The Royal`s annual accounts show travel is a huge expenditure for the King and Queen Read...

Tuvalu`s ambassador to the United Nations says he has been told by a US official that the island`s inclusion on Trump`s travel ban list was `an administrative and systemic error`. Read...

Stuck inside without air conditioning? Doing a brutal hike on the hottest day of the year? I found a gadget that will almost instantly make you feel cooler. With temperatures rising this summer, the heat is on to find ways to quickly cool down. Yes, it’s a fan, but it’s not one of those cheap battery fans that demands you hold it in your hand and aim it at your face. My new favorite chilling solution—available for $100 on Amazon—is a surprisingly powerful hands-free fan that you can wear on your body. Meet the Torras COOLify Air neck AC fan. Of course, fans don’t lower the temperature of the air itself, but they do create a breeze that accelerates the evaporation of sweat to help your body cool down. I’m writing this from the Mediterranean island of Cyprus, where 97-degree temperatures are making life extremely uncomfortable (at least while I’m outside the blessed cool of the hotel AC). Saving me daily from heatstroke and a sweaty head, the travel-friendly, adjustable COOLify Air is a neck-worn air conditioner that incorporates two fans and an extremely welcome cooling plate at the back of the neck. And how’s this for validation: I saw two more neck fan users by the pool. Simon Jary Thirty-six vents expel a refreshing 360-degree airflow that directs an icy breeze above and below your neck. It creates a satisfying wind chill effect almost immediately. You really do feel the difference as soon as you turn it on. Yes, wetting a cloth with cool water and wrapping it around the back of your neck can offer similar instant relief, but when that cloth dries out, you need to wet it again to repeat the process. Not so with the COOLify Air. The neck fan is lightweight at 14oz (400g) and beats the sensation of a wet cloth. It’s rated to keep running between 4 and 20 hours depending on which of the five air-power settings (up to 8,450rpm) you use. It’s rechargeable via USB-C. Torras The COOLify’s ice plate at the back of the wearable fan cools the large blood vessels near the neck’s surface, which allows body heat to escape. It turn out that cooling one’s neck is the quickest way to lower the temperature of your head and brain. The fan then blows that heat away from your body to keep you cool. The Air is one of several COOLify neck fan models available from maker Torras. There are more expensive variants (at up to $329) with more vents and motors and specialized apps, but the $149 entry-level Air offers most of what you need for a quick or prolonged cooling at the lowest cost. At the time of this writing, you can find it at Amazon for around $110. That’s more than you’ll pay for a cheap hand fan, but you’ll thank yourself every time the mercury rises. It is still recommended to drink lots of cold water and engage in all the other cool-down tips, but this neck AC fan is my go-to travel companion for keeping cool. I’m not going anywhere hot without it in my bag. Keep cool with Torras COOLiFY Air Best Prices Today: $110.48 at Amazon Read...

The sixth and final scheduled evacuation flight organised by the government is set to depart on Sunday. Read...

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For seven years I’ve been collecting the best PC games every year that don’t need a graphics card, tracking down games for those of us with older computers or laptops. And I love doing it so much (and there are just so many freakin’ games out there) that I decided ten new games a year just isn’t enough. This is now a biannual feature — you’re welcome, five people who asked for it. These games can run on a toaster, so long as that toaster runs Windows. They’re also great picks for a Steam Deck or pretty much any other handheld PC. Oh, and it sure doesn’t hurt that all of these games are under $20 at full price, and many come with demos. And would you look at that, this roundup just happens to be running at the same time as the Steam Summer Sale, which starts today. Here are my picks, in no particular order. Want even more? Then check out the same article from 2024, 2023, 2022, and 2021. 9 Kings I’ve been addicted to 9 Kings for a few weeks. It’s nominally a base-builder, wherein you lay down buildings and units on a very small number of tiles and create an army from the result. But the randomized nature of your enemies, and the cards you get from them to power up your units and structures, feels a lot like carving out a run in Balatro. The interplay of the buildings and tiles, and how the different ones you can collect from the different opponent kings, are crucial. Discovering all the beneficial combinations and creating your own strategy to maximize them is how you go from 10 damage in a “year” to 10 million, and the process makes this an incredibly satisfying, bite-sized strategy game. 9 Kings is in early access, currently $15 on Steam. Pipstrello and the Cursed Yoyo Y’all youngsters might not know this, but the Game Boy Advance might be the best 2D console of all time. And this game is a love letter to some of its best. Pipstrello and the Cursed Yoyo lloks like a colorful take on ye olde top-down Zelda, but where all the weapons and traversal powers revolve around the titular yoyo. But the colorful world and great tunes (provided by famed game composer Yoko Shimomura) make me think more of an old Cartoon Network production. It can’t be overstated how hard this game goes on the yoyo schtick, showing off an incredible amount of charm and creativity. Real-time combat and puzzles will challenge your reflexes and timing, but there’s an interestingly sarcastic undertone to all of this that works well with the anthropic mafioso baddies. Completionists will have a fun time with the surprisingly broad and deep world, too. Pipstrello and the Cursed Yoyo is $20 on Steam. It’s also available on Epic, PlayStation, Xbox, and Switch. So to Speak The phrase “edu-tainment” might make you cringe if you remember Mavis Beacon, but gamified language learning is about as good as it gets if you don’t have access to full immersion. Enter So to Speak, a puzzle game that teaches you the basics of Japanese vocabulary in an interface that makes Dulingo look positively pedestrian. It’s a big help if, like me, you’re helpless when it comes to kanji characters. Progressing through the game will let you move from basic words to phrases and full sentences, with a focus on visitors and travel. But you’ll also get a nice taste of some Japanese culture if that’s what you’re looking for. The setup here is brilliant — well, at least I think so — and I’m excited to see if the developer can expand it into other languages. So to Speak is $18 on Steam. The Roottrees are Dead Who would have guessed that clerical games would be a thing after the success of Papers Please? In The Roottrees are Dead, you’re an investigator trying to piece together the aftermath of a small plane crash that took out a family of billionaires. Using a mountain of evidence and exploring a fictional, late-90s version of the internet, you’ll discover the dark secrets hiding just beneath the veneer of wealth and power. This is an incredibly unique setup, a sort of genealogical whodunnit that will tickle the drama fancies of anyone who’s ever gasped at a soap opera parentage reveal. Originally released as a free browser game, this full version gets remastered visuals and audios, plus full voice acting when you discover relevant tapes and other evidence, plus some bonus mysteries. The Roottrees are Dead is $20 on Steam. Cast N Chill I don’t think I’ve ever seen pixel art this gorgeous…and I say that as someone who’s so freakin’ tired of pixel art as shorhthand for indie. Cast N Chill does what it says on the box, offering an intriguing mix of basic 2D fishing that wouldn’t be out of place on the NES with some incredible atmosphere. If you have no actual interest in fishing, you might not get a lot out of the mechanics, unless the upgrade grind gets its hooks into you. No, I’m not apologizing for that pun. You can catch and document 50 different kinds of fish, 13 of which are legendary. But I suspect a certain kind of player will miss a lot of them, just watching the designated boat dog. Cast N Chill is $15 on Steam. Wizordum Magical DOOM. That’s it, that’s the game. While Wizordum isn’t the first game to adapt fast first-person shooter mechanics to slinging spells instead of blasting bullets, it’s benefiting from a lot of recent work in the boomer shooter niche. 2.5D graphics mean a lot of pixel art on display, even as goblins and skeletons are wizzing past your head at about 40 miles an hour. I’m digging the epic fantasy tunes, too. This is very much a single-player affair, but speedrunners can post their times to an online leaderboard. The real lasting impact of the game might be its built-in level editor, which lets you make and share challenges in a very Minecraft sort of way. I bet it’ll appeal to you if you’re tired of rolling for initiative and just want to blast some baddies. Wizordum is $20 on Steam. Glass Cannon A “glass cannon” is a term for someone or something that can dish out a lot of damage, but not take much in return. This little physics puzzler takes things a little more literally. It’s a mix of puzzle and action with a physics-based setup and a roguelike progression system. And if that sounds too technical, just go by this: shoot all the bad guys (or bad shapes) with as few bullets as possible. Carefully choosing your angle to take advantage of bounces and maximizing your upgrades for damage and spread are the keys to victory. The randomized levels and relatively low variety of enemies might seem limiting at first, but it’s the combination of upgrades that’ll keep you coming back for an optimal run. Glass Cannon is $5 on Steam. Urban Myth Dissolution Center Imagine if Control came out in the 80s and was more interested in Japanese horror than online copypasta, and you’ve got Urban Myth Dissolution Center. You play a psychic ghostbuster in training who’s part of the titular organization, tracking down clues to solve spooky cases and interacting with a rich collection of characters. This one’s definitely on the creepy side of things, with a direct appeal to fans of both retro games and anime. Fans of Doki Doki Literature Club might feel right at home with all the hidden intrigue and deep characterization, but if you can’t handle the psychedelic pixel art cinematics, I couldn’t blame you. Urban Myth Dissolution Center is $18 on Steam. It’s also available on PlayStation and Switch. Chronicles of the Wolf Do you like the mechanics of Castlevania, but you’re more of a Team Jacob sorta gamer? Then Chronicles of the Wolf is what you’ve been waiting for. This side-scrolling action game is set on the backdrop of the legendary (and at least nominally real) Beast of Gévaudan attacks in 18th-century France. Oh, and just in case the fact that a wolf hunter is running around a medieval castle instead of the woods didn’t clue you in, there’s a few cameos from some famous players in the genre, too. The whole game is shamelessly riffing on Symphony of the Night, and that’s not at all a bad thing. There’s a bit more polish in play than you might expect from the setup, with some gorgeous art and voice-over as well as some tunes that’ll make you wonder where you left your PS1 memory card. Chronicles of the Wolf is $20 on Steam. It’s also available on PlayStation, Switch, and Xbox. Desktop Survivors 98 Okay, I know some of you weirdos are gonna be into this one. Vampire Survivors has inspired a whole demonic hoard of similar “walk around, avoid attacks, upgrade your stuff” games, but I bet you’ve never seen it play out with the infamous Clippy as a main character. The game mechanics are familiar, but the visuals — a certain blissful green hill and a lot of grey windows — are even more so. But don’t think this game is nothing but a nostalgia play (though it certainly is). Little hooks into other “programs” from ye olde Windows will add in goofy game elements you’re not expecting. If you’ve ever lost hours to customizing your Windows theme, you’ll find something to love here. Desktop Survivors 98 is $5 on Steam. Read...

Explainer - Travel disruption, flooding and evacuations - here`s what you need to know. Read...

Warmer weather often means travel—a fact that scammers know very well. You just want to plan your vacation, so they flood the internet with fake booking sites, phony emails, and bogus deal links to take advantage of the unsuspecting. To avoid losing your money to fraud, it pays to stay sharp when making reservations or buying gear for your trip. Fortunately, you can do so pretty easily if you ask yourself the questions below. Is the booking site you’re on legitimate? Whether booking direct on a carrier website or through a third-party online travel agency, make sure the website you’re on is legit.PCWorld You can save a lot of headache by double-checking the reservation website you’re on before committing to plans. For direct bookings, make sure the URL matches the known address. Scammers can buy a search engine sponsored link to promote false websites that look like the real ones. Or they can display copies of real websites when you enter the wrong address into your browser. For third-party travel sites, run a search to see if the online travel agency (OTA) is well-known, as well as what the reviews say about the booking process and customer support. Travel forums and Reddit are good sources for opinions, good and bad. Is that email deal real? The first Travelzoo email I ever got was a forward from a friend—and I spent some time checking out the source before clicking on any links.Travelzoo / PCWorld You should only be getting travel deal emails from sites you signed up for—and those messages should be easily traced back to legit senders. A first clue that an email is fishy: The sender email address doesn’t match the official URL. (e.g., deals@expedia.com)  To be more sure, you can dig into the message headers to see if the email was sent from a server owned by an official travel agency. In Gmail, you can click on the three-dot icon in the far right of a message, then choose Show original. Is the deal reasonable? ravel sites gush about this $275 suitcase—and it sells quickly whenever it goes on sale.Even before I looked up historical data, that tells me I’d still pay at least $200+ after the best discounts. (Research on Slickdeals bears that out.)Away / PCWorld Maybe you saw a deal shared on social media, or a friend forwards you a link. Whether shopping for a flight or hotel, or a new suitcase or power bank, go into your purchase knowing what a reasonable discount price is. For flights, hotels, car rentals, and cruises, you can compare costs against the big online travel agencies (Expedia, etc.) or find recent reports from people who’ve visited your destination. If a price seems absurdly low, you can gauge from online discussions if it’s reasonable. (e.g., I saw nonstop flights between San Francisco and Tokyo for under $600 on ZipAir, but didn’t recognize the airline. A little searching showed it was a new budget airline, and people had already tried it out.) For gear like power banks, suitcases, and the like, you can look up past deal prices for that model (or at least general style of the item) with a quick online search. You can also look up reviews—maybe a discount is unusually high due to a new version having released, or there’s a flaw that caused the product to be unpopular. Travel booking resources I like to use Current fares for SFO-JFK on Google Travel—September looks like a good time to visit.Google / PCWorld Deal hunting is one of my side hobbies, and for travel, I have a few sites that help me find good discounts with very little fuss. Google Travel’s flight search engine helps me see which dates have the cheapest prices for a particular route (e.g., SFO to JFK). I like this data because it’s the prices on the airlines’ direct sites, which I can then compare against online travel agency offers. Usually I book direct for better customer support, should something go wrong with my flight. Google Travel also offers a hotel search feature that lets you scout hotels and their prices near a given location (e.g., 6th and Canal in Manhattan). It gives a list of various third-party booking sites (some I think of as less established than others). I use that info to get an idea of what’s reasonable, and then I look directly on a hotel’s website for equal or better deals. (Booking direct sometimes works out more in my favor.) Costco comes through strong for its members, especially on car rentals. A second driver is included, and you can cancel your reservation any time before pickup without penalty. Depending on how good a deal you get on a vacation package or car rental, the savings can end up covering the cost of a yearly Costco membership for access. Finally, searching on Slickdeals.net helps me see historical data for previous deals on a given product. Sometimes none exists though, so then I turn to the Keepa.com extension to see if price history exists for the item on Amazon. Read...

At a glanceExpert`s Rating Pros An all-around capable laptop Lunar Lake on a budget Solid value Cons Battery life could be better Worse multithreaded performance than last year’s model Touch screen isn’t standard Our Verdict The Dell 16 Plus is a solid laptop with great real-world performance at a good price — especially if you can catch it on sale. But Intel’s Lunar Lake chip drags down multithreaded performance. Price When Reviewed This value will show the geolocated pricing text for product undefined Best Pricing Today Best Prices Today: Dell 16 Plus Retailer Price $1,119.99 View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket The Dell 16 Plus is a 16-inch laptop that delivers good performance and a solid all-around experience at a reasonable price. The Dell 16 Plus is a laptop designed for the real world — it’s well-designed, but it clearly won’t turn any heads or win any awards for expensive high-end touches. If you’re looking for a 16-inch workhorse, it’s a good choice. That’s especially true because you’re getting Intel’s latest Lunar Lake processors here, while other laptops at this price range will often have previous-generation CPUs. In 2025, Dell axed its XPS, Inspiron, and Latitude brands. Now, it’s all consolidated everything under a single brand. The Dell 16 Plus seems like it’s the spiritual successor to last year’s Dell Inspiron 16 Plus. Dell 16 Plus: Specs The Dell 16 Plus is a 16-inch laptop with an Intel Core Ultra (Series 2) processor — Intel’s Lunar Lake hardware, in other words. Our review model had an Intel Core Ultra 7 256V processor along with 16 GB of RAM and Intel Arc 140V graphics. Since this is Lunar Lake, you get a neural processing unit (NPU) for AI tasks and Copilot+ PC features in Windows. Dell says this model retails for $1149, but the Dell online store is selling it for $799 as I’m wrapping up this review. Dell has also pointed out this PC has been on deeper sales recently, going for as low as $699 on Dell’s online store. That’s a serious value considering this machine has a modern Intel Lunar Lake processor, while other laptops in that budget range will usually have previous-generation hardware. This machine is also available with a variety of other CPU configurations — from an Intel Core Ultra 5 226V processor up through an Intel Core Ultra 9 288V processor. You also have different RAM, storage, and display options. While our review model didn’t have a touch screen, this machine is also available with a touch screen. Model number: DB16250 CPU: Intel Core Ultra 7 256V Memory: 16GB LPDDR5x RAM Graphics/GPU: Intel Arc 140V NPU: Intel AI Boost (up to 48 TOPS) Display: 2560×1600 IPS display Storage: 1 TB PCIe Gen 4 SSD Webcam: 1080p webcam with physical privacy shutter Connectivity: 2x USB Type-C (One Thunderbolt 4, and one USB 3.2 Gen 2), 1x USB Type-A (USB 3.2 Gen 1), 1x HDMI 2.1 out, and 1x combo audio jack Networking: Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4 Biometrics: Fingerprint reader and IR camera for Windows Hello Battery capacity: 64 Watt-hours Dimensions: 14.05 x 9.87 x 0.67 inches Weight: 4.12 pounds MSRP: $1,149 as tested The Dell 16 Plus is a laptop designed for the real world — it’s well-designed, but it clearly won’t turn any heads or win any awards for expensive high-end touches. Dell 16 Plus: Design and build quality IDG / Chris Hoffman The Dell 16 Plus is well designed and solid. It’s a little on the heavy side at 4.12 pounds, but it’s also a little on the larger side at 16 inches, so that makes sense. The 0.67-inch thickness is very reasonable, and the laptop doesn’t feel particularly thick. The chassis is made from a combination of materials — aluminum on the lid and base and plastic on the palm rest and bezel. The plastic feels nice — it has a slightly matte texture. The hinge works well, and it opens to 180 degrees so you can lie this machine flat. As you rotate the hinge open, the back of the laptop (the part near the hinge) tilts up, and that angle helps you type comfortably. The “Ice Blue” color scheme here looks a lot like silver to me — with a bit of a blue sheen in the right lighting. This machine has good build quality — there’s nothing bad about it. But it doesn’t have the high-end touches (all metal, or super lightweight carbon fiber or ceramic-based “ceraluminum“) that high-end, more expensive machines deliver. Dell 16 Plus: Keyboard and trackpad IDG / Chris Hoffman The Dell 16 Plus has a good keyboard. The key travel feels good and there’s a crisp “clicky” action when I press down on them. It’s responsive and nothing feels mushy. There’s also a white keyboard backlight you can use. The inclusion of a full-size number pad at the right side of this 16-inch laptop keyboard always feels a little divisive. On the one hand, many people choose 16-inch laptops so they can have a full-size keyboard with a number pad, and that input method is particularly useful for certain workflows — if you spend a lot of time using spreadsheets or otherwise entering numbers. On the other hand, some people aren’t fans of the number pad and may prefer a laptop without one. Personally, I like to see a number pad on a 16-inch laptop where there’s room for one. The touchpad is nice and large, and it feels responsive. I do think a nice glass-surface touchpad feels smoother to glide your finger over — this is a plastic surface — but it’s a large and responsive touchpad. The model we received doesn’t have a touchscreen, so keep that in mind — if you want that, you’ll have to hunt down a Dell 16 Plus model that does have one or choose a different laptop. I do prefer having a touch screen — just as an option — but I know many people don’t care. Dell 16 Plus: Display and speakers IDG / Chris Hoffman The Dell 16 Plus we reviewed has a 16-inch 2560×1600 IPS display with an anti-glare coating and up to 300 nits of brightness along with a 120Hz refresh rate. That’s a good resolution and I was pleased to see a higher-than-60Hz refresh rate here. The anti-glare coating works pretty well, and it helps make up for the slightly dim display. But it’s perfectly readable inside. Even with harsh sunlight, the anti-glare coating does a good job and ensures you don’t need to crank up the brightness just to see the screen. The display looks fine — it’s a perfectly serviceable display. But it’s an entry-level display. For this review, Dell also provided me with a Dell 16 Plus model with a higher-end display so I could compare the options. Specifically, they loaned me a model with a touchscreen and a mini-LED display with 600 nits of minimum brightness — model number DB16250. This model looks great: The colors were noticeably more vivid, and it was noticeable even on the default desktop background. However, that’s a pricier display, and it also has a glossy coating that produces more reflections. The Dell 16 Plus has a dual-speaker setup that produces clean, clear audio with a fairly loud maximum volume. I don’t hear any distortion at the maximum volume, so this is a good speaker setup. It isn’t a high-end speaker configuration, naturally: I test all the laptops I review with both Steely Dan’s Aja and Daft Punk’s Get Lucky. The instrument separation in Aja wasn’t as crisp as you’d hear on the kind of speakers audiophiles love, and the punchy bass in Get Lucky was lacking. But that’s standard for laptop speakers, and these are solid speakers for the price range. I always want to pair a good pair of headphones or external speakers with my laptops. Dell 16 Plus: Webcam, microphone, biometrics IDG / Chris Hoffman The Dell 16 Plus has a 1080p webcam with a physical webcam shutter, and that’s always a great privacy feature to see! The webcam itself is clear enough — there’s more visual noise than I’d expect to see on the kind of high-end webcam you often see on business laptops, but it’s more than good enough for online meetings and video calls. Dell says the dual-array microphone setup here has AI noise reduction. In practice, the microphone sounds unexpectedly good, with clear audio and solid noise cancellation of PC fans whirring away in my office. The Dell 16 Plus model we reviewed has both a fingerprint reader at the top-right corner of the keyboard and an IR camera for facial recognition. Having access to both types of biometrics is particularly impressive at this price range. Dell 16 Plus: Connectivity IDG / Chris Hoffman The Dell 16 Plus’s connectivity is decent but a little lacking. On the right side, this machine has a combo audio jack along with a USB Type-A (USB 3.2 Gen 1) port. On the left side, it has an HDMI 2.1 out port along with two USB Type-C ports — one of them supports Thunderbolt 4 and one supports USB 3.2 Gen 2speeds. While the ports are clearly labeled and it’s nice to have Thunderbolt 4 as an option, it would be nice if they were both Thunderbolt 4 ports. This machine charges via USB-C. Since that’s the case, you’ll always have to plug the charger into a port on the left side. That’s a little annoying. You’d have more flexibility if Dell had put a USB Type-C port on each side. All in all, this is a limited port selection for a 16-inch laptop. It’s not hard to imagine that many people would want more ports — for example, a second USB Type-A port or even a microSD card reader. You can always get a dongle or dock, but be aware that you may have to if you need a lot of peripherals. Thanks to Lunar Lake, this machine is future-proof with Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4 support, which is great to see. Dell 16 Plus: Performance The Dell 16 Plus provided good performance in desktop productivity apps — Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Microsoft Word, Slack, and all the usual apps I find myself using all day. Lunar Lake systems deliver good performance in real-world desktop usage. As always, though we ran the Dell 16 Plus through our standard benchmarks to see how it performs. IDG / Chris Hoffman First, we run PCMark 10 to get an idea of overall system performance. With an overall PCMark 10 score of 7,229, the Dell 16 Plus delivered solid performance — lower only than systems with faster CPUs. IDG / Chris Hoffman Next, we run Cinebench R20. This is a heavily multithreaded benchmark that focuses on overall CPU performance. Since it’s heavily multithreaded, CPUs with more cores have a huge advantage. That’s what we saw here — systems with Lunar Lake CPUs come in behind. Unfortunately, this is substantially lower multithreaded performance than last year’s Dell Inspiron 16 Plus with its Meteor Lake CPU. IDG / Chris Hoffman We also run an encode with Handbrake. This is another heavily multithreaded benchmark, but it runs over an extended period. This demands the laptop’s cooling kick in, and many laptops will throttle and slow down under load. That may be what happened here — the encode process took 1,773 seconds (nearly 30 minutes) to complete the encode process. It lags behind other Lunar Lake-powered systems we’ve tested. IDG / Chris Hoffman Next, we run a graphical benchmark. This isn’t a gaming laptop, but it’s still good to check how the GPU performs. We run 3Dmark Time Spy, a graphical benchmark that focuses on GPU performance. With a score of 3,978, the Intel Arc 140V graphics here delivered excellent graphics performance for integrated graphics. Overall, the Dell 16 Plus delivered perfectly usable desktop productivity performance thanks to Lunar Lake. But Lunar Lake’s big downside — low multithreaded performance in heavy multithreaded workloads — is on full display here. This machine seems to be a bit behind other Lunar Lake-powered systems, and it’s far behind last year’s model on this benchmark. Dell 16 Plus: Battery life The Dell 16 Plus has a 64 Watt-hour battery, which is on the smaller side for a 16-inch laptop. Still, since this machine packs power-efficient Lunar Lake hardware, we’d expect to see it deliver some serious battery life. IDG / Chris Hoffman To benchmark the battery life, we play a 4K copy of Tears of Steel on repeat on Windows 11 with airplane mode enabled until the laptop suspends itself. We set the screen to 250 nits of brightness for our battery benchmarks. This is a best-case scenario for any laptop since local video playback is so efficient, and real battery life in day-to-day use is always going to be less than this. The Dell 16 Plus lasted 856 minutes, or just over 14 hours. That’s on the lower side for a Lunar Lake-powered machine, but it’s likely that the combination of a smaller battery and perhaps a display that is sucking more power is contributing to that — it’s tough to say. While you’ll get lower battery life than this in the real world, I don’t think this is a serious issue — a 16-inch laptop that’s over four pounds feels designed to be used at a desk a lot of the time. You can get plenty of time away from an outlet. Dell 16 Plus: Conclusion I like the Dell 16 Plus a lot. But when it comes to value, the price is a big factor: At $1,149 retail, I’m a lot less excited than the $799 or less price I see right now! It’s not just about the internals: Decisions like including both a fingerprint reader and an IR camera show Dell going above and beyond what it needs to at this price range. Looking over the benchmarks, I wasn’t as thrilled as I expected to be: Lunar Lake is all about battery life improvements, but the base Dell 16 Plus uses that efficiency upgrade to drop the battery size. I reviewed last year’s Dell Inspiron 16 Plus with Meteor Lake, which was packing a larger 90 Watt-hour battery, and that machine delivered longer battery life along with stronger multithreaded performance. (Of course, last year’s model is heavier and this new Lunar Lake-powered system has better graphics performance.) It’s true that this system does have an NPU for Copilot+ PC AI features, but Microsoft hasn’t made those a must-have upgrade yet. I wish Intel’s Lunar Lake was more of a no-brainer upgrade. Still, this is a solid PC. At a sale price of $799 or so, none of these concerns feel like they matter. Read...

A travel agent says since Covid demand for overseas destinations has only gone up. Read...