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At a glanceExpert`s Rating Pros DIY installation option can save you lots of money Trusted Neighbor is a great feature Nest cameras and video doorbell support facial recognition and can distinguish between people, pets, and vehicles Step-up Yale smart lock supports fingerprint recognition as well as PIN codes You can add your own Z-Wave smart home devices Cons You must use the Nest app to fully manage the Nest security cams and video doorbell There is no support for Amazon’s Alexa ADT Base doesn’t include a display Monthly service fees can add up quickly Our Verdict The ADT Smart Home Security System emphasizes security over convenience, but there are enough smart home elements for us to recommend it, whether you set it up on your own or pay for ADT’s white-glove installation. Keep a close eye on the services you sign up for, as they’re not all mandatory. Price When Reviewed This value will show the geolocated pricing text for product undefined Best Pricing Today Best Prices Today: ADT Smart Home Security Retailer Price Check Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket Best Prices Today: Check today’s prices ADT is one of the oldest home security companies in the U.S., and the ADT Smart Home Security product reviewed here is its latest offering that melds home security with a robust smart home system. As with every ADT product, you must commit to paying for professional monitoring of this system, where the staff at a central office keeps track of emergency events and will offer to dispatch police, fire, and medical personnel as needed. But unlike many of ADT’s other products, you can either have ADT’s technicians install the system in your home or you can do it yourself. This is a security-first system, but smart home features don’t completely take a back seat. ADT sells smart light bulbs and smart plugs as well as Nest smart thermostats (more on that in a bit), and there’s a Z-Wave radio in the ADT Base that forms the heart of the system, so you can add other smart home components—including third-party products—on your own. ADT does recommend you buy Z-Wave devices that are on its approved list, and anything tied to security monitoring (sensors, smart locks, cameras, etc.) must be an ADT-authorized device, but the company doesn’t bar you from trying anything outside the monitoring realm. In other words, you’re not buying into a completely walled garden. ADT offers DIY installation as an option, and the company has a deep well of tech support articles, instructional videos, and even real-time video tech support to guide you. In this respect, ADT Smart Home Security is closer to the systems from Abode, Ring, or—at the high end—Vivint than, say the security-only products from Arlo or SimpliSafe (I should note, however, that Vivint does not offer DIY installations, although you can add self-installed smart home components to it later, with restrictions similar to ADT’s). You can create smart home automations (or Rules, as ADT calls them) in which any ADT device or any Nest device can act as a trigger that causes any other supported smart home device to perform an action, with the option of setting conditions. These are very much like IFTTT (If This, Then That) routines, and they’re very easy to create in the ADT app. For example, you can set a Rule that when a door is opened (a trigger) between sunset and sunrise (a condition), the Base will trigger an enrolled smart light to turn on (an action). Rules can also have multiple triggers, conditions, and actions. You can also delay any action by minutes and/or seconds. Installation options The ADT Base that forms the heart of the ADT Smart Home Security System has Wi-Fi, LTE, DECT, and Z-Wave radios onboard. LTE is for broadband backup, DECT is for ADT’s sensors, and Z-Wave allows you to add various smart home devices, including smart locks. Michael Brown/Foundry While ADT offers DIY installation as an option, and the company has a deep well of tech support articles, instructional videos, and even real-time video tech support, a representative told me only 10 percent of its customers go that route, so I elected to have an ADT technician install everything for this review. The cost to install the 20 components that made up this configuration was $1,300. Installation costs will of course vary depending on which components you decide to buy. (Scroll down for a list of everything included in this review system.)  The Portland Police Bureau also assesses a residential alarm permit of $25 per year, which was not included in that previous figure (ADT expects you to secure that yourself). Such municipal fees are increasingly common, so you should check your locale. The most important thing to remember is that paying ADT to install your Smart Home Security system won’t bar you from adding other components to it by yourself later. ADT loaned this system for my review, along with a full year of professional monitoring (which would otherwise cost $64 per month (I’ll break down that fee later). I’ve been living with the system since the middle of February 2025 to get a thorough understanding of its capabilities. Specifications You can add Google’s current Nest cameras (not the recently announced Gemini-powered models) to the ADT Smart Home Security System. The 3rd-gen Nest Cam Indoor is shown here.Michael Brown/Foundry ADT partners with Google on many of the smart home and home security components it offers with its systems, and the company sent the current generations of the Nest Indoor Cam, Nest Doorbell (wired, battery), and the Nest Cam with Floodlight for this review. You’ll find a complete list of supported products at the preceding link. These are not the new Gemini-powered products that Google announced on October 1. ADT has not said if it plans to offer the new cameras and incorporate Gemini support later on. It’s also worth noting here that Google took an equity stake in ADT in 2020, investing $450 million in the company. This tight Google integration means you cannot use this system with Amazon’s Alexa smart home platform. Device costs (a la carte, bundles are discounted) DeviceCostADT Base $249.00ADT Carbon Monoxide Detector (2)$120.00ADT Door/Window sensors (multipack)$50.00ADT Glass Break Sensor (2)$99.98ADT Keychain Remote$20.00ADT Motion Sensor$40.00ADT Premium Door/Window sensors (multipack)$80.00ADT Smoke Detector$60.00ADT Water & Temperature Sensor$60.00ADT Window Stickers (4)$0.00ADT Yard Sign $0.00Google Nest Cam (indoor, wired)$99.99Google Nest Cam with Floodlight$279.99Google Nest Doorbell (battery)$179.99Yale Assure Lock 2 Touch w/Z-Wave 800 module$299.99Municipal Electrical Permit (will vary by locale)$42.00Total as-reviewed hardware cost$1,680.94Total installation cost (optional)$1,300.00Total up-front cost of reviewed system$2,980.94 To secure your entry doors, ADT offers the Yale Assure Lock 2 with a Z-Wave 800 module for $300 when it’s purchased with a system. The lock has a backlit numeric keypad along with a conventional key cylinder (just one key is supplied) and a fingerprint reader onboard (with support for up to 20 fingerprints). Locking or unlocking the Yale lock can simultaneously arm or disarm the security system respectively, and this can be done with a registered fingerprint, a PIN, or with ADT’s app. You can also buy a Yale Assure Lock 2 with a previous-gen Z-Wave module, but without a fingerprint reader, for $210. ADT initially provided the latter device, and then shipped the former, newer device when it became available. I installed it myself, and the process was a breeze. The physical installation was the usual, somewhat clumsy process involving a mounting plate and threading the power cord from the exterior escutcheon through the door’s bore hole and plugging it into a socket on the interior escutcheon, but ADT’s software made onboarding and enrolling users quick and easy. The Yale Assure 2 with Z-Wave 800 is an excellent smart lock with an onboard fingerprint reader, a numeric keypad, and a key cylinder.Michael Brown/Foundry Since a Google Nest Cam with Floodlight must be hardwired to your electrical system, ADT brought in a licensed electrician to install it, accounting for $450 of the $1,210 total installation fee. Like most home security vendors, ADT’s technicians are not licensed electricians; they can deal with low-voltage components—like video doorbells—but they won’t touch anything connected to your home’s 120-volt circuits. The ADT Base The $249 Base forms the heart of the ADT Smart Home Security system. The cylindrical device is 4.5 inches in diameter and 5.7-inches high (115mm x 145mm), with a numeric keypad on top for arming and disarming the alarm. You can also arm/disarm the system in ADT’s app or with an optional keychain remote ($20). The Base is powered by an AC adapter and has a backup battery that ADT says should provide 24 hours of operation in the event of a power outage. It has a decidedly mild siren onboard (85dB measured at 10 feet from the Base), and an LTE radio to provide broadband backup in case your primary internet connection fails. The cylindrical ADT Base is the heart of the ADT Smart Home Security system. You can arm and disarm the system using the keypad on top if you don’t use ADT’s app or the optional key fob for that purpose.Michael Brown/Foundry You’ll add the Base to your Wi-Fi network (both 2.4- and 5GHz networks are supported, giving you flexibility as to where to install it). The ADT Base also has Bluetooth and Z-Wave Long Range radios onboard. Bluetooth is used primarily for initial setup, but the Z-Wave radio can be used to expand a security system into a complete smart home system that includes smart locks, lighting controls, and other components. ADT also offers a secondary keypad ($99) with dual-band Wi-Fi and battery backup if you want to be able to arm/disarm the system from another location in your home. If you have a large home, you might want to put one near whichever door you use most often. ADT says the “ADT Base and Keypad are ADT-branded hardware,” so their resemblance to the gear Google provided with its own Nest Secure system—introduced in 2020 and killed in 2024—might be coincidental. Sensors You’ll want ADT’s two-piece, battery-powered door/window sensors ($20 each) mounted to at least your entry doors and lower-floor windows. When the magnetic field between the two pieces is disrupted after the door or window is opened, the electronics in the business end of the sensor send a signal to the Base. The tech who installed the system recommended putting them on every door and window, but I elected to put them only on my three entry doors and the four most easily accessed windows (most of my windows are 5 feet or more above the ground, so you’d need a ladder to climb into them). Carbon monoxide detectors such as this are critical components in any smart home security system. Michael Brown/Foundry Given that these sensors are surface mounted, and therefore completely exposed, they aren’t as attractive as the type where the electronic element fits into the door frame and the other element (a magnet) disappears into the door itself. If the Base is in an armed state when the magnetic field between any sensor is broken, it will send a signal to the ADT’s monitoring facility that there’s been a possible break-in. If you’re returning home and don’t disarm the system before you open the door, you’ll have a 30-second window to disarm the system and prevent that signal from being sent. ADT also offers a Premium sensor ($40 each) that has a button you can press to temporarily bypass the security system, so you don’t need to disarm when you leave your home while others in the family remain and then re-arm it after you close the door. These Premium sensors can also detect shocks, which would occur if an intruder broke a window to gain entry without otherwise opening that window. ADT’s tech installed four of these. There’s a large, 5 x 6-foot (HxW) fixed picture window in my living room, so the tech installed a glass-break sensor in that room in case an intruder decided that would be a good way to get into the house (as unlikely as that would seem—it would make a lot of noise). He also glued one of the Premium door/window sensors to that window, even though it doesn’t open. If an intruder broke the window, it would trigger the alarm even if the dedicated glass-break sensor didn’t. You might find the door/window sensors ADT uses to be unsightly. For doors, I much prefer the type that disappear into the door frame and the door itself.Michael Brown/Foundry These sensors communicate with the Base using a 1.9GHz DECT frequency, a digital standard originally created for cordless phones (the acronym stands for Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications), so their signal traffic doesn’t compete with your 2.4GHz Wi-Fi network, but they don’t travel as far as sub-GHz Z-Wave signals. They run on 3V CR2 batteries. ADT also included three battery-powered life-safety devices in this review system: a smoke detector ($60, installed outside my kitchen) and two carbon monoxide detectors ($60 each, one installed in my kitchen, near my gas range, and the other in my basement, near my gas-powered furnace). ADT’s $60 Water and Temperature Sensor was the final security sensor ADT left me with. I had it placed in the basement next to my water heater, and it will notify me via the ADT app if water appears there, warning me if that appliance or my washing machine develops a leak or if my basement otherwise floods. The temperature sensor in that device will warn me of frigid conditions that could lead to a burst pipe. Money-saving strategies Ultimately, you have a large degree of control over the cost of ADT’s system, since you can pick and choose which elements to install up front and which ones to add later (ADT also offers various discounted bundles of equipment). In addition to installing the system yourself, another way to reduce the total system cost is to install ADT’s motion sensor ($40) and/or its glass-break sensor ($50) in some rooms, instead of placing a door/window sensor on every window in your home. ADT’s motion sensor is designed to ignore pets that weigh less than 85 pounds.Michael Brown/Foundry The motion sensor can be programmed to be active only when the system is in an armed-away state, but you can also program it for a “convenience” mode that turns on connected smart lighting at night. If you have pets, it will ignore motion caused by animals weighing less than 85 pounds. My dog weighs only 10 pounds, so I can’t say how accurate that claim is, but I haven’t experienced a false alarm triggered by motion. The glass-break sensor, meanwhile, is triggered by the sound of glass breaking (duh) within a range of 2 to 25 feet in the same room. If that happens while the system is any of its three armed states (Away, Stay, or Night), it will trigger the siren in the base station, alert the monitoring service, and send an alert to your smartphone. The sensor can be attached to a wall or ceiling (it must be mounted at least 6.5 feet above the floor) with the provided screws or double-sided tape. Each of these sensors will also send an alert to the ADT app and to ADT’s central monitoring office if they’re tampered with. Opting out of ADT’s extended warranties–its Quality Service Plans–or selecting the least expensive version–will also reduce your monthly outlay, but then you’ll be on the hook should something go wrong with ADT’s equipment after the initial 90-day warranty runs out. Where you won’t be able to save money with ADT is by monitoring the system yourself. You’ll need to pay at least $25 per month for “intrusion monitoring,” in which ADT staff will respond to security events such as a break-in by requesting a local police dispatch, and “Life safety monitoring,” in which ADT will dispatch first responders in the event of a fire, carbon monoxide, or medical emergency. I’ll dig deeper into ADT’s fees in a bit. Security cameras My home isn’t wired for a doorbell, so the 2nd-gen Nest Doorbell ADT installed is running on its internal battery.Michael Brown/Foundry While ADT describes the $180 2nd-gen Google Nest Doorbell as battery-powered, it can easily replace a wired doorbell if you have one (in which case, and ADT tech can connect it to your existing transformer and chime). Read our Google Nest Doorbell review for more details. ADT offers the AC-powered Nest Cam ($99) for indoor surveillance. The Nest Cam with Floodlight ($280) was the final element of video security ADT provided for this review, delivering exterior smart lighting as well as security.   Each of these Google Nest cameras records video in 960 x 1280-pixel resolution and stores it in the cloud. To reduce the amount of video you must sift through, you can configure the cameras in the ADT app, so they detect motion and record only when the ADT system is armed. I’ll discuss how the ADT and Google Home apps work together in a moment. Smart home accessories ADT’s embrace of Z-Wave shows the company takes the smart home seriously. In addition to the Z-Wave locks on offer, you can also buy Z-Wave-powered smart plugs and plug-in dimmers ($50 each) and LED light bulbs ($30 each). That said, you’ll find much cheaper alternatives on the open market; remember that ADT won’t bar you from installing third-party Z-Wave products. Again, as you might expect, devices that tie into the security element of the system—such as smart locks—are a different matter. And ADT recommends you only install devices that it has tested and approved. ADT also offers a Netgear Nighthawk mesh Wi-Fi 6 router ($299); the 2nd-gen Google Nest Hub ($100), enabling you to arm and disarm the security system with voice commands, among other things; the 4th-generation Nest Learning Thermostat ($280); or the simpler Google Nest Thermostat ($130). I’ve been more than happy with my Ecobee Smart Thermostat Premium, so I didn’t have either of those Nest devices installed. You can install either thermostat yourself or hire ADT to install it for you. ADT Smart Home Security System user classes The ADT Smart Home Security system recognizes several types of users who have varying levels of permission, with Primary users having the most access.Michael Brown/Foundry The system recognizes three classes of users: Family, Trusted Neighbors, and Helpers & Guests. The Family class is subdivided into three other categories: Admin, the Primary user with the most privileges, including the ability to grant other users access to the system; Standard users, with permission to access professional monitoring, arm/disarm the system, and limited access to other settings; and Basic users, who can only arm/disarm the system. You can register the fingerprints of any user except for those in the Basic class. The Admin can also create a “duress” code that will disarm the system but notify ADT’s professional monitoring service that there’s an emergency in the home. If an intruder forces you to disarm the system, for example, you could enter the duress code to disarm the system as instructed, but ADT would then dispatch the police to the home to help you. Helpers & Guests are people to whom you want to grant access to your home on a more limited basis—think housekeepers, dog walkers, contractors, and the like. They’ll be invited to download the ADT app and they can use their assigned PIN on the smart lock, but their access can be restricted to a single day, a range of dates, or a recurring schedule. ADT brought in an outside electrician to install the Google Nest Floodlight Cam. The company’s techs generally install only low-voltage devices. Michael Brown/Foundry Trusted Neighbors are just what they sound like: People you trust with access to your home, who live nearby, and are willing to help manage your home while you’re away. While you can also limit their access to your home to a schedule, a far more useful scenario has ADT notify them of events so they can respond in your absence. These notifications can be set to be active all the time or only when your system is in an Armed Away state. If your Nest Video Doorbell detects a package left on your porch, for example, ADT can notify your neighbor, so they can pick up the package and bring it into your home (provided you’ve given them that access, of course). Or if the system detects a water leak, it can notify your neighbor of that problem so they can go over and shut off the water valve. You’ll receive the same event notifications, and you’ll receive alerts when your trusted neighbor arrives at your home. Trusted Neighbor is a great feature that I hope ADT’s competitors will copy. Using the ADT Smart Home Security System A battery in the ADT Base keeps it running in the event of a power outage, while an LTE radio keeps the system linked to the internet–and ADT’s monitoring service–should your regular broadband connection fail.Michael Brown/Foundry Aside from the Nest video doorbell and security cameras, which I’ll get to in a moment, the user experience with the ADT Smart Home Security System is mostly typical for this class of product. You’ll issue each authorized user a 4- to 8-digit PIN, which they’ll use each time they arm or disarm the system at the Base. They’ll use the same with an ADT-authorized smart lock, which will automatically disarm the system when that PIN is entered on the lock’s keypad. If they download the ADT app, they’ll also be able to lock/unlock the door and arm/disarm the system with their fingerprint (assuming you’ve set them up that way) or the app on their smartphone. You’ll press a button on the Base (or the optional keypad, ADT’s keyfob, the ADT app, or with a “Hey Google” voice command) to arm the system in one of its three armed states: Away, Stay, or Night. That Night state is unusual; most security systems have just two armed states: Stay (or Home) and Away. In Armed Away mode, an exit delay gives you time to open a door to leave your home after you’ve started the countdown to its fully armed state. Since the home will presumably be unoccupied after you leave, motion inside the home or opening any window while the system is Armed Away will trigger the system to go into an alarm state. When you return home, an entry delay will start a countdown before the system goes into an alarm state. The countdown will give you time to enter your PIN at the base inside the home. You can also present your fingerprint on an authorized smart lock unlock it and disarm the system, press the disarm button on the ADT key fob, or disarm with the ADT app. The ADT Home Security System has three arming modes: Away, for when no one will be home; Stay, for when some residents might be away, but others are home; and Night, when everyone is expected to be home for the duration. Michael Brown/Foundry Armed Stay mode also has entry and exit delays, but motion inside the home will not trigger an alarm (opening a window, on the other hand, will put the system into an alarm mode). A exit delay is useful when one member of the household needs to leave the home while other occupants remain inside. The person leaving can arm the system and have a short amount of time to open a door and leave without triggering the alarm. Opening any window after the exit delay has expired will trigger the system to go into an alarm state, but opening any door will trigger a fresh entry/exit delay. Armed Night mode is similar to Armed Stay, except that there is no entry or exit delay. Motion inside the home won’t trigger the alarm, but opening any door or window will. This mode should be used when everyone is home for the night. A backlit icon on the Base will inform you if the system is ready to be armed or not. If the system is ready, for example, you’ll see an icon of a home backlit by a green LED. But if any doors or windows are open, the Base will show an icon of a house with a slash through it, backlit by a yellow LED. You can override any of those sensors and arm the system anyway. Once the door or window is closed, it will return to its “armed” state. But if you have something like an air conditioner in a window, such that the system is reporting the window as open, you’ll need to override it every time you arm the system until you take the unit out and close the window again. You can arm and disarm the ADT Smart Home Security system with this optional key fob, which also has a panic mode that can summon emergency help from ADT’s professional monitoring service.Michael Brown/Foundry Similar icons and colored backlights indicate other alarm modes (armed away, stay, or night; entry/exit delay; or panic), and there a dedicated buttons for summoning police, fire, and ambulance services via ADT’s professional monitoring service. ADT was beta-testing a new feature that allows registered users to unlock a smart lock—and disarm the system—based on their phone’s location and the phone’s familiar-face detection. You can already unlock the smart lock and disarm the system using the facial recognition features of the Google Nest cameras (particularly useful with the Nest Doorbell). Monthly ADT service charges As I’ve mentioned, while you can save some money by installing an ADT Smart Home Security System yourself, you can’t use with without paying ADT for monitoring the system, among other things. You should also be aware that you’ll be obligated to sign a 36-month contract (24 months for California residents) for professional monitoring. Should you end the contract before it has run it’s course, ADT will bill you for 75 percent of the monthly charges remaining in the initial term. As this review system is configured, professional monitoring would cost a consumer $63.99 per month. That figure consists of fees in seven categories, as outlined below: Ongoing service Monthly fee 24/7 Intrusion Monitoring$24.99 Smart Home Automation $5.00Integrated Smart Solutions Subscription (optional)$10.00Nest Aware with Video Verification$10.00Quality Service Plan – Comprehensive$10.00Supplemental Quality Service Plan $4.00Total monthly service charge$63.99 Here’s a description of what each of those services are: 24/7 Intrusion Monitoring: If a break-in alarm or a life-safety sensors (smoke, CO, or water detector) is triggered, ADT’s monitoring center sends you an alert to confirm there is an emergency. If you respond that there is–or if you don’t respond at all–ADT will request an emergency dispatch of first responders. Smart Home Automation: You’ll need to pay this fee to take advantage of the Z-Wave radio in the ADT Base to create rules, scenes and schedules. Integrated Smart Solutions Subscription: This is optional add-in entitles you to unlimited concierge-style remote sessions with ADT specialists for Wi-Fi and network diagnostics, as well as smart home optimization across all the devices connected to the ADT Smart Home Security System, including non-ADT devices. Nest Aware with Video Verification: This is the subscription service that Google used to offer buyers of its Nest cameras and smart home device. The service offered through ADT does not include Gemini support. It includes 30 days of event-based video history stored in the cloud for each Nest camera and video doorbell that’s included in the ADT system (you can add more cameras later at no additional charge). For an additional $7 per month (a feature not included in this review system), you get 60 days of event-based video storage in the cloud; plus, up to 10 days of 24/7 continuous video (wired cameras only). Quality Service Plan – Comprehensive: This is an optional tiered extended warranty plan that “covers repair/replacement of ADT-supplied equipment due to malfunction” up to a pre-discount maximum of $1,000 in equipment. When the value of the equipment exceeds $1,000, you’ll be assessed a supplemental fee (see below) The Comprehensive tier included with the package reviewed here includes security, life safety, automation, and video devices. The more basic Essential tier includes only security and life safety devices, while the top-of-the-line Advanced tier covers the same devices as the Comprehensive tier, but adds “annual virtual preventative maintenance checkup, annual smart home consultation, and certain available equipment discounts after the first year.” Supplemental Quality Service Plan: This is a supplemental fee when the pre-discount retail value of the ADT equipment you install or have ADT install exceeds $1,000. It starts at $2 per month if the equipment retail value is between $1,000 and $1,300 and is capped at $42 per month if the value of that equipment is $5,200 or more. Google Home integration You can configure most of the Nest Cam settings in the ADT app, but you’ll need to open the Google Home app to access all their settings.Michael Brown/Foundry You can see thumbnail images from the Google Nest cameras in the ADT app and tap those images to see a live stream from the selected camera. You’ll also see indicator showing the camera’s battery status. Tap a Saved Media icon and you’ll get a timeline of recorded clips (curiously, camera events are not including the ADT app’s event history). Clips can be filtered by date range, by camera, and/or by the type of event that triggered the recording: Activity or animal, Doorbell, Face, Motion, Package, Person Talking, or Vehicle. You can also change at least some camera settings in the ADT app, the most important of which are Notifications. You can choose to be notified of motion caused by animals, people, or vehicles; any motion; if someone rings the doorbell; or if a package is within the camera’s view. You can also turn off all notifications, but most people wouldn’t go that far. That’s the extent of camera configuration options within the ADT app. The Google Home app (left-hand screenshot) takes full advantage of the Nest Cams’ facial recognition features, whereas the ADT app (middle and right-hand screenshots) only identifies people as a “face” and a “person.”Michael Brown/Foundry That means you’ll need to fire up the Google Home app if you want more—including such important Nest Aware features as facial recognition. The ADT app will only notify you that a person has come into one of the Nest cameras’ field of view or if a face has been detected. The Google Home app will let you know that person’s name (after you’ve initially identified them, of course). Should you buy an ADT Smart Home Security System? From a security perspective, the ADT Smart Home Security System checks all the boxes: There’s a full complement of high-quality security and life-safety devices with professional monitoring to protect your family and your property. ADT’s Trusted Neighbor feature that lets you give neighbors permission to disarm your security system to enter and check on your property is a great feature. You can add or subtract from the components included in this review to either save some money up front or increase your home security profile. Taking the DIY installation option, meanwhile, will save you a significant amount of money up front. The monthly cost of professional monitoring, which is just a bit higher than what Vivint charges, won’t really change based on the components you install. The ADT Smart Home Security System is also very good from a smart home perspective, but it’s not the best smart home system on the market. This is primarily due to its dependence on Google’s cameras and video doorbell. While we have high opinions of those products, as you can read in our reviews linked above, needing to juggle two different apps to manage your home security system is by no means a showstopper, but it’s not ideal. The absence of support for Amazon’s Alexa, on the other hand, could be for some. The presence of a Z-Wave radio in the ADT Base coupled with the fact that you can acquire non security-related  third-party Z-Wave components and install them yourself is a major plus. This review is part of TechHive’s in-depth coverage of the best smart home systems. Read...

Microsoft’s release of its Limited Edition Crocs has moved out of beta and into general release, the company said Friday. The $79.95 Crocs are now available in several sizes. Originally, Microsoft had made the Limited Edition Crocs available in October, timed with the company’s 50th anniversary celebration. The “shoes” were originally made available as part of a Microsoft-sponsored sweepstakes. However, the footwear has now become a viral hit of sorts. “Based on the incredible response and positive engagement across social media, we’re thrilled to share that the Microsoft Limited Edition Crocs Bundle officially drops globally beginning today,” the company said in an updated blog post. The Crocs ship in a Windows XP-inspired theme. It’s based upon the “Bliss” background, inspired by a photograph from Charles O’Rear taken just a few miles from my home. (Like Windows, the Sonoma, Calif. vista looks nothing like the original photograph.) They also include custom Jibbitz charms taken from Microsoft iconography, such as the mouse cursor. There’s even a Bliss-themed drawstring backpack, perfect for carrying them to your next gala or shindig. Where can you buy such wonders? At Microsoft’s official merch site, where sizes are available from a women’s 4/men’s 2 all the way up to a women’s 19/men’s 17. While I have actually purchased several Microsoft’s Windows ugly sweaters with my own hard-earned cash, for me the Crocs are a step too far — I’m well into the “New Balance” era of my life. But if you’re a hip influencer, perhaps you can grab one before they’re gone. Read...

Microsoft really wants you to use Copilot, its branded AI platform. In fact, Microsoft wants you to use Copilot so much that it’s fine if you want to use it on Google services, like Gmail, Google Drive, and Google Calendar. A new Windows Insider update facilitates that. Are you excited? Don’t everybody jump up at once. According to the Windows Insider Blog, the latest version of the Copilot app on Windows can now connect to Google personal services to scan their contents. A Google account connected can let Copilot search through and analyze (at least) Gmail, Drive, Calendar, and Contacts. You can also use this third-party connection to let it access other Microsoft accounts beyond your primary one, so it can get into OneDrive and Outlook on another account too. The main idea here is natural language search and analysis. For example, you can ask, “What’s the email address for Sarah,” assuming you only know one Sarah and that Copilot understands the context. But if you’re inclined to do that and you need information that’s in your Google account and not your Microsoft account… why wouldn’t you just use Gemini, which is Google’s flavor of the same thing? It’s available right in the browser, no extra legwork required. Possibly more useful (and less alarming) is a new document creation tool. The Windows Copilot app can now adapt a conversation into a Word document, Excel spreadsheet, PowerPoint slide deck, or PDF, and export it. Both features are available via the Insider channel on the Microsoft Store, though they might not be turned on right away for all users. Read...

When MS-DOS 5.0 was launched in 1991, one of its major innovations was the MS-DOS Editor, a classic text editor that quickly became popular with users. These days, it’s old news—yet fondly remembered. This past summer, we saw the launch of Windows Edit, a new version of MS-DOS Editor which runs in the command line and offers support for Unicode. The 300 KB file limit has been removed, which means you can now handle gigabyte-sized files with Edit if desired. The latest news is that Edit will soon be the default text editor in the Windows 11 Command Prompt, as noted by Windows Latest. If you want to try Edit now, you can download the program via GitHub. Edit is open source software and written in the Rust programming language. You don’t have to be running Windows to use the text editor; it works just as well on macOS and Linux. Read...

Under normal circumstances, Instagram asks you to log in to view posts, especially ones on private accounts. But there are ways to view content without your account, allowing you to remain anonymous. Here’s how to do it and what the limitations are. Using Instagram without an account Instagram only works in a web browser without registration. On the official iPhone or Android app, you’ll be forced to sign up right away. If you try using a mobile browser, you won’t get very far because Instagram will redirect you to the app. The following functions are available in the web browser without an Instagram account: Access public profiles: You can directly access Instagram pages of celebrities, companies, or influencers as long as they’re not set to private. To do this, enter https://www.instagram.com/[profile name] in the address bar. View posts and comments: Open a post by right clicking “Open in new tab.” Initially, a login window will appear, but you can close it by clicking on the small X at the top. The prompt will then disappear, allowing you to read the post and comments as normal. Retrieve stories (with a diversion): Instagram blocks Stories if you don’t have an account, but you can view them anonymously through third-party websites or specialized viewers. Not possible without an account: Upload your own content Like or comment on content Search for hashtags Send direct messages Follow private profiles View Instagram Stories anonymously Picuki Instagram Stories cannot be viewed directly without an account. If you wish to remain anonymous, you’ll have to switch to Instagram Story Viewers. These websites access public profiles via the Instagram interface and display story content–usually free, without registration, and right in your browser. The best-known services include Dumpor, Picuki, and StoriesDown. Important: The tools only work with public profiles. Stories from private accounts remain inaccessible, even through external viewers. Additionally, the copyrights always remain with the respective accounts. Extra tip: Stay anonymous while using all the features You need an Instagram account to use features like posting, liking, or messaging. However, this doesn’t mean you have to reveal your identity. You can still remain anonymous with the following measures: Set your account to private: Only confirmed followers will see your posts and stories. This gives you full control over who gets access. Do not upload your own photos: Avoid pictures in which you or those around you are recognizable. Use symbols, landscapes, or neutral motifs instead. Choose a neutral user name: No real names, no initials, no date of birth. An inconspicuous nickname protects against inferences. Use an anonymous e-mail address: It’s best to create a new address for registration that’s not linked to private or professional data. No links to other accounts: Don’t link the Instagram account to Facebook, WhatsApp, or other platforms. Otherwise, cross-connections will immediately become visible. Deactivate all synchronizations: Don’t grant access to contacts or an address book when setting up. This keeps the account separate from your personal network. With these steps, you can use a full Instagram account without others immediately knowing who’s behind it. Read...

You may have heard about those emails from scammers who say they have nude photos of you and try to get you to pay money to prevent their release. For a long time, those emails were just that: scams. But now there’s a real threat. A new malware called Stealerium apparently knows when you’re viewing pornographic material in your browser and automatically takes snapshots of what you’re viewing and webcam photos of you in that moment. The malware then sends those recordings to cybercriminals who use them for blackmail. Security researchers at Proofpoint have analyzed the malware and warn of a new escalation level in these so-called “sextortion attacks.” How Stealerium gets onto your PC The Stealerium malware is spread via phishing emails that look deceptively genuine. The attackers disguise their emails as messages from reputable organizations (e.g., banks, streaming services, charities) and encourage recipients to open attachments or click on links. These phishing emails take the usual scare tactics, generating a sense of urgency with subject lines “Payment Due,” “Court Summons,” and “Donation Invoice.” When you open said emails, the hope is you’re so alarmed that you’ve let down your guard, making it more likely that you’ll download attachments and/or click malicious links and buttons. What makes Stealerium even more worrying is that its source code has been freely available on the internet via GitHub for years, allegedly for educational purposes. However, it’s only in recent months that Stealerium has been increasingly used in real-world attacks. How the Stealerium malware works Once infected, Stealerium exhaustively searches the PC for sensitive data, including passwords, credit card information, chat logs, and cryptocurrency accounts. Stealerium also monitors browser windows and recognizes certain keywords that you type. With that latter function, Stealerium can recognize porn activity by detecting entries such as “porn” or “sex.” As soon as such content is detected, Stealerium takes screenshots of the content as well as photo snapshots using a webcam (if available). These files are then sent to the perpetrators via services like Discord, Telegram, or email. Are you at risk of this malware? Unlike a lot of extortion-based malware, which tend to attack companies and large organizations, the form of blackmail used by Stealerium specifically targets private individuals. These scammers bank on the shame that their victims face, hoping it’ll be enough to extract payment out of them. Many who end up targeted by these sextortion attacks are afraid to report the crimes because they don’t want to explain how they got into the mess in the first place. That’s exactly what these attackers are counting on. This inhibition threshold makes private users easy prey and explains why attacks like Stealerium are currently on the rise. The risk of detection is relatively low, and even small amounts of money can add up with lots of victims. Unfortunately, everyone is at risk of sextortion attacks. Phishing scams can be easily automated and blasted out to millions of potential targets every day. No one is completely immune. What can you do to protect yourself against webcam sextortion? The most important way to protect yourself against Stealerium is to be extra, extra, extra careful when reading emails. Never download any attachments and never click on any links or buttons unless you’re 100 percent sure it’s safe. Even then, you’d be safer to never do it ever. Instead, manually type website URLs into your browser’s address bar instead of clicking, and double-check with senders (using a communication method other than email) for attachments. It also helps to physically cover your webcam when it isn’t in use. Many laptops already have integrated sliders for their built-in webcams, and many external webcams also come with privacy covers now. If yours doesn’t have one, you can retrofit a webcam cover for cheap, or you can just put a sticker over your webcam. Also, stay on top of regular software updates for your operating system, web browser, and antivirus software. This will help patch the latest known security vulnerabilities and attack vectors. If you don’t have antivirus yet, check out our top picks for PC antivirus software. Read...

Virtual reality gaming is pretty dang cool, and I should know. But it’s not the easiest thing to get into, especially if you’re looking at a big bill just to try it out. Meta is the most popular option, still starting at $300, and prices for a dedicated PC headset are closer to $1000 USD. But one creator 3D-printed a headset with some basic parts for just $150…and he’ll show you how to do it, too. CNCDan on YouTube (spotted by PCGamer) loves to dabble in hobby-style form factors like FPV drone piloting and racing simulators, both of which have a lot of overlap with headset and head-mounted displays. As it turns out, there are tons of semi-generic parts for this stuff on Aliexpress, including the crucial dual, high-resolution displays (one for each eye) that almost all VR headset designs use. Lenses, possibly adapted from the old Google Cardboard design, were easy to find. The last complex element was the head tracking, which is complicated, but a problem that’s already solved. CNCDan popped in an existing open source system called Relativty [sic] VR that uses an Arduino board and an IMU (inertial measurement unit) sensor. A super-basic PCB with a bit of soldering keeps those two parts connected. The rest of the project was a lot of product engineering, designing a headset case and housing for the screens, lenses, and electronics, focusing on adjustment options that isn’t available in some similar projects. Assembly isn’t exactly easy, but Dan’s instructions are straightforward, and there’s a surprisingly low amount of custom parts in the device itself. It’s just the main housing, two eye boxes and caps for the lenses, an IPD adjustment mechanism (which moves the boxes to accommodate different users’ eye positions), a front cover and bracket to hold the electronics. A face pad and a strap, lots of inserts and screws, and a few pieces of tape finish things off, with just HDMI for video and USB for power going to the gaming PC. It’s an impressive project that shows a lot of amateur engineering skill, to say nothing of the confidence needed to tackle it. Dan says that the cheap eye displays aren’t great since they’re not quite up to the 90Hz spec at 1440p, and some especially large or small people might not be covered by the IPD spread. He released the 3D print files, links for hardware parts, and guides on GitHub so you can try it out yourself. Read...

At a glanceExpert`s Rating Pros Simple design with good build quality Lots of physical connectivity Great GPU and game performance for the price Cons Moderate CPU performance Lacks latest connectivity such as Wi-Fi 7, USB4, etc Disappointing motion clarity from 144Hz display Short battery life Our Verdict The Lenovo LOQ 15 is effectively a portable RTX 5060 graphics card. Its game performance is a good value for its current sale price, but a few flaws drag down the laptop experience. Price When Reviewed This value will show the geolocated pricing text for product undefined Best Pricing Today Best Prices Today: Lenovo LOQ 15 Retailer Price Check Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket Best Prices Today: Check today’s prices Budget gaming laptops are in a pickle. Gamers often expect them at a price around $1,000 or less, but between rising GPU prices and internal trade wars, shipping a laptop with discrete graphics for under $1,000 isn’t easy. The result is laptops like the Lenovo LOQ 15. It’s successful in delivering solid game performance for the price, but Lenovo cuts a lot of corners to make that possible. Lenovo LOQ 15: Specs and features The Lenovo LOQ 15’s specifications feel built around the Nvidia RTX 5060, which takes center stage. The AMD Ryzen 7 250 is an acceptable processor, but based on the older Zen 4 architecture, which has consequences when it comes to performance. Model number: 15AHP10 CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 250 Memory: 16GB DDR5-5600 Graphics/GPU: Nvidia RTX 5060 8GB (115W TGP) NPU: Up to 16 TOPS Display: 15.6-inch 1,920 x 1,080 IPS with 144Hz refresh rate, G-Sync Storage: 512GB M.2 PCIe 4.0 solid state drive Webcam: 5MP with electronic privacy shutter Connectivity: 3x USB-A, 1x USB-C with 100 watts of Power Delivery and DisplayPort 1.4, 1x HDMI 2.1, 1x Gigabit Ethernet, 1x 3.5mm combo audio jack, 1x barrel plug power adapter Networking: Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.3 Biometrics: None Battery capacity: 60 watt-hours Dimensions: 14.17 x 10.19 x 0.94 inches Weight: 5.29 pounds Operating System: Windows 11 Home Price: $809.99 The laptop also sticks with just 16GB of RAM and a 512GB solid state drive, both of which are really the bare minimum for a gaming laptop in 2025, regardless of price. At least the price is attractive. Although it carries an MSRP of $1,299.99, it’s currently sold for $809.99 through Lenovo’s website. Lenovo offers an upgrade to 32GB for $65, and an upgrade to 1TB of solid state storage for $60. The SSD upgrade is a must-have. Lenovo offers a variety of alternative LOQ 15 configurations, new and old, so pay close attention to the specifications of any model before you buy. This review covers the late 2025 LOQ 15 model 15AHP10. It’s successful in delivering solid game performance for the price, but Lenovo cuts a lot of corners to make that possible. Lenovo LOQ 15: Design and build quality Foundry / Matthew Smith Lenovo’s PC gaming sub-brand, Legion, has earned a solid reputation in recent years—but the LOQ 15 isn’t part of it. Or is it? Keen-eyed gamers might notice the LOQ logo shares the same stylized “O” found in the Legion logo. In any case, the LOQ 15 definitely lacks the attractive design of Lenovo’s Legion laptops. It’s instead a simple gray machine with minimal branding. If Lenovo swapped the branding to IdeaPad and sold it as a budget desktop replacement, well, I don’t think anyone would bat an eye. All of which is to say: the laptop looks a bit drab. Functionally, it’s about what anyone would expect from a 15-inch desktop replacement. It’s a thick machine, measuring up to 0.94 inches in profile, and it weighs in at 5.29 pounds. It’s only 14 inches wide and 10 inches deep, however, which are common dimensions for a 15- or 16-inch machine. As a result, the laptop fits snugly in my backpack’s laptop compartment. Build quality is adequate. Faux-metallic plastic is the material of choice. The chassis is reasonably rigid but some flex can be found along the keyboard, as well as when opening or closing the display. It’s good enough for a budget machine, but it doesn’t stand out. Lenovo LOQ 15: Keyboard, trackpad, mouse Foundry / Matthew Smith Keyboard quality is often a highlight for Lenovo’s laptops, but the LOQ 15’s keyboard didn’t leave the usual positive impression. I think the amount of key travel is fine, but the bottoming action felt more subtle than other recent Lenovo laptops. I’d like both tactile and audible feedback. If you like a quiet keyboard, though, you might enjoy it. While the key action wasn’t my preference, the keyboard layout is a positive. Lenovo squeezes in a keyboard with a numpad. Despite that, the primary alphanumeric keys are generally large, while the numpad keys are slimmer than usual. The keyboard also provides oversized arrow keys, which I think is a good move for a gaming laptop. As with most budget gaming laptops, the touchpad is just sort of… there. It measures about 4.5 inches wide and three inches deep, which isn’t large for a 15-inch laptop. And while the surface is responsive enough, it feels inexpensive. The touchpad provides a physical mouse action, but it’s shallow and seems hollow. With that said, these downsides are common for a budget gaming laptop. PC games are often played with an external mouse, so the touchpad becomes less of a priority. Lenovo LOQ 15: Display, audio Foundry / Matthew Smith The Lenovo LOQ 15 ships with a 15.6-inch 1080p IPS display with a 144Hz refresh rate. And honestly? It’s a bit of a disaster. See, there’s one specification that stands out as rather odd on Lenovo’s website. It lists “25ms.” No context is provided, but I expect this is meant to be the panel’s pixel response time. And when it comes to pixel response times, well, 25 milliseconds may as well be an eternity. And here’s the real problem: this specification wasn’t my first indication that the panel was a problem. Instead, I noticed something was fishy while moving windows around the display on the Windows desktop. Normally, a 144Hz IPS panel will look crisp in motion. But on the LOQ 15 I noticed huge, smeary trails following text and icons. I noticed a similar issue in games, which invariably looked more like a 60Hz panel (or perhaps even worse) than a 144Hz display. That’s a big problem. It would be reasonable, of course, to expect even a budget gaming laptop to ship with a display that’s good for gaming. But that’s not what I saw from the LOQ 15. But hey, at least the display supports Nvidia G-Sync. So that’s something. Motion performance aside, the IPS panel is otherwise a typical example of the breed. Color performance is decent, but the contrast ratio is low due to the display’s inability to reach a true, inky black level. Because of that, the display is a better choice for bright, colorful games than for darker, more atmospheric content. The display is also rather dim even at maximum brightness, so it’s uncomfortable to use in a brightly lit room. Audio, meanwhile, is delivered by a pair of two-watt speakers. They’re not going to impress but do manage to provide a healthy maximum volume and reasonable clarity in most situations. They will become muddy and harsh when listening to music at high volumes but they’re fine for games where audio presentation isn’t as critical.   Lenovo LOQ 15: Webcam, microphone, biometrics There’s not a lot to say about the Lenovo LOQ 15’s webcam and microphone. It ships with a 5MP webcam that offers acceptable image quality for Zoom calls, but it’s nothing special. The same can be said of the dual-array microphone, which is fine but doesn’t stand out. An electronic privacy shutter is available. Biometrics, on the other hand, are no-go. That’s typical for a budget gaming laptop, but something you’ll typically find if you spring for an alternative priced around $1,000 and above. Lenovo LOQ 15: Connectivity Foundry / Matthew Smith The Lenovo LOQ 15 has a lot of connectivity. It includes three USB-A ports, one USB-C port with Power Delivery and DisplayPort, HDMI 2.1, Ethernet (RJ-45), and a 3.5mm combo audio jack. Power is delivered over a barrel-plug connector. This is a wide range of connectivity that can handle most situations. An SD card reader is the only option notably missing, but SD card readers aren’t common on gaming laptops. However, the available connectivity is basic in terms of technical specifications. The USB-A ports all support USB 3.2 Gen 1 with 5Gbps data speeds. The USB-C port is USB 3.2 Gen 2 with 10Gbps of data. There’s no Thunderbolt and no high-data-rate USB. Also, the USB-C port’s Power Delivery only reaches 100 watts, which isn’t enough to fully power the laptop at load. To be fair, this is all more-or-less the norm for a budget gaming laptop. It’s not reasonable to expect cutting edge connectivity in a laptop that has Nvidia discrete graphics, yet retails under $1,000. The LOQ 15 also sticks to Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.3 for wireless connectivity. Wi-Fi 7 is the latest standard, and many laptops support it, while budget machines often get by with Wi-Fi 6E. Wi-Fi 6 is a much older standard at this point and it lacks the high-speed 6GHz band that was introduced with Wi-Fi 6E. Lenovo LOQ 15: Performance The Lenovo LOQ 15’s internals pair an AMD Ryzen 7 250 processor with Nvidia’s RTX 5060 discrete graphics. The Ryzen 7 250 is an eight-core, 16-thread processor with a maximum clock speed of 5.1GHz. The RTX 5060, meanwhile, has 8GB of VRAM and a maximum graphics power of 115 watts. This core duo is flanked by 16GB of DDR5-5600 memory and 512GB of solid state storage. Foundry / Matthew Smith First up is PCMark 10, and you might notice something odd about the results. The LOQ 15 actually crashed mid-way through the benchmark, at the moment the Nvidia GPU had to be engaged, despite efforts to adjust settings (like turning off Nvidia Optimus and G-Sync) to smooth things over. This is not a novel issue for the LOQ 15. PCWorld reviews have, on rare occasions, run into issues with PCMark 10 failing to finish a benchmark run for opaque reasons. Still, the Lenovo LOQ 15 did report Productivity a score for the Essentails portion of the benchmark, which is the first half, and PCWorld has records of those scores posted by other laptops. So, that is what you see above. And, truth be told, it’s not too exciting. The Essentials tasks—which include web browsing and video conferencing—are important, but not exactly difficult for a modern Windows gaming laptop. Foundry / Matthew Smith Let’s move on to a more illuminating benchmark: Cinebench 2024. This is a heavily multi-threaded CPU test that benefits from lots of high-performance cores. The AMD Ryzen 7 250 has just eight cores, however—which isn’t all that many in 2025. On top of that, the Ryzen 7 250 is based on the Zen 4 processor architecture, not AMD’s newer Zen 5. The Cinebench 2024 results suffer as a result. The multi-core score of 818 isn’t terrible but, when compared to a range of gaming laptops, it’s certainly towards the lower end of what’s available. Foundry / Matthew Smith Next up is Handbrake, a program that can transcode a variety of video formats. We use it to convert a feature length film from .MP4 to .MKV format, a task which takes roughly six minutes on the Lenovo LOQ 15. That once again is towards the higher end of what’s available from a modern gaming laptop. However, the Ryzen 7 250 is competitive with Intel Core 7 chips like the Core 7 240H, as well as older hardware like the Intel Core i7-13650HX. Foundry / Matthew Smith It’s clear the Ryzen 7 250, though a decent performer for a budget gaming laptop, isn’t going to set records. But what about the Nvidia RTX 5060 mobile? It’s arguably the most important piece of silicon in the laptop, as it contributes the most to game performance. 3DMark Fire Strike returned a score of 11,779, while Port Royale (a ray traced benchmark) reported a score of 7,529. These results are a bit of a mix. On the plus side, the Lenovo LOQ 15 provides good performance for an RTX 5060 laptop. The RTX 5060 also posts modest but noticeable improvements in both benchmarks. On the other hand, though, the RTX 5060’s gain over the RTX 4060 is slim for a new generation of hardware. It’s there, but it’s slim. Foundry / Matthew Smith Moving on to real games, we first come to Shadow of the Tomb Raider, and an older title most modern gaming laptops can handle with ease. The LOQ 15 is no exception, as it averaged 118 frames per second at 1080p and the Highest detail setting. The LOQ 15’s score is unremarkable for a gaming laptop with RTX 5060, though. Perhaps we’re looking at a CPU bottleneck, as the competitive systems that score better in this game also beat the LOQ 15 in CPU benchmarks. Foundry / Matthew Smith Metro Exodus is also an older title, but one that’s still difficult for modern laptops to run at the Extreme detail preset. Here, the LOQ 15 managed to reach an average of 49 frames per second, which is a solid result. The Alienware 16 Aurora with RTX 5060 isn’t nearly as quick. The LOQ 15 with RTX 5060 also has a commanding lead over older RTX 4060 laptops, which cluster around 40 FPS on average. Foundry / Matthew Smith We wrap things up with Cyberpunk 2077. Though the game has a reputation for demanding system requirements, the LOQ 15 didn’t have much trouble, as it managed to reach an average of 91 frames per second at 1080p and the Ultra preset without ray tracing. The system-slaying Overdrive preset tanked performance down to just 17 FPS. But that’s hardly a surprise, as even RTX 5080 laptops barely nudge over 30 FPS at that preset. It should be noted that games with DLSS 4, like Cyberpunk 2077, can reach much better performance with DLSS 4 and frame generation engaged. For example, the LOQ 15 averaged only 36 FPS at Ultra when ray tracing was turned on—but DLSS 4 with 2x Frame Gen boosted performance to 99 FPS. One final hardware concern worth mentioning is the laptop’s 16GB of RAM and 512GB of solid state storage. The RAM should be enough for most modern titles, but it doesn’t leave much room for future-proofing. The 512GB SSD, on the other hand, is already borderline unusable for a gaming laptop. Just three or four modern games, like Fortnite or Call of Duty, will fill up the drive. You’ll need an external SSD or a high-speed Internet connection that makes installing and un-installing digitally owned titles less painful. Lenovo LOQ 15: Battery life and portability The LOQ 15’s lower price forces a concession in battery life. It provides just 60 watt-hours of capacity. That’s not a lot of capacity for a gaming laptop—or any modern Windows laptop, really. The HP Victus 15 has a 70 watt-hour battery, for example, and the Dell G15 has an 86 watt-hour battery. On the plus side, the LOQ 15 supports Nvidia Optimus switchable graphics. That means the Nvidia RTX 5060 can be turned off in favor of the integrated AMD Radeon graphics in less demanding situations. Foundry / Matthew Smith I measured just over five hours of battery life in our standard battery test, which loops a 4K clip of the short film Tears of Steel. That’s not a lengthy result. With that said, however, it’s about what I would expect from a modern gaming laptop. As the graph shows, some competitors that have larger batteries turn in even less appealing results. Lenovo LOQ 15: Conclusion The Lenovo LOQ 15 could be a decent budget gaming pick if not for one serious issue: the display. I noticed serious ghosting and blurring while using the laptop. This was an issue both in-game and also on the Windows desktop. It’s a shame, because the LOQ 15’s performance level is respectable for its price tag, but I can’t recommend the laptop unless you don’t want to use the included display and instead intend to use the laptop with an external monitor. Indeed, I think that’s arguably the one appealing use case for the LOQ 15. You could just use it as a portable RTX 5060. At $809.99, the LOQ 15 isn’t that much more expensive than a desktop RTX 5060 paired with a PCIe dock and power supply, and it’s way easier to travel with, or even move around your house. Gamers should also be aware that though the LOQ 15 is inexpensive, you arguably get more value if you can spend around $1,000 to $1,200. For example, the Lenovo Legion 5 with an AMD Ryzen 7 260, Nvidia RTX 5060, OLED display, and 512GB SSD can be had for $1,150, or $1,215 with a 1TB solid state drive. A $350 to $400 price leap is nothing to scoff at, but a laptop like the Legion 5 is a far more well-rounded system that should keep you happy a few years longer than the LOQ 15, making the higher price worthwhile if you can stretch your budget. Read...

Microsoft will end Windows 10 support on 14 October 2025, urging firms to migrate soon as security updates and technical support will cease. Read...