Limited practice time in Shanghai won’t help the Kiwi as he looks to improve at a Grand Prix that also features a sprint race. Read...

Brackets—not baseball—herald the arrival of spring for millions of sports fans. The NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship’s big upsets, Cinderella stories, and weird mascots, has transcended sports to become a cultural event. You can count on some amazing upsets up to and including Final Four. For cord-cutters, however, it’s a bittersweet time. If the logistics of following more than 60 teams through a month-long tournament aren’t arduous enough, most of the games are televised on cable channels. The first round kicks off March 20, and games will be aired across four networks: CBS, TBS, TNT, and truTV. CBS and TBS broadcast the Championship Game on alternate years—this year CBS airs the final games. Based on the NCAA tournament schedule at press time, we’ve put together a strategy that will allow you to watch every minute of March Madness live without a cable subscription. Shopping for a new device? Check out our top picks in media streamers. Catch CBS games over the air or over the top TechHive has in-depth reviews of all the latest TV antennas. Rob Schultz / IDG CBS’s March Madness coverage starts on March 20 with the First Round. The easiest—and only free—way to watch all the CBS action is with a good antenna. If you’re purchasing one for the first time, remember to first check to see which stations you can receive in your area, and which antenna type you’ll need to pull in your CBS affiliate. Given the challenging logistics of catching so many games, you might also want to invest in an over-the-air DVR to time-shift some of your viewing. If you can’t access CBS over the air, consider subscribing to Paramount+, which bundles ViacomCBS brands including CBS, MTV, BET, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon, and Paramount Network into a single subscription. The app will give you live streaming access to every game broadcast on the network. To stream your local CBS station live, you’ll need the Paramount+ with Showtime plan, priced at $12.99 per month or $119.99 per year. This plan also provides ad-free viewing of on-demand content and access to Showtime’s original series and movies. Paramount+ offers a standard 7-day free trial for new subscribers; however, this trial is limited to first-time users and cannot be repeatedly claimed by canceling and re-subscribing. Find out how you can get Paramount+ for free. Sling is the thing for Turner telecasts As in previous years, the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament will be aired across CBS, TBS, TNT, and truTV. Sling TV’s Blue package includes TBS, TNT, and truTV, making it a viable option for accessing the majority of the tournament games. The Sling Blue package is currently priced at $46 per month, with a promotional offer of 50 percent off for the first month. Additionally, Sling TV often provides incentives for new subscribers, such as free streaming devices or discounts when prepaying for multiple months. For the most current promotions, visit Sling TV’s website. Sling TV continues to dangle attractive incentives in front of new subscribers. Sling TV Read our review Best Prices Today: $40 at Sling TV DirectTV Stream steps onto the court DirecTV’s streaming service, DirecTV Stream, offers several packages that include channels such as TBS, TNT, and truTV. The Entertainment package, which includes more than 65 channels, is currently priced at $86.99 per month. This package also includes ESPN and ESPN2, providing comprehensive sports coverage. To determine if a live CBS feed is available in your area, you can use DirecTV Stream’s channel lookup tool. New subscribers who sign up online receive unlimited cloud DVR storage, allowing you to record and watch shows at your convenience. ? Hulu with Live TV and YouTube TV Unlike their competitors, Hulu with Live TV and YouTube TV each offer a single, flat-fee package that includes the four channels you need to catch all of March Madness. They’re priced comparably—$82.99 per month for YouTube TV and $82.99 per month for Hulu + Live TV with ads, but YouTube TV is currently offering a 10-day free trial and a discounted price of $69.99 per month for the first six months before the standard rate kicks in. Hulu + Live TV also offers a no-ads plan for $95.99 per month. Pricing aside, you’ll need to check with each service to see which offers the required live channel streams in your area before making your decision. Hulu + Live TV Read our review Best Prices Today: $82.99 at Hulu.com The NCAA March Madness Live app The NCAA’s own March Madness app offers lots of specialized content that revolves around the championship series.NCAA The NCAA continues to offer all tournament games through the NCAA March Madness Live app, which provides features such as live scores, stats, an interactive bracket, classic March Madness videos, game notifications, and curated social content. ? The app offers a three-hour preview period; however, full access to all games requires authentication with a pay TV provider. Without such authentication, viewing time is limited. ?Nevertheless, it’s still a valuable tool for keeping up with other tournament-related content. Time for tip-off The options for streaming live sports have never been better, so don’t let cutting the cord make you miss the NCAA champs cutting the net. Grab a beer and your bracket and take advantage of these cable alternatives for courtside seats for one the greatest sporting events of the year. Read...

If you could use a portable monitor that’s easy to take with you anywhere you go—e.g., for laptop productivity while traveling—then don’t skip over this one by Acer. It’s on sale for just $100 at B&H (down from its original $140 price tag), which is a great deal for the specs, the panel quality, and Acer’s overall brand reputation. Though I’m full-time remote, I love portable monitors. My home office setup is more than adequate for doing my job, complete with multiple monitors. But when I go out to work from a coffee shop or my backyard patio, I can’t take my workstation setup with me. Which sucks because it’s hard to go back to a single display after you’ve gotten used to a multi-screen setup. Hence my love for my portable monitor. Acer’s PM161QB is a fantastic option if you’re in the market for one yourself. You get crisp, vibrant, and color-accurate images with its 1080p resolution on a 15.6-inch IPS panel, which will look gorgeous whether you’re writing in Word, working on Excel sheets, streaming movies on Netflix, or doomscrolling on Bluesky. It features two USB-C ports and a Mini-HDMI for easy connectivity and compatibility, plus it comes with an integrated stand that lets you prop it up for convenient hands-free viewing. Weighing just 2.4 pounds and only 0.4 inches thick, it’s truly portable. And though it has built-in speakers, it also has 3.5mm audio for use with your own speakers or headphones. There are cheaper portable monitors out there, but they don’t have the same quality that Acer imparts. Don’t miss this chance to get Acer’s 15.6-inch portable monitor for just $100 at B&H! Save 29% on Acer`s must-have portable monitor for laptopsBuy now from B&H Read...

Look just about anywhere, and you’ll see news of tariffs. A trade war has broken out between the U.S. and select countries—the American government is now imposing taxes on goods arriving from China, select products from Canada, and all steel and aluminum imports. But while the headlines spout flat numbers like 20 percent on Chinese imports and 25 percent on steel, the tariffs’ effect on tech gear isn’t as clear cut. To understand the whole situation, I spoke with industry insiders. What they said is a sobering warning to consumers: We’re about to get hit hard. You can read our full rundown on the tech tariffs to understand the deeper details, but if you only have time for the highlights, read on. You’ll get up to speed quicker, so you know how to plan your tech purchases for the coming weeks and beyond. Spoiler: A bumpy ride is headed our way. Buckle up. Tariffs keep going up TSMC First announced on February 1, the tariff on goods arriving from China began at 10 percent on February 4. Then on February 27, the U.S. government announced a raise to 20 percent, effective March 4th. Meanwhile on March 12, tariffs of 25 percent started on all steel and aluminum imports. This move increased the tax on aluminum from 10 percent. No exemptions are allowed. Currently, the U.S. government continues to suggest future tariffs, along with potential increases. For example, in mid-February, President Trump proposed a 25 percent tariff upon semiconductors starting April 2, with the possibility of raising them much higher over time. These tariffs can stack—for example, any steel and aluminum imports from China would be taxed at a 45 percent rate. Buy soon to avoid paying higher prices Companies don’t make a lot of money on tech products. Think 6 to 15 percent—a stark contrast to software, which has profit margins as high as 70 to 80 percent. Because of this reality, businesses that import goods from their factories in China can’t absorb this sudden tax hike. It’s too big. Retailers also can’t cushion the blow, as evidenced by Best Buy and Target telling shoppers to expect immediate price increases. For some devices, you can still find them at lower prices—either reflecting “just” the effect of the original 10 percent tariff, or even the pre-tariff cost. Your luck will depend on how much stock was brought over before the March tariffs took effect.  The more popular the product, the more likely a constant stream of units come from China, rather than one big shipment. Its price will go up faster. For items that sell more slowly or have a bigger sitting inventory, the tariffs will have a more delayed impact. The short version: Currently, the sooner you buy a new device, the cheaper it’ll be. All tech devices are affected Matthew Smith / IDG During the first Trump administration, tariffs were applied selectively. This time, these taxes apply across the board on all imports from China—the primary source for most electronics produced in the world. So whether a laptop or a cheap printer, if it’s produced in China, it’s subject to this tax. Same goes for even the smallest of accessories, like adapters and cables. Manufacturers have already begun looking into moving production (or more of their production) to other countries, like Vietnam and India. However, the process is slow. Building up factories capable of complex production demands takes time — months, if not years, depending on the product. Expect ongoing price chaos Nobody knows what’s going to happen next—which is why the tariffs keep appearing in the news. And businesses are scrambling to keep up. Your favorite companies can’t give a straight answer on what to expect because they’re still figuring that out for themselves. Any predictions they made for the year (forecasts) have to now be redone. However, the task is hard to do when the tariffs keep rising and spreading, and more may still come. Companies have to pay upfront for tariffs in order to pass customs. This unexpected cost can’t be deferred; the duties must be paid for the product to enter the U.S. When I spoke with industry insiders, many said they were still talking with their partners (like distributors and retailers) about what comes next. But even when that gets worked out now, it will likely change as U.S. government policy changes. Overall, any price shifts will be unpredictable—even on a downward trajectory. Even if tariffs suddenly went away, costs will drift down based on how stable U.S. fiscal policy is, and how much remaining stock was brought into the country during the levies. People outside the U.S. will feel the hit, too Adam Patrick Murray / Foundry Economists view tariffs as problematic—in the country that enacts them, they can slow the economy, hurt local industries, and spike costs for consumers. But a trade war can hurt more than just the country that starts them. Most vendors think globally when setting up their production, and that’s reflected in their logistics. So for example, when Canadians buying from a store that utilizes a U.S-based fulfillment center, they’ll feel the pinch of the U.S.’ tariffs on Chinese imports, too. But most tech vendors sell worldwide—so the impact of higher production costs will still ripple outward to buyers across the globe, in a couple of different ways. (Read on.) MSRPs will be even more meaningless Manufacturers give list prices so consumers know what to expect at retail. But as vendors absorb more production costs (like scaling up factory output in countries outside of China) and scale back on the amount of product available (because demand drops as prices rise), we may be in for another round of highly inflated street prices. Multiple industry insiders say they don’t want to be caught with too many parts or products on hand that they can’t sell. Other ancillary costs may go up as well as companies scramble to comply with tariff demands—more hours must be spent on figuring out new logistics, as well as the full letter of the law. If Nvidia, AMD, or Intel launch a new GPU at $200, but partners’ rising costs limit their ability to shave their margin thinner or even produce as many cards, that means demand may cause street prices to shoot way beyond the expected list price. Innovation may slow Adam Patrick Murray / Foundry Industry insiders have hinted that without a stable economic environment, investment in new products may become more limited. The size of the company and how diverse its product lineup will influence the ability to commit. On store shelves, that may result in fewer choices for available models, or less push on evolving standard features. Announced specs like Wi-Fi 7 and PCIe 7.0 might become an even further point in the distance. You should read reviews carefully As someone who writes reviews, I always want to think people read every word. But realistically, most people don’t—and if you’re looking for high value from your purchases, you could end up disappointed. With prices changing unpredictably, the final opinions in tech reviews may become outdated by the time you read them. So in this uncertain market, dig into a review’s details. Find out what user experience to expect, the level of performance, and what quirks exist. Since street prices could end up notably different than the MSRP quoted to the reviewer, you’ll need to decide for yourself if the actual price is worth the experience. For someone else, paying an additional $300 for a niche laptop may be worth it. For you, maybe not. Read...

LogicMonitor has unveiled new features to enhance operational efficiency in IT operations, leveraging AI to improve performance and cost-effectiveness in data centres. Read...

At a glanceExpert`s Rating Pros Plenty of flexibility, courtesy of the WiZ ecosystem Very responsive to app commands Cons Wildly overpriced Dynamic modes are not very dynamic SpaceSense feature doesn’t work with mesh Wi-Fi networks Our Verdict PureEdge’s color light bulb supports the WiZ smart home standard and features a bevy of extras, but it’s triple the price of nearly identical bulbs from competitors. Price When Reviewed This value will show the geolocated pricing text for product undefined Best Pricing Today PureEdge makes a variety of high-end lighting products compatible with the Signify-owned WiZ ecosystem, but perhaps the most foundational of them all is this Edison-style light bulb, a full-color lamp designed to provide maximum flexibility as it smartens up conventional light sockets. The bulb has a traditional size and shape with an E26 base, measuring 4.4 inches in height and featuring a large, white heat sink. PureEdge bills its LED technology as five-channel RGBTW (RGB + tunable white), with white color temperature support ranging from 1500K to 6500K. The bulb draws 9 watts maximum and delivers up to 800 lumens (a 60-watt equivalent). PureEdge specifies an impressive lifespan of the bulb of 30,000 hours; note, however, that the bulb does not support traditional dimmer switches. PureEdge does offer its own in-wall controller that will dim and do a whole lot more with this and Wiz’s own smart bulbs. SpaceSense is an innovative means of motion detection, but it does not work with increasingly common mesh Wi-Fi networks. All WiZ devices, including this bulb, work over 2.4GHz Wi-Fi with no hub required, and onboarding the TruColor bulb to the WiZ app is a simple matter thanks to an automated Bluetooth setup process that takes care of most of the work behind the scenes. The bulb also supports a range of additional integrations, including Alexa, Google Home, SmartThings, and IFTTT. Some of the bulb’s more advanced features, however, will only work via the WiZ app. We have no complaints about the quality of light PureEdge’s WiZ-compatible smart bulb products, just the price tag the manufacturer has saddled it with.Christopher Null/Foundry I must say that I am not wholly in love with the WiZ app. Its user interface comes across as decidedly basic, although it works well enough if you’re just making simple color or white color temperature adjustments. That said, color and brightness adjustments are quite smooth and speedy, and throughout my testing I never found the bulb to be anything but immediately responsive to all my requests. In addition to static color and white modes, the WiZ app includes a few dynamic modes, although I didn’t find them particularly useful. A “Christmas” mode, for example, abruptly swaps between green and red at set intervals—probably no one’s idea of how to get people in a holiday mood. Other dynamic modes didn’t seem to change color at all. However, an adjustable circadian rhythm mode that slowly shifts white temperature from its coolest setting to its warmest worked nicely, smoothly shifting the tone of the lighting over the course of the day. Incidentally, you’ll find these settings buried in the Automation section of the WiZ app, under the “Rhythms” tab. More WiZ features You can program the bulb’s operations with the WiZ app, of which this reviewer is not a fan.Christopher Null/Foundry Another feature in this Automation section is called SpaceSense, which is an innovative system that detects subtle disturbances in a room’s Wi-Fi network to determine when there is physical movement in the space and, if there is, to turn the lights on or off for you—all without the need for a traditional motion sensor. SpaceSense requires at least two WiZ lights in the room, one positioned centrally and one in a corner, and it does not work with Bluetooth bulbs. It also, I discovered, does not work if you have a mesh Wi-Fi network, so although I had the requisite lighting hardware in place, I was unable to test SpaceSense because I have an Eero system in my home. The WiZ scheduling system, however, did work as promised; although, as with other aspects of the WiZ app, it’s not 100-percent intuitive to configure. Further reading: This review is part of TechHive’s in-depth coverage of the best smart lighting. Should you buy Pure Smart TruColor A19 Smart Bulb? Now for the catch: The bulb runs around $32 and is exclusively sold at the online retailer Lightology.com. That price puts it in rarified air as one of the most expensive smart bulbs on the market, particularly those in a standard Edison form factor. In fact, you can find nearly identical WiZ bulbs on Amazon at $20 for a two-pack—and they offer all the same features as this bulb, including SpaceSense. That alone makes these bulbs almost impossible to recommend, although a (significant) price cut might encourage us to revise that calculus. Read...

Nanoleaf is launching a new product called the PC Screen Mirror Lightstrip, reports The Verge, which features 75 color-changing LEDs and can be attached to the back of a computer monitor to create an immersive ambient lighting experience that also mirrors the screen’s content. The PC Screen Mirror Lightstrip connects to the computer’s USB port and doesn’t require a control box or camera. Designed for monitors up to 32 inches, the strip’s flexible, self-adhesive zigzag design makes for easy installation. It can also be customized for smaller screens by shortening it to the desired length. You can then customize colors and light animation and synchronize light with sound through the Nanoleaf app. If you pay up for a Nanoleaf Premium subscription, you also get access to advanced features like Orchestrator Mode for dynamic color palettes and animations. Nanoleaf’s PC Screen Mirror Lightstrip is currently available for pre-order at $49.99 and will ship towards the end of March. Read...

Hold onto your hats, Plex users: A huge Plex Pass price hike is incoming, along with big changes for Plex Media Server users who want to stream their content remotely.  After holding the line in terms of price for 10 years, a lifetime Plex Pass—a subscription that offers such features as DVR functionality, media downloads, hardware video transcoding, commercial skipping, and other perks—will soon cost $249.99, more than double the current price of $119.99.  Monthly and annual Plex Pass subscriptions are getting price hikes too, although their increases aren’t quite as steep as the lifetime options. Monthly Plex Passes will soon cost $6.99 a month, up from $4.99/month, while an annual Plex Pass will cost $69.99 a year, up from $39.99/year.  Those price changes will go into effect April 29, 2025, a little more than a month from now. So if you want to snag a lifetime Plex Pass at the current $119.99 price, you’d better get to it. There’s more news, too, and Plex Media Server users aren’t going to like it.  Once the new Plex Pass prices kick in, remote streaming of content in personal Plex media libraries won’t be free anymore. That means if you want to stream your Plex Media Server content outside your home—or, crucially, if you want to stream media from another Plex Media Server user who doesn’t have a Plex Pass—you’ll need to pay up.  As part of the big change, Plex is serving up a new, cheaper way to stream personal Plex library content on remote networks.   For $1.99 a month or $19.99 a year, the Remote Watch Pass will let you stream your own Plex Media Server files remotely, or stream from someone else’s Plex media library who doesn’t have their own Plex Pass or Remote Watch Pass. Of course, the Remote Watch Pass strips away other Plex Pass benefits, such as DVR functionality and downloads.  The changes to remote streaming only apply to the upcoming “new experience” Plex apps, not the current (but soon to be deprecated) apps. We’re expecting Plex to make the switch to the new apps within the next few months, and Plex is reserving the right to eventually drop free remote streaming from its older apps, too. Plex also noted that the remote streaming changes apply only to “movie/TV/video” media, not to music or photos.  The decision to move personal media streaming behind a paywall comes on the heels of Plex’s announcement that it was dropping “watch together” functionality from its “new experience” apps. While remote Plex Media Server streaming is going behind a paywall, a formerly paid Plex feature is about to be free. Plex’s revamped Android and iOS apps will no longer require a Plex Pass or a one-time $4.99 fee to remove playback restrictions.   In its announcement, Plex said it’s hiking its prices to “keep up with rising costs” and “to ensure both Plex Pass and our support for personal media continue to thrive.”  The latest changes to the Plex Pass are easily the biggest since the subscription program was rolled out 10 years ago.  Among the features available with a Plex Pass subscription include using your Plex server as a DVR for over-the-air TV broadcasts, downloading Plex Media Server content for offline playback, the ability to use local hardware for HD and 4K video transcoding, ad skipping for recorded TV, real-time lyrics for tunes, and a dedicated app for monitoring your Plex server activity and performance. Read...

At a glanceExpert`s Rating Pros Sharp, bright display Enjoyable keyboard Respectable CPU performance Long battery life Cons Drab design IPS display can’t match OLED in contrast or color Mediocre integrated graphics performance Our Verdict The Acer Swift Go 14 AI is a competent Snapdragon-powered laptop with long battery life, but it doesn’t stand out from the crowd. Price When Reviewed This value will show the geolocated pricing text for product undefined Best Pricing Today Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X chips turned heads in 2024 thanks to their combination of great CPU performance and battery life. However, as the months have passed, they’ve become important for another reason: they’ve put serious downward pressure on the pricing of budget and mid-range laptops.  The Acer Swift Go 14 AI is a solid Qualcomm-powered laptop with a good mix of performance and battery life. However, it faces competitors that offer more for less. Acer Swift Go 14 AI: Specs and features The Acer Swift Go 14 AI has a Qualcomm Snapdragon X Plus processor, specifically the X1P-42-100. It also has 16GB of RAM and 1TB of solid-state storage—a respectable but typical, configuration for a laptop priced around $1,000. Model number: SFG14-01-X006 CPU: Qualcomm Snapdragon X Plus (X1P-42-100) Memory: 16GB LPDDR5x-8448 Graphics/GPU: Qualcomm Adreno  NPU: Qualcomm NPU up to 45 TOPS Display: 14.5-inch 2560×1600 120Hz IPS Storage: 1TB M.2 PCIe 4.0 SSD Webcam: 1440p 30fps camera with physical privacy shutter, dual array microphone Connectivity: 2x USB-C 4 with DisplayPort and USB Power Delivery, 2x USB-A 3.2 Gen 1, 1x 3.5mm combo audio jack Networking: Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4 Biometrics: Fingerprint reader in power button Battery capacity: 75 watt-hours Dimensions: 12.6 x 8.9 x 0.7 inches Weight: 2.91 pounds Operating System: Windows 11 Home Extra features: USB-C to HDMI adapter Price: $999 MSRP from Acer, roughly $837 retail at Best Buy Acer lists the laptop at $999, which is a bit much for what the laptop offers. However, the laptop is often discounted at Best Buy and more competitive when sold for around $850 or less. The Acer Swift Go 14 AI is currently available in just one configuration, which is the model I reviewed.   The Acer Swift Go 14 AI is a competent mid-range laptop. It benefits from excellent battery life, an enjoyable keyboard, and a bright, high-resolution IPS display.  Acer Swift Go 14 AI: Design and build quality IDG / Matthew Smith The Acer Swift Go 14 AI follows the company’s usual tactic of delivering a simple, competent, but generic chassis that doesn’t impress or offend.  It has a grayish-silver exterior that’s attractive at a glance, and the materials provide a nice metallic luster that will at times catch the light in a room. Acer’s branding is minimal as well with only two small Acer logos on the display lid. However, the laptop’s design is a bit boxy and old-fashioned (though it’s not too thick at roughly 0.7 inches) and the materials used feel a bit thin. The display lid shows no flex when opening or closing the laptop, but the lower chassis wavers slightly when typing or picking up the laptop from a corner. The design is best described as functional. It does the job, but it doesn’t make an impression.  Acer Swift Go 14 AI: Keyboard, trackpad IDG / Matthew Smith A spacious keyboard spans the Acer Swift Go 14 AI’s interior. It provides well-sized keys with only some left-side keys such as Tab, Caps Lock, and Shift, noticeably smaller than normal. Even so, they remain large enough that I didn’t have to adjust my muscle memory.  Key travel is good and keys activate with an enjoyable spring and slight tactile click. The typing experience isn’t incredible, but it’s better than budget competitors like the Dell Inspiron 14 and Lenovo IdeaPad 5x.   The touchpad is less impressive, but fine. It measures about five inches wide and three inches deep, which is the typical touchpad size for a 14-inch Windows laptop. It’s responsive, multi-touch gestures work well and the touchpad surface provides a physical click for right and left-click actions (though tap-to-click also works). However, most laptops in this category offer a nearly identical touchpad experience.  Acer Swift Go 14 AI: Display, audio IDG / Matthew Smith Acer ships the Swift Go 14 AI with a 14.5-inch IPS display with a native resolution of 2560×1600 and a refresh rate up to 120Hz.  Choosing an IPS display instead of an OLED display puts the Swift Go 14 AI at a disadvantage in image quality next to competitors like the Asus Zenbook 14 OLED. IPS has worse contrast and less vibrant color than OLED, which causes the display to look less dynamic and realistic.  But that’s not to say the Swift Go 14 AI’s display is bad or even mediocre. It’s a competent, sharp, and colorful IPS screen that generally looks good even if it can’t match OLED. The Acer’s display is bright and has an anti-glare finish that makes the display more comfortable to view in a bright environment than competitive laptops with an OLED display.  Whether the Swift Go 14 AI’s display makes sense will depend on your needs. A competitor with OLED will have better image quality in games and movies. However, the Swift Go 14 AI’s display has benefits in productivity and portability. Audio quality isn’t a strength of the Swift Go 14. It has downward-firing speakers that may sound muffled, depending on the surface the laptop is placed on. They’re not loud and lack low-end, which leads to muddy and often harsh sound. The speakers are fine for podcasts and most YouTube videos, but I wouldn’t recommend them for music, games, or movies.  Acer Swift Go 14 AI: Webcam, microphone, biometrics The Acer Swift Go 14 AI ships with a 1440p webcam and dual-array microphone. Webcam resolutions up to 1440p aren’t hard to find in 2025, but if you’re coming from a slightly older laptop or comparing against a 1080p or 720p webcam, the Swift Go 14 AI’s camera will feel like a huge upgrade. It’s sharp and colorful. I found the dual-array microphone serviceable, too. It easily picked up my voice even when I spoke softly but also did a good job rejecting repetitive background noise. The audio quality is still hollow and distant, as typical for such microphones, but it’s fine for Microsoft Teams or Google Meet.  Biometric login is provided by a fingerprint reader in the power button. I prefer facial recognition, but the fingerprint reader does the job. It works reliably in most situations but will be fooled if your fingertip is slightly damp or dirty (so don’t swig a Coke before you log in).   Acer Swift Go 14 AI: Connectivity IDG / Matthew Smith A pair of USB-C 4 ports with DisplayPort and USB Power Delivery provide the bulk of the Acer Swift Go 14 AI’s connectivity. These ports are useful not only for data connections but are also used to charge the laptop and can connect to external displays. Both USB-C are on the left side, so keep that in mind if you want to connect a USB-C hub or dongle.  Acer also provides a pair of USB-A 3.2 Gen 1 ports and a 3.5mm audio jack. The laptop lacks Ethernet and HDMI-out though, in the second case, Acer side-steps the lack of HDMI by including a USB-C to HDMI adapter in the box. Wireless connectivity is good, as the laptop supports both Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4. These are the latest versions of each standard. I didn’t experience wireless connectivity issues in my time with the laptop. Acer Swift Go 14 AI: Performance The Acer Swift Go AI has a Snapdragon X Plus X1P-42-100 chip, which sits at the bottom of the Snapdragon X Plus line and is the second least performant Snapdragon X Plus chip overall. It has eight cores and a maximum single-core clock of 3.4GHz. The chip is paired with 16GB of LPDDR5x 8448 MT/s memory and 1TB of M.2 PCIe 4.0 solid state storage.  IDG / Matthew Smith The Acer Swift Go 14 AI gets off to a reasonable start in Cinebench R24, though it depends on your perspective. It performs well among price-competitive systems and looks particularly good when compared to Intel Core Ultra chips, which fail to keep up in this heavily multi-threaded CPU benchmark. However, the Asus Zenbook S 15 underscores a problem the Swift Go 14 faces. That model has a better Snapdragon X Elite chip with 12 cores and the four extra cores provide a significant upgrade.  That’s a problem for the Swift Go 14 because some laptops with the Snapdragon X Elite sell for as little as $800. IDG / Matthew Smith CPU core count isn’t the only way Qualcomm downgrades the Snapdragon X Plus X1P-42-100 relative to its more capable siblings. It also turns down the IGP performance with a quoted specification of 1.7 TFLOPs, down from 4.6 TFLOPs in the best Snapdragon X Elite chips. Unfortunately, that translates to a big decrease in GPU performance. The Acer Swift Go 14 AI scored just 16,179 in 3DMark Night Raid. That’s a large decrease from the Asus Zenbook S 15, which has a Snapdragon X Elite chip and scored 25,917. The Asus Vivobook S 14 with Intel Arc 140V graphics is over twice as quick in this benchmark. This is the Acer Swift Go 14 AI’s biggest weakness and it’s particularly weak against Intel-powered alternatives, as most in this price bracket will indeed have Intel Arc 130V or Arc 140V graphics. Put simply, I wouldn’t recommend the Swift Go 14 AI if you want to play recent 3D games or accelerate 3D productivity software.   Acer Swift Go 14 AI: Battery life The Acer Swift Go 14 AI has a sizable 75 watt-hour battery. That’s towards the upper end of battery size for a 14-inch laptop. The large battery and efficient Qualcomm Snapdragon boost the laptop’s battery life to more than 19 hours in our standard battery test, which loops a 4K file of the short film Tears of Steel. IDG / Matthew Smith As the graph shows, the Swift Go 14 AI’s battery life doesn’t set records, but it does come in towards the high end of what’s typical for modern Windows laptops. I also saw great battery life in my day-to-day work, which includes a lot of time spent in Microsoft Word, Affinity Photo 2, and a web browser. Using the laptop for four hours drained the battery by about 30 percent. The laptop’s low power consumption means it only requires a 65-watt charger and the charger that ships with the laptop is quite small. Even so, you might feel comfortable leaving the charger at home. The Swift Go 14 AI charges over USB-C, so a wide variety of chargers can power it, including those that provide less than 65 watts (though charging will be slow and might not happen at all when the laptop is in use).  Acer Swift Go 14 AI: Conclusion The Acer Swift Go 14 AI is a competent mid-range laptop. It benefits from excellent battery life, an enjoyable keyboard, and a bright, high-resolution IPS display.  However, the Swift Go 14 AI’s value is hampered by the specific Snapdragon X Plus and the laptop’s $999 MSRP. While the chip is a fine performer in CPU tests, frequent discounts on laptops with Snapdragon X Elite chips like the Asus Vivobook S 15 make it difficult to recommend a similarly priced Snapdragon X Plus laptop  If the Swift Go 14 AI dips below $800, however, it’s a good choice for people who need long battery life alongside decent CPU performance. Read...

I could spoil this entire article and tell you right off the bat which high-speed bus protocol you should be looking at for you current and future external storage needs… But where’s the fun in that? If you need an answer right away, simply scroll to the bottom and grab your instant gratification. Otherwise, educate yourself with this quick treatise on the various high-speed external protocols that are available, as well as their respective strengths and weaknesses. 10Gbps USB (USB 3.2) So, have we really come so far that a 10Gbps/1GBps transfer rate seems quaint? I’d say, yes, at least from the perspective of a long-time storage reviewer. Nevertheless, for small amounts of data, a 1GBps transfers rate is still going to get the job done quickly enough. SK Hynix 10Gbps Tube T31 SSDJon L. Jacobi And, of course, for a lot less cash than the 20Gbps/40Gbps options. If capacity means more to you than top performance, then 10Gbps USB (or even 5Gbps if you really don’t care about speed) could be the way to go. Best Usb 3.2 external drive Crucial X9 Pro Read our review Best Prices Today: $95 at Amazon 20Gbps USB (USB 3.2×2) This protocol offers fast 20Gbps transfers, but it’s the odd duck of the bunch. It will work on normal USB ports at reduced 10Gbps/5Gbps speed, but a dedicated and not particularly common 3.2×2 port (sometimes referenced at 20Gbps) is required to attain the promised 2GBps transfers. Another downside is that unlike USB4, USB 3.2×2 will not function at its full 20Gbps on most Thunderbolt 3 or 4 ports, instead dropping to 10Gbps — the rate of most native USB implementations. Thunderbolt passes through USB to the system. That speed drop afflicts all new Apple Silicon Macs. I was sorely disappointed when I found out that my more-than-fast-enough 20Gbps USB SSDs transferred at half speed on my otherwise stellar-performing Mac Studio. Crucial’s 20Gbps X10 ProJon L. Jacobi On the plus side, 20Gbps USB SSDs run cooler, use less juice than their 40Gbps counterparts, and still gets things transferred pretty darn quickly. The price of USB 3.2×2 SSDs has dropped some recently, due to USB4 showing up, but they’re still not as affordable as a 10Gbps SSDs. best usb 3.2×2 External drive Lexar SL600 20Gbps USB SSD Read our review Best Prices Today: $129.99 at B & H Photo | $150.24 at Amazon Thunderbolt While Thunderbolt has been the de facto high-speed port on Macs for well over a decade now, it’s not nearly as widespread on Windows PC platforms. Largely that’s because it’s pricier to implement than USB thanks to royalties and greater power delivery. That goes for both motherboards and drives. Thunderbolt is certainly more common than it once was, but it’s hardly ubiquitous on the Windows side of the pond. Here are the various flavors you might run across. Thunderbolt 1/2: These older versions with Mini-DisplayPort connectors and 10Gbps/20Gbps transfer rates are only found on legacy equipment, though you can connect newer Type-C Thunderbolt peripherals to these ports and vice versa using Apple’s Thunderbolt adapter. There are others, but check the specs carefully — some don’t connect 1/2 to 3/4/5, only vice versa. My advice? Stick with newer Thunderbolt 3/4/5 peripherals and use the adapter. Or perhaps upgrade your computer. Glyph Atom Pro SSD Jon L. Jacobi Thunderbolt 3: This version of the technology doubled bandwidth to 40Gbps and was the first version to use the Type-C connector. The latter confused just about everyone, as USB switched to this connector around the same time. Thankfully, Thunderbolt 3 tunnels USB so you may attach USB peripherals to a Thunderbolt port, if not the other way around. Thunderbolt 3 can achieve around 3GBps during transfers on most computers sporting the technology. It’s also getting cheaper as the industry moves on to Thunderbolt 4/5. Thunderbolt 4: 40Gbps Thunderbolt 4 was more a certification update than a change in the technology. Intel found that vendors weren’t implementing all of Thunderbolt 3’s features all the time. Thunderbolt 4 made implementing the entire stadard mandatory if you wanted to use the name and logo. Thunderbolt 5: Version 5 doubles version 3/4’s 40Gbps storage bandwidth to 80Gbps. You may see 120Gbps mentioned in slides, but that’s downstream only to drive displays. Thunderbolt 5 also delivers significantly more power across the bus at 240W as opposed to Thunderbolt 3/4’s 100 watts and the mere 9.9 watts of 1/2. This makes Thunderbolt 5 the go-to for power users with power hungry storage peripherals — e.g., a RAID box. OWC’s 80Gbps Envoy Ultra Thunderbolt 5Jon L. Jacobi But wait… There’s a caveat! While Thunderbolt 5’s specs sound spectacular and it benchmarks great, it hasn’t shown a significant impact on real-world performance in our real-world large file transfers. Also, the doubled bandwidth does nothing to speed random performance, which is far more about seek time than raw throughput. So it won’t run an operating system appreciably faster than an older Thunderbolt 3/4 SSD. USB4 As you may or may not be aware, USB4 is basically a version of Thunderbolt 4 that was donated to the USB Forum by Intel. Hence there’s an awful lot in common including the up-to-40Gbps transfers. The ace up USB4’s sleeve is far greater compatibility. While you can’t attach Thunderbolt peripherals to older 1/2/3.x USB ports, you can attach USB4 peripherals to those ports with every expectation of them operating. Of course, only at the maximum speed of the older port — but hey, better slower than not at all! Also, the shared heritage means you can attach a USB4 peripheral to a Thunderbolt 3/4/5 port and have it work at its best speed: 20Gbps on Thunderbolt 3 and 40Gbps on the other two. Adata’s 40Gbps SE920 USB4 SSDJon L. Jacobi If almost complete compatibility weren’t enough, USB4 seems to be coming to market at a lower price point than Thunderbolt 3/4/5. Adata’s uber-fast SE920 is roughly $125 per terabyte, about par with no-name Thunderbolt 4/5 SSDs. Alternatively, you can grab a USB4 enclosure such as UGreen’s CM642 for less than $100 and add your own NVMe SSD. Note that there is an 80Gbps USB4 2.0 in the works (of course there is!), but we haven’t seen an implementation yet. best usb4 external drive Adata SE920 USB4 SSD Best Prices Today: $179.99 at Amazon USB4 for the win! If you just read all of the above, it shouldn’t surprise you that I’m giving the nod to USB4. It’s very fast, compatible with just about every computer and device on the planet, and more affordable than Thunderbolt. The only exceptions to that recommendation would be 5/10Gbps USB if you need something super cheap, or Thunderbolt 5 if you want absolute top performance and have the software and hardware to take advantage of it. Further reading: Best external drives Read...