Once I’ve unpacked a new Windows PC, the anticipation wears off and reality sinks in. It’s time to get everything set up and that’s one heck of a time consuming process, it’s work. So, of course, I install my favorite programs. And there are quite a few. get windows 11 pro for cheap Windows 11 Pro When it comes to browsers, I always choose either Chrome or Firefox. Edge is just there for the first few initial downloads. When it comes to image editing, I’m torn between the powerful but not intuitive GIMP and Paint.net, which is much easier to learn and use. I also want my messaging apps like Signal and WhatsApp on the desktop. With all of these programs, I’ve got alternatives to choose from. This applies to Microsoft Office, which I can easily swap out for LibreOffice. Antivirus and VPN are also plentiful. But there’s one tool I don’t even think twice about. Total Commander is a must-have There’s only one tool in particular where I never have to choose between multiple options; I’ve always used a single one for decades. I’m talking about Total Commander, which you can download here and try free for 30 days. I’ve been loyal to this brilliant file manager since around 2000. Back then, this indispensable tool even had a different name: Windows Commander.  I grew up with Norton Commander in the 1990s . So, I absolutely want the convenient two-pane view. Total Commander offers exactly that. I’ve also maintained several websites for decades. For that, I needed an FTP client. Total Commander already has one built in, so I saved myself the trouble of having to use an additional program. The feature that allows me to rename a whole batch of files at once has always been very useful . It saves a lot of time and keeps my hard drive organized. The fact that Total Commander also unpacks archives isn’t as important anymore, since Windows can do that now, too. But the TC has always been able to do that. Truly lifelong What I find absolutely brilliant is that once you’ve licensed Total Commander or its predecessor, Windows Commander, you receive – as of today – free updates indefinitely. “Lifetime” is a promise that companies like to make every now and then. Until, suddenly, it’s over. But with Total Commander, things are different: pay once, never pay again, and still get regular updates with new features. Great. That’s why I always download Total Commander first onto a new Windows PC along with Edge. Only then do the other browsers end up on my computer to replace Edge. Read...

As a longtime advocate of Chromebooks, I’ve repeatedly heard the same old myths and misconceptions about Google’s laptops time and time again. It’s been a while since I switched from Windows to ChromeOS, and I can say a lot of those once-true objections are now outdated. Here are some of the most common Chromebook misconceptions that still get passed around yet can be safely ignored. Myth: Chromebooks always have to be connected to the internet Dave Parrack / Foundry Lots of people think that Chromebooks must always be connected to the internet and that they become useless bricks when offline. That just isn’t true! Yes, ChromeOS is designed to be cloud-based with a focus on web apps, but there’s plenty you can do with an offline Chromebook. Some of those things include using offline-capable apps, playing downloaded games, watching downloaded media, managing files and working on documents, among other things. (But how often in this day and age are you not connected to the internet, anyway?) To ensure you can keep using your Chromebook while offline, be sure to download apps and games with offline support, store your important files locally, and/or enable offline mode in Google’s core productivity apps such as Gmail, Drive, Docs, and Sheets. Myth: Chromebooks are only for students Karolina Grabowska / Pixabay While it’s true that the Chromebook has developed an identity as the affordable laptop option for educational environments, that doesn’t mean Chromebooks can’t be useful elsewhere. I’m a middle-aged man who writes for a living and I’ve been using Chromebooks for years, both for personal and professional use cases. Given how easy it is to set up and use ChromeOS, a Chromebook is suitable for anyone of any age—it just so happens that the ease of use makes it a great tool for the student demographic. In fact, I consider Chromebooks perfect for older folk who just need access to the internet with minimal tech interference. Not only are Chromebooks easy to use, but they come with several built-in security features that are important for users who are less tech-savvy. Myth: Chromebooks are cheap, low performance, and disposable Dave Parrack / Foundry There’s a difference between a laptop that’s “affordable” and one that’s “cheap”—and in the context of Chromebooks, that distinction is key. While lots of Chromebooks are pretty cheap and slow, not all of them are. The old adage that “you get what you pay for” is true here. There’s a huge range of Chromebooks available, from the plasticky low-end models to the high-end models made with premium materials. The key is to do your research before you buy, and don’t settle for the cheapest model available. You wouldn’t buy a bottom-of-the-barrel Windows laptop and then say all Windows PCs are trash, right? Weigh up the cost versus build quality, specs, and brand. The cheaper models are more likely to suck in some way—I know from experience—while the higher-end models can be as good as Windows laptops. On that note, it’s important to know the differences between Chromebooks and Windows laptops so you get the right machine for your needs. Myth: Chromebooks are just a wrapper for the Chrome browser Dave Parrack / Foundry ChromeOS is certainly a simple and elegant operating system. But people who think it’s just a wrapper for the Chrome browser—and who see that as a negative—are misguided at best. Even though Chrome sits at the core of the operating system, you could (if you really wanted to) go months without ever actually launching Chrome. Actually, ChromeOS is based on Linux—and you can actually enable the Linux subsystem to unlock more power. Between that and the ability to run Android apps via the Google Play Store, you can actually do a lot with a Chromebook beyond Chrome. Throw in some progressive web apps that can run apart from the browser and you have a winning combo. Myth: Chromebooks can’t print anything Dave Parrack / Foundry Back when ChromeOS first debuted, some older printers weren’t compatible with it because they needed proprietary drivers that couldn’t be installed on a Chromebook. Google Cloud Print tried to get around that with a print-over-the-web service, but then that got discontinued. Users were also unfamiliar with ChromeOS’s printing interface. And so Chromebooks developed a reputation as laptops that had trouble printing. But that isn’t true anymore. ChromeOS now supports Internet Printing Protocol (IPP) for sending print jobs to network-attached printers, and as of 2019, IPP is available on 98% of printers being sold. In short, this means you can print with a Chromebook as long as it’s up-to-date and as long as you have a somewhat modern printer. Some advanced printing features might be missing, but these days you can print almost anything you’d need with a Chromebook. Myth: Chromebooks lack offline storage Dave Parrack / Foundry While Chromebooks are designed to rely mostly on cloud storage, they all come with some amount of offline storage. That amount depends on what Chromebook you buy and in what configuration. My Pixelbook Go, for example, has 64GB of internal storage—and I haven’t felt limited by that in the years I’ve been using it—but I could’ve chosen 128GB or 256GB options. There are others like that out there, including the Samsung Galaxy Chromebook Plus with 256GB storage and the Acer Chromebook Plus 514 with 512GB storage. Regardless of amount, you’ll be fine as long as you pay attention to what you’re downloading and clean up your files every once in a while. That means uninstalling apps you no longer use, deleting files when you’re done with them, and using cloud storage when you can. The perceived lack of offline storage is only an issue if you neglect this. Myth: Chromebooks can’t run the apps you need to use every day Dave Parrack / Foundry One of the biggest misconceptions about modern Chromebooks is that you can only run extensions and apps from the Chrome Web Store. If that were true, I’d understand the complaint—any laptop would be seriously hampered by such limited access to software. These days, Chromebooks can run Android apps, Linux apps, and progressive web apps. And given that most app developers maintain support for at least one of those platforms, you should be able to run most of the apps you need on ChromeOS. The one caveat here is if you rely on apps that are only available on Windows and/or macOS. Worried about Microsoft Office? Slack? Photoshop? Evernote? They all run on Chromebooks! And if you have any apps that simply aren’t available on ChromeOS for whatever reason, you can usually find a good enough alternative to fill in the gap. Chromebook software available is only an issue if you’re using niche and/or industry software. Myth: Chromebooks can’t play games Dave Parrack / Foundry This one we need to approach with some nuance. Yes, you can play games on a Chromebook—with caveats. We wrote an entire article about whether Chromebooks are good for gaming, but here’s a recap. If you care about local gaming, you can think of Chromebook gaming like mobile gaming. You have access to Android games and web games, plus you can also run a beta version of Steam for Chromebooks. With Steam, you’ll need a higher-end machine with at least an Intel i3 or Ryzen 3 CPU and 8GB of RAM, and only a small fraction of Steam games are natively compatible with Chromebooks. However, cloud gaming is growing more and more popular, and that’s great news for Chromebooks. Notable platforms include Nvidia GeForce Now and Xbox Cloud Gaming, which allow you to remotely stream demanding games for a monthly subscription. You’ll need a fast internet connection and you’ll run into input lag, but it’s a darn good way to play a much wider selection of games on a Chromebook! Further reading: The best Chromebooks to buy this year Read...

The latest cryptic posts from the singer features what appears to be an Auckland beach, a link for fans to explore and an invite to meet tonight. Read...

Microsoft has begun adding Copilot to the “new tab” page of Microsoft Edge, as expected — possibly making you yearn for the current crazy-quilt layout instead. Generally, browser makers allow you to either open a predetermined home page when you open a new tab, or else populate it with a variety of different content. On Edge, a new tab looks similar to the Widgets menu in the lower left. But a change is coming. According to a Microsoft Edge support page, at the end of May Edge users may see a Copilot field, together with suggested prompts, when they open a new tab. According to Windows Latest, this is part of what Microsoft has begun calling “Copilot Mode,” a special toggle that allows you to “try out the latest AI browsing innovations,” according to the site. I’m not seeing this in my “live” browser yet, and neither is Windows Latest. However, the site did discover that the option can be turned on via Edge’s built in “flags,” or developer options, to get an idea of what this will look like. You can see the same. Essentially, the “new tab” experience within Copilot Mode in Edge opens up a new tab that’s almost entirely bare except for a Copilot prompt underneath the question, “How can I help you today?” Below the prompt field are slightly different choices than Microsoft presents elsewhere, as the first option is to “Search and Chat” rather than a list of models. Edge then presents a series of small icons below, which seem to be sites that you’ve recently viewed. Mark Hachman / Foundry Your queries seem to be sent to Microsoft’s Copilot site, where they’re answered as part of the Copilot interface, with embedded ads, links, and so on. I also noticed a significant change: Microsoft isn’t providing links at all, unless you specifically ask for them. Put another way, Copilot will happily point you to a list of best laptops for college students, with links to buy them at various online storefronts. When I searched, it wouldn’t tell you the sources for those recommendations without asking. Fortunately, Microsoft seems to be making you jump through hoops to enable this new experience. For now, you’ll have to enable the various flags inside the developer mode. Second, you’ll have to manually enable the “Copilot Mode” yourself, even when that experience becomes available. How to test Copilot Mode within Microsoft Edge Testing Copilot Mode within Microsoft Edge isn’t difficult, and doesn’t require downloading a separate browser. In the search bar, simply type Edge://flags, which will enable the menu. There are dozens of flags to choose from, and the warning at the top applies: Simply enabling flags willy-nilly may cause your browser to crash and for you to lose data. In the case of Copilot Mode, however, enabling the “Edge Copilot Mode” and “Allow Copilot Search” seemed to work. Note that you’ll have to restart your browser to get these features to work, even after the flag is toggled on. To actually turn on Copilot Mode, you’ll need to toggle on the feature by clicking your user icon and selecting the appropriate icon. Then, when you open a new tab, you’ll see the screen that’s underneath the drop-down menu option. Presumably, leaving Copilot Mode on will signal Microsoft to add any new AI-powered features when they’re ready. Mark Hachman / Foundry Microsoft also includes a small list of settings for you to adjust within the Edge settings menu. I manually searched for “Copilot Mode,” but there appears to be a designated shortcut in the left-hand navigation menu, too. Note that the “Context clues” feature appears to allow Edge and Copilot access to your browser history. That might result in better answers, but it’s also a potential privacy risk. However, Microsoft doesn’t allow you to control this feature separately. Mark Hachman / Foundry Microsoft seems to feel that users will begin turning to AI-powered search, and is pushing Copilot into every nook and cranny of your PC. Personally, I find that the current “new tab” page, even with the crazy mix of stories and content, at least showcases the analysts, journalists, and bloggers who create the content that Copilot seems determined to appropriate without attribution. I’m sticking with it for now. Read...

Don’t expect too much from the Arc browser in the future. The browser’s developer admitted over the weekend that while Arc is being maintained, new features are no longer in active development. The explanation, however, is convoluted. In a blog post, the company explained that while they concluded that the Arc browser was “incremental,” its novel features weren’t being used, either. For example, just under 6 percent of users took advantage of what Arc called a “space,” or workspace. “After a couple of years of building and shipping Arc, we started running into something we called the ‘novelty tax’ problem,” the company wrote. “A lot of people loved Arc — if you’re here you might just be one of them — and we’d benefitted from consistent, organic growth since basically Day One. But for most people, Arc was simply too different, with too many new things to learn, for too little reward.” For now, Arc seems to be in limbo. Because Arc runs on a custom infrastructure knows as the Arc Development Kit, it’s “too complex to break from Chrome,” the company wrote, and it’s the company’s “secret sauce.” Instead, the company has shifted work to Dia, which the company says will be an “AI-first” browser. That browser is currently in alpha testing. The problem, the company says, is that ADK is split between the two browsers, preventing the company from moving forward with Arc. “So while we’d love to open-source Arc someday, we can’t do that meaningfully without also open-sourcing ADK. And ADK is still core to our company’s value. That doesn’t mean it’ll never happen. If the day comes where it no longer puts our team or shareholders at risk, we’d be excited to share what we’ve built with the world. But we’re not there yet.” The Browser Company of New York said it still believes that the world will move on from the current browsers like Microsoft Edge and Google Chrome, and that traditional web pages won’t be its foundation. “Imagine writing an essay justifying why you were moving on from your candle business at the dawn of electric light,” the company said. “Electric intelligence is here — and it would be naive of us to pretend it doesn’t fundamentally change the kind of product we need to build to meet the moment.” It’s certainly possible that the (sigh) The Browser Company of New York will end up being correct, perhaps even ahead of its time. But the metaphors being used here, which carried over into the Arc browser’s visual aesthetic, were too twee for me. Perhaps Dia will offer a helping hand to those of us who are still stuck in the past. Perhaps not. There’s certainly room for a product that simply wants to break with history and embrace an AI-powered future. Doing so, though, limits your market appeal and also locks you into a younger aesthetic that, incidentally, seems to be aggressively rejecting the use of AI. I’m happy to admit that I don’t quite understand what the company is going for. Maybe Dia will make it all clear, someday. Read...

When people think about AI, they often think about models that run in the cloud like ChatGPT or Google Gemini. But there’s an incredibly simple way of running local AI on your PC that Microsoft just implemented. Microsoft announced Microsoft Foundry Local this past week at its Build conference. It’s basically a command line tool that runs LLMs locally on your machine. Although it’s initially targeted at developers, it’s one of the easiest ways of trying out local AI simply because it does everything for you. And it does something else, too: it optimizes your PC. get windows 11 pro for cheap Windows 11 Pro One of the coolest features about Windows that you don’t use is what’s known as “winget,” which is like DoorDash for applications. Instead of navigating to a website or the Microsoft Store, finding the download link, and telling Windows where everything should go, you simply open a command line and “winget” what you want. Windows and Microsoft just does everything else for you, automatically. You don’t need to log in at a third-party website, either. Foundry AI Local works in the same way. All you need to do is basically cut and paste two commands from this article, and you’ll be up and running in no time. Here’s how to do it, with a helping hand from Microsoft. Microsoft does not say that you need a dedicated GPU or NPU, but it does help. Essentially, you’ll need Windows 10 or 11, at least 8GB of RAM and 3GB of storage (16GB RAM recommended alongside 15GB of disk space). A Copilot+ PC is optional, but you’ll benefit from a Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite processor, an Nvidia RTX 2000 series, an AMD Radeon 6000 series GPU or newer. A couple of commands in a command-line terminal and you’re ready to go.Mark Hachman / Foundry To use Foundry Local, first you’ll want to… 1.) Open a command-line terminal. Just type the Windows key and start typing “terminal”. You should see the Windows Terminal app pop up in list of suggested apps, although it may also appear as Windows PowerShell. It doesn’t really matter. 2.) At the prompt, type: winget install Microsoft.FoundryLocal You’ll have to wait a minute or two while the necessary files download. But Microsoft will handle everything for you. 3.) Microsoft suggests running the Phi-3.5-mini model, which is a good choice: it’s small, pretty quick to download, and will probably give you a fast response. To download and run it, type: foundry model run phi-3.5-mini That’s all you need to do. You’ll then see the Terminal app basically tell you to enter a prompt such as “Is the sky blue on Mars?” or something else. 4.) You don’t have to stick with just the Phi-3.5-mini model, either. You can type foundry model list and get a list of available models. Just swap “phi-3.5-mini” with one of the available models and you’re good to go. (Use the model name from the left-hand column, but don’t sweat it — it seemed to know what I wanted.) A partial list of the available AI models for installing locally. Again, what’s nice about Foundry Local AI is that it’s local to your PC — although the Phi-mini model insisted that it was communicating with Microsoft to process the information. (To double-check, I put my PC into airplane mode.) It’s also quick and efficient, in part because Foundry AI Local downloads the best model for your PC. If you have an available NPU or GPU, it picks the right version. Foundry AI Local is designed for developers, so you can branch out and convert other models to something that you can run on your PC or even hypothetically tap into “agents” to perform tasks. The example videos I viewed suggested using things like extracting text using a Text Extractor widget, which is being built into the Windows Snipping Tool. You may has well use that instead. I’ve argued before that hardware makers and chipmakers need to invest in local AI app development. Intel’s AI Playground does just that and it’s simple and easy to use. But Intel has restricted it to a subset of its own processor lineup, and at the end of the day, it’s optimized just for Intel processors. Intel’s AI Playground is geared to making art as well as LLM chatbots.Mark Hachman / Foundry Microsoft Foundry AI Local is open to everyone, but it’s also just an LLM chatbot for now. That’s handy, and Microsoft has really just begun work on it. Could we see art added to it? The ability to upload and train the model on your own documents? Who knows. I’m not here to tell you that Foundry AI Local is better than ChatGPT, Gemini, or Copilot running in the cloud. It’s not. Foundry AI Local is a local text-based application that can’t do anything more than a bunch of available cloud-based services already can. But it is so very quick and easy to run, and Microsoft is quietly building it into Windows. That might bear fruit in the future. Read...

Late last week, Mozilla noted in an announcement blog post that the address bar in Firefox has been upgraded with new improvements over past versions. It’s a lot smarter now and designed to give you more control over how you search and browse. Firstly, you can now switch search engines directly in the address bar, thanks to a new button that lets you switch between Google, Bing, DuckDuckGo, as well as certain marketplaces like Amazon and eBay, plus information resources like Wikipedia. Secondly, when you perform a search in the address bar, Firefox no longer wipes out your search query. Previously, the search query was replaced by the search engine’s query URL. But now, your search query remains, making it easier to repeat or tweak further searches. Thirdly, you can now use special keywords like @bookmarks, @tabs, @history, and @wikipedia to perform specific types of searches right from the address bar. For example, @bookmarks dog will search only your bookmarks for dog-related content, whereas @wikipedia charlie will search only Wikipedia for that term. Fourthly, the address bar now also lets you perform actions, turning it into a productivity aid that lets you quickly do what you need to do without navigating through numerous menus. For example, you can type clear history to clear your browsing history, or take a screenshot to snap a screengrab of the current tab. It’s the latest update in a line of updates that have seriously leveled up Firefox, including ones from last month that brought tab grouping functionality as well as native profile switching. Further reading: Real reasons to switch from Chrome to Firefox Read...

At a glanceExpert`s Rating Pros Long battery life (almost 24 hours in our test) Beautiful OLED screen Great webcam Cons Lunar Lake’s multithreaded performance isn’t ideal for some workloads Glossy screen can be difficult to read in harsh lighting conditions A little expensive Our Verdict The Lenovo Yoga 9i 2-in-1 Aura Edition is a sleek 14-inch Lunar Lake laptop with a beautiful display and extreme battery life. It’s a nice machine, and it would be easy to recommend more widely if it was less expensive. Price When Reviewed This value will show the geolocated pricing text for product undefined Best Pricing Today The Lenovo Yoga 9i 2-in-1 Aura Edition is a 14-inch 2-in-1 convertible laptop with an Intel Lunar Lake processor. It combines a touchscreen and 360-degree hinge along with 32GB of RAM, a beautiful OLED screen, and the long battery life Intel’s Lunar Lake hardware is known for. Unlike some other Yoga-branded laptops I’ve reviewed in the last year, this model is a 2-in-1 convertible PC with the 360-degree hinge the Yoga name was once known for. This machine has the same CPU as the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 Gen 10, and I reviewed them both at the same time. The Lenovo Yoga 9i 2-in-1 is the consumer alternative to the ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 with the same CPU on the inside but a different design and a more entertainment-focused display choice. The battery life is long, the screen looks beautiful, and the machine looks and feels sleek. Lenovo Yoga 9i 2-in-1: Specs The Lenovo Yoga 9i 2-in-1 Aura Edition is an upgrade to the previous-generation Lenovo Yoga 9i (Gen 9). This time around, the machine has a Lunar Lake CPU — specifically, the Intel Core Ultra 7 258V. That means it gets much longer battery life and can run Copilot+ PC AI features that Intel’s older NPU just wasn’t powerful enough to run. It also has a more powerful integrated GPU that is surprisingly good for integrated graphics—plus a generous allotment of 32 GB of RAM and a 1 TB SSD. Model: Lenovo Yoga 9i 2-in-1 Aura Edition CPU: Intel Core Ultra 7 258V Memory: 32 GB LPDDR5x RAM Graphics/GPU: Intel Arc 140V NPU: Intel AI Boost (up to 47 TOPS) Display: 14-inch 2880×1800 OLED display with variable refresh rate up to 120Hz and HDR Storage: 1 TB PCIe Gen 4 SSD Webcam: 5MP 1440p webcam Connectivity: 2x Thunderbolt 4 (USB Type-C), 1x USB Type-C (USB 20Gbps), 1x USB Type-A (USB 10Gbps), 1x combo audio jack Networking: Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4 Biometrics: Fingerprint reader, IR camera for facial recognition Battery capacity: 75 Watt-hours Dimensions: 12.44 x 8.66 x 0.63 inches Weight: 2.91 pounds MSRP: $1,749 as tested This is a wonderful laptop for people looking for a sleek, portable 2-in-1 with a vivid display and long battery life. Lenovo Yoga 9i 2-in-1: Design and build quality IDG / Chris Hoffman The Lenovo Yoga 9i 2-in-1’s design feels similar to other Lenovo Yoga machines I’ve used in the past year or so. This Yoga laptop uses “Cosmic Blue,” in contrast to Lenovo’s ThinkPad line, which opts for a business look with more shades of gray. Combined with the rounded edges and glossy high-resolution OLED screen, it’s a sleek experience. The blue is rather dark, though. In real life, it looks a lot closer to black than you might expect while catching light in an intriguing way. The top and bottom are made of aluminum, and the build quality is solid — this is a proven Yoga design, and it’s not Lenovo’s first time putting out a machine in a chassis like this one. It looks very similar to the Lenovo Yoga 9i (Gen 9), for example. The hinge works well. The hinge also has what Lenovo calls a “rotating soundbar” built into it. There’s no flex that shouldn’t be there, no undesired movement of the display as you type, or anything else you wouldn’t want to see on a machine like this. The design just works like it should. At 2.91 pounds, it’s a standard weight for a laptop like this one — not too heavy and not unusually light. The built-in software is a little more cluttered than I’d like: it’s got McAfee antivirus popping up and asking you to subscribe out of the box, for example. Consumer laptops tend to have more bundled offers than business laptops, but it feels a little much for a $1,749 laptop. Still, that doesn’t matter at all when you can quickly uninstall it. Lenovo Yoga 9i 2-in-1: Keyboard, trackpad, pen IDG / Chris Hoffman The keyboard feels fine to type on. Lenovo says it has “soft-landing” switches, which the company describes as having a “snappy” feel, along with 1.5mm of key travel. It’s not mushy, and the switches feel good to type on for a lightweight portable laptop. Once again, I have a criticism to make about a Yoga keyboard’s layout. Lenovo has put the fingerprint reader at the bottom right corner of the laptop. Personally, my fingers naturally gravitate towards the bottom-right corner of the keyboard, anticipating the presence of the right arrow key there, which disrupts my muscle memory! And, on the ThinkPad X1 2-in-1, Lenovo put the fingerprint reader to the left of the arrow keys. So that appears to be a touch reserved for Yoga laptops alone. Sure, you’ll get used to it — and if you like this machine and plan on spending a lot of time with it, perhaps that won’t be an issue for you. The trackpad feels nice and smooth, and it’s plenty large. When you click down, there’s a fine click that isn’t mushy. I would like to see laptops like this one include haptic trackpads — that’s just my preference — but this is a good mechanical trackpad. Lenovo also includes a Yoga Pen, which magnetically attaches to the top of the laptop, on the lid right below the camera bump. It’s an active pen that charges via USB-C. You can use it to draw on the laptop’s display, and it works well if you’re looking for that kind of pen experience on a consumer laptop with a 360-degree hinge. Lenovo Yoga 9i 2-in-1: Display and speakers IDG / Chris Hoffman The Lenovo Yoga 9i 2-in-1 has an excellent 14-inch OLED display with a touchscreen. It’s designed to wow — with a 2880×1800 resolution, HDR support, and the vivid colors OLED displays are known for. The screen is glossy, unlike the matte one on the business-focused ThinkPad X1 2-in-1. This machine is more interested in providing the most beautiful screen possible for media consumption, while the ThinkPad’s anti-glare display is more optimized for readability in various lighting conditions. It’s always a trade-off when selecting a laptop. To be clear, the screen glare is not unusual — this is just what happens in harsh lighting conditions when a laptop has a glossy OLED display. IDG / Chris Hoffman The Lenovo Yoga 2-in-1’s display tops out at a refresh rate of 120Hz, but it has a variable refresh rate, which probably helps Lenovo squeeze more battery life from this system. In fact, the most impressive thing about the display is probably that Lenovo has managed to squeeze long battery life out of this system, despite a display that feels like it should be power-hungry. Intel Lunar Lake is necessary, but the variable refresh rate on the display and the larger battery built into the laptop are probably the things that complete the puzzle. Lenovo makes a big deal of the rotating soundbar, saying it “allows the device to project audio independent of the device’s orientation.” The soundbar has two tweeters that rotate with the screen, and the laptop has two woofers on the bottom. The speaker setup sounds quite good. Listening to Steely Dan’s Aja on Spotify—a classic audiophile test track for speakers—the sound was clear and detailed. Swapping over to Daft Punk’s Get Lucky for a more electronic sound with more bass, the audio sounded punchy and fun — but obviously without the kind of bass you’d get from a good pair of headphones or external speakers. Lenovo Yoga 9i 2-in-1: Webcam, microphone, biometrics The Lenovo Yoga 9i 2-in-1 has a 5 MP webcam with a 1440p resolution. That sounds great on paper. It looks high-quality, too, with a clear picture. In fact, it’s one of the better webcams I’ve seen on a laptop — even compared to the webcams on some business laptops I’ve reviewed. The quality is more than good enough for video meetings and calls. Lenovo has also included a physical privacy shutter, so you can block the laptop by sliding a switch right above the webcam. These are always good to see. The microphone picks up clean, clear audio and has good noise cancellation in a room with desktop PC fans whirring. To my ears, it may be one of the better microphone setups I’ve tried in a laptop recently. Given that the Yoga line primarily caters to consumers, the webcam and microphone performance is impressive. The Lenovo Yoga 9i 2-in-1 has a fingerprint reader at the bottom-right corner of the keyboard and an IR camera built into the camera bar above the display. You can sign in with Windows Hello using either your fingerprint or face. Both work well. Lenovo Yoga 9i 2-in-1: Connectivity IDG / Chris Hoffman The Lenovo Yoga 9i 2-in-1 doesn’t have the largest selection of ports, but I’ve seen worse. On the left side, you’ll find a USB Type-C port (USB 20Gbps) and a USB Type-A port (USB 10Gbps.) On the right side, you’ll find two Thunderbolt 4 ports (USB 40Gbps) and a combo audio jack. This laptop charges via USB-C, so you’ll plug the charger into one of those USB Type-C ports. Anyone looking for an HDMI out port, a microSD card reader, or a second USB Type-A port will need to look elsewhere. (For example, the business-focused ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 has a built-in HDMI out port.) But this isn’t too bad for this type of portable laptop, especially if you’re prepared to use a dongle if you ever need more ports. I’m just happy to see Lenovo included a headphone jack on this machine! I’ve reviewed a similarly named Lunar Lake-powered Yoga laptop without a headphone jack, the Yoga Slim 9i. Thanks to Intel’s Lunar Lake, this machine also comes with Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4 as standard. It’s imperative that these features become standard for new laptops. Lenovo Yoga 9i 2-in-1: Performance The Lenovo Yoga 9i 2-in-1 delivers snappy desktop performance thanks to its Intel Core Ultra 7 258V CPU. Lunar Lake works well for day-to-day productivity applications and delivers extremely long battery life — plus surprisingly good graphics performance for integrated graphics hardware. As always, though, we ran the Lenovo Yoga 9i 2-in-1 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 7,719, the Lenovo Yoga 9i 2-in-1 seems to squeeze every bit of performance it can out of Lunar Lake’s hardware. We like to test laptops in their default state without tweaking them much — like a normal PC user would experience them — and I imagine recent changes to Windows 11 that put laptops into a higher-performance state automatically when they’re plugged in helped this machine in the benchmarks. IDG / Chris Hoffman Next, we run Cinebench R20. This test 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 multithreaded Cinebench R20 score of 4,306, Intel’s Lunar Lake hardware shows its biggest weakness here. With fewer CPU cores, it’s not just substantially slower at multithreaded CPU workloads than AMD’s Ryzen AI 300 series hardware, which also has an NPU and can run Copilot+ PC AI features. It’s also substantially slower than Intel’s own previous-generation Meteor Lake chips. Lunar Lake does provide longer battery life than its competitors, but it comes at a cost. This isn’t representative of real-world productivity application usage, which is good — but it will be an issue for multithreaded CPU-heavy workloads. IDG / Chris Hoffman We also run an encode with Handbrake. This test is another heavily multithreaded benchmark, but it runs over an extended period. It demands the laptop’s cooling kick in, and many laptops will throttle and slow down under load. The Lenovo Yoga 9i completed the encode process in an average of 1,414 minutes, which is about 23 and a half minutes. Again, multithreaded CPU performance is a weakness here. 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 3DMark Time Spy score of 4,716, Lunar Lake delivers great graphics performance for integrated graphics — second only to laptops with discrete Nvidia or AMD graphics hardware. Overall, this machine delivers solid performance. This laptop showcases Lunar Lake at its peak performance. It also struggles with Lunar Lake’s lower-than-ideal multithreaded performance, as Intel included fewer cores on Lunar Lake than on the last-generation Meteor Lake hardware. That’s only a concern if you have workloads that need sustained multithreaded performance, but it’s an important thing to consider on a $1,749 laptop. Lenovo Yoga 9i 2-in-1: Battery life The Lenovo Yoga 9i 2-in-1 combined a substantial 75 watt-hour battery with long-lasting Lunar Lake hardware, so we’d hope it would have long battery life. And it does — it’s very impressive. 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, and it’s worth noting that the Lenovo Yoga 9i 2-in-1’s OLED display has a bit of an advantage, as OLED screens use less power to display the black bars around the video. 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 Yoga 9i lasted for 1414 minutes before suspending itself — that’s 23 and a half hours. The OLED display almost certainly uses more power, but the choice of a variable refresh rate for the display and the larger battery help this machine achieve extremely long battery life. Lenovo Yoga 9i 2-in-1: Conclusion The Lenovo Yoga 9i 2-in-1 Aura Edition is a sleek machine with a beautiful display and long battery life. The 2-in-1 experience is great. It’s as nice as it looks in the photos. The downsides are evident: the glossy screen may not be ideal in certain situations, the low multithreaded CPU performance may disrupt some people’s workflows, and the fingerprint reader located to the right of the arrow keys may not be to everyone’s liking. But the main concern is the price — at $1,749, this is a little on the premium-priced side for a consumer laptop. Still, it is a 2-in-1, and a high-quality one at that. This is a wonderful laptop for people looking for a sleek, portable 2-in-1 with a vivid display and long battery life. If those are your priorities — and the price seems reasonable to you — this machine is great. Read...

I don’t know how your tech drawers look, but mine are filled with wires I’ll likely never use again because technology has advanced quite a bit. Thankfully, USB-C seems to be here to stay since there is no wrong way to plug these things in. It’s not just smartphones, tablets, and laptops that use these, however, but also a long list of gadgets. We’ve scoured the market for hidden gems: gadgets that will make you think “Wow, I didn’t know I needed that, but it will make my life so much easier!” So, let’s dive in and see what cool devices you’ll be able to use your type-C cables and ports with. Wowstick 1F+ mini electric screwdriver Wowstick If you often have to fiddle around with your computer or other gadgets, this Wowstick mini electric screwdriver may be just what you need. This pen-shaped screwdriver features three LED lights so it’s easier to see what you’re working on and rotates 200 times per minute so you can finish the job faster. The screwdriver has a stylish base so you can hold it on your desk, and a whole collection of 56 aluminum alloy bits. The screwdriver can be charged via USB-C and it can last for hours. This super fun electric screwdriver usually goes for $41. Anker Nano Power Bank Anker One thing you need to have in you bag/pocket/backpack is a power bank because you never really know when your phone will fail you and cry for a recharge. Well, the Anker Nano power bank is tiny enough to fit just about anywhere. It comes with a foldable USB-C connector and a port on the side so you can charge two devices at once if you need to. The 5,000mAh capacity is just about enough for a full phone recharge, so it will be great in a pinch. It’s also only $30, but we’ve seen it as low as $16. Endoscope camera with light Ennovor Although it’s not something you’ll use every day, this Ennover endoscope camera can definitely come in handy. You just plug it in your phone, install and app, and see everything your camera does. Our team swears by it, using it for finding whatever they dropped behind the desk, while working on the car, or looking for pipe leaks. Since it has an IP67 rating, you can even plop it in your aquarium. The camera comes with a 16.4ft semi-rigid cable and several accessories, including a hook, magnet, and a mirror. You can get this one for $23 right now. Blukar flashlight Blukar I don’t care who you are—you need a flashlight. The smaller, the better, because you get to shove it into any pocket. This model from Blukar comes with a built-in 1800mAh battery that you’ll recharge with one of those many type-C cables you have in that tech drawer we were talking about. It can work for up to 16 hours on a single charge, which is pretty decent. There are four different lightning modes to cycle through, including one that will help you signal for help. Plus, one of these is only $10, so no excuse to pass on this one. Heat It insect bite healer Anyone plagued by mosquitoes in the summer will be particularly pleased with this ingenious gadget. This tiny device, which can be easily connected to your smartphone via USB-C, can significantly reduce the itching of bites and stings with targeted heat. You simply charge the small Heat It bite healer via the app and then hold it on the bite. The heat then does the rest, breaking down the proteins in the mosquito bite that cause the area to swell, itch, and hurt. A true must-have for summer, and it costs only $20. A tiny air pump Also perfect for summer is this small air pump from Cycplus, which fits in any bag while on the go. Not only can it inflate a bicycle tire in two minutes at the touch of a button, but it’s also USB-charged. According to the manufacturer, it’s suitable for mountain bikes, road bikes, motorcycles, and even cars! In addition to being an air pump, this practical gadget can also be used as a flashlight or power bank for on-the-go use — all things that come in very handy on a bike ride. And at just $57, it’s highly recommended if you need quick help with a flat tire. Samsung flash drive Samsung The vast majority of flash drives have a USB-A connector, but this one from Samsung has a Type-C connector. With transfer speeds of up to 400MB/s, you’ll move files around in no time. The beauty of this thumb drive is that you can even pop it in your smartphone to record 4K vids directly on it. The Samsung Type-C flash drive comes in multiple storage options, starting at 64GB and up to 512GB and they start at $14. The 256GB version, for instance, is $27 at the time of writing. Editor’s note: This article was originally published on May 16, but was updated to include two additional devices. Read...

NordVPN and Proton VPN are two of the very best VPNs on the market. So, to help you decide which is the best online privacy tool for you, I’m putting them head-to-head. In comparing the two services, I’ll look at the most important aspects of a great VPN including speed, cost, privacy and security, and streaming.  While NordVPN is faster and packs in more features, Proton VPN optimizes privacy and comes with a larger server network. It’s a close call, but for most people I’d recommend NordVPN. It’s our pick for best VPN overall thanks to its unmatched feature set, lightning-fast speeds, and exceptional streaming support. Both Nord and Proton are top-notch services, but be sure to check out our picks for the best VPNs for even more great options. NordVPNProton VPNServer network7,000+ servers, 118 country locations11,000+, 117 country locationsSimultaneous connections1010Average speeds75% of base download, 81% of base upload65% of base download, 72% of base uploadProtocolsWireGuard (NordLynx), NordWhisper, OpenVPN, IKEv2/IPsecWireGuard, Stealth, OpenVPN, IKEv2/IPsecAvailable platformsWindows, MacOS, Android, iOS, iPadOS, Fire TV, Apple TV, Linux, browsers, routersWindows, MacOS, Android, iOS, iPadOS, Fire TV, Apple TV, Linux, browsers, routersBusiness locationPanamaSwitzerlandCost$13.99 per month, $71.88 for the first year, or $107.73 for the first two years$9.99 per month, $59.88 for the first year, or $107.76 for the first two years Speed: NordVPN In my testing, NordVPN and Proton VPN scored highly in both download and upload speeds. NordVPN has the fastest speeds of any VPN I’ve ever tested while Proton VPN ranks sixth overall. The latest round of testing showed that NordVPN resulted in an average of 75 percent of the base download speeds and an outstanding 81 percent of the base upload speeds. Proton VPN came in a little slower at 65 percent of the base download speed and 72 percent of the base upload speeds.  While NordVPN is the clear winner, the margins are actually quite close, despite how they might seem. Whichever you choose you can expect to smoothly handle bandwidth-heavy tasks, such as gaming and 4K streaming. It’s worth mentioning, however, that Proton VPN’s free version is the runaway leader in terms of speeds among all free VPNs. The speeds on all free servers were the same as Proton’s premium servers. Cost: Proton VPN NordVPN offers four subscription tiers: Basic, Plus, Complete, and Prime. To make an equal comparison for services provided I’ll focus on just NordVPN’s Plus plan which runs $13.99 monthly, $71.88 for the first year, or $105.36 for the first two years. ProtonVPN on the other hand offers three tiers: Free, Plus, and Unlimited. For the purposes of this comparison, I’ll focus on ProtonVPN’s Plus plan which is the most similar to NordVPN’s Plus plan. Proton’s Plus tier is offered for $9.99 per month, or you can opt for a one-year subscription at $59.88, or the two-year plan for $71.76. Best VPN Overall NordVPN Read our review Best Prices Today: $3.39 at NordVPN (Monthly) In both the short term and long term Proton VPN is the cheaper option for similar, but not identical, feature sets. NordVPN does offer a few extra features that Proton does not in this mid-tier including MeshNet file sharing and a secure link-checker tool. But all in all, Proton VPN is the better value and comes in cheaper for pretty much identical features. Another plus in this category for Proton VPN is its free tier. For absolutely no cost you get a one-device connection limit and access to five servers located all across the world. There are no ads and no speed or data restrictions either. It is not only a perfect way to try out Proton VPN, but may be a good option as your daily VPN as well. Privacy and security: Tie NordVPN and Proton VPN both offer stellar security tools. Beyond just allowing you to browse the web privately, both of these services have expanded to offer a full suite of security add-ons to provide a safer online experience. In terms of total features offered, NordVPN barely edges out Proton VPN. Both VPNs offer multihop connections, split tunneling, ad- and tracker-blocking, Onion over VPN, a kill switch, and stealth protocols. But NordVPN adds to this with its Meshnet file sharing feature and a robust Threat Protection tool with malware and virus protection, plus a dark web monitoring service. That being said, one could argue that Proton VPN offers slightly better privacy. This is in part due to its commendable transparency across all apps which are all open source and Proton’s Secure Core feature that routes traffic through privacy-friendly countries for enhanced anonymity. best free VPN ProtonVPN Read our review Best Prices Today: $9.99 at Proton VPN Both services have strict no-logs policies that have undergone multiple independent audits and both are located in privacy-friendly locations—NordVPN is based in Panama, while Proton VPN is based in Switzerland. While users can enjoy more comprehensive security features with NordVPN, they will likely find that Proton VPN offers slightly better privacy. Therefore, I’m calling it a tie between the two for privacy and security. Streaming: NordVPN Proton VPN is a fine service for unblocking streaming content, but it simply can’t match NordVPN—in fact, nothing can. We chose NordVPN as the best VPN for streaming for a reason. No other service can match its unblocking capabilities across all servers or work as consistently with as many streaming sites. It’s worth noting that both VPNs do offer stealth protocols, Nord’s NordWhisper and Proton’s Stealth protocols, that are built to more successfully evade detection by third parties. This may help if you find that a streaming service is actively blocking your VPN connection. Additionally, both services offer wide device support not only for your computers and smartphones, but also for smart TVs and streaming devices as well. Still, while streaming compatibility can be a fickle thing, NordVPN has never let me down in all of the years of use and testing when unblocking all of the major sites such as Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu, Disney+, or ESPN—that’s more than I can say for any other VPN. The streaming win goes to NordVPN. Bottom line Ultimately, if you want speed, guaranteed streaming unblocking, and comprehensive security then go with NordVPN. The service has been well established as an industry leader for more than a decade now and will give you reliable, high-quality privacy protections  If you want a service that is more affordable, with absolute transparency then Proton VPN is more than worthwhile. Proton VPN also has the advantage of offering a free tier which makes it the perfect entry point to try out a VPN without spending any of your hard-earned cash. These two VPNs are neck-and-neck and either would be an excellent choice no matter what you want to do online. I gave both NordVPN and Proton VPN 4.5 out of 5 stars in their respective reviews and both earned Editors’ Choice awards thanks to their impressive offerings and value. All things considered though, NordVPN is my pick for the best VPN overall and whenever someone asks me for a VPN recommendation it’s the one I turn to first. Related content What is a VPN & how does it work? Are free VPNs any good? Which VPN protocol should you use? It makes a big difference ExpressVPN vs. NordVPN: Clash of the heavyweight titans Read...