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| PC World - 25 Jun (PC World)At a glanceExpert`s Rating
ProsHot-swap magnetic switchesGreat new programming toolTypical Keychron qualityConsNo game-specific profilesOnly three compatible switches, all linearWireless wake function is iffyNo adjustable feetOur VerdictDespite an impressive technical achievement with hot-swap adjustable actuation and great new programming software, the Q1 HE’s lack of switch choices and game profile settings mean its appeal is extremely limited. You can get better customization or better actuation options elsewhere.
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Keychron is one of my go-to recommendations for keyboards. The company makes a ton of high-end mechanical boards that are both accessible and customizable, at a price well below those of the competition. With its apparent desire to fill every single possible niche, it was inevitable that the company would try its hand at adjustable actuation. So here we are with the Q1 HE.
The Q1 HE is a keyboard with magnetic hall-effect switches, meaning you can adjust the point at which they activate — how hard or soft you need to press the keys. It’s also the first adjustable actuation keyboard on the market with hot-swap switch sockets, something I’ve previously said is essential. That’s an impressive milestone, and the Q1 HE keeps up Keychron’s great build and feature set.
But because of the lack of options for switches, and a lack of one crucial feature for gamers, I’m not sold on this design. The Q1 HE does do what it says on the box, but its advantages over the Q1 Max are slight, and you give up a much wider selection for customization. It only makes sense for a tiny sliver of potential buyers.
Further reading: See our roundup of the best mechanical keyboards to learn about competing products.
Keychron Q1 HE design and features
From the outside the Q1 HE looks more or less like every Keychron Q keyboard, just with a snazzy red accent for the Enter and Escape keys. If you’ve been following the keyboard world for the last couple of years, you know the look: 75 percent layout, high-profile keycaps, big chunky aluminum case, and a volume knob. It ain’t broke, and Keychron ain’t fixing it.
Michael Crider/Foundry
Michael Crider/Foundry
Michael Crider/Foundry
I’ll spare you the breakdown of all of Keychron’s features, and just say that the HE has everything that the Q Max series (which I’ve already reviewed) does. That includes the above metal case and knob, plus:
High-profile PBT keycaps
Hot-swap switch sockets
RGB lighting
Multiple internal layers of foam and padding
Triple-device Bluetooth
2.4GHz wireless dongle with 1,000Hz polling mode
Screw-in stabilizers
Gasket mount PCB
Programming with QMK and the Keychron web tool
It’s hitting all the right notes for a high-priced mechanical keyboard. Purists might bemoan Keychron’s gasket quality and stabilizers compared to boutique designs. But we’re talking about a relatively small subset of users who will either build their own keyboard, or pay someone else $400+ to do it. For a high-quality, customizable board you get out of a box, Keychron remains damn hard to beat.
The big differentiator in the HE model is those magnetic switches, allowing for adjustable actuation. For why this is important (and why you might care about it), check out my breakdown of adjustable actuation keyboards. Tl;dr, you can adjust how hard or light you need to press each key, which gives you one more degree of customization, and opens up some interesting options for the most demanding PC gamers.
Michael Crider/Foundry
Michael Crider/Foundry
Michael Crider/Foundry
Keychron takes this feature one step further than competitors like Razer, Corsair, and Wooting by adding in the option to swap out the switches. Adjustable actuation is complex whether you’re doing it with light or magnets, so previous designs simply omitted this option. On the Q1 HE, like most of Keychron’s premium designs, you can remove the switches in every socket and install alternatives.
But there’s a pretty big caveat here. Due to the way these magnetic switches work, they’re still incompatible with switches that use the standard Cherry MX format and far simpler electrical circuits. So while you can swap them out, you can’t replace them with almost any other switch on the market. At the time of writing the Gateron Nebula purple switches can only be replaced with other Gateron switches conforming to this specific standard, with just two other choices: Dawn yellow and Aurora green. All three choices are linear, pre-lubed switches with the only difference being their spring stiffness. So if you want a clicky or tactile switch in this board, you’re out of luck.
The pink switch is a standard electrical key switch, the purple is a hot-swap magnetic switch. They’re not compatible with each other. Right: the tiny magnet on the bottom of the switch stem.
The pink switch is a standard electrical key switch, the purple is a hot-swap magnetic switch. They’re not compatible with each other. Right: the tiny magnet on the bottom of the switch stem. Michael Crider/Foundry
The pink switch is a standard electrical key switch, the purple is a hot-swap magnetic switch. They’re not compatible with each other. Right: the tiny magnet on the bottom of the switch stem. Michael Crider/Foundry
Michael Crider/Foundry
Granted, that’s two more choices for switches than you get on any other adjustable actuation keyboard. But it’s an extremely specific and still limited option. Gateron may make more switches in this series in the future, but at the moment the biggest differentiator between the Keychron Q1 HE and its competition is barely a difference at all. Fortunately the switch stems are still standard, so custom keycaps will work just fine.
How is the Q1 HE for typing and gaming?
As I said earlier, the Q1 HE is almost identical to the Q1 Max, and that means it’s a very good keyboard. The fit and finish for this hunk of heavy metal is as good as anything else on the market, and its expanded wireless options (Bluetooth for flexibility, 2.4GHz USB dongle for reliability and speed) mean it’ll fit into just about anyone’s workflow. The 1,000Hz wireless option with the dongle even makes it suitable for gaming, though it doesn’t boast the same customization options as a dedicated gaming keyboard.
Using the Q1 HE as my primary board for a few weeks left me with no complaints…except two. One, Keychron’s big flagship designs still don’t have adjustable feet. You’re stuck with the same typing angle for all of them, and it’s a bit lower than I prefer. I’ve taken to buying these stick-on rubber feet specifically to alleviate Keychron’s deficiency. Other all-metal designs have feet options, and dammit, I’m tired of telling Keychron that they’re missing out here.
Pictured: a complete lack of adjustable feet. On a $220 keyboard. Boo.
Pictured: a complete lack of adjustable feet. On a $220 keyboard. Boo.Michael Crider/Foundry
Pictured: a complete lack of adjustable feet. On a $220 keyboard. Boo.Michael Crider/Foundry
Michael Crider/Foundry
The other quirk of the HE versus the Max series is that it appears to be very power-hungry, presumably because all those magnetic sensors are suckin’ down juice. To address this, Keychron made the HE particularly aggressive in terms of battery saving for wireless mode. While Max keyboards will automatically wake up with any key press, the HE needs you to press and hold the space bar for a second or so if you leave it unattended for 30 minutes or more.
This can be finicky, and it feels like about half the time the keyboard just won’t wake up. This meant I needed to toggle the wireless switch to “Cable” and back to dongle mode in order to reboot and reconnect. I updated the firmware twice in the course of this review, and the problem persists, forcing me to do this cumbersome move two or three times a day. It’s a drag.
Get used to switching the right toggle a lot, because this keyboard’s battery wake function is all outta whack.
Get used to switching the right toggle a lot, because this keyboard’s battery wake function is all outta whack. Michael Crider/Foundry
Get used to switching the right toggle a lot, because this keyboard’s battery wake function is all outta whack. Michael Crider/Foundry
Michael Crider/Foundry
Other than that, the typing and user experience on the HE is excellent. It’s notably stiffer than other Keychron boards — either the gaskets aren’t as springy or the magnetic sensors are really weighing down the PCB. But that doesn’t really affect things for me, and the smooth, lubed switches are above average, as are the latest revisions in the stabilizers.
Note that because of the metal case and linear switches, the Q1 HE is pretty noisy as mechanical keyboards go, even though it has internal foam padding. And with only three extremely similar linear switch choices, there’s no way to go with a “silent” switch upgrade. If you’re concerned about disturbing others around you with typing noise, this isn’t the keyboard for you…though neither are any of the other adjustable actuation boards on the market.
New software
One of Keychron’s signature features is compatibility with QMK and VIA tools for programming. The Q1 HE still works with QMK, the more finicky and difficult option. But in place of VIA, Keychron now has its own self-branded tool available via the browser. In an impressive show of backwards compatibility, it should also work with most of the programmable keyboards they’ve released in the last few years, as well. I tried it out with my own personal K9 Pro, and it booted right up even without a firmware upgrade.
Keychron’s new browser-based programming tool is more straightforward than VIA, and works with older models too.
Keychron’s new browser-based programming tool is more straightforward than VIA, and works with older models too.
Keychron
Keychron’s new browser-based programming tool is more straightforward than VIA, and works with older models too.
Keychron
Keychron
Keychron’s self-branded tool is good. It hits all the necessary points that VIA does, without the somewhat cumbersome need to import a custom profile (if the board isn’t already in VIA’s database). It’s also more straightforward, immediately applying changes as they’re made over a wired connection. And once identified, it dynamically added the “HE Mode” menu relevant to the Q1 HE’s adjustable actuation.
Keychron
Keychron
Keychron
This includes setting custom actuation distance, short or deep, for keys individually or in groups. You get all the usual goodies: rapid trigger mode, analog-style input for individual keys, and the option to activate multiple keys or macros at different depths. In fact Keychron enables four different functions on one key, if you somehow have the superhuman dexterity to precisely depress a 4mm switch to that many places.
It’s easy, it works, and it’s straightforward. Overall, it’s a great addition to Keychron’s products. So it’s a shame that in one particular area, it doesn’t go far enough.
Not enough for gamers
The Keychron Q1 HE’s box advertises it as a keyboard “for peak gaming experience.” The website mentions gaming five times, including competitive gaming. And it makes sense. While normal users might appreciate the ability to adjust how light or hard you need to press your keys, the real benefits are for gamers, and gamers who are far more intense and customize to a much deeper degree than most of us.
Michael Crider/Foundry
Michael Crider/Foundry
Michael Crider/Foundry
So I have to evaluate the Q1 HE as a gaming keyboard. And even with the great new programming tool, it falls at the same hurdle as Keychron’s Lemokey L3: There’s no way to assign per-game custom profiles or activate them upon game launch. Keychron representatives tell me this feature is in the works, but I’m not sure it’s even possible with a web-only programming tool. And as always, I can only review the hardware in the state it’s in at the time — a product can’t get extra credit for what it might be later.
The tool does give you three different profiles to customize, but they need to be manually selected in the browser. This might be enough for most gamers, but that lack of auto-launching functionality inevitably makes it less useful than competing gaming keyboards. And you still need to have the Q1 HE connected via USB to use the tool, undermining its excellent wireless features.
Should you buy the Keychron Q1 HE?
As I wrap up my time with the Q1 HE, I find it difficult to recommend for almost all users. For anyone who wants a high-end mechanical keyboard, the Q1 Max (or any of the Max series keyboards) will offer all of the same features minus adjustable actuation, at a slightly lower price. And they’re compatible wth hundreds and hundreds of different Cherry MX-style switches, not just three interchangeable linear-only options.
If you really do want that adjustable actuation function, it’s available elsewhere, with software that includes the crucial ability to set and auto-launch per-game custom profiles. The only way Keychron beats out offerings from Razer and the like is in its excellent wireless setup. Only SteelSeries also offers adjustable actuation in a wireless package, and it’s not a particularly good one…but it can still handle different game profiles.
Michael Crider/Foundry
Michael Crider/Foundry
Michael Crider/Foundry
So the vast majority of people interested in the Q1 HE should go for either a Q Max keyboard, or Razer’s Huntsman V3 Analog at around the same price. Only if you love Keychron’s premium designs, want adjustable actuation, you’re okay with only three switch choices (at the moment), and you’re okay with just one layout setting most of the time, does the Q1 HE make sense versus the alternatives.
Between that tiny slice of potential users and the annoying battery and wake issues, the Q1 HE is a rare miss for Keychron. I hope they can bring both this and their other gaming-focused boards up in the future.
Keyboards Read...Newslink ©2024 to PC World | ![](/n.gif) |
| ![](/n.gif) | | PC World - 25 Jun (PC World)You could once count on privacy as given. Even when PCs first became widespread in homes, they could serve as tools for this purpose. You could anonymously answer your most embarrassing questions using a digital encyclopedia or early online database.
But as internet usage rose, control over our personal information began to plummet. Now we’ve reached a stage where no one has complete say in the details shared about us—and more and more, tech products and services don’t just spill the beans, but they’re also digging deeper into our lives.
Further reading: Best VPN services 2024: Top picks for speed, price, privacy, and more
Take Microsoft Recall—a new feature with the potential to save hours of headache. When active, Windows captures screenshots of everything you do, then leans on AI to comb through that data when you want to find the recipe you looked at last week, or a message your coworker sent a few months ago. Essentially your PC surveils you, but for your benefit. And as announced, Microsoft Recall was on by default (for compatible PCs) and stored the data in a way that could’ve still allowed hackers to see all your activity if your system gets compromised. (Make sure you’re always running an active antivirus, folks.)
After fierce blowback, Microsoft quickly retooled Recall. The company set it to be off by default, required Windows Hello for use, and switched to decrypting the files only when accessed (aka just-in-time decryption). The speed of response was commendable, but also suggested Recall could have been announced in this incarnation from the start.
Microsoft Recall in action, as shown at Build 2024.
Microsoft Recall in action, as shown at Build 2024.Microsoft
Microsoft Recall in action, as shown at Build 2024.Microsoft
Microsoft
And so I’ve wanted to know why that didn’t happen—especially given how AirTags showed the dangerous ways that tracking technology can be used. Microsoft had the opportunity to learn from Apple’s slow reaction to the use of AirTags for stalking and then layer in the extensive knowledge it already has about online threats and data security. It chose not to.
Thirty years ago, the buoyant optimism of technology made sense. The world was less interconnected; access to the internet was new. Innovation could focus on the best-case scenarios. Much like small towns where front doors can be left unlocked, you could release fresh features with little concern that someone was going to exploit them.
Times have changed. I know the big tech companies are aware, as I’ve spoken to several recently about security. I’ve also talked with them about their efforts to broaden the voices at their tables and include more viewpoints. But inclusion isn’t just identity, but a diversity of experiences too. And either the design teams are lacking wide perspective or it’s being overridden, and that’s a shame.
Tempering optimism with realism doesn’t make for a weaker product. It broadens the appeal. Personally, I’m much more likely to try Microsoft Recall in its current form (whenever it launches, anyway). If a company takes clear steps to show they truly understand all the nefarious ways a technology can be used and have added in protections, I’m far more likely to try it.
Sometimes, it feels like the internet is now a sprawling metropolis—a place where you not only have to lock your front door, but sometimes add an iron gate in front of it (and perhaps over your bottom-floor windows, too). Any tech product or service that even touches on that connectivity is like a car that gets you around. But the people selling those cars don’t seem to listen when city folk tell them to empty their interiors before parking. Instead, they just add a steering wheel lock and are surprised when no one wants a car with broken glass.
Further reading: Windows includes built-in ransomware protections. Here’s how to turn it on
Security Software and Services, Windows Read...Newslink ©2024 to PC World | ![](/n.gif) |
| ![](/n.gif) | | PC World - 24 Jun (PC World)With tweaking tools such as WingetUI or Microsoft PC Manager, you can not only improve settings in Windows 10/11, but also fix problems. This often works faster and more effectively than with manual changes to the registry or other system files.
get windows 11 pro for cheap
Windows 11 Pro
In this article, we will show you some of the best tweaking tools currently available for Windows, which are also available free of charge. Some of the tools are portable, i.e. you do not need to install them, but can simply start them, even from USB sticks.
Further reading: Supercharge Windows with Microsoft’s free PowerToys
NetAdapter Repair – fix network problems
If Windows can no longer communicate properly with the network or the internet, the open source tool NetAdapter Repair is an ideal tool. Once started, various buttons are available to repair individual areas in Windows that are causing problems with the network.
Inexperienced users in particular can use it to fix problems that otherwise only experienced users would dare to tackle. In addition to simpler problems, such as deleting the DNS cache, retrieving a new IP address, or cleaning up the hosts file, you can also repair VPN settings, reset the Windows firewall, and much more.
The routing table can also be repaired in this area. It’s also possible to select and start several tasks at once at this point. The “Run All Selected” button is available for this purpose. To be able to perform all actions, you should start NetAdapter Repair with admin rights. On the right-hand side, you can also see the external IP address of the internet access and the IP settings of the computer.
Thomas Joos
Thomas Joos
Thomas Joos
The tool therefore provides information on the network settings and the option to rectify errors at the same time.
Microsoft PC Manager helps to clean up Windows
With the free Microsoft PC Manager tool, users can very easily clean up and optimize their PC and search for errors.
The tool can perform a health check and a deep cleanup. Autostart programs can also be cleaned up. The tool also helps to block pop-ups and much more.
Thomas Joos
Thomas Joos
Thomas Joos
PC Manager helps to clean up the system and can delete files that are no longer needed.
AutoPowerOptionsOK and saving energy
The small AutoPowerOptionsOK tool helps with the management and use of power options. The tool extends the standard options and integrates itself directly into the tray area of the taskbar. The tool can be used to access the Windows energy settings and further options are available via the context menu.
AutoPowerOptionsOK
AutoPowerOptionsOK
AutoPowerOptionsOK
AutoPowerOptionsOK is therefore an ideal tool for notebooks or for computers where optimum power settings are important.
Winaero Tweaker is the top dog
WinaeroTweaker is one of the best-known tweaking tools on the market and can change a whole host of settings in Windows. Winaero Tweaker can also be extracted as a portable version during installation. The tool supports numerous settings that can be implemented with just a few clicks. In addition to Windows 10 and Windows 11, Winaero Tweaker can also customize settings in Windows 7 and Windows 8.1.
Winaero Tweaker enables the activation of complete context menus without the entry “Show more options” and the restoration of the classic taskbar and ribbon design in File Explorer. In addition, the position and size of the taskbar can be changed, all background apps can be deactivated simultaneously, and there are shortcut tools to start applications as an administrator without UAC confirmation or to open system folders and settings directly.
Users can create shortcuts to the classic shutdown dialogue and remove unwanted overlay icons from shortcuts. The tool makes it possible to restore the classic search in File Explorer, use the classic Windows photo indicator and the classic volume control, and permanently deactivate Windows telemetry, Windows Defender, and Windows Update.
Thomas Joos
Thomas Joos
Thomas Joos
Adverts and unwanted apps can be blocked, the integrated administrator account can be activated, and automatic registry backups can be set up. Further adjustments relate to drag-and-drop sensitivity, deactivating notifications, and the Action Center as well as resetting the icon cache and all Group Policy options. Network options, such as changing the RDP port and making network drives accessible to elevated applications, are also available.
Customization of the Windows interface includes personalizing folders in Explorer, increasing taskbar transparency, displaying seconds in the taskbar clock, and disabling blurring on the logon screen. Winaero Tweaker also allows you to add useful context menus, hide unwanted entries, and customize default apps for image editing contexts.
These comprehensive functions make Winaero Tweaker an indispensable tool for in-depth customization and optimization of Windows systems.
TweakPower – The Windows Cleaner
Another tweaking tool for Windows is TweakPower. After installation, numerous setting options are also available here. The tool primarily helps with cleaning up Windows and optimizing the operating system.
TweakPower
TweakPower
TweakPower
TweakPower can be used to replace system and desktop icons, optimize network properties and memory, and adjust drive and security settings. The program allows you to clean the hard drive, split and encrypt files, and delete data irrevocably. Users can customize Windows to their liking by changing settings for the system, input devices, drives, and applications.
They can also customize the appearance of Windows by changing colors, icons, the Start menu, and other visual elements. TweakPower tidies up your PC by removing unnecessary files, cleaning the registry, and deleting internet traces. The security features protect the PC by managing firewall settings, automatic updates, and user account control.
Data can be securely deleted and encrypted to protect privacy. Economy Mode reduces power consumption and extends battery life, while Game Mode disables unnecessary processes to improve performance when gaming and streaming.
System maintenance includes managing autostart programs, fixing hard drive errors and typical Windows problems, and creating restore points and backups. Add-ons such as the file splitter and the defragmentation function improve file management and system performance, while the Task Manager provides control over active programs. The performance index evaluates the computer’s hardware components and displays the overall performance.
TweakPower supports multiple languages and is compatible with different versions of Windows, making it a valuable tool for system optimization.
Improve data protection in Windows 10/11
Windows 10 and Windows 11 are data octopuses when it comes to data protection. The small, free tool W10Privacy puts an end to snooping with just one click. The tool can also be used as a portable version during installation. Some virus scanners report a false-positive malware infection of the tool, mainly Microsoft Defender. However, if you download W10Privacy from the developer’s website, you will not catch a virus.
get windows 11 pro for cheap
Windows 11 Pro
Consumer Electronics Read...Newslink ©2024 to PC World | ![](/n.gif) |
| ![](/n.gif) | | PC World - 24 Jun (PC World)At a glanceExpert`s Rating
ProsGood budget build qualityPlenty of RAM and storageDecent display for the priceConsCPU performance doesn’t impressIntegrated GPU is way behind the packKeyboard could be better, lacks backlightShips with Windows 11 Home S enabledOur VerdictThe Acer Aspire 3 cuts performance to the bone as it limbos below a $500 MSRP.
Budget Windows laptops in crisis.
Buying a laptop for $500 is as easy as ever in 2024, but most that dart beneath that price do it with outdated processors that come paired with truly terrible integrated GPUs.
The Acer Aspire 3 exemplifies the problem. It’s a capable laptop for basic tasks. But if you can stretch your budget to $700 or $800, you can snag a laptop that’s at least twice as quick and a much better value for your money.
Looking for more options? Check out PCWorld’s roundup of the best laptops under $500.
Acer Aspire 3: Specs and features
The Acer Aspire 3’s most prominent specification is the AMD Ryzen 5 7520U processor. It’s a relatively basic AMD CPU with a total of four processor cores and eight threads as well as a cut-back version of Radeon integrated graphics.
CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 7520U
Memory: 16GB LPDDR5
Graphics/GPU: AMD Radeon 610M
Display: 15.6-inch 1920×1080 IPS non-touch 60Hz
Storage: 1TB PCIe Gen 4 solid state drive
Webcam: 720p with dual-mic array
Connectivity: 1x HDMI, 1x USB 3.2 Type-A, 1x USB Type-C, 3.5mm combo audio, barrel plug power adapter
Networking: Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.1
Biometrics: None
Battery capacity: 50 watt-hours
Dimensions: 14.3 x 9.4 x 0.79 inches
Weight: 3.8 pounds
MSRP: $499.99
Acer doesn’t skimp on memory or storage, as the Aspire 3 has 16 gigabytes of memory and a terabyte of PCIe Gen 4 SSD storage. Many competitors, including Lenovo, Dell, and HP, offer similar RAM and storage for around the same price, but it’s still good to see these specifications aren’t sacrificed to stay below the five-hundred-dollar price point.
Acer Aspire 3: Design and build quality
IDG / Matthew Smith
IDG / Matthew Smith
IDG / Matthew Smith
The design of Acer’s Aspire lineup is well-established, with a basic silver-on-silver that lacks distinctive badging, patterns, or textures. It’s boring, to be honest, but that’s not unusual for a budget laptop.
Plastic is the material of choice, but the laptop is reasonably stiff and rigid. The display doesn’t show much flex when it’s opened and it feels rigid when moving it in and out of a backpack. It’s not an Apple MacBook or Razer Blade, but the Acer Aspire 3 feels well put together, especially for the price.
Unfortunately, the Aspire 3 I received rattled when the laptop was picked up and even when typing on the keyboard. The culprit seemed to be a spring or component near the touchpad. It’s not a functional problem, but did make the laptop feel a bit cheaper than it otherwise would have.
On the plus side, the Aspire 3 is portable for a budget 15.6-inch laptop. It’s a bit wide at 14.3 inches but only 0.79 inches thick and weighs a mere 3.8 pounds. It can easily fit in most bags meant to accommodate a laptop, and it’s light enough that it won’t feel tiring to haul around campus or between meetings.
Acer Aspire 3: Keyboard, trackpad
IDG / Matthew Smith
IDG / Matthew Smith
IDG / Matthew Smith
A spacious keyboard, which includes a number pad, stretches across the Acer Aspire 3’s interior. It has plenty of room to provide large keys, except for the left-side tab, caps lock, and shift keys, which are slightly undersized. The numpad keys are shaved down a hair but remain comfortable and easy to find.
Key feel is mixed. There’s enough travel for a good tactile sensation, but I found the action of each key was a tad too springy, and the rattle I mentioned earlier gave the keyboard an unpleasant sound.
A keyboard backlight is absent, making the laptop difficult to use in dimly lit rooms. While not unusual for a laptop around $500, this is a price point where keyboard backlights are available, and it would’ve been a nice feature to include.
The touchpad is a highlight, measuring over 5 inches wide and about 3 inches deep. It can’t compare to the size of touchpads on more expensive laptops but provides enough room for Windows’ multi-touch gestures. It also felt responsive and didn’t pick up any unintended inputs during my time with the laptop.
Acer Aspire 3: Display, audio
IDG / Matthew Smith
IDG / Matthew Smith
IDG / Matthew Smith
Acer ships the Aspire 3 with a non-touch IPS display boasting a resolution of 1920×1080. It’s an acceptable display though, perhaps unsurprisingly, far from the best available.
The display makes a good first impression. Spreading 1080p resolution across a 15.6-inch display works out to a pixel density of 141 pixels per inch. A 27-inch 4K monitor has 163 pixels per inch, so the Acer’s display isn’t far behind and, in many cases, will look just as sharp. It’s also fairly bright with a maximum measured brightness of 324 nits. That could be higher, to be sure, but it’s acceptable for a budget laptop.
However, the Aspire falls back in color performance and contrast. It can look dull or washed-out, especially when viewing darker movies and games, like The Batman or Resident Evil 4. It’s also not the best choice for content creation due to both its resolution and color performance. Video and photo editors, digital artists, and other creative workers are going to need to buy a more expensive laptop.
But it’s difficult to find a better display at this price. The display is comfortable to use for hours at a time in both brightly and dimly lit rooms. That’s not a high bar, but it’s one not all budget laptops can jump. The Acer Aspire 3 is up to the task.
The built-in speakers, on the other hand, are inadequate. They’re not loud even at maximum volume and often sound muddy or unclear, especially when bass is required. They also fire downward, which means audio performance worsens if the laptop is placed on a surface that absorbs sound (like, say, your lap). It’s not a great experience.
Acer Aspire 3: Webcam, microphone, biometrics
A basic 720p webcam is squeezed into the Acer Aspire 3’s top bezel, and it’s bad. The webcam’s image quality is fuzzy, dull, and lacks both contrast and color. None of this is unusual for an inexpensive 720p webcam, but it remains a huge step down from the 1080p webcams that are now common in more expensive laptops. It’s ok for casual video calls, but that’s about it.
The microphone performs better. It picks up good volume and filters out some annoying background noise, like the sound of a space heater or a dog barking outside. Recorded dialogue tends to sound distant and tinny, so I wouldn’t recommend recording a podcast, but the microphone is more than adequate for most voice and video calls.
Biometrics login isn’t available on the Acer Aspire 3. That’s not a surprise, as nearly all laptops sold below $600 omit this feature.
Acer Aspire 3: Connectivity
IDG / Matthew Smith
IDG / Matthew Smith
IDG / Matthew Smith
The Acer Aspire 3’s connectivity, though basic, should be enough for most people. It has two USB-A 3.2 Gen 1 ports and one USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 port. The USB-C port also supports DisplayPort and USB-C Power Delivery, so it can be used to connect a monitor and/or charge the laptop (Acer doesn’t ship the laptop with a USB-C charger, however, and instead uses an old-school barrel plug). A 3.5mm combo audio jack and HDMI 2.1 port rounds out the options.
That covers most devices a typical owner will want to connect. The only port missing is Ethernet, which is a shame, because there’s enough room on the laptop’s flanks to accommodate it. Ethernet connections are possible, but you’ll need to use a USB-C to Ethernet adapter or a USB-C hub with an Ethernet port.
Wireless connectivity is a bit behind the curve. The laptop supports Wi-Fi 6, which is now a couple generations out of date; Wi-Fi 6E and Wi-Fi 7 can offer better performance. Bluetooth 5.2 is available, too.
Acer Aspire 3: Performance
The Acer Aspire 3 is powered by AMD’s Ryzen 5 7520U, an entry-level mobile processor launched in September of 2022. Its modest specifications include four processor cores, eight threads, and a maximum boost clock of 4.3GHz. It also has a rather low default thermal design power of 15 watts. None of this is great news for the laptop’s performance.
IDG / Matthew Smith
IDG / Matthew Smith
IDG / Matthew Smith
PCMark 10, a generalized system benchmark, puts the Acer Aspire 3 off to a lackluster start with a score of 4,115. That’s not great, as it positions the Acer Aspire 3 far behind many other laptops we’ve tested recently.
Clearly, the step down from a laptop with a current generation mid-range mobile SoC (like the Intel Core Ultra 5 125H or AMD Ryzen 7 8840HS) to the older AMD Ryzen 5 7520U is steep.
IDG / Matthew Smith
IDG / Matthew Smith
IDG / Matthew Smith
Cinebench, a heavily multithreaded short-duration CPU benchmark, puts the Acer Aspire 3 in an even less favorable position. Core count is important in this test, so it’s not surprising to see the quad-core Ryzen 5 7520U fall behind more expensive alternatives with at least twice as many cores.
Intel’s Core i3-N305 is the only recently tested processor that’s slower. It’s actually an eight-core CPU, but doesn’t support hyperthreading and relies entirely on Intel’s Alder Lake E-Cores, which aren’t nearly as quick as the P-Cores found in more expensive Intel processors.
Still, this again is a steep step down. It suggests that laptops priced around $800 to $1,200 are more than twice as quick in bursty multi-threaded workloads, which brings the Aspire 3’s value into question.
IDG / Matthew Smith
IDG / Matthew Smith
IDG / Matthew Smith
Handbrake, a heavily multithreaded long-duration CPU benchmark, doesn’t change the story. The Ryzen 5 7520U is much, much slower than more modern Intel Core Ultra and AMD Ryzen 8000-series CPUs.
IDG / Matthew Smith
IDG / Matthew Smith
IDG / Matthew Smith
Next we get into graphics performance—and this is where the Acer Aspire 3’s stumble turns into a gnarly face-plant.
The AMD Ryzen 5 7520U has Radeon 610M integrated graphics with just two (yes, two!) graphics cores. By comparison, the new AMD Ryzen 7 8840HS has Radeon 780M graphics with 12 graphics cores.
The Acer Aspire 3’s IGP severely underperforms most laptops we’ve tested in the last few years, aside from those with similar entry-level AMD Ryzen 3 and Ryzen 5 processors. Even the Acer Aspire Go 15, which has a cut-down version of Intel’s aged UHD Graphics, scores a small victory over the Aspire 3 in 3DMark’s Time Spy benchmark.
While the Aspire 3’s CPU and integrated GPU fail to impress, the laptop offers 16GB of RAM and a 1TB solid state drive. That’s a lot of capacity for a $500 laptop, and it goes a long way towards making the laptop feel snappy and useful in typical day-to-day use. Despite its lackluster performance, it often feels as quick as far more expensive laptops—if you stick with less demanding applications like web browsers and office suites.
Acer Aspire 3: Battery life
At a glance, the Acer Aspire 3’s mediocre performance would seem to hint at excellent battery life. However, as noted, it uses an older version of AMD’s Ryzen mobile processor line which isn’t as efficient as more modern architectures. The laptop also makes do with a 50 watt-hour battery, which isn’t large for a 15.6-inch laptop in 2024 (many have 60 to 70 watt-hours, or more).
IDG / Matthew Smith
IDG / Matthew Smith
IDG / Matthew Smith
That has a consequence for battery life. While Acer says the laptop could achieve over 18 hours of battery life in a best-case video rundown scenario, our standard video rundown test (which loops a 4K file of the short film Tears of Steel) drained the battery in roughly six hours and 45 minutes.
General use didn’t sway my opinion. Using the laptop to write in Google Docs and browse the web sucked the battery at a rate consistent with six to eight hours of battery life. It’s not terrible for a budget Windows laptop, but certainly behind the curve.
Acer Aspire 3: Windows 11 Home S
The Acer Aspire 3 is shipped with Windows 11 Home S mode enabled. Owners can upgrade to Windows 11 Home at any time, for free, and Acer sent the review laptop with this upgrade installed.
Haven’t heard of Windows 11 Home S mode? It’s a mode found on some budget Windows laptops that locks app installation to those available on the Microsoft Store. The mode also locks the default browser to Microsoft Edge.
That’s not great. Swapping out of Home S mode is simple and free, but it’s an annoying extra step that might surprise users less familiar with Windows 11.
Acer Aspire 3: Conclusion
The Acer Aspire 3 is a competent budget laptop with a decent display, lots of RAM, and spacious storage, but its lackluster CPU and GPU performance bring its value into question.
The Aspire 3’s MSRP of $500 is extremely affordable, but spending a few hundred dollars more can snag you a laptop that’s roughly twice as quick in CPU benchmarks and over six times quicker in GPU benchmarks. It’s an acceptable choice if $500 stretches your budget to the limit, but it’s otherwise not the best value.
Shoppers considering this laptop may want to step down to an even more basic model, like the Aspire 3 A315-24PT-R288 or a Chromebook. That might seem strange, as those laptops are even less capable. But they’re also sold for as little as $300—and I don’t think the Aspire 3 can handle much they can’t.
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| ![](/n.gif) | | BBCWorld - 24 Jun (BBCWorld)A chance scroll on the internet led the actor Michael Sheen on a journey to uncover a dark secret. Read...Newslink ©2024 to BBCWorld | ![](/n.gif) |
| ![](/n.gif) | | PC World - 22 Jun (PC World)Video editing can put quite a heavy burden on any computer. So, when shopping for a laptop for video editing, you’ll want to make sure you’re loading up on enough heavy hardware firepower to get the job done. While you might not need the absolute top-of-the-line gear, simply buying a gaming laptop and calling it a day is probably not going to cut it. Beyond just processor and graphics performance, serious video editors need to take into account a few things such as the quality of the display, port selection, and onboard storage capacity.
Why you should trust us: PCWorld has been covering PCs since 1983, and reviews more than 70 notebooks a year in our never-ending quest to find the best laptops. Our expert reviewers evaluate every machine using a combination of performance benchmarks and rigorous usability standards, with an eye toward identifying the best laptops for specific needs and at various price points. We also edit lots of videos ourselves, with the results appearing on PCWorld’s YouTube channel. Take a look at our top picks for video editing below, followed by buying advice and more details about our testing process.
If you’re on a budget or just looking to save some money, you may also want to check out our daily roundup of the best laptop deals to scope out any discounts on content creation notebooks.
Update June 20, 2024: In addition to updating the list of recent laptop reviews, we’ve also replaced the Best Ultraportable for Video Editing pick with the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 ($1,599.99). It’s far less expensive than our former pick and it’s lightweight and has a wide range of connectivity options.
The best laptops for video editing
Dell XPS 17 (2023) – Best laptop for video editing
Pros
Expansive 17-inch 16:10 display
Thin chassis
Incredible battery life
Cons
Expensive
720p webcam
Why we like the Dell XPS 17 (2023)
The Dell XPS 17 (2023) is a fantastic laptop for content creation because it has a gigantic display and a good amount of graphics firepower. The OLED touch display, which measures a massive 17-inches, features a crystal clear resolution of 3840×2400 and a maximum brightness of 550 nits. It’s perfect for media editing, multitasking, and so much more. The machine is also powered by an Intel Core i7-13700H CPU and an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070, which means it’s more than capable of handling any video editing you throw at it. The specific configuration we reviewed will cost you well over $3,000, so it’s likely not a viable option for the budget-conscious, but if your time is money, the Dell XPS 17 is money very well spent.
Who should buy the Dell XPS 17 (2023)
We feel the Dell XPS 17 is a phenomenal option for serious or professional video editors. The 4K screen is divine and it has the perfect amount of horsepower as far as internal components go. It also includes an SD card reader and multiple Thunderbolt 4 ports for quickly offloading videos or photos. Finally, the Dell XPS 17 can run up to 11 hours on a single charge, eliminating the need to go outlet hunting. Although we would’ve liked to have seen this model with an OLED screen, it’s still a top-notch pick.
Alternative option: The Dell XPS 16 is another good option for content creators. In fact, the hardware is almost identical to our top pick. The only real difference is that the Dell XPS 16 has an OLED screen and the Dell XPS 17 9730 does not. That said, the Dell XPS 16 didn’t make the cut because it doesn’t have as many Thunderbolt 4 ports and the keyboard is a real headache to use due to stiff keys.
Read our full
Dell XPS 17 9730 review
Samsung Galaxy Book4 Ultra – Best laptop for video editing (if you don`t need 4K)
Pros
Fantastic battery life
Solid GPU performance
Gorgeous OLED screen that can be used outdoors
Great audio
AI-powered Core Ultra inside
Cons
Chargers keep getting bigger
Still not a great keyboard
Best Prices Today:
$2999.99 at Best Buy
Why we like the Samsung Galaxy Book4 Ultra
The Samsung Galaxy Book4 Ultra offers powerful performance as well as a gorgeous OLED display. Thanks to the Intel Core Ultra 9 185H CPU and the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 GPU, it’s well equipped to handle any video editing task you throw at it. Plus, the 16-inch OLED display has a resolution of 2880×1800 and a refresh rate of 120Hz–so you can expect a crisp-looking picture with rich colors. Sure, it’s not 4K, but it’s still a fantastic screen for content creation. Battery life is absolutely absurd, too. This machine lasted a whopping 18 hours and 54 minutes on a single charge. Wall outlet? Who is she?
Who should buy the Samsung Galaxy Book4 Ultra
Anyone looking for a powerful, long-lasting laptop and doesn’t need to edit 4K videos. In addition to the stunning OLED display and the long battery life, the audio is also quite punchy, sounding great up and down the audio range. If you switch on the Dolby Atmos feature, you’ll hear even richer sound. Though content creators may not necessarily need good audio (or likely use dedicated headphones), it’s still a nice perk.
Read our full
Samsung Galaxy Book4 Ultra review
Apple MacBook Pro (M3, Pro) – Best MacBook for video editing
Pros
Good performance
18GB of RAM
Runs quiet
Cons
Low performance advantage over M2 Pro
Best Prices Today:
$1,699 at Amazon$1849 at Best Buy$1999 at Adorama
Why we like the Apple MacBook Pro (M3, Pro)
The Apple MacBook Pro (M3, Pro) will kick you in the teeth with its power (in the best way possible). Inside, you’ll find a 14-core GPU as well as 18GB of RAM and 512GB of SSD storage. That amount of RAM will keep things running nice and smooth while the beefy GPU will chew right through any intense edits, though intense video editors will want to upgrade to a model with more storage or invest in an external SSD for added capacity. The 14.2-inch Liquid Retina XDR display also has a ridiculously high resolution of 3024×1964, so editing should be a delightful experience. It even comes with three Thunderbolt 4 ports for speedy data transfers.
Who should buy the Apple MacBook Pro (M3, Pro)
Anyone who prefers Apple’s ecosystem. This configuration shows a 44 percent increase in performance (according to Geekbench’s Compute Metal test) compared to the M3 (sans Pro) model. You’ll also be able to see every detail of your photo or video editing work thanks to the gorgeous Liquid Retina XDR display. Battery life isn’t too shabby, either. The M3 Pro MacBook Pro will last you over ten hours on a single charge, which is more than a full work day.
Alternative option: If you’re looking for a bigger screen, then you should check out the MacBook Pro, M2 Pro. The Liquid Retina XDR display measures 16.2-inches and has a resolution of 3456×2234, so visuals should be sharp as knives. The M2 Pro also comes loaded with a powerful 19-core GPU.
Read our full
Apple 14-inch MacBook Pro (M3 Pro, 2023) review
Asus TUF Gaming A16 Advantage Edition – Best budget laptop for video editing
Pros
All-day battery life
Stunning display
Durable build
Cons
720p webcam
Keys feel too soft
Why we like the Asus TUF Gaming A16 Advantage Edition
The Asus TUF Gaming A16 Advantage Edition is a good option for those on a tight budget, as it ticks off all of the right boxes for a sub-$1,000 machine. For one, colors appear rich and varied on the 16-inch 1200p FHD display. Sure, it’s not 4K, but it’s still a good screen–our reviewer was surprised by the “depth of the blacks and greys.” As for internals, the AMD Radeon RX 7600S GPU and the AMD Ryzen 7 7735HS CPU should blitz right through graphically demanding tasks like video editing. It also lasted a whopping 11 hours on a single charge, which is shocking for a gaming laptop.
Who should buy the Asus TUF Gaming A16 Advantage Edition
Anyone who’s looking to save money on a capable and long-lasting laptop. You don’t have to go outlet hunting because of the long battery life and the 1200p display offers nothing but stunning visuals. While the keys feel a bit mushy and the 720p webcam won’t be doing you any favors on video calls, we feel as though the pros far outweigh the cons, especially given the reasonable price point.
Alternative option: The Lenovo LOQ 15 is another good budget option to consider. It has a better GPU (RTX 4060) than our current top pick. Despite the high star rating, it didn’t end up making the cut because of the poor battery life (not unusual in a gaming laptop) and limited connectivity options. The Asus TUF Gaming A16 Advantage Edition just stands out from the pack, especially where battery life is concerned, but the Lenovo LOQ would be a good budget option if your workflow is accelerated by Nvidia features and technology.
Read our full
Asus TUF Gaming A16 Advantage Edition review
Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 – Best ultraportable laptop for video editing
Pros
Very light and compact design
Excellent performance for its size
Robust build
Visually stunning display
Cons
Keys feel soft and mushy
The webcam isn`t the best quality
The downward facing woofers sometimes sound muddy
Best Prices Today:
$1599.99 at Best Buy$2499 at Asus
Why we like the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14
The Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 is “exceptionally sleek and compact,” according to our comprehensive review. Not only does it tip the scales at just 3.31 pounds, but you can easily pick it up with an index finger and a thumb. The slim form factor is impressive given the hardware inside, which consists of an AMD Ryzen 9 8945HS CPU and an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 GPU. That means it’s powerful enough to handle editing photos in Adobe Photoshop and playing games with the graphics turned up. The connectivity options are also quite good and the OLED screen has a high resolution of 2880×1800. It’s not 4K, but you can still expect a sharp picture. The port selection includes two USB-A 3.2 Gen 2, one USB-C 3.2 Gen 2, one USB-C 4, one HDMI, one 3.5mm combo jack, and one microSD card reader.
Who should buy the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14
Anyone that likes to work on-the-go. In addition to its slim form factor, it’s also quite tough with “premium CNC-milled aluminum alloy” throughout the chassis. It even achieved impressive frame rates in a couple of modern games. In fact, it managed 133 frames-per-second during the Shadow of the Tomb Raider benchmark and 101 frames-per-second during Rise of the Tomb Raider benchmark, which is newer and more demanding. If you’re looking for reliable gaming performance in a tiny package, look no further than the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14.
Read our full
Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 review
Recent laptop reviews
Acer Aspire Vero 16: The Acer Aspire Vero 16 is pretty average in most areas, but at just about every turn it avoids being bad. This makes for a good all-around package that’s pleasant to use and rarely feels like a letdown.
Lenovo ThinkPad X1 2-in-1: Lenovo delivered a 2-in-1 ThinkPad with great build quality, a nice pen, and serious battery life. But you may want to wait for a next-generation model powered by Intel’s Lunar Lake hardware.
Acer Chromebook Plus 514: Acer’s Chromebook Plus 514 is a decent budget Chromebook that beats competitors on RAM and storage.
Lenovo ThinkBook 13x: Lenovo’s ThinkBook is a better business laptop for most people than a top-of-the-line ThinkPad, but the lack of ports may be a problem.
How we tested
The PCWorld team puts each and every Windows laptop through a series of benchmarks that test GPU and CPU performance, battery life, and so on. The idea is to push the laptop to its limits and then compare it against others we’ve tested. Chromebooks, on the other hand, go through a series of web-based tests. It wouldn’t be fair or possible to run the same kinds of tests on a Chromebook, as they’re Chrome OS-based machines.
Below, you’ll find a breakdown of each test and the reasons why we run them. For a much deeper look at our review methodology, check out how PCWorld tests laptops.
Windows laptops
PCMark 10: PCMark 10 is how we determine how well the laptop handles lighter tasks like web browsing, word processing, spreadsheets, and so on.
HandBrake: HandBrake is more intensive than PCMark 10. It basically measures how long a laptop’s CPU takes to encode a beefy 30GB file.
Cinebench: Cinebench is a brief stress test of the CPU cores. It does this by rendering a 2D scene over a short period of time.
3DMark: 3DMark checks if 3D performance remains consistent over time by running graphic-intensive clips.
Video rundown test: To gauge battery life, we loop a 4K video using Windows 10’s Movies & TV app until the laptop dies.
FAQ
1.
What should I look for in a laptop for video editing?
The first thing to look for in a laptop for video editing is its CPU and GPU. The faster your hardware, the faster your edits.
If your workload is primarily CPU-driven, we’d recommend springing for the Intel Core i7 or the Intel Core i9. HX is designed for raw horsepower, which id deal for gaming and content creation, and the Ultra is built around power efficiency. For a more in-depth look at the difference between the two processors, we’ve done a thorough compare and contrast piece that really lays it all out. For those on a strict budget, you can get by with an Intel Core i5, but it’s going to be slower.
You probably won’t need a dedicated graphics card everyday video editing, but if you work on motion graphics, then the extra firepower really comes in handy. For most video editing projects, we’d suggest the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 or higher, though having any RTX GPU onboard can help accelerate some specific workloads. For those who prefer AMD over Nvidia, we’d recommend the AMD Radeon RX 7600S or higher. Unless you’re looking to play AAA games on the side, you don’t really need the best graphics card out there. A mid-range GPU will serve most people.
Another thing to consider is storage size. A 4K video, for example, will require more storage space than a 1080p video. In other words, you’re going to need quite a bit of storage, otherwise your laptop might get too bogged down. For those who work with 4K resolution, you should go for at least 1TB of SSD or higher. You could probably get by with just 512GB of SSD storage, but you’ll probably need to keep offloading files onto an external storage device.
RAM is important too, as it determines how fast your laptop will generally run. Video editors tend to work with large files, which can cause your laptop to slow down. That’s why we’d recommend at least 16GB of RAM. However, if you’re editing 4K video, you’ll definitely want 32GB of RAM or more. More RAM reduces the likelihood of bottlenecks, which can be a real pain in the neck when you’re in the middle of an important edit.
2.
What kind of display should I get?
You’re going to want a display that’s both bright and color accurate. For example, a display that’s close to 100 percent of the sRGB spectrum is ideal. While a 4K display isn’t necessary, we’d strongly recommend it for serious video editing. A high resolution display will produce sharper images, which helps reduce eye strain, and allow you to edit 4K video at full resolution. A larger screen like a 15- or 17-inch is preferable as well, as it provides better visibility for editing.
3.
What do the experts recommend?
PCWorld video director Adam Patrick Murray stresses that an ideal laptop for video editing includes an SD card reader for grabbing video off of a camera. He also recommends opting for a notebook with a 4K, 60Hz panel over the ultra-fast 1080p panels often found on gaming laptops that would otherwise be ideal for video editing. You need a 4K panel to edit 4K videos well and blazing-fast refresh rates don’t mean anything for video editing like they do for gaming. If color accuracy matters to you—it might not if you’re only creating casual videos for your personal YouTube channel, for example—then support for the full DCI-P3 color gamut is also a must along with Delta E .
You won’t often find those sorts of specs listed for (or supported by) gaming laptops, but dedicated content creation laptops should include that information. That said, if you want the fastest possible laptop for video editing that can also satisfy your gaming proclivities, you can always pair that burly gaming laptop with a color-accurate external monitor for creation tasks.
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| ![](/n.gif) | | PC World - 22 Jun (PC World)Pre-built gaming PCs aren’t just the domain of noobie gamers. No, many an experienced gamer has been enticed by the glittering imagery and exciting performance promises of a shiny new manufacturer-made rig. But beneath the flashy neon pics and the impressive list of hardware specs are often gremlins lurking, ready to bite.
If you haven’t already guessed from that opener, I’m not in the “buy a pre-built gaming PC camp.” That’s not just because I’m a tech editor who likes to painstakingly oversee and choose every component in a new build until I reach performance perfection.
I also don’t have any illusions about wanting to be the go-to tech support guy among my family and friends — I am that guy anyways. No, it’s just that pre-built gaming PCs are incredibly risky business.
In fact, I’d go so far as to liken buying one to dinning on a meal of Fugu, a Japanese delicacy made from the porcupinefish (puffer fish). If you’re unfamiliar with Fugu, parts of it are so full of poison it needs meticulous preparation by a chef, and not just any chef, one with the know-how and steady hands of a brain surgeon.
Dinning on Fugu, then, is like taking the ultimate leap of faith. Sure, you could get a delicious, safe meal of tasty puffer and not keel over. Or a single bite may see you drop your chopsticks and leave your mortal coil for good. The big question then is: Do you trust the chef?
A top-end prebuilt gaming pc you can trust
Falcon Northwest FragBox (Intel 14th-gen)
Read our review
In the same way, you may have no problems with your pre-built gaming rig, or a ton of problems once you get it through the front door.
The poison to look out for here is bloatware, malfunctioning hardware, overheating, the incorporation of low-grade hardware and poorly configured hardware (mostly from a lack of care) — all scourges of a mass-produced item rather than a bespoke one that’s been carefully planned and put together for you and your needs.
But that’s not all, because there’s also the fact that you could be paying an over-inflated price for a rig whose performance is lackluster, or just downright terrible at worst, no matter the specs.
Hardware problems, in the worst case, could stop you in your tracks before you’ve even peeled the brand stickers off your machine’s shiny exterior, let alone launched a game. But with most pre-builds having manufacturers’ warranties, they’re arguably not as bad as the more insidious performance problems you could encounter.
Some gamers have reported malfunctioning hardware, bloatware, low-quality hardware, and proprietary hardware in pre-built gaming rigs.
Some gamers have reported malfunctioning hardware, bloatware, low-quality hardware, and proprietary hardware in pre-built gaming rigs. Dreamstime: Chiradech Chotchuang
Some gamers have reported malfunctioning hardware, bloatware, low-quality hardware, and proprietary hardware in pre-built gaming rigs. Dreamstime: Chiradech Chotchuang
Dreamstime: Chiradech Chotchuang
RAM is often a cause of those performance problems. If the rig isn’t shipping with ultra-slow RAM, it may be fast RAM with poor latency (CL22 on 2933MHz RAM was an often-reported problem in pre-builds in years past). Manufacturers have also been known to pass off a single stick of RAM as dual channel, simply because the PC has a slot to run RAM as dual channel.
Then there’s performance issues linked to the build itself. Take Alienware’s 2022 R13 pre-built gaming PC as an example. One configuration of this rig shipped with an Intel Core i9-12900KF CPU and RTX 3090 GPU — that sounds glorious, doesn’t it?
But thermal performance benchmarks by Gamers Nexus showed its $570 CPU performed only as well as a step-down $340 Intel Core i7-12700K when compiling the same code, which amounted to a 16 percent downgrade in performance. The culprit? Gamers Nexus concluded that Dell’s sub-optimal build affected the CPU’s thermal and power limits.
Adam Patrick Murray / Foundry
Adam Patrick Murray / Foundry
Adam Patrick Murray / Foundry
Before you say, “but I could fix that in a jiffy,” in this case that would be easier said than done because of another scourge of pre-built gaming rigs: the proprietary hardware they often have.
That refers to hardware that’s been made especially for your pre-built PC — tech that’s basically useless anywhere except inside the rig itself, that you can’t just swap out for parts of your choosing.
In the case of the 2022 Alienware R13, there was a whole heap of it — from the cooler that came attached to the proprietary case, to the proprietary motherboard with a front-facing I/O that you would need to change out completely if it stopped working. The worst part of all is that the R13 shipped for a whopping $5,000 — which I have only one word for: ouch!
A worthy prebuilt desktop
Acer Predator Orion 3000 (PO3-650-UR17)
Read our review
Best Prices Today:
$1,377.99 at Amazon |
$1408.99 at Newegg
I’m not down on Dell’s Alienware products. In fact, they’re usually kick-ass gaming PCs that any gamer is lucky to have. Indeed, this problem can (and does) happen to other manufacturers too; the internet is peppered with examples — which is entirely my point.
Of course, pre-built rigs aren’t always bad; you could get lucky and land something like the HP Omen 45L that has three 120mm RGB intake fans and a 360mm liquid cooler. HP also promises tool-less upgradability, which bodes well for futureproofing the rig’s performance. You can also trust reviews of specific prebuilts by testers you trust, be it us here at PCWorld, GamersNexus, or whoever else.
Counterpoint: I bought a pre-built desktop gaming PC and I’m not sorry about it
Buying a pre-built has also helped some gamers through tough times. Indeed, at the height of the GPU shortage crisis back in 2022-2023, it was one of the only ways you could get a GPU at a reasonable price. But right now, that’s not as much of an issue.
So, take my advice and build your own gaming rig, one that you know is going to be the right price, have minimal issues, and perform well. You don’t even need to build it yourself; you just need someone who knows their stuff to help. In other words, a “chef” that you can trust.
Desktop PCs Read...Newslink ©2024 to PC World | ![](/n.gif) |
| ![](/n.gif) | | PC World - 21 Jun (PC World)At a glanceExpert`s Rating
ProsExcellent keyboard with a full number padHuge, precise trackpadSharp displayLoud, clear speakersGood-quality aluminum buildImpressive performance even in gamesConsHigh priceSome annoying bloatwareSlightly weak battery lifeOur VerdictThe Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i is one of the best mainstream Windows laptops on the market, with great specs, a gorgeous display, and a killer keyboard.
The Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i would not look out of place in an office, but this 16-inch laptop has another side. A laptop this size offers a good mix of portability and screen real estate, and there’s also room for some serious hardware. This machine is well-made, attractive, and extremely powerful—it can even play modern PC games with surprising fluidity. On the other hand, even the base-model is very expensive, and most PC users don’t need this much power.
Looking for more options? Check out PCWorld’s roundup of the best laptops available right now.
Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i: Specs and features
The Yoga Pro 9i is Lenovo’s flagship laptop, and it comes in a number of configurations. Lenovo fiddles with pricing and specs almost constantly, but you can expect to pay a minimum of roughly $1,480 for the machine. Fully specced out, it’s around $2,100. This computer sits at the top of Lenovo’s mainstream notebook offerings, but some of the company’s Legion gaming laptops are more capable and expensive.
Despite being a Yoga-branded laptop, this is not a 2-in-1. The 16-inch touchscreen’s hinge stops at 180-degrees like other traditional notebooks. That display is either a standard IPS LCD or miniLED, both at 3200 x 2000 resolution. There are two CPU options, too, a Meteor Lake Core Ultra 7 or Core Ultra 9. There are also two GPU options in the form of an Nvidia RTX 4050 or 4060, something you don’t get on the step-down Yoga 7i. Here are the full specs of the review unit.
CPU: Intel Core Ultra 9 185H
Memory: 32GB
Graphics/GPU: Nvidia GeForce RTX 4050, 6GB, 100W TDP
Display: 16-inch 3200 x 2000 IPS, 165Hz, 400 nits
Storage: 1 TB PCIe Gen4 NVMe
Webcam: 5MP with IR for Windows Hello
Connectivity: 1x USB-C with Thunderbolt 4, 1x USB-C 3.2 Gen 2, 2x USB-A 3.2 Gen 1, 1x HDMI, 1x 3.5mm audio jack, 1x SD card reader
Networking: Wi-Fi 6e, Bluetooth 5.3
Battery capacity: 84 Wh, 170W slim tip charger
Dimensions: 14.28 x 9.99 x 0.70 inches
Weight: 4.41 lbs
MSRP as tested: $1,699.99
Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i: Design and build quality
IDG / Ryan Whitwam
IDG / Ryan Whitwam
IDG / Ryan Whitwam
The Yoga Pro 9i is a relatively large laptop, but it’s a good size given the hardware inside. It’s only 0.7 inches thick when closed, and the 4.41 pound weight is a bit lower than other high-end laptops. Despite having a large display, the bezels are nice and slim, so it should fit in most laptop sleeves and compartments. The top bezel is a bit unusual with Lenovo’s trademark “reverse display notch,” which houses the 5MP webcam and microphones. It looks a bit strange at first, but it does offer a nice lip when closed to make the machine easier to open.
Some laptops feel rickety and too flexible when you pick them up, but not the Yoga Pro 9i. The entire chassis is aluminum, and all the panels are thick enough to feel solid and resist flexing. The hinge is also nice and tight, keeping the screen stable if you need to pick up and move the machine, but opening cleanly with one hand.
While there’s no physical camera shutter, Lenovo does have a button on the right edge that electronically disables the camera when not in use. In addition to video chats, the camera can be used to your presence and put itself to sleep if you walk away for added security. The right side is also where you’ll find the USB-A ports, card reader, and the power button. On the opposite side, you get the USB-C ports, HDMI, 3.5mm, and the power port.
Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i: Keyboard and trackpad
IDG / Ryan Whitwam
IDG / Ryan Whitwam
IDG / Ryan Whitwam
Lenovo has some of the better laptop keyboards on the market, even on cheaper models. The Yoga Pro 9i offers generous key spacing and deep 1.5mm travel, making it easier to get up to speed without making excessive typos. It’s worlds better than the current Dell XPS lineup in that respect.
The keys have above average tactility, and the bottom out is solid, not bouncy or mushy at all. The keys are backlit, as you’d expect on a premium laptop. The lighting is even, and it doesn’t bleed around the keys too much, but there are only two manual brightness stops—I’d like to see a few more options.
If you are so inclined, this laptop sports a dedicated key for Microsoft Copilot. We’re going to see this new key a lot—it’s between the arrows and spacebar, taking the place of the rarely used menu key. Speaking of the arrows, I wish Lenovo would use full-sized keys here. You get a full key for the left and right arrows, but up and down occupy a single key unit split down the middle. That can make it hard to find the arrows by feel.
I appreciate the inclusion of a full number pad on the Yoga Pro 9i. At 14 inches wide, there’s just enough speed to fit everything, but Lenovo did have to reduce the size of the keys. The numbers are also right up against the modifiers (shift, enter, etc.), which can increase the frequency of accidental presses. Again, it can be hard to find this division by feel.
The keyboard is shifted to the left to make room for the number pad, and the trackpad is off to the side with it. I usually prefer to have trackpads in the middle regardless of the keyboard layout, but it’s not much of an issue here because the Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i has an enormous trackpad that covers much of the available space below the keyboard. The trackpad’s high-precision, Gorilla Glass-covered surface is a delight. I bumped the sensitivity a bit higher, and I hardly missed my mouse.
Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i: Display and audio
IDG / Ryan Whitwam
IDG / Ryan Whitwam
IDG / Ryan Whitwam
The Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i really wows with its display. I’m testing the lesser of the two screen options, a 16-inch IPS LCD at 3200×2000. It supports a 165Hz refresh rate, but the default mode has the machine locked to 60Hz. It also supports multitouch if you want to try to use Windows with touch. While the OS can be frustrating to poke, the glass is smooth and resists fingerprinting well. It would be more useful if the hinge allowed full rotation, though.
The miniLED version offers more vibrant colors and higher brightness, but the LCD is no slouch. It’s extremely crisp, and the 400 nits brightness rating is good enough for use in bright lighting. However, the glass screen cover is very reflective, and the brightness isn’t enough to make up for that if you try to use the computer outdoors.
Laptop speakers are rarely what you would call “good,” but the Yoga Pro 9i earns that distinction and then some. It has an impressive six-speaker setup, including four subwoofers and two tweeters. That’s even more robust than the Dell XPS 16, which PCWorld praised for its audio quality. The Yoga’s sound is clear, loud, and doesn’t distort at high volumes. The speakers also drive home the quality of the overall computer—there’s some minor vibration in the chassis when you crank the volume, but it doesn’t rattle or produce any unwanted noise. Even bass-heavy media will sound great on the Yoga Pro 9i, although don’t expect deep thumping.
Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i: Performance
The Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i can tear through spreadsheets, documents, and other general computing tasks, but it can also satiate your appetite for games once work is all wrapped up. The Nvidia GeForce RTX 4050 is not the most capable laptop GPU, but it’s a rocket ship compared to the integrated GPUs most mainstream laptops use. I ran this machine through the usual battery of productivity tests, plus some of the benchmarks we usually reserve for gaming laptops.
IDG / Ryan Whitwam
IDG / Ryan Whitwam
IDG / Ryan Whitwam
PCMark 10 is designed to test a machine across a variety of metrics like web browsing, video chat, and photo editing. Here, we’re looking at the overall score, and the Yoga Pro 9i puts up one of the best scores we’ve seen thanks to that Core Ultra 9 CPU, which has a TDP of 30W.
IDG / Ryan Whitwam
IDG / Ryan Whitwam
IDG / Ryan Whitwam
Cinebench is a CPU-focused test that shows how a machine handles heavy but brief multi-core workloads. The Lenovo machine does well here, coming in just behind the Alienware m16 R2. While that machine has a lower-specced CPU, its default power profile doesn’t leave as much performance on the table. The Yoga Pro 9i still beats all the other mainstream notebooks we’ve tested lately.
IDG / Ryan Whitwam
IDG / Ryan Whitwam
IDG / Ryan Whitwam
The Handbrake test is similar to Cinebench in that it shows how a computer handles multithreaded tasks, but this is a longer-duration test where thermals matter more. Again, the Yoga Pro 9i comes in just behind the performance-tuned Alienware m16 R2. However, it’s a cut above all the other mainstream laptops in our database—it’s about a third faster than the Dell XPS 14, for example.
IDG / Ryan Whitwam
IDG / Ryan Whitwam
IDG / Ryan Whitwam
While the Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i is not technically a gaming laptop, it’s equipped with a capable RTX 4050 GPU, and the upgraded model has an RTX 4060. In 3D Mark’s Time Spy benchmark, the Yoga leaves other mainstream laptops in the dust. Even the Dell XPS 14 with the same GPU falls well behind the Lenovo machine.
IDG / Ryan Whitwam
IDG / Ryan Whitwam
IDG / Ryan Whitwam
To get a better handle on gaming performance, I ran the Yoga Pro 9i through the Shadow of the Tomb Raider benchmark, which is an excellent real-world test of gaming power. Comparing the Yoga Pro 9i to a slate of gaming notebooks, this laptop holds its own. Computers with the RTX 4070 and 4090 are well out in front, but the Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i can surpass even some machines with more powerful RTX 4060 GPUs.
I’ve used the Yoga Pro 9i alongside gaming notebooks, and it’s more than good enough to push some pixels after a long day of office work. Using DLSS upscaling, it’s possible to play games like Baldur’s Gate 3 and Cyberpunk 2077 on the gorgeous 3200×2000 display with good visual fidelity. You won’t be able to crank up advanced graphical features like ray tracing, but most games will still look great on this machine.
In general day-to-day usage, the Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i has never felt sluggish. Apps open fast, the ample RAM keeps multiple windows and a gaggle of browser tabs running, and Windows hasn’t crashed once. Lenovo’s excellent Vantage settings app also makes it easy to control the features and performance of the machine in one place. As for the rest of the software, it’s a standard Windows experience after you ditch the McAfee app and a few other pieces of bloatware in your way.
Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i: Battery life
The Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i has an 84Wh battery, which is on the small size for a 16-inch laptop. Combined with the powerful hardware and high-resolution screen, the battery life is acceptable but not particularly good. Our battery test consists of playing a 4K copy of Tears of Steel on repeat in the Movies & TV app (in airplane mode) until the laptop runs out of juice. The Yoga Pro 9i managed just under nine hours in this test, which is below most mainstream notebooks. However, it runs a little ahead of gaming notebooks.
IDG / Ryan Whitwam
IDG / Ryan Whitwam
IDG / Ryan Whitwam
We ran this test first in the default 60Hz refresh mode. While the screen looks nice in 165Hz mode, it takes a big bite out of your battery—the laptop loses about an hour in the video benchmark. When there’s no power to plug in, I’d suggest sticking with 60Hz mode. The higher refresh rate will have a bigger impact in general computing compared to video. That said, even at 165Hz, you should be able to make it through a work day with the Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i.
Plenty of laptops are relying entirely on USB-C for charging now, but not this one. Because there’s a dedicated GPU inside this machine, it needs more power than current USB devices can supply. The 170W “Slim Tip” charger keeps the machine running at full speed, and it recharges quickly. However, you can plug a USB-C cable with USB Power Delivery support into one of the two ports to charge the machine at up to 100W. The system will throttle performance when powered over USB-C.
Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i: Conclusion
The Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i is one of the best mainstream Windows laptops on the market right now. The performance is top notch, whether you’re juggling spreadsheets or getting a few frags in before bed. The battery life is passable; it might be nice to have a bit more longevity, but I like the aggressive performance tuning. The build quality is also solid, with a full aluminum housing with no flex or rattle. I would have preferred a fully rotating screen, but the Yoga Pro 9i gets the traditional laptop form factor right. The screen is easy to open with one hand, and it stays where you leave it even if you move the machine around or pound on the keyboard.
Speaking of the keyboard, Lenovo did a good job of making the keys feel spacious even with that full number pad. The tactility is excellent for a laptop, and the keys feel solid at bottom out with almost no mushiness. I’m also a fan of the huge trackpad, which is clad in glass and feels buttery smooth. The audio-video experience is top tier, as well. Even the base model IPS display is excellent compared to similar laptops, and there’s a miniLED upgrade available. The speakers are also good—and not just good for a laptop.
The fantastic hardware brings us to this machine’s biggest con: the price. You’re looking at around $1,500 for the cheapest variant. My test unit clocked in at $1,700, and it doesn’t even have the upgraded miniLED screen. You can easily spend over $2,000 on the Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i with all the trimmings. All the prices feel a bit too high—that’s MacBook Pro money. The model I reviewed has already been on sale as low as $1,500, and that seems about right. The good news is Lenovo shuffles prices frequently, so the Yoga Pro 9i will undoubtedly go on sale again.
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| ![](/n.gif) | | PC World - 21 Jun (PC World)Picture this, you’ve settled down to enjoy your favorite adult content, you’re alone, you’ve set the mood, everything is ready. But before you can click play, you’re asked to provide multiple pictures of yourself and official ID in good lighting with the documents clearly visible. Then upload all of this and pass it through an age verification system. And then still be in the mood to get back to your original business.
This is the recent reality for many in the U.S. after certain states have passed age verification laws for adult websites. In March of this year, the popular adult site PornHub went dark in Texas in order to protest new strict laws imposed by the state requiring just such verifications, following similar standoffs in other states.
Now, Pornhub is set to block access to five more states including Indiana, Idaho, Kansas, Kentucky, and Nebraska in response to similar age verification laws in those states as well. Fortunately, even if you live in one of these states, getting around site-specific geographical restrictions is easy enough with the right VPN. Below you’ll find more info about these new laws, how to use a VPN to access mature content, and why you should use a VPN no matter what websites you visit.
What are age verification laws and why do they matter?
AndrewFall/Shutterstock.com
AndrewFall/Shutterstock.com
AndrewFall/Shutterstock.com
In recent years, age verification laws have emerged in response to a growing concern that minors can too easily access adult content online. Regulations have long struggled to keep up with the rapid pace of technology and this is seen as a belated response to the current widespread availability of online pornography.
Porn and other adult content have been labeled by some as a public health crisis, with increasing rates of porn addiction and other negative psychological impacts seen as a concerning consequence, particularly to the younger generations.
It’s always been illegal for minors to visit a porn site, but previously this has usually been enforced with a simple self-verification check, asking users to confirm that they are over 18 years of age. Some officials see these as too simplistic and ineffective leading to a call for stricter age verification methods.
The first state to enact such a law was Louisiana in 2022. Since then, more states have followed suit and many more are considering them in their respective state legislatures as we speak.
The reason why this matters is that it has far-reaching effects not just for minors, but all of us. Beyond the possible First Amendment infringements, these laws can have serious consequences for a user’s personal data.
Most of these age verification systems require users to submit pictures of themselves and personal identification, which are uploaded and stored on a third-party database. Anytime personal data such as this is collected, it’s at risk from data breaches and exploitation by cybercriminals (or sovereign governments).
Furthermore, there’s the issue that these restrictions will drive people away from well-regulated and legal adult content sites to less secure, shady sources potentially further endangering users. It’s not dissimilar to previous attempts to regulate pirated content — most people won’t stop pirating content if you take down the site; they’ll just find an even dodgier site to access what they want.
Which states have an age verification law for adult websites?
PornHub’s official statement to those trying to access its content in Texas.
PornHub’s official statement to those trying to access its content in Texas. Sam Singleton
PornHub’s official statement to those trying to access its content in Texas. Sam Singleton
Sam Singleton
Currently, nine states including Arkansas, Indiana, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, North Carolina, Texas, Utah, and Virginia have already enacted laws requiring verification to access adult content sites.
Six more states, Florida, Idaho, Kansas, Kentucky, Nebraska, and South Dakota, are all poised to join them. Age verification bills in these states have cleared their respective legislative houses and appear on their way to becoming law soon.
Currently Pornhub is blocking traffic from residents in all nine of the states with active age verification laws. On June 12 they announced further restrictions, which will take effect in July, for residents of Indiana, Idaho, Kansas, Kentucky, and Nebraska.
How to use a VPN to access adult websites
When sites like PornHub are no longer accessible in your state, the best option to turn to is a VPN. By connecting to a VPN server located in a location that isn’t affected by the ban, you’ll once again have access to all of the site’s content.
When you connect to a VPN, all of your traffic is encrypted and routed through an independent server operated by the VPN provider. These servers can be located in different U.S. states, or different countries. While connected to one of these remote servers, your web traffic will exit through that server, appearing as if you’re browsing from that remote physical location instead.
If you find that you’re unable to access the adult content you want in your location, you can boot up your VPN and connect to a remote server. For example, if you’re located in Texas, where PornHub has a self-imposed ban, you can connect to a VPN server in another state and then go back to PornHub and, voilà, the content should be available once again.
As a side note, it’s also recommended to have a strong antivirus and ad-blocker installed and browse in incognito mode while accessing adult content. Adult websites are notorious for having annoying pop-ups and dubious links. Plus, incognito mode will save you the blushes of having these sites show up in your browser history — nobody needs to see your kinks laid out in Google’s autocomplete recommendations.
If you don’t already have a VPN or are in the market for a good option, check out our roundup of the best VPNs to help you decide.
PCWorld`s pick for best vpn
ExpressVPN
Read our review
Is it legal to use a VPN to access adult content?
Here is where the issue becomes tricky. There’s nothing inherently illegal about using a VPN in the U.S. The problem arises in what you do while connected to a VPN. Think of it like this, if it’s illegal to do without a VPN, then it’s still illegal to do with a VPN. For example, if you’re underage, accessing adult content is illegal with or without a VPN.
Since some laws vary state to state, it’s important to research and properly understand the laws and regulations surrounding adult content in your own legal jurisdiction before attempting to access any of this content — via VPN or not.
The content in this article should only be used as guidance to get around certain adult sites’ restrictions, such as PornHub’s recent embargo. It should not be construed as advice nor advocacy to circumvent any state or federal laws.
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| ![](/n.gif) | | PC World - 21 Jun (PC World)Have you been burned before by Windows on Arm? Are you worried whether the apps you need will actually run on Copilot+ PCs? I was, too. But after playing around with one myself, I’m fairly optimistic that those days are over, as Qualcomm executives promised.
After receiving a Surface Pro (2024) 11th Edition from Microsoft for review, I spent a good chunk of my first day just downloading various applications and seeing if they’d run—and if they did, how well.
I came away with three key conclusions:
First, this is indeed a productivity tablet, and Microsoft and Qualcomm have done a good job making sure most common productivity application work without hassle.
Second, Copilot+ PCs are not gaming PCs, and there’s a good chance your favorite games won’t even run.
Third, the type of app you run on the tablet matters in an absolutely enormous way. If you run an emulated app, especially on battery, expect battery life to drop considerably as the Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite chip chews through the unoptimized code.
Here’s what I’ve found through my testing so far. This is not an absolutely exhaustive list! There may be apps that I haven’t tried out that hide issues or performance problems.
Browsers on Arm: Spoiled for choice
Most browsers are now available in Arm versions, so I didn’t expect much trouble running any of the popular ones. (The only major browser without a native Arm version is the latest Arc browser, which Arc won’t even let you download to a Copilot+ PC right now.)
Chrome, the most popular browser by user count, worked just fine browsing a number of rich media sites. My browser extensions—which are mainly ad-blocking—worked as well. I also tried Firefox, Vivaldi, Opera, and Brave to great results.
The only glitch I noticed was that Brave would crash when I tried to import settings from another browser.
Some browsers (and apps) will call out the Windows on Arm version, just to be sure you’re downloading an optimized app.
Some browsers (and apps) will call out the Windows on Arm version, just to be sure you’re downloading an optimized app.Mark Hachman / IDG
Some browsers (and apps) will call out the Windows on Arm version, just to be sure you’re downloading an optimized app.Mark Hachman / IDG
Mark Hachman / IDG
I couldn’t help but try to determine which browser would prove to be the best browser for Copilot+ PCs, so I ran the available browsers through some benchmarks to come up with an answer.
There are two browsers that definitively pull away from the pack, but I really didn’t notice many differences between them. They all handled the multimedia-rich sites I surfed, plus a handful of plugins.
Productivity apps: Slack is back on track
If you’ve followed our earlier reviews, you’re aware that Microsoft’s tablets run Microsoft’s Office (Microsoft 365) apps just fine. I spent just a few minutes confirming this.
Stay tuned for a future story on benchmarks, specifically PCMark 10’s Apps benchmark, which measure the performance of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and the Edge browser. We’ll compare them to the older Surface Pro 9 as well as other Intel Core Ultra devices.
I was able to edit an existing Clipchamp video template, adding new text, transitions, and music. It worked just fine, too. I have yet to try Microsoft’s PowerToys utilities, but the download page reports an Arm version, which seems promising.
I have yet to try Microsoft Teams, as my “team” was out for the Juneteenth holiday. The Microsoft Teams (new) app loaded, crashed once, then opened as expected when I relaunched it.
Zoom was one of the few applications that has some quirks. I wasn’t able to test calling with coworkers, but Zoom hasn’t yet migrated video avatars to its Arm port, so that’s one of the features that’s unavailable to Copilot+ PCs. But that seems to be the exception rather than the rule.
Be careful that you don’t click the big button to download Zoom, as it will give you the x86 version. The Arm version is hidden behind a much smaller link.
Zoom avatars aren’t supported by Windows on Arm and Copilot+ PCs, at least not yet.
Zoom avatars aren’t supported by Windows on Arm and Copilot+ PCs, at least not yet.Mark Hachman
Zoom avatars aren’t supported by Windows on Arm and Copilot+ PCs, at least not yet.Mark Hachman
Mark Hachman
Slack, the popular communication app, was one of the notorious apps that never quite worked well on Arm. But Slack published a 64-bit beta for Windows on Arm machines not long ago, and it seems to do the trick.
I was able to send messages back and forth across a couple of machines, play videos back, and so forth. I wasn’t able to test some advanced features yet, like video and audio chats, but Slack’s core features appear to work just fine now on Arm.
Stream to your heart’s content on Arm
Streaming services worked great on the Surface Pro (2024) 11th Edition. I used the web version of YouTube to stream my standard 4K test stream that I use while testing Thunderbolt docks and USB-C hubs and it worked without a hitch, dropping just a handful of frames.
I downloaded the Netflix and Prime Video apps and watched video from those services, too. (Only 1080p, no 4K because the pricing is exobitant.) I haven’t tried Hulu, but Disney+ and Tiktok ran flawlessly as well. I used the Microsoft Store versions of each of these apps.
As far as prerecorded movies go, I have some older videos in various MPEG and older formats, so I downloaded VLC to take care of those. VLC has a native 64-bit Arm version, which worked just as well as my copy for x86 processors, as far as I could tell.
I also used the open-source OBS tool (which has an Arm version) to do some screen recordings. To be honest, I should dive a little deeper to check what format it was recording in, but I noticed no stuttering or hitches in either the app or the recorded video, which was in 1080p.
The preinstalled Spotify had absolutely no problem loading playlists or playing back or searching out music. I can tell you that the Surface Pro (2024) 11th Edition retains the Surface knack of loud, crisp, audio, though it does get a little distorted at roughly 75 percent volume or above.
Content creation apps look good so far
Adobe Photoshop has a native Arm version, and I was able to download, install, and run it with my company’s Creative Cloud subscription from the Adobe Creative Cloud app. It appeared to be full featured with all of the AI elements intact, though the generative art is still generated by the cloud, not locally. I plan to run some benchmarks for a future story measuring Photoshop’s performance more exactly. I do not have a subscription to Adobe Lightroom, however.
Adobe Photoshop approves of the Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite’s Adreno GPU.
Adobe Photoshop approves of the Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite’s Adreno GPU.Mark Hachman / IDG
Adobe Photoshop approves of the Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite’s Adreno GPU.Mark Hachman / IDG
Mark Hachman / IDG
And while I haven’t been able to test it personally, you should know that Adobe Premiere Pro is catching flak for issues on Copilot+ PCs. Some reviewers are saying that videos take twice as long to encode versus Meteor Lake CPUs, and the app slows down when GPU-based effects are in play. Samsung also warns of Copilot+ PC incompatibility with Adobe After Effects, Adobe Illustrator, and Adobe InDesign.
I haven’t yet tried Blackmagic Design’s DaVinci Resolve, but Qualcomm has been trumpeting their Arm port since last fall, which I tried then. It didn’t have any issues then, so I don’t imagine it has any now.
Games are a problem for Copilot+ PCs
Games are a huge stumbling block for Copilot+ PCs right now. Here’s how the story has played out so far:
Qualcomm initially said that most PC games on Steam would be totally playable on Copilot+ PCs, then started backing off. Qualcomm will have its hands full optimizing games in perpetuity. Then, a top Microsoft Surface exec told me that Surfaces would excel in running productivity apps, not games. As my testing above shows, that seems accurate.
All cloud games, all the time on the first Copilot+ PCs.
All cloud games, all the time on the first Copilot+ PCs.Mark Hachman / IDG
All cloud games, all the time on the first Copilot+ PCs.Mark Hachman / IDG
Mark Hachman / IDG
When I opened the Xbox app on the Surface Pro (2024) 11th Edition, I expected to find at least one game I could play natively on the tablet. Nope! As it turns out, Microsoft just waved local gaming away and made every game on the Xbox app only playable via cloud gaming.
To be fair, those cloud games do work. I tried the very timing-dependent MLB: The Show via cloud gaming and managed to swat a few big flies in the game’s home-run derby.
But I also tried two games locally on the tablet: Neon Chrome (a simple top-down 3D shooter) and Saints Row IV (a more complex action-adventure game). The first ran without issue, at full frame rate. The latter downloaded but couldn’t get past Epic’s services; when downloaded from Steam, it ran just fine even though Epic stuck its nose in. I haven’t tried any other games as of yet.
A game like Neon Chrome runs perfectly on a Copilot+ PC, but it’s not that demanding to begin with.
A game like Neon Chrome runs perfectly on a Copilot+ PC, but it’s not that demanding to begin with.Mark Hachman / IDG
A game like Neon Chrome runs perfectly on a Copilot+ PC, but it’s not that demanding to begin with.Mark Hachman / IDG
Mark Hachman / IDG
Not all of our testing apps work flawlessly, either. PCMark—one of our benchmarking tools—refused to run as it wasn’t coded for Arm, and it declined to use Microsoft’s Prism to emulate its testing software. With the related 3DMark software, also designed by UL (Underwriter Labs), there were occasional graphics glitches in the user interface.
A brief note for VPNs on Arm
The problem that I have is this: apps like the best password managers tend to feature web interfaces, so any browser will generally work. Services like the best VPNs, however, require both an app and a subscription. Our VPN analyst, Sam Singleton, would need a Copilot+ PC to evaluate how well VPNs run. Right now, he doesn’t have one.
My own personal VPN service worked absolutely perfectly, with just slight differences in latency and upload/download speeds that can be attributed to variance in the connection, not the app. As long as your VPN provider offers an Arm-specific app, I think the performance will be equivalent to x86 PCs.
Apps run well on Copilot+ PCs
When Qualcomm’s senior vice president Kedar Kondap told me that Windows on Arm apps would finally run like they should, I was skeptical. Will it survive connecting to an ancient HP printer? I’m not sure. But for right now, save for games, things look pretty good on the application compatibility front for Windows on Arm.
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