Connexion
My primary devices are an iPhone, a Windows PC, and a MacBook, and I've been looking for a fast and reliable way to share files among them. I've relied on crude solutions, such as sending myself emails or text messages and uploading files to a cloud storage service to send them cross-platform. None of these solutions are as seamless as Apple's AirDrop, though—and even that isn't always reliable. I've had instances when AirDrop transfers have failed for seemingly no reason, or when one of my Apple devices couldn't see the other.
All that changed when I discovered LocalSend, thanks to Jared Newman's coverage at PC World. LocalSend is a free, cross-platform file-sharing app that works offline. As long as all of your devices are on the same wifi network, you can use the app to send files, folders, text, or even as a cross-platform clipboard. The latter is a great feature for me because I do love Apple's Universal Clipboard feature that allows me to copy on any Apple device and paste on any other.
To set it up, go to the downloads page on LocalSend's website and download the app on all of your devices. The app supports Windows, Mac, Linux, iPhone, iPad, and Android (including Google Play, F-Droid, and the Amazon Appstore). This is a comprehensive list that covers every device from your old Windows PC to a de-Googled Android phone.
Once the app is installed, just make sure your devices are on the same wifi network.
LocalSend automatically assigns quirky names to each of your devices, such as "Neat Blueberry or Fast Lettuce, along with the device's operating system. (You can go to the app's Settings tab and enable Advanced settings to rename these devices if you'd like.)
To send files, go to the Send tab and start selecting the things you want to send. The app allows you to choose multiple types of files and send them together. You just select the files, then click one of the nearby devices that show up in the list, and the app begins sending data. Once you approve the request in the receiving device, the files will be sent quickly. For a batch of smaller files, the transfer was instant. I also sent a 400MB video from my PC to my Mac, and it took 50 seconds.
You can also click the gear icon in the Send tab to reveal more options to send and receive files. There's an interesting Share via link option here, which generates a link that you can open in any browser. Once the link is opened, you'll have to approve the request from the device that's sending files, and then you can quickly download them on the receiver's end. This is useful for certain computers where downloading and installing apps is restricted.
There's also an option labelled Multiple recipients, which lets you send files to multiple devices easily. You still have to select each device you want to send files to, but the app won't clear the list of selected files after each transmission. I used this option to send batches of 5-10 files to multiple devices back-to-back, and it worked flawlessly.
When you're receiving files, you'll usually have to approve each send request. This is a good safety feature, but it gets in the way when you're in a trusted place (like your own home) and sending files only to your own computers, as I often do. To get around this, you can go to the Receive tab in LocalSend and click the Quick Save button. With Quick Save enabled, the app will automatically download all files sent to that device. Similarly, you can go to LocalSend's settings and automatically approve requests for the Share via link feature.
The app lets you choose a custom directory for receiving files, and you should change this if you want to avoid cluttering your Downloads folder. You can also enable the Auto Finish setting to automatically complete file transfers. This is disabled by default, and you have to click a button to confirm each file transfer. With these small tweaks, LocalSend has become a must-have app for my setup, even if I mostly just use it as a cross-platform clipboard.
Mac users tend to overlook Safari, which I understand: It seems, at first glance, underpowered, and anyone coming over from Windows likely has a long-established habit of installing Chrome.
But that's a mistake. Everyone who gets a Mac should, at the very least, give Safari a chance for a couple of weeks, because in my opinion it's very good. Now, I'm just a guy who spends way too much time on the internet. I am wrong about many things, and I'm certainly not trying to say any Mac user who uses Chrome or Arc is objectively wrong. I just happen to prefer Safari.
The modern web is a nightmare to browse. Way too many websites, including some you might be reading right now, clutter the reading experience with ads, pop-ups, more ads, sidebars, and ads. Safari's reader mode removes all of this, showing you only the thing you want: the article on the current page. Even better: the full website remains open in the background, meaning from the site's perspective you're not even blocking the ads.
Multiple browsers offer reader mode, but Safari offers the best one in my experience. It consistently does the best job of pulling in entire articles, and is never more than a click or a keyboard shortcut away. Even better: you can set up reader mode to be the default experience for any website. Just open any particularly annoying page, click Safari in the menu bar at the top of the screen, then click the Settings for option, which is right below Settings. Check the Use Reader when available and the mode will trigger by default whenever you open articles on that website. I cannot tell you how many previously unreadable websites became useful again after discovering this feature.
Google Chrome doesn't really offer a read mode—at least, not one you can use without accessing a hidden settings page. Arc offers one, as a beta tool, but it doesn't work as well in my experience. Neither application offer a setting to use reader mode by default for certain websites. This is, for me, the main reason I prefer Safari.
One way to think about tech companies, and how they're going to treat you, is to look at their incentives. Apple is, basically, a hardware company. Sure, it sells services, but for the most part, Apple makes money when you buy a phone or a computer. Google, meanwhile, is an ad company whose revenue model is based on collecting information about users. Owning Chrome helps them in that mission. (Arc doesn't make money at the moment—more on that later.)
So, do I trust Apple? Not exactly. But the company has publicly positioned Safari as a more privacy-oriented alternative to Google Chrome, and I think it's in its best interest to deliver on that. The browser, by default, blocks cross-site tracking and can hide your IP address from trackers altogether. Privacy changes like this are having real impacts—they cost Facebook $10 billion in 2022, so it must be working at least a little.
Chrome, meanwhile, is going the other way. The browser is rolling out an update to how extensions work—called Manifest V3—this summer. The Electronic Frontier Foundation calls "deceitful and threatening to extensions built to help with privacy, including ad blockers," to quote Daly Barnett's post on the matter:
(The update) will restrict the capabilities of web extensions—especially those that are designed to monitor, modify, and compute alongside the conversation your browser has with the websites you visit. Under the new specifications, extensions like these–like some privacy-protective tracker blockers–will have greatly reduced capabilities. Google’s efforts to limit that access is concerning, especially considering that Google has trackers installed on 75% of the top one million websites.
No big tech company can be trusted on privacy, but the incentives are clear. Apple wants to be seen as privacy friendly while Google is happy to use its control of the most popular browser on the market to make privacy-enhancing extensions less useful.
A lot of people, at this point, might suggest that I try Arc instead. And I have: it was my daily driver for nearly a year. I liked it, but I'm back using Safari now. To be honest, and I know this is unsatisfying, but it's mostly about vibes. I don't debate that Arc is better better than Chrome—it is. And I really wanted to like Arc because I liked some of the features—the command bar, in particular, is something I wish all browsers offered.
But ultimately, at a certain point, using Arc started to feel like a chore. It's glitchy, for one thing, but that's to be expected of a beta product. I'm not someone who leaves a lot of tabs open at once, so all of the tab management features always felt like overkill to me. I never really figured out how to have two windows open at once, even after changes that were supposed to make it easier. And I don't care about all the AI features that have recently been added.
Mostly, though, I think tools should stay out of my way and Arc really, really wants to remind me it's there. There's not only an update every week but also a hard-to-avoid blog post, pushed to the user, that outlines what's in the new update. And honestly, as someone who's been online for a while, I just don't understand how this company makes money in the long term. Its privacy policy seems pretty good, and the company is quite loud about the fact that it doesn't plan on selling data, but I simply don't believe a company that's raised $68 million in venture capital—one that currently has no revenue—is going to respect user privacy in the long term. It feels inevitable that, at some point, the company is going to be forced into a sale and the enshittification cycle will kick in. (I hope I'm wrong.)
Which isn't to say that Apple is perfect on this. It's just to say that I understand how it makes money—by selling hardware—and I'm not concerned about market forces making Safari eventually suck. It could happen, but it doesn't feel inevitable.
None of this is iron clad, or a list of reasons why I think you shouldn't use Arc—a lot of people really like it! And I'm aware this is feeling a bit like a rant. All I know is that switching back to Safari after using Arc for a nearly a year felt like a relief.
Again, these are mostly just the ramblings of a person who spends too much time online and way too much time switching between browsers. I keep coming back to Safari, though, because it works well and stays out of my way. There are downsides—the extension ecosystem isn't as robust, for example, and some poorly designed sites break altogether in Safari. For the most part, though, Safari is a tool that does its job efficiently. I like it better than other browsers, and if you give it a chance, you might too.
We all spend a lot of time looking at our computer desktop, in between opening up programs and switching between browser windows, and it can often become a dumping ground for all sorts of miscellany: shortcuts, downloads, screenshots, documents, archives, and much more.
As it's so easy to access, everything from meme templates to financial reports can find their way on to the desktop—but as time goes on you might find yourself struggling to find (or even losing) the files you need that are stored there. What's more, the desktop can become rather unsightly, with your wallpaper of choice covered up by icons.
If you feel your desktop has become too much of a mess to be useful, here are some ideas for cleaning it up. Just like a tidy office or home, a tidy desktop can boost your mood as well as your productivity.
One approach to tidying up your desktop is to simply jump in and start deleting everything you don't need any more—which might be more than you think. Remember that the recycle bin on Windows or the trash can on macOS are there as safety nets, if you erase something that you later realize you actually needed.
If you're sure you need the files, folders, and shortcuts you've accumulated on the desktop, you can move them elsewhere by dragging and dropping them into other folders (or using the Ctrl+X/Cmd+X and Ctrl+V/Cmd+V cut and paste keyboard shortcuts). Organizing files isn't exactly the most fun you can have on your desktop or laptop, but it can save you a significant amount of time and stress.
Something that can be helpful in terms of keeping the desktop tidy is to create a single folder on it for temporary files: It's still easily accessible from the desktop, but it means the screen isn't covered with thumbnail icons. Only save something there if you know you only need it for a short amount of time—a setup program downloaded from the internet, for example, or an image you'll edit then upload.
Then, on a semi-regular basis, delete everything in the folder—you don't need to go through the files one by one, because you know you wouldn't have saved anything in there if it was really important. For files that are important, make sure you take an extra second or two to save them in another location, rather than the desktop.
You do get a few tools built into Windows for keeping the desktop organized (and for organizing the windows above it, with snap layouts). Right-click on a blank area of the desktop, choose View, and you can have the desktop icons aligned to a grid (with some manual control), automatically arranged in a grid (with no manual control), or hidden altogether (which is burying rather than solving the problem of a messy desktop, really).
That should get you some way to a tidier desktop, especially if you combine it with spending a few minutes deleting and moving files. Of course, you can move files lying on the desktop to one of the folders on the desktop, simply by dragging and dropping them on top of the folder thumbnail.
Right-click on a blank area of the desktop, choose Sort by, and you're able to change the order of the files on your desktop: They can be sorted by Name, Size, Item type, or Date modified. If you're looking to delete files from your desktop, and want to know which are the biggest or the oldest, then this can help.
As you would expect with Windows, there are plenty of third-party tools around to help you spruce up the look of your desktop. One of the tools that's definitely worth a look is Portals. It's free to use, though some features require a license key: The developer only asks for a voluntary donation for the license key, but do pay a reasonable amount if you can afford it and find the program useful.
Portals places windows to other folders on your desktop, so you can easily drag files you want to keep to particular folders, while deleting the rest. These windows can be customized in terms of their style and position, and even adding just a couple of them can make a big difference to how well your desktop is organized.
Then there's Fences from Stardock, which will set you back $9.99 a year, but comes with a free trial. With Fences, everything stays on your desktop, but all your icons get sorted into more manageable floating windows—not unlike the folders you can create on smartphone home screens.
Right-click on a blank part of the macOS desktop to bring up a list of options for getting the icons on the desktop better arranged: Clean Up will organize everything into a clean grid, and Clean Up By lets you set some kind of order for the grid (icons can be sorted by date or name, for instance).
Those are one-off sorting options that still give you some flexibility, but the Sort By menu gives you a more rigid structure for your desktop going forward. Files can be organized using a variety of criteria, from the file type to the file size, and you can enable the Snap to Grid option if you want to keep everything locked in rows and columns.
Pick Use Stacks from the right-click menu, and macOS will group files on the desktop in virtual piles (or stacks): All the images on top of each other, all the PDFs on top of each other, and so on. It's a quick and easy way of keeping everything on your desktop organized, though it makes it a bit harder to see what files you've got.
Click on a stack to expand it and manage the files individually. If you choose Show View Options from the right-click menu, you can switch to stacks based on the dates or the tags attached to files, and configure a number of other useful settings for organizing the desktop—including text size, icon size, and grid spacing.
Your macOS desktop should now be looking a lot neater, but you can also get some help from a third-party utility or two if you need it. Spotless is one of the better programs out there in this field: It's able to organize files all across macOS, not just the desktop, and it uses rules and automations to keep everything tidy on your behalf.
So, for example, you might have music files automatically dropped into one desktop folder, and document files dropped into another. Actions taken by Spotless can be previewed and approved, or you can leave the program to get on with it behind the scenes. Spotless will set you back $24.99, although you can test it for free for a week.
Google officially dropped the ChromeOS 123 update this week, and it's a good one. If you have a Chromebook, you now have four different ways to customize your experience. Plus, the update adds two other key features worth checking out.
ChromeOS 123 is all about customization, and that's a good thing. The best part of the personal computing experience is customizing the operating system to fit your workflow, so the more ChromeOS can behave like Windows or macOS in this way, the better.
First up, you can now create custom keyboard shortcuts. This is a fantastic addition, since you'll no longer need to rely solely on the shortcuts Google thinks are best for everyone. If you have a specific shortcut you like to use on a traditional Mac or PC setup, you should be able to port it over to accomplish a similar function on your Chromebook.
Custom keyboard shortcuts aren't enabled by default in ChromeOS 123, but you can activate them from a feature flag. Head to chrome://flags, then search and enable both #enable-shortcut-customization and #enable-shortcut-customization-app (courtesy of Chrome Unboxed). From here, reboot Chrome, then head to Settings > Device > Keyboard > View keyboard shortcuts. Here, you'll be able to click on the pencil icon to adjust it. Google says this option will be the default once ChromeOS 124 rolls around.
You can also customize mouse button actions, if your mouse supports it. This one's enabled by default: If you head to Settings > Device > Mouse > Customize mouse buttons, you can assign one of eleven actions to the extra buttons on your mouse, not counting the left or right mouse buttons. If you want one button to play or pause media, one to pull up the emoji picker, and one to take a screenshot, you can.
Finally, Google added the option to adjust language settings on a per-app basis. This is a great feature found for anyone who speaks multiple languages, and is commonly found in other OSs. You can set the language you prefer to use for any given app, without needing to constantly change your language for your whole machine.
This latest ChromeOS update isn't just about customization. In addition, you can now use your Chromebook as a hotspot for your other devices—provided you have T-Mobile. If you do, head to Network Settings, then enable Hotspot.
You'll also find that ChromeOS 123 has more natural-sounding text-to-speech voices, all of which work offline. You have your choice of voices in 31 different languages.
Generating images using AI is fun, and occasionally even useful, but the image generation typically happens on a server someone else controls. If you’d rather have a native Mac application for the job—one that works entirely offline, making it completely private—DiffusionBee is what you’re looking for.
This Mac-only application can download AI models for generating images, then run those models entirely on your computer. Generating only takes a few seconds on Apple Silicon devices; older Intel-based Macs are also supported but image creation takes longer—around five minutes in my tests.
The application offers a number of different AI tools you can use—everything from generating an image from text to modifying existing images. You'll need to download models before you can do anything, and those models will take up a few GB on your computer.
The text-to-image generator is perhaps the most straightforward: Just type what you want and you'll end up with it. You can also provide an image and ask for it to be redone using a text prompt. The results are obviously always dead-on, in exactly the way you'd expect from an AI tool (which my sarcastic way of saying that you might need to try a few different prompts before you get the results you want.)
Other functionality includes the ability to remove objects from photos, the ability to create optical illusions, and the ability to upscale low-resolution images. It's essentially an AI image-making playground, and it's completely free, so give it a shot if you've got a Mac.
Samsung released its newest Galaxy Book4 lineup of laptops in February, and Best Buy one-upped them by offering up to $200 gift cards if you ordered the Book4s through them over Samsung (the deal is still active, if you’re wondering). It seems Samsung decided to take a page from Best Buy's book and offer a free 2TB SSD with the launch of the newest entry-level Galaxy Book4 laptop, which starts at $699.99.
The other laptops from the Galaxy Book4 lineup were all expensive, high-end options starting at $1,349.99 for i7 processors or higher before the release of the newest entry-level (and more budget-friendly) Galaxy Book4. This one starts with an i5 processor, 8GB of RAM, and 512GB of SSD. It is a more approachable option for those looking to experience everything the Galaxy Book4 has to offer without the fancy specs. Of course, you can always upgrade it to the i7 processor if you do like this more basic model but still want the ability to run more powerful programs.
Samsung offers trade-in credits of up to $600 if you have some qualified older tech that you would like to dispose of. It also offers a choice between a free Portable SSD T7 Shield 2TB or a pair of Buds2 Pro for $99.99 (originally $229.99). These options are also available for the Galaxy Book4 360, Galaxy Book4 Pro, Galaxy Book4 Pro 360, and Galaxy Book4 Ultra. Just remember that Best Buy is offering a $200 e-gift card for these laptops, too.
If you feel like 512GB is not enough storage for you, a 2TB SSD may be the choice over the $200 Best Buy gift card. But if you think you can find more storage on your own, go with the Best Buy gift card; just be mindful that Best Buy doesn't have all the different spec versions in stock at the moment.
Dell's ongoing sale ends March 31, but there are still plenty of deals on laptops to take advantage of. If you're looking for a new laptop, I have pulled my top three choices from the sale that you should consider.
This Dell XPS 13 came out in 2022 as a light and slim portable laptop starting at $999. The XPS line from Dell has been trying to perfect the affordable portable laptop, and when the new XPS 13 came out in 2023, it forced the 2022 version to lower its price to $799, but you can get it now for $599. The 2022 version is a good laptop for most people looking to do everyday computing tasks and stream media, but it's not for heavy media editing or gaming. It's a 13.4-inch laptop with 1920 by 1200 resolution, the standard 60Hz refresh rate, a Core i5-1230U processor, 8GB of RAM, and a 256GB SSD.
If you'll take a bit more power over portability, consider the Inspiron 16 laptop. As the name implies, this is a bigger 16-inch laptop, which means less portability, but it still has a solid battery life with up to 13 hours of juice (the XPS gets up to 12). The Inspiron 16 also has twice as much storage and RAM, with 512 GB and 16 GB, respectively. Most of the other specs are about the same, with 1920 by 1200 resolution, 60Hz refresh rate, and a Core i5-1335U processor.
If you're looking for a deal on a gaming laptop, consider the 2023 Alienware x16, which is $700 off. Like the other laptops on this list, this model is cheaper because it was superseded by the newer Alienware x16 R2 gaming laptop. But as our friends at PCMag will tell you, this is still an "excellent" gaming laptop. The x16 has a 16-inch screen with 1920 by 1200 resolution, a 480Hz refresh rate, a Core i7-13700H processor, 16GB of RAM, 2TB SSD, and an RTX 4060 GPU.
AI companies present their products as magical, but it's all just code and math under the hood. Don't believe me? Someone got an AI model working in an Excel spreadsheet. Spreadsheets are all you need is a project by Ishan Anand that re-creates a GPT2, a precursor to the technology that powers ChatGPT, entirely in a single Excel spreadsheet. This is the AI equivalent to getting Doom running on an old smart fridge.
The file, predictably, is a massive 1.34 GB, and it won't load on the Mac or web version of Excel—you're going to need Windows to get this working, ideally with a decent processor. And you can't expect to use it the way you would chat-based large language models. This, obviously, isn't going to replace ChatGPT, and it's not supposed to. It's mostly just a great way to learn how large language models work.
You can get started by downloading the spreadsheet from Github. You add your prompt to the spreadsheet's second sheet. The prompt needs to be entered one word per cell, with any spaces added manually at the beginning of words and each bit of punctuation mark using up its own line.
The spreadsheet will produce a single word—the next word in your sentence. It's a good idea to stick to a simple sentence that you'd like the spreadsheet to add a word to. I went with "My cat is so—." After you've entered your prompt, you click Calculate Now in the Formulas tab to start the crunching. Eventually the spreadsheet will output the next word for you (in my case, "cute," which is accurate.)
The real fun, though, is that you can now explore all of the other sheets and see the exact math that was used to guess what the next word should be. I am not going to attempt to break this down—it's well outside my wheelhouse—but there are video lessons on the website that do a great job of explaining the math and how the spreadsheet does it all. It's hard to think of a more accessible way to see how large language models work.
If ultra-wide monitors have been outside of your budget, this discounted LG monitor might be more to your liking. Amazon is selling the 34-inch LG 34WP65G-B UltraWide Monitor going for $199.99 (originally $399.99) after a 50% discount. After running my usual price tracking tools, I can tell you this is the lowest price this monitor has been.
This LG monitor launched in Dec. 2020, and it has an IPS (In-Plane Switching) display for better viewing angles, which is great for color accuracy and consistency. People who do creative work, like graphic designers, pro photographers, or video editors will benefit most. An ultra-wide monitor also offers much more space to multitask with a 21:9 aspect ratio, basically the equivalent of two screens in one.
This LG monitor has FHD (full high definition) with 2560 by 1080 pixels of resolution and an antiglare screen. It is mountable, so you can stack it on a bracket if you wish. The height is also adjustable, and you can tilt the screen back and forth to adjust the viewing angle.
While it's marketed as a "semi-gaming" monitor, don't let that fool you. This monitor only has a refresh rate of 75 Hz and a 1 ms response time. Serious gamers usually look for at least 144 Hz and 5ms. But if you're a casual gamer, 75 Hz is better than most non-gaming monitors with 60 Hz. If you're looking for a deal on a gaming monitor, consider the LG 34WP60C-B UltraWide for $229.99 (originally $349.99).
Like the idea of AI, but wish you could use it without having to trust some large server somewhere? You can run large language models locally, giving you something like ChatGPT that works entirely offline.
Jan is a free an open source application that makes it easy to download multiple large language models and start chatting with them. There are simple installers for Windows, macOS, and Linux. Now, this isn't perfect. The models aren't necessarily as good as the latest ones from OpenAI or Google, and depending on how powerful your computer is, the results might take a while to come in. On the flip side, though, you can use this technology without having to worry about the privacy and security concerns that come with using an online AI service.
After installing Jan, you will need to choose a model—if you don't know which one, I'd start with Mistral, at the top of the list—you can always try something else later if you don't like the results. As soon as the model downloads, you can start chatting.
You can provide a few general instructions for the bot in the right panel, if you want—the default is "you are a helpful assistant," but you can change it to whatever you like for a bit more context. After that, you can start using the service the same way you would ChatGPT or Google Gemini. I tried asking for a quick summary of a recent article of mine; it did a decent job.
Again, if you don't like the results, or find that getting results takes too long, try a few different models. They're all free and all optimized for different things: some are specifically for coding questions, for example, and some are optimized to run on computers without a lot of CPU power. It's a matter of finding what works best for you.
And there's another cool feature: if the application is running, it can also work as a OpenAI equivalent API. If you don't know what this means, don't worry—it's a very geeky thing. In summary, though, it means you can use Jan in apps that would otherwise require a paid ChatGPT subscription—just enable the API feature in the settings and point your other applications to the local IP address and port number instead of to OpenAI.
With the introduction of smart monitors, the line between a computer monitor and a TV gets blurred. The Samsung M80C Smart Monitor thrives in that blur, finding the right balance between a computer monitor and a smart TV. Right now, you can get the hybrid monitor for $399.99 (originally $699.99) after a 43% discount. I can say this is the lowest price this monitor has been after checking price tracking tools.
The current discount is so good that it's currently cheaper than the older M7 version, which was well-received over at Mashable. The Samsung M80C Smart Monitor came out in the summer of 2023 and has some great features worth checking out. While you won’t be doing any advanced gaming with a 60Hz refresh rate, the stylish 32-inch LCD monitor has 4K UHD 3840 x 2160 resolution, a built-in removable webcam, and it doubles as a smart TV with a controller for streaming movies and shows. It also has Alexa integration to enable voice controls.
The monitor has Samsung's proprietary Tizen smart platform built-in, allowing viewers to use the Samsung TV Plus streaming to catch over 350 live TV channels with no need to download or sign up for anything (you'll still have to log in to your favorite streaming apps to watch those). The inclusion of a remote controller makes accessing the TV features much easier. The monitor has a sleek design with an ergonomic stand that you can pan and tilt as well as remove and wall mount if you want to. As far as ports, it has two USB-A ports and a standard HDMI port.
This monitor is perfect for people who don't have a TV in their bedroom or might not have the space for one.
Chances are you currently use the same email you did five years ago, a decade ago, or more. For many, that's Gmail, or maybe a Microsoft email through Outlook. But we all know now these companies don't necessarily have our privacy in mind when it comes to our electronic mail, and that fact is at the root of Proton Mail's shtick.
The service offers end-to-end encrypted email, so you can message your friends, family, and colleagues with the peace of mind that no one is scanning your messages messages to serve you ads or selling your data for profit.
If you have a Proton Mail account, you've always been able to access it via a mobile app, but when it came to checking your email on your computer, you were limited to Proton's web application. That's not necessarily a bad thing: The web app works well enough, but a dedicated app has its benefits. And now, Proton Mail has one for desktop, too—though you'll have to pony up some dough to use it.
Proton announced on Thursday it was launching its dedicated desktop app for Mac and Windows. Linux users can also use the app, but it's currently in beta testing. The company sees the app as particularly beneficial in two ways. Firstly, checking your email and calendar on a web browser means you're constantly tempted by the distractions of the internet: You may be trying to work through your inbox, but pulled away by the allure of YouTube, news, or Netflix. With an app, it's just your email and events...until you click literally anywhere else on your computer.
But even if you manage to be more focused in the app, Proton sees its dedicated program as more secure than the web app. That's not because of anything on Proton Mail's end; the end-to-end encryption should work the same either way. However, Proton highlights the risk email and calendar web apps take from malicious browser extensions, as well as the reliance on the web browser to update web apps.
Proton's desktop app can also sync to your device's theme (no more switching between light and dark mode manually), push notifications from messages and events, and allow you to quickly switch between your inbox and your calendar. That said, Proton Mail says any web app users should "instantly feel at home" using the desktop app, so it seems the emphasis is on keeping the core functionality the same.
At this time, the desktop app is only available to paying Proton Mail customers, either at the $3.99/month "Mail Plus" level or the $9.99/month "Proton Unlimited" level. Free users can take advantage of a 14-day trial to see what they think of the app, but to continue past that two week deadline, you'll need to subscribe.
Whether you want to try the app out for free, or take advantage of your new perk as a paid subscriber, click here to download Proton Mail's desktop app for macOS, Windows, or Linux.
Maybe you want to reference a spreadsheet while writing a report. Maybe you want to watch a sporting event while you're playing a game. There are all kinds of reasons you might want a window, or a part of a window, to float over everything else on your computer. The free Windows application OnTopReplica lets you do exactly that.
To get started download the latest version on Github—inside the Zip file you'll find an MSI installer. The documentation states that the software works on Windows 7, 8, and 10, but I had no trouble getting it to work on Windows 11. Launch OnTopReplica and a gray box will open, floating on top of your other windows. Right-click that gray box to see the settings.
Hover over Select window and you can choose which window you'd like to recreate and pin to the top. I, for example, choose a YouTube video I was watching—the entire browser window showed up.
You can drag this box wherever you like on your screen. You can then click the Select Region to only see a certain part of the window—for example, the actual video. You can move and resize the window however you like—whatever is there will scale. You can also make the window partially transparent, if you like. It's very flexible.
The most obvious use for this is watching videos—macOS has a feature specifically for this, after all. But this application is a great deal more flexible than that feature, which only supports videos and only in Safari. With this you could pin a portion of any window—a chart you're writing about, for example, or a presentation happening in a Zoom meeting that you're only kind of paying attention to. It's up to you.
There are some downsides. The window that you're pinning to the top needs to be open, and not minimized, in order for this to work, and tabs aren't supported—you can only pin what's currently open in an active window on your device. If you're willing to leave a window open behind what you're working on, though, this works perfectly.
The HP Pavilion 15t-eg300 does the bare minimum for its display; it focuses its energy on being a reliable and efficient laptop that can get the job done. HP is currently selling the 15.6-inch HP Pavilion Laptop 15t-eg300 for $549.99 (originally $999.99) after a $450 discount. Building this laptop from scratch on the HP website would run you $1,129.99.
This laptop launched in 2023, but the model has been around for much longer. The 15t-eg300 brings Windows 11 Home OS, an Intel Core i7-1355U, 16 GB of RAM, 256 GB of storage, an antiglare 15.6-inch FHD screen with a 1920x1080 resolution that gets to 250 nits of brightness, a 720p HD camera, and a backlit keyboard with numeric keypad. It runs Wi-Fi 6 and can charge to 50% in 45 minutes.
This is the most basic model of the 15t-eg300. What sets it apart is the fact that it's an i7 and 16 RAM laptop for $549.99. This laptop isn't for anyone looking to get a beautiful image to do photo or video editing; the 1920x1080 resolution and brightness are very basic. It's more of a workhorse laptop that can get heavy loads of work done on time. The 256 GB storage is not the best, either, but that's not a dealbreaker these days with so many options of storage cloud and external hard drives with 1TB going for under $60.
Another thing that sets it apart from the rest is the widescreen 16:9 aspect ratio on a larger 15.6-inch display. The 16:9 ratio is usually found on entry laptops with smaller screens and is uncommon on a 15.6-inch laptop, but it works on the 15t-eg300, if you want to use it to work and watch Netflix.
Microsoft pushed its March Patch Tuesday update yesterday to compatible PCs, and it's not one you want to miss. This update addresses a substantial number of Windows security vulnerabilities: There are 61 patches in total here, two of which are labeled as "critical." While it’s important to patch every security vulnerability a developer discovers, it’s particularly important to address the flaws that could put users at the most risk.
The two critical flaws are tracked as CVE-2024-21407 and CVE-2024-21408. Both vulnerabilities affect Hyper-V, a "hypervisor" that can run virtual machines within Windows. (Essentially, that's the ability to emulate a full computer within your computer.) The former flaw could enable remote code execution, in which a bad actor runs their own code on your machine, while the latter could enable a denial of service (DoS) situation, in which bad actors shut you out of your own network or machine.
Luckily, Microsoft did not disclose that these two critical security vulnerabilities had any active exploitation at this time. That said, the company did flag six of the flaws as “exploitation more likely“ which suggests that bad actors could potentially discover these vulnerabilities and figure out how to exploit them.
Those six flaws are:
CVE-2024-21433: Windows Graphics Component Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability
CVE-2024-21437: Windows Print Spooler Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability
CVE-2024-26160: Windows Cloud Files Mini Filter Driver Information Disclosure Vulnerability
CVE-2024-26170: Windows Composite Image File System (CimFS) Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability
CVE-2024-26182: Windows Kernel Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability
CVE-2024-26185: Windows Compressed Folder Tampering Vulnerability
Interestingly, neither of the two "critical" vulnerabilities were labeled this way.
To be safe, it’s important that you update your PC as soon as possible. Whether you're running Windows 11 or Windows 10, these security vulnerabilities pose a threat, as bad actors will discover how to exploit them in due time.
To update, head to Start > Settings > Windows Update (Windows 11) or Update & Security (Windows 10). Either way, click Check for updates. Once Windows recognizes the update, follow the on-screen instructions to install it.
A VPN isn’t just for your phone or your laptop: You can add a VPN app to your TV, and gain all the benefits that come from removing geo-restrictions, trackers, and ISP tracking. This is easily done if you have an Amazon Fire TV Stick. All you have to do is to install a VPN app from the App Store and enable it.
There are a number of good reasons for installing a VPN on your Fire TV Stick.
Access geo-restricted content: VPNs allow you to bypass geo-restrictions imposed by streaming services. This means you can access content libraries from different regions, such as watching BBC iPlayer from outside the UK or accessing the U.S. Netflix library from another country.
Prevent ISP throttling: Some ISPs may intentionally slow down your internet speed when you're streaming, to manage network traffic. A VPN can prevent your ISP from recognizing that you're streaming, thus avoiding any intentional slowdowns, which is particularly important when streaming in high quality like 4K.
Ad blocking: Some VPNs offer ad-blocking features, which can enhance your viewing experience by removing unwanted ads that may appear while using your Fire TV Stick.
If you want speed, or the least amount of speed loss, NordVPN should be your pick. Speed tests from PCMag found that NordVPN reduces download speeds by only 0.7%. By comparison, ExpressVPN reduces download speeds by 20.4%. A reduction of 10-20% is not uncommon for VPNs, and if you have a really fast connection, you might not even worry about it. But if you want the most performance, and if you are regularly going to stream 4K content on your Fire TV Stick, going with NordVPN just for the sheer speed might be a good idea.
NordVPN is also good at other things: It has a simple app, fast servers, and is also good at unblocking content. It offers privacy features like a kill switch, split tunneling, tracker blocking, and more.
NordVPN’s monthly plan costs $12.99 per month, but if you buy a two-year plan, you can get it for $3.39 per month.
If you’re on a budget, Surfshark, which is run by the same parent company as NordVPN, might be a good option. Surfshark offers unlimited simultaneous connections on the same account so you can have it running on your computer, smartphone, and your Fire TV Stick at the same time without worrying about speed drops or blockages.
Surfshark also does a great job of unblocking content, and the speed is fast enough for 4K streaming and based on tests by PCMag, the download speed only dropped by 4.8% (though they encountered bigger issues with upload speed and latency). For streaming media, that should be more than enough.
Surfshark’s monthly rates can be a bit high, but you start to save a lot of money when you buy the yearly, or two yearly plans, which are further discounted on sale days. The monthly rate is $10.99/month but if you’re buying it for two years, it comes down to just $2.49/month.
ExpressVPN is an all-around solid choice, and this is true for the Fire TV Stick app as well. The app is quite easy to use, and requires very little setup. It has a strong track record of unblocking regional content from popular services like Disney+ and Netflix, so you can stream Netflix from Singapore, for instance, while in the U.S.
While ExpressVPN is fast enough for media streaming, PCMag found a download data speed loss of 20.4% when using ExpressVPN. This means you’ll need to have a fast internet connection to get the most out of ExpressVPN.
The app includes features like a kill switch, split tunneling, and protocol selection, enhancing user security and privacy. It also offers an Advanced Protection suite to block ads, trackers, and malicious sites. ExpressVPN is a great option for travelers, as it has servers in over 100 countries.
ExpressVPN is the costliest option of all and only offers three plans. It costs $12.95 per month, $9.99 per month on a 6-month plan, and $8.32 per month on a one-year plan.
Though it’s a bit expensive, ExpressVPN’s versatility and reliability make it a great option for a VPN service on the Fire TV Stick.
When Microsoft first announced Windows 11 back in June 2021, one of its flagship features was support for Android apps. It seemed like a match made in heaven: The Apple ecosystem allows certain iOS apps to run on macOS, after all, so it makes sense to allow Android and PC users to do the same.
Unfortunately, things aren't really panning out like Microsoft probably hoped they would. On Tuesday, we learned the company was ending Windows Subsystem for Android. The end-of-life plans aren't immediate: Microsoft is giving users until March 5, 2025 to download Android apps to their PCs. However, following this deadline, you will no longer be able to install new Android apps on your computer, and the ones you have installed will not receive support going forward. Bummer.
Windows Subsystem for Android was never a perfect solution in the first place. Rather than natively port apps from Android OS to Windows, the system allows users to download apps from the Amazon Appstore. While there are plenty of options to choose from, it's far from the full experience that dedicated Google Play Store support would offer. Still, it's far better than nothing, which makes this decision by Microsoft a shame.
It gets worse for Windows Subsystem for Android fans, too: Starting today, (March 6, 2024), Microsoft will no longer allow you to search for the Amazon Appstore or any of its Android apps on the Microsoft Store. That might make it seem like support has already ended, and in some ways, it has. Since the Amazon Appstore app is no longer available in the Microsoft Store, you won't be able to download it going forward. If you don't already have it on your PC, you're effectively cutoff from installing Android apps on your PC.
If you do already have the app installed, you'll be able to install new Android apps from the marketplace until that March 5 deadline. However, there will be no new apps going forward, so what you see is what you get. Developers of existing apps can continue supporting their apps on the platform, but come March 2025, their access will be cutoff as well.
Proton Mail is one of the best alternatives to Gmail, Outlook, and Apple Mail out there, with end-to-end encryption, tracker blocking, and phishing protection among the features on offer. A free account gets you 1GB of storage and up to 150 messages per day, while paid plans start at $3.99 per month.
The latest feature to be added to Proton Mail is the option to hide your email address: That's where you set up an email alias to provide when you buy something or sign up for a social media service, while keeping your actual email address private. It's something already available on other email clients (like Apple's), and you can get it set up in just a few minutes.
Here's how email aliases work, and why you should be using them: You start by generating an alias inside your email app, and then you use the alias (as opposed your actual email address) when you're filling out a web form, signing up for a new digital service, or telling someone how to get in touch with you. Any messages sent to that alias drop into your regular inbox.
Apps and sites and web forms are always demanding email addresses out of us, and an alias system adds a bit of extra protection and privacy, as well as some additional control over your inbox: You can create an email alias for a specific purpose, like organizing a soccer team for example, and then filter all the messages that come in to that alias.
The oter big advantage of using an email alias is you can ditch it at any time. If you want to stop subscribing to a streaming service, you can retire the email address associated with it too; or if a company is sending you too much spam, you can simply delete the alias you gave them out of existence. If you use separate aliases for everything you sign up to, you'll also know which companies are sending you too many messages, and which aren't.
If you're on a paid Proton Mail plan, you can create as many email aliases as you like, while free account users get up to 10 of them. Log into Proton Mail on the web, then click the shield icon in the sidebar on the right (it'll say "Security center" when you hover over it). Click Create an alias to do just that.
The dialog that then pops up lets you specify a name for the alias—it's a good idea to use a name that indicates what the alias is for, to help you keep track of them. This name is then added to a randomly generated string of text and numbers, which is your actual alias. You're also able to add a note to the alias to help you remember why you created it.
Click Create and copy alias and you're done: You can paste your newly created, disposable email address into whatever website or app you're registering with. To get to your aliases and delete any that you no longer need, just click on the shield icon again inside Proton Mail, then follow the All aliases link.
There is an email alias feature in Gmail, but it's a bit half-baked: You can add dots anywhere in your Gmail address, and the message will still get to you. Alternatively, you can add a plus sign and anything you want after your original address and before the @ (so myname+temp@gmail.com for example). It works fine, but you don't get full control over your aliases like you do in Proton Mail.
As I mentioned above, Apple offers a hide-my-email service, and it's pretty comprehensive—especially on Apple devices. You'll find it's offered anywhere that you see the "sign in with Apple" option, and you get even more control over your aliases if you're paying for iCloud storage. From iCloud on the web, click your profile avatar (top right), then iCloud Settings, then iCloud+ Features and Hide My Email.
There are quite a few other options out there. Firefox Relay is one: You can use up to five aliases for free, and more if you're willing to pay (plans start at $1.99 a month). The ability to hide your phone number as well as your email address is coming soon to Firefox Relay too, though you'll need to be on a paid plan in order to use it.
Chromebooks come in different form factors, from gaming-focused machines to models with a detachable keyboard that are basically like Surface Pro powered by the ChromeOS. In fact, more Chromebooks are now coming with touchscreen capabilities, but if you're someone who doesn't see the value if having a touchscreen on your laptop, you can disable the functionality—you'll just need to employ a workaround to do it.
To disable the touchscreen on your Chromebook, you'll need to delve into Chrome flags. First, open up Google Chrome on your Chromebook and type chrome://flags in the search bar and press enter. This will bring you to the Chrome Flags menu, which has its own search box.
In the search box, type debugging keyboard shortcuts. The option will currently show as disabled; click on the dropdown menu and switch it to Enabled. You'll then be asked to restart Chrome or your Chromebook using a blue Restart button on the screen.
After you've restarted your Chromebook, you can now use keyboard shortcuts to disable the touchscreen. Hit Search + Shift + T on your keyboard to enable/disable the touchscreen. The Search key on Chromebooks is usually located where you'd find the Caps lock key on a Windows laptop (i.e. on the left side of the keyboard) and will typically have a magnifying glass icon on it. You can disable and reenable your touchscreen whenever you want using this command.
Samsung's Galaxy Book4 laptops have arrived in the U.S. after launching in South Korea earlier this year. This new series of Galaxy Book laptops includes four varying configurations—and at Best Buy, a purchase of a Galaxy Book currently includes a free gift card worth either $100 or $200, depending on the model you choose. This is the best deal for these new laptops available right now. If you're looking to get rid of some old tech, you can also trade in your old stuff for up to $800 in credit from Samsung's official website.
The new lineup includes the Galaxy Book4 Ultra and the Galaxy Book4 360, which is a hybrid laptop and tablet, each also available in a Pro version. All the laptops use Windows 11 and the newly released "Meteor Lake” Core Ultra 9 and 7 processors with NPU, an AI processor. They all also have an AMOLED touch-screen display that is supposed to work well in bright sunlight.
This is the most expensive Galaxy Book4 available. The Galaxy Book4 Ultra starts at $2,399.99 and sports a 16-inch 3K Dynamic AMOLED 2X and anti-reflective display. You can get up to 2TB of internal storage, and it comes with an NVIDIA GeForce RTX graphics card. You can also choose the Intel Core Ultra 9 processor or 7 processor.
Best Buy: Galaxy Book4 Ultra starts at $2,399.99 with $200 gift card
Samsung: Galaxy Book4 Ultra starts at $2,399.99
The Pro 360, a laptop-tablet hybrid, starts at $1,899.99. It comes with an S Pen stylus and also has the same 16-inch 3K Dynamic AMOLED 2X and anti-reflective display. This one is only available with the Intel Core Ultra 7 Processor.
Best Buy: Galaxy Book4 Pro 360, $1,899.99 with $200 e-gift card
Samsung: Galaxy Book4 Pro 360, $1,899.99
The Galaxy Book4 Pro starts at $1,499.99 and is marketed as a more portable option due to its 14-inch screen size. It also has a 3K Dynamic AMOLED 2X and anti-reflective display, and like the Pro 360, only comes with the Intel Core Ultra 7 processor. It comes with an Intel ARC graphics card and either 512 or 1TB of internal storage.
Best Buy: Galaxy Book4 Pro starts at $1,449.99 with $100 e-gift card
Samsung: Galaxy Book4 Pro starts at $1,449.99
The Galaxy Book4 360 starts at $1,099.99 and is the most budget-friendly option of the lineup. It's a laptop-table hybrid with a 15.6-inch screen and does not include the S Pen stylus. You can get this model from Samsung with either the Intel Core Ultra 5 or 7 processor. Keep in mind this one is just an AMOLED display without the 3K anti-reflective display.
Best Buy: Galaxy Book4 360, $1,349.99 with $200 e-gift card
Samsung: Galaxy Book4 360 starts at $1,099.99
Best Buy doesn't currently have the Intel Core Ultra 5 processor version, so you'll have to get that one from Samsung.
Artificial intelligence is feeling harder and harder to avoid, but you still have options. Microsoft recently introduced Copilot in Windows 11, and it has taken root in its new home on the taskbar. But if you want it to be inconspicuous, or perhaps disable it altogether, you can do so.
Microsoft Copilot can be hidden by clicking a toggle switch in your taskbar personalization settings. The quickest way to reach the settings is from the taskbar itself.
Click on an empty area of the taskbar.
Select Taskbar settings from the menu.
This directly takes you to the Personalization > Taskbar screen in the Settings app.
Turn off the toggle switch for Copilot (preview) listed under Taskbar items.
You can reach the same screen from the Settings app.
Click Start and select Settings from the menu or press the Windows + I keys on your keyboard.
Select Personalization on the left and go down and open Taskbar, which allows you to show or hide buttons that appear on the taskbar.
Like before, turn off the toggle switch for Copilot (preview) listed under Taskbar items.
The Copilot button should now disappear from your taskbar. Remember, this action only hides the button. You can still bring up Copilot on a separate desktop sidebar by using the Windows key + C shortcut.
Copilot is also now an integral part of Microsoft Edge. If Edge is your default browser, you might want to declutter it by removing the Copilot button from view. Here's how to hide it:
Open Microsoft Edge and click on the three dots in the top right corner to open the menu.
In the menu, select Settings.
Select Sidebar from the left column.
Under App and notification settings, go to the App specific settings and choose Copilot.
Turn off the toggle for Show Copilot. It also automatically disables the Automatically open Copilot in the sidebar setting as well.
Restart the browser for the changes to take effect.
Alternatively, you can also quickly hide the Copilot button from the button itself.
Launch Microsoft Edge and click on the Copilot button to open the sidebar.
Click on the three vertical dots for More options.
Click on Notification and App settings to open the same screen (as above) with the Show Copilot toggle switch.
As Copilot is built into Windows 11, you cannot uninstall it like a normal app. Instead, Windows 11 users on the Professional, Education, or Enterprise editions can use the Group Policy Editor to disable it from their computers a bit more permanently. Those on Windows 11 Home have to fall back on a registry tweak.
After using these methods, Copilot won't re-appear when you use the keyboard shortcut. Don't worry, all these methods are reversible, and you can easily bring Copilot back if you wish to benefit from generative AI on Windows at a later time. Here are the step-by-step instructions for both.
The Group Policy Editor is an administrative tool in higher Windows editions that can be used to manage system settings like Microsoft Copilot and policies within a networked environment.
To disable Windows Copilot using the Group Policy Editor, open Start, type "Group Policy Editor" in the search field, and press Enter.
In the Group Policy Editor window, drill down to the following level:
User Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Windows Copilot
On the right pane, right-click on Turn off Windows Copilot and choose Edit.
The Turn off Windows Copilot dialog displays several options. Choose Enabled to disable the Copilot button from Windows.
Select Apply and OK. Restart your PC for the changes to take effect.
To reverse these changes, just select the Disabled radio button and restart the PC again.
Editing the registry settings is always risky, so always make this your last option. Create a backup of your registry and a restore point as precautions if things go wrong.
Here's how to disable Microsoft Copilot with the Registry Editor.
Open Start and type "registry" in the search box to find the Registry Editor.
Drill down the tree view on the left to the following registry entry:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows
Right-click on the Windows key > New > Key. Label the key as WindowsCopilot.
Right-click on the WindowsCopilot > select New > DWORD (32-bit) Value. Name the DWORD as TurnOffWindowsCopilot.
Double-click the TurnOffWindowsCopilot and type 1 in the Value Data text field. The Base should be the default "Hexadecimal". Click OK.
Restart the PC to see if the Copilot button has been disabled.
The above steps will disable Copilot for the current user. To make the changes for all users, go to this registry path instead and follow the same steps to create and modify the new DWORD value.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows
Last month, Google revealed "Circle to Search," an AI powered feature that lets you circle subjects on-screen to perform a search. It's an intuitive way to start a search on anything that catches your eye on your phone, whether that's a line of text, a unique building, or a pair of sneakers.
The idea is so intuitive, in fact, that Microsoft is "borrowing" the concept for its platforms. Earlier this month, Windows Report discovered that Microsoft was testing a circle to search feature in Microsoft Edge, called Circle to Copilot. Now, the company is working on integrating the feature into screenshots in a feature named, appropriately, Screenshot to Copilot.
X (formerly Twitter) user Leopeva64 was the first to discovered the screenshot version of the feature. When enabled, you can initiate a screenshot, then draw a circle with the right mouse button. When you've circled correctly, you'll see "Screenshot to copilot" appear on screen. Let go of the right mouse button, and Edge will share the selection with Copilot. From here, you can choose to share any addition context or questions with Copilot before hitting the send button.
Tweet may have been deleted
Microsoft is currently testing Circle to Copilot, and, subsequently, Screenshot to Copilot. As this feature is in development, you won't see it when opening Edge on your computer.
However, you can try out Circle to Copilot ahead of time. The feature is available as part of Edge Canary, the version of the browser Microsoft tests new features on before sharing with the general public. To get started, go to the official Microsoft Edge Insider Channel page and download Edge Canary for your PC. (Edge Canary is also available on macOS, but the feature doesn't seem to be live yet.)
Once downloaded and installed, open Edge Canary, then go to Settings > Appearance. As of this latest version of Canary, you should find a new Circle to Copilot section here, where you can enable both Enable Circle to Copilot in web page and Enable Circle to Copilot on screen. (Previous versions had these options in Mouse Gesture > Configure Mouse Gesture.) You can also customize Circle to Copilot from the Configure Circle to Copilot option, and should be able to set a keyboard shortcut for the feature.
Leopeva64 says Circle to Copilot in web page lets you search inside your browser, while Enable Circle to Copilot on screen lets you search any element on screen, even outside of Edge. However, they warn it doesn't work very well yet.
If you aren't seeing Circle to Search at all, you may need to adjust the app's Properties, as Windows Report demonstrates. All you need to is right-click on Edge Canary's desktop shortcut, choose Properties, then paste the following in the Target field: --enable-features=msEdgeCircleToSearchDefaultEnabled,msEdgeCircleToSearchSupported
A business laptop is different than a consumer laptop in that manufacturers make them sturdier and with better battery life, often at the expense of aesthetics. That's the case with the Samsung Galaxy Book3 laptops, which are discounted right now on Amazon in multiple sizes and specs. All of these laptops are at the lowest price they've ever been, after checking my usual price-checking tools.
The Samsung Galaxy Book3 Ultra came out in the Spring of 2023 with excellent reviews. The laptop is a slim, powerful machine designed for professional creators and is perfect for those who are looking to pair their computer with a Galaxy phone. The laptop was a bit expensive during its initial release but received praised for its long battery life.
If you're looking for a reliable workhorse laptop, there are two Galaxy Book3 business laptops available that might be good fits:
Samsung 15.6" Galaxy Book3 business laptop i5 processor $649.99 (originally $899.99)
Samsung 15.6" Galaxy Book3 business laptop i7 processor $749.99 (originally $1,099.99)
Both of the Galaxy Book3 business laptops available have 15.6-inch screens with 16GB of RAM and Intel's 13th generation core processor. The main difference is the processing power. The difference between an i5 and an i7 processor is big and well worth the $100 difference if you can afford it. You can also double your internal storage capacity for $42, which is not as important as the processor but still a good upgrade if you can afford it. You'll get an impressive 12 hours of battery life, 1920 by 1080 FHD resolution, an Intel Iris Xe Graphics card, and a 720p HD webcam.
The Galaxy Book3 Pro business laptops are a more premium choice compared to the Book3 above. The screen is AMOLED with a 16:10 ratio. The keyboard is also nicer and has a larger trackpad. These are available in 14 and 16 inches, 16GB and 32GB of RAM, i5 and i7 processors, and 512 or 1TB of internal storage. Here are your options:
Samsung 14" Galaxy Book3 Pro business laptop i5 processor, 16GB RAM, 512GB storage $999.99 ($1,449.99)
Samsung 16" Galaxy Book3 Pro business laptop i5 processor, 16GB RAM, 512GB storage $999.99 ($1,549.99)
Samsung 14" Galaxy Book3 Pro business laptop i7 processor, 16GB RAM, 1TB storage $1,299.99 (originally $1,749.99)
Samsung 16" Galaxy Book3 Pro business laptop i7 processor, 32GB RAM, 512GB storage $1,299.99 (originally $1,899.99)
Samsung 16" Galaxy Book3 Pro business laptop i7 processor, 32GB RAM, 1TB storage $1,399.99 (originally $2,049.99)
Your computer's wallpaper is beautiful, obviously, but there's one problem: the ugly white taskbar is covering part of it up, or worse, clashing with it. The free and open-source application TranslucentTB is a good way to fix that. It's resource efficient and allows you to customize the taskbar in just a couple of clicks. You can download it from the Microsoft Store or Github and start using it right away.
After installing, TranslucentTB runs from the system tray. Click the icon and you'll see the options.
This looks like a lot but don't be overwhelmed: start by selecting an effect in the Desktop sub-menu. For Windows 11 users, there are four different effects. There's Normal, the default, which doesn't make any changes—you just get the default Windows 11 taskbar.
Next there's Opaque, which makes the taskbar a single color. You can pick the color using the Accent Color option in the same menu. Here's an ugly blue I picked for some reason:
Next we have Clear, which makes it look as the the taskbar isn't even there. This leaves you with floating icons:
Finally there's my personal favorite: Acrylic. This gives your taskbar a blurred transparency:
There are a lot of options here, and there's room for tweaking. For example: the Clear setting looks pretty good when you don't have any windows but looks bizarre when the wallpaper is covering up most everything. You can choose to have the taskbar be clear only when there are no windows open—just choose Clear in the Desktop sub-menu and something else in the Visible Window sub-menu. Or maybe you only mind the transparency when a window is maximized? then configure something besides Clear in the Maximized window sub-menu.
There are a few other sub-menus you can configure, allowing you to configure a particular look when the start menu, search menu, or task view are open. It's the kind of application you'll spend a few minutes configuring to make your computer more personal. After that, you can just enjoy it.
How often do you actually use caps lock? Unless you're a PERPETUALLY ANGRY UNCLE, the answer is probably not much. It's odd, then, that caps lock takes up a huge amount of space on the keyboard; it's downright annoying that it's so easy to hit accidentally.
Google's Chromebooks replaced caps lock with a search key years ago, and there's an easy easy way to remap caps lock on the Mac. Microsoft, though, doesn't offer a built-in tool for the job. But that doesn't mean you're out of options.
We've talked before about PowerToys, a Microsoft bundle full of utilities worth trying. One of those utilities, called Keyboard Manager, allows you to re-map any key on your keyboard. This means you can change the caps lock key to mimic another key, or even keys that your keyboard doesn't offer. If you'd rather not install PowerToys, there's a dedicated tool called sharpkeys that works similarly, but honestly PowerToys is so useful that you might as well install it.
To get started you'll need to download PowerToys from the Microsoft Store or from Github. After installing, you'll find Keyboard Manager in the left hand sidebar of PowerToys.
Click Remap a key and you will be asked to select a key on your keyboard. Press Caps lock and then click OK.
Now you can choose what you want to replace the caps lock with. Click the Select button and then press the key, or keyboard shortcut, that you want to emulate. Alternatively, you can use a drop-down box to select any key—including those that aren't on your keyboard (this is how I turned the caps lock key into a key for pausing my music). You can also opt to disable the key entirely by selecting "Disable" from this same list.
Click OK and you're done. Congratulations: your caps lock key will never ACCIDENTALLY TRIGGER again.
The HP Envy Move is an interesting computer—it’s made to be portable but not be used in your lap. All-in-one (AIO) desktops had a short stint about a decade ago, allowing people to move them around their house easily; HP resurrected the concept with the Envy Move. Right now, you can get the 23.8" Touch-Screen All-in-One HP Envy for $749.99 (originally $999.99) on the Best Buy app, the lowest price it has been according to price comparison tools. For reference, this computer was $849.99 last week on the HP website.
This deal is one of Best Buy's Drops, which are only available on your phone through their app, not through your phone's browser. The HP Envy Move will be live through 6 p.m. Eastern on Feb. 13 or until they sell out. If you're interested, follow our instructions and get in the queue as soon as possible for the best chance to score this item.
The HP Envy Move features a touch-screen with an Intel Core i5 processor and 8GB RAM, so you will be getting mid-grade processing for multitasking and will be able to handle some heavy applications—but no fancy gaming or heavy video editing. The 512GB SSD is decent but might run out fast if you're doing media work. The QHD gives you a 2560 x 1440 resolution, which is between Full HD and 4K. You can read the full "excellent" PCMag review here.
When you get an AIO computer, you're paying for the ability to have a more portable computer over other aspects like better processing or RAM power. The opportunity cost of more portability might be worth it, if you know you'll need to move your computer constantly. The HP Envy Move has a built-in battery that lasts up to five hours and 20 minutes at full power; it also comes with a handle that makes it easy to carry and a mesh pocket to take your keyboard.
Right now, if you want to take advantage of AI upscaling on Windows, you need to lay out some cash for it. Companies like Nvidia offer AI upscaling as part of their graphics cards, and without one, you're stuck with the resolutions your PC can handle natively. However, it looks like Microsoft is is changing that. Soon, you should be able to upscale your games natively in Windows 11, without needing a proprietary GPU.
Twitter user PhantomOcean3 showed off the new AI upscaler feature in a tweet. If you're running Windows 11 version 24H2, currently in testing in the Insider Preview, you'll find the option under Settings > System > Displays > Graphics. Windows calls the feature "Automatic super resolution," and says it uses AI to "make supported games play more smoothly with enhanced details." While the feature doesn't seem active yet, it indicates built-in AI upscaling is on its way.
Tweet may have been deleted
As The Verge's Tom Warren points out, this feature is reminiscent of AI upscalers from companies like AMD (FidelityFX), Intel (XeSS), and, in particular, Nvidia's DLSS (Deep Learning Super Sampling). If Windows' built-in AI upscaling feature works close to how Nvidia, AMD, and Intel's upscalers do, that could remove the need to have hardware from one of these companies in your rig in order to take advantage.
The main benefit of native AI upscaling is the ability to render games in a higher resolution without the need for more advanced hardware. For example, if you're running Windows 11 24H2 on your PC, you could use this feature to upscale a 1440p game to 4K, rather than natively running the game in the 4K resolution. The latter would typically be more demanding on your GPU, and if your hardware isn't quite powerful enough, you could run into slowdowns.
Upscaling from 1440p, however, can allow you to see enhanced details without the strain on your system. And if Microsoft really wants to compete with upscalers like DLSS, they'll implement other perks, too. DLSS not only upscales from 1440p to 4K, it also adds details that aren't there when playing games at 4K with DLSS disabled, and increases frame rates using AI to "guess" what the additional frames should look like. Hopefully, Windows 11's AI upscaler will offer similar benefits, but at the very least, it's cool to see Microsoft lowering the bar for entry for this kind of technology.
Microsoft is continuing its trend of slowly releasing new Windows 11 features to Windows Insiders. The latest additional features to make the jump to the PC operating system bring AI capabilities to Notepad and also add some additional options to Snipping Tool, the default Windows 11 screenshot tool.
Both of these apps are core to the Windows 11 experience, so it isn't surprising to see Microsoft giving them a little more love. The company highlighted the upcoming changes in an Insiders blog post, sharing that Snipping Tool version 11.2401.32.0 will allow you to add shapes to captured images. This means you'll be able to add arrows, ovals, lines, and rectangles to help highlight specific parts of screenshots. This will likely be handy for users who need to add annotations to screenshots more easily.
The other new features are coming to Notepad version 11.2401.25.0. With this latest update, Microsoft is bringing Copilot capability to the beloved note-taking app. You'll now be able to highlight articles and choose "Explain with Copilot" to get more information about files, segments of code, and any other content you've directly selected in Notepad.
You can try out Explain with Copilot by selecting the text you want explained and then right-clicking and choosing "Explain with Copilot" from the drop-down list. Alternatively, you can use the new keyboard shortcut Ctrl + E to activate the new system.
According to Microsoft, there is currently a bug that keeps some users from being able to see the new features in Notepad right away, even when updated to the latest version. The company says it's working to resolve the issue.
Unfortunately, the new features are only available to Windows Insiders right now. If you're already an Insider, you'll need to ensure you are in the Canary or Dev Channel to take advantage of the features. If you haven't joined but are interested in seeing new Windows features early, learn how to become a Windows Insider.
If you've invested a substantial number of dollars in an RTX GPU from Nvidia, then you'll want to maximize the return on your investment—and besides the high frame rates and superior rendering you'll get in your games, these graphics cards also come with some useful extras to help boost the quality of streaming video.
Collectively these extras are known as RTX Video: There are two features you can take advantage of, and we might see more in the future. In Nvidia's words, they're "real time AI-based video enhancements", so they use some artificial intelligence tricks to upscale what you're watching, beyond the original quality.
To use these features, you need an RTX 2000, RTX 3000, or RTX 4000 series GPU in your system, and either the Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge browser on Windows. Before you get started, make sure you're running the latest drivers for your GPU—you can do this through the Nvidia GeForce Experience app that should already be on your system.
First up we have RTX Video Super Resolution (VSR), which (as the name suggests) makes videos look like they were recorded in a higher quality: As per Nvidia, it can be like putting on a pair of prescription glasses in the way it sharpens up content. A lot of streaming content is pushed out at 1080p, while many of us use monitors at higher resolutions, and VSR is designed to fix that problem.
The upgrade should work on "most" online video being played through Chrome or Edge, according to Nvidia, and as well as sharpening up the picture and reducing blur, it will also attempt to remove compression artifacts from the video as well. Nvidia says that the technology will work on video resolutions from 360p to 1440p.
To enable it, all you need to do is right-click on a blank area of the desktop, choose Show more options and Nvidia Control Panel, and then open the Adjust video image settings tab. Enable the Super Resolution option, and you can choose a quality level from 1 to 4 (or have your GPU adjust it automatically). A higher quality level means your videos look better, but it's also more demanding on your system.
Click Apply to enable the feature, and then try playing some videos—you'll be able to see from the Control Panel when the technology is being applied (and at what level, if you've left the Auto setting in place). You can even make adjustments as a video is being played—just remember to click the Apply button to see the difference—and switch to full screen mode for the best results.
Next up is RTX Video HDR, which applies high dynamic range to online videos. HDR is a technology that ensures a wider range of brightness and color in an image—in practical terms, it means you can see details being rendered even in really dark and really light parts of the frame, details that would otherwise not be clear.
Compressed videos streaming online are often in SDR, or standard dynamic range, so this is an improvement that can really make a difference when it comes to the clarity of what you're watching. Again, Nvidia says it will work on "most" SDR videos, though not on DRM-protected content (as you'll get on Netflix, for example).
For this to work, you're going to need a monitor that supports the HDR10 standard (most modern ones now do). You also need to enable HDR in Windows: Open Settings from the Start menu, then click System, Display, and Use HDR. You can turn HDR on from here, if it's supported by your monitor.
With that done, it's back to the Nvidia Control Panel: Right-click on a blank area of the desktop, and pick Show more options and then Nvidia Control Panel. You'll find the High Dynamic Range checkbox alongside the Video Super Resolution one on the Adjust video image settings tab—once it's enabled, click Apply to confirm.
Dell currently has several items on sale, at least for the next 48 hours. Those items include a rather beefy Alienware Aurora R15 Gaming Desktop, which is usually priced at $2,299.99, according to Dell's website. Currently, though, you can get the Aurora R15 for up to $500 off, making it just $1,799.99 for a limited time.
That price gets you a configuration with Windows 11 Home, an AMD Ryzen 9 7900 with 76MB total cache, 12 cores, 24 threads, and up to 5.40 GHz when using Max Boost Clock. This model also ships with 16GB of DDR5 RAM, a 512GB M.2 PCIe NVME SSD, as well as 1TB of HDD SATA storage. That's more than enough storage to get your gaming collection running, though you may want to expand to a larger SSD in the future.
Of course, part of the allure of Alienware's gaming desktops is their design, and the Aurora R15 sports that same smooth and futuristic appearance that the company has become so well known for. It's a unique machine that will fit nicely in any high-end gaming setup. With this particular configuration, you get an Nvidia RTX 4070 with 12GB video memory, which should be enough to handle any newer games at high graphics quality. When our friends at PCMag reviewed the Aurora R15, they called it an "out-of-this-world gaming rig" and gave it a rating of four out of five stars.
This deal is only available for a limited time, so make sure to act quickly. And, if you find it somewhere cheaper, Dell even offers price matching to ensure you get the best price available.
Looking for more gaming desktop deals? Here are a few worth checking out:
Alienware Aurora R15 Intel i7 RTX 4070 1TB SSD Desktop for $1,599.99 (List Price $2,299.99)
Acer Predator Orion 5000 Intel i7 RTX 3080 1TB SSD Desktop for $1,699.99 (List Price $2,199.99)
Alienware Aurora R15 Intel i7 RTX 4080 1TB SSD Desktop for $1,999.99 (List Price $2,599.99)
Anyone looking for a new work or personal laptop will find that Dell is offering some solid savings on its XPS 15 lineup at the moment. The deal, which is only available for 48 hours, currently discounts the XPS 15 for up to $850 off, bringing its list price of $2,999.99 down to just $2,149.
That massive savings can also be discounted even more if you find this configuration somewhere cheaper, as Dell offers price matching to ensure you get the lowest price possible. As far as specs go, though, this laptop offers quite a lot, including a 15.6-inch display at a maximum resolution of 3456 x 2160 and a maximum refresh rate of 60Hz. It's also an OLED touch screen, and it comes with anti-reflect technology.
The processor included here is a beefy 13th Gen Intel i9-13900H, with 24MB of cache, 14 total cores, and up to 5.40 GHz when using Turbo Boost. You'll also get an Nvidia RTX 4070 with 8GB of video memory, 32GB of DDR5 RAM, and 1TB of storage thanks to the included M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD. This laptop includes an SD-card slot built into the side, one USB 3.2 Gen 2 port with DisplayPort for external monitor connections (USB-C), two Thunderbolt 4 ports (USB-C), and one headset and microphone combo port.
If you're looking for more great laptop deals, you can also check out these current offers:
HP Envy x360 Intel i7 512GB SSD 16GB RAM 15.6" 2-in-1 Laptop for $749.99 (List Price $1,099.99)
LG Gram 17 Intel i7 1TB SSD 32GB RAM 17" Laptop for $999.00 (List Price $1,599.00)
HP 17 Intel i7 Dual Storage 16GB RAM 17.3" 1080p Laptop for $649.99 (List Price $919.99)
Dell is currently running a 48-hour flash sale, with several different items discounted, including the Alienware x14 R2 Gaming Laptop. This 14-inch gaming laptop typically lists for around $1,999.99, but is currently $400 off at $1,599.99.
That $1,600 gets you a 14-inch display with a maximum resolution of 2560 x 1600, 3MS response time, and a max refresh rate of 165Hz. This particular configuration also gets you 32GB of LPDDR5 RAM and 1TB of storage, thanks to the included M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD. This is also one of the most affordable 14-inch laptops to include an Nvidia RTX 40 series card, and Dell configures it with an Nvidia RTX 4060 with 8GB of video memory.
When it comes to processing power, the x14 will more than deliver for your daily work and gaming needs, as it comes with a 13th Gen Intel i7-13620H, with a 24 MB cache, 10 cores, 10 threads, and up to 4.90 GHz when running in Turbo boost.
All in all, this is a really solid system, even at its regular price. If you've been looking for a gaming laptop that can offer solid performance but won't be too bulky to carry around, then the Alienware x14 R2 Gaming Laptop is an option well worth choosing. Our friends at PCMag considered the laptop to be outstanding back when they reviewed it in August of 2023, and that rating still stands today, especially at this price. If you happen to find cheaper at another retailer, Dell offers price matching options, too.
Of course, you only have a limited time to grab this deal, so take advantage of it before it's gone.
Looking for more gaming laptop deals? Here are a few worth checking out:
Asus TUF Gaming A16 Ryzen 7 RX 7600S 512GB SSD 16" Laptop for $979.99 (List Price $1,099.99)
Dell G16 Intel i9 RTX 3070 1TB SSD 16GB RAM Laptop for $1,199.99 (List Price $1,799.99)
HP Omen Intel i7 RTX 4060 512GB SSD 16.1" Laptop for $1,169.99 With Code OMHXRIOT10
For those who need to upgrade their laptop to something a little faster and more powerful, this deal from Best Buy could be the solution. For an undisclosed amount of time, Best Buy is taking $300 off the $999.99 listing price on the latest Lenovo Yoga 7i, bringing the price down to $699.99 ($649.99 for My Best Buy Plus or My Best Buy Total members). With the member discount, it’s the lowest price I’ve seen in recent months. (If you’re curious about what other deals Best Buy has coming, check out their upcoming Drops for deals on other tech.)
The 2023 Lenovo Yoga 7i has a 13th generation Intel Core i7 processor, which is basically the minimum processing power for higher-end laptops. If your previous laptop struggles to keep more than 10 tabs open while screen sharing on a Zoom presentation, this should do the trick. The 16GB RAM memory also has the power to run more demanding applications for video editing or photo editing. The 512GB SSD is not as impressive but it's still a decent amount of internal memory.
The Yoga 7i has a 16-inch 1920 x 1200 average resolution touchscreen, which is on the larger side for a laptop. So, while it won't be as portable, it will give you a lot of screen real estate to work with. One of the main selling points for this laptop is the ability to open the screen 360 degrees (hence the "yoga"), turning the laptop into a sort of "tablet mode" for work with a stylus (sold separately). You can expect up to 12 and a half hours of battery life—and yes, it has a backlit keyboard.
If you’re looking for a large and powerful laptop to run high-end software smoothly, this could be a great option for you. Just make sure you get it sooner rather than later; it's not clear how long this deal will last.
There are several ways to take a screenshot on Windows 11. Most of the screenshot shortcuts are the same as on Windows 10, but there are a few lesser-known screen capture features unique to Windows 11, too, including tools that make capturing specific parts of your screen easier than saving an image of your entire desktop or relying on third-party apps.
Let’s start with the most obvious method: the Print Screen key (truncated to “PrntScrn” on some keyboards), which is your keyboard’s dedicated screenshot button.
Full-size keyboards usually have a dedicated Print Screen key, but smaller keyboards and laptops often put the Print Screen key as a secondary function elsewhere (normally on the F12 key), in which case you need to press the “FN” key and the Print Screen key at the same time.
There are several ways to use this key for screenshots, but these are the most common:
Press Windows key + Print Screen key to save a PNG image of whatever is currently on-screen in the Pictures > Screenshots folder.
The other standard screenshot technique for Windows is to just press Print Screen (or FN + Print Screen) to copy an image of the current desktop to your clipboard. With the screenshot copied, open any image editing app or word-processing app that supports images, and paste it (either Right-click > Paste, or press Ctrl + V), then save the document.
Press Alt + Print Screen to copy a screenshot of just the window or app that you’re actively using to the clipboard. Make sure you click on the app or folder window you want to capture before pressing the shortcut. Remember to paste and save the screenshot in another program.
If your keyboard doesn’t have a Print Screen key at all, the Windows key + FN + Space shortcut will also copy a screenshot to your clipboard.
Along with the default Print Screen shortcuts, Windows 11 also has two built-in apps that let you click and drag to select specific areas to screenshot: Screen Snipping and Snip & Sketch.
Technically, both apps integrate with one another; you use Snip & Sketch to make the screenshot, then Snipping Tool to crop, edit, or draw over the selection and save it directly as an image. The Snipping Tool menu also includes a capture delay, so you can time your screenshot to happen three, five, or 10 seconds later.
The easiest way to get started is to search for “Snipping tool” in the Start menu and open it from the search results.
Alternatively, you can change the Print Key function to open the Snipping Tool instead of taking a screengrab. This is done in the Windows 11 settings menu:
Go to Settings > Accessibility > Keyboard.
Enable “Use the Print Screen button to open screen snipping.”
Close the Settings menu, then press “Print Screen” to open the Snipping Tool.
Here’s how to take a screenshot with the tool once it’s opened:
Click “New” from the Snipping Tool pop-up menu or press “Windows key + Shift + S” to start a new capture with Snip & Sketch. You can also set up a capture delay, if you want.
A tiny menu appears at the top of the screen, and your desktop will dim slightly.
The menu includes four icons that will change your snippet shape: The first icon on the left is a rectangular selection, the second is a “free form” selection, third captures the currently selected app or folder window (like Alt + Print Screen), and the right-most icon is a full screen capture (like pressing the Print Screen key or Windows key + Print Screen).
Click the selection type you want, then click and drag to select the part of the screen you want to save as a screengrab.
The image will open in the Snipping Tool menu. There will be several editing options, including pen tools, image cropping, and other adjustments you can use, if desired.
Click the “Save” icon to save the image to the Pictures > Screenshots folder.
You can also use Snip & Sketch without using the Snipping Tool (I know, it’s confusing):
Press Windows key + Shift + S at any time you’re not using the Snipping Tool to open Sketch & Snip instead. This skips the Snipping Tool menu for setting delay timers and takes you directly to the screengrab menu.
After taking the screenshot, it will be copied to your clipboard so you can paste and save it elsewhere.
You can also click the pop-up notification to open your screenshot in Snipping Tool so you can edit and save it as an image.
The last method we'll cover for taking screenshots in Windows 11 is to use the Xbox Game Bar. The Xbox Game Bar comes pre-installed on Windows 10 and 11 and features several tools like an audio mixer, Xbox social menu, and screen capture tools that are great for recording gameplay videos or screenshots—but you can also use it to take screengrabs of whatever's on screen.
Press Windows Key + G to open the Xbox Game Bar overlay.
Look for the "Capture" window (it's in the upper-left by default) and click the camera icon to take a screenshot. You can also press the keyboard shortcut Windows key + Alt + Print Screen to take the screenshot instead.
Xbox Game Bar screenshots are saved in the Windows 11 Videos folder under Videos > Captures.
Taking screenshots with the Xbox Game Bar is functionally the same as taking them with the Print Screen shortcuts or the snipping tools, but it's a worthwhile backup option. And since Xbox Game Bar screenshots are saved to a different folder, it can be helpful for keeping certain screenshots--such as gameplay images--organized to their own separate directory.
Between the numerous keyboard shortcuts and the built-in Snipping Tool, Sketch & Snip, and Xbox Game Bar apps, you now have numerous methods for taking a screenshot on Windows 11.
Updated January 10, 2024, with information on Xbox Game Bar screenshots and revised steps for the latest version of Windows 11.
Most of the time, you're going to want to use your laptop when it's opened up: You've got full access to the keyboard and the trackpad as your input devices, as well as the attached display, which may or may not come with touchscreen capabilities.
When you're at home or at the office, however, you might want to dock your laptop to a separate monitor, keyboard, and mouse—it potentially means you've got more screen space to work with and a larger keyboard to tap away at, and it might well help with your posture while you're at your desk, as well.
However, to use your laptop like this and in lid-closed mode, you're going to have to tweak some settings—otherwise your laptop will assume it's no longer needed and put itself to sleep when you close the lid.
To begin with, get all of your various peripherals connected to your laptop: On both Windows and macOS, devices like keyboards, mice, and monitors should be detected straight away, and automatically start working, so you can close down the lid of your laptop when you're ready.
If you're working with a Windows laptop, this is one of those times when you need to delve into the old Control Panel to get the operating system to work the way you want it to. At the time of writing, the relevant options haven't been migrated over to the modern Settings panel, so search for "Control Panel" from the taskbar and then launch it.
Choose Hardware and Sound, then Power Options, and then Choose what closing the lid does (on the left). You'll see two options next to the When I close the lid heading: One for when your laptop is running on battery power, and one for when your laptop is plugged in. One or both of these options need to be set to Do nothing for you to be able to use your laptop with the lid shut. Click Save changes to confirm.
When it comes to getting your external display working properly, you can access these options from the normal Settings pane, accessed through the Start menu or by pressing Win+I on the keyboard. Choose System and then Display, and from the next screen you can make sure the external monitor is enabled and set to the right resolution.
If you're using a MacBook that you've connected to an external display and a separate keyboard and mouse (or trackpad), the latest versions of macOS should recognize this and act accordingly: You may see the external monitor briefly flash and refresh when you close the lid, but otherwise you should be able to just carry on using your laptop, assuming the second display and the peripherals have been detected.
If you open up the Apple menu, then pick System Settings and then Battery and Options, you'll find a toggle switch labeled Prevent automatic sleeping on power adapter when the display is off. If you enable this, closing the lid of your macOS laptop won't put it to sleep, as long as it's connected to power—this is handy if, for example, you want current downloads to continue but you don't have accessories attached.
From System Settings you can also choose Displays to configure the external display that you've connected to your MacBook, to use while it's shut. You're able to set the resolution, the orientation, and the color configuration of the second screen, while some monitors also let you adjust the refresh rate too.
Surprising someone with a new laptop can be a tricky endeavor unless you were given clear directions as to what they're looking for in a new machine. Even then, there are very subjective choices, like the size of the screen or whether it has a backlit keyboard. Then again, in a situation like that, a good laptop in time for Christmas may be better than no laptop at all—especially if you can get it for a great price.
Budget laptops are great for anyone who mostly needs to check emails, browse the web, type up documents, and jump on Zoom calls. Keep in mind these laptops will be limited in their ability to multitask, so expect some fan noise if you try to share a massive Excel sheet via Zoom with multiple tabs open in the background.
Inspiron 15 Laptop: With a 12th generation i3 processor, 8GB of RAM, and 512GB of storage, this Dell probably offers the best bang for your buck in the budget laptop department. Don’t expect any fancy features, though: This laptop has the bare essentials to get the job done, and not much else. It does come with Windows 11, so you’ll be getting a new 2023 laptop with many years of updates ahead. Get it for $279.99 (originally $379.99) with free two-day shipping (varies by location).
HP 15-DY5033DX: This laptop has the same 12th generation i3 processor and 8GB of RAM as the Dell, but only 256GB of storage and slightly worse screen resolution. However, it is an HP and will look and feel better with more attention given to the design. It's lighter and sleeker than the Inspiron 15, and you'll look and sound better during Zoom calls with a better camera and microphone. Get it for $299.99 (originally $499.99) with free two-day shipping (varies by location).
Mid-tier laptops are best for people who will dip their toes into more demanding work, like heavy Excel sheets, photo editing, or for those who have a habit of screen sharing with a dozen Chrome tabs open. These laptops are better suited for people who work from home and need to work with specialized computer software, work with large Excel files, or host more demanding presentations.
HP Pavilion Laptop 15t-eg300: If you manage to see this laptop while it's still $429.99 (originally $949.99) from HP, you’d be getting the best mid-tier laptop deal around. This laptop has an i5 processor and 8 GB of RAM, which is the standard for mid-tier laptops. It also has 512 GB of storage, which is great for this price point. You get a full-size, backlit keyboard with a numeric keypad, which is a nice touch. The audio is better than most laptops for this price range, and it has a clean design with a sturdy feel.
Surface Laptop 5: If you’re looking for one of the best mid-tier laptops with a decent discount, consider the Surface Laptop 5. You'll get a compact and portable 13.5" touch screen with 2256 x 1504 resolution. It comes with a 12th-generation i5 processor, 8GB of RAM, and 512GB of storage. The design is sleek and lightweight, and I personally really like the metallic black color. You can expect up to 18 hours of battery life when fully charged. Get it for $899.99 (originally $1,299.99).
High-end laptops are a must for people who do heavy tasks like multimedia creation, including advanced photo, video, or audio editing and need to multitask without suffering from performance.
ASUS Vivobook: A great budget option for a great price is the 16" Vivobook with Ryzen 7, 12 GB of RAM, and 512 GB of storage. This laptop is not quite a staple high-end laptop since it lacks some RAM power, but for the price, you're getting a better-performing laptop than many mid-tier laptops in its price range. This is a great option for someone looking for a no-nonsense laptop that will perform tasks that some mid-tiers might struggle with, but don’t necessarily care for extra features. Get it for $429.99 (originally $749.99).
HP Envy: This is a great laptop and tablet hybrid for those who need to use their hands to get some work done. It has a touchscreen and works well with a stylus (sold separately). It has an i7 processor with 16GB of memory and 1TB of storage. You can expect to do a lot of multitasking on this laptop and handle the most demanding applications that you can throw at it without a problem. The graphics aren’t the best, though, so don’t expect to play a ton of high-end games on this laptop. Get it for $699.99 (originally $1,079.99).
Best Buy is having a 24-hour flash sale (ends Wednesday at 1 a.m. ET) featuring the AMD Ryzen 7 HP Envy x360 for the lowest price it’s been over the last four months, according to Honey’s price history. If you’re reading this past the deadline, worry not: Best Buy also has the AMD Ryzen 5 HP Envy x360 for a similar discount, bringing it down to its second lowest price over the past four months, according to Honey’s price history. And that deal is not likely to expire any time soon.
Budget laptops already offer the best bang for your buck, but a great sale price makes them even more appealing for the cost-conscious. And that’s what you get with the HP Envy x360 2-in-1 laptop hybrid, which is one of the best budget laptops of 2023, according to our tech writer Joshua Hawkins.
You can currently get the HP Envy x360 from Best Buy with the following specs:
CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 7530U/Ryzen 7 7730U
GPU: AMD Radeon Graphics
RAM: 8GB/16GB
Storage: 256GB/512GB
Display: 15.6-inch, 1920 x 1080, 60Hz IPS, touch-enabled
Dimensions: 14.13 x 9.02 x 0.73 inches
Weight: 4.04 pounds
The AMD Ryzen 7 HP Envy x360 is currently $599.99 (originally $1,049.99) after a $450 discount. This is the more powerful option of the two, with more processing power, RAM, and storage. For just $100 more, you can take your laptop from a mid-tier processor and RAM handling regular tasks to be able to handle demanding tasks like advanced gaming and multimedia creation. If you would rather save yourself the $100 and just use your laptop to read emails and write documents, the AMD Ryzen 5 HP Envy x360 is a better fit and goes for $499 (originally $799.99).
You’ll get a premium feel and design with the HP Envy x360, fast Wi-Fi 6E wireless connectivity, an excellent 1440p webcam, a facial recognition IR camera for quick logins, and a 55Wh battery, which gives you about eight hours of light use. The laptop is portable, with a spacious keyboard and responsive touchpad. And, of course, it can also work as a tablet with a stylus (sold separately). You can read the whole PCMag review here.
The latest Windows 11 security update has done more than just make the operating system more secure. According to several reports on Microsoft's forums and social media, the security update also caused Windows users to experience wifi issues. If you were affected by these issues, then you'll be happy to know that Microsoft has shared an official resolution.
According to the various reports made on Microsoft's forums, the issue appears to be related to the 802.11r standard, which allows for fast roaming between access points on certain Qualcomm and MediaTek adapters. The issue was first noticed in the Windows 11 KB5033375 security update, which started rolling out on Dec. 12.
Without a solution from Microsoft, users had to find some workarounds of their own to fix the problem. Luckily, Microsoft has since confirmed these reports and has issued an official way to fix it—one which doesn't require you to go messing around in your computer's settings. According to a post shared on Microsoft's Known Issues and notifications board for Windows 11, the issues were indeed caused by updates KB5032288 and KB5033375. As such, Microsoft released an update to resolve the issue that makes use of the Known Issue Rollback (KIR) feature that the company introduced in March of 2021.
Microsoft says it may take up to 24 hours for the resolution to rollout to consumer devices automatically, and suggested that users restart their devices to help speed the process up. Microsoft shared that the issue mostly affected systems trying to connect to enterprise, education, or public wifi networks using an 802.1x authentication. Microsoft didn't say exactly what caused the issue, but the fact that a fix is now readily available will no doubt make users feel better. If you don't want to wait for the update to download automatically, you can download the new Group Policy directly from Microsoft.
Known Issue Rollback, or KIR, allows the company to address OS-breaking issues without forcing users to go through a ton of extra steps. This new capability was first debuted in March of 2021 but had been used as early as 2019. The system helps address Windows Update problems without having to completely rollback the entire update.
At the most basic level, KIR helps Microsoft provide better support for updates it already released. The procedure allows Microsoft to keep the old code following an update in case the new code has an issue. If so, they can replace it with the old code that did work, solving the issue quickly. Because it keeps the old code, Microsoft says it typically only uses KIR on non-security updates, where exploits are not a concern.
Before Microsoft released information about an official fix, many users were turning to other methods to fix the issue. The first possible solution that many users turned to was disabling 802.11r for their access point. You would have had to figure out what brand of router or access point you have, and then look up specific instructions for that device. This method wasn't recommended if you aren't familiar with your router and working within its online systems.
The second (and easiest) solution was to simply uninstall the update until Microsoft resolved the issue. This is not ideal, as security updates of this nature are designed to help shut down exploits that bad actors can use to gain access to your system. Unfortunately, there weren't any alternatives at the time.
If you ever want to revert a Windows update, open the Start Menu, select Settings > Windows Update > Update History, and then find the update that you want to uninstall. Select it and choose the Uninstall option to remove the problematic patch. Alternatively, you can always uninstall an update by using the command prompt. To do this, type wusa / uninstall /kb:KB5033375 to remove the security patch completely.
There's an audio feature buried quite deep in Windows 11 you might not have come across before: spatial audio. It relies to some extent on the hardware you have hooked up to your PC, but it's designed to create a more immersive, three-dimensional soundscape for any audio playing on your system—whether you're watching movies or playing games.
You can try out spatial sound with any pair of headphones, though it can also function with soundbars and multi-speaker setups. There are a few different types of spatial sound to be aware of, and a quick web search for the speakers or headphones you have (or want to buy) alongside "spatial sound" should give you some more pointers. Here's more about how it works, and how to enable it on your system.
Spatial sound aims to make your audio more immersive. Even if you're only using stereo speakers or stereo headphones, it will attempt to mimic surround sound effects with a variety of audio tricks—so you might be able to hear sounds in a game coming from behind you, for example.
Changing the pitch is one of the tricks spatial sound uses, for instance, as it helps to indicate distance. The technology can support up to 33 different channels at once, which gives programs and games a lot of scope when it comes to isolating and positioning different bits of audio.
The spatial sound option all Windows users have is called Windows Sonic. This built-in option only works with headphones, but it should work with any pair of them, to a greater or lesser extent. The quality and capabilities of your headphones will most likely make a difference, so your results with spatial sound may vary.
You can also use Dolby Atmos spatial sound for headphones and speakers that support the standard. The catch is, this isn't free: You need to download and install Dolby Access, which will cost you a one-time fee of $15. There is a free trial at least, so you can at least test it out with your system before parting with your money. You can find out more about Dolby's implementation here.
The results you get from spatial sound are also going to vary depending on the sound card in your computer and the applications you're using to play the audio. Movies, games, and music mixed for 7.1 audio channels will sound best with spatial audio enabled, and you may need to do some trial and error to make the most of the feature.
I'll cover the process of enabling Windows Sonic spatial sound here—as that's the version available to everyone—but the steps are largely the same if you've got Dolby Atmos set up on your system. Open up Settings from the Start menu in Windows, then head to System and Sound.
You'll see the audio devices set up on your computer, and you'll want to click the small arrow to the right of your headphones (or the audio device that your headphones are plugged into). Windows Sonic only works with headphones, but any kind of wired or wireless connection should do.
On the next screen, open up the drop-down menu next to Spatial sound, then choose Windows Sonic for Headphones from the list. The change should be noticeable immediately, so you can assess how well it works for your own particular hardware setup and the audio source you're listening to.
We'd recommend trying spatial sound out with a few different types of content—loading up a Blu-ray or streaming a movie is a good option to try, for example. You can continue to toggle spatial sound on and off through the Windows Settings panel to check the difference it's making inside your headphones.
There's another way to turn on spatial sound that you might find more convenient: Click the speaker icon in the bottom right corner of the taskbar, then the arrow next to the volume slider, and you'll see the spatial sound options again, alongside various other Windows sound settings.
It’s not surprising that an operating system called Windows has historically had an excellent window management feature. Microsoft always made it easy to dock two windows side-by-side using a keyboard shortcut. However, as good as it is, Windows kept this shortcut quite hidden. Now, with Windows 11, Microsoft has improved "Snap layouts," as it's called, and now it's much easier to both discover and use.
To use Snap in Windows 11, hover over the Maximize button on any window, and you’ll see a grid of multiple window layouts. You can split the windows equally, dock a thin window to the right, split them into four window quadrants, and more. Click a position and the current window will take up the defined space. You can then choose the windows to add to other open slots.
Once the window layout is created, the windows are grouped together. You’ll find the group in the taskbar, and you can access the entire group using the Alt+Tab keyboard shortcut.
If you like keyboard shortcuts and drag gestures, you’ll be happy to know that Windows still supports them. Drag a window to the top-middle of the screen, and you’ll see the same Grid Layouts option. You can also use the keyboard shortcut Windows + Z to get started.
If you want to customize or disable this feature, go to Settings > System > Multitasking and find the Snap Windows section.
The old-school Windows multitasking is still available in Windows 11, and I suggest you graduate to using these gestures after you’ve got a hang of the Snap layouts.
All you have to do is to drag your window to one of the edges or corners of the screen. If you drag it to the left edge, the window will be docked to the left half of the screen; if you do it for the left corner, it will take up the top-left quadrant of the screen. The same works for the top and bottom as well. When you get a hang of this, you’ll find yourself flying through window management. This feature is so good that there are third-party apps dedicated to copying this feature on the Mac.
You can also use the keyboard shortcut Windows + Up/Down/Left/Right to dock the window to a particular part of the screen.
Resetting your Windows PC can be a good way to clear out old junk files and help troubleshoot technical issues your computer is experiencing. In the past, you used to have to rely on physical disk media and ISO files to reinstall Windows. Now, though, Microsoft has made it much easier—you can reset your PC to get a fresh start, directly from the operating system and without completely reinstalling Windows. Here's how to do it.
Reseting a Windows 11 PC only requires a few steps. Microsoft offers two options for resetting your PC—you can keep your files, which makes the process easier, or you can delete everything. If you want to delete everything and start completely fresh, make sure to back up any important files to an external drive and/or to your preferred cloud service before getting started.
Once you have everything backed up, go to Start > Settings > System > Recovery and then select Reset this PC.
At this point, you'll be faced with the two options I mentioned before. If you want to keep your files and just reinstall Windows, choose Keep my files, select your preferred storage option (cloud or local), and change any other settings you see that you want to change. (If you aren't sure about a setting, leave it set to default.) When you're ready to continue, set Restore preinstalled apps to no and then continue through the process. If you don't see Restore preinstalled apps in the settings, it means your PC didn't come with any preinstalled apps that you can configure.
The process for wiping everything is pretty much the same, though you'll have to confirm that you do indeed want to wipe all your files before continuing. Now all you need to do is let Windows complete the process, and then run through the setup to get everything back to where you want it.
Windоws 11 Home ($124.99)
HP Laptop 17t-cn300, 17.3" ($379.99)
Surface Laptop 5 - 13.5” ($899.99)
Depending on which version of Windows 10 you are running, you will have to go about this process a little differently.
If you're running a version of Windows 10 that is older than version 2004, you'll need to utilize the Fresh Start option. Start > Settings > Update & security > Windows Defender > Device performance & health > Fresh Start. Next, select Additional info, then hit Get Started and follow the settings here.
If you're running a version of Windows 10 that is newer than version 2004, follow these steps:
Start > Settings > Update & Security > Recovery > Reset this PC > Get Started. Select Keep my files if you want to start over with all your files still saved, or backup all your important files beforehand and choose to delete everything. Make sure to change Restore preinstalled apps to No and then click continue to finish the process and reset your PC.
For most of us, resetting our PC or tech is simply a last-ditch effort to fix some annoying and troublesome issue that has been plaguing our computer. But resetting your PC in December or January can actually make a huge difference going into the new year: Not only does it resolve any of those tech hurdles you might be dealing with, but it gives you a clean slate, and that technical and mental refresh can feel great.
For many of us, much of our work and personal lives revolve around what we can do with tech. Whether you're watching movies with friends, playing games, or spending most of your time writing and creating for work, your computer is an important tool in your technical arsenal.
As useful as computers can be, though, they can also pick up a lot of junk over the course of the year, especially as you download new apps, images, and other files. Sure, you could go in and erase all of that individually. But, sometimes, apps leave extra data behind, or they create changes in your computer's system files that can lead to other issues down the line, like corrupted files and even performance problems. One way to avoid all of this is to reset your PC every year. While the tediousness of the process might be enough to turn most people off, I've got three reasons why you should always reset your PC at the end of the year.
If you're anything like me, the more junk you have on your computer, the more overwhelming it can be to deal with. Trying to find a particular image when you already have hundreds or even thousands saved on your computer is a huge hassle. As someone who writes hundreds of articles a year, my Documents folder is chock full of articles I've written, and while I love keeping track of all that, it really starts to build up over time.
Sure, you're going to want much of this stuff, which is why things like OneDrive and Google Drive exist, allowing you to easily sync that data up with the cloud. When it comes to the rest of the junk you don't need, though, it can be exceptionally freeing to just delete it all.
Additionally, storage drives aren't designed to hold all of your data forever—even those large multi-terabyte ones. For those who don't know, solid-state drives are much better than older mechanical hard drives. They don't have moving parts, so they don't generate as much heat. But, they do have one significant problem: The fuller they are, the slower they work. So it's important to always keep your SSD from filling up too much.
Not only is a yearly PC reset mentally refreshing, but it also helps clear out those unneeded apps and files you don't need anymore. This enables you to get your storage space back, giving your PC a technical refresh as well.
One of the main reasons most people reset their PCs or tech is because of performance issues and glitches. Sometimes, things just go wrong. Files get downloaded incorrectly, corrupting them, or if you're on Windows, some program you downloaded makes a change to the Registry that just doesn't work out in the long run.
No matter what the tech hurdle is, a full reset to factory settings can often help overcome it. And if you haven't reset your PC in a long while, you're probably carrying around a lot of extra junk you just don't need. Resetting your PC every year can help ensure that you don't get a lot of this buildup. It helps clean out the old and make room for the new.
Sure, you still might encounter some issues throughout the next year, but you're less likely to run into performance issues relating to registry changes from apps or programs you installed and then uninstalled years ago if you reset at the end of ever year.
Resetting your PC used to mean losing everything. Now, though, things are a lot easier. We've got services like iCloud and Google Drive, which let you sync up important files, like photos, videos, and documents. You can pick and choose what you want to sync up, and you can even use external hard drives to back things up, too. (It's important to have at least a second backup for all your important data.)
Microsoft and Apple have also made it easier than ever to reset your PC. You used to have to go through all the trouble of resetting and reinstalling using a CD or a USB drive with the correct files. Now, though, Windows lets you reset back to basic settings without setting up any kind of external media drive. You can still reinstall Windows from scratch, but this new way is really handy, and it makes the entire process a lot easier than it was on older versions of Windows. Apple also offers a similar option for Mac users. You're missing out if you don't take advantage of this easy way to refresh your tech and give yourself a clean slate each year.
It's not just your computer that needs resetting, either: Here's why you should factory reset the rest of your older tech.
Microsoft is now allowing Windows 10 users to try out Copilot, the company’s newest AI assistant. The service was previously only slated to be released as part of Windows 11, but is now part of Windows 10’s final big update. If you’re interested in trying the Copilot feature for yourself but don’t feel like upgrading to Windows 11 just yet, then you can use these instructions to download and try the latest version of Windows 10 today.
To start using Copilot in Windows 10, you need to join the Windows Insiders program, which allows you to see new features before they're delivered to the mainstream channels. Currently, Copilot is only available as part of the Windows 10 Release Preview Channel, though it’s likely only a matter of days or weeks before it's pushed to Windows 10 users in the general public.
If you don’t feel like waiting, though, you can pull up the Start menu, search for “Insider” in the bar, and then click “Advanced Windows Update options.” Click the option that says “Get Insider builds,” which will allow you to check out Copilot early in Windows 10. You’ll need to apply the updates by restarting your PC.
When choosing your preview channel, you’ll have the option of choosing between a few different options. To get access to Copilot in Windows 10 right now, simply select the Review Preview channel, which will give you what is essentially a beta of the update. This means that it'll have less bugs than the developer channel, allowing you to keep using your machine without as many hiccups.
Ultimately, Copilot in Windows 10 will be fundamentally the same as the system found in Windows 11, but there are some differences to be aware of. You’ll still be able to do the brunt of the work that Copilot in Windows 11 offers while using it in Windows 10, though there will be some slight differences in features since some just don’t exist in Windows 10—and never will, as this isn’t going to change Microsoft’s planned retirement date for the operating system.
Still, being able to test out Copilot in Windows 10 is nice because you don’t have to upgrade to the latest operating system to take advantage of what might be one of the company’s coolest features. Copilot builds off of Microsoft’s previous work with OpenAI’s GPT system, allowing you to generate text, answer queries, and more, all without leaving your desktop’s side bar.
Samsung offers some of the best gaming monitors you can find on the market, with bright, colorful panels packed with features like high resolution, high refresh rates, and HDR support. In fact, Samsung is offering a fantastic deal on one of its best curved gaming monitors right now: You can add the Samsung Odyssey Neo G8 4K UHD curved gaming monitor to your desk while saving $500 with this Black Friday deal.
This fantastic monitor typically lists for $1,499.99, but Samsung is offering it for just $999.99 as part of its Black Friday sale. While $1,000 is still pretty expensive, especially for a monitor, that hefty price tag gets you some pretty solid specs, including 4K resolution of 3840 x 2160, a maximum 240Hz refresh rate, a 1ms response time, and support for HDR 2000.
On top of offering great resolution and overall specs, the real cherry on top is the 1000R curvature, which helps you stay immersed in your favorite games. The matte finish on the panel also keeps you immersed by cutting down on ambient light like reflections and glares. When Samsung released the Odyssey Neo G8, it became the world's first UHD monitor with a response time of 1ms and a refresh rate of 240Hz, so this monitor was ahead of the curve (pun intended) from the get-go.
If you've been looking for a great curved gaming monitor, then the Samsung Odyssey Neo G8 is a solid option. It's unlikely we'll see another deal this low anytime soon, as Samsung is pretty proud of its monitors (and for good reason). This deal is active at the time of writing. However, like any Black Friday deal, it is subject to change based on availability and product stock.
Buying a new monitor for your computer can be a real hassle. After all, there are thousands of different brands and models out there, all of which offer something different. So how do you find the best monitor for the price? Well, Amazon’s early Black Friday deals can help narrow things down. Here are six of the best early Black Friday deals that Amazon is offering on monitors right now.
As a note, most of the monitors on this list are marketed as “gaming monitors.” While you might not plan to use the monitor for gaming, gaming monitors like these offer the best refresh rates, resolutions, and color features, making them easy to work on, too.
This 34-inch Samsung Odyssey G5 is easily one of the best monitors you’ll find on the market right now, especially if you want an ultra-wide that gives you the screen real estate of multiple monitors in one. The monitor offers a 1ms response time, a 1000R curved screen, and support for FreeSync Premium, all while offering a resolution of 3440 x 1440 with a 165Hz refresh rate. The 34-inch Samsung Odyssey G5 typically lists for $549.99, but it’s currently 33% off at $369.99.
Another great option from Samsung, the 27-inch CR50 frameless curved monitor is an exceptional offer for anyone that prefers a standard 1080P resolution monitor, but doesn’t want to miss out on the benefits that curved monitors offer. This 27-inch panel features a frameless bezel, which looks a bit more modern than your average monitor. It typically lists for $229.99, but is currently 35% off at $149.99.
ViewSonic is a brand that doesn’t tend to get a lot of attention from mainstream consumers in the monitor market. However, the ViewSonic ELITE XG320U is a 32-inch gaming monitor that will fit in well in the office or your gaming setup. This 32-inch panel offers up to a 150Hz refresh rate, a 1ms response time, and a 4K UHD resolution, all while offering HDR 600 in the same package. It typically lists for $899.99, but is currently 33% off at $599.99.
Acer offers a ton of great monitors for gamers and office workers alike. The Acer Nitro 27-inch might be marketed as a gaming monitor, but its 180Hz refresh rate, 0.5ms response time, and max resolution of 2560 x 1440 make it an excellent choice for your work or home computer, too. It typically lists for $289.99, but is available for 38% off at just $179.99 during Amazon’s early Black Friday deals.
Alienware monitors blend the gaming-centric features of the Alienware brand with the excellent display that has made Dell monitors a favorite for home and office computers over the past several decades. Now, you can get the 38-inch Alienware AW3821DW ultra-wide curved gaming monitor for 26% off, making it just $699.99. This monitor normally lists for $949.99 and offers a 1ms response time, a max resolution of 3840 x 1600, and a 144Hz refresh rate. You’ll also get HDR 600 and a 2300R curvature.
The final option on our list is the Corsair Xeneon Flex. This 45-inch OLED gaming monitor is a personal favorite of mine because of its ability to change how curved it is. This makes it ideal for both gaming and work, as you can change the curvature on the fly at any point. Of course, that kind of feature does come at a hefty price, and the Corsair Xeneon Flex typically retails for $1,999.99. However, it’s currently 35% off, making it just $1,299.99 right now. Our friends at PCMag were impressed with the Corsair Xeneon Flex’s availability of different ports, as well as the quality of the OLED display.
Now that Google owns Fitbit, buying something like the Charge 6 officially puts you in the company’s ecosystem. But that doesn’t mean the Fitbit Charge 6 is the same as the Pixel Watch 2. In fact, the experience you’ll get on both of these wearables will be completely different. If you find yourself stuck choosing…
If storage limitations force you to delete files and photos you’d really rather keep, one solution is to invest in a plentiful cloud storage solution—and right now through Oct. 31, you can get a lifetime subscription to Koofr 1TB cloud storage for $119.97 (reg. $810) with code KOOFR.
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