TL;DR: Skip the pricey subscriptions—get Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2019 for a one-time payment of just $19.97. Not every project needs the newest, flashiest software. For many professionals, students, and everyday users, Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2019 is more than enough—and now it’s yours for just $19.97. Office 2019 remains one of the most trusted and widely used productivity suites worldwide, giving you lifetime access to the tools you rely on most: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote, Publisher, and Access. With improved cloud connectivity and updated features, you’ll have everything you need to create, edit, organize, and present without recurring subscription fees. The 2019 versions include: Word – Powerful word processing with enhanced inking tools Excel – Advanced data analysis features, including new formulas PowerPoint – Fresh presentation tools to keep your slides engaging Outlook – Smarter email and contact management Publisher and Access – Create professional publications and manage databases OneNote – Organize notes, ideas, and to-do lists in one easy-to-access digital notebook This is a one-time purchase, tied directly to your Windows device, so you’ll never have to worry about monthly bills or expiring trials. Get a lifetime license to MS Office Professional Plus 2019 for $19.97 (MSRP $229) through October 12. Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2019 for WindowsSee Deal StackSocial prices subject to change. Read...

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At a glanceExpert`s Rating Pros Highly readable e-ink screen Light and portable Good keyboard Cons Way too expensive No backlight Limited functionality Our Verdict The Freewrite Traveler is way too expensive and lacks basic features like a backlight or spell check, but its focused interface and solid keyboard mean it’s better than other, similar devices. Price When Reviewed This value will show the geolocated pricing text for product undefined Best Pricing Today Best Prices Today: Freewrite Traveler Retailer Price Astrohaus $549 View Deal Check Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket Best Prices Today: Check today’s prices I really like the Freewrite Traveler. And I kind of hate that I like it. As I said in a review for a similar device, the KingJim Pomera DM250, I’ve been looking for a small, travel-friendly, dedicated writing gadget (a “writer deck,” if you will) for a long time. And I’ve been aware of the Astrohaus Freewrite devices for a long time, too, and considered the Traveler as an ideal form factor for this admittedly niche category. But various aspects of it rubbed me the wrong way. Michael Crider/Foundry The Freewrite marketing has always smacked of “hipster” to me. It’s the same sort of smarmy, condescending tone that seems to pervade Moleskine notebooks. While I can understand its hyper-focused approach — that’s kind of the whole point — its deliberate lack of utility rankled against my instincts as a tech nerd. And given those limitations, Astrohaus’s prices for its various devices seem ridiculous to me. The Traveler, for example, has specs that would shame an entry-level Chromebook or Kindle, yet costs $550, and hasn’t seen an update in years. (On the subject of price: I bought this particular model secondhand, hence the various dings in the plastic, and with my own money. My editor Brad might slap me if I tried to expense something like this.) Freewrite Traveler: Look at me! I’m writing! Even the aesthetics of the device are smarmy. Whereas the Pomera DM250 went with an understated soft-touch plastic with no exterior logos at all, the Freewrite Traveler has a MASSIVE, engraved metal logo on its glossy lid, the kind of branding that would make even Apple cringe. The interior is attention-grabbing white with red and chrome accents. It’s loud, which is almost ironic for something that’s supposed to be small and dedicated to writing. Michael Crider/Foundry It uses a non-backlit, membrane keyboard. Its small e-ink screen also has no backlight, which presents a serious impediment if you want to use the device in anything but a well-lit room (or add on a book light like it’s 1995). Between the processing power that would be bested by an ancient graphing calculator and the 5.5-inch e-ink screen, the refresh rate is so slow that I’m constantly two or three words ahead as I type this very review. The Freewrite Traveler is overpriced, underpowered, and incessantly pleased with itself. And dammit, I have to admit that it’s pretty darn good. The Freewrite Traveler is overpriced, underpowered, and incessantly pleased with itself. And dammit, I have to admit that it’s pretty darn good. Freewrite Traveler: Minimalism to the max For the distraction-free writing purist, most of these drawbacks are in fact positives, with the possible exception of the price. The lack of advanced capabilities, including any kind of serious editing chops or spell check, means there’s nothing to do but churn out words. (And lots of spelling mistakes.) Astrohaus software lacks even basic copy and paste functionality, so there’s nothing to do but write, write, write in a sort of stream of consciousness flow. You get multiple documents to work in and three different folders, that’s it. Michael Crider/Foundry When it’s time to get your words onto something with more electronic oomph than a Palm Pilot, the easiest way to do so is the Send button. This automatically syncs via Wi-Fi with the Astrohaus Postbox cloud platform, which can also automatically send text documents to Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, and Evernote via connected accounts. This is characteristically clunky — when I connected the service to Google I instantly started getting email alerts because it just sent me an email with the relevant text. But it is incredibly fast and easy, literally one button. Alternately you can scorn any kind of wireless connection altogether, plug the thing directly into a PC, tablet or phone, and simply copy off your words as text files in a simple storage device. The Postbox web interface is also where you can adjust a couple of settings. You can choose between three, three whole font sizes and zero actual fonts, and add a lockscreen for a bit of privacy in case your Traveler gets lost or stolen. You can also change between keyboard layouts (though the physical layout comes in anything you want, so long as you want US-focused ANSI). You can choose between extremely pretentious e-ink screensavers of famous literary figures, (again, shades of Moleskine) or even more Freewrite branding that’s slightly less annoying. Aaaaaand… that’s all. Michael Crider/Foundry The device itself offers barely anything else in terms of customization or tools. The tiny, superfluous strip of a screen beneath the 5.5-inch primary display can show a clock or date, word count, a timer, or simply be left blank. You can move or delete drafts in the three folders. You can connect to new Wi-Fi networks. And that’s about it. We’re taking minimalism to an extreme here — even the obsessively focused Pomera DM250 had at least as much function as, say, a digital organizer from the 1990s. As limiting as I find the Freewrite Traveler, I like it a lot more than the Pomera. The first reason is the one that soured me on the latter without any hope of forgiveness: the keyboard. The Traveler’s keyboard isn’t amazing, but it is solid. Roughly the same as a quality laptop keyboard, though not up to the high standards of, say, a ThinkPad laptop. It’s enough to blow the cramped, non-standard-sized keyboard of the Pomera out of the water.  The Freewrite’s keyboard is a standard 60% layout, and far more comfortable than the cramped, cheap one on the Pomera. Michael Crider/Foundry The typing experience of that device was about the same as a cheap tablet keyboard, whereas the Freewrite feels like something that’s designed with typing in mind. Perhaps the fact that Freewrite’s flagship Smart Typewriter/Hemingwrite device (ugh) uses a standard-sized mechanical keyboard should have clued me into the way this company is far more focused on the experience of typing, not just the functional input of text. And since I’m mentioning that, I’ll say that those who have smaller hands (I’m a 5’10” cis male, for reference) might find the Pomera’s smaller keyboard more forgiving. (Slight aside: the Freewrite Alpha is also worth a mention as a portable design, with a better, fully mechanical keyboard, a lower price… and unfortunately an even smaller screen, though that might be a more functional LCD. It also lacks a hinge, one of the things I wanted for laptop-style typing that I couldn’t accomplish with just a Bluetooth keyboard and a phone or tablet.)  Michael Crider/Foundry You can see this philosophy in another contrast between the devices. The Pomera lets you connect to a phone or tablet over Bluetooth, to effectively turn that gadget into a Bluetooth keyboard. Which is something I never wanted to do, because of the aforementioned poor keyboard quality. The Freewrite Traveler doesn’t have Bluetooth at all, and in fact it goes in the opposite direction. You can plug in any USB-based keyboard into the Traveler’s USB-C port, in case you want to use a better keyboard in this stripped-down, focused interface. The Traveler is about the same width as my ultraportable, 13-inch laptop, but considerably shorter, making it easy to throw in a bag. Michael Crider/Foundry Other design decisions show this commitment to pure writing or drafting. There are no dedicated cursor keys, you can move the cursor with the red “New” keys and WASD. This seems a little awkward at first, but after a few hundred words it becomes second nature to navigate through words, lines, and paragraphs, thanks to smart choices made in how the system handles directions and inputs. Michael Crider/Foundry After a week with the Traveler I’ve already used it far more than the Pomera, mostly because it’s more comfortable. But I have to admit that, despite appreciating the far more capable and even sensible operating system from the Japanese KingJim design, the Freewrite setup is just more conducive to actually getting words down. Even the syncing system, though far less flexible and powerful, is more satisfying — I press a button and my draft appears in Gmail. Freewrite Traveler: An expensive and specialized tool The Pomera DM250 has a better, backlit screen, far more visual options, and it’s less pretentious. But between the keyboard and the singular focus, the Traveler is the better device, at least for me. My techie spendthrift soul cringes at a $550 price tag (thanks, Trump tariffs!) for something so threadbare in terms of actual hardware. But my writer soul says “just shut up and use it, you’re reaching towards 5000 words today and you don’t feel tired at all.” The screen is e-ink with a matte finish, extremely legible, but lacking a backlight for work in the dark.  Michael Crider/Foundry The Freewrite Traveler does everything I wanted the Pomera to do, even if it’s doing a lot less. It’s much smaller and more portable than a laptop, it lasts far longer on a charge, it refuses to offer any distractions, and it’s actually engaging to use as a writing device. This is an expensive tool, even if it makes me feel like an expensive tool for liking it. Michael Crider/Foundry I wish I could rip the keyboard off the Freewrite Traveler and graft it onto the Pomera DM250, and somehow bring its instant Wi-Fi syncing along with it. But until some designer makes that happen, I’ll have to hang with the hipsters. And in the meantime, I’ll sell the Pomera… because neither of these things is anywhere close to a good value. Read...

Gaming on a budget doesn’t mean compromising on quality. Whether you’re a casual player or a dedicated enthusiast, finding the right accessories can make the few hours you get to spend in front of your computer that much better… without emptying your wallet. We’ve dug around and found some of the best gaming accessories under $100 — not only will you get top-notch performance, but you’ll get great value too. Let’s dive into the gear that proves great gaming doesn’t have to come with a hefty price tag. Upgrade your mouse Razer One of the main things you need for your gaming setup is a proper mouse. There are so many options out there, but we’re particularly in love with the Razer Basilisk V3 X Hyperspeed. With an 18K optical sensor, nine programmable keys, and Chroma RGB, this one’s speedy, versatile, and gorgeous. The Basilisk V3 is also a solid option with a 26K DPI optical sensor and 11 programmable buttons. If you’re into MMOs, then the Naga V2 may be more up your speed with its 19 buttons and 30K sensor. Buy now at Amazon Elevate your laptop Mukiya If you’re using a gaming laptop, then you’re probably going to get a lot of use from a USB-C laptop docking station stand like this one from Mukiya. Not only will this allow you to choose between nine angles, but it also comes with a super-handy integrated dock that features a 4K HDMI port, two USB-A, one USB-C PD port, one USB-C data port, as well as SD and TF readers. Thus, this thing allows you to add another screen to your setup. Buy now at Amazon Add more screens to your gaming setup Anker If you want a more versatile docking station, this 14-in-1 Anker model is a great option. This thing comes with two 4K HDMI ports and another 1080p VGA port, therefore enabling you to add three displays you can enjoy while gaming. There are also several USB ports, a USB-C PD-in port with 100W max charging power, SD and microSD card slots, and more. There’s even a 1Gbps Ethernet port for stable gaming. Buy now at Amazon Upgrade your audio Creative Let’s be honest — laptops (and monitors) don’t really come with great speakers, so you’re going to need some if you want to properly enjoy the movies you watch and the games you play. For their price, the Creative Pebble Pro speakers are absolute gold. They have a minimalist design, and they come with Bluetooth 5.3 and customizable RGB lighting. Buy now at Amazon Stay in touch with friends Dominic Bayley / IDG If you’re into multiplayer games, then you need to be able to keep in touch with friends. The Turtle Beach Stealth 600 headset is one of our favorites, and it’s perfect not only for PC gaming, working with everything from the Xbox One to the PS5, and even your smartphone. It delivers some 80 hours of battery on a single charge, has a noise-cancelling mic, and it’s super comfy. While its MSRP is usually over $100, you can often get it on sale. Buy now at Amazon Organize your controllers Razer We all love gaming on our consoles, but keeping those controllers charged can be a chore most days. Well, not if you get one of these Razer charging stands that will give you a place to rest your controller while also recharging it. Razer has options for both PS5 and Xbox users and they’re rather affordable (and beautiful). Buy now at Amazon Get a better keyboard Logitech Gaming keyboards are great for players — they’re speedy, comfortable to use, and backlit so you can find the keys even when gaming at night. The Logitech G413 SE, for instance, is a full-sized keyboard that features PBT keycaps that are resistant to both heat and wear and tear. There are also 12 function keys available to control media, toggle lighting, and so on. Buy now at Amazon Elevate your monitor setup HUANUO One of the best things you can do for your gaming setup is get more desk space, and that’s super easy to do once you lift those monitors off it. This Huanuo dual monitor stand features two adjustable arms that make it easy to tilt, swivel, or rotate the monitors however you need them. They are suitable for monitors from 13 to 32 inches, and each arm can hold up to 19.8 pounds. Buy now at Amazon Read...

Beginning on Friday, September 26 of this year, residents in Arizona will lose access to the adult site Pornhub. Earlier this year the Arizona State legislature passed HB2112, which requires “A commercial entity that knowingly and intentionally publishes or distributes material… of which more than one-third is sexual material that is harmful to minors shall use reasonable age verification methods to verify that an individual who attempts to access the material is eighteen years of age or older”—and porn sites (obviously) stand to be affected the most. In anticipation of the law taking affect, Pornhub’s parent company Aylo has already stated that it will begin restricting access to its adult sites for residents in Arizona in protest. Aylo and other privacy advocates claim that these laws not only violate free speech, but will infringe on personal privacy protections. By forcing individuals to hand over personally identifiable information to third parties, it creates the potential for government overreach and data misuse. This is following a trend that has seen more than 23 other states lose access to the incredibly popular NSFW site. Similar bans occurred throughout last year for residents in Texas and Florida, among others. Just this year, residents in Wyoming, Georgia, South Dakota, and North Dakota also lost access due to similar laws in each state. For legal-age Arizonans looking to access the site, this is disruptive to say the least. Fortunately, there’s an easy workaround: using a VPN. Simply download and install your preferred VPN, connect to a server in a state that isn’t blocked, and enjoy the content. Below are my top picks for VPNs to access Pornhub (or other Aylo-owned adult content) if you’re in Arizona where access is blocked. NordVPN – Best overall NordVPN Read our review Best Prices Today: $3.39 at NordVPN (Monthly) NordVPN is my overall top pick for VPNs. It comes with a heap of great features including Double VPN, ad- and tracker-blocking, Dark Web monitoring, plus plenty of domestic U.S. and international servers—with coverage in most states. It also has the fastest connection speeds, meaning you won’t need to stream in a resolution that makes it look like the important bits are blurred on purpose. NordVPN has one of the widest platform support networks as well, so you’ll be able to view unrestricted content on all of your devices. ExpressVPN – Runner-up ExpressVPN Read our review Best Prices Today: $3.49 at ExpressVPN ExpressVPN is a close second to NordVPN, only losing out due to slightly slower speeds and a few less extra features. These are minor issues, though, and ExpressVPN is an absolute class option for all VPN users. In fact, as a result of all of these age-verification laws, ExpressVPN completed a massive U.S. network expansion to include servers in every U.S. state. So you can rest assured you’ll find access to your favorite adult sites as long as there is at least one state without these restrictions. It also consistently has great speeds, meaning you can stream in HD to your heart’s content. Plus, it works with every device and comes with one of the best user-privacy records around. Mullvad – Best for privacy Mullvad Read our review Depending on how seriously you take your privacy, Mullvad might actually be the best VPN option. The service is not only among the top five fastest VPNs, but it’s also the best for privacy hands-down. Mullvad goes out of its way to know as little about you as possible. The service doesn’t ask for an email address or name and you can even mail in a cash payment if you prefer to keep your credit card off record. Plus, it costs a mere $5 per month regardless of the plan you choose. Proton VPN – Best free VPN ProtonVPN Read our review Best Prices Today: $9.99 at Proton VPN While I don’t usually recommend that anyone use a free VPN due to their proven security and privacy risks, Proton VPN is one of the few exceptions. This service from the well-known Swiss-based Proton brand has a spotless track record for user privacy. And incredibly it’s also ad-free. Just like all free VPNs, there are limitations, but thankfully Proton VPN keeps them relatively benign. For no cost whatsoever you’ll get a one-device connection limit and access to five servers located in different countries around the world (including the U.S.). There are no speed or data limitations on these free servers either—something that’s not common with other free VPNs. Just know that with servers in the U.S. you’ll only have access to the server location closest to you and some of these might be in States with age verification laws in place. Still, you have nothing to lose by trying out the free service, and if you like it enough you can always upgrade to the paid version with access to all 11,000+ server locations and top-notch feature set. Read...

Support for Windows 10 is officially coming to an end next month with one final update on October 14th, 2025. Yesterday, Microsoft released a preview version of that cumulative update, which is optional to install but available if you want to get ahead of the curve. Known as update KB5066198, it brings Windows 10 up to Build 19045.6396. This update doesn’t actually contain any new features for Windows 10, which would be more than surprising at this point. Instead, it fixes two bugs that Microsoft was keen to address. From the update’s support document: [SMBv1 protocol connectivity (known issue)] Fixed: An issue where you might not be able to connect to shared files and folders if you’re using the Server Message Block (SMB) v1 protocol on NetBIOS over TCP/IP NetBIOS (NetBT). This can happen after installing update KB5065429. [Autopilot Enrollment Status Page (ESP) (known issue)] Fixed: An issue when using Windows Autopilot to deploy Windows 10, version 22H2 to devices with the Enrollment Status Page (ESP) configured might find that the ESP doesn’t load during the Out-of-Box Experience (OOBE). These are issues that are likely to affect a small number of users. You can obtain update KB5066198 right now via Windows Update or manually from the Microsoft Update Catalog. Windows 10 end of support in sight As mentioned above, this appears to be the final update for Windows 10 that provides any actual changes or bug fixes. After this one, all future updates will be security-related and only available to users who have extended their Windows 10 support via the ESU program. (The ESU program is opt-in only. If you don’t, you’ll stop receiving updates on your Windows 10 PC, which opens you up to risks.) Further reading: This free tool puts you on Windows 10 with extended support until 2032 Read...

On October 14th, 2025, Microsoft will officially end support for Windows 10, negating the company’s early promise that Windows 10 was going to be “the last version of Windows.” Instead, six years after it launched in 2015, Microsoft released Windows 11. disagree? get win11 pro for cheap Windows 11 Pro It’s now been four years since Windows 11’s release and Microsoft is tired of waiting for users to switch over. As of September 2025, Windows 11 and Windows 10 are still neck and neck when it comes to global market share, and Microsoft clearly wants to nudge things along. But what does it mean that Windows 10 support ends next month? Well, allow me to explain! Not only that, but I’m going to tell you why I’m sticking with Windows 10 and how I plan to do so. Time is running out for Windows 10 Once October 14th rolls around, Windows 10 PCs will no longer receive security updates or bug fixes, let alone new features. This means the longer you keep using it, the more prone to malware and hackers your PC will become (because they’ll exploit yet-undiscovered security flaws that won’t be patched on your PC). And if you run into system troubles with your PC, Microsoft won’t provide technical support. Dave Parrack / Foundry As-is, this has scared lots of users into finally taking the plunge and upgrading to Windows 11, either by initiating a Windows Update or buying a new machine with Windows 11 pre-installed. But Statcounter’s market share stats show that hundreds of millions of users are still refusing to upgrade—myself included. I knew end of support for Windows 10 has been coming for a while, yet I didn’t care enough to upgrade and I still have no intention to upgrade. I’m sticking with Windows 10. Yes, I’m aware of the risks, but I have ways to get around them. (More on that below.) My current PC isn’t good enough Microsoft is desperate for holdouts such as myself to move on from Windows 10, but the numbers suggest that way too many people are outright refusing Windows 11 for various reasons. Why am I staying on Windows 10? The biggest reason is that my PC apparently doesn’t qualify for Windows 11. I ran the Windows PC Health Check app and found that my Intel Core i3 (on my seven-year-old laptop) isn’t supported by Windows 11. To upgrade, I’d either have to buy and install a new CPU (no thanks) or buy a new PC entirely (no thanks). Why spend unnecessary money when my current PC works just fine? Dave Parrack / Foundry Why doesn’t my CPU qualify for Windows 11? Who knows. I doubt Microsoft even has a good answer. Maybe my laptop would choke on Windows 11 because it’s way more bloated, or maybe it’d work just as well as Windows 10 does. Maybe Microsoft just wants to give me a reason to abandon ship and buy a new laptop. But my laptop works well! And that’s the crux of the matter for me. It’s more than capable of doing everything I need, and I’m not a Windows power user so I don’t need anything more. This feels like planned obsolescence to me… and I hate that. It’s a waste of a perfectly good laptop and I refuse to turn it into e-waste. I’m also unimpressed by Microsoft’s potential trade-in program for Windows 10 PCs. Dave Parrack / Foundry As for Windows 11, I just don’t care for it. I’ve used it on other people’s PCs several times and it honestly doesn’t feel like much of an upgrade. Sure, there are some noticeable improvements, but none of them are big enough and revolutionary enough to justify laying down hundreds of bucks on new hardware. And I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the bugs and glitches that have plagued Windows 11 since 24H2! There’s no way I’d willingly subject myself to that kind of frustration. Dave Parrack / Foundry It also doesn’t help that, as I’ve written about before, I use a Chromebook for most of my everyday activities. Which means that my Windows 10 PC has been pushed to the sidelines a bit, only there for those times when I need it instead of my Chromebook. Am I just getting old? One concern that has crossed my mind is, maybe this all is just an age thing. As I approach 50, could it be I’m reaching that stage of life where I prefer to stick with familiar tech and don’t want to bother with “the next thing”? I don’t remember having these same feelings when I had to upgrade from Windows XP to Vista or from Windows 7 to 10. It very well could be (at least partly) a “me problem” here. Still, I can’t deny that Microsoft is making me feel backed into a corner and wanting to push back, carrying on with the hardware I’ve been using for several years. I’m resentful that this multibillion-dollar company is basically forcing me to buy a new computer and switch to an inferior operating system instead of working Windows 11 into a product so good and desirable that it makes me want to switch. Don’t get me wrong. I don’t think there’s anything bad about Windows 11. It just hasn’t given me a compelling reason to upgrade. If I could freely upgrade without needing a new PC, sure, maybe I would do it. But with it coming with a real cost, I’m choosing to stick with Windows 10. How to stick with Windows 10 (for now) If you’re in a similar position as me and want to keep using Windows 10 even after the end of support date passes, you have a few different options on going about it safely and securely. Whatever you do, don’t just keep using it in its unsupported state. Without a continued source of security updates, you’d just be asking for trouble. Instead, you’ll want to sign up for Microsoft’s Extended Security Updates (ESU) program. By enrolling your PC in the ESU program, you’ll get one extra year of Windows 10 security updates. Microsoft There are actually three ways to join the Windows 10 ESU program. A valid Microsoft account is needed for all three options: Option #1: Pay $30. This is a flat one-time fee that unlocks the extra year of Windows 10 security updates with no other strings attached (apart from needing a Microsoft account). Price may vary if you’re outside the US. Option #2: Enable Windows Backup. Windows Backup is a free feature that backs up selected files, folders, and settings to OneDrive so you don’t lose them even if your PC dies, gets lost, or stolen. After activating Windows Backup, your Windows 10 PC gets extended updates. Option #3: Spend 1,000 Microsoft Rewards points. Instead of paying $30, you can instead sign up for Microsoft Rewards and start earning points by doing things like searching on Bing, playing select games on Xbox One, buying stuff on the Microsoft Store, etc. Points can then be redeemed for extended security updates. If any of these options sound good, you should be able to enroll your PC in the Windows 10 ESU program via a banner at the top-right corner of your Windows Update settings page. There’s also another unofficial option If none of Microsoft’s official ESU options seem good to you—maybe you don’t want to create a Microsoft account at all—then there’s one more thing you can try, but this path has caveats. There’s a free third-party tool called UpDownTool that allegedly provides several more years of support for Windows 10. How does it work? By converting your PC to Windows 10 LTSC (“Long-Term Servicing Channel”), which is a special cut-down version of Windows 10 that isn’t meant for general-use PCs. Windows 10 LTSC has regular support until January 12th, 2027 as well as extended support until January 13th, 2032. UpDownTool UpDownTool is actually aimed at Windows 11 users who regret upgrading and want to revert back to Windows 10. However, it can still be used by people on Windows 10 (or any other version of Windows) to switch over to Windows 10 LTSC. By switching to Windows 10 LTSC, you’ll end up with a PC that basically runs on Windows 10 except without any of the usual bloatware or any of the nagging pop-ups about upgrading to Windows 11. The caveat is that Windows 10 LTSC doesn’t get feature updates, doesn’t support the Microsoft Store, and doesn’t support apps that are regularly maintained via the Microsoft Store, such as Microsoft Edge. Again, UpDownTool is a third-party tool that isn’t officially supported by Microsoft, so use it as your own risk if you choose this path. It’s still Windows 10 for me I’m most likely going to enroll my PC in the Windows 10 ESU program by activating Windows Backup before the October 14th deadline, which will keep my PC secure and protected until at least October 13th, 2026. Beyond that, I’m undecided on how I’ll move forward. I may finally bite the bullet on a new PC that comes with Windows 11, but I’m also tempted to abandon Windows altogether in favor of ChromeOS—and if I end up doing that, Microsoft will only have itself to blame. Further reading: The best Chromebooks that are actually great Read...

At a glanceExpert`s Rating Pros Eye-catching exterior design Enjoyable keyboard, large touchpad Tons of leading-edge connectivity Strong GPU performance in games Cons Modest display quality with questionable 1200p/440Hz mode CPU performance doesn’t measure up Short battery life Our Verdict The Lenovo Legion 9i packs great game performance in a stylish design, but it comes with a few caveats. Price When Reviewed This value will show the geolocated pricing text for product undefined Best Pricing Today Best Prices Today: Lenovo Legion 9i Retailer Price Check Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket Best Prices Today: Check today’s prices Gamers who want a stylish laptop are likely to love Lenovo’s new Legion 9i. It has an eye-catching “forged carbon” look that’s unique yet not overdone. The laptop also packs great game performance and a wide range of physical connectivity. However, the laptop’s display and CPU performance don’t match up to peers, which narrows its appeal. Lenovo Legion 9i: Specs and features as-tested The Lenovo Legion 9i that I received for review was equipped with impressive hardware. It has not only an Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX and Nvidia RTX 5080, but also 64GB of RAM and a 2TB PCIe 5.0 solid-state drive, not to mention Thunderbolt 5 and USB-C 4. The only specification that isn’t impressive is the display, which, though it provides a sharp 3840×2400 resolution, relies on a mediocre IPS-LCD panel. Model number: 18IAX10 CPU: Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX Memory: 64GB SO-DIMM DDR5-5200 Graphics/GPU: Nvidia RTX 5080 16GB (175W TGP) NPU: Intel AI Boost up to 13 TOPS Display: 18-inch 3840×2400 glossy IPS with 240Hz refresh rate, G-Sync Storage: 2TB PCIe 5.0 M.2 SSD Webcam: 5MP with electronic privacy shutter Connectivity: 1x HDMI 2.1 (8K/60Hz), 2x USB-C with Thunderbolt 5 and USB-4 80Gbps, DisplayPort, 100-watt Power Delivery, 1x USB-C 10Gbps / USB 3.2 Gen 2, 3x USB-A 10Gbps / USB 3.2 Gen 2, 1x 3.5mm combo audio, 1x 2.5GbE Ethernet, 1x SD card reader, 1x power connector Networking: Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4 Biometrics: Facial recognition Battery capacity: 99 watt-hours Dimensions: 15.87 x 11.69 x 1.1 inches Weight: 7.72 pounds Operating System: Windows 11 Home Price: $3,695.49 MSRP The Lenovo Legion 9i starts at $3,476.99 with 32GB of RAM and 1TB of solid state storage. Lenovo’s upgrade pricing is incredibly affordable. Moving up to 64GB of RAM and a 2TB SSD adds only $220 to the MSRP. Lenovo provides a “Naked-Eye 3D” display option in some Legion 9i laptops. This is a glasses-free 3D technology similar to Acer’s SpatialLabs. My review unit didn’t have this display, however, and instead came with a dual-mode display that supports 240Hz at 3840×2400 resolution or 440Hz at 1920×1200 resolution. Lenovo Legion 9i: Design and build quality Foundry / Matthew Smith Look, I’m about to tell you what I think about the Lenovo Legion 9i’s design. But before I do, take a moment to look at the photos. I’ll wait. It looks glorious, right? There’s nothing unusual about how the Legion 9i’s design functions, as I’ll discuss shortly. But Lenovo’s unique lid design, which the company calls “forged carbon,” is a winner. It’s attractive and fashionable, but not in-your-face or garish. It’s a design statement, and I like what it says. Overall, the laptop both looks and feels premium, and most of Lenovo’s competitors are a full step behind. That aside, the Legion 9i delivers what I expect from a high-end performance gaming laptop. It’s a beefy machine that measures over 15 inches wide, over an inch thick, and tips the scales at nearly eight pounds. The recycled aluminum chassis is extremely rigid. Flex can be found in the display lid and keyboard deck, but you’ll have to pay attention to spot it. Overall, the laptop both looks and feels premium, and most of Lenovo’s competitors are a full step behind. Even attractive competitors like the Alienware Area-51 strike me as old-fashioned compared to the Legion 9i. Lenovo Legion 9i: Keyboard, trackpad, mouse Foundry / Matthew Smith Typing on the Lenovo Legion 9i is a great experience. The keyboard provides good key travel and each key activates with a light yet satisfying tactile snap. Lenovo provides a good layout, too. Most keys are large, with only the backspace key and the numpad key feeling a bit narrow—though they’re still large enough. The keyboard is RGB-LED backlit and provides per-key lighting customization, although you might not know that at first. The per-key customization is only visible when the “custom” mode is selected from a list of presets in Lenovo’s Legion Space software. The LED backlight is bright, uniform, and offers a wide range of brightness suitable for both dim and bright rooms. Lenovo also packs an RGB-LED light bar on the front underside of the chassis, and RGB-LED lights across the Legion logo for the lid, which can coordinate with the keyboard. I like the lightbar, which provides a subtle gradient between LED light zones that creates the illusion of a single uniform light rather than multiple, individual LEDs. The Legion 9i supports Windows Adaptive Lighting as well, though support must be turned on in the laptop’s BIOS. The included numpad means the keyboard is shifted towards the left, and the touchpad follows. The touchpad itself is sizable at about six inches wide and four inches deep. You can find larger touchpads on some competitive laptops, like the Razer Blade 18, but the Legion 9i has no shortage of room for executing Windows’ multi-touch gestures. I also found the touchpad responsive and didn’t have problems with unintended inputs. A physical mouse button action is available by pressing on the lower half of the touchpad. It does the job, but it’s rather subtle and activates with a dull thud instead of a snappy click. While the Legion 9i’s keyboard and touchpad aren’t perfect, they’re a strong point when compared to alternatives. The Razer Blade 18 has a good keyboard and bigger touchpad, but its RGB-LED lighting options are not as impressive. Alienware’s Area-51 also has a good keyboard, and some decent RGB-LED lighting, but the touchpad is modest. The Legion 9i delivers more than competitors overall and avoids downsides. Lenovo Legion 9i: Display, audio Foundry / Matthew Smith The display is the Lenovo Legion 9i’s only obvious weakness, but it’s a big one. It falls short in display quality and makes a half-hearted attempt to deliver ultra-high refresh rates. Let’s talk refresh rate first. The Legion 9i’s 18-inch display supports a refresh rate up to 240Hz at a resolution of 3840×2400. Alternatively, it can reach 440Hz at a resolution of 1920×1200. However, the details of Lenovo’s implementation aren’t great. Users must access BIOS to flip to 1200p/440Hz or back to 2400p/240Hz. That’s an annoying problem, and Lenovo doesn’t do anything to help users mitigate it. The boot screen doesn’t even state the button a user needs to press to access the BIOS. I suspect most people who buy this laptop will use it for years without realizing the 1200p/440Hz mode exists. Personally, I would never use the feature, anyway. I’d rather stick to 2400p/240Hz, which is already plenty quick, instead of rebooting my laptop to access 440Hz at a lower resolution. The real problem is not just that the 1200p/440Hz is of questionable use, but also that it means the Legion 9i can’t offer an OLED or Mini-LED display. The Legion 9i’s IPS-LCD display is a great example of the breed with superb color accuracy, a color gamut that spans 100 percent of sRGB and 99 percent of DCI-P3, and a maximum brightness of 520 nits (I measured up to 519, but what’s a nit between friends?) However, like most IPS-LCD displays, it has a limited contrast ratio (I measured a maximum of 1340:1). An OLED will deliver far better contrast which leads to a richer and more immersive look. I also noticed the Legion 9i’s display is cool in color tone, with a measured white point of 7,600K at 50 percent brightness. And while the display is bright, it’s also glossy, which means glare is an issue in bright rooms. Ultimately, the Legion 9i’s display is a miss, but the audio system provides some redemption. Lenovo packs the laptop with two speakers, two tweeters, and two woofers, which together deliver a clear, crisp sound stage and reasonable bass. Quality speakers or a good headset will of course be superior, but the Legion 9i’s sound is enjoyable for a wide range of content, from podcasts to music and games. Lenovo Legion 9i: Webcam, microphone, biometrics The Lenovo Legion 9i has a 5MP webcam with an electronic privacy shutter. It’s good, though not exceptional. It provides a sharp and colorful image and handles mixed lighting well, though it’s still obvious that the camera is a webcam. Its quality is comparable to most modern gaming laptops. The microphone is similarly competent, providing good voice capture without the need to raise your voice. An IR camera is included and provides support for Windows Hello facial recognition. This is a fast, easy way to log in to a Windows machine. But, once again, this is a common feature for a modern gaming laptop. A fingerprint reader is not included. Lenovo Legion 9i: Connectivity Foundry / Matthew Smith Lenovo swings for the fences with the Legion 9i’s connectivity, and there’s a lot to dig into. The star of the show is the laptop’s pair of USB-C ports. They deliver Thunderbolt 5, USB 4 with up to 80Gbps of data, up to 100 watts of Power Delivery, and DisplayPort 2.1. It’s the whole enchilada, or very close to it. Most modern gaming laptops support Thunderbolt and USB-C, but the Legion 9i offers great support for the latest versions of these standards. That translates to better data rates. If you need high-speed connectivity, or want to connect to a dock or a Thunderbolt / USB-C monitor with numerous downstream ports, these ports are up for the task. However, the Legion 9i isn’t focused exclusively on Thunderbolt and USB-C. It also provides HDMI 2.1, three USB-A ports, Ethernet, an SD card reader, and a 3.5mm combo audio jack. I have no notes: this is an excellent array of connectivity options. Wireless connectivity is strong, too, as the laptop supports Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4. These are the latest versions of each standard. It’s standard equipment for a modern gaming laptop, but still good to see. Lenovo Legion 9i: Performance The Lenovo Legion 9i has an Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX CPU paired with an Nvidia RTX 5080 GPU. The GPU has a maximum thermal graphics power of 175 watts, which is the most available to the RTX 5080 mobile—though, most other gaming laptops also hit that mark. The Legion 9i has healthy specifications in RAM and storage with 64GB and 2TB, the SSD connects over PCIe 5.0. Foundry / Matthew Smith Our first test is PCMark, a holistic system benchmark. It turned in a respectable score of 8,417. Though this is technically a bit behind some alternative laptops, the margins are thin. I’d say this is more or less a tie between the four top-scoring machines, which includes the Legion 9i. Foundry / Matthew Smith Next up is Cinebench 2024, a heavily multi-threaded rendering benchmark. Here the Lenovo Legion 9i came up short with a score of 1,511. That’s quick but, as the graph shows, it’s behind a range of laptops that are similar in size and have similar hardware. Foundry / Matthew Smith Handbrake, a heavily multi-threaded video transcoding and encoding tool, also puts the Legion 9i in an unfavorable light. Lenovo’s laptop completed the transcode of a 1080p feature-length film from a .mp4 to .mkv format in eight minutes and 12 seconds. That’s a speedy result, and closer to the competition than in Cinebench 2024. Still, the Legion 9i lags the field. Foundry / Matthew Smith While the Lenovo Legion 9i struggles a bit in heavily multi-threaded CPU tests, it delivers better results in GPU tests. 3DMark’s Fire Strike and Port Royale tests show the Legion 9i can deliver results that are towards the high end for an RTX 5080 mobile. It’s also not too far off the RTX 5090 mobile. Foundry / Matthew Smith The performance spread widens a bit in Shadow of the Tomb Raider, an older game that’s not too demanding on newer hardware. The Legion 9i achieved an average of 191 frames per second at 1080p resolution and the Highest detail setting, without use of DLSS or other frame reconstruction. Ray-tracing wasn’t used, either. As the graph shows, this hits the mark for an RTX 5080 laptop, and can leave some RTX 4090 laptops in the dust. However, the RTX 5090 laptops take a sizeable lead here, as the game’s average FPS is roughly 35 to 40 FPS higher on those machines. Foundry / Matthew Smith Metro: Exodus narrows the field again. While this is an older game, and we do not run this benchmark with ray-tracing enabled, it remains a formidable title when the Extreme preset is used. The Legion 9i does well here, scoring between the Maingear Ultima 18 with RTX 5080 and the pair of RTX 5090 laptops. Foundry / Matthew Smith Cyberpunk 2077 also speaks favorably of the Legion 9i. Here, Lenovo’s laptop can average 148 frames per second at 1080p and the Ultra preset, or 43 at the insanely demanding Overdrive ray-traced preset. Both figures, remember, are without any form of DLSS or frame reconstruction, so in practice better performance is possible. Still, these numbers stack up favorably. They’re good for an RTX 5080 mobile and not all that far off the RTX 5090 laptops. On the whole, the Lenovo Legion 9i’s performance seems to favor GPU performance over CPU performance. That leads to solid results in games and somewhat disappointing numbers in heavily multi-threaded CPU tests. On balance the Legion 9i is a fine performer, but it’s definitely tilted towards gaming rather than productivity. Lenovo Legion 9i: Battery life and portability The Lenovo Legion 9i has a 99 watt-hour battery. This is the maximum available in a consumer laptop due to limitations on the size of lithium-ion batteries allowed on a passenger airliner. It’s a very large battery. And the Legion 9i goes to the trouble of supporting Nvidia Optimus, a switchable graphics solution that can turn off the Nvidia GPU (and switch to the Intel IGP) when the GPU isn’t needed. Still, it’s not enough to deliver great battery life. You can expect anywhere between two and six hours of real-world battery life, depending on how much effort you put into avoiding demanding tasks. Foundry / Matthew Smith However, as the graph shows, this is not unusual for a high-end gaming laptop. The fastest laptops tend to land around two to three hours of battery life. Those that do manage to surge ahead, like the Razer Blade, do so with the use of less powerful CPUs and more miserly GPU power configurations. There’s a clear trade-off here. A modern gaming laptop can deliver maximum performance, or decent battery life, but it can’t provide both. The Legion 9i leans more towards performance. Lenovo Legion 9i: Conclusion The Lenovo Legion 9i is a design statement that looks great and proves enjoyable to use day-to-day. It also delivers strong game performance and an incredible array of leading-edge ports. These benefits are countered by a mediocre display with a 1200p/440Hz (or, alternatively, glasses-free 3D) mode that’s of questionable use. CPU performance also fell short of expectations. Still, the Legion 9i is a reasonable choice if you care mostly about GPU performance and will often connect the laptop to an external display. Read...

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There are quite a few Steam users who have accumulated huge libraries of games over their many years as gamers. It’s a meme that so many of those games remain unplayed long after being acquired, but that doesn’t seem to stop gamers from snatching up many more with every Steam sale. But one gamer stands out. Known as SonixLegend, this user has apparently taken things to the extreme as he’s now recognized as the Steam user with the largest game library. His collection contains over 40,000 different games purchased on Steam, and Valve has even awarded him with a unique Steam badge celebrating this achievement. Steam / SonixLegend According to his Steam profile, SonixLegend is from Shanghai, China and has been registered on Steam for 15 years. In that time, he has amassed an impressive collection of games to become one of the few people to own more than 30,000 games on Steam. As of this week, he has officially passed the 40,000 mark and owns 40,033 titles (as of this writing). Note that only full-fledged game titles that were actually purchased are included in this count. Free-to-play games, DLCs, and add-ons are not included. (SonixLegend also has more than 22,000 DLCs.) Here’s how much his collection is worth SonixLegend might just have the most valuable games library on Steam, with tracker site SteamDB estimating that his account is worth about $249,000 USD. If you were to buy all the games on his account at current prices (including discounts), it would cost over $641,000 USD. Honestly, SonixLegend has probably never played the majority of these games—and he probably never will—making it the ultimate “pile of shame.” Still, he has completed nearly 80,000 achievements, and he was apparently fond of the free game Alien Swarm from 2010, which he spent 551 hours playing and unlocked all of its achievements. If he continues to buy games at this rate, SonixLegend could probably cross the 50,000 games mark in a few years. At that point, Valve might have to create a new 50K badge just for him! Further reading: Hidden Steam features you shouldn’t overlook Read...