At a glanceExpert`s Rating Pros Attractive, minimalist design  Includes LG webOS, remote control, and webcam  Has USB-C with 90 watts of Power Delivery  Cons LG webOS is sluggish at times  Low contrast ratio  Mediocre color gamut   Unimpressive HDR   Our Verdict The LG MyView 32SR85U is packed with features but fails to deliver on image quality. Price When Reviewed This value will show the geolocated pricing text for product undefined Best Pricing Today Best Prices Today: LG MyView Smart Monitor 32R85U Retailer Price LG $449.99 View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket The differences between monitors and televisions seem to become slimmer every year. Some people now use a television as their monitor and others use monitors like televisions. The LG MyView 32SR85U is an example of the latter. It’s a 32-inch 4K monitor that uses LG’s webOS to provide access to streaming apps and control smart home devices. It even has a bundled webcam.  LG MyView Smart Monitor 32SR85U specs and features  The LG MyView 32SR85U’s basic specifications are typical for a 32-inch 4K monitor that is priced around $500. It has a resolution of 3840×2160 across an IPS panel, with a refresh rate of 60Hz.  Display size: 32-inch 16:9 widescreen  Native resolution: 3840×2160  Panel type: IPS  Refresh rate: 60Hz  Adaptive sync: None  HDR: HDR10  Ports: 2x HDMI 2.0, 1x USB-C upstream with DisplayPort and 90-watts USB-C Power Delivery, 2x USB-C downstream  Wireless: AirPlay, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth  VESA mount: 100x100mm  Speakers: Yes, 2x 5-watt  Price: $599.99 MSRP, $449.99 typical retail  However, several specifications stand out, though none of them have anything to do with the display panel. The monitor has several USB-C ports with up to 90W of USB Power Delivery, which makes them useful for charging a connected tablet or laptop. The monitor also ships with LG’s webOS, which is a smart television operating system that can be used to access streaming apps. And, because it has webOS, the monitor also supports Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and AirPlay.  Further reading: See our roundup of the best monitors to learn about competing products. LG MyView Smart Monitor 32SR85U design   The LG MyView 32SR85U’s design is simple but effective for a monitor meant for home office use and entertainment. LG goes for a sheer, ultra-white look which is attractive and should match any similarly colored peripherals you might have on your desk.   An L-shaped monitor stand keeps the display stable. The stand has a small base that minimizes the space the monitor takes up, and the base is flat, so you can still place notebooks or knick-knacks on the stand itself. The stand includes ergonomic adjustments for height and tilt, but I was a bit disappointed to find it doesn’t swivel or pivot into portrait orientation.  Matthew Smith / Foundry The stand also omits a thumb screw for securing the base to the stand neck and instead uses two Phillips head screws, which must be installed with a screwdriver. That’s unusual for a monitor in this price range and makes the monitor slightly more difficult to set up. A 100x100mm VESA mount is included for use with third-party monitor stands and arms.  LG MyView Smart Monitor 32SR85U connectivity   LG takes a somewhat unconventional approach to video connectivity with the MyView 32SR85U. It has two HDMI ports and one USB-C upstream with DisplayPort for video input and provides up to 90W of power delivery for charging connected devices, which is excellent. DisplayPort, the most common connection for a PC monitor, is not included.   The USB-C upstream port connects to two additional USB-C ports, so the monitor functions as a USB-C hub to connect wired USB-C peripherals. USB-A is not available, however, and the monitor doesn’t include a KVM switch function.  The monitor’s physical connectivity is joined by wireless options, which include Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and Apple’s AirPlay. Wireless connectivity not only provides access to streaming services available through the LG webOS operating system but also allows wireless connections with other devices, like smartphones or a wireless gamepad.   And, because it has AirPlay, the monitor even supports wireless video streaming from an iOS or MacOS device. This is a small but notable advantage over Samsung’s Odyssey OLED G8, which has Wi-Fi and Bluetooth but lacks AirPlay.   LG MyView Smart Monitor 32SR85U features  Technically, the LG MyView 32SR85U is not a television because it lacks a TV tuner and can’t connect to cable or antenna television over coaxial. It does have LG’s webOS smart television operating system, though, so it effectively works as a television in many situations. WebOS provides access to all the usual streaming apps like Netflix, Hulu, and YouTube. It also supports cloud gaming services like Nvidia GeForce Now and Amazon Luna.  Because of this, the LG MyView 32SR85U requires a bit of setup before it’s ready to use. When first turned on, the monitor will ask you to connect to Wi-Fi and complete a few setup steps. Setup takes about five minutes and is like setting up the Samsung Odyssey G8 OLED. However, compared to Samsung (which uses Samsung’s Tizen OS), LG’s setup is less visually appealing, and the setup menu feels a bit sluggish.  Matthew Smith / Foundry That sluggishness continues to the general webOS experience. I found the main webOS interface, which displays the available apps and video sources, was responsive. However, it takes a few seconds to load when switching to it from an app or the Windows desktop. The monitor’s on-screen settings menu was also slow. It often took more than a full second to appear (though, again, it was responsive once the menu was visible).   LG includes a remote control to access the MyView 32SR85U’s features, most of which focus on webOS and connectivity instead of image quality adjusts. The monitor’s settings are also accessible through a joystick on the rear of the display, though there’s not much reason to use it when the remote is available.     While I found the MyView 32SR85U’s menus sluggish compared to the Samsung, LG does a slightly better job of arranging the on-screen menus. LG’s menus are arranged in a layout more typical of a monitor (with easy-to-read text labels and nested menus). That contrasts with Samsung’s Odyssey monitors, which place some settings in a confusing “Game Bar” that appears at the bottom of the display.   That makes for a tough comparison with Samsung’s alternatives. I think the LG MyView 32SR85U with LG webOS is easier to use than a Samsung Odyssey with Tizen OS, but the LG was less responsive when navigating the OS. Shoppers must pick their poison.  WebOS provides access to all the usual streaming apps like Netflix, Hulu, and YouTube. LG MyView Smart Monitor 32SR85U camera and speakers  The LG MyView 32SR85U has a bundled webcam that attaches magnetically to the top of the monitor. It’s unremarkable. The webcam’s image quality is no better than a typical mid-range laptop webcam. While it’s nice that it’s included, that inclusion probably adds to the price—and I’m not sure it’s a worthwhile trade-off.  A pair of 5-watt speakers are bundled into the monitor. They offer passable sound for listening to a podcast but have a harsh, hollow quality that quickly becomes irritating. Most people choosing the MyView 32SR85U will need to budget for external speakers or a soundbar—especially if you plan to use it like a Smart TV.  Matthew Smith / Foundry LG MyView Smart Monitor 32SR85U SDR image quality  While the LG MyView 32SR85U and the Samsung Odyssey G8 are similar in terms of display size, resolution, and Smart TV features, the similarities end there. LG’s MyView 32SR85U is roughly half the price of the Samsung. That’s good news for your wallet, but it’s not great news for the monitor’s SDR image quality.   Matthew Smith / Foundry The LG MyView 32SR85U gets off to a modest start in brightness with a maximum sustained SDR brightness of 311 nits. That’s bright enough for most situations, but it’s not as bright as many competitive monitors, and it might look dim if the monitor is used in a room with bright interior lighting or large, sunlit windows.   Matthew Smith / Foundry Contrast, however, is where the LG MyView 32SR85U really runs into problems, as it has a maximum measured contrast ratio of 950:1.   IPS panels are notorious for limited contrast due to their elevated black levels in dark scenes. Still, the LG MyView 32SR85U’s contrast is unimpressive, even by modern IPS display standards.   The low contrast ratio reduces the sense of depth and immersion in the image and introduces a distracting issue known as “IPS glow.” This happens when too much light from the backlight escapes through the display in dark scenes. The problem is obvious, and distracting, on the LG MyView 32SR85U.  Matthew Smith / Foundry The LG MyView 32SR85U delivers similarly mediocre results in color gamut. The monitor’s color gamut covers 90 percent of DCI-P3 and 84 percent of Adobe RGB. These would have been great results a few years ago, but times have changed, and modern monitors tend to offer a slightly wider color gamut. This is especially true for OLED monitors and those with quantum dot technology. OLED monitors are more expensive, but monitors with quantum dots are available around $500 and below.  That’s not to say the MyView 32SR85U’s color performance is bad. On the contrary, it provides a vivid, punchy, and saturated image. Still, a more limited color gamut means the display will seem a bit dull compared to a monitor with a wider gamut. It’s also an obstacle for content creators, who often work in DCI-P3 or AdobeRGB and crave color gamut coverage well above 90 percent.   Matthew Smith / Foundry While the LG MyView 32SR85U has a modest color gamut, the monitor has top-tier color accuracy. The only exception is in blue and cyan hues, which have a color error in a range that would be visible. Still, this level of performance indicates the monitor provides an extremely realistic and lifelike image.   However, the MyView 32SR85U’s color temperature is not ideal. It measured a default color temperature of 7300K, far above the target of 6500K. That means the image looks much cooler than we prefer. Additionally, the monitor’s default gamma was measured at 2.3, which is slightly off the target of 2.2. That means content may appear a bit darker than it should. However, the gamma result is close enough that most viewers won’t be bothered by it.  Sharpness is certainly an advantage for the MyView 32SR85U, as the monitor’s 3840×2160 resolution offers a tack-sharp look. This is close to the sharpest image available in a 32-inch display, beaten only by a rare few 5K and 6K monitors. They’re far more expensive, though, so I doubt shoppers will compare them to the LG.  Unfortunately, the LG MyView 32SR85U’s SDR image quality isn’t impressive for a 32-inch 4K monitor. The main issue is the low contrast ratio, which saps immersion and leads to distracting “IPS glow.” The monitor also delivers mediocre results in brightness and color gamut. These problems are especially disappointing for a display with Smart TV features. You can use the MyView 32SR85U to watch Netflix or stream a movie from Apple TV—but most viewers won’t be happy with the image quality.  LG MyView Smart Monitor 32SR85U HDR image quality  The LG MyView 32SR85U’s disappointing SDR image quality spells trouble for its HDR performance.  While the monitor can accept an HDR10 signal, it lacks VESA DisplayHDR certification. In my testing, it hit a maximum sustained brightness of just 372 nits in HDR mode. To be fair, that’s similar to price-competitive monitors that have VESA DisplayHDR 400 certification (like the Asus ProArt PA278CFRV). However, 372 nits isn’t enough to deliver on HDR’s potential. As a result, bright objects and scenes often look blown-out.  The LG’s contrast ratio is another significant issue. Dark scenes appear flat and washed out, with a noticeable grayish haze or “fog” over the image. It’s a serious problem in dark, moody movies like The Batman or Pan’s Labyrinth.  While the monitor’s HDR performance is underwhelming, it’s typical for a 32-inch 4K monitor in this price range. Shoppers looking for great HDR in a 32-inch 4K display must spend more for a Mini-LED monitor (like the Samsung Odyssey Neo G8) or an OLED monitor (like the Samsung Odyssey OLED G8 or LG Ultragear 32GS95UE-B).  LG MyView Smart Monitor 32SR85U motion performance  The LG MyView Smart Monitor 32SR85U isn’t a great monitor for motion clarity. It sticks to a 60Hz refresh rate and doesn’t support Adaptive Sync for smooth frame pacing in 3D games. Motion clarity is fine for a 60Hz monitor, but motion blur is obvious and details become difficult to see when panning the camera quickly in a 3D game.  Should you buy the LG MyView Smart Monitor 32SR85U? LG’s MyView Smart Monitor 32SR85U provides a long list of useful extras including Smart TV functionality, a remote control, wireless connectivity, and a bundled webcam. Yet these extras are held back by the monitor’s low contrast ratio, which is limited even for a mid-range 32-inch 4K monitor.   The monitor’s features and quality are at odds, too. It has LG webOS and can be used as a Smart TV, but it lacks the image quality to help shows, movies, and games look great. If you use it for productivity, on the other hand, webOS may feel like an unnecessary distraction. Read...

As far as brands go, Intel has etched itself deeply into my mind as a brand I can trust. To say I get a little excited with each successive chip release is an understatement, especially when they offer substantial performance gains over previous generations. But I haven’t arrived at that point overnight. In one way or another I’ve been enjoying the fruits of the company’s labor for decades — starting with the Intel 386 processor which powered many hours of Wolfenstein 3D gaming. Decades later that trust has been validated time and time again in my job as a reviewer of PC hardware… But, as much as I hate to say it: not so much of late. It’s a situation that doesn’t sit right with me, hence why I’m rooting for a successful Intel Core Ultra Series 2 (Lunar Lake) reception now that laptops with the chips have already started to ship (as of September 24). It’s off to a great start, as our initial Lunar Lake deep-dive shows. Why Intel needs a golden ticket Suffice it to say, the last 24 months haven’t been the greatest for Intel. One big issue the company has faced has been a problem with some of its desktop processors. In case you’ve been living in a cave, back in 2022 users found stability problems with some of the company’s high-powered 13th- and 14th-generation desktop CPUs, which experienced spontaneous crashes and/or blue screens. It goes without saying that a blue screen is the last thing gamers who’ve forked out serious cashola want to see when they’re just one swipe away from finishing off the Supreme Inspector boss in a game of Black Myth: Wukong. `A nearly perfect productivity pc` with lunar lake Asus Zenbook S 14 (UX5406SA) Read our review Best Prices Today: $1499.99 at Asus To unpack that issue a little more and why it caused such a stir, it wasn’t so much the fact that there was a hardware problem that hit consumer confidence so badly, but the fact that it took the company so long to diagnose and offer a fix for it. Although the problem was first reported in December 2022, the root cause (Vmin shift instability) was only discovered in July 2024, more than 19 months later. Then, still, Intel only released the first urgent update to the microcode to fix the problem in August this year. The sense of confusion about the issue was only heightened by the media circus that surrounded it. Reports played out like a hard-to-watch beat-up scene in a Rocky film, with Intel receiving blow after blow like Sylvester Stallone’s character Rocky Balboa boxing against a more muscular opponent. The Intel stability issue affected some 13th- and 14th-generation desktop chips running at 65W or above. Intel The blows came from multiple sources, but the ones that hit home the most were the ones from super smart tech folks who seemed to have the upper hand in suggesting a possible cause of the problem before Intel could put a finger on it. But that hasn’t been the only issue Intel has had to deal with recently. To rub salt into its wounds, two of the company’s recent processor releases, its Meteor Lake and Raptor Lake refresh, received only a lukewarm reception. To be fair, these CPUs were dropped into one of the most competitive CPU markets we’ve seen in a long time. They came amid some of the most powerful AI-capable and affordable AMD Ryzen chips we’ve seen to date — not to mention whole new chip types for Windows 11 laptops from Qualcomm. The latter’s entry into the market has presented a kind of existential dilemma for Intel. Qualcomm has shown that — yes, Arm chips can successfully run Windows 11 PCs with similar performance to Intel chips and with only minimal compatibility issues. What’s more, Windows laptops running off these SoCs benefit from unprecedented battery life, sometimes double that of laptops running off Intel’s Meteor Lake chips. Is Lunar Lake Intel’s white wizard? I chose the Rocky Balboa analogy because he’s almost always down and out at the start of each Rocky film but then comes back with a vengeance. It’s what I expect Intel will do, luck being on its side. In my view, the company’s new mobile-first Lunar Lake chip is revolutionary enough to put the company firmly back on top in the chip game. Lunar Lake is a fresh and exciting technology based on a brand-new microarchitecture which includes new P-cores, E-cores, and Battlemage graphics and a new NPU. The new system-on-system design triples the size but quadruples the performance of the processor’s AI accelerator. `lunar lake does it all` Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i Aura Edition Read our review Intel promises Lunar Lake will deliver significant performance gains over rival chips while also providing up to 30 percent reduction in power draw. That means these chips will be extremely zippy but should deliver battery life on par with, or longer than the lengthy ones seen in Snapdragon powered AI laptops. On top of that, Lunar Lake’s AI processing power looks to be formidable. To be sure, it features an NPU with up to 45 TOPS, which equals that delivered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X Elite chip. It will, however, outperform the X Elite in this regard, thanks to another 60 TOPS AI processing power delivered by the chip’s integrated Xe2 graphics component. Admittedly, it has only one drawback that I can see: That is, since the RAM will be built onto the same package as the CPU, you’ll be limited to a maximum of 32GB, which may not suit some power users. Then again, not everyone needs 64GB RAM in a laptop anyway. Further reading: Tested: Intel’s Lunar Lake wants you to forget Qualcomm laptops exist Read...

ExpressVPN, PCWorld’s top VPN provider, just made its service even better thanks to the launch of a new suite of identity-theft protection tools.  The new bundle called Identity Defender provides three-part security: identity-theft alerts, identity-theft insurance, and a data-removal service. All new U.S.-based subscribers to ExpressVPN’s 2-year plan will have access to these security tools beginning today. Additional availability is expected to roll out in the future. In a statement, Lauren Hendry Parsons, a Digital Privacy Advocate with ExpressVPN said, “Discovering that your personal information has been compromised is stressful enough, but figuring out what to do next can be an even bigger challenge. With Identity Defender, we aim to provide users with a one-stop solution that not only helps them quickly determine if their information is at risk but also guides them through effective steps to address any issues.” The ID Alerts feature offers three monitoring tools: change of address monitoring, dark web monitoring, and Social Security number monitoring. It will continuously scan the web (and dark web) for any of your personal information and then alert you if anything is found. Additionally, it’ll let you know anytime your Social Security number is used or your address has been changed. Then there is the ID Theft Insurance feature that will help cover you with financial support of up to $1 million in the event that your identity has been stolen. It is worth noting, however, that this perk will only be included with 1-year or 2-year subscription plans. Subscribers to the monthly plan will need to pay an additional $7.99 per month for coverage. Lastly, there is also the new Data Removal service that will search for your personal information on known data-broker sites and then submit removal requests on your behalf. It will then continue to monitor the sites to ensure your data does not reappear in the future. All of these new features are available now and can be accessed with either Android or iOS devices, with more platforms to be supported in the near future. Read...

TL;DR: FastestVPN offers a balance of high-speed performance and powerful security features for up to 10 devices with this lifetime deal for $29.99 through October 27. In a world where privacy and speed shouldn’t be a trade-off, FastestVPN steps in as the go-to solution for security-conscious users who want top-tier performance. From streaming your favorite shows to downloading files in record time, this VPN for $29.99 is a speed demon wrapped in a blanket of strong encryption. What sets FastestVPN apart is more than its blazing-fast connection speeds. With 256-bit AES encryption, a NAT firewall, and a kill switch, your online footprint stays invisible to prying eyes, even in sketchy Wi-Fi zones. Plus, FastestVPN’s strict no-logging policy means they don’t keep tabs on your activity, unlike some competitors who aren’t as transparent with their privacy standards. For tech enthusiasts looking for more than the basics, FastestVPN’s advanced features provide the ultimate customization experience. From the flexibility of 10 simultaneous device connections to specialized servers for streaming and torrenting, it’s got all the bells and whistles you’d expect from a high-performance VPN — minus the bloated price tag. Until October 27 at 11:59pm Pacific, score a lifetime subscription to FastestVPN for up to 10 devices on sale for $29.99.   FastestVPN: Lifetime Subscription (10 Devices) – $29.99 See Deal StackSocial prices subject to change. Read...

Apple has unveiled its latest M4 Pro and M4 Max chips, enhancing Mac performance with cutting-edge technology and promising increased power efficiency. Read...

Firefox launched long ago on November 9, 2004, which means we’re just over one week out from the browser’s 20th anniversary. Who knew that a spiritual successor to Netscape Navigator would last this long? With Firefox 132 being released yesterday, it’s close enough to count as a celebration — and the update fittingly brings some good news with it, including improved privacy with blocked third-party cookies, plus some other cool features worth updating for. Mozilla plans to release Firefox 133 on November 26, 2024. What’s new in Firefox 132? Firefox 132 is now ready for 4K video playback from major streaming services, but this feature is currently in a rollout phase. Through support for Microsoft PlayReady, Firefox will be able to play encrypted media at a baseline of 1080p with 4K support on top. Initially only on selected websites, this feature should spread to more sites over time — and another big benefit of it is that you’ll experience less battery drain and better performance while streaming video. This update also sees improvements to data protection. If you’ve enabled “strict mode” in Firefox’s Settings > Privacy & security > Improved protection against activity tracking, then Firefox 132 will now block all third-party cookies. The maximum lifetime of cookies is now limited to 400 days. If you use the “Copy link without website tracking” feature, Firefox can now filter out more tracking parameters, too. If you use Firefox on more than one device, you can now synchronize bookmarks, open tabs, and passwords between devices. If the new sidebar for synchronized tabs is activated, you can close tabs on other devices via the context menu. However, if required, you must first activate this new sidebar via about:config. There, change the flag labeled sidebar.revamp to true by double-clicking on it. A brief history of Mozilla Firefox Marc Andreessen, one of the developers of the NCSA Mosaic browser, founded Netscape in 1994. With Netscape Navigator, the company supplied the world’s most widely used browser in the mid-1990s (market share over 80 percent). But after Microsoft ended the so-called browser war with widespread adoption of Internet Explorer, AOL took over the losing browser company. In 1998, Netscape published the source code of its browser and allowed the newly founded Mozilla Foundation to manage further development. Mozilla eventually released Firefox 1.0 on November 9, 2004, and we’re about to hit that 20-year mark in about 10 days as of this writing. Security flaws fixed in Firefox 132 Mozilla’s security report for Firefox 132 shows 11 vulnerabilities have been fixed in the update, with two of them classified as “high” risk. One of those high-risk flaws is CVE-2024-10459, a use-after-free vulnerability in the layout component when accessibility is enabled. With it, an attacker can provoke a crash and possibly execute injected code. The other high-risk flaw is CVE-2024-10458, which allows authorizations to be transferred from a secure site to an insecure site. Other internally discovered vulnerabilities can potentially be exploited to execute arbitrary code, but they’re only categorized as moderate risk. Firefox ESR, Tor Browser, and Thunderbird In addition to releasing Firefox 132, Mozilla has also updated its long-term versions, with 10 security vulnerabilities patched in Firefox ESR 128.4.0 and three patched in Firefox ESR 115.17.0. (Firefox ESR 115 will continue to be supported until March 2025.) The updated Tor Browser 14.0.1 is based on Firefox ESR 128.4.0, but Tor’s developers state that they have also ported the security improvements from Firefox 132. An update for Tor Browser 13.5 to 13.5.9 is also available if you’re on Windows 7 or 8.1 or macOS 10.13 or 10.14. Thunderbird 128.4.0esr fixes 10 vulnerabilities and a few bugs. In contrast to Firefox, Thunderbird no longer supports older operating system versions, as version 115.16.2 is the end of the line for Thunderbird 115. Thunderbird 132 (without “esr”) is only available for testing purposes. Further reading: Thunderbird gets new release channel for updates Read...

Do you know how rare it is for us to give any product a clean 5-star rating? It happens maaaaybe twice per year, if that. Well, it certainly happened with the Logitech G502 Lightspeed wireless gaming mouse, the very same mouse that’s on sale for $88 at Amazon, down from its original $150 price. (That’s 41 percent off!) Not only did this gaming mouse earn a perfect score in our review, but it also secured our Editors’ Choice award. Our reviewing expert praised how comfortable it is to use and how lightweight it is. Plus, it has a battery life that lasts about 60 hours on a full charge. This particular model is an upgrade to its previous wired version. But despite the fact that it went wireless, it hasn’t gained much weight at all. In fact, it’s even gained a few features, like PowerPlay, which allows for wireless charging if you have a compatible PowerPlay mousepad. The G502 Lightspeed features 11 programmable buttons, so you can customize them to your specific needs in your various games, along with customizable RGB lighting for that true gamer vibe. One of the best wireless gaming mice of all time at nearly half its original price? It’s honestly a steal. Grab this Logitech G502 Lightspeed for $88 on Amazon while you still can! (We haven’t seen a better price since the summer Prime Day event, and even then it was only $8 less.) Save big on the legendary Logitech G502 Lightspeed mouseBuy now on Amazon Read...

Chrome is the most popular browser on the planet, but even its most ardent fans will admit that this thing gobbles up memory like an Olympic swimmer chomping down protein bars. Google has tried various methods over the years to slim down its memory footprint, but the newest Performance Detection feature might finally make it a lot more effective. According to a blog post, Performance Detection “proactively identifies potential performance issues and offers solutions.” How, exactly? It’ll tell you which tabs are hogging memory and processor cycles, then give you a one-click option to deactivate them. They won’t disappear — they’ll just stop actively loading. Simple but effective, I suppose. Google Google also says that Memory Saver, a feature that frees up memory from inactive tabs, is more granular in the latest version of Chrome. It can now operate in Moderate, Balanced, and Maximum modes, basically determining how aggressive Chrome will be in automatically deactivating tabs that are using too much memory. Both Performance Detection and Memory Saver can be adjusted and disabled in the Settings menu. You can selectively disable both of them for specific websites, too. Personally, I’ve had to be more proactive in memory management thanks to my browser tab addiction. I’ve been using Tiny Suspender for years, particularly enjoying its options for disabling background suspension for particular websites or even entire domains. And yes, since most Chromium-based browsers can share extensions, I use it on Vivaldi, too! Further reading: I got sick of Chrome’s BS and switched to Vivaldi Read...

At a glanceExpert`s Rating Pros GPS and magnetic mount Very good front captures up to 1944p (4:3) Interior captures with infrared Supports roll-your-own LTE for remote monitoring with optional module Cons Interior captures are a bit grainy at night Our Verdict The Vantrue Nexus X2 is an affordable front/interior dash cam with good to very good captures, GPS, and the ability to add LTE cloud capabilities (your account) down the road via an adapter. Price When Reviewed This value will show the geolocated pricing text for product undefined Best Pricing Today Best Prices Today: Vantrue Nexus 2X dash cam Retailer Price $149.99 View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket The Nexus 2X is a dual-channel (front/interior) GPS-enabled dash cam with very good front captures and good interior cabin video. It comes ready for LTE connectivity for remote viewing and tracking via an auxiliary module (only available in the Americas) that Vantrue sells as an option. You must provide the SIM card and the service, which means slightly more hassle than with some LTE dash cams, but a lot more choice. What are the Vantrue Nexus X2’s features? The Nexus X2 is a 4.5-inch long, roughly cylindrical (with several squared faces) entity that’s about 2.5-inches at it’s deepest (the forward lens body). The interior camera is captive but rotates roughly 45 degrees up and down so you can adjust the interior coverage. The left side of the camera is home to the Type-C power connector (with captive auxiliary port power cable) and an SD/TF card slot. The right side is bare. I was expecting a separate connection for the LTE, but the LTE unit connects to the power cable and passes through to the main camera. It too features a sticky mount so you can affix it near the dash cam. If your not familiar, LTE-enabled dash cams allow you to check the status and location of your vehicle remotely, via the GPS and feed from the camera. Basically, it turns the unit into a GPS-enabled web/earth cam. The obvious power/save button, the 2-inch display, and the rotatable interior camera of the Nexus 2X. The Nexus 2X features a 2-inch color display on board with four buttons underneath for activating features and changing settings. It’s not touch, but the menus and options are logically laid out and generally easy to access. There’s also an orange power (long press)/lock video(short press) button obviously situated to the side. The color and location make the button very easy to spot and access when you’re in a hurry. I prefer it to the red that many vendors use, which is often so dark as to not stand out properly. Of course, you could also simply make use of the Nexus 2X’s voice control and utter the phrase “Vantrue, lock video.” Easy-peasy. The Nexus X2’s sticky mount is one of, if not the best in the business. It’s beefy and solid-feeling, mates easily with the dash cam magnetically, and adjusts in all directions. Not by a lot, mind you, but easily enough to obtain the perfect orientation for the front camera. Both the forward and cabin cameras use a Sony STARVIS 2 IMX675 sensor. The front sports 165 degree field-of-view opticals, and 150 degrees in the interior. Maximum resolution for the front camera is 1944p (the default, which we used, is 1440p) and 1080p for the interior. The Nexus X2’s sticky mount is one of, if not the best in the business. The Vantrue LTE module for use with GSM in the Americas. The Nexus 2X features integrated GPS, which worked well once it engaged. It took about a minute to hook up, and unlike the recently reviewed Wolfbox X5 — didn’t automatically set the time zone and time. Vantrue’s been around long enough to learn this trick. Come on now… On the other hand, connecting via Wi-Fi was quick and painless (it’s not always!). The Vantrue app is handsome, and found the camera right away (after I chose the type). Oddly enough, I was also able to connect to the Vanture Nexus 2X using Viofo’s app, which I confusedly opened the first time. Hey, there are too many dash cam vendors whose name starts with “v” — give me a break. The Vantrue app connected to the Nexus 2X showing the album, settings, and live view page. Other features include a parking mode (all cameras have this these days), time lapse (low frame rate) video, audio noise reduction, and the ability to sync time from your phone. That’s nice, but of course if Vantrue would just read the darn GPS info, it wouldn’t be necessary. Gripe aside, Vantrue allows you to tailor the Nexus 2X experience pretty much to taste. How much is the Vantrue Nexus 2X? The Nexus 2X by its lonesome is listed at $219.99, but sells on Amazon for $199.99. That’s not half-bad for a classy dash cam with very good captures and LTE capability. The LTE module itself lists for $149.99, but Vantrue currently sells the complete camera-and-module package for $269.99. Of course, you also need to factor in the cost of your LTE subscription. As mentioned, the Nexus 2X currently supports GSM services only in North and South America. How are the Vantrue Nexus 2X’s captures? The short answer is that the Nexus 2X delivers very good day and night front captures, and good interior day and night captures. There’s a noticeable difference between the external 1440p and the internal 1080p, but the latter is still of high enough quality to grab some detail out my MX-5’s small back window. Uniquely for Vantrue, the Nexus 2X didn’t seem to need the polarizing filter that improves the daytime capture quality of many of its dash cams. Vantrue sent one, but I never used it. The downside to polarizing filters can be darkening night time video, forcing you to remove it or basically wear your sunglasses at night. There’s a bit more detail available in the optional 1944p mode (the second image to follow), but it has the same horizontal 2560 resolution, which works out to a squarer 4:3 aspect ratio. Some may prefer the 2560x1444p shown below, which offers the more modern 16:9 ratio we’re all accustomed to. The 16:9, 1444p front video that the Nexus 2X defaults to. Here’s that 4:3, 1944p video I spoke of. You’ll need to scrutinize it to see the very slight uptick in detail. The 1440p front night capture below shows very good detail and largely true color. Yes, there’s a light nearby (which appears far brighter than it was), but my headlights weren’t on at this point. This is a very good capture for the circumstances. A Nexus 2X night capture at 1440p. Detail is excellent. I’m a study in concentration in this 1080p interior day capture as I head around the corner of our local “Slow” street — San Francisco’s dubious attempt to put pedestrians, bicycles, and automobiles all on the same band of asphalt. And people do walk down the center. So why exactly did they invent sidewalks? The interior night capture below shows enough detail to suffice for legal purposes. Should I be so foolish as to ride-give in a two-seater. Overall, I was more impressed with the Vantrue’s video than I expected. It’s not as detailed as the 4K/5K dash cams we’re starting to see, but it’s darn good for 1440p and 1080p — and for once a Vantrue didn’t need the optional polarizing filter. Zero complaints. Did I mention the color was good, the stabilization excellent, and artifacts minimal? It also handled headlight flare very well. Enough said. Should you buy the Vantrue Nexus 2X? If you want good captures, and LTE connectivity that lets you choose your own service — the Nexus 2X is a good choice. Actually, it’s the only roll-your-own-LTE dash cam I’ve tested, so put it at the head of that category for sure. Even without LTE it’s a worthy choice, if not quite as good as the Miofive S1 Ultra. Read...

At a glanceExpert`s Rating Pros Transcendent battery life A purposeful use of space Lovely, surprisingly large OLED screen Lighter than a MacBook Air Great audio Cons Keyboard needs more key travel Performance needs improvement, especially on battery Our Verdict If it weren’t for the keyboard, the Asus Zenbook S 14 (UX5406) would be my go-to productivity laptop. It’s a potent lightweight package that allows you to work over a day without a charge. Price When Reviewed This value will show the geolocated pricing text for product undefined Best Pricing Today Best Prices Today: Asus Zenbook S 14 (UX5406SA) Retailer Price Asus $1499.99 View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket You might approach buying the Asus Zenbook S 14 (UX5406) for a variety of reasons such as its status as an AI-infused Copilot+ PC and its lovely OLED screen. But it’s the long-lasting battery — 21 hours in our tests! — that will change your life. I don’t mean this lightly. I’m used to packing a charger in my bag because I know instinctively that the laptop will run out of battery. This, the launch platform for Intel’s Core Ultra Series 2 (Lunar Lake) mobile chip, simply does not. I’m not overly impressed with the performance, especially when run on battery alone. I would also prefer a springier, more responsive keyboard. But this laptop simply makes battery anxiety a thing of the past. “Tight” is a word that has come to connote an efficiency of space and effort. This laptop feels tight in that very little is without purpose. My review score reflects a less-than-ideal keyboard. Intel’s Lunar Lake certainly could improve in terms of performance, and that’s reflected here too. But otherwise, this laptop is close to perfect in my eyes. Further reading: Best laptops 2024: Premium, budget, gaming, 2-in-1s, and more Asus Zenbook S 14: Buying options Asus sells a single version of the Zenbook S 14 (UX5406) for $1,499, with an Intel Core Ultra 7 Processor 258V as well as 32GB of memory. Our review unit was the UX5406SA, which shipped with a 512GB SSD instead. Remember, Intel’s Core Ultra Series 2 chips (Lunar Lake) package the system memory directly on the package. That limits the available configurations and prevents you from upgrading the memory later. Best Buy and Walmart are selling versions with a Core Ultra 7 processor, but only 16GB of RAM for slightly cheaper. Otherwise, Asus offers this laptop in a pair of colors: Scandinavian White and a blackish tint formally called Zumaia Gray. Asus also offers the Vivobook, which is aimed more at budget buyers. Best Buy just announced the related Asus Vivobook S 14 Q423, with a Core Ultra 5, 16GB of RAM, a 512GB SSD, and a 1200p screen for $949. Mark Hachman / IDG Asus Zenbook S 14: Specifications Display: 14-inch (2880×1800) touchscreen OLED up to 120Hz Processor: Intel Core Ultra 7 258V (eight cores, eight threads) Graphics: Intel Arc NPU: Yes, 47 TOPS Memory: 32GB LPDDR5X, integrated Storage: 1 TB NVMe PCI 4.0 SSD (512GB as tested) Ports: 2 USB-C (Thunderbolt 4), 1 10Gbps USB-A, HDMI 2.1, 3.5mm audio jack Security: Windows Hello (camera) Camera: 1080p30 Battery: 72Wh (design), (71.9Wh (full, as tested) Wireless: Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4 Operating system: Windows 11 Home 24H2 Dimensions: 12.22 x 8.45 x 0.47 inches Weight: 2.65 pounds Color: Scandinavian White, Zumaia Gray Price: $1,499 as tested Asus Zenbook S 14: Build quality and first impressions The Asus Zenbook S 14 was Intel’s launch laptop for its latest Core Ultra Series 2 (Lunar Lake) processors, so most of my early experience with this clamshell laptop was quickly installing and running benchmarks for our review of the Lunar Lake chip. (While I’ll reproduce some of my benchmarks there, the Lunar Lake review dives much deeper into the laptop’s performance while on battery and on maximum performance settings). For this review, I treat the laptop much more holistically. Asus and Intel sent us the Zumaia Gray version for review. The Zenbook S 14 is constructed of what Asus calls Ceraluminum, a portmanteau of “ceramic aluminum.” While it does have a bit of a ceramic feel to it, your fingers will probably take away a somewhat plasticky feel from it all. Asus etched silvery lines on to the chassis on the back of the display, giving it the unfortunate look that a few cracks appeared. Overall, the laptop has a prestigious look to it, but nothing especially luxurious. Mark Hachman / IDG Structurally, it’s sound, too. I noticed just a minimal amount of flex when pressing hard upon the center of the keyboard and the display doesn’t demonstrate meaningful wobble. My overall impression of the Zenbook S 14 is of a compact little productivity powerhouse, and picking up and opening this notebook reinforces this idea rather quickly. The Zenbook weighs just 2.65 pounds, with a screen-to-body ratio of 90 percent — with a 14-inch screen that pushes up right against the borders of the chassis, in other words. Did you know that the 13-inch MacBook Air weighs 2.7 pounds? The left side of the Zenbook S 1 4 boats two Thunderbolt 4 ports as well as an HDMI connection.Mark Hachman / IDG There isn’t too much room between the left and right sides of the keyboard and the edges of the keyboard tray, and the touchpad feels like they had to lean hard against it to squeeze it — as well as the integrated functions it controls — in. The downside is that the keyboard looks and feels a mite cramped. Still, all of these things contribute to the impression that this little laptop is jam-packed with features. This new Asus Zenbook is extremely quiet. I tested it in a variety of modes, accessible via the MyAsus app, and forgot I had left it in “performance” mode. Normally, that means a loud, noisy fan blowing hard to keep the laptop cool. At least while performing office tasks, “Performance” is basically as loud as many laptops’ standard or “quiet” modes. There’s no real need to run the laptop in a high-performance mode, but rest assured that if you do, you probably won’t even notice. Even “full speed” mode, the laptop’s highest performance setting, declined to actually run the fan at high speed when it wasn’t needed. The Zenbook S 14 sucks air via vents on the bottom of the chassis and blows it out through the hinge. Is that a properly labeled USB-A port? It is!Mark Hachman / IDG Asus has added a pair of Thunderbolt 4 ports to the left side of the chassis, next to an HDMI 2.1 port. Asus has also included a single USB-A port on the right side, with a 3.5mm audio jack. It’s a nice mix of ports, able to accommodate an external display and mouse without the need for an optional Thunderbolt dock or USB-C hub. Inside, Asus has added an up-to-date Wi-Fi 7 radio, paired with Bluetooth 5.4. Asus Zenbook S 14: Display Asus chose a 14.0-inch, 3K (2880 x 1800) touch OLED panel with refresh rates up to 120Hz for use with the Zenbook S 14. The display is rated for 500 nits HDR peak brightness, which isn’t that much. At maximum brightness, the display produces 358 nits by my measurements, which is good for indoor use but not direct sun. Lenovo’s rival Lunar Lake platform, the Yoga Slim 7i Aura Edition, uses a traditional IPS panel instead. The difference is one of image quality and a power tradeoff. An IPS panel typically uses a single, uniform backlight, which brightens and dims the entire screen depending upon the demands of the image it’s rendering. That can cause a bit of backlight “glow” in darker scenes, which OLED displays don’t have. OLEDs regulate brightness on a per-pixel basis, which gives darker scenes richer, deeper blacks. But they have a reputation for consuming more power than an IPS display if rendering a bright scene, such as you might use for apps like Microsoft Word or Outlook. It’s likely, given the stellar battery life this notebook already has, that chips like the Intel Core 200 series found inside will allow for visually richer OLED displays to be more common than in the past. Mark Hachman / IDG We’ve thankfully begun to move from a standard 1080p, 60Hz display to higher-resolution displays like the 1800p display here. That allows for a crisper image, and the dynamic 120Hz screen should feel more comfortable to look at for longer periods of time. (It will dip down to 60Hz when it thinks it can to save power, though you can fix it at 120Hz using the MyAsus settings app). An 120Hz screen refresh rate also allows for smoother inking and mousing, which isn’t so much of an issue because of the lack of an integrated stylus. (The laptop does boast stylus support). The Zenbook reclines to an approximate 30-40 degrees off the horizontal, which is fine for office work — reclining flat would allow for easier inking, however. In the real world, what this means is that you’ll be able to work in either light or dark mode, while enjoying a lovely screen for enjoying streamed video after hours. I’m an unabashed fan of OLED displays, and the Zenbook’s choice of an OLED display is probably a good thing. Inside the MyAsus app you’ll find various controls to tweak the display, from adjusting the color gamut to tweaking how the OLED displays visible pixels at low brightness. Probably the most important control from a visual sense is whether you enable a screensaver to kick in at about 30 minutes; OLEDs can suffer from “burn in,” but the issue is less of a concern now than it once was. Peer in closely, however, and you may notice the “speckling” that affected the Surface Pro 11th Edition’s OLED screen as well. Think of it as a very light coat of dust upon the “inside” of the screen. It’s extremely faint, not distracting at all, but it’s there. Asus Zenbook S 14: Keyboard and touchpad I’ve never found Asus keyboards particularly appealing, and that still holds with Zenbook S 14. The keys themselves aren’t any smaller than other notebooks I’ve tried, but the pitch — the space between the keys — is less than some competitors, contributing to a cramped feel. Mark Hachman / IDG Key travel is only 1.1mm, too, which is at the minimum end of the spectrum. Again, I prefer keyboards with at least 1.25mm of travel. You might think, does just 0.15mm make a difference? I believe it does and you’ll notice it. I typed this review on the Zenbook itself and I don’t feel like my fingers were as comfortable as on an Acer, Microsoft, or HP keyboard. The keyboard includes three levels of backlighting, which feels pretty necessary given the rather poor contrast between the key markings and the “gray” background. The backlighting will turn off after one minute on battery, a configurable setting. It remains on constantly while on wall power, unless disabled or unless the MyAsus setting disables it when the notebook detects bright light. If it weren’t for the keyboard, the Asus Zenbook S 14 (UX5406) would be my go-to productivity laptop. It’s a potent lightweight package that allows you to work over a day without a charge. Asus places a row of function keys atop the keyboard, which can be triggered either by tapping the Windows key or just the function key itself. There’s a dedicated emoji key, as well as one (F11) which is surprisingly without purpose. There are camera and mic control on the Asus Zenbook S 14, but no physical covers or slides.Mark Hachman / IDG The Zenbook S 14 is not the first Asus notebook to use its configurable touchpad, which incorporates the standard Windows touchpad gestures as well as its own: A swipe along the left edge to raise or lower the volume, along the right edge for brightness, and along the top to scrub back and forth within a video. They’re all surprisingly useful little tweaks. Otherwise, the mammoth touchpad is clickable just two-thirds or so up the screen. That’s acceptable, though not stellar. Asus Zenbook S 14: Audio, mic, and webcam The Zenbook S 14 has stellar audio, boosted by four integrated Harmon Kardon speakers and augmented by Dolby Atmos audio. Dolby’s “dynamic” setting is on by default, which will carry you across the finish line as far as audio quality is concerned. (The “music” setting sounds a bit better, but not by much). Again, the MyAsus app hides a few settings that may be of interest. Using AI to adjust the speakers didn’t do much, but the volume booster control nudges the volume up a bit. The AI mic control, though, continues to be really impressive. I’ve written before how Asus essentially filters out background noises, even music, almost perfectly from apps like Zoom or Teams using the NPU’s AI powers. If you do buy this notebook, try this out with a friend — it’s really remarkable. About the only knock on it is that it does cause your voice to sound somewhat hollow, and unless you start speaking immediately the tech might briefly and incorrectly “focus” on the background music instead. The bottom of the Zenbook, with a vent grille and speakers to the far left.Mark Hachman / IDG The Zenbook’s integrated 1080p, 30Hz webcam is decent. The video quality is sharp enough that you’ll come across pretty well on a video-conferencing app. The color balance, though, is hit or miss: my skin tone looked pretty normal, but my green shirt appeared brown. There are no physical slides or covers for the webcam, though Asus dedicated two function keys to turning off the webcam and mic. The webcam does have a depth camera attached, which is configured during setup to recognize your face. It worked flawlessly in my experience. Asus Zenbook S 14: Performance Whenever we test something, we try to minimize any potential conflicts or sources of trouble. In certain situations, though, that’s unavoidable. In this case, I tested the Asus Zenbook S 14, one of the first laptops out the door with Intel’s latest chip, together with one of the first Thunderbolt 5 docks in existence, the Kensington S5000T5. The Zenbook only has a Thunderbolt 4 port inside, not a Thunderbolt 5. But the dock played well with other laptops I own with a TB4 port. That wasn’t the case with the Zenbook S 14 — every hour or so, it would drop the connection to a monitor for a second or two. The displays wouldn’t disconnect, but the screen would blank. Also, I conducted a Web video chat with a vendor, using a Web-based “white box” video client that featured the vendor’s name — not Zoom or Teams. The laptop locked up completely, becoming totally unresponsive until I held down the power button to reboot it. I can’t say for certain what the cause was, but my time using this Asus notebook was not without issue. This review, though, will run through our standard benchmarks, plugged in on wall power. Qualcomm has been vehement that this generation of laptop testing should be performed on wall power as well as on battery, to show how sharply the Lunar Lake chip’s performance drops while on battery power. I absolutely agree, and conducted numerous tests on wall power and battery power — on this laptop, no less — to test the chip itself. Basically, expect that this laptop’s performance, unplugged, will drop to about 50 to 70 percent of what our test results show here. Office work and web browsing are just fine on battery, but if you plan to do something like intensive editing work, I’d plug in. A close competitor: the Surface Laptop, powered by Qualcomm.Chris Hoffman / IDG Should you buy a Lunar Lake laptop like this one over one powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite chip, such as the 2024 version of the Microsoft Surface Laptop? I don’t think it’s a conclusive win for either side. Qualcomm, like it or not, still has some lingering, minor compatibility issues, but the Snapdragon is a more power-efficient chip than the Core Ultra Series 200 / Lunar Lake chip found within this Asus Zenbook S 14. For comparison’s sake, I’ve chosen the 13.8-inch, $1,999 Microsoft Surface Laptop 7th Edition (aka the Surface Laptop 7) with a Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite chip, the 15.3-inch, $1,379 Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i Aura Edition with another Lunar Lake processor, the 14-inch $1,689 HP OmniBook Ultra 14 with AMD’s latest Ryzen AI 300 chip inside, plus Acer’s 14-inch, $1,329 TravelMate P4 Spin 14 with a Core Ultra Series 1 chip inside. I’ve also added a budget 14-inch $849 Asus Zenbook 14 from earlier this year as well as the surprisingly inexpensive $769 16-inch HP Pavilion Laptop 16 with a Core Ultra 7 155U inside, just to demonstrate what an extra $1,000 or so supposedly buys you. We use four major tests to determine the laptop’s performance, beginning with PCMark 10. This benchmark puts the laptop through a number of tasks, from videoconferencing to web browsing, to general Office tasks, and even some mildly intensive CAD work. It’s a good approximation of many daily tasks in a variety of applications, and a good score here means that this laptop will be able to hold up over a day’s work. Mark Hachman / IDG You would expect this laptop to hold up, however, and it does. There’s one thing I noticed, however, that stands out. If you drill down inside the PCMark scores (which we don’t usually break out), the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i falls just below the Zenbook in the total score, which includes a variety of factors. In a single category, spreadsheet performance, the Yoga far exceeds the Zenbook, with a score of 14,646 to 10,855, a whopping 35 percent difference. I don’t know why that is, but it’s noteworthy. Cinebench is a synthetic benchmark that pushes all of the laptop’s CPU cores to their limit. In this case, we’re trying to understand how well the laptop to respond to an application’s demands for the full capabilities of the PC, whatever that application may be. Don’t expect Lunar Lake laptops to be especially powerful; battery life is now the focus. Still, this laptop can hold its own. We use an older version of the test, Cinebench R20, as the version we test here. On the latest iterations, Cinebench R23 and Cinebench 2024, the laptop scored 1,855 and 589, respectively. You can find more context in our Lunar Lake review, which used this laptop as a test bed. Mark Hachman / IDG Handbrake is a similar test, though with prolonged exertion in mind. Handbrake takes an approximately 90-minute video file and transcodes it into a more compact format. It’s a practical task, one that people still perform for copying videos onto a tablet for a plane flight. But it’s really a test of how well the laptop can deal with a prolonged workload. After a while, running at full speed can cause the laptop to dial back its performance to prevent it from overheating. What this test evaluates is how well the laptop can cool itself and modulate its own power to prevent that from happening. Cutting back the performance increases the time it takes to complete the transcoding test, and we don’t want that. Mark Hachman / IDG While I wouldn’t look at the Asus Zenbook S 14 as a gaming laptop, we use the 3DMark test suite to evaluate the laptop’s 3D performance. UL, the developer behind the benchmark, has a variety of different benchmarks, which have slowly become more complex throughout the years. Time Spy is the test we use to compare laptops both past and present. Intel’s promised that the GPU inside this generation of Core Ultra chips has been significantly improved, and that’s true. Still, this isn’t a gaming laptop. Mark Hachman / IDG Our final test is of battery life, and it’s here that the competition between Intel and Qualcomm has been especially fervent. We take a 4K video and loop it over and over until the battery expires — which it does, hours and hours later. The laptop lasts so long that we even ran tests using UL’s Procyon battery life tests, which simulates someone “working” in the Microsoft Office apps for hours on end. That’s a long workday, for in this environment the laptop lasted for 17 hours, seven minutes instead of the 21 hours it persisted on our video rundown test. Basically, you can argue that this laptop will last about two workdays without a charge. Granted, Lunar Lake is not the absolute most efficient chip. The Surface Laptop 7th Edition with its Snapdragon X Elite chip is paired with a 54Wh battery. Asus includes a 73Wh battery inside, and the two laptops are neck and neck in overall battery life. That’s where I’m impressed with Asus. Yes, it stuffs more battery inside to keep up with Qualcomm and Microsoft, but it does so without the penalty of substantial extra weight. Mark Hachman / IDG There’s really no conclusion to draw here but the obvious one: This laptop will just keep going and going and going. Asus Zenbook S 14: Conclusion I typically prefer a laptop with a 15-inch screen, in part because I prefer as much information as possible to be on the screen at any one time. Seated at my desk, I’d prefer something a bit larger. Small and light is for on the go. On the last few trips I’ve made this year, however, I’ve found that for whatever reason, the charging ports that are now ubiquitous on most airlines aren’t as common in conference rooms. Teachers tell me that they simply don’t always have a charger at their podium or desk. If you arrive at a city for work, you may be shuttled around from appointment to appointment. You’d rather think about other things besides where your laptop can get a sip of juice. Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X Elite and the laptops it appears in are excellent. I have only tested one, the most recent Surface Laptop, and I would take that along on a trip, too. I already have. Some people, like me, are a bit nervous about the lingering compatibility issues Windows on Arm still have — though they’re minor, and Qualcomm and Microsoft are doggedly working to eliminate them. But the battery life, like Intel’s Lunar Lake laptops offer, is superb. If this new way of working appeals to you, I’d recommend you take a hard look at Asus Zenbook S 14. We’re headed into a new era of computing, and this laptop is on the cutting edge. Read...