Comcast and Spectrum are trying new tactics to win back cord-cutters and keep their existing TV customers from jumping ship. Last week, Comcast retooled its TV plans and made them easier to understand. Instead of needing to provide a service address and scrutinize the fine print for hidden fees, you can now just go to an Xfinity web page to compare the actual prices up front. Spectrum, meanwhile, has focused on bundling streaming services with its main cable TV packages. (It also stopped doing sneaky fees last year.) The upshot is that it’s now a lot easier to decide whether cable TV is still worth it, or to determine whether your current cable TV plan is overpriced. Let’s walk through Comcast’s and Spectrum’s offerings to help you figure it out. Spectrum’s $100 cable TV deal vs. streaming Spectrum is currently offering a promo for its “TV Select Signature” plan, bringing the price to $100 per month for 12 months instead of the usual $120 per month. Spectrum’s “TV Select Plus” plan, which includes regional sports, costs an additional $10 per month. Both plans include cloud DVR for up to 50 shows, and you can use Spectrum’s streaming TV apps instead of a cable box. Jared Newman / Foundry On the surface, neither plan compares favorably to the likes of YouTube TV ($83 per month) or Hulu + Live TV ($90 per month). Spectrum’s big pitch, though, is that you get a bunch of streaming services at no extra cost, including Disney+, Hulu, HBO Max, ESPN Unlimited, Paramount+, Peacock, AMC+, and Vix. (Tennis Channel is also included in Spectrum’s TV Select Plus and TV Platinum plans.) Spectrum says these the value of these services equals more than $100 per month, but that claim relies on some double-dipping. ESPN Unlimited and Fox One consist mainly of the same content that’s already on their respective cable channels, and Spectrum’s adding up the individual costs of Disney+ and Hulu instead of their bundled price with ESPN. When we look at the real value of these streaming freebies, it adds up to $63 or $73 per month: Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN Select (all with ads): a $20-per-month value HBO Max (with ads): an $11-per-month value Paramount+ (with ads): an $8-per-month value Peacock (with ads): an $11-per-month value AMC+ (with ads): a $7-per-month value Vix (with ads): a $6-per-month value Tennis Channel (TV Select Plus and TV Platinum only): a $10-per-month value So, is Spectrum’s TV plan a good deal? It depends on which services and channels you’d normally pay for year round. YouTube TV combined with just the first four streaming services listed above, for instance, would cost you a total $133 per month, versus $120 per month with Spectrum ($100 per month in year one). Hulu with Live TV combined with Peacock, Paramount+, and AMC+ would cost you $120 per month, same as Spectrum’s non-promotional rate. (Hulu’s service includes Disney+, Hulu on demand, and ESPN Select at no extra charge.) In those scenarios, Spectrum comes out ahead. But if you don’t need a full-sized pay TV package, or your streaming needs are more narrow, Spectrum’s TV plans could be a waste of money. As I’ve previously documented, cheaper bundles with fewer channels are starting to become available, some of which include free streaming services themselves. I encourage you to look at all those options before committing to a TV bill of $100 per month or more, because even when you factor in Spectrum’s freebies, the cost might not be worth it. (While Spectrum also offers a $40-per-month option called TV Stream, with dozens of entertainment channels along with CNN and Fox News, you won’t get local channels, live sports, or any streaming freebies.) Comcast’s updated packages vs. streaming Unlike Spectrum, Comcast isn’t bundling any free streaming services with its standard cable TV packages. That makes the comparison a lot simpler. Comcast’s main TV package is now called “Xfinity TV Plus,” and it costs $95 per month if you also have Xfinity home internet service. “Xfinity TV Premium” costs $125 per month for internet customers, and it includes regional sports networks and sports league channels. (Each is $10-per-month pricier without an Xfinity home internet service.) Comcast includes an X1 cable box and 300 hours of DVR with all plans, and you can use the Xfinity Stream app on connected smart TVs, PCs, and mobile devices as well. Jared Newman / Foundry Compared to YouTube TV at $83 per month or Hulu + Live TV at $90 per month, Comcast’s full-sized TV packages are still more expensive, though not by lot. You’d be paying a premium for the creature comforts of a cable box (and tying yourself to Comcast’s internet service if you want the $10-per-month discount). But Comcast is also wading into the skinny bundle business. Its Sports & News TV package includes local channels, major national sports networks, cable news channels, and Peacock for $80 per month. An $85-per-month World Soccer Ticket plan adds Spanish-language channels such as TUDN, Fox Deportes, and ESPN Deportes. (While these plans include Peacock, Comcast’s larger packages strangely do not.) Other sports bundles are still cheaper, including DirecTV MySports ($70 per month) and Fubo Sports ($56 per month), but as with Comcast’s full-sized packages, DirecTV’s sports offerings might be worthwhile if you want the cable-box experience. More to come Last week, YouTube announced that it will launch more than 10 of its own genre-specific packages early next year. It hasn’t revealed pricing or many details, except that one of the packages will focus on sports. All of which means that the cable companies will soon need to adapt once more. It’s great that they’ve finally embraced price transparency and are finding ways to deliver value, but without more flexible options for cord cutters, they’ll again find themselves behind the times. Sign up for Jared’s Cord Cutter Weekly newsletter for more streaming TV advice. Read...

Imagine it’s the year 2030 and Nvidia has just announced its newest RTX 7000-series graphics cards. But the cheapest of the cards is priced over $2,000 and the top model is nearly double that. The series offer minimal uplift on rendering performance, but they’re incredibly good at accelerated upscaling and frame generation. Plus, memory bandwidth is almost double over the last-gen models. Let’s continue the hypothetical: Nvidia’s new xx60-series cards aren’t expected for months while Nvidia stockpiles enough defective GPUs. But don’t worry if you can’t afford these new cards or don’t want to wait. Why? Because GeForce Now offers the full upgrade right now for an “affordable” monthly fee, especially with an annual sub locked in. I wrote the above as a nightmare scenario, but it’s odd how close it sounds to the launch of the RTX 50-series. It’s a history that seems likely to repeat and accelerate as Nvidia’s gaming division becomes an ever-more-minor side hustle to its AI initiatives. Nvidia could effectively give up on gaming in the near future, and that might be the most financially sensible thing to do if the AI bubble doesn’t burst. But what would happen if they did? Just follow the money The numbers behind my pessimistic prognosis paint a stark picture. Nvidia’s Q3 2025 revenue topped $57 billion. Guess how much of that money came from data centers? A whopping $51.2 billion. That’s just shy of 90% of its total revenue and represents a 25% increase over the previous quarter and a 66% increase year on year. How much revenue do you think Nvidia pulled in from gaming? A measly $4.3 billion by comparison. That’s down 1% on the previous quarter, and that’s despite having the most powerful graphics cards available and with stock and prices being far more favorable than they were earlier in the year. It’s still up 30% on last year, but the difference in potential between data centers and gaming is staggering. Nvidia Indeed, gaming makes up less than 8% of Nvidia’s total revenue as of now, and although the overall income from gaming continues to increase, it’s miniscule in comparison to its data center take. Bullfincher highlights how quickly that’s changed, too: just a few years ago, gaming represented over 33% of Nvidia’s total revenue. Where do you think it’s going to be in another five years? Assuming the AI bubble doesn’t pop as catastrophically as it could, gaming is going to become a tiny footnote on Nvidia’s balance sheet. Will Jensen Huang even bother doing gaming hardware keynotes at that point? Mark Hachman / IDG Nvidia might be the biggest megacorp in this space, but its contemporaries show similar gaming red flags on their balance sheets. AMD made just over $9 billion this past quarter, but $4.3 billion was from data center sales while only $1.3 billion came from gaming. That’s much better than last year—when data centers brought in $3.5 billion and gaming just $462 million—but data centers are still a far bigger portion of AMD’s revenue than gaming. These numbers make a compelling case for giving up some interest and investment in gaming hardware development. It doesn’t mean they’re going to stop make gaming GPUs entirely. (Or does it?) But if you’re Jensen Huang facing off against shareholders who are demanding the revenue numbers go up as much as possible as fast as possible, what are you going to sell them on: a new gaming GPU that has historically low margins, or a new generation of data center hardware to feed into the accelerating AI bubble with untold potential? You could even argue that Nvidia’s increasing focus over the past few years on DLSS and ray tracing over pure rasterization performance is an early sign of it putting its eggs in the data center basket. A canary in the RAM mines The biggest side effect of all these new data center builds hasn’t been GPU scarcity, surprisingly. (At least, not to the degree we saw during the cryptocurrency craze.) Rather, it’s skyrocketing memory prices. RAM kits have increased in price by over 200 percent in some cases, making large capacity kits more costly than top-tier GPUs. Some modest RAM options are even more expensive than gaming consoles. Consumer RAM is shooting up in price because all the major memory manufacturers are inundated with orders for data center memory, like HBM and LPDDR. Some have begun pivoting their fabrication lines to these higher-margin memory types, leading to shortages of NAND chips—and, consequently, shortages of consumer memory and SSDs. Nor Gal / Shutterstock.com Those shortages are making RAM and SSDs far more expensive. And yet, despite the increased margins and diminishing supply versus demand, Micron just closed its Crucial brand of consumer RAM and SSDs. It was profitable, it was popular, it had a distinct market niche that served consumers and gamers for decades. But even Micron didn’t see the point of keeping it going when it could instead make heaps more cash from selling Micron NAND chips and server memory. And if Micron is so willing to pull out of the consumer space due to AI-driven demand, how much more will Nvidia be tempted to do the same? What’s stopping Nvidia from reaching the same conclusion? For further proof of this future, Nvidia is rumored to be cutting its gaming GPU supply in 2026 due to memory shortages. It’s especially notable how Nvidia appears to be cutting the more affordable mid-range graphics cards first, leaving ultra-budget and ultra-high-end lines intact for now. Is this just the first step in Nvidia leaving gamers behind? Where things could go from here There are some intriguing comparisons to make between Nvidia and other big businesses that found growth and revenue in avenues that weren’t where they started. IBM went from being the name in computing hardware to one that largely runs in the background. It sold off its core hardware businesses and became a software and services company that’s still worth tens of billions of dollars. It recently spun off again, creating a separate company to handle IT services while the core business refocused on cloud computing and AI. Nvidia could do that: spin or sell off its gaming divisions and license its GPU technology to that spun-or-sold-off subsidiary. Notice the lack of graphics cards in this Nvidia promo image.Nvidia Perhaps Nvidia could even end up like Adobe. In the mid-2010s, the developer of Photoshop launched Creative Cloud and slowly pushed all its once-in-perpetuity software licenses into a subscription model that’s still going on today. Could that apply to Nvidia’s GeForce Now streaming service? It had 25 million subscribers as of 2023 and ran on GPUs designed for data center server racks. Nvidia could leave dedicated desktop and laptop GPUs behind entirely and pivot its gaming divisions into software/hardware-as-a-service firms. If gaming goes a similar way to TV and movie streaming, it’s possible Nvidia could even pull a Netflix and slowly de-emphasize its DVD-like hardware business in favor of powering it all from the cloud. Gaming won’t die, but it will change As much as this article is heavy on the doom, Nvidia is unlikely to exit gaming entirely. People want to play games and there’s money to be made there, so someone will keep tapping that market. But how that revenue is extracted may change—dramatically so. Microsoft is already talking about making the next Xbox more of a PC/console hybrid. And with the latest Xbox consoles being the third wheel of this generation, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see the future of Xbox focus more on streaming games than buying/owning them. Xbox Game Pass already has over 37 million subscribers—that’s more than the number of Xbox Series X/S consoles sold this generation. Nvidia could do something similar. Or it could spin off. Or it could stop making gaming GPUs entirely. The only thing we know for sure is this: when a gaming company starts making astronomical amounts of money due to AI-driven demand, it’s hard to imagine it wouldn’t be tempted to dive head-first into an AI-first strategy at the expense of gaming. Further reading: PC vs. consoles? Gaming’s future is blurrier than ever Read...

Imagine it’s the year 2030 and Nvidia has just announced its newest RTX 7000-series graphics cards. But the cheapest of the cards is priced over $2,000 and the top model is nearly double that. The series offer minimal uplift on rendering performance, but they’re incredibly good at accelerated upscaling and frame generation. Plus, memory bandwidth is almost double over the last-gen models. Let’s continue the hypothetical: Nvidia’s new xx60-series cards aren’t expected for months while Nvidia stockpiles enough defective GPUs. But don’t worry if you can’t afford these new cards or don’t want to wait. Why? Because GeForce Now offers the full upgrade right now for an “affordable” monthly fee, especially with an annual sub locked in. I wrote the above as a nightmare scenario, but it’s odd how close it sounds to the launch of the RTX 50-series. It’s a history that seems likely to repeat and accelerate as Nvidia’s gaming division becomes an ever-more-minor side hustle to its AI initiatives. Nvidia could effectively give up on gaming in the near future, and that might be the most financially sensible thing to do if the AI bubble doesn’t burst. But what would happen if they did? Just follow the money The numbers behind my pessimistic prognosis paint a stark picture. Nvidia’s Q3 2025 revenue topped $57 billion. Guess how much of that money came from data centers? A whopping $51.2 billion. That’s just shy of 90% of its total revenue and represents a 25% increase over the previous quarter and a 66% increase year on year. How much revenue do you think Nvidia pulled in from gaming? A measly $4.3 billion by comparison. That’s down 1% on the previous quarter, and that’s despite having the most powerful graphics cards available and with stock and prices being far more favorable than they were earlier in the year. It’s still up 30% on last year, but the difference in potential between data centers and gaming is staggering. Nvidia Indeed, gaming makes up less than 8% of Nvidia’s total revenue as of now, and although the overall income from gaming continues to increase, it’s miniscule in comparison to its data center take. Bullfincher highlights how quickly that’s changed, too: just a few years ago, gaming represented over 33% of Nvidia’s total revenue. Where do you think it’s going to be in another five years? Assuming the AI bubble doesn’t pop as catastrophically as it could, gaming is going to become a tiny footnote on Nvidia’s balance sheet. Will Jensen Huang even bother doing gaming hardware keynotes at that point? Mark Hachman / IDG Nvidia might be the biggest megacorp in this space, but its contemporaries show similar gaming red flags on their balance sheets. AMD made just over $9 billion this past quarter, but $4.3 billion was from data center sales while only $1.3 billion came from gaming. That’s much better than last year—when data centers brought in $3.5 billion and gaming just $462 million—but data centers are still a far bigger portion of AMD’s revenue than gaming. These numbers make a compelling case for giving up some interest and investment in gaming hardware development. It doesn’t mean they’re going to stop make gaming GPUs entirely. (Or does it?) But if you’re Jensen Huang facing off against shareholders who are demanding the revenue numbers go up as much as possible as fast as possible, what are you going to sell them on: a new gaming GPU that has historically low margins, or a new generation of data center hardware to feed into the accelerating AI bubble with untold potential? You could even argue that Nvidia’s increasing focus over the past few years on DLSS and ray tracing over pure rasterization performance is an early sign of it putting its eggs in the data center basket. A canary in the RAM mines The biggest side effect of all these new data center builds hasn’t been GPU scarcity, surprisingly. (At least, not to the degree we saw during the cryptocurrency craze.) Rather, it’s skyrocketing memory prices. RAM kits have increased in price by over 200 percent in some cases, making large capacity kits more costly than top-tier GPUs. Some modest RAM options are even more expensive than gaming consoles. Consumer RAM is shooting up in price because all the major memory manufacturers are inundated with orders for data center memory, like HBM and LPDDR. Some have begun pivoting their fabrication lines to these higher-margin memory types, leading to shortages of NAND chips—and, consequently, shortages of consumer memory and SSDs. Nor Gal / Shutterstock.com Those shortages are making RAM and SSDs far more expensive. And yet, despite the increased margins and diminishing supply versus demand, Micron just closed its Crucial brand of consumer RAM and SSDs. It was profitable, it was popular, it had a distinct market niche that served consumers and gamers for decades. But even Micron didn’t see the point of keeping it going when it could instead make heaps more cash from selling Micron NAND chips and server memory. And if Micron is so willing to pull out of the consumer space due to AI-driven demand, how much more will Nvidia be tempted to do the same? What’s stopping Nvidia from reaching the same conclusion? For further proof of this future, Nvidia is rumored to be cutting its gaming GPU supply in 2026 due to memory shortages. It’s especially notable how Nvidia appears to be cutting the more affordable mid-range graphics cards first, leaving ultra-budget and ultra-high-end lines intact for now. Is this just the first step in Nvidia leaving gamers behind? Where things could go from here There are some intriguing comparisons to make between Nvidia and other big businesses that found growth and revenue in avenues that weren’t where they started. IBM went from being the name in computing hardware to one that largely runs in the background. It sold off its core hardware businesses and became a software and services company that’s still worth tens of billions of dollars. It recently spun off again, creating a separate company to handle IT services while the core business refocused on cloud computing and AI. Nvidia could do that: spin or sell off its gaming divisions and license its GPU technology to that spun-or-sold-off subsidiary. Notice the lack of graphics cards in this Nvidia promo image.Nvidia Perhaps Nvidia could even end up like Adobe. In the mid-2010s, the developer of Photoshop launched Creative Cloud and slowly pushed all its once-in-perpetuity software licenses into a subscription model that’s still going on today. Could that apply to Nvidia’s GeForce Now streaming service? It had 25 million subscribers as of 2023 and ran on GPUs designed for data center server racks. Nvidia could leave dedicated desktop and laptop GPUs behind entirely and pivot its gaming divisions into software/hardware-as-a-service firms. If gaming goes a similar way to TV and movie streaming, it’s possible Nvidia could even pull a Netflix and slowly de-emphasize its DVD-like hardware business in favor of powering it all from the cloud. Gaming won’t die, but it will change As much as this article is heavy on the doom, Nvidia is unlikely to exit gaming entirely. People want to play games and there’s money to be made there, so someone will keep tapping that market. But how that revenue is extracted may change—dramatically so. Microsoft is already talking about making the next Xbox more of a PC/console hybrid. And with the latest Xbox consoles being the third wheel of this generation, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see the future of Xbox focus more on streaming games than buying/owning them. Xbox Game Pass already has over 37 million subscribers—that’s more than the number of Xbox Series X/S consoles sold this generation. Nvidia could do something similar. Or it could spin off. Or it could stop making gaming GPUs entirely. The only thing we know for sure is this: when a gaming company starts making astronomical amounts of money due to AI-driven demand, it’s hard to imagine it wouldn’t be tempted to dive head-first into an AI-first strategy at the expense of gaming. Further reading: PC vs. consoles? Gaming’s future is blurrier than ever Read...

At a glanceExpert`s Rating Pros Serious performance Good battery life Excellent webcam and mic Long warranty Cons Expensive 4GB of VRAM puts many local AI models out of reach NPU too slow for Copilot+ PC features Our Verdict HP’s ZBook 8 G1i is a capable professional workstation with fast performance, good thermals, and an unusually long warranty. But this machine can’t run many AI workflows. Price When Reviewed This value will show the geolocated pricing text for product undefined Best Pricing Today Best Prices Today: HP ZBook 8 G1i Retailer Price Check Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket Best Prices Today: Check today’s prices The HP ZBook 8 G1i is a high-end workstation laptop designed for professional workloads: CAD, 3D modeling, and video editing. It’s priced to match, too. At an eye-watering price of $5,755, this machine seems priced with enough margin to allow big discounts to businesses procuring a fleet for their employees. As I wrapped up this review, HP was offering it at 61 percent off — a price of $2,199. With a three-year warranty, a bundled Windows 11 Professional license, a fast Intel Core Ultra 7 265H CPU, workstation-class Nvidia graphics, and plenty of RAM and storage, that sale price seems fair for a professional tool like this one. But HP’s promises of “pro-level graphics designed for advanced AI workflows” fall a little flat here. While this machine has Nvidia graphics that can run local AI features in professional apps, this isn’t the ideal AI workstation PC. Both the GPU and NPU hold it back in AI workloads. HP ZBook 8 G1i: Specs The HP ZBook 8 G1i is available in a variety of configurations, both in 14-Inch and 16-inch models. The 16-inch review model HP let us borrow had an Intel Core Ultra 7 265H CPU, 32GB of DDR5 RAM, and a dual-GPU setup with a workstation-class discrete Nvidia RTX 500 Ada GPU and integrated Intel Arc Pro 140T graphics. The 16-core Intel Core Ultra 7 265H CPU is based on Intel’s Arrow Lake architecture with a max speed of 5.3 GHz, and it delivered CPU and overall system performance that wowed in our benchmark suite. The RTX 500 Ada GPU here is an entry-level GPU designed for workstation PCs, including CAD software and lightweight AI tasks. Professionals get certified drivers for use with software like AutoCAD, with a promise of greater stability. This machine is not intended for gaming, and the RTX 500 Ada GPU here only has 4 GB of VRAM. So, while HP talks up this machine as an AI workhorse, the lack of VRAM means it isn’t ideal for heavy local AI tasks that need a lot of VRAM, including running larger local models and fine-tuning them. Quite frankly, the AI story is the weakest part of this machine. With a slow Intel NPU that doesn’t meet the minimum requirements for Microsoft’s Copilot+ PC features and an Nvidia GPU with only 4 GB of VRAM, people looking for an “AI workstation” would do well to look elsewhere. For running local LLMs, a consumer GPU with 12GB of VRAM or more would be ideal. If you download LM Studio, you’ll discover that only the smallest models will run on a GPU like this one. You’re getting a professional GPU intended for CAD applications that can do some lightweight work with AI-accelerated features in professional apps — as long as they don’t need much video RAM. Model number: HP ZBook 8 G1i C01CTUA#ABA / BQ2Z7AA#ABA CPU: Intel Core Ultra 7 265H Memory: 32GB DDR5-5600 RAM Graphics/GPU: Nvidia RTX 500 Ada and Intel Arc Pro 140T NPU: Intel AI Boost (13 TOPS) Display: 16-inch 1920×1200 IPS display Storage: 1TB PCIe Gen4 SSD Webcam: 5 MP webcam Connectivity: 3x USB Type-C (2x Thunderbolt 4, 1x USB 20Gbps), 1x USB Type-A (5Gbps), 1x HDMI 2.1, 1x combo audio jack, 1x RJ-45 Ethernet, 1x security lock slot Networking: Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4 Biometrics: Fingerprint reader and IR camera for facial recognition Battery capacity: 77 Watt-hours Dimensions: 14.13 x 9.84 x 0.76 inches Weight: 3.87 pounds MSRP: $5,755 as tested ($2,199 on sale) If you’re looking for a fast professional workstation, the HP ZBook 8 G1i fits the bill. Just don’t pay $5,755 for it. HP ZBook 8 G1i: Design and build quality Foundry / Chris Hoffman The 16-inch HP ZBook 8 G1i has a metal chassis. Weighing just under four pounds, it’s a reasonable weight for a laptop of this size and capability. It’s not the thinnest machine, but the cooling works well. The CPU here posted high marks in our benchmarks. The thermals are excellent: In a long-running CPU-heavy task like the Cinebench benchmark we perform, the fan whirs away, keeping the CPU running cool. It’s not unusually loud even at high performance levels. For professionals looking for high performance on CPU-heavy workloads, this machine’s CPU performance will outmatch many high-performance “gaming PCs” that spend their performance budget on a faster GPU and opt for a slower CPU. The design is standard for a laptop: A blue or gray-tinged silver color that HP calls “Meteor Silver” combined with a black bezel around the display. The hinge feels solid, and the machine is easy to open with one hand. The metal construction feels premium. HP ZBook 8 G1i: Keyboard and trackpad Foundry / Chris Hoffman The 16-inch HP ZBook 8 G1i has a large keyboard that feels responsive, with a number pad and keys that are reasonably snappy. The trackpad is large, smooth, and clicks down with a pleasantly rubbery, bouncy feel. Both the keyboard and the trackpad here are quiet, which would make them a good fit for an office environment or coffee shop. (Many consumer laptops have surprisingly loud keyboards and trackpads, and they wouldn’t be ideal to type on in an office or in a meeting room with your boss.) HP ZBook 8 G1i: Display and speakers Foundry / Chris Hoffman The HP ZBook 8 G1i has a display designed for a business laptop. The 16-inch 1920×1200 IPS display here looks good, but the 60Hz refresh rate is standard and doesn’t go above and beyond on the pixel density. With up to 400 nits of brightness and an anti-glare coating, it stays nicely readable in challenging lighting environments with direct sun or overhead fluorescent lighting. The display is designed for long battery life and readability, not high-end gaming and multimedia tasks. HP offers other models with higher-end displays — for example, you can get a 3840×2400 IPS display with a 120Hz refresh rate and 500 nits of brightness on some models. But that will negatively impact battery life. The lower-end display delivers better battery life. The HP ZBook 8 G1i’s speakers get surprisingly loud for a laptop, if you want them to be. Unfortunately, there’s not much bass. At high volume levels, the highs in songs like Steely Dan’s Aja can become somewhat shrill and fatiguing. This machine’s speakers are likely optimized more for speech and meetings. Set at 50 percent volume, this laptop was about as loud as many other laptops I’ve used. HP ZBook 8 G1i: Webcam, microphone, biometrics The HP ZBook 8 G1i’s 5 MP webcam is unusually good, which is what I’d hope to see in a high-end laptop designed for work. Even on a cloudy winter day in New England, the ambient light coming through the window in my office resulted in a clear, crisp image without much visual noise. The microphone setup here is also impressive: It picked up my voice with a good amount of vocal depth and canceled out background noise. Cheaper laptop mics often sound “tinny.” This machine is an excellent choice if you take part in a lot of online meetings. HP included multiple biometrics options on our review model: Both an IR camera for facial recognition and a fingerprint reader at the top-right corner of the keyboard tray. HP ZBook 8 G1i: Connectivity Foundry / Chris Hoffman The HP ZBook 8 G1i has a good selection of ports. On the left side, it has two Thunderbolt 4 (USB Type-C) ports, an HDMI 2.1 port, and a combo audio jack. On the right side, it has a third USB Type-C port (20Gbps), a USB Type-A port (5Gbps), a RJ-45 Ethernet port, and a security lock slot. It’s great having USB Type-C ports on both sides. As the laptop charges via USB Type-C, this means you can plug the charging cable into either side. That’s always great to see on a laptop. It’s a capable loadout of ports, especially with Ethernet — a critical business port. And our review model supported both Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4, although the hardware on different ZBook models varies. HP also offers an optional external nano SIM slot on some models, so you can connect this laptop to cellular data. HP ZBook 8 G1i: Performance The HP ZBook 8 G1i flew in day-to-day desktop tasks. The Intel Core Ultra 7 265H CPU here is fast, and this machine’s thermals are set up to let it run hard without slowing down under load. With 32GB of RAM and a fast 1TB SSD, the machine is set up for high performance in professional apps. As always, we ran the HP ZBook 8 G1i through our standard benchmarks. Foundry / Chris Hoffman First, we run PCMark 10 to get an idea of overall system performance. The HP ZBook 8 G1i delivered an overall PCMark 10 score of 9,171. This is a CPU-focused benchmark where the GPU is less important, but the SSD and overall system performance come into play. This is higher overall system performance than many gaming laptops I’ve reviewed, and the ZBook can deliver it over extended periods of time with a fan that isn’t all that loud. This alone will make this machine a great option for many professionals. Foundry / Chris Hoffman Next, we run Cinebench R20. This is a heavily multithreaded benchmark that focuses on overall CPU performance. It’s a quick benchmark, so cooling under extended workloads isn’t a factor. But, since it’s heavily multithreaded, CPUs with more cores have a huge advantage. With a multithreaded score of 7,534, the HP ZBook 8 G1i again notched serious multithreaded CPU performance that outmatched many other laptops. Foundry / Chris Hoffman We also run an encode with Handbrake. This is another heavily multithreaded benchmark, but it runs over an extended period. This forces the laptop’s cooling to kick in, and many laptops will throttle and slow down under load. The HP ZBook 8 G1i completed the encode process in an average of 783 seconds — that’s just over 13 minutes. It’s an unusually good score and shows the machine’s thermals are well-designed. It can deliver serious performance for extended periods of time under load. Foundry / Chris Hoffman Next, we run a graphical benchmark. This isn’t a gaming laptop, and the GPU will generally be used for GPU-based professional apps and perhaps accelerating some local AI tasks. We run 3Dmark Time Spy, a graphical benchmark that focuses on GPU performance. With a 3DMark Time Spy score of 6,053, we see where the raw GPU performance falls: More comparable to an older RTX 3050 Ti GPU than a newer 50-series GPU. But you don’t buy a workstation-class GPU for raw gaming performance. You buy it for the stability and certified drivers for apps like AutoCAD and SolidWorks. Overall, the HP ZBook 8 G1i delivered amazing performance in the kind of professional apps you’d be running on a machine like this one. HP ZBook 8 G1i: Battery life The HP ZBook 8 G1i has a sizable 77 Watt-hour battery. Intel’s Arrow Lake CPUs are more focused on performance than battery life, but the power-efficient display and sizable battery deliver solid battery life for a workstation. Foundry / Chris Hoffman To benchmark the battery life, we play a 4K copy of Tears of Steel on repeat on Windows 11 with airplane mode enabled until the laptop suspends itself. We set the screen to 250 nits of brightness for our battery benchmarks. 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 HP ZBook lasted for about 14 and a half hours before suspending itself. It should get you through a full workday away from an outlet, if you like. But you’ll need to plug the laptop in to get the best performance from the hardware, anyway. What you end up with is a laptop that can last away from an outlet when it needs to. The battery life is solid for this hardware. HP ZBook 8 G1i: Conclusion The HP ZBook 8 G1i knows exactly what it is: A portable workstation for professionals complete with high-end CPU performance, a long warranty, workstation-class Nvidia graphics, a generous amount of RAM, and a big SSD. And HP knows exactly how to price it: While $5,755 seemed extreme, the fact that the machine was already 61 percent off when I finished reviewing it shows how ready HP will be to cut the price to something reasonable. If you’re looking for a fast professional workstation, the HP ZBook 8 G1i fits the bill. Just don’t pay $5,755 for it. Read...

Data is one of the most important possessions we have these days. Whether it’s crucial documents for work or those irreplaceable photos and videos of the kids, these digital files are precious and need to be protected. But, with so many threats now targeted at us every day, how can we keep our data safe from corruption, theft or even being held to ransom by online hackers? ESET Cybersecurity software has the answers. Keeping your data safe from thieves and hackers It seems like hardly a week goes by without some cyber-attack being reported on the news. These range from raids on government departments, to online retailers or banks being targeted by hackers, all of which can leave us feeling vulnerable. After all, if the security on those companies couldn’t protect it, what can we do? Well, the truth is it can be easier to secure one device or user than it is to cover a complicated organisation, but you need the right tools. ESET HOME Security software provides exactly that, without needing a business-sized budget. Save 30% on ESET HOME Security Its 24/7 real-time protection means your PC or mobile device is constantly monitored to ward off malware, viruses, or other potential hazards. There are also security restrictions in place so no outside party can copy your data to an external device. ESET’s detections rates have been shown to be higher than that of its main rivals, while also delivering less false positives, meaning you’re getting top-class levels of protection.   Of course, one of the most alarming threats in recent years is that of ransomware. This is software that takes over your machine, encrypts everything and return it until you pay a ransom. Essentially, your data becomes a hostage on your own device. ESET Cybersecurity software works to prevent this by employing a Ransomware Shield that blocks the delivery methods of attacks, plus its Ransomware Remediation technology uses backup of files and restoration tools to quickly get you up and running if you do suffer an attack. This isn’t restricted to just internal drives though, as you can also encrypt and protect external USB drives, something many alternative software packages can’t offer. ESET Secure online banking and identity protection A common vulnerability for many users is when logging onto their bank accounts or crypto-wallets. Cybercriminals can target keystrokes or intercept data as it passes across the web, making it easy for them to hack accounts. ESET Cybersecurity protects against this by offering plug-ins for the most popular browsers, which then encrypt any data traffic so that it’s unreadable to anyone but the intended recipient. On the Premium and Ultimate packages, you also get an unlimited VPN that encrypts and protects all your online activities from prying eyes. Web monitoring ensures no unseen dangers on pages and will instantly warn against unsafe search results that might take you to fake sites. There’s also dark web monitoring that looks for any data breaches or illegal selling of your personal data, preventing the risk of identity theft. With all these protections in place, you might worry that it will have a large impact on the performance of your device. Again, ESET has you covered, as its software has won multiple awards for its speed, beating out several of its main rivals in a recent AV Comparatives benchmark test. So, not only are you staying safe, but you’re also not slowing down. Peace of mind without worrying your wallet Premium protection doesn’t need to come at premium prices, which is something ESET proves. In fact, until January 5th, PCWorld readers can take advantage of a fantastic offer that reduces the cost of a yearly subscription by a massive 30%. This means you can sign up today to the ESET HOME Security Essential (1 device) tier for only $34.99 (usually $49.99), ESET HOME Security Premium (1 device) for $55.99 (usually $79.99), or ESET HOME Security Ultimate (5 devices) for $125.99 (usually $179.99). Protecting your data is one of the most sensible investments you can ever make, getting 30% off the cost only makes it better. Save 30% on ESET HOME Security View Deal Read...

Adobe Acrobat’s popularity is a given because of its advanced editing features. But it’s also pricey, lags with big files sometimes, and is packed with features you might never use. Plenty of users aren’t fans of the whole subscription thing, and many of them are now on the hunt for an Adobe Acrobat alternative that’s faster, cheaper, and more closely matches their needs. Here are three alternatives for Adobe Acrobat. We’ve compared feature sets and noted why each program stands out and where it falls short, so you can make a selection accordingly. Tenorshare PDNob – An affordable Adobe Acrobat alternative for advanced PDF editing. PDNob skips the heavy, expensive features of big PDF tools and gives you just what you need: fast loading, dependable OCR, easy editing, and flawless conversions. LibreOffice Draw – An open-source Adobe alternative for simple edits. Good for basic layout tweaks and quick edits without cost, though it lacks advanced automation and precision tools. Inkscape – An Adobe alternative for Linux and graphic-heavy PDFs. Ideal for design-focused PDFs thanks to its vector-editing strength, but not as convenient for text-heavy documents. Affordable Adobe Acrobat alternative for Windows and Mac Tenorshare PDNob is a lightweight, fast, and affordable Adobe Acrobat alternative for Windows and Mac users. It offers almost all basic PDF editing features and skips the heavy extras of bigger tools. The tool focuses on clean design, quick performance, and the functions most people actually use. If you want a PDF tool that functions flawlessly right away, without long tutorials or complex menus, PDNob is an easy, practical choice. If you’re tired of expensive subscriptions and cluttered interfaces, its clean, straightforward design offers a refreshing change. It focuses on what matters: quick loading, easy editing, a clean interface, and dependable performance. For daily PDF tasks like contracts, reports, schoolwork, and conversions, it gets the job done without the bulk of advanced enterprise software. What makes Tenorshare PDNob an Adobe Acrobat alternative Editing feels simple and natural, almost like working in Word. All PDF editing tools are included, such as OCR, conversion, merging, splitting, annotation, and signing. Fast and lightweight with no freezing and no heavy CPU or RAM usage. Affordable one-time lifetime purchase pricing — $69.99, with official promotions sometimes bringing it down to about $55.99. Ideal for individuals, students, freelancers, professionals, and small businesses. Who is Tenorshare PDNob for? PDNob is ideal for anyone who wants an easy, lightweight PDF editor with no steep learning curve. Perfect for individuals, students, freelancers, or small businesses, it provides crucial PDF editing features at an affordable price, serving advanced PDF features in a lightweight package. How to edit a PDF with Tenorshare PDNob Launch Tenorshare PDNob. The PDF can be loaded by selecting “Open PDF” in PDNob. The file can also be zoomed in or out for a clearer view. Tenorshare Under the “Edit” tab, the software provides a wide range of advanced tools for modifying the document, including options to edit text, replace images, adjust fonts, and change backgrounds. Tenorshare For annotations, the “Comments” tab offers free tools for highlighting, adding notes, and other markups. Tenorshare The OCR feature is accessed from the Home tab by selecting “OCR” and then “Perform OCR.” After choosing the scan type, language, and page range, the pages are processed automatically and quickly, with high recognition accuracy. Tenorshare The free AI Summarizer also works effectively for answering questions about the document. Tenorshare Why Tenorshare PDNob stands out Offers very accurate OCR (around 99%) for scanned PDFs. Includes various tools for editing text, images, and other PDF elements and provides 200+ annotation options like highlights, stamps, shapes, and notes. Converts PDFs to 30+ formats, including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, images, EPUB, and PDF/A. Can create, rewrite, compress, split, or merge PDF files easily. Offers fast and responsive customer support. Compatible with Windows and macOS, with free access now on iOS mobile devices. Offers team licensing options, making it a practical Adobe Acrobat alternative for business use Where Tenorshare PDNob falls short There’s no Android mobile version available, but the official site has announced that it will be released soon. Extremely large PDFs, especially those with thousands of pages, may take a moment to render or process. It doesn’t support Linux. Open Source Adobe Acrobat alternative LibreOffice, an Adobe Acrobat alternative, is an open source vector graphics tool, but it can still edit PDFs by letting you change text and images, add or rearrange pages, and include basic annotations. It’s useful when you need to directly adjust the content and layout of a PDF. Who is LibreOffice for? It’s for Mac, Windows, and Linux users who need a free tool for basic PDF editing without advanced features like forms or signatures. How to edit a PDF in LibreOffice In LibreOffice, text is edited by selecting each individual text block, where words, fonts, sizes, and colors can be changed. As every line is treated as a separate box, editing long paragraphs requires a lot of manual adjustment. Tenorshare The text box tool allows typing anywhere on the page, which helps with non-interactive forms, but it can shift surrounding text and disrupt layouts with columns or tables. Tenorshare Images can be moved, resized, deleted, or added through “Insert” > “Image,” but the software does not support interactive form filling, digital signatures, or OCR for scanned documents. Page thumbnails on the left make it easy to navigate through the document. What makes LibreOffice an Adobe Acrobat alternative? Compared to Acrobat, LibreOffice Draw is a lightweight Adobe Acrobat alternative that’s free for simple edits, rearranging pages, and adding basic annotations. Why LibreOffice stands out No cost, no subscriptions, and great for basic PDF tasks. An Adobe Acrobat alternative for Mac, Windows, and Linux without needing the internet. Can change text, move or resize images, and adjust basic page elements. You also get Writer, Calc, Impress, and more, all able to export PDFs. Where LibreOffice falls short Complex PDFs open with changed layouts, shifted text, or missing fonts. No form-filling, digital signatures, OCR, or other pro features. Large PDFs can cause lag or crashes. No built-in sharing, syncing, or real-time teamwork options. Help mostly comes from community forums, not official customer service. Adobe Acrobat alternative for Linux Inkscape is an Adobe Acrobat alternative for Linux users. It’s a vector graphics editor for editing PDFs with images, graphs, and illustrations. Moreover, it’s highly customizable, supporting plugins and command-line scripting to automate tasks like batch conversions. Who is Inkscape for? Inkscape is for Linux users who need to edit PDFs with images, charts, logos, or other design elements rather than long text documents or forms. How to edit a PDF in Inkscape In Inkscape, only one page can be edited at a time, so a page must be selected before working on it. Choosing “Internal import” helps keep text editable, but complex layouts, special fonts, and detailed images may not import accurately. Tenorshare Text can be edited by double-clicking it, though changes may leave gaps or require retyping entire sections. Forms, buttons, and annotations are not supported for editing. Tenorshare Unwanted objects can be removed by selecting them and pressing “Delete.” Tenorshare New content can be added with the text and shape tools. For complex PDFs, elements often need to be ungrouped (Ctrl+Shift+G) to adjust individual parts. Tenorshare What makes Inkscape an Adobe Acrobat alternative? Compared to Adobe, Inkscape is completely free and open-source, so there are no subscription fees or hidden costs. It’s a better Adobe Acrobat alternative for editing PDFs with logos, charts, illustrations, or other design elements, letting you adjust shapes, colors, and paths with precision. Why Inkscape stands out Lets you edit text, images, and vector objects, and choose specific pages to work on. Keeps text sharp and graphics clear for professional-looking PDFs. Ideal for brochures, charts, logos, and other design-heavy PDFs. Where Inkscape falls short Inkscape is a graphics tool, so many typical PDF tasks aren’t supported. Editing long reports or contracts is difficult since Inkscape lacks flowing text features. Each page must be edited separately, making large PDFs time-Where It Falls Shortuming. Can’t edit forms, add signatures, or use OCR and other pro PDF tools. FAQ: About Free Adobe Acrobat Alternatives 1. Does Google have an Adobe Acrobat equivalent? No. Google doesn’t have a dedicated PDF editor like Adobe Acrobat. But you can upload the PDF to Google Drive and edit it in Google Docs, though formatting may not stay perfect. 2. Is there a cheaper option than Adobe? Yes, there is. In fact, Tenorshare PDNob offers all advanced PDF editing features at no cost. The only tool that requires a subscription is the AI Summarizer if the given file limit exceeds, and that too is quite affordable. 3. Is there a free version of Adobe Acrobat? Yes, Adobe still offers a free online PDF editor, but it’s basic. You can use it to add text boxes, comments, highlights, and sign forms for free. But you cannot change existing text or images. 4. Is there an Adobe Acrobat alternative online? Yes. Several online PDF editors, such as PDNob Online, Smallpdf, iLovePDF, and Sejda, support basic editing, signing, and converting directly in the browser. They’re convenient for quick tasks and require no installation, but they often come with limitations. For heavier workflows, a desktop editor is generally more dependable. Conclusion Each Adobe Acrobat alternative we’ve shared here offers something different. LibreOffice is a solid free choice for simple tasks, and Inkscape is for graphic-heavy PDFs on Linux. Tenorshare PDNob is for advanced PDF editing on Mac, iOS, and Windows, offering a clutter-free interface. It’s lightweight, offering only the functions mostly used for PDF editing, like OCR, annotations, text/image editing, and an AI Summarizer as a bonus. Read...

Over the past few years at LDShop, we’ve been watching something subtle but important happen in the background of the games industry. On the surface, it’s the same mix of new seasons, fresh banners, and limited-time events—but underneath, the way players pay, the tools they use, and the risks they face have all started to shift. Drawing on what we see in our own data, combined with public reports from payment providers and security researchers, we’ve identified a few key trends that are quietly reshaping how global top-ups actually work in 2025 and beyond. Shifting player spend patterns Players aren’t exactly tightening their belts; they’re just spending in a much more scattered way. That’s the clearest thing we see, looking at LDShop’s orders every day. On the surface, the market still looks healthy. In 2024, global games revenue sits at around $187.7 billion, up about 2.1% from the previous year. PC and console together make up roughly half of that, while mobile remains the single biggest slice of the pie. So the crowd of people willing to pay for games is still growing. The market hasn’t exploded, but it definitely hasn’t shrunk. LDShop What has really changed is how that money is sliced up. Not long ago, plenty of players had “one main game”. You’d lock into an MMO, a big gacha, or a favourite sports title, and most of your money went there: big bundles, expansions, season passes. Now it looks very different. One month of spending might be: a pity chase in a gacha RPG a battle pass in a competitive or sports game a couple of event packs in another title plus one or two ongoing subscriptions quietly renewing in the background Once spending is spread out like this, “Where do I top up?” stops being a one-off question. It turns into, “Which place am I okay using across all these games, all year?” That’s why aggregators like LDShop or Razer Gold keep showing up in comparison posts: one login covers multiple titles, regions, and denominations. Instead of rotating between four or five unfamiliar stores, people lean toward a single platform that fits into their existing routine. The thinking has shifted from “How much can I shave off this one order?” to “Over a whole year of small purchases, how do I keep costs and hassle under control?” When you look at it on that timescale, multi-game platforms naturally have an edge over the old model of “one official store plus a random mix of third-party sites”. Digital wallet shift The bigger change, though, is in how people pay. By 2022, digital wallets already handled close to half of global e-commerce transaction value. In China, mobile and digital wallets made up about 67.3% of e-commerce payments in 2023, with Alipay and WeChat Pay leading the charge. In the US, roughly 72% of consumers were using services like PayPal, Venmo, Zelle, or Cash App in 2023, and that share is still creeping up. If you think about your own day, it makes sense. Food delivery, ride-hailing, streaming, online shopping – it’s all wallet-based now. Pulling out a physical credit card for a small cross-border game top-up almost feels old-fashioned. Banks don’t love those transactions either: they’re low value, foreign, and often flagged as risky. People run into extra one-time passwords, random declines, or “please call the bank” moments. After that happens a few times, they simply stop using that card for games. LDShop has been built around that reality from the start. The goal is simple to say but tricky to execute: global game coverage, local payment habits. That doesn’t just mean pasting more logos on the checkout page. In Taiwan, for example, LDShop supports LINEPay, MyCard and can issue local e-invoices. In Russia, players can conveniently pay using ??? (SBP) and Tinkoff Pay. The point is that when a player reaches checkout, the experience should feel like any other familiar local e-commerce site, not like learning a new financial product from scratch. And that familiarity matters more than any “fast and secure” tagline. When people see payment options they already use for groceries or transport, the decision to reuse the same platform next time becomes almost automatic. Escalating account threats As volumes grow, risk has stopped being a niche concern and turned into a daily one. You don’t need insider data to see it. Microsoft’s Digital Defense Report mentioned blocking roughly 450 million cyber-attack attempts per day, with a notable share pointed at digital goods, small payments, and login credentials. For attackers, small game top-ups are ideal: frequent, cross-border, and historically lighter on verification — a pattern that also explains why even a few basic security tweaks can make a noticeable difference for everyday users. The problem is that the damage rarely stays small. A compromised payment method or account can link out into other games, platforms, and cards. So the question “Is this top-up channel safe?” is no longer a throwaway line. It has become a very real issue that can directly affect account reputation, virtual assets, and even the exposure risk of your payment methods. When users choose a platform now, they’re looking much more closely at how much information they have to hand over, how transparent the platform’s processes are, and whether real-world cases and resolution records exist for them to reference if something goes wrong. In this environment, LDShop’s strategy is to put itself in a position where it can be examined, rather than limiting users to one-way official messaging. We keep our Trustpilot page open and active, where the platform currently holds a 4.8/5 rating with around 2,800 reviews. The feedback isn’t a wall of perfection—it looks like a real operating business: Some users highlight stable pricing, fast delivery, and the fact that they don’t have to hand over their game passwords. Others point out that there can be slight delays during peak periods, or that extra checks may be needed when risk controls are triggered. To many players, that mix feels more like a real business than a sales brochure. Things mostly work; sometimes they don’t; and there’s a transparent history of both. Combined with LDShop’s connection to the LDPlayer ecosystem, it paints a picture of a long-term operation rather than a fly-by-night site that could vanish or rebrand overnight. Real trust doesn’t come from saying “we are safe” in a banner. It comes from giving people enough information to decide for themselves what level of risk they’re comfortable with. Choosing trusted platforms: LDShop LDShop So, what actually drives the choice of a top-up platform now? Most players are quietly managing a small personal bundle of games and launchers. Almost nobody wants to learn a new payment flow every time they chase a limited banner or renew a battle pass. Saving a small amount on one order feels less exciting if it comes with extra verification steps, dispute emails, and a nervous chat with the bank. From what we observe, people are effectively rating platforms on four broad axes: 1. CoverageDoes this place support the few games and regions I truly care about, all in one account, or only look impressive on a long list? 2. Fit with daily payment habitsCan I pay the same way I already pay for other online services, or do I have to dig out a rarely used card or method just for this? 3. Comfort around security and frictionAre the rules consistent? Is sensitive data kept to a minimum? Do I get hit by random checks every other purchase? 4. Outside reputationAre there public reviews, discussions, and past cases that I can look up in a few minutes, beyond whatever the platform says about itself? LDShop’s place in that landscape is fairly clear. We’re backed by the LDPlayer brand, we position ourselves as a global professional top-up platform with clear product lines (UID direct recharge, gift cards, game cards) on our official site, we work to make local payment and invoicing feel like normal e-commerce, and we put our reputation on public platforms knowing it will be scrutinized over time. For LDShop, the key has always been on the user’s side: everyone’s game library, payment habits, and risk tolerance are different. The more useful question is not “who is the cheapest for this one transaction,” but rather: “which platform can I rely on month after month without thinking twice?” LDShop’s aim is straightforward — to be the go-to top-up service players trust all year, no matter the game or device. Read...

In 2026, AI and automation face a shakeout as pilots give way to hard ROI demands, exposing skills gaps and flawed processes at scale. Read...

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New Zealand cyber losses hit NZD $12.4 million in Q3 2025, more than doubling as business email scams and high-value transfers surge. Read...