understated monitor, there’s also a ring of RGB LEDs that you can set to any color, as well as various lighting effects. You can also switch it off completely if you prefer a more subdued environment. The monitor’s design is really elegant, with slim bezels and a grey back panel with a matching grey stand.

However, I only really enjoy admiring the build from a distance. When I need to grip it to adjust the height or position, I’m quickly reminded of just how flimsy it feels. The height-adjustment mechanism feels painfully stiff, requiring a bit of effort. Pivoting it to portrait mode is the exact opposite–it’s too unstable. It doesn’t take much for the screen to end up at an angle, like a picture frame that constantly needs straightening.

Should you buy it?

The Odyssey G8 is a very capable monitor that delivers excellent image quality and plenty of workspace. I’d like to see a better stand, and the lack of built-in speakers is a bummer.

That said, for the right price (if it goes on sale for about $700, for example), it’s an attractive all-rounder. At full price, its shortcomings are harder to overlook.

Officially known as Amazon Prime Big Deals Days, today mark’s the start of Amazon’s second annual Prime Day sales event, which runs from October 6 through October 7. It’s an opportune time to pick up some new gear at a good price. Perhaps get your holiday shopping started early?

You’ll need to be a Prime member to take advantage of (most of) the sales, though! Here’s how to get Amazon Prime for free if you need it.

Deals at a glance

• Best laptop deal: Microsoft Surface Laptop, $1,099 ($150.99 off)
• Best budget laptop deal: Asus Vivobook Go 15, $479.99 ($120 off at Amazon)
• Best OLED gaming monitor deal: LG 34-inch 1440p 240Hz — $699.99 ($300 off)
• Best budget Thunderbolt docking station: Amazon Basics Thunderbolt 4 Docking Station, 85W charging, $102.33 ($46.60 off)
• Best mainstream USB-C docking station: Ugreen 14-in-1 USB-C Docking Station, 100W charging, $79.99 ($30 off)

Below we offer a hand-selected list of the best Amazon Prime Day deals on tech right now. Our opinions are honed from the decades of combined experience PCWorld’s editors have reviewing and evaluating PC hardware. We know what a product’s specs and features are worth and we know when a deal is truly a bargain.

We’re updating often, so make sure to check back frequently to see what deals we found.

Best Prime Day deals on laptops

From budget to premium, there is something for everyone.

Best laptop deal: Microsoft Surface Laptop, $1,099 ($150.99 off )

Why is this a good deal? The Surface Laptop is a complete package for everyday computing tasks. With a Snapdragon X Plus chip and 16GB of RAM, it can handle everything from media streaming to video calls to the full gamut of productivity chores. It’s relatively lightweight at 2.7 pounds and has excellent battery life (Microsoft says it can last up to 23 hours). Its 13-inch 1920×1280 touch-enabled display is versatile and easy on the eyes. All in all, it’s an appealing machine, especially at this price.

Get the Microsoft Surface Laptop for $1,099

View Deal on Amazon

Best budget laptop deal: Asus Vivobook Go, $479.99 ($120 off )

Why is this a good deal?The Vivobook Go is the laptop you use for reading Reddit stories, watching Netflix, and getting lost in a Wikipedia hole. The lighter stuff. That’s what the entry-level AMD Ryzen 5 40 processor is exactly made for. This is a good machine, especially for under $500. It’s not trying to be crazy powerful. It’s trying to be consistent. 

Get the Asus Vivobook Go for $479.99

View Deal on Amazon

See more deals in our roundup of the best Prime Day laptop deals.

Best Prime Day deals on mini PCs

Mini PCs can be great-spacing desktops and their capabilities can span from general purpose chores to gaming.

Best AMD multi-purpose mini PC deal: Reatan A8, Ryzen 7 8745HS/Radeon 780M/16GB DDR5 RAM/1TB SSD/Oculink/quad 4K support—$499

Why is this a good deal? The Reatan A8 is a good choice for anyone who wants a compact PC with strong everyday performance and surprisingly capable integrated graphics. Its Oculink port also makes it an enticing option for users who may want to add an external GPU for gaming down the road.

The Ryzen 7 8745HS and Radeon 780M graphics deliver excellent performance for the money—including the ability for some light gaming. That plus 16GB of DDR5 RAM and a 1TB SSD make this a well-balanced mini PC that is ready for most tasks right out of the box.

Get the Reatan A8 for $499

View Deal at amazon

Best Intel desktop replacement mini PC deal: Kamrui P2, Core i5-12600H/32GB DDR5 RAM/1TB SSD/triple 4K support—$519 (44% off)

Why is this a good deal? For $569, you get a Core i5-12600H, 32GB of DDR5 RAM, and a 1TB SSD — a strong hardware value at this price. Windows 11 Pro and triple 4K display further sweeten the pot, particularly if you’re building a compact workstation.The Kamrui P2 is great for anyone in the market for a compact PC that is capable of heavier office work, multitasking, and productivity loads. The generous 32GB of RAM and support for three 4K displays make it well suited to professionals who run lots of simultaneous apps or work across multiple monitors.

Get the Kamrui P2 for $519

View Deal at amazon

See more deals in our roundup of best Prime Day mini PC deals.

Best Prime Day deals on monitors

A nice monitor can change your whole computing experience, and lucky for us, the latest monitor tech is more affordable than ever.

Best OLED gaming monitor: LG 34-inch 1440p 240Hz ($700 after $600 discount)

Why is this a good deal? If you want premium options for your gaming hardware, including a big 34-inch ultrawide OLED screen, but you can’t spend top dollar, this $700 LG ultrawide monitor is for you. The 34-inch, 3440×1440 panel gives you appreciably more space versus a 27-inch monitor, with options for multitasking when you’re not gaming. With a 240Hz refresh rate, it’s ready to tackle intense online multiplayer too. It’s G-sync compatible and offers USB-A ports for extra gadgets. Typically, a monitor with all this would be pricey, but with a $600 discount off the original price of this model, you’re getting name-brand performance at no-name price.

Get the LG 34-inch OLED ultrawide monitor for $699.99

View Deal at Amazon

Best budget office monitor deal: BenQ 24-inch USB-C ($95 after $35 discount)

Why is this a good deal? It’s hard to find a cheap monitor with USB-C, but this BenQ model manages it for under $100. It’s a flexible, easy-to-connect display that makes for a great stand-alone screen or as a second monitor. Yes, it’s kust 24 inches and 1080p resolution, but the 144Hz panel gives it a little extra utility. The USB-C connection doesn’t have enough juice to recharge a laptop, but should work for most phones and tablets.

Get the BenQ 24-inch USB-C monitor for $94.99

View Deal at Amazon

See more deals in our roundup of the best Prime Day monitor deals.

Best Prime Day deals on USB-C hubs and Thunderbolt docks

A USB-C hub or Thunderbolt dock can add useful expandability to your PC setup.

Best budget USB-C docking station deal: Ugreen Revodok NVMe Docking Station, $59.99 ($20 off)

Why is this a good deal? If you’re a budget buyer who doesn’t need to connect more than one external monitor, this docking station has you covered. It’s got a nice compact design for desktops. An SSD slot can serve as handy local storage. The price reflects steady cuts from it’s original $79.99 list price. And it’s backed by the Ugreen brand, which is solid in the budget space. Keep in mind that you’ll need to provide your own USB-C power supply (up to 100W, but any USB charger will do) and your own SSD. Otherwise, there’s a USB-C and a USB-A port, HDMI, Ethernet, and a card reader.

Get UGreen’s Revodok USB-C docking station for $59.99

View Deal on amazon

Best mainstream USB-C docking station deal: Ugreen 14-in-1 USB-C Docking Station: $79.99 ($60 off)

Why is this a good deal? If you don’t need the full power of a Thunderbolt dock, this Ugreen 14-in-1 docking station offers a ton of functionality in a more accessible USB-C format: three display ports (two HDMI, one DisplayPort), plus 140W charging via a 27W charger output and 100W upstream to the laptop dock. In addition, there’s an SD/TF card reader as well as a pair of USB-C ports and a USB-A port. Amazon and Ugreen were charging $120 for this station most of the year, so you want to jump on it at this price.

Get Ugreen 14-in-1 USB-C Docking Station for $79.99

View Deal on Amazon

Best budget Thunderbolt docking station: Amazon Basics Thunderbolt 4 Docking Station, $102.33 ($46.60 off at Amazon)

Why is this a good deal? Amazon’s Basics dock is a great value for anyone who wants to connect multiple monitors. (Note that you’ll have to supply the display cables yourself.) The minimalist docking station features two HDMI, and one DisplayPort, plus 140W charging via a 27W charger output, and 100W upstream to the laptop dock. There’s an SD/TF card reader as well as a pair of USB-C ports and a USB-A port. Plus an extra Thunderbolt 4 port for further port expansion.

At just a tad over $100 (a 31% discount), it’s a solid deal.

Get the Amazon Basics Thunderbolt 4 docking station for $102.33

View Deal on Amazon

See more deals in our roundup of the best Prime Day deals on Thunderbolt docks & USB-C hubs.

Windows 11 26H2 dropped last week, but it doesn’t actually bring too much that’s new and interesting—and it may even cause issues for some. The update is a bit of a mixed bag as far as how well Microsoft has delivered on its promises, but if there’s one thing to be excited about, it’s that 26H2 brings some much-needed performance improvements.

Windows 11 uses less RAM

Windows Latest noticed significantly lower RAM usage after installing the Windows 11 26H2 update, reporting that the operating system uses up to 2GB less RAM on a three-year-old laptop with only 16GB of total system RAM. One Reddit user writes that on a PC with 48GB of RAM, memory usage at system startup fell by around 2GB (from 6.9GB to 4.8GB).

Microsoft has been working for some time to reduce Windows 11’s memory consumption, promising optimizations that lead to faster boot times and system performance on low-RAM machines. However, the company hasn’t disclosed exactly how it has improved Windows 11’s memory requirements over the past few months.

While users are reporting positive anecdotes, it remains to be seen whether these reports can be generalized or whether Microsoft has actually improved the operating system’s memory usage. Microsoft may reveal more on October 7th at its “Windows. Surface. NVIDIA RTX Spark” event.

Low Latency Profile in Windows 11

In addition, many users report improved performance with the “Low Latency Profile” feature, which speeds up the Start menu, search, and app launches by temporarily boosting CPU clock speed.

Low Latency Profile first rolled out to the general public back in June, with great success especially on older machines. Two months later, Microsoft updated Low Latency Profile with more tweaks to File Explorer, search, and app launches, resulting in an even more responsive experience.

The “problem” with Low Latency Profile was that it wasn’t immediately available to everyone—Microsoft put it on a gradual rollout, so some users still didn’t have access even months later. Now, with Windows 11 26H2, nearly all PCs should have access to its speed boosts.

You should notice the speed boost on older PCs or systems with underpowered hardware, whereas on machines that are already powerful, you probably won’t notice any difference.

Letting an AI agent do your shopping is, for better or worse, one of the hottest AI trends. And now it’s looking like ChatGPT will soon be joining the agentic shopping spree.

Tapping the Customize button on the ChatGPT mobile app reveals (among other options) a new Wallet option, labeled as “Coming soon.”

“A little wallet. A world of possibilities. Your Wallet is on its way,” the copy reads after tapping the “coming soon” link. The ChatGPT wallet teaser first started attracting notice last week.

ChatGPT parent OpenAI hasn’t made much of the new wallet, and there wasn’t any mention of shopping abilities for Dots, ChatGPT’s new personal agents, during the company’s annual developer conference last week. I’ve reached out to OpenAI for comment.

But giving agents access to digital wallets has become a hot new AI trend, allowing users to send their AI assistants off to shop on their behalf for anything from groceries to theater tickets.

Meta’s Muse agent already has access to a digital wallet powered by Link by Stripe. Aside from facilitating purchases with merchants who take Stripe payments, Link by Stripe can also create a one-time virtual credit card that’s “scoped” for an individual purchase, meaning the agent can shop pretty much anywhere there’s an online credit card form. 

Muse is programmed not to make purchases without asking for permission first, and Link by Stripe is designed so the agent can’t see the details of the payment methods you’ve added to your Stripe account.

Now, it’s not clear whether ChatGPT’s wallet will work the same way as Meta Muse’s, or what will power it.

It’s worth noting that OpenAI co-founder Sam Altman is also a co-founder of World Money, a financial “super app” that can hold US dollar and local-currency stablecoin balances that allow for easy cross-border money exchanges. That said, it’s not clear whether World Money and ChatGPT’s forthcoming wallet are connected.

Of course, the big question about digital wallets for agents like Meta Muse and ChatGPT’s Dots is whether you trust those agents with your credit cards.

We’ve already seen cases where Muse took actions that caught its users by surprise, such as sending the home address of a user to a complete stranger. (That user had asked Muse to take charge of their Facebook Marketplace account.) 

And while Muse is supposed to never complete a purchase without a user’s explicit A-OK, there’s always room for interpretation about what counts as permission.

That said, I’ve no doubt that agentic AI shopping is going to be a thing, and ChatGPT’s introduction of its own digital wallet will only make the trend more mainstream.

Since the end of February 2026, Microsoft has been distributing a new internet speed test via Windows Update. You can find it by right-clicking the network or Wi-Fi icon in the bottom-right corner of the taskbar. The option Perform Speed Test now appears in the menu.

Clicking on this opens your browser and takes you to a page on Microsoft’s Bing search engine. This browser-based test uses Ookla’s Speedtest. Ookla is the unofficial global market leader in internet speed tests. The option in the network icon’s context menu is simply a link, but it makes it easier to run the Ookla test.

To start the test, click on Start. The test will first determine the ping from your computer to a Telekom server, and then it will start measuring download and upload speeds. As an alternative to the Bing test, you can also use the Ookla test directly.

You can find the browser version at www.speedtest.net or you can download it from the Microsoft Store as a standalone app.

Whether you’re on the subway, in a noisy office, or working out of a coffee shop, blocking out the world around you is essential. The Sony WH-1000XM5 headphones can help with that—and now, just ahead of October Prime Day, they’re slashed down to 50% off. Instead of paying $400, you can grab them for $198 right now.

The noise cancellation on these Sony headphones is fantastic. The Auto NC Optimizer adjusts the amount of noise canceling on its own based on how you’re wearing them and your environment. No fiddling with settings needed. They smartly adapt as your surroundings change, so you can move from your office to the street to the train seemlessly.

They’re completely wireless with multipoint connection, meaning you can pair it with multiple devices (like your phone, laptop, even your TV) and switch between them with a button press. Battery life is excellent. You’ll get up to 30 hours of listening on a single charge, plus 3 hours of playback restored with a quick 3-minute charge.

These headphones also support calling. It has four beamforming microphones for precision voice pickup while weeding out background noise. If you spend a good chunk of your days in virtual meetings, or if you talk on the phone a lot, that clarity will make a difference.

The Sony WH-1000XM5 headphones are one of our favorites. Though pricey at full price, they’re superb value when you can grab them for 50% off. It’s one of the better October Prime Day tech deals going on, and you don’t even need Prime to take advantage. But if you want Prime to snag some of the other great deals going on, see how to get Amazon Prime for free.

Price When Reviewed

$329.99

Best Prices Today: Orico TB5 dock with NVMe storage

Yes, the Orico TB5 is a Thunderbolt 5 hub/dock. But as it also offers lightning fast storage performance, we thought users might be interested in just how fast said storage is. Long story short — very.

Of course, I tested it as a dock as well, but only to confirm functionality. Okay, I lie. I kicked the dock features pretty thoroughly and cover them below, but it’s not my beat so I’ll just say it’s easily one of my favorites in that regard. Right up there with the OWC StudioStack.

Read on to learn more, then see our roundup of the best external SSDs and best Thunderbolt docks for comparison.

What are the Orico TB5’s features?

The TB5 is compact, measuring approximately 6.7-inches wide, by 3.5-inches deep, by 1.35-inches tall. The hub/dock/NVMe enclosure controlled by Intel’s JHL9480 weighs around 15 ounces including the NVMe SSD.

I must say, I was impressed with the location and access to the TB5’s single PCIe 4.0 M.2 NVMe port. It’s on the bottom of the unit (see the image below), walled off by a magnetically secured access plate. You can pry the plate off with a finger, yet it’s not going anywhere unless you want it to.

I was slightly perplexed to see that the SSD retaining screw wasn’t already in place — but sure enough, there was one in a mini-baggie in the box. Kind of a waste of plastic in my book, but what the heck.

As the TB5 is primarily a hub/dock, it makes sense to list all the ports that it provides. On the back are the power jack, full-sized HDMI and DP ports, the upstream (PC) Thunderbolt 5 port, a single downstream Thunderbolt 5 port, a 2.5GbE (Ethernet) port, and a headphone jack.

The front is home to SD and TF 4.0 card slots, four 10Gbps USB ports (three Type-A, one Type-C), a second downstream Thunderbolt 5 port, and the power button. Personally, I find the front/back allotment of the ports fits my needs perfectly, with a major caveat that I’ll discuss in a bit. It’s a matter of taste, but I like the USB on the front.

The TB5, as all Thunderbolt 5 docks do, ships with a very beefy power supply. In this case a 20 volt, 9 amp brick that weighs around 1 pound , 7 ounces. Like I said, beefy.

Orico advertises 120Gbps as the TB5’s maximum speed, as do many Thunderbolt 5 docks. However, with Thunderbolt 5 standard, 120Gbps is only for uni-directional downstream video to allow more high-resolution displays and/or greater resolutions. Storage, being bi-directional is capped at 80Gbps, or around 6GBps sequential throughput.

How much is the Orico TB5?

At $330 the TB5 is hardly an impulse buy. Depending on your impulses, of course. That said, keep in mind that Thunderbolt 5 storage enclosures sans accouterments already run around the $150 mark.

If you need to kill two issues with one device — the need for more easily accessible ports and fast external storage — then a hybrid dock with storage is well worth considering. It certainly cuts down on the clutter — until you start cabling other devices, that is.

You’ll need to provide your own NVMe SSD for the TB5, which isn’t going to be cheap these days. In case you go bargain hunting in this NAND/DRAM-challenged market, even a PCIe 4.0 SSD is fast enough to saturate the 80Gbps bus.

A PCIe 3.0 NVMe SSD will still get you two-thirds of the way there with around 4GBps sequential transfers. PCIe 5.0 is overkill and a needless expense. Just sayin’

How is the TB5 as a hub/dock?

As I mentioned, I kicked all the ports on the TB5 thoroughly. All ports worked as advertised and to speed. I had only a 4K display with which to check the HDMI and DP ports, but they were fine at that resolution at 60Hz. 80Gbps storage performance via the two downstream Thunderbolt 5 ports was mostly on par with the internal storage discussed in the next section.

I do have two complaints: First, the unit doesn’t power on with your system — you have to press the power button. I’d prefer that the TB5 power on, then allow the option of turning it off with said power button. A piddling gripe, that.

More annoyingly, the front USB ports are spaced too close together if you want to use a thumb drive in each. The three Type-A’s are approximately 0.75-inches from center to center and the rightmost is only 0.65-inches from the center of the 10Gbps Type-C.

Most thumb drives are a tad wider than 0.75-inches. I could not fit three abreast in the Type-A ports, or use one in the rightmost Type-A port and the Type-C port at the same time. I could squish two thumb drives into adjacent Type-A ports, but only with one at a slight angle. Doable, but hardly optimal.

Obviously, this will not be an issue with devices that attach with cables and their thinner connectors, but if you’re rife with thumb drives, take note. You could, of course, use USB extension cables, but that’s an unsightly kludge if you’re opposed to cable clutter.

In the next iteration, Orico should consider spacing the ports more widely, or orienting them vertically. Perhaps move the power button to the back, where you’re likely using cables anyway?

How fast is the Orico TB5?

The Orico TB5’s storage performance lived up to the company’s 6GBps claims. In fact, it even finished first in a couple of tests and is currently the third-fastest external SSD I’ve ever tested. Note that this was in no small part due to my populating the M.2 slot with a PCIe 5.0 Crucial T705 — an SSD capable of over 14GBps.

Though not the fastest in CrystalDiskMark 8, the TB5 was within shouting distance of the leaders in most tests.

With CrystalDiskMark’s 4K tests, it was right on par overall, as well as the fastest writing with 32 queues. Note that Windows Explorer, even more than a decade out from the advent of NVMe, still does not use queues. Maybe if Microsoft concentrated on making its OS perform better rather than be more intrusive, this might change. Until then, use FastCopy.

The TB5/T710 combo was no slouch in the real world either, turning in a stellar 48GB transfer performance in Windows Explorer.

The TB5 came close to the best time writing 450GB, falling a bit short but still within 10 seconds of the number one OWC 1M2 80Gbps (not listed).

The TB5’s internal storage is indeed fast. An 80Gbps SSD (the number one OWC 1M2 80Gbps) attached to the downstream Thunderbolt ports read just as fast, but write performance was a good 2GBps slower. Still 4GBps while placing data in cells ain’t half bad.

Should you buy the Orico TB5?

Just for storage? No. You can get by a whole lot cheaper if that’s all you’re interested in.

However, if you’re looking for a full-blown dock that doubles as very fast Thunderbolt 5 storage, then that’s a yes. It’s basically on par performance-wise with any Thunderbolt 5 storage I’ve tested.

Just mind the narrow USB port spacing on the front of the unit.

How we test

Our storage tests currently utilize Windows 11 (22H2) 64-bit running on a Z790 (PCIe 5.0) motherboard/i5-12400 CPU combo with two Kingston Fury 32GB DDR5 modules (64GB of memory total). Intel integrated graphics are used. The 48GB transfer tests utilize an ImDisk RAM disk taking up 58GB of the 64GB total memory. The 450GB file is transferred from a Samsung 990 Pro 2TB, which also contains the operating system.

Each test is performed on a newly formatted and TRIM’d drive so the results are optimal. Note that as any drive fills up, performance will decrease due to less NAND for secondary caching, and other factors.

The performance numbers shown apply only to the drive we were shipped as well as the capacity tested. SSD performance can vary by capacity due to more or fewer chips to read/write across and the amount of NAND available for secondary caching (writing TLC/QLC as SLC). Vendors also occasionally swap components. If you ever notice a large discrepancy between the performance you experience and that which we report (systems being roughly equal), by all means — let us know.

Microsoft has confirmed a bug in Windows 11 26H2, 25H2, and 24H2 that can cause some games and applications to crash. That’s right—even the recent major fall update 26H2 contains this issue.

It’ll happen in apps and games that use the Dolby Digital AC-3 audio decoding that’s built into Windows, which may crash when you turn up the volume, change the audio settings, or use certain audio functions.

On this support page for optional September update KB5124010, Microsoft notes this as a known issue labeled “Applications which require AC-3 audio decoding might close unexpectedly”:

After installing this update, some applications that use AC-3 (Dolby Digital) audio decoding might fail to launch or close unexpectedly when certain audio features are used. This issue primarily affects legacy applications that rely on Windows built-in audio decoding. Most modern applications are not affected.

According to Microsoft, most users likely won’t encounter this bug, as it affects “legacy” apps and games that rely on Windows’ built-in audio decoding. And to be clear, this issue is unrelated to the other September update issue involving broken USB audio.

This AC-3 problem persists even after installing optional update KB5124010 on Windows 11 25H2, and upgrading to Windows 11 26H2 doesn’t resolve the issue either. The problem is located deep in the system and affects multiple Windows 11 versions because they all share the same code base.

Microsoft is aware of the problem and working on a fix:

Microsoft is working on releasing a resolution for this issue in a future Windows update. We will provide an update when more information is available.

Price When Reviewed

1279.99

Best Prices Today: Acer Aspire 16 AI

The Acer Aspire 16 AI surprised me. It’s the first laptop I’ve looked at in a while that I’d seriously consider buying. It’s just effortless to live with. It’s lightweight and the OLED display is so pretty that even my husband commented on it. 

Are there things I’d change? Yep. That said, the quirks never really got in the way of my day-to-day use.

Acer Aspire 16 AI: The guts

• CPU: Intel Core Ultra 7 Processor 355
• GPU: Intel Arc 140V GPU
• NPU: Intel AI Boost, up to 49 TOPS
• RAM: 16GB LPDDR5X
• Storage: 512GB PCIe Gen 4 NVMe SSD
• Display: 16-inch OLED, 1920×1200, 60Hz
• Display: 100% DCI-P3, 100% sRGB, 300 nits
• Touchscreen: Yes
• Aspect Ratio: 16:10
• Webcam: 1080p FHD
• Wi-Fi: Wi-Fi 7
• Bluetooth: 5.4+
• Battery: 65Wh, 3-cell
• Ports: 2× USB4 Type-C, 2× USB-A, HDMI 2.1, 3.5mm audio
• Card Reader: MicroSD
• Keyboard: Backlit keyboard with number pad
• Weight: 3.23 lbs
• Price: $1,279.99 (MSRP)

Acer Aspire 16 AI: It’s pretty light for a 16-inch laptop

At 3.23 pounds, I kept forgetting I was carrying a 16-inch laptop. I could easily pick it up with one hand and carry it around (although I wouldn’t recommend making a habit of carrying any laptop that way!). The aluminum chassis also feels nice in hand—I definitely prefer it to the plastic ones. 

Flip the Aspire 16 over and you’ll see several ventilation openings across the underside, along with a raised section toward the rear. Acer identifies the openings as part of the laptop’s ventilation and cooling system. I didn’t hear much fan noise at all, and the underside of the laptop stayed cool.

Acer Aspire 16 AI: A display made for scrolling

The biggest reason I’d reach for the Aspire 16? The display. Even my husband, who has watched me test many different laptops, noticed the display and commented on how good it looked. 

First, the size. It’s 16-inches with a 16:10 aspect ratio, which means you’re getting more vertical space than a standard 16:9 panel. I appreciated that extra space, especially when scrolling through longer emails and PCWorld articles. 

Second, it’s an OLED panel, so colors are rich and vibrant. Darker scenes have a sense of depth to them, too. To put it through a less scientific (but more entertaining!) test, I watched one of Bjork’s live concerts. And, just as I expected it to, the Aspire 16 handled the concert beautifully. 

Bjork’s white feather mask really popped against the colorful backgrounds—I could easily spot her in faraway shots. I found myself pretty immersed in the performance. In part due to the larger screen size. In part due to Bjork being, well, Bjork. 

I also watched a documentary about Iceland (I was there recently and I’ve never felt more humble), and the sweeping shots of the moss-covered lava rocks were stunning. The chunks of glacier ice looked especially blue.

Brightness is the one thing I wish were better.

Even with the brightness turned all the way up, I still wished I could bump it up a click or two. Acer rates it up to 300 nits, which lines up with my experience. 

I didn’t use the touchscreen much, though. That’s purely because I just prefer navigating on the touchpad and keyboard. Still, the touchscreen is nice to have at this price point ($1,279.99 at the time of this writing). 

By the way, the screen is pretty reflective (as you can see in that horrifying picture above), especially under brighter lights. 

Acer Aspire 16 AI: A keyboard that takes some getting used to

The Aspire 16 has a large keyboard with a dedicated number pad, which will be a welcome addition for anyone who regularly works with numbers.

Me? The Aspire 16’s larger layout is a little too big for my hands, so it took me longer to get accustomed to typing on it. I found myself landing on the wrong key more often than not. That’s probably because I’m used to using a 14-inch laptop on a daily basis, which has a smaller keyboard. I also struggled with the size of the vertical (up and down) arrow keys. I just kept wishing they were the same size as the horizontal ones.

I appreciated the backlight, as usual. I’m a creature of the dark, so I like being able to see the keys when I’ve got the lights switched off. You can also toggle the backlighting on and off with a dedicated key rather than getting yourself lost in Windows settings.

Acer Aspire 16 AI: And yes, the speakers do get loud

Back to Bjork for a moment.

The Aspire 16’s speakers got loud enough that, while I was watching the concert in the kitchen area, my husband called out from a different room, “Is that Bjork?”

That’s not exactly a laboratory measurement of audio quality, but it does tell you about how far the audio can carry. For watching concerts and YouTube videos, the Aspire 16 can get plenty loud.

But volume is just one part of it. 

The other part is the quality of sound, which I’d describe as “OK.” They’re fine for most folks. But if you’re a big music lover and want to hear every little sound, you’re better off buying a good pair of headphones. 

Acer Aspire 16 AI: A decent spread of ports

For such a thin machine, the Aspire packs a good range of ports. There are two USB-C ports, two USB-A ports, HDMI 2.1, and a headphone jack, so I didn’t find myself reaching for an adapter just to connect to the usual stuff.

But there’s one issue (it’s a minor one, but it’s still a thorn in my side).

You can only charge the Aspire 16 on one side of the laptop. Both USB-C ports support charging, which is all well and good, but I wish they were on either side. It’d be more convenient that way!

Acer Aspire 16 AI: The AI stuff

I don’t want to dawdle on about the AI stuff because, well, I’m a bit tired of it.

The Aspire 16 AI is a Copilot+ PC (the NPU can go up to 49 TOPS), so it can do all the usual stuff. Recall saves snapshots of what you’re looking at, Live Captions adds transcriptions to videos, and so on.

Honestly? The only thing I used was Live Captions, as I have a harder time processing things through audio alone. 

Acer Aspire 16 AI: It’s capable of handling the day-to-day stuff

Performance was snappy enough for the daily stuff. My workload is fairly light, though. I’ve usually got a few tabs open: Google Docs, YouTube, Facebook, X, PCWorld’s main page, etc. I didn’t notice any slowdowns. 

• Acer Aspire 16 AI ($1,279.99 at MSRP): Intel Core Ultra 7 355 (Panther Lake)
• Acer TravelMate P2 14 AI ($1,699 at MSRP): Intel Core Ultra 5 322 (Panther Lake)
• Dell XPS 13 ($699.99 at MSRP): Intel Core 5 320 (Wildcat Lake)

The Aspire 16 AI did well in our benchmark testing, too. I ran the benchmarks with Acer’s Standard Performance profile enabled. I also compared it against the recently reviewed Acer TravelMate P2 14 and Dell XPS 13. The Aspire 16 and TravelMate P2 both use Intel’s Panther Lake processors (different tiers), while the XPS 13 uses a Wildcat Lake chip.

Let’s take a look at PCMark 10, which measures overall productivity performance. The Aspire 16 AI’s score of 7,135 puts it ahead of both the Acer TravelMate P2 14 (6,581) and the Dell XPS 13 (6,103). The Aspire uses the higher-tier Core Ultra 7 355 processor, so the higher score makes sense here. Interestingly, graphics performance is where the Aspire 16 pulls away from the TravelMate P2.

The Aspire’s 3DMark Time Spy score of 3,236 is more than twice the TravelMate’s 1,479. The difference likely comes down to (at least in part) the Aspire’s newer Intel Arc 140V integrated graphics.

That extra graphics performance means the Aspire 16 can handle some casual gaming without getting loud or too hot. I played ComboLands for a couple of hours one night and didn’t notice any slowdowns whatsoever. The laptop got slightly warm, but I never heard the fans ramp up—even with it sitting on my lap while I played.

To be fair, ComboLands isn’t exactly a demanding game. It’s a citybuilding game where you’re tasked with stacking the correct buildings. Most of the time, you’re just looking at a relatively static map and placing things like houses and crops on it as you work toward different goals. So I wouldn’t take this as evidence that the Aspire 16 is a gaming laptop. But for lighter games, it was perfectly comfortable to use.

Acer Aspire 16 AI: Battery life is pretty good

Battery life is pretty solid, too. I ran one of UL Procyon’s battery benchmarks and it lasted 11 hours and 47 minutes. Almost 12 hours! It’s not the 36-hour result we saw with the Dell 14S, but nearly 12 hours is still more than a full workday. 

Acer Aspire 16 AI: Should you get it?

The Aspire 16 AI is the laptop I kept reaching for (even after the testing period was over). Sure, the keyboard was a little big for my hands and I wish I could charge it from either side, but those things never really got in the way of me wanting to use it. 

There are a lot of things I like about it. The spacious OLED display is great for light gaming and watching concerts. There are also plenty of ports, and it handled my daily workload without issue. 

For $1,279.99, I think the Aspire 16 AI makes the most sense for someone who wants a big, beautiful screen without lugging around a heavy 16-inch machine. 

Amazon Prime membership includes loads of benefits—including the ability to shop Amazon’s best deals during big sales periods, like Prime Day and Black Friday. But here’s a secret: You don’t have to pay to take advantage of the benefits. At least, not at first.

Before you pay Amazon’s $139-per-year (or $14.99-per-month) subscription fee, you can sign up for a free trial. You get all the benefits of membership, including free two-day shipping on all orders, access to the Kindle lending library, Prime Video streaming, and much more. See our rundown of the top Amazon Prime benefits for the full list.

Here are a few ways to score a short-term Prime membership.