At a glanceExpert`s Rating Pros Good CPU for the price Decent value on sale A 2-in-1 at a normal laptop price (but only on sale) Cons Too expensive at MSRP Display is dim and glossy Heavy and thick Speakers positioned wrong for 2-in-1 mode Pen costs extra Our Verdict The Lenovo IdeaPad 5i 2-in-1 is a 16-inch convertible PC that should have a lower MSRP. If you catch it on sale, you can score a casual 2-in-1 experience for a normal clamshell laptop price. But professionals looking for a serious drawing or note-taking experience should look elsewhere. Price When Reviewed This value will show the geolocated pricing text for product undefined Best Pricing Today Best Prices Today: Lenovo IdeaPad 5i 2-in-1 Retailer Price $799 View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket Best Prices Today: Check today’s prices The Lenovo IdeaPad 5i 2-in-1 is a budget-focused 16-inch 2-in-1 PC — at least that’s the pitch. You get a touchscreen and a 360-degree hinge so you can watch Netflix in bed, read on it like a tablet, and do other tablet-type tasks. It costs around as much as a normal clamshell laptop, but only if it’s currently on sale. The pricing story is messy. This machine is fine at the $649 sale price I see it for right now, but not at the $1,099 retail price Lenovo suggests. It does often seem to be on sale, which is how the PC market goes: Retail prices often feel like they’re set high to provide the appearance of extra value when a laptop is frequently discounted. At a sale price ($649 as I’m writing this), the IdeaPad 5i 2-in-1 delivers solid value. At full price, it doesn’t. Lenovo IdeaPad 5i 2-in-1: Specs The Lenovo IdeaPad 5i 2-in-1’s CPU is its best hardware feature. The Intel Core Ultra 7 255U CPU is fast for this class, and combining it with 16 GB of LPDDR5x-8000 RAM is a smart move. This is more CPU and faster RAM than you’d normally see in a PC in this class. The rest of the hardware isn’t too impressive. The Intel graphics here are slow — far behind Intel’s more impressive Lunar Lake hardware and the graphics you’d find on a Qualcomm Snapdragon X-powered ARM PC. And the NPU here is too slow for Microsoft’s Copilot+ PC features, so all the talk about it “unlocking the power of AI” is mostly marketing. There’s also no Thunderbolt or USB4 here, and the wireless hardware is limited to Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.2.  Model number: Lenovo IdeaPad 5 2-in-1 16IAL10 CPU: Intel Core Ultra 7 255U Memory: 16 GB LPDDR5x-8000 RAM Graphics/GPU: Intel graphics NPU: Intel AI Boost (up to 12 TOPS) Display: 16-inch 1920×1200 IPS display with touch screen and 60Hz refresh rate Storage: 512 GB PCIe Gen4 SSD Webcam: 1080p webcam Connectivity: 2x USB Type-C (1x USB 5Gbps, 1x USB 10Gbps), 2x USB Type-A (USB 5Gbps), 1x HDMI 1.4b, 1x combo audio jack, 1x microSD card reader Networking: Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.2 Biometrics: IR camera for Windows Hello Battery capacity: 57 Watt-hours Dimensions: 14.02 x 10.03 x 0.72 inches Weight: 4.41 pounds MSRP: $1,099 as tested The Lenovo IdeaPad 5i 2-in-1 is a laptop that only makes sense if you realize the $1,099 MSRP isn’t its real price. Lenovo IdeaPad 5i 2-in-1: Design and build quality Foundry / Chris Hoffman The 16-inch Lenovo IdeaPad 5i 2-in-1 has a plastic bottom and an aluminum top cover. Available in Luna Grey or Cosmic Blue, it’s a classic laptop design. The biggest problem is how heavy and chunky this machine is. With a weight of 4.41 pounds and a thickness of 0.72 inches, this isn’t the kind of 2-in-1 machine you’d want to walk around holding. If you’re watching Netflix in bed and have it resting in your lap, I can see it. If you have it lying flat on your desk, I get it. But it’s not a very portable 2-in-1 experience. Aside from that, the build quality feels fine but not “premium.” The hinge feels solid. While there’s a bit of flex to the keyboard deck if you press down on it (just a bit), that’s no surprise as it’s plastic. Lenovo IdeaPad 5i 2-in-1: Keyboard and trackpad Foundry / Chris Hoffman The Lenovo IdeaPad 5i 2-in-1 has a full-size keyboard complete with a number pad and white backlighting. It’s serviceable, but key travel feels on the shallow side for a laptop with 0.72 inches of thickness. It reminds me of keyboards I’ve used on thinner laptops. I don’t know if I’d call it mushy, exactly, but it’s certainly not snappy. If you do a lot of typing and a crisp keyboard experience is important to you, this probably isn’t the laptop I’d recommend. The trackpad feels a little on the small side for a 16-inch laptop with a keyboard deck this large, but it’s not far off. It’s a fairly average trackpad. It’s responsive enough when I move my finger over it, but the click-down action is on the loud side — I think most people would prefer a quieter click. Lenovo IdeaPad 5i 2-in-1: Display and speakers Foundry / Chris Hoffman The Lenovo IdeaPad 5i 2-in-1 has a 16-inch IPS display with a 1920×1200 resolution and a 60Hz refresh rate. For a 16-inch laptop that costs $649 on sale, that’s not too bad. Since this is a 2-in-1 machine, it has a touchscreen. It also supports pen input, but this machine does not include a pen. That’s sold separately. The display is very dim at up to 300 nits of maximum brightness. That’s a problem since the coating is glossy to enable that touch screen. This display is very susceptible to reflections, and it doesn’t have enough brightness to overpower them. In a bright sunlit room (or, even worse, outdoors), the reflections will be a problem. For Netflix in a dark room, it’s not a problem. I don’t normally obsess about color accuracy in displays, but artists often consider 2-in-1 machines for drawing. It’s worth noting that this isn’t the type of high-end display with carefully tuned color accuracy that you’d want if you were doing graphic design. The speakers are loud enough, but there’s nearly no bass here. They don’t sound particularly good. And that’s in clamshell mode! If you put this 2-in-1 PC in tent mode, the speakers will be firing away from you. If you put it in face-down mode, the speakers will be muffled. They’ll be firing into the surface under the PC. This machine feels like a clamshell laptop that Lenovo put a 360-degree hinge on. It wasn’t designed as a 2-in-1 for media. Lenovo IdeaPad 5i 2-in-1: Webcam, microphone, biometrics The Lenovo IdeaPad 5i 2-in-1 has a 1080p webcam, and it’s fine. It’s not a premium experience. In my office, on a bright-but-cloudy day, even that natural lighting led to a noisy picture. The colors don’t look particularly lifelike. It’s better than the poor-quality 720p webcams I see on some budget laptops, however. It does have a physical webcam shutter switch, which is great to see. The microphone setup here is nothing to write home about, either. It works, and it does a good job of canceling out background noise. But it didn’t pick up my voice with particularly crisp audio quality. These are serviceable for online meetings, but not impressive. This machine does have an IR camera for Windows Hello, so you can sign in with your face just by opening the laptop. That’s great to see. Lenovo IdeaPad 5i 2-in-1: Connectivity Foundry / Chris Hoffman Connectivity-wise, the Lenovo IdeaPad 5i 2-in-1 feels like a budget laptop. This machine has a good amount of ports, but they have lower-tier specs. You don’t get any Thunderbolt or USB4 ports, and the HDMI port here is HDMI 1.4b rather than HDMI 2.1. On the left side, this machine has an HDMI port and two USB Type-C ports along with a combo audio jack. On the right side, it’s got two USB Type-A ports and a microSD card reader. Since the laptop charges via USB Type-C, that means you’ll always be plugging the charging cable into the left side. A USB Type-C port on each side would’ve been nicer. The Lenovo IdeaPad 5i 2-in-1 supports Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.2, which feels a little dated. Qualcomm Snapdragon X laptops around the $1,099 price point (or less) support Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4, so it would be nice to see Lenovo doing more here. I’ve noticed more laptops omitting Wi-Fi 6E support and going for Wi-Fi 6. Lenovo IdeaPad 5i 2-in-1: Performance The Lenovo IdeaPad 5i 2-in-1’s strength is its CPU performance. It does feel like Lenovo splurged on the CPU compared to everything else in this machine. Perhaps they got a good deal from Intel. In day-to-day desktop usage, the IdeaPad delivers a snappy experience. As always, we ran the Lenovo IdeaPad 5i 2-in-1 through our standard benchmarks to see how it performs. Foundry / Chris Hoffman First, we run PCMark 10 to get an idea of overall system performance. With an overall score of 7,058, the Lenovo IdeaPad 5i 2-in-1 machine delivered solid performance and didn’t perform like a budget laptop. That’s solid for $649 and table-stakes for $1,099. The pricing game makes this machine difficult to judge. Foundry / Chris Hoffman Next, we run Cinebench R20. This is a heavily multithreaded benchmark that focuses on overall CPU performance. It’s a quick benchmark, so cooling under extended workloads isn’t a factor. But, since it’s heavily multithreaded, CPUs with more cores have a huge advantage. With a Cinebench R20 multi-threaded score of 4,787, this machine beat Intel Lunar Lake-powered machines like the Samsung Galaxy Book5 Pro 360 and the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 2-in-1. Lunar Lake systems are more power efficient, have much higher performance, and they can actually run Windows 11’s Copilot+ PC AI features. But they struggle with multithreaded performance due to Lunar Lake’s lower core count. Foundry / 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. This machine completed the encode process in 1,348 seconds, which is about 22 and a half minutes. It’s a reasonable result, but this machine isn’t a speed demon compared to high-end laptops, just solid for its class. Foundry / 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 3DMark Time Spy score of 2,439, the integrated Intel graphics here didn’t impress. That’s a shame, as it would make this machine more useful for light gaming. The impressive Intel Arc graphics found in Lunar Lake machines haven’t made their way to other Intel systems yet. Overall, the Lenovo IdeaPad 5i 2-in-1 delivered solid performance for a $649 laptop but not what you’d want to see on a $1,099 laptop. Whether you’ll be happy with it depends on how much you paid. Lenovo IdeaPad 5i 2-in-1: Battery life The Lenovo IdeaPad 5i 2-in-1 has a 57 Watt-hour battery, which is on the low side. Battery life is fine, but not particularly impressive for a laptop in 2025. Foundry / 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, which meant cranking the brightness way up. 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 Lenovo IdeaPad 5i 2-in-1 lasted for 619 minutes on average before suspending itself. That’s a bit under 10 and a half hours. A larger battery would give this machine more staying power, but this machine is already so heavy, and a larger battery would also make it heavier — that’s not ideal. Many 2-in-1s are designed to be lightweight portable machines with long battery life so they can be used as tablets for drawing. This machine delivers reasonable battery life, but it’s not going to keep going and going like modern 2-in-1s with Intel Lunar Lake or Qualcomm Snapdragon X CPUs. Lenovo IdeaPad 5i 2-in-1: Conclusion The Lenovo IdeaPad 5i 2-in-1 is a laptop that only makes sense if you realize the $1,099 MSRP isn’t its real price. That full price is silly. At $649, you’re getting a 16-inch 2-in-1 machine with a 360-degree hinge for not much more than a normal 16-inch clamshell laptop. You can have the 2-in-1 experience and even enjoy pen input if you buy a pen separately. But the display, weight, battery life, and lack of an included pen mean this isn’t a 2-in-1 experience intended for artists who care about serious color reproduction. It’s also not for workers who want a pen-friendly device they can carry around all day. It’s decent as a casual 2-in-1 experience. However, the position of the speakers is a real problem. This machine may be nice for video streaming in convertible mode, but you’ll want headphones to hear what you’re watching. Read...

We were fans of Wyze’s original smart deadbolt from 2022—heck we even gave it an Editors’ Choice award—but it arrived with a key drawback: it only supported Bluetooth, not Wi-Fi or any other wireless protocols.  While the first Wyze Lock Bolt is inexpensive compared to other smart locks in its class and boasts an easy setup process, its lack of Wi-Fi or other wireless connectivity means it can’t be controlled remotely without help from the Wyze Video Doorbell. It also suffered from a ho-hum industrial design, and there’s no keyhole option.  Wyze appears to have rectified those issues with the Wyze Lock Bolt v2, which arrives with built-in Wi-Fi, a snazzier tempered-glass design, and a mechanical lock with a key.  On sale now for $79.98, just a $10 premium compared to the original model, the Lock Bolt v2’s Wi-Fi support means it can be controlled and accessed from anywhere via the Wyze app, so there’s no longer any need for helper devices such as the Wyze Video Doorbell. The lock also works with Alexa and Google Home, ideal for allowing the lock to trigger Alexa or Gemini for Home automations.  The dull metal-and-plastic look of the original Lock Bolt has gotten a much-needed update for the Lock Bolt v2, with the latter sporting “high-grade” and anti-glare tempered glass that’s resistant to scratches and smudges, Wyze says.  Boasting an IP53 certification (meaning it’s resistant to dust and water sprayed at an angle up to 60 degrees on either side of vertical), the Lock Bolt v2 is equipped with a self-learning, AI-powered fingerprint scanner that logs the pressure, angle, and even “tiny skin shifts” of your finger presses, allowing the scanner to recognize fingerprints in just half a second, Wyze says.  There’s also a keypad that stores up to 50 different access codes, while a mechanical lock lets you unlock the deadbolt with the included key, even if the lock loses power. Speaking of power, the Wyze Lock Bolt v2 can run on eight AA batteries (included) for up to 8 months. If the batteries die before you can replace them, you can operate the lock with a power bank via the USB-C emergency port.  Other features include auto-lock with a time delay, anti-peep technology (which means you can tap in extra digits before or after your PIN to keep snoopers from stealing your code), a built-in alarm that sounds if the lock is jammed or after too many unsuccessful unlock attempts, and yes, integration with the Wyze Doorbell (for the ability to lock or unlock your door directly from the doorbell’s live video feed).  This story is part of TechHive’s in-depth coverage of the best smart locks. Read...

Cyware has enhanced its Quarterback AI platform with new agentic features to improve security operations and streamline threat intelligence workflows. Read...

How is it possible that we’re already looking at the end of 2025? The smart home market continued to expand and become ever more mainstream this year, as manufacturers introduced new products that are easier to set up and use daily. The year’s biggest innovations revolve around AI, followed by the Matter standard that continues to break down the walls between brands, although there is still no standard for important product categories, including security cameras. In any event, this is the time when we celebrate the best smart home products you can buy in 2025. As is our practice, this list is not limited to products introduced in 2025, but they are all available for purchase today. And since this year is not quite over, and there are a handful of new products we’re still waiting to review, we might circle back to this and make an addition or two. Watch this space. Best smart lighting ecosystem: Philips Hue Philips Hue White and Color Ambiance A19 (Bluetooth + Zigbee) Read our review Best Prices Today: $54.99 at Best Buy | $55.27 at Amazon | Not Available at Adorama Philips Hue has long been our lighting ecosystem of choice, offering a peerless section of smart bulbs, lamps, light strips, outdoor lights, and now security cameras as well as video doorbells. But this year, Philips Hue is taking things up a notch with a new Hue Bridge Pro that can handle more than 200 Hue devices (150 lights plus 50-ish accessories) while also turning your Hue lights into motion sensors. With the Bridge Pro’s added capacity plus its ability to turn every room into a motion zone, the Philips Hue lighting ecosystem is looking stronger than ever.  Best lighting control system: Lutron Caséta  Lutron Diva Smart Dimmer Read our review Best Prices Today: $69.95 at Amazon If you’re intent on installing smart light switches to control your existing home lights, look no further than the Lutron Caséta smart home ecosystem. With its proprietary Clear Connect technology, Lutron switches like the Diva Smart Dimmer are tops at controlling home lighting, and the system is compatible with Amazon Alexa, Apple HomeKit, Google Home, Samsung SmartThings, and even Sonos speakers. Beyond smart lights, the Lutron Caséta ecosystem also comprises smart shades and blinds, motion sensors, ceiling-fan controllers, keypads, and remotes.  Best smart lock: Level Lock Pro Level Lock Pro Read our review It may look like an ordinary deadbolt (that’s a good thing, by the way), but the Level Lock Pro is a state-of-the-art smart lock that can be unlocked with an NFC-enabled key fob, a smart phone, a smart watch, or a PIN (when used with its optional keypad). The lock also supports geofencing, meaning it can lock or unlock your door as you leave or approach your home. Because it supports Matter, the Level Lock Pro will work with the Alexa, Apple Home, Google Home, and Samsung SmartThings ecosystems, and it can be bridged into your Wi-Fi network via an Amazon Echo or Echo Dot Max, an Apple HomePod or HomePod mini, a Google Nest Hub Max or 2nd-gen Hub, or any other smart speaker or display that offers Thread border router functionality. Best video doorbell for Alexa users TP-Link Tapo D225 Video Doorbell Camera Read our review Best Prices Today: $89.99 at Amazon | $99.99 at TP-Link/Tapo Yes, Amazon just shipped several new Ring video doorbells, but we’ve not had the opportunity to review any of them. But the Tapo D225 Video Doorbell doesn’t win its spot on this list by default. Despite its low street price of just $90, this porch sentinel boasts 2K video resolution, a head-to-toe view of your visitor, and it comes with a plug-in chime so you’ll never miss someone who rings the bell. You won’t need to worry about the ongoing cost of a subscription for cloud storage, as there’s an onboard microSD card slow, and you can operate it on its internal battery or hardwire it to low-voltage power. Take the latter route and you’ll even be able to set up 24/7 recording. As our reviewer summed it up: “[the Tapo D225 Video Doorbell Camera might not be much to look at, but it delivers a lot of features and it gets the job done.” Best video doorbell for Apple Home users Aqara Doorbell Camera Hub G410 Read our review Best Prices Today: $119.99 at Amazon Prime | $129.99 at Amazon The headline of our Aqara Doorbell Camera Hub G410 review reads, simply, “Yeah, it does that, too.” That’s because there are so few things it’s not capable of. What’s more, it can also function as a complete Matter-compatible smart home hub, thanks to its Thread and Zigbee radios (although support for the latter is limited to Aqara’s own Zigbee devices). You don’t need to be an Apple Home aficionado to appreciate this doorbell–it’s also compatible with the Amazon Alexa and Google Home ecosystems–but Apple users will welcome it as one of the few video doorbells to support Apple’s HomeKit and HomeKit Secure. Best video doorbell for Google Home users Google Nest Doorbell (wired, 3rd gen) Read our review Best Prices Today: $174.99 at Amazon We said Google’s Gemini was a game-changer in our review of the Nest Doorbell (wired, 3rd gen) largely because of that AI’s ability to describe and summarize what security cameras like this have seen. Gemini also empowers you to search all of the camera’s high-resolution recordings with natural-language queries–that sure beats scrubbing along a timeline looking for a specific event. Google doesn’t offer the same features in a battery-powered model, yet, so you’ll need to have a low-voltage transformer to install this. But it will look attractive next to your door while delivering a head-to-toe view of your visitors. Best indoor security camera for Amazon Alexa users Arlo Essential Pan Tilt Indoor (model VMC3073-100NAS) Read our review Best Prices Today: $14.99 at Amazon Don’t let this indoor camera’s low price tag fool you. This home security device is packed with more features than you might expect for the money, including 2K video resolution and a pan/tilt motor that can spin its lens 360 degrees and tilt it over a 180-degree arc. The small camera runs on Arlo Intelligence to produce AI-powered alerts for people, vehicles, animals, and packages. Be aware that this is an AC-powered camera–there is not battery option–and you’ll need to pay for a subscription to unlock all of its features. Best indoor security camera for Google Home users Nest Cam Indoor (wired, 3rd gen) Best Prices Today: $99.98 at Amazon No, we haven’t published our complete hands-on review of the Nest Cam Indoor (wired, 3rd gen), but we have enough experience with it to know that it’s the best choice for smart home dwellers in the Google Home ecosystem. Like Google’s latest Nest Doorbell and Nest Cam Outdoor, this indoor model delivers 2K video resolution, but the real benefit to be had is Google’s Gemini AI–and you’ll want to pay for a Google Home Premium subscription to get the full benefit of it (as with all of Google’s Nest cameras, you do get a rolling three hours of event-based video recordings without a sub). None of Google’s new and most powerful cameras have battery options, you’ll need to plug each of them into a nearby AC outlet, but you won’t find a better home security camera if your life revolves around Google Home. Best outdoor security camera for Apple Home users Aqara Camera Hub G5 Pro WLAN Read our review Best Prices Today: $159.99 at Amazon Prime | $169.99 at Amazon Best outdoor security camera for Google Home users The Aqara Camera Hub G5 Pro is the rare smart home device that’s not just an outdoor Wi-fi home security, but it’s also a Matter-certified outdoor smart home hub complete with Thread and Zigbee radios. Now before you get too excited, know that its Zigbee radio can only control Aqara’s own Zigbee smart home devices, but that offering is pretty solid. As for the camera element of this device, its 4-megapixel image sensor captures video in resolution of 2688×1520 pixels, and it’s fully compatible with Apple Home, including HomeKit Secure Video. If you’re concerned about finding an outdoor outlet to plug it in, consider its PoE cousin and run an ethernet cable from your compatible router for both data and power. Nest Cam Outdoor (wired, 2nd gen) Best Prices Today: $119.97 at Amazon We haven’t yet published our review of the Nest Cam Outdoor (wired, 2nd gen), either, but we installed it at the same time we conducted our Nest Doorbell (wired, 3rd gen) review and have been using it continually since then. The highlight is, of course, the integration with Google’s Gemini AI, and its ability to summarize the events that happened within its field of view. Unlike most cameras, you’ll get need at least some free recordings in the cloud, but you’ll need to sign up for a subscription to get enough to be truly useful, and that’s also the only way to unlock Gemini. Best floodlight camera: Eufy Floodlight Camera E340  Eufy Floodlight Cam E340 Read our review Best Prices Today: $219.99 at Amazon Our favorite floodlight camera isn’t just a floodlight and security cam in one–it’s actually a floodlight plus two cameras, including one with a 3K wide-angle lens and a second with a 2K telephoto lens. Equipped with a pan/tilt motor, the Eufy Floodlight Camera E340’s dual cameras can pan 360 degrees over a 120-degree arc, perfect for covering large swathes of your property, while its twin LED panels can illuminate the area with up to 2,000 lumens of brightness. The E340 also offers up to 128GB of local storage on a (user-supplied) microSD card, meaning no need for cloud storage, or you can go big with up to 16TB of hard drive storage when using the Eufy HomeBase S380. Read...

A new laptop feels like a fresh digital start: fast, clean, and ready for anything. But before you dive in, it’s wise to perform a quick system check, because many devices come with unnecessary software, suboptimal settings, and disabled security features. We’ll show you the 10 most important steps you should take immediately after switching on for the first time, so that your Windows 11 laptop runs at full performance and with the best possible protection right from the start. 1. Setting up Windows and installing updates The first step is the most important: setting up Windows carefully can save you a lot of trouble later. After logging in (whether with a Microsoft or local account), you should check for updates immediately: Open Settings ? Windows Update. Click on “Check for updates” and install everything. Restart the computer and repeat the process until no more updates are pending. Many new laptops sit in storage for months before sale, so important security and driver updates may be missing. Optionally, you can also check your manufacturer’s website (e.g. Lenovo, Dell, HP, Asus) for the latest drivers for graphics or chipset. This ensures stability and performance. Tip: If Windows annoys you with requests or recommendations for a Microsoft account, you can go offline during setup. Windows will then automatically offer a local account. 2. Find and uninstall unnecessary software Manufacturers love to overload laptops with trial versions, tools, and mini-games. Such superfluous programs eat up memory, tend to run in the background, and can slow down your beautiful new system. That’s why it’s best to clear them out right at the start. Here’s what you should do: Open Settings ? Apps ? Installed apps. Sort by installation date or manufacturer. Uninstall anything you don’t know or don’t need. Tip: You can do an even more thorough job with tools such as Revo Uninstaller, which can also detect hidden remnants in the registry. 3. Install important programs and tools Now comes the creative part. This is where your laptop gets its personalized basic configuration. No new Windows 11 device should be without this software: Browser: Chrome, Firefox, or Brave. Gamers go for Opera GX. Office suite: Microsoft 365, LibreOffice, or Google Docs. PDF tool: Adobe Acrobat Reader, SumatraPDF, or PDF24. Antivirus: Windows Defender is solid, but if you want more control, install an external tool. Password manager: Bitwarden, 1Password, or KeePassXC. Cloud backup: OneDrive, Dropbox, or iDrive. Tip: Install your most important programs immediately after the update process. This will give you a clear system status that you can rely on in the event of problems later on. Ninite also allows you to install several programs at the same time without annoying toolbars or additional software. 4. Important Windows settings for laptops Windows 11 comes with many smart functions, but not all of them are optimally preconfigured. A few clicks in the settings make everyday life much more pleasant and secure: Privacy: Under Settings ? Privacy & Security ? Windows permissions, you can switch off unnecessary transmission of data, advertising, and location access. Windows Defender: Check under Windows Security ? Virus & Threat Protection whether real-time protection is active. OneDrive sync: If you prefer local folders, deactivate, or limit the automatic upload. Default apps: Select your preferred programs for browser, mail, and photos–otherwise Windows likes to open Edge & Co. without being asked. You can find the settings under “Default apps” (simply tap in the Start window). You can also get there via Settings ? Apps ? Default apps. Tip: Activate the “Show file extensions” option in File Explorer. This makes it easier to recognize suspicious files and provides simple protection against phishing and malware. To do this, click on View in the menu bar and tick the “File name extensions” box. 5. Configure touchpad, keyboard, and function keys Fine-tuning the input devices is worth its weight in gold, especially on laptops. A touchpad that is too sensitive or an impractical FN assignment can quickly become annoying and slow down work processes. Touchpad gestures: Open Settings ? Bluetooth & Devices ? Touchpad. Here you can customize or deactivate gestures for scrolling, zooming, and changing the desktop. Mouse speed: In the same settings, you can adjust the pointer speed (“cursor speed”). Function keys: Many manufacturers offer tools such as Asus Armoury Crate or HP Command Center to configure FN keys. Tip: Use three-finger gestures for multitasking. This allows you to switch between apps or jump to the desktop at lightning speed. This saves time in everyday life and allows you to work in a more relaxed manner. 6. Optimize battery and energy settings A fresh battery lasts a long time at the beginning, but with the right settings, your laptop will run even more efficiently. Windows 11 offers several options for fine-tuning runtime, performance, and power consumption. Open Settings ? System ? Power & battery. Under Energy status, select what is more important to you: Best Energy Efficiency, Balanced, or Best Performance. You can reduce the screen brightness in battery mode by a few levels. This often gives you an additional 30-60 minutes runtime. Activate energy-saving mode when the battery level drops below 30 percent. Tip for technology fans: Use the command “powercfg /batteryreport” in the terminal (Win X ? Terminal (Admin)) to create a detailed battery report. This shows how often your battery has already been charged, what capacity it still has, and when it’s time to replace it. To protect your battery in the long term, we also recommend: Regular intermediate charges instead of continuous operation on the mains adapter. No permanent 100 percent charging, this stresses the energy cells. If the battery isn’t used for a longer period of time, charge it to around 50 percent, and store it in a cool place (but not cold). 7. Strengthen security and data protection As soon as your system is up and running, you should activate the most important security functions. Windows 11 already has everything you need for this, you just have to switch it on. Activate Windows Hello: Under Settings ? Accounts ? Sign-in options, you can set up a PIN, fingerprint, or facial recognition. Activate BitLocker or device encryption: This will protect your data even in the event of theft. Check the firewall: This should always be active. Wi-Fi security: Delete old networks, avoid public hotspots, or secure them with a VPN. Tip: If you use Windows 11 Pro, you should activate BitLocker. This encrypts the entire hard drive and may be linked to your Microsoft account for recovery. On devices with TPM 2.0 (standard since 2021), this works automatically. If you want maximum control over your privacy, tools like O&O ShutUp10 help to deactivate hidden telemetry services with one click. 8. Set up backup and restore Nothing is more annoying than losing a perfectly set-up system because an update interferes or a virus strikes. That’s why we recommend creating a full backup right at the start. Open Control Panel ? System and Security ? Backup and Restore (Windows 7). Don’t be confused by the term “Windows 7,” this is just an old name that Microsoft still uses. Select “Create system image” and save it to an external hard drive. It’s best to set a restore point immediately afterwards. To do this, simply type “Create restore point” in the search. Tip: Alternatively, you can also use cloud services like OneDrive or Google Drive to automatically back up personal files. If you prefer convenience and are prepared to spend a little money, you can use tools such as Macrium Reflect or AcronisTrue Image. These allow you to create complete images and schedule regular backups automatically. 9. Performance tuning and convenience functions A few quick tweaks not only make Windows faster, but also more convenient. Reduce AutoStart programs: In the Task Manager (Ctrl Shift Esc ? “Autostart”), deactivate everything you don’t need all the time. Activate memory optimization: Settings ? System ? Memory ? Switch on “Memory optimization.” Windows will then automatically delete temporary files. Customize visual effects: Enter “Advanced system settings” in the search and select the “Customize for optimal performance” function via Advanced ? Performance ? Settings. Use snap layouts and virtual desktops: Arrange windows flexibly with Win Z and switch between workspaces with Win Tab. Tip: For power users, it’s worth taking a look at PowerToys. This free Microsoft tool provides additional functions such as window snap, keyboard shortcuts, or color pipette. 10. Extras for advanced users If you want to be really precise, you can now make a few fine adjustments that are often only known to experienced users: Check BIOS/UEFI: Call up with Del or F2 at startup. There you can adjust Secure Boot, boot sequence, or fan profiles. Check manufacturer tools: Programs such as My Asus, Lenovo Vantage, or HP Support Assistant provide firmware updates. Decide for yourself which ones you want to use or keep. Gaming optimization: For laptops with a dedicated GPU, it’s worth checking the energy profiles in the graphics card control. Deactivate Windows features: Control Panel ? Programs ? Programs and Features ? Activate or deactivate Windows features. Unnecessary services such as “Internet Explorer 11” or “XPS services” can be switched off here. Read...

All Blacks’ 2026 schedule features 13 tests, northern tour and London finals weekend. Read...

TL;DR: PDF Agile for Windows is an all-in-one PDF editor, converter, and viewer, and you can get a lifetime license for just $27.97 with code AGILE through November 20 (MSRP $119). PDFs aren’t exciting, but finally having the right tool to deal with them? That’s a win. And actually being able to own it with a single payment vs. never-ending fees in 2025? That’s a deal you can’t pass up. Meet PDF Agile, a full-featured PDF powerhouse that’s yours for life with a one-time payment of just $27.97 with coupon code AGILE at checkout (MSRP $119). This Windows-exclusive software is exactly what the name suggests: agile. It’s quick to install, easy to use, and comes packed with features that make working with PDFs actually enjoyable. From editing scanned text with built-in OCR to converting PDFs into Word, Excel, or PowerPoint formats without messing up the layout, PDF Agile makes it all surprisingly painless. Want to password-protect a file? Done. Merge a bunch of PDFs into one? Easy. Split one apart? Sure. Annotate, highlight, crop, redact, reorder pages, sign a doc, compare two files, or even shrink a giant PDF down to a manageable size. Yes. Other handy features include adding bookmarks, resizing pages, creating presentations, and capturing screenshots with editable text. Code AGILE expires November 20, so make sure to hop on this deal before that. Get your PDF Agile lifetime license for $27.97 (MSRP $119). PDF Agile for Windows: Lifetime SubscriptionSee Deal StackSocial prices subject to change. Read...

There’s a very specific form factor of OLED gaming monitor that I find appealing: the size upgrade that doesn’t come with a resolution bump. That means you get a bigger, bolder picture to play on, without taxing your gaming desktop or laptop with more pixels to push. Today you can get a 45-inch OLED ultrawide from LG for $899.99, a cool $800 off the original price. Like I said, the LG Ultragear OLED 45GX90SA-B pulls a neat trick, blowing out the 3440×1440 resolution and 21:9 aspect ratio normally found on 34-inch ultrawides all the way to 45 inches wide. That’s about 733 square inches for the full panel compared to 419 square inches. It’s way bigger is the point I’m making here, all without any extra power needed to deliver the same visuals. Granted, the resolution isn’t as splendiferous on the similarly-sized (but actually slightly smaller) 49-inch, super-duper-mega ultrawides, and you won’t get any extra multitasking capability when not playing a game or watching video. But I think it’s a good tradeoff for anyone who doesn’t have the latest and greatest graphics card. This monitor has plenty of other high-end features, including a dramatic curved panel for immersion, a 240Hz refresh rate, and a .03ms response time for high-speed multiplayer gaming, USB-C with 65 watts of power for easy laptop connections (though the most powerful gaming laptops might need a little more juice), and built-in WebOS apps for streaming content with no PC needed at all. $800 off the retail price is pretty dang fantastic, though I wouldn’t blame you if you think $900 is still too much, even for a very nice monitor. If you’re hunting for a better deal, check out my picks from all the pre-Black Friday sales currently ongoing. And if you just want to know which one is best, then check out PCWorld’s constantly-updated monitor roundup. Get a giant 45-inch OLED monitor for $800 offView Deal Read...

If you’re reading PCWorld, you probably know that it’s important to keep your PC updated so that security issues are patched. And you probably know the same is true for your phone, and even things like a PlayStation. But don’t forget that your network gear is also, basically, just a bunch of computers. And thank Asus for reminding us, as it patches DSL routers to close exploitable security flaws. Specifically, Asus has issued a firmware update for three models of relatively old DSL routers with combination Wi-Fi functionality: the DSL-AC51, the DSL-N16, and the DSL-AC750. Released in 2015 and 2017, at least as far as I can tell from a quick search, these are fairly straightforward models without super advanced features even for the time. But if you happen to have one in your home, you want to patch that firmware post-haste. They’re susceptible to an authentication bypass vulnerability, as published on the multi-vendor record Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) database and spotted by Bleeping Computer. The direct Asus support pages for the DSL-AC51, the DSL-N16, and the DSL-AC750 are there, in the links that I just posted in that sentence. Firmware can be downloaded and applied via the web-based interface for most routers, if it hasn’t already done so automatically or manually applied by downloading the file and then uploading it in the GUI over the local network. What if your router is susceptible to this particular vulnerability, but it’s out of service and not getting patched? Then Asus suggests that you disable basically all advanced functions, including remote WAN access, port forwarding, DNS, VPN server, DMZ, port triggering, and FTP. Which specific older, unsupported DSL routers does this apply to? Don’t ask me because Asus is not saying. I don’t have DSL, but it occurred to me that I don’t know the brand and model of my cable modem or Wi-Fi router off the top of my head. I think I’ll dig into the rat’s nest behind my printer, just so I can write them down somewhere a little more accessible. Read...

It won’t whip the llama’s ass, but Opera has added a Spotify visualizer to its latest iteration of its free Opera One browser. Known as Sonic, the visualizer will be part of Opera’s Dynamic Themes, which use the WebGPU standard to employ a dynamic theme that runs in the background of the browser. It’s essentially a shader, which uses your PC’s graphics engine to generate the moving background. The browser also comes with a music player, which is set to Spotify by default. Users will have an opportunity to upgrade to Spotify Premium as part of the browser upgrade, Opera said. Opera’s Sonic theme (which has nothing to do with the Sega game and/or the accompanying cartoon and movie franchise) takes the Spotify input and transforms it into a dynamic background. “With the Sonic Theme, the browser captures audio from the sidebar and converts it into a power spectrum texture, where one axis represents frequency and the other represents time,” Opera said in a blog post. “This texture is passed to the shader, where each pixel samples the current audio intensity using its screen position and animation-driven coordinates. The shader applies a frequency compensation curve to balance the spectrum and outputs an amplitude value that drives animation, color, and other visual effects in sync with the music. So if that all sounds complicated, just remember that whatever you’re seeing on the screen is completely unique to what you’re listening to.” Sonic is an interesting touch. As any old tech head knows, the original visualizer was found in Winamp, which would sync visualizations to the beat and flow of music being played. Winamp quietly returned in 2022, then received another update in 2023. Is Opera’s Sonic as good as Winamp? At this point, I wouldn’t say so. But Opera has far more resources than the small Winamp team does. And who knows? Further iterations could make this something special. Opera One is free and separate from the company’s Opera Neon AI browser and the Opera GX browser for gamers, each of which come with their own unique features. Read...