The titans of the PC industry slugged things out in 2024, jockeying for dominance in the new AI era blossoming before our eyes. It was most evident in laptops: Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X Elite chips kicked off Microsoft’s Copilot+ PC era with long life and surprisingly competitive performance, only to be rivaled by Intel’s Macbook-killing Lunar Lake chips months later. AMD, meanwhile, focused on bringing high-octane speed to Copilot+ PCs, zigging for oomph while the others zagged to endurance. With competition flourishing, PCWorld expects to review over 120 laptops by the end of the year, by far a new high water mark! But laptops weren’t the only category laser-focused on innovation and performance. This year, cutting-edge monitors became the norm, Thunderbolt docks and SSDs embraced newer, faster standards, Intel and AMD launched overhauled desktop CPUs, gaming handhelds got truly competitive, and the software that runs on all that hardware kept getting better and better, too. You love to see it. With such a gluttony of choice, it became harder than ever for PC hardware and software to impress us. Few products earned our rare Editors’ Choice award. And only the very best of the best grace this list. Without further ado, this is the Best PC Hardware and Software of 2024, as chosen by PCWorld’s editors. Congratulations to the winners – with a field this crowded, they’ve definitely earned it. Best laptop: Dell Inspiron 14 Plus Dell Inspiron 14 Plus Read our review The Dell Inspiron 14 Plus is one of the most well-rounded laptops we’ve ever tested here at PCWorld. You’re getting strong performance, phenomenal battery life (17 hours on a single charge!), and a vibrant 14-inch 1400p display to boot. It hits nearly every mark and is clearly the best laptop for most people. The aesthetics are a little bland, sure, but the hardware capabilities and marathon battery life more than make up for it – and a laptop that fits in with the crowd isn’t a bad thing. -Ashley Biancuzzo Best desktop CPU: Ryzen 7 9800X3D Adam Patrick Murray / Foundry It’s been a dour year for CPUs – AMD’s initial Ryzen 9000 lineup offered minimal performance uplift and suffered from (since-fixed) Windows-related performance woes, while Intel’s radical new Core Ultra chips wound up being slower than their predecessors in gaming. But things ended with a bang courtesy of AMD’s jaw-dropping Ryzen 7 9800X3D. Thanks to a second-generation V-Cache that eliminated the caveats required by earlier X3D models – the 9800X3D isn’t a drawback for productivity now! — AMD’s new gaming champion brought the heat against Intel. The Ryzen 7 9800X3D obliterates Intel’s flagship Core Ultra 9 285K by 25 to 30 percent on average, with the whupping hitting an almost unbelieveable 45 percent in Cyberpunk 2077. Madness! I can’t remember the last time I witnessed a hardware beat down this relentlessly violent. If you want the single best gaming chip you can buy, the Ryzen 9 9800X3D is it – by a whole hell of a lot. -Brad Chacos Best password manager: Dashlane Dashlane Read our review Best Prices Today: $4.99 at Dashlane As data breaches increase in number and severity, password managers have become ever more important. A good one makes staying on top of your online security easy—quickly creating strong passwords, alerting when one’s been compromised, and updating compromised or weak credentials. Of the options out there, Dashlane’s consistency and continual feature updates have helped keep it as a long-standing favorite among our staff. Its paid Premium plan includes passkey support, passwordless login, dark web monitoring, VPN access, and even real-time phishing protection. The latter two features are a proactive stance against other dangers to your password health—a welcome touch if your online habits would benefit from extra privacy and online protection, but you haven’t yet looked into a dedicated VPN or antivirus subscription. – Alaina Yee Best monitor: Dell Ultrasharp U2724DE Dell Ultrasharp U2724D Read our review We knew this monitor was special when our veteran monitor reviewer, Matt Smith, described it as “arguably the most versatile monitor ever sold.” Say more! The Dell Ultrasharp U2724DE has what it takes to meet a user’s every display need, whether it’s as the command center of a busy workday, the canvas for content creation, or the means of losing yourself in a movie or game. The IPS Black panel gives the 27-inch screen incredible contrast, while a 120Hz refresh rate makes for great motion clarity. Add to that the oodles of ports, an attractive and functional design, and a reasonable price, and Dell’s stunner is definitely this year’s best monitor! – Katherine Stevenson Best desktop GPU: Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 Super Nvidia It was a slow year for graphics cards, but the GPUs we did get were welcome ones. Nvidia’s RTX 40-series Super refresh, announced at CES, righted the missteps made in the original 40-series lineup, lowering prices and beefing up specs where it made sense. The best of the bunch was Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 4070 Super, which offers a super-sized performance boost over its vanilla namesake thanks to 20 percent more CUDA, ray tracing, and DLSS tensor cores, all at the same $599 price point as the original. Yes please! On top of best-in-class ray tracing performance, Nvidia’s also best-in-class software features (such as DLSS 3.5 ray reconstruction, dual AV1 encoders, and Nvidia Reflex, a must-have in competitive shooters) make the RTX 4070 Super shine bright in the most competitive segment of the graphics card market. What, that’s not good enough for you? The Nvidia RTX 4080 Super also earned an Editors’ Choice award for its all-around excellence, buoyed by a $200 price cut versus the original 4080. -Brad Chacos Best Chromebook: Lenovo Flex 5i Chromebook Plus Lenovo Flex 5i Chromebook Plus Read our review From the versatile 2-in-1 design to the stunning touchscreen, the Lenovo Flex 5i Chromebook Plus has a lot to offer. The Chromebook Plus models have really raised the bar in terms of hardware capabilities and the Lenovo Flex 5i Chromebook Plus pushes the pedal to the metal even further. Not only is day-to-day performance zippy, but the build feels strong in both tent and tablet modes. The 360-degree hinge is especially unyielding, which is exactly what we like to see. The original $499 MSRP price is a little high for a Chromebook, sure, but the overall fit, finish, and firepower make it worth the extra cash. – Ashley Biancuzzo Best SSD: Crucial T705 Crucial T705 NVMe SSD Read our review Best Prices Today: $174.99 at Amazon The cutting edge in solid state storage is the PCIe 5.0 interface, and the SSD that sets the bar for this echelon is the Crucial T705. If it’s speed you’re after, this bad boy brings it – as in 14.5GBps sequential reading and 12.3GBps writing in our synthetic benchmarks. Real-world performance is also impressive. And the price for the Crucial T705 has come down considerably since we first reviewed it, to sub-$200 for 1TB, making this high-performance drive a no-brainer for speed freaks. – Katherine Stevenson Best VPN: ExpressVPN ExpressVPN Read our review It’s a tough ask to select the best VPN overall. There are so many factors to consider such as privacy, ease of use, server network size, unblocking capabilities, and speed. Everyone’s intended usage may vary and that needs to be taken into account. Will the VPN be used to get around location blocks for streaming, staying incognito online, torrenting, or something else—the list goes on and on. Many VPNs excel at a few of these functions, but seldom manage to shine across the board. Enter ExpressVPN. It’s one of the only services that consistently ranks highly across each category. That’s why, for the third year in a row, it’s my top VPN. Not only does it continue to be one of the fastest VPNs I’ve ever tested, but it has a huge server network, it’s dead simple to use, and comes with a sterling user privacy record. It also never fails to unblock streaming services and fully supports P2P. There might be services with more extra features, but none exemplify all of the elements of a great VPN like ExpressVPN. — Sam Singleton Best gaming monitor: MSI MPG 341CQPX MSI MPG 341CQPX Read our review Best Prices Today: $849.99 at Amazon | $849.99 at MSI If your primary purpose is gaming, the MSI MPG 341CQPX is the monitor you want, hands down. The 34-inch curved display stands out among a sea of other QD-OLED competitors by boasting a higher refresh rate (up to 240Hz), strong HDR performance, and an excellent range of connectivity including the ability to charge a laptop or phone over USB-C. Of course, with QD-OLED, incredible contrast and color performance are a given. With a vibrant and realistic image and smooth-as-butter motion clarity, this display was made for immersive entertainment. – Katherine Stevenson Best Windows backup: R-Drive Image 7.2 R-Drive Image Read our review Best Prices Today: $44.95 at R-tools Technology When it comes to backup, the most important feature is reliability. R-Drive Image, which has been in the backup game for years, boasts an unblemished record in this regard. Now at version 7.2, it’s more full-featured and capable than ever. It offers the range of backup duties: disk and partitions, files and folders, WinPE and Linux boot media creation, the works. You can save your backups locally, to the network, or to your preferred cloud storage. You can even replicate backups across multiple destinations. The interface is straightforward, and performance is speedy. There’s really no need to consider other options. – Katherine Stevenson Best Thunderbolt Dock: Kensington SD5800T Kensington Thunderbolt 4/USB 4 Quad Video Docking Station (SD5800T) Read our review Best Prices Today: $280.40 at Amazon Many laptop docking stations come and go across my desk, enough that I donate the remainder to my coworkers at the end of the year. Kensington’s Thunderbolt 4 dock, the SD5800T, was one I didn’t want to give up. I love docks that don’t sacrifice either flexibility or stability, and the SD5800T offers it all: support for up to four displays, USB-C and USB-A, charging capabilities (7.5W to a phone, just under 100W to a laptop). There really aren’t any compromises, at all. The only concern I had was its price, and that’s fallen to a wholly respectable $250 at press time. Absolutely recommended. – Mark Hachman Best external drive: Adata SE920 Adata SE920 USB 4 SSD Read our review Best Prices Today: $179.99 at Adata | $179.99 at Amazon If you want the very best external drive, look no further than the Adata SE920. It features the latest-gen USB 4 spec, making it capable of 40Gbps transfers. Within that class, it’s the fastest external drive we’ve tested. But that’s not all. The SE920 also looks badass – a welcome perk on a device that will live on your desk or accompany you out in the field. The enclosure consists of a latched, spring-loaded outer shell that can slide open about half an inch to activate an internal fan, which is effective at heat dissipation and quiet. How clever is that? – Katherine Stevenson Best gaming laptop: Alienware m16 R2 Alienware m16 R2 The Alienware m16 R2 has everything you could ever want in a gaming laptop, and unlike most gaming laptops, it can even work as your daily driver, far away from a power outlet. It offers exceptional gaming performance thanks to the RTX 4070 GPU, a wickedly fast display (240Hz!), and an efficient cooling system. It lasted 11 hours on a single charge, which is impressive, as most gaming laptops tend to die at the five or six hour mark. The cherry on top? It’s a great value for a gaming laptop, especially one with RTX 4070 graphics. – Ashley Biancuzzo Best wireless keyboard: Nuphy Air V2 Nuphy Air96 V2 keyboard Read our review Best Prices Today: $159.99 at Amazon | $167.53 at Aliexpress If you don’t need gaming chops, the wireless keyboard you want is the Nuphy Air V2, full stop. It’s low-profile and stylish, but still has great components and excellent typing. And despite being low-profile, it still has hot-swap switches and a surprising variety of options from both Nuphy and Gateron. Combine it with easy VIA programming and a selection of layouts, plus a pretty good price, and it’s easily outpacing the latest slim designs from Logitech and the rest. -Michael Crider Best feature-packed VPN: NordVPN NordVPN Read our review Each year NordVPN seems to find something new and exciting to add to its service. At this point, I find myself asking, what doesn’t NordVPN have? Not only do you get the VPN with an outstanding server network and lightning fast speeds, but you also have access to a whole slew of top-notch privacy and security extras. Its “Threat Protection” service gives you ad- and tracker-blocking, anti-malware download protection, and a malicious URL link-checker. Then there is an active Dark Web monitoring service and built-in file transfer feature called Meshnet. The list goes on and on. No other VPN is as rich in features as NordVPN, making it an easy top pick this year. — Sam Singleton Best PC gaming handheld: Asus ROG Ally X Calling the Asus ROG Ally X “just a refresh” of the original ROG Ally is selling it too short. Yes, the ROG Ally X maintains the same 1080p 120Hz screen and AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme processor as before, but almost everything else has been redesigned based off community feedback, which has lead to a much better experience. Quieter fans, two USB-C ports (one with USB-4/ThunderBolt support), and refined ergonomics are just a few highlights, but the main one is the upgrade in battery life. Asus summoned dark magic (and excellent engineering) to get battery life that finally rivals Valve’s Steam Deck — all without a major weight increase! Sure, the Steam Deck is the de facto mainstream handheld gaming PC option, but if you are looking for the absolute best of the best out there, it’s the ROG Ally X. Dual-boot Bazzite (a custom image of Steam Deck’s SteamOS) and you can get the best of both worlds! – Adam Patrick Murray Best laptop for battery life: Lenovo ThinkPad T14s Gen 6 Lenovo ThinkPad T14s Gen 6 Read our review The Lenovo ThinkPad T14s Gen 6 ran for almost 24 hours on a single charge, a first here at PCWorld. Excuse me while I pick my jaw up off of the floor! In addition to the phenomenal battery life, it also has a diverse array of ports and is powerful enough to handle light to moderate workloads. It measures just 0.67 at its thickest point and yet Lenovo somehow squeezed in two USB4 ports, two USB-A ports, one HDMI 2.1 port, and one 3.5mm combo audio. –Ashley Biancuzzo Best gaming headset: HyperX Cloud Mix 2 Wireless HyperX Cloud Mix 2 Read our review Most gaming headsets that claim to be versatile enough to be used as headphones fall somewhat short. With their large boom mic ports, obtrusive flip mics, or chunky earcups they’re obviously more at home in gaming dens. But not the HyperX Cloud Mix 2. This headset hides its mics stealthily in its earcups. It’s also a champion of portability being very compact and lightweight. The sound too is crisp and clear, with enough detail in the tones to make playing and listening a treat. Barely any clamp pressure in the headband and the headset’s soft leatherette ear coverings make it a comfortable fit that I can wear for hours on end. It also has awesome compatibility, connecting to almost all my gaming devices, plus my mobile devices. Suffice it to say, the Mix 2 is the only audio device I currently need. What’s also brilliant is that it has a 110-hour battery life, which means I can charge and then forget about plugging it in for days at a time. – Dominic Bayley Best gaming mouse: Lemokey G1 Wireless Lemokey G1 Wireless mouse Read our review Unboxing the Lemokey G1 Wireless, I was immediately surprised by its excellent maneuverability, which is smoother and faster than any pro gaming mouse I’ve ever used. If that impressed me right from the get-go – and then its devastatingly quick 8,000Hz wireless polling rate sealed the deal for me, making hitting targets a lot easier. With its lightweight design of just 1.94 ounces and smooth 30,000 DPI sensor with a maximum speed of 750 inches-per-second, this mouse gives me the edge I need to win one-on-one engagements in fast-paced games. It’s also the perfect size for my medium-to-large hand. For what I’m getting here I could have paid upwards of $150, but the Lemokey G1 Wireless is also a smashing bargain at just $69. – Dominic Bayley Best keyboard: Corsair K65 Plus Wireless Corsair K65 Plus Wireless keyboard Read our review It came out all the way back in February, but the best keyboard of the year is Corsair’s K65 Plus Wireless. It’s hitting all the big trends, excluding only a (wholly unnecessary) screen. It packs a 75% layout inspired by custom builds, hot-swap capability, and high-quality switches that are great for both typing and gaming. It’s wireless, obviously, which many of these designs aren’t. And it’s about half the price of Razer’s excellent, but very expensive, BlackWidow V4 Pro 75%, and doesn’t try to convince you that a screen belongs on a keyboard. (It doesn’t.) – Michael Crider Best antivirus: Norton 360 Deluxe Norton 360 Deluxe This year proved the necessity of strong online security. Vulnerabilities are getting discovered and exploited faster, and the rise of AI tools is only fueling the onslaught. Solid antivirus software will shield you from the worst of it, whether that’s viruses, malicious websites, hackers on public networks, or use of weak passwords. And it’ll do so with little effort on your part. Sure, you could stitch together different free services, but most people find a comprehensive security suite far easier – and Norton 360 Deluxe is easily the cream of the crop. It simplifies online security at a fair price, with a slew of features that cover you across the board. Beyond stopping malicious software and websites in their tracks, Norton also provides key protections like dark web monitoring, a password manager, VPN service, parental controls, and 50GB of cloud storage for automated backups of important files. General utilities like file cleanup are even included, too. This level of comprehensive defense is rare among rivals—especially for how little Norton charges. – Alaina Yee Best webcam: BenQ IdeaCam S1 Pro BenQ IdeaCam S1 Pro Read our review Best Prices Today: $199.99 at Adorama | $199.99 at Amazon The advent of personal streaming, content creation and work-at-home has meant that webcams have advanced massively from even a few years ago. BenQ’s IdeaCam S1 Pro is a fantastic example of this, with functionality that goes beyond just making you look good. This “4K” webcam has a lot to offer just on that front, with sharp, lovely images and utility software that’s truly a utility. But there’s more! A macro mode seems gimmicky, but it works great. There’s even a “measuring” mode that would work well for detail work. And there’s a big bonus: a remote control “puck” that seems like something BenQ would sell separately, but includes in the box. That’s real value. – Mark Hachman Best USB-C hub: Ugreen 9-in-1 Revodok Pro Ugreen 9-in-1 USB-C (Revodok) Docking Station CM615 Read our review Best Prices Today: $139.99 at Ugreen | $169.99 at Amazon Ugreen’s 9-in-1 Revodok Pro is a simple, straightforward, compact little dock that uses the free, downloadable DisplayLink utility as an intermediary. It’s great for office work, with the flexibility to accommodate a pair of either DisplayLink or HDMI connections. It offers two USB-A ports (for mouse or keyboard, say), Ethernet, as well as a USB-C port for a smartphone or other peripheral. USB-C hardware can be exceedingly simple, like a dongle, or with a much more robust feature offering. The Revodok Pro provides the essentials, trims the fat, and keeps the price affordable. Ugreen’s a not a household name, but the company’s products have been consistently solid. – Mark Hachman Read...

Thunderbolt 5. The cutting edge of I/O. All of it — monitors, a Thunderbolt 5 dock, and even a Thunderbolt 5 SSD — was perched on my desk. I was pleased, in the way only tech nerds can be when they have a piece of gear few others do. A few days later, I was more than happy to take it apart and return to a slower and more functional Thunderbolt environment. Because I am simply not sure that the Thunderbolt 5 ecosystem is ready for prime time. This isn’t an indictment of Thunderbolt 5, per se. Rather, it’s all about the headaches that can accompany not one, but a multitude of devices, all of which can interact with each other in unexpected ways. Layer on software, drivers, firmware updates, and the like, and it’s tough to point an accusing finger at any one component. This is what testing cutting-edge hardware can mean: struggling with technology that should just work, but doesn’t. Further reading: Best Thunderbolt docks 2024: Extend your laptop’s capabilities Thunderbolt 5: The next generation of I/O Thunderbolt 5 was announced about a year ago, as the next step in the evolution of the Thunderbolt I/O standard. Thunderbolt wasn’t necessarily designed for power users, but the best Thunderbolt 3 and Thunderbolt 4 docks allows users to place a pair of 4K displays on their desk running at 60 Hz. I find this extremely useful for productivity, as I can arrange several windows’ worth of email, chat, calendar, Web browsers, and more on two or more displays. Both Thunderbolt 3 and 4 provide 40Gbps of throughput. Thunderbolt 5 increases that to 80Gbps, and in certain situations up to 120Gbps, too. This extra bandwidth plays right into the gaming and productivity space, as the extra bandwidth supports up to three 4K displays at 144Hz, two 8K displays at 60Hz, or a single 1080p display at 540Hz. (Intel hasn’t nailed down the specifics of these last two resolutions). Intel is also touting the fact that Thunderbolt 5 should be able to power external GPUs, a capability that was passed over in Thunderbolt 4. The problem is that Thunderbolt 5 hardware is in short supply, period. Although some of the earliest Thunderbolt 5 docks were shown off this past January, it’s now October, and about the only dock I’ve seen announced is Kensington’s SD5000T5 EQ, which I went hands-on with a short time ago. There aren’t too many Thunderbolt 5 cables, either. But a hands-on is not a test and I was eager to obtain hardware that I could use to put the Kensington SD5000T5 through its paces: to connect it to three 4K144 displays via a laptop with Thunderbolt 5 connections and, as a bonus, to see if I could find an SSD that could run at Thunderbolt 5 speeds. I wasn’t expecting it to be easy. For whatever reason, devices with Intel’s Thunderbolt 5 host and accessory component (“Barlow Ridge,” or the Intel JHL9580 and JHL9480) have been few and far between. Docks are still scarce, as I said, and only two notebooks to my knowledge ship with a (non-integrated) Thunderbolt 5 controller, a version of the Razer Blade and the Maingear ML-17. Mark Hachman / IDG Luck favored me. The Kensington SD5000T5 remained on my desk, and Maingear agreed to send over an ML-17 for review. A colleague also was in the process of reviewing a pre-release version of OWC’s Envoy Ultra Thunderbolt 5 SSD and agreed to let me test it for a short time in trade for some benchmarking results. Everything seemed to be coming together. Thunderbolt 5 started off poorly, then got worse A few days later, I had cleared the decks of all of my current projects, and sat down to play with the next generation of I/O power. I updated the ML-17 with the necessary Windows updates, Microsoft Store updates, available firmware updates, and so on. Maingear shipped the notebook to me with the Intel Driver & Support Assistant utility updated as well, so I was pretty sure that I had the latest hardware and drivers. The first steps were fairly positive. As most gamers know, gaming notebooks include a hefty power brick terminating in either a barrel charger or the squarish power connector. One of the benefits of Thunderbolt 5, however, is its ability to supply a hypothetical power draw of 240W. Just being able to plug in the gaming notebook into the Thunderbolt 5 dock and power it up without the need for the laptop’s ungainly external power connector left me quite pleased. Well, kind of. I later discovered that the dock would power the laptop on just one of the two Thunderbolt 5 ports, however, and checking it with a USB power meter found that it delivered no more than 87W, even while gaming. Maingear’s Thunderbolt 5 ports aren’t specifically labeled as Thunderbolt 5 ports, just a generic Thunderbolt connection.Mark Hachman / IDG Power delivery of 240W requires explicit support from the laptop, dock, and cable and I wasn’t too surprised that it didn’t meet my expectations. Unfortunately, however, the trend continued. Acer graciously supplied three of its Nitro XV5 (XV275K) 4K displays for a test bed. All three displays run up to 144Hz on the HDMI port and to 160Hz on the USB-C/DisplayPort, which should have been good enough to meet the Thunderbolt 5’s promised to render an image at 144Hz on three 4K displays. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen. Maingear’s laptop produced an image on just two of the displays plus the laptop itself. (Thunderbolt 4 docks output to two 4K displays, plus the laptop, so I have no reason to believe my interpretation of “three displays” was incorrect.). While one laptop rendered at 4K 144Hz just fine, it was a real struggle to get the other to do the same at 1440p — it took some unplugging and re-plugging to achieve it just once, slowly. I could not consistently repeat this. (Kensington’s dock supplies three upstream Thunderbolt 5 ports. I used Kensington’s own USB-C to HDMI adapter to connect to one display, plus two uni 4K60 USB-C to DisplayPort cables — which are only rated for 1440p165, not 4K — for the others. I was hoping that three displays would light up. They didn’t). In fact, the whole setup felt pretty laggy just navigating around the laptop and via a Web browser — not something you’d expect with a top-of-the-line Intel CPU and Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 GPU inside. I’m pretty sure the Thunderbolt connection negatively contributed. Streaming a 4K, 60Hz video stuttered badly when run on the external display that was connected to the Thunderbolt dock — well over 30 percent of the frames were lost. Playing back the same video on just the laptop itself wasn’t perfect, but it was much, much better. Maingear blamed this on the Thunderbolt 5 cable. “I haven’t tested a plethora of cables yet, but the Apple TB5 Pro cable has worked consistently for us,” Matthew Rigassio, a product development manager for Maingear, wrote in an email. “Where Thunderbolt 4 you were able to get away with a decent USB-C cable, thunderbolt 5 seems to work best with certified Thunderbolt 5 cables.” That may be true, but Kensington’s Thunderbolt 5 cable was labeled appropriately and this should be certified. And why should I need to buy an Apple cable to get my PC docking station to work? OWC’s Envoy Pro FX SSD. This isn’t the Thunderbolt-equipped Envoy Ultra I was loaned. Unfortunately, I forgot to snap a photograph before I sent it back, but the design is basically the same.Mark Hachman / IDG Storage performance suffered as well When I connected the SSD, the performance of my Thunderbolt 5 test setup was just as bad. I typically run PCMark’s external storage benchmark to test a dock. My colleague Jon Jacobi prefers running storage-specific benchmarks to test the performance of the SSD directly. I prefer PCMark, whose external storage test reports the “bandwidth” of the SSD. That’s what I’m aiming for: How much data does the drive have to work with? I also test a second way, by recording the time it takes to copy a folder full of multimedia and other files from the SSD, through the dock, onto the laptop. I do all that by itself and also while streaming a 4K 60Hz video via the Internet over the Thunderbolt cable, just to see whether a background file transfer will affect performance. The experience, quite frankly, stunk. While running the PCMark test with the SSD directly connected, I recorded a score of 1,743 or 252.3 MB/s. But while connected to the dock, the SSD’s PCMark score plunged to just 1,108 or 159.3MB/s. Was that the dock’s fault or the Thunderbolt 5 connection? One of the two, most likely. When I directly connected the SSD to the laptop and copied my folder to the desktop, it took an average of one minute and five seconds. While streaming video, the same task took 58 seconds longer or two minutes and three seconds. That seemed quite extreme. Weirdly, when I connected the SSD to the dock and then performed the folder copy, it finished in 41 seconds — far faster! But performing the folder copy while streaming the video required two minutes and six seconds, again with the SSD attached to the dock. (The Internet connection was supplied by Ethernet, which remained connected. But letting the system use Wi-Fi didn’t seem to make any difference). It’s worth a reminder that when I tested the Kensington dock on a “normal” Thunderbolt 4-equipped laptop and a slower SSD, the dock performed “normally,” as well. In the past few years, we’ve seen the occasional weird result when benchmarking, such as benchmarks of mobile CPUs run on battery power that exceed the performance of the same laptop while plugged in. Still, the wildly varying results, including the heavy stuttering while playing video, told me something’s not quite right. What is it? I don’t know, which is souring me on the whole Thunderbolt 5 experience. Should you buy Thunderbolt 5? Not right now When testing a single device, a good review works to isolate the variable. Desktop CPUs are tested against the fastest GPUs possible, with common motherboards, memory, and storage (if possible), so that any differences in performance can be directly attributed to the new CPU. Maingear’s Windows 11 Settings menu reports the controller as USB4 v2, which should be essentially identical to Thunderbolt. I can’t find any specific mention of “Thunderbolt” in the Settings or in the Device Manager, just USB4.Mark Hachman / IDG In this case, I’m testing a new dock, laptop, and SSD, with new cables running between them. That’s at least three unknowns I can’t really nail down. So Maingear can accuse the cable of being faulty, while I suspect that Maingear’s hardware may be at fault. I can’t know for certain. What I am a bit suspicious about is the relative lack of Thunderbolt 5 hardware, even late in 2024. Intel has cycled through its Lunar Lake and Arrow Lake launches, and neither includes an integrated Thunderbolt 5 controller. Intel gave some good reasons for excluding it — desktop vendors prefer to “upsell” by using discrete components, for example — but the instability that I’m seeing makes me wonder if there’s something more going on. I’m not writing Thunderbolt 5 off at all. An updated driver could potentially solve this problem or it might require a more sophisticated hardware revision to Intel’s Barlow Ridge controller itself. I don’t know. For now, however I would not recommend buying into the Thunderbolt 5 ecosystem. When you buy (or test) bleeding-edge hardware, sometimes you’re the one that ends up with the cuts. Read...

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At a glanceExpert`s Rating Pros Excellent sound quality for voices High sampling rate and bit depth for recording Wide compatibility More versatile light control Cons New multi-control not so intuitive Large in dimensions Our Verdict HyperX’s QuadCast 2 microphone offers fun personalization options as well as high quality sound. What more could you ask for? Price When Reviewed This value will show the geolocated pricing text for product undefined Best Pricing Today Best Prices Today: HyperX QuadCast 2 Retailer Price $149.99 View Deal $159.99 View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket HyperX started out as Kingston’s brand of gaming computer RAM and, like so many other component manufacturers, has since expanded its product offering into all sorts of gaming hardware. In 2018, they released the QuadCast USB microphone. With its iconic look, featuring vibration-dampening wire suspension, and red diode-glowing large puff covers, it’s a popular choice among Twitch streamers. Not only is it stylish, but it provides high sound quality for a good price. You don’t need any audio expertise to make it sound good. Since then, Kingston has sold HyperX to HP and they’ve continued to regularly pump out streaming products. I question the quality of some of these products, though, which is why I was a little worried when HyperX released the QuadCast 2 this summer, a direct sequel to the now classic microphone. Will HyperX deliver an equally good or better mic? Let’s find out. Further reading: Why I won’t spend a fortune on a gaming microphone Standard bracket for free mounting.Mattias Inghe HyperX QuadCast 2: High quality sound Fortunately, the QuadCast 2 is a high quality product that offers a number of technical upgrades. It’s still a condenser mic with three 14mm elements that allow you to switch between four sound pickup techniques, omnidirectional, forward kidney, bi-directional forward, and back (or sideways!). However, HyperX has fine-tuned the technology, increasing the sensitivity of the microphone while lowering the level of noise it generates. The original QuadCast produced great sound, but QuadCast 2 produces even clearer sound. I got my hands on an old QuadCast and I tested the sound recording in the same environment and the difference is actually noticeable. So, what does this mean? It means it sounds damn good. Voices have a warm, natural tone and there’s plenty of detail in the high frequencies. Finally, USB-C. The mini-USB that the predecessor had was already mossy then.Mattias Inghe The sampling rate has gone up from 48 KHz to 96 KHz and the bit depth is 24 bits, an improvement over the previous 16. It doesn’t make much difference when you just push it out directly in a compressed live stream, but if you want to use the mic to record sound and manipulate it afterwards, you have more room to do so without loss of quality. The QuadCast 2 sounds damn good. Voices have a warm, natural tone and there’s plenty of detail in the high frequencies. HyperX QuadCast 2: Free hanging for less interference The design of the QuadCast 2 is recognizable from its predecessor. It’s still a black cylinder with a red LED light behind the grille and puff guard in the top half, with the entire top as a large and extra-sensitive touch button for mute control. The stand with the microphone attached to elasticated wires all around is pretty much the same style as before, but with slightly different mounts that are said to be easier to unhook when needed. The new button is more versatile than before, but is less convenient as a volume control.Mattias Inghe The laces are black now instead of red, which takes away some of its iconic look and it’s completely flat at the ends. Where the QuadCast had a control knob at the bottom for the microphone gain level, the QuadCast 2 instead has a small knob on the front. It controls the volume of headphones, something that was missing in its predecessor. I’m not entirely fond of this little knob, as it emits a loud(ish) sound when turned. It’s not possible to discreetly change the volume during recording. The dial also has a click function, where a quick press switches between controlling the headphone and microphone. A long press is used to cycle between audio recording profiles. It’s more cumbersome than the knob on the back of the QuadCast. That said, you now get a light ring on the top of the mic that indicates which way it’s listening–I appreciate that. HyperX Quadcast 2: Small practical improvements Connection to the computer is via USB-C instead of the mini-USB that the original QuadCast came with. The five Watts of power is good enough, so it should work to connect anywhere. You’re also getting a USB-C to USB-A adapter for the three meter USB-C to USB-C cable. You can manage it from the Windows program Ngenuity instead.Mattias Inghe The microphone is easier to detach from the round table base. The stand mount also allows you to easily mount it on a microphone arm instead, an ideal set-up for streamers. The light is dimmable (and thus switchable) and can be controlled with HyperX’s Ngenuity app for Windows. You also get digital volume control and a digital high-pass filter. You can adjust this if you have too much background noise, but for the most part I’d probably avoid it. You can plug it in and run it on a Mac, a PlayStation 4, or PlayStation 5. That’s what HyperX lists as compatible devices, but it’s only a USB audio device by default, so it’ll work on a Chromebook, a Steam Deck, an Android mobile phone with USB audio support, and the Nintendo Switch. However, not with Xbox, as they insist on not supporting standard USB microphones. That’s not HyperX’s fault, it’s just Microsoft being stubborn. Here you also set diode effects. For example, you can make it light up in sync with detected sound.Mattias Inghe HyperX QuadCast 2: Conclusion The QuadCast 2 offers excellent sound quality, nice dampening capabilities, wide compatibility, and versatility of use. It’s a great device for streaming gameplay, recording a podcast, or sounding professional in a video meeting. Of course, there’s better gear for music studios and streaming studios. XLR mics are designed to fit into an analogue mixing desk, after all. But if you’re looking for a good microphone with nice features, the QuadCast 2 is definitely worth it. HyperX QuadCast 2: Specifications Product name: HyperX QuadCast 2Tested: October 2024Manufacturer: HyperX Connection: USB-C 2.0, 3.5 mm analogue headphoneMicrophone technology: CondenserSampling rate: 96 KHzBit depth: 24Microphone modes: Directional, omnidirectional, stereo, bidirectionalSystem requirements: Windows10 or newer, Mac OS, PS4, PS5, Switch, etcSize (incl. stand): 11 x 12 x 23.8 cmWeight (incl. stand): 1.71 poundsPrice: $149.99 Rating: 5 out of 5 Read...

Today, the internet has become like water and electricity, a necessity for everyday life and something we take for granted. Most people never think about routers, network cables, frequency bands, and more as long as everything works. But wireless networks — Wi-Fi — are not flawless and few users have never had problems. Common problems include weak coverage in parts of the home, devices being disconnected and having to be reconnected manually, choppy music and video playback on connected devices, and slower-than-promised speeds on large downloads. By optimizing your router’s settings and placement in your home, you can achieve a more stable and faster Wi-Fi network. Often this is enough, but otherwise there is help from different types of networking equipment. Related: How to choose a new router and get started with important settings Optimal router settings Foundry Different routers offer different levels of customization for Wi-Fi settings, but the vast majority have at least the following settings: Channel width Channel width refers to how much of the available frequencies in a frequency band the communication between router and devices takes up. Narrow channels allow for more channels, which means that several different networks can operate simultaneously in the same location without interfering with each other. But wider channels mean more data can fit per transmission, resulting in a higher overall speed for connected devices — as long as the signal is strong enough. If your router can choose the channel width automatically, this is likely to give you the best results. Some routers can automatically vary the channel width to optimize the network. If you have to choose for yourself, or just want to test whether it can be useful, you can test from the top down — start with 160MHz in the 5GHz band and step down to 80- and 40MHz and see how it affects the experience of devices around the home. If your router supports the 6GHz band, you can probably push a little harder and choose the widest possible channels, but as radio is complicated, it’s always best to test the waters. Foundry Channel – manual or automatic Depending on the channel width, there are different numbers of channels to choose from. For example, with 160MHz channel width there are only three channels, while with 40MHz there are 14 in the 5GHz band. The 2.4GHz band can only use channels of 20- or 40MHz, and the normal one is 20Mz because it can fit three channels without overlap (channels 1, 6, and 11). In houses without interference, 40MHz can work. Normally, it’s best to let the router choose itself as it has a better idea of which channel has the least “noise,” but if you have coverage problems in a particular part of the house and can see that a neighbor in that direction is using the same channel as your router has chosen, you can try a different channel. TP-Link Combined or separate frequency bands Behind the scenes, Wi-Fi over 2.4GHz and 5GHz are completely separate and use different antennas, but normally the router creates a common network name (SSID) to which devices connect. Which frequency band they connect with can either be up to the device itself, chance, or the router (see below). This usually works well, but you may find it useful to choose two separate networks with separate names instead. This can be useful, for example, if you have smart home devices that only support 2.4GHz and are having trouble connecting (which is relatively common). It can also help if you have devices that insist on connecting to the 5GHz band even though the signal is weak due to an obstruction such as a brick wall or some other reason. Lower frequencies penetrate walls better, so the 2.4GHz band is often more reliable at a distance from the router. Band steering On networks that combine multiple frequency bands, devices or routers must choose which band to communicate in. Most routers have a feature called band steering that automates the selection based on various parameters. On newer routers from Asus, you can set how it should choose, but as you can see in the picture below, solid knowledge is required to do a better job than the router, if possible. The Quality of Service (QoS) function balances the network and ensures that no single device takes up all the bandwidth.Foundry If you have a specific problem, such as devices that insist on connecting on the 5GHz band even in parts of your home where the signal is so weak that the internet is slow, you can experiment with the settings. The Small Net Builder website has a good guide to Asus settings. Quality of Service gives all devices a chance Quality of Service, or QoS, is a feature found in many higher-end routers that balances the network so that no single device hogs all the bandwidth. Without QoS, a computer running Bittorrent, for example, with hundreds of active connections, can saturate the connection to the internet service provider on its own. QoS can also be used to prioritize certain types of traffic. Most typical are online games that require very short response times to mitigate lagging. Setting QoS to prioritize games reduces the likelihood that temporary spikes in network activity will cause games to hack. Video calling is also something that can benefit greatly from a QoS service in the router, as it requires both relatively short response times and a steady stream of data. Routers with large processors often do better without QoS than less well-equipped routers. Problems that can be solved with QoS are often due to something called bufferbloat, where the router queues up too many packets and can’t forward them all in a reasonable time. A faster connection won’t help, and incorrect router settings can make it worse. Bufferbloat test results from Waveform.Foundry You can test for yourself how much bufferbloat your router suffers from with tests at dslreport.com or waveform.com. Both give a rating, so you don’t need to understand all the numbers. But in case you’re wondering, it’s all about how much response times degrade when the connection is heavily loaded. Whether you have a lot of bufferbloat or not, you can try enabling QoS if your router has the feature, especially if you experience occasional problems with gaming or video calls. If you can’t find the settings for your particular router, search for “[router model] qos” and you’ll probably get both an answer to whether it has the feature at all and, if so, how to enable it. Change the order of priority in Adaptive QoS.Foundry As an example, take my newly purchased Asus router, which has a feature called Adaptive QoS. Here, I can choose one of five preset profiles that prioritize different things — gaming, streaming, general browsing, distance learning, or remote work. You can also set the prioritization order manually. I should point out, however, that Adaptive QoS is one of several features in Asus routers that require you to authorize security firm Trend Micro to collect data from you. Other router manufacturers may have other similar agreements for certain features. Netspot Map your home and find the radio shadows If you’ve tested out the best Wi-Fi settings on your router but are still having problems with slow internet, or devices occasionally losing connection in remote parts of your home, it might be time to look at upgrading your network. Before splurging on a new, more powerful router or any kind of extension, it’s a good idea to check what the signal strength is actually like in your home. There are a number of programs that can help you with this, such as Netspot. You will need a floor plan of your home and a laptop. Once you have installed the program and launched it, select the Survey tab and create a new project. Here you can upload an image of the floor plan or draw it manually. A calibration function ensures that the distances are correct, and before you start taking measurements, you can choose how large an area each measurement point should cover. I recommend the default setting. Then you simply carry the computer around to different locations in your home and let Netspot measure the signal strength. Click on the floor plan to show where you are at each measurement and on the stop button when you’re done. The results are displayed as a color chart of the floor plan, with warmer colors indicating stronger signals. Areas in blue show parts of the home where the router has difficulty reaching. Measuring many places around your home can give you a good idea of where it might make sense to place an extender, or whether a router with stronger antennas is likely to reach all corners. It can also help you spot poor router placement, and if you move it to a location that should provide better coverage, you can repeat the survey and check whether it actually did. Dmitry Didorov Reduce the load with cable connections If your problems don’t seem to be due to a weak signal, it could be that you are utilising the full capacity of your Wi-Fi network with many connected devices. If you have a large family where everyone watches a lot of streaming services, this can easily happen. An easy way to give the router and the devices that can only connect wirelessly some wiggle room is to connect desktop computers and other fixed devices with an Ethernet cable instead of Wi-Fi. Televisions, games consoles, smart home hubs and media players often have a connector for network cables. If your router doesn’t have enough connectors, you can buy a cheap switch from Netgear or TP-Link, for example. A switch also allows devices connected to it to communicate directly with each other without going through the router, which can further reduce the load on it. For example, if you have a media library on a NAS device and stream from it to a TV or computer and both are connected to the switch, it can have a big effect on the speeds of the Wi-Fi network for other connected devices. Sabine Kroschel Get a Wi-Fi booster, repeater, or mesh Sometimes the only solution to Wi-Fi problems is to upgrade your hardware. There are different options depending on what you have today and what the possibilities are for running cables in your home, for example. Wi-Fi amplifier A Wi-Fi repeater extends an existing network by creating its own network with the same name (SSID). Newer models can connect either by cable or wirelessly. The latter is obviously more flexible, but offers slower speeds and longer response times as devices connected to the extension communicate with the router in two stages. TP-Link Repeater Wi-Fi repeater is the name of an older technology that is not as common today, where a radio intercepts the signal from the router and simply sends it out again. It rarely gets much better and I do not recommend it. Linksys Mesh With mesh routers, you place two or more base stations in the home, where one acts as the main unit and is connected to the broadband. They connect to each other wirelessly but do so either smarter or with separate antennas and channels so that that transmission doesn’t clash with the regular network. For those who have Wi-Fi problems with a regular router and want a simple solution, a mesh system with two or three base stations is often the simplest solution, but rarely the cheapest. Use Netspot to find the best placement of base stations, then just sit back and enjoy. Roadlight Some traditional routers now have a built-in mesh function so you can expand your network afterwards with compatible base stations. Asus, for example, has a feature called AI Mesh, while TP-Link calls its equivalent Onemesh. Both of these manufacturers are flexible with what additional devices you use as base stations, such as another regular router, a mesh router, or a dedicated Wi-Fi extender that supports the mesh system. Unlike regular Wi-Fi extenders, all devices in one of these mesh networks must be from the same manufacturer and support the mesh technology in question. One important thing to consider if you’re getting mesh is to position the base stations so that they have the best possible signal to each other. This means that their signals should overlap but not too much, and there should be as few walls as possible in the straight line between two base stations. Related: How to keep your home network secure: Smart tricks and settings Read...

At a glanceExpert`s Rating Pros OLED touchscreen looks great Nice solid build Long battery life Cons Few ports in odd spots Expensive  Our Verdict If you’re looking for a solid 2-in-1 that gets the job done and you can get behind the idea of efficiency over power, then the HP OmniBook Ultra Flip 14 is worth your Consideration. Price When Reviewed This value will show the geolocated pricing text for product undefined Best Pricing Today Sometimes going all in on next-gen tech is a great way to buy future-proof devices that will ultimately last longer as the rest of the world catches up. Other times, going next-gen will hamper you in the long run because the latest technology isn’t quite ready. The HP OmniBook Ultra Flip Next Gen AI PC 14 (fh0047nr) falls more into the latter. It feels great in the hands and the battery life is to die for, but it’s ultimately hampered (on paper!) by the latest processor inside. But not everything is quite what it seems. The HP OminBook Ultra Flip houses an Intel Core Ultra 7 256V processor, thus making it among the earliest Lunar Lake laptops. While you’ll see some mixed results in the benchmarks, the devil as always is in the details. Further reading: Best laptops 2024: Premium, budget, gaming, 2-in-1s, and more HP OmniBook Ultra Flip 14: Specs What makes this laptop “next-gen” is that aforementioned Lunar Lake processor, and along with new AI features. Here are the specs as tested: Model number: fh0047nr CPU: Intel Core Ultra 7 256V Memory: 32GB LPDDR5X Graphics/GPU: Intel Arc integrated graphics Display: 2880 x 1800 OLED multi-touch display Storage: 1TB PCIe Gen4 NVMe solid state drive Webcam: 9MP 1440P IR AI camera Connectivity 2x USB Type-C (Thunderbolt 4, USB4 40Gbps), 1x USB Type-C (10Gbps), 1x combo audio jack Networking: Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4 Biometrics: IR Camera, Fingerprint reader Battery capacity: 64 watt-hours Dimensions: 12.35 x 8.51 x 0.59 in Weight: 2.97 pounds MSRP: $1,599.99 (as specced) HP OmniBook Ultra Flip 14: Build quality IDG / Josh Hendrickson I have two stories to tell when it comes to this HP OmniBook, a story of choices that make me happy and another of choices that confuse me. Thankfully, the latter story is a question of taste and preference, so what I don’t like you may love. Let’s start with build quality, which is very good. Sure, this isn’t a fancy metal unibody machine, but that’s fine. The plastics here look good (for plastic) and feel nice. There’s not much (if any) give or wiggle and you get a nice understated look that won’t embarrass you when you travel. Even the hinge is just the right amount of stiff, which earns bonus points since this is a 2-in-1 that folds all the way around. If you’re looking for a solid 2-in-1 that gets the job done and you can get behind the idea of efficiency over power, then the HP OmniBook Ultra Flip 14 is worth your consideration. As someone in his 40s who will surely need reading glasses in the next ten years, I honestly appreciate the large print style lettering on the keys. The choice of blue for the combo power button and fingerprint sensor allows for a tiny splash of color and makes that important key easy to spot. The port placement, however, just confuses me. Never mind how few ports you get, we’ll discuss that in a bit, it’s the positioning I don’t like. Instead of just placing all ports on the left and ride side of the machine, HP put two USB-C ports in the back corners as cutouts. At first glance, that actually seems like it might be nice. After all, it’s similar to a power port in the back of a laptop. But similar isn’t the same and this introduces awkwardness, especially if you need to plug your laptop into an outlet that’s off to the side of you or behind you. That leads to your laptop cord doing a strange bendy curve to get where you need and it’ll stick out pretty far since the connector of your cord is coming out the laptop. Thankfully, HP does include a nice braided cable that should stand up to the abuse. HP OmniBook Ultra Flip 14: Keyboard, trackpad IDG / Josh Hendrickson I already mentioned that I like this keyboard’s big bold lettering and that praise extends to using the keyboard. With some laptops, things get scrunched around and you almost have to re-learn how to hold your hands to get back up to fast typing speed. That’s not the case here. The buttons are all a good size and other than the usual squashed arrows you find on most laptops these days, everything is just where I expect it. Of course, the cost of a generously sized keyboard is losing a numpad, so keep that in mind if you absolutely need one. Key travel is good enough all things considered and the click noise is soft yet satisfying. As someone who deals with hand issues, I judge a laptop’s keyboard by how long I can type on it before I start feeling pain and I managed hours on this keyboard with no issues. The trackpad is a nice size and, much to my pleasure, perfectly centered with the keyboard. I never accidentally brushed it and jumped up in my document. It detects my swiped and gestures perfectly and clicking technically worked well, though I did wish for more travel. HP OmniBook Ultra Flip 14: Speakers, display IDG / Josh Hendrickson You can’t expect much in terms of audio in thin and portable laptops, so I say this in the nicest terms possible. The Ultra Flip’s speakers are just okay. That’s a low bar, but I’ve honestly listened to far worse speakers in similarly designed 2-in-1s. The volume gets more than loud enough, though you’ll wreck the quality of the sound in the process. There’s a hint of thin bass, which is still better than some, and the soundstage exists. I know that doesn’t sound very complimentary, but when I test laptops, I generally expect speakers to be essentially useless and that’s not the case here. Sure, you’ll still be better off with headphones, but if you forget them, it won’t be the end of the world. The display is a pretty big win thanks to the OLED touchscreen tech behind it. Blacks are oh-so inky, which makes watching movies a joy, especially in tablet mode. And it gets a bit brighter than its AMD counterpart, which addressed one of our few complaints with that model. At 500 nits, it’s more than bright enough for indoor use and good enough for outdoor use as long as it’s not too sunny. When I saw that this is a 3K display, I worried that it would lead to wonkiness in font sizing and video playback, but I never noticed any issues. HP OmniBook Ultra Flip 14: Webcam, microphone, biometric options IDG / Josh Hendrickson Right in the usual spot, you’ll find a 9MP 1440p IR webcam, which puts it as a higher resolution than most webcams and a huge step up from the old 720p standard. Alas, specs aren’t everything and this webcam is decent at best. That’s not really HP’s fault. Much like speakers, fitting a great webcam into the tiny space a laptop can afford is a fight with physics you just can’t win. Colors are a little on the yellow and red side, giving me a slightly sunburned and sickly look. But it gets the job done and, of course, you get AI features as well both through Windows and HP’s custom options. I do appreciate the hardware shutter switch, especially since it slides so easily you won’t even need a fingernail. And it’s a nice bonus that this is an IR camera that works with Windows Hello. Speaking of biometrics, the power button also doubles as a fingerprint sensor. Both work quickly and consistently, and it’s nice to have options. The microphone isn’t quite as good. It picked up my voice just fine, but it lacked clarity, especially for a laptop at this price point. Between the microphone, the speakers, and the webcam, you have everything you need for a Zoom call. But you’ll probably be better off if you use Bluetooth earbuds that have a decent microphone. HP OmniBook Ultra Flip 14: Connectivity IDG / Josh Hendrickson I often complain when a laptop’s only two USB-C ports are on the same side, especially when they’re also the power ports. Thankfully, that’s not a problem here. Even better, two of those USB-C ports, located on the right side, are lightning fast Thunderbolt 4 ports. The third, found on the left corner, is a 10 GBPS port, which is slower but not the slowest. The port selection is limited to USB-C, though. If you need USB-A, Ethernet, HDMI, or an SD reader, you’ll need to buy a dongle. IDG / Josh Hendrickson At least you’re getting a future-proof laptop in terms of connectivity. The Flip 14 houses a Wi-Fi 7 modem and sports Bluetooth 5.4. That’s probably more advanced than anything you have in your home yet, which means over time as you upgrade everything else, your laptop should keep up. I should also mention that HP included a rechargeable Tilt Pen in my review unit, but it’s listed as optional on the website. It works well enough for taking notes, but it’s nothing special or fancy for drawing and the USB-C port is oddly placed. If it came free, I’d call it a good bonus, but I wouldn’t spend the $77 on it. HP OmniBook Ultra Flip 14: Performance At this price, the Ultra Flip 15 features an Intel Core Ultra 7 256V (Lunar Lake) processor, 32GBs of RAM, and 1 TB of storage. On paper, that should be enough to keep up with day-to-day tasks and maybe some light gaming. That said, the reality is different and we’re going to talk about that processor a lot because it requires a reset of expectations. IDG / Josh Hendrickson First, we run PCMark 10, which tests overall performance. Out of the gate. The Ultra Flip scores 6,845, which is around the middle of the road. That actually puts it in line with the other Core Ultra 256V in our comparison slate, but behind other laptops like the ThinkBook G5 and the HP OmniBook Ultra 14 (AMD). In truth, it’s a pretty solid score, especially when considering the processor behind the Flip focuses more on efficiency than power, as we’ll see in the upcoming tests. IDG / Josh Hendrickson Next up is Cinebench R23. This test is multi-threaded, so more cores results in a higher score. But the Core Ultra 256V doesn’t have as many cores as the previous generation. Here you have eight cores, divided evenly between performance and efficiency. In everyday use, multi-threading isn’t necessarily the most important metric though, so don’t count out the Ultra Flip yet. IDG / Josh Hendrickson That efficiency versus power point holds true in the Handbrake test as well. This is another heavily multi-threaded benchmark that runs over an extended period. It’s a good test to see how fast throttling and heat comes into play, which appears to be sooner rather than later in the case of the Ultra Flip 14. Score wise, it’s ahead of the Yoga Slim 7I Aura Edition, which has the same processor as our test model. HP didn’t do anything wrong with the hardware here, it’s just a matter of the processor’s efficiency focus. IDG / Josh Hendrickson In our early testing of the new Lunar Lake processors, we discovered a significant improvement in integrated graphics. This shows in the 3DMark test, where the Flip 14 roars past all the competition with an impressive 4,320 score. This also suggests cooling is efficient, as graphical tests tend to produce plenty of heat. It won’t hold up compared to a gaming laptop with a dedicated GPU, but for integrated graphics, it’s impressive. You could easily do some light gaming on this machine. HP OmniBook Ultra Flip 14: Battery life IDG / Josh Hendrickson To test battery life, we put laptops in airplane mode and loop a 4K copy of the Tears of Steel film until the device dies. Given the focus on efficiency, at first, I was disappointed the Ultra Flip didn’t do better in comparison testing. But when I dug into the details, I threw away that disappointment. On its own, running for 1,051 minutes (17 and a half hours!) is astounding. It scores significantly ahead of the Yoga Slim that runs the same processor. The Acer TravelMate and the HP OmniBook offer better battery life, but they’re also running lower resolution displays. At the end of the day, 17 hours is great for this test. While looping a video on airplane mode isn’t a perfect analogy to real world use, this HP does hold up to everyday use. It easily got me through an entire day of writing, social networking, watching videos, and more with plenty of room to spare at the end of the day. If I accidentally left the charger at home, I wouldn’t stress about it too much unless I planned to be gone for a week. HP OmniBook Ultra Flip 14: Conclusion The OmniBook Ultra Flip 14 is sturdy, well built, and has epic battery life. The keyboard also offers a comfortable typing experience and the track pad is easy to use. But it also has flaws, some of which are outside of HP’s control. If your everyday laptop tasks demand multi-threading performance, then the latest Intel processor falls short. While that’s by design, it’s still something to consider. I’m also not a fan of the port placement and, more importantly, the few choices you get in that area. The bloatware bugs me, too. At this price, suddenly having McAfee rear its ugly head not only on the laptop itself but in my e-mails since the trial arrived expired leaves a bad taste in my mouth. The push for AI, both from Microsoft and HP, also falls flat. But it’s all a matter of what you want and need. If you’re looking for a solid 2-in-1 that gets the job done and you can get behind the idea of efficiency over power, then the HP OmniBook Ultra Flip 14 is worth your consideration. Read...

Analysis: Facial recognition technology is becoming more widely used, but this has not been matched by wider acceptance from the public. Read...

Nobody loves vacuuming. That’s why robot vacuums have become the darlings of smart home technology, promising to tackle one of our most tedious household chores. But with hundreds of models flooding the market, ranging from basic bumper-car cleaners to AI-powered navigators, finding the right one can feel overwhelming. Here’s how to pick a robot vacuum that actually delivers on its promise of making your life easier. And once you’re ready to decide, browse our favorite robot vacuums and mops of 2024, where you’ll find picks for every budget. A robot vacuum can be a game-changing addition to your home—if you choose the right one. 1. Start with your space Your home’s layout should be your north star when choosing a robot vacuum. A basic model might work fine in a small apartment with an open floor plan. But if you’ve got a larger home with multiple rooms and hallways, you’ll want a vacuum with sophisticated navigation and mapping capabilities. The best robot vacuums use LiDAR or camera-based systems to create detailed maps of your home. Think of it like giving your vacuum a GPS—it knows exactly where it’s been and where it needs to go. These smarter models clean in efficient patterns rather than bouncing around randomly, which means faster, more thorough cleaning and fewer missed spots. Wyze Robot Vacuum: Laser navigation on a budget Pros Includes laser mapping and room customization Three suction levels Budget price Cons Easily gets stuck under low-profile furniture No Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant support No specialty cleaning modes Best Prices Today: $199 at Amazon$274.99 at Wyze Labs 2. Match your vacuum to your floors Your flooring type can make or break a robot vacuum’s performance. Hard floors are generally easier to clean, but if you have deep carpets, you’ll need a model with extra muscle. Look for vacuums with adjustable suction power that can detect surface changes and boost power automatically when moving onto carpets. Pet owners, take note: not all robot vacuums excel in handling fur. Models with rubber brush rolls often outperform traditional bristle brushes at grabbing pet hair without tangling. Some even come with special tangle-resistant designs that prevent you from having to regularly cut away wrapped hair from the brush roll—a common hassle with standard vacuums. Eufy X10 Pro Omni: Great vacuum/mop combo for pet owners Pros Thorough, balanced vacuuming and mopping Excellent obstacle avoidance Requires little hands-on attention from user Cons Large base station Self-cleaning functions are noisy Best Prices Today: $799.99 at Amazon 3. Look for smart features that actually matter While basic app control has become standard across most robot vacuums, the sophistication of smart features varies between models. Basic apps might only offer simple start/stop controls and scheduling. The more advanced models, however, unlock powerful capabilities like room-specific cleaning zones, virtual barriers, and customizable cleaning scenarios. Want your vacuum to run a quick sweep of high-traffic areas twice daily but deep clean the whole house on weekends? The better smart systems can handle these complex routines. Voice control through Alexa or Google Home can be surprisingly useful too. Being able to say “Hey Google, clean the living room” when you spot a mess is more convenient than you might think. 4. Remember, self-emptying bins make life easier One of the biggest innovations in recent years is the self-emptying base station. Instead of requiring you to manually empty the dust bin after every cleaning session, these models automatically dump their contents into a larger bin in their charging base. Many can go weeks or even months between empties, making these robot vacuums truly hands-off. Yes, you’ll pay more for this feature, but if you have a large home, pets, allergies, or just hate dealing with dust, it might be worth the investment. iRobot Roomba Combo J9+: A sophisticated robot vacuum with a self-emptying bin Pros Retractable mop arm keeps carpets dry New Clean Base design blends in with home furnishings Recognizes and prioritizes dirtiest areas Cons Companion app’s maps are basic and many controls are buried in sub-menus Mop pads must be cleaned manually Expensive Best Prices Today: $999 at Amazon 5. Plan for practical needs Consider the vacuum’s height if you want it to clean under furniture. The slimmer the better—some models can slip under beds and couches with just 3 inches of clearance. Noise level matters too, especially if you work from home or plan to run your vacuum at night. The quietest models hover around 50-55 decibels (about as loud as a conversation), while others can sound more like traditional vacuum cleaners. Battery life deserves attention if you have a larger space. Most robots can clean for 60-90 minutes before needing a recharge, but some premium models push past two hours. Better yet, many will automatically recharge and resume cleaning where they left off, which is essential for larger homes. 6. Don’t forget warranty and support options Before making your final decision, take a look at warranty coverage and customer support options. Most robot vacuums come with a one-year limited warranty covering manufacturing defects. Some manufacturers allow you to purchase extended warranties. Keep in mind that consumable parts like brushes, filters, and batteries typically aren’t covered under warranty, as they’re expected to wear out with normal use. Customer support quality varies widely between brands. Look for companies that offer multiple support channels (phone, email, chat) and check online reviews specifically mentioning warranty claims and repairs. Some manufacturers maintain active user communities and detailed online resources, which can be invaluable for troubleshooting issues or getting the most from your device. Support response times and quality of help can make a big difference when you’re trying to get your robot vacuum back up and running. 7. Making the smart choice Start by setting your budget. Basic models start around $200, mid-range options with mapping and smart features run $400-600, and premium models with all the bells and whistles can stretch past $1,000. But don’t just buy the most expensive model you can afford. Instead, match the features to your specific needs. Have pets? Prioritize strong suction and specialized brushes. Live in a larger home? Focus on navigation capabilities and battery life. Work from home? Look for quieter models with scheduling features. Dreame X40 Ultra: A hands-off vacuuming and mopping experience Pros Excellent vacuuming and mopping performance Empties its dustbin and sanitizes its mops Accurately detects and avoids obstacles Cons Mop heads tend to get stuck on carpet edges Expensive Best Prices Today: $1,899.99 at Amazon 8. Find your perfect match A robot vacuum can be a game-changing addition to your home—if you choose the right one. Take time to evaluate your needs and match them to the features that matter most. The best robot vacuum isn’t necessarily the most expensive or feature-packed model, but the one that fits seamlessly into your home and lifestyle. Remember: even the most advanced robot vacuum won’t completely replace your traditional vacuum (especially for stairs and detailed cleaning), but it can dramatically reduce how often you need to pull out the big gun. And that’s the true test of any smart home device—not whether it’s perfect, but whether it makes your home life noticeably easier. Read...

Whether you’ve been working from home for years, or you’re new to the game, there are probably several ways in which you can improve your home-office setup for maximum comfort and productivity. We’re talking both hardware and software upgrades here. Things such as a Thunderbolt dock for adding extra ports for external displays and storage, or a monitor arm for total flexibility and improved ergonomics, or a trustworthy VPN and full-featured PDF editing software can all make a world of difference in your overall work satisfaction and success. Here we present our favorite work from home tech of 2024/2025, all of which has been personally tested and approved by PCWorld’s hardware and software experts. Dell Inspiron 14 Plus – Best work-from-home laptop Your home office laptop needs to be reliable; it needs zippy performance and a penchant for productivity; and for optimum flexibility the device should be easy to transport and have exceptional battery life. You get all that with the Dell Inspiron 14 Plus — and you get it for less than $1,000. The Inspiron line is all about business-like practicality, but the Inspiron 14 Plus, while feeling quite durable, features some welcome aesthetic upgrades in the form of its partially aluminum chassis and slender profile. Inside, an Intel Core 7 Ultra 155H, 16GB of RAM, and a 1TB SSD make for exceptionally snappy performance. But there’s more to a satisfying work laptop than capable internals. The Inspiron 14 Plus comes correct with an array of suitable accoutrements: a firm and surprisingly quick keyboard with white backlighting, a biometric fingerprint sensor for easy login, and a nice assortment of ports that belie its compact size — headphone jack, microSD card reader, a couple USB-A ports, Thunderbolt 4 port, and full-size HDMI. The screen is also a treat, with a clear 2240×1400 resolution image, comparatively high peak brightness, and an anti-glare coating that can withstand challenging lighting conditions. The icing on the cake is an exceptional battery life lasting just over 17 hours. Lenovo Flex 5i Chromebook Plus – Best work-from-home Chromebook Let’s face it, there are many work scenarios in which a full-fledged Windows laptop is overkill. Emails, documents, spreadsheets, and even presentations, are all easily handled using online apps — something a Chromebook can accomplish for a fraction of a Windows laptop’s cost. Of course, some Chromebooks are more capable than others, such as the Lenovo Flex 5i Chromebook Plus. Among Chromebooks, the Plus designation signifies more robust performance, in this case an Intel Core i3-1315U CPU, Intel UHD graphics, 8GB of RAM, and 128GB of SSD. What really sets the Flex 5i Chromebook Plus apart, however, is its attractive styling and impressive build quality. In the words of our reviewer: “This thing looks and feels fancy, real fancy.” The 2-in-1 design lets you use the device as a standard clamshell, in a tent configuration, or as a tablet. Input options include both a backlit chiclet-style keyboard that’s pleasantly springy to use, or touch input via the 1200p crisp and vibrant display. Performance is speedy and satisfying, and the battery, while not stellar, ran for over nine hours on a single charge — enough to last a full day away from an outlet. Read our full Lenovo Flex 5i Chromebook Plus review NexiGo HelloCam – Best work-from-home webcam Best Prices Today: $69.99 at Amazon$69.99 at NexiGo There are a couple reasons why we consider the NexiGo HelloCam to be the best work-from-home webcam. For starters, it does what you want a webcam to do: Its 1080p/30fps fixed-focus lens produces a good picture that will have you making a positive impression in your Zoom meetings. The noise-cancelling mics will ensure that you’re being heard loud and clear. But the NexiGo HelloCam offers another perk for home workers: Windows Hello support, which lets you log in to your Windows computer with facial recognition. This is a feature that’s usually relegated to higher-priced webcams. The HelloCam also offers a requisite privacy shutter, here in the form of a physical barrier that shuts when the webcam is not in use. Alternative option: If you don’t need Windows Hello, you can save a little money and get a slight boost in resolution (to 1440p) with the Anker PowerConf C200. Dell U2724DE – Best work-from-home monitor Best Prices Today: $499.99 at B & H Photo There’s no better all-around home office monitor than Dell’s Ultrasharp U2724DE. Image quality is top-notch thanks to the IPS Black panel. Besides boasting an impressive contrast ratio, it also excels at color performance. A 120Hz refresh rate means that it can be pressed into service for after-hours gaming sessions. The stand is fit for purpose with solid construction and all the expected ergonomic adjustments, including 90-degree rotation into portrait mode. But the real show-stopper is the near-universal connectivity that should meet the needs of almost any scenario. Multiple video inputs, support for “daisy-chaining,” 90 watts of power for charging a device connected via USB-C, downstream ports for peripherals, and even a 2.5G RJ45 jack. There’s also a KVM switch and an ambient light sensor for intelligently adjusting screen brightness. Indeed, the U2724DE is no slacker! Read our full Dell U2724DE review Herman Miller Flo – Best work-from-home monitor arm Best Prices Today: $295 at Herman Miller A monitor arm is one of those pieces of gear that turns a conventional home office into a seriously professional setup. That’s particularly true of the Herman Miller Flo, which ticks all the boxes for a premier product. Aesthetically, it’s about as smooth and stylish as a monitor arm can be, capable of blending in with any environment. Setting it up is simple, thanks to a refined design that requires relatively few screws and a VESA mount that can be pre-mounted to a monitor and then clipped into place. The Flo offers a wide range of adjustment including tilt, swivel, and rotation, but more importantly, its operation is smoother than other products, moving into place with only a nudge. It also comes with a 12-year warranty and 24/7 customer support. It’s pricey, but everything about the Flo is top shelf. Anker 555 PowerExpand 8-in-1 USB-C Hub – Best work-from-home USB-C hub Best Prices Today: $49.99 at Amazon Whether you’re using a laptop or a desktop PC, port accessibility might be lacking. In such cases, the Anker 555 8-in-1 USB-C Hub has the answer. Anker’s hub offers a full complement of connectivity for legacy USB devices like mice and keyboards, for both SD and microSD media, for charging USB-C devices at up to 85W, and for running a monitor over HDMI at 60Hz. An Ethernet port is also part of the mix. The hub is well designed, even elegant, with a premium aluminum and polycarbonate exterior that keeps cools in use. It’s got a nice, sturdy heft at 4.5 ounces, and even comes with a carrying pouch. Plugable TBT3-UDZ – Best work-from-home Thunderbolt dock Best Prices Today: $255.41 at Amazon$369 at Newegg There are times when a USB-C hub falls short of your connectivity needs, such as when you want to connect two high-res monitors — scenarios that call for a Thunderbolt dock. The the best of the bunch is Plugable’s TBT3-UDZ. Okay, yes, it uses Thunderbolt 3 rather than Thunderbolt 4, but the capabilities and performance are mostly equivalent (while saving you a few dollars). What impresses us most about the TBT3-UDZ is its flexibility. Whether your two monitors use DisplayPort cables or HDMI, this dock will accommodate them. Two 4K displays can run at 60Hz in tandem. Of course, the TBT3-UDZ has every other kind of port you could want, as well — USB-C, a plethora of USB-A, standard and micro card reader, headphone jack, Ethernet, the whole gamut. It can charge a smartphone and a laptop. We also appreciate the space-saving vertical orientation of the attractive and solid gun-metal chassis, and the ample 30-inch cable that connects the dock to your PC. Read our full Plugable TBT3-UDZ review Logitech MX Keys S Keyboard – Best work-from-home wireless keyboard Best Prices Today: $109.99 at Amazon For anyone who favors a stylish keyboard that works effortlessly with multiple devices, the Logitech MX Keys S is it. Sporting an almost Apple-like clean aesthetic, the MX Keys S is a low-profile board that comes in Graphite, Gray, or Rose colorways. Besides being visually stunning, the full-sized layout is comfortable to type on, with a smooth and sure feel to the keys. The white backlighting automatically adjusts to the ambient lighting conditions. Using either Bluetooth or the bundled proprietary Logi Bolt dongle, the keyboard can be switched among three devices. If you prefer a mechanical, “clicky” keyboard, we recommend the also-very-good Logitech MX Mechanical variant. Read our full Logitech MX Keys S Keyboard review Creative Pebble X Plus – Best work-from-home computer speakers No home office is complete without a good set of computer speakers. For a compact, capable, but affordable solution, we think the best option is the Creative Pebble X Plus. The system consists of two speakers and a subwoofer. It offers Bluetooth, aux, and USB connection to your audio source of choice. A button on one of the satellites lets you switch between devices. The sound output is clear and can easily fill a room. There’s excellent detail in the treble and midrange. Besides providing a significant boost over your laptop’s audio, the Pebble X Plus features RGB for some added visual flare when it’s time to clock off and unwind. Read our full Creative Pebble X Plus review Lexar SL600 Blaze 20Gbps USB SSD – Best work-from-home external SSD Best Prices Today: $129.99 at B & H Photo There are many very fast external SSDs to choose from. But in our tests, the Lexar SL600 Blaze is not only among the fastest, but also competitively priced, making it an obvious recommendation for portable storage. Available in up to 4TB capacity, this USB 3.2 x 2 (Superspeed 20Gbps) not only has the space for even large, multimedia projects, it will be reading and writing that data at a wonderfully brisk pace. While SSDs are known for their durability, the SL600 Blaze’s 5-year warranty just provides extra assurance. Read our full Lexar SL600 Blaze 20Gbps USB SSD review SanDisk Desk Drive 10Gbps USB SSD – Best work-from-home SSD for backups Best Prices Today: $249.99 at Western Digital There is no worse feeling than laboring over a project — be it work-related or personal — only to lose it all because of a drive crash, power outage, mistaken deletion, or some other tragedy. This is why the importance of a solid backup solution cannot be overstated. Laptop users in particular should consider an external drive for backup. And if time is money, an SSD will get ‘er done far faster than an external hard drive. The SanDisk Desk Drive 10Gbps USB SSD is the external backup SSD to beat. Available in 4TB or 8TB capacities, this rugged desktop companion will not only provide that relatively speedy auxillary storage for data redundancy and/or overflow, as an SSD you needn’t worry about its susceptibility to jostles, shocks, or drops, as you would with a mechanical hard drive. Read our full SanDisk Desk Drive 10Gbps USB SSD review R-Drive Image 7.2 – Best work-from-home Windows backup Best Prices Today: $44.95 at R-tools Technology As noted above, there’s no excuse not to prepare for data disaster. We’ve told you what backup drive to use, but what about backup software? R-Drive Image has a legacy of reliability that makes it unmatched in this space. Indeed, in our experience its record is unblemished! Now at version 7.2, R-Drive Image is more full-featured and capable than ever. It offers the range of backup duties: disk and partitions, files and folders, WinPE and Linux boot media creation, the works. You can save your backups locally, to the network, or to your preferred cloud storage. You can even replicate backups across multiple destinations.  The interface is straightforward, and performance is speedy. There’s really no need to consider other options.  Read our full R-Drive Image review EaseUS PDF Editor – Best work-from-home PDF editor Best Prices Today: $49.95 at EaseUS There is no denying that the pinnacle of PDF editing is Adobe’s Acrobat Pro DC. But it’s probably overkill for the needs of most home office-workers, while being relatively expensive. That’s why our recommendation for the best PDF editor for a home office is EaseUS PDF Editor. For just $49.95 a year, or an incredible $79.95 lifetime subscription, you get a full set of PDF editing tools, including a variety of annotation tools for easy collaboration. The app is straightforward, making it possible to jump right in and get started. Add and remove text; add images; change font type, color, and size; add watermarks, background, headers and footers; enable permissions and password protection. It’s all here. The one caveat is that it’s Windows only. For more suggestions, see our roundup of the best PDF editors. Read our full EaseUS PDF Editor review ExpressVPN – Best work-from-home VPN A virtual private network (VPN) is a key component of online privacy, routing all your internet traffic through an anonymized and encrypted funnel. If you want to protect your work (or personal) online activities protected from prying eyes and/or hackers, a VPN is a must. In addition to that, by allowing you to run your internet browsing through servers all across the globe, a VPN can help you access your streaming services when you’re abroad, or bypass other regional restrictions. ExpressVPN is our favorite VPN overall. It’s feature-rich but easy to use; it provides broad device support; it uses diskless servers, so none of your data is ever permanently stored; it undergoes third-party audits for added reassurance about its privacy practices; and it offers some added benefits such as ad- and tracker-blocking and a password manager. Read our full ExpressVPN review Norton 360 Deluxe – Best work-from-home antivirus software For full-coverage antivirus protection at a reasonable price, Norton 360 Deluxe is the total package. You can relax knowing that Norton’s strong online protection has your back with minimal resource overhead. In addition to real-time monitoring against threats online, you can also perform scans of varying scope or complexity at will or on a schedule. Norton has earned very high marks from the major third-party testing outfits. Norton 360 Deluxe also offers lots of extras, such as cloud backup, a password manager, dark web monitoring, and even PC utilities. All those things might be value adds for you, but the core competency of the product — keeping you, your data, and your devices safe from nefarious actors — is why we consider it the best antivirus software overall. Read our full Norton 360 Deluxe review Read...