TL;DR: Get lifetime access to FastestVPN PRO for just $29.97 (reg. $600)—a one-time purchase that protects up to 15 devices with military-grade encryption, ultra-fast speeds, and ad/malware blocking. For a limited time only, you can get a FastestVPN PRO lifetime subscription for just $29.97 (reg. $600)—and protect up to 15 devices forever. With speeds up to 10 Gbps, 900+ servers in 50+ countries, and top-tier security features, this VPN ensures private, seamless, and unrestricted browsing across all your devices. Whether you’re working remotely, streaming international content, or just securing your personal data, FastestVPN has you covered. Unlike VPNs that lock you into monthly fees, this one-time payment gives you lifetime access, giving you peace of mind and huge savings in the long run. Plus, you’ll get a free 1-year password manager to keep your logins and sensitive info safe. This deal won’t last—March 30 at 11:59 p.m. PT is the cutoff—so grab lifetime access to FastestVPN PRO now for $29.97 and start browsing with complete privacy, enhanced security, and zero restrictions.   FastestVPN PRO: Lifetime Subscription (15 Devices) – $29.97 Get It Here StackSocial prices subject to change. Read...

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When Major League Baseball starts its 2025 season on March 27, you can enhance your big-screen game-watching experience by enlisting the aid of your small screen; i.e., your smartphone or tablet laptop. A second screen adds context to the game by delivering everything from analysis, player stats, and interactive features, to tools for communicating with other fans. We’ve rounded up the six best second-screen apps that belong on your smartphone or tablet this baseball season. Download and install one or more of them to make sure you’re game ready when the ump yells “play ball!” MLB At Bat If you don’t use anything else this season, be sure to install at least the MLB app. Michael Ansaldo/Foundry As second-screen apps go, the MLB App remains the ace of the rotation. It personalizes the viewing experience by curating news, highlights, and live updates based on users’ favorite teams and players. On iPhones, live scores and updates appear directly on the lock screen and within the Dynamic Island, allowing fans to track games without opening the app. MLB.TV subscribers can stream up to four games simultaneously on supported mobile devices. Condensed game replays and key highlights are available shortly after each game ends, making it easier to catch up on the action. Audio access has expanded to include home and away radio broadcasts for every game, even in areas subject to blackout restrictions. The Gameday 3D feature provides real-time pitch tracking in an interactive environment, offering a deeper look at each play. For fans attending games in person, the app integrates ticketing and in-venue experiences, including seat upgrades and exclusive content. iScore Baseball Scoring a game by hand is a tradition that goes back to the earliest days of baseball; but in our digital age, this pen-and-paper activity could easily go the way of flannel uniforms and Pullman cars. Thankfully, there’s iScore Baseball. This app turns your device into a digital scorebook, but you don’t need to know any of the arcana of scorekeeping to use it. iScore employs interview prompts to help you track the on-field action. Say the batter grounds out to first base: To record that play, tap the Out button and iScore will ask what kind of out was made. Select Ground Out and the app will ask you to tap on the diamond where the ball was hit and the position that made the out. As you record each play in this manner, iScore translates it all into scorebook speak. After the game, you can generate and email a completed scoresheet, box score, or team stats. iScore Baseball, available for Android and iOS devices, can create a traditional scoresheet without requiring you to know the details of scorekeeping. And if the idea of scoring a game for posterity seems quaint now that the web can serve up play-by-play stats for just about any matchup in history, consider that its greater purpose might be keeping you focused on the game amid the distractions of home. ESPN If you prefer your baseball coverage from a third-party source, it’s tough to beat ESPN’s free flagship app. In addition to scores and standings, it will keep you supplied with a steady stream of injury reports, contract signings, and other breaking news from around the league. You’ll also get live streaming access to national and regional ESPN Radio stations and more than 100 ESPN Podcasts. Designate your favorite team and you can receive alerts before games and get the latest news and videos about your club sent directly to your ESPN inbox. Best of all, you can use the app as a second screen for other sports after the Fall Classic. Bleacher Report: Sports News Bleacher Report: Sports News lets you curate your own news feed to receive breaking news on your favorite MLB teams, players, and fantasy investments. Michael Ansaldo/Foundry Like most fans, it’s your own rooting interests rather than the league at large that keeps you glued to the screen. Bleacher Report understands this and lets you customize your second-screen experience with Bleacher Report: Sports News. Though not exclusively a baseball app, Bleacher Report: Sports News lets you curate your own news feed to receive breaking news on your favorite MLB teams, players, and fantasy investments. Just add your favorite clubs, and all the latest rumors, news, hot plays, and injury reports from those organizations will appear in a real-time stream on its home screen. The app also makes it easy to email, text, or social-share the juiciest stories with your baseball-loving buddies. A separate Scores tab keeps you up today on your team’s schedule and game results. ESPN Fantasy Sports The ESPN Fantasy app provides everything you need to manage your lineup from opening day to, hopefully, the postseason. You get full access to your ESPN fantasy team, letting you start, bench, add, drop, trade, and waive players, so you’re fielding the best nine possible on game day. It also provides a steady stream of player news and enough stats and analysis to satisfy the most hardcore sabermetrician. During games, the app keeps you updated with real-time scoring by all your fantasy players, while push notifications alert you to injuries, trades, and other player news. MiLB app There’s always important action in the minor leagues, too. The MiLB app helps you keep track of it all. Michael Ansaldo/Foundry A companion to the MLB app, the MiLB app provides similar coverage of 120 minor-league clubs with scores, stats, news, video highlights, and push-notification game alerts. As with the big-league app, the basics are free, but you must buy into video streams of games—both live and on-demand—and other premium offerings. But it’s the best way to scout tomorrow’s stars while following their parent clubs on TV. Pair it with At Bat for complete coverage of your favorite team’s entire organization. Batter up! Okay, those are our picks for the best second-screen apps for baseball. What do you think, did we hit a grand slam or fly out to left field? What are your favorite second-screen baseball apps? Let us know in the comments section on our Facebook page. And don’t miss our in-depth cord-cutter’s guide to streaming Major League Baseball without a cable subscription. Read...

At a glanceExpert`s Rating Pros Fastest benchmarking NVMe SSD we’ve tested. DRAM for fast random operations Available in up to 4GB capacities, and soon 8TB Cons Expensive overkill for most users A hair off the pace in Windows file transfers Our Verdict The fastest Consumer NVMe SSD you can buy — but it ain’t cheap. Price When Reviewed This value will show the geolocated pricing text for product undefined Best Pricing Today Best Prices Today: Samsung 9100 Pro Retailer Price $199.99 View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket There was a time when Samsung was the long-reigning, undisputed performance king of the NVMe SSD market. Recently… Not so much. Well, the fallen are mighty once more thanks to the company’s 9100 Pro — the fastest NVMe SSD I’ve ever tested according to the benchmark software. Welcome back, Samsung! Read on to learn more, then see our roundup of the best SSDs for comparison. What are the 9100 Pro’s features? The Samsung 9100 is a state-of-the-art, PCIe 5.0 x4 (four-lane) NVMe 2.0 SSD with 1GB of DRAM per terabyte of capacity for primary caching duties. The controller is an in-house Samsung development according to the company, and the NAND is 236-layer(3D/stacked) TLC. The SSD is available in the 2280 (22mm wide, 80mm long) form factor and currently — 1TB through 4TB capacities. An 8TB version will be available the second half of 2025. Samsung 9100 Pro 4TB.Jon L. Jacobi / Foundry Most users won’t care that the 9100 requires about half the power of the previous top-of-the-line 990 Pro. But it amounts to longer battery life in laptops, and less heat in any device. The 9100 Pro is warrantied for five years and rated for 600TBW (terabytes that may be written) per terabyte of capacity. The time span is fine, but the TBW rating, while par for the course, could be a bit more generous given the price. Speaking of which… How much does the Samsung 9100 Pro cost? As of this writing the 1TB version of the 9100 Pro is $200, the 2TB capacity is $300, and the 4TB model is $550. Add $20 if you want a heatsink. Before adding the cost of the latter, make sure you actually need one (most users don’t), or that your system doesn’t already have a heatsink, and if not, can accommodate one. Our testbed’s upside-down secondary PCIe 5.0 M.2 slot forbids heatsinks — it’s a thing. Samsung 9100 Pro retail box and drive without heatsink. In terms of the overall SSD market, you’re definitely paying more for the premium performance. 4TB PCIe 4.0 host memory buffer (DRAM-less) NVMe SSDs are available for around half what the 9100 costs. But as you’ll see below, the performance is also premium — if you have the software to take advantage. In the right system with the right software, the 9100 Pro will run rings around the competition. How fast is the Samsung 9100 Pro? The cat’s already out of the bag on this one. The 4TB 9100 Pro that Samsung sent me aced all the synthetic benchmarks I threw at it in terms of sequential throughput: CrystalDiskMark 8, AS SSD 2.0, and ATTO Disk all placed it easily in first place — with a bullet. It also easily outstripped its PCIe 4.0 990 Pro predecessor in all ways. On the other hand, real-world performance, while well above average, was a just a hair off the fastest I’ve seen. That saw the drive sitting in third place among all the drives I’ve tested, behind the Crucial T705 and Corsair MP700 Pro SE — both of which are also PCIe 5.0 DRAM designs. The 9100 Pro’s sequential transfer numbers under CrystalDiskMark 8 are the highest we’ve ever seen from a consumer SSD. Longer bars are better. Samsung played up the 9100 Pro’s random performance in its press materials, mostly in comparison to the 990 Pro, but it fell a bit short of the competition. In fact, it was well down the charts with multi-queue random operations. However, there is not a lot of software that uses multiple NVMe queues currently, so the single-queue random performance is what you should really look at. The 9100 Pro was quite good at that. Samsung played up the 9100 Pro’s random performance, however, it didn’t match its sequential throughput or the random performance of its rivals. Longer bars are better. While the 9100 Pro reigned supreme in CrystalDiskMark 8, it lagged a hair behind its rivals in real-world transfers. Including the 48GB reads and writes shown below. That said, the 2-second difference is right around the margin of error for this test. The 9100 Pro was only two seconds off its rivals’ 48GB transfer times in aggregate. Shorter bars are better.. Though only 6 seconds slower in the 450GB write, that gap cost the 9100 Pro the overall crown. While lagging in random operations, host memory buffer drives tend to excel at this particular test so the 9100 actually fell to 17th best out of the 52 NVMe SSDs I’ve tested. Of course, we’re only talking about a 16 second/11 percent lag from the number one drive writing 450GB — the 8TB WD SN850X. Though 146 seconds is a very good 450GB write time, it’s not quite as fast as its rivals. Shorter bars are better. About our real-world transfer tests… They don’t always show off the ultimate capabilities of a drive, only what you’ll see when transferring files using Windows Explorer. Again, that’s largely because Windows uses only a single queue during transfers, negating much of NVMe’s advantage and rendering a vendor’s unique controller tricks basically moot. I’m hoping for better from Microsoft in the future. It would be nice to finally see real-world I/O that matches that of benchmarks. Should you buy the Samsung 9100 Pro? If you have the bucks, absolutely. In the right system with the right software, the 9100 Pro will run rings around the competition. On the other hand, most users not loading large language models or such will be just fine with an HMB design for half the price. How we test Drive tests currently utilize Windows 11, 64-bit running on an X790 (PCIe 4.0/5.0) motherboard/i5-12400 CPU combo with two Kingston Fury 32GB DDR5 4800MHz modules (64GB of memory total). Both 20Gbps USB and Thunderbolt 4 are integrated to the back panel and Intel CPU/GPU graphics are used. The 48GB transfer tests utilize an ImDisk RAM disk taking up 58GB of the 64GB of total memory. The 450GB file is transferred from a 2TB Samsung 990 Pro which also runs the OS. Each test is performed on a newly NTFS-formatted and TRIM’d drive so the results are optimal. Note that in normal use, as a drive fills up, performance may decrease due to less NAND for secondary caching, as well as other factors. This can be less of a factor with the current crop of SSDs with far faster late-generation NAND. Caveat: The performance numbers shown apply only to the drive we were shipped and to the capacity tested. SSD performance can and will vary by capacity due to more or fewer chips to shotgun reads/writes across and the amount of NAND available for secondary caching. Vendors also occasionally swap components. If you ever notice a large discrepancy between the performance you experience and that which we report, by all means, let us know. Read...

In the 1990s, a colleague took me to “Snake Alley,” Taipei’s red-light district, for a night of drinking with “entertainers” and some of their very muscled, serious friends. A good time was had by all, fortunately. Still, I was young, dumb, and lucky that I didn’t end up in any trouble. Some parts of the internet are like that, too. If you think you’ll be potentially surfing into a risky internet neighborhood — a knockoff shopping site, a little-known streaming service, or somewhere you’re just not entirely sure is legit — and you have a spare laptop lying around, you can always repurpose it to become what I call a “Paranoid PC”: a laptop hardened for additional privacy and security. In my case, I was able to do it for “free.” But it does require a version of Windows 10 or 11 that’s not that common, and an existing VPN subscription. I am also not claiming that this PC configuration will protect you from any and all malware and prying eyes, but it will certainly help. Further reading: If you don’t use these PC security essentials, you’re begging to be hacked Putting together a Paranoid PC What you’ll need: a VPN subscription and a laptop (16GB of RAM preferred) running Windows 10/11 Pro I’ve repurposed an older laptop to create my Paranoid PC. You can use your day-to-day PC for this purpose, but it also potentially exposes you to greater risks if anything bad slips through the security screen. In any case, it’s a good idea in almost any case to use an account without administrator access for additional security, and possibly a local account at that. To Get Sandbox, you`ll need this Windows 11 Pro The key, though, is to have a PC set up with Windows 10 or 11 Pro because of a feature it offers: Windows Sandbox. Sandbox has been around for five years (!), and I still feel like it’s one of the most underappreciated features within Windows. Sandbox creates a virtualized environment with minimal setup; essentially, it’s a Windows PC within your PC, protected by a “moat” that isolates it from your PC. Once you close Sandbox, the entire “PC” and anything it has within it is erased, permanently. That includes any malware that may have wormed its way in. Sandbox is an optional feature within Windows 10 or 11 Pro, and to access it you’ll need to turn it on. To enable it, you’ll need to go to the Windows Features control panel, which you can find by searching for Turn Windows features on and off within Windows Search. (We have a deeper dive into Windows Sandbox, here.) Once you enable Sandbox, Windows will update itself with the appropriate features, reboot, and open up Windows again. You’ll need to launch Windows Sandbox via the Start menu or the Search box. Sandbox essentially creates a PC environment within a window, but it’s a generic PC. You don’t need to log in, and please don’t! We want this PC to be as quiet and unobtrusive as possible. Windows Sandbox running within Windows 11 Pro. Note the two taskbars.PCWorld You can expand Sandbox to the dimensions of your screen, or leave it windowed. It’s up to you. Install the Brave browser I’ve argued in the past that Sandbox provides a powerful level of security and privacy, just by its lonesome. But we’re going to go further. What Sandbox allows you to do is use the built-in version of Microsoft Edge to download other software. And while Microsoft Edge is no slouch in the privacy department, we’re going to use Brave’s browser to provide an additional level of privacy and security. Brave offers tons of privacy settings, though it can be a bit aggressive.Mark Hachman / IDG Brave started off as a very privacy-oriented browser, and still is. Its reputation has soured a bit because of its ties to cryptocurrencies, but it’s still a good choice to download for surfing the deeper reaches of the web. If you want to use another browser, though, (or just Edge) you can. Just make sure to configure it the way you want, adding any plugins you choose. I still wouldn’t log in or otherwise identify yourself, however. Install a VPN I use a VPN because, well, it’s none of your business. And that’s the whole point. VPNs can be used to access content in other countries, avoid the eyes of authoritarian governments, privately chat with friends, and so on. It’s akin to locking your door and drawing your shades, and most people do that in the real world. A VPN is a good idea to add to your Paranoia PC.Mark Hachman / IDG Running a VPN won’t necessarily protect your Sandbox PC from malware, but it does add an additional layer of anonymity protection. Some VPNs also include upgraded antivirus, too. (Sometimes Brave can get a tad too aggressive in blocking downloads and scripts. In that case, go ahead and use Edge to download a VPN instead.) You might be able to get away with running a VPN outside Sandbox, but just in case I installed it from within the Sandbox environment. the best vpn we`ve tested ExpressVPN Read our review Which VPN should you use for privacy? You can choose from either a less powerful free VPN or one of our more powerful paid recommended VPNs. I prefer a VPN that offers generous device connections to allow me the freedom to install it on multiple laptops, but there are plenty to choose from. VPNs are a category where you get what you pay for, though. Surf safely through the stormy seas Once you’ve installed Sandbox, Brave, and a VPN, you’re done. You can begin exploring some of the shadier parts of the web. Feel free, of course, to install other software. If you want to download a free or premium antivirus package for additional security, go for it. When you think about it, anything bad is going to have to break out of the Brave browser’s sandbox, then get by the antivirus, then crack Windows Sandbox. That’s not impossible, but pretty unlikely. There are a couple things to keep in mind, though. Pay attention to what environment your cursor is in. If you absent-mindedly open Edge in the standard desktop environment, that browser window lacks all of your Sandbox protections, and probably the VPN’s as well. It’s part of the reason I recommend Brave: Not only is it designed for privacy, but it’s not a browser many people use. Brave signals me that I’m within Sandbox’s protective embrace. I’m not recommending that you put Sandbox to the test by downloading malware. In this case, however, the EICAR virus is designed to act like malware without really being malware.Mark Hachman / IDG Brave also blocks ads and popups — which, in certain areas of the web, can be an avenue to malware. We still recommend that you surf safe and do not go clicking willy-nilly on anything you see. But, if you do download something malevolent, it should be cut off by Sandbox. In the worst case, where Sandbox’s “PC” becomes noticeably infected, you can simply close Sandbox down by closing the window. You’ll receive a notification that this will erase everything within the Sandbox environment, but that’s okay. All you need to do is open a new version of Sandbox, which will be pristine and untouched. You’ll then need to re-download Brave, the VPN, and any other software, however. And we’d recommend running an antivirus scan on your main Windows installation just to be safe. Sandbox does have one other feature worth knowing about: its File Explorer, which is sort of like an airlock. If you do happen to download something involuntarily, it will receive the normal protections from Windows Security. But anything you voluntarily download will land in the Sandbox Downloads folder. Downloads from within Sandbox go into the Downloads folder, which can be accessed from outside Sandbox. Just be sure it’s safe by checking it within Sandbox.Mark Hachman / IDG You’d be well advised to double-check the file by right-clicking on it. (In Windows 11, go to “Show more options” and then “Scan with Microsoft Defender” or another antivirus program. Or drop it in VirusTotal.com to check against multiple online antivirus programs.) Just check it (or run it) from within Sandbox! From there, you can cut and paste it into your main PC operating system. Security professionals, of course, will have more sophisticated protection available to them. But for the average surfer, this provides some strong additional protection. Think of this “Paranoid PC” as a bodyguard in a dark alley, with a big SUV waiting to whisk you back to the real world if things go bad. Further reading: These 10 simple security tweaks keep you safe Read...

Are you tired of all those power cords and charging cables cluttering up your workspace? Between laptops, phones, monitors, headphones, keyboards, mice… it can get messy and overwhelming. That’s when a sleek charging station like this 6-in-1 Baseus Blade can work wonders, and right now it’s on sale for just $59.49 on Amazon with an awesome 40% discount coupon. All you have to do is apply the X4LPDNM4 code at checkout to get this amazing price. This compact charging station features two AC outlets, three USB-C ports, and one USB-A port. Just pop this thing on your desk, plug in the 5-foot power cord, and connect your devices as needed. Instead of messing with chunky power strips and adapters, you can route everything through this minimal charging station that keeps everything organized. At just 0.68 inches thick, it won’t get in your way. It’s a powerful one, too, able to deliver 140W of power. That means fast charging for your laptop and phone, plus enough juice to keep your monitors and accessories going. Of course, when multiple ports are in use, the power gets split between them. Fortunately, you can always rely on the built-in digital display that shows you real-time charging info, power output per port, voltage, current, and more. Don’t forget to use the discount code X4LPDNM4 at checkout to snag this Baseus charging station for $59.49 on Amazon! This 6-in-1 Baseus Blade charging station is 40% offBuy now at Amazon Read...

I develop an acute case of appliance envy every January. That’s when LG, Samsung, Whirlpool, and other manufacturers at the CES tradeshow demonstrate how their new wares can be integrated into the smart home, controlled via a single app, self-report minor problems that could lead up to expensive repairs if not addressed, and—in the case of appliances that work together, like a washer and dryer—even talk to each other. When our clothes dryer recently failed for the second time in less than three years, my wife and I decided to replace it. I don’t know how many years of service the dryer delivered, but it was obviously what realtors label a “landlord special;” i.e., a cheap, no-frills model that barely covers the basics. The dryer, and a washing machine of similarly dubious quality, were included in the sale of the home we bought in late 2021. They weren’t great appliances, but I wasn’t about to argue when the seller offered to leave them behind. It saved us time and money, and it saved them the trouble of getting them out of the basement. As sellers, we did the same when we moved from California to Oregon. It was win-win in both situations—at the time, at least. My old washer and dryer weren’t in this bad of shape, but they weren’t far off.Jan Krava/Shutterstock Having decided to replace the crappy dryer, we decided to bite the bullet and replace the equally cheap washing machine as well—in part to avoid the tariff-induced price increases that are sure to come. But when I started shopping, I quickly discovered that rather than buying the best washing machine and the best dryer, regardless of brand, I’d need to buy all my smart appliances from the same brand if I wanted the promised integrated experience. I quickly discovered I needed to buy all my smart appliances from the same brand if I wanted the promised integrated experience. While Matter is looking to knock down the silos between smaller smart home categories—lighting, HVAC control, and home security, for example—it will be many years before the consortium takes large home appliances into account. For the time being, in fact, the Connectivity Standards Alliance (CSA) that brought us Matter is leaving large smart appliances up to a whole other consortium, the Home Connectivity Alliance (HCA). HCA membership includes many of the same companies in the CSA, but it’s moving at even more of a snail’s pace. HCA members LG and Samsung, for example, promised their smart appliances would work within each other’s smart home apps—ThinQ and SmartThings respectively—by the end of 2023. Fifteen months later, they still don’t–at least they don’t in the U.S. Samsung says the promised interoperability between Samsung and LG smart appliances is available in Korea, and that SmartThings users in Europe can control Turkish manufacturer Vestel’s air conditioners, washers, and dishwashers with its SmartThings app. “Companies are evaluating results and preferences before expanding to other regions,” a Samsung spokesperson said. First-world laundry problems solved LG’s model WM5500HWA washing machine uses sensors and algorithms to automatically choose the right settings based on the weight and softness of the fabrics placed in its drum.Michael Brown/Foundry My wife and I own a very small home—there’s just 760 square feet of living space—with a partial basement where the washer and dryer hookups are located. To make the most of the available storage space, we decided to stack them—another factor that dictated buying both appliances from the same brand. You can’t buy a kit that allows you to operate an LG dryer on top of a Samsung front-load washer, for example. After reading lots of product reviews, we settled on an LG WM5500HWA washing machine and an LG DLEX5500W electric dryer. We’ve been using the washer and dryer for a couple of weeks now, and the interconnectivity has delighted the geek in me (I’m not entirely sure my wife appreciates quite it as much). The two appliances talk to each other over a Bluetooth connection, so when you select the type of load you’re putting in the washer—towels, for example—the dryer will already be on that same setting when you turn it on and transfer the load into it. The washing machine sends a push notification to our smartphones when its current cycle is finished, reminding us that the laundry should be removed promptly, and that if it must be left in there for a long period of time, we can start a short wash cycle—right from our phone—to keep the clothes fresh until we can put them in the dryer. The dryer, for its part, will send push notifications when it’s finished, with a reminder to change its lint filter and to clean the filter with water after every 10 cycles. The dryer has a similar function if you can’t unload it right away; this one periodically fluffs the clothes to prevent wrinkles from setting in. Having the appliances connected to my Wi-Fi network means I can use an app to turn them on and off and to choose which settings they should operate on. But LG’s ThinQ app does other things that are even more useful. An energy consumption tracking feature will report how much power each appliance has consumed this month and last, and it maintains a history of the cycles used each time, including the cycle options (temperature, dry level, energy saver mode, and so on). LG’s app also lets you create IFTTT-like Smart Routines that execute on demand with a button press, or that are triggered by a condition—the time of day, your current location, or even the weather, for example. When you leave home for a short time, your LG robot vacuum can start up and clean your floors while you’re gone. That’s all great—except for the fact that setting up these routines depends on all your smart appliances being LG products. Smart kitchen appliances This LG dual-fuel range connects to Wi-Fi, but it’s smart features are relatively limited. One of the most useful: I synchronized its clock to my smartphone, so I don’t need to push buttons to change the time twice a year.Michael Brown/Foundry I’d already purchased a new dual-fuel range when the one that came with the home—another landlord special—failed shortly after we moved in, and the repair tech couldn’t obtain a replacement part. I chose an LG model because I wanted dual electric ovens but a gas cooktop. Yeah, I know natural gas is a fossil fuel, and burning it pollutes the air inside your home. But there’s nothing like cooking with gas. Anyway, that’s all beside the point. The LG range connects to Wi-Fi and is also part of LG’s ThinQ smart home ecosystem, but that didn’t factor much in my decision at the time. I just wanted a quality stove, and this one got good reviews. In this case, I’m glad I wasn’t counting on ThinQ to improve my cooking and baking experience. Apart from periodically sending me reminders to put the oven in self-cleaning mode—using the oven’s controls, not the app—the range’s connectivity hasn’t delivered much in the way of day-to-day convenience. That’s not to say the range’s ThinQ features are useless, they’re just less obvious. I work at home and my wife is retired, so the ability to start the oven when we’re away from home isn’t a big attraction. LG’s ThinQ app puts all my smart appliances in one place, but only the washer and dryer have truly helpful smart features. That said, I’m sure the Smart Diagnosis feature they all share will be useful down the road.Michael Brown/Foundry On the other hand, if the range starts to behave oddly—if one of its burners fails to start or the oven doesn’t reach the programmed temperature, for example, I can run a Smart Diagnosis routine from the LG app on my smartphone that will check various components, including the temperature sensor, heating element, convection fan, and even its buttons for abnormal operation. If a problem is identified, I can push a button in the app to send the report to LG’s customer support along with my phone number, so they can call me. But there are two other features that I think will prove even more useful, and these are both available with the washer and dryer as well as the range. First, if I need detailed information about any of these appliances’ features or settings, I can download a copy of its user manual right from within the app. Second, if I ever need to buy a part for these appliances or have any of them serviced, I only need to open that app to find not only the model number but the serial number and—for warranty purposes—the date the appliances were put into service. No ThinQ, no problem? Lacking a Wi-Fi adapter, our LG refrigerator isn’t part of LG’s ThinQ smart appliance ecosystem. But it was the only French-door, freezer-on-the-bottom model that would fit in our tiny kitchen.Michael Brown/Foundry While we didn’t need to replace our cheap refrigerator last year, we had grown tired of bending over to find things inside its refrigerator compartment (we much prefer freezer-on-the-bottom designs), listening to its loud compressor, and paying high electric bills due to its inefficient operation. In addition to having the freezer on the bottom, we wanted a French-door model, reasoning that the smaller doors would function better in our tiny, 47-square-foot galley kitchen. When we went shopping, we discovered that LG was the only manufacturer that offered an Energy Star-certified model that would fit in the narrow 30-inch-wide space we had for it (the LG model LFDS22520S fit by a whisker, being 29.75 inches wide). The one thing I didn’t check before I ordered the LG fridge was ThinQ compatibility, probably because I wasn’t impressed with ThinQ in the range I bought. And as it turned out, the refrigerator doesn’t really support ThinQ because it doesn’t have a Wi-Fi adapter onboard. The refrigerator does feature LG’s Smart Diagnosis technology that can help identify problems.Michael Brown/Foundry Interestingly, that didn’t stop me from adding the refrigerator to the ThinQ app, I just needed to hold my phone up to the top right-hand door hinge, where the words “Smart Diagnosis” are printed, and then push and hold a button on the refrigerator’s control panel, located on the left-hand door. This triggered the refrigerator to send a report to my phone, encoded in a series of beeps and boops. Besides the troubleshooting feature, the ThinQ app doesn’t deliver much in the way of user benefits for the fridge. But you can download the user manual from here, and you can register its purchase with LG for warranty purposes by providing the name of the retailer you purchased it from along with the date of purchase. The app will even let you snap a picture of your receipt or attach a PDF of the same. And that’s how I became locked in the LG ThinQ ecosystem I’ve been a smart home enthusiast for more than 20 years, and I’ve always been able to make disparate standards and protocols work together: Alexa, Google Home, Wi-Fi, Zigbee, Z-Wave, Philips Hue, and even Ring and Nest—I have products based on all of them. I’ve found smart appliances to be a whole different animal. I didn’t set out to make this aspect of my smart home revolve around a particular brand. In fact, I hadn’t given it all that much thought before now, because Samsung didn’t acquire SmartThings until 2014, and LG didn’t fully launch ThinQ until 2017. Heck, ThinQ didn’t even factor into my decision-making when I bought the LG range in 2022, the LG refrigerator in 2023, or even the LG washer and dryer I just acquired. Wondering about my dishwasher? We took out the crappy one we had in our tiny kitchen and converted the space to a cabinet. For the time being, I don’t regret being stuck in the LG ThinQ ecosystem—it really has solved some of my first-world problems. Given the fact that large home appliances are supposed to last 10 to 15 years, however, I do hope that the Home Connectivity Alliance delivers on its promises before I need to replace one of them. I don’t want to be in a position where I have to buy another LG appliance just to maintain compatibility. But I’m not holding my breath on that score. I also queried LG about its interconnectivity but no one got back to me before press time. Read...

At a glanceExpert`s Rating Pros Functional ergonomic stand with small base Excellent SDR contrast and color gamut Good HDR brightness More affordable than the competition Cons Build quality and design could be better SDR performance, though great, is same as competitors Doesn’t have USB-C with DisplayPort Our Verdict The Alienware AW2725Q is yet another excellent 27-inch 4K 240Hz QD-OLED monitor, and less expensive than the competition. Price When Reviewed This value will show the geolocated pricing text for product undefined Best Pricing Today Best Prices Today: Alienware AW2725Q Retailer Price $899.99 View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket I’ll be honest. The Alienware AW2725Q didn’t make a good first impression. It uses Alienware’s new “AW30” design language that, though meant to feel more organic, doesn’t look premium. The monitor also lacks a USB-C port with DisplayPort and Power Delivery, something I consider essential for modern monitors. However, the Alienware AW2725Q makes up for these problems with a simple advantage. It costs a lot less than its competitors. Read on to learn more, then see our roundup of the best gaming monitors for comparison. Alienware AW2725Q specs and features The Alienware AW2725Q specifications, though excellent, don’t stand out. I’ve already reviewed several monitors this year, such as the Asus ROG Swift OLED PG27UCDM and MSI MPG 272URX QD-OLED, with the same 4K 240Hz QD-OLED panel. In fact, the AW2725Q has a disadvantage next to these alternatives: It doesn’t have a USB-C port with DisplayPort and sufficient USB Power Delivery to charge a connected laptop. Display size: 26.7-inch 16:9 widescreen Native resolution: 3840×2160 Panel type: 10-bit QD-OLED Refresh rate: 240Hz Adaptive sync: Adaptive Sync, Nvidia G-Sync Compatible, AMD FreeSync Premium Pro HDR: HDR10, Dolby Vision Ports: 1x HDMI 2.1, 1x HDMI 2.1 with eARC/ARC for Dolby Atmos signal pass-through, 1x DisplayPort 1.4, 1x USB-B 5Gbps upstream, 3x USB-A 5Gbps downstream, 1x USB-C 5Gbps downstream with 15 watts of Power Delivery VESA mount: 100x100mm Audio: None Warranty: 3 years Price: $899.99 MSRP (U.S.) But Alienware strikes back with the price. Most competitors list a price of $1099.99, but the AW2725Q is just $899.99. That’s $200, or roughly 20 percent, less expensive. It’s a big difference, and it works to Dell’s advantage. Despite its price, the AW2725Q is covered by a three-year warranty that includes OLED burn-in. Oh, and the AW2725Q has one other practical advantage. It’s in stock. While several other companies have launched 27-inch 4K 240Hz QD-OLED monitors, availability is tight. I expect the AW2725Q will be among the easier 4K 240Hz QD-OLED monitors to buy, as Dell has a history of shipping monitors with new panels at larger volumes than most competitors. Alienware AW2725Q design Alienware monitors are known for their unique design. The AW2725Q is no exception, but takes the brand in a different direction with a design language called “AW30.” It exchanges the prior retro-futuristic look for a more organic, rounded design. Oh, and it’s a deep navy-blue color (Alienware calls it indigo), which is certainly different. Yet I’m not sold on the new look. My biggest beef is the faux-metallic plastic on the rear of the AW2725Q. While the sheen of the plastic seems meant to look luxurious, to my eyes it comes off a bit cheap, especially next to competitors like the Samsung Odyssey OLED G8 series. Also, though the Alienware does technically have RGB-LED lighting accents, they’re only found on the Alienware logo on the back and the power button on the front.  Matthew Smith / Foundry The new design is functional, however. It has a compact stand that’s even flatter than the hexagon-style stand Alienware had used just prior, which means the stand keeps most of your desk space usable. The stand ergonomically adjusts for height, tilt, swivel, and pivot into portrait orientation, and the 100x100mm VESA mount can be used to attach the monitor to third-party stands and arms. Alienware also blesses the AW2725Q with a sizable cable guide that keeps cables out of sight and has enough space to handle multiple video connections. The Alienware AW2725Q has the dual advantage of being both cheaper than its peers, and more likely to be in stock. Alienware AW2725Q connectivity The Alienware AW2725Q’s video connectivity includes two HDMI 2.1 ports and one DisplayPort 1.4. All ports can handle the monitor’s full resolution and refresh rate (up to 4K at 240Hz). The AW2725Q’s USB-C connectivity is limited, as it lacks a USB-C port with DisplayPort and significant power delivery. Instead, the monitor’s USB connectivity is driven by a USB-B upstream port with just 5Gbps of data transfer capability. That connects to three USB-A ports and a single USB-C port with up to 15 watts of Power Delivery. However, the AW2725Q’s lower pricing partially excuses this decision, as the monitor’s MSRP is $200 less than most 27-inch 4K 240Hz QD-OLED monitors. I prefer to see USB-C in all high-end monitors, but I must admit that ditching USB-C to lower the price helps the AW2725Q stand out from the crowd. One port that’s absent is the 3.5mm audio-out jack. Most monitors have this connection to support audio pass-through, but the AW2725Q doesn’t. That means you’ll need to connect a headset directly to your desktop or laptop. Instead of 3.5mm audio-out, the AW2725Q provides eARC on one of its two HDMI ports. HDMI eARC can be used for audio alongside some home theater sound systems and soundbars. Alienware also says the eARC port works with Dolby Atmos (though I didn’t have a compatible device on had to try it with). Alienware AW2725Q menu and features The Alienware AW2725Q has an LED-lit power button that glows when the monitor is on. It’s an attractive and stylish feature, but the glow is dim enough that I didn’t find it distracting. Otherwise, the monitor’s features are accessed through a joystick centered behind the lower bezel. It’s responsive and Alienware’s menus are logically arranged, though I did find the font size a bit small. I’d encourage the company to use a larger, higher-contrast menu font to make the menu easier to see from a distance. Matthew Smith / Foundry You can entirely skip the on-screen menu, however, and instead use Alienware’s Command Center utility. It provides access to most monitor features. Many competitors (including Asus, MSI, Samsung, LG, and others) provide similar software, but Alienware’s utility is the most attractive of the lot. Image quality options are a bit limited. The monitor has gamma adjustment, but only in Creator mode. There’s also extensive color adjustment for hue, gain, and saturation, but only in Custom Color mode. And there’s no color temperature adjustment to speak of, aside from Warm and Cool modes, neither of which support gamma and color adjustment. The monitor also has a typical range of gaming-centric features including a timer, a frame rate counter, and a dark stabilizer which increases the brightness of dark scenes (so you can see foes). More unusually, it has a “display alignment” feature, which produces a grid that can be used to precisely align the display area with another monitor. The monitor also supports Alien Vision, a customizable mode that can be used to adjust the image in a specific portion of the display (it can zoom, for instance, or enhance sharpness and contrast). The AW2725Q doesn’t include speakers. That’s typical for a gaming monitor, as most assume owners will use their own headset or desktop speakers, but it’s something to keep in mind. Alienware AW2725Q SDR image quality The Alienware AW2725Q has a 27-inch 4K 240Hz QD-OLED panel from Samsung. This panel is found in a wide variety of competing monitors, such as the Asus ROG Swift OLED PG27UCDM and MSI MPG 272URX QD-OLED. Matthew Smith / Foundry First up is brightness and, well, there’s not much to comment on here. The AW2725Q was technically a hair brighter than its peers, but the gaps here are so narrow that they’re unnoticeable—especially among the monitors with QD-OLED panels (the LG has an LG WOLED panel). The AW2725Q’s brightness is much more than adequate for use in a room with light control (like shades or blinds), and I often used the monitor at less than 40 percent of its maximum brightness. However, shoppers planning to use the monitor in a room without light control and sunlit windows, or in a brightly lit office, may want to steer clear of OLED and look at higher-brightness LCD displays. Matthew Smith / Foundry Contrast is an advantage for OLED monitors including the Alienware AW2725Q. It can reach a minimum luminance of zero nits which, in turn, hugely boosts contrast and creates a more realistic, lifelike image. The difference between OLED and LCD is obvious, with the latter looking washed-out and flat by comparison. However, all modern OLED monitors achieve this level of performance. So, though excellent, contrast doesn’t give the AW2725Q an edge over its competition. Matthew Smith / Foundry The same is true of the monitor’s color gamut. The AW2725Q achieved 100 percent of sRGB, 98 percent of DCI-P3, and 92 percent of AdobeRGB. As the graph shows, these are fantastic figures and lead to a vibrant, highly saturated image that looks fantastic across a wide range of content. But other QD-OLED monitors achieve the same results. Matthew Smith / Foundry Color accuracy finally provides the AW2725Q a chance to separate itself from the crowd. The monitor achieves an average color error of less than one, which is excellent for any monitor. A color error this low is effectively indistinguishable, even for the most eagle-eyed viewers. Like other QD-OLED monitors, though, the AW2725Q’s good color gamut and accuracy are slightly soured by its gamma and color temperature performance. The monitor achieved a default gamma curve of 2.3, off the target of 2.2. This indicates content will appear a bit darker than ideal, and I did find the effect noticeable. Color temperature came in at 6200K, a bit warmer than the target of 6500K, and I again found this noticeable. The monitor’s on-screen menus can adjust these settings, though. Sharpness is excellent. The monitor’s pixel density works out to 166 pixels per inch. That’s much higher than a 27-inch 1440p monitor, which packs about 109 ppi. The improved pixel density provides a tack-sharp image that looks fantastic in 4K games and movies. Overall, the AW2725Q’s SDR image quality is both class-leading and typical for the category. The image quality of modern OLED monitors varies little between models, and the AW2725Q doesn’t buck that trend. The monitor’s SDR image quality is basically identical to other 4K QD-OLED monitors. In this case, though, that slightly works to the AW2725Q’s favor, because it’s less expensive than some of the alternatives. Alienware AW2725Q HDR image quality The Alienware AW2725Q is VESA DisplayHDR True Black certified. It supports HDR10 signals, which is typical, and Dolby Vision, which isn’t. The AW2725Q’s overall HDR performance is solid, though in line with competitors. Matthew Smith / Foundry As the graph shows, the AW2725Q basically tied the MSI MPG 272URX QD-OLED in peak brightness and achieved rather similar results across the board. A peak brightness of 935 nits is very good for an OLED monitor and much better than older models, which often landed in the range of 400 to 700 nits. However, while the monitor’s peak HDR brightness is excellent, brightness falls off quickly when larger portions of the display are lit. Improved brightness isn’t just about brilliance in dark scenes. It also helps reveal more detail in bright objects. Those which otherwise might look uniformly bright instead show detail. This becomes obvious in Interstellar’s “Gargantua” scene. The disk of gas swirling around the black hole looks rather uniform in SDR, and on less capable HDR displays, but shows swirling and bubbling clouds when viewed on the AW2725Q. Though it’s not perfect, the AW2725Q is a good choice for HDR and performs better than most monitors, including OLED competitors. Keep in mind, though, that competitors with the exact same 4K 240Hz QD-OLED panel (such as the MSI MPG 272URX QD-OLED and Asus ROG Swift OLED PG27UCDM) offer similar HDR. Alienware AW2725Q motion performance The Alienware AW2725Q’s 27-inch QD-OLED panel supports a maximum refresh rate of up to 240Hz. That’s the same as other new 4K QD-OLED monitors, but it remains an excellent refresh rate for modern games. Like other QD-OLED monitors, the AW2725Q delivers extraordinarily low pixel response times of just 0.03 milliseconds. This means pixels change state almost instantly, significantly reducing motion blur compared to traditional LCD panels which can’t match this performance. The combination of a 240Hz refresh rate with these exceptional response times results in outstanding motion clarity. During gameplay, fast-moving objects remain clearly visible, scrolling text maintains readability, and small interface elements (such as hitpoint bars in DOTA 2) stay legible even in motion. That’s not to say it’s the best motion clarity available. Some OLED models now reach up to 480Hz, and the improvement is noticeable. These monitors stick to 1440p resolution, however. While highly competitive gamers will want every Hz possible, most gamers will find 4K at 240Hz more useful than 1440p at 480Hz. Adaptive sync is supported as well with official support for both AMD FreeSync Premium Pro and Nvidia G-Sync. Nearly all modern monitors that support Adaptive Sync will also work with AMD FreeSync and Nvidia G-Sync, even if support isn’t listed. Even so, I like that Alienware makes this support official instead of leaving it up to users to find out. Should you buy the Alienware AW2725Q? Alienware’s AW2725Q is another excellent 4K 240Hz QD-OLED monitor. It provides fantastic image quality in SDR, good HDR, and attractive design with an ergonomic stand and numerous image quality adjustments. But Alienware did something clever: It slashed the price. The AW2725Q released at an MSRP of $899.99, while most competitors released at $1099.99. Alienware cuts a few corners to make this possible: most notably, the monitor lacks USB-C with DisplayPort, which is disappointing. Even so, it’s hard to argue with the monitor’s bang-for-the-buck. I’ve never thought of Alienware as a value brand but, in this case, it clearly undercuts the competition. Whether it’s right for you comes down to whether you need the USB-C port. If you do, the MSI MPG 272URX is the better choice. But if not, you can save some money with the AW2725Q. Read...

When DeepSeek-R1 released back in January, it was incredibly hyped up. This reasoning model could be distilled down to work with smaller large language models (LLMs) on consumer-grade laptops. If you believed the headlines, you’d think it’s now possible to run AI models that are competitive with ChatGPT right on your toaster. That just isn’t true, though. I tried running LLMs locally on a typical Windows laptop and the whole experience still kinda sucks. There are still a handful of problems that keep rearing their heads. Problem #1: Small LLMs are stupid Newer open LLMs often brag about big benchmark improvements, and that was certainly the case with DeepSeek-R1, which came close to OpenAI’s o1 in some benchmarks. But the model you run on your Windows laptop isn’t the same one that’s scoring high marks. It’s a much smaller, more condensed model—and smaller versions of large language models aren’t very smart. Just look at what happened when I asked DeepSeek-R1-Llama-8B how the chicken crossed the road: Matt Smith / Foundry This simple question—and the LLM’s rambling answer—shows how smaller models can easily go off the rails. They frequently fail to notice context or pick up on nuances that should seem obvious. In fact, recent research suggests that less intelligent large language models with reasoning capabilities are prone to such faults. I recently wrote about the issue of overthinking in AI reasoning models and how they lead to increased computational costs. I’ll admit that the chicken example is a silly one. How about we try a more practical task? Like coding a simple website in HTML. I created a fictional resume using Anthropic’s Claude 3.7 Sonnet, then asked Qwen2.5-7B-Instruct to create a HTML website based on the resume. The results were far from great: Matt Smith / Foundry To be fair, it’s better than what I could create if you sat me down at a computer without an internet connection and asked me to code a similar website. Still, I don’t think most people would want to use this resume to represent themselves online. A larger and smarter model, like Anthropic’s Claude 3.7 Sonnet, can generate a higher quality website. I could still criticize it, but my issues would be more nuanced and less to do with glaring flaws. Unlike Qwen’s output, I expect a lot of people would be happy using the website Claude created to represent themselves online. And, for me, that’s not speculation. That’s actually what happened. Several months ago, I ditched WordPress and switched to a simple HTML website that was coded by Claude 3.5 Sonnet. Problem #2: Local LLMs need lots of RAM OpenAI’s CEO Sam Altman is constantly chin-wagging about the massive data center and infrastructure investments required to keep AI moving forward. He’s biased, of course, but he’s right about one thing: the largest and smartest large language models, like GPT-4, do require data center hardware with compute and memory far beyond that of even the most extravagant consumer PCs. And it isn’t just limited to the best large language models. Even smaller and dumber models can still push a modern Windows laptop to its limits, with RAM often being the greatest limiter of performance. Matt Smith / Foundry The “size” of a large language model is measured by its parameters, where each parameter is a distinct variable used by the model to generate output. In general, more parameters mean smarter output—but those parameters need to be stored somewhere, so adding parameters to a model increases its storage and memory requirements. Smaller LLMs with 7 or 8 billion parameters tend to weigh in at 4.5 to 5 GB. That’s not huge, but the entire model must be loaded into memory (i.e., RAM) and sit there for as long as the model is in use. That’s a big chunk of RAM to reserve for a single piece of software. While it’s technically possible to run an AI model with 7 billion parameters on a laptop with 16GB of RAM, you’ll more realistically need 32GB (unless the LLM is the only piece of software you’ll have opened). Even the Surface Laptop 7 that I use to test local LLMs, which has 32GB of RAM, can run out of available memory if I have a video editing app or several dozen browser tabs open while the AI model is active. Problem #3: Local LLMs are awfully slow Configuring a Windows laptop with more RAM might seem like an easy (though expensive) solution to Problem #2. If you do that, however, you’ll run straight into another issue: modern Windows laptops lack the compute performance required by LLMs. I experienced this problem with the HP Elitebook X G1a, a speedy laptop with an AMD Ryzen AI processor that includes capable integrated graphics and an integrated neural processing unit. It also has 64GB of RAM, so I was able to load Llama 3.3 with 70 billion parameters (which eats up about 40GB of memory). The fictional resume HTML generation took 66.61 seconds to first token and an additional 196.7 seconds for the rest. That’s significantly slower than, say, ChatGPT.Matt Smith / Foundry Yet even with that much memory, Llama 3.3-70B still wasn’t usable. Sure, I could technically load it, but it could only output 1.68 tokens per second. (It takes about 1 to 3 tokens per word in a text reply, so even a short reply can take a minute or more to generate.) More powerful hardware could certainly help, but it’s not a simple solution. There’s currently no universal API that can run all LLMs on all hardware, so it’s often not possible to properly tap into all the compute resources available on a laptop. Problem #4: LM Studio, Ollama, GPT4All are no match for ChatGPT Everything I’ve complained about up to this point could theoretically be improved with hardware and APIs that make it easier for LLMs to utilize a laptop’s compute resources. But even if all that were to fall into place, you’d still have to wrestle with the unintuitive software. By software, I mean the interface used to communicate with these LLMs. Many options exist, including LM Studio, Ollama, and GPT4All. They’re free and impressive—GPT4All is surprisingly easy—but they just aren’t as capable or easy-to-use as ChatGPT, Anthropic, and other leaders. Managing and selecting local LLMs using LM Studio is far less intuitive than loading up a mainstream AI chatbot like ChatGPT, Copilot, or Claude.Matt Smith / Foundry Plus, local LLMs are less likely to be multimodal, meaning most of them can’t work with images or audio. Most LLM interfaces support some form of RAG to let you “talk” with documents, but context windows tend to be small and document support is often limited. Local LLMs also lack the cutting-edge features of larger online-only LLMs, like OpenAI’s Advanced Voice Mode and Claude’s Artifacts. I’m not trying to throw shade at local LLM software. The leading options are rather good, plus they’re free. But the honest truth is that it’s hard for free software to keep up with rich tech giants—and it shows. Solutions are coming, but it’ll be a long time before they get here The biggest problem of all is that there’s currently no way to solve any of the above problems. RAM is going to be an issue for a while. As of this writing, the most powerful Windows laptops top out at 128GB of RAM. Meanwhile, Apple just released the M3 Ultra, which can support up to 512GB of unified memory (but you’ll pay at least $9,499 to snag it). Compute performance faces bottlenecks, too. A laptop with an RTX 4090 (soon to be superseded by the RTX 5090) might look like the best option for running an LLM—and maybe it is—but you still have to load the LLM into the GPU’s memory. An RTX 5090 will offer 24GB of GDDR7 memory, which is relatively a lot but still limited and only able to support AI models up to around 32 billion parameters (like QwQ 32B). Even if you ignore the hardware limitations, it’s unclear if software for running locally hosted LLMs will keep up with cloud-based subscription services. (Paid software for running local LLMs is a thing but, as far as I’m aware, only in the enterprise market.) For local LLMs to catch up with their cloud siblings, we’ll need software that’s easy to use and frequently updated with features close to what cloud services provide. These problems will probably be fixed with time. But if you’re thinking about trying a local LLM on your laptop right now, don’t bother. It’s fun and novel but far from productive. I still recommend sticking with online-only models like GPT-4.5 and Claude 3.7 Sonnet for now. Further reading: I paid $200/mo for ChatGPT Pro so you don’t have to Read...