ChatGPT and other similar AI chatbots are becoming a bigger part of everyday life for many people. Though a Windows app for ChatGPT has been available for some time, it’s only been for those who have ponied up for a premium plan — until now. The Windows app for ChatGPT is now available to all, just like the web and mobile apps. You can download it from the Microsoft Store. Poking around a bit in the Windows app, it seems more or less the same as the interface I’ve tested on my Android phone, though of course in Windows it’s easier to input larger amounts of text or submit images for scanning. It has the popular conversation mode along with a handful of digital voice options, but it’s just as restrictive as it is elsewhere — I hit the freebie interaction limit in just a few minutes. (And just in case my editor is looking over my shoulder: don’t worry, I’m only testing the app out. I promise this news post was written with my fleshy, human fingers.) Those who do spring for ChatGPT’s premium service, which starts at $20 per month for individual users, will likely find the Windows app far more useful. While it’s largely the same as the web interface, having a dedicated window on your desktop will be a boon to those who integrate it into their workflows. Whether or not it’s worth paying for a premium AI chatbot? Well, that’ll depend on how you use it. And not for nothing, it’s another point for OpenAI to tick in competition with Microsoft’s home-grown AI product, Copilot. Anecdotally, ChatGPT is much more positively received by general users, whereas Microsoft is more interested in integrating Copilot into core Windows features, from the taskbar to Office to Paint. Further reading: ChatGPT Plus vs. Copilot Pro, compared Read...

If you love gaming on the go, the Asus ROG Ally is a solid alternative to Valve’s Steam Deck, especially now that it’s $150 off in this early Black Friday deal at Best Buy. For just $500, you can snag this powerful gaming handheld that lets you play all your favorite PC games portably. The powerful ROG Ally runs on an AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme processor along with 16GB of RAM. Plus, it comes with AMD RDNA3 graphics to ensure you get great visuals, especially when you run demanding titles. The device features 512GB of storage space, so you’ll have enough room for games and all your save data, but it would certainly be better if it had 1TB or more. Alas, it has a memory card slot that you can use to expand storage further when needed. The ROG Ally features a 7-inch 1080p display with a 120Hz refresh rate, which means it will not only deliver great images but also a smooth experience when you game. According to our ROG Ally hands-on experience: “Seeing this incredibly compact hunk of plastic and electronics, ostensibly with full PC power, you’d assume it would feel heavy in your hands like an oversized smartphone. Not so! While it’s large and only ‘pocketable’ if you’re still rocking vintage JNCOs, it should be light enough to toss it in almost any bag and forget it’s there.” The powerful Asus ROG Ally gaming handheld for just $500 is a great deal, and it’s perfect as a holiday gift either for yourself or that gamer friend or family member who’s always on the go! Save $150 on this awesome PC gaming handheldBuy now at Best Buy Read...

BleepingComputer notes that Microsoft has shut down the official Beta Channel for Windows 10, despite the fact that support for the operating system will continue until October 14, 2025. According to yesterday’s Windows Insider blog post: “This will be the last time we release a Windows 10 build to the Beta Channel as we will be shutting down the Beta Channel for Windows 10.” This is a strange move — but not altogether unexpected — given that the company released the first Windows 10 Beta Preview in three years earlier this year in June. It appears that was a last hurrah for the operating system, delivering one last dose of newness before shelving it away. Get Windows 11 Pro for cheap Windows 11 Pro The shutdown of the Windows 10 Beta Channel signals that we’ll no longer see any new features come to Windows 10. In other words, if you stick with Windows 10 until support ends, you’ll have to settle for bug fixes and security patches only. (You can actually extend Windows 10 support for an additional year, but it’ll cost you $30.) Anyone who’s still on the Beta Channel after getting the latest update will be switched over to the Release Channel, which is the one that’ll keep getting bug fixes and security patches until end of support. Microsoft hopes that the closure of the Windows 10 Beta Channel will encourage more users to upgrade to Windows 11, which currently has a market share of “only” 35.55 percent. Read...

The Amazon Fire HD 10 Kids Pro is getting the early Black Friday treatment with a drop down to its best-ever price. The child-friendly tablet is now just $110, a solid 42 percent off its original $190. This is the newest model of the tablet with upgraded hardware, aimed at kids between 6 and 12 years of age and specially designed to deliver kid-appropriate content with lots of parental control options. The Fire HD 10 Kids Pro features a 10.1-inch 1080p display, so there’s lots of screen space to watch videos, play games, and read ebooks. It also has an upgraded CPU with 25 percent faster performance than the previous model, so apps launch faster and feel more responsive. Expect the battery life to be around 13 hours on a full charge, though it might be somewhat shorter if your kid does nothing but stream video and play games. One of my favorite things about the Fire HD 10 Kids Pro is that it comes with a child-proof case that protects against drops, and even if the tablet somehow breaks, it’s protected by a two-year worry-free guarantee with a free replacement by Amazon, no questions asked. It also includes a free one-year subscription to Amazon Kids+ with thousands of ebooks, games, and apps from Disney, LEGO, Marvel, and more. As far as parental controls go, this tablet has a filtered web browser for safer browsing of the internet, and it also lets you (the parent) set screen time limits and approve requests in the Appstore. Take advantage of this early Black Friday deal to treat your kids to an early Christmas gift. It’s now down to its best-ever price and I highly doubt it’s going to drop any further before the end of this year. The Amazon Fire HD 10 Kids Pro is the best tablet for childrenBuy now at Amazon Read...

So you’ve secured your router and ensured that all computers and other devices in your home have a stable connection to your network. You no longer have any problems with the internet. Why not take advantage of the fact that all your gadgets can communicate to do more than just get online? Other articles in this series: How to choose a new router and get started with important settings Solve your Wi-Fi problems with these smart router settings Protect your home network with these essential router tweaks File sharing One of the seemingly simplest things you can do to get more out of your network is to start sharing files and other stuff between different devices. It was always easy in the past and you don’t have to carry around a USB stick or an external hard drive. Unfortunately, Microsoft has made it a bit more complicated in Windows 10 and 11, including the transition to Microsoft accounts and logging in with Windows Hello. File sharing using the SMB protocol requires accounts with usernames and passwords, which most people no longer have. But it can still be arranged, and may make sense if you have multiple computers and want to be able to move files here and there across the network. Especially if you don’t want to install any additional software or have computers with operating systems other than Windows. Foundry File sharing settings used to be in Control Panel, but now that’s found in Settings > Network & internet > Advanced network settings > Advanced sharing settings, where the settings have their new home. Expand the Private networks section and switch on File and printer sharing to enable the feature on networks that you have set as private. Underneath are the settings for Public networks (for example, the Wi-Fi network at a cafe), for which you can leave file sharing turned off. Windows now assumes that all networks are public, so you also need to go to the Ethernet or Wi-Fi settings in Network & internet and change to Private network. To connect, you also need an account with a password. Microsoft accounts are complicated, so the easiest thing to do is to create a new local account with a name and password that you only use for file sharing. You do this in Settings > Accounts > Other users. If you never log into Windows with it, the account will barely take up any space on the disk. Make sure you don’t choose administrator but default account. When you connect, you will always access the home folder of the account you connect as, but if you want to access other folders as well, you need to enable sharing for those. Right-click on a folder you want to share in Explorer and select Properties. Select the Sharing tab and click Share. Select the new user account you created for the purpose from the drop-down menu and click Add. Foundry One final issue you may encounter is that Windows’ built-in firewall blocks connections when it should automatically allow connections for features you have enabled, like file sharing. If you have trouble connecting, try the following: 1. Open Windows Security. 2. Select Firewall & network protection and then Advanced settings. 3. Click Inbound Rules > Ports > Protocol and ports and then New rule in the top right corner. 4. Select Protocol and Ports, fill in 445 next to Specific local ports, and select TCP. 5. After hitting Next, select Allow the connection, and on the next screen tick Private only and give the rule an informative name. Engin Akyurt Share printers If you have a printer connected to one of the computers in your home, you can share it so that it can print from other computers on the network. On a computer running Windows 10 or 11, do this: Foundry Open Settings and go to Bluetooth & devices > Printers & scanners. Click on the printer you want to share and then on Printer properties and a separate window will open. Select the Sharing tab and tick Share this printer. You can change the name to something more sensible if you like — in the image above, I’ve chosen the brand of the printer and the room it’s in. If I later share a Brother in the basement, for example, it will be easier to tell them apart on the network. Foundry To add a shared printer to another computer, open Settings > Bluetooth & devices > Printers & scanners again and click Add a device. The printer should now appear and you can click Add device to the right of it. On other operating systems, of course, you do it differently. On Mac, for example, the setting is in System Preferences > Printers and Scanners. Foundry On Android, you can usually add printers in Settings > Connected Devices > Connection Options > Printing. Select the default service (if there is none, you must first add one). Then select the network printer you want to connect to. Printing from iOS is a little more complicated as it doesn’t have built-in support for regular network printers. If your printer doesn’t support Apple’s Airprint feature, try installing an Airprint server on your computer. Clausio Schwartz Get a NAS device If you have a lot of computers and other devices in your home and want a centralized repository for backups and shared files, for example, a NAS device can be a good investment. It’s basically a simple server computer in a multi-hard drive enclosure, which comes with a customized operating system. Synology is the most well-known manufacturer of NAS devices, and has the advantage that the operating system has many add-ons to run different types of servers directly on the device. Other brands include Asustor, Qnap, and Terramaster. A NAS drive usually has space for two or four hard drives and the idea is that they should be used in a so-called raid setup that provides redundancy — if one of the drives suddenly fails, you won’t lose any files. You can then replace the broken disk and continue as before. With four hard drives, you can choose RAID 5. If the four drives are the same size (which they should be), this means that 75 percent of the space is available for storage and that a drive can fail without losing data, but hurry up and replace a broken drive. One thing to remember is that even if your NAS has RAID for added security, it’s not a backup, and if you store important files on it, you should definitely consider getting a separate large external hard drive to back up your entire NAS to. Three uses for NAS 1. File server It may sound obvious, but an always-available NAS is a great place to store files for a variety of purposes. For example, you can use it as a dumping ground for files that take up a lot of space — something that comes in handy these days when many computers are sold with relatively small but fast SSDs for internal storage. For example, you can archive photos and videos from a camera on the NAS. Another example is if you have surveillance cameras in your home. It is often possible to set where these should store recordings, and then you can choose the NAS as the destination. 2. Backup server How many copies of your irreplaceable files do you have? You may be familiar with the 3-2-1 rule, which means you should have at least three copies, on at least two different drives, at least one of which is in a different location. With a NAS device, you have a simple and relatively safe way to store backups of all the computers in your home, and quite easily, mobiles and tablets too. The easiest way to do this is with a backup programme like Arq Backup or Duplicati on the computers you want to back up. If your NAS supports separate user accounts, you can create separate accounts for each family member and connect with them from the backup software. Connect with SFTP if possible, otherwise with SMB. Synology 3. Private cloud Instead of paying Dropbox or any other company for cloud storage, you can run your own private cloud with your NAS. This is an area where Synology is popular, as the company’s NAS devices come with a cloud sync service called Synology Drive. It’s easy to set up and has clients for most operating systems. Security is especially important if you open any part of your home to the internet. There is no easy way to securely access gadgets in your home from outside, but of the methods available, a VPN server is probably the least complicated. Some routers, for example from Asus, have it built in. Hugo Clément Reuse an old computer as a server You don’t necessarily need to buy new hardware to try running some kind of server at home. Do you have an old computer sitting in a closet/attic/storage room that was retired when you got a new one? It can work great as a server. A desktop computer of the tower type often consumes considerably more power than a small mini PC, and of course takes up a lot of space, so in the long run it may be better to get something more appropriate. But if you’re just trying it out, or have plenty of space and don’t mind the slightly heftier electricity bill, it’s at least a cheap way to get started. With a regular computer as a server, you can also stick to Windows if that’s what you’re used to, and avoid learning Linux, which is otherwise most common for such so-called home labs (check out the Reddit group r/homelab if you’re curious about what others are putting together at home). Skärmdump 1. Media server with Plex or Jellyfin If your old computer has a sixth-generation Intel processor or later, it can work well as a media server to stream films and TV shows you own to all the devices in your home. That’s thanks to the Quick Sync Video feature that can transcode video formats so that a device or browser that doesn’t support the format the file is stored in can still play the video. Plex and Jellyfin are the two most common media server programs. Both make sense for home users, but Jellyfin is more open and you don’t need to create an account with the developer, for example. Skärmdump 2. Minecraft server Do you have children or grandchildren who like Minecraft? You can easily repurpose an old computer as a Minecraft server without having to install Linux or anything else complicated. All you need to do is install a modern version of java, create a folder for the server where you put the Minecraft server software, and then run it and follow the instructions. There are plenty of guides, both written and on YouTube, that show you how to do this in more detail. Look up a guide if you want to run a server with different mods, for example. 3. File server If your old computer has space for multiple hard drives, you can turn it into a NAS-like file server for shared files, backups, and anything else you would normally use a NAS drive for. A full-fledged file server can provide higher performance and more features, and if you install Linux as your operating system, you can use the ZFS file system and merge multiple hard drives into a common storage device with higher performance and increased security compared to regular RAID. Foundry 4. Smart home center with Home Assistant This is something that’s really better suited to a Raspberry Pi, but if you’re curious to try it out and already have a computer, you don’t need to run out and buy one. You can either install Home Assistant as a full operating system or, if you already have Windows on your computer, as a virtual machine using Virtualbox or Vmware Workstation, for example. Installed directly on the computer, it can feel like a bit of a waste of a full computer, as Home Assistant is just a simple server that requires very little hardware beyond a network connection and a USB adapter for Zigbee and/or Z-wave to directly connect smart lights and other things. The developers of Home Assistant have made a simple guide to installing in a virtual machine on Windows, and have also prepared ready-made disc images for Virtualbox, Vmware Workstation and Hyper-V (where USB does not work, which is a major limitation if you want to use Zigbee/Z-wave). The instructions for Virtualbox are the easiest. All you need to do is create a new virtual machine for 64-bit Linux, make sure the virtual machine uses EFI and not BIOS, select the downloaded .vdi file as the hard drive, and select the Bridged Adapter for networking and Intel HD Audio as the audio device. Note that the computer must be connected with Ethernet. Read...

At a glanceExpert`s Rating Pros Outstanding sequential benchmark performance Affordable for PCIe 5.0 Optional heatsink Cons Real-world sequential performance in our transfers is the same as PCIe 4.0 Pricier than PCIe 4.0 HMB SSDs Our Verdict Our first look at a PCIe 5.0 host memory buffer design, the Corsair MP700 Elite, revealed significantly upgraded sequential throughput — in benchmarks. It’s a great SSD, but you’re paying a premium for what might be a minimal real-world performance boost. Price When Reviewed This value will show the geolocated pricing text for product undefined Best Pricing Today Best Prices Today: Corsair MP700 Elite Retailer Price Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket If you have a sense of déjà vu with this article, that’s likely be because we’ve already reviewed three Corsair MP700’s previously: the plain MP700, the MP700 Pro, and the MP700 Pro SE. Apparently, Corsair likes the name. The MP700 Elite may sound familiar, but trust us: It’s different. A new PCIe 5.0 controller means a huge uptick in sequential performance. At least in benchmarks. Further reading: See our roundup of the best SSDs to learn about competing products. What are the Corsair MP700 Elite’s features? Like its older siblings, the MP700 Elite is a 2280 form factor (22mm wide, 80mm long), PCIe 5.0, M.2 NVMe SSD. Unlike its brethren, it employs a brand-spanking-new Phison PS5031-E31T controller to deliver data to and from its 218-layer TLC NAND. There’s no DRAM cache, instead the MP700 Elite opts for a host memory buffer (HMB) design — i.e., uses your device’s memory for primary caching duties. Early on, HMB meant weak performance. These days, HMB generally matches and sometimes even exceeds DRAM designs in sustained throughput. In benchmarks, the MP700 Elite topped all the PCIe 4.0 host memory buffer designs we’ve tested by a rather large margin. Where HMB is still inferior for the most part, and the reason DRAM designs continue to exist, is in random ops. HMB, while still lighting-fast, generally runs around 50 percent of DRAM performance in that area. The MP700 Elite is warrantied for a full five years and carries a 600TBW-per-1TB-capacity rating. Exceeding that amount of writes ends the warranty. Keep in mind that we’re talking data written, not read, and 600TBW is likely more than the average user will write in 10 years, let alone five. How much is the Corsair MP700 Elite? The MP700 Elite is available in 1TB and 2TB capacities, both plain and with a heatsink. The plain models are $150 and $260 respectively, while the latter are $10 more at $160 and $270. A very fair price for such a beefy heatsink. Obviously, a PCIe 5.0 SSD is going to be a bit pricier than PCIe 4.0 models, so those prices weren’t unexpected. However, it’s currently debatable whether the extra performance offered by premium SSDs is actually worth the money — given current hardware, and most especially, software limitations. In the case of DRAM designs, you do gain quite a bit of random performance with PCIe 5.0. In other words, PCIe 5.0 models are super fast with the multiple queues that benchmarks utilize, but there’s not a lot of real-world software that uses multiple queues, and the jump in single-queue performance with PCIe 5.0 isn’t nearly as impressive. How fast is the Corsair MP700 Elite? In benchmarks, the MP700 Elite topped all the PCIe 4.0 host memory buffer designs we’ve tested by a rather large margin. The doubled bandwidth available over PCIe 5.0 really showed itself in queued sequential throughput. However, random performance is no better than PCIe 4.0 HMB SSDs, and the real-world transfer tests were mundane at best. The latter result surprised me. In fact, they led to the MP700 Elite ranking only 2nd overall among HMB designs, after WD’s 8TB SN850X. ATTO paints an extremely rosy picture of the MP700 Elite’s sustained throughput capabilities. Longer bars are better. ATTO, shown above, loved the MP700 Elite. Probably a bit more than it should, but so did CrystalDiskMark 8 in its sequential tests shown below. CrystalDiskMark 8 showed just what the MP700 Elite is capable of given a PCIe 5.0 slot and the proper software. Longer bars are better. When it came to random, 4K performance, the extra bandwidth had no effect. It never does, as the lag occurs in finding the data or a place for it. Even so, the MP700 Elite was beaten handily by the WD SN850X (8TB with BiCS 6 NAND) in CrystalDiskMark 8’s random tests. When it came to random, 4K performance the extra bandwidth had no effect. The MP700 Elite was beaten handily by the WD SN850X in CrystalDiskMark 8’s random tests. Longer bars are better. While our 48GB transfers have a large margin of error, it’s not large enough to put the MP700 Elite in the same class with the bizarrely fast (in this test) Lexar NM790. While our 48GB transfers have a large margin of error, it’s not large enough to put the MP700 Elite in the same class with the bizarrely fast (in this test) Lexar NM790. Shorter bars are better.Jon L. Jacobi While 2 minutes, 28 seconds is a good write time for our 450GB single file, the MP700 Elite was still well off the record set by the 8TB WD SN850X. Note that the other three drives in the charts are PCIe 4.0 host memory buffer (DRAM-less) SSDs. Including the Kingston NV3. While a good write time for our 450GB single file, the MP700 Elite was still well off the record set by the 8TB WD SN850X. Note that all four drives are host memory buffer (DRAM-less) SSDs. Shorter bars are better. I was hoping the PCIe 5.0 MP700 Elite’s increased bandwidth would have more of an effect on our real-world transfers, but such was not the case. The benchmark numbers are impressive, but without Windows utilizing queues (it doesn’t), the increase in performance is actually quite mild. But there is an increase and if your software can take advantage, it’ll save you time. Should you buy the Corsair MP700 Elite? If you have PCIe 5.0 M.2 slots and the relatively rare software that takes full advantage of the MP700 Elite’s increased sequential throughput, then yes. But it’s a soft yes, because most of the performance improvement I saw was in benchmarks. Users can save a quite a bit of coin, while getting largely the same performance, with a PCIe 4.0 HMB design. How we test IDG’s storage tests currently utilize Windows 11 (22H2) 64-bit running on an X790 (PCIe 5.0) motherboard/i5-12400 CPU combo with two Kingston Fury 32GB DDR5 modules (64GB of memory total). Intel integrated graphics are used. The 48GB transfer tests utilize an ImDisk RAM disk taking up 58GB of the 64GB total memory. The 450GB file is transferred from a Samsung 990 Pro 2TB, which also contains the operating system. Each test is performed on a newly formatted and TRIM’d drive so the results are optimal. Note that as any drive fills up, performance will decrease due to less NAND for secondary caching, and other factors. The performance numbers shown apply only to the drive we were shipped as well as the capacity tested. SSD performance can vary by capacity due to more or fewer chips to read/write across and the amount of NAND available for secondary caching (writing TLC/QLC as SLC). Vendors also occasionally swap components. If you ever notice a large discrepancy between the performance you experience and that which we report (systems being roughly equal), by all means—let us know. Read...

ServiceNow unveils innovative generative AI features for its Now Platform, including multilingual support and AI governance tools, to enhance global collaboration. Read...

Splunk has expanded its observability portfolio by integrating Cisco AppDynamics, enhancing visibility and insights for IT operations amidst hybrid environments. Read...

Black Friday is a fantastic time to shop for discounted laptops, but you don’t have to wait until the main event to take advantage of those deals. If you’re looking to get a jump start on your holiday shopping, you’re in luck — the early deals are already here. Whether you’re in the market for a blazing-fast gaming machine or an everyday Chromebook with great battery life, we’ve got it all here. But who’s vetting these deals, you ask? Good question! Not only do I oversee the laptop section here at PCWorld, taking every review through to publication, but I also update the laptop deals roundup on a daily basis. As far as laptop trends go, I’m locked in, as the young’uns would say. Below you’ll find the best laptop deals from all over the web. I found many of these deals by using Camel Camel Camel, which is a free price tracker from Amazon. I’ve also included deals from laptop manufacturers like Dell and Lenovo, as well as sales from online retailers like Best Buy and Adorama. After you’ve perused the list of deals, head on down to the bottom of the article to learn more about what to expect this Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Early Black Friday budget laptop deals Sometimes all you need is a respectable, baseline-level machine. Personally, I use a low-powered laptop for writing, watching Netflix, checking email, and so on. I dig the simplicity. So, if you’re not a gamer and have no intention of muscling through processor-intensive programs, check out the list below. Acer Aspire 3, AMD Ryzen 3 7320U/8GB RAM/128GB SSD, $279.99 ($42 off at Amazon) Asus Vivobook 14, Intel Core i3-1215U processor/8GB RAM/128GB SSD, $219.99 ($210 off at Best Buy) Lenovo Flex 3 Chromebook, Pentium Silver N600/8GB RAM/64GB eMMC, 328.99 ($150.01 off at Best Buy) Dell Inspiron 15, Intel Core i5-1235U processor/16GB RAM/512GB SSD, $399.99 ($150 off at Dell) My top pick: The Acer Aspire 3 is a great laptop for everyday tasks, office work, and Zoom calls. It has an AMD Ryzen 3 7320U CPU, 8GB of RAM, and 128GB of SSD storage. The 1920×1080 display measures 15.6 inches, which is pretty spacious. The thin, light design also makes it super travel-friendly. Early Black Friday gaming laptop deals Calling all gamers! There’s no better time to scoop up a blisteringly fast gaming machine. The laptops below are both powerful and reasonably priced, and should be able to blitz through most games. HP Victus, RTX 2050 graphics/8GB RAM/512GB SSD, $579.99 ($120 off at Amazon) Acer Nitro V, RTX 4050 graphics/16GB RAM/512GB SSD, $799.99 ($50 off at Amazon) Gigabyte Aorus 15, RTX 4050 graphics/8GB RAM/512GB SSD, $899 ($200 off at Amazon) Acer Predator Helios Neo 16, RTX 4060 graphics/16GB RAM/1TB SSD, 1,049.99 ($450 off at Best Buy) MSI Katana 17,RTX 4060 graphics/32GB RAM/1TB SSD, $1,229 ($170 off at Amazon) Asus ROG Strix G16, RTX 4060 graphics/16GB RAM/1TB SSD, $1,283.26 ($116.73 off at Amazon) My top pick: The Gigabyte Aorus 15 deserves a call-out because of its wickedly fast 360Hz refresh rate display. That’s an incredibly high number, so this display should churn out silky-smooth visuals, which is important during more intensive matches. Early Black Friday premium laptop deals If you’re looking for more premium features like an OLED display or a 2-in-1 form factor, you’ve come to the right spot. Below you’ll find ultra-lightweight machines as well as laptops with high-resolution displays. Samsung Galaxy Book4 Pro, 14-inch AMOLED 2880×1800 display/16GB RAM/512GB SSD, $1,262.99 ($187 off at Amazon) Acer Swift Go 14, Intel Core Ultra 5 125H processor/8GB RAM/512GB SSD, $649.99 ($150 off at B&H) Dell Inspiron 16, Intel Core 7 150U processor/16GB RAM/1TB SSD, $679.99 ($320 off at Dell) Samsung Galaxy Book4 Edge, 16-inch AMOLED 2880×1800 display/16GB RAM/512GB SSD, $899.99 ($550 off at Best Buy) LG Gram 17, RTX 3050 graphics/16GB RAM/1TB SSD, $999.99 ($550 off at Adorama) My top pick: The Samsung Galaxy Book4 Pro features a lightweight build, a stunning OLED display, and a good keyboard. In our review, we called it an “elegant all-rounder for business professionals” and awarded it 4.5 out of 5 stars and an Editors’ Choice badge. FAQ 1. When is Black Friday? Black Friday 2024 is on Friday, November 29. But make no mistake: The laptop deals have already begun, and the sales event that used to be just a single day might as well be called “Black Week” in 2024. 2. When is Cyber Monday? Cyber Monday 2024 is on Monday, December 2. To take advantage of the best deals, we suggest logging on at midnight. This gives you the best chance to snag a deal on something you want before stock runs out. 3. Which retailers have the best Black Friday laptop deals? You should definitely scope out Lenovo, HP, Dell, and other laptop manufacturers’ websites. Online retailers like Amazon, Newegg, and Best Buy will also have solid deals, no doubt, but probably not as wide a variety as you’ll find from the manufacturers themselves. 4. Which laptops does PCWorld recommend, the deals notwithstanding? Hey, the site is called PCWorld, so we test and review an insane number of laptops. To see our top picks, you can check out our master list of the best laptops of 2024. We also have more granular selections for the best laptops under $500, and the best laptops for students. Come Black Friday, there’s a good chance that many of our picks will be discounted, so if you’re looking for something that’s been tested and approved, check out these articles. Read...

Early Black Friday deals on Thunderbolt docks have begun, and I’m on the hunt for the best docking station sales for the 2024 holidays. It’s worth noting that Black Friday 2024 may be the last chance to buy a discounted dock for a while. In 2025, America’s new president has promised tariffs that could reach 60 percent on Chinese goods, and a number of smaller dock manufacturers are headquartered in China. (Larger ones, however, have moved outside the country.) I’m compiling the best early Black Friday deals on Thunderbolt docks at major retailers like Amazon, Best Buy, and elsewhere. I’ve listed each Thunderbolt dock deal below, followed by an explanation of why I picked them. (For more details, scroll down to the FAQ at the end that explains what to look for in a Thunderbolt dock and how much you should pay.) Best early Black Friday Thunderbolt dock deals HP Thunderbolt Dock G2, Thunderbolt 3, 100W charging, now $70.52 (26% off at Amazon) Targus USB-C Docking Station, DisplayLink, 65W charging, now $103.99 (58% off at Amazon) OWC Thunderbolt Go Dock, Thunderbolt 4, 90W charging, now $249.99 (17% off at Amazon with Prime) Belkin Thunderbolt 3 Dock Plus, Thunderbolt 3, 60W charging, now $109.97 (63% off at Amazon) Belkin Thunderbolt 3 Dock Core, Thunderbolt 3, 60W charging (unpowered), now $69.99 (65% off at Walmart) Kensington SD2500T, Thunderbolt 3, 60W charging, now $68.75 (31% off at Amazon) CalDigit TS4 Thunderbolt 4 Dock, Thunderbolt 4, 98W charging, now $379.99 (16% off at Amazon) Microsoft Surface Thunderbolt 4 Dock, Thunderbolt 4, 96W charging, now $199.99 (33% off at Amazon) Lenovo Thunderbolt 3 Dock Gen 2, Thunderbolt 3, 135W charging, now $171.99 (46% off at Amazon) If you’ve been following our lists of deals, some of these are familiar: they’re solid docks that keep going on sale. And some of the discounts are somewhat deceptive. Last year, the Belkin Thunderbolt 3 Dock Core (a perfectly good travel dock, per my review) was being sold for $100 on a “50 percent discount.” This year, it’s being sold for $69.99 at Walmart, and that’s the new “regular price” after going on sale for that much on Prime Day. Still, it’s a steal! Ditto for the Kensington SD2500T, which was $131 last year but now $68.75 at Amazon. I think the HP Thunderbolt Dock G2 still represents excellent value for the money, and it’s my favorite deal right now. I personally reviewed the HP G4 and it was excellent. Here, the G2 swaps HDMI ports for DisplayPort ports, so if you only have HDMI connections on your displays, you’ll have to buy some $15 DisplayPort-to-HDMI cables. Otherwise, it’s a compact and effective dock for your desk. I also reviewed the OWC Thunderbolt Go Dock, which is $50 off right now with Prime. The company just launched a Thunderbolt 5 dock, but I’m not recommending the Thunderbolt 5 experience quite yet. The CalDigit TS4 works for both Macs and Windows PCs. (Our friends at Macworld loved it per their review.) This CalDigit dock is also a good choice if you’re looking for a more full-featured dock. That’s also the reason I’ve included the Surface Dock, which has a good reputation even if I haven’t reviewed it. Ditto for the Lenovo Dock Gen 2. The Targus USB-C Docking Station is the only exception to the Thunderbolt category, as it uses the DisplayLink protocol, which I’ve found exceedingly stable for office use but not for games. We’ve also reviewed quite a few Thunderbolt docking stations in our list of the best Thunderbolt docks. FAQ 1. When is Black Friday? Officially, this year’s Black Friday takes place on Friday, Nov. 29, 2024. Cyber Monday is the following Monday, or Dec. 2, 2024. 2. When do early Black Friday deals on Thunderbolt docks begin? Early Black Friday sales have already begun at several retailers, though sales should ramp up as Black Friday nears. Retailers haven’t been shy about using early sales to unload inventory before the Black Friday craziness begins. 3. What should you pay for a Black Friday deal on a Thunderbolt dock? Premium Thunderbolt docks usually retail for about $220 to $270 or so, depending upon the features. I usually hope for $200 or less. In 2024, you benefit from one key trend: Thunderbolt 3 and Thunderbolt 4 are roughly the same in terms of throughput and features, but retailers hate keeping old hardware on the shelves. It’s likely that you’ll still see substantial sales on older Thunderbolt 3 hardware, with lesser discounts applied to Thunderbolt 4 options. I’m already seeing evidence of that. The Plugable TBT3-UDZ, which has been one of my favorite Thunderbolt 3 docks for years, is being discontinued in favor of the TBT4-UDZ, the Thunderbolt 4 version. With Thunderbolt 3 hardware on its way out — and very similar to Thunderbolt 4 in what it can do — you should expect additional discounts on older TB3 hardware. 4. I have a USB-C port on my laptop. How do I know what to use with it? Consult your laptop’s manual. A Thunderbolt port may be labeled with a small lightning-bolt logo, but that icon can sometimes be used to signal that the port can be used for charging, too. If nothing else, a USB-C dongle/hub will always work with a USB-C port. 5. I still don’t understand the difference between USB-C and Thunderbolt. How does it all work? USB ports have been around for years. USB-C (the oval-shaped port) replaced USB-A (the rectangular port) because USB-C was more versatile, with higher speeds and a reversible port connector. USB-C ports can be rated for either 5Gbps or 10Gbps, just like a normal USB-A port. But some USB-C ports connect to a Thunderbolt chip inside your laptop, and this allows the port to run at a higher 40Gbps speed. Physically, the connector looks exactly the same. It’s just what it can do that’s different. Thunderbolt 5 is slowly entering the market, but with only one or two docks and a tiny number of laptops right now. You won’t see any sales on Thunderbolt 5 docks during the 2024 holiday season. 6. What’s the difference between a USB-C hub and a Thunderbolt dock? Speed and features. A USB-C hub connects to a single 4K (or 1080p) display and provides a mix of ports: USB-A, SD card slots, and so on. You can usually plug your laptop’s USB-C power cable (if it uses one) right into it. A Thunderbolt dock supplies even more bandwidth for more ports. There are two key differences: It has enough bandwidth to drive a pair of 4K displays, and many docks come with their own power supply that can charge your laptop as well as your phone. All that occurs via the Thunderbolt cable that connects your laptop to the dock. 7. My laptop has USB4, not Thunderbolt. Can I use a Thunderbolt dock? Yes and no. Thunderbolt 3, Thunderbolt 4, and USB4 all run at 40Gbps across the same connector. USB4 is identical to Thunderbolt 4. But if your laptop runs USB4, it won’t “understand” Thunderbolt 3 protocols. USB4 laptops, which are still rare, have AMD Ryzen chips inside. 8. Is Thunderbolt 4 better than Thunderbolt 3? Physically, they use the same USB-C cable. Functionally, they’re almost the same, and run at the same 40Gbps throughput. Thunderbolt 4 was released almost as a patch to Thunderbolt 3, ensuring that everything worked properly. If your laptop has Thunderbolt, you should be able to buy either a Thunderbolt 3 or Thunderbolt 4 dock without any problems. Since Thunderbolt 3 is being phased out, you’ll probably find more discounts on the older Thunderbolt 3 hardware. (For all the gory details, see my roundup of the best Thunderbolt docks.) 9. I own a desktop PC. Do I need a Thunderbolt dock? Possibly. Historically, the back of a desktop has been chock-full of I/O ports, especially DIY models that you build yourself. Desktops usually have extra room for internal SSDs, SD cards, and so on. However, if your desktop lacks these things, and if it includes an external Thunderbolt port, you can always add these additional components externally via Thunderbolt. 10. Some of these docks have bad reviews on shopping sites. What gives? Read the user reviews closely. While Macs adopted Thunderbolt first, some of the Apple M1 silicon couldn’t keep up with Intel Thunderbolt controllers used by Windows PCs, and the Apple macOS experience suffered as a result. If a Windows user complains, pay attention; otherwise, you can dismiss them. Read...